From the making of natural products to preparing authentic dishes for Empress Kwizeen, Sula J. Evans and Andaiye Alimayu continue to create ways to celebrate their talents and African culture.

Evans and Alimayu are longtime friends and business partners who began working together when Evans moved to New Orleans in 1993.

Evans is a New Jersey native and graduate from Rutgers University with a bachelor’s in African Studies. She decided to move to New Orleans in order to do further research on her African ancestry. While here, she met Alimayu.

“It all happened from a pack of incense,” Evans says. “When I first met her, I bought a pack of incense from her. I saw her a couple weeks later and asked her for a job. Her heart was open, and she allowed me to start working with her.”

While Evans traveled to New Orleans to find cultural and spiritual enlightenment, Alimayu found hers in her hometown.

The Seventh Ward native is a graduate of John McDonogh High school and Xavier University with a bachelor’s in biology pre-med.

While she waited for her MCAT scores, she found out she was pregnant and opted not to attend medical school. Then, she began selling incense, oils and jewelry in the French Market.

“When I first started, I didn’t have a lot of money to produce various kinds of products,” Alimayu says. “Once the demand increased, we were able to create handmade incense and bath and body products like shea butter soufflé, body butter, body glaze and King and Queen black soap.”

In order to ensure that their products are natural and celebrate African heritage, Evans and Alimayu make use of local ingredients and import other products from Africa.

“It’s important for us to educate people about Africa because so many people have so many misconceptions about it,” Evans says “We want to educate people about shea butter and let them know that it only grows in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

“We serve as a natural product market place—our store,” Alimayu says.

As much as Evans and Alimayu enjoy creating jewelry and making natural products, they also take great pride in their music.

Their music group Zion Trinity began as a prayer group. Alimayu, Evans and Trisha “Oshun-Ede” Jones started off as friends praying and singing together in order to grow spiritually and support each other.

“One day, one of Sula’s friends came into town, heard us and suggested we share our talent with others,” Alimayu says. “Our first performance was at the Dragon’s Den; and afterwards everyone began screaming and clapping. Everyone loved us.”

Once they realized they could have a successful musical career, they put just as much energy into Zion Trinity as they did King and Queen Emporium.

They came up with the name Zion Trinity to pay homage to and acknowledge their spirituality as well as their distinct personalities.
“First we started off with the name Zion and then we wanted something that represented the three of us. We decided on trinity because the word “trinity” represents the three witnesses in heaven- the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and the three witnesses on earth- the spirit, the water and the blood,” Alimayu says. “Sister Sula represents the spirit because she is very beautiful and high-spirited. Sister Trisha represents the water because she takes the form of whatever vessel she occupies; she’s very fluid. And I represent the blood because family is very important to me; I’m very loyal.”

“Our mission is to bring people cultural,” Evans says.

They also began looking for producers and began working with members of the Higher Heights Band. Eventually they met a Grammy-award winning producer who agreed to produce their first album, “Eyes on Zion.”

“When we first started, we didn’t start off trying to be a band,” Evans says. “By God’s grace, we started getting gigs in Seattle, Virginia, Atlanta and Dallas out of no where.”

Although their natural products store and the singing group are successful and keep them busy, Evans and Alimayu are still inspired to share yet another talent with the masses—their cooking.

In 1994, they created Empress Kwizeen Catering Company. Their specialties are black beans, fried fish, yellow rice and stir-fried vegetables.

“Empress Kwizeen came out of a need to eat at night while we were on the street vending,” Alimayu says.

“It is one of the ways we raised money for the first Zion Trinity CD,” Evans says. “We had suppers and worked as a team.”

The store, the band, the cooking . . . and they are not done yet. In the future, Evans and Alimayu want to form a craft camp that would feature classes such as African drumming, math and science for youth in the community.

“It is important to show interest in our kids. I want to be an example of spirituality, womanhood and entrepreneurship,” Alimayu says. “I want to stay true to our motto: ‘Striving to do our best better.”

For more information about the King and Queen Emporium, Zion Trinity or Empress Kwizeen log onto
www.kingandqueenemporium.com or visit the Emporium in in the market at the Bayou Road Triangle or call 504-949-7115.