Announcing BYP100’s National Director Charlene Carruthers
Charlene A. Carruthers is a Black, queer feminist community organizer and writer with over 10 years of experience in racial justice, feminist and youth leadership development movement work. Her session will be July 13th from 9:25 pm – 9:35 pm. You can get your tickets below.
She currently serves as the national director of the Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100), an activist member-led organization of Black 18-35 year olds dedicated to creating justice and freedom for all Black people. Her passion for developing young leaders to build capacity within marginalized communities has led her to work on immigrant rights, economic justice and civil rights campaigns nationwide. She has led grassroots and digital strategy campaigns for national organizations including the Center for Community Change, the Women’s Media Center, ColorOfChange.org and National People’s Action, as well as being a member of a historic delegation of young activists in Palestine in 2015 to build solidarity between Black and Palestinian liberation movements.
Charlene is the winner of the “New Organizing Institute 2015 Organizer of the Year Award” and has served as a featured speaker at various institutions including Wellesley College, Northwestern University and her alma mater Illinois Wesleyan University. Charlene also received a Master of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. Charlene was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago where she currently resides and continues to lead and partake in social justice movements. Her work has been covered several publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Reader, The Nation, Ebony and Essence Magazines. She has appeared on CNN, Democracy Now!, BBC and MSNBC. Charlene has also written for theRoot.com, Colorlines and the Boston Review. She was recently recognized as one of the top 10 most influential African Americans in The Root 100.
Her inspirations include a range of Black women, including Ella Baker, Cathy Cohen, and Barbara Ransby. In her free time, Charlene loves to cook and believes the best way to learn about people is through their food.
What’s Glappitnova?
At Glappitnova we unite all types of amazing and charismatic professionals spanning all industries that traditionally aren’t in the same room and smash those different perspectives inside a hidden warehouse blending storytelling, performances, panels, and on-site mentorship. It’s our approach to inclusion blending entertainment with learning and culture. Previous participants have been Luvvie Ajayi (NYT Best-Selling Author), Harper Reed (CTO, Obama Re-elections), and you can view some of our previous +200 participants here.
Other 2017 Participants
Here are a few more of our +50 Chicago participants spanning different industries. Glappitnova is known for shops talks with panels and performances, but we’re adding on-site mentorship to help you get on your way as well. Check out some of our participants for Glappitnova Chicago that will be held July 13th and July 14th. Your ticket gets you into all of the rooms with various activities and activities range from storytelling, panel discussions, live performances, on-site mentorship, the party, and more. You can check out our programming here. Get your early bird tickets below for $45 bucks and the prices will increase June 9th. Other cities will be announced shortly.
MATT BROOKS
Chicago Director, SoFar Sounds
Matt Brooks is a veg-head, son of a dead head, grown in the Western burbs of Chicago. He’s a curator passionate about presenting diverse art forms, particularly to the ears of those who may have never considered consuming it. Using his degrees in Music Business, PR/Advertising, and Spanish from Butler University, Matt currently leads the charge of Sofar Sounds in Chicago, a company that brings the magic back to live music in over 350 cities worldwide. Outside of work, he just may be found creating music himself, or on a scuba diving trip.
HAVEN ALLEN
Executive Director, MHub
Haven Allen, the executive director, and co-founder is an entrepreneur and technology strategist who most recently concentrated on growing the manufacturing industry and strengthening its community throughout Chicagoland. As an economic development strategist at World Business Chicago, he directed the Advisory Council for Chicagoland Manufacturing through which he established and led the implementation of an economic development agenda to support growth and job creation in the manufacturing sector. During his graduate education, Haven served as a Mayoral Fellow at the City of Chicago. As a fellow he provided research and analysis on policy initiatives dealing with infrastructure, electricity markets, and municipal marketing. In order to give back to his country, Haven joined the Peace Corps and served as a community economic development volunteer in Panama where he worked to strengthen the management and leadership capacities of rural cooperatives and local organizations in order to increase economic opportunities. In addition, Haven was a small business owner in the production and publishing industry. Haven has a Master of Public Policy and a Certificate of Graduate Studies in Science, Technology, and Public Policy from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
BRITNEY ROBBINS
CEO, The Grey Matter Experience
Britney Robbins is the founder and CEO of The Gray Matter Experience, a non-profit organization founded in 2016 to help Black high school students learn about and practice entrepreneurship. Britney has worked within Chicago’s entrepreneurship and tech community for the past four years with some of Chicago’s top venture capital firms and incubators including Sandbox Industries, Lightbank and 1871. She has been recognized as one of Essences’ Woke 100 Women, Ariel Investment, BMO Harris and WVON’s 40 Under 40 Gamechangers, featured on Fox32, Chicago Inno, BlackEntrepreneur.com, DNAInfo Chicago, and Chicago Tribune, for her work through Gray Matter. She was also recently named as one of five investees for Goodcity’s Women’s Innovation Fund. She recently authored and published her first children’s book and is committed to inspiring youth to reach their full potential.
