2025 BLM NH EXCELLENCE AWARDS
Black Lives Matter New Hampshire is proud to present our 5th Annual BLM New Hampshire Excellence Awards!
We will be honoring Black, Indigenous and Person of Color community members older than 14 years old from all walks of life; artists, educators, activists, entrepreneurs, inventors, musicians, students, etc., that have made contributions to benefit the New Hampshire!
The event will be taking place on April 5th at 5pm at The Office Lounge in Dover, New Hampshire!
View past years: 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2024. Stay tuned for announcement of our winners!
Keynote Speaker
Latonya Wallace
Latonya Wallace is a dedicated leader focused on community empowerment. As the Director of Small Business Engagement at the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund and Program Manager for the Community-Driven Economic Empowerment (CDEE) grant, she drives initiatives that create meaningful opportunities for our New Hampshire businesses and communities.
She brings valuable governance experience as a board member for GoodWork Seacoast, Chair and Co-Founder of the Business Alliance for People of Color. Recognized with honors such as the NH Business Review Outstanding Woman in Business Award, Latonya is celebrated for her ability to inspire collaboration and advance equity-focused missions.
A proud mother of two, Latonya blends her professional passion with personal creativity through journaling, crafting, and hosting community-centered events. Born in Brooklyn, raised in Maine, and a New Hampshire resident since 2019, she is a Marvel fan and tea enthusiast who thrives on building connections and empowering others.
Host
Lionel Loveless
Lionel Loveless is a community driven individual with a fashion forward outlook. He’s known to some as “Mr. Bowtie Daily” because of his sustainable fashion brand, Officially Knotted Bowties. Not only is he a NH Business owner but he is also a current Board member for Business Alliance for People of Color New Hampshire as well as Black Lives Matter New Hampshire. When he’s not sewing, selling Antiques, or serving as a board member, you can find him giving tours for the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire.
Excellence in Artistry
Richard Haynes
Born into a family of sharecroppers in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1949, Richard Haynes was nine years old when his family migrated to Harlem. Attending his first movie, Ben Hur, sparked a lifelong interest in photography, especially lighting and camera angles.
Haynes’ seventh-grade teacher, Mrs. Miriam H. Powers, became his mentor. She advised him to combine photography with drawing and painting and motivated him to attend the city’s High School of Art and Design. After graduation and service in Vietnam, Haynes entered Bronx Community College. He then earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in painting from Lehman College. In 1979, he earned a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in photography from Pratt Institute.
Haynes went on to earn his living as a commercial photographer in New York City. He moved to the New Hampshire seacoast in 1989, where he is now the Director of Admissions for Recruitment and Access at the University of New Hampshire. Haynes is known statewide as an activist artist, culture keeper, and mentor.
His lifelong artmaking has coalesced in two areas. As a social justice storyteller, Haynes transforms studio photographs into bold geometric images that depict scenes of struggle. Bright Caran D ’Ache colors signal energy, hope, and joy. Outside the studio, while walking, Haynes photographs subjects he encounters by chance that kindle a sense of connection and presence. It has become Haynes’ mission to create and share these images – so others may be drawn into a restorative experience.
Haynes's work is part of the permanent collections of the Currier Museum of Art, Massachusetts General Hospital, Dana Farber Cancer Center, Avery Art Institute, Houghton and Mifflin, Historic New England, the University of New Hampshire, and many others. He is cited in or has contributed to Black Photographers 1940-1988, Regalia: Native American Dance, Strawbery Banke: A Seaport Museum 400 Years in the Making, Portsmouth Unabridged: New Poems for an Old City, and The Great Shape Hunt.
Collegiate Brilliance as an Undergraduate Student
Jeadminas Alexis
My name is Jeadminas MG Alexis, I was born in Haiti and moved to the US in 2016 at the age of 13. I have lived in NH since my move. I attended Keene State College 2021-2024. During my time there I founded the Black Student Union (BSU) mostly due to not fitting in right and not having a safe space as a Black girl. I figured I wasn’t the only student going through that. Although I did try to have a voice on campus however I felt like it wasn’t enough. It was a rough start with a lot of ups and downs but we as students came together and worked through it. I also love traveling and had the amazing opportunity to spend a semester studying abroad in East Africa where I mainly studied in Kenya but also got to visit Rwanda, and Tanzania. My major is in Criminal Justice with a minor in Biology, and with that I plan to attend law school at Howard University. I speak four languages: Haitian Creole, French, English, and Spanish. I come from a very big and loving family who has been partaking in my success. As for enjoyment, I love playing tennis, reading, hiking, skiing, traveling, but always open to try something new.
Ground-breaker in Graduate Studies
Michael Truong
Michael Truong (he/him) is a musician, educator, and researcher committed to building joyful, inclusive, and transformative spaces for both students and fellow educators. A proud first-generation Vietnamese American and New Hampshire native, Michael currently serves as a K–8 music educator at Deerfield Community School, where he has taught since 2019. His teaching centers student voice and choice, place-based learning, culturally responsive and sustainable practices, and the power of music to foster belonging, leadership, and identity. He is equally passionate about empowering and uplifting music educators across the state through collaboration, advocacy, and systemic change.
Michael has worked across nonprofit, arts, and educational spaces to advance equity, including serving as a fellow in Cohort 10 of the Equity Leaders Fellowship (ELF)—a program designed to cultivate deep understanding of equity and build capacity for collective impact across New Hampshire.
He holds a B.S. in K–12 Music Education from Plymouth State University and an M.Ed. in Global Perspectives from Boston College. He is currently pursuing a doctorate in Education at Plymouth State University.
Michael would not be here without the love and strength of many–his family, teachers, the Noteworthy Nine, Holly Oliver, Cohort 10, his DCS colleagues, students, and families, the Leftist Marching Band, and countless others who keep him grounded while he dreams.
His lifelong inspiration is Kermit the Frog—a gentle leader, banjo-playing dreamer, and believer in the beauty of being green and different in a world that often asks us to blend in.
Excellence In Health
Trinidad Tellez
As a community-embedded researcher and primary care provider in Lawrence, MA for over 7 years, she helped lead the Mayor’s Health Task Force Research Initiative Working Group’s efforts to promote equitable Community Based Participatory Research partnerships to ensure that all research conducted in Lawrence is truly collaborative, and of benefit to the community. She then led the New Hampshire Office of Health Equity for over 10 years and provided state-level leadership for aligning efforts state-wide to improve health and equity. She is currently an adjunct instructor for the MPH Programs at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice at Geisel School of Medicine, as well as Tufts University School of Medicine. “Dr. Trini” is engaged in various BIPOC and immigrant community driven initiatives; and is in her second term as a Manchester Representative in the 400-member NH State House of Representatives. Dr. Tellez is Principal of [Health] Equity Strategies, LLC and serves as an equity consultant and community collaborator for multiple Maternal and Child Health initiatives.
Dr. Trinidad Tellez is a Latina family physician, community-based health disparities researcher, educator, and public health / health policy professional with over 20 years’ experience operationalizing equity, diversity & inclusion and organizational cultural effectiveness to address health disparities, improve access and quality, and advance health and equity for all. Dr. Tellez champions authentic community engagement, collaborative partnership building, and equitable participatory processes as important mechanisms for facilitating and leading community-driven approaches to co-creating equity.
Dr. Tellez graduated from Dartmouth Medical School, trained at the UCSF-affiliated Natividad Family Medicine Residency in Salinas, California, and completed a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Fellowship in health services research and health policy at the University of California Los Angeles.
Academic Leader
Kendall Spencer
Kendall attended Georgetown University Law Center, where he received the Dean's Certificate. During law school, he was a Tech Law & Policy Scholar and a notes editor on the Georgetown Technology Review. He was also a fellow with the Institute of International Economic Law.
Prior to law school, Kendall was an elite NCAA Division I Track and Field Student-Athlete at the University of New Mexico. He was a National Champion, 3x All-American, and has scored a silver medal for Team USA in the Mexico City NACAC Games. Kendall is also a champion of reform within sports and entertainment. Since becoming the first student-athlete to have served on the NCAA's Board of Directors, he’s held leadership positions with USA Track & Field, the US Olympic and Paralympic Committees, and other global stakeholders.
A recognized thought leader who frequently presents on sports and tech-related topics, Kendall is often quoted and published in outlets such as Wall Street Journal, ESPN, Forbes, and NPR. Prior to joining Ropes and Gray's corporate department in 2024, Kendall was employed at another leading global law firm working in licensing, cybersecurity, and tech transactions.
Outstanding Business Owner
Joanna Kelley
Joanna Kelley (she/her) is the owner of Cup of Joe cafe & bar in downtown Portsmouth and is a New Hampshire native. Ms. Kelley is passionate about non-profits, politics, and advocacy work within the state.
She is one of the founders of The New England BIPOC cultural festival and serving board member for many organizations including: The Seacoast African American Cultural center, Strawbery Banke Museum, 603 Forward Foundation, and The Chase Children’s Home.
Joanna is the first African American in New Hampshire to be elected to both the Portsmouth City Council and the Assistant Mayor of Portsmouth.
Youth Trailblazer
Mackenzie Verdiner
My name is Mackenzie Verdiner and I am a grassroots community organizer. I have been working in the Manchester community since I was 13 Years old, starting with helping to build a community garden by my middle school. In High school I was a part of the Young Organizers United Program (YOU). YOU taught me how to build power in my community with organizing. In my senior year we won a campaign to add the first and only African American studies class to the course selection. In my sophomore year of highschool I Founded the first ever Black Student Union, a club that is still running after my graduation. Now I work as the full time Youth Organizer for the Granite State Organizing Project (GSOP) and I am leading a new group of young people in the YOU program. Outside of work I am an avid reader and lover of combat sports.
Community Impact Leader
Shonni Holmes
Shonni Holmes, Founder/Owner of BIPOC Kids on the Block, is a mother of two from Los Angeles, CA. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from UCLA and has been a performer, educator, and director for most of her professional career. Shonni relocated to Exeter, NH in 2020 where she resides with her husband Jacob (a Dover, NH native) and their two children, Kingston and Zara. Shonni started BIPOC Kids on the Block with the goal of providing her own children with opportunities to connect with other kids of color in safe spaces. It has since grown to reach close to 40 families across several towns throughout the Seacoast and Southern NH. While her “meaningful meetups for cultural connection” are designed to bring families together to celebrate the beauty of diversity, the associated activities and events often also highlight and promote BIPOC, LGBQT+, and allied business owners and professionals in New Hampshire.
