Originally from Brooklyn, Safiya made Atlanta home when she came to earn her B.A. in Economics from Spelman College and her M.A. in Communication from Georgia State University. She spent nearly twenty years in people operations across pharmaceuticals...

Originally from Brooklyn, Safiya made Atlanta home when she came to earn her B.A. in Economics from Spelman College and her M.A. in Communication from Georgia State University. She spent nearly twenty years in people operations across pharmaceuticals, merchant processing, radio, and market research before settling into the insurance industry. At PURE Insurance, Safiya served as both Director of DEI and Associate Vice President of Employee Engagement. She achieved record engagement scores across a 45,000+ employee parent company, improving belonging, employee NPS, and retention. As Director of DEI, she launched 7 Employee Resource Groups reaching 62% of the workforce and grew BIPOC leadership representation by 54%. The framework she built became the benchmark across all of Tokio Marine's subsidiaries, earning the Private Risk Management Association's DEI Initiative of the Year and the NY Coalition for the Homeless Corporate Partner of the Year, both in 2024. She was named one of Insurance Business America's Elite Women in 2022 and is a Certified Inclusion Trainer through the NeuroLeadership Institute. Oh Word is the next evolution of that work: a daily word game rooted in culture that cultivates cognition and connection. Because Safiya believes play is the most underestimated tool in a leader's toolkit. When she's not building Oh Word, Safiya paints, reads, collects vinyl, plays pool, pretends to play the guitar, and explores both new and familiar places with loved ones, including the little sister she mentors through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta.