Biz Harris, Executive Director of MELA, earned a Master’s of Divinity degree from Emory University in order to explore how communities of faith work together to make change and brings passion for collaboration and community to her work. Biz has a successful track record of bringing people together to work toward a common goal, and has organized small and large-scale events that facilitate collaboration between individuals, organizations, institutions. She was the co-coordinator of the Mississippi Education Policy Fellowship Program, which focused on building the capacity of P-12 and higher education leaders, practitioners, and advocates to advance equitable policies for Mississippi’s students.

Before joining the MELA team, she worked with the Tallahatchie River Foundation to launch their local collective impact initiative around PreK. Currently, in addition to her work with MELA, Biz is the founder and director of Nurture Our Future, a non-profit that provides out-of-school learning & enrichment experiences, parent support and service referrals, and books to families in Laurel, Mississippi.