FunTimes Magazine

After serving as the Communications Manager for City Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown’s office, Haniyyah Sharpe-Brown joined the Philadelphia School District in 2018. In her role, she is responsible for directing the development and planning of strategies regarding government relations and the passage or defeat of legislation of interest to the Philadelphia School District. Sharpe-Brown juggles her day job with telling the stories of local nonprofits and small businesses through her passion projects as the founder and principal of On Point Communications, LLC, a public relations and communications firm.

Pamela J. Rich-Wheeler has served over 1,000 clients and currently serves on numerous business boards throughout Philadelphia. She is also a former president of the National Black MBA Association. Aside from her non-profit work, Rich-Wheeler previously owned and operated PJ Travel and Tours, a for-profit travel agency she sold after five years. Her latest venture is a youth entrepreneurship program that helps introduce young people to the world of business. She also founded an enterprise competition that provides women with coaching and seed capital to start-up their business.

Sharon Booker uses her political platform to make democracy a reality in the lives of the underserved. Booker is concurrently serving a second term as a member of Sharon Hill Borough Council and the Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee and she is in her a first term on the executive committee of the Pennsylvania Democratic State Party.

Sherri Darden has worked incredibly hard to get to her current position. After graduating from high school in 1987, she went to work for the Philadelphia Council for Neighborhood Organizations as a secretary/bookkeeper. During her time there, she became a young mother and went to work at the Defender’s Association where she worked for 29 years working her way up from clerk/typist to human resources manager. While there, she worked to advance the mission of providing criminal defense services to people who cannot afford legal representation. She worked behind the scenes to enable those on the frontlines to complete their daily work.

Our initial contact with Mayor Micozzie was his wanting to train his entire staff on cultural sensitivities in a town that is shaped by so many different cultures; one would be hard pressed to stay abreast of it all. He recognized that diversity is something to be celebrated amidst the challenges he and his staff may face from having to be sensitized to the needs of each culture.

Celebrating cultural diversity has now become a tradition in the township of Upper Darby, a suburb of Philadelphia. In its second year this September, the Upper Darby International Festival show cased how diverse and welcoming the township has become under the leadership of Mayor Thomas Micozzie, who is equally focused on rebranding the township’s image and improving its business climate.

Donald Bonnett is Council President of the Township of Upper Darby. He has worked with Mayor Micozzie to advance the administration’s welcoming policy and its goal of forging a more diverse community with the immigrant population