Angélica Mayolo is an Afro-Colombian leader with over a decade of experience designing and leading high-impact initiatives at the intersection of environmental policy, cultural equity, and inclusive economic development. Her work focuses on advancing the Sustainable Development Goals and elevating historically marginalized communities, particularly Afro-descendant and Indigenous peoples, as key stewards of biodiversity and drivers of sustainable development.

She has held senior leadership roles across government, international cooperation, and the private sector. At Colombia’s Ministry of Environment, she led the Office of International Affairs, mobilizing over $100 million in international cooperation. As Secretary of Economic Development for Cali and later Executive President of the Buenaventura Chamber of Commerce, she promoted inclusive growth and strengthened local economic ecosystems. Angelica served as Colombia’s Minister of Culture (2021–2022), positioning cultural heritage as a pillar of social inclusion, environmental sustainability, and national development.

In 2023, Angélica was selected MLK Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), hosted by the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative. In 2025, Angelica joined ERA’s Nature- and Community-based Environmental Research + Action Lab (NACERA) in MIT’s Department of Architecture and Planning, and is focused on advancing research on the role of Afro-descendant communities in protecting strategic ecosystems, particularly in the Biogeographic Chocó. During her fellowship, she led Cali’s successful bid to host COP16 in 2024 and coordinated its action plan, achieving record-breaking civic engagement. Building on this legacy, she led the technical coordination of Cali’s Biodiversity Week in 2025, further positioning the city as a global platform for environmental dialogue and action. 

Her work integrates carbon markets, community participation, and transboundary conservation policy. In this capacity, she co-leads the Technical Secretariat of the Alliance of Cities for the Biogeographic Chocó, a regional platform connecting nine cities across four countries (Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador) to promote climate action,  biodiversity conservation and sustainable development through coordinated municipal actions and the development of investment-ready projects for international funding mechanisms.