Micaela Connery

Yes, I'm 6 foot 1*. No, I don't play basketball.

 

I'm Micaela, founder of The Kelsey, working to create inclusive communities and scalable solutions housing affordability and accessibility. I'm also founder and former CEO of Unified Theater, a not-for-profit I launched when I was 15 that has grown to serve thousands of students across the country through inclusive school-based, student-led arts programming.

 

I have MPP from Harvard Kennedy School and an MBA from the University College Dublin as a Mitchell Scholar. At Harvard, I was a Cheng Fellow at the Social Innovation and Change Initiative in the Center for Public Leadership, where I designed The Kelsey. As a 2015 research fellow for the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, I published this national study: Disability Housing: What’s Happening, What’s Working, What’s Needed? 

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I've received some wicked cool social impact recognition from Ashoka, the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, Chicago Ideas Week, DoSomething, Prudential, and the Coca Cola Scholars Foundation, I was a member  of the founding hub of the World Economic Forum Global Shapers and helped design the first SHAPE event in New York City. I've been lucky enough to speak at events including the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the National Conference on Inclusion, Chicago Ideas Week, and the Vatican Summit on "Overcoming Social and Economic Exclusion". I've written for the Boston Globe, the Huffington Post, the Harvard Law and Policy Review, the Kennedy School Review, and the National Magazine for Women in the Arts (...I was 9 for that last one, so not sure it counts).

 

I believe in public education and am a proud alum of Conard High School and The University of Virginia (wahoowa!).  A native New Englander, I call San Francisco home today, together with my my husband, son, and dog.

Experiences and people have shaped who I am.  Kelsey, and our rockstar family, taught me the importance of real inclusion and that people with disabilities, and any difference, make important and valuable contributions to the world.  Moving seven times before the seventh grade made me a bit of an expert in understanding different communities and getting included fast.  An affinity for old-school musicals and an over-active imagination led me to a lifelong love of the arts and all things creative.  Faith reminds me that anything is possible and love is pretty much always the best response.