10 Phenomenal Black Women with PhDs You Should Know
We’re pretty sure we weren’t the only one’s in utter shock when the prominent Wall Street Journal released an op-ed diminishing the well earned title of our future First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden. It was a harsh reminder that although women have come far, we still have a very long way to go. Today we’re celebrating 10 Phenomenal Black Women with PHds.
Dr. Jen Alexander is a Woman of Vision and second African American in the US with a PhD in Cosmetic Science. Dr. Jen is the Director of R&D for Supply Factory Brands and Infinite Looks — makers of Sunday II Sunday, a textured haircare brand for active women. She has held various R&D positions at Fortune 100 companies and developed products for household brands such as Iams, Gillette and Covergirl. Prior to joining Supply Factory Brands and Infinite Looks, Dr. Jen was Director of Product Innovation for a medical cannabis company.
Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett is a viral immunologist and research fellow in the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). She went viral on social media this spring after news broke that Dr. Corbett, a Black female scientist, was leading the team of researchers working on a Covid-19 vaccine at the NIH.
Dr. Erika Hall joined the Goizueta Business School faculty in 2014. Hall earned a PhD in Management & Organizations from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Her research focuses on the influence of race, gender, and class-based biases on interactions within the workplace and the broader society. Further, Professor Hall looks at how leaders with multiple minority identities are perceived in teams and organizations. Professor Hall's work has appeared in academic journals such as Academy of Management Review, Journal of Applied Psychology, Psychological Science, and American Psychologist, and media outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and NPR. In 2016, she was honored as one of the “The World’s Best 40 Under 40 Business Professors” in Poets & Quants. Prior to graduate school, Hall was a Research Associate at Harvard Business School.
Dr. Frances Armas Edwards is an educator, organizational strategist and leadership coach who supports leaders and teams with realizing their full potential. As a diversity and inclusion expert and leadership coach, she founded and ran her own consulting firm where she partnered with organizations and used her knowledge of adult development, critical race theory and leadership frameworks to help diverse teams do their best work, navigate conflict and overcome crises. Today, Frances leads Inclusion at Scale at Google in People Operations (that’s what Google calls HR). In her work at Google, Frances focuses on helping every Googler learn and practice behaviors and skills required to make Google’s culture inclusive and generative for everyone, especially Googlers who are members of communities historically excluded from the tech industry. She lives in Harlem with her wife and their chiweenie, Godiva.
Dr. Wendy Osefo, born in Nigeria, immigrated to the United States with her family as a child and was raised in Maryland and on Long Island, NY. She earned a B.A. in political science from Temple University and a M.A. in government from Johns Hopkins University. In 2012, Osefo completed a M.Sc. in public affairs with a concentration in community development from Rutgers University–Camden. In 2016, she became the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in public affairs and community development from Rutgers University-Camden. Check out our Woman of Vision interview with Dr. Wendy here.
Dr. Ayanna Thompson won a Marshall Scholarship to study at the University of Sussex, receiving a Masters in 1995.[5] She received her PhD from Harvard University in 2001. Her doctoral dissertation was Depicting Race and Torture on the Early Modern Stage.[6] She is the author of several books including Passing Strange: Shakespeare, Race, and Contemporary America
Dr. Ruha Benjamin is a sociologist and an Associate Professor in the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University.[1] The primary focus of her work is the relationship between innovation and equity, particularly focusing on the intersection of race, justice and technology. Benjamin is the author of numerous publications, including the books People's Science: Bodies and Rights on the Stem Cell Frontier (2013) and Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code (2019).
Dr. Aeriel Murphy-Leonard earned her PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Michiganin November 2018. Her thesis work focused on Mg alloys which are actively under research and development for a variety of transportation applications. During this period, she led and worked on many teams aimed at increasing the number of underrepresented minorities in engineering, including developing and implementing a leadership camp for female engineering students in Monrovia, Liberia.
Dr. Shanah K. Grant, a native of Jamaica, is a mathematician who strives to impart a positive difference in her community and to walk in God’s purpose (Philippians 4:13). She holds a BSc in Mathematics from Fort Valley State University (FVSU), a MSc in Mathematics from Jackson State University, and a PhD in Mathematics from Georgia State University. She is an Assistant Professor at FVSU and an adjunct instructor at Georgia Piedmont Technical College. She is also the CEO and Founder of Sharpe Sessions LLC, a company specializing in mathematical services.
Dr. Jasmine Abrams is an International Behavioral Research Scientist and Entrepreneur. Currently, she works at Boston University School of Public Health. She is also an Affiliate Faculty member at the Yale University School of Public Health and founder of the Thrive Institute for Professional Development, which supports early career researchers with goal achievement, context shifting impact, and well-being. She is currently hosting a free Masterclass focused on “How to Achieve Transformative Productivity in Academia without Sacrificing Your Wellbeing.”