2021 Speakers

Lisa Peyton-Caire is the Founding CEO & President of The Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness. Her work as a passionate advocate for women’s health was spurred by Mother’s untimely death at age 64 from heart disease in 2006, after which Lisa established Black Women’s Wellness Day, an annual summit now in its 12th year that empowers women and girls to sustain healthy, wellness-centered lives. The Foundation is an outgrowth and progression of this work which has mobilized a movement in the Greater Madison community and across Wisconsin to intentionally address and improve Black women’s health. Based on her work and impact, Lisa was appointed in 2018 to serve on then newly elected Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers’ Health Policy Advisory Council through which she was able to influence proposed policies addressing maternal and child health and health disparities in Wisconsin.

Lisa also previously served as Assistant Vice President of Life, Learning and Events at Summit Credit Union (2014-2018) where she and her team led the company’s efforts on Diversity & Inclusion, Employee Wellness, Financial Education, Community Giving, and Corporate Events.

 An experienced leader, manager, and educator, Lisa has led impactful work over the past 20+ years spanning the PreK – 16 education, non-profit, women’s health, and financial service sectors. She is actively engaged in a number of local efforts to promote thriving, sustainable communities, and has served on the boards of Unity Point-Meriter Health, the Center for Resilient Cities, Sustain Dane, and A Fund for Women, and presently on the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute Advisory Board.

Among Lisa’s lasting contributions to community is the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s highly successful DoIT Information Technology Academy (ITA), a pre-college technology training & college access program she designed and launched with colleagues in 1999 and now in its 21st year. 

Lisa has been widely recognized for her work in women’s health and community stewardship and was recently named a national Go Fund Me Hero in 2019 for her change-making leadership; and was among local health innovators named on the Madison Magazine’s 2017 M List. In 2016 she was recognized as one of 44 Most Influential African Americans in Wisconsin by Madison365 Magazine. Other honors include the Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health Woman of Character Award (2015) for her efforts to mobilize Black women and partners to eliminate health disparities. She is the 2014 recipient of the Public Health Madison & Dane County Leadership Award, 2014 Brava Magazine Woman to Watch, and was nominated an “Everyday Health Hero” by the Wisconsin Women’s Health Foundation in 2013. Additionally, she is a 2008 UW Alumni Association Forward Under Forty Award honoree for her service and impact on the world by living the Wisconsin Idea.

A Mother of five, Lisa holds a Masters of Science degree in Educational Leadership & Administration and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is also a proud former Hampton University student, home of the Pirates, where she completed her first three years of undergraduate studies.

Kara Stevens is a life coach, writer, speaker and founder of the personal finance and lifestyle blog The Frugal Feminista, www.thefrugalfeminista.com, an online home dedicated to inspiring and informing women of color about financial empowerment, girl power, and “juicy” living.

As a financial friend, Kara  teaches, coaches, and guides women and others to moving their money mess to a money maker. Additionally, she provides clients with the right resources and supports to get them where they want to be financially.

When Kara created The Frugal Feminista, she wanted to tell the truth and nothing but the truth about Black women and money. “Nowhere on the web will you find a site that simultaneously helps brown girls heal, deepen, and strengthen not only their relationship with themselves, but also with their money. It’s an ambitious mission, but one I feel completely committed and qualified to do”, says Kara.

Since 2013, Kara has worked with thousands of women as a writer, coach, consultant, and speaker on helping Black women break up with being broke, break free from the money blocks and personal hurdles that keep them from financial confidence, living a debt free life, and owning their piece of financial peace. On top of that, She has partnered with a number of brands to spread this message. From Prudential to Chrysler to Dove to Dryel, The Frugal Feminista has worked with quality brands with campaigns that align with their mission: financial empowerment and personal development that is authentic, kind, and thoughtful

Nyra Jordan has been with American Family Insurance for over 20 years serving in various leadership roles throughout the organization. Nyra is a social impact investment director at the American Family Institute for Corporate and Social Impact where she is advancing the creation of economic opportunities for historically overlooked communities including those impacted by incarceration. Nyra holds an undergraduate degree in mass communication from UW-Madison and has a master’s in criminal justice administration from Valdosta State University. She also has a master’s in social innovation and sustainability leadership from Edgewood College. Nyra’s goal is to utilize venture capital investment as a vehicle to drive social change while leveraging the thought leadership of innovative community partners.

Angela Lang was born and raised in the heart of Milwaukee. She has an extensive background in community organizing. In the past, Angela served as both an organizer and State Council Director for the Service Employees International Union, working on such campaigns as the Fight for 15. Before joining BLOC’s team as Executive Director, Angela was the Political Director with For Our Future Wisconsin. She is a graduate of Emerge Wisconsin and has had the pleasure of being the featured trainer for Emerge’s Diversity Weekend since 2015.

Angela is motivated by making substantial and transformative change in her community while developing young, local leaders of color. Her journey in organizing hasn’t always been easy, but through it all she has remained a fierce advocate for securing more seats at the table for those who represent the New American Majority.

Beatrice Dixon had been suffering with bacterial vaginosis for eight months when one night, an ancestor appeared to Dixon in a dream and provided her with a list of ingredients to heal herself. The concoction worked and Dixon realized that she had something special to share. From that visionary dream, the formula for a powerful and effective herb-powered vaginal wash was created. In 2014, Dixon launched The Honey Pot Company, a plant-derived vaginal wellness line created with a goal of providing humans with vaginas healthy alternatives to traditional feminine care products that are free of unwanted chemicals, carcinogens and sulfates. The rest is history.Dixon has leveraged her vast expertise in pharmaceuticals, retail, natural foods and personal passion for wellness and herbal medicine to build an innovative and disruptive plant-derived feminine care system. The Honey Pot Company’s system spans the ongoing needs of the vagina from birth through menopause, producing an unparalleled, complete care system. Unlike conventional brands, The Honey Pot products are efficacious, contain known and trusted ingredients, and are clinically and dermatologically tested. The Honey Pot Company offers vaginal cleansers, organic menstrual tampons and pads, organic incontinence pads, mommy-to-be products, soothing vulva creams and boric acid suppositories, refreshing panty sprays, and organic lubricants. Today, The Honey Pot Company’s products can be found online and in stores nationwide at Target, Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, Amazon, Bed Bath and Beyond, Wegmans and other retailers.

An empowering black female entrepreneur, Dixon has been a recipient of the Sundial and Unilever’s multimillion-dollar New Voices fund; was 1 of the first 40 women of color to raise over one million in venture capital; and has been featured in T -Pain’s School of Business, BuzzFeed’s Ladylike series, Today Show, CNN, The New York Times, Entrepreneur, ELLE, and ESSENCE t o name a few. Most recently, she was named one of F orbes T op 100 Female Founders and one of I nc. Magazine’ s T op 100 Women Entrepreneurs of 2020; her company won a 2020 ESSENCE Best in Black Beauty Award and a WWD Beauty Inc. Wellness Award. Through her diverse background and experience, Dixon continues to make a mark in the world of natural health and retail with a truly revolutionary approach to human health and sexual wellness.

Dalvery is the Executive Director of the African American Breastfeeding Network (AABN) which she helped found in 2008.  The network was established to address breastfeeding disparities by increasing awareness of the benefits and value of mother’s milk, building community allies, and de-normalizing formula use. She has been instrumental in creating and building AABN’s core program, Community Breastfeeding Gatherings, which has reached over 1,000 families.  The mission of AABN is to improve maternal child health and champion breastfeeding equity by (1) advocating system/policy changes, and (2) partnering with community-based, family-centered, culturally tailored health education and support services.  

Jetheda Hernandez has been a national advocate for entrepreneurship and economic mobilization for over 20 years. As a successful business owner, entrepreneur, social media strategist and speaker, Jetheda has created buzz with her business savvy, natural leadership and selfless partnership-creation. As the founder & CEO of Consult Square Group, a full-service Business Development & Growth firm, she works on the frontlines to ensure businesses have the tools they need for scale and growth. Most recently, Jetheda also became a franchise owner of Card My Yard-Howard, a celebration sign and banner company.

By day, Jetheda also serves as the Senior Advisor for External Affairs for the U.S. Minority Business Development Agency. In this capacity, she manages relationships of over 250 corporations and organizations across the country, working to build strong alliances that aid in the growth, sustainability and success of minority businesses. Jetheda is also a guest lecturer and adjunct business professor at Coppin State University in Baltimore, MD. Her broad experience in marketing and strategic consulting solutions for notable corporations like Sony Entertainment, Black Entertainment Television, BMG Records, MTV, and Viacom networks have sharpened her expertise in national marketing, public affairs, sales, and corporate and community relations.

A native of Richmond, VA, Jetheda holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from James Madison University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Miami. Jetheda has received numerous honors including being named one of the 39 Under 39 Finest Professionals in Howard County, Maryland by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and being awarded as one of Maryland’s Top Women by the Maryland Daily Digest. Jetheda is a 22-year member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She serves on the boards of The3rd, NAACP, Jack & Jill of America, Maryland Black Chamber of Commerce, and the National MBA Association.

Alex Shade is the Director of Corporate Social Responsibility for CUNA Mutual Group where she leads strategy and execution of corporate social responsibility programs and initiatives, including philanthropic giving, employee volunteering, environmental sustainability, and community relations. Alex also leads and manages the CUNA Mutual Group Foundation portfolio and investment strategy, building strategic partnerships throughout the communities served by CUNA. Prior to her time with CUNA Mutual Group, Alex served as executive director of the NWFCU Foundation at Northwest Federal Credit Union in Herndon, Virginia; National Director of Strategic Alliances for the Muscular Dystrophy Association; the Director of Development for the Mentor Foundation, and Chief Partnership Officer for the Foundation for Hospices in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Representative Sheila Stubbs who was elected in 2018 as the first African American state representative from Dane County, is a true public servant and champion for social and racial justice and Black Maternal & Child Health. Representing Dane County District 77, which covers the South and West parts of the City of Madison. Rep Stubbs is also the current Chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, leading on issues impacting the lives of all Wisconsinites. Representative Stubbs is also a member of the Dane County Board of Supervisors, leading on critical issues since 2006; and recently proposed a unanimously passed resolution establishing April 11 -17th as Black Maternal and Child Health Week in Dane County.

Representative Shelia Stubbs is extremely active in the community, providing leadership, mentoring and volunteer services, and has received numerous community recognition, service award and honors including being named 2019 YWCA Woman of Distinction Award Recipient, 2020 BRAVA Woman to Watch Recipient. and Legislative Board Member of the Wisconsin Women in Government. She is the beautiful wife of Bishop Godfrey A. Stubbs and the mother of Aquila. Also, she is a Co-Founder of the End Time Ministries International Church in Madison, WI.

Camara Phyllis Jones, MD, MPH, PhD is a senior fellow at the Satcher Health Leadership Institute and the Cardiovascular Research Institute in the Morehouse School of Medicine, and she is a past president of the American Public Health Association (2015–16).

Jones is a family physician and epidemiologist whose work focuses on naming, measuring, and addressing the impacts of racism on health and well-being. She seeks to broaden the national health debate to include the social determinants of health (including poverty) and the social determinants of equity (including racism), alongside universal access to high-quality health care. Jones’s allegories on race and racism illuminate topics that are otherwise difficult for many Americans to understand or discuss, and she aims to catalyze a national campaign against racism.

Dr. Jones completed her MPH (1982) and her PhD in Epidemiology (1995) at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, and her medical degree at the Stanford University School of Medicine (1981). She is a proud alumnus of Wellesley College where she completed her Bachelor of Arts in Molecular Biology in 1976.

Angela Doyinsola Aina, MPH is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Black Mamas Matter Alliance, where she works to convene Black Maternal Health professionals and community-based organizations to develop trainings, programs, quality improvement initiatives, research projects, and black feminist advocacy strategies to advance holistic maternity service provision, policy, and systems change in global public health. She has over 14 years of public health experience, working in different capacities on projects focused on: incorporating health equity strategies into reproductive and maternal health initiatives; strengthening strategic planning and community-based workforce development; and data collection. Ms. Aina has served as a Public Health Analyst, Health Communications Specialist, and a Public Health Prevention Service Fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for over 5 years, working on Zika and Pregnancy, scientific program management, and 2014 Ebola response staffing. She holds a Master of Public Health degree in International and Women’s Health from Morehouse School of Medicine where she conducted a sequential mixed-method analysis of the reproductive health attitudes and behaviors of Nigerian-born immigrant women in the U.S., and a Bachelor of Science degree from Georgia State University in Psychology and African-American Studies. Angela’s expertise and perspectives on Black Maternal Health has been featured in media outlets, such as the Huffington Post, The Atlantic, the Root, and HLN/CNN. In March of 2020, she was recognized as a 2020 WebMD Health Hero and highlighted as an advocate for Black Maternal Health in Time Magazine. She is passionate about and committed to work that seek to achieve: the self-determination of women of African descent; the elimination of violence against women; the promotion of Black and African women’s rights and  leadership; and womanist solutions to social and economic injustices. Angela enjoys all things diasporic Black cultural expressions in dance, music, art, fashion, theatre and film.

Nichelle Nichols has written poetry since she was in high school, but it was as a mother that she gave voice to her written words. Ms. Nichols competed on the 2009 and 2010 Madison Slam Poetry teams performing individual and group poetry at the National Slam Poetry Fests. Ms. Nichols has written and delivered poems for the Urban League of Greater Madison annual Cabaret and Outstanding Youth Person’s breakfast. She has published poems published in local newspapers in Madison, WI and has led students and adults through poetry writing workshops. 

In her professional realm, Ms. Nichols joined the staff of National Equity Project in July, 2021 where she coaches school districts on building equitable learning environments. She previously worked at the Madison Metropolitan School District in Madison, WI as the Executive Director of the Office of Equity & Engagement where she led the charge on the district’s Black Excellence strategic priority, advanced racial equity efforts and implemented strategies on family engagement, community partnership, youth voice and Community Schools. 

Her career has spanned over 20 years in the non-profit and public sector serving the greater Madison, WI area including serving as the Chief Academic Officer at the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County; Vice President of Education at the Urban League of Greater Madison; Volunteer Manager at Big Brothers Big Sisters and Development Director at Community Action Coalition. She was awarded a 2019 YWCA of Madison Women of Distinction award and was recognized by Madison365 in 2018 as one of the most influential Black leaders in the state of Wisconsin.

Morathi “M.” Adams is a community organizer and co-executive director of Freedom, Inc., a Black and Southeast Asian non-profit organization that works with low-to no-income communities of color to achieve social justice through social, political, cultural, and economic change that ends violence against women, gender-non-conforming and transgender folks, and children within communities of color!

Born and raised in Milwaukee, Morathi has lived and worked in Madison since 2003. Adams’ dad has been incarcerated most of her life and she comes from a community that has been the extreme targets of police violence—and in March 2016 Adams’s mother transitioned after fighting cancer and many forms of violence. These experiences further fuel her long-standing work to bring power and healing to our communities in Wisconsin and beyond.

Adams is also a Dad and sees her family as a primary motivator for her work. As a queer Black person, Adams has developed and advocated for a strong intersectional approach in numerous important venues. Adams is a leading figure in the Movement 4 Black Lives and Take Back the Land Movement. She has presented before the United Nations for the Convention on Eliminating Racial Discrimination, and is a co-author of ‘Forward from Ferguson’, a paper on Black community control over the police, and author to intersectionality theory in ‘Why Killing Unarmed Black folks is a Queer issue’.

Morathi can be regularly seen in person, on TV or in the newspapers giving presentations, testifying at city council meetings, and energizing crowds at protests.

Jacquelyn L. Boggess is a Lecturer on Diversity, Oppression and Social Justice in Social Work
at the School of Social Work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In the classroom, she
challenges students to think about systems of race, class, and gender more broadly, and in
greater depth, than current popular models of difference and theories of discrimination and bias
can accommodate.

Ms. Boggess is also a member of the NINA COLLECTIVE, a cooperative consulting agency. In
that capacity, she works with organizations, leadership teams, and individuals to determine why, whether, and how they intend to incorporate racial equity into who they are and how they
work—internally and externally. Her focus is on leadership, readiness, and preparation for
transformation.

She has also been a policy analyst and a legal analyst focused on social welfare policy and
practice. During her many years of work and study, she contributed to the national conversation
on family support, income stability, intimate partner violence, and community violence—all with
a racial and gender equity lens on the issues presented. She provides consultation and training
nationally to advocates against domestic violence to help them infuse racial equity and cultural
humility into their organizations and in their daily work with survivors and victims.

Angela Russell is the Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and is the Vice President of the CUNA Mutual Foundation at CUNA Mutual Group. Angela is responsible for leading the development, direction and implementation of short and long-term strategies and programs that
support Diversity & Inclusion and overseeing CUNA Mutual’s Corporate Social Responsibility program.

In 2018, Ms. Russell was named as one of the nation’s most powerful diversity executives by Black Enterprise magazine.

Ms. Russell has nearly 20 years of professional experience involving diversity and inclusion, external relations and outreach, communications, policy development, and research and evaluation.

Prior to joining CUNA Mutual she worked in various roles in public health including serving as a Health Equity Coordinator for Public Health Madison Dane County and she was the Community Engagement Lead for the National County Health Rankings & Roadmaps Program at the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.

Ms. Russell has also worked in a variety of roles in Wisconsin state government including Division Administrator for the Division of Early Care and Education, and Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Department of Children and Families, and Policy Advisor to Governor Jim Doyle. She was formerly an epidemiologist with Wisconsin AIDS/HIV and Hepatitis C Program at the Department of Health Services.

She holds a Master of Science in Population Health from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Beloit College.

Angela serves on the Board for JustDane, Edgewood College Board of Trustees, and Wisconsin School of Business External Advisory Board.

T.R. Williams is the Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services where she and team lead efforts to advance the health and safety of the people of Wisconsin, making sure everyone can live their best life. Prior to stepping into this role in Spring 2021, T.R. served as the Deputy Director of External Affairs to Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers.

T.R. excels in bridging the gap between where people are and where they want to be by artfully blending backgrounds in legal advocacy, public policy, community engagement and public/government affairs. She has a proven track record of success in program creation, implementation, development, group training and facilitation. Williams has volunteer service experience in corporate relations and fundraising. T.R. is multi-lingual and culturally fluent with international study and travel experience. 

Williams was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She attended Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, NY) where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science & Africana Studies, with a correlate sequence in Hispanic Studies. After graduation, T.R. participated in the Coro Public Affairs Fellowship Program completing over 250 hours of training in public affairs, communication and team building. This fellowship led to her employment at the educational non- profit organization, the Harlem Children’s Zone, in New York City. After living and working in New York City, T.R. decided to return home to Wisconsin to attend law school at the University of Wisconsin Madison (UW Law). 

While in law school, Williams served as a judicial intern for Wisconsin State Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, was appointed as Co-Director of Corporate Relations for the largest student-run organization in the country (National Black Law Students Association) and participated in the Remington Center’s Economic Justice Institute. 

T.R. began her legal career practicing family law at Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee Inc., she later joined the criminal defense practice as an Assistant State Public Defender in the Milwaukee Trial Office. T.R. went on to combine these experiences by serving as a Spanish bilingual family law and criminal defense attorney at Centro Legal. 

Williams took her skills to re-engage in the work of educating youth as a Founding Board Member of Milwaukee Excellence Charter School (MXCS). This led to a position with Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) in the Office of the Chief of Staff as the inaugural Alumni & Student Engagement Associate. In this role, T.R. engineered and implemented an alumni engagement strategy for the largest public-school district in the State of Wisconsin. 

T.R. Williams moved back to Madison, WI in April of 2018 to join the Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association as their Advocacy & Government Relations Specialist. In this role, T.R. blocked and tackled in the State and Federal legislatures on behalf of Wisconsin’s 17 Federally Qualified Community Health Centers. 

T.R. believes that effective and efficient communication is grounded in focusing on edifying the listener/audience. With this foundation one can advocate with impact. Impactful advocacy is the art of bridging the gap between one’s current reality and one’s aspired reality.

Dr. Cheryl Wood is an International Empowerment Speaker, 2x TEDx Speaker, 15x Best-Selling Author and Executive Speaker Development Coach.  She specializes in equipping women with the tools to unleash the power of their voice, transform lives with their story, and monetize their subject matter expertise.  Dr. Wood has trained countless women entrepreneurs and leaders across the United States and abroad in South Africa, India, France, United Kingdom, Canada, Jamaica and The Bahamas.  She empowers women to get out of their comfort zone, take calculated risks, pursue their big dreams, and become the best version of themselves while incorporating mindset wellness, life balance and self-care as mandatory priorities.

Dr. Wood has been featured on ABC, Radio One, Forbes Magazine, Huffington Post, ESSENCE, Black Enterprise, Rolling Out, Sheen Magazine, Good Morning Washington, Fox 5 News, Fox 45 News, The Washington Informer, The Baltimore Times, Afro-American Newspaper and numerous other media outlets.  She has delivered riveting keynote presentations for NASA, Verizon, Capital One, The United Nations, The FBI, United States Department of Defense, United States Department of Agriculture, National Association of Legal Professionals, Federally Employed Women, Blacks In Government and the Congressional Black Caucus, to name a few.  Dr. Wood is committed to empowering women globally to make their unique fingerprint count and to create their legacy starting today!

Dr. Michelle Robinson is the Director of the Office of the Inspector General and the Equity and Systems Change Research and Policy Officer (ESCRPO) at the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families; where she serves as a member of the Secretary, Emilie Amundson’s cabinet and the agency’s leadership team.

As ESCRPO, Dr. Robinson provides strategic leadership and direction on internal and external equity and health equity initiatives leading an internal health team, facilitating a cross agency health equity team and serving as the Vice-Chair and DCF-council designee for the Governor’s Health Equity Council (GHEC) — a council charged with creating a comprehensive plan that will achieve long-lasting and equitable health outcomes for all Wisconsinites by addressing health disparities based on race, economic status, education level, history of incarceration and geographic location.

In her role as the DCF Inspector General, she leads a team providing independent, objective, assurance, and consulting services that promote good stewardship of public resources through coordination and alignment of cross-agency efforts. This ensures the procedures and polices of DCF’s programs support are efficient, effective, accountable practices, and are rooted in the agency’s mission, vision and values.

Prior to joining DCF, Dr. Robinson was a member of the award-winning Race to Equity Project at Kids Forward. She contributed her expertise on disparities and racial equity research, policy, practice, and community engagement. Dr. Robinson provided strategic leadership on internal and external efforts to advance equity through organizational and systems change.

Dr. Robinson is an experienced and trusted leader, manager and researcher bringing over 16 years of professional experience in strategic leadership, change management, antiracist community engagement, systems change, and social and behavioral research. She holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in sociology from the University of Wisconsin- Madison. She has had the esteemed honor of being recognized for some of her contributions through receiving the 2018 Madison Community Leader Award by Church Women United, the 2018 Collaborator of the Year award by the Progress Center for Black Women, the 2017 Community Justice Award by the Urban League of Greater Madison and being named one of the University of Wisconsin’s Outstanding Women of Color in Education in 2014.

Dr. Robinson’s mother, Hattie Mae Robinson, is a key driver of her passion, commitment, and conviction to the work of addressing the root causes of health disparities. Losing her mother at the end of her junior year of college, the 52-year-old Mrs. Hattie Mae died due to complications related to an undiagnosed autoimmune disease. As such, she unapologetically brings to health equity work and practice, her lived experience of caretaking and grief, along with her identities as a fat, Black, Southern woman from a working-class background. She is the proud daughter of rural Black folks from Louisiana who worked the fields as sharecroppers and, as it relates to educational attainment and economic

Gloria Ladson-Billings is Professor Emerita and former Kellner Family Distinguished Professor in Urban Education in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction and was Faculty Affiliate in the Departments of Educational Policy Studies, Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis and Afro American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is the current President of the National Academy of Education. She was the 2005–2006 president of the American Educational Research Association. In 2021 she was named a Corresponding Fellow the British Academy. She is a 2020-2021 Hagler Institute Fellow at Texas A&M University. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Ladson-Billings’ research examines the pedagogical practices of teachers who are successful with African American students. She also investigates Critical Race Theory applications to education.

Ladson-Billings is the author of the critically acclaimed books, The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children, Crossing over to Canaan: The Journey of New Teachers in Diverse Classrooms, and Beyond the Big House: African American Educators on Teacher Education. She is editor of 6 other books and author of more than 100 journal articles and book chapters. She is the former editor of the American Educational Research Journal and a member of several editorial boards. Her work has won numerous scholarly awards, including the H. I. Romnes Faculty Fellowship, Spencer Post-doctoral Fellowship, and the Palmer O. Johnson outstanding research award. She is the 2015 winner of the Social Justice in Education Award given by the American Educational Research Association. She was named the 2012 winner of the Brock International Prize in education. In 2021 she was awarded honorary degrees from Colorado College and the University of Johannesburg. In 2018 she was awarded an honorary degree from Morgan State University. In 2012 she was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain. In 2010 she was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Massachusetts – Lowell. In 2002 she was awarded an honorary doctorate from Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden. During the 2003–2004 academic year she was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, California. In fall 2004 she received the George and Louise Spindler Award from the Council on Anthropology and Education for significant and ongoing contributions to the field of educational anthropology. In spring 2005 she was elected to the National Academy of Education and the National Society for the Study of Education. In 2007 she was awarded the Hilldale Award, the highest faculty honor given to a professor at the University of Wisconsin for outstanding research, teaching, and service. She is a 2008 recipient of the state of Wisconsin’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Heritage Award and the Teachers College, Columbia University 2008 Distinguished Service Medal. In 2009 she was elected to Kappa Delta Pi International Education Honor Society’s Laureate Chapter—comprised of 60 living distinguished scholars. Former laureate members include notables such as Albert Einstein, John Dewey and Eleanor Roosevelt. Ladson-Billings was one of the NEA Foundation Fellows charged with providing advice on its “Achievement Gap Initiative.” In 2014 she was a panelist on the White House’s African American Educational Excellence Initiative’s Essence Festival, “Smart Starts at Home” panel. In 2015 she received the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award from the Literacy Research Association. In 2016 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Benjamin Banneker Association of the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics. In Fall 2017 she received the John Nisbet Award from the British Educational Research Association at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England. In April 2018 she received the American Educational Research Association’s Distinguished Research Award and the Division B (Curriculum Studies) Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ladson-Billings has an active community life that includes serving on several community boards such as the Urban League of Greater Madison, the Madison Children’s Museum, the United Way of Dane County, and the Susan G. Komen for the Cure of Madison. She is a member of the Links, Inc. and a 50-year plus member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. At the 2017 Leadership Summit she was named the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. International Citizen of the Year. As an active member of the Mt. Zion Baptist Church of Madison, WI she is the 2nd woman named to the 109 year old church’s Board of Deacons.

Dr. Jasmine Zapata, pediatrian, published author, speaker and health equity advocate is a dynamic leader who wears many hats! Recently named Chief Medical Officer and state epidemiologist for community health at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Dr. Zapata is also an assistant professor, researcher and educator in the University of Wisconsin Department of Pediatrics with an affiliation with the UW Institute for Clinical and Translational Research. One of her many passions both inside and outside the clinic walls is to empower and inspire young girls to make healthy choices, embrace their inner beauty, overcome despite adversity, and never give up on their dreams! This passion led her to launch the Beyond Beautiful International Girls Empowerment Movement of which she is the founder and CEO. She helped develop a financial literacy program for school-age students, and wrote “Beyond Beautiful,” a socioeconomic empowerment book for girls of all backgrounds. Dr. Zapata is also the faculty director for The Ladder, a partnership between the Univeristy of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County that offers long-term mentorship for scholars from diverse backgrounds. Dr. Zapata is passionate about developing innovative strategies to combat racial inequities in maternal and child health in Madison and beyond and is a member of the Black Maternal and Child Health Alliance of Dane County.

Dr. Danielle Busby was born in Detroit, MI and raised in the Detroit metropolitan area. She received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Michigan, and her master’s and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from The George Washington University. Dr. Busby completed her pre-doctoral internship, with a child trauma specialization, at Duke University’s Medical Center. Additionally, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Michigan Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry, where she was an awarded recipient of the National Institute of Mental Health’s Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research.  Dr. Busby is a licensed clinical psychologist in the state of Michigan and in the state of Texas, where she currently resides.

Currently, Dr. Busby is an Assistant Professor at Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Texas. In this role, she primarily serves youth and families experiencing depressive symptoms, suicide risk, and symptoms related to trauma and grief. Dr. Busby’s research is centered on examining barriers to mental health service use, specifically among Black college students who are at an elevated risk for suicide. Additionally, she has led and contributed to scholarly articles and research presentations on child trauma, youth suicide prevention, racial discrimination among Black youth, and the psychological effects of neighborhood stressors; such as, community violence exposure among African American adolescents.

Clinically, Dr. Busby’s expertise is in trauma-informed assessment and intervention; evidence-based clinical practices; and suicide risk assessment and intervention. She is passionate about decreasing barriers to mental health service use for underserved patient populations and is committed to continuously bridging the gap between research and clinical practice.

Dr. Busby believes in “being the change you seek to see” and takes pride in the mission and collaborative spirit of Black Mental Wellness. She is an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and she loves early morning yoga, college football Saturdays, and traveling with her close family and friends.

Dr. Nicole Cammack was born and raised in Richmond, VA. She currently resides in Washington, DC where she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology with a minor in Human Development from Howard University, and her Master’s Degree and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from The George Washington University. Additionally, she completed a specialized postdoctoral fellowship with the Center for School Mental Health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. 

Dr. Cammack is a licensed Clinical Psychologist in the State of Maryland.  She currently serves as the Program Director of the Primary Care-Mental Health Integration clinic, where she provides mental health services to veterans in a co-located primary care setting. Services that she provide include brief individual therapy, couples therapy, and culturally responsive therapeutic groups that focus on race-based trauma, military sexual trauma, and resilience.  

Dr. Cammack is passionate about mental health awareness, treatment, and reducing the mental health stigma, particularly as it relates to Black communities. Both her clinical and research interests have continually focused on mental health issues specific to the Black community and identifying ways to address the cultural and systemic issues that impact Black mental health and wellness.  This passion is what led to the development of Black Mental Wellness.  She is an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., she enjoys traveling, and spending time with her daughter, family, and friends.

Keena is Owner of R’oujie Wellness, a multifaceted lifestyle company that merges her passion for mind-body-spirit health and fitness. A lover of fitness and active living, Keena is a certified RYT – 200 yoga instructor and a WERQ instructor who can be found teaching classes across the Greater Madison area. Keena is also a Co-President of the Brown Girl, Green Money Madison Meetup Chapter, owner of Knaturally, a beauty and haircare business, and Co-Founder of the Uplift Innovative Youth Alliance. A former executive leader for a fortune 500 retailer, Keena has channeled her business talent into driving her own entrepreneurial ventures. Outside of work and service, she is a Mother to her two sons. Keena is passionate about building financial wealth, education, and empowerment in people of all ages through budgeting, planning, thought, and action.

Adrian Jones is a public health leader and reproductive justice advocate with over 15 years of experience in community health improvement. In her present role with UW Health, she manages efforts to advance the improvement of health outcomes and to reduce disparities in Dane County through community collaborations and targeted programming.

She previously served as Community Health Educator for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, and is a sexual and reproductive health educator specializing in working with women and young adults. Adrian has taught comprehensive sexuality education in schools and provided sexual health trainings to youth-serving professionals, and has trained community health educators locally and statewide. She also previously worked as a Program Coordinator for the Girls, Inc. Program at Goodman Community Center, and is a gifted developer of adolescent health programming.

Adrian is a graduate of the University of WI Madison where she received a dual Bachelor’s degree in African American Studies and Women Studies with a certificate in Sexuality education. In her spare time, Adrian enjoys spending quality time with her husband and two pre-school aged daughters.

Dr. Debbie Jones is a Hospitalist physician for SSM Health – Dean & St. Mary’s in Madison, WI, the first to hold a hospitalist role in the State of Wisconsin. She has been a full-time Hospitalist for over 17 years. Dr. Jones has been the director of 2 Hospitalist programs – Family Health Plan (Milwaukee, WI) and Swedish American Hospital (Rockford, IL). She is a board certified Internist who received her education at Loyola Stritch School of Medicine (Maywood, IL) and her formal training at St. Joseph Hospital (Chicago, IL). Dr. Jones is a member of the Society of Hospitalist Medicine. In her spare time, Dr. Jones leads and supports many efforts locally and nationally to advance women and persons of color in Medicine. Her work has been recognized by many organizations, most recently the Madison Metropolitan Chapter of the Links, Inc who honored her in 2018 with a Community Impact Award. Dr. Jones is also a breast cancer survivor- diagnosed in 2002 and lends considerable time to supporting others through prevention education and survivorship.

Alia Stevenson serves as Chief Programs Officer with The Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness. An advocate for health, wellness, and equity, Alia brings a holistic approach to her work through assessing and improving environments to support the health needs of both individuals and organizations. She brings a track record of experience in shaping health equity efforts that disrupt disparities, and is an expert in team development, program planning, evaluation, and training facilitation. Alia was recognized as one of Brava Magazine’s 2015 Women to Watch, is a 2017 graduate of Nehemiah’s African American Leadership Capacity & Development Institute, and a 2017-2018 Human Impact Partner Health Equity Awakened Fellow. A former Foundation Board member and volunteer, Ms. Stevenson most recently worked for local government as the City of Madison’s Organizational Development Manager, and as Policy, Planning & Evaluation Manager and Health Equity Coordinator for Public Health Madison & Dane County. In these roles, she launched successful programming including the City of Madison’s Women’s Leadership Series and the Public Health Madison & Dane County’s health and racial equity team. Madison native, Alia is an active member of the Greater Madison community, presently serving as Co-Chair of the Board for Forward Community Investments and on the board of Edgewood College’s Social Innovation and Sustainability Leadership Program.

Suliah is a rising senior Health Sciences major on the pre-medicine track at Spelman College. She is from Cincinnati, OH, but currently resides in Canton, MI. In the summer of 2019, Sulaih worked with an OB/GYN in Lagos, Nigeria, and realized her calling is to advocate for women’s health. Succeeding graduation from Spelman, Suliah plans to obtain a Master’s of Public Health and a Doctor of Medicine degree to become an obstetrician-gynecologist. She is very passionate about Black women’s health and wants to be a significant change agent in improving their quality of life and health outcomes. Suliah looks forward to working hard this summer to do impactful work with the Foundation of Black Women’s Wellness! She is proud to call herself an intern!

Dija is an undergraduate student at Stanford University majoring in bioengineering and minoring in psychology. She is originally from Madison, WI. At Stanford, she is the Co-President of Sistas in STEM, the Wellness Coordinator at the Queer Student Resources Center, and the Health and Wellbeing Chair for the Black Gender Marginalized Collective. She is incredibly passionate about studying racial disparities in health and medicine, as well as promoting wellness in her respective communities. In her free time, she likes making films, DJing, and learning about African Diasporic Religions. She is excited to conduct research this summer that both elevates the voices of Black women and assists with tangible improvements to their quality of care during office visits.

Khaleah presently serves as the Administrative and Development Assistant at the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness. She is a 2020 graduate of Tuskegee University where she received her Bachelor’s degree in Health Sciences. Khaleah is a native of Madison, WI and proud alumni of LaFollette high school. While at Tuskegee, Khaleah served as the Breakthrough to Nursing Director for the Alabama Student Nurses Association, Tuskegee’s National Student Nurses Association President, a charter member and the second vice president of Tuskegee’s National Black Nurses Association. Khaleah is also a trained Doula by way of Homegrown Babies in Asheville, NC, and is actively working on her DONA certification. She has a heart and passion for patient health education, health disparity prevention, patient advocacy, and Black women’s health, and wellness. Khaleah has plans to pursue her master’s in nursing with long-term goals of becoming a family nurse practitioner with a certificate in women’s health.

Martinez White, Emmy Award recipient, founding member of the Wisconsin Association of Black Men upholds the belief that “Dreams Are Made To Be Achieved™”. White is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the first Black collegiate fraternity, amongst the ranks of Dr. King and Donald Driver, and has a profound passion for music, art, film and culture. He loves to read and write on his down time as well as spend quality time raising his 5 year old son Harlem.

Living in Mombasa, Kenya and volunteering at Alicia Keys’ Keep A Child Alive campaign’s BOMU Medical Center, fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic forever changed White’s world perspective.

At just sixteen years old, White emerged from a single-parent home of six children in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Against all odds, White earned his Bachelor of Arts in Communication Arts and Afro-American Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as a PEOPLE and Chancellor’s Scholar at a mere twenty years old.

Christin Gates Calloway serves as Programs & Policy Manager for The Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness. She possesses over a decade of experience in mixed methods research with published pieces that have translated into initiatives that shape improved policies and practices that address systemic racial inequities at both the local and national level.

Prior to joining the Foundation in January 2020, Christin served as a Policy Associate with the Race to Equity Project. Through holistic community partnership and engagement, she worked to bring synergy to the development and operations of strategic partnerships designed to address the underlying, systemic and institutional drivers of racial inequity.

A proud Mississippi native, Christin graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Mississippi with Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa distinctions.   Additionally, she earned the nomination for the Harry S. Truman Scholarship and was named a member of the Hall of Fame for her advocacy to help erase the inequities and inadequacies of the Mississippi public education system. She earned her Master of Education in Education Policy and Management from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education in 2012. While at Harvard she served on the Dean’s Advisory Committee for Equity and Diversity and the Achievement Gap Initiative for the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy. In 2017, Christin was recognized by Brava Magazine as a Woman to Watch for her contributions to the University of Wisconsin – System’s 2020 Forward Strategic Framework effort to improve student retention, success and completion. She currently sits on various citywide and county committees including the Madison Metropolitan School District Superintendent Human Advisory Relations Committee, Dane County Restorative Justice Coalition, and the City of Middleton Equity Team.

Jasmia Hamilton serves as Program Manager of the Well Black Woman Institute. A Chicago transplant to Madison, Jasmia has lived, learned, and worked in the community for nearly a decade. She earned a Master of Arts in Gender and Women’s Studies and a Bachelors in Gender and Women’s Studies with minors (certificates) in Global Health and LGBT+ Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has completed additional graduate-level coursework in Organizational Leadership and Change at Edgewood College. Prior to joining the FFBWW, Jasmia worked with mission-driven teams in education (K12 and higher education) and with area non-profits. In these roles, Jasmia implemented culturally responsive and identify-conscious practices as a student services coordinator/advisor, collaborated as a member of a racial justice team, and co-managed equity-focused professional learning and programming. She is ecstatic to join the Foundation at this moment which provides her the novel opportunity to be an inaugural collaborator for the launch of the Well Black Woman Institute. She is thrilled to see the new possibilities and transformative impact that actualizes when Black women are well, uplifted, and thriving.

Andrew Walls, CEO & Founder of Nothing Was Given LLC provides group and personal training sessions with a mission to help others achieve their fitness goals through intense training and clean eating. Andrew approaches every task with passion, hard work, and unwavering faith. Andrew is excited to be the first male fitness instructor for the 13th Annual Black Women’s Wellness Day!

Nia is a graduating senior at Spelman College. Nia is a biology major and a Spanish minor on the pre-med track with the hopes of one day becoming a pediatric physician. Nia was born in Annapolis, Maryland however during her childhood she moved to Chesapeake, Virginia. Nia currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia for school. In the near future, Nia’s goal is to go to medical school to become a pediatric physician. I am also interested in getting a master’s in public health so that I can do research on topics that cover the bridge between climate change and public health. I am also extremely interested in serving medically underserved communities. I would like to do this not only through serving in the United States but also by traveling to countries where quality medical care is not available to its citizens. I am super excited to be a part of the intern team for the foundation for Black Women’s Wellness as I am excited to work with like-minded individuals who care about the health of my community!

Eryne is a Magnolia, Delaware native and rising senior at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is pursuing a degree in Biology with a certificate in environmental studies. On-campus, she is a Mercile J. Lee Scholar and is involved as a Shared Governance representative, Tutor, and undergraduate researcher. Eryne was recently named a Clinton Global Initiative University, for her action plan to establish P+: Safely Making the Grade for Period Positivity, where she works to educate young girls of the negative effects of synthetic products and the positive advantages of reusable products, or organic disposable options to initiate sustainable menstrual habits among school-aged girls. She enjoys nature trails, learning languages (currently learning Chinese and Serbo-Croatian!), and spending time with friends and family. The crossroads of science and society has been a consistent interest of Eryne’s, of which her courses and experiences have helped her realize healthcare as her passion and professional pursuit of medical ethics as it relates to obstetric practices and has developed an interest in dual degree MD/PhD programs upon graduation. Eryne’s appeal to be an intern for The Foundation is based wholly on this focus and her desire to be part of the efforts toward well black women being a reality and not an exception. She is excited to support the mission and engage with some of Madison’s most dedicated change agents through an internship with the Foundation this summer.