Malika Cox is a longtime peacebuilder and restorative justice leader with over 20 years of experience working in nonprofits and grassroots movements around the world. She holds graduate degrees in International Law and Diplomacy, Conflict Resolution, and Practical Theology, and has studied at places such as Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Trinity College Dublin, Regent University, and Harvard Divinity School. Her work brings together deep academic knowledge and lived, hands-on wisdom.
Malika has been involved in peace and justice practices in Northern Ireland, Oklahoma and Jerusalem—places that have taught her the power of healing after conflict. Her research on digital peacebuilding earned her the James Haire Dissertation Award. She’s also worked with organizations suh as The Spero Project, which supported new neighbors in Oklahoma City in refugee resettlement, and The Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies.
In response to years of community work and a deep calling for restorative justice, Malika founded MEND, a nonprofit in Oklahoma City focused on peacemaking and community repair through dialogue, healing, and spiritual connection.
In Spring 2025, she served as the Activist-in-Residence at the University of Oklahoma’s Center for Social Justice, where she led workshops and taught about peacebuilding and justice.
Malika is also a skilled facilitator who leads workshops on transformational leadership, spiritual growth, and community healing. She consults with organizations and justice systems, helping them move toward truth, repair, and compassion.
Join the Mend the World Movement
Malika is the founder of Mend which is a community of peacemakers and restorative justice practitioners engaging Oklahoma City to seek truth, restorative justice, healing, and the common good.
Mend envisions a world where truth-telling, empathy, and restorative justice guide us back to ourselves as interconnected, beloved, and called to the sacred work of repair and peace. A world where all flourish.
MEND cultivates spaces of healing and transformation through restorative justice, community care, and embodied peacemaking. We face the truth with courage, hold space for lament, and walk with communities toward repair—so that justice is not retributive but restorative, not imposed but co-created.
Malika offers compassionate and strategic consulting for individuals, organizations, teams, and corporate HR departments seeking to transform leadership styles and co-create healthier work cultures. Through the lens of restorative justice, she guides individual teams toward deeper listening, honest dialogue, and authentic connection. Her approach fosters trust, accountability, and renewal—transforming conflict into opportunity and leadership into a practice of presence, truth, and collective flourishing.
Malika offers workshops inviting reflection and action rooted in restorative justice, truth and healing, and human flourishing. Drawing from her expertise in international law, transitional justice, and restorative practices, she creates learning spaces where participants explore global frameworks for peace alongside practical tools for local transformation. Her workshops cover compassionate communication, community flourishing, and trauma-informed justice—equipping individuals and teams to lead with integrity, empathy, and courage.
Malika Cox is a speaker who brings depth, presence, and clarity to every platform she steps on to. She has spoken at conferences, on panels, and in intimate workshop settings, offering insights on restorative justice, digital peacebuilding, compassionate communication, confidence, and authentic leadership. Whether addressing a room of global changemakers or guiding a community circle, Malika weaves together lived experience, academic expertise, and wisdom—inviting audiences into more profound truth, connection, and collective flourishing. To book Malika for your next conference, workshop, or panel, please get in touch below.
The Ireland Peacemaker trip is a transformative journey to Northern Ireland that takes you back to the era known as 'The Troubles,' which unfolded between 1969 and 1998 and shaped history in this beautiful region. Together, we explore the roots of 'The Troubles,' delve into the complex history, and witness the remarkable transformation that led to the Good Friday Peace Agreement in 1998. Learn about key players in the peace process, hear their stories, and gain insights into their challenges. The itinerary includes visits to museums dedicated to preserving the history and memory of 'The Troubles,' offering a comprehensive view of the events that unfolded during those turbulent years, as well as tours and reconciliation centers. Peacemaker isn't merely a journey; it presents a chance to acquire profound insights into Northern Ireland's distinctive conflict and peace dynamics while identifying similarities that intertwine with struggles for peace and conflict resolution worldwide.
Check out Malika’s vocational history and educational background on her LinkedIn Profile.
Malika Cox is a compelling podcast guest whose voice conveys clarity and depth. She has shared her insights on Flourish OKC and The Mental Health Download (Restorative Justice and Criminal Justice Reform), Foundations for Liberating Minds (Restorative Justice), and The Divine Purpose Podcast (Flourishing). With a rare blend of academic rigor and soulful wisdom, Malika speaks on transformational leadership, restorative justice, peacemaking, international law, theology, conflict resolution, transitional justice, truth-telling, and human and planetary flourishing. To invite Malika into your conversation, please contact us @malika@mendokc.com.
I had the incredible opportunity to serve as the Activist in Residence at the University of Oklahoma’s WGS Center for Social Justice for the Spring of 2025. I had a fantastic time, spending powerful and deeply meaningful engagement with students, faculty, and community members committed to restorative justice and transformation.
Through workshops, dialogues, and shared learning, we explored restorative justice, peacemaking, and how to move toward collective repair and renewal. Witnessing the passion and insight of the next generation of changemakers was inspiring and reaffirmed my belief that transformation begins with courageous conversations and intentional action.
Malika Cox is a writer and curriculum designer whose work bridges restorative justice, peacemaking, and spiritual transformation. She is the author of Flourish OKC: Restorative Justice Learning Initiative, a hybrid video and written curriculum exploring Oklahoma’s incarceration and recidivism crisis through the lens of restorative justice—focusing on prevention, diversion, rehabilitation, and reintegration. Her current curriculum, Peacemaker: The Beatitudes as a Path to Inner and Societal Transformation, invites learners into a decolonized, justice-centered approach to Jesus’ teachings. Malika’s academic publications include two graduate dissertations: Holy Cyber Lands, an exploration of virtual peace dialogues between Palestinians and Israelis, and Five Case Studies on the Invocation of the Genocide Convention at the International Court of Justice, a legal and moral investigation into international responses to atrocity. She also writes reflections, essays, and blogs on peacemaking, Christian mysticism, and communal healing. Her forthcoming book, Peacemaker: Leaving Toxic Christianity and Finding Jesus’s Way of Being in the World, reimagines the words of Christ as a path of inner restoration and public repair—a return to Eden amid empire.
Malika is deeply committed to rest as a sacred act of resistance and restoration. In a world driven by systems of oppression that glorify productivity, consumerism, and endless busyness, she embraces a decolonized way of being—rooted in presence, healing, and connection. Her vision of human and planetary flourishing includes rest, prayer, meditation, Ayurvedic practices, and somatic movement. She honors the Earth's rhythms, valuing joy, travel, friendship, time with loved ones, and slow moments with her beloved pup, Mr. Darcy. For Malika, life is not merely a career—it is communion: with the Earth, with Spirit, and with one another. Her work flows from a Christian mystical lens that reimagines leadership and restorative justice as pathways back to Eden, the new earth—where wholeness, stillness, and sacred connection guide the way home
Malika Cox is a steadfast advocate for human rights, nature rights and dedicating her voice and work to pressing global and local issues. In Oklahoma, she champions criminal justice reform and the abolition of the death penalty, addressing the state's high execution rates and advocating for equitable legal practices. She also focuses on improving women's health and wellness, which presently is at 51 in the United States. Internationally, Malika calls for an end to the blockade in Gaza and supports the self-determination of the Palestinian people, which aligns with reports from Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International that highlight the apartheid and humanitarian crises in the region. She raises awareness about the exploitation of cobalt mining and other exploitative mining practices in the Democratic Republic of Congo, urging accountability for corporations benefiting from such practices as Tesla and diamond and resource extraction companies such as Dan Gertler International. Malika also brings attention to the ongoing civil war in Sudan, advocating for global recognition and a massive response to the humanitarian crisis. Her advocacy calls for accountability to states violating international law against the Rohingya, Ukrainians, Uyghurs, and Gazan people. She condemns gender apartheid in Afghanistan and the oppression of women and girls everywhere. Malika is especially steadfastly opposed to the current U.S. administration policies of unlawful deportation and incarceration of immigrants and migrants and ongoing ethnic cleansing against Black Americans and the Indigenous people, and the scapegoating of trans people. Malika stands against the Trump administration close association to oligarchs such as Peter Thiel and Elon Musk as well as the Republican parties oppressive actions to rob women of their bodily autonomy and their hard-won economic rights. Through her work, Malika embodies a commitment to human rights, a flourishing planet and dignity, equality, equity and care for all living beings.
Follow Malika’s upcoming Substack for reflections on peacemaking, advocacy, Christian spirituality, restorative justice, and practicing the sacred work of becoming rooted in rest, truth-telling, and the way of Eden.
The Chrysalis Retreat is a sacred pause—a rest, reflection, and transformation space. Inspired by the butterfly's metamorphosis, this retreat invites participants to step away from the world's noise and enter a cocoon of healing, truth-telling, and gentle becoming. Rooted in contemplative practices, restorative circles, embodiment, and connection with nature, the Chrysalis Retreat offers a space to shed what no longer serves and awaken to the wisdom within. It is a gathering for those on the edge of change—ready to listen, become, and emerge more whole. Find out more here.
Follow Malika on Instagram for a peek into her travel adventures, forest walks, gardening, yoga flows, Ayurvedic rituals, entertaining with love, conscious shopping, and sacred pauses at instagram - @malikacox.
