Melissa Gengenbach

L. Danyetta Najoli, MA, CAP

Since 2000, Danyetta has worked in the disabilities community in a variety of roles including lead direct support professional, apartment coordinator, recreation and leisure coordinator, and currently, as a senior community builder. She also operates a growth mindset and personal foundations practice where she provides learning experiences through coaching and training. Through the development of person-centered cultural humility training for the State of New York’s Department of Health, Danyetta developed the 10 Commitments of Person-Centered Cultural Humility. She hopes these commitments help others want to learn more about the other person(s) and their culture, in order to provide customized support.

During the fall of 2019, Danyetta co-developed The Black American Tree Project which takes into account what happened to Black Americans from pre-colonial Africa to present-day America through an embodied and participatory format followed by courageous community conversations.

Danyetta earned a bachelor of science in business administration from Fisk University and a master of arts in organizational leadership from Regent University. Danyetta has extensive training in leadership and personal coaching from Achieve Global (Formerly Zenger-Miller Frontline Leadership), Harvard Business School, and The Graduate School of Coaching/Coachville. In 2021, Danyetta completed Cornell University’s Diversity and Inclusion Certificate Program.

Danyetta serves on the board of Neighbours, Inc. She served on a variety of boards including as vice president of Invest in Neighborhood, a governing board serving 52 community councils in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Danyetta is a two-time Amazon.com best-selling author. She has recently written the book, Micro Shift: Small Changes for Big Results where she details her Release, Allow, Attract, and Act signature coaching program while sharing her personal story of resilience. Danyetta enjoys traveling, writing, singing, and spending time with her husband and two teenage children.

About the Session

This session will be a time of welcoming everyone back as we gradually reemerge into the in-person world of supporting others. Let’s take time to reflect on, honor, and celebrate our diversity and resilience which brings about a greater sense of unity in the work we are doing to support others. We will look at what we have learned about ourselves and those we support, what we might retain from the virtual world, and where we want to go next with our new knowledge gained. We will highlight ways we have stretched and experienced significant growth beyond our comfort zones.

Ways to Reach Danyetta:

www.Danyetta.com

www.TheBlackAmericanTreeProject.org

[email protected]

Carlo, Betina, Clara & Davi

One diagnosis. One Family. One big dream.

After seeing that their daughter Clara has some mobility issues, Carlo and Betina were surprised to get the news from the doctor that Clara had a stroke and her life would be a mess, not being able to do anything. After the initial shock, they decided to build the best life they could for Clara and look beyond the limits. Today Clara is 16 years old. Clara can understand Portuguese, Italian and English even if she does not speak, write or read.

Carlo and Betina decided to follow Clara and build a future together, and today Clara is an international painter and a model. One year ago, they moved from Italy to California because Clara got an American visa as an extraordinary talent.

Together with Davi, Clara's brother, this family decided to believe in Clara's big dream to exhibit in New York as Frida Kahlo did. Despite the difficulties and fears, they are raising their voices to break barriers and create opportunities for talents that are not seen because of their diversity.

It all started in 2006 when Clara was born. To make a short story, we found out that Clara had had a prenatal stroke and, consequently, terrible brain damage.

In the beginning, doctors said that Clara would not have an easy everyday life. "Your daughter cannot organize her brain. Your life will be tough. She will not be able to speak, walk, run, imitate..."

We accepted Clara with her limitations, but we decided to give her the best life possible. In 2016 Clara started to attend painting classes, but in the beginning, she destroyed her works. Slowly, slowly she begins to express herself with colors, shapes, and a beauty that touches the soul.

The artistic path with Astrid Hohenegger, her first teacher, was fundamental in her art. In November 2017, I gave Clara a book about Frida Khalo.

Clara connected with Frida's art and life. One evening, sitting on the sofa, Clara opened the text on the page where Frida was in New York in her exhibition and said to me: "Mom, I would like to do my show in New York, as Frida did."

That evening Clara challenged me, and I said: Yes, let's try!

Since then, Clara has made around 30 exhibitions on three continents, sold more than 650 paintings internationally, and we moved to California after holding her American Visa as an extraordinary talent.

As a family in 2019, we made one of the most difficult decisions of our lives: to sell our company to follow our heart and develop Clara's brand.

Today Clara and I are partners in this adventure, and we count on the 360-degree help of Carlo. He has proved to be a great facilitator of Clara's artistic work and knows how to motivate her to go beyond every limit. Davi is a blessing to our family and he is also part of all these, he is always ready to help us in everything.

Clara woods Collection talks about diversity, inclusion, and equality. Her art speaks of the hope of chasing a dream and the beauty of risking everything to pursue something unconventional. It speaks of love and resilience.

Karyn Harvey, PhD

Karyn Harvey has worked as a clinician in the field of intellectual disabilities for over 30 years. She has her Ph.D. in Applied Developmental Psychology from the University of Maryland. She has published articles about therapeutic interventions with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), workbooks for individuals with IDD and two books. Her first book, Positive Identity Development was published in 2009 and Trauma –Informed Behavioral Interventions, published in 2011. Her third book, Trauma and Healing will be released in 2022 by AAIDD. She is the director of program development and training for the Park Ave Group practice where she does both individual and group therapy. In addition, she regularly conducts trainings on trauma-informed care and coping with Covid for both state and individual organizations throughout the country and in Canada.