Zakiya Kaalund-Moreira grew up in Jamaica Queens. She attended Benjamin Cardozo High school and furthered her education at Hofstra University where she graduated with a dual degree in Television and Dance in 1999. Directly out of college Zakiya obtained a job at Campus Magnet High School where she became the advisor of the after school club called Dance Ensemble. During her time as an advisor of Dance Ensemble she noticed something was missing in her community. So she formed Keep Empowering Youth Achievements {KEYA}. KEYA is a nonprofit performing arts organization that has been serving the community of Jamaica, Queens; since 2004. KEYA was born out of Dance Ensemble; Campus Magnet High School’s dance group to begin to address the lack of artistic programs for young adults fourteen and older. At first it consisted of alumni students of Dance Ensemble. It gave them an opportunity to continue to study the art of dance after graduation. By its third year, KEYA grew from a dance group to a dance school; serving both students and adults.

As a lifelong resident of Queens, Zakiya desired to do more for her community, so through KEYA she added onto the mission of just dance and created a mentorship program, with educational workshops for young adults. These workshops taught both personal and professional life skills such as time management, interviewing skills, management of their emotions, and resume preparation.

In 2005, Zakiya partnered with former Councilman, Leroy Comrie and created a production called “Enough is Enough. This performance was about life issues that youth face. The production packed an audience of over 1,000 people at York College.

In 2012, KEYA started the bi-annual Exquisite Awards; a dance competition where young adults ages 16 -25 compete to win prizes for best choreography within a dance routine and have the opportunity to receive a creative arts & education scholarship, in order to provide assistance for students to further their education.

By October of 2015 Zakiya obtained a facility on Linden and Farmers. This facility is allowing Zakiya the chance to expand KEYA and create one of her goals which is to become a hub for the maturation of the Arts in Queens. Allowing K.E.Y.A to become a place in Queens that will be recognized as a premiere cultural learning center for the arts. Students both young and old will be able to come to K.E.Y.A to learn various artistic crafts such as video production, sound engineering, set design, art design, playwriting, drama as well as be exposed to our current staple service of dance education. Providing people the opportunity to practice artistic crafts in a safe environment with the latest and most current technology, while also learning how to be socially responsible with this new skill set.

Zakiya’s mission is to continue to empower the youth and build future-leaders in our community; with that passion, the sky’s the limit for Keep Empowering Youth Achievements!

Thomas, a teacher in Queens NY has been with KEYA Dance Company since 2006. He married Zakiya Moreira the company’s founder and president in 2005. After seeing what Zakiya was doing for the youth of Queens he decided to become a part of her vision to build K.E.Y.A. Thomas comes from a world far from dance and education he studied television production in college and played football. Immediately after graduating from Hofstra University he was signed as a free agent with the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts. He played 2 years before breaking his foot in practice. After his football career was over Thomas decided to put his degree to work in television by taking a job with MSG Networks at the world’s most famous arena Madison Square Garden. At MSG Thomas help to produce sports television shows for 4 years. Although he loved what he was doing he felt that there was a bigger purpose for him. He left MSG Network and took a position with a special education school called Martin De Porres. It was at this time that he decided to get more involved in his wife’s vision. He saw areas in the company where he could be of good assistance, one being building a better foundation for K.E.Y.A. KEYA has grown tremendously since 2006 and Thomas believes the sky’s the limit for this company and its youth.

Born and raised in Queens NY, Jamilah Smith began dancing at the young age of 3. It wasn’t until she began her training as an 8 year old at The Edge School of the Arts did she become passionate about dance. This community dance school played a major part in encouraging her as an artist and to attend LaGuardia High School in 2005. After graduating from LaGuardia High School, Jamilah has dedicated herself to the youth, working as a dance teacher in the Queens community. She hopes to give the children of her community the experience she had as a child. “It is more than just dance” she tells her students and parents. “The discipline of dance never leaves you. It follows you throughout life, wherever you may choose to go.”

Coming Soon

Shawana Harper is a native New Yorker born and raised in Queens. Shawana’s passion for business and people have earned her a degree in Business Management which allowed her to work in the corporate world for over 17 years. Although, she has no knowledge of the Professional Dance arena she has managed to find her place and jump right in. Her passion for the youth and her eagerness to always help and empower others mingled well with our mission at K.E.Y.A. Keep Empowering Youth Achievements.

Suzanne graduated college in 2006. She knew she wanted to work with children and teens, but was undecided in which capacity she could best serve them. She started to work for Martin De Porres High School in 2006 as a teacher’s assistant. While she loved her job, she felt limited in her ability to help these adolescents. While working at the school, she met Thomas and Zakiya. They told her about the dance school that they ran. She loved their vision. One day after work, she went with them to their dance school practice. What she saw impressed her, and although she had no experience working in the field of dance, she nonetheless loved the thought of giving children and teens an alternative to running the streets. In 2009, she was promoted from a teaching assistant to a teacher. This made her even more determined to help the company expand, as she sees what a powerful impact adults can have on the lives of children and teens with whom they work.