WFM Leadership Celebration

Roxane Battle, Journalist & Mental Health Advocate

Roxane Battle is best known for her 20+ years as a Twin Cities TV personality, most notably on NBC-Minneapolis, KARE-11, WCCO-TV, and FOX9. Roxane is also a mental health and health equity advocate, having held executive-level positions inside Fortune 5 UnitedHealth Group, where she appeared as an in-app Influencer with 4 million subscribers. As a best-selling author and professional speaker, Roxane gives wellness talks to corporate and community organizations, including recent virtual and live appearances at the Essence Festival of Culture. She serves on several boards and is mom to an adult son. 

Rep. Kaohly Vang Her, Minnesota House of Representatives

Kaohly Her has over 25 years of leadership experience in both the private and public sectors. She has a wide breadth of experience spanning financial services and business consulting to education administration. Ms. Her is a Minnesota State Representative for district 64A of St. Paul. She sits on three committees; Health Finance and Policy, Legacy Finance, and State and Local Government Finance and Policy, and is the Chair of the Pension Commission. In the 2023-2024 biennium, she served as Speaker Pro Tempore.

Takayla Lightfield, Program & Education Coordinator, Indigenous Milk Medicine Collective

​​Takayla is Mnicoujou Lakota, an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of South Dakota. She received a Certificate of American Indian Public Health from Johns Hopkins and Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota Morris majoring in Psychology, Human Services, and American Indian Studies. Takayla has worked on various maternal child health issues in the American Indian community such as Medicaid, SNAP, & TANF eligibility, access to mental health resources for children, Indigenous foods, and nutrition education for families, doula care, perinatal education, and lactation advocacy, education, and support. She is currently an organizing member of the Indigenous Milk Medicine Collective and Indigenous Lactation Counselor. ​ 

Shayla Walker, Executive Director, Our Justice

Shayla is a proud Black Dominican American living on occupied Dakhóta + Anishinaabe land (a.k.a Twin Cities, Minnesota). She’s a reproductive justice advocate who has dedicated over 10 years to the reproductive freedom movement. She is the executive director of Our Justice, an organization that advocates for reproductive justice and provides support to abortion-seekers in the Midwest. In 2019, she began shifting the internal orientation of Our Justice towards centering rest and healing, economic justice, and mutual aid beyond abortion support. Shayla has expanded Our Justice’s scope of work to include lodging support, free emergency contraception, safer-sex kits, and successfully sued the State of Minnesota to remove multiple unconstitutional anti-abortion laws.

5ive

As an independent, woman-owned, social-impact creative agency, we are on a mission to partner with leaders, teams and communities to develop innovative solutions, solve complex issues and build better systems for human progress. We specialize in brand development and communication strategy, positioning, design systems, integrated campaigns, philanthropy and thought leadership.

Anna Min

Anna Min

As the owner of Min Enterprises Photography, LLC, Anna’s work continues to uplift people, businesses, and organizations that contribute meaningfully to the world. You can find Anna’s photos all over the internet. A lifelong learner and self-taught photographer, Anna enjoys taking courses, cooking whole foods, and writing to help people attain total well-being, usually while listening to Spotify. Anna is often out cycling, meditating somewhere, or enjoying classical yoga practices. Always looking forward to a spa day, fabulous friends, and a great night’s sleep, Anna loves working outdoors and running around with playful people while in nature.

Càphin Minneapolis

Càphin Minneapolis is your local destination for authentic Vietnamese coffee. Nestled in Linden Hills, we specialize in creating delicious drinks with rich Vietnamese beans and unique homemade syrups. Whether you’re looking for a refreshing iced coffee or a bold, traditional brew, our drinks promise to deliver a unique and delightful experience. Indulge in our parents’ hometown traditions and savor the authentic flavors that connect us to our heritage.

MuseFlora

MuseFlora is a subscription floral studio specializing in the celebration of the everyday. Owner, Cana Potter, believe prioritizing that which makes you happy and carving out space to commune with nature brings us back to our best selves, and when we bring our best selves to the world we create positive change in ripple effect. Her signature service delivers fresh cut floral arrangements through weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or seasonal regularity. The flora and the people are the inspiration behind each and every bespoke design. Through MuseFlora, she is proud to serve her communities by gifting beauty, delight, curiosity, and wonder in the name of connection.

Sugarspoon Desserts

Altreisha Foster

Sugarspoon Desserts is a boutique cake studio specializing in hand-crafted wedding cakes, custom cakes, and treats, incorporating Caribbean flavors and family traditions. The company offers event experiences and instructional classes, using locally sourced ingredients to create products that reflect their heritage and love for baking.

The Copany is owned by Dr. Altreisha Foster a  Jamaican vaccine scientist and entrepreneur who seamlessly blends her public health expertise with a passion for baking.

Dr. Foster’s career began in Washington, D.C., focusing on public health and vaccine science, later serving as a vaccine principal in the Caribbean. Her research is published in prestigious journals like Nature. She currently serves as President of The Cake Therapy Foundation, providing strategic leadership to promote mental wellness through therapeutic baking.

Dr. Foster is also the author of “Cake Therapy: How Baking Changed My Life” and owns Sugarspoon Desserts in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her desserts have gained media attention, including a notable six-tiered cake for ABC’s The Bachelorette. She’s currently the host of The Cake Therapy Podcast

The Modern Indigenous

Dawn Drouillard

Dana Thompson

Creating decolonized culinary experiences to honor our ancestors. The Modern Indigenous provides Native American dinners, workshops, food experiences, and education for tribal communities and allies.

Dana Thompson, a lineal descendant of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate and Mdewakanton Dakota tribe and social entrepreneur, has championed indigenous food sovereignty for nearly a decade. She co-founded The Sioux Chef (former COO) and Owamni (James Beard Award winner), led initiatives at NĀTIFS (non-profit), and now focuses on The Modern Indigenous, promoting decolonized cuisine and education. Thompson is also the CEO & Founder of Heti, a purpose-driven seltzer water. In addition to the above accolades, Dana currently sits on the board of directors of the nonprofit Owamniyomni Okhodayapi (formerly Friends of the Falls).

Chef Dawn Drouillard is a clean-eating advocate, teacher, and mentor passionate about sugar-free, healthy, alternative cuisine. The wealth of food experience in her background is immense, having created Fabulous Catering. This legendary, boutique catering company set the standard for creative culinary events in the Twin Cities Metro for over 22 years. Dawn, a Direct Descendant of the Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe, has a passion for pushing the boundaries of pre-colonial ingredients and highlighting Indigenous Foods in a fresh and modern way with an emphasis on health and wellness.