Kazembe Ajamu Coleman is Zendaya’s father, a former teacher, and the parent who moved with her from the Bay Area to Los Angeles when she was 13 so she could pursue acting. He later became her manager and helped guide the early years that took her from Disney Channel to a major film and television career.
In this article, we’ll look at Kazembe Ajamu Coleman’s Oakland roots, his years in education, the family life that shaped Zendaya, his move to Los Angeles, and the steady role he played as her career grew far beyond Disney.
Oakland Came Before Hollywood
Zendaya’s story begins in the Bay Area, and so does much of her father’s. Vogue described Coleman as a former physical education teacher from Oakland, a city whose history and culture shaped the way he saw the world.
He grew up around a community marked by the civil rights era and the rise of the Black Panther Party. In a 2017 Vogue profile, he remembered seeing figures from that movement around his neighborhood when he was young.
That history later became part of the way Zendaya understood where she came from. She has often spoken about Oakland with pride, not simply as the place where she was born but as a city with a deep Black cultural and political history.
Kazembe Ajamu Coleman carried that sense of place into fatherhood. Long before red carpets, premieres, and award shows, the family’s foundation was built around education, work, and a clear sense of identity.
Teaching Was Part of the Family Culture
Both of Zendaya’s parents worked as teachers. Her mother, Claire Stoermer, taught in Oakland public schools, while Coleman taught at a private school in the area.
The difference between those two school settings became part of Zendaya’s childhood. Vogue reported that she saw both the private school where her father worked and the underfunded public school where her mother taught.
Education was not treated as something separate from the rest of life. It was part of the home. Zendaya later joked that having two teachers for parents meant school was taken very seriously.
That background helps explain why her early career never replaced her education. Even when acting work became demanding, her parents kept school at the center of the plan.
A Big Family Kept Life Grounded
Kazembe Ajamu Coleman had children before Zendaya was born. Current People reporting identifies five older siblings on her father’s side: Katianna, Annabella, Kaylee, Austin, and Julien.
Zendaya is the only child he shares with Claire Stoermer, but she grew up as the youngest member of a much larger family.
That family structure mattered to her. She has spoken about looking up to her older sisters and about the way a big family gave her perspective as she got older.
Fame may have made one daughter recognizable around the world, but the family itself was already established long before her first audition.
Kazembe Ajamu Coleman Raised Zendaya With Clear Rules
Vogue’s 2017 profile captured one of the clearest pictures of his parenting style. Zendaya remembered a simple line her father used when she misbehaved: they were going home.
It did not matter whether the problem happened at a family gathering or during an early job. The rule stayed the same.
That kind of discipline sat beside encouragement rather than against it. Coleman expected his daughter to behave well, take school seriously, and respect the people around her. At the same time, he paid attention to how strongly she wanted to perform.
Years later, those early habits still showed up in the way Zendaya talked about work. She became known for preparation, professionalism, and a willingness to speak up when a project did not match her values.
Her Parents Took Her Shyness Seriously
Zendaya was not always the confident public figure people know today. As a small child, she was extremely shy.
Vogue reported that both parents attended seminars for parents of shy children. She was quiet enough that she repeated kindergarten after struggling to speak in class.
At the same time, she was drawn to performance. Dance groups, local theater, modeling, and auditions slowly gave her new places to express herself.
Kazembe Ajamu Coleman watched that change happen up close. The girl who once sat silently in a classroom began showing a serious drive to perform.
The Family Had to Decide Whether Acting Was Worth the Risk
By the time Zendaya reached her early teens, auditions were no longer a casual activity. Acting had become something she wanted to pursue seriously.
That created a hard family choice. Her mother had a teaching job and worked nights at the California Shakespeare Theater. Her father also had a career in education.
The move toward Los Angeles meant someone had to leave a steady job and take a chance on an industry with no promise of success.
Zendaya later described that decision in a Glamour interview. She said her dad quit his teaching job so she could pursue acting, while her mother stayed in Oakland and kept working.
Father and Daughter Moved to Los Angeles Together
Zendaya was 13 when she and her father settled in Los Angeles. At first, it was just the two of them sharing an apartment downtown while she began working for Disney.
That move is one of the most important parts of Kazembe Ajamu Coleman’s story because it turned parental support into a full-time commitment.
He was no longer helping with auditions from home. He was the parent living beside a teenage performer as she entered a demanding business.
Her mother remained in Oakland, working and helping keep the family financially steady. The arrangement meant both parents were making different sacrifices for the same goal.
Disney Changed the Scale of Everything
Zendaya landed Shake It Up on Disney Channel in 2010. The show turned a Bay Area teenager into a national television personality.
With that success came long workdays, press events, travel, school demands, contracts, and the pressure that follows a young performer.
Vogue’s profile shows Coleman beside her during those years, not as a distant parent checking in from home but as part of the daily structure around her.
He had moved across the state with her, left teaching, and taken on the work of helping a teenager navigate a business built around adults.
He Became More Than the Parent at the Audition
As Zendaya’s career became more serious, her father moved into a formal management role. People’s 2026 profile of her parents identifies him as a former teacher who later worked as his daughter’s manager.
That role made sense inside the life they had already built. He knew the child behind the public image and had been there for the early auditions, schoolwork, travel, and first major contracts.
Kazembe Ajamu Coleman was not simply attached to a famous daughter after the success arrived. His work beside her had started before Disney and continued as the stakes grew.
The manager role also gave the family a direct voice inside a business where young actors can easily lose control of their time and choices.
Education Stayed Important Even on the Road
Hollywood did not make school optional. Zendaya has spoken about studying in cars, on planes, on trains, and in hotel rooms while work pulled her from place to place.
Her parents made sure she had a tutor who could keep up with that schedule. That insistence came directly from a home led by educators.
It also kept one part of her teenage life connected to normal expectations. She might have been working on a hit Disney show, but assignments still had to be finished.
That balance between opportunity and structure became one of the strongest themes in the way Zendaya later described her upbringing.
He Helped Keep Hollywood From Becoming the Whole World
Vogue noted that Coleman did not adopt the usual stage-parent mindset when he and Zendaya reached Hollywood. The family had not grown up inside the entertainment business, and they did not suddenly treat every offer as something that had to be accepted.
That distance gave Zendaya room to become more selective as she got older.
By her mid-teens, she was already pushing Disney executives on the direction of K.C. Undercover. She wanted a Black family at the center of the show, wanted her character to be smart and capable, and wanted creative control over the project.
Her father was there as those decisions became part of her career. He had helped her enter the business, but the goal was not to make every decision for her forever.
Oakland Values Stayed With the Family in Los Angeles
Moving south did not erase the family’s Bay Area identity. Zendaya continued to speak about Oakland, race, history, and the people who shaped her childhood.
Her father also connected those values to his own earlier life. In Vogue, he spoke about the tragedies and struggles he had seen growing up and about the generations that had created opportunities for the people who came after them.
That perspective gave Zendaya a family history larger than entertainment.
Kazembe Ajamu Coleman had lived through one version of Oakland. His daughter grew up in another. Their shared connection to the city became a bridge between those experiences.
The Five Older Siblings Were Part of Zendaya’s World Too
The public often sees Zendaya as an only child because she is the only child of Coleman and Stoermer. Her actual family life is much larger.
People identifies three older sisters, Katianna, Annabella, and Kaylee, along with two older brothers, Austin and Julien, from her father’s earlier marriage.
Zendaya has described the value of having older siblings and has spoken warmly about her nieces and nephews.
For Kazembe Ajamu Coleman, fatherhood therefore extends far beyond one famous child. Zendaya’s public career is only one branch of a family that was already large before she was born.
His Marriage to Claire Stoermer Ended Without Ending the Family Bond
Coleman and Claire Stoermer married in 2008 and later divorced in 2016.
When news of the filing became public, Zendaya made it clear that the split was not fresh family drama. She said her parents had already been apart for a long time and still got along.
Both remained active in her life after the divorce.
That continuity matched the way Zendaya had always spoken about her parents. Their marriage changed, but the support system around their daughter did not disappear.
Kazembe Ajamu Coleman Stayed Present as Zendaya’s Career Grew
The scale of Zendaya’s career changed dramatically after Disney. Spider-Man, Euphoria, Dune, The Greatest Showman, and Challengers moved her into a different level of fame.
Her father continued appearing beside her at events and family moments over the years. Recent profiles still describe him through the two roles that define his public story most clearly: father and manager.
He was there before the movie franchises and awards, when the biggest family question was whether a teenage girl should leave Oakland for Los Angeles.
That long timeline is what makes his place in her story more meaningful than the usual “celebrity dad” label.
The Strongest Part of His Story Is the Choice He Made Early
Kazembe Ajamu Coleman’s public story does not need a long list of side businesses or celebrity titles. The most important decision came much earlier.
His daughter wanted to act. He left a teaching job, moved with her to Los Angeles, and took responsibility for helping her through an industry neither of them had grown up inside.
At the same time, Claire Stoermer kept working in Oakland and helped support the family from there.
The result was not a single parent creating a star. It was a family dividing the work so a young person could take a serious chance without losing the structure around her.
A Father’s Role Behind a Very Public Career
Kazembe Ajamu Coleman is best known today because Zendaya became one of the biggest actors of her generation. His own story, however, starts years before that level of fame.
He was an Oakland educator, a father in a large blended family, and the parent who moved to Los Angeles with a 13-year-old daughter who wanted to act.
He later became her manager, stayed close through the Disney years, and remained part of the family foundation as her career expanded into major film and television work.
Zendaya has repeatedly credited both parents with giving her the values that helped her stay grounded. For her father, that influence began at home, long before Hollywood had any idea who she would become.
If you enjoy stories about the parents behind major entertainment families, read our profile of My Skarsgård and the family behind several famous Swedish actors.
