Tolu Olubunmi at the Obama Presidential Center Museum, where her story is featured in the permanent collection.
For more than two decades, I've worked at the intersection of some of the defining challenges of our time. What began as my own search for belonging has taken me from the White House to the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, and today, the Obama Presidential Center Museum, where my story is featured in the museum's permanent collection.
Along the way, I've helped build one of the largest immigrant youth movements in American history and co-founded Immigrant Heritage Month, which transformed an idea into a national celebration in June since 2014. I’ve partnered with corporations including Microsoft, Walmart, Mars, Ogilvy, and Coca-Cola, helping institutions navigate complexity, build public trust, and advance meaningful social and environmental progress.
In 2026, I was selected as a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Resident to continue developing my work on belonging, democracy, and civic participation. Working across movements, government, global institutions, and business taught me something I couldn't have learned by staying in just one. The defining challenges of our time often appear unrelated until viewed through the lens of belonging.
Migration. Climate. Civic participation.
Different conversations yet the same underlying question:
Who belongs.
Who decides.
That question now sits at the center of everything I do.
I’m glad you're here.
Selected Highlights
Featured in the Obama Presidential Center Museum
2026 Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Resident
Former United Nations Special Appointee and Director of ActNow
One of 15 Women Changing the World and an Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur, World Economic Forum
Board of Advisors, The Williams School, Washington and Lee University
Featured on the cover of TIME during the announcement of DACA (2012)
Co-founded Immigrant Heritage Month
Chair, Governance & Operations Committee, Impact Guild
Helped build one of the largest immigrant youth movements in American history
Helped draft the historic 2013 bipartisan immigration reform bill
Introduced President Barack Obama during the 2013 immigration reform campaign
The Work
Lions Write
A strategic advisory and communications practice helping institutions and leaders navigate complexity, build public trust, and turn ambitious ideas into meaningful action.
Selected Projects
Creator & Performer, Who Belongs. Who Decides. — An original live performance exploring belonging, democracy, and civic participation through storytelling, history, and personal narrative. COMING SOON!
Executive Producer, Five Years North — Award-winning documentary following the coming-of-age journey of an undocumented teenager in New York City.
Host, Microsoft’s UN Innovation Room — Convened global conversations with leaders across technology, business, government, and civil society on the Sustainable Development Goals and the future of global cooperation.
