Shiloh Baptist Church

Born in Trinidad, under the tutelage of his brothers, Kevin Clarke knew early on that cutting hair was his passion. Life took a detour; however, when after migrating to the United States with the hopes of living a “better” life, Kevin found himself working as a medical records clerk and as supervisor for a private industrial company for over ten years.  He knew that these jobs were not allowing him to live up to his full potential, so he decided to follow his passion and skill set and work towards his first dream of becoming a barber.  Now years later, Kevin, also known as Kev da Barber and Trinitrix, is a licensed barber who owns and operates his business in Jamaica, NY.  He has cut hair for celebrities such as Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo and Papoose.  He hopes that his story of perseverance and dedication inspires those around him to follow their dreams, to work hard, to always strive for greatness, and to remember that with God ALL things are possible.

Yalonda Clarke is an African-American woman born in 1984 in Queens, and raised in Long Island, NY.  She holds many titles including business owner, licensed cosmetologist and mentor, which are only a few of her many accomplishments.  Yalonda grew up watching her grandmother and mother master their craft of hairstyling in their hair salon.  She was inspired by their work ethic which led her to become a hard worker as well.  It became natural for her to follow God’s path of helping women feel radiant by enhancing their beauty.  Yalonda worked in retail for 10 years before she began styling in a salon in June 2010.  While working in this salon, Yalonda met her husband, Mr. Kevin Clarke, who worked across the street. Yalonda attended Nassau Community College for Business before opening Salon 161 in 2013 which is in her birth town, Queens, NY.  Yalonda has traveled to places such as Miami and Atlanta for special trainings in the hair industry.  She owns an eyelash line called Unifeyestrands and obtained her license in microblading.  Yalonda continues to explore ways to grow in the beauty industry and perfect her craft.  She gives praise to God for seeing her through the many trials and tribulations she faced throughout her journey. In due time, Yalonda’s reputation will precede her as she continues to reach major milestones in her career and personal life.

Dwayne Edwards is the owner of Three D Carrier, located in Freeport, NY.   He has been a Professional independent Truck Driver for over Twenty (20) years. Dwayne had been a company driver for various companies for five (5) years prior to becoming independent.   He has delivered products from Maine to Florida, to the South and Midwest States.   He began his business career in 1987 as an independent driver delivering beef, chicken and pork to various restaurants and supermarkets.   He also did various moving jobs in the tri-state area and in South Eastern States.   As of the last five (5) years Dwayne has chosen to stay local to regional, so that he may spend more time with his family. Dwayne is also a husband, a father and a dedicated Deacon to the Shiloh Baptist Church.  He is the tenth child of eleven children.  He was raised in Fort Greene section of Brooklyn by a single mother, his uncle and a brother-in-law.  He plans to retire and pursue dispatching once his children have completed college.

Samantha Edwards is the owner and Director of P.E.A.C.E.  (Purposely Educating All Children Effectively) Childcare Services/Pre-K. Samantha has been an early childcare educator for over Twenty- Six (26) years. She has given numerous amounts of children their first educational experience.  She likes to identify this experience as building a strong foundation.  Samantha feels that a strong foundation will enable a child to excel in their educational career.  She says that her goal is to educate each child on their level.  Some of her students have been accepted to various higher institutions with partial and full scholarships. Samantha has a B.A. in Business Administration and a Master’s in Education with a Concentration in Educational Assessment and Evaluation.  She is presently seeking to complete a certification to become at Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA).  The BCBA certification will enable Samantha to work with children who are autistic and have behavior issues.  This is a career advancement that she is looking forward to establishing.

 

Scott Bell is New York Life’s Head of Data Governance – Human Resources. In his role, Scott serves as the point of escalation for governance, data quality and protection issues as it relates to internal and external human capital data.  Working closely with Business and Functional area leadership to improve the quality and value of human capital data assets, responses to regulatory protection requirements as well as support for the strategic initiatives of the organization.  He has established a data governance framework, with a focus on improvement of data quality and the protection of sensitive data through modifications to organization behavior, policies and standards, principles, governance metrics, processes, and data architecture.   Previously, Scott served as a Director at PwC delivering a range of risk management and external and internal audit services to leading global and national corporations.  His expertise includes implementing and optimizing enterprise-wide risk management programs and systems, performing risk assessments for organizations across industries and translating the results into efficient, risk-based plans for internal audit, risk and compliance functions.  He has advised clients on effectively steering through complex finance, technology and data challenges, as well as value optimization derived from their strategic initiatives in technology implementation, process automation, data analytics, and business process re-engineering.   Scott is a CISA and has a Bachelor of Management Information Systems from State University of New York @ Old Westbury with a specialization in Accounting and Information Systems.