Aisha Nyandoro always knew she wanted to run a nonprofit organization. Pursuing her doctorate degree was a natural step in learning the right language and insider knowledge needed to be an effective leader in the nonprofit space. But when Aisha found herself working as a research analyst post graduation, not running a nonprofit, she knew…
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Carol Torres is the director of the Human Service and Education Worker Training Fund, a nonprofit whose mission is to create high value professional development to benefit all bargaining unit members. “It’s a dream job that I didn’t have a dream for,” Carol explains. “The dream is the feeling that I get when I do…
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Megan Stewart is the founder of the PCOS Awareness Association, a nonprofit that advocates for people with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). For the past 9 years, this organization has helped millions of people with PCOS find the resources they need to understand and manage their diagnosis. Megan didn’t initially set out to create the nonprofit,…
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When Angela Patton’s parents moved recently, her mother found a yearbook of Angela’s from high school. Fellow students had written, “You’re going to lead something one day” and “You’re going to change the world.” Angela had written that her goal was to make a difference in people’s lives. “I don’t remember feeling that way as…
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As a New Year’s resolution in January 2021, Shemika Whiteside posted an idea on Facebook she’d been thinking about for years: a maternity program to help women in Louisville, Kentucky with housing, medical and mental health needs, birthing support, and social services. The response was incredible. Shemika heard from numerous people saying, “I’ve been waiting…
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After growing up in Alaska, founding two businesses there, and then living briefly in Hawaii and Los Angeles, Charity Blanchett had an awakening in New Orleans: “To move to a city where it’s predominantly African-American, I felt like, for the first time in my life, I looked like everybody. When I walked out the front…
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Tige Charity is the Founder and Executive Director of Kids in the Spotlight (KITS), a Los Angeles-based non-profit that provides a platform for young people in foster care to write, cast and star in their own short films, telling their stories their way. Since its founding in 2009, the organization has worked with more than…
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After a successful 20-year career in commercial banking, Renee Ligon moved from Florida back to her native Ohio and pivoted to community-centered work. In a perfect melding of her banking experience and her desire to make a difference, she served as the Regional Director of the Urban League of Greater Cleveland’s Minority Business Assistance Center.…
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In many ways, Muriel Smith always knew she’d find her way to a career in nonprofit — in her ideal world, even leading one. Now, as Executive Director at the St. Louis Area Diaper Bank, she’s not only realizing her dream, but working with an incredible team and community to ensure local families’ basic needs…
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For Janece Kleban, fundraising and working in development for non-profits was in her blood. Her mother is a consultant and does strategic planning for both local and national organizations, so Janece was able to see firsthand how this type of work impacts everyone in the community. During college, she led her collegiate chapter for Habitat…
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