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"La Sirena" means "The Serene Mermaid." "

"Imakhu" means "Minister; One Worthy of Honor."

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Lifelong, interdisciplinary artivist, multimedia producer, educator, scholar, social commentator, and motivational speaker - "La Sirena" Queen Mother Imakhu creates art to promote social awareness and tell the stories of the Black diaspora. Queen Mother Imakhu, has enjoyed a well-rounded, fifty year career, and a colorful, rich life. 

 

CAREER

 Imakhu has reached and empowered diverse populations as a touring performer and workshop presenter.  She has taught African/Latino drumming, dance, theater, music, visual and literary arts. She has also specialized in teaching physically challenged, at-risk, and detention home Black and Latinx youth throughout New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York. She continues to teach drumming, dance, meditation and yoga to youth, elders, domestic violence survivors, business and health professionals. Queen Mother also performs in concert as a solo artist. Her shows are motivational, uplifting, and educational.

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 Former columnist/reporter for FIRST WORLD NEWS. Former host/producer for October Gallery Radio and PAINT Radio in Philadelphia, PA. Former host/producer of JUXTURES ON WDVR Public Radio, NJ. Former host/producer of REACHING FOR THE SKY on WLVR Radio, Bethlehem, PA. Director and playwright. Touring actress, storyteller, vocalist, poet, dancer, and musician/percussionist throughout the U.S. and Canada. Member of NJ Storytelling Network, Inter/Multifaith Storytelling Network, and Artists Standing Strong Together. Founder of Blacknificently LatinX Media (formerly AKERU MultiMedia}, which produces culturally and ethically responsible content. First African American woman to found and run her own 24/7 online Black Consciousness radio station, AKERU NuAfrakan Network. Host/Producer of video/podcast series, ASHE: The Truth is Black & Brown. Founder/Producer/Host of motivational series, "Transformation Tag Team."  Her current podcast, SHENU LIVING, is a unique motivational program merging ancient African wisdom for success today. Imakhu is the original creator, executive director/producer and co-founder of Newark Latino Film Festival, LLC. Founder/director/producer of Newark Latino Fashion Show. Co-founder/producer of Cultures Across the City Music Festival. Founder of Greater Essex LatinX Art & Film Fest. Queen Mother Imakhu co-produced, co-directed, co-edited and appeared in Nancy Vazquez’ short film project, “I’ve Got a Vision,” for February 2019’s special online edition of TIME Magazine, curated by director Ava DuVernay. Queen Mother has emceed poetry/spoken word venues in Philadelphia, PA, Allentown, PA, and Newark, NJ, and has been featured at U.S. venues including Nuyorican Poets Cafe, The Bowery Poetry Club, and Panoramic Poetry. Her book, "Renegade Wise Woman," a poetic collection of her works from the 90s to present, includes her collaborative piece written with Abiodun Oyewole of The Last Poets. Her popular audience favorites are heard internationally on public radio stations. Queen Mother Imakhu's poetry is included in the anthology, "When Women Speak." She also writes and performs contemporary poetry and prayers in Ancient Egyptian language. In 2023, she was year-long Artist-in-Residence at Newark's Weequahic Public Library, where her photography was in exhibition, and she produced public motivational events. Imakhu returns with a 2024 residency at Weequahic Library, and a residency at Branch Brook Library. 

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AFRICAN-CENTERED WELLNESS MINISTRY

Spiritually, Queen Mother Imakhu has also enjoyed a culturally rich realm of education and experiences. Born into and raised in the Baptist Christian tradition. Member of Union Baptist Church, 1968-78. Member of Youth on the Move for Christ Ministries, Springfield, NJ, 1975-84. Director and choreographer of The Joyful Praisers dance ministry, First Baptist Church, Anderson, NJ. Practitioner of African spiritual cultures since the 90's. Ordained as an Interfaith Healing Minister by Metaphysical Universal Ministries Seminary of Allentown, PA, and an Ordained Interfaith Minister by Spiritual Healers & Universal Ministries in 1999. Initiated as a High Priestess into Children of the White Rose Mystical Order in 2003, and then initiated into the Handmaidens of Nubia lineage in 2003. A Khametic faith practitioner and teacher, she was enstooled as an ankh carrying Queen Mother in the Khametic tradition by Grandmaster Kham of Shrine of Khpra, Brooklyn, NY in 2005, and as a Uas carrying Elder and double-ankh carrying Zunut (Doctor/Scholar/Healer) in 2013. Queen Mother Imakhu is known for her expertise in Ancient Khametic (Egyptian) culture, yoga, and language. Her groundbreaking research has advanced the reclamation, understanding, and practical incorporation of ancient Khametic spiritual culture into today's world. In 2006, Imakhu was initiated as a Bantu nganga (water healer) and peacemaker by Don Miguel Ortiz Hill and Baba Mandaza Kandemwa. 

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Queen Mother has established the first official Khametic Water Faith,

"Neh-ti Mer."  SHENU Khametic Living Waters Institute is her teaching temple and social activism organization. She has baptized and initiated many across the country, and gives classes to help people learn the sacred Kemetic Water Mysteries. Her unique Khametic yoga classes teach Ancient Egyptian Yoga from a mystical priesthood perspective. A popular workshop presenter, performer, scholar, and podcaster, Queen Mother Imakhu continues to build bridges of peace while fighting for justice as an activist. Her latest book is, "SHENU: The Comprehensive Guide to Living Khametic Culture."  

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 COMMUNITY SERVICE

Over the years, Queen Mother has served the greater Newark community by offering free yoga and meditation, spiritual and business mentoring classes to the city's artists, and pandemic food distribution to Newark residents and neighbors-with-no-addresses.  Among her awards, Queen Mother Imakhu was honored by the Greater Newark Women's Assembly for her leadership, for being a role model, and for ongoing commitment to community service. She was also cited by Newark City Council and Mayor Ras Baraka's office for her contributions to the city. Currently, Queen Mother serves as President of the National Action Network Newark Brick City Chapter. She is also leader of the Association for the Studies of Classical African Civilizations (ASCAC) Brick City Study Group.

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PERSONAL HISTORY

 Imakhu was born in Elizabeth, NJ, then raised in 1960’s Kenilworth, NJ, where she remembers routinely seeing crosses burned. Her family knows her as Elaine Artís Lloyd-Nazario. She is the proud mother of two adult daughters from her first marriage. Queen Mother's interest in history and culture are close to home. Her father, Tommie Lloyd, was the first African American accepted into the NJ Tool & Die Association. Her father was Gullah Geechee from South Carolina.  Imakhu’s mother, Jean Whitley Lloyd-Mayfield, was the first African American Girl Scout Leader in Kenilworth, NJ – at a time when crosses were still being burned. In the 1600’s, Virginia manumission laws were changed because her maternal ancestors were left land by their slaveholder in his will – something unheard of at that time. They chose, instead, not to take residence. This was the side of the family that ultimately became Artis (originally Ortiz). Her ancestor Billy Artis fought in the Nat Turner uprising. Imakhu lectures on the rich history of her family, which is Bantu, Puerto Rican, Haitian, Dominican, and Gullah. She has been studying the hidden history of enslaved Afro-Latinx/Hispanic/people of color in the United States.

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