The Purpose

CHAIR

Kimberly Orange was born in Elizabeth City, North Carolina and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. Kimberly is a real estate broker and business owner, a foodie, and wife of a United States Army Veteran. Kimberly is a proud and active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.  She also volunteers with several nonprofit organizations.

Kimberly previously worked as an electrical engineer for Fortune 100 companies. She was an adjunct professor at Morgan State University. She currently works as a REALTOR®  and real estate developer.

Kimberly has a Master of Business Administration in Marketing from Loyola University Maryland (graduated with honors - Mu Kappa Tau National Marketing Honor Society), a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Drexel University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), and is a graduate of Baltimore Polytechnic Institute.

VICE CHAIR

Brandon Herbert is a Father, Educator and licensed REALTOR®. He is a Baltimore City native, currently living in the greater Philadelphia area, serving as the Director of Enrollment Management at the Church Farm School (Exton, Pennsylvania). Brandon attended McDonogh School (Owings Mills, Maryland) and was a collegiate athlete, earning full scholarships to Binghamton University and the University of the District of Columbia, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Sociology. He later received a Masters in Educational Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania.  

Brandon is a mission driven and student-centered educator who believes that all students deserve access and the opportunity to a quality and meaningful education. 

SECRETARY

Kesha Levesque, RN, BSN, MBA/HCM - Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Mrs. Levesque has been a registered nurse for more than twenty-five years. She specializes in critical care nursing, including Medical ICU, Cardiovascular ICU, Pediatric ICU, Dialysis, and Renal Transplant care coordination. Mrs. Levesque gained her clinical expertise working at hospitals and acute care centers in Detroit, The District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. For the last twenty years, she has worked for Kaiser Permanente, the largest managed care organization in the United States. In 2006, she assumed clinical leadership for all aspects of the Renal Disease Management Program. Her work has addressed two significant health disparities affecting African Americans, which are diabetes and hypertension. Diabetes and hypertension often lead to chronic kidney disease. She played a pivotal role in creating and implementing chronic kidney disease educational programs within the organization. She was instrumental in the Nephrology and Vascular Surgery departments’ re-design, partnering with senior management officials in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Areas. 

She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Nursing Science at the Medical University of South Carolina. Her area of research focuses on documented disparities that affect kidney transplant outcomes. She is a member of the National Black Nurses Association and The National Kidney Foundation. She participates in yearly transplant symposiums with MedStar Georgetown Transplant Institute, the International Transplant Nurses Society, the National Association of Transplant Coordinators, and the United Network for Organ Sharing. In 2008, she completed a significant milestone by running the Marine Corp Marathon. She is a licensed Zumba Instructor teaching classes online and in her community.

TREASURER - Christopher Barnes

MEMBER

Markita Respass is a mother and insurance agent. She was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, raised in Baltimore, Maryland and currently lives in Columbia, South Carolina. She enjoys sewing, bird watching and writing creative stories.  She has an Associate of Arts degree in Criminal Justice and currently works as a customer representative for a Fortune 100 company.

Markita is the mother of our beloved Brittany K. Booker. ❤

MEMBER

A. Grace Fletcher was born in Massachusetts, grew up in Alaska, and attended Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland.  She attended law school at the University of Baltimore School of Law and became a licensed attorney in 2004.  She co-founded affordable housing developer Charm City Land Trusts, Inc. in 2000.  She has practiced real estate law for more nearly 17 years, working mainly in commercial transactions, foreclosures, land use, and title.  She helped to organize the Commercial Real Estate Careers program with the Commercial Real Estate Women of Baltimore (CREW Baltimore) and conducted Anti- foreclosure workshops and title examination classes.  She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

MEMBER

Denzell Walker currently serves as the Program Director for Project Pneuma. Denzell brings a wealth of knowledge about service to Baltimore City’s youth, as he worked with the Middle Grades Partnership program for five consecutive years. The Middle Grades Partnership, or MGP, aims to reverse summer learning loss and prepare students to excel at strong high school institutions. Denzell has also been a full-time intern with BMe Community, the nation’s largest network of black male entrepreneurs. Denzell continued his professional career with Bridgestone Retail Operations, where he served for two years as a Supervisor of a Top 100 service center across the company.

In 2011, Denzell graduated from the McDonogh School, where through his efforts over four years he was named Most Improved Student. From there, Denzell attended Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 2015 in Strategic Communications, as well as a minor in Business. Denzell was given the award for Most Outstanding Student of the Communications department in 2015 as well. While attending Susquehanna University, Denzell was a four-year Varsity football player, earning Preseason All-American honors in 2014.

Denzell completed the 2018 Practitioners Leadership Institute Fellowship from the Center of Urban Families. He is a recent graduate of the 2019 cohort of the Bunting Neighborhood Leadership Program through the Johns Hopkins Urban Institute of Health.