Jody Myrum
Jody Myrum is the Director of the NoVo Foundation’s Initiative to Advance Adolescent Girls’ Rights, which includes NoVo’s commitment to support movements with and for girls of color in the US and across four regions in the Global South. She also manages the foundation’s portfolio to End Violence Against Girls and Women in Conflict and Post-Conflict Affected Settings.
Jody has devoted her career to ensuring that all adolescent girls have the opportunity to live in their full power. Through work across 10 countries, she has led and championed programs that put girls and their lived experiences at the center of social change. Given the pervasive violence girls and women face, much of Jody’s work has been focused on ending violence against girls and expanding access to healing, including in humanitarian contexts. Whether through organizing, direct services, program design, participatory action research, or philanthropy, Jody has supported programs that show the promise of change efforts that are girl-led, girl-driven, and girl-designed.
Prior to her current role at NoVo, Jody served as a NoVo Fellow to the Nike Foundation, where she led efforts to center girls in program design. Before joining NoVo, Jody managed efforts to end violence against girls and women in Ethiopia and in refugee camps on the border of Somalia with the International Rescue Committee.
Jody has also served as a Fellow with the International Center for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care in Kenya; Project Director at Girls International Forum; a volunteer in US Peace Corps in Togo; and in several direct service roles focused on adolescent girls. Jody serves on the boards of Purposeful Productions and Beyond Borders, co-founded the Friends of Sierra Leone Adolescent Girls Network, and volunteers as a domestic violence/sexual advocate at a local hospital.
Jody holds a BS from Colorado State University in human development and family studies with a focus on adolescence and an MA in social work from Columbia University.