About Us

WHO WE ARE
The Armah Institute of Emotional Justice is a creative, cultural and intellectual institute implementing the framework Emotional Justice by producing living archives, developing narrative interventions and institutionalizing emotional wellness.

Our Mission

The Armah Institute of Emotional Justice builds emotional infrastructure as a leadership development strategy.

Our Purpose

• Advancing education
• Producing cultural knowledge
• Strengthening community leadership
• Expanding public narratives about race, gender, and power
• Institutionalizing emotional wellness

Our Strategy

MOVING MASCULINITY Global Lab
WELLNESS IN THE FACE OF WARFARE
Narrative archives, eg, THE BLACK FRONTLINE
Storytelling, ceremony, dialogue, research

How We Work

We operate across four domains:

INTELLECTUAL
Emotional Justice framework

CULTURAL
storytelling • archives • narrative interventions

PRACTICE
leadership development • emotional infrastructure capacity training

INSTITUTIONAL
emotional wellness as structural intervention in leadership, organizations and power

Our Team

Esther Armah

Founder and CEO

Esther A. Armah was an international journalist, is a playwright, author, and public intellectual whose work examines race, power, and the emotional life that sustains systems and shapes leaders. She is the creator of Emotional Justice, a racial healing framework that builds emotional infrastructure.

Her book EMOTIONAL JUSTICE: A Roadmap for Racial Healing was a #1 New Release on Amazon for six consecutive weeks in the category General Sociology of Race Relations and was named a Top Summer 2023 Pick by Stanford Social Innovation Review.

In 2024 she was named a Soros Equality Fellow, where she developed MOVING MASCULINITY: The Emotional Justice Digital Village, a global project building emotional literacy, exploring a legacy of untreated trauma, and naming the emotional work of global Black masculinity.

As a journalist, Esther has reported across the United States, the United Kingdom, and Africa, working in London, New York, Chicago, Washington DC, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa. Her commentary has appeared on global media including MSNBC and CNN in the United States, the BBC in the United Kingdom, and Channel Africa in South Africa.

As a playwright, she has written five plays produced and staged in New York, Chicago, and Accra. She has also written and directed two short films: ...goodbye to the EMOTIONAL MAMMY... and HOW WE HOLD IT.

Her public speaking spans global institutions including Ivy League universities in the United States, the United Nations, social justice organizations in South Africa, and the healthcare sector in the United Kingdom.

Esther was the Spring 2022 Distinguished Activist in Residence at New York University’s Center for Black Visual Culture.

She claims three cities across three continents as home: London, Accra, and New York.

The Advisory Counsil

Our Advisory Council brings The AIEJ international leadership experience, fund-raising, economic, legal and media expertise.

Diallo Shabazz is a global education advisor, sustainability expert, and political activist. He specializes in restructuring and launching large-scale social impact initiatives, has held numerous senior level and executive positions across the corporate, government, and non-profit sectors. He previously served as Senior Director at the global tech company Infor, Chief Community Officer at the New York City Department of Education, and Chief Administrator of the District Council 37 Education Fund. Diallo is co-founder and board chair of Birthright AFRICA, a non-profit organization committed to providing a free educational trip to Africa for every Black student in the United States to discover their legacy of innovation.

Madonna Kendona is an economist with over a decade of experience working on issues of gender, social justice and economic development. Madonna was the Programme Officer for Special Initiatives at the African Women’s Development Fund, where she managed the organisation’s women’s rights advocacy portfolio covering 94 organisations in Africa and the Middle East.Madonna started her career at Ghana’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and has worked in both business and social worlds, as Head of Business Development for Cape Logistics, an energy infrastructure and consulting firm, as Lead Consultant at New York University’s Center for Technology and Economic Development and as Country Manager for Reach for Change, a venture philanthropist organisation that invests in early stage social entrepreneurs whose work impacts children. She resides in Ghana.

Rosalind Kilkenny McLymont has 30 years in the world of business journalism leadership. She is Publisher of Africa Strictly Business, an online portal providing content regarding the business of the 54-nation Continent. Rosalind is the Executive Editor of The Network Journal, a leading U.S.-based magazine for Black professionals and businessowners. She is a past fellow of the European Community Visitors Program.She provided entrepreneurship development expertise for the United Nations Development Program’s Africa Bureau; in Russia through the Alliance of Russian and American Women; and has served in various board director and advisory roles, notably with the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation and the Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Committee of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. She is author of Africa Strictly Business, The Steady March to Prosperity. She has been featured on U.S. radio and television programs, and has received numerous awards and citations from professional, civic, cultural, and government entities. She resides in New York.

Gregory Reid is a Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Reid and Rodriguez, a New York law firm. He serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Counsel to the National Minority Business Counsel. Gregory has provided pro bono legal representation to opponents of the Duvalier regime in Haiti, the Mobutu regime in Zaire and obtained political asylum in the US for formerly persecuted political activists. Greg has received awards from state, county, and city legislative bodies in New York State, and local community organizations, The Boys and Girls Club of America for his humanitarian work. Greg is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the highest state and federal trial and appellate courts in New York State. Greg has practiced before the United States Bankruptcy Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the New York State Court of Claims.

Kate Gardiner is the Founder of HXMXN and Grey Horse, a boutique agency building holistic communications for media brands globally. Gardiner’s work has reached millions across platforms including with PBS NewsHour, Newsweek - where she was the director of audience engagement -New York Public Radio, and Al Jazeera in Doha. Gardiner and her clients have won awards with the Online News Association and the Emmy's.She is a member of the 2016 class of Forbes' 30 Under 30, among other awards. Gardiner speaks about the role of women in the workplace, audience engagement strategies for small and midsized companies, and building community for specific, niche audiences. She resides in New York City.