Tony Willis -
chair of the board | President

Tony Willis is a professional resource charter and economic development strategist. Over the past decade, Tony has been deeply involved with economic development; specifically, when it comes to developing an entrepreneurial ecosystem for the greater Lansing region to foster increased company formation, Seed and VC investment, resources to enhance the connection between entrepreneurial support organizations, and a culture where people and ideas can move rapidly to the market. Tony is currently the Director of New Economy at the Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP) and is also the President of PROTO Accelerator, the region’s first startup accelerator program.

Suban Nur Cooley, Ph.D. - Vice chair of the board | vice President

Suban is a researcher and teacher of issues pertaining to the cultural and digital, global and local. She is most interested in how all these elements intersect to impact and inform us individually, and how we then interact as parts of larger communities within and across the world. Suban cares about the micro and macro. Her dissertation research was a multi-location geographic comparative study which focused on elder women of the Somali diaspora and how migration and displacement can initiate a rhetorical inquiry of one’s culture and identity, manifesting in temporal and spatial constructions of a nation.

Rashad Muhammad - Director

Former Board President

Rashad comes to the organization with a long history of community service and employment in Lansing area. Rashad has over 20 years of experience working in course development, instructional design, and training and works at MSU as a Learning Experience Designer. As a lifelong participant in the hip hop community, Rashad is passionate about the capacity of hip hop to lead culture change, job creation, and activism.

Joseph Mole - Board Treasurer

Joseph believes it is his mission is to help everyday people develop strategies for financial success. With two decades of leadership and service in the nonprofit social services sector, he has witnessed first-hand the struggles good people faced as a result of poverty and lack of access to financial resources. With a foundation built on trust, his goal is to partner with people from all walks of life to become forward-thinking about their finances, develop sound retirement plans and prepare for the big moments in life, both expected and unexpected.

Dan Wolford, Ph.D. - Board Secretary

Dan has spent the last five years creating student-driven learning experiences that elevate student voices in his Detroit high school classroom. He engineers educational systems centered around student expression, creativity, and high performance, such as his extracurricular hip-hop program Lyrical Crusaders. Dan brings a passion for merging hip-hop and student achievement and valuable insight on educational accountability to the Board of Directors.

Latoya English - Director

LaToya English is the CEO of Sustenance, LLC, where she has led fundraising and resource development efforts that have secured more than $11.5 million for nonprofits nationwide. With expertise in grant writing, donor cultivation, and strategic partnerships, she has helped organizations expand their impact and sustainability across the arts, education, and health sectors.

A committed community volunteer, LaToya is passionate about empowering people of all ages through arts, education, creativity, and culture, and is excited to bring her leadership and strategic fund development experience to the All of the Above Hip Hop Academy Board.

Paul Schmidt - Director

Paul is a storyteller, business owner and community member that is extremely active in ventures that bring about positive impacts. His video storytelling agency has spent the past twenty years visually depicting the journeys of non-profit organizations and the people they serve. He brings to the board of directors his vast experience in helping to shape the narrative that dynamically shares the mission to a wider audience.

Cristian Lambaren Sanchez - Director

Born in King City, California, but raised across Mexicali, B.C., Mexico, Lakeland, Florida, and Oxnard, California before going to undergrad at UC Berkeley, Cristian moved to the mitten state in 2016. He currently works as a Community Engagement teacher and specialist in the Residential College of Arts and Humanities (RCAH) at Michigan State University (MSU). The same institution where he earned his master’s degree and is now gently advancing with his PhD program.

A longtime lover and advocate of Hip-Hop culture and community, Cristian has taught a Hip-Hop and Community Engagement class for over three years while partnering with All of the Above (AOTA) Hip Hop Academy. Cristian says that thanks to hip-hop music, he found the confidence to learn and speak English when he first moved to Florida as an 11-year-old boy who only knew Spanish. Back then, he was too shy to hold a conversation but would joyfully rap along to hip-hop songs in English.

Cristian lives with his beautiful partner, Maria (Founder of Capital Area Latina Youth), her two daughters, and Mony (Mexican Chuhuahua from Sinaloa, Mexico). He is always happy to talk about family, soccer, education, travel, food, music, and/or supporting the younger generations’ dreams and life aspirations.

caitlin O’Rourke - Director

Caitlin O’Rourke is a Lansing native and proud product of Lansing Public Schools. She loves being an aunt to Joanne and Jackson, Detroit sports, kayaking, and hiking with her dog, Eisley. She is passionate about music and spends as much time as she can going to live shows.

As the Vice President of Capitol Fundraising Associates, she comes to us with a strong background in fundraising, strategic planning, event planning, finance, and operations. She graduated from Grand Valley State University with a B.A. in Political Science.