Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman Explained

Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman
Birth Place:	Kumasi, Ghana
Education:	University of Maryland, Baltimore County (BA) Harvard Kennedy School (Ph.D. in progress)
Awards:	Meyerhoff Scholarship National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Ford Foundation Pre-doctoral Fellowship
Known For:	Sadie Collective Black Birders Week

Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman (born 1996) is a Ghanaian-born American activist and writer. She is a co-founder and former CEO of the Sadie Collective, as well as a co-founder and co-organizer of Black Birders Week.

Early life and education

Opoku-Agyeman was born in Kumasi, Ghana, and moved to the United States as a child.^[1]

Opoku-Agyeman graduated from St. John's Parish Day School in Ellicott City, Maryland in 2007,^[2] and from Glenelg Country School, also in Ellicott City, in 2014.^[3] In 2019, she earned a B.A. in mathematics with a minor in economics from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).^[4] As an undergraduate, Opoku-Agyeman was a Meyerhoff Scholar and NIH MARC U*STAR Scholar, and was enrolled in the UMBC Honors College.^{[5] [6] [7]}

After graduating from college, Opoku-Agyeman attended the American Economic Association’s summer training program, which aims to increase diversity in economics "by preparing talented undergraduates for doctoral programs in economics and related disciplines".^[8] She then spent the 2019–2020 academic year enrolled in the Harvard University Research Scholar Initiative postbaccalaureate program. While Opoku-Agyeman was in the Harvard postbaccalaureate program, she was a research assistant to an economics professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education^[9] and was affiliated with the National Bureau of Economic Research.^[10] She is currently a doctoral student in Public Policy and Economics at the Harvard Kennedy School^[11] as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow,^[12] a Ford Foundation Graduate Fellow,^[13] and a Women and Public Policy Program Doctoral Fellow.^[14] In 2023, she was among those selected for Forbes 30 Under 30 Local Boston class.^[15]

Career

The Sadie Collective

In 2018, Opoku-Agyeman and Fanta Traore co-founded a nonprofit organization called the Sadie Collective, which aims to increase the number of Black women working in quantitative data fields, including economics, data science, and public policy.^{[16] [17]} The collective offers mentorship and hosts programming, including the annual Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Conference for Economics and Related Fields.^{[18] [19]} Opoku-Agyeman served as the CEO of the organization until March 2021.^{[20] [21]} Several of her published works and media features, which advocate for the advancement and inclusion of black women in economics, have been the result of collaboration with Lisa D. Cook, a Professor of Economics and International Relations at Michigan State University.^{[22] [23]}

Black Birders Week

In 2020, Opoku-Agyeman co-founded and co-organized Black Birders Week, a series of online events organized to highlight and celebrate Black birders, naturalists, and outdoor enthusiasts.^{[24] [25] [26] [27]} Her aim was to improve the visibility of Black people in non-stereotypical situations,^[28] and to advocate for science organizations to give Black people the platform and resources to engage in engagement and outreach activities.^{[29] [30]} Additionally, the inaugural Black Birders Week produced content in collaboration with the National Audubon Society and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.^[31]

Publications

Academic publications

• Campbell. Petreena S.. Mavingire. Nicole. Khan. Salma. Rowland. Leah K.. Wooten. Jonathan V.. Opoku-Agyeman. Anna. Guevara. Ashley. Soto. Ubaldo. Cavalli. Fiorella. Loaiza-Pérez. Andrea Irene. Nagaraj. Gayathri. Denham. Laura J.. Adeoye. Olayemi. Jenkins. Brittany D.. Davis. Melissa B.. Schiff. Rachel. Brantley. Eileen J.. AhR ligand aminoflavone suppresses α6-integrin-Src-Akt signaling to attenuate tamoxifen resistance in breast cancer cells. Journal of Cellular Physiology. 234. 1. 2019. 108–121. 0021-9541. 10.1002/jcp.27013. 30076704. 6202151. ^[32]
• Anna Gifty. Opoku-Agyeman. The Impact of Early Childhood Malaria Risk on the Probability of School Delay in Ghana. UMBC Journal of Undergraduate Research. 21. 2020. 47.

Selected other publications

• "The Black Agenda: Bold Solutions for a Broken System," Edited by Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman, with foreword by Tressie McMillan Cottom and essayists including Dr. Sandy Darity, Dr. Hedwig Lee, Mary Heglar, and Janelle Jones.^[33]
• News: Lisa D.. Cook. Anna Gifty. Opoku-Agyeman. 'It Was a Mistake for Me to Choose This Field'. The New York Times. September 30, 2019.
• News: Anna Gifty. Opoku-Agyeman. Do black economists matter? The media erasure of black economic voices hurts the hardest-hit communities by the pandemic and society at large. Economic Policy Institute. April 13, 2020.
• News: Dania. Francis. Anna Gifty. Opoku-Agyeman. Economists' Silence on Racism Is 100 Years in the Making. Newsweek. June 11, 2020.

Notes and References

1. News: Meet Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman, Co-Founder and CEO of the Sadie Collective. GUBA Awards. June 2019. en. June 5, 2020. August 9, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200809223334/http://gubausa.com/2019/06/meet-anna-gifty-opoku-agyeman-co-founder-and-ceo-of-the-sadie-collective/. dead.
2. News: Awesome Alumni Alert!. St. John's Parish Day School. May 17, 2019. en.
3. News: Glenelg Country School Class of 2014. Baltimore Sun. June 7, 2014.
4. News: Cheryl. Profile: Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman, Research Scholar in Economics & Co-Founder of The Sadie Collective. We Rep STEM. April 22, 2020. en-CA.
5. News: Dansberger Duque. Catalina Sofia. The Power of Community. UMBC Magazine. June 17, 2019.
6. Web site: Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman. Economic Policy Institute. June 6, 2020.
7. News: BSOS Welcomes 2017 Summer Research Initiative Scholars. University of Maryland - College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. 2017.
8. Web site: AEA Summer and Scholarship Programs. AEA Summer and Scholarship Programs . American Economic Association . 30 June 2020.
9. News: Hasenstab. Maria. Opoku-Agyeman. Anna. Traore. Fanta. September 18, 2019. Anna Opoku-Agyeman and Fanta Traore. Women in Economics. Federal Reserve of St. Louis. 2020-06-05.
10. News: Cook. Lisa D.. Opoku-Agyeman. Anna Gifty. Bhattacharya. Jhumpa. September 1, 2019. Episode 27: Dr. Lisa D. Cook and Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman. en-US. Insight.
11. Web site: Black Agenda: A conversation with Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman : The Indicator from Planet Money. 2022-02-04. NPR.org. en.
12. Web site: National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) . Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) . National Science Foundation.
13. Web site: Ford Foundation Fellowship Programs. National Academy of Sciences . National Academy of Sciences.
14. Web site: Meet Our Research Fellows . 2023-01-30 . www.hks.harvard.edu . en.
15. Web site: Team . Forbes Under 30 . 30 Under 30 Local 2023: Boston . 2023-08-15 . Forbes . en.
16. News: Casselman. Ben. Tankersley. Jim. Smialek. Jeanna. A Year After a #MeToo Reckoning, Economists Still Grapple With It. The New York Times. January 7, 2020.
17. News: 2021-03-20. The Two Women Fixing the Pipeline for Black Female Economists. en. Bloomberg.com. 2021-04-25.
18. News: Dansberger Duque. Catalina Sofia. UMBC students Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman and Olusayo Adeleye co-create 1st U.S. conference for Black women economists. UMBC News. March 6, 2019. en-US.
19. News: Dansberger Duque. Catalina Sofia. Inside the Conference for Black Women Economists. Ms. Magazine. April 2, 2019.
20. News: Omeokwe. Amara. Economics Profession Turns Attention to its 'Race Problem'. Wall Street Journal. January 3, 2020.
21. Web site: Advisory Board. 2021-04-25. The Sadie Collective. en.
22. News: Opoku-Agyeman. Anna Gifty. It Was a Mistake for Me to Choose This Field. New York Times. September 30, 2019.
23. News: Garcia. Cardiff. The Indicator from Planet Money: How Economics Excludes Black Women. NPR. December 18, 2019. en.
24. News:
    1. BlackBirdersWeek aims to raise awareness, grow community
    . BirdWatchingDaily. May 29, 2020. en-US.
25. News: Kutz. Cat.
    1. BlackBirdersWeek: Celebrating and Encouraging Diversity in Conservation
    . Smithsonian Magazine. June 4, 2020. en.
26. News: Calma. Justine. How one viral video sparked a black birders movement online. The Verge. June 4, 2020. en.
27. News: Thompson. Andrea. Black Birders Call Out Racism, Say Nature Should Be for Everyone. Scientific American. June 5, 2020. en.
28. News: These Black nature lovers are busting stereotypes, one cool bird at a time. CNN. June 3, 2020. en.
29. News: Bale. Rachael. Everyone can watch the birds. https://web.archive.org/web/20200607030723/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/newsletters/animals/2020/06/everyone-can-watch-birds-june-04/. dead. June 7, 2020. National Geographic. June 4, 2020. en.
30. News: Cat. Linh Anh. Opening The Outdoors: Inaugural Black Birders Week. Forbes. June 1, 2020. en.
31. News:
    1. BlackBirdersWeek: Black People Belong In The Great Outdoors Too
    . WBAA.org. June 1, 2020.
32. https://surf.umbc.edu/files/2014/03/SURF-Book-2016_Online-Version.pdf Program of the UMBC 19th Annual Summer Undergraduate Research Fest
33. Web site: The Black Agenda. 2021-11-11. Macmillan. en-US.