Aiesha Turman, Founder/Director
Stemming from over a decade of working with NYC youth in grades K-12 within non-traditional education settings, such as and at institutions such as, The Museum for African Art, The New-York Historical Society, the Queens Library Gallery, Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Citizen’s Advice Bureau, and the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, Aiesha has experienced first-hand the complex lives many Black girls face.
Aiesha has combined her practical knowledge with her interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate degrees in order to help create change for a segment of society she is passionate about — black girls. Just as her education is interdisciplinary, so is her work. Aiesha is a documentary filmmaker, writer, activist and educator who is an English professor at a large public university in New York. She has developed and implemented curriculum, given talks surrounding youth, esteem, and hip hop culture, personally mentored young women, created media via her company Super Hussy Media, organized conferences, participated in roundtable discussions all with a singular focus — positively impacting the lives of Black women and girls.
You can reach her via her website.
Bianca I. Laureano, Board Member
Bianca I. Laureano is a first generation Puerto Rican sexologist living in NYC. Raised in the Washington, DC area in an activist environment, Bianca is the daughter of an artist and educator and a product of the public school system. In the field of sexuality for over a decade, Bianca has worked with and taught youth of Color, working class communities, national and international organizations advocating sex-positive social justice agendas.
She has presented both locally and internationally on various topics concerning activism, Latino sexual health, feminisms, youth and hip-hop culture, Latinos and race, curriculum development, and teaching. She identifies as a LatiNegra, media maker, radical woman of Color, activist, sex-positive, pro-choice femme.
Bianca earned a BA from the University of Maryland in Women’s Health & Latino Communities, MA from NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education & Human Development in Human Sexuality Education and a MA from the University of Maryland in Women’s Studies with a focus on sexuality, race and ethnicity. Bianca is a professor at a private college and a freelance writer. She hosts the website LatinoSexuality.com. Find out more about Bianca by visiting her website www.BiancaLaureano.com.
LaWanda J. Abel, Board Member
With 10 years experience in community outreach, marketing and public relations, LaWanda J. Abel brings a strong background in communications, organizing and program planning. Her passion to help youth achieve healthy, balanced and successful lives along with her ability to create ideas that not only engage but also touch the lives of everyone involved, led her to create I Am Worth More, a nonprofit organization that works to counter the negative effects society and the entertainment industry has on today’s youth.
Ms. Abel’s past professional experience includes managing special projects at Kids in Distressed Situations, Inc., which included launching a corporate giving program and young professionals group to raise the visibility of the organization and expand its constituent base. During her tenure at the Ms. Foundation for Women, her talent and experience benefited girls and boys ages 8 to 18 involving over 2 million companies getting involved to help a new generation at work explore their future and dreams. As Program Manager for Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work® Day, Ms. Abel was responsible for building a program that helped our nation’s daughters and sons reach their full potential in all areas of their lives and expanded their vision of the opportunities available to them.
Ms. Abel holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communications with a specialization in TV/Radio Broadcasting from Iona College. In addition to working within the nonprofit sector, she has also worked in the music, television, fashion, and education industries. Ms. Abel’s strongest qualities are organizing, writing, and ideation.
Patrice Perry, Board Member
With over 10 years experience in New York City government, Patrice Perry currently serves as Special Assistant in the office of Intergovernmental Relations, for the New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development. She is responsible for formulating and securing necessary legislative changes in both the City Council and the State Legislature in order to complete critical components of the agency’s mission. Through analysis and research the proposal of new housing legislative changes and resources from which the agency’s program initiatives are developed.
Patrice has a B.B.A degree in Operations Management and is currently pursuing her Masters degree in Speech Pathology. She volunteers her time by instructing young disadvantaged men and woman on how to communicate their talents via a resume as well as the importance of workplace etiquette, respect and honor to others and their community.
By attempting to instill the value that “To those whom much is given, much is expected.” if granted certain opportunities in life take them and use every benefit to pay it forward to the next individual or group. Patrice teaches youth that this is imperative to the overall mission of the workplace as well as life in general.
Zakeia Tyson, Board Member
With a background in marketing, development and event planning, Zakeia’s experience has given her the ability to view emerging concepts from various perspectives. Raised in Harlem, New York and later moved to Atlanta, Georgia to attend Morris Brown College, Zakeia continued her studies at Georgia State University, where she earned a degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing.
Zakeia has a passion for the arts; not only can she developed marketing concepts from nuts to soup but she is a talented poet and performer. She shares her life experience through poetry in efforts to reach the hearts and minds of young adults. One of Zakeia’s favorite quotes that she recites before each performance is “words carried by emerging thoughts, actions, desires and dreams”, “love is peace, be encouraged by your selfless motives”.
Zakeia recently completed her MBA with a specialization in Marketing.
Alana Benoit, Board Member
Alana Benoit is a writer with experience working in arts education advocacy, community service and developing innovative interdisciplinary curriculum. She has organized cross-cultural arts events for audiences of all ages, including exhibits, film screenings, workshops, and talks. Alana is a first generation black American of afro-Caribbean and afro-Central American heritage. She uses the arts and humanities as a catalyst for creativity, dialogue, criticism, and social change in the 21st century. Alana holds a BA from Union College and MA from the English University of York. She is currently an administrator in the education department of an independent film and media arts organization in Westchester County.
Pamela O. Brown, Board Member
Before moving to New York, this native Texan worked with Latino youth of immigrant families preparing them for college and developed a sex education program for Somali Bantu refugees. She has also worked in marketing, fundraising, and independent film production.
Pamela holds a BFA in Graphic Design from Texas Women’s University, MS in Applied Anthropology with a focus in education from the University of North Texas, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Philosophy, Interpretation & Culture and Feminist Theory certification at Binghamton University.
Pamela believes in an interdisciplinary approach to all her endeavors. She is currently developing a youth project involving sexual literacy and creative expression. She can be reached through her website.
Toni Blackman, At-Large Board Member
Toni Blackman is a poet, rap lyricist and actress. She was the first Hip Hop artist selected to work as a Cultural Ambassador traveling with the US Department of State. Toni has traveled throughout Africa, Europe, and Southeast Asia, often working in some of the world’s most war-torn nation states to help bring reconciliation and rehabilitation to those regions. Affectionately known as America’s Hip Hop Ambassador, Blackman has visited 22 different countries and worked in others via digital satellite.
Highly respected as the founder of Freestyle Union, a cipher workshop that uses freestyling as a tool to encourage social responsibility, Lyrical Embassy, a project which she runs, serves as the umbrella for Freestyle Union and for Rhyme Like A Girl – an initiative for girls and women. A former Echoing Green Fellow and Soros Fellow, her work promotes diplomacy and self-expression through the use of cutting-edge personal development technique.
Recognized as a pioneer in Hip Hop theater and education, this award-winning artist has shared the stage with everyone from Erykah Badu, the Roots, Wu Tang, Sonia Sanchez, Sara McLachlan and Rickie Lee Jones. Her book Inner-Course (Villard/Random House), which was released in 2003, appears in the award-winning anthology Live Through This (Seven Stories Press, 2008), her memoir, “Travels of a Lyrical Ambassador”, will be released on The Feminist Press late 2010 and she is a contributor to Jay Z: The Artist, The Man, The Visionary. In 2009 she was featured in VH1’s Future of Black History ad campaign, in the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and was presented by 651 Arts. Toni’s recent travel included Italy, France and Azerbaijan (Baku) where she spoke at the Pio Manzu International Conference, which was held last October 24 and which featured Mikhail Gorbachev as one of the prime organizers – an event during which she has had the serendipity to befriend a woman from the UN who also introduced her to a couple from Baku. Out of that cultural exchange came up an opportunity for her to go to Baku and worked there on a project which involved performing and developing awareness of Hip Hop at an international level. Additionally, she is producing a Rhyme Like A Girl project with teen girls from Liberia, Sudan, Somalia and the U.S. during her artist residency with Jefferson Arts Center in Virginia, and also completing related projects for the Travels of a Lyrical Ambassador brand. You can find out more by visiting her website.
