Our Team
Our Founders
Ade Cox, MSEd
Co-Founder + Head of
Educational Impact
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Ade Cox, MSEd is our co-founder and Head of Community Outreach. Mr. Cox has leadership experience across the K-16 spectrum. He has served as an assistant principal at an elementary school in the NYC Department of Education as well as a middle school educator with certification in science and special education. Mr. Cox has served as leader of the culture team in his school building experience and is highly skilled in forming authentic school to community partnerships. He has deep experience in staff development, organizational management, and entrepreneurship. Mr. Cox has also designed and led key programming and supports for pre-service teachers at Hostos Community College in the Bronx, NY. He steers our outreach and in-community program efforts with the communities we serve and leads our progress monitoring processes. He holds three degrees including a master’s degree in special education and one in organization and leadership from Teachers College at Columbia University.
Dr. Patrice E. Fenton
Co-Founder + Head of
Organizational Well-being
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Dr. Patrice E. Fenton is our co-founder and Head of Organizational Well-Being. She is a proud mom, Brooklyn, NY native and former NYC Department of Education (NYCDOE) special educator. She brings expertise as an equity-centered strategist with a passion for leadership development, teacher education, and generating collective wellness, particularly in Black communities. She is a highly skilled facilitator and has deep experience in leadership and organizational development, as well as measurement and evaluation, particularly regarding impact in Black and Brown communities. Dr. Fenton is the former Director of Leader Support and Development at EdLoC, a nonprofit professional network organization of 350+ education leaders of color across 30+ states. She also served as the first Associate Director of NYC Men Teach at the City University of New York as well as an adjunct assistant professor in the department of special education at Hunter College. Dr. Fenton is currently co-authoring a book accepted for publication entitled, Transforming Collective Power: Building School Communities Where Belonging Is Center Stage. She holds four degrees including a PhD in teaching and learning with a concentration in special education and a bachelor’s in business administration.
Addae Cox, MSEd
Co-Founder + Head of
Partnerships & Sustainability
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Addae Cox, MSEd is our co-founder and Head of Community Partnerships. Mr. Cox is a proud dad, former middle school STEM educator at the NYC Department of Education and current adjunct professor in special education at Hunter College. He has served as a NYC chapter leader for a national nonprofit offering afterschool programming to elementary and middle school students. Experience across these different spaces has brought Mr. Cox deep experience in staff development, nonprofit management, entrepreneurship, and community engagement. He steers our community partnerships and is a primary thought-partner for our programming team and our capacity building efforts. He co-founded EnjoyTech USA, an educational technology startup that proudly pioneered a smart bracelet that is a K-12 classroom response system, health tracker, and scannable ID. He holds three degrees including a master’s degree in special education and one in organization and leadership from Teachers College at Columbia University.
Emani King, MS
Head of Community Innovation
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Emani King is an educational leader with over a decade of experience. Ms. King is a lifelong learner who has traveled extensively, studying in Spain, Costa Rica and Ghana. These travels have supported her in expanding her knowledge and growth as a leader. Ms. King has served in urban education in various capacities from teaching to coaching. She started her career at a Brooklyn Title 1 elementary school which altered the trajectory of her professional career and ignited her passion for equity and advocacy. Since then, she has worked at the collegiate level mentoring pre-service teachers, while also facilitating learning experiences in equity, diversity, and inclusion with educational professionals with various levels of experience. Ms. King holds a master’s degree in Public Administration and Urban Policy.
Our Learning + Innovation Team
Shatera Legacy
Director of Learning + Unlearning
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A seasoned wellness practitioner, Shatera has distinct expertise designing engaging curriculum and delivering meaningful professional development experiences for schools and leaders across the nation. As our Director of Learning + Unlearning, Shatera expertly designs curriculum and facilitates professional learning for our organizational partners. She also ensures we infuse our commitment to well-being throughout all of our internal practices and external engagements. Through her work, she is committed to challenging the current inadequate and inequitable status quo of the traditional education system, inspiring curiosity, innovation, and joy in all she does.
Paige Rane
Narrative + Collective Impact Lead
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Paige Woods is a strategist and impact producer with a background in social welfare policy and extensive experience in audience building, project development, event planning and facilitation. As a trained ethnographer, Paige values the story and experiences of people while her policy background keeps her focused on innovative interventions that increase equity for marginalized communities. Paige combines her background in policy, research and strategy with her deep love for event planning and design thinking to produce ideas, spaces and strategies that serve Black communities. She is invested in the holistic wellbeing and self-determination of Black communities both domestically and internationally. With a particular focus on the community development, sustainability, cannabis and social welfare sectors, Paige Rane leverages her unique skill set to celebrate Black Diasporic culture and speak to issues impacting her community. Paige joins the Organizational Well-Being team at EBI.
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Brittany Carter is an experienced Early Education Leader. As a student of NYC Public Schools, Mrs. Carter values diversity, inclusion, and representation. While working with Head Start as an Early Childhood Grade Level Chair with the District of Columbia Public Schools, Mrs. had a plethora of career changing experiences. There, her love for early childhood education grew. Her career has centered around serving scholars of underserved communities. In addition, Mrs. Carter has worked extensively with early childhood educators facilitating workshops and providing coaching sessions. Mrs. Carter is the proud mother of two girls and holds a master’s degree in Elementary Education. She joins EBI as a Sustainability + Innovation Coach.
Jasmine
Equity + Strategic Learning Lead
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Jasmine is a strategist, facilitator, and community builder with a background in urban planning and public policy. Her work focuses on designing strategies and programs that challenge systems of exploitation and build power for working-class communities. She began her career in social sector consulting, helping large nonprofits and foundations strengthen their impact through program design and operational strategy, while also supporting smaller organizations in developing clear theories of change and refining their impact goals.
As a community organizer, Jasmine developed campaigns and power-building strategies, facilitated cross-sector coalitions, and trained emerging organizers through political education and skill-building workshops. In her role at the Federal Reserve Bank, she supported practitioners across the Southeast in advancing more equitable COVID-19 recovery policies and helped develop a regional leadership training program for emerging leaders.
Through her work, Jasmine has seen how well-intentioned initiatives can unintentionally reinforce systemic inequities. She now helps organizations address these patterns by examining power dynamics, conducting root-cause analysis, and leading strategic planning processes that chart more equitable paths forward. Her approach integrates narrative-building, community engagement, and mixed-methods research to support sustainable impact.
Jasmine holds master’s degrees in City and Regional Planning and Public Policy from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a B.A. in Government with a secondary in African American Studies from Harvard College. Jasmine joins the Organizational Well-Being team at EBI.
Brittany Carter
Learning Engineer + Facilitator
Sophia Koehler
Learning Engineer + Facilitator
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Sophia Koehler-Berkley is a seasoned educator and curriculum designer with over a decade of experience in youth development across NYC. Specializing in social-emotional learning and organizational well-being, she crafts transformative curricula for both youth and adult learners. With a passion for community-responsive education, Sophia’s work aligns with EBI’s mission by equipping young leaders and educators with the tools to foster equity, resilience, and holistic well-being within their schools and communities.
Our Organizational Well-Being Team
Craig Sanders
Systems + Operations Lead
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Craig Sanders is an operations and execution leader with over 15 years of experience helping organizations navigate complexity and improve how they operate. He works closely with leadership teams to align priorities, strengthen decision-making, and build the structures needed for effective execution.
He has led high-impact initiatives across technology and operational environments, with a focus on simplifying complexity and driving consistent execution. Craig holds PMP and CSM certifications and brings a disciplined, practical approach to his work.
Leadership Advisory Board
Dr. Ayoka Wiles
Board Chair
Dr. Crystel Harris
Vice Chair
Dr. Charisse Taylor
Trustee
Chief Ayanda Clarke
Cultural Advisor
Ken Montgomery, Esq
Community Advisor
