Nacala Ayele

Nacala was born and raised in the Occupied Territory of the Duwamish Tribe, also known as  Seattle Washington. She brings to the Tubman Center decades of experience of activism, community building, and direct service work in local shelters.

As an activist Nacala was a founding member of Cop Watch 206 in 1997.  Cop Watch 206 was created to address a string of local police murders of Black People. In a time before cell phones with cameras, organizers would document police stops and wait to make sure the person who was stopped left the stop alive. She participated on the Youth Action Committee for the African American Heritage Museum And Cultural Center, and built coalitions across the city around various issues ranging from police accountability to removing JROTC programs from local highschools.

As a healer, Nacala has been a massage therapist for 13 years in a variety of settings. Her other passion is African Diasporic food history and decolonizing your diet for health.

Nacala is most excited to bring her understanding of systemic inequity to collaborate and build a revolutionary healthcare center that centers the people who are most neglected and underserved in healthcare in a way that is loving, respectful and of the highest quality
  • Superpower: Healing and restoration during times of crisis
  • Kryptonite: YouTube
  • Known on the streets for: Amazing food...and these hands (I am a Massage Therapist after all!)
  • When not at work: You can find me at the club, because I love to dance!
  • I identify as: African-American, of African Descent, Unapologetically Black, cis-gendered, Woman, Seattleite, healer, world traveler, African Diasporic food historian, dancer, wannabe singer-REALLY wannabe singer.
  • I dedicate my work at the Tubman Center for Health & Freedom to…: My Uncle Darnell whom I never met. He died at 4 years old after being denied life saving treatment by White Doctors. Even the morgues were segregated at that time, so my family had to bring his body home in the car. Black Lives Matter. Always have, do now and always will.