Our Founder

I have come to believe that life at its deepest level is an act of remembering.

We’re all born of stories older than us. Stories embedded in blood, spirit, memory. Imbued in movement and the landscapes that shape the ones who’ve come before us. But circumstances often interrupt the continuity of those stories. These fractures often ask us to search for pieces of ourselves scattered across oceans and generations.

I was born in Trinidad and Tobago, where culture, like the ephemeral power of creativity, is a living force that flows through language, ritual, dress, music, and collective expression. From an early age, the rich complexity of Caribbean life awakened profound questions within me. My life’s work has been devoted to that sacred search: the work of remembering, reclaiming, and restoring.

I walk through the world in many roles, though I understand them all as expressions of one purpose. I’m a mother, scholar, artist, cultural practitioner, spiritual leader, and philosopher of art, Yorùbá epistemologies, and Caribbean intellectual traditions. I am an Ìyánifa (female Ifá priest) and Ìyá Oje (Eégúngún/ancestor priestess), also known by my sacred names, Ifáfunmilayo and Eégúnniwura. I was profoundly honored to be formally installed as Chief Èrèlú Awo of Iwaro Ọkà Àkókó in Ondo State, Nigeria, by His Royal Majesty, Oba Akande Omiyejola, the Asin of Ọkà Land. I hold this distinction not as a personal triumph, but as a sacred responsibility, an invitation to serve as a steward of wisdom, memory, and continuity.

My scholarly and creative work exists at the intersection of art philosophy, Trinidad Carnival, Caribbean cultural studies, dress and costume history, identity formation, and Black body politics. I have sought to create conversations between Yorùbá systems of knowledge and Caribbean philosophical traditions, tracing the invisible threads that bind ancestral consciousness to contemporary life. For me, scholarship is not merely the pursuit of knowledge but an act of restoration. It is a return to stories interrupted and histories waiting to be spoken anew.

My academic journey has carried me through studies in visual culture, arts management, exhibition design, and ultimately to earning a Ph.D. in Art Theory and Philosophy from the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, where I was honored as a 2017 David Driskell Fellow. Along the way, I have had the privilege of collaborating with museums, universities, cultural institutions, and communities across the United States and internationally, contributing through research, teaching, public scholarship, and cultural practice.

I serve as the Spiritual Head of Ilẹ Ìjósìn Ifá Òtítọ́ Ilẹ Ayé Temple in New York City; a space devoted to the transformative work of remembrance and reconnection within the Yorùbá practice of IFA in the African diaspora.

Beyond titles and recognitions, I understand myself as a student of humanity and ancestry; a traveler between worlds, listening for the echoes of those who came before us while seeking new pathways for those who will come again. I believe we do not merely inherit culture; we become responsible for its care. We become its storytellers, its witnesses, and its future memory.

 As I continue this journey, I am deeply excited to expand and deepen this work through IOIA Inc. Arts and the Diasporic School of Fine Arts, created to preserve, revitalize, and transmit African cultural knowledge through interdisciplinary arts, cultural exchange, and innovative educational practices. This work is a continuation of an unfolding journey sustained by an enduring faith in the transformative power of culture.

— Dr. Natalya Mills, Founder, IOIA Inc. Arts

Connect with our founder on Instagram @ioia_inc_arts and @chief_erelu_awo