Jewel Plummer Cobb Sisters Conference – Still I Rise: The State of Black Women and Girls

Schedule at a Glance

Jewel Plummer Cobb Sisters Conference

Still I Rise: The State of Black Women and Girls

Saturday, March 7, 2026

9:00 am | Registration and Breakfast

10:00 am | Welcome Remarks

President of BAN and Committee Chair, Catherine Sackey

Co-Chairs, Dolores Ijames Bryant ’84 and Chanel Jordan ’19

10:10 am | Acknowledgement of Dr. Jewel Plummer Cobb

10:20 am | Morning Panel

Beyond the Buzz: What Technology and AI Really Mean for Black Communities

Dolores Ijames Bryant ’84 (Moderator), Miranda Alfonso, Jaime Coleman, Tamara Fleming

11:55 am | Lunch

12:40 pm | Keynote Speech

Natasha Hemmings-Durant, MPA and Chief Executive Officer for the Girl Scouts Heart of New Jersey (GSHNJ)

1:20 pm | Afternoon Panel

Reimagining Equity: An Economic Action Plan for Black Women and Our Communities

Caprice Jenerson '90 (Moderator), Thelma Ramsey Bryant, Ph.D., Keisha Dabrowski and Sunny Melvin, Esq.

3:00 pm | Conversation Hour

4:00 pm | Conference Concludes

Dated: January 16, 2026

Honoring Dr. Jewel Plummer Cobb

The Jewel Plummer Cobb Sisters Conference is a biennial event presenting relevant and important topics which shape how we live, learn and thrive in a complex world together with those who understand and resonate with our shared struggles and achievements.

Hosted by the Black Alumnae Network (BAN) of the Associate Alumnae of Douglass College (AADC), this unique conference was inspired by the prolific life of the late Dr, Jewel Plummer Cobb, who, among her many amazing accomplishments, was the first Black Dean of Douglass College.

This year, we will explore two underlying issues that continue to impact the security of Black women and girls: technology, and employment. Through powerful panel discussions and expert insights, we will consider what we need to prepare for the future and move together beyond conversation to share valuable resources and develop a collective call to action. Our conference will feature panels on artificial intelligence’s impact on Black communities and an economic action plan for Black women and our communities, respectively, along with breakfast, lunch, and networking receptions.

The Black Alumnae Network of the Associate Alumnae of Douglass College (AADC) was established in 1981 to organize events that are of particular interest to African American alumnae.

The AADC is an independent, self-supporting 501(c)(3) organization, with a mission to develop and promote connections among Douglass alumnae by providing programs, services, networks and lifelong learning opportunities that represent the interests and needs of our diverse alumnae. The AADC provides prudent stewardship of the Douglass Fund and other endowed funds held by the AADC for the benefit of Douglass; distributions from these funds contribute financial support to Douglass and her students. 

Dated: January 7, 2026

About Our Keynote

Natasha L. Hemmings, MPA, is the Chief Executive Officer for the Girl Scouts Heart of New Jersey and is the first African American woman in the council’s history to lead the organization. A long-time advocate of girl empowerment and leadership, she is a Lifetime Member of the Girl Scouts of the USA and served Girl Scouts of Central & Southern New Jersey as their Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for 18 years. As CEO, Natasha holds the most senior leadership role with significant strategic and supervisory responsibilities for the second-largest Girl Scout Council in the state, with an annual budget of over $10M.

Natasha earned a Master’s Degree in Public Administration with a concentration in Non-Profit Leadership from Rutgers University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications & Theater from Trenton State College. She also holds Executive Non-Profit Leadership and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Certificates from Fairleigh Dickinson and Cornell University.

Natasha was selected to serve on Girl Scouts of the USA's National Convention Action Team for the last 4 National Council Sessions with increasing roles and responsibilities over a 12-year span. She also served as a Delegate representing GSUSA at the 35th World Conference of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. In 2022, Natasha became a Speaker for the United States Department of State, having traveled to Saudi Arabia to deliver training on Girl Leadership, Service, and Women’s Empowerment. Natasha plays a critical role in sharing the inspirational stories of Girl Scouts in the state and worldwide - inspiring girls of every age and families of every culture to join.

About Our Panelists and Moderators

Miranda Alfonso is an accomplished privacy, cybersecurity, and AI professional with over 20 years of experience driving enterprise-wide compliance programs and fostering innovation across diverse industries. As an AI Consultant at AI Talk Central, she specializes in chatbot development, AI technology reviews, small business AI consulting, and AI training—helping organizations adopt cutting-edge AI solutions while maintaining ethical and responsible practices. Her extensive background spans healthcare, higher education, and global corporate environments. She previously served as Director of Privacy and Security Compliance at Acclara, Director of Privacy at Rutgers University, and Global Privacy Leader at GE Healthcare, where she led programs ensuring compliance with HIPAA, GDPR, CCPA, and other regulatory frameworks. Her expertise includes privacy program development, data risk assessment, incident management, and cross-functional leadership.

She is passionate about empowering businesses and professionals to leverage AI responsibly and eUectively.Miranda holds an MBA from the University of Phoenix and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University at Albany. She is a Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM), Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US, CIPP/E), Certified Information Privacy Technologist (CIPT), and holds an MIT Professional Certificate in
Cybersecurity.

Dolores A. Ijames Bryant '84 is an active alumnae leader who serves as Chair of the AADC Strategic Planning Committee, a member of the AADC Board of Directors, and is Co-Chair of the Black Alumnae Network's 2026 Jewel Plummer Cobb Sister Conference. She is the Vice President of Trauma Informed Child Welfare, Kinship & Clinical Services at The Children’s Home Society of New Jersey, a child welfare agency serving children and families throughout New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania. Dolores serves as a part of the administrative leadership team where she manages, supervises and implements a broad range of programs including Kinship Services, Adoption & Foster Care, FACES & Intensive Supervision Program Clinical Services, etc. She is also responsible for identifying needs and developing professional development and training for staff, new hires, volunteers and interns.

Dolores is certified as a Supervisor in Field Instruction by Rutgers School of Social Work. She provides supervision to graduate social work students from Rutgers and other universities. She is a Certified Clinical Supervisor in the state of NJ. She provides supervision for social workers working towards becoming licensed clinical social workers. She is a passionate advocate for kinship families. As a former kinship caregiver, she cared for a niece and two nephews. She has attended and participated in Casey Family Program’s 21st Century Child Welfare meetings held in Phoenix, AZ and Los Angeles, CA. She has presented at workshops at conferences including the National CWLA Conference in Washington DC. She is an active community member. Dolores mentors youth in her community and volunteers with Phi Delta Kappa’s Youth Group for Teens. Dolores is a 2007 Leadership Trenton Fellow, a GRAND Network Member with Generations United. She is a Board Member for the Associate Alumnae of Douglass College. Dolores has a BA in English Literature from Douglass College at Rutgers University and an MSW from Rutgers School of Social Work. She is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW). Dolores has worked with and supported children and families in New Jersey for over 25 years.

Jaime Coleman serves as the Managing Director of Conscious Venture Lab - Trenton, a first-of-its-kind social impact business accelerator to take place in NJ's capital city, her home area. She has a personal and professional mission of elevating Trenton's entrepreneurial ecosystem. Prior to this impactful role which combines her experiences across education, business, and community engagement, Jaime was the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Strategist in local government. Named a 2024 Emerging Leader in Government, she found herself unemployed after DEI was deprioritized.

Jaime’s career started in Higher Education. Priding herself on being well-read and well-researched, Jaime believes that knowledge, open-mindedness, and understanding are essential tools to address many social ills. With years of experience as an Adjunct, she uses her facilitation skills to deliver interactive workshops that create openness, and equip and inspire the audience to take meaningful action. Jaime's service extends to several boards and leading community events that center civic engagement and democracy.

Keisha Dabrowski is a senior business, communications, and strategy leader with nearly two decades of experience helping organizations navigate periods of complexity and change with clarity and intention. She is the Founder and Chief Strategist of Scarlet Ibis Consulting, where she partners with executives and leadership teams to align strategy, culture, and narrative during transformation. Her career spans Fortune 500 healthcare, higher education, and public–private work, including senior leadership roles at Johnson & Johnson, Kenvue, Novo Nordisk, and Rutgers University–New Brunswick. She has advised C-suite leaders and boards on executive communications, organizational alignment, employee experience, and large-scale change, often in environments shaped by rapid transformation, economic pressure, and heightened stakeholder expectations.

What distinguishes Keisha’s work is her ability to hold both the business and the human dimensions of leadership at the same time. She is known for translating complex challenges into clear, actionable strategies, bringing judgment, perspective, and steadiness to high-stakes situations. Her work is grounded in the belief that strong leadership, sustainable performance, and long-term impact are deeply interconnected.

Tamara Fleming is a portrait and personal branding photographer who creates purposeful, powerful images that help clients show up with confidence and clarity. Learn more at TamaraFlemingPhotography.com. She has presented on AI and, for several years, has conducted portrait sessions at AADC events, including the Victoria Dabrowski Schmidt ’42 Workplace and Professional Development Symposium and the Women’s Conference. Tamara created ExpozHER: Personal Development Through Photography, a program that teaches girls photography while building self-esteem, confidence, and technical skill, with a focus on ethical and practical AI use in everyday creative workflows. Tamara previously co-founded pocstock (2019–2022), a global stock photography agency focused on authentic imagery featuring people of color, and remains a current investor.

Caprice R. Jenerson, Esq. '90, has dedicated her career to advocating for the elimination of racial disparities, fighting for the underserved, and shedding light on some of the most critical issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. She has been a leader in the AADC community, currently as a member of the AADC Board of Directors, and previously as chair of the AADC 2025 Women’s Conference: Taking Up Space, a past President of the AADC Black Alumnae Network (BAN) and presenting lectures and virtual workshops. Caprice earned her law degree from Georgia State University and has more than 20 years in senior management and leadership and as a thought leader in diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. She is President and Attorney in Charge at the Office of the Appellate Defender in New York. Throughout her career, Caprice has challenged racial disparities in sentencing, over policing and over criminalization of black communities, and the systemic mass incarceration of black bodies. She spent two years in Washington, D.C., as the Senior Resource Counsel of the Clemency Project, led by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, to train lawyers to prepare clemency petitions.

As past president of AADC BAN, Caprice helped establish the Evelyn Sermons Field '49 Literary Society and plan the 2016 AADC BAN Sisters Conference "Telling Our Truth” commemorating BAN’s 35th anniversary. In 2020, Caprice delivered the AADC Zagoren Lecture, “Access Justice for Those Experiencing Poverty: Historical View and Perspective for the Future.” During the pandemic, she presented virtual AADC Excellence in Inclusion and Equity Initiative workshops, “Removing the Veil of Racism,” about the phenomena of double consciousness and code switching, health disparities, and social injustices. Caprice shares a deep sense of purpose in serving others, along with her daughter, Raven Jenerson ‘17. Caprice is a member of several advisory boards. In 2019, she was named to the Top 100 Lawyers by the National Black Lawyers. In 2022, she was honored by her hometown when she was inducted into the East Orange, NJ, Hall of Fame. In 2023, she was inducted into the AADC Society of Excellence.

Channél Jordan (she/they) is serving as Co-Chair of the Black Alumnae Network Jewel Plummer Cobb Sisters Conference 2026. Channél a seasoned marketing professional and content creator based in Brooklyn. With experience spanning the art, media, and legal industries, they are passionate about using social media to democratize access to cultural history and explore its influence on the zeitgeist. Channél served as Operations Director at Strada, where they built infrastructure to help the organization scale its operations and expand programming opportunities. Before this, they worked in the legal field, first as a Volunteer & Program Coordinator at a legal services nonprofit, then moving to an AmLaw 100 law firm to support the marketing team’s business development initiatives. In her spare time, Channél freelances for various agencies, artists, and podcasts, with current and past clients including Black Fashion Fair, Dayna’s House, Diana Sinclair, and the Tea with Queen & J. podcast. She also creates fashion history content, receiving recognition from publications like i-D Italia, the renowned streetwear brand FUBU, and famed ANTM judge Miss J Alexander. Channél earned her dual B.A. in Political Science and Psychology from Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

Sunny Melvin, Esq.,  is a corporate litigation attorney from East Orange, New Jersey. Her path to the legal profession is nontraditional: after leaving high school in the eleventh grade, Sunny later returned to education as an adult learner, earning her GED and graduating summa cum laude from Rutgers University–New Brunswick. She went on to receive her Juris Doctor from Vanderbilt University Law School.

Her professional work is deeply informed by her lived experience navigating educational and institutional systems. In 2023, she founded Dropped Along the Way, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting adult learners who left school prior to graduation and are seeking to earn their GED as a gateway to higher education and long-term economic mobility. The organization works to dismantle stigma around nontraditional educational paths and address the lasting effects of school pushout. In addition to her legal practice and nonprofit leadership, Sunny serves on the Board of Directors of UTCAO, further advancing her commitment to educational access, community advocacy, and systems-level change.

Thelma Ramsey-Bryant, Ph.D., was born in Newark, NJ and raised in East Orange, NJ. The daughter of educators, her career goals were shaped by their legacy. Dr. Bryant attended Talladega College, Talladega, Alabama (the oldest historically Black college in Alabama) where she majored in Deaf Rehabilitation with a minor in Early Childhood education for the Handicapped. Upon graduation, she attended the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign on the Patricia Roberts Harris fellowship. She received her Master of Arts degree in Speech Pathology. She returned to New Jersey and worked as a speech pathologist in various healthcare settings until transitioning to working in schools. Dr. Ramsey Bryant completed her doctorate in education leadership at Arkansas State University. Her research focus is trauma and its impact on literacy in Black children, specifically Black boys. She has worked in various capacities in education, assistant director of special education, assistant principal at the secondary level and principal at all grade levels pre-k through 12th. She currently serves as principal of a 7th and 8th grade middle school with just over 300 students. She is a volunteer reading tutor. She is a member of the Montclair Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, National Council of Negro Women-Central Jersey Chapter and Charter member of the Greater Newark chapter of the Moles. She is also a DJ, and plays at various events around New Jersey, and a stand-up comedienne, and an education podcast host.

Dated: January 22, 2026