 The passion & success of Malia’s work has earned her a reputation as one of the most
insightful & critical organizers of her generation, & caught the attention of MTV, Showtime, ABC-TV’s Chronicle, Fox News, & print publications such as Newsweek, The Boston Globe, Boston Business Journal & Boston Magazine. In addition to her extensive work advocating for our economic justice, Malia has created campaigns for numerous tastemakers including Grammy Award-winner & famed Civil-Rights Activist Harry Belafonte, American novelist Walter Mosley, & Peter Lewis.
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 Malia Lazu is a powerful culture creator and strategist whose instinct & clarity have changed cities, institutions & organizations throughout the US and abroad for over 20 years.
Having started her first cultural endeavor at age 19 - in which she was credited with forever changing the voting landscape in Boston - Malia has been using strategy & the connective tissue of community networks to build diversity in authentic ways and creating consistent impact.  " I am interested in experiencing the rural point of view & how best to continue
to expand equity for all Americans. I think the show will be an interesting experiment on bringing rural & urban communities together to come together." -Malia  "Upon completing a two-year fellowship at MIT,
Malia Lazu returned to Boston to build nonprofit models for the 21st century. With over two decades of experience establishing grass roots involvement in political advocacy & civic engagement, Malia felt the nonprofit industry is no longer creating safe spaces for humans to create change together & is in need of disruption. This led to the creation of Future Boston Alliance & currently Epicenter Community, organizations working to change the world by being intentional when building diverse communities & celebrating the beautiful ways we are different."  Inspired by interactive experiences such as black church services, a new kind of speaking conference, Inter(x),
debuted at Boston’s HUBweek. The annual week-long ideas festival billed as a convergence of science, art and technology ran Oct. 8–14. Created by The Urban Labs, a Boston-based consultant for diversifying company talent, Inter(x) is an interactive presentation style with diverse speakers sharing unique perspectives in new ways. It is co-produced by novelist Walter Mosley. The theme for the Inter(x) presentations, which resembled TED Talks, was “Make the invisible visible.”  “As a mutual bank, providing fairly priced financial services to organizations & people
in our market area has been a guiding purpose since our founding 200 years ago,” said Bob Rivers, Chair & CEO of Eastern Bank. “Aligning community challenges & interests to Eastern’s core banking products & philanthropic & advocacy efforts has long been our approach-- one we think is both ‘right’ and ‘smart’—and we are so pleased to welcome Steve, Mitzi, Rebecca, Herby, Malia, & Jody to our Board. They are thoughtful leaders, & we look forward to their insights in areas that include real estate & economic development, community lending, support of minority-owned businesses, innovation & start-ups, & the advancement of women & diverse communities.”  This post isn’t really about cultural appropriation, which is real.
And my friend Malia Lazu does a much better job of looking at colorism here - The Bruno Mars real controversy? Race is make believe. I’m still regretting all the grief I gave her about whether she was Black or Puerto Rican in the immature understanding of identity politics of my early twenties. Written By: Amy Bucher | The Junior League of Boston, Inc.  Back in November, a group of League members, including myself,
joined Malia Lazu at headquarters for an open & honest discussion about diversity, inclusion, & the true meaning of bias & how it impacts our everyday lives, particularly in the League. While racism & bias are never easy to talk about, the Junior League of Boston has taken on the tough issues of diversity and inclusion, tackling them through the Diversity and Inclusion Task Force and a series of member trainings & discussions.  “Both Assemble and #AccelerateBOS were designed for the creatives in Boston,”
said Malia Lazu, strategic director, Transformative Culture Project & former executive director of Epicenter Community. “Joining forces allows us to build a cultural economic pipeline from classrooms to the creative economy.”  Our mission is to “create a more authentic and diverse Boston,” says Malia Lazu,
the executive director of Epicenter Community based in Dorchester, MA. Their focus is neither on disability nor on fashion, but rather on “spawn[ing] inclusive collaborations that deliver positive impact.” It is this desire to include diverse & authentic voices in collaborations that ultimately led to the decision to organize a never-before-done-in-Boston fully inclusive fashion show for people with disabilities. |
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