Ellie brings nearly 30 years of professional and lived experience to her executive leadership of building and refining The Justice Collective’s consulting model, business and talent development, and organizational culture of a team of 20+ highly qualified consultants who have served over 130 clients since 2015. Ellie is a dynamic, in-demand strategist, coach, researcher, and community builder.
Read MoreCharmaine McClarie is a C-suite advisor, keynote speaker, executive coach and executive presence authority who helps leaders have their best year ever. She has worked with leaders in 27 industries across five continents. Her clients include top executives from Cisco, Gilead Sciences, Impact America Fund, Humana, Johnson & Johnson, MasterCard, Starbucks and T-Mobile.
Read MorePsychologist, advocate, and educator, Dr.Wendi Williams, applies her work at the intersection of education and psychology to her scholarship and leadership praxis.
Read MoreOlivia Christian has been working as a brand strategist for more than 15 years. Her clients include global brands like Google, Visa, and Amazon as well as nonprofit organizations providing life-advancing support to women, children, and vulnerable communities throughout the US.
Read MoreVaneese Johnson, The Boldness Coach™, is a certified executive coach, brand strategist, and award-winning small business consultant with more than 25 years of experience.
Read MoreKathryn is a Fellow in the Education Program at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, where she supports both the efforts of the K-12 Teaching and Learning and Open Education strategies.
Read MoreBelinda Bellinger is jubilant about youth empowerment, education equity, grassroots community organizing, spoken word/performance theater, and transformational healing work. For more than 15 years, she has created instructional spaces where students (and adults) are seen, heard, and encouraged to be their authentic self and empowered to enact liberatory social change. She received her Bachelors of Art in Liberal Arts at Sarah Lawrence College and is currently the 7th-grade History teacher at Summit: Tamalpais in Richmond, CA. When she is not facilitating a classroom with her wit, she enjoys writing creative non-fiction, cooking, and fellowship with chosen family. Find her on Instagram @alovesupreme420.
Read MoreDownload My Story “Revisioning The Revolution”
Mable Haddock has spent the past four decades advocating for and supporting social issue media and media makers of color. In her role as Founding Director of The National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC, 1980-2005), Ms. Haddock was instrumental in developing and producing several award-winning programs for the public television schedule including Matters of race, unnatural causes, Mandela, the Fannie Lou Hamer story, and the state of black America, I and II. Through the NBPC RFP and Discretionary fund, Ms. Haddock provided development and production funding to hundreds of producers whose work subsequently aired on PBS. After retiring from NBPC in 2005 after 25 years, Ms. Haddock helped to develop and implement the Firelight Producers Lab, which provides professional development, mentoring, and support to help producers of color complete documentaries.
Ms. Haddock has served on the board of the Columbus Cable Advisory Board, the Pittsburgh and Columbus Public Access Boards, the PBS Programming Board, the CPB Multi-cultural advisory board, and the Ohio Arts Council multicultural advisory board. She has served as a panelist/reader for ITVS, POV, NEH, NEA, The Ohio Arts Council (3 year appointment), The Jerome Foundation (3 year appointment) and is an emeritus board member of NBPC. She has written and lectured nationally and internationally on the aesthetics, politics and role of black film. Awards include The Founders Awards from the Black Women’s Preservation Project, three CEBA Awards, the Leo Award from the Flaherty International Film Seminars, a New York Women in Film Award, Women of Achievement Award from the Columbus YWCA, a Trailblazer Award from Blackfilm.com, and a leadership award from NAMAC.
Industry: Public Media
Read MoreDownload My Story “The Stand For Justice”
Dr. Nicole Norfles facilitates Council for Opportunity in Education’s (COE) STEM Community of Practice; is co-Principal Investigator on multiple National Science Foundation grants; directs and coordinates multiple U.S. Department of Education grants; and directs COE’s Onboarding Professional Development and TRIO Chicago Collaborative.
She previously served as Education Program Officer with the Oprah Winfrey Foundation; Policy Consultant with Casey Family Programs; Special Assistant to the founding President of COE; and Fellow at the Pell Institute. She co-taught a Michigan State University South Africa study abroad course; a Drexel University online leadership course; and George Washington University courses in educational foundations, leadership, and supervision.
Dr. Norfles presents at numerous national and international conferences, and serves on multiple boards; she received her doctorate from The George Washington University.
She previously served as Education Program Officer with the Oprah Winfrey Foundation; Policy Consultant with Casey Family Programs; Special Assistant to the founding President of COE; and Fellow at the Pell Institute. She co-taught a Michigan State University South Africa study abroad course; a Drexel University online leadership course; and George Washington University courses in educational foundations, leadership, and supervision.
Dr. Norfles presents at numerous national and international conferences, and serves on multiple boards; she received her doctorate from The George Washington University.
Read MoreRegina Jackson has made it her mission to invest in the future of children. She has taken on the challenge of molding, and mentoring young people in her hometown of Oakland, CA. Regina believes her biggest challenge is combating hopelessness. When young people don’t have high expectations, they often won’t try. Because she and her staff believe that youth can perform at high levels, they often rise to meet and exceed those expectations.
BlackFemaleProject Voices: Regina Jackson
Location: Oakland, California
Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, Vanessa has experienced the curtain, the shield, the three letter word and currently a blank slate to start all over again. She graduated with a BA in Theatre from Hunter and has performed multiple genres of theatre. In addition Vanessa has had the rare opportunity to work for one of the biggest brands on earth, The NFL., where she FoundHer passion for people through developing national training programs for youth, former players and women who wanted to get and stay connected to the game. Recently, Vanessa decided to get her MBA at Hult International Business School where she experienced 45 different nationalities, studied abroad in the Middle East and ultimately gained the courage to start her own business, BUPeriod, a lifestyle brand for women to be empowered through menstrual health. Vanessa was inspired to build a community and smart health products for women who have issues managing their periods after a 10-year bout with uterine fibroids; of which 22 were surgically removed April of 2015. This age old, politically charged and patriarchal industry, that Vanessa has decided to embark upon, is literally a bloody red ocean, no pun intended, of taboo, stigma and shame. Vanessa's goal is to take her bag of creative skills, branding experience, and business education to a place where it will educate, engage and ultimately empower women, who may suffer in silence, shame and stigma, so they can take their lives back. Period.
Read MoreDownload My Story “The Fight Of The Finite”
Liz Williams is a finance professional and lifelong Californian. In addition to now serving as Director of Financial Planning & Analysis for a tech start-up, focused on disrupting the hair color industry, she was also finance manager at Sephora US Retail, managing a P&L with revenue over $3B and expenses of over $800M. Liz also had the exciting opportunity to fulfill her dream of being in the entertainment industry by leading the FP&A efforts for Lucasfilm's Animation Division.
Liz received her MBA with an emphasis in Global Business from University of Redlands and attended undergrad at the University of California, Riverside.
Liz has been happily married to creative/entrepreneur Mashama Thompson for four years. When not working, she enjoys gardening, traveling, and spending time with family and friends.
Location: Oakland, California
Download My Story “Rules Of Ché”
Her deepest joy being a mother, Che brings 10+ years of higher education experience to the BlackFemaleProject including extensive knowledge in the areas of enrollment, student services and retention. My specialties include: strategic planning and implementation, policy review and implementation and organizational culture change. Follow on Twitter at @Cheawesum.
Location: Oakland, California
Download My Story “Black Charm”
A gifted musician and tenure of IT Software Development Project Management, Fern's life work is to bridge the gap between business, art, and community. Her vision has been realized through successful partnership, board service, and other initiatives including production of Black Vines - A Toast to Black Wineries and Diverse Art.
Fern earned a B.S. in Computer Information Systems and completed a software development internship at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in Palo Alto, California. She currently manages Big Data related efforts in Silicon Valley.
Location: Oakland, California
Download My Story “The Black Unicorn”
Charmaine Mercer is a Program Officer in Education at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, focused on advancing educational experiences and outcomes, especially for those furthest from opportunity. Charmaine was previously a director and senior researcher for the Learning Policy Institute; has served as vice president for standards, assessment, and deeper learning at the Alliance for Excellent Education; and has held various positions on Capitol Hill, including senior staffer for the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies; senior staffer for the Education and Labor Committee; and researcher for the Congressional Research Service.
She holds a Ph.D. in politics and education policy and master’s degree in political science from Claremont Graduate University, and a bachelor’s degree in political science from San Diego State University. Charmaine is a native Californian, home after being on the East coast since 2002, and the shamelessly proud mom of adorable twin boys.
Location: Los Angeles, California
Read MoreDownload My Story “Black Excellence”
A lifelong creative, Dania W. Frink has worked across the spectrum of the arts. She is the Founder/Creative Director of PEN + FRINK, an illustration, design and animation studio in Jacksonville, FL. Previously, Dania held Communications, Marketing, External Relations and Teaching roles in both the public and private sectors. She enjoys discovering and creating new methods of fusing the arts, education, social justice, cultural preservation, and storytelling.
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Location: Berkeley, California
Download My Story “The Awakening”
A novelist who recently earned a Master of Fine Art in Creative Writing, Kat is an artist and published author. For the past eight years she has served as a higher education administrator.Kat is a firm believer in walking the talk. If you profess to live by the values of countering oppressions…creating just and sustainable communities, Do it. Be it.
Location: Oakland, California
Download My Story “The Bar For Excellence”
Precious founded the BlackFemaleProject. ”Precious founded the BlackFemaleProject. And she helps nonprofits tell their stories. The daughter of a teacher and a poet, she combines her business acumen and problem-solving ability with her imagination to increase the brand awareness of community-based and public service organizations.
Precious' lifelong learning includes more than 16 years of marketing communications experience and a B.S. degree in Business Administration. Precious currently serves as Principal and Lead Consultant for PJS Consultants.
Location: Berkeley, California
