Ayo Handy Kendi

AYO HANDY KENDI has assisted in the growth and development of individuals and communities for over 30 years. PositivEnergyWorks™ is her recent venture which is a health service focusing on breathwork, alternative therapies and life coaching using PositivEnergy™ Principles - a charged-up, wholistic approach to wellness, offering breathshops. transformational breathing, workshops, demo/lectures & diversity trainings. PositivEnergyWorks has acquired a wholistic health studio located at 3000 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.

Since 1989, Ayo Handy Kendi has served as Founder/Director of the African American Holiday Association (AAHA), which perpetuates and preserves culture through traditional and non-traditional holidays, celebrations and rituals. She has been blessed to appear on radio, t.v and in print in the Washington Metropolitan area and globally as a recognized authority on cultural holidays, celebrations and rituals. In 1982, she founded the African American Holiday Expo which today provides a learning and earning experience for her Youth Entrepreneur Project (YEP). Furthermore, she is the founder of three commemorative wholydays, Black Love Day, Unity in Diversity Day and Ancestor Honor Day, in addition to a new tradition, "The Ritual of Reconciliation". Renown as "Mama Ayo, the Kwanzaa Griot", she has presented lectures, workshops, and cultural performances as a Griot (storyteller) before thousands. She also officiates ceremonies and rituals such as Libations, Kwanzaa Candlelighting ceremonies, Juneteenth celebrations, African Weddings and Rites of Passage programs.