Aishah Shahidah Simmons is a Black feminist lesbian survivor, filmmaker, author, and Theravada Buddhist. She has practiced vipassanā meditation since 2002, with over a year of cumulative silent retreat experience in the U.S. and India. A qualified MBSR teacher through Brown University and a trauma-informed, certified mindfulness meditation teacher, she is in the 2025–2028 Spirit Rock/IMS Teacher Training Program, with Tuere Sala and DaRa Williams as her primary teachers. Her award-winning cultural works—NO! The Rape Documentary and love WITH accountability—illuminate truth-telling, healing, and non-carceral responses to harm. Aishah is dedicated to practices that support turning toward, rather than away from, suffering.