Mary Anne Adams, Founder
Leadership Team
Lana Williams, Smyrna, Georgia
Board Chair
Lana Williams is a Financial Coach and has over 25 years of banking and finance experience. Positions she’s held include Regional Sales Manager, Banking Industry Consultant and Financial Advisor. Lana has worked with those ranging from college students to small business owners, athletes and CEOs; and says the number one thing she hears consistently is “no one ever taught me how to manage my money”. It is her passion to help clients improve their “financial acumen.” Lana’s experience at managing sales performance and training financial teams on how to expertly sell financial products; makes her uniquely skilled at showing her clients what to focus on and pay attention to as they make financial decisions for themselves and their families. Lana has a B.S. in Economics.
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.
Cherise M. Matilla, Phoenix, Arizona
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.
Porsha Hall, EdD, Brooklyn, New York
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.
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.
Dawn R. Freeman, MPH, Nashville, Tennessee
Dawn R. Freeman, originally from Toledo, Ohio, currently calls music city Nashville, her hometown. Dawn, a singer-writer began her volunteer work under the Jefferson St. bridge alongside the Salvation Army food truck singing for the homeless every Friday night in 2007. She currently sings as a monthly guest artist at Unity of Nashville.
Dawn has a BA in Sociology, an MPH, completed yoga teacher training in 2008 and has a health coach certification from Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN). She is very passionate about how the mind, body, nutrition and physical activity connect to wellness.
She is currently involved as a volunteer for Meals On Wheels and Keep A Breast Foundation.
While volunteering for Nashville Launchpad as a night time intake host, she also helped create volunteer guidelines for their youth food program, outreach for additional resources and revised their training program for volunteers.
Dawn is a self taught plant-based cook, collects cookbooks, enjoys cycling, listening to music and is a cacti grower.
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.
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., is an ordained minister and a ukulele teacher. She is the founder of Uke Griot, a program that offers ukulele music instruction. Angela’s ministerial work focuses on the fusion of art and spirituality. She is also the Creative Director of ZAMI NOBLA (National Organization of Black Lesbians on Aging) where she is the creator, host, and producer of the ZAMI NOBLA Podcast and directs the community music program, UKE-In. She is a graduate of Clark Atlanta University where she earned a B.A. in Art. She also holds a Master of Divinity from Vanderbilt University Divinity School, and a Master of Science in Rehabilitation Counseling from Georgia State University. She is a level 3 certified teacher in the James Hill Ukulele Initiative teacher certification program.
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