Boston's Most Impactful Black Women in 2021
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Boston's Most Impactful Black Women in 2021 Commemorating and honoring the many women following in the footsteps of Melnea Cass and Coretta Scott King Sponsored by TABLE OF CONTENTS Founder's Message 1 Boston Pioneers 2 Academia 6 Arts, Culture, Media & Sports 8 Business 12 Faith 16 Healthcare & Life Science 18 Law, Politics & Public Sector 22 Philanthropy & Social Justice 26 F O U N D E R ' S M E S S A G E Dear Honorees, Sponsors and Friends, On behalf of Get Konnected!, Colette Phillips Communications, Inc. and the GK Fund, I am delighted to celebrate Women's History Month by honoring Boston’s Most Impactful Black Women. Black women have always been at the epicenter for change, innovation, and the shaping of policies - from Harriet Tubman’s courage to Boston abolitionist Elizabeth Riley to journalist Ida B. Wells. Let’s also honor Rosa Parks, the mother of the civil-rights movement, and the first female millionaire, Black entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker. Today that courageous spirit lives on in activist Stacey Abrams, whose fight against voter suppression saved our democracy and saved America. In November 2020, following America’s racial reckoning and awakening against the backdrop of George Floyd’s murder and a global pandemic, our country made history by electing Kamala Harris the first Black-South Asian, female Vice President of the United States. Here in Boston, history was made by Black women who embodied the spirit of civil rights and social-justice advocates like Melnea Cass, Ruth Batson, and Elma Lewis. Boston elected its first Black Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, its first Black District Attorney Rachael Rollins, and is now poised to have its first Black and female Mayor of Boston, the Honorable Kim Janey. Black women have endured centuries of exclusion and no recognition. Get Konnected! hopes to change that by celebrating, documenting, validating and amplifying a historic first of its kind in Boston: a list of more than 150 of the city’s Most Impactful Black Women in 2021. They are barrier breakers across industries and sectors. Black women like Carole Simpson, former ABC weekend anchor and first Black woman to moderate a presidential debate, to Bennie Wiley, the president emerita of The Partnership, to those in healthcare like Dr. Myechia Minter Jordan, Dr. Allison Bryant Mantha, Dr. Thea James and many more. They have all inspired us to be and to do more. I am delighted to also welcome everyone to our thirteenth anniversary of Get Konnected!, a business networking event series I founded in 2008 on the premise of inclusion. Our mission is to curate meaningful business and social connections, enrich professional development, facilitate business and career opportunities and forge positive cross-cultural relationships. Boston is a thriving, vibrant world-class city that is both rich in diversity and history. Black people have played an integral role in the city from the very birth of this country when Crispus Attucks, a Black man, was the first to die in the American Revolution. Today, we have 140 languages spoken in Boston, and Black people are coming from across the full spectrum of the African Diaspora - from Africa to the Caribbean to South and Latin America - we are here to be a part of and contribute to the city. The GK! Boston’s Most Impactful Black Women is a unique opportunity for us to spotlight the significant contributions that Black women have made to this city. Among them are scientists, venture capitalists, corporate executives, cultural icons, educators, innovators, social justice, sports experts, civil-rights advocates, faith leaders, policy and political game changers, and next-door neighbors who work to create meaningful change and progress for their communities and beyond. More than a popularity contest, this list is a tool for corporate and non-profit organizations looking for board members or media outlets looking for experts and thought leaders, as well as those looking to diversify their C-suites. With great admiration, gratitude and respect to all the honorees, Colette Phillips President and CEO, Colette Phillips Communications, Inc. Founder & CEO, Get Konnected!, The GK! Market, GK! Execu-Search and The GK Fund 1 B o s t o n P i o n e e r s "Sometimes it seems like to tell the truth today is to run the risk of being killed. But if I fall, I'll fall five feet four inches forward in the fight for freedom. I'm not backing off." - Fannie Lou Hamer 2 Priscilla Douglas Founder and Principal Dr. Judyann Bigby PH Douglas & Associates Former Secretary of Health and Human Serivces First Black Woman to serve as Commonwealth of Secretary of Consumer Affairs Massachusetts Commonwealth of Massachusetts Ruth Ellen Fitch Carmen Fields President Emerita & CEO First TV anchor of color Dimock Community Health GBH/PBS Center Producer and Host of First Black Woman Partner "Higher Ground" Palmer & Dodge WHDH Charlotte Golar Richie Carol Fulp Distinguished Public Service Founder and CEO Fellow Fulp Diversity Center for Women in Politics Consultants, LLC and Public Policy, UMASS Boston President Emerita Former MA Rep. & First Black The Partnership Woman to run for Mayor of Boston Marian Heard Anita Hill President and CEO Professor of Social Policy, Oxen Hill Partners Law and Women's Studies Brandeis University President Emerita United Way of Eastern MA Michelle Johnson Jackie Jenkins-Scott Professor of the Practice President and Founder Boston University School JJS Advising of Journalism President Emerita Former Staff Editor Wheelock College Boston Globe 3 Sara Lawrence Sandra King Lightfoot Sociologist and Professor of Pioneer in Higher Education Education Founder, Director Harvard University GSE STKing Associates, LLC First African American Woman to have an endowed professorship in her honor at Harvard University Jean McGuire Diane Patrick Executive Director Emerita & First Black Women Partner Co-Founder Ropes & Gray The Metropolitan Council for Educational Vice Chair Board of Trustees Opportunity (METCO) Mass General Hospital Mary Reed Sarah-Ann Shaw Pioneer in entrepreneurship, First Black Female Television child welfare and education Journalist and Community Tartt''s Day Care Center & Advocate Bessie Tartt Wilson Initiative WBZ-TV For Children Carole Simpson Sylvia Simmons, Ph.D. First Woman of Color Pioneer in Higher Education Network Anchor to moderate a Presidential Debate ABC News Dorothy Terrell Marie St. Fleur President Emerita First Haitian American elected Initiative Competitive Inner to MA State Legislature City President St. Fleur Communications President Emerita SunExpress 4 Rev. Liz Walker Joan Wallace First Black TV Anchor WBZ Benjamin (CBS) Boston President Emerita Pastor Home for Little Roxbury Presbyterian Wanderers Church Rev. Gloria White Linda Whitlock Hammond, MD Principal Co-Pastor The Whitlock Group Bethel AME Church President Emerita Swartz Resident Practitioner in Boys & Girls Club of Ministry Studies Boston Harvard Divinity School Bennie Wiley Dianne Wilkerson Principal Community Activist The Wiley Group First Black Woman in President Emerita elected to MA State The Partnership Senate Beth Williams President and CEO Emerita Roxbury Technology 5 A c a d e m i a We have a powerful potential in our youth, and we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that we may direct their power toward good ends" - Mary McLeod Bethune 6 Brenda Cassellius Aisha Francis, Superintendent Ph.D. Boston Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology Deborah Jackson Paula Johnson President President Cambridge College Wellesley College Valerie Roberson Lynn Perry Wooten President President Roxbury Community Simmons College College 7 A r t , C u l t u r e , M e d i a & S p o r t s "When you stop having dreams and ideals - well, you might as well stop altogether." - Marian Anderson 8 Paris Alston Callie Crossley Producer for Radio Boston and Host of Under the Radar Consider This GBH WBUR Boston LaToyia Edwards Delores Edwards Anchor Executive Producer of NBC10 Boston & NECN Basic Black GBH Allison Feaster Nneka Faison Vice President of Player Chronicle Executive Producer Development & Organizational WCVB Growth Boston Celtics Joyce Ferriabough L'Merchie Frazier Bolling Director of Education Reporter Museum of African American Boston Herald History Cameo George Renee Graham Producer of American Associate Editor and Experience Columnist GBH Boston Globe 9 Ekua Holmes Claudia Henderson Founder and Director Chief People Officer and EVP Great Black Art for Strategic Communications Collection Boston Globe Karen Holmes Ward Dr. Yndia Lorick- Director of Public Affairs & Community Services Wilmot Executive Producer & Host of Digital Creator CityLine, Journeys of Belonging 2 WCVB Blackness Makeeba McCreary Mallika Marshall, MD Chief of Learning and Health Reporter Community Engagement WBZ Boston Museum of Fine Art Charlayne Murrell- Catherine Morris Smith Founder Vice President External Boston, Arts & Music Soul Relations Festival (BAMS Fest) Boston Children's Museum Porsha Olaylwola Jenee Osterheldt Writer, Performer, Curator, Associate Editor and Columnist Poet and Educator Boston Globe City of Boston 10 Lisa Simmons Candelaria Silva-Collins Founder Culture and Arts Roxbury International Film Consultant Festival Bianca Smith Theo Tyson First Black Female MLB Curator and Avant-Garde Coach Academic Boston Red Sox Amaka Ubaka Wanda Whitmore Co-Founder and Principal Anchor and Journalist Legacy, Inc. WHDH Melissa Younger Executive Producer of Late Evening Newscasts