Nkechi Taifa is a native Washingtonian and life-long resident of the District of Columbia. She is a social justice attorney, activist, author, motivational speaker and entrepreneur. She serves as a Senior Policy Analyst for an international foundation and convenes a Washington-based coalition advancing federal criminal justice policy reform. She has served as legislative and policy counsel for several advocacy organizations, and as founding director of the Howard University School of Law’s award-winning Equal Justice Program, and as an adjunct professor at Howard Law and American University Washington College of Law. As a private practitioner she represented adult and juvenile clients before the Superior Court of the District of Columba. Ms. Taifa has served on the boards of numerous public interest organizations and has written and spoken extensively on issues of civil/human rights and criminal and civil justice reform. She received her Juris Doctorate from George Washington University Law School, and BA degree from Howard University. She is the founder and CEO of the newly launched education crowdfunding website, SCHOLARgifts.