Volunteer Spotlight: Akosua Hobert
Akosua Hobert is a native New Yorker, born and raised in Harlem. She received her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from California State University, Los Angeles. In 2008, she retired from the Los Angeles Unified School District, where she taught for 30 years. Ms. Hobert has traveled extensively in Africa. She taught second grade at the International School of Tanganyika and eventually opened three NourishLab Smoothy’s shops in Accra, Ghana. Akosua remains active. She volunteers for the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council. She is a member of the California African American Genealogical Society. Akosua is also a Senior Minister at The First Woman’s Church in Los Angeles and actively supports the Robey Theatre Company. Akosua joined The Community Writers’ Group of LA in 2019 to pursue a long-time dream of becoming a writer.
In addition to volunteering at the AAFFM, Ms. Hobert has also served as the AAFFM Board Secretary. During her time as secretary, she relied on her friend Khadija Conner, who helped guide her to create forms and redesign paperwork in a way that reflected her best design skills. For Ms. Hobert, learning secretarial skills was necessary, “I learned all things are possible with determination.” This determination is easily seen in her interactions with visitors. One incident that has stuck the most with her is when a young mother visited the museum with her toddler. Despite the mom’s interest and focus on the tour, the child’s behavior was too distracting for the mother. Ms. Hobert continued the tour as best she could; however, in the end, the mother decided to leave the museum. But only after promising to return one day. The second memorable incident was one involving an older female guest from Mississippi. Ms. Hobert notes that this visitor was clueless about the discrimination African Americans faced in the West. As many know, it is not uncommon to learn that many Americans assume only those living in the South experienced racism.
When asked why she volunteers, Ms. Hobert proudly states, “I volunteer because I find it rewarding. It’s one way to give back.” Out of the entire museum collection currently on display, her favorite artifact is the alarm box.
