Mary Anne Adams, Founder
Leadership Team
Porsha Hall, Ed.D., Brooklyn, New York
Board Chair
Porsha is a health gerontologist and community researcher with over 20 years of experience developing programs and initiatives to improve the health outcomes of marginalized groups of older adults. Throughout the years, her research has centered health equity and enhanced quality of life among older adults of color and LGBTQIA+ elders, with a specific focus on aging Black lesbians. She holds an EdD and MA in Health Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, an MPH in Community Health Education from Hunter College, CUNY and a MA in Gerontology from Georgia State University.
Cherise M. Matilla, MHA., Phoenix, Arizona
Vice-Chair
Cherise attended Western Illinois University, where she earned a bachelor's in Social Work. Cherise soon after discovered her passion for serving those who were less fortunate in many areas. Cherise began her career working as a Case Manager for a program under the Illinois Department on Aging which began her immediate joy in working with the Older Adult population. Throughout her adult life, Cherise gained experience working in the areas of Child Welfare, Mental Health, and Developmental Disabilities.
Cherise later earned a Masters in Health Administration with a concentration in Gerontology. Cherise continues working with Older Adults and Disabled persons with the local Area Agency on Aging and is employed part-time as a General Residential Specialist for Chrysalis, a Domestic Violence agency in Phoenix AZ. For many years Cherise has enjoyed volunteering with several different organizations providing for those who are experiencing poverty leading to homelessness, poor health, and inadequate nutrition.
Edith Biggers, M.D., Atlanta, Georgia
Secretary
Dr. Edith Biggers is a public health physician in the HIV clinic at the Fulton County Department of Health and Wellness. She delivers compassionate and state-of-the-art medical care to indigent, uninsured, underserved, and substance-using HIV positive patients, with an emphasis on maximizing self-empowerment through education. As an African American woman specializing in HIV care and treatment, her presence has an empowering effect on those the clinic serves. She spent more than 10 years as a volunteer at AIDS Survival Project talking directly with people living with HIV on how to improve their health by understanding their own health care needs. Dr. Biggers is a native of Atlanta and received her Medical Degree from Emory University, MA in library science from Atlanta University and BA in music education from Smith College.
Janyce L. Jackson Jones, Leland, North Carolina
Janyce L. Jackson Jones is a founding member of ZAMI NOBLA (National Organization of Black Lesbians on Aging) North Carolina State Chapter and currently serves as President. She discovered her passion for art upon retiring to coastal North Carolina after 21 years of dedicated service to her church and social justice causes in Newark, New Jersey. Prior to retirement, Reverend Janyce served as the Co-Pastor of Newark’s Unity Fellowship Church, and helped to found Liberation in Truth UFC, also in Newark, serving for eight years as its Pastor and Executive Director of that church’s Liberation in Truth Social Justice Center. Reverend Janyce lives with her spouse, Valerie Jones, and their dog Buster. She volunteers at the local senior center and serves on the boards of the Frank Harr Foundation, SAGE Wilmington, and the local branch of the NAACP.
Jennifer M. Horn, MSW, Pueblo, Colorado
Jennifer received her BS in Psychology at the Colorado State University–Pueblo and obtained a master’s degree in social work from Newman University. Jennifer is a published co-author in the Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences on grit and retention at Hispanic Serving Institutions. Much of her current research focuses on older LGBT adults living in long-term care facilities and in the community, working with LGBTQIA+ caregivers, Veterans, and Intergenerational programs.
Horn has an extensive background in working with older adults living in long-term care facilities and residential group homes, as well as experience working with older adults diagnosed with a terminal illness, mental health diagnoses, and individuals who identify with the LGBT community. She is an active member of the following committees: Pikes Peak Elder Abuse Coalition, Pikes Peak Commission on Aging, Colorado Center on Aging, Ethics and Behavioral Health Committee, Work Culture Committee, and underrepresented and underserved communities.
Lourdes Dolores Follins, Ph.D., Bronx, New York
Dr. Lourdes Dolores Follins is a psychotherapist, writer, and public speaker who has worked with people of color who are marginalized because of their ethnoracial background and gender and/or sexual identities for over 30 years. In her clinical work, Lourdes Dolores specializes in working with SGL/LGBTQIPOC recovering from intersectional oppression and complex trauma. She is also a Yorùbá-Lukumí priest of Ògún and is currently working on a book about her
experiences and evolution as a psychotherapist and as a person. Dr. Follins can be reached at drldfollins.com.
Sonya Walker, MBA, Roswell, Georgia
Sonya Walker is an ITIL certified business process manager in the financial services industry. She has a B.A. in Psychobiology from Oberlin College and a Masters degree in Business Administration from Pepperdine. Her love of Excel and her passion for technology led her to work experiences in the IT field focused on analysis, compliance, management, monitoring, reporting, and metrics.
Sonya loves to travel and is an avid fan of the arts. She enjoys plays, concerts, dance performances, and visiting museums.
Iris Rafi, Ph.D., Atlanta, Georgia
Dr. Iris Rafi, a native of Miami, has called Atlanta home for over 50 years. She earned degrees in English from Spelman College and Clark Atlanta University, and a Ph.D. in American Studies from Emory University. After more than 30 years of teaching English in Colorado Springs and across Atlanta, she retired in 2012. Iris became active in issues affecting Black lesbian and queer women in 1990 when she founded Zami in Atlanta. She has worked with ZAMI NOBLA since 2017 and now serves as chair of the Georgia State Chapter. Post-retirement, she has contributed to Grady Senior Services and Ubuntu Community Catalyst’s behavioral health and housing teams. A lover of books, gardening, word games, and baking, she especially enjoys making treats for ZAMI NOBLA’s weekly Sister Harriet Spiritual Collective. Iris continues to center service, care, and justice in every part of her life and work.
Mary Anne Adams, East Point, Georgia
Founder & Executive Director
Mary Anne Adams has a Master’s Degree in Social Work with a concentration in Community Partnerships and over 25 years of work experience in public health, social work education, community engagement, capacity building, group facilitation, outreach and recruitment, planning, community organizing, and mobilization. Adams is a Commissioner with the East Point Housing Authority and serves as Chair of the Commission. She is a member of the Executive Advisory Board for BEAM (Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective) and serves on the Community Advisory Board at Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, and is an Advisory Board Member at Emory University School of Nursing, with the CaRE training program for caregivers of persons living with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia disorders. Adams is also an Advisory Board Member for the National LGBTQ+ Women’s Community Survey, Atlanta Mayor’s LGBTQ Advisory Board, and the Rise Registry at Emory University, an Alzheimer’s disease prevention lab, serving the LGBTQIA + community.
Angela Denise Davis, East Point, Georgia
Creative Director
Angela Denise Davis, M.Div., M.S., serves as Creative Director at ZAMI NOBLA, where she brings vision and voice to the organization’s cultural and spiritual programming. She is the creator, host, and producer of the ZAMI NOBLA Podcast, and leads UKE-In, the organization’s community-based music initiative. Angela is also the founder of Uke Griot, a program offering ukulele instruction that centers storytelling and healing. She facilitates Sister Harriet’s Spiritual Collective, an affirming emotional support circle for heretics, holy-rollers, heathens, and everyone in between. Rooted in radical inclusion, Sister Harriet is a space of deep connection, reflection, and spiritual exploration. Angela’s work lives at the intersection of art and spirituality. A proud graduate of Clark Atlanta University with a B.A. in Art, Angela holds a Master of Divinity from Vanderbilt University Divinity School and a Master of Science in Rehabilitation Counseling from Georgia State University. She is also a Level 3 certified teacher in the James Hill Ukulele Initiative.
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