Cooper T Sealy PhD 

Cooper T Sealy PhD is an educator, scholar, and activist whose work explores the intersections of migration, memory, and healing in Black diasporic life. Born in Ontario, Canada to Caribbean parents who migrated from Trinidad, she carries forward their legacy of courage and resilience—acknowledging their sacrifices while tracing how displacement and belonging shape identity. A convenor of people and ideas, Tamara brings deep empathy, artistry, and reflection to all that she does.

With a PhD in Cultural Theory and Cinema & Media Studies, Tamara’s scholarship has centered on how Black Canadian activists use film, photography, and storytelling to heal from intergenerational trauma. Her current work invites her to return to those narratives—not as a distant researcher, but as a participant in their ongoing unfolding—to understand how the past continues to move through her present.

Through the Acosta Institute Fellowship, Tamara hopes to deepen her healing-centered leadership and reflect on how art, story, and ancestral memory can inform collective restoration. She joins the Fellowship in a season of reflection—ready to listen, create, and imagine new ways to bring the through lines of history into the ever-present now.