D Simmons Jendayi is a lifelong Prince lover and an award-winning organizational development strategist dedicated to using the power of social justice to build equitable and healthy communities and opportunities. As Chief of Staff at NYU Liberal Studies, she advances culture-changing schoolwide priorities on behalf of the Dean.

One of her biggest blessings is immersing with those who experience Prince as a lifeblood. From a very young age, she has been mesmerized by the way Prince’s life and music help under-resourced and marginalized people build community and reclaim their inborn worth. She has moderated panels during the polished solid Prince symposia #1plus1plus1is3 (2021) and #EroticCity40 (2024), and has been soaking up the purple goodness that flows during the What Did Prince Do This Week? book club.

She earned an MA in Higher Education and Student Affairs with a focus on international social justice from NYU and a BA in Organizational Communication with a focus on Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity from Stanford University.

Based in Brooklyn, she comes from a military family and has lived, studied, or traveled to nearly 40 countries, always with a focus on the global Black Diaspora and discovering fellow Prince lovers.