Staff Spotlight: Welcome Hephzibah and Chinazo

Root Cause recently welcomed two new staff members, Hephzibah and Chinazo! We are excited to welcome them to the Root Cause team. Learn more about them below.

Chinazo Otiono (she/her) | Advisory Service Assoicate 

Current Root Cause Projects:

• United Way Northern & Central Connecticut Strategic Plan Implementation
• Massachusetts Department of Public Health: Health and Racial Equity Capacity Building and Support Services

What was your path to Root Cause?

I previously worked in development at a local grantmaker. Prior to that, I was a program manager at a youth dance studio and had served as an AmeriCorps VISTA at a summer program

Why did you choose to work in social impact?

 I’m most energized by mission-driven work

Root Cause Fun Facts:

• I am passionate about… arts education, youth & family wellbeing, accessibility to wealth-building opportunities
  
• What I’m currently listening to, reading, or watching…
  • Reading: Nine Lives of a Black Panther by Wayne Parr
  • Watching: Attack on Titan
  • Listening: The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart podcast
• In my spare time I like to… bake, play the cello, and solve sudoku puzzles!

Hephzibah Okorie (she/her) | Advisory Service Assoicate

Current Root Cause Projects:

• HOPE (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences) National Resource Center Performance Measurement & Evaluation
• MA Department of Health Bureau of Community Health and Prevention: Healthy Relationship Grant Support 

What was your path to Root Cause?

I started out my career post college, as a business analyst at McKinsey & Company, where I worked primarily on public and social sector projects including higher education, healthcare work as well as broad social impact research. Prior to that, I attended Earlham College, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Business Management. However my interests primarily lay in courses and organizations outside my major where I became invested in historical legacies of colonialism and slavery and the ongoing/modern day perpetuations and impact. As I considered leaving McKinsey, I knew that I had a real opportunity to seek out an organization that was serious about its commitment to marginalized communities, and engaging in work that matched its ethical principles. However, that is simply not an easy thing to find. But lucky enough, this opportunity at Root Cause was available at the right timing.

Why did you choose to work in social impact?

As a psychology major who also spent significant time within the other social sciences and art departments, my education fostered a desire to work in places where I could primarily focus on working with organizations invested in the well being of communities they belonged to. Root Cause came at an pivotal turning point in my career and I’m glad that this opportunity existed at the right time for me.

Root Cause Fun Facts:

• I am passionate about… the health impacts and economic disempowerment of oil processing on communities rich in crude oil resources, genocidal conflict legacy within the family unit (mental-health impacts), and queer assertion and survival in West African urban areas as governments double down on discriminatory laws and bans
• What I’m currently listening to, reading, or watching… 
  • Watching: Love Island (unfortunately, I can’t stop)
  • Reading: Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward 
  • Listening: Cowboy Carter ( I am currently teaching a class on it, so it’s required listening at this point)
• In my spare time I like to… day dream outside, go on walks, and write