Me’Lisa James is a Sacramento Valley native, community educator, and business owner.  She completed her higher education at the University of California, Davis and the UC Davis Graduate School of Education. She is a proud Aggie.  She holds a B.A. in History, minors in Music & Black Studies, a Single Subject Teaching Credential for Social Science, and a Masters degree in Education: Program Development.   Her research focused on creating a program that used contemporary world music to teach geography concepts and cultural awareness.

Me’Lisa started her career as a high school teacher and continued through directing youth and community programs in Sacramento area nonprofits and colleges.  All of these experiences led her to establish her own consulting brand: MJ Designs: Education & Admin Support (MJD.)  As a 4th generation entrepreneur, Me’Lisa often says “Entrepreneurship was inevitable.”

MJD provides funding solutions to Arts and Cultural Resource Providers.  The brand encompasses 2 enterprises:  MJD Greenlight Consulting & CULTURPHORIUM, Inc.  Greenlight provides grant writing and business technical assistance to organizations and governments.  CULTURPHORIUM aka “The place of cultural euphoria” is a charitable nonprofit that promotes multicultural history and social science with the end goal of ensuring underrepresented communities and their contributions are accurately portrayed.  

In every professional opportunity that she has held, she has viewed her work through a multicultural lens with emphasis on social justice.  She believes that in today’s STEM obsessed world, educators and community leaders must work to inspire new generations of cultural resource professionals.