Noëlla Coursaris Musunka

Noëlla Coursaris Musunka, a Congolese/Cypriot philanthropist and international model, is the Founder & CEO of Malaika, a grassroots nonprofit that empowers girls and communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo through a school, a community center, and a clean water program.

A unique and fearless spokesperson, and the face of leading fashion campaigns across the globe, Noëlla is a voice for the power of girls’ education worldwide. Founded in 2007, Malaika’s programs impact thousands of lives and are all offered free of charge. Crucially, Malaika acts as a local model that can be replicated on a global level, as demonstrated by the launch of the Malaika Model Toolkit during UNGA week in 2022.

Noëlla has shared her insight at a number of world-class forums, spanning the World Economic Forum in Davos to the university halls of Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, and MIT. In 2017, Noëlla was named one of the BBC’s 100 Most Influential & Inspirational Women of the Year, in 2018, she received an award at the 100 Years of Mandela celebration and in 2022 she was honored as a Daughter of Greatness from the Muhammad Ali Center.

She is an Advisor at Concordia and an Ambassador for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. She sits on the United Nations Conscious Fashion and Lifestyle Network and the L'Oréal Fund for Women Endowment Fund Advisory Committee and has been a two-time judge for EY’s World Entrepreneur of the Year Award.