https://www.forbes.com/sites/valentinadidonato/2021/03/11/meet-the-woman-building-multigenerational-wealth-with-calabrian-olives

Soon after Skyler Mapes met her now-husband Giuseppe in 2014, he took her to his hometown of Le Castella, Calabria. In addition to meeting his parents, she also met his family’s olive trees, which date back three generations. Then in Texas years later, the couple thought up the idea for EXAU olive oil when Giuseppe was disappointed while cooking one night. In 2017 they moved to Italy to produce a small run: harvesting, milling, bottling, labeling, and exporting themselves. It’s waitlisted olive oil has even been named one of Oprah’s Favorite Things.

https://exauoliveoil.com/pages/about

By 2019, the EXAU Olive Oil Club was born, giving members quarterly access to freshly harvested oil direct from the farm. In 2020, EXAU was named to Oprah’s Favorite Things — and again in 2023. Also in 2020, Skyler was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and recognized as one of the very few Black women producing olive oil anywhere in the world. EXAU went on to sign a book deal with Penguin Random House, resulting in The Olive Oil Enthusiast — a guide to buying, using, and understanding great olive oil.

EXAU has since been featured in the New York Times, Food & Wine, and La Cucina Italiana, among others.

https://www.indigenecellars.com/the-origin

Raymond Smith, founder of Indigené Cellars celebrates the origin of the terroir in every bottle of wine he makes. After years of bottling and tasting both fruit off the vine and wine, Smith has found his niche making wines that, as the land, are in a constant state of evolution and known to wow visitors with every sip.

Meet the Founder

Executive Chef Liz Rogers grew up learning by her mother’s and grandmother’s sides, turning their wisdom into culinary artistry. She went from beloved local restaurants to founding Creamalicious in 2021—one of the first nationally distributed ice cream brands founded by an African American woman. Today, Chef Liz still crafts playfully decadent desserts that blend fresh-baked pastries with rich, velvety ice cream—rooted in heritage and made to make you smile.

https://www.nofavt.org/earl-ransom

Board Member

Born and raised at RockBottom Farm, Earl Ransom is a second-generation steward of one of Vermont’s pioneering organic farms and a longtime supporter of NOFA’s mission. He returned home in 1994 to rebuild the dairy herd, certify the farm organic, and ultimately launch the Strafford Organic Creamery, which now processes all of the farm’s milk. Earl brings decades of experience in grass-based dairying, organic production, and farm leadership.

https://www.drmarvatutt.org/about-dr-marva-tutt

Dr. Marva Jean Tutt is an educator of nearly 30 years, an author, a podcast host, and the founder of Learning Futures Collective.

Through The HR Educator, she helps aspiring and nontraditional Georgia educators pass the GACE and thrive in the classroom.

Through Dear Black Woman, God Said, she creates space for Black women to heal, rest, and reclaim their voices.

Her work lives at the intersection of voice, leadership, and liberation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angie_Nixon

Angela Nixon (born February 27, 1984)^[1][2] is an American politician and businesswoman who has served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives since 2020. A member of the Working Families Party and the Democratic Socialists of America, she is the Democratic nominee in the 2026 United States Senate special election in Florida.

https://www.resiliencedancecompany.com/jorrell-lawyer-jefferson

Jorrell Lawyer-Jefferson is a choreographer and interdisciplinary artist whose work bridges contemporary dance, opera, and theatrical performance. He holds a BA in Music and an MFA in Dance with an emphasis in Choreography from Sam Houston State University. As a performer, Jorrell has worked with renowned choreographers including Jessica Lang, Tommie-Waheed Evans, Kirven Douthit-Boyd, Omar Román De Jesús, and Norbert De La Cruz III, experiences that continue to shape his choreographic approach and movement vocabulary.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melani_Sanders

Melani Sanders is an American content creator and social media influencer. She is the founder of the We Do Not Care Club, the club for women in “perimenopause, menopause and post menopause. We are putting the world on notice that we simply do not care much anymore.” The club is an international rally cry encouraging women to share their experiences about their experiences in the various stages of menopause.^[1][2] Sanders has over four million followers across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube.^[3][4][5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Ford_Gilmer

Gloria C. Gilmer (née Ford; June 28, 1928 – August 25, 2021) was an American mathematician and educator, notable for being the first African American woman to publish a non-PhD thesis.

Gilmer was born in Baltimore, Maryland on June 28, 1928. She studied for her Bachelor of Science degree at Morgan State University,^[1][2] where she was part of the class of 1949.^[3] While there, she published two papers with her supervisor Luna Mishoe;^[4][5][6] these were the first two research papers published by an African American woman, being published in 1956,^[7][8] under her maiden name of Gloria C. Ford. She was also a student of Clarence Stephens while there.^[9][3]

After receiving her MA in Mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania,^[1] she went to work on ballistics research at the Aberdeen Proving Ground,^[3] and later to teach at six HBCUs.^[9] She studied for a PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but left after a year, later citing “a marriage, children, and the necessity to earn a living”.^[9] Between 1965 and 1966, Gilmer became the first African American mathematics instructor at the Milwaukee Area Technical College and the first Black woman to teach mathematics at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.^[10] She subsequently gained a PhD from Marquette University,^[2] in Education Administration.^[9] The title of her dissertation is “Effects Of Small Discussion Groups On Self-Paced Instruction In a Developmental Algebra Course”.^[11]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucille_Dixon_Robertson

Lucille Dixon Robertson (27 February 1923 – 23 September 2004) was a jazz double-bassist. She grew up in New York City and she successfully auditioned for the All City High School Orchestra. She studied under Frederick Zimmermann of the New York Philharmonic for 15 years.^[1]

https://www.knkx.org/jazz/2023-03-04/lucille-dixons-years-of-good-music-making-as-bassist-and-bandleader

A church pianist, jazz bassist, bandleader and symphony manager, Lucille Dixon defied the norms of her time. A Black woman who played the contrabass, considered “a man’s instrument,” Dixon faced discrimination throughout her extensive music career.

Born in Harlem on Feb. 27, 1923, young Lucille Dixon played piano for her father’s church services. She picked up the bass in high school, and studied with the New York Philharmonic’s principal bassist Frederick Zimmerman.