Doranda Mwende Martin was born and raised in the South Bronx, New York. After high school, Ms. Martin moved to Ojai, California where she attended Ventura College, and then transferred to Grambling State University in Louisiana as an accounting major. Returning to California, Ms. Martin worked for a few years as a Staff Accountant, and then a Jr. Tax Processor at Select Remedy Corporate and Ridgeway & Warner, CPA, respectively, both in Santa Barbara. After leaving Ridgeway, she settled into temporary work through employment agencies in order to return to college for Dance, Sociology and Holistic Studies, hoping they would all somehow combine into something unique just for her!

Doranda Martin’s passions include dance and community involvement, as well as spiritual awareness, exploration, and development. Ms. Martin currently runs a very small, slowly developing dance organization called Dance Identity, through which she holds dance and choreography sessions, and engages in community events.