Dr. Dessie Sanders

She is a visionary nonprofit leader, educator, and advocate with over a decade of experience empowering young women of color through arts, culture, education, and leadership development. Currently serving as Principal Chief Executive Officer of The Michelle Obama Academy of Arts and Humanities (MOAAH), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, she leads programs focused on empowerment, determination, leadership, diversity and inclusion, and addressing domestic violence, rape prevention, and sexual assault awareness for African American girls and young women. She also serves as CEO of HBCUniversal Productions, Inc., supporting historically Black colleges and universities by helping African Americans and people of color achieve their academic goals. Her distinguished academic career includes roles as Visiting Fellow at Dillard University, Professor at Wiley College, and IB Faculty member at Uplift Education, where she taught English, African American Literature, and college readiness courses. She has completed doctoral coursework in Literature at The University of Texas at Dallas, with a dissertation focused on the church, the Bible, and the metaphor of the Black female bondservant in American literature. She also holds a Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, in Theocentric Humanities. She is recognized as a passionate, visionary, and servant-hearted leader who is deeply committed to educational equity, cultural empowerment, and creating pathways for young women of color to lead fearlessly and thrive.