Adanta Ahanonu

Adanta Ahanonu is an energetic, dynamic and self-driven leader with a strong passion for helping others achieve their full potential. She is currently the Founding Site Director of Year Up at Diablo Valley College, a national nonprofit dedicated to empowering low-income young adults to move from minimum wage to meaningful careers in just one year.

In her role, Adanta is responsible for overseeing the site’s overall program activities, growth strategy and performance to ensure high-quality program outcomes. She also serves as the primary liaison between Year Up and the senior level administrators at Diablo Valley College to ensure alignment with Year Up’s strategic goals.

Adanta’s career launched in the private sector at The Hanover Insurance Group’s two-year Future Leaders Program in New England where she was quickly recognized for her enthusiastic and goal-oriented nature, strong relationship management abilities, and eagerness to develop and implement innovative strategies and initiatives. During this time, Adanta actively volunteered and mentored with many organizations, including Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Collegiate Success Institute of Worcester, and the United Way of Central Massachusetts. These experiences earned her the Volunteer Incentive Program Award and revealed her desire to blend her professional business background with her strong community outreach abilities and enduring enthusiasm for youth empowerment by transitioning into the nonprofit field at Year Up.

Adanta started her Year Up journey in Boston as the Outreach Manager and was responsible for leading the strategy and execution of a robust recruitment program to increase enrollment targets by 75% in three years. Adanta’s successful strategies coupled with the organization’s fast-paced growth from one to three sites in the Greater Boston area earned her a promotion to Associate Director of Recruitment & Outreach where she managed the regional recruitment team. During her time at Year Up, Adanta has earned two organizational awards – 2014 Respect & Value Others Award and 2017 Inspirational Leadership Award.

Adanta received her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a focus in International Management from Boston University, where she proudly served in numerous leadership roles which earned her the Class Cane-Bearer award for Outstanding Leadership and the Scarlet Key Honorary award for Excellence in Leadership. Adanta was a 2016 University of Massachusetts Boston Emerging Leaders Fellow and is a 2019 Surge Institute of Oakland Alumna.

Adanta is also a member of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women’s Oakland-Bay Area chapter and the Junior League of Oakland-Easy Bay. Adanta is a dance enthusiast, spin devotee and dedicated to running a half marathon each year. She currently resides in the Bay Area.