Yleana's Regional Leadership Councils
Yleana’s Regional Leadership Councils (RLC) are four volunteer groups consisting of mission-driven professionals motivated to decrease the racial wealth gap for students from underserved and underrepresented communities in Yleana’s four main locations: Baltimore, Boston/North Shore, New York City, and Philadelphia.
Members play a critical role in making connections wherever possible to build Yleana’s network and community, with corporations, foundations, potential partners, and generally connecting us with folks who believe decreasing the racial wealth gap is a thing we need to put resource towards! They also hold networking, social, friend-raising and fundraising events, offer/coordinate mentorship outreach and volunteer days, and participate in advocacy work in their respective communities. As a collective, the RLC expands and improves Yleana’s network and resources to ensure that we are consistently able to provide the best for our students.
Friends can join either as members of the Regional Leadership Council or as Young Professionals of the RLC, depending on their age and commitment level.
Boston, MA
Will Richardson Boston, MA
Will Richardson is a former math educator and instructional coach who currently serves as Director of Strategic Partnerships at Digital Ready, an early college/career pathways organization. In this role he connects industry and philanthropic partners to the work of Digital Ready, supporting the organization's mission to build tangible pathways for historically underrepresented students to opportunities in Boston's innovation economy.
He has previously worked in education and start-up strategy and operations, and is passionate about expanding effective and sustainable programs that work to close the opportunity gaps within the K-16 educational ecosystem. He earned an undergraduate degree in Finance and Psychology from George Washington University and a M.Ed degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
New York, NY
Slanix Paul Alex New York, NY
Slanix Paul is a pharmacist by training and works at the intersection of medicine and business as a biotech investor in public and private companies. Prior to his investing career, he was an equity research analyst covering small / mid-cap biotech companies and a strategy consultant focused on business development and commercial strategy within the pharma/biotech sectors. Slanix Paul received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from St. John’s University.
Michael Gao New York, NY
Michael Gao grew up in Dallas, TX, and studied Computer Science and Economics at Columbia University. After starting a college consulting company and volunteering as a college access coach with Matriculate, he is now the Founder of Harvi — an AI-powered college counseling platform. Harvi’s mission is to deliver college and career counseling at scale, all while helping colleges build a strong and diverse student body. Michael previously worked as an engineer at Addepar and a product manager at FutureFit AI. He loves exploring the New York City food scene and will never turn down an oyster happy hour.
Michaela Beck New York, NY
Michaela Beck is originally from Long Island, NY and attended Tufts University, where she received her BS in Quantitative Economics. She currently works as an Associate on the Global Macro Balance Sheet and Risk team at KKR in New York. She began her career at Morgan Stanley working in Global Capital Markets. She is an avid New York Mets fan who enjoys traveling to new places and spending time outdoors.
Saeed Malami New York, NY
Saeed came to the USA from Nigeria in 2016 to attend Lafayette College, where he studied Computer Science and Political Philosophy. He began his career at the Constructive Dialogue Institute as a Full-stack Developer building tools to teach communities how to communicate constructively. Currently, he works as a Software Engineer at AWS and does some writing in his spare time.
Baltimore, MD
Nick Laughman Baltimore, MD
Nick Laughman currently works as the Data Coach, Instructional Leadership Team Chair, and Student Support Team Chair for the National Academy Foundation School of Baltimore #421 (NAF). Some of his primary Responsibilities include analyzing student and school performance and attendance data to identify areas in which we as a school can improve and how to reach those goals, and identifying students in need of and delivering supports relating to attendance, academics, and behavior. Prior to Nick's current role, he was the 8th Grade English/Language Arts Teacher at NAF, an Urban Teachers Host Teacher, and a long-time Yleana SAT tutor! He started his career as an Urban Teachers Resident Teacher. In his free time, Nick enjoys bouldering, hiking, baking, trivia, and exploring many of the wonderful museums and vintage markets around Baltimore!
Philadelphia, PA
Shaun Bartole Philadelphia, PA
Shaun Bartole, CISM, CPA, is a Secure Development and Cybersecurity Coach at Comcast, where he coaches development and project management teams to develop their products securely from the start, empowering the teams to change their secure development culture. Shaun is also the founder of the CPA firm Bartole Advisors, LLC , which specializes in small business and individual tax preparation and accounting services.
Previously, Shaun has held positions at Deloitte Advisory and Comcast's Internal Audit team as a Cybersecurity Controls Specialist. Shaun earned his undergraduate degree in Accounting and Information Systems from Rider University, where he served as the Philanthropy Chair of the Young Alumni Council. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in Cybersecurity from New York University.
RaShawn Smarr Philadelphia, PA
After graduating from Jackson State University with a BS in Marketing, RaShawn began his career with Union Pacific Railroad, and now has nearly 20 years of experience working in the transportation industry. RaShawn has a varied background working with the railroad in multiple states across several business lines, but mostly with a focus on sales and business development. In addition to working in a dynamic industry, RaShawn has been a long-time supporter of the National Urban League, their affiliates, and auxiliary Young Professionals organizations, and has been nationally recognized for his leadership and volunteer work. A recent transplant to Philadelphia, RaShawn enjoys attending live music and sporting events, as well as dabbling in the kitchen learning new recipes.
Want to join Yleana’s Regional Leadership Council? Sign up here and we’ll set up a time to chat more!
We encourage applications from all backgrounds, communities and industries, and are committed to having an active Regional Leadership Council made up of diverse skills, experiences, and interests, provided you are committed to and passionate about our mission of closing the racial wealth gap for underserved and underrepresented students. Serious candidates only, please.