Taaha gained admission to Lafayette College through the Posse Foundation, graduating with an English major and a Writing Concentration in 2011. He then worked at Comedy Central, where he supported acquisition of the ‘Key & Peele’ show. After leaving the entertainment industry to pursue his passion of educational access, Taaha worked in the admissions office of his alma mater for five years, raising enrollment of students of color from 12% to 29%. He received his Education Masters in Higher Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education, focusing on transitional support for marginalized young people. He was asked to serve on the School’s board as a student, and found his next opportunity. In 2017, Taaha moved to Chicago to design a pipeline for students who have been historically marginalized from higher education – first generation college bound students, temporarily low-income, and students of color – to executive spaces over a 14 year academic journey. He recently accepted a new role on a project to improve post secondary efforts for five Chicago neighborhood schools with a substantial operational budget.

A native New Yorker by way of Tanzania, Taaha currently resides in Chicago. He loves playing and watching basketball, spoken word, and comedy.

Karim is a recent graduate of Lehigh University, where he studied mechanical engineering. He is very excited to enter the workforce and ready to learn as much as he can!