Carolyne S. Blount
Carolyne S. Blount has been executive editor of ABOUT…TIME Magazine for the past 50 years. A native of Virginia, Carolyne earned her bachelor’s and master’s degree. Former librarian and currently a member of the Gateways African American Classical Music Festival Board of Directors and the Delta Nu Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.
Darien Lamen
Darien Lamen is an educator and media professional with a PhD in the Anthropology of Music from the University of Pennsylvania (2011). From 2017 to 2022, he worked for Rochester Community TV and WXIR Community Radio, where he helped produce the documentary Clarissa Uprooted (2020) and the youth history podcast Black Radio Rochester (2022). He is also active in Rochester’s arts community, and he is an elected board member of Metro Justice.
Ernesta Walker
Ernesta Walker was born and spent most of her early adult years living in Rochester, New York. Walker is a passionate believer that local history should be diverse and inclusive while telling the stories of the great African Americans who have contributed so much to the rich fabric of this community.
Jean C. Pryor
Jean C. Pryor, native of Chester Virginia, has lived in Rochester, New York for over sixty years. Retired from Excellus Blue Cross after thirty plus years. Pryor has volunteered to serve the Rochester area for over thirty years through her work with United Way of Rochester, Toastmasters, AARP lobby for seniors, Eastern Regional, and the Rochester City School District.
Mauricio Marc Coombs
Mauricio Marc Coombs I is a 10th grade English Teacher at Rochester Academy Charter High School. He received his Bachelors in African and African American Studies and Religion from the University of Rochester in 2022 and plans to pursue a PhD in African History in the near future.
Quiana Joseph-Muhammad
Quiana Joseph-Muhammad is the Associate Director of Programs at The Hub 585 and an experienced educator by trade. As a Rochester native, former teacher, and a mother, part of her mission is to level the educational playing field for Black children throughout the Greater Rochester area. She firmly believes in order to know where you are going, you have to know where you came from.
Rodney Allen Young
Rodney Allen Young is the former Coordinator of United Way of Greater Rochester’s African American Leadership Development Program. As a longtime Rochester resident and community advocate, Young has been involved with recruiting, training and placing a diverse population on not-for-profit boards of directors.
Shanterra Mitchum
Shanterra Mitchum is the Director of Programs at the Center for Teen Empowerment Rochester. Shanterra was a Special education teacher and Black Literature instructor in the Rochester City School District for five years and has over fifteen years of experience in youth and program development. Mitchum obtained her bachelor’s degree in adolescent education and history in 2014 and her master’s degree in 2021, focusing on the history of structural racism in Rochester’s housing, employment, and educational systems.
Xavier Holiday
Xavier Holiday, Rochester native and Rochester City School District Educator for over a decade, currently serves as the Second District Assault on Illiteracy Committee Chair for the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated. This committee focuses on improving literacy among Black and Brown youth, expanding its efforts through Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.
