Nadriene Jackson is the former Executive Director of Secondary Schools, where she ensured Secondary Schools had the resources, professional development, support, and accountability needed to propel instructional quality and impactful learning experiences for students in Denver Public Schools. Prior to her serving in that capacity, she served in the capacity of Sr. Executive Director of Career and College Success, where she guided the development, implementation and evaluation of robust PreK-12 career and college programming that increases on time graduation rates/credit attainment, competency mastery completion, ICAP completion with fidelity, concurrent enrollment participation, and Advanced Placement participation, and International Baccalaureate participation diploma completion rates; Regional Assistant Instructional Superintendent of the Near Northeast Region in Denver Public Schools, where she provided direct leadership support and supervision for over half of the schools in the region, the School Leader Development and Pathways Partner for the former Lead in Denver Team, where she co managed LEAD Onboarding, the Denver Lead Today Alternative Licensure Program, Principal Induction Program, and the THRIVE Teacher Leader Fellowship.

Born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, Nadriene graduated with her Bachelor’s of Science in Speech Communications with an emphasis in Secondary Education in 1999 from Mississippi State University. She went on to acquire her Master’s Degree in Education in Educational Leadership from Mississippi College in 2002 and her Education Specialist in Educational Administration and Policy Studies from the University of Tennessee in 2012.

While Nadriene has a true fervor for impacting the lives of children across the PK – 12 spectrum and leadership development in education, she most enjoys traveling and spending time with her husband, Roderick, and her family.

At her core, Emily is a connector. Fueled by the belief that the whole is often greater than the sum of its parts, Emily has spent her career connecting donors to mission, partners to investment opportunities, and good people doing good work to one another. For the past 10 years she has raised capital to support social impact endeavors in policy, education and health equity spaces. Most recently Emily served as Teach For America Colorado's Managing Director of Corporate Partnerships and Communications. Today, she is the Director of External Partnerships in the office of the CEO at Gary Community Ventures. She is a mother, cancer-survivor, disability advocate, nature-walk-lover, and aspiring aviator.

Upon graduation, Ousman committed to a year of service with Americorps City Year, where he worked at Miami Central High School preparing students with the social, emotional and academic skills and mindsets to succeed in school and in life. After City Year, he moved back to Denver and worked in the banking industry as a treasury management representative with FirstBank. During his time at FirstBank, he volunteered with ALG as the Youth Empowerment Program facilitator. After two years as a volunteer, he joined the ALG team as a Program Coordinator.

Senator James R. Coleman was born and raised in the Park Hill neighborhood of Denver and is a resident of the district he so proudly represents: Senate District 33. Coleman served his first term in 2016, becoming the youngest elected to Colorado's state legislature. After serving 2 terms as the State Representative of House District 7, he went on to win his election to the Senate District 33 seat in November 2020. Senator Coleman currently serves as Chair of the Senate State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee, Vice-Chair of the Senate Business, Labor, and Technology Committee, and Vice-Chair of the Legislative Oversight Committee Concerning Colorado Jail Standards. The Senator also serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, the Legislative Council Committee, and the Colorado Youth Advisory Council Committee.

Joy Maez is a Vice President in Business Banking at U.S. Bank – the 5th largest commercial bank in the United States - and works with business owners to achieve their financial goals with a single purpose – we put people first and do the right thing by our business clients to help them achieve their vision of success and creating generational wealth. Joy believes in strong relationships based on authenticity and trust to be successful.

Joy has completed the McKinsey Hispanic and Latino Leadership Academy: Management Accelerator Program; she is a graduate of the Latino Leadership Institute Ignite Program and is the Co-Lead of the Nosotros Latinos Business Resource Group at U.S. Bank. Joy holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from University of Phoenix.

My name is Jeri Marie Romero. I am a wife and a mom to a brilliant 3 year old son, and 9 month old sassy little girl! I graduated from Denver West High school and followed in the education direction at the University of Northern Colorado. Not long after, God graciously gave me a way to my alma mater to be a teacher/mentor with Colorado Uplift. I’ve been a part of Colorado Uplift since I was a high school student. I loved being one of the first interns to pioneer the first summer camp internships as one of my first summer jobs.

Colorado Uplift has been providing leadership and character instruction in the public school system for students from 4th grade through college for over . Along with the In-School Program, Colorado UpLift regularly mentors students after school and throughout the summer, improving the odds for urban youth to emerge as successful, productive young adults.

Kiara Chavez is the Community Outreach Associate for Denver Parks & Recreation, where she provides support for a variety of outreach, engagement, and communications tasks. This includes promoting awareness and understanding of park projects through outreach and cultivating positive working relationships in the community. She is a first-generation graduate from Leeds School of Business with a bachelor’s in Business Administration. Her experience growing up as an undocumented student has fueled her passion for immigrant rights and quality education alike.

Ousman Ba is originally from Senegal, and was raised in Denver, Colorado. A first generation college graduate at Colorado State University with a degree in political science and international studies. Upon graduation, Ousman committed to a year of service with Americorps City Year, where he worked at Miami Central High School preparing students with the social, emotional, and academic skills and mindsets to succeed in school and in life. After City Year, he moved back to Denver and worked in the banking industry as a treasury management representative with FirstBank. During his time at FirstBank, he volunteered with African Leadership Group(ALG) as the Youth Empowerment Program facilitator. After two years as a volunteer, he joined the ALG team as a Program Coordinator. He is a graduate of the Leadership Africa Program with African Leadership Group and Leadership Aurora 2023 Aurora Chamber of Commerce. He is currently part of Leadership Aurora class of 2024. He sits on the Board of Ednium Collective and Vanguard Classical School. Ousman is passionate about serving the community, loves sports, reading, traveling and enjoys time with family and friends. 

Yasmeen is a motivated college student who is completing coursework towards a degree in sports broadcasting. She is an insurance agent, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a friend, a human being living a spiritual experience. Yasmeen is optimistic and hard working. She believes failure is only failure if you don’t learn from it. Yasmeen has been through a lot of homelessness, jobless and left without nothing. Her story is her pain, her grief and her joy and laughter. She is never ashamed to show she cares, and she wants to impact the same community that helped her. She is Yasmeen Cofield.

Shawn is a Denver native and DPS Alumni. He graduated from George Washington High School in 2016. Shawn also graduated from Metropolitan State University of Denver in 2020 with a degree in Political Science. He is currently an 8th grade ELA teacher at KIPP Northeast Denver Middle School. 

Liloni S. Ramos is a 4th generation Coloradoan and 3rd generation Denverite who grew up in Denver’s Harvey Park neighborhood. Being raised by her mother and grandmother, Liloni understood the power of education, service, and human connection at a young age.

Having attended Denver Public Schools, she experienced firsthand the educational disparities in the public school system. Determined to make an impact, Liloni pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Human Development & Family Studies at Colorado State University (#ProudToBe). It was on the CSU campus where she became passionate about equitable access to education, resources, networks, and development opportunities. In an effort to learn more about educational inequities and support first generation college students’ pursuit of education, Liloni pivoted away from kindergarten classrooms and into the world of higher education and educational systems. After a career in the various facets of education, Liloni now serves as the Program Manager of Gary’s Piton Fellowship where she leverages her operational and programmatic experiences to cultivate the next generation of Denver change makers.

Liloni holds a Masters in nonprofit management from Regis University. She has participated in various community committees and boards including most recently The Denver Foundation’s Advisory Committee for Community Impact and co-chairs the Reisher Alumni Program Board. Liloni is driven by her nieces and nephews to support future generations of leaders in pursuit of their own definition of success.

Kai currently serves as a Business Integration Architect at Accenture. In this capacity, he has been instrumental in designing, building, and implementing cloud computer architecture, with a particular focus on integrating third-party systems with internal software.
 
Beyond his daily profession, Kai is also deeply committed to philanthropy and community service. He is the Founder and Chair of the Board of the Kobu Foundation, a hunger relief organization he built in 2020. Under his leadership, the Kobu Foundation designed and implemented a meal delivery program in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since its creation, this program has donated over 290,000 meals in Colorado. In addition to Kobu Foundation’s meal delivery program, Kai established The Angel Rose Youngdog Scholarship; a fund that has awarded over $16,000 to students that have exhibited exceptional service and dedication to their community.