Malii comes to Language & Culture Worldwide with a rich repertoire of intercultural competency and cross-cultural training skill sets built over the past several years.  She has lived and worked for extended periods in Asian and Latin American cultures, and is a native Chicagoan. Malii has a range of international work experiences, including work in refugee and immigrant resettlement services, international humanitarian aid, and foreign language education.

Malii began her career in Japan through the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program.  In rural Japan, she aided in fostering international goodwill between the U.S. and Japan at the local level through education programs.  A major component of her work was to help globalize the local community, a model that she worked towards by initiating and implementing a well-received global cultures learning program. 

Later, with Rotary International, Malii worked to bridge and facilitate the efforts of international volunteers on various cross-border humanitarian aid projects.  At Rotary, Malii collaborated closely with an internationally diverse group of colleagues, both in the U.S. and worldwide.  She served as a lead trainer on such topics as cohesive international partnership and fiscal responsibility. She was recognized by her Division with the Ade Award for her valuable contribution to the workplace.

Wanting to gain additional international work experience and hone her language skills, Malii then relocated to Chile, South America where she worked in foreign language education and cross-cultural consulting for multiple Fortune 500 companies including Accenture, McDonalds, and Sun Microsystems, among others.  In addition to Chile and Japan, Malii has also spent time in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, the Caribbean, England, Finland, France, India, Spain, South Africa, and Thailand.   

Before joining LCW, Malii served as Program Manager for the Women’s Empowerment Program at Interfaith Refugee & Immigration Ministries, a refugee and immigrant resettlement agency in Chicago.  There, she handled program administration in addition to providing direct service to refugee, immigrant, and asylee women- from Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Southeast Asia- as they built newfound lives and cross-cultural skill sets in the U.S.

Malii serves on the Board of Directors of the Women’s Global Education Project, and is also an active member of the the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program Alumni Association, Occidental College Alumni in Admission, and the Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research (SIETAR). 

Malii is a graduate of Occidental College, Los Angeles, known for excellence in multi-cultural education, where she earned a degree in Diplomacy and World Affairs. She was recognized in 2007 by Afrique newsmagazine as one of the top ‘Ten Movers and Shakers Making a Difference’ in Chicago, where she currently lives.