Damilola Akinyele Wolfgarten

Dami is an International Training, Development, and Education Professional driven by quality education, social impact, inclusive and equitable institutions and programs. She has spent her career cultivating strong leaders, strengthening institutions, and developing high-impact programs in Africa, the United States of America, the Middle East, and Asia. Her professional experience spans over 13 years, and her donor experiences include the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Embassies, state and local governments in Nigeria, West Africa.

Before joining PiAf, she oversaw the operations, organizational strategy, vision, and leadership for 38 faith-based non-profits in the U.S., the U.K., and Africa with a $2M monthly operational budget at LoveWorld Inc USA. Previously, Dami was an Innovations & Development Program Officer at World Learning, where she managed a $1.8 Million program grant from the U.S. Department of State and implemented a portfolio of professional exchanges for U.S. Special Envoys in 160+ countries. In a previous role as a Programs Associate at World Learning, Dami designed and implemented education and leadership programs for Iraqi Young Leaders on peacebuilding and reconciliation, youth activism, and civic engagement and managed continued professional development for a network of 2,000+ alumni. Dami was a co-chair and founding member of World Learning’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Taskforce, which managed the vision, strategy, and execution of the organization’s DEI efforts.

As a co-founder at ETRAssociatesNG, a training, education, and development consultancy firm, Dami consults with the Ministry of Education Lagos State, Nigeria. She also developed and implemented multiple youth leadership and teacher training workshops and manuals for 500+ participants across 18 local governments for the Ministry of Education Ondo State, Nigeria. 

Dami has worked at DLA Piper, Baltimore as a Project Associate where she managed administration and operations for global lawyers. As a Graduate Intern at IREX D.C., she developed context-specific, research-based toolkits on gender and technology for participants from 13 countries and co-facilitated workshops for U.S. Department of State Programs. At Morgan State University, she worked as a Research Assistant on a published research and Teaching Assistant for three undergraduate courses. Damilola was born in Lagos Nigeria. She received her B.A. in Sociology from Morgan State University and her M.A. in International Training and Education with a concentration in development and exchange at American University, Washington, DC.

Dami enjoys visiting her family on the African continent, theater, canoeing, reading, and discussing African history and institutions. Talk to Dami about the continent!

Email her at dakinyele@princetoninafrica.org