Naika C. Pierre

Naika C. Pierre is the Director of Programs and Operations at Haiti Policy House. Since 2020 she has served as the President of the Critical Language Scholarship Alumni Society, a nonprofit organization working to provide alumni of the State Department’s Critical Language Scholarship with avenues for professional development, community engagement, language retention, and to bridge the gap between the international exchange experience and professional careers.

She was a 2023 Morgridge Acceleration Program Fellow and continues to consult Guitars Over Guns, a nonprofit organization empowering students through music education and mentorship, on creating alumni engagement strategies and building connections between students’ post-graduate goals and opportunities for job counseling and placement, college advising, scholarships, and more.  

Naika was previously the Director of Global Programs at the International Women’s Forum, a membership organization of over 7,800 women in 33 countries working to advance women’s leadership and champion equality worldwide.  

She spent four years at the New York City Commission on Human Rights as a Human Rights Specialist, assessing allegations of discrimination bought by the public regarding employment, housing, public accommodations, discriminatory harassment, and bias-based profiling by law enforcement.  

Naika holds a Master of Arts in Human Rights Studies from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts from Tufts University in International Relations and Chinese. She brings with her a wealth of experience in human rights, migration, displacement, coalition building and organizational management.

Naika is currently based in Washington, D.C. and speaks Haitian Creole and Mandarin.