Tolu Olubunmi at the Obama Presidential Center Museum, where her story is featured in the permanent collection.

Tolu Olubunmi at the Obama Presidential Center Museum, where her story is featured in the permanent collection. 

I trained as a chemical engineer. The work took me somewhere else entirely. Over the next two decades, it would take me to the White House, the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, and now the Obama Presidential Center Museum, where my story is part of the 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, a national celebration every June since 2014. I’ve partnered with corporations including Microsoft, Walmart, Mars, Ogilvy, and Coca-Cola — from hosting Microsoft’s UN Innovation Room to helping institutions navigate complexity, build public trust, and advance social and environmental progress.

In 2026, I was selected as a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Resident to develop my work on belonging, democracy, and civic participation.

Working across movements, government, global institutions, and business taught me something no single one could: the defining challenges of our time only look unrelated until you view them through the lens of belonging.

Migration. Climate. Civic participation.

Different conversations. The same underlying question:

Who belongs?
Who decides?

That question now sits at the center of my work.

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

HTSA

An initiative building the intellectual infrastructure for belonging in the twenty-first century through writing, public engagement, research, and cultural initiatives exploring how societies build belonging and strengthen democracy.

WEBSITE

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!

WEBSITE

Executive Producer, Five Years North — Award-winning documentary following the coming-of-age journey of an undocumented teenager in New York City. 

WEBSITE

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.

TRAILER