OUR MVP

Tina Brown is a daughter of Miami – Historic Overtown to be exact – and the powerhouse leader who has dedicated her life to leveling the playing field for youth, children and adults.

As OYC Miami’s Woman-in-Chief. Tina’s saavy business acumen and dynamic leadership style has been the catalyst for establishing a dynamic workplace and culture conducive for creating efficiencies that have been integral to increasing the organizations operating revenues on an annual basis and growing OYC’s assets to $33M.

Tina’s personal lived experiences & unrelenting desire to create sustainable change has been the driving force behind her vision to expand its core services and the organization’s brand. Since her reign, OYC’s service population has more than tripled; along with offering a more robust array of educational, enrichment and exposure opportunities; as well as expanding health, wellness, civic engagement, college, vocational and workforce readiness programs from Miami to South Broward.

Under Tina’s leadership, a high demand for services began to surge; resulting in the need for a larger space to operate. In 2017, Tina spearheaded the launch of a $22 million capital campaign to construct a 56,000 square foot facility to accommodate the growth of OYC’s service population, program services, staff, and the needs of community at large. To-Date, Tina has been integral in raising $22M of project’s goal through an aggressive and diverse fundraising strategy to include individual, foundation, and corporate giving; as well as New Market Tax Credits

As a proud graduate of the HBCU Savannah State University; Tina holds a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree with a concentration in Accounting and a Master’s Degree in Accounting.

Tina is a well - respected professional and is generous with lending her expertise. To this ends, she serves on the Boards of the , Overtown Children and Youth Coalition, Together for Children, Equity Advocacy Collective, Florida Community Loan Fund, and has served as an advisor to the Miami Foundation and several other state, local and community/government organizations.

While Tina is a profound leader who is known for getting results, her greatest accomplishment is the life she has built with her husband Cory and their three children, Kaige, Kaiden and Canaan Brown.

Metris Batts Coley is the Executive Director of the Overtown Business Association, where she leads economic development and small business support efforts in one of Miami's most historically significant neighborhoods. A Main Street practitioner committed to place-based commerce and cultural preservation, Metris brings more than 25 years of nonprofit experience to the work of building viable, community-owned economic ecosystems.
Her ties to Overtown are direct and operational: Metris served as Chief Operating Officer of the Dunns Josephine Hotel, one of the neighborhood's storied historic properties, where she helped steward its transition into a hospitality asset rooted in cultural memory. She is also one of three female partners of the Avent on Falls Bed and Breakfast in Rocky Mount, North Carolina — a signal of her broader commitment to Black-owned placemaking beyond Miami's borders.
Within the civic life of Miami, Metris has been a member of The Miami Woman's Club for 16 years and currently serves as its President. She represented GFWC Florida as its 2020 Leadership Education and Development (LEADS) representative, and served as the 2022–2024 GFWC Florida Fundraising and Development Chairman and Grants Committee Chairman — roles that reflect a practiced hand in both organizational development and resource mobilization.
Metris is a proud member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated. And yes, she rides motorcycles.

Kamila E. Pritchett is the President and CEO of The Black Archives History & Research Foundation of South Florida, the organization that owns and operates two of Overtown's most iconic landmarks: the Historic Lyric Theater and the Historic D.A. Dorsey House. With a career rooted in storytelling — she spent a decade in journalism before transitioning to nonprofit work in 2007 — Kamila brings an editorial eye and a community-first ethos to everything she leads.
Her path into community service began at the Healthy Start Coalition of Miami-Dade, where she served as a Community Liaison connecting new mothers to critical resources. Recognized early for her commitment, she was selected for specialized training at Harvard University's Brazelton Touchpoints Center and became a certified trainer in early child development — a formative chapter that deepened her understanding of how foundational environments shape human potential.
Kamila joined The Black Archives in February 2013 as Development Coordinator and has since risen to its top leadership role. Under her watch, the organization has expanded its programming, deepened its community partnerships, and grown its fundraising capacity. She was the driving force behind the successful reopening of the Historic Lyric Theater in 2014 and the Historic D.A. Dorsey House in 2019, returning both spaces to active cultural life in the heart of Overtown. In 2023, her contributions to the field of Black cultural preservation were recognized with an appointment to the Board of Directors of the Association of African American Museums (AAAM).
Kamila holds an A.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication from Miami-Dade College and a B.A. in English with an undergraduate certificate in African New World Studies from Florida International University. She is a member of The Links, Incorporated (Greater Miami Chapter) and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.

Some people find their calling in a classroom or a boardroom. Anitrice Jackson, affectionately called 'Mama Joy', found hers in a moment of grace. When her children were young and money was tight, she was struggling to cover the basics: school clothes, supplies, Christmas. Then the Salvation Army's Angel Tree showed up for her family, delivering not just what they needed but everything her kids had wished for. That experience didn't just move her, it redirected her. If someone could be an angel in her life, she could be one in someone else's.

That conviction became Nana's Restart, which she founded in 2013 with nothing but her own time, her own money, and a heart too big to stay quiet.
More than a decade later, Mama Joy is one of Overtown's most beloved figures — and Nana's Restart is proof of what happens when purpose refuses to wait for permission or funding. From annual back-to-school uniform drives to the "Pampered With Love" Mother's Day Brunch, every program she runs carries the same fingerprint: she sees people, she meets them where they are, and she shows up. Mama Joy is still doing this work on her own terms, fueled by the same simple belief that started it all — that her passion and her purpose are people. In Overtown, that's not just appreciated. It's sacred.

During the pandemic, we launched BRIDGE Networks, a local streaming network for businesses, events, and the local information you should know available on Apple TV, Amazon Firestick, and Roku.

Currently working at the intersection of community, media and technology focused on advancing entrepreneurship in underserved communities and building local news infrastructure that unlocks new revenue models.

Anthony has over 17 years experience working with our At Promise Youth. His motto is: Helping our Youth Help Themselves. He has spent the past 18yrs. working within the Job Corps arena. Throughout his tenure, he has managed and overseen the outreach and admissions, career preparations, academics, career training, social development, counseling, career readiness, and career transition. This experience has allowed him to develop a vast understanding of the complete operation of the Job Corps program and workforce development. This has fueled his aspiration to develop comprehensive strategies that will help young people develop successful, self driven motivation that will last a life time.

Anthony's ability to reach and understand our youth, in combination with his knowledge, public and private connections, has assisted him in helping our youth believe in themselves and reach goals they felt were unobtainable.

With over 20 years in broadcast media marketing, the industry has seen Nicole grow from an overnight board operator in her hometown of Columbus, Georgia, to an influential woman making great strides in creating award winning events and concepts that generate revenue for advertisers.

Her southern charm and enticing voice earned her on-air shifts from Mornings in Columbus, GA to multi-market Middays before finding her passion for consumer marketing as the Promotions Director for radio formats including Rhythmic, Urban AC, and Adult Contemporary, in which she served South Florida for six years as Promotions Director of Miami powerhouse 101.5 LITE FM. Nicole received her education at Columbus State University, majoring in Communications with an emphasis in Marketing. Nicole achieved South Florida success as the Director of Business Development at Circle of One Marketing, and as Regional Branch Manager for PRP Wine International.

In 2017, Nicole and business partner Chef Karim Bryant launched Lil Greenhouse Grill in Downtown Miami, a hip, neo-soul, healthier alternative for soul food that has drawn global recognition and partnerships with brands like Weight Watchers and Special Olympics. With coverage in national media like Ebony.com and CBS This Morning, Chef Bryant’s carefully curated soul inspired menu has drawn in celebrities from all platforms including Michael Eric Dyson, Congressman John Lewis, and most recently Gayle King and Oprah Winfrey, in addition to recognition by ESPN and The Undefeated as a RISE Champion Black Business to represent Miami during the 2020 NBA Finals.
Nicole is an active member of the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce and a proud member of the Miami-Dade Women’s Chamber of Commerce; nominated as a 2010 Outstanding Volunteer for Miami-Dade County Public Schools; 2011 selected as one of Legacy Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40 South Florida Leaders of Today and Tomorrow, and in 2016 was chosen by Legacy Magazine and the Miami Herald as one of South Florida’s 25 Most Influential in Business and Industry. Her 2019 affiliation with FABULOUS PRO’S earned her Congressional Recognition from Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, and in 2020 selected by the Miami-Dade Black Affairs Advisory Board as a “Woman of Substance” celebrating South Florida Black Excellence. Nicole was named one of South Florida’s 50 Most Powerful in Business and Industry by Legacy / MIA Magazine, and most recently honored by the Miami Dade Women’s Chamber of Commerce with the 2020 Thelma Gibson Award. Her proudest accomplishment: being Mom to 7 year old Karter.

Christopher Norwood is what happens when a genuine commitment to community meets the discipline to make it count. As Principal of The Norwood Consulting Group, he has spent more than two decades working at the intersection of education policy, public advocacy, and human services. Trained in social work at Hampton University, public administration at Cornell, and law at St. Thomas University, he has put each of those credentials to work: chairing Florida's Council on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys, founding the Florida Association of Independent Public Schools and the Governance Institute for School Accountability, and serving on Miami-Dade Public Schools' Audit and Budget Committee. He is, in the truest sense, a community organizer — passionately involved, but strategically focused.

What sets Chris apart is that his sense of community doesn't stop at policy rooms. He sits on the editorial board of the International Review of African American Art, bringing that same strategic lens to the preservation and amplification of Black cultural expression. He co-founded the Key West Africana Festival, a destination retreat centering thought, wellness, culture, and the traditions of the African Diaspora Thebluepaper — proof that he understands culture and community as inseparable. In Overtown, that full-spectrum perspective matters. This is a neighborhood whose story has always lived at the crossroads of art, commerce, and civic life, and Chris Norwood is someone who knows how to show up at all three.

To lead Booker T. Washington Senior High School is to carry something larger than a job title. Founded in 1927 as the first public high school to provide a full 12th grade education to Black students in Miami — its original construction bombed by those who opposed Black education, its opening delayed by both that act of violence and a devastating hurricane — Booker T. has always represented something the community had to fight for.

Anthony E. Simons III steps into that legacy with both eyes open and a results-oriented approach that is already making history of its own. In just 13 months as principal, Simons led the school to its first-ever "A" rating — a milestone that sparked celebration across generations of alumni, students, and community members alike.

What stands out about Simons isn't just the numbers — it's his philosophy. He frames the school's nearly century-long history as something students should see themselves inside of, not just read about. From championing student artwork rooted in the African Diaspora to reviving the school's golf program in partnership with community leaders including OCYC, he is pushing new initiatives that connect discipline, entrepreneurship, and opportunity in ways his students can feel. His leadership style is symbiotic — doors open, strategies shared, students and teachers building toward goals together.