Nicole Melaku is the Executive Director of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC).Nicole was introduced to organizing and fundraising as a volunteer in Aurora public schools and was inspired to bring her skill set to the immigrant rights movement in 2010. In 2012, she joined the CIRC where she worked on CIRC’s immigrant integration programming, organizational development, and national partnership work. Prior to taking this position, Nicole was on the staff of the Latino Community Foundation of Colorado, where she oversaw grant-making and special initiatives including the Colorado Immigrant Funders Collaborative. She is first generation American and granddaughter of immigrants from Chihuahua and Guanajuato Mexico.
Nicole is an alumni of the University of Colorado, Boulder where she studied Latin American Studies and Spanish. She was part of the 2015 Colorado Cohort of the New American Leaders Project (NALP) and serves on the Executive Committee of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM). Nicole also serves as the Executive Director of CIRC Action Fund, CIRC’s sister C4 organization which aims to build immigrant and refugee electoral power in Colorado. She lives in Aurora with her two boys and husband and enjoys cooking, dancing, and entertaining friends and family at her family’s home.
What are you looking forward to as a fellow of TLC?
“I look forward to building and lifting up the collective power of leaders to build a leadership movement rooted in trust and collaboration. When we change ourselves, we change the world.“