Social Impact Networking Night

At Emory, she earned two Bachelor of Arts degrees in Environmental Studies and Psychology. During this time, she was given the opportunity to travel abroad to Namibia, where she saw the benefits and support their people gave to each other and how that dramatically protected their environment. She left inspired to bring that level of collaboration back to the states. She spent the past 10 years working for AmeriCorps and environmental nonprofits, like Trees Atlanta and Root Local.

In 2020, she graduated from University of Georgia with a Master of Public Administration with a certificate in Nonprofit Management. She aspires to continue to build a strong foundation for environmental stewardship and connect communities together to reduce our negative environmental impact.

He is an AmeriCorps alum and has held various project management, marketing and development positions in Atlanta’s private and nonprofit sector. He currently serves as the Director of Business Innovation at Points of Light, an organization focused on helping individuals, nonprofits and companies become more civically engaged and drive social impact. In his current role, he supports the organization's corporate social responsibility initiatives providing training, consulting and engagement programs for companies looking to improve and scale their social impact efforts.

In 1994, her mother, Olutoyin Okunoren, purchased Little Ones Learning Center in Forest Park, GA. Together they transformed the Center into a holistic early childhood education program where 175 children, their families, and staff grow, eat, and learn about local, organic, and sustainably grown food. The Three Star Quality Rated and National Association for the Education of Young Children accredited Center serves as a model program stimulating young children’s physical, emotional, intellectual, and social growth. The Center’s integrated wellness and curriculum program has prompted visits from Georgia’s former First Lady Sandra Deal and fromer Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black.

In 2018, Hand Heart and Soul Project (HHSP) was founded to serve Clayton County and beyond and spurs collaboration across individuals, families, and early care providers. She advised the Democratic National Committee’s Planning COVID-19 health crisis platform in a conversation moderated by Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. She was appointed to Georgia Governor Nathan Deal’s first Early Education Subcommittee, has testified before a Georgia House Study Committee on Children’s Mental Health, and is a Georgia Department of Early Care and Education Quality Rated Peer Support Network Advisor.

Wande has contributed to a host of impact organizations and boards. She was selected as a 2021 Center for Civic Innovation Alumni Fellow, where “good troublemakers” are celebrated. She is the current Vice President of Legal and Legislative Affairs for the Georgia Child Care Association and serves on the Advisory Board for the National Farm to School Network and the Executive Steering Committee for the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Good Food For All collaborative. She has served on several Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning Advisory Boards, a past Chair of the Caucus of Emory Black Alumni, and a past President of South Dekalb Mocha Moms. She mentored Cook Elementary School students, fielded calls, and supported survivors through the Dekalb County Rape Crisis Line, served on the Hurricane Katrina Task Force with the American Red Cross, and was chosen as part of an elite group of inaugural Emory Ambassadors. She also serves on the Atlanta Alliance Equity Fund, a collaboration between United Way of Greater Atlanta and the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta and was recently selected as an inaugural governance committee member of the Big Green DAO, which seeks to decentralize and shift power in philanthropy.

She has also received numerous awards for her dedication to young children and families including the Nikki T. Randall Servant Leadership Award presented by State Representative Valencia Stovall and the Georgia Women’s Legislative Caucus. She is a recipient of the Community Leadership Policy Award from the Black Child Development Institute-Atlanta, the Fan Brooke Award for Grassroots Leadership from the Georgia Association for the Education of Young Children, and the Super Hero for Heroes Award from HERO for Children. In January 2023, she received the MLK, Jr. Ruby Samuels award for service and leadership bestowed by the State of Georgia and was also selected as one of 12 leaders nationwide to join the 2023 HEAL Food Alliance’s School of Political Leadership.

Emily earned a Bachelor’s degree in Cultural Anthropology from Emory University and a Master’s of Public Health with a focus on food systems and advocacy from Johns Hopkins University. In 2017, Emily was named one of the Georgia Center for Nonprofits’ 30 under 30. She previously served on the boards of Slow Food Atlanta and Generation Green of the Georgia Conservancy.

In her free time, Emily enjoys experimenting in the kitchen with new recipes, gardening, and going on hikes with her two dogs, Ellie Mae and Howie. Emily, her husband, Zachary, and their son, Patrick, live in Grant Park.

Currently, Abdur-Rahim serves as the Head of Community Strategy for the BlackRock Atlanta Innovation Hub, where she drives BlackRock’s social impact efforts in and around the greater Atlanta region. She also builds the BlackRock brand in the southeast and ensures a diverse hiring pipeline for the global firm.

Previously, she served as the City of Atlanta’s Chief Equity Officer, a senior-level cabinet position. In this role, Abdur-Rahim worked with city leadership to develop progressive policies and programs to address issues of equity, diversity, inclusion, and sustainability. Specific focus areas included economic and workforce mobility, housing affordability, health, education, youth engagement, and LGBTQ affairs.

As Chief Equity Officer, she led the codification of the city’s first Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, launching and overseeing a city-wide equity task force with 18 department commissioners and directors. She also overhauled the city’s branding to enhance Atlanta’s reputation as an equitable, diverse and inclusive city, and led the development of a children’s saving account program, ensuring all kindergarten students have access to a $50 savings account.

Before joining the City of Atlanta, Abdur-Rahim served for nearly 17 years as co-founder and CEO of Future Foundation, a nonprofit that works to break the cycle of generational poverty by serving under-invested public school students in Atlanta and Fulton County. Under Abdur-Rahim’s leadership, Future Foundation grew from a staff of two to a team of 50, serving more than 30,000 students in 13 locations. She grew the organization’s revenue by more than 400 percent. As a product herself of low-performing schools and a first-generation college graduate, Abdur-Rahim brought a unique understanding of the issues and challenges faced by the students Future Foundation serves.

A graduate of the University of California,Berkeley, she earned an MBA from the Goizueta School of Business at Emory University and is a former U.S. Air Force Reservist.