Adaku Utah

Queer | Gender-nonconforming

Overview
Adaku Utah is a queer Nigerian-American gender-nonconforming healer, organizer, and cultural worker known for their work at the intersections of Black liberation, transformative justice, reproductive rights, and embodied healing. They are the founder of Harriet’s Apothecary, a collective centering healing and wellness practices rooted in the traditions of Black, Indigenous, and queer communities.

Early Life and Identity
Born in Nigeria and raised in the United States, Adaku Utah grew up within a lineage of traditional healers. Their identity as a queer gender-nonconforming person deeply informs their commitment to collective liberation, embodied resilience, and dismantling systems of oppression.

Career and Activism
Utah’s work spans organizing, education, healing justice, and performance art. They are widely recognized for creating healing spaces that challenge the carceral state and uplift the autonomy of BIPOC communities, especially queer and trans people of color. Through Harriet’s Apothecary, they have convened hundreds of workshops, rituals, and wellness retreats that promote non-Western healing practices and prioritize communal care over institutional violence.

They have collaborated with national organizations such as the Audre Lorde Project, Black Lives Matter, and National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network, and have led healing justice strategy for movements across the United States.

Legacy and Impact
Adaku Utah is a leading voice in the healing justice movement. Their work is often cited in conversations about transformative justice, abolitionist frameworks, and queer futurism. They challenge the commodification of wellness and advocate for reclaiming ancestral wisdom and body sovereignty. Their vision has influenced an entire generation of queer, Black, and feminist organizers who center healing as a strategy for resistance.

Notable Quotes