About Orhan

Eric Dexter is the director of business development for Civil Solutions Consulting Group, a Baton Rouge-based civil engineering consulting firm.

In the day-to-day, Eric leads the organization’s marketing and business development initiatives while managing new and existing client accounts. A strong community advocate, Eric is a leading figure in the development and work of a number of local nonprofits and associations, ranging from business, education, and economic development to the arts and social good.

Frankie Robertson, a nationally recognized, respected leader in public health is the founder and President of The Amandla Group LLC, a social justice advocacy consulting firm specializing in addressing the social, structural, and political determinants of health impacting Black and brown birthing people through public policy and advocacy. The Amandla Group works to empower Black birthing people and eliminate systemic barriers that create deadly health inequities. Frankie is also founder of Black Joy, a doula firm providing doula services, specialized doula training, and community education to support positive birth and mental health outcomes for birthing people with an emphasis on supporting high risk clients of color and parents of infants hospitalized in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Frankie has worked in grassroots nonprofit organization management for 22 years and in maternal and child health for 15 years. Her work in maternal and child health began as the state director of the Louisiana Chapter of March of Dimes. During her tenure as state director, her talented team partnered with key stakeholders on highly successful statewide initiatives that received national recognition such as the 39 Weeks Initiative, Group Prenatal Care, Baby and Me Tobacco Free, and Go the Full 40.

Frankie also served as Regional Director of Advocacy and Government Affairs at March of Dimes. She supported a team of staff, contract lobbyists and volunteers across the southeast region, including LA, MS, AL, TN, FL, GA, NC, SC, and Puerto Rico. Key advocacy initiatives included maternal mortality and morbidity, social determinants of health, health equity, workplace protections, paid leave, maternal mental health, protecting immunization laws, health care coverage, newborn screening, neonatal abstinence syndrome, and smoking cessation. Frankie’s experience building and managing coalitions have led to high success throughout her public health career.

Frankie has an unwavering and unapologetic commitment to social justice and equity. She applies her experience as a mission mom, training as a facilitator and alumna of Dialogue on Race Louisiana, the training she received from the Interaction Institute for Social Change to facilitate racial justice work, and extensive training as a birth doula, to advance policies and engage in community education to address root causes and dismantle structural racism that leads to health inequities for Black and brown birthing people and families.

About Juan

Richard Holwill, a native of Shreveport and graduate of LSU, served in several high-level positions in the U.S. Department of State, including as U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador. In the private sector, he worked to support U.S. businesses in foreign markets and has extensive experience resolving problems in China, India, Russia, and Brazil. He has published two books on public policy and has contributed to the opinion pages of The New York Times, Washington Post, and other major publications. He was a founding member of the American College of National Security Leaders and is scholar in residence at the Jackson Hole Center for Global Affairs.

Dr. Shaofei Han is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Department of Curriculum and Instruction. She received her doctoral degree from Louisiana State University in Curriculum and Instruction, with a minor in Women and Gender Studies. Dr. Han was born in China and taught in both China and the United States as an ESL teacher and foreign language immersion (Mandarin) teacher in K-12 schools.