Scholar. Storyteller. Cultural Architect.
Dr. Aisha Z. Hamilton (neé Cort) is a writer, professor, and cultural entrepreneur whose work bridges the worlds of academia, art, and ancestral memory. A trilingual Afro-Cuban and Guyanese thinker raised between languages and geographies, she creates projects that illuminate the beauty and complexity of the Afro-Latin world — its rituals, its sounds, its languages, and its people.
She holds a Ph.D. in Spanish Literature and serves as an Assistant Professor of Latin American, Latinx, and Caribbean Studies at Bucknell University. Through her research and writing, Aisha explores themes of race, language, identity, and diaspora; always returning to the question of how we remember and reimagine ourselves across borders.
Aisha is the founder of VIVA LA LENGUA (formerly Hey Dr. Cort), a cultural brand and learning platform celebrating the artistry of the Spanish language as well as offering corporate cultural intelligence consulting and creative strategy for global organizations. She also runs VELA NEGRA, a luxury home fragrance and ritual design company rooted in Afro-Caribbean aesthetics.
Her work has taken her from Havana to San Juan, Tulum to Cali, and beyond - collaborating with artists, writers, and cultural institutions to build bridges between creative worlds. Whether she’s curating experiences, developing and guiding language journeys, or designing spaces scented with story, Aisha moves with one intention: to honor the living archive of the African diaspora in motion and to make culture felt - in word, in scent, in sound, in spirit.
She’s available to travel for speaking engagements throughout the United States and abroad.
Contact Aisha for more info.