Meet The Board
President & Founder of BeUnlimited
Melissa has been a youth advocate for over 18 years. Her expertise lies in career readiness, college preparation, curriculum development, and mentoring. As a certified life coach, dedicated youth worker, teacher, college access and career coach, and community advocate, her desire has always been to teach youth and young adults how to become self-sufficient.
Melissa Mallory
Vice- President
Jhaismen is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and has worked within the child welfare field by investigating, advocating, training, and mentoring for over 20 years. As an ordained minister, she also works with a statewide organization, Encourage the Heart, to empower, uplift and inspire women in different facets of their lives. Jhaismen continues to work daily with the mindset of “reach one, teach one” and embodies the true character of a mentor.
Jhaismen Collins
Treasurer
Kuhu founded and led multiple education-based programs for children across different cultures in India and Hong Kong before moving to the U.S. In particular, she is focused on helping create sustainable and scalable systems that can help children unlock their full academic and professional capabilities. Having worked in investment banking and private equity, she has meaningful experience in financial analysis, and is thrilled to channel her skills into supporting BeUnlimited's finance team.
Kuhu Singh
.jpg)
Secretary
Kiersten is a senior certified human resources professional with expertise in leadership, professional development, performance management, compensation, and recruitment and retention. Specializing in the non-profit sector, Kiersten has served organizations in this field for over 15 years. She has a passion for serving the community and uplifting the youth in Prince George’s County.
Kiersten Thornton
Board Member
Kim is a nationally certified human resources practitioner skilled in staffing, project management, and talent acquisition. She's provided client-centered human resources services to large public sectors and Fortune 500 organizations. She has a heart for service and works with clients as a certified grief coach. She is committed to empowering youth by providing employment opportunities and mentoring.
Kim Bagley
Board Member
Jeffery is the CEO of WPJ Construction LLC, and the Director of Holy Trinity Church of God in Christ. As an Architect and Licensed General Contractor with the State of Florida, Jeffery has managed over $200 million in large construction projects over the course of his 15 year career. He specializes in financial planning, asset acquisition, budgeting, customer service, vision establishment, and execution. Jeffery possesses extreme passion for developing communities and individuals to achieve progressive sustainability.
Jeffery Williams
Tia Watkins
Fundraising Coordinator
Tia is a skilled operations professional who has cultivated her passion for building people-centered systems and processes through work with nonprofits, government organizations, public and private schools. She currently leads Operations at a Title I public elementary school in Washington, DC. Tia is dedicated to building equitable pathways to just education, economic resiliency, and mental and emotional wellbeing for young people. She finds that working with youth is the most engaging and energizing career there is and is lucky to have the opportunity to continuously teach and learn from them.
Board Member
Cyscy is an experienced human service and administrative support professional. She has demonstrated history in Case Management, Bilingual Communications, and Mental Health Counseling. Her interpersonal skills make her adept in building and maintaining positive relationships with personnel. Being bilingual helps her serve a diverse population and further strengthens her lifelong purpose of helping others to accomplish their goals.
Cyscy Valenzuela
Board Member
Lindsay is a Private Equity Associate at KKR, where she focuses on investments in Technology companies. Prior to joining KKR, she worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) group at Credit Suisse, where she helped execute over $60 billion of M&A transactions. She also has prior experience in investment advisory and financial planning. Lindsay is a DMV native, and is very passionate about helping youths in underserved communities develop key life skills, explore educational and career opportunities, and achieve their full potential.
Lindsay Gong
Elidé Flores-Medel
Board Member
Elidé is a values-based strategy and evaluation consultant and professional coach with over 10 years of experience in the consulting space. Through collaborative and equity-centered approaches, she works alongside values-led grassroot organizations and foundations to evaluate their programs and initiatives, facilitate learning, develop their evaluation strategy, and build their internal capacity to engage with evaluation in service of learning. She also works closely with seasoned and emerging organization leaders and individuals in the non-profit and for-profit sectors to support their professional and personal growth in alignment with their values.
Cherisa Martin
Board Member
Cherisa is a seasoned program manager with over a decade of experience in educational, local government, and non-profit settings. Her primary focus has been on professional development programming, specifically on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Cherisa is currently the Program Director for Medici Road YouthBuild in Washington, D.C., where she led the start-up of the Department of Labor-funded pre-apprenticeship workforce development program for youth aged 16-24. With over 15 years of educational programming experience in assorted settings, Cherisa holds a Master of Education from Towson University and a Bachelor of Science in Special Education from East Carolina University.
Gemima Philippe-Parker
Communications Coordinator
Gemima, an accomplished communications professional with 15+ years in health, business development, and social media management, excels in program management and client relations. Currently overseeing internal and strategic communications at the Johns Hopkins School of Education, she previously contributed to the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Center for Public Engagement with Science & Technology. There, Gemima coordinated marketing campaigns, trained scientists, and supported programs highlighting exceptional scientists, many from marginalized communities. She holds a Master’s in Public Health Marketing and Communication from George Washington University and a Bachelor’s in Communication from the University of Maryland.