Salim Rollins
Co-Director · Mestre, Capoeira Angola
Originally from New York, Salim has dedicated his professional life to empowering communities through wellness and cultural arts programs. As a Mestre of Capoeira Angola, he received the highest title granted to a practitioner outside of Brazil by the renowned Grand Mestre João Grande, to whom he has been a disciple since 1995.
In addition to his work with Inuka, he is Co-director of Synergy Yoga, a registered Yoga Alliance school offering international yoga teacher training, retreats, and Thai massage certifications, and he consults with Yoga Alliance on equity in the yoga community. He has maintained a dedicated yoga practice since 2000 and studied with master teachers throughout India and the U.S. He has curated wellness festivals and retreats including Synergy Journeys Peru, Feel Good In Zanzibar, Nairobeing: The Wellness Experience, the Divine Feminine / Sacred Masculine series in Kenya, and Yoga on Dub.
For five years he was Outreach Programs Director at Destiny Arts Center in Oakland, California, hiring, training and supervising more than 30 Teaching Artists per year and serving up to 1,400 youth annually through dance, theater and martial arts with an integrated violence-prevention curriculum. His residencies have spanned New York, the Bay Area, Thailand, Kenya and Angola — including yoga, dance and poetry work with incarcerated youth at the Alameda Juvenile Justice Center.
Having moved to Kenya in 2014, Salim served as Program Director of Katangoma Youth Arts before co-leading Inuka. He deeply values sharing healing practices and curating wellness experiences through the arts.
