Shalaya’s role as the Program and Research Director is to support and develop diverse and wide-range opportunities to gather data on the status, challenges, and needs of women and girls in the Commonwealth.

Shalaya is a Dorchester, MA native, advocate, and leader. She knows first-hand the value of empowerment programming for youth through her 15-years of experience with supporting students in higher education and youth-serving organizations. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth with a Bachelor’s in English focusing on Writing, Rhetoric and Communications and completed her Master’s Degree in Public Policy from Simmons University.

Shalaya has since held various roles in youth development, higher education, and the Boston Community with GRLZradio, the Boston Public Health Commission, MIT’s Violence Prevention Program, Simmons University and recently served the Program Director for Girls’ LEAP Self-Defense. She is passionate about education, violence prevention, youth empowerment, research & evaluation, and entrepreneurship.