As a daughter of strong, brilliant Eritrean refugees, Malika Ali has spent her life critiquing the systems that perpetuate educational inequity and is proud to be a part of the struggle ensuring that all children have access to an empowering education.

Malika is passionate about developing educators as change agents and nurturing students' cognitive development through culturally responsive & sustaining pedagogy. As Chief Innovation Officer at Highlander Institute, she is the lead architect of the organization's instructional framework and supervises program implementation across all partner schools and districts.

Previously, Malika served as an Innovation Specialist and a high school science teacher. She was a Rhode Island District Teacher of the Year and served on Governor Raimondo’s STEAM & Equity in Educator Preparation Working Group. She holds an M.Ed. in Education Policy & Management from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. in Public Health from Brown University.