Our Executive Board
Ingenuity, and Collaboration
Walla Elsheikh is the Co-Founder and CEO of Birthright AFRICA which is committed to providing a free educational trip to Africa for all youth and young adults of African descent in the US.
Walla Elsheikh
Walla Elsheikh is the Co-Founder and CEO of Birthright AFRICA which is committed to providing a free educational trip to Africa for all youth and young adults of African descent in the US. She has over 16 years of management and leadership experience in both the private and public sectors and has spent the last 10 years supporting various college and career readiness initiatives in both the K-12 and Postsecondary education spaces that prepare students with skills required in the 21st century global economy. Walla is the former Interim Executive Director of Schools That Can, NYC and has served as a program director, internship coordinator, and strategic consultant to small and large educational non-profits in NYC and Washington, D.C. She received her MBA in strategic management and social entrepreneurship from Indiana University after working as a Financial Associate at Goldman Sachs & Co. Walla participated in both the Education Pioneers and Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT) Fellowships and was selected as one of the Most Influential People of African descent (MIPAD) in 2018. She was born in Sudan and raised there as well as Sweden and Uganda before immigrating to New York City.
Walla Elsheikh
Walla Elsheikh is the Co-Founder and CEO of Birthright AFRICA which is committed to providing a free educational trip to Africa for all youth and young adults of African descent in the US. She has over 16 years of management and leadership experience in both the private and public sectors and has spent the last 10 years supporting various college and career readiness initiatives in both the K-12 and Postsecondary education spaces that prepare students with skills required in the 21st century global economy. Walla is the former Interim Executive Director of Schools That Can, NYC and has served as a program director, internship coordinator, and strategic consultant to small and large educational non-profits in NYC and Washington, D.C. She received her MBA in strategic management and social entrepreneurship from Indiana University after working as a Financial Associate at Goldman Sachs & Co. Walla participated in both the Education Pioneers and Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT) Fellowships and was selected as one of the Most Influential People of African descent (MIPAD) in 2018. She was born in Sudan and raised there as well as Sweden and Uganda before immigrating to New York City.
Diallo Shabazz is the Co-Founder of Birthright AFRICA leveraging his background as a global education advisor and sustainability expert who has worked with government agencies and NGOs in North America, Asia, and Africa.
Diallo Shabazz
Diallo Shabazz is the Co-Founder of Birthright AFRICA leveraging his background as a global education advisor and sustainability expert who has worked with government agencies and NGOs in North America, Asia, and Africa. Diallo previously served as Chief Administrator for the DC 37 Education Fund, managing workforce strategy and training for the nation’s largest municipal public sector labor union in NYC. He also previously served as Senior Director of Sustainability Education at the NYC Department of Education to support the nation’s largest school system on structuring public/private partnerships with Fortune 500 corporations to improve career and technical education. From 2011 – 2013, Diallo was appointed as a North American Civil Society Representative for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which he represented at ministerial-level meetings on the Post-2015 Agenda and sustainable development goals in Europe and Africa. Diallo previously worked for the NAACP where he specialized in youth development, civil rights, and community empowerment. An avid speaker and moderator, Diallo has hosted numerous forums and appeared on various media outlets including UN Web TV, New York Public Radio, and ABC’s 20/20. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where his family migrated from the American South and raised him in the Yoruba traditions of Nigerian culture.
Diallo Shabazz
Diallo Shabazz is the Co-Founder of Birthright AFRICA leveraging his background as a global education advisor and sustainability expert who has worked with government agencies and NGOs in North America, Asia, and Africa. Diallo previously served as Chief Administrator for the DC 37 Education Fund, managing workforce strategy and training for the nation’s largest municipal public sector labor union in NYC. He also previously served as Senior Director of Sustainability Education at the NYC Department of Education to support the nation’s largest school system on structuring public/private partnerships with Fortune 500 corporations to improve career and technical education. From 2011 – 2013, Diallo was appointed as a North American Civil Society Representative for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which he represented at ministerial-level meetings on the Post-2015 Agenda and sustainable development goals in Europe and Africa. Diallo previously worked for the NAACP where he specialized in youth development, civil rights, and community empowerment. An avid speaker and moderator, Diallo has hosted numerous forums and appeared on various media outlets including UN Web TV, New York Public Radio, and ABC’s 20/20. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where his family migrated from the American South and raised him in the Yoruba traditions of Nigerian culture.
Jidenna Theodore Mobisson better known as Jidenna proudly encompasses a wide range of musical vibes that represents the African diaspora, ranging from afrobeat, funk, and R&B to dancehall and hip-hop.
Jidenna
Darren Harris is a Vice President at Goldman Sachs, where he has spent 13 successful years in the Investment Banking and Sales & Trading Divisions specializing in corporate credit and interest rates. A serial entrepreneur, Darren Harris is the Co-Founder and CEO of Pan African New Network (PANN), an emerging digital video network made for crowdsourcing, sharing, and spotlighting news and events that take place within the global Black community. Prior to his entrepreneurial ventures, Darren graduated from Howard University with a BBA in International Business and a minor in Finance. Passionate about fostering diversity in Corporate America, at Goldman Sachs he has served as the Co-Head and Co-founder of the Black Hispanic/Latino Council, Captain of the Goldman Sachs HBCU recruiting initiative, Junior Diversity Council board member, and Firmwide Black Network board member. Darren was born in Teaneck, NJ and raised there and in Harlem, NY. His parents settled in the Northeast after being raised in Florida and are descendants of enslaved Africans brought to Georgia and the Carolinas.
Jidenna
Jidenna Theodore Mobisson better known as Jidenna proudly encompasses a wide range of musical vibes that represents the African diaspora, ranging from afrobeat, funk, and R&B to dancehall and hip-hop. This kaleidoscope of cultures, eras, and sounds cemented the GRAMMY® Award-nominated multiplatinum rapper, singer, songwriter, producer, and actor as an international sonic pioneer. Since 2015, he has distinguished himself as a rare talent equally at home on a playlist by President Barack Obama, on the court at the 2020 NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, on-screen in Marvel’s Luke Cage and HBO’s Insecure, or on his YouTube show The Lit Review: A Black Men’s Book Club. Jidenna formally introduced himself with the double-platinum “Classic Man” [feat. Roman GianArthur] which garnered a GRAMMY® Award nomination for “Best Rap/Sung Collaboration”, while Kendrick Lamar featured on the remix and his iconic suit on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2018, he traded Atlanta for Africa and lived throughout the continent as he consciously crafted his sophomore full-length album, 85 To Africa. Jidenna became the first American artist to promote in Africa first, giving the continent the new music from 85 to Africa before anyone as he continued to lay the bricks for the bridge that connects the diaspora to the motherland. Clocking just shy of one billion total streams and views and receiving worldwide acclaim, he continues to elevate the playing field with a series of singles and his forthcoming third album. Prior to his musical career, Jidenna graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity from Stanford University and worked as a teacher, moving between Los Angeles, Oakland, Brooklyn and Atlanta. Born to a Nigerian Igbo father and White American mother in Wisconsin, he spent the first six years of his life in Nigeria before his family returned to the U.S.
Darren Harris is a Vice President at Goldman Sachs, where he has spent 13 successful years in the Investment Banking and Sales & Trading Divisions specializing in corporate credit and interest rates.
Darren Harris
Mercedes Bent is a Partner with Lightspeed Venture Partners investing in early stage companies focused primarily on consumer, fintech, and edtech / future of work investments. Additional focus areas in Mercedes’ investing portfolio include multicultural and women founders. Previously, Mercedes served as an executive at a VR startup and a General Manager at General Assembly where she oversaw a multi-million dollar business line during periods of explosive growth. She has a MBA and Masters in Education from Stanford University and an AB from Harvard University. In her free time, she enjoys writing up new business ideas, walking longer than 20 NYC blocks, chocolate soufflés, hiking, camping, off-roading in her Jeep, and dealing playing cards very fast. She was born in Durham, North Carolina and raised in California. She is a descendant of enslaved Africans in America with Bermudian/Grenadian ancestry, and Benin/Togo/Ghanaian ancestry.
Darren Harris
Darren Harris is a Vice President at Goldman Sachs, where he has spent 13 successful years in the Investment Banking and Sales & Trading Divisions specializing in corporate credit and interest rates. A serial entrepreneur, Darren Harris is the Co-Founder and CEO of Pan African New Network (PANN), an emerging digital video network made for crowdsourcing, sharing, and spotlighting news and events that take place within the global Black community. Prior to his entrepreneurial ventures, Darren graduated from Howard University with a BBA in International Business and a minor in Finance. Passionate about fostering diversity in Corporate America, at Goldman Sachs he has served as the Co-Head and Co-founder of the Black Hispanic/Latino Council, Captain of the Goldman Sachs HBCU recruiting initiative, Junior Diversity Council board member, and Firmwide Black Network board member. Darren was born in Teaneck, NJ and raised there and in Harlem, NY. His parents settled in the Northeast after being raised in Florida and are descendants of enslaved Africans brought to Georgia and the Carolinas.
Mercedes Bent is a Partner with Lightspeed Venture Partners investing in early stage companies focused primarily on consumer, fintech, and edtech / future of work investments.
Mercedes Bent
Kevin Bedeau is a product leader and change agent with extensive experience delivering digital solutions and optimizing product operations on behalf of fortune 500 companies, non-profits and startups in the education sector. He is passionate about educational equity and youth development and is currently serving as product consultant to Classroom Inc., a national non-profit offering games and curricula designed to build literacy and P21 skills among middle-school aged youth. Recently, as Product Director for Zinc Learning Labs, an Edtech startup, Kevin led efforts to scale the company’s MVP offering and presided over a seventy percent increase in active usage over two years. Kevin holds a BA in Sociology from Cornell University and is a proud Brooklyn native and resident. He was born and raised in Brooklyn to parents from Trinidad and Barbados and is a proud child of the Caribbean.
Mercedes Bent
Mercedes Bent is a Partner with Lightspeed Venture Partners investing in early stage companies focused primarily on consumer, fintech, and edtech / future of work investments. Additional focus areas in Mercedes’ investing portfolio include multicultural and women founders. Previously, Mercedes served as an executive at a VR startup and a General Manager at General Assembly where she oversaw a multi-million dollar business line during periods of explosive growth. She has a MBA and Masters in Education from Stanford University and an AB from Harvard University. In her free time, she enjoys writing up new business ideas, walking longer than 20 NYC blocks, chocolate soufflés, hiking, camping, off-roading in her Jeep, and dealing playing cards very fast. She was born in Durham, North Carolina and raised in California. She is a descendant of enslaved Africans in America with Bermudian/Grenadian ancestry, and Benin/Togo/Ghanaian ancestry.
Derrick H. Lewis is an energetic and passionate advisor and entrepreneur.
Derrick H. Lewis
Derrick H. Lewis is an energetic and passionate advisor and entrepreneur. He is a Senior Manager at Ernst & Young and brings over 13 years of experience in entrepreneurial, C-level, operational, human capital, technology, and management consulting roles working with diverse organizations in the public and private sectors. Having grown up in the South Bronx and experiencing firsthand the lack of resources being provided to the poorest part of the United States, Derrick created The Bronx Community Foundation, the first and only public foundation solely dedicated to The Bronx, New York. Continuing his passion for philanthropy, Derrick sits on the Boards of multiple non-profit organizations, including a school he co-founded. He was born and raised in The Bronx, NY to parents from Trinidad and South United States.
Derrick H. Lewis
Derrick H. Lewis is an energetic and passionate advisor and entrepreneur. He is a Senior Manager at Ernst & Young and brings over 13 years of experience in entrepreneurial, C-level, operational, human capital, technology, and management consulting roles working with diverse organizations in the public and private sectors. Having grown up in the South Bronx and experiencing firsthand the lack of resources being provided to the poorest part of the United States, Derrick created The Bronx Community Foundation, the first and only public foundation solely dedicated to The Bronx, New York. Continuing his passion for philanthropy, Derrick sits on the Boards of multiple non-profit organizations, including a school he co-founded. He was born and raised in The Bronx, NY to parents from Trinidad and South United States.
Kevin Bedeau is a product leader and change agent with extensive experience delivering digital solutions and optimizing product operations on behalf of fortune 500 companies, non-profits and startups in the education sector.
Kevin Bedeau
Kevin Bedeau is a product leader and change agent with extensive experience delivering digital solutions and optimizing product operations on behalf of fortune 500 companies, non-profits and startups in the education sector. He is passionate about educational equity and youth development and is currently serving as product consultant to Classroom Inc., a national non-profit offering games and curricula designed to build literacy and P21 skills among middle-school aged youth. Recently, as Product Director for Zinc Learning Labs, an Edtech startup, Kevin led efforts to scale the company’s MVP offering and presided over a seventy percent increase in active usage over two years. Kevin holds a BA in Sociology from Cornell University and is a proud Brooklyn native and resident. He was born and raised in Brooklyn to parents from Trinidad and Barbados and is a proud child of the Caribbean.
Kevin Bedeau
Kevin Bedeau is a product leader and change agent with extensive experience delivering digital solutions and optimizing product operations on behalf of fortune 500 companies, non-profits and startups in the education sector. He is passionate about educational equity and youth development and is currently serving as product consultant to Classroom Inc., a national non-profit offering games and curricula designed to build literacy and P21 skills among middle-school aged youth. Recently, as Product Director for Zinc Learning Labs, an Edtech startup, Kevin led efforts to scale the company’s MVP offering and presided over a seventy percent increase in active usage over two years. Kevin holds a BA in Sociology from Cornell University and is a proud Brooklyn native and resident. He was born and raised in Brooklyn to parents from Trinidad and Barbados and is a proud child of the Caribbean.