HOW TO BE A VOTING RIGHTS ACTIVIST BEFORE THE AGE TO VOTE

Emmy® Award-winning journalist Ayana Harry has covered significant local, national and international news stories for over a decade Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Ayana is a television news reporter for the station she grew up watching, PIX11 News. Her reporting focuses on City Hall politics and criminal justice. At PIX11, Ayana was the first television journalist to cover Eric Garner’s police-involved death.

In 2020, Ayana was in the courtroom every day for the trial of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. More recently she covered the daily developments in the races for New York City Mayor and New York Governor Ayana joined PIX11 from WTIC-TV in Hartford, Connecticut where she covered the Sandy Hook School shooting and Hurricane Sandy. Ayana’s career began at ABC News in New York, where she worked her way up from Intern to Desk Assistant, ultimately becoming a Field Producer.

How To Be A Voting Rights Activist Before The Age To Vote

With well over a decade of experience in politics, and over fifteen years in public speaking, L Joy Williams has made a name for herself as a respected, intelligent voice in modern politics Demonstrating a strong talent as a political planner and tactician, both in political campaigns and government, L Joy has been a regularly featured commentator on MSNBC (“Up with David Gura”; “Melissa Harris-Perry Show”; “AM Joy”), and NY1 (“Inside City Hall”)

L Joy’s passion for political and community activism was instilled at an early age, stemming from a deeprooted family history and commitment to civil rights and social justice In this tradition, L Joy currently serves as the President of the Brooklyn NAACP, one of the most generationally diverse branches in the country.

She is also the Legislative Coordinator for the New York State NAACP Conference of Branches Her outstanding leadership has increased chapter membership and engagement, making Brooklyn NAACP one of the leading civil rights groups in New York City.

Since embarking on her career as a political strategist with the 2002 McCall for Governor campaign, L Joy experience as a trusted political advisor and strategist has made her a go-to team member Recently she has worked with a number of prominent and notable political figures, including Letitia James, Jumaane Williams and Cynthia Nixon, for whom she served as Senior Advisor during Nixon’s gubernatorial run in New York State L Joy has also held key positions such as Campaign Manager for former New York State Assembly Member Karim Camara; GOTV Supervisor in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for the Kerry/Edwards 2004 Presidential campaign; Special Assistant to former New York City Council Speaker Gifford Miller; Program Assistant at Demos, a nonpartisan public policy and advocacy organization; and Deputy Director of Community Relations for then–New York City Comptroller Bill Thompson. She went on to become Thompson’s Political Director in his 2009 mayoral campaign.

L. Joy is Chairman Emeritus of Higher Heights for America and now serves as Chair of the Higher Heights PAC. In these roles, L. Joy travels the country training, advising, and supporting efforts to build Black women’s political power and leadership potential. Working with Higher Heights L. Joy has assisted in the campaigns of Nina Turner for Ohio Secretary of State, Stacey Abrams for Governor of Georgia and several congressional campaigns. During the 2014 midterm election, L. Joy managed a voter engagement campaign for Higher Heights in Georgia and Ohio targeting Black women, who had only participated in presidential elections, encouraging them to vote in the federal midterm and state elections. The highly successful campaign increased enthusiasm and turnout by over ten percentage points.

How To Be A Voting Rights Activist Before The Age To Vote

A dynamic public speaker, L. Joy has presented at several conferences and has been on numerous panels, focusing primarily on the impact and power of Black women voters including the NAACP National Convention in San Antonio, TX and the interactive media conference SXSW about the political power of digital communities in 2018. From 2012-2016, she was a staple at Netroots Nation, where she presented “#BlackWomenLead: The Role and Importance of Black Women Organizers” and “#BlackWomenLead: Harnessing Black Women’s Political Power and Leadership

Potential w/ Sen Nina Turner”, while also airing live as a former co-host of “This Week In Blackness”, one of the first Black-run political podcasts and web series In 2015, she was a featured speaker at the Women’s Freedom Conference, the first all-digital conference organized completely by women of color.

Drawing upon her extensive career in politics, government and community work L. Joy believes in empowering communities with the knowledge and skills to be active participants in democracy. Recognizing the need for civic education and engagement in an accessible format L Joy created #SundayCivics to teach civics using the current political landscape. The weekly show now airs Sunday mornings at 10:00 a.m. on SiriusXM Urban View and is available on demand on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Radio Public and all podcast platforms. L. Joy’s passion for civic action and commitment to progressive growth for all Americans cannot be understated. Rooted in a generational family tradition of community service, L Joy walks in the steps of those who fought before her and encourages every citizen to become involved in America’s political process

DOES IT EXIST? TIPS AND TRICKS ON COMPLETING ADMISSIONS APPLICATIONS

Mother Margaret Y Ellis has been a high school Counselor for over 14 years in New York City and Westchester County, New York She currently works at Pelham Memorial High School, where she helps 10th through 12th graders prepare for life after high school. She thoroughly enjoys discussing academic acceleration, career aspirations, community involvement and her favorite topic of all, NCAA eligibility. Mother Margaret takes great pride in ensuring that studentathletes are aware of their high school courses, GPA, recruitment and amateurism requirements, along with understanding the discipline and stamina one must have to be a successful collegiate student-athlete. A proud graduate of Temple University, Mother Margaret earned her Bachelor's degree in Journalism, Public Relations and Advertisement with a concentration in Sports

Administration. Mother Margaret also holds a Master’s degree in School Counseling with a concentration in Sports Counseling from Manhattan College. Before becoming a School Counselor, Mother Margaret had a fascinating career in college athletics. She was the only full-time, female Director of Operations for a Division I NCAA Men’s Basketball team. The highlight of her career was serving under the leadership of the legendary Dereck Whittenburg at Fordham University from 2004-2008. During her tenure, she coordinated the team’s day to day activities- from practice to travel to game day meetings and interviews. In addition to managing the exciting aspects of the work, she was also responsible for navigating the academic side of her student-athletes’ lives.

Mother Margaret constantly reminded them that earning their degree was a priority and to never lose sight of the goal of attending college. Because of the emphasis placed on their education, she can delightfully boast that under her reign as Director of Operations, she had a 100% graduation rate. Mother Margaret’s love for sports stems back to her childhood years growing up running around Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium with her Dad as he, too, worked with and cared for professional athletes as the first 1st Black owner of an ambulance company in the state of New York. Being able to travel the world while doing what you have grown up loving is a blessing, and she will continue to motivate young athletes to do the same and to work hard to push their physical talents to the next level.

In May 2022, Mother Margaret was installed into Jack & Jill of America, Incorporated, Westchester County Chapter, where she is an active member of the Membership and Founders’ Day committees. Professionally, she is a member of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling and New York State School Counselor Association. Mother Margaret is also a 22 year member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. When she is not chauffeuring her son, Aiden, to Group 3 activities, Cub Scouts, children’s choir rehearsals, basketball or baseball games, she can be found working high school athletic games, attending professional sports games or supervising her church’s nursery on Sunday mornings.

DOES IT EXIST? TIPS AND TRICKS ON COMPLETING ADMISSIONS APPLICATIONS

Shawn Felton is Executive Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Cornell University, located in Ithaca, New York. In this role, he oversees Undergraduate Admissions including prospect management, student recruitment and communication, admissions social media, application processing, admissions data and systems, the prospective student visit experience, yield strategy and coordination, market research, long-range planning, admissions (alumni) volunteer engagement, and recruitment, selection, and enrollment of underrepresented diverse students in the US and international students from around the world.

As Deputy Chief Admissions and Enrollment Officer, Shawn has responsibility for admissions policy and practice, and broader enrollment management work at Cornell University. Shawn is the lead international recruiter and undergraduate admissions expert for Africa and China, providing significant admissions committee support through international application review and credentials evaluation. Shawn has been with Cornell University for more than 19 years.

Before arriving in Ithaca to join Cornell, Shawn served for nearly three years as Assistant Dean of Admissions at the University of Virginia (UVA), his alma mater, where he led recruitment and admissions efforts for students interested in the performing and visual arts Shawn has a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree, and a Master of Arts (MA) degree in Music, specializing in Ethnomusicology and Music Composition, from the University of Virginia

DOES IT EXIST? TIPS AND TRICKS ON COMPLETING ADMISSIONS APPLICATIONS

Kevin C Hudson is Associate Director for Diversity and College Opportunity in the Office of Provost at Princeton University. In this role, Kevin manages strategic partnerships and a portfolio of activities aligned with Princeton’s commitment to combat inequities in education. Kevin coordinates projects and partnerships with nonprofit organizations, peer institutions, and researchers to support selective college access for traditionally underrepresented students. He additionally supports institutional collaborations with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). He also serves as Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity’s liaison to the Office of Advancement, providing facilitation and strategic guidance for diversity, equity and inclusionrelated alumni activities, outreach and interactions.

Kevin previously managed college and career readiness districtwide at District of Columbia Public Schools and served as director of college admission and advising at a NJ non-profit boarding school placement organization. He began his career as an admission officer at Princeton University. As a first-generation, lower-income college student, Kevin earned his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and his Master’s degree in Higher Education Management from University of Pennsylvania.

He is currently pursuing an Ed.D at Rutgers University Graduate School of Education. He has served as a reader for several national scholarship programs by Gates Scholars Program, Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and Dell Scholars Program and Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. Kevin serves on various boards including Delbarton School, New Jersey Scholars Program, Princeton Blairstown Center, International Baccalaureate College and University Relations Committee and several College Board regional and national committees. kchudson@princeton.edu