Malikat Rufai

Malikat Rufai is a Foreign Service Officer with a decade of experience serving in both domestic and overseas positions. Most recently, she was a Policy Advisor in Partnerships and Global Engagement at the National Security Council (NSC) at the White House, where she was one of the lead coordinators of President Biden's Dec 2022 U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, and the architect of the African and Diaspora Young Leaders Forum. She is currently the Special Assistant for Intellectual Property Enforcement, working on Summit follow-up supporting African creative industries. Prior to the NSC she was the North Macedonia Desk Officer, which included a short term assignment as the Public Affairs Officer for Operation Allies Welcome, Fort Bliss, during and following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. As a Watch Officer in the Operations Center she helped navigate the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and heightened tensions in the Middle East. Her overseas assignments include Port-au-Prince, Haiti and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Malikat is a native of Chicago, and a graduate of Spelman College and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where she received MAs in International Economics and Conflict Management.

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