Modesta is a 2015 Alliance for Science Global Leadership Fellow and a doctoral student of horticultural sciences at North Carolina State University. She is also a member of the Alliance for Science training team. From 2013- 2018, Modesta worked with the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB), Nigeria chapter, where she planned and implemented educational outreach engagements on biotechnology among diverse stakeholders. She has also been widely involved in grassroots campaigns geared towards creating an enabling policy environment for farmers to gain access to new agricultural innovations in Nigeria. Through her awareness and advocacy efforts, she contributed to the passage of Nigeria's biosafety bill into law, and the commercialization of Bt cowpea in Nigeria. Modesta obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry from the University of Nigeria in Nsukka, Nigeria, and an MSc in horticultural science from the University of Florida in the United States. She is a co-founder of the African Researchers Network of the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB-ARN), which seeks to improve diversity and representation of  African researchers in international plant biology meetings. She is also a fellow of the AgBioFEWS, an NSF-funded program that examines the science, policy, and public engagement impacts of agricultural biotechnology on food, energy, and water.