Sala Elise Patterson is a communication, content and brand strategist, and writer. Sala began her career as an editor at Conde Nast Traveler Magazine in New York before leaving to work in international cooperation in the wake of 9-11. That work took her to Rome and Dar es Salaam with the United Nations; to Paris with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; and to Tunis with the African Development Bank.

In 2012, she founded her own communication advisory firm, Songhai Group, which serves international organizations, cultural institutions and mission-driven companies. Clients have included World Bank, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, McKinsey & Company, World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), Galerie Number 8 and National Urban League, among others.

Throughout her career, Sala has written on art, culture and lifestyle. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times Style Magazine, Harvard Design Magazine, The Atlantic’s CityLab, KINFOLK, Ford Foundation Report, TRUE Africa, the Musée D’Orsay exhibition catalogue for The Black Model: From Géricault to Matisse and in the short, experimental documentary film, Protect, for which she was the screenwriter.

Sala is a native Washingtonian [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crestwood_(Washington,_D.C.)] and product of DC Public Schools. She holds a BA in African-American Literature from Columbia University (cum laude), an MSc in Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies and speaks Italian, French, Portuguese and a bit of Japanese. She lives with her husband and 12-year old son in Rome, where she is currently on assignment with the World Bank.