Team
Justin is the son of Clarence (light to his spirit) and Susan Laing, the husband of Ebony Ross and the father of Kufere, Etana and Adeyemi Laing. Whether helping to build a natural food buying co-op, bringing capoeira to an African Centered school, helping to build a community benefits coalition, beginning a Saturday youth academy focused on Black culture, or working with others to increase the visibility of socialist thinking and practice among Black people, for more than thirty years, Justin has been passionate about applying critical social theory to community settings. It is from this basis that Justin began Experimental Interventions to provide socialist and Black nationalist informed consulting and media content.
Before beginning EI, from 2018-2025, Justin was the principal consultant with Hillombo LLC, which provided evaluation, anti-racist education and faciltation for foundations, arts and social justice organizations. Before Hillombo, Justin was a Senior Program Officer for Arts & Culture at The Heinz Endowments. In addition to his BA in Black Studies and Political Science, Justin has a Master of Public Management from Carnegie Mellon University.
Today, Justin organizes with the Pittsburgh Black Worker Center and is on the editorial committee of Let’s Get Free’s Daughters Magazine. Justin is also on the coordinating committee of the Black Socialist Formation, supports the leadership of the National Black Liberation Movement National Unity Initiative, and is a member of the Black Alliance for Peace. Justin is also an an initiated member/priest of the Lukumi Tradition via Ile Asho Funfun and his godfather Baba Bill Lowman. To see more of Justin’s writing, please go to www.justlainguages.com
The E.I. social media and communications consultant, Etana is a trained librarian holding an MLIS from the University of Maryland, College Park, as well as a proud alum of Lincoln University with bachelor’s degrees in Pan-Africana Studies and History. Her deepest passion lies in her love for Black people and the desire to create spaces affirming Black culture and identity. This passion has manifested in various capacities throughout her life, culminating in the creation of her book club, Revolutionary Reads in 2020. The club is a virtual space for Black women, femmes, and people with lived experience of misogynoir to gather and form community through a shared love of reading. Over the last five years, the club has hosted virtual author talks, films showings, and game nights.
While in graduate school, she launched @ little.mx.librarian a page dedicated to showing the life of a Black librarian as well as sharing Black book recommendations. With 5 years of social media management experience, she also works as a freelance website and content manager for Black owned businesses and non-profits. Her work seeks to create spaces, both physical and virtual, for Black people to see themselves reflected with love and care.