Team | Black Women Build

BWBB TEAM

Shelley Halstead bw — Founder & Executive Director
Shelley Halstead

Tonika Garibaldi, BWBB Program Manager — Program Manager
Tonika Garibaldi

Imani White 2023 BWBB Administrative Assistant — Administrative Assistant
Imani White

Dena Fisher, — Community and Social Engagement
Dena Fisher

Samara Fraser, Materials Assistant/Laborer BWBB — Materials Assistant/Laborer
Samara Fraser

Shauna Brown BWBB Board President — Board President
Shauna Brown

Charrise Lewis — Board Treasurer
Charrise Alexander

First BWBB Participant | Advisory Board
Quanshay Henderson

Molly McCullagh, Black Women Build Baltimore Advisory Board — Advisory Board
Molly McCullagh

Jay Orr, AIA, LEED AP - Building Partner BWBB — Building Partner
Jay Orr, AIA, LEED AP

Mike.Dominelli, Building Partner - BWBB — Building Partner
Mike Dominelli, Steadfast Engineering

Digital Design, Marketing & Technology
Joy Worthen

Founder & Executive Director

Shelley Halstead

Shelley has lived and worked all over the globe. She moved to Baltimore in 2015 after spending 20 years in Seattle where she was a union carpenter for 13 years. She also managed her own construction business, and has bought and sold several houses – renovating each and every one. After attending law school as a William H. Gates Public Service Law Scholar at the University of Washington School of Law, Shelley decided to put her skills as a carpenter and her passion for economic and reproductive justice together by using her degree and particular skill set to begin Black Women Build – Baltimore. Read full bio

Program Manager

Tonika Garibaldi

Tonika grew up in Minneapolis, MN. and earned her Bachelors degree in Russian Language. Her desire to live simply and help others led her to Baltimore to participate in Lutheran Volunteer Corps. Since then, she has worked as a freelance photographer, and taught both GED and yoga classes. In 2014, Tonika completed her Yoga Teacher Training in Rishikesh, India and returned to become a manager at Baltimore Yoga Village. In her free time, Tonika enjoys traveling, spending time with family and since Covid, apparently, baking!

Administrative Assistant

Imani White

bio coming soon!

Community and Social Engagement

Dena Fisher

Dena Fisher is a filmmaker, documentarian, licensed clinical social worker, social justice advocate, mother of two sons, and native Baltimorean. Her roots run deep here. She finds Black Women Build – Baltimore’s mission very personal to her, and feels honored to be serving on the team in a supportive capacity. Dena believes in the spirit of community. She is committed to doing her part to build and restore it, so that we can rely on each other during times that matter most.

Materials Assistant/Laborer

Samara Fraser

I was born and raised in Grenada. I went to TAMCC to study building technology. My father was a contractor and I took an interest in learning how to build from him. I recently moved to Baltimore and am looking forward to working with Black Women Build Baltimore. In my free time, I like to sew, crochet and spend time with my kids.

Board President

Shauna Brown

Surrounded by a nurturing village, Shauna was raised by her hardworking single mother on the south side of Chicago. She matriculated through undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois while working part-time to finance her education, eventually earning a degree in Marketing. Shauna eagerly participated in several mentorship programs during undergrad, and recognizes the advantages she gained when her hard work met opportunity — advantages she would not have gained without exposure to such programs and the people involved with them. She then began her career in the pharmaceutical industry, where Shauna took on various roles from sales representative to her current role in oncology clinical development. Shauna sees Black Women Build – Baltimore as an opportunity to empower other women with the tools and life skills needed to gain independence and freedom.

Board Secretary

Kathleen Mitchell

Kathleen was born and raised in Baltimore. She is a proud graduate of the Baltimore City Public School system and current resident of Druid Heights. Homeownership and community advocacy is in her blood. Her great grandmother, Lillie May Carroll Jackson, was a real estate entrepreneur in West Baltimore and civil rights leader. Kathleen has over 16 years of real estate experience. She has managed a $400 million real estate portfolio for Fannie Mae and renovated properties in Baltimore and Miami. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Northwestern University and a Master of Science in Real Estate Development from Nova Southeastern University. She is an active real estate agent in Maryland. Kathleen enjoys cruising through West Baltimore neighborhoods and marveling in its astonishing history and architecture.

Board Treasurer

Charrise Alexander

Charrise grew up a military brat – born on a Navy base in Virginia. As a child, she always had big dreams and wanted to be a lawyer. She eventually obtained her bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, becoming the first person in her family to graduate college. After graduation, she remained in Baltimore for about 5 years, and began her professional career marketing and leasing commercial real estate in the Mid-Atlantic region. Then in 2010, she took a leap, and attended law school at the University of Miami School of Law on a Dean’s scholarship. Since then, Charrise has been practicing law as a civil litigator in Washington D.C. She enjoys traveling with her wife, loving on animals, and interior design.

Advisory Board

Danielle Ford

bio coming soon!

First BWBB Participant | Advisory Board

Quanshay Henderson

Quanshay is a native Baltimorean and recent first-time homeowner through her involvement with Black Women Build Baltimore. She has a love for connection and actively engages in opportunities that celebrate the strength of her newfound community. Currently, Quanshay is pursuing an MSW. She hopes to use her clinical skills to address trauma in Black Communities and mobilize citizens for action.

Advisory Board

Molly McCullagh

Molly McCullagh was raised by a mother who renovated their family’s home from top to bottom, after work and on the weekends. Since leaving Ann Arbor, Molly lived in Detroit and Boston before settling in Baltimore, where she is following her mother’s example and renovating her own home, with the support of great women contractors and Baltimore’s DIY community. Professionally, Molly manages neighborhood revitalization projects at the Southeast Community Development Corporation, overseeing the fundraising and implementation of nearly $1 million in public space improvements. Additionally, Molly is the park manager of the Sisson Street Community Park, a half-acre green space in Remington that she has worked with neighbors and volunteers to develop from a vacant lot. She holds Master’s degrees in Urban Planning and Food Policy from Tufts University.

Building Partner

Jay Orr, AIA, LEED AP

An architect with ARQ Architects for the past 20 years, Jay has worked on numerous renovation and new construction projects for institutional, non-profit and private organizations throughout the United States. He has been director of the Baltimore office of ARQ for 16 years and is active in volunteer community organizations throughout the city, especially in the Old Goucher neighborhood.

Building Partner

Mike Dominelli, Steadfast Engineering

Mike brings more than 20 years of professional experience in engineering and planning to the table. In addition to technical expertise, Mike offers a strong balance of skills in communication and consensus building in the development of plans, as well as efficiency and organization in their execution. His areas of technical expertise centers on restoration work, focused on buildings, and extending to bridges and site structures.

Digital Design, Marketing & Technology

Joy Worthen

Based in the Seattle area, Joy is a multi-talented freelancer who functions as the offsite design, marketing and IT departments for BWBB. When not at her desk, she can be found making things happen in the garden and hanging with the cats.

Building community, knowledge, and wealth together.

Organization

BECOME A HOMEOWNER

This project is supported in part by:

Black Women Build-Baltimore is an equal employer. You do not need to identify as Black or a woman to apply but as a mission-based organization, we center Black women.