At the risk of sounding far less humble than she can be, Dr. Adjoa Asamoah readily acknowledges the gifts her ancestors have passed down to her. As a policy architect, behavioral analyst, and lifelong student of history, she has harnessed these talents to advance racial equity and transform communities. Her work on the CROWN Act legislation she has led since 2018 to ban hair discrimination, represents just one example of how she leverages her abilities for collective benefit.
The foundation of inherited purpose
“I am what you call a movement baby, meaning I was sort of born into this work,” Asamoah explains, describing a childhood steeped in activism and intellectual engagement. By age two, she had attended her first rally. By five, she was sitting in college classrooms. By seven, she was participating in organizing efforts alongside her parents, one born in the American South during Jim Crow, the other in what would become Ghana under colonial rule.
It was at age nine, however, standing at what is known as the “Door of No Return” in Ghana, the final exit point for countless Africans forced into enslavement, that young Asamoah made a decision that would define her path forward.
“You cannot go into one of those places and come out unchanged. It is impossible,” she recalls. In that moment, confronting the historical trauma of her ancestors, she resolved “to work to improve the quality of life of Black people” and “to ensure that that never happened to us again.”
This early awakening to historical consciousness forms the foundation of what Asamoah identifies as her first superpower: being a student of history who lets the past inform her approach to the present.
The five superpowers of collective transformation
Throughout our conversation, Asamoah reveals five distinct capabilities that drive her work:
1. Historical consciousness: “Being a student of history and working diligently to have a command of history and letting history inform my how.”
2. Policy architecture: The ability to develop policy and build the coalitions necessary to create legislative change, as evidenced by her work on the CROWN Act.
3. Psychological insight: With three degrees in psychology and training as an applied behavior analyst, Asamoah brings a deep understanding of human behavior to her work. “I am interested in people’s stories,” she notes, explaining how this helps her “decide what to do.”
4. Empathic listening: “Being able to listen and understand people” stands as one of the gifts she values most, though she admits she doesn’t talk about it much.
5. Collective orientation: Perhaps most fundamentally, Asamoah embodies “all things collectivity,” approaching her work with a commitment to “moving forward as a unit versus individualism.”
These capabilities don’t exist in isolation. Rather, they function as an integrated system through which Asamoah advances her vision for social transformation.
From survival to thriving
When asked about maintaining balance between building a personal legacy and prioritizing self-care, Asamoah immediately reframes the question.
“Candidly, I am less concerned with my personal legacy. I am more concerned with our collective survival and getting to a place where we are thriving,” she states. “Some of us are admittedly still trying to survive. I want us to move from survival to thriving.”
This collective orientation shapes her approach to empowering other women as well. She describes herself as “very intentional about lifting other sisters up,” with a particular talent for “seeing people’s greatness even when they don’t” and “highlighting it and pulling it out.”
For Asamoah, mentorship represents a critical element of collective progress. She emphasizes an “intergenerational approach to whatever you’re trying to accomplish,” noting that “preparing my replacement is something that is critically important to me. I will not be here forever. None of us will be. We are all just passing through and running our leg of the race.”
The power of policy consciousness
One of Asamoah’s most urgent messages involves the relationship between policy and daily life. “So much of our lives are directly impacted by policy,” she emphasizes, advocating for more people to become “consumers of policy.”
This doesn’t mean everyone must become “a political operative or a complete policy nerd,” she clarifies, but rather that people should “think more critically about the role that policy plays in our daily lives.” Her vision includes a world where more people are “consumers of policy, creators of policy, following the politics of policy making.”
Central to this vision is the recognition and exercise of collective power. “Embracing our power is key,” she insists, “not letting folks convince us that we have none, because once you believe that you have no power, then how would you ever leverage it?”
The resistance includes rest
Despite her emphasis on collective action, Asamoah acknowledges she has “not done the best job” balancing work and self-care. “Even as a still licensed therapist, I know the importance of rest, restoration, relaxing, removing stress, not just managing it.”
She has begun to approach self-care with the same intentionality that characterizes her other efforts, recognizing that “those things have to be part of the resistance. We’re not able to be our best selves when we are stressed out.”
This perspective reflects her understanding that true collective progress demands sustainability, that the marathon of justice requires participants who can endure.
The inheritance of responsibility
Throughout the conversation, Asamoah returns to the theme of honoring ancestral sacrifice through present action. “We are the offspring of those who survived. They couldn’t kill them all,” she reflects. “And there’s a great debt of gratitude we owe them.”
This sense of obligation informs her approach to language and narrative as well. “We gotta be mindful about our language,” she cautions, emphasizing the importance of honoring ancestors and “centering their humanity.”
In Dr. Adjoa Asamoah’s worldview, superpowers aren’t extraordinary abilities divorced from everyday reality, but rather inherited gifts deployed in service of collective liberation. Her story reminds us that true power emerges not from individual exceptionalism but from the conscientious application of our talents toward shared progress.
As she puts it, “I always leverage them for our collective benefit.”
