Joellen Nicholson

Joellen’s two-decade career spans the corporate, nonprofit, and philanthropic sectors, where she has built a reputation for aligning sustainability and business strategy to deliver measurable, lasting change. She focuses on designing market-based solutions that drive economic inclusion and enterprise growth across the globe.

As Senior Advisor for Strategic Partnerships, Joellen works with Post Street Advisors on impact fund administration and with the Patamar Impact Fellowship on youth capacity building in impact investing across the U.S. and South Asia.

Previously, as Vice President at UI Charitable, she helped scale one of the fastest-growing philanthropic donor-advised funds in the U.S. and catalyzed over $8 million in impact grants and investments to fund over 60 global social ventures. She also established UI's South Africa Hub, advancing inclusive impact investing education for university youth and entrepreneurs in partnership with the U.S. Consulate and regional universities.

As a social entrepreneur, Joellen co-founded basik 855, a Cambodia-based social enterprise empowering rural weaving artisans, which has influenced her commitment to driving financial inclusion and livelihood creation. Joellen has served as Director of Global Programs at Nest, where she led capacity-building and value chain inclusion initiatives for over 500 artisan SMEs, and as Global Director of Brand Management at Gap, where she launched the Gap for Good social-sustainability platform across five global markets. Early in her career, Joellen led strategic marketing and digital transformation for consumer products and retail companies like dunnhumby, R/GA, and Scholastic.

Joellen holds a Master in Social Innovation from the University of Cambridge, Judge Business School, and a Bachelor's in Marketing and Supply Chain Management from Michigan State University.