My Story

The Woman Behind The Mama Wize

Yejide The Mama Wize is a multi-faceted entrepreneur and Founder of We Manifest, Inc. We Manifest, Inc is a Brooklyn-based, black woman owned and operated performance and production company, dedicated to creating high quality showcases and engaging discussions. She is also the creator and distributor of Balance Wearable Art, her handcrafted, plant based, healing remedies for hair, skin & body. The Balance line includes eclectic jewelry ,hair ornaments & her mother’s self published books.

The Mama Wize is technically trained in multiple dance styles, including Tap, Modern, Jazz, Ballet, East Indian, West African  Mudras,  & Bolero. Taught by world renowned dance technicians including Kevin Jeff of Jubilation, Linda Sprigs from Alvin Ailey, Tommy Tune & Leslie Dockery of Broadway fame, Nafisa Sharriff of The Chuck Davis Dancers and Ester Grant of Forces Of Nature. She has graced the stages of Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Alice Tully Hall, Madison Square Garden, and Club Citta, in Tokyo. She was the Director of The African Islamic Ballet for 2 years.

Yejide has created and produced the all-women feature showcase series called “D.A.W.T.A.H.Z.” (Directing Artistic Women To Aesthetic Horizons ~ Zenith, the height we aspire to reach). She has facilitated, paneled and performed for community forums advocating literacy, black power, female reproductive rights, political prisoners and she’s against the prison industrial complex.

Inspired by the great music collection of her parents & siblings, The Mama Wize is the producer and creative muse behind the Mixcloud podcast CHURCH and co Producer of the live Twitch broadcast of The Saturday Nite Dance Party with DJ Evil Dee.

She grows vegetables and herbs on her Brooklyn terrace to use in her all natural Balance Wearable Art products and enjoys cooking culinary treats that she posts on her tumblr blog, #MamaWizeCooken. She single handedly catered for the entire cast on the last day of taping for director Stacey Muhammad’s You Tube miniseries “For Colored Boys”.

The Mama Wize is a skilled writer, taking after her mother, and has been a contributing writer for several online periodicals and grassroots magazines. She penned a socio-political column in The Black Track Newspaper called, “Let Me Just Remind You..”

Yejide is a member of the New York City Paralegal Association, Inc., ASCAP/ TajKo Publishing, the National Federation of Paralegal Associations, Mukahayah Ltd. Publishing, the Empire State Alliance of Paralegal Associations, Mommas Hip Hop Kitchen, and Make Manifest Community Hub. She was honored with the Woman Award presented by W.E.R.I.S.E.

Yejide received her Desktop Publishing Certificate from the African Islamic Institute in 1992. She earned her B.S. in Criminal Justice from John Jay College in 1997 and her Paralegal Certificate with Distinction from Long Island University in 2005. Yejide has also been a Notary Public since 2010.