Ayesha Jaco is the Senior Program Director, Community Engagement, for West Side United. Her work includes planning and implementing community outreach initiatives, leading the programmatic efforts for the organization in education, economic development, health and the neighborhood/physical environment.  She is also a Chicago-based philanthropist, choreographer and educator. She is the co-founder of M.U.R.A.L., formerly the Lupe Fiasco Foundation and founder of  Move Me Soul Youth Dance Company. Ayesha’s commitment to deliver sustainable educational, health and wellness and arts and culture programming to inner-city youth and communities has enabled her serve over 20,000 Chicago residents and their families. She was recently awarded the 2018 Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist Award. Ayesha is faculty at the Northeastern Illinois University Jacob Carruthers Center for Inner-City Studies. Jaco holds a Bachelor of Science in Dance and Mass Communication from Illinois State University and a Masters of Arts Management (Arts in Youth and Community Development) from Columbia College Chicago.