Our Team

Staff

Nneka Nnamdi

Executive Director/Founder

Nneka N'namdi is a Baltimore based entrepreneur engaged in social mission driven entrepreneurship and community wellness work. She endeavors to apply a mix of traditional African and modern African American social, economic and spiritual practices as a framework for living. As a member of The Living Well team she curates community space for artistic, economic and social ventures. Skilled in creating healing spaces and teaching practical ways of managing trauma Nneka and her sister Maya Onyango have created SisterGather, events for women of African descent to bond, heal and grow. Her study includes initiation in the practice of IFA, Principles of Trauma Informed Care as well as a Master's in Management with a specialization in Organizational Leadership. Her artistic experience includes West African dance with Sankofa Dance Theater, Dishibem, Urban Foli , Wombworks and #BaltimoreGirls. She is a graduate of two of Baltimore's most prestigious educational institutions: Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and Morgan State University. She lives in Upton with her two sons. Upton is one of Baltimore's most blighted neighborhoods and her lived experience there has given birth to Fight Blight Bmore, a social and environmental justice tool for residents to identify, report and track blight.

John Kern

Director of Programming/Founder

Originally from Baltimore, John began his career working in the Great Lakes region of East Africa, where he was a co-founding member of the More Life exchange and the Arts in the One World Conference. Concurrently, he worked with a contemporary arts collective based In Los Angeles which specialized in original performance. After returning to Baltimore he joined Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service where he oversaw the Advance Planning Project, a housing stabilization initiative which focuses on historically redlined communities. He holds Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Philosophy in Aesthetics and Politics from the California Institute of the Arts.

Researcher

Arnell Garrett

Arnell Garrett has a Master’s in Public Policy Analysis from the University of Maryland Baltimore County and a Bachelor’s in Public Policy Analysis from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Garrett’s studies include paralegal courses, biostatistics courses from Johns Hopkins University and survey design and analysis courses at the University of Maryland College Park. Garrett has been a data analyst for over 20 years and has evaluated programs for organizations such as the U.S. National Institute of Health, Harvard University, the Woodwell Climate Research Center, the American Institute of Physics, and the U.S. Department of Defense. Garrett works concurrently with the Maryland Volunteer Lawyer Service and the SOS Fund to provide real property research and analysis to inform housing stabilization policy and efforts.