Jejuana C. Brown is an equity and inclusion professional with a passion for leadership development, mentoring, and building inclusive workplace and board cultures. During her time as Director of Inclusive Culture & Talent Initiatives at Greater Cleveland Partnership (GCP), she led equity and inclusion programming as well as a regional workforce diversity strategy. Prior to joining GCP, Jejuana led strategic projects for several departments at Cleveland State University where she also earned a Master of Education in Adult Learning and Development and a Graduate Certificate in Diversity Management. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate of Executive Leadership at the University of Charleston, West Virginia. An active community member, Jejuana serves on the boards of the Journey Center for Safety & Healing, Cleveland Society for Human Resource Management (CSHRM), and Facing History & Ourselves (Cleveland).

To learn more about Ugochi Onyeukwu please see her LinkedIN page.

Titus Underwood is Principal Oboe of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and the 2021 recipient of the Sphinx Medal of Excellence award and a 2021 Midsouth Regional Emmy® winner for his work on « We Are Nashville ». Prior to the NSO, he was Acting Associate Principal of Utah Symphony, and has performed as guest principal of Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Miami Symphony Orchestra, and Florida Orchestra. A sought-after freelance performer, Titus has also performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, Puerto Rico Symphony, and San Diego Symphony. Titus regularly plays principal oboe in Chineke!, the Gateways Music Festival, and Bellingham Festival of Music.

Titus received his Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Elaine Douvas, and pursued additional studies with Nathan Hughes and Pedro Diaz. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music where he was a student of John Mack, legendary principal oboist of the Cleveland Orchestra, with additional studies from Frank Rosenwein and Jeffrey Rathbun. In 2013, he received his artist diploma from The Colburn School as a student of Allan Vogel.

An ex-sprinter and half the size of her double bass, Chi-chi Nwanoku has gained a reputation as one of the finest exponents of her instrument today.

The eldest of five children from Nigerian and Irish parents, Chi-chi was seven when she discovered the piano at a neighbour’s. She returned to their house daily to play until the neighbours got so fed up they wheeled the piano up the road and gave it to her! Meanwhile, she was spotted by an athletics coach and trained as a 100-metre sprinter, eventually competing at National level. This career ended abruptly due to a knee injury aged 18, which is when (and why) she took up the double bass and actively pursued a career in music. She studied at the Royal Academy of Music and with Franco Petracchi in Rome, and soon found herself in demand internationally.

Chi-chi is the Founder, Artistic and Executive Director of the Chineke! Foundation, which supports, inspires and encourages Black, Asian and ethnically diverse classical musicians working in the UK and Europe. The Chineke! Foundation celebrates diversity in the classical music industry through its two orchestras, the Chineke! Orchestra and Chineke! Junior Orchestra, as well as its educational and Community engagement work. Ultimately, the Chineke! Foundation aims to give Black, Asian and ethnically diverse classical musicians a platform on which to excel, and by such methods increase the representation of Asian, Black and ethnically diverse musicians in British and European orchestras.

Chi-chi was a founder member of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and held the position of Principal double bass there for 30 years. She is Professor of Double Bass Historical Studies at the Royal Academy of Music, where she was made a Fellow in 1998.

Chi-chi’s range of musical interests have resulted in a broad career performing and recording in a diversity of styles from authentic baroque through to 21st century and new commissions, with many of Europe’s leading chamber orchestras and ensembles. Some of her notable chamber recordings include Schubert’s Trout Quintet (recorded three times), and Octet, Beethoven Septet, Hummel Piano quintet and Boccherini Sonatas. Her solo recording of Dittersdorf and Vanhal Concertos with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra (Hyperion) received critical acclaim.

Hailed for his “trademark brilliance, penetrating sound and rich character” (New York Times), clarinetist Anthony McGill enjoys a dynamic international solo and chamber music career and is principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic — the first African-American principal player in the organization's history. He is the recipient of the 2020 Avery Fisher Prize, one of classical music’s most significant awards, and was named Musical America’s 2024 Instrumentalist of the Year.

McGill appears as a soloist with top orchestras, including the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, and Detroit Symphony Orchestras. In the 2024-25 season, he makes his BBC Proms debut performing Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra & Gemma New.

Also this season, McGill embarks on a multi-city tour with Emanuel Ax. He joins the performance and recording project Principal Brothers featuring his brother, Demarre McGill, as well as Titus Underwood and Bryan Young, four leading Black American woodwind principals performing the works of three prominent Black composers: James Lee III, Valerie Coleman, and Errollyn Wallen.

He performed alongside Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, and Gabriela Montero at the inauguration of President Barack Obama. American Stories, his album with the Pacifica Quartet, was nominated for a GRAMMY®. He has been a collaborator of the Miró, Pacifica, Shanghai, and Takács Quartets, and performs with leading artists including Inon Barnatan, Gloria Chien, Yefim Bronfman, Gil Shaham, Midori, Mitsuko Uchida, and Lang Lang.

He serves on the faculty of The Juilliard School and is Artistic Director for Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program. He holds the William R. and Hyunah Yu Brody Distinguished Chair at the Curtis Institute of Music.

McGill’s #TakeTwoKnees campaign protesting the death of George Floyd went viral, reaching thousands of individuals. He was invited by the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) to perform at the dedication of the National Monument to Freedom. Since 2023, he has partnered with civil rights leader Bryan Stevenson to organize EJI classical music industry convenings examining America’s history of racial inequality in Montgomery, Alabama.

He is a Backun Artist and performs exclusively on Backun Clarinets. anthonymcgill.com

Lady Jess is a soloing member of Beyoncé’s band, and toured with the superstar and her husband, Jay-Z in 2018 for On The Run II tour, recording and arranging with the Carters for their Grammy-nominated album Everything Is Love in 2019, after appearing in the Emmy-nominated Netflix documentary, Homecoming. She is a 2020 winner of the UNCSA Artpreneur of the Year award, 2020 Sphinx MPower grant recipient, and 2021 fellow at The Hermitage Artist Retreat. She has been a guest speaker and panelist for the League of American Orchestras, Gateways Music Festival, Sphinx Organization, University of NC School of the Arts, Apollo Theater and more. 

A regular session musician, Lady Jess was concertmaster and contractor for the Oscar nominated film Judas and The Black Messiah. She can also be heard on the soundtracks of The Lion King, Da 5 Bloods, Space Jam and more. 

Artist collaborations include: Stevie Wonder, Solange, Max Richter, Carrie Mae Weems, Terrence Blanchard, Alicia Keys, et al. This year, in addition to completing her first tour with the Sphinx Virtuosi, Lady Jess released a premiere recording of music by Florence Price on the Naxos label with pianist Ric’key Pageot. Her compositions can be found on Bandcamp: Lady Jess. This spring, she will make her Wigmore Hall and Lincoln Center solo debuts alongside baritone Will Liverman, and looks forward to an additional release of music by the Chevalier St. Georges with Ric’key Pageot. 

Rochelle was appointed Director of Symphonic Services, Special Counsel and Assistant to the President in October of 2016. Prior to her appointment, Rochelle practiced union-side labor law for 10 years at the law firm of Schuchat, Cook & Werner in St. Louis, representing unions and workers in a wide range of industries and professions. In that capacity, she also served as SSD Counsel from 2009-2016. Rochelle graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy and the Eastman School of Music and worked as a symphonic and recording violinist, performing with the Syracuse Symphony, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Florida Philharmonic and Palm Beach Opera and recording with artists including Jon Secada, Alejandro Sanz and Michael Jackson. She served as Orchestra Committee Chair and ROPA delegate for the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra. In 2003 she left full-time work as a musician to attend law school at Washington University in St. Louis, earning her J.D. in 2006. She served as Executive Notes & Projects Editor of the Journal of Law & Policy and received the Mary Collier Hitchcock Prize for her law review note, Control, Collaboration or Coverage: The NLRA and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra Dilemma (20 Wash. U. J. L. & Pol’y 403). Rochelle is a member of the New York State and Missouri bars and has inactive status in the Illinois bar. In 2022, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler appointed Rochelle to serve on the Board of Directors of the Union Lawyers’ Alliance of the AFL-CIO.

Kenneth Thompkins was appointed Principal Trombone of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra by Neeme Jarvi. Prior to this appointment he held positions in the Buffalo Philharmonic and The Florida Orchestra and New World Symphony Orchestra. 

He has also performed with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Thompkins enjoys working with young musicians and has performed masterclasses and recitals at many universities including the Curtis Institute of Music, University of Michigan, and the Eastman School of Music. In 2017 Thompkins recorded Sonatas, Songs and Spirituals featuring the music of Alec Wilder, William Grant Still and Philip Wharton. Sonatas, Songs and Spirituals was the winner of The American Prize in Instrumental Performance for 2018-2019. He has performed as a soloist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Chineke! Orchestra and New World Symphony.  He also premiered “Troubled Water” trombone concerto by Carlos Simon with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2023.

A prominent leader, performer, and educator in classical music, Weston Sprott is Dean and Director of the Preparatory Division at The Juilliard School, a Co-Founder of the Black Orchestral Network, and a trombonist in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

Weston Sprott’s work is based on mission-driven values developed over a twenty-year career in the arts. His approach to all elements of his career is steeped in basic principles—a commitment to excellence and fairness, an abiding sense of kindness and compassion towards others, and an unwavering sense of optimism that is not naive.

Richard Desinord is Assistant Professor of Music Theory at the Michigan State University College of Music. His research interests include harmony and genre in contemporary black church music and neo-soul, the music of Robert Glasper, theory pedagogy, and the visualization of music theory. Desinord has presented research on composers of jazz, R&B and Neo-soul, and his work appears in the the Cambridge Stravinsky Encyclopedia. Having some his personal and professional goals rooted in making music theory more accessible to, and inclusive of, people of color, Desinord is a member of Black Classical Music Educators and the International Society of Black Musicians, and a fervent supporter of the Classically Black Podcast. Prior to his appointment at Michigan State, he lectured in music theory in the Department of Music at Howard University. He earned a PhD in music theory at the Eastman School of Music, an MA in music theory from Penn State University, and a BM in music education from Howard University (magna cum laude).

Matthew D. Morrison, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, is an Associate Professor in the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Matthew holds a Ph.D. in Musicology from Columbia University, an. M.A. in Musicology from The Catholic University of America, and was a Presidential music scholar at Morehouse College where he studied violin and conducting. His research focuses on the relationship between (racial) identity, performance, property, copyright law, and inequities within the history of American popular music and beyond.

Prior to his appointment at NYU, Professor Morrison was a Postdoctoral Faculty Fellow through NYU’s Office of the Provost, and he has served as adjunct faculty at Vassar College, as well as Dean of Faculty for the W. E. B. Du Bois Scholars Institute housed at Princeton University. He has been awarded the Susan McClary and Robert Walser Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies Fellow from 2021-2022, where he held residencies at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and at the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and at the Dahlem Humanities Center at the Freie Universität, Berlin. His published work has appeared in publications such as the Journal of the American Musicological Society, American Music, Journal of Musicology, Women and Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory, the Grove Dictionary of American Music, Oxford Handbooks, art forums/publications, and on Oxford University Press's online music blog.

His book, Blacksound: Making Race in Popular Music in the United States, is published by The University of California Press in Spring 2024. This book traces the aesthetic and political legacy of blackface minstrelsy in an effort to uncover the relationship between performance, racial identity, and intellectual property in the making of global popular music and its industry from the early nineteenth century into the present. For more, visit: http://blacksoundbook.com

David A. Norville is an American oboist and media producer based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, David has been recognized by organizations like YoungArts, Sphinx, and The Jack Kent Cooke foundation for his merits as an oboist and young artist. He is known for producing works like The Of Freedom Podcast, Black Music Seen, as well as Castle of Our Skins’ Black Student Union Intercollegiate Fellowship Program. David currently serves as an Associate Producer for New York Public Radio’s WQXR and is a founding member of The Black Orchestral Network.

Unity, self-determination, collective work & responsibility, and cooperative economics undergird David’s work deconstructing race and social-class through multifaceted artistic lenses. He aspires to use his platforms to creatively empower artists of the African diaspora through the production of online educational platforms, multimedia concert curation, and mentorship.

Chris Jenkins is earning a DMA in viola performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and a PhD in Musicology from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), where his work focuses on African-American musical aesthetics. At Oberlin Conservatory, he is the Associate Dean for Academic Support, the Conservatory Liaison to the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, and a Visiting Assistant Professor of Musicology. Before coming to Oberlin, he was Deputy Director and instructor of viola and violin at the Barenboim-Said Foundation in Ramallah, West Bank.

In 2022, alongside music theorist Philip Ewell, Chris was a cofounder and co-organizer of the Theorizing African American Music conference held at CWRU. Chris is the winner of several awards for scholarship and music performance, including the Karamu House “Room in the House” Fellowship; CWRU’s Adel Heinrich Award for Excellence in Musicological Research; American Society for Aesthetics’ Irene Chayes “New Voices” award; the American Viola Society’s David Dalton Research Competition; and third-place laureate in the Sphinx Competition. In 2023, his first book, on diversity issues in music education, will be published by Routledge Press and the College Music Society. His alma maters include Harvard University, Columbia University, New England Conservatory, and the Manhattan School of Music.

Working IDEAL provides trusted, effective and innovative advice on inclusive workplaces, diverse talent and fair pay to large and small companies, universities, non-profits, unions and other organizations across the nation. Our principals Pamela Coukos and Cyrus Mehri have decades of experience breaking down barriers to diversity, inclusion, equity and access and devising new solutions to drive sustainable change. We specialize in diversity, inclusion and equity assessments, workplace harassment responses, pay equity audits, leadership development, employee learning and engagement, and strategic people and culture programs. We bring deep experience with law, data analysis, workplace practices, applied social science literature, training and development, and public engagement. We understand the practical challenges of implementation. And our long history advocating on behalf of workers and worker organizations gives us unique credibility and perspective. Working IDEAL offers a customized, evidence-based and research-informed approach applying best and promising practices to meet your goals for diversity, equity, access and inclusion. 

Anurima Bhargava is the Founder and Director of Anthem of Us, a strategic advisory and consulting firm that centers dignity, justice, and belonging in workplaces, schools, and communities. Clients include leading financial institutions, corporations, foundations, schools, and media, arts, and non-profit organizations.  

From 2018-2022, she served as Chair and Commissioner of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which documents and makes recommendations on religious persecution and violence abroad.  She made diplomatic visits to Burma, the Rohingya camps in Bangladesh, Iraq, Sudan, and Vietnam.  Her engagement across the Commission was recently profiled in the New York Times.

From 2010-2016, Bhargava led federal civil rights enforcement and policy in schools and higher education institutions across the nation at the U.S. Department of Justice; she spearheaded landmark guidance and litigation on school discipline, sexual harassment and violence, English Learners, and students with disabilities.  

She previously served as Director of the Education Practice and associate counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund from 2004-2010, where she litigated cases on diversity and segregation in schools and higher education institutions, including in the federal appellate courts and U.S. Supreme Court.

From 2016-2018, she was a fellow at the Institute of Politics and the Carr Center for Human Rights at Harvard, and a Leadership in Government Fellow at Open Society Foundations. 

Bhargava’s commitment to advancing dignity and justice through narrative and storytelling led her to produce and advise numerous documentary films and projects.  She chairs the U.S. Board of Doc Society, a leading incubator and supporter of documentary film globally.  Her recent projects include the Oscar-nominated documentary, Writing With Fire (Co-Executive Producer), Barefoot Empress (Executive Producer); and the HBO docuseries The Vow (Consulting Producer/Legal Advisor).

She co-chairs the National Advisory Board on Public Service at Harvard and serves on the board of the National Women’s Law Center Action Fund and Big Thought. She also serves as an advisor to GSV Ventures, Unbound Philanthropy and the Broadway Advocacy Coalition. She was a 2017 Presidential Leadership Scholar.

Bhargava advises numerous political campaigns and was appointed to the 2020 DNC Platform Committee. She founded Take Back Tuesdays and Anthem of America to provide information and ways to take action around elections, and a multiracial PAC, American Anthem.

Bhargava earned her law degree from Columbia Law School and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College. She was born and raised on the south side of Chicago.

Trained as an organizational behaviorist and sociologist, and with experience in social sector consulting and higher education administration, Ahmmad Brown integrates academic theory, evidence-based change management approaches, and mixed-methods approaches to data collection and analysis to support organizations and leadership teams across sectors. In addition to his work with Working IDEAL, Ahmmad is an assistant professor at the Master of Science in Learning and Organizational Change (MSLOC) and the Executive Learning and Organizational Change (ELOC) programs at Northwestern University, where he is also the faculty lead for the Leading Equity and Inclusion in Organizations Certificate (LEIOC) program. He is also the president and co-founder of Equity Based Dialogue for Inclusion, LLC (EBDI), a consultancy that provides advisory and coaching services for leaders and leadership teams in mission-driven and impact-oriented contexts. His thought leadership appears in Forbes.

Ahmmad has expertise in the application of qualitative methods to organizational equity and culture assessments, and the integration of insights from both qualitative and quantitative data to develop integrated and sustainable DEI strategic plans. Ahmmad supports Working IDEAL’s thought leadership and is currently developing a Working IDEAL DEI maturity model. His client work with Working IDEAL and EBDI has included strategic planning, leadership team advisory and capacity development, technical assistance, and the development and implementation of inclusion-focused learning programs.

Prior to Working IDEAL, Ahmmad was a social sector consultant at The Bridgespan Group where he supported the firm’s development of an internal and external racial equity strategy. He has also worked in college admissions, including as the diversity recruitment director in the Williams College Admissions Office. Ahmmad holds a Ph.D. in organizational behavior and an M.A. in sociology from Harvard University, and an M.B.A. and M.A. in education from Stanford University. Center's campus to make it a more welcoming space that better serves close neighbors, including residents of NYC Housing Authority campuses at Amsterdam Houses and Addition. She also leads the "Legacies of San Juan Hill" project as part of an ongoing commitment to confront injustices in Lincoln Center's founding history. A digital hub with scholarly essays, interviews, photography, video, and more, it explores the Manhattan neighborhood that existed prior to Lincoln Center's construction and uplifts the stories of the people who lived in the neighborhood and the arts and culture that flourished there.

Leah sits on numerous boards, including New York Public Radio and the Museum of the City of New York, and is also a Vice Chair of the New York City Cultural Institutions Group. She is a graduate of Harvard College and holds a B.A. in Psychology. A Brooklyn native, Leah makes her home in East Harlem with her husband and daughter.

Shea Scruggs is Director of Institutional Research and Musician Experience/Chief of Enrollment at the Curtis Institute of Music where he oversees admissions, alumni engagement, and institutional research.