Marie-Aimée Abizera is the new executive director for Missouri Immigrant & Refugee Advocates (MIRA).
She brings both professional and personal passion for helping immigrants and refugees thrive. She comes to MIRA with expertise in program creation, fundraising strategies, and resource management. She has worked extensively with different immigrant and refugee groups and understands their plight not only through her work, but through her own experience.
She was born in Kigali, Rwanda, where she lived until the Rwandan genocide began against the Tutsi in 1994. Her family managed to survive the mass murders that took a million lives in the span of a hundred days.
With her family, Aimée migrated to Nairobi, Kenya. They lived as refugees in Kenya for six years until they were later resettled in Nashville, Tennessee.
Prior to joining MIRA, Aimée led in the creation of and the development efforts for Legacy Mission Village, a non-profit organization based in Nashville. Legacy Mission Village serves immigrants and refugees in Middle Tennessee with the goal of advocating for their rights and empowering them to achieve their full potential.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and sociology from Covenant University in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and a master’s degree in counseling from Argosy University.
She lives in St. Louis with her partner, a medical fellow at Saint Louis University.
