Zeridah Ra’Chel “Princess”, an appellation given at birth, was born in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York on August 14, 1955 to Willie Walker, Jr. and Juanita Daugherty-Walker. She is the fourth daughter of eleven siblings. Her African Shemitic-Judaic Culture by which she was cultivated is generational in America. The strong spiritual values instilled during her childhood would play a significant role in her development as a poetess, songwriter, performer, mentor and entrepreneur.
Zeridah discovered early in her childhood the ability to use words eloquently and passionately. Her bedroom walls were flanked with colorful index cards that captured her spirit filled imagination and creative writings. On the flipside, with her adroit mannerism, it was playfully implied that “Zeridah could convince a drowning man to drink a glass of water” and he would graciously accept.
In the mid 1970’s, while working at The Home Insurance Company in New York City and married with one daughter, she was persuaded by her colleagues to enter her poetry into the company’s monthly newsletter, reluctantly, she submitted a poem entitled “Black On White”, depicting the power of “ink on paper”. It was received by her peers with high praise and she continued writing monthly poetic entries until her resignation.
In 1978, Zeridah attended Pace University majoring in English Literature and Speech. Fortuitously, her name was submitted into a poetry session at the Legendary Baby Grand Lounge in Harlem, New York. The Baby Grand is home to many great Legendary poets, writers and musicians. Young and new to the scene, she would recite a selection entitled, “Messiah Man” leaving the audience stunned as a standing ovation ensued.
This rhythmatic and powerful piece of work earned her the moniker “The Sensuous Radical’. "Messiah Man" became her signature piece and has transcended time. This began an illustrious journey of creative performances, writings, and an introduction into Pan-Afrikanism.
Zeridah was propelled into the fold of "The Harlem Renaissance Poetry Reconstruction Era'', founded in the mid 1970's. She performed alongside Legendary Poet Laureates i.e George Edward Tait, The “D Train Poet'' Richard Calloway Bartee, Louis Reyes Rivera and many more conscious artists. She became a performing member of various Harlem based groups; The Society of Afrikan Poets: Black Words For Wednesday Night, Poetential Unlimited, Poetessence, and The Harambe Sisterhood Circle Of Poets. George Edward Tait became her mentor and introduced her to the world of acting. She would go on to land the lead female role in Tait’s production, “Homework: A Marriage Manual '' as well as its sequel.
Zeridah’s creative pursuits led her to Rome Neal, CEO, Producer of The Neal Ensemble Company. Her acting career continued with Neal’s production, “The Party”, performed throughout New York City.
She later auditioned and accepted the role as Lady in Yellow, in the Late Ntozake Shange’s iconic play “For Colored Girls who Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Was Enough”, directed by The Late Arnold Beuchamp, Artistic Director of the Paul Robeson Theatre in Brooklyn, New York. Soon after, Zeridah met Kenya Cagle, CEO, Producer of New Artist Productions (now Caglevision), at the Billie Holiday Theatre. She was offered a role in his series, “The Undercover Man”. Her brilliant performance would lead to her role as “Diana” in another Cagle production entitled, “Diana LaCharm''. What a new experience: lights, action, camera. She also wrote the soundtrack for both productions further proving that she was multi talented and no stranger to the off-broadway and off-off-broadway spotlights
In 1987, Zeridah set forth on a spiritual journey of realigning herself with her Hebrew community by which she was fashioned. She took with her the confidence in the ability to aid in bridging the communication gap within the communities and the world at large utilizing her artistic skills and expertise. In 1991, she married Rabbi Prince Yehudah, a prolific Hebrew Instructor and Torah Scholar and together they continued building their family as she pursued her entrepreneurial goals.
In the last 30 plus years, Zeridah Ra’Chel has been respectfully honored with the titles Rabbinith-Imma. She mentors and counsels souls in the Art of Music, Spiritual Cultural Awareness, Poetry and Real Estate. She has produced her own original works and released two albums with the renowned musician Eluriel Barfield and Singer-Performer Alfa Anderson under Shalom Productions. Zeridah went on to establish Tarbooti Boutique "My Cultural Boutique" designing, tailoring and selling cultural artifacts throughout the United States and other countries. Since then, Tarbooti Boutique has evolved into Tarbooti Enterprise, Inc. She is a Real Estate Entrepreneur and the CEO/Founder of Poetstatic Publishing Corporation which is presently self-publishing her second literary work , e-book and musical audio book entitled "In The Bosom Of The Seventh Seal: A Poetic Cosmic Journey" with her brother, Producer Dac Walker, CEO, President of Global Spawn Productions.
Today, Zeridah lives a fulfilling and spiritually rewarding life with her husband Prince, five adult children, 17 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. The keys to her successful journey are her goto mantras, ‘Stay In The Ark and Ride The Tides', ‘We Have All Inherited Our Own Universe, Embrace Your Sun, Count Your Stars, and Make Change In Life With Your Moon’.
