Ala Stanford is an adult and pediatric surgeon and founder of her own specialty
practice R.E.A.L. Concierge Medicine which provides personalized health-care service to business executives, athletes and entertainers. She has also created mobile ICU units to allow terminally ill patients to travel and participate in family functions without endangering their safety. In April 2020, after learning that Black people were infected and dying in disproportionately higher numbers than other groups, she used her own funds to establish and supply the first mobile testing in Philadelphia. She and other volunteer physicians and medical staff administered the Coronavirus tests for free in parking lots, on street corners, to all who registered. In January, 2021, the group began offering vaccinations as well as testing. The Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium has administered over 23,000 tests and more than 10,000 vaccinations. Stanford is Board certified in Adult General Surgery by the American Board of Surgery and Board Certified in Pediatric Surgery by the American Board of Surgery. Her medical training: MD: Penn State University College of Medicine; General Surgery Residency, State University of New York and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Research and Surgery Fellowships: Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, respectively.
Jasmine E. Sessoms is Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs Hilco
Redevelopment Partners and oversees community and government outreach efforts; she also oversees the firm’s Philanthropic efforts. She is a commissioner on the Governor’s Advisory Commission of African American Affairs. In 2004, she founded the non-profit, She Can Win, whose mission is to train and invest in women of color who wish to run for office. She Can Win has trained over 700 women across the country and recently hosted a roundtable discussion for The Vice President in Philadelphia. Sessoms is a graduate of Morgan State University and received a master’s degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Organizational development and leadership.
Collette “CC Sunchild” Coward is an American composer, producer, pianist, and vocalist. She has traveled the globe working with famous artists such as Beyonce. She has been a guest artist in Suzhou, China and Bali Indonesia. Coward had a role as a musician and singer in Medea’s Witness Protection Program, Hap & Leonard, other movies. She recently completed work as the pianist and piano hand double in the Twentieth Century Fox television series, Genius: Aretha. Coward holds a degree in music composition from Georgia State University. Her newly released debut album, Air, is now available on all digital platforms.
Jessica Jinyeong Lee is assistant concertmaster of The Cleveland Orchestra and has performed on four continents. Nationally, she has appeared with the Houston, Grand Rapids, and Richmond Symphony orchestras. Her recitals have been at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Weill Recital Hall and the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC and in Panama the Caramoor Festival and Asociatcion Nacional de Conciertos in Panama. Lee has taught master classes at Curtis Institute of Music, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Penn State and Temple Universities.
She is a graduate of Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia completed master’s studies at the Julliard School in New York.
In its March blogs, Meditations (NSADestinations, Facebook), Next Step Associates has applauded the enormous work of women of numerous cultures. We hope that females of all ages will continue to dream extravagantly and strive unceasingly to make the fullness of life and the abundance of the earth available to all peoples and creatures. Women and Men working together can succeed
Reflections
Collette “CC Sunchild” Coward’s newly released debut album, Air, is now available on all digital platforms.
Dorothy Watson Tatem, D.Min., ACC
Senior Associate
Next Step, LLC
Cassandra W. Jones, Ed.D.
CEO & President