Leadership

Renita Martin is a renowned storyteller whose works have been featured in various media outlets, including Good Morning America, The New York Times, and Ebony Magazine. She has received recognition for her award-winning plays, music, and contributions to several anthologies. Renita is also passionate about education, having served as a National Ambassador to Brown University's "Black Lavender Experience" and as a guest lecturing artist at Brown University and Tougaloo College. Her creativity has earned her numerous awards, including two "Telly Awards" for best music and video production, the National Performance Network's "Creation Fund Grant", and the "Unsung Hero Award from Ebony Magazine and Pine Sol.

Recently, the Art Matters Foundation's Artist2Artist fellowship recognized her entire work catalog. Renita is a member of several organizations, including the Dramatists Guild of America, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and Phi Beta Theta International Honor Society.

Samuel B. Williams, II is a Houston native who received his Bachelor of Science in Industrial Technology from Texas A&M University in 1969. Mr. Williams was one of the two First Black Football lettermen at Texas A&M and was on the 1967 Southwest Conference & 1968 Cotton Bowl Championship team. Mr. Williams has over 40 years of industry and is currently a Business Development & Technical Consultant, Certified Mediator, and Real Estate Manager.

In 2005, Mr. Williams co-founded the Houston A&M Club’s Caring Aggie Mentoring Program (CAMP) to support underrepresented students by making a 10-year commitment to mentor and inspire them to pursue higher education, reinforce excellence, build confidence and leadership skills, and provide fun, life-enriching experiences through direct role modeling success relationships. The program has over 350 students. The program has been featured on the local ABC affiliate in Houston.

Dr. Griffin Davis is a Chief Medical Officer at Fort Washington Medical Center, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine, and a board-certified emergency physician at The George Washington University Hospital and the District of Columbia Veteran’s Hospital. He is also the Director of Physician Quality and the Chief of the Administrative Section at the GW Medical Faculty Associates.

Dr. Davis served for three years as Chair of Emergency Medicine at Prince George’s Hospital, where he helped select and implement the first Electronic Medical Record. He has given national talks on implementing RFID location systems in Emergency Departments and served as a Principal Investigator for a multi-center trial studying the use of ultrasensitive troponin testing in patients presenting with chest pain. He has several years of experience in healthcare administration, implementing quality improvements in the clinical setting, and serving on hospital compliance, quality, and risk management committees.

Dr. Davis earned his MD and Masters in Public Health from The Johns Hopkins University Schools of Medicine and Public Health and an MBA from the George Washington University School of Business. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Courtney Liferidge-Frazier, Ph.D., is a human services and behavioral health professor. With an early interest in the arts, Courtney has been a Rhythm Visions board member since the age of 7. Courtney earned her bachelor's degree in Sociology, master's in Counseling Psychology, and Ph.D. in Advanced Studies in Human Behavior. A Boston native, Courtney currently resides in Richmond, VA, with her husband and son. She loves to travel, read, spend time outdoors, and engage with friends and family during her free time.

Elizabeth Barlow-Gupta is a leader who brings people, ideas and operations together. With a career marked by diversity across industries, delivering in challenging environments and success through relationships, her experience guides organizations with fresh direction focusing on working beyond obstacles.

Elizabeth currently works as a non-profit real estate developer focusing on community developments in educational markets. Previously Elizabeth was the President of a commercial construction firm specializing in rural and tribal design build projects, she held leadership positions in the mining industry both in the United States and Australia with key accomplishments in operational excellence and communications.

She has served on the boards of many organizations with a focus on art and literacy.

Elizabeth holds a BS in Anthropology from the University of Utah. She has two courageous young boys and considers their growth and development her greatest accomplishment.

Hailing from PG county, born and bred, Jarrell 'Tha Griot' Pittman uses his artistry to emphasize the importance of embracing and diving deep into the figurative pages of our own stories. He adopted the name because a griot is a storyteller sharing the culture and history of a people through the spoken word. Jarrell prides himself on that. In doing so, he finds elements of those stories that are to offer as lessons to the world.

Jarrell has performed in numerous showcases up and down the East Coast as an emcee. He placed 2nd in the "Who's Got Next?' showcase in DC, and first in the Coast to Coast live showcase in DC, which offered him the opportunity to compete nationally in Miami, FL. 

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As an educator, Jarrell has dedicated his experience in elementary classroom education to instructing the youth, artists and, entrepreneurs in digital media.

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Jarrell is the founder of Tha Griotsphere, a multifaceted organization that combines his love for the art of storytelling, teaching, and media. Tha Griotsphere collaborates with other entities like Propel Productions Center Inc., a non-profit focused on mental health and wellness through the arts. 

An alumnus of Wesleyan University, Julie Rioux is a finance manager with an extensive background in international research administration and the arts. She worked at Harvard University for 24 years, where she was responsible for fiscal planning, financial operations, and grants management for an academic department. She has worked with numerous arts organizations, including Oddfellows Playhouse Youth Theater (Middletown, CT), Coyote Theater (Boston, MA), Club Passim (a non-profit performance venue in Cambridge, MA), Ifé Franklin’s Indigo Project (Roxbury, MA), and various film, television, concert production companies in and around Boston, MA. Her current interests include historic window restoration and gardening with native plants. She has been an avid supporter and volunteer with Rhythm Visions since 2014.  

Julie previously served on the boards of Gay Community News and Coyote Theater.

Joseph B. Tucker is the retired Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer of
Fort Washington Medical Center (FWMC). Mr. Tucker has over 35 years of experience in health
care management, financial services, and consulting. He has a wealth of expertise in mergers
and acquisitions, financial management and reporting, strategic planning, and financial
forecasting.

Prior to joining FWMC, Mr. Tucker served for two years as Corporate Controller for the Bon
Secours Baltimore Health System and seven years at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore in several roles
including Director of Financial Planning, Director of Financial Reporting and Director of Internal
Audit. Mr. Tucker began his career in public accounting as an auditor with Coopers and Lybrand
(now PriceWaterhouseCoopers)

Mr. Tucker earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Virginia State University. He is a
licensed Certified Public Accountant in the state of Maryland.

Attorney Ramona Williams has a rich background in marketing, fundraising, program development, HR management, and accounting. She leads fundraising campaigns and assists organizations in setting annual income goals. She also works with executive directors and program managers to set standards for serving their organizations' targeted needs groups.

Clinton Turner Davis was born on April 9, 1949, in Washington, D.C., and received his B.F.A. in theater from Howard University in 1972.

Davis began his career with the Negro Ensemble Company in 1972 as the production stage manager for The Great Macdaddy at St. Mark’s Playhouse. Throughout the 1970s, Davis served as the stage manager for a succession of Negro Ensemble Company. In 1982, Davis made his directorial debut with the off-Broadway production of Abercrombie Apocalypse: An American Tragedy at Westside Arts Theatre in New York City. Davis would go on to direct Pearl Cleage’s first play, Puppetplay, at Theatre Four in New York City and serve as the stage manager for Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music. In 1986, Davis co-founded the Non-Traditional Casting Project. He then directed his first August Wilson play, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, California, in 1989. At the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 1993, Davis directed Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, the festival’s first produced work by an African American playwright. 

Davis served as a director for the American Young Playwrights Festival in New York City. He was a guest lecturer at Yale University, Dartmouth College, Columbia University, Ohio State University, and Howard University, and he directed theatrical productions at The Juilliard School, Brandeis University, and Colorado College. Davis received a Distinguished Alumni Award from Howard University, in addition to Dallas Theatre, Bay Area, and Drama-Logue Critics’ Awards. In 2015, Davis received the Lloyd Richards Directors Award from the National Black Arts Festival.

Greg Griffin is a lifelong resident of Jackson, Mississippi. He graduated from Murrah High School and Tougaloo College, where he majored in Sociology. Greg worked as a full-time community organizer for five years at Citizens for Quality Education in Lexington, MS. His focus was on youth organizing, and addressing educational, environmental, and juvenile justice issues. From community organizing, Greg moved into finance and has worked in the finance industry for ten years as a loan underwriter and credit counselor. He is the owner of the HoneyComb SLIM t-shirt line.

H. Tia Juana Malone is a PMI Certified Project Manager. Her background includes directing and coordinating specialties programs such as Ujima Project at Northeastern University and AtD –Learning Communities at Roxbury Community College. As a certified ACE Facilitator, Malone uses research-based strategies to teach and coach college-bound students. Malone earned a B.A. at Albany State University (ASU) in Georgia. Her M.A. in English and her graduate certificate in nonprofit management are from Northeastern University (NU). Malone is a member of the international PMI organization.