Global Citizen Year Welcomes Aziza Musa as first-ever Chief of External Affairs Officer

Global Citizen Year is thrilled to announce Aziza Musa has joined the organization as its inaugural Chief External Affairs Officer.

 

Aziza brings over 20 years of experience as a member of nonprofit leadership teams to this role, along with a lifelong commitment to advancing international access to education, community-driven reinvestment, and racial equity. In her role with Global Citizen Year, Aziza will oversee all philanthropic and earned revenue strategies, organizational marketing and positioning, and new innovations in community-building that connect changemakers worldwide. “Global Citizen Year is at the leading edge of innovative educational programming,” Aziza says. “At a moment where community-centric problem-solving requires both a global perspective and hyper-local knowledge and care, Global Citizen Year is empowering the next generation of leaders who can think and act globally and locally simultaneously to affect profound change.” 

 

“From the moment I met Aziza, I knew she was the perfect person to lead our External Affairs team,” says CEO Erin Lewellen. “Aziza’s global orientation, equity-focused approaches, and two decades of partnership and movement-building experience will bring invaluable contributions to our already strong leadership team and are vital to Global Citizen Year’s next steps in scaling international impact.”  

 

Before joining Global Citizen Year, Aziza served as Vice President of Business Partnerships & Investor Relations at Health Leads where she oversaw the Development, Earned Revenue, and Partnerships Marketing & Communications divisions. Prior to her role at Health Leads, she led the development efforts for Teach For America in New Jersey, served as the head of EdTech sales for Cambridge based company, BetterLesson; and as a Management and Talent Strategy Consultant for cross-sector clients in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. She also sits on the boards of BuildX, a crowdfunding social enterprise platform, and Giving Well International, which makes capital healthcare investments aimed at strengthening health systems in the Middle East. 

 

“As a Muslim, second generation Palestinian American, and woman of color, I am grateful to be joining an organization that not only values diversity, but recognizes diversity as a fundamental strength for changing the world for the better,” Aziza shares. “As a parent to three kids, I’ve seen firsthand how global learning immersion inspires passionate and engaged future leaders. Global Citizen Year is bringing young world changers from 100 countries together to build global power and affect transformative local change. I am excited to join Global Citizen Year’s leadership team, our learners, our alumni, and our community of donors to exponentially increase this impact in service of a global push for equity and justice.”