About
Tallawah Consulting("Tallawah") is committed to creating innovative impact solutions that enable the development of more equitable, resilient and inclusive communities. We do this by helping mission-driven brands maximize their social impact by using equity, innovation, and inclusion to drive their core strategy forward.
We were born out of an earnest commitment to engage in work that is solutions-driven and impact-centric. Tallawah recognizes two primary needs of companies and organizations. The first need is for companies and organizations to be more socially responsible in a way that is more effectively aligned with their values, company priorities, and responsive to the emergent social needs of their customers or the communities in which they do business. Whether it is redesigning a corporate social responsibility strategy or designing a more innovative social impact program that leverages what the company does best for a greater social benefit, we combine our experiences in social policy, social innovation and program design to craft a more effective impact solution customized to your organization's particular needs.
The second need is for companies and organizations to operate in ways that embed equity and inclusion in the work they do, both internally and externally. Whether it is determining strategies and programs with executive leadership on nurturing a more inclusive environment for employees, advising companies on how to diversify their customer base, or deepen their commitment to championing social issues that can manifest a more fair and just world, we are prepared to meet these needs in a thoughtful and evidence-based way.
Founder
Marissa Davis is a seasoned social impact, inclusion strategist and problem solver with over 10 years of experience in spearheading innovative social impact initiatives with a focus on underrepresented communities. As Founder and Principal of Tallawah Consulting, she leverages her experiences working at the intersection of various sectors, including law, public policy, tech, social entrepreneurship and business. She has previously held numerous impact-driven roles across the social and private sectors, Senior Manager of Impact at WeWork, where she launched a community impact study to inform the company's social impact and inclusion initiatives in neighborhoods where their co-working spaces were located, and Director of Leadership and Civic Engagement at RISE Urban Institute of San Diego, where she helped to diversify the face of leadership in the city, and at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.
Her journey in social impact began when she founded NOLArize!, a non-profit dedicated to supporting the community rebuilding effort in predominantly low-resourced African-American communities in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina by galvanizing college students across America interested in doing the same. Since then, she has designed and implemented impact programs within the US and beyond, including a peer-support group program for at-risk teenage girls in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, a social entrepreneurship incubator program for young global leaders through the Hansen Summer Institute for Leadership and International Cooperation at the University of San Diego, and a leadership development program for underrepresented leaders in San Diego. She has developed impact strategies for the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes within Indian Country, WeWork, and other startups and organizations. She has also developed programs across cross-cultural global teams and designed initiatives aimed at creating more inclusive environments both in the professional, academic and community spheres, including at DataKind and WeWork.
She is also a professor in the field of social entrepreneurship and innovation, serving as an Adjunct Lecturer at City College’s Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership for students pursuing their Master's in Public Administration.
She graduated from Swarthmore College with honors in History and received her Master in Public Policy(MPP) from Harvard Kennedy School, with a concentration in social and urban policy, and is the recipient of various awards, including Harvard's Public Service Fellowship, the Cultural Bridge Fellowship from Harvard Kennedy School's Women and Public Policy Program, and an inaugural Frank Five Fellow through Swarthmore's Aydelotte Foundation.