In 2023, Shanaya was one of the 16 leaders selected to represent the Twin Cities region as part of the prestigious Minnesota Young American Leaders Program cohort. She holds professional certifications from University of St. Thomas Executive Education. In 2020, she led youth programming for Twin Cities nonprofit, The BrandLab, which was honored as a Standout Diversity Program and highlighted in Forbes. Shanaya has been awarded competitive opportunities and grant funding for her artistic and community endeavors from the Minnesota Humanities Center, American Craft Council, Minnesota State Arts Board, and Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. 

As Chief Strategic Engagement Officer, Niila oversees the development of the AALF volunteer network with the core strategies of network management, network insights and leadership development. She was promoted to the Vice President/Officer role in 2022, after joining AALF in 2021 as a Senior Program Director.

Niila is passionate and energetic community leader who has worked with nonprofit organizations  for more than 15 years. She carries a zest for developing collective strategies to increase community access, wealth and opportunities. Highly skilled in creating partnerships, Niila centers her work on being a catalyst for transformative change, through collaborative engagement. She also carries a wealth of experience as a DEI trainer, bringing the core values of equity, inclusion and justice in what she advocates for Black and LGBTQ+ communities.

Niila is a graduate of Cal State Long Beach University, majoring in communications and Black studies. In addition to her bachelor’s degree she holds CVA (Certified Volunteer Administrator) and CPPM (Certified Professional Project Manager) certifications. Niila currently serves on the boards of the MN Alliance for Volunteer Advancement and Until We Are All Free.

As Chief Insights Officer, Leondra oversees market research, data analysis and public policy. As a public historian, researcher and educator Leondra has been responsible for producing relevant insights about Black communities for 20 years. Passionate about the intersectionality of race and class, she is most concerned about the systems that delimit Black power, equity and justice.

Prior to joining AALF Leondra was the CEO of WoMN ACT, a Minnesota nonprofit, from 2019-2022. She is recognized as a nonprofit management expert and has worked with the Minnesota Humanities Center, National Endowment for the Humanities and several UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Leondra has taught History, Black Studies and English at the college level. A published author too, she has written several articles on the inequity of the dominant narrative.

A mental health advocate, her voice is often sought out to comment on the stigmatization of mental health conditions, systems change and DEIA initiatives. Leondra is a board member of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and a former board member of Turning Point. She holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Howard University and is ABD from Kent State University.

As Chief Innovation Officer, Gabrielle oversees the organization’s work of building transformative solutions to systemic inequities. She leads the newly created Innovation and Design team, a breakthrough unit that utilizes multiple design models to create advanced solutions in building out AALF’s Black Agenda For Change.

Prior to joining AALF, Gabrielle was the Managing Director at Juxtaposition Arts, a North Minneapolis nonprofit youth art and design education center. A visionary artist, she led JXTA for five years as a contemporary change agent and relational builder.  In her work, Gabrielle thrives by generating strategic thought, recognizing through partnerships that complex social problems can be solved. She brings a wealth of already existing relationships to AALF along with her successful track record of implementing innovative change.

Dr. Catherine R. Squires joins AALF having recently retired as Associate Dean of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and is Professor Emerita of Communication Studies, at the University of Minnesota. She is the author of multiple books and articles on media, race, gender, and politics, including Dispatches from the Color Line (2007), The Post-Racial Mystique (2014) and the edited collection Dangerous Discourses: Feminism, Gun Violence & Civic Life (2016).

Dr. Squires has engaged in multiple Twin Cities community partnerships to uplift and share local Black histories, support BIPOC youth writers, share accessible yoga practices and facilitate intergenerational story sharing over the last 15 years. Named a Bush Fellow in 2017, her fellowship focused on understanding intergenerational trauma, culturally relevant healing practices, embodied story sharing and gentle movement.  Through these explorations Dr. Squires became a certified yoga instructor creating writing practices for healing and reconnection.

She earned her PhD in Communication Studies from Northwestern University. Prior to that, she was a doctoral fellow in the Center for Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 1999 Dr. Squires began her first faculty position at the University of Michigan. She moved to Minnesota in 2007 to be the inaugural Cowles Professor of Journalism, Diversity & Equality at the University of Minnesota’s School of Journalism & Mass Communication.

With a decade of experience in the nonprofit sector, Adora directs the organization’s development strategies that create leadership pipelines to drive collective action. She manages the critically acclaimed Josie R. Johnson Leadership Academy [JRJLA] as well. Adora completely revamped the Academy’s curriculum in 2022, which attracted a record number of applicants to the program for the 2022-2023 cohort. Dr. Johnson herself served as the cohort’s opening speaker.

Adora is the driving force behind the growth and popularity of the JRJLA, along with it being named, “One of the finest leadership academies in the Midwest.” In 2022 she launched a leadership webinar series for AALF called GRIT: Grow. Reflect. Inspire. Transform. Adora also served as webinar host for this leadership series. 

She stays active as a community volunteer throughout the Twin Cities, and hails from the St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood. Adora is passionate about developing strategies to increase community wealth and is a firm believer that collective work is the best way to generate opportunities for community. She holds a master’s degree in Public and Nonprofit Administration from Metropolitan State University.

As Managing Director of Policy Impact, Amber leads the organization in developing AALF’s policy initiatives and advocacy priorities, through coalition building and policy entrepreneurship. During the state legislative session each year, she spends a bulk of her time at the capital in St. Paul speaking to legislators and advancing AALF’s policy directives. She has extensive experience in community organizing, governmental advocacy, and systems change.

Prior to joining AALF, Amber was a policy advisor to MN Governor Tim Walz and Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan, where she managed policy and legislative relations on public safety and criminal justice reform. Plugged-in and familiar with state politics, Amber is a frequent point of contact for community influencers who are seeking the latest information about state government.

Amber is a 2015 Josie R. Johnson Leadership Academy Fellow and holds a bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Minnesota. She’s currently studying for her master’s degree at Luther Seminary, and serves as a podcast host for “Revival,” a show dedicated to helping Christians advance justice and liberation in Minnesota.

As Director of Institutional Giving, Kenneth manages AALF’s initiatives in generating new partnerships and business. Well-plugged into the Twin Cities community and a 14-year veteran of economic development in the nonprofit sector, Kenneth has been instrumental in AALF diversifying its donorship base and landing new funding. He has created unique models at AALF, offering donors innovative ways to pledge their financial support.

Kenneth always has a smile and is a gregarious engaging gentleman. He was a fellow of AALF’s Josie R. Johnson Leadership Academy (Class of 2019), and thrives at building professional relationships. Kenneth is a successful entrepreneur as well and lends his hand to numerous charities in the Twin Cities.

He serves as AALF’s point person in the annual funding drive, Give to the Max, and plays a key role in the organization’s grant-writing. Prior to landing at AALF, Kenneth served as the Donor Relations Manager at the Northside Achievement Zone (NAZ).

Karen joined AALF in Spring 2023 as a member of the newly created Innovation and Design and team. As a Design Strategist, she works immersively with her team in utilizing insights and innovative solutions to design projects centered on Black people and communities, to advance racial equity.

A sociocultural anthropologist by training, Karen has conducted extensive cross-cultural research in Latin America at the intersections of resource extraction, race and class. Through a commitment to the deep understanding of local networks and community cultures, she specializes in building strong relationships with diverse communities and stakeholders. Karen’s cultural bridge-building skills benefit her immensely in her role at AALF.

An Anthropology PhD graduate from the University of Minnesota, she holds minors in Heritage Studies & Public History and Feminist Critical Sexuality Studies. Karen also has her master’s degree in Anthropology from the UMN, along with her bachelor’s degree from Beloit College, where she double majored in Anthropology and English Literature, minoring in Spanish.

Jessica joined AALF in April 2023. She and Karen Bauer came onboard the same day following an extensive search for two accomplished Design Strategists. In her role, Jessica works collaboratively with the newly created Innovation and Design team in bringing insights and innovative Black-led solutions to persistent social issues.

Drawing on her expertise in Black-centered design, Jessica aims to center and embed the voices of Black Minnesotans in power structures, processes and the culture of systems. Her approach is based in a strong belief communities most affected by long-standing patterns of inequity hold the solutions to dismantle the forces of oppression.

Prior to joining AALF, Jessica founded and led the consulting firm Designing for Equity. While there she utilized equity-centered design to create spaces for excluded and marginalized student populations in leading decision-making for college campuses. She transfers those skills and much more to AALF in advancing a Black agenda rooted in the genius of Black Minnesotans.

Jessica is a PhD candidate at the University of Minnesota studying Higher Education. She completed her undergraduate degree in Youth Studies at the UMN. She received her Master of Social Work degree from the University of Michigan.

Cassandra joined AALF as an accountant at the start of 2023. She brings 17 years of experience in financial management, bookkeeping and accounting functions. Maintaining an active MN Certified Public Accounting license, Cassandra has a passion for streamlining financial systems and maintaining efficiency of accounting procedures.

As a business owner, she has worked with clients across a diversity of spectrums in educating them about finances and assisting them in the reconciliation of their finances come tax time. With a keen eye for numbers, transactions and tax law, Cassandra is a specialist in creating effective solutions along with financial expediency. She also offers her time to work with youth and young entrepreneurs, in order for them to ensure success in their startup ventures along with self-sufficiency.

Cassandra is an alumna of the Accounting and Business, Human Resource Management program at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota.