Creators
The Givers Revival is founded & co-created by Lyriq Tye & Wakumi Douglas.
“As I liberate my individual self, I free up those around me with more ease, pleasure, and joy.” ~Wakumi Douglas
From “Escaping the Carcerality Within: Healing As My Political Project”
Lyriq Tye/The Messenger (they/them)
Tyquandra “Tye” Alrasul El Bey (they/them) is an ordained minister, singer-songwriter, activist and restorative justice practitioner. Tye, also known as ‘LyriqTye’, is an emerging recording artist described as the “Lauryn Hill of the South”. Known for their versatile cadence, introspective lyricism, and their controversial questioning, they’re often regarded as one of Miami’s best kept secrets. Their song writing credits include lyrics sung by Mya, K. Michelle and many others. They are deeply committed to easing the suffering of people impacted by incarceration given their own history with serving time in Florida state prisons on and off between ages 19 and 38.
Tye’s spiritual ministry is rooted in lyricism, meditation, Christ principle and ancestral honoring. Their work is predominantly centered around life and their spiritual journey through different kinds of churches, colleges and prisons (physical, mental and emotional). Tye is indigenous to the Americas, Aniyunwian (“the principled people” misnomered Cherokee); they relate to the Two-Spirit/Gatekeeper tradition. They are called “The Messenger”.
Tye has served as a restorative community conferencing practitioner, youth mentor and advocate supporting various abolitionist and legal reform initiatives with organizations including SOUL Sisters Leadership Collective, Dignity Power, Smile Trust, The Black Collective and Dream Defenders. In these roles, Tye has mentored women who are returning citizens, held trauma recovery circles for survivors of gun violence and led repair circles addressing internal organizational conflict, among other activities.
They currently serve as the Co-Creator & Creative Director at The Givers Revival and are working on a vinyl EP project to bring music medicine to the social justice frontline.
Wakumi Douglas (she/her)
Tanisha “Wakumi” Douglas (she/her) is a creative, social impact entrepreneur, healing arts curator, ritualist, restorative justice practitioner, mother and survivor.
“Wakumi” means “voice of the people”, “abundant one” and “lover of water”. Wakumi’s people are Jamaican by way of the Maafa, trafficked from West & Central Africa, with legacies of both enslavement & maroonage. Her matrilineal line is made up of spiritual seers, entrepreneurs & herbalists. Her patrilineal line is made up of land-owning farmers & businessmen. Her people’s migration journey began with her great-grandfather who came to the US in the late 1950s through Miami, Florida - where she currently resides - as a short-term farmer worker.
Wakumi is the daughter of an undocumented immigrant father who served 33 years in prison and a servant-leader, God-fearing mother. This fueled Wakumi’s 20-year dedication to building leadership & healing spaces among those impacted by mass incarceration and other oppressive systems. Over the course of her movement leadership, she founded & raised over $8 million for a national youth-led abolitionist non-profit and has won competitive fellowships including a 2020 Soros Justice Fellowship and a 2018 Move to End Violence fellow. She has worked as a liberatory transformation consultant, restorative justice circle keeper, social worker, trainer and popular educator for dozens of organizations including the Spark Justice Fund, United We Dream, Dream Defenders, Harlem Children’s Zone and Children’s Defense Fund. Wakumi holds a Bachelors from Georgetown University and a Masters of Social Work from Columbia University, where she founded and organized the first Columbia University “Beyond the Bars” conference in 2010 as a student organizer.
She takes great pride in her study with renowned African-centered holistic healers (beginning in 2011). Wakumi holds spiritual ceremony rooted in Pan-African spiritual cosmologies. She is an iyanifa, initiated into the Ifa tradition (Yoruba) in 2023.
Wakumi’s work has been featured in Dr. Monique Morris’ 2019 documentary PUSHOUT: Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools as a pioneer on the subject as well as Huffington Post, NPR and Miami New Times and books including Sing a Rhythm, Dance a Blues (Morris) and Making Change (Kruse). She has spoken on stages at Google and the National Educators Association and has shared the stage with Dr. Angela Davis, Ericka Huggins and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley.
Wakumi is currently focused on writing, deepening her practice in the sacred arts, curating healing & spiritual experiences for social movements through recent projects including The Givers Revival and living a joy-filled life.