Meet the Planning Committee
Dr. Shemariah J. Arki
She/Her/They/Them
Founder + Program Director
Professor of Pan African Studies
Kent State University
"If we are going to heal, then let it be glorious." - Beyoncé Giselle Knowles Carter
Dr. Heather E. Burton
She/Her/Hers
Chair, Board of Directors, Ellipsis Institue for Womxn of Color in the Academy
Associate Vice President and Senior Director for Faculty and Institutional Diversity, Office of Inclusion, Diversity and Equal Opportunity - Case Western Reserve University
“If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back and get it right-side up again.” - Sojourner Truth
Dr. Sherrae M. Mack
She/Her/They/Theirs
Conference Operations Strategist
Consultant with Sankofa Circle International
“We have to talk about liberating minds as well as liberating society.” - Angela Davis
Colette Ngana, MA
She/Her/Hers
Chair, Partnerships and Fundraising
Doctoral Candidate
Department of Sociology
Case Western Reserve University
"...no person is your friend (or kin) who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow and be perceived as fully blossomed as you were intended." - Alice Walker
E. K. Phelps, MA
Campus Co-Chair
Assistant Professor of Sociology, Pierce College
Doctoral Candidate, Case Western Reserve University
Yoga Instructor, 200 Hour RYT
"Black folks have been struggling and resisting on this land for at least 400 years. Our ancestors already started the work. Catch up." - Charlene A. Carruthers
Dr. Raedell Boateng
She/Dear/Doctor
Committee Member
Director of Operational & Strategic Initiatives, Sankofa Circle International
"I can now see my invisibilty ... My visibility depends on my persistence to exist despite attempts to erase and silence me." ~ Dr. Raedell
Alina Uzor
She/Her/Hers
Committee Member
Center of Pan-African Culture Graduate Assistant
"Your story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something to own." ~ Michelle Obama
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Leila Bailey-Stewart
She/Her
Committee Member
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Global Education Officer, Buckingham Browne & Nichols
"You can't be hesitant about who you are." ~ Viola Davis
Mylonne Sullivan, MSW, LICDC, LISW
She/Her
Committee Member
Founder & Principal Consultant, Advocating For Change
"Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare."
Katarina Smiley, BS
She/Her/Hers
Community Ambassador, DigitalC
"When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid." - Audre Lorde