Rafiya was born in Los Angeles to Congolese parents: a diplomat father and a sociologist mother. Due to her father’s career, she traveled extensively during her formative years: living in Congo (Democratic Republic), the Cape Verde Islands, Benin, Senegal, Guinea, Barbados and Ivory Coast.
She moved to Philadelphia in 2001 to attend Temple University where she double majored in Sociology and Spanish, and graduated in 2006 with honors. While attending school full-time in the aforementioned
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