Welcome the new People Powered team members

People Powered just welcomed four new team members from diverse countries and professional backgrounds. Below, we’ve summarized their bios (visit our staff page for more information) and shared their answers to some fun questions. Read and enjoy!

Elizabeth Talatu Williams

Learning Program Fellow

Elizabeth helps curate communication materials and other resources from around the world to share on the People Powered website, coordinate learning activities and support content creation.

Previously, she worked for the PharmAccess Foundation, where she led the development of Kulawa, an online platform that provides health information in simple, easy-to-understand and locally relevant language to Nigerians. 

Elizabeth earned her master's degree in international development from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. 

What do you think will be the most exciting part of your job at People Powered? 
The most exciting part of my job is designing the learning activities for the Climate Democracy Action program. I know that while I support the participants, I will learn from them.

What’s your most-used productivity hack? 
Having a to-do-list. It has helped me organize and prioritize my tasks in every area of my life. I also love my notepad and pen; there is just this thrill I get from writing things down, then watching them come to life!

To what city/place have you traveled that you would most like to return and why?
New York City. At the age of 19 (2015), I served as a panelist at a United Nations General Assembly side event, where I advocated for the prioritization of the sustainable development goals. This opened my mind to the power of using my voice to advocate for those who are marginalized. New York is and remains a city of endless possibilities for me.

What is a book/movie that you found influential to your thinking?
A book I found influential is Becoming by Michelle Obama. It is a daily reminder for me that as a Black woman, there is nothing I cannot do or achieve.

What languages do you speak?
I can speak English and Yoruba. 

Luiza Jardim

Community Building Fellow

Luiza supports current People Powered members and welcomes new organizations into the participatory democracy community. 

Previously, Luiza worked for the Colab digital participation platform, for which she worked with local governments and international organizations, such as UN-Habitat and the World Bank, to implement online initiatives. She earned a master’s degree in political science from the Federal University of Minas Gerais. During her studies, Luiza focused on the use of “e-participation” tactics in Brazil to respond to the pandemic. 

What do you think will be the most exciting part of your job at People Powered? 
Connecting with people from different parts of the world and with diverse backgrounds, and learning about their experience with participative democracy.

What’s your most-used productivity hack? 
Writing down the activities I want to do for the day, then marking them as completed. It gives me a lot of joy to do that.

What is one book/movie that you found influential to your thinking?
The Nation of Plants, by Stefano Mancuso. It fascinates me how he presents extremely complex reflections about humanity based on plant behavior. 

To which city/place would you most like to return and why?
I usually don’t wish to return to the places I enjoyed the most. I am scared that I might “lose” the memory and the impact that the first visit had on me. But recently I have been thinking about returning to Rio de Janeiro (which I have visited a few times) and staying there for a week or more to experience different parts of the city and its surroundings.

What languages do you speak?
My native language is Portuguese, but I can also speak English and Spanish, and a bit of French.

Melissa Zisengwe

Civic Tech Fellow

Melissa coordinates production of our Digital Participation Platform Ratings. She served on the People Powered Technology Review Committee in 2021, when the ratings were first compiled.

Melissa also works as program officer for the Civic Tech Innovation Network (CTIN), which brings the African community together in this arena. Her role at CTIN includes programming and operations oversight, research and project management, strategic support, communications, and stakeholder management. 

Melissa earned bachelor’s degrees in journalism/media studies and English/linguistics from Rhodes University (South Africa) and is currently completing a master’s degree in ICT policy and regulation at the University of the Witwatersrand. 

What do you think will be the most exciting part of your job at People Powered?
Mostly, I am excited about learning and doing new things. My mind has been yearning for a new challenge and this role offers me an opportunity to explore ideas and new work activities.  (Also the culture and people are very exciting)

What’s your most-used productivity hack?
Silence and being left alone. I achieve more when I isolate myself from email and society and just focus on the task at hand. (Put me in a cabin in the middle of nowhere with fast internet, and I will be the most productive!)

What is one book/movie that you found influential to your thinking? 
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and The Eternal Audience of One by Rémy Ngamije. (Yup, she broke the rule and told us two!)

To what city/place have you traveled that you would most like to return and why?
Visby, Sweden. And why? Nostalgia. It was the first city (and country) I traveled to outside of Africa. It seemed like an easy-going, relaxed city and that's always a big plus.  

What languages do you speak?
English, Shona, IsiZulu, IsiXhosa and IsiNdebele. I can understand and speak a few more sufficiently. 

Pamela Nwakanma

Research Coordinator

Pamela convenes and supports international research networks on participatory democracy, with a focus on the Global South, as part of our work to decolonize democracy research. Pamela joins People Powered through a prestigious ACLS Leading Edge fellowship.

She recently earned her Ph.D. from Harvard University’s Department of Government, with a secondary specialization in African and African American studies. Pamela describes herself as a political scientist interested in making governance more inclusive, with a particular passion for gender equity . 

What do you think will be the most exciting part of your job at People Powered?
I think the most exciting parts of my job will be the collaborative research I support with member organizations and doing the grassroots programming needed to make democracy more inclusive.

What’s your most-used productivity hack?
Not receiving email notifications on my phone. I find that dedicating a certain time for emails instead of constantly being distracted with notifications helps with focus and productivity.

What is one book/movie that you found influential to your thinking?
This is also difficult to narrow down to one, but can I cheat and mention four? I loved reading Paul Kalanithi's When Breath Becomes Air,  Elizabeth Alexander's The Light of the World, Sulaiman Addonia's The Consequences of Love, and Adaora Mbelu's This Thing Called Purpose. There are many other books that have shaped my thinking, but these are some that have stayed with me, as they are reminders to live well and as free as possible.

To what city/place have you traveled that you would most like to return and why? 
This is a hard one, since every city has its own charm, but perhaps Kigali, Rwanda. I worked with an NGO there for two summers and had such a transformative experience there. It has been a while since I have visited but loved the landscape and the people!

What languages do you speak?
I speak Igbo, French and some Spanish. I have also studied Kinyarwanda and Hausa in the past but those linguistic skills have become very rusty (more so than others).