Black History Month Spotlight: Sherri Smith

AYA HOUSE
Feb 5
3 min read

February 5, 2026

Sherri Smith is a Detroit-born community advocate and wellness leader whose life’s work is rooted in Black liberation, collective care, and generational healing. Raised on the West Side of Detroit and a graduate of Renaissance High School, Sherri brings intention, integrity, and deep cultural grounding to everything she does.

Sherri describes herself as a Black woman who believes that the well-being of the community is essential to its sustainability and progression. Her advocacy centers Black people, Black knowledge, and Black futures. She approaches her work with the understanding that wellness is not an individual pursuit, but a collective responsibility.

Her connection to Aya House began with alignment. The mission and values of Aya House reflected what she already stood for as a Black woman, advocate, and human being. The founding members embodied the kind of community she believes in, and she felt called to contribute to the growth and expansion of the space.

For Sherri, wellness is the heartbeat of any community. It means living fully and intentionally across all dimensions of life, mental, physical, financial, spiritual, and psychological. True wellness exists when Black people can walk freely in that space without fear, and when systems are set up to support not only the present, but generations to come.

Her work contributes to Black life, love, and legacy through advocacy, education, and collaboration. She believes in working alongside individuals and organizations to fulfill a bigger vision of collective wellness. Whether through protest, education, or knowledge-sharing, her approach is rooted in doing the work for the good of the people, by any means necessary.

Sherri draws her deepest inspiration from her mother, Mama Akua, a well-known activist who fought for the rights of people of color and women across the world. Watching her mother move with integrity, clarity, and cultural pride shaped Sherri’s own understanding of leadership and responsibility. Mama Akua also gave all her children African names, grounding them in heritage and identity. Sherri’s African name is Malayka, a reminder of the legacy she carries forward.

Black love, in Sherri’s life, looks like never giving up. It is honoring the sacrifices of ancestors who worked not for themselves, but for future generations. It is showing up consistently for Black people, Black brilliance, and Black possibility, even when the work is hard.

At Aya House, Sherri resonates deeply with the culture of collaboration and community. The space has supported her personal goals without asking for anything in return except her success. One of the most meaningful moments of her membership was hosting her daughter’s rites of passage at Aya House, an experience that brought together old friends and new, and honored something both sacred and cultural in a space that held it with care.

When asked what she would tell someone considering membership or sponsorship, Sherri speaks from the heart. Community is what you gain. Aya House offers friendship, encouragement, rest, and wellness, especially for Black leaders and organizers who often forget how hard and tiring life can be. There is no amount of money that can replace the sense of belonging and connection found here.

As she enters a new chapter, Sherri is embracing life beyond motherhood and focusing on building a business in the wellness space, deepening her own care practices, and supporting her children as they pursue their passions. Honoring her own well-being, she says, is essential to loving herself and others fully.

Sherri Smith, also known as Malayka, reminds us that Black wellness, Black love, and Black legacy are inseparable. At Aya House, her presence is part of the history still being written.