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A spotlight on individuals who are moving onward & upward

Ebony, May, 2007

Darlene Green

Comptroller of St. Louis

Darlene Green, who describes herself as a "young 50-something," is the comptroller for the city of St. Louis. She ran unopposed in her last election, and has held the position for 11 years, despite, she says, not initially being a part of the city's political machine. Green, second only to the mayor in the city's elected hierarchy, says she graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a bachelor of science degree in business administration. That's also where she pledged Zeta Phi Beta sorority. In 1996, she created the St. Louis Summer Finance Institute, an eight-week summer program that has since graduated more than 100 high school students and introduced them to the wonders of the world of finance. That program is not affiliated with the city's government.

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"I came in with the ability and skill and professionalism, and the people have begun to have confidence in me in terms of my integrity," says Green.

The road hasn't always been smooth for her. Green has made headlines for ensuring that the Black side of town got some additional infrastructure as a part of the city's most recent billion-dollar business development deal. Though some people criticized her actions, she shrugs it off. "It's an all-good, win-win situation, and I'm happy to have been a part of making it a better deal for the citizens of St. Louis," she says.

Nicole Lee

Executive Director,

TransAfrica Forum

Remember the Free South Africa Movement?

The TransAfrica Forum is partially responsible for helping to bring an end to apartheid in South Africa, and as the Forum moves into the next era of advocating for justice in the African Diaspora, 30-year-old Nicole Lee is at the helm.

Appointed in December, Lee is now the forum's newest executive director and is responsible for guiding the organization into more freedom-fighting. She specifically plans to introduce greater Black America to the thought that we are not alone in this hemisphere. In fact, she says, there are more African descendents in countries such as Colombia, Venezuela and Peru than the average Black person realizes.

"We're going to be stepping up our public education and awareness campaign," says Lee. "One hundred twenty million Afro descendents live in this hemisphere and most of them live in Latin America. Afro descendents are caught in the middle of some pretty bloody situations, and we'll be working on raising their profile."

Lee is looking forward to a July wedding in her native Buffalo, N.Y., and to decorating her new Washington, D.C., home. Lee says she attended SUNY Buffalo for both undergraduate and law school.

Vanessa Morrison

President, Twentieth Century Fox Animation

You probably didn't know that a Sister is in control of one of Hollywood's biggest movie houses. That Sister is Vanessa Morrison, who was recently appointed as the president of Twentieth Century Fox Animation. She previously served as the executive vice president of production for the same company.

Morrison's new position means that she is in charge of a entire collection of animation projects, ranging from the anticipated Horton Hears a Who to the third Ice Age movie. Additionally, in her 13 years with FOX, she was also in charge of Garfield: The Movie, Cheaper by the Dozen and Dr. Dolittle 2.

Morrison is married to HBO executive John Murchison, and she tells Ebony that she attended the University of California at Berkeley.

A spotlight on individuals who are moving onward & upward

Ebony, May, 2007

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