50 leaders of tomorrow - Special Issue: 50 Years of JPC - The Next 50 Years: 1992 to 2042

Karima A. Haynes

FROM corporate board rooms to church pulpits to government offices to movie sound stages, a new generation of young Black men and women is emerging to lead Black and White America into the world of tomorrow.

Despite a prevailing perception that young people are unconcerned about others and bent on indulging their every desire, the 50 leaders featured on these pages have struck a delicate balance between serving those less fortunate than themselves while pursuing their own interests.

In recent months, EBONY combed the country looking for outstanding Black Americans age 30 and younger who possess the leadership, intellect, creativity and character that will undoubtedly place them among the movers and shakers in the 21st century.

These extraordinary young leaders range in age from a 14-year-old author, who wrote a book when she was 12 years old, to a 24-year-old NASA aerospace engineer to a 30-year-old CEO. Although their backgrounds differ, their commitment to excellence is the same.

In this, the 50th anniversary of Johnson Publishing Co., the editors decided to reprise past honorees as well as introduce new leaders to our readers. This list, however, is by no means all-encompassing, but rather a representative sample of the abundance of exceptional young people who, we believe, will make headlines in the next 50 years.

Rev. Bernice A. King, 29, Atlanta, lawyer and minister; chair, national advisory

committee, National King Week College and University Student Conference

on Kingian Nonviolence; member, Active Ministers Engaged in Nurturance

(AMEN), a juvenile delinquents' ministry.

John Sinileton, 24, Los Angeles, writer and director of critically acclaimed film

Boyz N The Hood; youngest person and first Black director ever nominated

for an Academy Award; director, HBO drama series, The Champ; directing

new film Poetic Justice; graduate, University of Southern California Film

School.

Latoya Hunter, 14. New York City, author, The Dairy of Latoya Hunter:

My First Year in Junior High (September 1992) a day-to-day account

of inner city life as seen through the eyes of a 12-year-old.

Jesse L. Jackson Jr. 27, Chicago, vice president at large, Operation

Push; youngest appointed member, Democratic National Commit-

tee; law student, University of Illionois; graduate, Chicago Theological

Seminary

Malcolm Jamal Warner, 22, New York City, actor, NBC-TV comedy series

Here and Now and The Cosby Show; director, several episodes of The

Cosby Show and numerous music videos, author, Theo and Me.

Zna Portlock,28, Los Angeles, Counsel/labor relations, Fox Inc, board

member, Options House for homeless teenagers, trustee, Bethel

AME Church, board member, Black Attorneys Network

Cassandra D. Alston, 27, Houston,
scheduling engineer, Exxon Oil
Co.; co-founder, Houston chap
-ter, National Society of Black En
-gineers; founder, IMPACT,
Minority Investment Club.
Rep. David Armstrong, 26, Louisiana
state representative, District
100), New Orleans; youngest per
-son elected to state House of
Representatives; 1992 Outstand
-ing Young Man of America.
Dwayne R Ashley, 25, Philadelphia,
area director, United Negro Col
-lege Fund; past campaign super
-visor, United Way of the Texas
Gulf; past Lyndon B. Johnson in
-tern, U.S. Supreme Court.
A. Scott Bolden, 30, Washington,
D.C., associate lawyer, Reed
Smith Shaw & McClay; member,
NAACP Legal Outreach Inc.;
board member, American Lung
Association, Washington, D.C.
Dwayne Drown, 30, Indianapolis,
clerk of Indiana Supreme and
Appellate courts; first Black
elected to statewide office in In
-diana; former staff attorney, Fed
-eral Reserve System.
Deborah Carter, 30, Atlanta, owner,
computer consulting firm; past
manager, office systems adminis
-tration, IBM Corp.; operations
manager, St. Peter Missionary
Baptist Church.
Rev. Portia Cavitt, 29, Jefferson
City, Mo., A.M.E. itinerant pastor;
eluef seecretaty, Missouri Annual
Conference; Chtistian education
director and assistant secretary, St.
Louis-Columbia District.
Roger D. Cheeks, 29, city council
-man, Terre Haute, Ind., the
city's first Black elected city offi
-cial; assistant dean of student
life, Indiana State University; as
-sistant pastor, Miracle Church of
God in Christ.
Rev. Reginald Maurice Copeland, 30,
Marietta, Ga., senior pastor, Flat
Rock United Methodist Church,
Lithonia, Ga.; former counselor,
Georgia Department of Offender
Rehabilitation.
Monet C. Davis, 28, Jackson, Tenn.,
plant accounting manager, Proc
-ter & Gamble; founder, P&G
mentor program; rounded sin
-gles' and single parents' ministry,
Lincoln Heights Baptist Church.
Rev. Sheron C. Dixon, 27, Baton
Rouge, La., pastor, Star Hfll Bap
-tist Church; instructor, 4th Dis
-trict Congress of Christian
Education and National Baptist
Congress of Christian Education.
Samuel N. Engram Jr., 29, Phoenix,
Ariz., senior systems analyst for
American Express, TRS; board
member, Arizona Westside Food
Bank; board member, state Em
-ployment and Training Council,
Son. Cloo Fields, 29, Louisiana
state senator, District 14, Baton
Rouge; serves on Judiciary, State
Legislative Budget and Senate
and Governmental Affairs com
-mittees; wrote anti-drug bills.
Kenneth L. Harris, 29, Charlotte,
N.C., partner, Harris and Drum
-mond law firm; founder, Horizon
Civic Group, citywide career
fair; chair, speakers bureau,
Mecklenburg County Bar.
Lorri Hewett, 19, Littleton, Colo.,
anthor, Coming of Age (Sept.
1991), a novel about growing up
Black in an all-White environ
-ment; writing second novel, Soul
-fire; junior, Emory University.
Heather E. Hiidreth, 27, Chicago,
associate lawyer, Sidley & Aus
-tin; executive secretary and trea
-surer, Chicago Committee of
Blacks in Large Law Firms;
graduate, Harvard Law School.
Donald M. Jackson, 26, Montgom
-ery, Ala., attorney; board mem
-ber, Big Brothers-Big Sisters of
Greater Montgomery; member,
executive committee, state Re
-publican Party.
Marlha M. Jallim, 30, Hampton,
Va., director of student activities,
Hampton University; board
member, Hampton Civic and
Tenants Association; chair,
Hampton University Musical
Arts Society.
Carwii Jamos, 16, East Cleveland,
Ohio, earned honorable men
-tion, XXIII International Physics
Olympiad, Helsinki, Finland;
past state physics champion;
freshman, Northwestern.
Luthor Neal Jenkins, 24, Newport
News, Va., aerospace engineer,
NASA Langley Research Center;
first Black high school valedic
-torian in the history of Newport
News school system.
Washington Johnson II, 30, Bir
-mingham, Ala., pastor, Norwood
Seventh-Day Adventist Church;
first Black appointed to serve in
the Campus Ministry Associa
-tion, University of Alabama.
Quincy D. Junes Ill, 21, Los An
-geles, record producer; owner,
Q.D. III Soundlab; composer,
theme music for NBC-TV com
-edy, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air; co
-producer, Quincy Jones' Back on
the Block.
Ronald A. Jones, 30, San Leandro,
Calif., fiscal director, LaPerie Ar
-chitects; founder, Residential
Design Group; chair, Judie Davis
bone marrow minority donor re
-cruitment program.
Tendra L. Loder, 25, Chicago, assis
-tant director, Early Identifica
-tion, a drop-out prevention
program, George M. Pullman
Educational Foundation; deputy
voter registrar Project Vote.
Renee E Mahaffey, 30, Cincinnati,
special assistant, Intergovern
-mental and Community Affairs,
U.S. Rep. Charles K. Luken of
Ohio; vice chair, Cincinnati
Democratic Committee.
Stephen R McVea, 24, Houston,
founder, Model Black Male
Youth Project; founder, Enter
-tainment and Sports Law Soci
-ety; dual-degree MBA and law
student, University of Houston.
Antoinette Mensah, 30, Milwaukee,
staff specialist, INROADS/Wis
-consin; board chair, Office of
Black Catholic Concerns, Arch
-diocese of Milwaukee; second
vice chair, Ko-Thi Dance Co.
Dr. John B. Morris, 28, Battle
Creek, Mich., dentist; hoard
vice chair, Southwestern Michi
-gan Urban League; vice presi
-dent, Minority Business Oysters
of Battle Creek.
Minister Conrad Muhammad, 28,
New York City, representative of
the Honorable Louis Farrakhan
and the Nation of Islam; minister
of Muhammad Mosque No. 7.
Mitzi Dease Paile, 30, Jackson,
Miss., special assistant U.S. attor
-ney general, Southern District of
Mississippi, U.S. Attorney's
Office; projects officer, Magnolia
Bar Association.
Awadagin Pratt, 26, Baltimore, first
Black to win Nau:nburg interna
-tional piano competition; first
student to earn piano, violin,
conducting diplomas, Peabody
Conservatory of Music.
Sherman L. Ragland II, 30, Alex
-andria, Va., president, CEO and
managing director, Tradewinds
Realty Advisors; president, Na
-tional Association of Black Real
Estate Professionals.
Kimberly M. Reason, 30, Seattle,
vice president for programs,
Seattle Urban League; commis
-sioner, Mayor's Commission on
Children and Youth; member,
Minority Executive Directors
Coalition.
Natosha Reid, 21, Miami, co-foun
-der, Project Expansion, minority
MBA program; co-chair, advisory
committee, Harvard Foundation
Intercultural & Race Relations;
senior, Harvard University.
Matty Rich, 20, Brooklyn, N.Y.,
producer, director and star of
critically acclaimed motion pic
-ture Straight Out of Brooklyn;
owner, Blacks N Progress, a film
production company.
Jared L. Samples, 27, Atlanta city
councilman, District 9; vice
chairman, Atlanta-Fulton
County Land Bank Authority;
former hoard memher, Atlanta
Housing Authority.
Judith Scate, 30, Detroit, project
manager, City For Youth Detroit
Educational Foundation; special
projects assistant, city council
-man Gil Hill; member, New De
-troit convention retention
committee.
Adam Lorenzo Smith, 28, Washing
-ton, D.C., associate lawyer,
Arnall Golden Gregory, spe
-cializing in health-care law; past
member, American Red Cross
fact-finding mission to West
Africa.
Reil LoNett Stanley, 29, Georgia
state representative, District 33
Atlanta; youngest person ever
elected to state General Assem
-bly; only Black woman on state
Revenue Structure Commission.
Darius A. Stanton St., 22, drug pol
-icy chic city of Annapolis, Md.;
national trainer and consultant,
National Institute on Drug
Abuse; recipient, Governor's
Award for anti-drug program.
Chaka L Wade, 21, New PaiLz, N.Y.,
only Black student to earn aero
-nautical engineering degree in
1992 graduating class, U.S. Mili
-tary Academy; military intelli
-gence officer, Ft. Huachuca, Ariz.
John L. Whitehead III, 30, Seattle,
engineer and director of con
-struction project management
for Seattle; chairman, Equal Em
-ployment Opportunity Division,
American Public Works Associa
-tion.
Lawrence D. Wilder Jr., 30, Rich
-mond, Va., Virginia state dele
-gate representing Richmond and
portions of neighboring counties;
partner, Wilder & Gregory law
firm.
Eldrick (Tifer) Woods, 16, Cyprus,
Calif., considered the finest ju
-nior player in the history of
American golf; first player to win
two U.S. Junior Amateur cham
-pionships; junior, Western High

School.

COPYRIGHT 1992 Johnson Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group