walae hayek /wa-laa’ hi-yek/ [in arabic: ولاء الحايك ] is an advocate, organizer, and cultural worker with a background in public policy development, public health advocacy, and civic engagement. walae is committed to cultivating spaces that advance liberatory struggles and constructing systems of reparations, justice, and equity.
walae has many years of experience in public policy development and advocacy, civic engagement, and cultural placemaking. Her public policy experience includes advancing state level legislation around expanded Medicaid access, behavioral health services, birthing care, and harm reduction practices, including the development and implementation of the 2023-2027 Massachusetts Medicaid 1115 waiver for acute care hospitals. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, walae organized Boston neighborhood testing and vaccine clinics that served over 200 people weekly, including onsite interpretation services and family education. Over the years, walae has also organized and continues to mobilize for divestment from the military-industrial complex, including divestment from weapons of mass destruction, fossil fuels, and the ongoing government-sanctioned genocide(s) in the global south.
Passionate about arts and culture as liberatory praxis, walae founded and continues to lead ROYA, a community non-profit organization focused on cultural placemaking and creative community building toward social justice. ROYA produces events, workshops, conversations, exhibitions, and community gatherings dedicated to radical cultural placemaking and public creative programming that centers communities of the global majority. walae has developed and facilitated programming for the City of Boston Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture (MOAC), Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Boston University, YouthBuild Boston, Brookline Arts Center, New England Museum Association, Samuel & Associates, Tufts University, and many more.
She has also advised on various arts, culture, and public health initiatives, most recently serving as an advisor to MOAC and Boston Art Review for the Un-Monument Project. Previously, walae has also served on the board of the West End House Boys and Girls Club, Allston-Brighton Health Collaborative (ABHC), and The Fenway.
walae consults on a range of topics, including policy development, program strategy, community and civic engagement, and cultural placemaking. She is based in Boston, a colonial city settled over unceded Naumkeag, Massachussett, and Pawtucket lands in Turtle Island.
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