Ayọ Tometi

Her parents moved from Nigeria to United States as undocumented immigrants in 1983, the year before Tometi's birth.

During her middle school years, they faced deportation and her mother was unable to return to Nigeria for the burial of her father, Tometi's maternal grandfather, because of the ongoing case.

Her parents were eventually successful in defeating their deportation case and able to remain in the United States.

Other family and friends of Tometi, including her uncle, also battled deportation during her youth.

Tometi's parents later opened a church at which her father is a pastor, Phoenix Impact Center in Phoenix, Arizona, that also serves to help new immigrants adjust to life in the United States.

Tometi visited Nigeria for the first time when she was 17 years old and credits these experiences with shaping her approach to pro-immigration advocacy work.

Ayọ Tometi (born August 15, 1984), formerly known as Opal Tometi, is an American human rights activist, writer, strategist, and community organizer.

She is a co-founder of Black Lives Matter (BLM).

She is the former executive director of the United States' first national immigrant rights organization for people of African descent, the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), working there in various roles for over nine years.

She started as an active community organizer in her hometown advocating for human rights issues.

She has campaigned for advancing human rights, migrant rights, and racial justice worldwide.

She also worked as a case manager for survivors of domestic violence.

Ayọ Tometi is the daughter of Nigerian immigrants, who hail from the city of Lagos.

Her parents are of Yoruba ethnicity and they speak the Yoruba and Esan languages.

Her great-great-great-grandfather was born in the country of Togo, and his son, Tometi's great-grandfather was from Cameroon.

Eventually, Tometi's grandfather was born in Cameroon before emigrating to Nigeria.

The oldest of three children, she has two younger brothers and grew up in mostly suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona with other children of immigrants.

In addition to Yoruba and Esan, Tometi grew up speaking Pidgin English.

She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in public/applied history from the University of Arizona in 2005 and a master's degree in communication studies, with a specialization in advocacy and rhetoric, from Arizona State University in 2010.

In 2010, Tometi also worked as a spokesperson for the Puente Movement, an immigrants rights group in Arizona.

From 2011 to 2020, Tometi worked as co- and communications director, prior to becoming the executive director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), the first national immigrant rights organization for people of African descent.

Tometi, with community organizers, Patrisse Cullors and Alicia Garza, founded Black Lives Matter (BLM) in 2013.

Originally, Garza wrote a Facebook post in response to George Zimmerman's acquittal in the murder of Trayvon Martin.

In a response to the post, Cullors used #blacklivesmatter for the first time.

Then, Tometi contacted Cullors and Garza, interested in buying a website domain by the same name.

The three agreed, and Tometi purchased Blacklivesmatter.com, established Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter pages for the movement.

Tometi contacted numerous other activists in the Black community, alerting them of the new plans and inviting them to join by using the hashtag.

Tometi is also credited with selecting black and yellow as the organization's colors, in addition to forming BLM's social media platforms and strategy.

After witnessing the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri following Michael Brown's killing, Tometi mobilized 500 community activists for a demonstration she called the "Black Lives Matter Freedom Ride."

This event, fueled by social media, ignited a desire to turn Black Lives Matter into a global movement, addressing systemic racism and police brutality.

The demonstration consolidated voices and actions, amplifying the movement's message and sparking conversations worldwide.

After Eric Garner was killed, Tometi organized with a campaign called "Safety Beyond Policing in New York."

She is a proponent of defunding the police.

She was working as the executive director of BAJI when she first saw Garza's Facebook post in 2013.

On May 7, 2016, she received an honorary doctor of science degree from Clarkson University.

Tometi is a former case manager for survivors of domestic violence and still provides community education on the issue.

After her parents won their deportation case, Tometi began demonstrating with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

She worked as a legal observer at the US-Mexico border.

While studying at the University of Arizona, Tometi advocated against Arizona SB 1070, one of the strictest anti-immigration bills passed in the history of the United States, with the Alto Arizona campaign.

At the Black-Brown Coalition of Arizona, she also previously held a position as the lead architect.