EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Precious J. Stroud is a recent American Express Leadership Academy fellow at CBMA and Northern California Grantmakers Inaugural Communications Cohort member. Precious helps organizations increase their market position by telling the right stories at the right time. Leading creative teams toward storytelling with an asset-based lens, PJS Consultants will secure press, increase funding, and tell inspirational stories that lead stakeholders to action.

Precious has a big vision to shift the marketing landscape toward inclusion and she is an exceptional listener—a superpower of sorts. Her lifelong learning includes working her way through college, earning a B.S. in Business Administration from California State University, East Bay, and serving more than 18 years as a marketing strategist, project manager, training facilitator, and coach to educational institutions and nonprofit leaders.

DIRECTOR, PROGRAMS

E’rika Chambers is a historian, researcher, educator, and lifelong learner. Originally from San Francisco, E’rika now resides in North Carolina. With over 30 years of experience in education, she has worked with students aged 5 through 24 throughout her career. E’rika is exceptionally gifted at team building and empowering others.

E’rika holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership for Social Justice from California State University, East Bay. Her life is centered around her faith, family, and community. She enjoys physical activity, hiking, swimming, and bowling and finds peace by visiting the ocean, lakes, and green spaces. She envisions a world where everyone is healed from their traumatic experiences, has uncovered the genius living inside them, and is walking in their purpose, thriving in their own life.

MANAGER, COMMUNICATIONS & PROGRAMS

Atlanta-born and Oakland-based, Afiya “Fi.” Williams is a mission-driven impact producer, entrepreneur, educator, and visionary working to empower and liberate Black women and people of color through art, joy, education, and community. She has worked over 15 years in nonprofit spaces, developing programming, facilitating global conversations, empowering leaders, cultivating networks through communications, and hosting transformative experiences that uplift and inspire.

Afiya is the founder and visionary of WildFiya, a boutique restorative wellness company that curates events, experiences, and tools for Black and Brown womxn to play, learn, and self-discover.. Among other adventures, Afiya has traveled to remote places for art making, learned to make chocolate on a cacao farm, and driven across the country twice so far.

Supporting her in-depth and hands-on experiences, Afiya holds a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from New York University and Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and English from Smith College.

MANAGER, COMMUNICATIONS

Bay Area born and raised, Cathy Barragan has 15+ years of experience developing and executing strategic marketing plans for non-profit organizations. She has successfully led rebranding efforts for organizations, including the Oakland Schools Foundation (now the Oakland Public Education Fund) and the Children's Creativity Museum (formerly Zeum).

Cathy’s commitment to community, education, and the arts has taken her abroad, where she has helped to develop artists' residencies in Mammola, Italy, and provided direct support in the classroom of an orphanage in Morelia, Mexico.

Cathy has garnered press coverage in the Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, The Today Show and Wired Magazine. She is a Webby Award honoree for her work as the Marketing Director of creativity.org.

WRITER, EDITOR

dana e. fitchett, founder, and director of Movement for Liberation, is a transdisciplinary artist who teaches movement classes; choreographs; makes visual art, music, and plant-based foods; and freelances as a justice- and truth-focused writer, writing coach, and editor. dana seeks and finds endless lessons in study of the African diaspora, literature, human engagement, and the entire natural world, and splits time between Oakland, Brooklyn, and Boston.

Her voice and perspectives are informed by a deep listening practice and complex and diverse life experiences, including over a decade of work in K-12 education and nonprofits. dana holds a bachelor's degree in urban studies from Vassar College and a master’s of fine art in interdisciplinary art from Goddard College. All of her pursuits are unified by an explicit concern for moving our individual and collective realities closer to liberation.

Board President

Founding Executive Director, BlackFemaleProject

Board Vice President

Chief of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging, UC Berkeley School of Public Health

Board Treasurer

Stuart Foundation, Partnerships Manager

Board Secretary

Director, Program Practice and Innovation, Council for Opportunity in Education