Check out my new personal website here!

I am a fifth-year Harvard PhD candidate, Graduate Prize Fellow, Karl Deutsch Fellow, and 2026-27 Weatherhead Center Graduate Student Associate. My research lies at the intersection of political economy of development, comparative politics and economic history. I quantitatively explore how the economic and social legacies of pre-colonial (and colonial) eras continue to shape contemporary political and economic development outcomes across Africa. In my dissertation, I specifically ask whether myths, festivals and cultural norms celebrating industrious and prosperous women reflect a social history that has led to persistent economic and political empowerment for women today. I also quantitatively explore the economic origins and persistence of these cultural norms.

My work has been supported by the Harvard Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, the Harvard Government Department, the Harvard Center for African Studies, and London Business School’s Wheeler Institute for Business and Development. My work has also been circulated as a working paper through the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

In 2023 I was 1 of 30 recipients of a Forbes 30 under 30 North America award in education for my work as the founder and president of the Research in Color Foundation — a 501c(3) non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the representation and retention of historically excluded scholars in economics through mentorship and financial support.

In the past, I have worked with institutions such as the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, the Royal African Society and the United Nations, among others. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and International Studies from the University of Michigan and a Master’s degree in Applied Economics from George Washington University. For the 2023-24 school year, I was on leave from my PhD program and working as a Staff Economist with the White House Council of Economics Advisers on topics related to international economics and trade.

My CV can be found here. Looking to collaborate? Contact me here. For inquries regarding the Research in Color Foundation please head to the Research in Color Foundation website.

For fun: 50 Books by African Women That Everyone should Read compiled by Dele Meiji Fatunla and Zahrah Nesbitt-Ahmed with research done by Chinemelu Okafor for the Royal African Society’s Africa Writes festival in 2014: Part 1, Part 2.