Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman Explained

Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman (born 1996) is a Ghanaian-born American activist and writer. She is a co-founder and former CEO of the Sadie Collective, as well as a co-founder and co-organizer of Black Birders Week.

Early life and education

Opoku-Agyeman was born in Kumasi, Ghana, and moved to the United States as a child.^[1]

Opoku-Agyeman graduated from St. John's Parish Day School in Ellicott City, Maryland in 2007,^[2] and from Glenelg Country School, also in Ellicott City, in 2014.^[3] In 2019, she earned a B.A. in mathematics with a minor in economics from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).^[4] As an undergraduate, Opoku-Agyeman was a Meyerhoff Scholar and NIH MARC U*STAR Scholar, and was enrolled in the UMBC Honors College.^{[5] [6] [7]}

After graduating from college, Opoku-Agyeman attended the American Economic Association’s summer training program, which aims to increase diversity in economics "by preparing talented undergraduates for doctoral programs in economics and related disciplines".^[8] She then spent the 2019–2020 academic year enrolled in the Harvard University Research Scholar Initiative postbaccalaureate program. While Opoku-Agyeman was in the Harvard postbaccalaureate program, she was a research assistant to an economics professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education^[9] and was affiliated with the National Bureau of Economic Research.^[10] She is currently a doctoral student in Public Policy and Economics at the Harvard Kennedy School^[11] as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow,^[12] a Ford Foundation Graduate Fellow,^[13] and a Women and Public Policy Program Doctoral Fellow.^[14] In 2023, she was among those selected for Forbes 30 Under 30 Local Boston class.^[15]

Career

The Sadie Collective

In 2018, Opoku-Agyeman and Fanta Traore co-founded a nonprofit organization called the Sadie Collective, which aims to increase the number of Black women working in quantitative data fields, including economics, data science, and public policy.^{[16] [17]} The collective offers mentorship and hosts programming, including the annual Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Conference for Economics and Related Fields.^{[18] [19]} Opoku-Agyeman served as the CEO of the organization until March 2021.^{[20] [21]} Several of her published works and media features, which advocate for the advancement and inclusion of black women in economics, have been the result of collaboration with Lisa D. Cook, the first African American woman and first woman of color to sit on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. ^{[22] [23]}

Black Birders Week

In 2020, Opoku-Agyeman co-founded and co-organized Black Birders Week, a series of online events organized to highlight and celebrate Black birders, naturalists, and outdoor enthusiasts.^{[24] [25] [26] [27]} Her aim was to improve the visibility of Black people in non-stereotypical situations,^[28] and to advocate for science organizations to give Black people the platform and resources to engage in engagement and outreach activities.^{[29] [30]} Additionally, the inaugural Black Birders Week produced content in collaboration with the National Audubon Society and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.^[31]

Publications

Academic publications

• Campbell. Petreena S.. Mavingire. Nicole. Khan. Salma. Rowland. Leah K.. Wooten. Jonathan V.. Opoku-Agyeman. Anna. Guevara. Ashley. Soto. Ubaldo. Cavalli. Fiorella. Loaiza-Pérez. Andrea Irene. Nagaraj. Gayathri. Denham. Laura J.. Adeoye. Olayemi. Jenkins. Brittany D.. Davis. Melissa B.. Schiff. Rachel. Brantley. Eileen J.. AhR ligand aminoflavone suppresses α6-integrin-Src-Akt signaling to attenuate tamoxifen resistance in breast cancer cells. Journal of Cellular Physiology. 234. 1. 2019. 108–121. 0021-9541. 10.1002/jcp.27013. 30076704. 6202151. ^[32]
• Anna Gifty. Opoku-Agyeman. The Impact of Early Childhood Malaria Risk on the Probability of School Delay in Ghana. UMBC Journal of Undergraduate Research. 21. 2020. 47.

Selected other publications

• "The Black Agenda: Bold Solutions for a Broken System," Edited by Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman, with foreword by Tressie McMillan Cottom and essayists including Dr. Sandy Darity, Dr. Hedwig Lee, Mary Heglar, and Janelle Jones.^[33]
• News: Lisa D.. Cook. Anna Gifty. Opoku-Agyeman. 'It Was a Mistake for Me to Choose This Field'. The New York Times. September 30, 2019.
• News: Anna Gifty. Opoku-Agyeman. Do black economists matter? The media erasure of black economic voices hurts the hardest-hit communities by the pandemic and society at large. Economic Policy Institute. April 13, 2020.
• News: Dania. Francis. Anna Gifty. Opoku-Agyeman. Economists' Silence on Racism Is 100 Years in the Making. Newsweek. June 11, 2020.

Notes and References

1. News: Meet Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman, Co-Founder and CEO of the Sadie Collective. GUBA Awards. June 2019. en. June 5, 2020. August 9, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200809223334/http://gubausa.com/2019/06/meet-anna-gifty-opoku-agyeman-co-founder-and-ceo-of-the-sadie-collective/. dead.
2. News: Awesome Alumni Alert!. St. John's Parish Day School. May 17, 2019. en.
3. News: Glenelg Country School Class of 2014. Baltimore Sun. June 7, 2014.
4. News: Cheryl. Profile: Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman, Research Scholar in Economics & Co-Founder of The Sadie Collective. We Rep STEM. April 22, 2020. en-CA.
5. News: Dansberger Duque. Catalina Sofia. The Power of Community. UMBC Magazine. June 17, 2019.
6. Web site: Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman. Economic Policy Institute. June 6, 2020.
7. News: BSOS Welcomes 2017 Summer Research Initiative Scholars. University of Maryland - College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. 2017.
8. Web site: AEA Summer and Scholarship Programs. AEA Summer and Scholarship Programs . American Economic Association . 30 June 2020.
9. News: Hasenstab. Maria. Opoku-Agyeman. Anna. Traore. Fanta. September 18, 2019. Anna Opoku-Agyeman and Fanta Traore. Women in Economics. Federal Reserve of St. Louis. 2020-06-05.
10. News: Cook. Lisa D.. Opoku-Agyeman. Anna Gifty. Bhattacharya. Jhumpa. September 1, 2019. Episode 27: Dr. Lisa D. Cook and Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman. en-US. Insight.
11. Web site: Black Agenda: A conversation with Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman : The Indicator from Planet Money. 2022-02-04. NPR.org. en.
12. Web site: National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) . Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) . National Science Foundation.
13. Web site: Ford Foundation Fellowship Programs. National Academy of Sciences . National Academy of Sciences.
14. Web site: Meet Our Research Fellows . 2023-01-30 . www.hks.harvard.edu . en.
15. Web site: Team . Forbes Under 30 . 30 Under 30 Local 2023: Boston . 2023-08-15 . Forbes . en.
16. News: Casselman. Ben. Tankersley. Jim. Smialek. Jeanna. A Year After a #MeToo Reckoning, Economists Still Grapple With It. The New York Times. January 7, 2020.
17. News: 2021-03-20. The Two Women Fixing the Pipeline for Black Female Economists. en. Bloomberg.com. 2021-04-25.
18. News: Dansberger Duque. Catalina Sofia. UMBC students Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman and Olusayo Adeleye co-create 1st U.S. conference for Black women economists. UMBC News. March 6, 2019. en-US.
19. News: Dansberger Duque. Catalina Sofia. Inside the Conference for Black Women Economists. Ms. Magazine. April 2, 2019.
20. News: Omeokwe. Amara. Economics Profession Turns Attention to its 'Race Problem'. Wall Street Journal. January 3, 2020.
21. Web site: Advisory Board. 2021-04-25. The Sadie Collective. en.
22. News: Opoku-Agyeman. Anna Gifty. It Was a Mistake for Me to Choose This Field. New York Times. September 30, 2019.
23. News: Garcia. Cardiff. The Indicator from Planet Money: How Economics Excludes Black Women. NPR. December 18, 2019. en.
24. News:
    1. BlackBirdersWeek aims to raise awareness, grow community
    . BirdWatchingDaily. May 29, 2020. en-US.
25. News: Kutz. Cat.
    1. BlackBirdersWeek: Celebrating and Encouraging Diversity in Conservation
    . Smithsonian Magazine. June 4, 2020. en.
26. News: Calma. Justine. How one viral video sparked a black birders movement online. The Verge. June 4, 2020. en.
27. News: Thompson. Andrea. Black Birders Call Out Racism, Say Nature Should Be for Everyone. Scientific American. June 5, 2020. en.
28. News: These Black nature lovers are busting stereotypes, one cool bird at a time. CNN. June 3, 2020. en.
29. News: Bale. Rachael. Everyone can watch the birds. https://web.archive.org/web/20200607030723/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/newsletters/animals/2020/06/everyone-can-watch-birds-june-04/. dead. June 7, 2020. National Geographic. June 4, 2020. en.
30. News: Cat. Linh Anh. Opening The Outdoors: Inaugural Black Birders Week. Forbes. June 1, 2020. en.
31. News:
    1. BlackBirdersWeek: Black People Belong In The Great Outdoors Too
    . WBAA.org. June 1, 2020.
32. https://surf.umbc.edu/files/2014/03/SURF-Book-2016_Online-Version.pdf Program of the UMBC 19th Annual Summer Undergraduate Research Fest
33. Web site: The Black Agenda. 2021-11-11. Macmillan. en-US.