Community Empowerment

By Patrick Bohn ’05, May 6, 2025
Rita Bunatal ’16 makes an impact

Rita headshot

Rita Bunatal ’16 immerses herself in communities to advocate for people across the globe. (Photo by Dioptra Creative)

Ask Rita Bunatal ’16 what her job title is, and you may get an unconventional answer: “I don’t want to label it as one thing,” she admitted, after spending a few minutes thinking about an answer. 

As the founder and creative director of the Malaika Collective, a New York City–based multimedia agency designed to “empower Black creatives.” Bunatal has a wide-ranging skill set that includes marketing, web design, and consulting, making it challenging to come up with a convenient descriptor. 

But if you ask Bunatal what she does for a living—her professional North Star—she can answer with excitement. “I’m all about empowering communities,” she said. “I pride myself on being a creative visionary and cultural marketer, and that means having my ear to the ground in various communities—in particular ones that have been underrepresented—and translating their stories in order to tell them with care.” 

Exactly how she tells that story varies from community to community—but Bunatal brings the same approach to each one. “As a marketer, you have to be a bit of a snoop to engage with members of a community and find things out about them,” she said. “But when I immerse myself in a community, it’s important that I recognize that I don’t know everything, [and that I] empathize, listen, and not speak over them. We do work with nonprofits who are advocating for people of color, immigrants, and women across the globe.”

“I’m incredibly proud of not throwing in the towel when things got tough.”

Rita Bunatal ’16

The collective has received funding from BeyGOOD, a charity formed by Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, and has also worked with musician Pharrell Williams’s nonprofit, Black Ambition. 

Bunatal has been an advocate for others since her sophomore year at IC. As the public relations director for the African Students Association, she helped create the club’s “The Real Africa: Fight the Stereotype” social media campaign to educate people about common stereotypes surrounding Africa. The campaign picked up national attention from outlets such as CNN. 

“At that point in my college career, I hadn’t even taken a public relations course yet!” Bunatal recalled. “And then, all of a sudden, I had reporters from around the world reaching out to me. But working on that campaign, and particularly working on the photoshoot for it, helped me see the power of pairing visuals with a strong story,” she continued. “And it’s come full circle because now I have clients who want me to do that for their brand.” 

As for where Bunatal sees her career going next, that’s another tough one to answer, though she’d like to see the Malaika Collective continue to grow and work with more partners. For now, she’s relishing where it is. “I’m incredibly proud of not throwing in the towel when things got tough,” she said. “This used to be something I did in addition to my 9-to-5 job, and now it is my 9-to-5 job. That’s pretty amazing.”