Sophie Smalls

• Master of Public Health, Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
• Bachelor of Arts, Women's Studies and Human Rights, Barnard College

Sophie has contributed to a diverse portfolio of projects during her time at DA, all focused on driving systemic impact and strategic growth. She has supported a capacity review initiative for a large state university, helping assess its readiness to achieve ambitious priorities set by new leadership. Sophie has also guided a national nonprofit in shifting its focus from deliverables to outcomes by implementing a stocktake process to engage leadership in broader, impact-oriented discussions.

Additionally, she has supported business development efforts in the education sector and worked on a project to empower under-resourced local governments to successfully pursue federal funding opportunities, helping them build capacity to drive meaningful community change.

Before joining DA, Sophie was a Senior Project Manager at the Population Council, a global research organization, where she worked to strengthen the capacity of diverse organizations to deliver more effective and scalable programs for marginalized communities. She developed and managed partnerships across Africa, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean, focusing on improving outcomes in reproductive and sexual health, education access, economic mobility, gender-based violence prevention, and psychosocial well-being. Her work centered on advancing equity and opportunity for underrepresented populations, particularly adolescents and young adults.