Hillombo’s work includes strategy, research, evaluation, and teaching and learning spaces through a socialist and race critical lens. The company was started by Justin Laing, and is a merger of two words, “Hill District,” the neighborhood in Pittsburgh where its office is located, and “Quilombo,” liberated zones that were developed by Africans escaping enslavement and resisting colonization in Brazil, and belong to the category of “maroon communities.” The name was initially used for a blog focused on the Hill District’s community development, culture, and politics. Then it became the name of Justin’s consulting practice when it launched in 2017. The name carries Justin’s interest in zones or spaces struggling for liberation from racial capitalism through socialist experimentation, although that does not define all of the work.

Before Hillombo, Justin was a Senior Program Officer for Art and Culture at The Heinz Endowments and the Assistant Director of the African-Brazilian arts organization Nego Gato, Inc. Justin has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pittsburgh in Black Studies and Political Science and a Master of Public Management from Carnegie Mellon University. Justin is on the coordinating committee of the Black Socialist Formation,  a member of the Black Alliance for Peace and its Haiti Americas Team, as well as Omega Psi Phi, and in this capacity is a co-coordinator of the Omega Dr. Carter G. Woodson Academy and an initiated member of the Lukumi Tradition through Ile Asho Fun Fun.