Josephine

Ayankoya

Josephine has more than a decade of experience in developing, managing, and implementing diversity, equity, and belonging strategies in both government and community-based settings. For the last eight years, she worked at the City and County of San Francisco in a series of racial equity and program management capacities.  

Most recently, Josephine served as Chief Equity Officer for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency where she directed racial equity strategies, initiatives, and action plans, and created the Office of Racial Equity and Belonging. Before this role, she worked in the San Francisco Department of Public Health and served in roles such as Interim Director for Behavioral Health Services equity programs, Program Manager for supportive housing and mental health programs, and Community Programs Manager for clinical HIV prevention research studies. 

She is passionate about promoting behavior and systems changes to advance the liberation of marginalized people, especially in ways that celebrate and affirm their culture. She is inspired by her African American and Oakland roots, by way of Mississippi and Alabama, as well as her identity as a first-generation Yoruba (Nigerian) American. 

Josephine earned a Bachelor of Arts in African American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, focused on Arts and Societies in the African Diaspora. Following, she graduated from Emory University with a master’s degree in public health focused on Behavioral Sciences and Health Education.