Oyeshola Olatoye

Oyeshola Olatoye is a consultant with the urban planning and management-consulting firm Hamilton, Rabinowitz & Alschuler in New York City. She is working with the firm to find a new use for the former Washington, D.C., convention center. After graduating from Wesleyan with honors in history, Ms. Olatoye received her master’s degree in public administration from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service. While at NYU, she was the vice president of public affairs for the graduate student’s association, staff editor for the Wagner Review, and was the university’s 2001 commencement speaker.

Recently, Ms. Olatoye served as the issues director for the New York City Democratic Mayoral Nominee Mark Green. As a senior advisor to the candidate, she developed position papers and served as a liaison to the city’s social service, environment, and housing lobbies.

Ms. Olatoye has spent the past five years instituting and studying urban school reform. She was the director of public engagement for the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, Inc., the nonprofit organization that sued New York State for its inadequate school finance system. She created the organization’s statewide campaign to build public support to reform the state’s school finance system, which was later proven to discriminate against New York City public schoolchildren. She has also been a member of the NYC schools’ Chancellor’s Advocacy Task force, served on the board of The Nonprofit Connection, and is a mentor for several youth programs.

Since graduation, Ms. Olatoye has remained connected to Wesleyan by serving as an Office of Admission interviewer, presenting at information sessions at area high schools and in on-campus career workshops.