Ayodele, MFA, Ph.D. is a Cultural Architect: an actor, playwright, director, published author and community organizer. She is the Founding Director of the Lower Bottom Playaz, Oakland's oldest North American African theater company, Co-Founder of BAMBD CDC, and Artistic Director of BAMBDFEST. She is currently serving as Oakland’s first Poet Laureate. She has received awards from Theater Bay Area, Alameda County and SF Foundation recognizing her 30+ years of arts and civic leadership. She is passionate about the arts as a tool for engaging marginalized communities in cultural organizing to design their own futures.