Biz charts the course for the organization, builds strategic partnerships, and maintains a culture of innovation, equity, and core-values alignment. She leads the organization in building and adapting strategic plans, and coordinates staff to meet goals aligned to MELA’s mission. Biz earned a Master’s of Divinity degree from Emory University in order to explore how communities of faith work together to make change and brings passion for collaboration and community to her work. Harris has demonstrated continued success in bringing people together to work toward a common goal. Early in her career, she was the co-coordinator of the Mississippi Education Policy Fellowship Program, which focused on building the capacity of preschool-12 and higher education leaders, practitioners, and advocates to advance equitable policies for Mississippi students. Following that, she worked with the Tallahatchie River Foundation to launch their local collective impact initiative around pre-kindergarten. When Morgana Freeman, Executive Director of the Tallahatchie River Foundation, devised the concept for the Mississippi Early Learning Alliance in 2018, she asked Harris to join the team as one of the organization’s founding members, alongside former Executive Director Dr. Angela Bass. In addition to her work with MELA, Biz is the founder and volunteer director of Nurture Our Future, a non-profit that provides out-of-school learning & enrichment experiences, parent support and service referrals, and books to families in Laurel, Mississippi.
