Nhadya Lawes joined Knight Foundation in July 2022. She is an officer for the arts program.

A scholar and arts professional, Nhadya values multidisciplinary perspectives at the intersections of creativity, placemaking and redress. Her research has focused on Black migrations, geographies and contemporary art histories, informal city making, and the relationship of arts ecosystems to their local communities.

Nhadya is a collaborator on the Still Here project, archiving Black artmaking in Miami from the 1960s to present, led by Dr. Donette Francis at the University of Miami. In 2024, she co-curated the exhibition, As We Move Forward, in the Augusta Savage Gallery at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with artist and professor, Juana Valdes. She also curated the photography exhibition In Our Glory / A Different Image for the Creative Studio Gallery at UM Libraries and RELAX RELATE RELEASE, a campus artmaking collaboration with the UM section of the National Council of Negro Women, Inc. and Black Rock Senegal alum, artist Stephanie J. Woods. She serves on the steering committee for the Miami Emerging Arts Leaders and is a community grants panelist for the Miami Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs.

Prior to Knight, Nhadya interned at several arts organizations including the Lowe Art Museum, Miami Museum of Contemporary Art of the African Diaspora (Miami MoCAAD), Perez Art Museum, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and The Studio Museum in Harlem.

Born and raised in Broward County, Nhadya graduated from the University of Miami with a bachelor’s in english literature and minors in sociology, art history and Africana studies. She remains involved as a member of the Young Alumni Leaders Council, Black Alumni Society, and the board for the Center for Global Black Studies at the University of Miami.