Our Staff

Nafisa Isa is an educator, designer, and creative based in Northern Virginia. As an Educational Developer at CNDLS, she works at the intersection of inclusive pedagogy, innovation, and community building. Her areas of interest include experiential learning, anti-racist speculative design, arts integration, and praxis in support of sustainable, just futures.

Prior to joining CNDLS, Nafisa worked at the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, where she led the design and planning of the Center’s programs, with a focus on learner-centered design, community partnerships, and advancement of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion initiatives. She won an institutional award in 2019 for her role in designing and launching the Center’s groundbreaking series of Culture Labs, a series of exhibitions that reimagines the museum experience as a collaborative, participatory, socially and environmentally-responsible space where people can come as their true selves.

Nafisa has a B.A. from Davidson College and an M.A. in Learning, Design, and Technology from Georgetown. Outside of work, she can be found gardening, creating art, cultivating community, and DJing as one-half of Shuno Re (@shuno.re).