CROWN Campaign Co-Founders

Dr. Bernice B. Rumala

Dr. Bernice B. Rumala is Co-Founder for the CROWN Campaign, an effort aimed at ending discrimination and injustice locally and globally, including hair discrimination.  With more than 15 years of experience, Dr. Rumala earned a PhD and three masters degrees from Columbia University and served as a Fogarty-Fulbright and Harvard Fellow.  She has contributed her interdisciplinary expertise as a change agent in the public, private, academic and international sectors.  As a former senior consultant for the United Nations, her areas of interest and expertise include equity, health equity, social justice, diversity, inclusion, discrimination, interdisciplinary-programming, advocacy, community engagement, and systems transformation.  Dr. Rumala has lived experience of the ongoing challenges of severe inequities and the detrimental impacts to individuals and communities, specifically vulnerable communities and communities of color.  This is unacceptable to her and should not be the norm.  Dr. Rumala also considers herself a global citizen based on international experiences in more than thirty countries. She has had global experiences in stable regions as well as regions impacted by war, conflict, and instability, including Iraq where she worked for the United Nations. She continues to contribute her expertise as a global and local leader, consultant, and, is the Founding CEO of the Change Agent Firm. 

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​Shemekka Ebony Coleman, MS, Co-Founder I Am Brilliant and the CROWN Campaign, Raleigh, NC
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Shemekka Ebony is a 100 Million Healthier Lives Health and Racial Equity leader and a Johns Hopkins’ Health Policy Research Scholars Leadership Coach, an initiative funded by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Shemekka is committed to expanding awareness about policy transformation in the areas of hair discrimination, racial equity, health equity, and economic equity with marginalized communities and emphasis with Black Women. I Am Brilliant is her flagship organization and engagement strategy dedicated to connecting all the threads that weave through communities in order to provide people better access, honor their experiences, and institute best practices for sustainable partnerships. She consults several Community and National organizations for best practices in community engagement. She also serves as state advisor to North Carolina Black Women’s Roundtable as well as convener of Black Women vendors and entrepreneurs seeking economic power and inclusion through her Black Girl Magic Market platform. Her life's work guides her community engagement expertise with I Am Brilliant & the CROWN Campaign.

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Core Team Experts

Crystal Monique Richardson, Esq.

Dr. Manka Nkimbeng

J.B. Afoh Manin, Esq.

CROWN Campaign Village

The CROWN Campaign consists of a growing village of grassroots advocates across the nation in academia, business, journalism, policy, research, health, law, the arts, and community.

Thank you to our growing village for contributing your expertise! 
We are all in this together
We can not do this alone
And because of you we are ending discrimination 
One City at a time
One State at a time
One Country at a time

Meet Our Inaugural CROWN Campaign Fellow
​Karla Arroyo is our 2020 inaugural CROWN Campaign fellow. She is currently pursuing her master's degree at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism. Throughout her studies, she will be focusing on women with natural hair and how they can exist in the workplace. She is a CROWN Act supporter and will be using the legislation as the basis for her work. Karla is currently a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and serves as the secretary for her school's chapter. She is very active and also a runner. She ran her first NYC marathon in 2019 and will be participating in more races in 2020.

Karla is Dominican and born and raised in Washington Heights, NY. She currently resides in The Bronx.

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