Editor and visual artist Daryl Royster Alexander was born on August 20, 1947 in Austin, Texas to Myrtle and Arthur Royster. She graduated from Washburn High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1965. In 1969, Alexander earned her B.A. degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota, where she also studied studio and art history with artist Mario Volpe. She went on to study at the Art Students League in New York, New York, under the direction of Gregg Kreutz, Nelson Shanks, and Dan Thompson, between the years of 2005 and 2012.

Alexander began her journalism career in the early 1970s and joined Essence magazine in 1974, serving as deputy editor until 1980. That year, she became editor-in-chief, making her one of the few African American women leading a magazine at the time. She held that position until 1981, when she joined The New York Times as an editor. Over the next three decades, she oversaw the education, life, metro administration, and food sections, earning a Publisher’s Award from The New York Times for excellence in journalism. After retiring from The New York Times in 2011, Alexander pursued her lifelong interest in the visual arts as a full-time painter. Her still-life and figurative works have been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at Galerie Intemporel in Paris, France (2018), and at the Granary Gallery in West Tisbury, Massachusetts. Her 2022 series, “The People Flew,” was featured at both the Granary Gallery and the Knowhere Art Gallery in Martha’s Vineyard between 2022 and 2024.

During her career, Alexander has served as a member of the literary and editorial organizations, Women’s Media Group and the National Association of Black Journalists. She is also a life member of the New York Art Students League.

Alexander and her husband, Rodney Alexander, have a son named Douglas Alexander.

They reside in Brooklyn, New York.

Daryl Royster Alexander was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on August 8, 2024.

Beauty and trade show founder Bernice Calvin was born on June 27, 1924 in New York, New York to Willa Lee Johnson Calvin and Floyd Joseph Calvin. She graduated from Eagle Junior High School and Walton High School in Bronx, New York. Calvin also attended Brooklyn College in Brooklyn, New York. As a student, Calvin performed in 1938 as a pianist with her sister, Delores, in Harlem’s Elk’s Auditorium.

In 1954, Calvin and her mother, Willa Lee Johnson Calvin, co-founded Beauty Trade magazine, a monthly African American publication focused on trends in the beauty, cosmetics, fashion, and hair industries. Calvin served as editor and publisher of the magazine for thirty-five years. In 1960, Calvin also founded The Big Show Expo, where she served as president and chief executive officer. The Big Show Expo became the largest African American health and beauty exposition held in the United States. After its debut in Washington, D.C., the Big Show Expo traveled to other cities in the United States like Chicago, Illinois; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Memphis, Tennessee attracting more than 50,000 attendees and sponsors like Coors Brewing Company. Calvin also established a beauty school in Senegal. She also founded the National Black Beauty Heritage Association, an organization dedicated to preserving and promoting the legacy of African American contributions to the beauty industry.

During her career, Calvin received numerous honors. In 1976, Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley designated Black Beauty Week in recognition of Calvin’s Beauty Trade magazine. In 2021, Calbin was featured on BeautySuperStars.com’s I Am Black Hair History list. That same year, Calvin and her mother were featured in the Hair Style exhibition at San Francisco International Airport’s Harvey Milk Terminal One.

Calvin resides in New York, New York. She had one son, the late Jon Carlton, and two granddaughters.

Bernice Calvin was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on September 12, 2023.

Hotel owner and operator Thomas J. Baltimore, Jr., was born on August 23, 1963 in Front Royal, Virginia to Thomas Baltimore, Sr. and Geraldine Baltimore. Baltimore received his B.S. degree in finance from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia in 1985 and his M.B.A. degree from the University of Virginia Darden Business School in 1991 in Charlottesville.

Following graduate school, Baltimore began his career in hospitality with the Marriott Corporation, where he worked in various financial and operational roles from 1991 to 1995. He was later promoted to vice president of business development for the company’s lodging division, helping expand Marriott’s hotel portfolio through acquisitions and management contracts. From 1995 to 1996, he served as vice president of business development for Host Marriott Services Corporation. Baltimore then joined Hilton Hotels Corporation in 1996 as vice president of development, playing a key role in identifying and acquiring hotel assets across North America. In 2000, Baltimore founded the private equity firm RLJ Development, LLC with Robert L. Johnson in Bethesda, Maryland, where he served as president for eleven years and managed more than $3 billion in assets and a portfolio exceeding 100 hotels. In 2011, he became president and chief executive officer of the RLJ Lodging Trust, one of the nation’s largest public real estate investment trusts. He was in 2016 appointed chairman, chief executive officer, and president of Park Hotels and Resorts, a Fortune 1000 company headquartered in Tysons, Virginia that became the second-largest publicly traded lodging REIT in the United States.

Baltimore has been active in both the corporate and civic communities including serving on the board of directors of AutoNation, Inc.; the Duke Realty Corporation; MedStar Health; Park Hotels and Resorts (2016); the University of Virginia Investment Management Company (2018); the Real Estate Roundtable (2018); the American Hotel & Lodging Association Executive Committee (2020); the American Express Company (2021); the University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce Foundation (2022); and Comcast, Inc. (2023). He also served as a director at Prudential Financial, Inc. for fifteen years and held the role of lead independent director for three years before stepping down in 2023.

Throughout his career, Baltimore has received numerous awards and honors, including the IREFAC Award from the American Hotel & Lodging Association in 2015, the Award for Excellence and Inspiration from Hunter College in 2021, the Charles C. Abbot Award from his alma mater, the Darden Business School at the University of Virginia, in 2020, and the Raven Award from the Raven Society at the University of Virginia in 2022. He was inducted into the Washington Business Hall of Fame in 2023.

Baltimore and his wife, Hillary D. Baltimore live in Potomac, Maryland. They have two children.

Thomas J. Baltimore Jr. was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on August 29, 2023.

Engineering executive James E. Royal, Jr. was born on April 2, 1937 in the Bronx, New York to James Royal, Sr. and Eunice McKissack Royal. Royal graduated from John Bartram High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1955 and attended Fisk University in 1956 in Nashville, Tennessee where he studied mathematics for two years before receiving his B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Drexel University in Philadelphia in 1959. In 1972, Royal also earned a certification from the Institute of Technology at the International Business Machines Corporation.

Royal began his career in 1958 as a lathe operator in an apprenticeship program at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company. The following year, he was drafted into the U.S. Army until 1963 when he was hired as a mathematician for interspace vehicle programs, an early iteration of the NASA Space Program, at the General Electric Company in New York City, New York. Then, in 1967, Royal joined IBM where he held several leadership positions in East Fishkill, Poughkeepsie, and Armonk including manager of information systems, quality assurance manager, assistant engineer, senior engineer, and program manager during a twenty-five-year tenure with IBM, before his retirement in 1992.

Also, Royal was active in the Hudson Democratic Party including his service as deputy mayor in the mayor’s office of Newburgh, New York from 1983 to 1985. He also served in leadership roles with the NAACP, including as New York State Manager and as president of the Hudson Valley NAACP chapter. In 1970, Royal joined the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., and was appointed its founding alumni president until 1982.

Royal resides in Berwyn, Pennsylvania with his wife, Judith Logan Royal. He has three children: Stephanie Royal, Lisa Nelson, and Peter Royal.

James E. Royal Jr. was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on July 19, 2023.

Academic administrator Stephanie A. Royal was born on October 18, 1964 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to James E Royal, Jr. and Joan Peterson Royal. She received her B.A. degree in English and finance from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville in 1986; her M.A. degree in educational leadership from Cabrini College in Radnor, Pennsylvania in 2004; and, her Ph.D. degree in executive leadership from St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York in 2011.

Royal started her career in 2004 as the chief operating officer at the nonprofit business development firm Axis Partners. In 2007, she joined the National Association of Independent Schools as a diversity trainer and consultant. Then, in 2014, Royal served as director of diversity, equity, and inclusion at the Cathedral School of St. John the Divine in New York City, New York and as director of the New York State Youth Mentoring Program. Royal joined the City University of New York (CUNY) LaGuardia Community College in 2016 as an executive director. That same year, she became managing partner at Ravenscourt Partners. In 2018, Royal joined Robin Hood, a New York City-based anti-poverty organization, where she served for more than five years as chief people and culture officer and oversaw human resources and organizational strategy.

Royal taught at Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 2006 to 2011 and served as an adjunct professor of graduate education at Cabrini College, her alma mater, from 2009 to 2011. She was a board member of the National Association of Independent Schools, Hudson Library, York College, Art OMI, and Nexus Contemporary Art Center. Royal joined the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. in 1984, serving as president and treasurer. Beginning in 1993, Royal served for eight years as vice president and teen advisor at Jack and Jill of America.

Throughout her career, Royal has received numerous awards and honors including the Mover, Shaker, Groundbreaker Award from AKA Sorority, Inc. in 1986; the Community Leadership Award from the Forsyth School in 1998; the New Jersey State Recognition Award from the State of New Jersey in 2008; and the St. John Fisher College Leadership Award from St. John Fisher College in 2011.

She resides in New York City, New York.

Stephanie A. Royal was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on July 19, 2023.

Chief Executive Officer Vikki L. Pryor was born on August 22, 1953, at the Great Lakes Naval Base in Illinois to Dorothy (Mary) Nesbitt Pryor and Karl Pryor. In 1975, Pryor received her B.A. degree in history, magna cum laude, and in 1978 her J.D. in history from the University at Buffalo, New York. In 1989, she received her M.B.A. degree in marketing and finance from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Pryor began her professional and business career in 1978 as an attorney, rising to acting assistant district counsel for the Office of Chief Counsel at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. In 1986, she joined Allstate Life Insurance Company, holding various management positions in corporate operations. In 1993, she joined Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts as General Auditor, and became senior vice president of Operations, later holding the same role at Oxford Health Plans in 1998. Beginning in 1999, Pryor served for more than eleven years as president and chief executive officer of SBLI USA Mutual Life Insurance Company, becoming the first African American woman to hold the position of President and CEO of a major U.S. life insurance company.
In the non-profit sector, Pryor served as president and chief executive officer of the American Red Cross of Greater New York from 2010 to 2011, Getting Out and Staying Out from 2022 to 2024, and Northside Center for Child Development, beginning in 2024. In 2010, she also launched the consulting firm Change Create Transform, LLC, serving as its managing principal and president of its affiliated Change Create Transform Foundation, focusing on educational advancement and career readiness for youth.

Pryor served on the board of directors of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, Sagicor Life Insurance Company USA, NYISO, Keyspan, Riversource Funds, USTrust (Boston), the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Small Business Advisory Council, the Partnership for New York City, the American Council of Life Insurers Forum 500, the University at Buffalo Foundation and School Law Dean’s Advisory Council, Girls Scouts of the USA, and the Boys and Girls Club of Boston.
Pryor’s awards and honors include the Chancellor’s Award from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1996, a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University at Buffalo School of Law in 2002, a Doctor of Humane Letters Honoris Causa from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut in 2004, a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University at Buffalo in 2009, a Doctor of Law Honoris Causa from the College of Mount Saint Vincent in the Bronx, New York in 2013, and a Dean’s Medal from the University at Buffalo School of Law in 2014.

She resides in Stamford, Connecticut with her husband. She has a son and two grandchildren.

Vikki L. Pryor was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on July 18, 2023.

Museum director Chevy Humphrey was born on September 13, 1964 in Houston, Texas to Richard and Emily Humphrey. Humphrey received her B.S. degree in marketing from the University of Phoenix in Arizona in the 1990s; her M.B.A. degree in entrepreneurship, innovation and marketing from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts in the 2010s; and her doctorate in business administration from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona in 2019.

Humphrey was hired in 1992 as director of development at the University of Texas at Austin in Austin, Texas. She then became director of development at the University of Houston in Houston, Texas in 1994 before being hired in 1995 as the director of development for the Phoenix Symphony. She then joined the Arizona Science Center in Phoenix in 1998 as its director of development, where she also served as vice president of marketing, executive vice president, and interim CEO before being named in 2005 as the Hazel A. Hare President and CEO, becoming the first African American to hold this position. In 2021, Humphrey was hired as the seventh president and CEO of the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, where she is the first female and the first African American to hold this position.

Humphrey has served on the boards of directors for the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute and Education Forward Arizona. She was also a board member and served as chairperson of the American Alliance of Museums and the Association of Science and Technology Centers. In 2019, she became a member of the board of directors for Grand Canyon Education.

During her career, Humphrey has received numerous honors and awards including the Greater Phoenix Chamber’s Athena Award for Women of Achievement. Humphrey appeared in Arizona Business magazine’s Most Admired CEO list in 2011 and in the Phoenix Business Journal’s Fifty Most Influential Women list in 2014. Humphrey is also a Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust Fellow and a BBVA Compass Visionary Leader.

Humphrey and her husband, Matthew Treasure, live in Chicago, Illinois. They have one daughter.

Chevy Humphrey was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on June 30, 2023.

Automobile dealer Edward Anthony Brownlee was born on July 1, 1972 in Los Angeles, California to Georgia and Edward Brownlee. A graduate of Phineas Banning High School in Wilmington, California, Brownlee also attended the University of Minnesota on an agricultural studies scholarship.

In 1992, Brownlee was hired at Big Five Sporting Goods in retail sales where he was promoted to assistant manager. He then went to work as a loan officer with Weyerhaeuser Mortgage Company as well as with America’s Lender, a wholesale bank based in Orange County, California. In the late 1990s, Brownlee transitioned to automotive sales, starting as a salesperson at a Saturn dealership in Cerritos, California. He was then hired as a finance and sales manager at a family-owned Land Rover dealership in Anaheim, California, which was later acquired by Pendragon, where he served in 2001 initially as a sales and finance manager before being promoted to general manager in 2005. The following year, he joined Lithia Motors as general manager of a Volkswagen dealership in Denver, Colorado before 2008, when he assumed management of two other dealerships in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Spokane, Washington. In 2011, Brownlee entered a partnership with Kuni Automotive in Colorado to establish two Land Rover dealerships —Land Rover Denver East and Land Rover Highlands Ranch—serving as both partner and general manager. In 2014, the two locations merged, with Brownlee continuing to oversee the consolidated operation. When Kuni Automotive was acquired by Holman Automotive in 2016, Brownlee remained with the company as a senior dealership executive until 2018. That year, Brownlee founded Brownlee Automotive, a motor vehicle manufacturing and retail group headquartered in Castle Rock, Colorado. As founder and chief executive officer, he spearheaded the company’s growth through a series of acquisitions. He purchased a Toyota dealership in Powell, Wyoming, followed in 2019 by Chevrolet, Buick, and General Motors (including Hummer EV) franchises. He also acquired Gavin Motors in Powell, renaming it Yellowstone Motors to reflect the region’s identity and his commitment to community-centered business. In 2023, Brownlee Automotive acquired Sheridan Honda and Sheridan Powersports in Sheridan, Wyoming, and Bombardier Recreational Products.

During his career, Brownlee has been active in numerous organizations, including serving on the board of the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association, from 2012 to 2018, and on the boards of the Auto Industry Division of the Colorado Department of Revenue and Land Rover North America from, 2014 to 2016. He joined the American International Automobile Dealer Association in 2015 and the Wyoming Automobile Dealers Association in 2021. He also served as chairman of the Denver Auto Show in 2017 and 2018, and chaired the Colorado Automotive Hall of Fame from 2019 to 2021.

Brownlee married Shannon Brownlee in 2020. The couple resides in Castle Rock, Colorado.

Edward Anthony Brownlee was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on June 16, 2023.

Automobile dealer Faith Mba was born on February 14, 1976 in Akwukwu, Delta State, Nigeria to Seline and Benjamin Mba. He attended the Goethe Institute of German Language and Culture in Lagos, Nigeria for two years and graduated from St. Thomas College in Ibusa, Delta State, Nigeria in 1998.

In the 1990s, Mba worked for his mother. He then relocated to the Netherlands where he was employed in 2000, joined the Libe Bizz car rental service. During this time, he worked at the De Boterwaag restaurant while studying Dutch and German. After living in the Netherlands for four years, Mba immigrated to the United States in 2004. That same year, he married Kristen K. Mba in Keene, New Hampshire and joined the Rountree Ford Kia dealership, where he worked as a salesperson for three years. In 2007, he became a sales and finance manager at the Ford Toyota dealership in Greenfield, Massachusetts before being hired as finance director at Boch Toyota in Norwood, Massachusetts in 2012. In 2017, founded his own dealership, Faith Automotive, Inc. in 2017 and went on to own Faith’s Toyota and Faith’s Ford dealerships in Westminster, Vermont. In 2023, Mba developed a state-of-the-art facility and garage to house a joint Toyota and Ford dealership with dual entrances in Westminster, Vermont.

Mba served as a member of various trade associations including the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers, the Toyota Lexus Minority Owners Dealer Association, the Ford Minority Group, and the National Automobile Dealers Association. Mba also sat on the board of directors for the New England Toyota Dealers Advertising Association, Inc.

Mba’s awards and honors include the Entrepreneur Excellence Award from The Voice: African News Magazine in 2022.

Mba lives in Spofford, New Hampshire with his wife, Kristen K. Mba. They have one child.

Faith Mba was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on June 16, 2023.

Hospitality executive Ernest Wooden, Jr. was born on June 26, 1950 in New York City, New York to Ernest Wooden, Sr. and Mildred Holt. Wooden received both his B.S. degree in business administration in 2006 and his M.S.M. degree in 2007 from Thomas Edison University in Trenton, North Carolina. Wooden also earned his M.Phil. degree from the International School of Management in Paris, France in 2019.

Wooden began his career in the hospitality industry in 1976 as vice president and general manager of the Sheraton Poste Inn in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. In 1984, he relocated to Washington, D.C., where he served as general manager of Washington D.C. Convention Center Caterers. Three years later, in 1987, he joined Omni Hotels Corporation in Dallas, Texas as regional area director of operations. In 1996, Wooden was named vice president for the Florida region at Doubletree Hotels Corporation in Memphis, Tennessee. Following the company’s merger with Promus Hotel Corporation in 1998, he was promoted to regional vice president. The next year, he joined Hilton Hotels Corporation in Beverly Hills, California as senior vice president; and in 2006, he was elevated to executive vice president, overseeing global operations and brand strategy. From 2008 to 2009, Wooden served as senior managing director and executive vice president at Alagem Capital Group in Beverly Hills, California. In 2009, he founded his own firm, Creative Consulting, a hospitality management and advisory company, where he served as chief executive officer. In 2013, Wooden was appointed president and chief executive officer of the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board (LATCB), where he was responsible for the marketing and tourism development efforts for Los Angeles until his retirement in 2020.

Wooden was a member of several boards including the US Travel Association, Thomas Edison State University in Trenton, New Jersey, the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission, the Los Angeles 2026 World Cup Executive Committee, the Los Angeles Executive Board 2028 Olympic Committee, the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, the Los Angeles Hotels Association, the Visit California Committee, and the U.S. Department of Commerce Travel and Tourism Executive Committee.

Wooden also received numerous awards and honors He was inducted into the U.S. Travel Association Hall of Leaders in 2020 and was featured on Ebony magazine’s Power 100 list in 2015.

Wooden lives with his wife, Annice Wooden, in Bradenton, Florida. They have four children and four grandchildren.

Ernest Wooden Jr. was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on June 12, 2023.