Dr. Amara Enyia, 32, earned a PhD in education policy studies and a law degree simultaneously from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She has served as a public policy fellow under former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. Currently, she works as a municipal development consultant and is the executive director of Austin Chamber of Commerce on Chicago’s West Side. Amara serves on the board of the Renaissance Reintegration Project. This social enterprise provides entrepreneurship training for ex-offenders often unable to successfully reintegrate to their communities because of the stigma of their records. A keen athlete, she has participated in two Ironman competitions. In 2014 Amara announced her candidacy for Mayor of Chicago, she was one of the first candidates to announce a bid to unseat Mayor Rahm Emanuel. She later withdrew.
ACCLAIMING PEOPLE OF IGBO DESCENT