Mokah was Born in Jamaica and came to the United States when she was six years old. She lived in Reading, Pennsylvania before moving to Florida, where she spent most of her childhood. She graduated from West Orange High School and attended Daytona Beach Community College, Florida Metropolitan University and Full Sail University earning her bachelor’s in Marketing and Business Management and a master’s in Education, Media and Design Technology.  As an adult she has lived in New York and Boston, in addition to serving in the National Guard. She came to Athens in 2012 to visit her niece and fell in love with the town as a good place to raise children and work on her career in entertainment. 

 

Mokah is a Social Entrepreneur, having worked on many campaigns and co-founded the Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement (AADM). She is also the co-founder of the United Group of Artists, an event and entertainment production company, along with her husband, Knowa. Mokah is an activist and speaker, spending the majority of her time working on various social justice projects. Her podcast, Mokah Speaks, focuses on social activism, Georgia politics and Black culture. Mokah is also a published author, musician and dancer. She lives with her husband Knowa on the West Side of Athens. Together they have eight children, all grown, and 13 grandchildren, three of whom live in the Athens area. You can find Mokah’s podcast on Apple Podcasts, and on her website, mokahjohnsonedu.com. 

 

What is your favorite part of your work?

 

Definitely serving others and trying to make a difference in our community. I like being able to help people and make an impact in their lives. Even when we have our events, like concerts, community events, it’s creating an experience in peoples’ lives in a way that can empower them whether through music, or learning how to use your voice to fight for something you believe in or protecting your own rights.

 

When you’re not working, what are your favorite things to do in and around Athens?

 

My husband and I are very music oriented, so we spend a lot of time writing music or just listening to music. Also dancing. I don’t have a lot of time that I get to spend socially in Athens. I spend a lot of time between things just trying to read or rest or take time to unplug because the work that we do is so stimulating and it’s constantly serving others and being connected to other people. So I try to spend as much time just relaxing with music or in nature or just being creative.

 

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?

 

Right now on my bucket list is Jamaica, to go back home. It’s where I’m originally from and I haven’t been there in many years. Probably over 20 years. I think it’s time for me to go back home and reconnect with my roots because it’s where I came from. I think it’s very important especially now with all these different nuances of what’s happening in this society. Another place I want to go, because of my heritage, would be China. My mother is Jamaican-Chinese, her maiden name was Lee and that’s one of the most common surnames in Jamaica. You could look at me and never tell that is a part of  my heritage. But there was a time between 1854 and 1886 when a serious migration of Chinese laborers were taken to Jamaica for plantation work, so the Jamaican Chinese culture is embedded in Jamaica’s history.  So those are two places I want to go, because of my heritage and just to know. I never got to meet my grandparents, my grandfather died when my mom was young. So those are two places I’d want to go and connect with my history.

 

If you could see any band or musician, anywhere, who would it be and where? 

 

The first thing that came to my mind was Bob Marley. I would like to see him in the UK, because he did a lot of traveling in England and other places, so definitely somewhere international. 

 

What advice would you give your younger self?

 

Don’t be afraid to highlight your own natural beauty and stop chasing the “Cinderella ending.” 

 

Do you have a favorite book, or one you often reference, reread or gift?

 

One of the books that I really like that I read at a young age was called Celestine Prophecy. I think that book was a turning point in my life, where I started to see things differently. I was already seeing things in a unique way, but Celestine Prophecy put a different lens on it. Right now I’m reading a really good book called The Silva Mind Control Method. Those are the kind of books I like, like self help books.

 

What’s the last show you binge watched and loved?

 

I’ve been watching a lot of dramas lately, because they distract me. I’ve been watching Sistas on BET, it’s just a modern day soap about the drama that happens in single women’s lives. It’s something I’ve been binge watching that keeps me from thinking about all the other stuff, the chance to just sit there and watch other people go through stuff.

 

If you could put any message on a billboard, what would it be?

 

“Your freedom is worth fighting for” is one that comes to mind. A lot of us at this point in time, if there’s some kind of injustice, it’s easy for us to just move on because it’s too much trouble to really stand up and be uncomfortable or whatever the case may be. So you don’t really address it. But your freedom is worth fighting for because if somebody wrongs you and nobody speaks of it, it just perpetuates that wrong. It makes it worse. 

 

If you could have lunch with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and where?

 

Maya Angelou. Anywhere that she would want to have lunch. I would love to sit down with that lady.

 

What three words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word “home”?

 

My husband, my family, my kids. No matter where I am, if my husband or kids are with me or nearby I feel at home.