Mary Ella’s commitment to bettering life for the people of the Niger Delta began in late 2003, when she first met Joel Bisina at a conference for global peacemakers held on Whidbey Island, north of Seattle. Joel’s stories of the injustices suffered by his people at the hands of corporate greed, government corruption and global apathy inspired her to become the Nigeria Project Director for Global Citizen Journey’s November 2005 delegation. Along the way, she became a Niger Delta ‘daughter of the soil’ when she and Joel decided to partner in their personal lives as well.

Her consulting and management skills built during 25 years in corporate America are now devoted to working on a variety of non-profit and humanitarian projects. As Associate Director of the Giraffe Heroes Project, a nonprofit organization on Whidbey Island, she encourages others to fight fear and apathy by ‘sticking their necks out’ for the common good.

Her ongoing volunteer work in the Niger Delta includes continuing support for the library built in Oporoza in November 2005, a conference to encourage more women to stand for political office, and projects to improve the transparency and accountability of local governments in the area. In addition, she plans to lead another delegation to the Niger Delta in 2007.