Jamia Jowers

Jamia Jowers is currently the executive director of the What's Your Forté Foundation where she designs innovative programming to solve the most pressing challenges faced by Chicago's South and West side neighborhoods. As a security fellow with the Truman National Security Project, a Boren scholar, and president of the Chicago Refugee Coalition, Jamia utilizes both philanthropy and the government to deliver sustainable solutions in her neighborhood and across the globe.

Previously, she served as the director of international policy and development and the director of the Obama Foundation Scholars program at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, where she designed and delivered strategic programming for rising global leaders in coordination with the Obama Foundation.

Jowers also served as the associate director of student recruitment and global outreach and worked for the office of academic leadership, advancement, and diversity under the provost, fostering a diverse and inclusive campus community through initiatives aimed at underrepresented minorities. She has served as a staffer with the National Security Council (NSC) African Affairs Directorate, where she collaborated on the US-Africa Leaders Summit, focusing on trade, investment, and security on the continent. While working in the NSC’s Multilateral Affairs & Human Rights Directorate, she spent two years advocating for human rights, UN reform, contributing to the US National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security, and was a liaison to the Atrocity Prevention Board. Before joining the NSC, Jamia served in various leadership positions in the White House under President Barack Obama. She received her BA in political science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her MA in international relations from Salve Regina University.