About The Team
INTEGRITY • IMPACT • EXCELLENCE
Our three core values of integrity, impact, and excellence are not just about the way we approach our work, it filters how we approach building our team and capacity. As Gilded Knight Consulting expands and evolves, we remain intentional about how we improve our ability to tailor solutions to fit the needs of each of our clients and serve a wider audience.
MEET OUR CORE TEAM
Head of Client Strategy
Tonna Obaze is an entrepreneur, investor and advisor focused on helping underserved communities discover their potential and pursue their purpose. She has served as a chief of staff, investor & strategist at Goldman Sachs, Girls Who Invest, and a number of diverse startups & VC firms — as well as advising executives from Google, Salesforce, Harvard Business School, the University of Pennsylvania Center for Social Impact Strategy, and the Office of the Governor and Mayor of New York.
Executive Assistant
Destiny Wheeler-Ackom works with the Gilded Knight Consulting family as an Executive Assistant. From the heart of Louisiana, Destiny is passionate about administrative work and helping her executive take back time for themselves by lightening the load. Studying to become a Human Resources Manager, Destiny brings a plethora of skills and knowledge to the team.
Senior Consultant
Allexis Aranda is the Senior Consultant on the Gilded Knight Consulting team. She is an intuitive, strategic and effective leader experienced in leadership training, finance/accounting, operations, grants and DEI with over 12 years of experience. She has led and co-hosted webinars for executives, designed and implemented policies and procedures for organizations to build transparency and efficiencies.
Consultant
Mika Jain is a social impact strategist and a PreK-12 educator through Teach For America Chicago and the KIPP Foundation. Mika has supported foundation strategy & program development for Goldie Hawn’s MindUP, Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation, Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, Gilead Foundation, and more. She is a current graduate student at USC Marshall School of Business.
OUR EXTENDED FAMILY
Our last article introduced the concept of our Extended Family: a boutique of small to mid-size businesses and independent practitioners that provide a range of skills and talent to our clients. Together, we work side-by-side to help organizations and leaders across both private, nonprofit, and social sectors reach their full potential. With our Extended Family, our clients have an opportunity to capitalize on the expertise of our diverse network, to help meet their needs and provide solutions.
Many of them are past colleagues that have continued collaborative relationships. Although we no longer sit under the banner of the same employer, we continue to operate as a team in a way that offers incredible impact for our clients. These leaders are phenomenal and produce outstanding work. They hail from various backgrounds, including public organizations, government entities, presidential foundations, and corporate environments. It is our pleasure to introduce a few of our Extended Family Members:
Founder & CEO
Racial Healing Project
Rashaad is the Founder and CEO of the Racial Healing Project. We first met when he was Director of The Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods for the City of Louisville. It was immediately clear that he was one of the most dynamic leaders in the country – both a scholar and practitioner with a deep understanding of people. Rashaad is a trained social worker and an accomplished behavioral health professional who has spent years working as a dedicated public servant at both the state and local levels. He has been in the field of child and family mental health services for 18 years fulfilling various roles including as a direct care counselor, case manager, therapist, consultant, and trainer. We are thrilled to welcome Rashaad and the team at the Racial Healing Project – a group dedicated to supporting groups, organizations, and institutions in eliminating outcomes that are determined by race – as part of our Extended Family.
Founder
Pioneer Practice
Dr. Cole is an accomplished writer, researcher, and storyteller. She is the consummate communications professional and a self-professed “lover of words” who finds great joy in “arranging them neatly.” She has a Ph.D. in Communication and deep professional experience in radio, podcasting, strategic communications, and public speaking. To meet her is to innately trust her. She has an uncanny gift of discernment and can typically see your next move before you have even thought of it. She believes that “the pursuit of normality is the ultimate sacrifice of potential.” But, perhaps, her most impressive superpower is her ability to communicate stories with a richness and authenticity that ensures the audience does not simply hear a message but deeply feels its impact. Dr. Cole’s dynamic outlook on life – and its unlimited possibilities – is heavily influenced by her two brothers. You can hear some of these lessons in her own words via her TED Talk, which currently has over 1 million views.
Founder & Principal
Meaningful Observations
You know that person that you worked with that you just KNEW you were on the same wavelength with but didn’t get to collaborate with them nearly enough? That was Elidé and me during our time working together at the Obama Foundation. Elidé is the Founder and Principal of Meaningful Observations, a values-based strategy and evaluation consulting firm based in DC. She is passionate about using data, in its various forms, for continued learning and growth in service of equity and antiracist practices. Most importantly, she is never afraid to name the elephants in the room and brave the vulnerability and difficult conversations that are essential for continued growth, strong leadership, and delivering impact in the communities we serve. In the social impact field, many organizations tout results but have no mechanisms to internally or externally pressure test and evaluate their impact. That is where Elidé and the Meaningful Observations team come in…and they are as good as they come.
Founder
Mighty Huddle
Max Skolnik is the Founder of Mighty Huddle, a social impact consulting firm powered by tech innovation and community-to-community leadership. I have had the privilege of working with Max, on and off, for the better part of seven years. One of the only things that outpaces his skill is his humility. He has a knack for identifying linear solutions to complex challenges and doing so with compassion. For over 20 years, Max has demonstrated a passion for cross-sector social impact with senior-level experience in the youth development, philanthropic, local government, entrepreneurial, and corporate responsibility fields. In his 10 years as the Founder of Kid Power, he managed high-quality academic, nutritional, and service-learning programs for thousands of young people throughout the District of Columbia. Max has also served as the DC Executive Director of the Taproot Foundation, the Director of National Programs at MBK Alliance, and a Founding Partner of Generation Titans.
Founder
Terra Rossa
Founder and CEO of Terra Rossa, is a filmmaker and creative strategist who works at the intersection of social impact, racial justice, and activism. She is a natural connector who can move seamlessly between the mindset of a strategist, creative, and detailed project manager. As a consultant, Cherrelle works with brands and organizations to activate systemic change. Her background is in education, social entrepreneurship, racial equity, and philanthropy. She has deep experience in building public-private partnerships and is an expert in connecting people and ideas to identify and solve problems. Cherrelle worked as an associate producer for Black Boys Film, currently streaming on NBC Peacock, and is now the producer/co-director of Black Girls Film where she creates visual stories and healing spaces to rapidly spread self-love, expression, and self-determination for Black girls and their communities.
Founder
MDHecker Consulting
A former DC Social Worker of the Year, Mark’s innovative work has been recognized by Echoing Green, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the Aspen Institute. As the Founding Executive Director of Reach Incorporated, Mark built and led an impactful organization that won multiple, national awards and gave hundreds of teens the opportunity to demonstrate leadership in their communities by becoming talented tutors and published children’s book authors. More recently, through MDHecker Consulting, Mark has supported non-profit organizations in projects related to strategic planning, communications, financial resilience, and fundraising. A teacher and therapist by training, Mark seeks to deeply understand your goals, then help you figure out how to make those goals a reality. He’s excited to be inspired by the things you’re trying to achieve.
Our Gilded Knight Extended Family brings decades of experience, diverse skillsets, and unique expertise. As we continue to grow, we remain intentional about harnessing the power of our network and offering our clients access to extraordinary leaders to collaborate with. Get in touch to learn more about how we can work together to mobilize the best-positioned team for your vision to create social impact.