Jolaoso Pretty Thunder
She lives in the deep woods of Northern California on the native land and home of the Kashaya Pomo, with her family and two dogs Rosie Farstar and Ilumina Holy Dog. She is a farmer, freedom grower, practitioner and student of herbal medicine and the founder of The Cloud Women's Dream Society, as well as a contributor and publisher of Cloud Women's Quarterly Journal. She is a well-traveled poet who loves rock, porch swings, pickup trucks, cooking, campfires, lightning, steak, long drives, hot cups of coffee, gathering and making medicine and singing with friends and family. She is a practitioner of Indigenous Spiritual and healing traditions. Generationally gifted/ cursed and charged with possessing the 5 Clairs.
Iya Darasia Selby-Adebisi (Ifatoyin Alaade Ojekemi)
is an initiate of Ifa, Oshun, and Egungun in the Lukumi and Nigerian Yoruba traditions. A native of Philadelphia, she received a BA in African-American Studies and a Masters of Liberal Arts focusing on African Diasporic Religion, both from Temple University. Darasia has worked more than ten years in the education field and the non-profit sector, currently working as an administrator of an education program at a homelessness advocacy organization in North Philadelphia. She is also the founder of River of Honey, a company dedicated to the holistic wellness of Black women, and is currently receiving training to become certified as a holistic health practitioner and doula. Darasia is an activist and community organizer, a founding member of the Philadelphia chapter of the Malcolm X Movement, a board member of the Orisa Community Development Corporation, and also a contributor to CWQJ.
Odilia Galván Rodríguez
poet, writer, editor, and social justice activist, is the author of six volumes of poetry. She has worked as an editor for Matrix Women's News Magazine, Community Mural's Magazine, Tricontinental Magazine in Havana, Cuba and most recently, the Cloud Women's Quarterly Journal (QWQJ). She facilitates creative writing workshops nationally and is a moderator of Poets Responding, and Love and Prayers for Fukushima and the World, both Facebook pages dedicated to bringing attention to social justice issues that affect the lives well-being of many people. Her poetry has appeared in numerous anthologies, and literary journals on and offline. She is a practitioner of Indigenous Spiritual and healing traditions and strives to live a simple life based on the indigenous worldview of her ancestors.
Marisa Lindsey
was born in the Philippines, and grew up outside of Hartford, Connecticut, where she currently resides. She spent over a decade working as a community and union organizer, but has recently returned to school to pursue her Masters in Social Work. Marisa is deeply committed to collective healing and liberation, and is currently working on deepening her connection to her ancestral heritage. She is in awe of the many teachers with whom she has crossed paths with, including her son, who daily gifts her with the practice of vulnerability and presence. Marisa finds joy in dancing, yoga, cooking, listening to science fiction during long drives, and fighting zombies with her son in the post-apocalyptic landscape of her backyard.
Sarah Kolker
is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, was born and raised in Philadelphia and has studied health and wellness practices in Philadelphia, Jamaica, SF Bay Area and New York City. Sarah is an Artist, Educator, Chef and Certified Yoga Instructor. She contributes mostly art and a food column to CWQJ titled, Kolks Food for Folks but also writes about self-care and yoga.
Jejela
Jejela is a farmer who lives in Northern California. She is an enthusiast of astrology, divination, DIY, yoga, and body modification.