Lavinya Stennett, a Jamaican Brit, founded The Black Curriculum in 2019 at age 22. The spark emerged having graduated from London’s School of Oriental and African Studies and is inspired by her learning and experience with indigenous communities in New Zealand.

As a student, she expressed her activism as the ‘Working Class Student Officer’ and co-founding the Art and the African Mind Society, which aimed to promote and provide African-centred art and information as well as support for students.
Continuing to engage in her love of writing, she published her dissertation winning the inaugural Walter Rodney Prize, and has written on social and cultural themes throughout the African diaspora for outlets including the Guardian, Black Ballad, Quartz Africa.

Believing in the power of education, social impact and youth social entrepreneurship, her work has been recognised globally from Vogue and GQ to the historic Freedom of the City of London Award in 2024.

Expanding her entrpreneurship journey, in 2024 Lavinya co-founded the Racial Impact Collective, an initiative supporting social entrepreneurs and seeking equity in the grant making world.