Aisha Diori (born 8 September in Africa, West Africa) is an Events Director, Community Mobiliser, HIV/AIDS Preventionist, educator, Talk Show Host, Event MC, Pan-Africanist, and has been named "Iconic Mother" in Ball culture.Ryan Joseph Photography, House and Ballroom Culture Photography.Marlon Bailey, Constructing home and family: How the Ballroom community supports African American GLBTQ youth in the face of HIV/AIDS. Special Issue on LGBTQ people of color. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services, 21, 171–188. Her father Abdullah is a business person, and her mother is Betty Graves, the first Ghanaian / Nigerian woman to own a travel agency in Nigeria.
Aisha holds a Bachelor of Arts in advertising and marketing communications from Fashion Institute of Technology where she graduated magna cum laude. Diori's HIV prevention work with LGBTQ youth in Ball culture, an LGBT subculture, has been influential in the field of public health.The Institute For Gay Men's Health, AIDS Project of Los Angeles (APLA) and Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), "What's Safe to you?" Safer Sex can mean different things to people. She is the founder of the KiKi Ballroom sceneSee NYC's Ballroom Culture's History. and is considered an expert in engaging this historically difficult-to-reach population.Suze Myers, "Let's Have a Kiki: Drag Balls Still Thrive in Manhattan." , the eye: the magazine of the columbia daily spectator, 2012.Marcus Brock of GLAAD, 'House-Mothers': Motherhood Redefined for LGBT Youth. Ebony.com, 11 May 2012.Ana Oliveira, GMHC 2004 Annual Report .Edgar Rivera Colón, Rutgers University, Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2009. Her expertise is requested for grants and program development,Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Popular Opinion Leader (POL) A Community AIDS/HIV Risk Reduction Program for Gay Men mPowerment Project, HIV prevention program that is designed to address the needs of young gay and bisexual men. and research and curriculum development.
Aisha worked at the Hetrick-Martin Institute as a Director of Health and Wellness,Hetrick-Martin Institute Staff, Aisha Diori. and is the Mother of the House of Iman, a WBT (women, butch and transgender) people house in New York City.House of Iman past events. In February 2014, Aisha joined the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem as Special Events Manager, and continues her involvement with LGBTQ people in the House ball community. In Aug 2018, Diori joined the MINA TV AFRICA in NYC as a host for their Award Winning ABS Show covering trending news in Africa and the World.
Early life Aisha Dori was born in Nigeria to her father Abdullah and Betty Graves whilst her father was in exile.Chronology for Tuareg in Niger. Minorities at Risk Project, UNHCR Refworld, 2004. She has a brother named Chris, who was also born in Nigeria.
Diori was an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer through the Council of Churches of the City of New York. She developed programming for inner city elderly people.
Career and Ballroom In mid-1997, Diori attended the Mooshood Ball and became interested in the gender nonconformity and queer pageantry. The Ball was not simply a gay dance party; according to her blogAisha Diori, Blogspot. "It was full of safer sex messaging, freedom, pageantry sexiness, beautiful feminine women, strong handsome butch women…"Aisha Diori, on Ball culture. Biography. April 2012. Diori approached Arbert Santana,HIV/AIDS Activist Arbert Santana DiesThe Commission's and the community's tireless LGBT advocate Arbert Santana dies who was then the MotherPodhurst, L.; Credle J. (2007-06-10, page 13; Intl. Conference on AIDS. 1998; 12: 913 (abstract no. 43338). NJAETC at UMDNJ, Newark 07107-3000, USA.). "HIV/AIDS risk reduction strategies for Gay youth of color in the "house" community. (Meeting Abstracts)". U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 20 October 2007. of the House of Latex and an LGBT and HIV awareness activist. Diori connected with fellow Fashion Institute of Technology classmate Ricky Revlon.Monica Roberts, NY Ballroom Hall Of Fame Awards. TransGriot, Feb. 2012. Revlon, who later became Diori's "gay father",See Ball Culture's Houses section for more info on "gay fathers" and "gay mothers." along with Santana who later became Diori's "gay mother", helped her into the House of Latex,See History of Ball Culture NYC for more info on House of Latex.Eileen McDermott, Thousands Flock to House of Latex: GMHC's outreach to gay youth of color hosts its annual spectacular. 4–10 December 2003. changing her commitment to the LGBTQ community.
Diori began working as an outreach worker at the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), hosting HIV prevention balls to curtail the number of newly HIV infected youth. Diori began participating in "walking" balls. Under the guidance of her gay parents, Diori was advised to walk in the Women's Face and Big Girls Runway categoriesSee Some Categories and their descriptions for more info on Ball Categories. for her first ball, The Black Pride Ball.. Diori won the top prize in both categories. Her interests in the ballroom culture shifted from being a participant to being a community organiser and intervention specialist. Diori received the title of "house-mother" from The House of Latex, due to her commitment to ballroom culture, a title she held for nearly five years.
In late 2007, Diori opened the House of Iman, pairing safer sex and prevention messages that specifically targeted the Women, Butch and Transgender (WBT)See WBT Ballroom Coalition.Roxi, WBT Ballroom Coalition Week One, GettingYourLife.Blogspot.com – a blog educating, uplifting and empowering the Women, Butch and Transmen Ballroom scene. ballroom scene. Aisha infused progressive safer sex and educational messaging with pageantry. The House of Iman, a name that pays homage to Diori's Nigerian heritage, continues to be a source of leadership in the WBT community.
Acknowledging that youth were not best served in the mainstream ballroom scene, Diori and Santana created the KiKiscene, a ballroom-infused HIV prevention intervention and movement focusing on LGBTQ youth ages 12 to 24, where the young people vogue, hang out with friends and get connected to HIV testing, counseling and healthcare services.Aisha on Kiki Lounge & Kiki scene.
In February 2014, Diori began working for the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem as Special Events Manager. Diori has secured successful rentals, created robust public programs, created grassroot fundraising and events for the Schomburg. She curates and manages the Schomburg First Fridays event series.
Aisha also has an entertainment spin to her existing experience in events. She is a comedian and event MC for many events within the Black Diaspora such as (Miss Nigeria USA pageant, Nigeria Ent Awards, African Diaspora Awards, Afropolitan NYC, Africa Restaurant Week, Schomburg Center Comic Book Festival Cosplay, BAM Black Comix Festival, MASCARA Trans Day Of Remembrance Conference, First Fridays at the Schomburg, One Africa Music Week NYC, Afro beats To The World at PlayStation Theater 2019, NYC Black Pride NYC to name a few). She has also created a comedic character named “Ms. Ayodele”, who is a no holds barred Nigerian Mother/Aunty who gives unsolicited advice on YouTube. You can also catch her on The Abs Show on Mina TV Africa, where she and her co-hosts bring you up to speed on popular culture topics in Africa.
Aisha also has an entertainment spin to her existing experience in events. She is a comedian and event MC for many events within the Black Diaspora such as Miss Nigeria USA pageant, Nigeria Ent Awards, African Diaspora Awards, Afropolitan NYC, Africa Restaurant Week, Schomburg Center Comic Book Festival Cosplay, BAM Black Comix Festival, MASCARA Trans Day Of Remembrance Conference, First Fridays at the Schomburg, One Africa Music Week NYC, Afro beats To The World at PlayStation Theater 2019, and NYC Black Pride NYC. She has a comedic YouTube channel where she plays the character "Ms. Ayodele," a no holds barred sassy Nigerian Mother/Aunty who gives unsolicited advice. She is also a host on The Abs Show on Mina TV Africa where she and her co-hosts discuss topics in African popular culture.
Diori fostered the creation of a social conscious collective of creatives to create a Charity called Africa Everything . It promotes an Annual Afro beats Diaspora event fundraiser, a collective formed to promote and empower the Black African Diaspora with music, culture, and unique event experiences. Funds raised are invested in helping foster educational programs and initiatives all over West Africa.
Professional memberships C2P: Connect to Protect, NYC Year-Current. Research Committee for Edgar Rivera Colon's dissertation, Getting life in two worlds: power and prevention in the New York City House Ball community, 2009. Marlon Bailey'sMarlon Bailey interviews for his book, Butch/Queens Up in Pumps: Gender, Performance, and Ballroom Culture in Detroit,Bailey, M. M. Butch/Queens Up in Pumps: Gender, Performance, and Ballroom Culture in Detroit. The University of Michigan Press. Manuscript in progress. 2012. HIV Vaccine Trial Network, Community ConveningHIV Vaccine Trial Network National House & Ball Leadership Convening,REACH LA – First ever National House & Ball Leadership Convening 2011 a project of REACH L.A.Reach L.A. 2011–Current. (TEACH) 2003–2004.TEACH , an initiative of American Public Health Association. A partnership between a large and established community-based organization, and investigators from a school of public health resulted in the implementation of the TEACH Initiative which provided competency-based training to 31 interns from community-based organizations serving MSM of color. The program focused on equipping interns with the tools needed to translate their knowledge of their communities into innovative, evaluation-ready, behavioral science-based HIV prevention interventions. Those who successfully completed all six tracks of study were certified as Community Health Specialist (CHS). Diori developed a governing body, made up of community organisations, parents, leaders and stakeholders in the KiKi ballroom scene, called The KiKi Coalition. It continues to meet monthly in NYC to discuss and tackle trending topics, strategies and updates on best practices for HIV/STI prevention and treatment in the KiKi community. Year-Current. New York City and New Jersey Council of Houses board member. Advisor for "Newark is Burning" New Jersey Performing Arts Center, theatrical performance about Ball culture.Newark is Burning. 2011. Evaluation development of House of Latex Ball and House of Latex Project Surveys. Created the framework for evaluating interventions. National Minority AIDS Council's United States Conference on AIDS, New Orleans, LA. "Effective Youth and Young Adult Prevention Leadership Programming in the Kiki House Ball Scene," 2013.Diori, Aisha and Cardwell, Erica. "Effective Youth and Young Adult Prevention Leadership Programming in the Kiki House Ball Scene." US Conference on AIDS 2013.
Honors and awards AAOGC Marsha P. Johnson Lifetime Achievement Award For Community Leadership 2018 House of Latex Ball's Ross Infinite Creativity Award, 2013.The 2013 Latex Ball . The NY State Department of Health's AIDS Institute's World AIDS Day 2012 Commissioner's Award for her HIV prevention intervention Stars of CHANGE for Kiki Ballroom House scene youth through Hetrick-Martin Institute. NYC Heritage of Pride for Most Outstanding Message and Contingent, Hetrick-Martin Institute, 2012. NYC Heritage of Pride for Best Political Message, Hetrick-Martin Institute, 2011. NYC Black Pride Heritage Award for Community Leadership, 2011. Project HEAT Kiki Ballroom Scene Community Mobilization Award, 2011. Hetrick-Martin Institute's Damien Staff Award, 2009. NYC Latex Ball's Legendary Women's Face, 2008 (Ballroom culture, honour, designation).