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Our Executive Board

Leverage Wisdom, Resilience,
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. 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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

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 multi-platinum 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 Gian Arthur] 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

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

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

Derrick H. Lewis is an energetic and passionate advisor and entrepreneur. He is a Senior Vice President at Liberty Mutual and brings over 15 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

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, nonprofits 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.

Jay L. Taylor

Jay L. Taylor, Esq. is a corporate and finance lawyer with 30 years of experience representing companies, funds and individuals around the globe in complex corporate and financial matters. Mr. Taylor is currently a partner at the law firm, Anderson Kill P.C., where he serves as the national chair of its corporate and finance practice group. He also co-chairs the firm’s sports media and entertainment group. Until recently, Mr. Taylor owned and managed Taylor Louis LLP, a boutique Wall Street law firm with a strong history and reputation of representing many in the African-American community seeking to start and build new companies, investment funds, tech start-ups and a host of programs and projects, including non-profit entities focused on social justice and equity programs, such as Sankofa.org (a Belafonte non-profit organization), the Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation (for the wrongfully accused), and investment funds and companies focused primarily on African-American and depressed community health and welfare solutions. He has advised African companies throughout the Continent on a variety of business, finance and cross-border issues.

Jay is a graduate of Howard University in Washington D.C., with a B.A. in Political Science and minor in Economics. He earned his Juris Doctorate from The Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law. He's also a former Airman in the Naval Reserves. He is married to Afia Apraku, daughter of Ghana's former finance minister and well-known economist, Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku, who has sought to revitalize the country by espousing the establishment of a strong manufacturing sector and the elimination of government corruption.

Danei Cesario

Danei is an internationally licensed architect, project manager, and public speaker. Equipped with exceptional communication and organizational skills, she thrives in both team-oriented and self-directed environments, diligently managing design from parti to post-occupancy. She is currently an Associate at SOM, leading dynamic mixed-use development, healthcare + wellness projects.

With over a decade of experience, Danei leverages a depth of construction understanding to deliver projects that balance operational efficiencies, building performance, design team coordination, and fiscal realities. Her aptitude for managing the execution of multifaceted healthcare projects has led to broad system-wide improvements, as well as highly detailed technical spaces. Most recently, she has directly benefited multiple projects for Mount Sinai, NYU Langone Health and New York City Health + Hospitals Corporations. Her work has been a significant factor in repeat partnerships.

Beyond the office, Danei’s passion for architecture and advocacy has led her to becoming a champion for design professionals and a sought-after speaker. Her experience working in diverse, global environments has yielded speaking engagements at numerous conferences and private sector events, including the United Nations, SXSW, Royal Institute of British Architects, AIA National Conference and the New York Building Congress.

Danei served as Chair of AIA New York’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee for over five years. She currently serves on the AIA New York State Board and as a contributor/ ambassador to national and international organizations such as the United Nations, the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, Parlour, Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust and nycobaNOMA Executive Board. As a core member of these groups, Danei is dedicated to fostering Mentorship, Sponsorship and Leadership among the diverse design community as they navigate their careers within architecture and beyond. She founded WALLEN + daub to expand on these principles.

Alexys Feaster

Alexys Feaster is a seasoned strategic leader with over 20 years of experience in the holistic development and elevation of athletes, entertainers, and people of influence. Her work involves providing clients with coaching and resources beyond their respective platforms and collaborating on how to engage as leaders in business, community and as advocates for social impact on an individual, collective and global scale. In 2021, Feaster founded The Kinship Advisors, to aid in building an ecosystem of household names in diverse leadership, entrepreneurship and business, to create economic mobility and opportunities for social advancement.

Through The Kinship Advisors, Feaster manages the multi-million-dollar social impact fund for 2021 NBA Champion and Olympic gold medalist, Jrue Holiday and his wife, 2x Olympic gold medalist, Lauren Holiday; in addition to leading the strategic legacy building for various NBA All-Star players focused on the impact. Since 2021, over 190 Black-owned businesses and non-profits have received over $5M in unrestricted grant funding and over 400 hours of mindset and business coaching through her efforts.

Prior to The Kinship, Feaster spent six years at the NBA as the Senior Director of Player Development. Her work focused on helping over 450 NBA players off the court, and NBA team staff, by creating programs and initiatives to enhance life skills and leadership development - from financial literacy programs to transitioning to life after basketball and tools to strengthen families. Seen as the “NBA’s Other Coach,” Feaster’s mission was to empower player voices off the court as well as strengthen the ecosystems that surround them. Feaster was the innovator behind the NBA voter registration initiatives; ultimately reporting a 96% voter registration rate amongst all eligible NBA players by the November 2020 presidential election. Feaster was also the mastermind behind the engagement strategy for President Obama’s reelection campaign, creating various political and social good digital campaigns including Alicia Keys’ “We Are a Powerful Force,” the NFL’s “Gotta Vote,” and Jay-Z’s “The Power of Our Voice.” She also managed the national outreach strategy for over 100 professional athletes, including fundraising efforts like the Obama Classic, raising over $3.5M for the campaign.

Dana M. Reed

Dana Reed is an Impact Investor and Advisor with 25 years of experience in financial services. She is the Founder & CEO of Nyansapo Impact Capital, an advisory firm specializing in African and African American SME’s. Previously, Dana was the CEO of PanAfrican Investment Co., a New York-based private investment firm whose mission was to make an impact in Africa by identifying and investing in African SME’s that promote growth and development in the region. The portfolio companies spanned the industries of education, health care, manufacturing and technology in sub-Saharan African countries. Dana takes a Profit with a Purpose approach, investing with a public sector heart and a private sector mind to produce competitive investor returns while creating impact in developing economies in Africa and the U.S. through job creation, improved healthcare, improved education, increased agriculture yields and automation technologies, to name a few.

Dana is a Founding Trustee of The Africa Center; a business, policy and cultural institution for contemporary Africa located in Harlem, New York. At the Board’s request, Dana stepped in as Interim CEO to provide leadership and operational expertise at a critical juncture in the project. During that time, she led the $50mm capital campaign, developed relationships with Heads of State/dignitaries/business and cultural representatives in Africa and the U.S. The project is now funded and on schedule for the roll-out of its global mission for the Diaspora. After serving as Interim CEO for two years, she returned to the Board and remains an active Trustee.

Prior to starting PIC, Dana was a Managing Director at Semper Capital, a structured credit asset management company with $2.0 billion assets under management. She previously was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan and she began her career as a Fellow at the Export-Import Bank of the U.S. Dana is the Financial Advisor to: Uncharted Power, a renewable energy company that provides off-grid energy solutions in the U.S. & Africa; 3852i, a U.S. biotech company using AI technology to develop combination drug therapies; Wealth8, a Nigerian & U.K. based wealth management firm whose technology platform connects people of African heritage with wealth and investment opportunities; Boustead Beef, a beef manufacturer in Zimbabwe; Sustainable Growers Rwanda, an East African NGO female coffee cooperative. She received a BBA in International Business from Howard University and a MBA from Howard University.

Dana is a frequent speaker both in Africa and the U.S. She is active in her home community where she is a member of Abyssinian Baptist Church and is active in local political campaigns. She lives in Harlem with her 17 year old twin boys who enjoy traveling to Africa with her and joining her in her non-profit work in Harlem and other underserved communities in Africa and the U.S.

Vivian Afia Taylor

Afia (Vivian) Apraku-Taylor is a financial industry and insurance specialist currently residing in Maryland. She has developed and currently operates an online training and education business targeting financial and insurance professionals nationwide.

Afia has trained thousands of agents over the years as a CLE provider for the state of Maryland. She also sits on the Advisory Board for the Maryland Insurance Commissioner. She has been a licensed financial and insurance professional for over a decade. In her work as “Field Director of Insurance Sales,” for a major company, she led teams to millions of dollars in sales - despite the challenges many agents faced during the pandemic.

She increased business revenue significantly through leadership of professional sales representatives to drive high volume sales and has received numerous awards and accolades, including Top 15 Sales Director (2020) in a division of over 2,000 sales agents.Originally born in Ohio, Afia moved back to Ghana with her parents’ when she was very young. She spent her formative years in Accra as her father served as Minister for Trade and Industries and as a Cabinet Member for the President of Ghana. Afia later left Ghana for school in Illinois. She later moved to the D.C.,.Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) area to excel in her financial advisory and insurance career.

She currently lives in Maryland with her husband Jay Taylor and their two sons. Afia also enjoys acting as local guide on trips to Accra Ghana where she has volunteered to take small groups of individuals on leisure trips to experience its culture and history.