Slider Background

Dr. Imani Woody

Dr. Imani Woody

Dr. Imani Woody
President and CEO

Dr. Imani Woody has been an advocate of women, people of color and LGBTQ people for more than 25 years. She has served on the board of directors of the Mautner Project for Lesbians, Women in the Life Association, Whitman Walker Lesbian Services and is the former Chair of SAGE Metro DC. Dr. Woody was appointed Commissioner by former DC Mayor Vincent Gray and DC Mayor Muriel Bowser to the Office of LGBTQ Affairs. She was recently appointed Commissioner by Mayor Bowser to serve on the Global Age-Friendly Task Force.

Dr. Woody is the Program Officer for the 50+ Ministry of Metropolitan Community Churches and serves on the Board LGBT Technology Institute. She is the principal of IWF Consulting, LLC providing Board and Staff development. She has been a life coach for more than 10 years delivering Living Life Like It’s Golden, a program that empowers people, particularly people of color and women to live their lives more fully through visioning.

As a veteran community organizer, Dr. Woody retired from AARP to start Mary’s House for Older Adults, a not-for-profit organization with the vision and commitment to serve LGBTQ/SGL elders experiencing housing insecurity and isolation. She has spoken out locally and nationally about LGBTQ/SGL individuals, aging and the specific jeopardies that LGBTQ/SGL elders of color face as they age. Dr. Woody brought these perspectives and decades of community praxis to the 2015 White House Summit on LGBT elder housing development. More recently, she secured an expert board of advisors and a commitment of $1.2 million from the District of Columbia to begin construction on the first Mary’s House dwelling, a 15-room community residence located in Southeast Washington, DC.

Dr. Woody has a PhD in Human Services specializing in Management of Nonprofit agencies. Her thesis explored issues germane to older African American lesbians’ and gay males’ access to community services. Dr. Woody holds a Master of Human Services degree from Lincoln University and is a graduate of Georgetown University’s Paralegal Program. She has written countless articles on issues affecting women, LGBTQ/SGL elders, and people color communities. Dr. Woody is a nationally recognized subject matter expert on inclusion and diversity, specializing in the field of aging and LGBTQ/SGL elder issues.