Naima Mora

Mora was born in Detroit, Michigan,[1][3] the daughter of jazz vocalist and entrepreneur Theresa Mora and jazz percussionist Francisco Mora Catlett. Her paternal grandparents are Francisco Mora (painter) and sculptor, painter, and printmaker Elizabeth Catlett. She is the inspiration for her grandmother's 2001 black marble bust entitled Naima. Catlett described it as:

That black marble head, Naima: we have twin granddaughters who came to stay with us one summer, they were studying Spanish. I kept looking at one of them, who has a very dynamic personality. I thought I would like to do a head of her. And then it was the shape of her hair with a knot at the back. It was a whole different shape. She posed for me a little bit, to get the general shape of it. She has a little bump in her nose that I wanted to put in.[4]

Her father is half Mexican and half African-American; her mother is Irish and African-American.[5] She was named after the John Coltrane song "Naima". Mora has five sisters, including her identical twin, Nia, who is a photographer. Her older sister, Ife Sanchez Mora (born 1977), is a singer/ songwriter and was signed to Tricky's Massive Attack label Durban Poison/ DreamWorks S.K.G in the trip-hop group, The Autumn People and is now a solo rock singer Ife Sanchez Mora and part of duet Ife & Danny and was the wife of chef Aaron Sanchez.

Mora grew up near West McNichols and Schaefer on Detroit's northwest side and attended Bates Academy for middle school. She graduated from Cass Technical High School in Detroit in 2002. A serious ballet student, Mora attended Detroit's Ballet Renaissance and was enrolled in American Ballet Theatre's Detroit summer program.

Mora practices Nichiren Buddhism and is an active member of the Soka Gakkai International.[6] In 2013, she gave a Ted Talk describing her upbringing and the influence of Buddhism on her career.[2]