Supporting Mission-driven Leaders and Organizations.
Obenewa Amponsah
Obenewa Amponsah is a strategist, coach, and facilitator who helps purpose-driven professionals—especially women of color—lead with clarity, confidence, and authenticity.
After more than two decades of leadership across Africa and North America, she founded Alayned Coaching & Consulting (formerly Obenewa Amponsah & Associates) to support leaders and organizations navigating complexity, transitions, and the demands of impact-driven work—without sacrificing identity, integrity, or joy.
Her work is shaped by years at the intersection of culture, strategy, and transformation. Obenewa previously served as CEO of the Steve Biko Foundation and as Executive Director of Harvard University’s Center for African Studies (Africa Office), where she led strategy, partnerships, and programs across the continent.
Today, she brings that global experience—and deep cultural insight—to her coaching, consulting, and facilitation, guiding leaders and teams toward alignment that lasts.
A Global Fellow with the Atlantic Institute at Oxford University, Obenewa also serves as a Trustee of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and on the boards of the Afriwomen Network and the Atlantic Institute’s Global Fellows Advisory Board. She is a certified coach, meditation teacher, and a member of the International Coaching Federation.
Of Ghanaian descent, Obenewa splits her time between South Africa and the Washington, DC area, where she was born and raised. She holds degrees from Boston University and the University of the Witwatersrand, where she is pursuing a PhD in African Literature on the intellectual traditions and activism of Black women.
When not coaching leaders or writing her dissertation, she can be found collecting African textiles or leading impromptu Beyoncé sing-alongs her friends describe as “enthusiastic.”