Wildacres Leadership Initiative News Release • June 6, 2023 • H. Corn, Director
023-2025 William C. Friday Fellowship Class Named
The William C. Friday Fellowship for Human Relations, the flagship program of Wildacres Leadership Initiative (WLI), announces its 12th class. A competitive statewide program for cross-sector leaders, the Friday Fellowship is dedicated to fostering relationships across differences and utilizing dialogue to address North Carolina’s most pressing issues.
The 2023-2025 class of Friday Fellows includes 15 individuals who currently reside in nine North Carolina counties. The months-long selection process included a formal nomination, written application, virtual-based conversation, and in-person regional interview. Friday Fellows demonstrate commitment to leadership in North Carolina, model humility and continuous learning, and are courageous risk takers seeking to create innovation through their work in the world.
Rebekah Hughey, a Friday Fellow from the Class of 2014-2016 and WLI’s current board chair, shares,
“We are thrilled to welcome this talented group of leaders to the Friday Fellowship. These individuals have been selected for their exceptional leadership skills and commitment to making a positive impact in their communities and the state of North Carolina. Their diverse backgrounds and experiences will bring new perspectives and ideas to our organization, and we look forward to seeing the impact they will make in their communities and beyond. By joining the class, they are making an intentional choice to sit in community with fellow North Carolinians across lines of perceived difference. Honing this valuable skill over time will be at the heart of their experience, and we are excited to see what this new class of leaders will accomplish. We are honored to have them as part of the Friday Fellowship community.”
Like other Friday Fellows before them, the 15 incoming class members will engage in professional and leadership development both individually and collectively throughout the duration of the two-year fellowship cycle. The program, which operates without tuition or fees from class members, is structured over six four-day seminars and allows for shared experiences across the state, including in Carteret, McDowell, and Tyrrell counties. Before and after each seminar weekend, class members are invited to embrace new and different pathways toward building and sustaining relationships across lines of difference.
Highlighting the unique nature of the program, WLI Lead Faculty, Beth Coleman, comments,
“The Friday Fellowship champions the practice of being and becoming, one I believe to be acutely needed and necessary. In particular, the program’s relational approach to learning, community, and leadership is especially pertinent toward honoring the state of today’s North Carolina while striving for the future North Carolina we hope to live in. This incoming cohort is well suited to being present in facing what has been, what is, and what could be.”
The 2023-2025 Friday Fellowship class is listed alphabetically below. A class directory page with more information and a photo of each new class member is available at this link.
About the William C. Friday Fellowship
The William C. Friday Fellowship for Human Relations is a program of the Wildacres Leadership Initiative. The fellowship honors the legacy of longtime UNC system president Bill Friday, who charged the first class of fellows in 1995 with embracing personal growth and learning in the service of all North Carolinians. Responding to Bill Friday’s call for leadership marked by both courage and grace, the fellowship has equipped over 240 North Carolinians with opportunities for deep engagement with their own—and others’—leadership practices. With human relations at the core of the fellowship’s mission and design, fellows step into relationship with one another while evaluating their power, place, and purpose in a changing world.
William C. Friday Fellowship Class of 2023-2025
Olivia Bass
Olivia is the Director of African, Black, Caribbean (ABC) Services and co-Director of the Culturally Specific and Youth Services Team at the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
Francisco Castelblanco
Francisco is the Director of the Mountain Area Health Education Center and volunteers for Pisgah Legal Services, Community Foundation of WNC, Asheville Buncombe Institute for Parity Achievement, and Asheville Latin Americans Achieving Success.
Pamela Evers
Pamela serves as Associate Director of Donor Engagement for The Nature Conservancy in North Carolina and volunteers her time as a neighborhood coordinator for PORCH, a hunger relief organization in Chapel Hill.
Terrence Foushee
Terrence serves as the Blue Ribbon Specialist for the Blue Ribbon Mentor-Advocate Program in Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools where he works to provide expanded educational support for students of color.
Satish Garimella
With over two decades of executive leadership experience in telecommunications, Satish currently works in the pharmaceutical industry and serves on the Morrisville Town Council.
Luis Jimenez
Luis is the CEO & Founder of Ennovatec LLC, a company dedicated to increasing access to STEM education through engineering coaching, guidance, tutoring, project-based experiences.
Michelle Kennedy
Michelle is the Director of Housing and Neighborhood Development for the City of Greensboro. Prior to this, she spent eight years as the Executive Director of the Interactive Resource Center.
Derick Lee
Derick is a writer/storyteller with EducationNC, a statewide non-profit that works to expand educational opportunities to all North Carolinian students. Prior to this, Derick taught eighth grade English in Edgecombe County.
Tango Barham Moore
Tango is the grants manager at Reidsville Area Foundation. She is also a board member of Compassion Health Care and a founding member of the Racial Equity Learning Community.
Sarah Nagem
Sarah has served as Editor of the Border Belt Independent since 2021 after a lengthy stint at The News & Observer. She focuses on solutions-based journalism in Robeson, Scotland, Columbus and Bladen counties.
Fabiola Salas Villalobos
Fabiola is the Program Director of DREAM, a collaboration between UNC-Chapel Hill School of Education and Durham Public Schools focused on diversifying the teacher workforce in DPS.
Michelle Schneider
Michelle joined Cone Health in 2017 and currently serves as senior philanthropy officer. She is a member of Women to Women, the Greensboro Society of Financial Services Professionals, and the Corporation of Guardianship Board of Directors.
Shaketa Whitaker
Shaketa serves as a Family Nurse Practitioner at ECU Health Family Medicine outpatient clinic. She has led numerous grant and community engagement projects as a Health/Program Coordinator.
Jerry Wilson
Jerry serves as Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Center for Racial Equity in Education (CREED), a non-profit devoted to pursuing racial equity in North Carolina Public Schools.
Tiki Windley
Tiki serves as the Program Officer for Community-Based Strategy at the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation where she helps people access the resources needed to create the changes they seek in their communities and lives.
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