Our founder, Adeeba Dwanimen Deterville, Ph.D. was Born and raised in Los Angeles, California. I was blessed to grow up during the vibrant Black is Beautiful 1960s & 70s. I married my first husband in January of 1981, at age 18, by the end of the year, he and I moved to Tucson, Arizona. After several life changing experiences (including domestic violence, the birth of our daughter, postpartum depression and a suicide attempt) we relocated to San Diego, CA. Divorcing in 1989, I enrolled in community college to reconnect with my sense of self and community. 

As a young student in the San Diego Community College District I took several Black Studies courses. Many of the faculty and administrators were members of the San Diego Chapter of ABPsi (The Association of Black Psychologists). It was through their jegnaship relationships that the process of my psycho-spiritual healing and intellectual development began. As a result I have been an active member of ABPsi since 1989.My engagement with the study and application of the African science of African/Black Psychology has never wavered. It has allowed me to survive and thrive through life’s’ ups and downs. In 1997 I moved to Oakland, CA and joined the Bay Area ABPsi Chapter. In 2918, I moved to Sacramento CA and became one of the co-founders of the Greater Sacramento Chapter of ABPsi. Over the years I’ve served in a number of local and national leadership roles, including Co-Chair of the Certification in AfricanBlack Psychology Committee and currently as General Assembly Chair. 

After years of personal development and professional advancement I decided to shift my career from the non-profit and corporate sector to academia. At age 48 I downsized my life to return to school and dedicated the next decade to completing my academic degrees, including my Bachelors (2010), Masters (2014), and Doctorate (2020). Through a transdisciplinary study using an integrated literature review of Black Studies, African- Centered Psychology, culturally responsive teaching/learning, generative knowledge transfer, and African-rooted wisdom traditions, I developed the Sankofa Praxis as a transformational meta-theory of psycho-spiritual alignment and actualization.  

My academic career was primarily centered at my alma mater the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). I have held several staff and faculty positions; as well as being the creator of the Black Psychology Project at CIIS (established in 2015) now in its tenth year. I am also the Founding Director of the Center for Black & Indigenous Praxis at CIIS. I retired as Professor Emeritus from the School of Undergraduate Studies, Bachelors of Science in Psychology program in 2024.

My most important roles are that of wife and Yeye. I married my second husband in 1999 in an African-rooted ceremony. Establishing our marriage as practitioners of the African spiritual system Lucumi. In 2024, alongside my husband, I was initiated into the Ifa tradition in Ikirie Nigeria by Kabysei Babalawo Adeknmi Adewwale Ifagbuyi. As such, I was bestowed the title and name, Iyanifa Odunbaku Makanjuola Ifayemi. My daughter, Kristen Mae Dean Nelson Scott, blessed me with birthing five children (one of which passed as an infant), through her remarriage, she expanded our family with seven step-children –blessing us to be grandparents to eleven. Sadly, my beloved daughter passed away in 2022 at age 38. Her linage continues with the births of our three great-grand children.