Risho is the Executive Director of Mother Africa, an organization she founded in 2004 because of her passion to serve her community and expand opportunities for African refugee and immigrant women. By putting the needs and aspirations of the community first, Mother Africa has been able to create jobs, advocate for community inclusion and racial equity, connect community to valuable resources and influence systems and decision-makers to positively affect African refugees and immigrants in Washington State.

Risho was born and raised in Sudan. She has over 20 years of extensive experience working with local and international nonprofit organizations operating in the field of International development, social change and humanitarian services. Prior to Mother Africa, Risho worked with the Sudan National Committee on Harmful Traditional Practices, Sabah for Street Children services, Canadian Save the Children’s Fund in Khartoum, Oxfam America in Boston, YWCA-South King County, Refugee Women’s Alliance (ReWA) and Lutheran Community Services NW.  She is a community organizer, a health educator, an advocate for victims of domestic violence, a Certified Mental Health Processional (MHP), and a member of the community first and foremost.

Risho is also a volunteer with many organizations that further advance social justice for African women and their families. She is one of the founders of the Washington State Coalition of African Community Leaders and its former Vice President, co-founder of Living Well Kent, and former board member of the Washington State Coalition against Domestic Violence. She served as an Advisory Board member of the Youth Executive of King County, and currently serves as a Community Advisory Board for the Center for Adjustment, Recovery and Resilience (CARRE) as well as the Seattle Foundation N2N Advisory Committee. Risho holds a Masters Degree in International Development and Social Change from Clark University. When she is not working, Risho enjoys family and friends and likes walking in nature, sewing and cooking.

Colleen holds a MA in International Studies with an Africa regional focus from the Jackson School of International Studies, and a Certificate in Global Health from the Department of Global Health, at University of Washington. She has more than 10 years of nonprofit, community organizing and international development experience in the US, Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda. Colleen joined Mother Africa as a Board Member in 2012 and has continued to grow with organization through many stages of exciting expansion. She is currently the Programs, Operations and Fundraising Director.

Colleen is also the Co-Founder of Autism Compassion Africa, a nonprofit NGO organization that provides breakthroughs for children with autism in Ghana and Nigeria, hosts awareness raising campaigns, and provides professional development in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). She is also a Co-Founder of ACA’s sister organization based in Seattle, Autism Compassion Services, which provides ABA services to families and aspires to create long-term stability for ACA in West Africa.

Colleen is passionate about working alongside women and community and believes in the power of women united around any cause. Colleen envisions a world where all people are heard, connected and free to fulfill on their passions in life. Outside of work, Colleen loves to spend time with her family and friends, travel, try all different types of cuisines and dance to afrobeat music.

Kholoud started her journey as an educator in 2002 and she has never looked back since then. The past 18 years have been a thoroughly enriching part of her life because she has always been challenged to make a meaningful difference through her work. She learnt that job is all about learning and being passionate and this is what has kept her going for so long. Kholoud holds a Master of Business Administration specialized in Human Resource Management, from University of Ballart, Australia. For the last 10 years, she worked as language and business instructor at different universities in Malaysia and in the last two years she spent in the education field she held a position of head of the languages department.  In 2018, she started working with Mother Africa as a Community Support Specialist. Her energy, organizational skills and dedication to work earned her the promotion to be the Operation Manager and Programs Supervisors. Having the ability to adapt gave her the opportunity to work in multiple places in her country, Palestine, and overseas. She managed to work successfully with diverse communities and cultures. Her goal is to encourage and maintain an open, honest, communicative relationship with her team and her clients, in which everyone feels safe, secure and special. Her ultimate aim is to provide an authentic supporting experience to help clients be independent financially, stable emotionally and motivated to take the first step to resolve any issue.

Carol was born and raised in Kenya. She holds a BA in Social Communication and Media Studies from The Catholic University of Eastern Africa. She has also attended some graduate classes in Communication Leadership at The University of Washington.

While doing her internship at UNICEF Kenya, she discovered her passion of working in the Nonprofit World, particularly working directly with women and children in rural Kenya. After moving to America, she joined Mother Africa as a volunteer soon after serving the role as the case manager for both the SAFARI Program and The Resilient Women’s Group. As of 2019, she has been working as the Senior Program Coordinator for Best4Babies. She currently works with parents who speak English, Maimai, French, Arabic, Dari and Swahili. Her goal is to make sure that every client that we work with at Mother Africa, especially immigrants and/or refugees, feel confident enough to integrate and flourish in their lives in the US while still maintaining their unique cultural identities. She hopes to complete a Graduate Degree in the near future.  

When she is not working, Carol enjoys reading works of fiction (currently obsessing with works by African authors), blogging, Twitter, cooking and watching K-Dramas.

Deborah attended Northland College in Wisconsin and has been working has a health care profession for the past 10 years. She moved to Washington state in 2001 and joined the Association of Zambians in Seattle Washington (AZISWA), which is community-based organizations which supports immigrants from Zambia. It was through her volunteer work with AZISWA, that was invited to Mother Africa Cultural Night in 2017.

Deborah was inspired by the testimonies of the Women’s group of how their received sponsorship to Driving School, Nursing Assistant Programs and how the women were able to create a Sister Sister group to help and support each other.

Deborah is also a member of the Washington Coalition of Africa Community Leaders and it was in that group that she learned about the opportunity to serve on the Board of Africa Mother. She joined the Board of Mother in 2018 and served for 2 years before becoming the Board President in 2020.

Deborah was born and raised in Lusaka, Zambia. She is a proud mother to Seth & Faith, who she enjoys introducing to the African Cultural around Pacific Northwest. In 2019, she had the opportunity to host a cultural table featuring Zambia alongside her children at the Children’s International festival in Seattle Washington.

In her free time she enjoys exploring the trails and spending time with friends and family.

Amanda has spent her career working with and for global health nonprofits and funders, primarily focused on partnerships with Ministries of Health throughout East and West Africa. Moved by the care she has received from African women while living abroad, and deeply concerned with the barriers facing immigrants and refugees in today's America, Amanda joined the Board in 2019. She currently lives in Seattle and is very excited to be supporting alongside the exceptional women of Mother Africa.

Zoë spent several years in Ethiopia working with USAID's Global Health Supply Chain project to promote the long-term availability of malaria health commodities in rural communities. She was an English Language Instructor with the U.S. Peace Corps and a contributor to the Procurement and Supply Management team at Chemonics. She served as the director and regional coordinator for Ethiopia’s Stomp Out Malaria committee in collaboration with the President's Malaria Initiative, and has also done research in Costa Rica to improve community-based health education programs. 

Zoë is currently scientific community manager at Sage Bionetworks in Seattle, a nonprofit biomedical research and technology development organization. She promotes research collaboration between government, industry, and nonprofit organizations to discover novel, clinically relevant therapeutic targets for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Passionate about keeping a strong connection to the Ethiopian community, Zoë is honored to serve on the board of Mother Africa and committed to supporting the health and success of African women in the Seattle area.

Bukola is a pediatric anesthesiologist at Seattle Children’s Hospital and an assistant professor of anesthesiology at the University of Washington School of Medicine. She is passionate about children and women’s rights, health, education, and the purpose-driven life. She discovered Mother Africa in 2019 and is especially inspired by Mother Africa’s Best4babies program which supports immigrant and refugee parents in raising children in America. She is passionate about Mother Africa’s climate action initiatives and the programs that support the economic empowerment of immigrant women and women experiencing domestic violence. She is also on the advisory board of Latinos Promoting Good Health, a collaborative effort to improve the health of minority communities in Washington state.

Bukola was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria. She enjoys spending time with family and friends, especially while exploring the food scene.

Roseline became a Board Member at Mother Africa in 2019 and currently serves as the Vice-President on the Board and chair of the Communications and Advocacy Committee. Roseline first learnt about Mother Africa’s work through the testimony of a beneficiary of one of Mother Africa’s projects, many years ago. As a nurse leader and maternal and child health specialist, Roseline believes that every woman and every child deserve a chance to thrive and excel wherever they are. Being an immigrant woman and mother of 2, she has found Mother Africa a haven to serve and give back to the community.

Roseline holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and is currently pursuing her Masters in Nursing at the University of Arizona. For many years, she has volunteered on non-profit boards in USA and Kenya, where she was born and raised. Roseline currently lives in Seattle, Washington with her husband and 2 children.