dr. monique liston

Founder, Chief Strategist and Joyful Militant

dr. monique inez liston is the Founder, Chief Strategist and Joyful Militant at UBUNTU Research and Evaluation. UBUNTU Research and Evaluation was founded by dr. monique liston as a space to hold her dissertation research findings while protecting Black women’s intellectual thought, leadership and vision. UBUNTU is a Bantu term that loosely translates into English, “I am because we are.” UBUNTU was chosen because it is a word that represents the core principle of UBUNTU as an organization while connecting us as members of the global displaced African diaspora. Protecting the dignity of all Black people with Black women and femmes at the lead is UBUNTU’s priority. UBUNTU was founded on January 1, 2017, Dr. John Henrik Clarke’s 102nd birthday, intentionally chosen to memorialize our intellectual genealogy within pan-african consciousness. 

She is a Black woman born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is the daughter of Ursula, granddaughter of Gracie J. and great-granddaughter of Inez. OKWUI ENWEZOR said "A collective has to be more than an ideal, and more than communal craft; it has to be a truly social enterprise." UBUNTU started because monique needed a place to build beloved community not just income. She seeks teams. She loves collaboration. Building UBUNTU meant making a Black Collective. Being raised by a conscious-raising Black mother, educated at Howard University and loved by a family in blood and spirit in Milwaukee -- a space birthed from monique naturally emanated into a Black collective. UBUNTU is a space where teams dream, challenge and build on shared values of transformation for liberation. Where one thrives, we all thrive. Where one struggles, we all practice radical empathy. The space is wrapped in joy and resistance. Previous spaces have not fulfilled this purpose and while UBUNTU is not THE answer - it is the current iteration of our collective journey towards liberation. UBUNTU provides the space for emergent strategies to develop and flourish. 

She is an experienced facilitator, evaluator and program designer with over 15 years of experience in the fields of leadership, education, and public health. She is proud alum of Howard University with a BA in Sociology and the University of Delaware with a Masters in Public Administration. Most recently, UBUNTU was nominated as Best Place to Work for Social Justice by Shepherd Express Magazine in 2020 and 2021 and was selected as a winner for the Milwaukee Business Journal's Diversity in Business Awards in 2022.

monique@ubunturesearch.com | 414-563-7907