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Camille Carter
President & CEO
Madison Black Chamber of Commerce
Camille Carter passionately advocates for the financial health and the economic prosperity of businesses and individuals at all levels.
She has an established reputation as a “strategic thinker” and leader that inspires progressive agendas and impacts positive change and legacy creation.
As the President and CEO of the Madison Black Chamber of Commerce, she spearheads the organizations mission for the economic advancement of Black-owned businesses throughout Madison and Dane county.
Through this advocacy work and leadership, she collaborates and leverages resources that strengthens organizational developmental and the capacity of this collective niche.
Camille is on a mission to level the playing field and nurture economic wealth and entrepreneurial greatness. Knowledge, integrity and tenacity are always central to the work she does.
Camille graduated from Michigan State University where she earned a degree in Business & Economics Management.
Her extensive career spans over 20 years of business entrepreneurship, banking and development work, to include internationally, where she was a consultant to small businesses in Togo, West Africa.
Affiliations and leadership roles include Madison Metropolitan Chapter of the Links Incorporated, Madison365 “Wisconsin’s 2018 Black Power” list. Recipient, Charles Hamilton Houston Difference Maker Awardee, Madison Network of Black Professionals Network and Madison College’s Business Advisory Council. Additionally, she has served on several business and financial panels to include Money Smart Women and The Madison Money Conferences.
Dr. Opal Lee
Grandmother of Juneteenth
Dr. Opal Lee is a Nobel Peace Prize Nominated Human Rights Advocate who is called the Grandmother of Juneteenth as she is the person who, at 95, brought forth Juneteenth as a national holiday after nearly five decades of relentless work.
As the 11th Federal United States Holiday, Juneteenth or June 19th, is Freedom Day as it honors and punctuates the quest for, civil liberty of freedom; a hallmark of democracy world-wide.
Both President Biden and Vice President Harris paid tribute to Lee when she was at the White House to witness the signing of the act which officially made Juneteenth a national holiday.
Lee, who was born in Marshall, Texas and raised in Fort Worth, comes from a dual and generational line of preachers, teachers, activist, advocates, entrepreneurs and change makers.
As a child, Lee experienced the trauma of rooted racism that went beyond the day-to-day stillness of the segregated South. When Lee was in elementary school, a mob of 500 people, destroyed her family home, on Juneteenth, after it was decided that her family had picked the wrong neighborhood to buy a house.
Under threat of further violence, her family was forced to flee under the cover of night.
Historically, Lee also has family roots tied into Greenwood: America’s Black Wall Street as her cousins would not only survive the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre but would go on rebuild Black Wall Street and more importantly (on both sides of her family) create, mentor and continue to grow up an untold cadre of ordinary individuals and families doing extraordinary things.
A great big, beautiful family as Lee likes to say; An American family, that collectively, generation to generation, cousin to cousin, community to community, neighborhood to neighborhood has worked hard to change and reshape American history as they lived it.
Ron Busby Sr.
President & CEO
U.S. Black Chambers, Inc.
As President/CEO of the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. (USBC), Ron Busby, Sr. brings business management skills as well as a lifetime of community development experience to the organization.
Mr. Busby is a former successful business owner himself, and he has been recognized as one of the nation’s best CEOs.
Ron grew his first company, USA Superclean, from $150,000 annualized revenue, to over $15 million in only 10 years. In addition to being an entrepreneur, Ron was a former Chamber leader serving as the Chairman of the Board and then later became president of the Greater Phoenix Black Chamber of Commerce.
Currently, Ron serves on the Pfizer Small Business Council, National Newspapers Publishers Association Foundation Board of Directors, and White House African American Leadership Council. He has also formerly served on the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Council on Underserved Communities.
Yvette Craig
Yvette L. Craig is a Communications and Marketing Manager for the All of Us Wisconsin Research Program who is excited about fusing communications and science to increase diverse representation in precision medicine research.
She is a communications savant who strongly believes every word matters.
The Milwaukee native has spent decades growing her craft, covering major events such as the 25th Anniversary of the March on Washington, the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
She’s interviewed celebrities and politicians from Rev. Jesse Jackson and actress Jane Fonda to professional boxer Riddick Bowe and President George W. Bush. A profound connection to the forgotten, she has also won awards for shedding a spotlight on the homeless community.
Yvette transitioned from daily newspapers to online publications and has worked as a speech writer for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s first woman chancellor, Nancy L. Zimpher. In 2019, Yvette took the helm of UMOJA Magazine in Madison, calling it her dream job. As its Publisher and Editor, she revamped the publication and grew its readership and community partnerships. She also expanded coverage of positive Black news across Wisconsin and for the first time in UMOJA’s 30-plus years, she led the effort to have the magazine available digitally.
A Marquette University graduate, Yvette volunteers to coach future journalists and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Association of Black Journalists, the Wisconsin Black Media Association, and Women In Focus.
Amani Latimer Burris
Amani currently works as an Advising Assistant to Dr. Opal Lee, the Nobel Peace Prize Nominated Human Rights Advocate and Grandmother of Juneteenth who, at 95, brought forth Juneteenth as the 11th Federal Holiday.
Prior to working for as an ambassador for Ms. Opal, Amani worked in the Wisconsin Senate for Senator Taylor.
Amani has worked for a number of local, state and national l campaigns and organizations including the National Urban League, NAACP, the historical Pete Buttigieg, Biden-Harris Presidential Campaigns, working on-staff at the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and serving as campaign aide to Mayor Paul Soglin.
Amani, whose first love is writing, started her career as a journalist, at the age of 19.
When she was 21, Amani first learned about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre first hand, unexpectedly and in disbelief from her then 89 year old aunt who had survived the event.
As time went on, Amani would learn the depth of her family story, a story of her relatives, in-kinds and beloveds, patriots who not only lived through and survived the 1921 Tulsa Massacre but would go on to rebuild it; faithful to community, all while raising her mom and dad and mentoring the next generation thereafter.
Amani’s dad is Professor James Latimer, an exacting and perfect pitch musician and conductor who played with the likes of Duke Ellington, Richard Davis, for the Boston Symphony and Pops and helped to develop the music department at the historical Florida A & M University.
Her dad is son and descendant to the formidable Latimer Brothers who built (and then rebuilt) after it was torched and laid to ruin --In Greenwood’s heyday, the Latimer Brothers & Sons would be in business as architects and builders, farmers and lawyers, own a meat distribution company, several restaurants, a grocery store and a school of music; all in and around Greenwood. All in service to community.
Amani’s mom is the unfettered Milele Chikasa Anana, who was the first Black woman, in the State of Wisconsin, elected to any school board, founded UMOJA Magazine, served with her husband as confidential host to Dr. King’s sister, worked on bussing and desegregation in Boston, fought for and worked to get expand opportunities for women and people of color in Madison and started the Madison Black Chamber.
Milele Chikasa Anana Elementary School is named after Ms. Milele, in honor of Anana’s life-long portfolio of work from being an activist, to an undeterred documentarian and change agent.
Ms. Milele is cousin to Ms. Opal. Their relatives also survived the 1921 Tulsa Massacre and would go on to establish the Negro Credit Union which helped teachers get home loans while raising and mentoring the next generation.
Kiah R. Calmese Walker, MHA
Recognized as one of Madison 365’s “Black Power 2020: Wisconsin’s 51 Most Influential Black Leaders” and named “The Problem Solver” as one of BRAVA Magazine’s 2021 “Women to Watch”, Kiah Calmese Walker pushes Madison’s regional healthcare systems (and those working within them) to achieve their fullest potential.
As a healthcare professional with over 25 years of experience, Kiah exercises the belief that healthcare awareness, access, and partnerships are best cultivated through integrated systems-thinking, the diversification of the healthcare workforce, and innovatively challenging the status quo.
Her unique talent for finding system “gaps” and seizing growth opportunities, while also aligning and mobilizing teams toward common goals or solution-oriented deliverables, made way for multiple promotions and opportunities to establish, re-establish, and improve systems within organizations. Having assumed several healthcare operational senior leader roles for both UW Health and UnityPoint Health-Meriter since 2015, she was well positioned for promoting into the Director of Human Resources for UnityPoint Health-Meriter and the Co-chair of Meriter’s CARE Campaign, designed to address healthcare staffing shortages and advance the diversification of the healthcare workforce in our community.
Her unique healthcare career background includes patient and family-centered experience and advocacy, customer service excellence, case management, adult education and training, treatment adherence counseling, program development, project management, process improvement, change management, operational oversight, transformational leadership, human resource management, and learning development.
With a Bachelor’s in Sociology/Anthropology from Carleton College (BA), Master’s in Healthcare Administration (MHA) from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and a Professional Certification in Patient & Family Experience (CPXP) from The Beryl Institute, Kiah has laser-focused her professional mission toward “narrowing the gaps” that perpetuate healthcare disparities and mending broken systems. She currently serves on multiple local boards of directors, and has been invited to share her knowledge, experience, and wisdom at dozens of conferences for various audiences over the years.
But that’s just her passion… her purpose, however, beckons an altogether different calling.
With an undeniably powerful presence, Kiah Calmese Walker embodies motivational energy as a dynamic leader, mentor, coach, educator, and presenter. Known for her ability to command joy and light into the atmosphere, she uplifts and encourages under a genuine anointing as Praise & Worship Leader at Fountain of Life Covenant Church in Madison, Wisconsin.
An equally talented vocalist and songwriter, Kiah’s also written, produced, and contributed to hundreds of projects under her own privately owned music publishing entity, Roys’ Joy Musik™, established in 2001.
The name inspired by her grandmother, Royetta Rose Crafton Justice, a joyfully gifted music minister with a 5-octave vocal range and an ear for pitch-perfect. Endeavoring, on purpose, to create a nostalgic “grūvspirational” feel, Roys’ Joy Musik™ draws upon the influences of favorite R&B, Gospel, Jazz, and Contemporary legends (including Earth Wind & Fire, Ella Fitzgerald, Michael Jackson, Luther Vandross, Anita Baker, Michael McDonald, BeBe & CeCe Winans, Sade, The Whispers, Sting, Fred Hammond, to name a few).
Taught at an early age to naturally create chord progressions and vocal arrangements, KiahCalmeseWalker delivers a unique, enlightened, and personal listening experience for every generation. Her 2022 debut release, RJM Volume One: BLăCK PhOēNyX Rises features smooth melodies, captivating lyrics, and the warmth of a signature sound that radiates from all three tracks: BLăCK PhOēNyX, Already (k)New [#Psalm139], and H.E.A.L.³ (Heed, Elevate, Align, Live, Love, and Liberate). Each bares its soul to the listener, with intentional messages that speak life, give honor, awaken hope, and revive the human spirit.
Opal Ellyse
Opal Ellyse is a poet, hip hop artist, community leader and storyteller.
Performing original spoken word pieces since her college days at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, poetry has been a way for Opal to not only express herself but also work through her own thoughts and feelings as a form of art therapy.
Opal works for CUNA Mutual Group as the Director of Multicultural Business Strategy, she has been able to use her poetry to teach content in new ways, motivate and engage employees, and show business partners their new direction in terms of creativity, innovation, diversity, and inclusion.
In 2019 Opal released a full-length Spoken Word poetry album entitled “My Name is Opal”, the album has been streamed in over sixty-eight countries and is available on Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal and everywhere music is streamed.
In 2022 she released a poetry book by the same name, which became an Amazon best seller.
Marie Justice
Just Media was founded in 2015 by social strategists Marie Justice and Johnny Justice; Justice Media is a film production company focused on non-fiction storytelling to drive positive social change.
Their work stems from the cross sections of visual art, humanity, and sociological exploration.