www.wafamay.com Wafa May Elamin is a Black, Muslim, Immigrant, Sudanese-American woman who lives her life in Ubuntu— an ancient South African word and philosophy that centers humanity to others—and strives to always be in service to humanity in all that she does personally and professionally. Wafa May is the Founder and Director at Self Made Roots—a consulting firm focused on strengthening coalitions, grassroots, nonprofit, community, and equity-centered/Belonging initiatives. With a deep passion for serving all under-resourced communities, including those that she is a part and product of, she created Self Made Roots to continue fostering her passion and strengths in community development; coalition building; sustainability; international diplomacy; nonprofit management; as well as human rights and social justice advocacy. Wafa May holds a B.S. in Environmental Policy and Planning, a B.A. in International Studies: Environmental Affairs, and Minor in Spanish from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). In terms of community service and humanity-centered work, she served for the last four years on the Board of Directors for Work of Art RVA, a nonprofit based in Richmond, VA that serves girls ages 13-18 in the metro area; and continues to serve on the Board for Moving Forward Sudan, an nonprofit organization based in the DC Metro area serving the Sudanese-American and global diaspora community. Wafa May played a pivotal role spearheading the path to MFS’ 501c3 during her time on the Executive Committee. She began to call herself an “accidental activist” after finding her voice and passion for large-scale, impact-driven mobilization when she led the global #JusticeForNoura campaign that mobilized 1.7+ million people around the world to sign a petition and advocate Women's rights, ending child marriage, and criminalizing marital rape in Sudan. For her, this campaign helped her to feel even closer to her Sudanese identity, activated her voice and “accidental activism,” and restored and reignited her faith in humanity. Professionally, she has served in a number of different positions as a Senior Associate at the Institute for Engagement & Negotiation at UVA; Project Manager for Solar Equity and the Clean Energy States Alliance; Executive Director for the Virginia Renewable Energy Alliance (VA-REA); Infectious Disease Program Coordinator for the Virginia Department of Health (VDH); and Community Development Coordinator with Microsoft. She also became an active member in the Virginia Energy Workforce Consortium (VEWC) in 2020, where she served as the Industry Demand Co-Lead; lead for the consortia’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Roundtable Series; and is currently a Co-Chair for the VEWC’s Project Manager and DEI Committee Co-chair that was created after the success of the Roundtable Series to integrate principles of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access to Virginia’s energy workforce at large.