Our final round of panelists will discuss obstacles as black and/or African women, share frameworks of justice and resilience & help scholars prepare for their return home.
Want to submit a question to the panel? E-mail moderator at jes@expandinglives.org
CONSUELLA BROWN
Consuella was recently Acting President and Program Director at the Woods Fund of Chicago. In January 2001, she began her philanthropic career as a Program Officer at the Grand Victoria Foundation. She has served as co-chair of the Leadership in Philanthropy Committee, Affordable Housing Funders Group and Grantmakers Concerned with Poverty. Consuella has also served as a Board of Director at Chicago Women in Philanthropy, the Eleanor Foundation, Action Now Institute and Las Caras Lindas. She is also an advisory committee member for the Workers Center for Racial Justice.
Consuella spent most of her career with the Peace Corps, first as a volunteer in the Marshall Islands and Lesotho and then as a staff member in Swaziland and the Gambia. As an Associate Director for Administration, she helped establish the first Peace Corps program in the Republic of Zambia. In 1996, she completed her tour with the Peace Corps and joined the national Democratic Institute for International Affairs as the County Director in Malawi. In this capacity, she worked closely with members of parliament, political parties, and targeted segments of Malawi’s civil society.
A native of Los Angeles, Consuella holds a master’s degree in political science from Illinois State University and a bachelor’s degree in legal studies/women’s studies from Scripps College.
DANIELLE ACHIAA BOACHIE
Danielle is a queer, non-binary femme and immigrant from the Asante tribe of Ghana. They have a M.A. in Women’s & Gender Studies, and a Certificate in African American & African Diaspora Studies from the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. They have a B.A. in Women’s Studies from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Danielle currently works as a Clinical Case Manager housing chronically homeless families, and is working towards becoming a Certified Sexuality Counselor.
Danielle’s work is informed by queer, African, Marxist feminist theory and activism. Their passions include sexual and reproductive health education, transnational solidarity and decolonization, and the decriminalization of sex work. Danielle is currently writing a book on sex work as a form of healing and reparations for Black womxn.
ALICIA CROSBY
Alicia has always been the type of person to color outside the lines - a trait that comes in handy as the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Center for Inclusivity (CFI). Her passions for justice, spiritually engaged activism, and community engagement led her to pursue a M.A. in Social Justice and Certificate in Non-Profit Management & Philanthropy at Loyola University Chicago. She also has a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies from Hollins University.
Through experiences within religious, social service, and community empowerment contexts and her navigation of the world as a queer, black woman, Alicia saw a need to address the spiritual, systemic, and interpersonal harm people experience through the promotion of inclusion and equity for all people through her work. She is proud that CFI is a place where people can bring the fullness of who they are forward and find community that gives them life.