THE AIEJ TEAM
GEORGINA LORENCZ
Georgina brings more than 20 years’ experience assisting both domestic and international organizations with program development. She has travelled through parts of Europe, Central and South America, the Middle East and Africa. Georgina’s travels included teaching and leading graduate and undergraduate students to Africa for research.
Additionally, she has led numerous special interest, leisure and church groups on cultural tours as well as safaris. Georgina is Director of Africa Travel Seminars, was Director of International Programs at Hamline University for eight years. Georgina won the Apex Award for Distinguished Contributions to Heritage Tourism to Georgia in 2012 from Black Meetings and Tourism.
In 2013, Africa Diaspora Tourism recognized her for Outstanding Cultural Heritage Educational Tours. Georgina is originally from Ghana, West Africa.
MADONNA KENDONA
Madonna Kendona is an economist with over a decade of experience working on issues of gender, social justice and economic development. Madonna is the Programme Officer for Special Initiatives at the African Women’s Development Fund, where she manages the organisation’s women’s rights advocacy portfolio covering 94 organisations in Africa and the Middle East.
Madonna started her career at Ghana’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and has worked in both business and social worlds, as Head of Business Development for Cape Logistics, an energy infrastructure and consulting firm, as Lead Consultant at New York University’s Center for Technology and Economic Development and as Country Manager for Reach for Change, a venture philanthropist organisation that invests in early stage social entrepreneurs whose work impacts children.
She is passionate about sustainable design, entrepreneurship and women-focused ethical fashion. In 2013, she founded Raffia, a womenswear brand that works with women indigenous textile weavers in Northern Ghana.
She has a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Economics and French from the University of Ghana.
ROSALIND KILKENNY MCLYMONT
Rosalind brings 30 years in the world of business journalism leadership to AIEJ’s board. She is Publisher of Africa Strictly Business, an online portal providing content regarding the business of the 54-nation Continent. Rosalind is the Executive Editor of The Network Journal, a leading U.S.-based magazine for Black professionals and businessowners. She is a past fellow of the European Community Visitors Program.
She provided entrepreneurship development expertise for the United Nations Development Program’s Africa Bureau; in Russia through the Alliance of Russian and American Women; and has served in various board director and advisory roles, notably with the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation and the Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Committee of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. She is the author of Middle Ground, the award-winning first “rebranding Africa” novel; the nonfiction title, Africa Strictly Business, The Steady March to Prosperity; and her latest novel, The Guyana Contract. She has been featured on U.S. radio and television programs, and has received numerous awards and citations from professional, civic, cultural, and government entities. Rosalind has a Bachelor’s degree from The City College of New York, a Master’s from New York University, and a Certificate in Language and Literature from the Autonomous University of Madrid, in Spain. She practices and teaches various fitness and wellness modalities, including Tai Chi, Qi Gong, and her specially designed Trim Brulée total body workout program. She resides in New York.
GREGORY REID
Gregory Reid is a Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Reid and Rodriguez, a New York law firm that is the predecessor of the present law firm of Reid Rodriguez and Rouse, LLP, a midtown Manhattan litigation minority owned law firm, where he is Chief Litigator, and Director of the Litigation, Real Estate and Business Group. He serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Counsel to the National Minority Business Counsel. Gregory has provided pro bono legal representation to opponents of the Duvalier regime in Haiti, the Mobutu regime in Zaire and obtained political asylum in the US for formerly persecuted political activists. As a result of Greg's work in this area, he had a private meeting with Nelson Mandela. Greg has received awards from state, county, and city legislative bodies in New York State, and local community organizations , The Boys and Girls Club of America for his humanitarian work and work on behalf of youth, Sister Clara Mohammed School, and Featherbed Lane Presbyterian Church.
Greg is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the highest state and federal trial and appellate courts in New York State. Greg has practiced before the United States Bankruptcy Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the New York State Court of Claims. He has represented clients in cases involving some of the largest corporations in the world, including American Express, Barclays Capital, Inc., Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Chase, NBC, KPMG, Time Warner, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the US Food and Drug Administration, the City of New York, the State of New York, Doremus Advertising, British Airways, HSBC, Fiduciary Trust International, and Viacom International. Gregory speaks French and Spanish, in addition to being fluent in English.
KATE GARDINER
Kate Gardiner is the Founder of HXMXN and Grey Horse, a boutique agency building holistic communications for media brands globally. She is also known in the worlds of media, technology, and broadcast for her understanding of journalism, audience engagement, and social media. Gardiner began as a traditional journalist, eventually focusing on social media and running her own shop. Her work has reached millions across platforms from her work with PBS NewsHour, Newsweek - where she was the director of audience engagement, New York Public Radio, and Al Jazeera in Doha. Gardiner has managed dozens of projects driving long tail distribution through social media, partnerships, public relations and new platform adoption. Both Gardiner and her clients have won awards with the Online News Association and the Emmy's; she is a member of the 2016 class of Forbes' 30 Under 30, among other awards. Gardiner speaks frequently about the role of women in the workplace, audience engagement strategies for small and midsized companies, and building community for specific, niche audiences. She also hosts events and programming around health, mentorship and entrepreneurship. She resides in New York City.
We are a global team from the USA, the UK and Ghana.
CREATIVE
Yaw Djin,
Maisha Digital
GRAPHICS
Roger Moore Amoako,
Moore Designs
OB Abenser, Excelsis Ltd
Alex Kwesi Afari,
AKA Pictures
TECHNICAL
Michael Bediako
I.am.adinkra
David McKeever
Producer
TRAINING & PROJECTS
Francesca Adedeji
Chief Facilitator &
Course Development Leader
Laura Rice
Facilitator
Theresa Adezewa Aryittey
Projects Assistant
Founder and CEO - Esther Armah.
Esther Armah is an international award-winning Journalist, a Playwright, a Media Communications Lecturer, and a Writer. Emotional Justice is her vision and creation.
As a Speaker, Armah has brought Emotional Justice to global organizations and institutions across three Continents; including Stanford University, NYU, to African Women in Media (AWiM) Conference in Kenya. As a Playwright, she has done so with her plays #safeCARGO in Accra and SAVIOUR? in New York and Chicago, as well as ‘Forgive Me?’ and ENTITLED!. As a Writer, Armah has penned Emotional Justice essays with her writing series in WARSCAPES, essays published in The Guardian, Ebony.com, Essence.com and The Network Journal, and books including ‘Charleston Syllabus: Readings on Race, Racism and Racial Violence’; and the ‘Jay Z #444 Syllabus’.
As a Journalist she has 17 years-experience working across print, online, radio and television. In London, Armah worked with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for 10 years across radio and television. In New York, she was Radio Host of ‘Wake Up Call’ at New York’s WBAI on the Pacifica Network. In Ghana, she is a Columnist with one of Ghana’s leading newspapers, Business & Financial Times. As a journalist she has worked and lived in New York, Washington DC, London, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.
As a Media Communications Lecturer she has taught at Webster University, Ashesi University and African University College of Communications (AUCC).
Her awards include the ‘Community Award for Emotional Justice’ at the ‘Valuing Black Lives: The Global Emotional Emancipation Summit in Washington DC 2015’; ‘Most Valuable Morning Show Host’ by The Nation’s 2012 Progressive Honors List for her work as Morning Show Host on Wake Up Call. Armah was named one of ‘Africa’s Woman Leaders: Woman Leadership Award’ in 2019 by CMO Asia and the World Women Leadership Congress.
THE AIEJ ADVISORY COUNCIL
Our advisory council encompasses international education expertise, global reach, media heft, organizational skill, fund-raising expertise and leadership experience.
THE AIEJ TEAM
DIALLO SHABAZZ
Diallo Shabazz is a global education advisor, sustainability expert, and political activist. Over the past decade he has traveled to four continents working to advance civil rights and equality, sustainable development, education, and green jobs. Specializing in restructuring and launching large-scale social impact initiatives, he has held numerous senior level and executive positions across the corporate, government, and non-profit sectors. He previously served as Senior Director at the global tech company Infor, Chief Community Officer at the New York City Department of Education, and Chief Administrator of the District Council 37 Education Fund. Diallo is a former fellow of the National Committee on US-China Relations and visits China bi-annually to participate in the young leader’s forum. From 2011-2013, Diallo was appointed as a North American Civil Society Representative for the United Nations Environment Program to support ministerial-level meetings on the U.N.’s Post-2015 Agenda and creation of the Sustainable Development Goals. As a civil society representative, Diallo was as a delegate at the Regional Meeting of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in Switzerland,the Governing Council Global Forum in Kenya, and the UN Sustainable Development Conference (Rio+20) in Brazil. Diallo is co-founder and board chair of Birthright AFRICA, a non-profit organization committed to providing a free educational trip to Africa for every Black student in the United States to discover their legacy of innovation.