SIA-Africa is pleased to honor educator, scholar, author, speaker, philanthropist and social entrepreneur Myralyn “Mimi” Nartey as its Person of the Month for February 2019.
Ms. Nartey is a women’s empowerment scholar with a lecturing appointment at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, and adjunct faculty positions at Occidental College and Loyola Marymount University. Her primary research focuses on women’s health in sub-Saharan Africa.
A former professional soccer player, Nartey won a silver medal in the 2002 African Cup of Nations and represented Ghana, where her father was raised, in the 2003 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Her initial interest in public health formed when she was infected with malaria as a teenager while training in Ghana with the Women’s National Soccer Team, experiencing first-hand the difficulties of accessing necessary medical treatment in an underdeveloped country even with the privilege shown to professional athletes.
Following the experience, Nartey choose to work towards limiting the proliferation of infectious diseases and promote health in vulnerable regions in Africa. She has an undergraduate degree in environmental biology and a graduate degree in climate and society from Columbia University. She completed her doctoral studies at UCLA in community health sciences with a comparative education minor.
Nartey is passionate about integrating science and philosophy to teach and promote social justice. She has been involved in pioneering new approaches to address social problems such as gender and racial inequality and is the founder and CEO of RCAP (Race, Class, and Parenting), a marketplace of ideas for women thought-leaders and influencers to engage in dialogue on social dynamics and parenting in communities of affluence.
Nartey is married to Kofi N. Nartey, a real estate broker and television personality. In 2018 the two founded The Nartey Sports Foundation to support sports-related interventions for underserved youth. They live with their children Liya and Lincoln in California.
For her work to address social injustices, women’s empowerment, and her use of soccer to promote public health, SIA-Africa is pleased to name Mimi Nartey its February 2019 Person of the Month.
