Cynthia A. Bell

Cynthia is the President and Founder of One Vision, a consulting firm that provides strategic planning and analysis for non-profit organizations in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.  Cynthia is an art collector, a seminarian at Harvard Divinity School and  a founding minister of the Strong Tower Church of Boston, Massachusetts.

Joaquina "Jaqui" Borges King

Jaqui is an attorney who currently practices in Connecticut, as in-house counsel for Northeast Utilities Services Corporation.  She began her legal career in Washington, DC in an international and legislative law practice.  Thereafter, she returned to Connecticut and practiced commercial litigation, municipal and utility law.  She has always been very active with her church, community and alumni associations.  Jacqui received a B.A. in English from Wesleyan University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.  Jacqui is extremely proud of her Cape Verdean heritage, and is fluent in Cape Verdean criuolo and conversant in Portuguese and Spanish.  She enjoys international travel, reading and spending time with her husband and three children. 

Patricia H. Brandes

Pat is Senior Advisor on Strategy to The Barr Foundation. Previously, she was Chief Operating Officer of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay. In both roles she has pioneered initiatives and programs that have been national models including faith-based funding to grass roots ministries, business advocacy for young children's legislation, a loan fund for low-income child care facilities and a fellowship that connects leaders locally and globally. She has served on numerous nonprofit boards and is presently a trustee for Mass Eye and Ear Infirmary, Interaction Institute for Social Change and serves on the Harvard Divinity School Leadership Council.

Aisha Francis

Aisha defines herself as a life-long learner with a heart for education, arts and culture.  She moved to Boston from her hometown of Nashville, TN in 2005, to pursue a career change from teaching to fundraising.  In the process, she uncovered a passion for resource development, which she is happy to share with My Sister’s Keeper, and with United South End Settlements, where she is also a board member.  Aisha works for the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation in the areas of individual giving and donor stewardship to secure philanthropic support for the Kennedy Library’s Education Programs, the Ernest Hemingway Archives, and the New Frontier Awards.  Prior to her time in Boston, she was a Lecturer and Teaching Assistant in Women’s Studies and American Literature at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN.  She holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from Vanderbilt and earned her B.A. at Fisk University.

Sr. Bridget Haase

Sister Bridget, O.S.U. has ministered from the mountains of Appalachia to the desert of Sudan.  She presently serves as coordinator of the spirituality program at The Boston Home, a long-term care facility for people with multiple sclerosis and other chronic degenerative diseases. In addition to numerous articles on spirituality, Sister Bridget has co-authored Enkindled: Holy Spirit, Holy Gifts. She is the author of WELL SAID: Children’s Words of Wisdom and WELL LIVED: Stories of Wisdom and Wonder. Sister is a frequent guest on Boston and out-of-state radio. She gives parish missions and days of reflection. She is committed to the education of children, especially to the Akon village primary girls’ school in the Sudan. She actively involves others in this mission through educational programs and fundraising.

Ashley Lanfer

Ashley is a Program Officer for Strategic Grant Partners, where she develops new initiatives and works with existing organizations to scale proven programs and approaches in education and family services.  Previously, Ashley managed the Heart of the City Project, which showcases urban and natural spaces throughout Boston's innercity neighborhoods.  She has experience with environmental issues facing Africa, having developed land management strategies for East African pastoralists and southern African villiagers during her work with Rehabilitation of Arid Environments Trust in Baringo, Kenya and the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia.

Sarah Cleto Rial

Sarah is the Program Director for My Sister's Keeper. Previously, she was the Community Programs Case Manager for the Lynn Community Health Center of Lynn, Massachusetts, Employment Services Manager for the Catholic Charities Archdiocese of Boston's Refugee and Immigration Services, and the Co-Founder and President of the African Women's Empowerment Group, a nonprofit organization helping immigrant and refugee women to achieve self-sufficiency. A native of southern Sudan, Sarah has a long history of dedication to organizations working to empower women and advocate for peace. Since her arrival in the United States, Sarah has held leadership positions with the American Anti-Slavery Group, the Sudanese Women Alliance and the Fertit Association.

Liz Walker

Liz (http://lizwalkerjourneyproductions.org/lizWbio.html) is an award-winning veterantelevision journalist, an ordained minister, a writer and a filmmaker currentlyin production on her second major project, a documentary called RISE. Directedby Thato Mwosa, an exciting young Film maker from Botswana, RISE tells the story ofSudanese women, members of MSK’S Sisterhood for Peace Project, who are crossingcultural and religious boundaries and putting their lives on the line to workfor a lasting peace in war torn Sudan.  Liz is producing Thato’swork through her non-profit company Liz Walker Journey Productions (http://lizwalkerjourneyproductions.org/index.html).

Melinda E. Weekes

Melinda is an Associate at the Interaction Institute for Social Change in Cambridge, Massachusetts. An attorney, gospel music theorist, and ordained preacher, Melinda serves on the ministerial staff of Bethel A.M.E. Church and on the board of the Boston Urban Youth Foundation.

Gloria White-Hammond

Gloria is the Co-Founder and Co-Pastor of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Boston, Massachusetts, Founding Co-chair of the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur, and Chairwoman of Save Darfur Coalition's "A Million Voices for Darfur" campaign. A pediatrician at the South End Community Health Center since 1981, Gloria serves on various boards including Brigham and Women's Hopspital and Tufts University.

My Sister's Keeper operates under the auspices of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Boston, Massachusetts — a 501c3 tax exempt organization. However, religious faith is neither a prerequisite nor a mandatory feature of the programs of My Sister's Keeper. Yet, it is the bedrock upon which the work was formed, is sustained, and through which community transformation through sisterhood becomes possible.