Taja Sevelle
Taja Sevelle (born Nancy Richardson, January 7, 1962 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an American singer, songwriter and musician, best known for her 1987 single, "Love Is Contagious" and for the non-profit organization Urban Farming, which she founded in 2005.
Taraji P. Henson
Henson was born September 11, 1970 in Southeast Washington, D.C., the daughter of Bernice (née Gordon), a corporate manager at Woodward & Lothrop, and Boris Lawrence Henson, a janitor and metal fabricator. She has two younger siblings, Shawn and April. Henson has often spoken of the influence of her maternal grandmother, Patsy Ballard, who was her date to the Academy Awards the year she was nominated. Her first and middle names are of Swahili origin: "Taraji" means hope and "Penda" means love. According to a mitochondrial DNA analysis, her matrilineal lineage can be traced to the Masa people of Cameroon. She has said that North Pole explorer Matthew Henson was "the brother of my great-great grandfather."