Thetyka Robinson is a beenya’ Gullah Geechee girl known as a strategic heart for the community. A cultural creative, she has spent over 20 years intentionally creating welcoming spaces for authentic dialogue and full self-expression.
As the Executive Director for Enough Pie, Thetyka champions the mission and strategic direction of daily operations, advocacy bringing awareness to the importance of using creativity to connect and empower communities on Charleston’s Peninsula through cultural preservation, social, economic and environmental justice. Thetyka believes in the power of community and the unlimited impact urban creative placemaking can have on cities where history and culture are often erased due to development and displacement. She believes we can advocate for systemic and sustainable change, while preserving cultural diversity and liberation for Black and Brown indigenous communities by co-creating with community keepers, neighbors, artists, activists, advocates and other invested stakeholders.
Thetyka sees her role at EP as more than a job, but a response to remembering, honoring, and preserving communities, narratives, places, and movements that once were, and will always be, regardless of change on the Peninsula. Understanding every community desires beautification and growth, resulting in vibrant and thriving communities, but not at the expense of developing those who have called it home for generations.
Thetyka is also the CEO of The Asiko Group, a strategic community engagement and facilitation firm, where she combines her broad experience working for organizations and running boutique style firms in the areas of community engagement, collective impact, branding, program management, donor engagement, strategic planning and campaign development. Some of Thetyka’s accomplishments are participating on the City of Charleston’s Comprehensive Plan, managing the giving process for the Lowcountry Ministries Fund, restructuring a half million dollar giving budget resulting in the South Carolina Federal Foundation, advocacy for the hospitality industry during the boycott of the Confederate flag on South Carolina’s State House and facilitating celebrity interviews during the 2016 presidential election.
Thetyka is also an alumni of Leadership Charleston Class of 2020, recognized as a Pace Setter in Black Meetings and Tourism Magazine, and received the Innovator Under 35 Award from the National Council of Negro Women, Inc.
Thetyka’s love for research and cultural consciousness led her to conduct independent research on Racial Consciousness from the White Males’ Perspective, Civil Rights for African Americans and the LGBTQ Community, and Women Rights and Empowerment for Turkish Women, while on a study abroad trip to Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey.
Outside of her professional lens, Thetyka is an afro bohemian anthophile consistently discovering new plants to add to her 40 plus jungalow, life traveler, reader, art and indigenous masks collector, spin instructor, soon to be yoga instructor later this summer, and mother to a strong-willed and curious teen age daughter.
You can learn more about Thetyka’s journey via her PechaKucha37 talk.