Work Experience

2019-Present
Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer, Green Squash Consulting
Provide diverse array of consulting services including government relations, public affairs, communications, campaign strategy, strategic planning, organizational development & restructuring, talent recruitment, executive searches, leadership transitions, and development.  Clients include: government agencies, universities, non-profit organizations, hospitals, foundations, small businesses, unions, and political campaigns.  Focus on clients with racial, gender, economic justice visions and missions.  

2016-2019
Chief of Staff, Global, Open Society Foundations  
Oversee global grantmaking, advocacy, and special projects on behalf of foundations’ chairman & president. Manage foundations’ relationship with governments and international and multi-lateral organizations. Oversee geographic programs’ budget & strategy processes. Responsible for discretionary investments in NYC, Puerto Rico, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Africa. Lead inter-program funding related to criminal justice, public health, global drug policy, transnational movement building, and worker’s rights. Develop, lead, and manage crisis funding programs for 2016 US Presidential election, 2017 Kenyan Presidential election, 2017 Hungarian Presidential election, 2018 US Midterm elections.  Responsible for day-to-day oversight of Executive Office including 15 FTE; 5 interns; 4 PTE; 3 fellows. 

2014-2016
Director of Grantmaking Operations, U.S., Open Society Foundations 
Oversee grant making strategies in the United States. Manage program officers in the development of budgets and strategies.  Identify legislative and policy targets for program priorities – criminal justice, racial justice, economic equity, government accountability.  Oversee U.S. Opportunities Fund – a grant making reserve dedicated to supporting emergent, opportune, and movement needs. 

2014
Deputy Director, Literacy Partners 
Lead the planning, implementation, and evaluation of new programs.  Hire, train, and supervise cohort of 20 CUNY Service Corps Members and 50 volunteers. Lead advocacy efforts at City Hall for increased funding for adult literacy programs. Serve as community liaison to City Council committees on education, higher education, and youth services. Manage board nominations and recruitment process.  Manage communications & marketing team in redesign of website and fundraising materials. Oversee physical redesign of office space.     

2013
Principal, HR&A Advisors 
Oversee field operation for “Talking Transition,” a community engagement project funded by NYC foundations to collect quantitative and qualitative data from New Yorkers to help inform mayoral transition. Hire, recruit, train, and manage 120 paid, full-time staff.  Develop and implement strategic communications and field plan utilizing relationships with city agencies, MTA, CUNY, hospitals, and hundreds of community-based organizations. Collected over 100,000 surveys with representation in every NYC zip code.

2013
Director, East Coast Programs
Health Career Connections 
Lead expansion efforts for a pipeline program for college students of color interested in public health and health care careers. Open chapters in NY, NJ, DC, and Durham. Streamline operations in Boston office. Raise over $250,000, secure 10-25 internship partners per city, and build relationships with government agencies and local elected officials. Design and implement a policy-focused seminar series for interns.  

2012
Campus Organizing Director, Barack Obama 2012 Presidential Campaign
Hire, train, and organize leaders on college campuses across battleground state of Virginia to mobilize college student voters. Oversee 150 organizers, create voter guides, and raise $200,000. Manage media related to GOTV efforts on college campuses.  

2008-2012
Senior Policy Advisor, Office of the Mayor 
Served as primary liaison to DOE, NYCHA, CUNY, DYCD, DOHMH, H&H. Advise agency heads on issues of policy and planning including: RFP development, language access, strategic partnerships. Lead creation of the Young Men’s Initiative. Developed and drafted Mayoral executive orders 120 (language access) 150 (access to identification), 151 (ban the box). Secured over $100 million in federal, state, and foundation funds to supplement tax levy to support violence interruption policy and programs. Earmarked $1 million for CUNY GED/HSE programs.

2006-2008
Program Manager, Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs 
Expand partnerships with ESL programs and public hospitals to improve health care access for 10,000+ immigrant New Yorkers. Develop and direct the Health Literacy Fellowship for Medical Students to education/training gaps in medical education around effective provider-patient communication. Co-lead creation of Culturally and Linguistic Appropriate Services (CLAS) Office at Health & Hospitals Corporation. Manage operations of “We Are New York,” an Emmy-award winning City-funded television series to help immigrant New Yorkers learn English.  

2005-2006
Social Epidemiologist, Department of Health & Mental Hygiene 
Collect quantitative and qualitative data for the Bureau of Injury Epidemiology on intimate partner violence in NYC. Provide statistical analysis for department heads, respond to requests for data from city agencies, media, and community organizations. Advise departments on qualitative research methods and motivational interviewing techniques for data collection.  Contributor, NYC Intimate Partner Violence Reports 2007, 2008. 

Courses
Taught

Politics of Global Empires, Teaching Assistant, Fall 2001, Fall 2002, College of Letters & Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison 

Race & Policy Seminar, Instructor, Summer 2003, Fall 2004, Spring 2005, Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 

Capstone, Instructor, Spring 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, MPA Program, City College of New York 

Culture, Illness, Community Health, Assistant Professor, Spring 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, Mount Sinai School of Medicine

Fundamentals of Community Organizing, Lecturer, Spring 2012, School of Government and Public Affairs, Virginia Commonwealth University  

Policy Frameworks & Target Populations: Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class, Summer 2015, 2016, 2017, MPA Program, Lecturer, City College of New York 

Foundations of U.S. Public Policy, Fall 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 MPA Program, Assistant Professor, City College of New York 

Fundamentals of Non-profit Management, Spring 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, MPA Program, Assistant Professor, City College of New York 

Essential Skills for the Public Actor, Spring 2019, MPA Program, Assistant Professor, City College of New York

Social Innovation Seminar, Spring 2019, Fall 2020, MPA Program, Instructor, City College of New York

Bridges to Success, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, The Colin Powell School of Civic and Global Leadership, Instructor, City College of New York

Advancing Health Equity, Spring 2020, MPA Program, Assistant Professor, City College of New York

Youth in the Prison Industrial Complex, Spring 2020, 2021, Department of Sociology, Assistant Professor, City College of New York

The Future of New York, Spring 2022, 2023, Assistant Professor Professor, Macaulay Honors College

Alternative Economic Frameworks, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Assistant Professor, Prison Education Program, UCLA

Boards

2005-2006
Women in Islam, Inc

2016-2024
Fund for Public Health of NYC

2017-Present
The Kalief Browder Foundation

2018-Present
Center for NuLeadership on Human Justice & Healing

2019-2022
Advisory Committee for Cultural Engagement, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Education

University of Wisconsin-Madison
Bachelor of Science, Summa cum laude
Biology
2002

University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Master of Public Health
DrPH
2005