Building Black Leadership

Akiesha Ortiz

Harvard Kennedy School Center for Public Leadership

Akiesha Ortiz, M. Ed., is a dynamic leader, mentor, and innovative strategist whose career reflects an unwavering commitment to education, leadership development, and transformative-driven change. A proud HBCU and Harvard graduate, she brings a wealth of experience spanning K–12 and higher education, nonprofit leadership, multidisciplinary policy, and talent development. Her impact has been recognized with various awards for innovation, community building, public speaking, and professionalism.

A resilient “big thinker”, Akiesha’s journey has been shaped by both triumphs and challenges that fuel her passion to empower others and uplift underrepresented voices. She firmly believes in service to promote progress and growth, inspiring those around her to lead with courage, just actions, and intentional impact.

Celebrated for her compassion, intellect, and vibrant creativity, Akiesha embraces her love of fashion, psychology, nature, pop culture, and mentorship, finding joy in weaving knowledge into inspiration. Through the Greener Scott Scholars program, she continues to live her purpose: building community, broadening opportunity, and creating pathways for others to thrive.

Additionally, Akiesha worked at Harvard Kennedy School and graduated from Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2017.

Busola Banjoh

Harvard College '22

Busola is a 2022 Harvard College alumna who graduated Cum Laude with High Honors with a joint concentration in the History of Science and African and African American Studies, along with a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. After graduation, she began her professional journey developing a multidisciplinary skill set first at Bain & Company before matriculating into medical school at the prestigious University of California, San Francisco.

At Harvard, Busola lived in Adams House, where she cultivated a deep passion for community through her leadership in organizations such as the Institute of Politics, Black Harvard Undergraduate Health Advocates, Harvard Radio Broadcasting, the Crimson Key Society, and most meaningfully, as a founding member of Greener Scott Scholars (GSS).

Busola was inspired to help found GSS by the powerful opportunity to connect undergraduate and graduate campuses through the shared mission of Black community uplift and support. Through collaborative work to introduce Soulful Mentorship as a central pillar of GSS, Busola engaged in transformative service and leadership that reinforced her purpose—to advance the health and wellbeing of people across the African Diaspora through a multidisciplinary and community-centered approach that bridges diverse backgrounds and identities.

Andrea Bossi

Harvard College '21

Andrea is Class of 2021, concentrating in Psychology on the Cognitive Neuroscience and Evolutionary Psychology track. She lives in Lowell house and originally is from Chicago IL. She helped start GSS because “the Black undergrad and grad student communities are not very connected. There's power in our connection and ability to communicate, and this was brought up a lot in conversations with Ms. Akiesha Ortiz a couple years ago. Creating GSS was supposed to be the foundation of that power in bringing our communities closer. A lot of groups come and fade away with student leadership and changes, but I want GSS to have a long-lasting and impactful legacy on Harvard's Black students. I hope that our focus on soulful mentorship as opposed to being career focused, for example, makes it a special place for all GSSers. Building a foundation for all this is key for me."

Karl Kumodzi

Harvard Kennedy School '20

Karl Kumodzi was a 2020 graduate of the Masters in Public Policy program at the Harvard Kennedy School. While there he met Akiesha Ortiz and Andrea Bossi, and their idea for Greener Scott Scholars grew out of a desire to facilitate stronger relationships between Black graduate and undergraduate students at Harvard. Karl is now the Deputy Director of Organizing at Blackbird, where he works with grassroots organizations to strengthen social movements.