Biography

Kemi joined NELP in 2018 as the Director of Work Equity. Kemi leads NELP’s efforts to remove barriers to employment for people with records; address employment discrimination and occupational segregation for Black, immigrant workers; and expand structural solutions that center Blackness. Kemi also works closely with Black-led worker center partners across the country to co-develop policy and advocacy strategies that build Black worker power and amplify efforts seeded within the community. Throughout her 20-year career, Kemi has held a deep commitment to ensuring that individuals and communities marginalized due to intersecting systems of oppression can always access their dignity, power, and wholeness.  

Prior to NELP, Kemi was in executive leadership for a decade at a community-based health center in San Francisco, where she founded an innovative workforce and community engagement program for Black women and girls. Kemi created programming and an overall organizational structure that addressed the intersections of racial, economic, housing, reproductive, and health justice. Kemi has deep experience in direct clinical services, workforce, housing, and homeless programs serving a diverse cross-section of people and communities. She spearheaded several multi-year racial equity initiatives, including developing an equity-focused curriculum and facilitating trainings for more than 3,000 community members, staff, health workers, and students during her tenure. 

Previously, Kemi spent several years as a research associate at a neuroscience research lab focused on cognitive attention and learning, where she managed study protocols, data collection, and data analyses; conducted quantitative and qualitative research on student learning styles; and supported Safe Motherhood research projects based in Nigeria.