June Facilitator of the Month: Yakpasua Zazaboi

Every month, Kingmakers of Oakland honors an adult anchoring our ecosystem—an individual whose daily leadership, cultural groundedness, and pedagogical brilliance breathe life into our core mission . For the month of June, we are proud to spotlight Bro Yakpasua “Yap” Zazaboi, who is stepping into a critical leadership role as the Lead Facilitator for our Sankofa Kings Fellowship .

An Oakland-bred creative technologist, filmmaker, and entrepreneur, Bro Yap brings a 25-year legacy of bridging the gap between "the blocks" and the boardroom. What makes him a truly transformative educator is his unique "hacktivist" ethos—the belief that technology should be taken apart, repaired, and repurposed as a tool for ultimate self-determination . Whether he is leading high-level software development or guiding youth to build computers from scratch, his practice is rooted in absolute community translation .

Our team recently interviewed long-term collaborators to learn more about Bro Yap’s impactful approach. Lakisha Young, Founder and Executive Director of The Oakland REACH, shared: “He’s tech-obsessed and very futuristic. He looks at tech that others haven’t quite adopted yet... He has all the grounding experience you want, but also the cool, futuristic vision.”

Furthermore, GHTech Founder George Hofstetter—who was mentored by Bro Yap starting at age 14—noted his rare gift for reaching Black youth : “I can't think of someone else better in Oakland, as familiar, and that has been working with young Black youth longer than him that has the technical know-how that he does... He teaches through a lens of leveraging whatever access you have for your own self-determination.”

We are incredibly blessed to have Bro Yap steering our tech programming, translating complex systems into accessible pathways, and showing our Kings what is possible when tech mastery meets unconditional love for the community . Welcome to the village leadership team, Bro Yap!