PANELISTS

Joy Allison 
Associate Director, Office of Health & Wellness, Baruch College

Joy Allison creates opportunities for participants to use the power of face-to-face interaction to have courageous conversations and dissect their truths in a relaxed environment. Using real life stories she is able to reach a wide range of audiences. Joy crafts and presents workshops for higher education personnel, non-profits, and corporate sectors on topics including but not limited to health and wellness, diversity and social justice, conflict management/resolution skills and work life integration. Joy brings her full self and requests participants do the same for an enriching workshop, training or panel discussion. Joy, a first generation student, earned a bachelor’s and two master degrees. Joy has 18+ years’ experience in higher education, currently serving as the Associate Director of the Office of Health & Wellness at Baruch College.

---

Jael Henry (Baruch MPA)
Associate, The Raben Group, Beyond Diversity Strategies Practice

Jael Henry is an associate in The Raben Group’s Beyond Diversity Strategies practice, where he uses his background in research, writing, and media engagement to support clients. Before joining Raben, Jael was an associate producer at Sirius XM, where he gained production experience across multiple Sirius XM channels from Mad Dog Sports Radio to Sirius XM POTUS. He played a key role on the production teams for Let’s Get After It with Chris Cuomo and The Dan Abrams Show, among others. Jael graduated from Stony Brook University with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a concentration in Public Policy. He also received a Master of Public Administration from Baruch College’s Marxe School of Public and International Affairs. Jael was born in Dominica and moved to New York as a teenager, where he’s lived in Harlem ever since.

---

Yvette LaGonterie (Baruch MPA)
Chair, Advisory Board of the MIRR (Migrant, Immigrant, and Refugee Rights) Alliance

Yvette LaGonterie, recently retired from her thirty-year career within the federal government, has held an extensive number of senior positions in immigration and homeland security programs. This included experience as Director of International Operations and Senior Policy Advisor for the Department of Homeland Security and Deputy Director for International Affairs in the former Immigration and Naturalization Service. Yvette has represented the United States as an immigration expert in many multilateral bodies, including the G-8, AIPAC and the Regional Conference on Immigration. Currently, Yvette chairs the advisory board of the MIRR (Migrant, Immigrant, and Refugee Rights) Alliance and serves on the boards of Reading Partners DC and The City Tavern Preservation Foundation. She is also a member of the Pan American Development Foundation’s advisory committee. In addition, Yvette is an independent historian and does freelance writing and serves as vice president of the DC-area Baruch College alumni chapter board.  Yvette holds a B.A. in Mass Communications from SUNY Buffalo and a MPA from Baruch College. Read about how Yvette’s research uncovered her family’s history of being enslaved in a Georgetown Hotel.

---

Keisha V. Thompson, Ph.D. (Baruch BA)
Associate Professor of Psychology, Kingsborough Community College

Dr. Keisha V. Thompson is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Kingsborough Community College, City University of New York. A Native of Trinidad & Tobago, Dr. Keisha grew up in Brooklyn, NY. As a first-generation immigrant and college graduate, it is important to Dr. Thompson that her work addresses issues of cultural diversity. Her clinical experience includes college counseling, community mental health, the federal prison system, VA medical center, and various K-12 school settings. Her professional interests include diversity issues in higher education, themes of psychosocial development, and mental health in Black youth and women. There All Along: The Women of Trinidad & Tobago 1970 Black Power is her first film project. Dr. Keisha also hosts two podcasts – “Misadventures of an Inspired Woman,” which highlights personal goals and achievement in women, and “Black and Saved,” aimed at fostering community at the intersection of Blackness and Christianity. In her spare time, Dr. Keisha enjoys singing and convening spaces where women can come together to provide encouragement, share ideas, and build community.

---

Connie Zhao (Baruch BS & MS)
Partner, Ernst & Young’s Tax Technology & Transformation (TTT)

Connie Zhao, has more than 13 years of experience providing end-to-end tax function transformation. She has managed various tax reporting system implementations to multi-national companies and provided leading solutions from upstream data collection to downstream reporting. Connie is currently a Partner in EY’s Tax Technology & Transformation (TTT), a team that provides an array of consulting services to improve the operating performance of corporate tax departments, including tax system implementations, tax function assessments, tax process redesign with an emphasis on direct tax. Connie Zhao is leading the design and implementation of EY’s standard process for Tax Finance Operates around non-US tax reporting, which utilizes RPA, Alteryx, and Power BI to create a streamlined process for direct tax. Connie received both a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy and a Masters of Accounting (Tax) from Baruch College and is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in New York.

---

FACILITATORS

Ashley Chen, Junior, Political Science & Sociology

Ashley Chen is a junior who is majoring in Political Science and Sociology and minoring in NYC Studies and Journalism. She is also a community organizer and currently the Policy Fellow at the Chinese- American Planning Council (CPC), where she works to advocate for the needs of low-income, immigrant, and AAPI communities.

---

Emily Chen, Sophomore, Marketing Management

Emily Chen is a current first-gen sophomore student studying digital marketing with a minor in communications. She is also currently a peer mentor for the SEEK program at Baruch College. She is hoping to pursue a career within the music or gaming industry. In her spare time, she loves to cook and bake for others.

---

Karina Chiqui Narvaez, Senior, Marketing Management

Karina Chiqui Narvaez is a graduating senior in the Macaulay Honors program. She is majoring in Marketing Management with a double minor is New York City Studies and Political Science. She has experience in content creation, graphic design, marketing strategy, consumer research and customer service with small businesses and large corporations alike. In her spare time, she loves spending time with her furry friends, family and running!

---

Veronica Solis, Senior, Digital Marketing

Veronica Solis is a senior at Baruch College, pursuing a Digital Marketing major and New Media Arts minor. She has experience in marketing strategy, operations, and ad sales. Outside of academic and professional spaces, Veronica can be found diving into new hobbies and exploring different ways to express her creativity.

---

TEACH-IN ORGANIZER

Anna D’Souza, Ph.D.
Provost Innovation Fellow for Inclusive Teaching
Associate Professor, Marxe School of Public and International Affairs

Anna D’Souza is a development economist who tries to understand factors and inform policies related to poverty and development, with an emphasis on food insecurity and malnutrition. Her research areas include food and nutrition security, price shocks, household coping mechanisms, conflict and instability, governance, and international trade. After receiving her Ph.D. in Economics from UCLA, Anna was a research economist at the Economic Research Service (ERS), U.S. Department of Agriculture. She also worked as a consultant for the World Bank, served as an adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and was a visiting fellow at the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at New York University (NYU). Prior to her graduate studies, Anna was a small enterprise development volunteer with the U.S. Peace Corps in Dakar, Senegal. Professor D’Souza holds a B.S. in Finance and Economics from the Stern School of Business at NYU and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Economics from UCLA.

ASSISTANTS

Sika Bediako, Graduate Student, Higher Education Administration, Marxe School
Folasade Ogunjimi, Graduate Student, Arts Administration