About Us
Zami Collective is a container to nurture connection, community and creativity. We host retreats and residencies that are regenerative and focus on integrating a tapestry of artists, wellness, food, farming, and cultural practitioners from the African continent at different points of the value chain. We collaborate with yoga instructors in Addis Ababa and Lamu Island, Women's farming cooperatives in Nandi Hills, Photographers in Kilifi, and spotlight homegrown publications archiving East Africa's creative arts scene and nostalgic musical landscapes. Through practice, we are learning how best our Zami footprint can redistribute wealth, while connecting you with different countries and cultures in East Africa.
A Carriacou name for women who work together as friends and lovers, Zami Collective is women-led and was created with the intention to build and nurture a community with shared world views on the collective needs for material and spiritual transformation. At Zami Collective we believe we are in constant transformation. We invite you to slow down and attune to the collective internal rhythms that bind us and encourage compassion and consciousness towards the communities we are hosted in. Let us be present as we connect, create and crucially— rest.
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We ask participants to be kind, compassionate, curious and open-hearted. Please be respectful of our host communities, your fellow cohort members, and different lived experiences.
☽ Compassion
✵ Community-orientated
☽ Regenerative rest
Founder
Kulani McCartan-Demie
Selam! After spending several years living and working across the African Continent in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa, Zami Collective was seeded organically in 2023 to bring together women from different corners of the world to explore creative community in East African destinations. We are a heart-led collective, hosting rest residencies for artists, creatives and cultural workers in the Lamu archipelago and communal retreats in the sanctuary of Ethiopia’s Simien Mountains. We place value on being regenerative and compassionate, connecting with our host communities over a cup of coffee by the Indian Ocean or in the Ethiopian Highlands, and inviting them to join our community workshops to share their hopes and dreams.
I look forward to hosting you across the beautiful East African region!
