Melissa Howell brings 22 years of experience as a systems strategist to her role as Senior Associate. She has worked with a robust network of seers, thinkers, and doers across 40 countries in Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, and the Americas. Her first role supporting US Education was managing after-school programs at the primary and middle school level in Brooklyn and the Bronx in New York City. She witnessed the transformative impact culturally-relevant learning materials had on student achievement and embraced the role identity plays in the success of young people.
Melissa believes in the equitable power of emergent, participatory, and human-centered design as foundational to philanthropy and collaborating with local communities. Melissa earned an MA in Migration and Diaspora Studies from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). She has an MBA, BS in Business Administration and BA in Spanish from Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University (FAMU). Melissa proudly serves on the Executive Committee for the Board of Directors of the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA) and humbly as a community advocate through modalities in herbalism, Kemetic yoga and as a birth doula.
