Nicole C. Lee, Executive Director

Nicole Lee is the Executive Director of TransAfrica Forum. She was appointed to the position in December 2006 by the Board of the Directors, led by Chairman Danny Glover.  Ms. Lee earned a law degree from the University of Buffalo, and served as an International Law Fellow.  She interned in South Africa, working on an environmental class-action suit.  After graduating from law school she moved to Haiti where she worked for a human rights organization that investigated and prosecuted the human rights violations of the military during the 1994 coup. Returning to the U.S. in 2004, Ms. Lee also worked as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C., eventually serving as Director of Operations at TransAfrica Forum. Ms. Lee is the first female Executive Director of TransAfrica Forum, an organization which promotes justice and progress for the international African community. Ms. Lee’s passion for human rights and activism has propelled her to the top of one of the leading human rights advocacy organizations in the world.

As the Executive Director, Ms. Lee often travels abroad, not only to the African continent, but also to countries with large Afro-descendant populations such as Brazil, Venezuela, Haiti, and Colombia. She spends her time interacting with people on the ground, and then conveys their concerns about human and political rights issues to U.S. politicians, policy makers, and other agencies whose work impacts the global African population.

Nicole Lee’s opinion editorials have been published in The Nation, Tom Paine, theroot.com, Final Call, and she is a weekly contributor to the National Newspapers Publishers Association.  Ms. Lee is a frequent guest on BBC Television, NPR, Pacifica Radio Network, Democracy Now, the Tavis Smiley radio show and the State of the Black Union symposium, hosted by Tavis Smiley and broadcast live on C-SPAN.

Imani Countess, Senior Director of Public Affairs

Imani Countess serves as TransAfrica Forum’s Senior Director of Public Affairs. At TransAfrica Ms. Countess conceptualizes and implements public outreach activities to educate and motivate diverse communities around U.S. foreign policy. She also serves as a senior advisor to the Executive Director and helps shape TransAfrica Forum’s policy positions. Imani Countess served for five years as the US national coordinator of the American Friends Service Committee Africa Program. Traveling throughout the continent of Africa and its global Diaspora, Ms. Countess created cutting-edge political and activist training events to increase public participation in policy making.

Mwiza Munthali, Public Outreach Director

For more than two decades, Mwiza has worked to further TransAfrica Forum’s outreach in the broader community. Currently as TransAfrica's Public Outreach Director, Mwiza directs the growth of the library, develops educational programs and events for the organization, identifies research material, oversees publications, and directs volunteers and interns. He maintains communication links with information specialists of various multilateral agencies, U.S. government offices, and African and Caribbean embassies and organizations. Mwiza represents TransAfrica Forum in public forums, meets with international visitors, and speaks to student groups. Mwiza holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography with a concentration in international development studies from the University of Iowa.

Roxanne L. Lawson, Africa Policy Director

Ms. Lawson joins TransAfrica Forum from a stint at Friends of the Earth-US where she worked to promote community rights related to natural resources on the African continent, with a particular emphasis on the impacts of international financial institutions and multinational companies. Prior to that she worked with the American Friends Service Committee as the National Liaison to United for Peace and as national coordinator of AFSC’s Life Over Debt Campaign aimed at cancelling the illegitimate debt of African nations.

She is a founding member of Black Voices for Peace, Organized Community of United People (C.O.U.P)/ Voxunion Media and United for Peace and Justice. Ms. Lawson is also a member of Critical Resistance and INCITE. She serves on the Boards of the Black Lily Film and Music Festival and the 50 Years is Enough Network and on the Advisory Boards of Foreign Policy in Focus, the Naked Option and Connect US’s Netcentric Campaigns. She has written for Development, Blu, and Peaceworks magazines and contributed to CorpWatch.com and TomPaine.com. As an author on investment Ms. Lawson has written widely on the impacts of Chinese investment on the people, environment and nations of the African Continent, most notably in Africa in China’s Global Strategy edited by Dr. Marcel Kitissou.

Nnenna Ozobia, Latin America and Caribbean Policy Director

As TransAfrica Forum’s Policy Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Nnenna crafts strategies that influence the discussion around the impact of U.S. foreign policies on African descendants in the Region. Ms. Ozobia joins TransAfrica Forum after spending the last two years at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), where she served as a Consultant for the Social Inclusion Trust Fund and provided technical assistance for the design, monitoring and evaluation of grants designed to combat discrimination and stigma due to racial and ethnic origin, HIV status, and mental and physical disabilities.

Ms. Ozobia previously served as a Senior Program Associate at the Institute of International Education, where she managed short-term development projects for human rights activists in developing countries and directed the Latin America portfolio. Ms. Ozobia has completed specialized research and field work on Afro-descendants in Mexico and served as a Consultant for projects related to grassroots economic and social development for the Inter-American Foundation, the National Council of La Raza, the Inter-American Dialogue and the Coro Foundation.  Nnenna Ozobia holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations with a Spanish minor from Stanford University and a Masters in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins-SAIS.

Joia Jefferson Nuri, Communications

Joia is the Communications Consultant for TransAfrica Forum. She crafts outreach strategies that take the organization's message to communities around the world and to mainstream and alternative media sources. She assists in the writing of op-ed pieces and policy talking points. Joia has an expanded vision of communications. She believes a good communication strategy includes event planning, speech writing, networking, and interfacing with other organizations to advance a common agenda. Prior to joining TransAfrica Forum, Joia worked in Washington media for close to 30 years. She served as Senior News Producer at C-SPAN, America’s Black Forum, BET, and NPR. As an independent producer, Joia created the “grateful student/illustrious alumni” profiles seen in the United Negro College Fund’s annual fundraising telethon. She also produced live specials for the Pacifica Radio Network. For more than a decade, Joia was a network television technician for both NBC and CBS NEWS. Joia ended her technical career in 1985 as the Technical Director of CBS’ FACE THE NATION. In 1991 and 1992, Joia lived and worked in West Africa, reporting on the presidential elections in Ivory Coast and Nigeria. Today Joia is researching and writing a book on religion in America.

Nora Rasman, Program Associate

As the Program Assistant at TransAfrica Forum, Nora’s work includes policy research and administrative assistance. Before coming to TransAfrica Forum, Nora spent time working at Boston University’s Howard Thurman Center and working with youth in Boston Public Schools. She is also a member of Groundwork Anti-Racism Collective, an Unitarian youth and young adult anti-racism organizing initiative. Nora, who speaks conversational Spanish, is a recent graduate from Boston University with a Bachelor of Science degree in U.S. History.