When Alisha Johnson-Wilder was ten years old she never dreamed she would be a high-ranking director at one of the biggest tech companies in the world. In fact, her job didn’t even exist until three years ago.

“At ten years old I was a bit all over the place, I wanted to be a botanist, I read a book about neurosurgeons so I wanted to be a neurosurgeon, I wanted to be a nurse because my aunt was a nurse, I wanted to be an actress, I wanted to be a TV reporter. So, I think ten-year-old Alisha, whatever she saw was what she wanted to be at that moment,” Alisha says over a screen across the Atlantic Ocean. 

Today, she is the Director of External Engagement for Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives at Apple, focusing on the company’s global environment initiatives, community education programs, product accessibility efforts, community investment and government affairs. She also leads Apple’s Racial Equity and Justice Initiative, a long-term effort focused on dismantling systemic barriers for communities of colour through education, economic empowerment and criminal justice reform.