Dr. Norma Thomas
Co-Founder
Dr. Thomas has been a dedicated social worker and leader in the field of gerontology for over 40 years with over 20 years of that experience also being complemented by her work in academia as a director of social work programs and mentor for graduate students, academics of color, and BIPOC social workers rising into leadership positions. Dr. Thomas most recently served as the MSW Program Director at California University of Pennsylvania in the fall of 2007 and retired in January 2017. She was promoted to full professor in 2014. From 1994-2004 she worked for the Widener University Center for Social Work Education where she achieved tenure as an Associate Professor, also holding positions as Assistant Director and Baccalaureate Program Director. She worked from 1975-1984 for the Delaware County Office on Services for the Aging and from 1984-1992 for the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging. In addition, she was the co-founder and President of the Center on Ethnic & Minority Aging, Inc., Philadelphia, PA from 1995-2008. She is currently an online instructor for the Center For Social Work Education, Widener University. She is the recipient of many community service awards including most recently: 2016 Dr. Caryl Sheffield Award for Excellence, California University of Pa. , 2015 Spirit of CARIE Award-Philadelphia, Pa., 2010 Woman of Distinction Award, Southwest Women’s Ministry of the Pa. Baptist State Convention, among others. She is a licensed clinical social worker in the State of Pennsylvania (LCSW) and is a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers (ACSW). She is a lifetime member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. (Gamma Chi Omega member).
ABOUT
StoryJoy, Inc. (established 2019) roots itself ever in community and in generational interconnectedness. The originators of the concepts of age futurism, we believe deeply in the profound telling of our stories, how a story can shape reality, uncover the past, clarify the present, and build the future. Our specific expertise is working with members of historically and systemically marginalized communities to manifest our flourishing. We are the stars of our peoples, their wildest imaginings made real. We work with others to attune to that possibility and promise. We launched, Generational Archives, the podcast, to explore our approaches to generational and genealogical research and share the investigative methods (and our stories) with others.
Dr. Raina J. LeÓN
Co-Founder
Raina J. León, PhD is Black, Afro-Boricua, and from Philadelphia (Lenni Lenape ancestral lands). She is a mother, daughter, sister, madrina, comadre, partner, poet, writer, and teacher educator. She believes in collective action and community work, the profound power of holding space for the telling of our stories, and the liberatory practice of humanizing education. She seeks out communities of care and craft and is a member of the Carolina African American Writers Collective, Cave Canem, CantoMundo, Macondo. She is the author of Canticle of Idols, Boogeyman Dawn, sombra : (dis)locate, and the chapbooks, , profeta without refuge and Areyto to Atabey: Essays on the Mother(ing) Self. She publishes across forms in visual art, poetry, nonfiction, fiction, and scholarly work. She has received fellowships and residencies with the Obsidian Foundation, Community of Writers, Montana Artists Refuge, Macdowell, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, Vermont Studio Center, the Tyrone Guthrie Center in Annamaghkerrig, Ireland and Ragdale, among others. She is a founding editor of The Acentos Review, an online quarterly, international journal devoted to the promotion and publication of Latinx arts. She educates our present and future agitators/educators as a full professor of education at Saint Mary’s College of California, only the third Black person (all Black women) and the first Afro-Latina to achieve that rank there. She is additionally a digital archivist, emerging visual artist, writing coach, and curriculum developer.