February Happiest Hour with special guests kinkofa

Founded by Jourdan Brunson and Tameshia Rudd-Ridge, kinkofa is the first-ever digital family history platform dedicated to helping Black folx uncover, document, and preserve family stories with dignity and pride. By offering culturally-relevant content, live events, and digital tools, we inspire and support the journey to explore and honor our roots. Our ultimate goal is to simplify genealogy and make family history exploration a joyful and enriching experience for all of us.

Sampada Aranke is an Associate Professor of Art History and Comparative Studies at The Ohio State University. Her research interests include performance theories of embodiment, visual culture, and black cultural and aesthetic theory. Her work has been published in e-flux, Artforum, Art Journal, ASAP/J, and October. She has written catalogue essays for Sadie Barnette, Betye Saar, Rashid Johnson, Faith Ringgold, Kambui Olujimi, Sable Elyse Smith, and Zachary Fabri. She is the recipient of the 2021 Art Journal award for her article "Blackouts and Other Visual Escapes." Her book, Death's Futurity: The Visual Life of Black Power (Duke University Press, 2023) examines the ways artists and activists reconceptualized death as a generative visual and political force in the Black Power era.

Jourdan Brunson is a family historian, product marketing expert, and Chicago native with roots in Arkansas and Mississippi—a lineage shaped by the Great Migration. For 17 years, Jourdan has uncovered his family’s history and helped others reclaim theirs. Passionate about preserving Black cultural movements like House Music and the Ballroom scene, he is deepening his expertise by learning music production. A member of the Afro-American Genealogical & Historical Society Chicago, Jourdan has trained at ​​Midwest Afro American Genealogical Institute (MAAGI), Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, and the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh. He has presented at national genealogy conferences, South by Southwest (SXSW), AfroTech, and the Society of American Archivists Archives*Records Conference. Through his work, Jourdan ensures Black cultural legacies are celebrated and honored.

Nnaemeka Ekwelum is a Black Studies researcher, artist, curator, and educator from Boston, MA (now living in Chicago, IL). His scholarly and creative work explore how friendship and collaborative art making help to amplify social and cultural narratives that care-fully respond to the political conditions of Black life globally. Under the purview of his art platform, Love Aboundz, Nnaemeka engages in the politics of care work and political education, with a critical focus on universal themes of grief, love, and hope. Since 2018, he has designed and curated public works, exhibitions, and workshops at historic and notable institutions such as Chicago’s South Side Community Arts Center and San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

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As Co-Curator and Director of Art & Engagement for AfroDisco Social Hour, Nnaemeka builds and curates immersive art installations, exhibitions, and programs/events that advance ADSH’s mission and foster safe and purpose-filled spaces/experiences that prioritize and promote the transformative possibilities of Black gathering. He is a PhD candidate in Black Studies at Northwestern University, with an Ed.M. in Arts and Education (Harvard University) and a B.A. in Comparative Ethnic Studies (Columbia University).

Tameshia Rudd-Ridge is a memory worker, public historian, and creative technologist whose work bridges the past, present, and future. A proud descendant of Dallas’s Freedmen’s Towns and the ArkLaTexOma Borderlands, where her ancestors and elders mastered the art of makin’ a way outta no way, Tameshia is a living testimony to their ingenuity and determination. For over a decade, Tameshia has used technology, culture, and design to reconnect the African Diaspora, with experiences spanning 14 African nations. As cofounder of kinkofa, Tameshia redefines how Black stories are told, documented, and shared. She has presented at South by Southwest (SXSW), AfroTech, and the Society of American Archivists Archives*Records Conference, and uses topics like Beyoncé’s groundbreaking body of work to explore and present Black history in fresh, relevant, and accessible ways.