Female Faces
Female Faces
McKnight, a resident of North Minneapolis for more than 35 years and a former MBA student at St. Mary’s University in Nova Scotia, Halifax (Canada) studying the management of Cooperatives and Credit Unions that centers on Global economies and cooperative economics. Additional academic studies include-Urban education, public policy, Education, Human Service, and Community Development Financing.
McKnight has worked as an educator in the public and charter school system for 7 years and served across the social & economic development sector since 2003 in many capacities as a leader in Policy, government, nonprofit and within the for-profit sector and has served on several community development boards, commissions, committees, and initiatives. McKnight has extensive experience as a direct business service provider assisting more than 400 micro businesses with the technical support of facilitating business lending, business planning, strategy and marketing.
McKnight is the first African American in Minnesota to serve as a Met Council Appointee to the Transportation Advisory Board where she served as a regional equity leader focused on transportation policy, finance, planning, research and community engagement from local to national levels.
McKnight is a 2007 LISC Fellow, a 2012 Hubert H Humphrey Policy Fellow, a 2012 Bush Fellow, a 2017 NorthStar Cooperative Fellow and a 2019 Alafia Fellow. In addition, McKnight has received several awards from local community and business agencies and groups for her outstanding community and business leadership and was recently recognized as a 2019 Mpls & St Paul Business Journal “Top Woman in Business” Honoree and a 2019 Finance & Commerce “Top Woman in Finance” Honoree. McKnight is the President and Founder of the Black Women’s Wealth Alliance, SBC (BWWA) a public benefit corporation focused on improving the economic status of Black women. Since 2015 BWWA has served more than 3,000 Black women across Minnesota and has invested over $215,000 in grants supporting the capacity of Black women to build generational Black wealth.
Tephanie DeLaney is a nationally sought-after business developer, corporate and leadership advisor. She is also a licensed Realtor in the state of MN, which contributes to several local and national community organizations. Tephanie leverages nearly 20 years of business experience to advance entrepreneurs, locally and nationally.
Passionate about women’s empowerment, in 2017 she co-founded the Twin Cities Natural Hair & Beauty Expo. While promoting “Sisterhood and Solidarity”, this annual expo shined a national spotlight on Minneapolis/St. Paul. Each year, since the expo’s inception, people from all over the country travel to the Twin Cities with a purpose to empower women, businesses and brands.
I was born and raised in Minnesota and resides in the Minnetonka/Hopkins area. I enjoy spending time with friends, attending sporting events ( Football,Basketball) playing volleyball, walking around the lakes, Happy hours with friends, shopping and traveling. My 2 heart beats are my nieces Brianna & Alexa they are 13 & 11 they are truly my life and I enjoy watching them grow and try to attend as many of their sporting events as possible. I have been in the Multi Housing industry for 21 years working at properties in the suburbs, North Loop and Lowertown in St Paul. with advanced knowledge of building relationships with residents, customers and vendors. I Enjoy making sure the projects are kept on schedule, executing multi million dollar budgets and executing events and working closely with my team. I have been nominated for many awards within the Multi Housing Industry and have won the Property Manager and Property Excellenence and Outreach Marketing Awards just to name a few.
I have always had a passion to give back and enjoy volunteering at Sharing & Caring Hands, Donating to local charities and non profits within the city. When someone within my network reaches out in regards to a child in need, I will what I can within my budget to help. I am involved with Positive Image and help out with the annual events such as the Father Daughter Dance, Mother Son Dance, Back to School Drive and the Night of Giving.
I guess when it really comes down to it, we all have so much to share with each other that we just need to stop and realize how blessed we all are and how we can really make a difference in someone's life.
I am truly honored and humbled by this honoree and hope that I can continue to grow and that we all can continue to work with our communities to make a difference.
Nerita is the Dean of Business, Technology, Career & Workforce Development at North Hennepin Community College and the former Organizational Effectiveness & Development Manager and Workforce Innovation & Opportunity Division Manager at Ramsey County Workforce Solutions (RCWFS). She has a variety of expertise which ranges from Public and Private sector to Higher Education displaying exceptional leadership, organizational development, time management skills, enhanced knowledge of implementing and identifying training needs, and succession planning. She received her Bachelor of Science from National American University. In addition, she holds a Masters of Business Administration and is currently pursuing her Doctorate of Education in Leadership both of which from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.
She has acquired knowledge in the areas of training & staff development, leadership development, racial equity and other multi-faceted activities in the business and governmental realm. She has a special interest in Strengths-based development, Cultural competency development and Entrepreneurship, where she assists individuals with leveraging and maximizing their innate talents in order to develop their strengths. She is an adjunct instructor for the Human Resources Program at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota and Business and Careers Programs for Minnesota State College and University System which allows her to demonstrate and teach racial equity with education. In addition, within her roles she has been instrumental in working with Ramsey County and North Hennepin Community College leadership teams in order to embed and develop racial equity practices for the constituents they serve.
She currently serves on the Board of Directors for and serve as a member of: Hennepin-Carver Workforce Innovation Board, Northside Economic Opportunity Network (Former Board Vice Chair), Everybody IN (Executive and Steering Committee Member), African-American Leadership Forum (Board Member & Co-chair of the Economic Development Workgroup),Governor’s Emerging Entrepreneur Board (Board Member), Council of Minnesotans for African Heritage (Board Chair) National Forum for Black Public Administrators- Minneapolis Metropolitan Area Chapter(Former Board Vice President), Kingdom Life (Leadership Team), North Hennepin Community College (President’s Leadership Team, President’s Cabinet, Strategic Direction Task Team-Community Partnerships).
In addition, she is a former fellow for the James P. Shannon Leadership Institute and continues to serve on other informal community networks that have an economic/workforce development component or an education attainment focus. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends.
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