Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez took office as the eighth Chancellor of the City University of New York on May 1, becoming the first educator of color, and the first Latino, to lead the University. Dr. Matos Rodríguez’s distinguished career spans both academia and the public sector: He is a scholar, teacher, administrator and former Cabinet secretary for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Chancellor Matos Rodríguez, who served as the president of CUNY’s Queens College from 2014 until his historic appointment, was Hostos’ president from 2009 to 2014, making him one of a select few U.S. educators to have been president of both a community and baccalaureate college.
Ms. Wilkin is Chief Executive Officer of Bradford Construction, the construction management firm she founded in 1989, and has since grown into one of New York’s premier woman-owned business enterprises (WBE), with divisions in technology and diversity consulting and a project base that spans sectors. A minority- and woman-owned small business enterprise (MWSBE) expert, she emphasizes an agile business style, the competitive advantages of life-long learning and high-tech construction tools, and a close examination of the ways the industry can cooperatively advance in the largest economic sector in New York State.
As the University’s senior vice chancellor for institutional affairs, strategic advancement and special counsel, Glenda Grace advises CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez and oversees and coordinates governmental issues, development and communications. She brings years of legal expertise and a wide knowledge of social justice reform to this position.
Over the course of her long career, John Jay College President Karol V. Mason has been a legal pioneer and an exceptional voice for equality, fairness, and criminal justice reform. She was a leader in the Obama Administration on juvenile justice issues, bail reform and re-entry for individuals leaving prison, and in her distinguished career at Alston & Bird LLP, she was the first African- American woman elected as chair of the management committee at any major national firm.
A lifelong resident of Southeast Queens, Council Member Adrienne E. Adams was elected to the New York City Council in November 2017, becoming the first woman elected to represent City Council District 28, which covers the Queens neighborhoods of Jamaica, Rochdale Village, Richmond Hill, and South Ozone Park. Ms. Adams is a vocal advocate for education equity in Southeast Queens and has served on Community Board 12, the Queens Public Library Board, and the Local Planning Committee for the Jamaica Downtown Revitalization Initiative to name a few.
Dr. Claudia V. Schrader took the helm as president of Kingsborough Community College of The City University of New York (CUNY) in September 2018. She is the college’s 7th president, and holds the distinction of being the first African-American in the college’s 56-year old history to hold that office. As the president of the only community college in Brooklyn, Dr. Schrader is positioned to make an indelible impact on the lives of so many who choose education as a vehicle for transformation and elevation.
Assemblymember Wright represents the Bedford-Stuyvesant and Northern Crown Heights neighborhoods. A Brooklyn native who still lives on the same block where her grandparents raised their family. She has practiced law at Brooklyn Legal Services and private law firms. She has served on Community Board 3 for more than 12 years and served as the board chair. She currently serves as the Chair of the influential NYS Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus.
Assemblymember Cruz represents the diverse Queens neighborhoods of Corona, Elmhurst and Jackson Heights. She grew up as a DREAMer, living in the United State for more than 10 years as an undocumented American after leaving Columbia at 9 years old. She is a leader for tenant protections, immigration reform and workers’ rights. She holds a bachelor’s degree from John Jay College and a Juris Doctorate from CUNY Law School.
Carlina was born and raised in the 2nd District of Lower Manhattan by a single mother who emigrated from Puerto Rico. She began her career in afterschool programming and went on to serve seniors and homeless New Yorkers in her local community before becoming a City Council member in 2018. During her time in the Council, Carlina has already introduced and passed legislation related to sexual harassment, immigration, criminal justice reform, affordable housing, small business survival, and bicycle safety. Currently, Carlina chairs the Committee on Hospitals and serve as co-Chair of the Women’s Caucus and the Council’s 2020 Census Task Force.
Helen Rosenthal represents the Upper West Side in the New York City Council. She is a leading voice on issues of gender equity and civic engagement, tenants’ rights, accessibility, education equity, and funding for the city’s social safety net. As a member of the Council’s Budget Negotiating Team (BNT), Helen has successfully fought for increased investment in City-funded nonprofits who provide essential social services to 2.5 million New Yorkers, especially seniors, children, and people with disabilities. Helen currently chairs the Committee on Women and Gender Equity and helped to spearhead the Council’s groundbreaking 2018 Stop Sexual Harassment in NYC Act, as well as laws increasing public accountability and protections for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence and incarcerated people. In 2017, Helen and her colleagues wrote a historic package of laws which provide greater protections for tenants against harassment and unsafe conditions.
Deborah Glick, a lifelong resident of New York City. A graduate of the City University of New York’s Queens College, she received a Master of Business Administration degree from Fordham University. Deborah’s political activism began in college and she is still strongly involved in grassroots organizing. As an elected official, she has focused on civil rights, reproductive freedom, health care, lesbian and gay rights, the environment, housing, higher education, social justice, animal rights and funding for the arts. Deborah is the Chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee, a leadership position she has held for 12 years. In this role, she has input on the oversight of all private and public higher education institutions, financial assistance for students, and professional licensing.
Alicka has always been a visionary dreamer and a fervent believer in the better angels of our nature. Behind her signature glasses and smile rests her grit and empathy forged from her upbringing in Brownsville. Alicka has worked in various capacities with City and State legislators and has spent years sharpening her servant leadership and perspective concerning marginalized individuals and their plights; locally and internationally. She is an alumna from CUNY School of Law and has continued to model the school’s motto – “Law in the Service of Human Need.” In the Council she serves as Chair of the Committee on Public Housing.
Fueled by 20 years in fashion, film+television, and the entertainment industry followed by a decade of studying wellness, Kahshanna Evans, launched Kissing Lions Public Relations, a boutique PR, media, and content production hub headquartered in NYC
that supports niche and emerging lifestyle brands. As an alum of the William Esper conservatory Kahshanna's experience spans production and screen-writing. Kahshanna is the author of Amani, a short screenplay loosely based on her life about the resilience of the human spirit. Kahshanna is proud to have worked with Soho Contemporary Art for the Ringo Starr Peace & Love Exhibition and Sale and curating/co-producing a mini-documentary for private tech project that featured Wyclef Jean. She has contributed to Social Lifestyle Magazine, Industry Rules Magazine and the Huffington Post Blog. Evans has been mentioned in Mashable, New York Times, Business News Daily, Un-ruly, and TNJ.
Melany Mercedes, born and raised in the Bronx, New York, started her passion in the Arts at an early age. She was active in participating in her middle school plays and extracurricular activities such as dance. At the age of 14, she enlisted in the Yamulee Dance Company and at the age of 17 was in both the semi-professional and professional teams. She was offered the opportunity to become Yamulee's lead dancer alongside director, Osmar Perrones' which allowed her to travel and perform all over the world. She has since ventured off to choreographing routines, working with different companies and dancers and in 2017, she and her best friend, Andrew Avila, decided to share their creativity with the world and began traveling and performing internationally. In 2018, they were both participants of the National television show, So You Think You Can Dance where, although eliminated, they would gain much attention and were invited back to the 2019 season where she made it as one of the top 10 female dancers. Today she focuses on teaching locally and internationally as she finds gain in sharing her experiences through the art of dance.
Sandie Luna brings her personal experiences as an immigrant and professional experiences as an educator and entrepreneur to her role as Managing Director at ID Studio Theater where she is focused on the execution of the organization's mission to empower immigrant communities through the performing arts. A self-described "non-solo artist", Sandie Luna was born in Dominican Republic and moved to the U.S. as a teenager. In 2006, Sandie co-founded Nettles Artists Collective, an award winning, Latina-run, NYC-based artists collective. In response to the lack of affordable, modern spaces to create work in NYC, in 2014 Sandie co-founded Punto Space. During its five year existence, Punto Space provided unwavering support and community to emerging artists. Sandie has performed in TV, radio, commercials, and theater productions for the English and Spanish markets, most notably performing at the Public Theater, five years Off Broadway, working with LAByrinth Theater Company and using her talents to teach in the prison system through the Public’s Theater Mobile Shakespeare Uni for four years.
Self-taught artist and educator Tiffany B Chanel is driven by passion and purpose. Through her kaleidoscopic portraiture, she depicts pop icons and everyday people with unapologetic vibrancy, and aims illuminate the inner beauty within each of her subjects. She is inspired by faces, and aims to make the subject come alive on canvas, conveying a degree of realism forcing the viewer to be moved by feeling.
Initially, Tiffany began her artistic career in 2012 designing custom-painted sneakers, before shifting her focus toward fine art portraiture. After an instagram repost by Tamara Mowry resulted in one of her works going viral, Tiffany garnered the attention of numerous collectors and immersed herself in New York’s gallery scene. Based out of her Bedford Stuyvesant in-home studio (Studio 422), Tiffany leads monthly “Beyond the Layout” paint-and-sip sessions and is hired by local nonprofits, churches, and schools to facilitate professional development classes for children and adults. Works have been commissioned for celebrities Aisha Hinds, DJ D-Nice, Ava DuVernay and Pam Oliver, as well as brand names such as ESPN, TBS, and cultural tastemakers including Carol’s Daughter CEO Lisa Price. Her artwork has been featured in The Guardian, Essence, Afropunk, News 12, The Epoch Times, CBS, and HBO.
Debora Balardini, the co-founder of Group .BR and Co-VP of Programming of the League of Professional Theatre Women is a theater performer, director, educator and thirty-year veteran in the arts. Taking a leap from multiple nominations for contributions to original theater productions, Balardini proudly accepted a 2019 Social Impact & Arts Innovator award at the Essence of a Boss conference and received an official proclamation from The National Council of Women of the United States (NCW/US) in Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations for her humanitarian work dedicated to the empowerment of women on the same night. Balardini's motivation in the arts is largely motivated by women's empowerment, human rights, and inclusion in the arts and she attributes her sense of mindfulness and resilience to Hatha Yoga philosophy and practice. Balardini's work hasn't gone unnoticed, having been mentioned by media platforms to include Forbes, Huffington Post, The Miami Herald, and HowlRound.
After beginning her career as a freelance stylist, Martinique-native, Giannie Couji, has been a contributing fashion editor for I-D Magazine from 1996 to 2010, and was Fashion Director at Above Magazine from 2006 to 2008. Other magazines such as Italian Marie Claire, L’Officiel, Elle, New York Times, Perfect, International Herald Tribune, Black Book and Billboard have also showcased her talent over the years. Giannie is currently the editor in chief and creative director of Ubikwist magazine.