College Panel: Danielle Geathers, Student Body President, MIT; Naomi Riley, Former Student Body President, UCLA; Breeze Hernandez, Student Body President, UCLA; Kylie Burke, Student Body President, Howard University
Facilitated by: Cheryl Hibbeln, Founder, IlluminatED Collective

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Danielle Geathers – Student Body President, MIT

Danielle Geathers was born and raised in Miami, Florida and is currently a junior at MIT studying Mechanical Engineering. In May, she was elected President for the MIT Undergraduate Association, making her the first Black woman to serve in this role. She is also the founder and director of Talented Ten, a program designed to increase the matriculation of Black women to MIT. As a sophomore, she served as the Officer on Diversity and chair of the Community and Diversity Committee. In high school, Danielle was the founder of her school’s Black Student Union and awarded the Coca Cola, Burger King, Foot Locker, and Women and Girls in Soccer scholarships. Danielle aspires to be a patent lawyer and plans to attend law school after graduation.

Naomi Riley – Former Student Body President, UCLA

Naomi Riley is a 4th year majoring in Political Science minoring in Chicano Studies and African American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. This year she has the honor of serving as UCLA’s Student Body President and the Undergraduate Chair of the UC Council of Student Body Presidents. She was born and raised in the greater Los Angeles area. Naomi has used her experiences to help her become the leader she is today. She is deeply passionate about social justice issues and commits herself daily to find ways to advocate for her communities. Naomi aspires to take the work she is doing now and apply it along her journey to become a civil rights attorney and educator.

Breeze Hernandez – Student Body President, UCLA

Kylie Burke – Student Body President, Howard University

Dr. Sabba Quidwai, Education Leadership Executive

In 2018, the World Economic Forum listed “Leadership and Social Influence” as a trending skill. In this session we’ll discuss strategies for how leaders can build social influence to encourage creativity, recognize accomplishments, build trust and inspire a collective vision.

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Dr. Sabba Quidwai

Sabba believes that cultures of innovation begin with a culture of empathy. She works with leaders to integrate design thinking practices that encourage creativity, recognize accomplishments, build trust and inspire a collective vision. Sabba shares how leveraging stories across social media platforms can empower leaders as role models for the beliefs and values they want to see others adopt as they believe that their audience is able to rise to the occasion.

Alyssa Gallagher, Head of Education, BTS Spark; Design Thinking author and Master Practitioner from the Wiseman

Leadership has always been a bit messy, but prior to 2020 much of the messiness was hidden. As uncovered in new research, leaders who succeeded during the pandemic were those who were able to lean into the uncertainty & lead with humanity utilizing practices outlined by the acronym MESSY (Multiplying Perspective, Emotional Connection, Seizing Momentum, Sensing the Future, Your Ego). In the future, the schools that thrive will be the ones that have established a new form of leadership.

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Alyssa Gallagher is Head of Education, North America for BTS Spark, education author, leader and speaker.  She is also a Master Practitioner for The Wiseman Group and has worked with a wide spectrum of leaders, ranging from early career leaders in schools to seasoned executives in Fortune 500 Companies. Alyssa enjoys working with leaders to design strategies that leverage the capability, creativity, and intelligence of everyone on their team.