Racial Equity in Richmond Podcast

As an entrepreneur and co-founder of the Richmond Night Market, Melody supports small business owners and independent artists in areas to include public relations, marketing and business development.  Melody currently serves the small business community of Richmond, Virginia with a focus on minority and women owned businesses as the Director of Marketing & Communications at the Metropolitan Business League, the Co-founder of The Jackson Ward Collective, a hub for Black business owners and selected partners to share resources, experiences and expertise to build and grow strong, sustainable Black owned businesses in Richmond, VA and as a consultant for the Black Business Opportunity & Investment Study and Virginia Community Capital’s Open For Business Loan Fund. 

Adrienne is a group facilitator, mediator, and community engagement expert. With deep experience in building movements in the non-profit, education, political and entrepreneurship sectors, she has centered her efforts around creative approaches and equitable engagement. 

Her academic training and background in macro level social work, keeps a connection to the wider context as she engages on resolving the toughest human challenges. 

Having served as a Chief of Staff in Congress, and led community-based programs for groups ranging from 500 to 50,000 people, Adrienne’s ability to listen, connect and empathize across traditional barriers make her a remarkable facilitator and conflict resolution expert.

Patrice Shelton is the founder and Executive Director of Hillside Court Partnership, Certified Community Health Worker Senior for Virginia Department of Health/Richmond City Health District. She moved to Hillside Court 2010 where she does her community work today.  She has launched more than 14 groups and teams in Hillside. She is seated on the Board of Commissioner for RRHA, Maggie L. Walker Poverty Board, RVA Thrives, Central VA Legal Aid Society Secretary, Client Council (CVLASCC) and a member of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. She was also a fellow for RMHF 3/2018 to 2/2019. She is a former Board Member of  the following: Hillside Court Resident/Tenant Council President, and the Former Vice President for Richmond Tenant Organization (RTO), Legal Aid Justice Center, and Former President of the Central VA Legal Aid Society Client Council.

Sherrell Thompson is a 42 year old mother of three who has spent the last 9 years working in Gilpin Court. She has a Bachelor Degree in Criminal Justice Administration and is now employed by RRHA. She is also a Certified Community Health Worker. She is a graduate of Leadership Metro Richmond Class of 2020 and on the board of Northside Strong, CHW(Community Health Worker) Association, Richmond Public Schools Head Start Policy Council, and a member of Circles RVA. She loves to travel, have fun, and help others.

Greta J. Harris joined the Better Housing Coalition in August 2013 as President and CEO. Prior to leading BHC, she was vice president for the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), a national nonprofit community and economic development organization where she lead local offices in southern and mid-western regions. Ms. Harris was elected to the board of Markel Corporation in 2021, and appointed to the Virginia Tech University Board of Visitors in 2016. She also serves on the boards of ChamberRVA, the Partnership for Housing Affordability, the Housing Partnership Network and the Richmond Jazz Society. She co-chairs the Commonwealth of Virginia’s bipartisan redistricting commission. 

Laura Lafayette is the Chief Executive Officer of the Richmond Association of REALTORS® and the Central Virginia Regional Multiple Listing Service—two organizations that serve the almost 7,000 REALTORS® in Central Virginia.  Laura also serves as the Executive Director for the Partnership for Housing Affordability.

Within the broader community, Laura serves as a gubernatorial appointee to the Virginia Housing Commission; is the Immediate Past Chair of the Board of Housing Forward Virginia; is the Immediate Past Chair of the Board of the Maggie L. Walker Community Land Trust; and serves on the Boards of ACTS and the Peter Paul Development Center as well as LISC’s Local Advisory Committee and the Vestry of Christ Church Episcopal.  

Ted Elmore is passionate about design, urban spaces, celebrating the richness of Richmond, and bringing people together. After 15 years of practicing corporate finance law, he now leads the ambitious BridgePark project, a community effort to bring a unique gathering, connective, and educational space to the James River and downtown Richmond. Inspired by The High Line in New York City, BridgePark will be a symbol of Richmond's future and a new model for creating public space in America.

Sheri Shannon is the owner and director of Shannon Strategies, a communications firm that specializes in campaigns for the greater good. She also hosts Women and Politics on WRIR, a radio program that spotlights women engaging in politics and their communities.

Sheri is the co-founder of Hull Street Action and Southside ReLeaf, and was also featured as an “Eco Hero” by Glamour magazine. 

She is committed to the fight for environmental and economic justice so everyone has a clean, healthy and safe space to live, work, learn and pray. Sheri is based in the Richmond, Va. area. Connect with her on LinkedIn.

Stephen Wade currently works for the Virginia Department of Social Services on making substance use disorder (SUD) prevention, treatment, and recovery more equitable and accessible, with a particular focus on child welfare systems, housing, and the criminal legal system. Stephen is passionate about providing housing for all that is safe, healthy and affordable by using a health equity lens that empowers and centers communities that have traditionally had the least access to resources and power.

Stephen is also the Vice President of the board of directors of Partnership for Smarter Growth.

Laura Wright is a housing attorney with the Virginia Poverty Law Center (VPLC). 

Using a community lawyering model, Laura works with advocates and organizers to build networks within high eviction neighborhoods to assess the greatest housing needs, provide know your rights trainings, and refer clients to partner organizations for emergency legal assistance. In consultation with effected communities, Laura advocates for state and local policies that improve housing stability, expand access to civil legal services, and produce and preserve affordable housing.

Free Egunfemi Bangura is an independent historical strategist and social entrepreneur from Richmond, VA. In 2013, she founded Untold RVA and Untold Tours to inspire non-traditional audiences with bold typography, audio enhanced street art, and urban exploration.

Bangura has been credited as the originator of the international Commemorative Justice movement. She is a member of Richmond Memorial Health Foundation’s Health Equity Artists cohort, a bureau chief at the United States Department of Arts and Culture, a founding member of the BLK RVA action team, a faculty advisor at Initiatives of Change USA, and the elected chair of Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s History and Culture Commission.

William “Bill” Martin, director of the Valentine, leads over 50 museum staff members in telling the story of Richmond lifestyle and culture.  For more than 20 years, Martin has diversified the Valentine’s programming, expanded Richmond walking tours and group tours, and worked collaboratively in the community to promote city tourism initiatives. Martin holds a B.A. in Urban Studies and an M.A. in Public Administration from Virginia Tech. Following years of experience directing museums in Georgia, Florida, and Virginia, he joined the then-Valentine Museum in 1993 as Director of Marketing and Public Relations. Under his leadership, the institution has expanded civic involvement, developed more than 300 themed tours and raised millions for capital improvements, renovated historic structures and expanded programming.

LaTasha Sherell James is a lifelong Richmond resident who grew up in a shotgun house in a segregated section on Richmond, Virginia’s Northside. After graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University with degrees in literature and print journalism, she wrote feature stories for the Black-owned and now defunct Richmond Voice Newspaper as well as taught writing and literature in Richmond Public Schools. 

She currently resides in Battery Park. If you come around her way, you can find her kicking it with a neighborhood elder. When she’s not around her way, she’s booking a unique Airbnb stay, in an unassuming town off a beaten path. 

Christopher Rashad Green is a community activist, a motivational speaker, and the founder of Free*Dome Unlimited.  He is a formerly incarcerated individual who now, as a political organizer and health-equity advocate, is on a journey to empower men, women, and children in overcoming the challenges and injustices of the criminal justice system. 

Mr. Green works as an organizer for New Virginia Majority where he leads the Court Watch of Central Virginia and serves as a member of the Richmond Food Justice Alliance.

Dr. Chaz comes to us from his newest home in Philadelphia where he will take on research and teaching as a 2021 postdoctoral fellow at the Univ of Penn. Annenberg School of Communication’s Media at Risk program. Prior to this move he is known for his community engagement and public arts practice in Richmond Virginia as a Blackademic, professor, podcaster, and filmmaker. It was here he completed his doctorate in Media, Art, and Text and wrote and directed the Everyday Black Matter film project—which launched from his emerging media hustle Black Matter Productions, LLC. Black Matter meshes Chaz’s intellectual ambitions to blur the lines between academia, the arts, and authentic Black storytelling that is rooted in joy, nuance, and the art of scamming aka conartistry theory. Learn more at BlackMatter.space.