Board of Directors

Alexis Waddell

Joyster. philanthropist. executer.

  • Alexis A. Waddell, MAOL is a Chicago native from the West Side whose work is rooted in community, collaboration, and measurable impact. As a business analyst, she specializes in capturing stakeholder needs and translating them into strategic, data-informed solutions that drive sustainable growth. Her expertise in impact reporting and systems improvement positions her to support the long-term development and accountability of the Chicago South Side Birth Center.

    Founder of the Love of Learning Institute, Alexis leads with an asset-based approach, designing programs that uplift communities while aligning vision with execution.

    As a maternal health advocate and certified full-spectrum doula, Alexis has spent the past five years supporting the professional development of doulas through her role at Gifted Hands International. These actions are centered on her passion to strengthen the operational infrastructure within birth work organizations for continued growth. After transitioning from corporate leadership in 2025, she deepened her commitment to culturally responsive care, centering informed consent, advocacy, and equity across the pregnancy and postpartum experience.

    Alexis brings a unique lens that bridges strategy and service to ensure that families are supported. It is her desire to see that organizations are equipped to grow with intention, lead with integrity, and make a lasting impact.

Alia Hawkins

Dancer. Patient. Persistent

  • Alia Hawkins (she/her) is the founder and director of Beachfront Dance School, a not-for-profit dance school located in Gary, Indiana. She is a health law/healthcare compliance attorney and registered mediator. She is also a former classical ballet dancer. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking for family and friends, gardening, knitting, tennis, pilates, yoga, swimming, and traveling.

Carla Kupe

energy mover. strategist. alchemist.

  • Carla Madeleine Kupe, Esq. (she/her/sie/elle/ella) is a former Managing Partner and Co-Founder of CZL P.C. where she led Legal Consulting services around Corporate Governance and Operations through a diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism/oppression lens. Carla considers herself a strategist, an educator, and a collaborative leader. Her unique personal background has translated into unique and innovative problem-solving approaches throughout her career. Carla is the first-born of five children of Congolese parents, speaks eight languages, was born and has lived in Germany and Luxembourg, and has been calling the U.S. her home since 1997. Carla has a remarkable ability of putting herself into another’s shoes, to see an issue from different vantage points. This refined skill has enabled Carla to consistently render comprehensive advice and lead collaborative projects with people of all lived experiences. Carla loves to be the architect of preventive and proactive strategies but also enjoys devising paths for change to improve existing systems and organizational cultures. Carla previously founded and was the former CEO of The Impact Alliance LLC, a diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism/colonialism consulting enterprise through which she provides advising, consulting, education, and leadership coaching services to organizations in both sectors and across industries. Additionally, she served as the Vice President of Racial Equity and Inclusion for the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago. 

    In 2018, Carla was one of the architects of the Professional Identity Formation program at Loyola University Chicago School of Law and acted as the program’s director until 2021. Carla created Speak Truth Summit, a platform giving voice and visibility to the particular and unique experiences of women of color in 2018. Carla served as the first Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Compliance Director at the City of Chicago Office of Inspector General. Before that, Carla was an Associate General Counsel and the Title IX Coordinator for Chicago State University. Prior to that, Carla was an Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of Chicago Law Department in its Federal Civil Rights Litigation Division. She also held the position of Victim Witness Advocate for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office in Boston, Massachusetts. Additionally, Carla was the former Director of Community Relations for the Chicago Metropolitan Chapter of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE).

    Most recently, she was selected for inclusion in the Crain’s Chicago Business feature, “Notable Executives in HR and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” (August  2022). Carla is a member of the Loyola University Chicago School of Law’s Diversity Mentoring Program and the law school's Dean’s Diversity Council. Additionally, Carla serves as a mentor at the University of Chicago Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Carla served as a member and contributing author of the editorial board for the Illinois chapter of the National Diversity Council.

    She received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in Psychology from Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and her Juris Doctor from Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Chicago, Illinois.

Lakeesha Omi Harris

PRIESTESS. way maker. doula.

  • Lakeesha Harris (she/her) is an unapologetic Black Feminist, Abolitionist, and former Co-Executive Director of Lift Louisiana -  where she worked to shift policy needed to improve the lives of Louisiana's women, their families, and their communities.

    In 2021 -2022  Lakeesha wrote and hosted Old Pro News - a limited podcast dedicated to educating everyone on current legislation, policy, and activism of Sex Workers globally. A continuation of her work as the former Director of Reproductive Health and Justice at Women With A Vision, Inc,  in New Orleans, LA - where she worked with Representative Mandie Landy in spearheading the first comprehensive statewide bills in the nation to decriminalize sex work. 

    She, along with current and other former sex workers, developed the deep south decrim toolkit, lodging a statewide campaign to educate the community on what it means when sex workers are targeted and criminalized. During the 2021 legislative session, a group of 119 sex workers and allies provided three hours of testimony in the Louisiana House - a first, not only in the deep south, but in any state house! 

    In 2020, Lakeesha was celebrated by Bitch Media among its Bitch 50 Activists for her work to maintain abortion access in Louisiana and nationwide. Her twenty plus years as a Reproductive Justice leader had produced two RJ Amicus Briefs that were presented to The Supreme Court on behalf abortion access, one currently being considered in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case.

    Before moving to the Deep South, Lakeesha was an organizer, Health Educator, and Insemination Coordinator in the midwest providing comprehensive care to sex workers, women, trans people, and GNC folx at one of the last remaining feminist Health centers in the country, Chicago Women’s Health Center. Lakeesha’s essays, interviews, and critical work has been featured on The Daily by The New York Times, Democracy Now, The Advocate, and Rewire News just to name a few.

    More info on Lakeesha can be accessed here.

Seth Hemming

CONNECTOR. ADVOCATE. ALLY.

  • Seth Hemming in the founder and managing director of Little Wing Collective. Little Wing is a social and economic justice initiative based in Chicago.

    Little Wing’s investment arm, Little Wing Collective, has invested in 20 companies and funds that seek for-profit solutions to social, economic and environmental challenges. Our investments include funds and companies led by entrepreneurs who are Black, Brown, Asian American, LBGTQ+ and women. Above all, we invest in entrepreneurs and funders driven by purpose. Our giving arm, Little Wing Fund, annually donates to more than 50 nonprofits. Little Wing Fund focuses on community-based, founder-led nonprofits seeking social, economic and environmental justice. Little Wing combines impact investing and strategic philanthropy to build a more inclusive and equitable economy, particularly in communities that have been overlooked, by championing entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders with deep roots, big ideas, and a mission to drive real change.

    Before starting Little Wing Collective, Seth was a mergers and acquisitions lawyer for 35 years, a Partner in Reed Smith’s Chicago office, and Co-Chair of the firm’s Private Equity Group.

    Seth’s career transition, from advising entrepreneurs and private equity professionals and M&A law to impact-led investing and philanthropy, is intentional: Seth sees capital as a tool for equity-building and community empowerment, not just returns. Seth’s approach is defined by refined filtering: identifying founder-led nonprofits and other ventures with measurable societal benefit, and engaging in close partnership, often as mentor, connector, and thoughtful investor.

Sydney Means

LISTENER. CAREGIVER. SISTER.

  • Sydney Means, LCSW (she/her) is a dedicated and reliable Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over a decade of experience in mental health and clinical supervision. She earned her Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Chicago, with an emphasis in trauma and family systems, and her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology with a minor in Leadership Studies from Hampton University.

    Sydney has spent the past 10 years serving children and adults who have experienced a wide range of trauma, with a growing focus in recent years on perinatal mental health and parenting. Her professional background includes extensive work within the foster care system as well as in private practice settings. She currently works at Clarity Clinic, where she supervises clinicians ranging from graduate students to provisionally licensed professionals while maintaining her own clinical caseload.

    Sydney is passionate about recognizing and addressing the physical, emotional, and functional impacts of trauma on individuals and families. Her commitment to compassionate, trauma-informed care and leadership makes her a valuable addition to the board.

    Outside of her professional work, Sydney enjoys spending time with her family, exploring new restaurants around Chicago, and getting lost in a good book.