Aissata M.B. Camara is the Deputy Commissioner for Policy and Strategic Initiatives and Chief of Staff in the NYC Mayor’s Office for International Affairs. In this role, she provides international policy guidance to NYC agencies. She also works to strengthen NYC’s strategic leadership on the global stage through partnerships and best practice sharing with local governments, the United Nations, Consulates General, and civil society, and the private sector focused on cities leadership, the Sustainable Development Goals, equity, sustainability, health, education, technology, and diversity. Aissata also oversees the Diplomatic Parking Program and the protocol for the Mayor. She is responsible for the Office’s emergency response in collaboration with the General Counsel. Aissata is the main point of contact for Consulates from Africa, Latin America, and South America. She is also the liaison for Permanent Missions from Africa and the Americas.
Aissata is a professional with over a decade of program development and management, strategic planning, operations, and relationship building experience in nonprofit, local government, and private sector. She is a recognized expert and excels in helping turn ideas into actionable steps. While working in leadership and management positions, she developed and implemented successful programs that impacted the lives of more than 40,000 people, especially women and youth, and those living in extreme poverty. She also launched the award-winning NYC Junior Ambassadors program reaching more than 3,500 youth and educators across the five boroughs. Aissata also led the movement for cities formal commitment to the SDGs through the Voluntary Local Review and its declaration which has more than 330 local governments committed.
Prior to working in the Mayor’s Office, she co-founded There Is No Limit Foundation, an international nonprofit organization focused on serving people living in extreme poverty, especially women, girls, and people with disabilities. She previously worked at The Rockefeller Foundation, Grameen America, and the Research Foundation for the City of New York. She graduated from Bernard M. Baruch College (CUNY) with a B.A. in International Relations and Social Policy. She went on to earn a M.P.A. in International Public and Nonprofit Management and Policy at the New York University (NYU) Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. She has received numerous awards and recognition including the Jo Ivey Boufford Award for Innovative Solutions to Public Service Challenges. She was also named a Changemaker by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Aissata is originally from the Republic of Guinea, and she currently resides in Manhattan.
