Most recently, Russella served as the Director of Donor Services at the Greater Washington Community Foundation where she developed and managed a tiered system of services and training at the Foundation to strengthen its relationship with its donors and the overall donor experience. Prior to joining the Foundation, Russella served as the Senior Manager of Development for Turnaround for Children, a nonprofit organization that works to implement policies and procedures to establish environments that accelerate healthy student development and academic achievement.
Before Turnaround, Russella served in President Obama’s Administration as the Chief of Staff in the Strategic Partnerships Office in the U.S. Department of Education. In that capacity, she directed the administration of the Department’s Gift Funds, which averaged about $1 million dollars per year; enhanced partnerships for the Department by connecting philanthropic and business organizations with initiatives aligned with the Administration’s priorities; and served as a Deputy of President Obama‘s groundbreaking initiative, the My Brother’s Keeper Task Force. Russella has received local and national awards including the “Spirit of Detroit Award” from the Detroit City Council awarded to Detroit citizens for their commitment of service to Detroit residents and the Martin Luther King Jr. “Drum Major for Service Award”; the President’s Volunteer Service Award honoring ordinary citizens for their extraordinary volunteerism work.
Russella holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from Howard University and a Master of Liberal Arts with a concentration in African-American Studies, Ethics and Government from John Hopkins University. Russella and her husband live in Prince George’s County, MD with their amazing son and she enjoys curating fashion looks inspired by the style of her grandmothers, going to the theater, writing, and reading literature by and for Black people.
