Family Day — Silver Linings: Black Art Is Divine

Cherise McAdoois a charismatic visionary, brand strategist, whose mission is to assist others to find purpose as they strive for excellence in pursuit of their destiny. She is a Hampton University alumna with experience in sales, customer success, talent acquisition, marketing, investment banking, as well as community and economic development. As the Principal Brand Strategist of Resourceful Reese, she’s worked with small businesses, universities, and national non-profits as a strategist, consultant, and speaker. Her resume also includes serving as the Senior Client Solutions Manager in the Enterprise Business Services & Healthcare vertical at LinkedIn servicing manufacturing, professional services, and healthcare customers. She also served as a Digital Strategy Lead at Google serving the fastest growing businesses in Canada through digital advertising. As a former Customer Success Manager at LinkedIn she worked with mid market global customers looking to invest in amazing talent. Outside of her professional endeavors, she’s also a proud fur mama to Zoe the Mini Red Labradoodle and a lover of travel adventures.

Asha McElroy, MPH, RDN was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. Her background is rooted in the intersectionality of urban agriculture and designing culturally sensitive nutrition education for the African American community as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN). Asha developed her interest in studying cultural humility and sensitivity through her training in Family and Consumer Sciences (food and nutritional science, B.S., North Carolina A& T SU ‘20), as well as Public Health Science (nutritional science, and dietetics, University of Michigan ‘23). Her training propelled her interest in improving health outcomes for communities of color while also recognizing the connection between nutrition and policy’s impact on our everyday life. In November 2020, Asha was elected as the Youth At-Large representative for the Detroit Food Policy Council (DFPC). This position furthered her desire to advance equitable food policies using community-based participatory research as a basis to increase food accessibility and affordability via nutrition policy for communities of color. Asha lives by the following African proverb, “if you educate a man, you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman, you educate a nation.”

Born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Rashaun Rucker attended North Carolina Central University and Marygrove College. He makes photographs, prints and drawings and has won more than 40 national and state awards for his work. In 2008, Rucker became the first African American to be named Michigan Press Photographer of the Year. The same year, he won a national Emmy Award for documentary photography on the pitbull culture in Detroit. Rucker has held numerous fellowships and residencies, most recently: Kresge Arts Fellowship in 2019; a residency at the International Studios and Curatorial Program in Brooklyn, New York in 2021; and a Mellon Fellowship at the University of Michigan Institute of Humanities in 2021. Rucker has been honored as a Modern Man by Black Enterprise magazine in 2016 and created the original artwork for the critically acclaimed Detroit Free Press documentary 12 and Clairmount. His work was recently featured in HBO’s celebrated series Random Acts of Flyness and Native Son. In 2019, Rucker was awarded the Red Bull Arts Detroit micro grant that was followed by A Sustainable Arts Foundation award in 2020 and a Visual Arts Grant by the Harpo Foundation in 2021. Currently, Rucker is a Gilbert Fellow pursuing a MFA in print media at Cranbrook Academy of Art. His diverse work is represented in numerous public and private collections.

Jameison Walker III attended Detroit School of Arts, where he majored in Music Technology and developed his passion for creating music from scratch, ultimately becoming a skilled DJ. He pursued higher education at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, FL, majoring in Business Administration. During his time at FAMU, Jameison joined the Beta Nu chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., and took on several leadership roles, including mentoring incoming freshmen in the Student Life Skills course, serving as an orientation leader and resident assistant, and being crowned Mr. Michigan for the Michigan Club at FAMU. Currently, Jameison serves as an attendance agent in the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD), where he ensures students have access to the necessary resources for academic success, personal growth, and family development, while also pursuing a master’s degree in Educational Leadership at Wayne State University. Jameison is founder of the Gentleman of Hamilton, a mentorship group for middle school aged boys.

Sommer Woods is a community engagement strategist and communication solution architect with over 20 years of experience. As an entrepreneur Sommer is owner and architect of Solution Architects and is a partner in Woods Watts Effect. Previously she held the position of vice president of external relations, marketing and communications for M-1 RAIL. She was also an appointee for Detroit Mayor Dave Bing’s administration, serving as the film, culture and special events director for the city of Detroit. Prior to these roles, Sommer’s experience in event planning, implementation, and sponsorship fulfillment and activation included positions with the PGA TOUR and Super Bowl XL. Sommer currently serves as Detroit City Council’s appointee to the Belle Isle Advisory Committee. She is also volunteer vice chair for the Rocket Mortgagee PGA TOUR Golf Classic and board member of Tour de Troit. Her most notable community role was during the 2020 election, when she was highlighted in the New York Times while working at the TCF Center. In the midst of chaos, she managed the aggressive crowd while ensuring the safety of the election workers, and the democracy of Detroit voters. Sommer holds a bachelor’s degree in business from Talladega College. She was also invited to attend the Young Leaders Program at Harvard Business School, as a Detroit representative. She is a proud mentor with the Midnight Golf Program (MGP), and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated®.