AyofemiKirby

Over the past twenty years, my work has taken me across political, corporate, civic, and cultural life. Moving between these worlds has deepened my interest in the forces shaping culture and society, particularly how people think, live, relate to one another, develop tastes, and determine what matters to them.

My experience includes corporate and digital communications at Wachovia, communications leadership for the Congressional Black Caucus and Congressman Adam Smith, and work at the New York Public Library and Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Through ElevenThirtySix, the strategic intelligence and advisory practice I founded, I bring this interdisciplinary perspective to individuals and organizations navigating consequential questions about their work and its future.

My advisory experience includes working with more than thirty artists and cultural and civic organizations, among them The Africa Center, Museum Hue, the International Center of Photography, the International Studio & Curatorial Program, and Socrates Sculpture Park. My work centers on connecting ideas, examining assumptions, and bringing research and considered judgment to the decisions that shape what comes next.

These interests also find expression through Galerie36, the contemporary art house I founded in Dakar, and Works in Progress, where I write about art, culture, society, and the philosophy of creative living. Across these pursuits, I continue to explore how the ideas we encounter, the things we value, and the choices we make shape the lives we lead and the world we create.