Asena Tui’one

Asena Tui’one, raised by two immigrant parents from the island of Tonga, identified education as her ticket to success early in life. Her experiences as a first-generation college graduate inspired her to address systemic barriers to education access. She pursued her master’s at Columbia University before launching her career with the Harlem Children’s Zone, a pioneering nonprofit committed to ending generational poverty in Harlem. Leading its premier arts program, T.R.U.C.E. Media and Arts, Tui’one focused on strengthening collaborative, holistic, and reflective systems for staff, enabling her team to advance their advocacy for hundreds of youth in central Harlem. Most recently, Tui’one worked as the director of programs at the CBO DREAM! in the Bronx, where she focused on disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline by engaging in school culture reform across New York City. As a student at Howard University School of Law, she led the Education Law Society, whose mission is to facilitate dialogue in order to build relationships geared toward advancing educational opportunities for young people in D.C.