Iya Ìbejì Adeyela Bennett is President and CEO of Women in Training, Inc., a youth empowerment organization that advocates for menstrual equity. Iya Ibeji has led the nonprofit into an internationally recognized organization for advocating for legislation to help end period poverty. In 2024, Alabama Media Group named her among Women Who Shape the State.

 

​Iya Ìbejì is a Yoruba honorific that means Mother of Twins. Iya Ìbejì Adeyela Bennett is the author of Only the Strong Survive: A Womanist Journey. The anthology is a tribute to mythical and ordinary women who survived tremendous obstacles to leave indelible marks on history. She gathered these stories during her childhood in The Bahamas and 1999 pilgrimage to Nigeria, where she was crowned with the traditional chieftaincy title, Iyalaje Obatala. Iya Ìbejì studied traditional cultures in Ghana and Mexico. She lived and worked in the United Arab Emirates for five years, from 2010 to 2015.

 

Iya Ìbejì Adeyela Bennett earned a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Florida International University in 1985, and is an alumni of the University of Florida and Howard University. She is married to Bradley Bennett, the editorial director of a civil rights organization. Iya Ìbejì is the mother of four daughters, Nuola and Moremi Akinde, and twins, Breanna and Brooke Bennett. Her brilliant and precious grandchildren are Akinwale, Eniafe and Iwa.