Black FLEX Conference 2022 February 5, 2022

Director, Industry Research and Education at Biotechnology Innovation Organization

Cynthia Cheatham graduated from W&L with a B.A. in Politics and Spanish and participated in the Shepherd Program for the Interdisciplinary Study of Poverty and Human Capability. She returned to her hometown of Washington, D.C., and continued her studies at Georgetown University, receiving an M.A. from the School of Foreign Service with a focus on Latin American Studies and Government. She has worked in politics and human rights, managed a federal grant for underrepresented neuroscientists, and organized courses in Latin America. She is currently Director, Industry Research and Education at BIO where she works on conferences that bring together investors and executives to create medicines for the future. She also manages an annual survey to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the biotechnology industry. Cynthia has remained active as an alumna of W&L, through her service on the Alumni Board of Directors, the Commission on Institutional History and Community, planning Black Alumni Reunions, and now serves as President of the DC Alumni Chapter. Cynthia is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., serving as Tau Omega chapter vice-president while a student and currently active in the Federal City Alumnae Chapter.

Civil Rights Paralegal, Relman Colfax

Joëlle graduated from Washington and Lee University in 2020 with a B.A. in English and minors in Africana Studies and Poverty and Human Capability Studies. During her time at Washington and Lee University, Joëlle served as the Chair of the Student Judicial Council. She also worked with faculty and administrators to help advocate for marginalized students through various avenues including SABU, the University Committee on Inclusiveness and Campus Climate and the First-Gen Low Income Partnership. For her involvement in the community, Joëlle was selected as the 2019 G. Holbrook Barber Scholarship Scholar, awarded to a rising senior who manifests superior qualities of helpfulness and friendliness to fellow students, public spirit, scholarship, and personal character. Joëlle was also the recipient of the Algernon Sydney Award—determined unanimously by faculty vote—for the student who excels in high ideas of living, in fine spiritual qualities, and generous and unselfish service to others. Additionally, Joëlle has interned with The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the Brennan Center for Justice. Currently, she works at Relman Colfax a civil rights law firm in Washington, D.C. as two-year term paralegal. Her work focuses on supporting the firm’s civil rights litigation. Joëlle hopes to pursue graduate school in English and/or law school.

Artist

Sharon Norwood's curly ornate landscapes transform the surfaces of found objects. Her work often deals with issues of identity using hair to explore colonial power structures. As an artist of Jamaican heritage her work spans several media and includes painting and ceramic. Norwood holds a BFA in Painting from the University of South Florida and an MFA in studio Art from Florida State University. She has been awarded residencies at PILOTENKUECHE in Germany, ArtScape Canada, ROKTOWA in Jamaica, and in the United States; at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, the Vermont Studio Center, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Hambidge Center, and the McColl Center in Charlotte North Carolina. Norwood’s exhibition record includes solo exhibitions, group collaborations, and site-specific installations, Norwood has exhibited her work nationally and internationally in museums and galleries. Norwood currently maintains her studio practice in Savannah.

Assistant Director of Career Strategy at Washington and Lee University School of Law

Freda Coleman-Jackson is the Assistant Director of Career Strategy at Washington and Lee University School of Law where she provides career counseling for students and alumni, including focused advising on public interest and government law careers. Freda is a 2009 graduate of Mercer University School of Law and was the recipient of the Walter F. George Foundation Public Service Scholarship. Freda also holds a Master’s degree from the University of Florida in Educational Leadership and a Bachelor’s in Political Science from Florida A&M University. Following law school, Freda began working in law school administration, specializing in admissions, career services, and student affairs. In 2014, she simultaneously launched a career consulting business and began doctoral studies in higher education and student affairs at Indiana University. Freda currently serves as Co-Chair of the NALP Law Student Professional Development Section and is a member of W&L Law’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Assistant Professor of History, Washington and Lee University

Nneka D. Dennie is an Assistant Professor of History, core faculty in Africana Studies, and affiliate faculty in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Washington and Lee University. She earned her PhD in African American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and completed her BA in Political Science with Honors in Africana Studies at Williams College. As a Black feminist scholar specializing in African American intellectual history, Dr. Dennie’s courses examine race and gender in the United States and the Caribbean. Her research interrogates the work of nineteenth-century Black women thinkers. Dr. Dennie is currently working on two books, Re-defining Radicalism: The Rise of Black Feminism and the Politics of Respectability in the Nineteenth Century and Mary Ann Shadd Cary: Essential Writings of a 19th-Century Black Radical Feminist. She is also the president and co-founder of the Black Women’s Studies Association.

Associate Professor of History, Washington and Lee University

Garrey Dennie is an Associate Professor of History and the coordinator of the African and African Diaspora Studies program at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, where he teaches courses on African and Caribbean history. After completing a Bachelor’s Degree in English and History with Highest Honors from the University of the West Indies, Dr. Dennie went on to earn a PhD in History at Johns Hopkins University. In the course of conducting research in South Africa, he became involved with the African National Congress, where he had the opportunity to write speeches for both Walter Sissulu and Nelson Mandela. Dr. Dennie is also the recent recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities grant for a project titled Sacred Journeys: Remaking the World Anew, which is a celebration of commemoration of enslaved African Americans in Southern Maryland.

Sophomore at Washington and Lee University

Posi is a Sophomore from Union, New Jersey majoring in Economics and minoring in Poverty Studies and Law, Justice, and Society. She is interested in policy issues related to race and how social determinants influence various political, economic, and civic outcomes. She did research on hair discrimination for her Anthropology of Public Policy class and worked collaboratively with W&L Museums to curate Sharon Norwood’s “The Root of the Matter” exhibit, and she is excited to share the insights she gained over the past year with fellow students.

Founder and CEO, Lions Write

Tolu Olubunmi is a Nigerian-born, American-raised chemical engineer turned political strategist and social entrepreneur. She began her career helping to build the largest immigrant youth movement in US history. An innovative thinker and determined change-maker, she has established and led numerous NGOs and campaigns focused on education, migration, economic inclusion, sustainability, and climate change.

Tolu is the founder and CEO of the social impact venture, Lions Write. In 2018, she was tapped by the Director-General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) for a special appointment to the United Nations in New York. She ran the United Nations’ award-winning global climate action campaign, ActNow.

Tolu sits on the Board of Directors of the Anti-Defamation League, Board of Directors of USA for IOM (UN Migration Agency), served on the World Economic Forum's Migration Council, co-founded Immigrant Heritage Month, and has helped draft and implement U.S. immigration policies. She is a skilled public speaker, connector, and respected social impact innovator who has worked closely with leaders in government, the private sector, and civil society to shift culture, influence public policy and build strategic and mutually beneficial partnerships.

In 2015, the World Economic Forum named her one of 15 Women Changing the World and an Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur. She was also honored by the Anti-Defamation League for her work on behalf of migrants and refugees. Her inspiring personal story and work have been profiled by several media outlets, including BBC, MSNBC, TIME, US News and World Report, CBS and others.

Tolu is an inaugural Leadership Institute Fellow at the Center for American Progress and holds a Chemistry-Engineering degree from Washington and Lee University.

Bridge to Enter Advanced Mathematics (BEAM)

Candace Bethea, Ph.D. currently works in nonprofit strategy at Bridge to Enter Advanced Mathematics (BEAM) where she works on strategic problems related to how the organization can reach more high-achieving, disadvantaged students to help them achieve degrees in STEM fields. Prior to joining BEAM, Candace worked as a management consultant at Bain & Company. In this role, Candace primarily worked on growth strategy projects in addition to organizational design and company transformation. Candace completed her Bachelor's degree in mathematics at W&L in 2015 and her Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of South Carolina. In graduate school, she was a math instructor, founder of the Association for Women in Mathematics student chapter, and a peer mentor for graduate students new to teaching. Outside of graduate and professional work, Candace has experience working in education with refugees in the US and Europe as well as with youth in the criminal justice system. She enjoys making clothes, playing violin, riding motorcycles, painting, and yoga.

Regional Growth Manager, GENEDGE

With over 35 years of industry experience, James brings proven expertise in product design, quality management, and custom workforce enhancement solutions to his role as a Regional Growth Manager. He started with GENEDGE in September of 2015 and operates from a satellite office located in the Virginia Tech Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) in Blacksburg, Virginia. James earned his BS in Management and Leadership from Bluefield College, and has considerable education in Manufacturing Technology with a focus in Electronics from East Carolina University. He is certified through the Siemens Technik Akademie of Berlin, Germany to teach the Siemens Mechatronics Systems Certification Program, and to assess program graduates. Prior to joining GENEDGE, he served as Workforce Development Program Manager at Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke. Outside of GENEDGE, James has membership affiliations with various regional organizations including chambers of commerce, city planning commissions, and higher education boards.

Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resource Officer for American National Bank & Trust Company

Mrs. Smith was recently elected to serve a second term as Chair of the Board of Trustees after leading the Board through the unprecedented 2020-2021 school year. She was appointed to her second three-year term as a School Board Trustee effective July 2019. Mrs. Smith earned a B.A. in political economy from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in Lynchburg and participated in a junior year study abroad program at Reading and Oxford Universities in England. She completed graduate-level human resources courses at Cornell University’s School of Industrial Labor Relations.

Mrs. Smith is currently employed as the Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resource Officer for American National Bank & Trust Company, headquartered in Danville, VA. During her first term as a School Board Trustee, Mrs. Smith was an advocate for educational equity and improving minority hiring and retention, representing the Board on the Legislative Committee, Student Health Advisory Board, the Equity Task Force, the Audit Committee and the Policy and Governance Committee.

In August 2021, Governor Northam appointed Mrs. Smith to Virginia’s Safety and Health Codes Board. She also serves on the Western Virginia Community Foundation Board and on the executive board of the Roanoke Chapter of the Links, Inc. She is a past president of the Junior League of Roanoke Valley, having served as its first Black president. Mrs. Smith previously served on the Board of Directors for Apple Ridge Farm, Ronald McDonald House, Susan G. Komen, Council of Community Services, and Western Virginia Workforce Development Board.

Mrs. Smith previously served as an active member of the PTA executive board; classroom, library and special events volunteer at her children’s schools—Crystal Spring, James Madison and Patrick Henry; Junior Achievement volunteer at Lincoln Terrace and Crystal Spring elementary schools; and special events volunteer at Lincoln Terrace, Hurt Park, Westside elementary schools and William Fleming High School.

Mrs. Smith is an active member and immediate past superintendent of Sunday school at Sweet Union Baptist Church.

Mrs. Smith is married to James E. Smith, Jr. and they are the parents of a daughter, Patricia Bradley, who is a 2016 Patrick Henry High School graduate and 2019 graduate of Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN; and a son, Jamie, who is a 2019 Patrick Henry High School graduate and a junior and varsity lacrosse team member at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, VA. She says that Bradley and Jamie are her proudest accomplishments.

Healthcare Consulting Analyst at AArete LLC

Vincent Buckman '20 is a Healthcare Consulting Analyst at AArete LLC. He majored in Biochemistry, B.S during is time at W&L and served as a Bonner Scholar through the Shepherd Program. Vincent played active roles in the African and African American Communites, serving as one of the pioneers in S.A.B.U’s BLACK FLEX. As a premed student, he spent his summers pursuing research internships and has an interest in early detection and diagnosis of cancer. Vincent, a native of Ghana, currently lives in the Atlanta metropolitan area. He spends his leisure time traveling, trying new cuisines and watching soccer.

Founder, The Pynk Butterfly

A native of Athens, Georgia, Jessica Reese came to call South Carolina home in 1999. Upon graduating from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, she accepted a position with a Fortune 5 company in Sales & Marketing, married her college sweetheart Wallace Reese III (Trey) and birthed her only son, Wallace Reese IV. While successfully climbing the corporate ladder for 8 years she still felt unfulfilled. After much thought and prayer, she made the decision to step out on faith to pursue her lifelong dream of thriving in the beauty industry.

Shortly before graduating from Kenneth Shuler School of Cosmetology in 2006, The Pynk Butterfly brand was birthed in the form of the first of 5 salons that were to be opened. (The Pynk Butterfly Hair Studio, The Pynk Butterfly Glamour Spa, The Pynk Butterfly Signature Salon & Spa and The Pynk Butterfly Salon). The Pynk Butterfly brand has extended itself to a line of hair care products, apparel and exotic hair. Over the past decade Jessica and her beauty brand have employed over 50 beauty professionals and franchised her brand to 2 other aspiring salon owners.

Not only does Jessica seeks to impact the industry locally, she has made waves internationally by facilitating business and hands on training on the continent of Africa.

From styling celebrities, to being on set for photoshoots and movies, Jessica hopes to leave a mark and inspire others to Dare to Fly.