Makini Niliwambieni a.k.a. Mama Makini reflects on her life and what brought her to dedicate decades to performing, choreographing, and teaching African styles of dance. She talks about growing-up in Trenton, NJ, where she was exposed to “Black Arts” coming out of the Civil Rights Movement. She first started attending African Dance classes as part of the African People’s Action School, which was closely related to the socialist All African People Revolutionary Party founded by Kwame NKrumah of Ghana. She speaks about her children and how they enjoyed dance to various degrees. She says her youngest daughter could remember dance moves better than her. She also speaks about her first impressions of Washington, D.C. and how she liked the slower pace of D.C. compared to the New York / Trenton Area. Mama Makini talks about why she likes to choreograph and work with young people. She also discusses how she got into religion, particularly sanatoria, and why she thinks it is important for African-Americans to get a sense of identity from Africa.