LISC Story Slam 2022

THE COLOR OF IMPACT

Anne Marlie Auguste, graduate of JVS Bridges to Careers program, preparing to enter Bunker Hill Community College as a Business

Studies major.

WELCOME!

Welcome to LISC’s 4th annual LISC Story Slam. Thank you for joining us as we lift up the voices of members of the LISC community and honor inspiring leaders whose vision and impact are forging a stronger foundation for the homes, businesses and communities of tomorrow.

Tonight’s stories respond to the theme “The Color of Impact.” The selections presented by our storytellers reflect the diversity of their experiences and the communities they represent. But this theme also has special resonance with us because of its reference to the racial equity lens we use in our work and to the power and impact found in our communities of color. As we continue to move from urgent crisis response to building a more equitable future together, individuals, businesses, and communities of color must continue to be centered in our collective work. I hope something about tonight’s program inspires you to think about what the color of impact looks like for you.

We also celebrate leaders tonight whose relentlessness, humility, collaboration, creativity, vision and resourcefulness represent best of community development. Their vision and response to crisis and inequity is forging a better future for Massachusetts people, businesses and communities.

On behalf of the LISC team, I am grateful that you chose to be part of tonight’s Story Slam, and humbled by the many partners who choose to discover the color of impact with us. Thank you for your trust and your partnership.

Sincerely,

Karen Kelleher

Executive Director, LISC Boston

Karen Kelleher Executive Director, LISC Boston

Theresa Okokon

TONIGHT’S HOST

Theresa Okokon is a Wisconsinite living in New England, a writer, a storyteller, the co-host of Stories From The Stage, and a 2020 VONA alum. In addition to writing and performing her own stories, Theresa also teaches storytelling and writing workshops and classes, coaches other tellers, hosts story slams, and frequently emcees events for nonprofits. An alum of both the Memoir Incubator and Essay Incubator programs at GrubStreet, she is working on a memoir of essays about memory, family stories, and the death of her father.

Theresa’s essays (and bathroom selfies!) have appeared in midnight & indigo, ELLE, the Independent, WBUR’s Cognoscenti, and Boston.com. Her essay Me Llamo Theresa, published by Hippocampus Magazine, was named among the Top Essays of the Week by Longreads and The Rumpus, and later nominated for a 2020 Pushcart Prize.

Theresa Instagrams gorgeous cocktails, food porn, and pics about Blackness, fatness & her very cute senior dog at @ohh.jeezzz. She believes very seriously in capitalizing the B in Black and the W in White, and you can read more about that here, with Kwame Anthony Appiah.

ABOUT LISC

LISC is one of the country’s largest community development support organizations, but we have deep local roots, having invested more than $440 million in Massachusetts over 40 years.

We prioritize equity in our investments, from affordable housing and workforce development to growing business and connecting community with financing, technical assistance, and resources to build capacity and stability.

LOCAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE (LAC)

Our Local Advisory Committee is comprised of experts from Boston’s philanthropic, community development, and business worlds, along with several of our key funders. Known as the LAC, they provide guidance on crucial programmatic and strategic decisions, as well as support for our undertakings.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Elizabeth Gruber, Chair, Senior Vice President/Relationship ManagerCommunity Development Banking, Bank of America

Alana Murphy, Special Assistant, Mass. Department of Housing and Community Development

Betty Francisco

Chief Executive Officer, Boston Impact Initiative, Co-Founder, Amplify Latinx

Emilio Dorcely, Chief Executive Officer, Urban Edge

Glynn Lloyd, Executive Director, Foundation for Business Equity

Chief Executive Officer, Mill Cities Community Investments (MCCI)

Joseph Kriesberg, Chief Executive Officer, Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations (MACDC)

Lisa Joyner, New England Regional Community Development Manager, TD Bank

Nancy McCafferty, Director of Business Development, Massachusetts Housing Partnership

Natalia Lima, Vice President, Community Development Market Manager, Citizens Bank

Patricia Belden, Executive Vice President, Real Estate Development, The Community Builders, Inc.

Sheila Dillon, Chief of Housing and Director of Neighborhood Development, City of Boston

Soni Gupta, Senior Director, Neighborhoods & Housing, The Boston Foundation

Tracy Corley, Director of Research and Partnerships, Conservation Law Foundation, Inc.

LISC BOSTON STAFF

Karen E. Kelleher, Executive Director

Derek Lumpkins, Deputy Director

Emily Jones, Senior Program Officer, Green Homes and Interim

Silvana Bastante, Assistant Program Officer, Green Homes and Economic Opportunity

Margaret Keaveny, Senior Program Officer, Lending & Investments

Tina Petigny, Senior Program Officer, Economic Opportunity

Doug Ling, Program Officer, Small Business Strong

Victoria Downes, Program Officer, Small Business Strong

Marilyn Sanchez, Assistant Program Officer & Office Manager

Tahirih Ziegler

Senior Vice President, Field Excellence

Thank you for joining us at LISC Story Slam 2022

EVENT PROGRAM

Tonight’s Program Includes

Okokon WELCOME Karen E. Kelleher Executive Director, LISC Boston STORIES BY Nikia Londy Erika Parker-Smith Lei Nichols Keisha Greaves

Brittany Hendricks

EVENT PROGRAM

Tonight’s Program Includes REMARKS

Tahirih Ziegler

LISC Senior Vice President, Field Excellence

LISC COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD

Builders of Color Coalition

Presented by Dariela Villon-Maga and Adler Bernadin

LISC COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP AWARD

Secretary Mike Kennealy

Presented by Karen Kelleher and Larry Andrews,

President and CEO of Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation

Music: Performed by Simpli Whitney and provided by Wally’s Cafe

Catering: Fresh Food Generation, Gourmet Caterers, Mida, Veggie Oasis, ZaZ

Nikia Londy

Nikia Londy is a Hair Augmentation Specialist and the Founder and CEO of Intriguing Hair, a one-stop solution for women from all ethnicities wanting to purchase highquality human hair extensions, hairpieces, and wigs. With over 16 years of experience, she specializes in artificial hair integrations, hair extensions, hair loss, hairpieces and wigs, and non-surgical hair replacement. Nikia holds a BA in Organizational Leadership from Charter Oak State College, received her Cosmetology Certification from Blaine Beauty School, and is a member of the American Hair Loss Council. She recently leveraged LISC financing to purchase a mixed-use building in Hyde Park and was a participant in LISC’s Digital Growth Accelerator Program.

Erika Parker-Smith

Erika Parker-Smith, MFA, is a multi-hyphenate, multi-passionate wild woman, wife, and mother who you’ll find at the intersections of corporate America, grassroots community work, and creative endeavors as a maker and writer. Mrs. Parker-Smith is a career technologist with over two decades of experience across multiple industries. She is also the co-founder/creator of Betty D’Minx - A Pin Up Art Shoppe with her husband, artist/illustrator JP Smith. Somewhere she carves out time to grow her skills and knowledge as a budding Herbalist Apprentice. Currently, she’s evolving, living, and working in Boston, MA.

Lei Nichols

A Chinese-born American woman, Lei Nichols is a small business owner who entered this beautiful country 26 years ago. She had two daughters and an American dream to become a high school teacher. In China, Lei had learned from her grandparents the art of Eastern cultural teas, which are meant to be both thirst quenching and healthy. As a single mother in 2016, Lei opened her business, Wise Mouth Teas, because she wanted to bring the best health, drink, and food to America and to her daughters’ and students’ lives. Facing many struggles in the first year of the pandemic, Lei told herself: “This is not real America.” For Lei, America is a place that has been blessed by her God, and one that has lived in the dreams and stories of many. It is a place she proudly calls her home. Lei and Wise Mouth Teas were former clients in Small Business Strong.

Keisha Greaves

Keisha Greaves, the founder of Girls Chronically Rock, has always been passionate about fashion. Born and raised in Cambridge, MA, Keisha has a bachelor’s degree in Fashion Design and Merchandising and an MBA. At age 24, she was diagnosed with Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy, and her life changed. But far from being bogged down by it, Keisha decided not only to embrace it but to celebrate Muscular Dystrophy and other chronic illnesses, giving life to her dream of starting a fashion line.

Today, Keisha is a motivational speaker who talks about spreading awareness of Muscular Dystrophy, balancing life with chronic illnesses, raising money for causes, advocating for disability, and other related topics. Keisha has been featured in several media outlets like Good Morning America, The Today Show, ABC News, and more!

One of her proudest moments is when she was featured in Today Style Heroes 2018. She was featured with other celebrities like Gabriella Union, Drew Barrymore, Debra Messing, Mindy Kaling, and more, for her inspired clothing line.

Brittany Hendricks

Brittany Hendricks is an interdisciplinary artist native to Mattapan, Massachusetts. After a decade long pursuit of a creative position in corporate retail, an opportunity arose to pursue higher education and vocational training through a partnership program at JVS and MassHire Boston. Brittany is currently completing an Associate’s Degree of Science in Integrated Media Design at Bunker Hill Community College. The artist centers their creative practice around stories that bind the focus, subjects and processes occurring internally and externally. Brittany’s work interacts with time and reality through animated manipulation of motions, materials, and media. They continue to experiment with the boundaries of artistic lexicon to meet the demands of each story.

Text Story Slam to 44321.

to LISC.

Builders of Color Coalition

IMPACT AWARD

The mission of the Builders of Color Coalition is to increase access and diversity in Boston’s commercial real estate sector and to create a generational impact in expanding economic opportunity. BCC envisions a city of vibrant, diverse neighborhoods in which individuals of all backgrounds are able to fully participate in the real estate sector, to build individual and community wealth. To realize this vision, BCC pursues strategic programming to shift practices and culture through multiplier effects, leveraging the capacities of a nimble organization with the will and resources of a powerful industry.

BCC is best suited for this convening and intermediary role, as it is uniquely positioned to support the demands for diversity and inclusion within the industry, paired with local real estate development expertise. The Builders of Color Coalition was founded in 2017 and has since grown rapidly to a network of more than 600 real estate professionals of color, building upon and serving as an umbrella for our 2 predecessor organizations: African American Real Estate Professionals New England, and Minority Developers Association.

Mike Kennealy, Housing and Economic Development Secretary

LISC COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP AWARD

As Secretary of Housing and Economic Development, Mike Kennealy is responsible for advancing the Baker-Polito Administration’s agenda to create economic opportunity for residents, collaborative leadership in communities, an environment that supports job creation and business growth, and new housing for residents through targeted investments. In early 2015, Kennealy joined the Administration as Assistant Secretary for Business Growth. As Assistant Secretary, Kennealy played an integral role in advancing the administration’s strategy for job creation and business development across the entire Commonwealth and provided leadership in key sectors, including serving as co-chair of the board of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center.

Kennealy combines a successful track record in the private sector with a strong commitment to the public good. He began his career in private

equity at TA Associates, a Boston-based firm. After his career in private equity, Kennealy spent two years as Special Advisor to the Receiver at Lawrence Public Schools, where he worked with the state-appointed superintendent/receiver on strategic and financial initiatives to support the school district’s turnaround plan.

Kennealy and his family live in Lexington, Massachusetts, where they have been highly involved in town government, education and youth sports. He previously served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees at St. John’s Prep in Danvers and currently serves on the Board of Visitors for The Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and the Social Sciences at Dartmouth College.

Kennealy received a A.B. in Government from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Big hearts deserve a big hand.

We applaud you for all the truly meaningful work you do in our community.

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in What

WHY DONATE AND HOW

Our supporters believe in what LISC can do. With your support, we are able to provide needed financing and technical assistance to organizations and small business owners throughout the Commonwealth--fostering stability in communities and prioritizing equity and partnerships every step of the way. Read more about LISC’s impact in Massachusetts and what we are up to in the pieces featured below.

Boston

the Impact of

Sponsorship

With a CITC gift, you receive $500 back for every $1,000 you invest in LISC Boston and the communities we serve. If the tax-deductible donation portion of your contribution is more than $1,000, you may be eligible for the Community Investment Tax Credit (CITC). Massachusetts residency or tax liability is not required. For more, visit www.lisc.org/citc.

GOOD INSPIRES

Eastern Bank is committed to recognizing the good in our communities and celebrating the work of LISC

We proudly support the 4TH ANNUAL STORY SLAM

Congratulations to The Builders of Color Coalition and Secretary Mike Kennealy

Member FDIC

Klein Hornig is proud to support LISC Boston’s 4th Annual Story Slam.

The Kraft Family

are proud to support

THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR SPONSORS VISIONARY CHAMPION PARTNER

Edward M. Doherty

SUPPORTER

FRIENDS OF LISC

STORY SLAM

Here for the dreamers, the doers and the builders.

Whether you’re building a business, a home or a nest egg, we’re ready to help.

Needham Bank is proud to support the

Silicon Valley Bank is proud to support LISC Boston

LISC is the program manager for Small Business Strong.