Enuma Okoro is a writer, communications consultant and an award-winning author of three books on the call and challenge to the spiritual life.
With a professional background in Communications, Psychology and Theology, and her uniquely diverse global and cultural experience, Enuma’s work embraces the dynamics of effective communication, the classic spiritual traditions, and the contemporary arts. She writes, speaks and consults on numerous issues and topics based off of four key areas:
1. Identity and Belonging in a diverse world
2. Women and the transformative power of personal narratives
3. Professional and social communities and the importance of a collective and shared narrative
4. Spiritual formation, growth and holistic wellness
She understands that our life journeys are fraught with dips and turns through unlikely sanctuaries and challenging valleys. Enuma works across countries and continents to communicate effective and transformative ways for engaging our life commitments, passions and responsibilities.
She is a widely sought-after speaker and communications consultant invited to colleges, universities, for-profit and non-profit organizations, religious institutions, and conferences across the United States, Europe, Africa, and Australia. She has been listed as one of seven top Young Influencers of the next generation by Catalyst. In June, 2012 Okoro had the honor of being the first woman of African descent to speak at the historic American Church in Paris. (Martin Luther King Jr. was the first man of African descent to preach there in October 1965)
Born in New York City, Enuma Okoro was raised in four countries on three continents. Her academic background and training is in Psychology, Communications, Theology and Counseling. She is a former Editor-in-Chief for SpotLight™ Quarterly Magazine, a certified Spiritual Director in the Ignatian tradition, and she holds a Master of Divinity degree from Duke University Divinity School of which she is the former Director for the Center for Theological Writing.
Her first book, The Reluctant Pilgrim: A Moody Somewhat Self-Indulgent Introvert’s Search for Spiritual Community, was recognized by USA Book News as a 2010 Best Books Award-Winning Finalist in “Religion-Christianity.”
In 2011, Reluctant Pilgrim received the 2011 National Indie Excellent Book Awards Winning Finalist in “Spirituality and African-American Non-Fiction”
Her second book is co-authored with Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove (December 2010): Common Prayer: Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals, Zondervan Publishers.
Enuma recently released her third book, Silence, to much acclaim in September, 2012.
Enuma’s fourth book, Talking Taboo, will be released in October, 2013.
Enuma’s poetry is featured in At the Still Point: A Literary Guide to Prayer in Ordinary Time compiled by Sarah Arthur (Paraclete Press, 2011)
In addition to publishing books and speaking, Enuma is a regular contributing writer to onli
ne magazines and print resources.
She is a regular guest contributor to The Washington Post.
She is the spiritual wellness columnist for Tonya Lee Lewis’ HealthyYouNow magazine for women.
She also contributes regularly to SheLoves magazine, an online community committed to empowering women to use their voices for the health and healing of women around the world.
Enuma’s work has been featured on ABC’s Good Morning America, NPR, The Washington Post, CNN, The Michael Eric Dyson Show, The Huffington Post , Weavings Journal of the Spiritual Life, Sojourner’s Magazine, Burnside Writer’s Collective, Faith and Leadership, Her.meneutics, Neue: The Magazine for Leaders Shaping the Future of the Church, The Christian Century, Red Letter Christians (Tony Campolo and Friends), and more.
She blogs regularly at Reluctant Pilgrim hosted on the Patheos website.
