M’Balu “Lu” Bangura, SPHR, PMP
Founder & Principal Consultant, Legacy Lab Consulting LLC
Lu Bangura has built her career navigating the issues organizations cannot afford to get wrong: workplace investigations, civil rights compliance, employee relations, organizational risk, and high-stakes leadership decisions.
Today, she brings that experience to organizations seeking an independent, credible advisor who understands not only how to identify organizational risk, but what it means to lead through it.
From Investigator to Executive
Lu Bangura began her career working directly with vulnerable and underserved communities, where she saw firsthand how systems, policies, and leadership decisions shape people’s daily lives. That early experience led her into civil rights investigation, employment compliance, organizational risk, and, ultimately, executive leadership.
As a Civil Rights Investigator with the Baltimore City Community Relations Commission, Lu investigated employment discrimination and civil rights complaints, including complex matters involving workplace discrimination and other protected-class concerns. She later helped establish Baltimore City’s Office of Equity and Civil Rights and became the City’s first Equity Specialist, advising more than 40 city agencies, helping develop the City’s approach to organizational equity, and authoring Baltimore’s first citywide Equity Report in 2020. Lu also served as an employment investigator and Risk Analyst for the City of Tacoma, Washington, where her work included workplace investigations, organizational risk, policy development, and community-focused initiatives. Together, these roles built the investigative and analytical foundation that continues to shape her consulting approach today.
Executive Leadership
Lu later served as Chief of Equity and Fair Practices for the Enoch Pratt Free Library and Maryland State Library Resource Center, one of the nation’s major urban public library systems. In that executive role, she served as the organization’s EEO Officer and Special Advisor to the CEO on operational equity matters, working at the intersection of people, policy, and organizational risk.
Her portfolio included EEO, workplace investigations, civil rights compliance, accessibility, organizational equity, policy development, and executive advisory responsibilities. During an organizational leadership transition, Human Resources was also placed under her executive oversight. She provided leadership across HR operations, employee relations, workforce strategy, organizational restructuring, policy development, and complex employment decisions. That experience distinguishes Lu from consultants who have only advised organizations from the outside—she has occupied the executive seat where investigation findings, employee relations concerns, compliance risks, workforce challenges, and organizational recommendations must ultimately be translated into decisions.
Experience From Both Sides of the Table
Lu has experienced complex workplace matters from multiple perspectives: as an investigator responsible for establishing facts, as an EEO executive responsible for organizational compliance, and as a senior leader advising executives responsible for making difficult employment decisions. That perspective shapes Legacy Lab Consulting’s approach. The work does not end with identifying what happened. Lu considers the systems, policies, leadership dynamics, organizational risks, and operational realities surrounding the issue so clients receive guidance that is evidence-based, practical, and useful.
The Work Today
Independent workplace investigations for organizations and counsel seeking a neutral, credible fact-finder for sensitive or complex matters.
Independent Workplace Investigations
Employment Compliance & Organizational Risk
Advisory & Organizational Strategy
Employee relations advisory services, organizational strategy, strategic planning, leadership and workforce development, and executive and organizational advisory services that connect day-to-day decisions to long-term organizational effectiveness.
Employment compliance and risk assessments, HR and organizational reviews, and policy development and modernization to help organizations understand and address areas of exposure.
Professional Credentials
• Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR)
• Project Management Professional (PMP)
• Federal EEOC investigative training
• Advanced investigative interviewing training through Wicklander-Zulawski
• Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice, St. John’s University
• Master of Science in Criminal Justice, New Jersey City University
• BLACK ENTERPRISE — 2025 40 Under 40, Politics and Social Impact
• Baltimore Business Journal — 40 Under 40
• Library Journal — 2023 Movers & Shakers, Community Builders
• The Baltimore Sun — 2023 25 Women to Watch
• The Daily Record — 2021 Leading Women
• The Daily Record — 2020 VIP List
• Black Girls Vote — 2024 Ladies & Politics
• International Human Rights Commission — 2019 Human Rights Defenders Almanac
• National Urban League Young Professionals — 2025 YP Honors
Selected Recognition
Affiliations
Workplace Investigation & HR Strategic Leadership Associations.
Through Legacy Lab Consulting, Lu brings years of investigative, executive, and organizational leadership experience to clients facing decisions where independence, credibility, and sound judgment matter. Whether an organization is responding to a sensitive workplace concern, assessing employment risk, strengthening its internal systems, or determining what comes next, Legacy Lab provides the perspective and practical guidance to move forward with clarity.