Hailing from Nigeria by way of DC/MD/VA and now Pittsburgh, Dr. Emiola Oriola Jr has centered his personal, professional and academic career& journey around building bridges amongst division, connecting perspectives across difference, and reimagining relationships within community, all aimed at creating sustainable, inclusive and tangible unity within diversity wherever he goes.

Before serving as the Sr, Director of Program Innovation & Impact for Vibrant Pittsburgh, Dr. Oriola previously worked at the University of Pittsburgh as a senior leader on campus, engaging internal & external stakeholders, local community organizations, and regional, national, and international partners as the Inaugural Director for the Office of Inclusion & Belonging and the Office of Interfaith Dialogue and Engagement. There, he honed his skills as a scholar practitioner, a DEIBJ facilitator and strategist and visionary, and a community leader. Dr. Oriola’s research focuses on DEI (specifically belonging), global perspectives, and building significant learning skills through intentional exposure/experiential learning, communal building & dialogue, and creative and innovative expression and processing. Dr. Oriola is the recipient of the Who’s Who in Black Pittsburgh honoree (2015), a One Young World US Ambassador (2016), Pittsburgh Magazine and PUMP’s 40 Under 40 awardee (2016), a recipient of the New Pittsburgh Courier Men of Excellence award (2017), a recipient of the University of Pittsburgh Leadership Award for exceptional leadership to INVESTING NOW students and families (2018), a recipient of the Rising African American Leader Award from the African American Alumni Council of the University of Pittsburgh (2019), an awardee of Interfaith Youth Core We Are Each Other’s Harvest (2020) and the recipient of the Distinguished Early Career Award Recipient – Pitt School of Education (2024).