Meet Us
Katrice Nelson, MEd., RYT
Coordinator,
DMV Black Yoga and Wellness Week
Seeking to help others thrive by nurturing body, mind, and spirit through yoga and massage is Katrice's ultimate goal. As a registered yoga teacher, Katrice has used her degree in Clinical Nutrition and certifications in wellness and Thai Foot Reflexology/ Massage to provide a holistic approach to health and wellness for adults and children. Katrice's holistic training includes Thai Massage and Reflexology, Reiki, Yoga for Adults and Children, Yoga for Athletes, and Yoga for Injury Prevention & Recovery. Teaching yoga and meditation at libraries, residential gyms, schools, and corporate offices, including CSPAN, Washington DC has been fulfilling, Katrice is a certified member of Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals and has completed certifications and training from Breathe for Change Yoga and Wellness, YogaFit, and Spiritual Essence Yoga Wellness Center. Katrice is the founder/president of Healthy Bodies Healthy Minds Yoga, Inc. - a nonprofit yoga and wellness organization for children and families.
Sherrell Moore-Tucker, MS, E-RYT
Assistant Coordinator,
DMV Black Yoga and Wellness Week
Sherrell is a trauma-informed wellness educator who began practicing and teaching yoga in 2010. When she received a diagnosis of osteoarthritis while serving in the Army her doctor recommended yoga and that recommendation transformed her life and opened the door to healing mind, body, and spirit. She is registered with the National Yoga Alliance, as an experienced registered yoga teacher (E-RYT-200), having taught over 1,000 hours of yoga. She has completed training and certifications for iRest® Level 1 teacher informed by the teachings of Dr. Richard Miller and iRest Institute, Restorative Yoga for Race-Based Traumatic Stress Injury informed by the teachings of Dr. Gail Parker, Christian & Biblical meditation informed by the teachings of Dr. K.D Weaver and the Sleeping with God Meditation Center, and she is on track to complete training for Yoga for Arthritis (YFA) Level I teacher in Fall 2022.
Guest Instructor, Yoga Retreat
Dana A. Smith is the founder and owner of Spiritual Essence Yoga and creative visionary behind the international YES! Yoga Has Curves movement. She is a wife, mother, certified yoga teacher/trainer, coach and wellness practitioner. Since 2003, she has been a pioneer for inclusive yoga in the West.
Dana teaches yoga as a tool for powerful life transformation. Even though she has trained over 500 yoga teachers since 2008, she considers herself a lifelong student.
Guest Drumming Instructor, Yoga Retreat
Yuma "Docta Yew" Bellomee is a holistic wellness consultant, herbalist, and percussionist who's been playing and studying rhythms of West Africa and the African diaspora since his childhood. Throughout the years, Docta Yew has drummed for a number of festivals, dance classes, stage performances, ceremonies, and presentations, with a genuine passion for the connection between music, culture, healing, and personal development. He currently teaches drum classes in the Washington, DC metro area, drums regularly with Ni Dembaya African Drum & Dance Ensemble and Coyaba Dance Theater, and supports many other African drumming ensembles & other musicians, locally and abroad.
Travis Spencer
Guest Speaker- Men's Retreat
Travis Spencer is a licensed mental health therapist and mindfulness teacher/facilitator. Over the years, He generously dedicated himself to serving Black and Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) through counseling, adults, teens, children, and families. Travis is a mental health coordinator for Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (IBme) retreats in Virginia and in California. Additionally, Travis established:
● The Institute of African American Mindfulness (IAAM).
● The Mindful Teen Circles (MTC) at Georgetown (MTC@GT), Mindful Teens of Color at Maya Angelou Academy at Youth Services Center(MTC@MAA@YSC), and the Mindful Teens of Color at Taratibu Youth Association (MTC@TYA).
Travis is a graduate of Trinity Washington University with a Master of Arts degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Travis fosters ongoing relationships and partnerships with Educare DC, Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW. He is an active member of the Early Childhood Innovation Network - MedStar Georgetown (ECIN).
Stacee Johnson
Guest Instructor- Sound Meditation
Yoga Retreat
Stacee Johnson has been practicing yoga since 1999.
Through the Pranakriya School of Yoga Healing Arts, Stacee completed both her 500-hour certification and prenatal yoga training. She is the founder ofStaCentered Yoga, LLC, providing a gentle style of yoga centered on breathwork and relaxing sound
meditations. By incorporating Sound Meditation, with the use of quartz crystal singing bowls, Himalayan singing bowls, chimes and wind gong, Stacee provides a deeply relaxing experience that helps everyone StaCentered. She has completed a certification in Culinary Health and Healing from Maryland University of Integrative Health to begin offering whole food nutrition guidance.
Candace J. Mickens
Guest Instructor- Acu-Yoga/Meditation* Yoga Retreat
Candace J. Mickens is the owner of Sacred Touch Body Work. Her mission is to reconnect the body with the mind and spirit through enhancement of body awareness and various body modalities. She is a licensed massage therapist specializing in Thai massage & Acu-Pressure, a Registered Yoga Teacher and a Reiki Master. Candace also has a non profit consulting business and combines her 30 years of experience in Finance and Operations with her love of bodywork by serving as the Board Treasurer for the Black Yoga Teachers Alliance. Her mantra is Touch is Sacred.
*Acu-yoga/meditation yoga combines my love of acupressure, reiki and massage with meditation, breath work and gentle asana. Come explore the points on your body that can be used to energize, ease anxiety, promote relaxation or support other common ailments such as headaches and indigestion.
Luther Wright
Guest Artist- Sip and Paint Session
Yoga Retreat
American Artist Luther Wright born of Washington D.C challenges the boundaries of traditional paintings as he merges old formal techniques with new modern techniques creating his own genre of art. Because he is an explorer of the visual Arts , his portfolio is vast with various styles of paintings . His style is to have no style at all . Luther explores new ways to use color , texture and strives to create interesting compositions within all his work. He draws inspiration from everyday situations , people , social media , youth ,as well as visions from his dream/meditation state. Luther believes while dreaming/meditating we are able to enter other dimensions/parallel universes and as an artist he has the ability to bring those visions back into this existing plane for others to experience in the form of art
Marcella Williams
Guest Life Coach Speaker, Yoga Retreat
Marcella’s intention is simple – to teach you how to develop the behavior that builds your legacy. Her intention takes action through her Legacy Pregaming approach, where she helps individuals create a purpose-filled ecosystems that encourages personal, financial and spiritual growth. Marcella combines her passion for personal development and legacy building as a licensed Behavioral Financial Advisor and co-founder of Legacy Builder Group, LLC, a holistic coaching and investment firm helping families build wealth with purpose. She is also a Certified Mindset and Cognitive Behavioral Coach as well as a Certified Flexibility Coach, providing audiences with a scientific approach to mental and physical discipline that create the freedom to build a legacy.
Dante Baker
Guest Instructor, Sound Meditation
Yoga Retreat
Meet Dante Baker: a passionate, fun-filled, creative, and multi-talented man in the holistic healing arts. Dante personally trains and sees private clients for massage, physical exercise, and Reiki, teaches meditation, yoga, and qi gong classes, and performs crystal and Tibetan Sound Concerts. His philosophy is that the body has innate wisdom within itself, and the tools and services he provides empower your neuro-somatic body to heal & evolve naturally while attuning to multi-dimensional phyllotactic cellular geometries.
My vision for planet earth is to see a self-sustaining holistic center fully operational in every town in the world. All types of people go into these centers for profound evolutionary transformation of the soul.
Dr. Trenace Richardson, RYT, M.Div., Ed.D.
As a Christian minister, international speaker, author, leadership mentor, and vocalist, Trenace had been taught that yoga and all things associated with it were not of God. By simply daring to experience yoga for herself, Trenace had a God-Encounter that has brought her faithfully back to her mat ever since. Trenace teaches yoga weekly at Shabach Yoga in Waldorf, MD, and has taught yoga across the country and abroad. She is a certified Gospel Yoga Flow® instructor and strives to be a light, bridging the gap between yoga and those who have yet to experience it.
A lover of learning and all things academic, Dr. Richardson earned a Master of Divinity degree from Howard University and a doctorate in Higher Education Administration from The George Washington University. She currently serves as Interim Associate Vice President of Human Resources at the College of Southern Maryland. Trenace also founded REAL Women Rock®, a 501c(3) non-profit that exists to create safe spaces for women to do personal development work on themselves through sister circles. Trenace mentors women leaders through her membership community, Leading with Soul®.
Free BenJamin
Guest Songtress, Yoga Retreat
Free benJamin is a dc based passionate singer/songwriter/artist. When asked how long she’s been singing her response is “I don’t remember not singing". Free’s infinite goal as an artist is to always create and share messages of LOVE because LOVE Heals.