Nayah Harper

Through lived experience and professional growth, Nayah has built a career focused on improving processes to elevate marginalized communities. As a social impact leader and community engagement specialist, she remains committed to using community informed approaches and relationship centered models to develop initiatives and programs aimed at building safer spaces and healthier communities. Prior to joining the Hip Hop Public Health team as the Director of School and Community Programs, Nayah designed, organized, and implemented multiple volunteer and community advocate frameworks and teams to lead, inform, and execute health education campaigns and programs to support divested and decentered groups. While receiving her Masters, as a National Urban Fellow concentrating on social justice, she launched a near-peer, student-reflective health education program using community informed approaches to connect college student educators to high school classes to deepen socio-emotional learning and healthy behaviors amongst young people. During the heights of the COVID-19 pandemic, she worked directly with NYC’s public hospital system to manage projects focused on COVID-19 healthy practices and safe resources, reducing vaccine hesitancy, and public policy comprehension for NYC’s communities most-impacted by the harms of COVID-19. Nayah is excited to be working with Hip Hop Public Health to better support young people in navigating their health and reduce health disparities and barriers. As Director of School and Community Programs, she will implement, expand and oversee HHPH’s cornerstone programs to advance health literacy for young people.

When Nayah isn’t working she’s focused on deep restaurant research to find the best foodie/cocktail experience from the sensation of taste to the feeling of ambiance. She enjoys attending community and culture events throughout Brooklyn, spending time with family and friends, and taking long walks that lead to random adventures, and sometimes those walks are flights to a new city with no itinerary!