Alyssa K. Barry was born and raised in Dakar. A graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Marseille (2016) and the École d'Urbanisme de Paris (2017), she has been conducting research and projects for over ten years on African cultural heritage and the link between culture and sustainable development within the cities and societies of the continent.

After significant experiences at the Cultural Heritage Institute of Cabo Verde and then at the UNESCO World Heritage Centre in Paris, she settled in Dakar in 2022 where she worked as an independent consultant in the field of African cultural heritage. She collaborated with major institutions such as UNESCO, ICOMOS, ICCROM, the African Heritage School (EPA) and Expertise France (AFD Group).

A lecturer at the University College of Architecture in Dakar, a doctoral student in anthropology at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar and involved in the international associative sector (Former Coordinator ICOMOS EPWG Africa, Secretary General ICOM Senegal, associate member ICOMOS ISCEAH), she is also the founder of AFREAKART, a platform dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diasporas.

In 2024, she founded AKB HERITAGE, a structure reflecting her journey: committed, rigorous, creative and firmly focused on transmission.