Nomaduma Masilela is a second-year PhD candidate who studies modern and contemporary art from Africa and the Diaspora. She is a Ford Pre-Doctoral Fellow and a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow.

Nomaduma received her BA from Barnard College (2007). She was a Curatorial Fellow at The Kitchen, New York (2007-08) and conducted independent research in Dakar, Senegal as a Mortimer Hays Brandeis Traveling Fellow (2008-09) before arriving at Columbia University.