10-13-2024 W2W - Flipbook - Page 32
Kelly Schulz, 2019
Geri Royale Byrd, 2023
Shae McCoy, 2019
CEO, Maryland Tech Council
Chief of Staff, Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller
Photographer
Since her 2022 loss in the Republican gubernatorial
primary, Schulz has taken the reins of Maryland Tech
Council, a trade industry organization that fosters a
successful environment for innovators across tech
sectors from biotech and life sciences to agriculture
tech and sustainability — “and really everything in
between,” she said.
Asked if the former Maryland delegate, gubernatorial candidate and cabinet secretary has plans for
another foray into politics, Schulz laughed and said
“not today I don’t.”
“I feel very much a part of making Maryland the
greatest state that it can be, and I’m really content and
energized in the position that I’m in,” she said.
— Hannah Gaskill
As recently as June, Geri Royale Byrd was co-directing Seek the City to Come, an initiative by the
Archdiocese of Baltimore to reassess and realign its
operations.
Byrd is now serving as chief of staff for Maryland’s
lieutenant governor, Aruna Miller. In her work, she
helps advance the objectives of Gov. Wes Moore’s
administration in such areas as mental health, transportation, STEM education and interfaith initiatives.
“Being part of this administration is such an exciting
thing. Both Gov. Moore and Lt. Gov. Miller have such
a ‘can-do’ attitude: ‘If we say it, let’s get it done.’ That
resonates with me,” she says.
— Jonathan M. Pitts
Since publishing her book “West Baltimore Ruins”
in 2021, Shae McCoy continues to work as a photographer who loves seeing people’s reactions when she
takes their portraits. She’s also an urban farmer.
“It ties into my mission as a human being. I think
everybody deserves fresh food,” said McCoy, who
began working in 2022 at the 1.5-acre Strength to Love
II farm in West Baltimore’s Sandtown-Winchester
neighborhood.
A program of the nonprofit Intersection of Change,
the farm welcomes young people, neighbors and those
who were formerly incarcerated. McCoy, who said
she experienced food insecurity growing up, does
maintenance, nurses seeds and harvests crops.
— Abigail Gruskin
Jenenne Whitfield, 2022
Rebecca Jessop, 2018
Krystal Mack, 2017
Harborplace Director of Experience,
MCB Real Estate
Consultant, Harmer’s Town Art Center
Artist and Designer
Rebecca Jessop transitioned from being executive director of the Havre de Grace Arts Collective
to being a consultant for the nonprofit Harmer’s
Town Art Center. The group’s mission is to build a
34,000-square-foot art center in the arts and entertainment district in Havre de Grace in honor of Havre
de Grace native, Alan Fare, 90. “We are working as fast
as we can to get this done while he is still here on this
Earthly plane and I have loved every minute of it.”
— Matt Hubbard
Krystal Mack once spoke of the importance of
evolving with your dreams. And that’s exactly what
she’s done.
The previous owner of a bakery called Blk//Sugar,
she now sees food as a mode for creative and political expression. Through her IAO Design studio, she
produces comestible artwork like The Table of White
Supremacy, presented at the Baltimore Museum of
Art, as well as jams and dyes that highlight generations
of Indigenous practices. Next up, Mack plans to establish an ancestry garden in Northeast Baltimore and
write a book. “I think it really starts with having the
audacity to stake your claim to who you are, and waiting for other folks to catch up eventually,” she says.
—Amanda Yeager
A year after being ousted as director of the American Visionary Art Museum, Jenenne Whitfield is
doing the same work she’d initially planned — but in
a different setting.
Her new job, creating cultural programming for
MCB Real Estate’s Harborplace redevelopment, has
her working with local artists to create eye-catching
public pieces.
Coming this fall: a walk-through installation of
old vinyl LPs called “Let the Record Show,” plus
an NPR-style “Tiny Desk” series of free lunchtime
concerts.
“This is just the start of the energy and magic we
hope to accomplish,” Whitfield said.
— Mary Carole McCauley
32 | 2024 | WOMEN TO WATCH
