UMass Boston

Keynote Speaker

Tariana V. Little, DrPH, is CEO and cofounder of EmVision Productions, a social-impact media agency that helps visionary organizations convey how they are changing the world. With their Social Impact Storytelling™ framework, they help clients, from grassroots organizations to government and global corporations, distill who they are, what they do differently, and why it matters. The agency’s portfolio reflects health, education, inclusive entrepreneurship, and environmental justice. Working at the intersections of public health, media, and business, Tariana holds a doctor of public health from Harvard University, where she taught entrepreneurship and innovation. She serves on nonprofit boards and is an emerging philanthropist in her native Boston, Massachusetts. Personally, she is a queer, mixed race, first-generation college graduate from a Dominican-German working class immigrant family.

Community Healing

Niara J. Carrenard is a second-generation Haitian American from Brooklyn, New York. Currently a clinical psychology doctoral student at the University of Massachusetts Boston, she focuses her research on understanding and addressing the complex mechanisms of intergenerational and historical trauma and its impact on mental health outcomes for Haitian Americans in the diaspora and Haitians in Haiti, including exploring and developing culturally relevant therapeutic interventions tailored to the unique needs of Haitian people. Beyond her academic pursuits, Niara is an activist, passionate about providing services to community members and reducing barriers to accessing mental health care. She serves as a Sawubona Healing Circle facilitator with the Association of Black Psychologists, actively contributing to African-centered healing practices that are culturally informed and deeply empathetic.

Panelist

Evan Auguste, PhD, is an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts Boston. His work focuses on the psychological effects of structural anti-Blackness through the lens of Black Liberation Psychology. He is the chair of the Association of Black Psychologists’ Sawubona Healing Circle program, a lead facilitator with In Cultured Company, and a board member of the Institute for the Development of Human Arts.

Panelist

Tashira Halyard is a reformed attorney, multi-platform content creator, and activist. She’s a graduate of Georgetown University Law School and has a professional background as a child welfare attorney, public policy expert, and racial justice trainer. She started her lifestyle blog, Politics & Fashion, while in law school as an outlet that combines her passions for justice and creative expression. Throughout the years, Politics & Fashion has become a home for Black women and femmes to find style and self-care inspiration, including her viral White Toenail Season rants on bodily autonomy. Today, she is a solopreneur who wears many hats, including equity consultant, YouTuber, podcaster, content creator, and most importantly, breast cancer survivor. She’s been featured in the Washington Post, Washingtonian, Essence, and multiple local news outlets.

Panelist

Ashley Lazarre is a PhD candidate, a model, and a social media content creator whose work focuses on healing, digital activism, and storytelling. She is in the Global Inclusion and Social Development Program at UMass Boston, and her research focuses on the self-transformation journey of Black women bloggers’ healing on social media over the past decade. As a creator, she uses storytelling and a Black feminist lens to share narratives about her healing journey by centering fashion, beauty, and holistic wellness. Her modeling work is tied to her digital activism by focusing on decolonizing Black womanhood by centering Afrocentric hairstyles, Black
designers, and historical facts. Her work has been featured on ABC News, the Houston Defender, Essence, and multiple online magazines.

Panelist

Mark Scott serves at the Boston Public Health Commission as the director of the Division of Violence Prevention. Previously he served as program director for the Community Healing Response Network, directed the Community Health Worker Program for the Codman Square Health Center, and he served as associate director for outreach in the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. He was also the director of community partnerships at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, where he helped develop the nationwide Amachi effort. Amachi is a Nigerian word from the Ibo people that we translate to mean “who knows but what has brought us through this child.” Reverand Scott is the president of the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, and he is associate pastor of the Azusa Christian Community, a Black Pentecostal church. He also serves as a chaplain at Boston Medical Center.