Elizabeth Gessel

Elizabeth leads MoAD’s Public Programs department; she is a critical thinker with excellent research, writing and communication skills. She has been developing and running public programs at MoAD since 2010. She has launched new program series on spiritual practices, folktales, sacred music, film and dance and overseen the development of two residency programs, the Chef-in-Residence and Poets-in-Residence programs at MoAD. She directed the transition to exclusively virtual programming during the novel coronavirus pandemic for MoAD. Elizabeth has a B.A. (with highest honors) and a Ph.D. in History from University of California, Berkeley.

Elizabeth participated in a Museum Studies program at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation that ignited her interest in working in museums. She loves to tell the extraordinary stories of resilience and joy, and to showcase the historical, cultural, and intellectual contributions of the global African Diaspora. She enjoys collaborating with other institutions and non-profits in the Bay Area and around the world. Elizabeth likes almost any activity she does with her family and her dog, Nova.