Testiimonials & Partners

Testimonials

Martha is AMAZING at helping incoming university students build community and understand complex issues of diversity. Her work with our students is ALWAYS a highlight of their first-year experience. -Tammie King-Kelly, Director Towson University Center for Student Diversity

I have found the smaller groups/breakout rooms has led to more in depth discussions that I did not have the year before. The conversations and topics connecting equity to Problem Based Learning and Ready 4 Rigor framework have made see what is possible in engaging scholars. -Abril M., Elementary Teacher

Wow- I've learned more in this PLC than the 10+ years of all my plc's combined. You simplify things without being condescending. You make things less overwhelming. You make learning hard things fun.

-Bill K. , Middle School Teacher

What is being said about Encore:

Martha certainly has the knowledge and experience needed to teach cultural fluency. What makes her unique is the ability to provide the right balance of challenge and support. There was no judgment in our sessions with our executive team. Only learning, reflection and authentic discussion. The experience has been well worth the investment and we are just getting started!

-David Solomon, CEO Lightspeed, A Learning Company

I am an elementary licensed teacher and the PLC practices that I have been able to incorporate into my lessons have been to not reach for perfection. Incorporating time to check in with students through SEL activities and drawing prompts has shown me that to start differentiating my practice, I needed to start asking reflective questions to understand my own reasonings. -Jen D., Elementary Teacher

I like the practical ideas and theoretical content presented. -Kathleen T., High School Teacher

Thank you for the insightful treasures you are giving us with diversity training. You are opening my eyes to so many challenges which quite frankly I don't experience so need help in understanding. It will be a long road, but one filled with opportunities to become a better company and better people.

-Tom Koller, VP Research and Development

Mark Brown, World Champion Public Speaker

Mark shares his experience hearing Dr. Martha James speaking at the annual conference for the Maryland Association of Boards of Education, sharing her thoughts on equity and excellence in leadership.

To request Dr. James to speak at your institution or event, please send us a note here!

Partners

Jacinto A. Ramos, Jr. is a

national, state, and community leader. He is a proven leader on educational policy, racial/ethnic equity and school board governance. Jacinto is the national chair of the 2019-2021 Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE), on the National School Boards Association (NSBA) board of directors, serves on the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) board of directors as well as the president of the Mexican American School Boards Association (MASBA).

Born and raised on the North Side of Fort Worth, Jacinto is a product of immigrant parents from Mexico, devoting countless hours to the cause of providing a voice to the disengaged and the disenchanted youths of today. He is a former co- director of the Multicultural Alliance’s Camp CommUNITY, an affiliate of Courageous Conversations About Race, and part of the inaugural 2019 Accelerating Board Capacity (ABC) Institute through Harvard Business School. Bridging the silos of activism, leadership, and community engagement, Jacinto earned a spot on the Fort Worth Independent School District's School Board of Trustees in June, 2013. Two years later, he reached a historic milestone becoming the youngest board president from Fort Worth ISD. On May 28, 2019, he was selected by his colleagues to take the lead once again as the chair of the board. He is on track to complete his Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and Administration 2020.

Joel Bolling, M.A. serves as the Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. In this role, Bolling is responsible for advancing inclusion, diversity, anti-racism, and equity strategies for the Bloomberg School. He works collaboratively to increase the recruitment, retention, and mentorship of faculty and students from underrepresented and underservebackgrounds. He coordinates initiatives to ensure that all students, post-doctoral fellows, faculty, staff, alumni, community members and all people who engage with the Bloomberg School are valued, respected, and nurtured, inclusive of their identities.

Prior to joining the Bloomberg School, Bolling supported diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice efforts at various higher education institutions, most recently Towson University where he served as Senior Director of the Center for Student Diversity and Adjunct Faculty in the School of Education.

Bolling earned his Bachelor’s from the University of Nevada, Reno in Biology with a minor in Cultural Anthropology. He went on to earn a Master’s in Educational Leadership, also from the University of Nevada, Reno. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate (A.B.D.) in Organizational Development and Leadership with a specialization in Organizational Diversity at The University of Arizona-Global Campus.

Francesca Weaks is the Health Policy and Research Manager for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She has been a Community Health Researcher and Health Policy Practitioner for over 10 years

focusing on social determinants of health policies in communities of color. Her areas of

research examine the intersection of racism and health in civil rights law & policy, health care reform, and racial bias in community health development. As a researcher by training and a policy advocate and practitioner by experience her work at the NAACP is focused on advocating for equitable community health policies by addressing systematic racism and health disparities.

With a background in health education and promotion her passion lives in building healthy communities through addressing disproportionate conditions, education & promotion on individual and community behavior change, and speaking up on behalf of disadvantaged communities. As an operations guru she loves to

strategize and implement sustainable resources and programs for communities of color with partnering organizations.

Francesca is the founder and Executive Director of The Genevieve Strategies Group LLC, an organization that focuses on racial equity policy research and the implementation of policies that impact communities of color.

Dr. Brian Culp is an educator and researcher based outside of Atlanta, Georgia who has over 20 years of experience assisting communities across the globe in in their efforts to eradicate health disparities. Dr. Culp’s work focuses on providing a deeper understanding of why people move in communities along with contributing design ideas for programs that intentionally seek to empower marginalized populations. He has worked with organizations such as SHAPE America, Physical Education Health Education Canada, The Centers for Disease Control, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, as well as community groups in the U.S., Africa, Canada, and the Dominican Republic. A recipient of numerous awards, Dr. Culp is a Fellow of the National Association for Kinesiology in Higher Education and Fulbright Scholar.

Frank Sentwali is owner/operator of BMF Enterbrainment Llc. and the co-creator of Edu-Poetic Enterbrainment, “Educational Poetic Entertainment for Da Brain aimed at those who can’t maintain yet”. Sentwali began live performance in Hip-Hop at age 13 and since has toured and performed around the globe.

Along with his performance and production experience, Sentwali has spent years in the education system as a tutor, teacher, and mentor. This multi-faceted arts-educator currently facilitates S.E.E.D. (Sentwali Entertainment Education Division), and as an artist-in-residence. He is a presenter of Spoken Word and cultural diversity workshops, residencies, and performance programs. a. In 2011 Frank Sentwali was named COMPAS MN Teaching Artist of the Year.

Julie Richards brings over 20 years of leadership, curriculum design, staff training/development, and program implementation through evaluation to conversations rooted in equitable family and youth development. Professional experiences across juvenile justice, children’s mental health, and public and private education, have given Julie the comprehensive lens necessary to help organizations create equitable and sustainable programming. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Howard University in English and Secondary Education. Julie also has a Master’s degree in Education Policy, Organization and Leadership with a focus on Diversity and Equity from University of Illinois, Champagne-Urbana.

Currently, Julie is the Youth and Community Initiatives Coordinator with the Brooklyn Bridge Alliance for Youth, while also running her own consulting business, Inquire, Decipher, Progress LLC. Clients requesting organizational development focused on inclusion and anti-racist systemic change include Saint Paul Public Schools, Metropolitan Alliance of Connected Communities, Minnesota

Alliance on Crime, YMCA, Ramsey County and others. She is also a partner in a behavior Intervention business, SELBI LLC.

A trusted advisor and vision strategist, Niquelle Cotton has worked with talented clients providing research-based solutions to improve the way the world learns. With over 30 years of Sales, Marketing and Communications experience in private and public-sector markets, Niquelle has delivered custom engagements where the cross-pollination of systemic effectiveness, financial acumen, political and regional experience were demanded. Her passion is to cultivate and nurture unique, equity-centered, opportunities that celebrate intentional and healthy lanes of growth for underserved populations and that in turn, inspire public/private partnerships.

Her vision is that this will ultimately plant seeds for urban renewal. Before launching her own consulting firm, Niquelle was the Director of BrightBytes, a research, and data analytics company, engaging states and districts across the east coast to remove the barrier of technology with a focus on underserved markets, through simplification, automation, and ultimately interoperability.

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