2023 Martin Luther King Day Virtual Celebration

Latasha “Freedom” McBride was born and raised in Syracuse N.Y.  She moved to Albany N.Y to attend Suny Albany in 1996 and Graduated with a B.A in English and a minor in Sociology in 2000.  Mrs. McBride received her Masters in liberal Arts in 2002.  While living in Albany she found her true passion of the arts and love for creative writing.  As her talents grew she realized her words and creative output could help heal, change and educate a wide audience of people.  Her span of work has ranged from domestic violence, HIV/AIDS awareness, self Love, suicide, and intriguing topics that always help to motivate and push the limits of theatre.  While coming into her true talent, she gained respects of many community leaders, building on partnerships that made her become a known theatrical beacon to be recognized while performing in a variety of cities in N.Y.

Two her of greatest accomplishment this far is winning first place at the famous Apollo theatre in N.Y and co-writer of an impactful book about HIV/AIDS, Courage My Child.

Feeling as if she had done and surpassed all her goal in Albany, N.Y. Mrs. McBride knew her long-term goal was to become a Police officer.  After taking and passing the civil servant test in Albany, she also knew she was ready to go out of state.  In 2008 she was hired as a Baltimore City Police Officer, where she is still currently employed. Being a police officer she has become a consistent hand in helping her build the community.  Throughout the years she has fed the homeless, worked in re-entry programs for inmates coming back into society, prayer walks, youth development, and more importantly, upholding the law.

While Mrs. McBride’s career continued to flourish she missed her love of theater and being on stage in front of a live audience.  In 2012 she wrote and put on her first stage play “Common Threads” in Partnership with Vanessa Johnson.  From there, she hosted many open mics and performed spoken word in a number of events throughout the state. While Videotaping each performance, Mrs. McBride realized she had forgotten about her eye for photographer.  Freedom Photography was started and 2020 and has continued to grow up until this present time.  She is looking forward to what’s to come in the future and excited about all the creative ventures that will take place in the upcoming year.

Craig Andrade is Associate Dean of Practice, Director of The Activist Lab and Associate Professor of Community Health Sciences at Boston University’s School of Public Health (SPH). In these roles he works to catalyze bold public health practice locally, nationally and globally.  

Previously Dr. Andrade was the Director of the Bureau of Family Health & Nutrition (BFHN) at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH). BFHN’s programs include Early Intervention (EI), Pregnancy, Infancy and Early Childhood, Children and Youth with Special Health Needs, Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Nutrition Program, Home Visiting, Title V Maternal and Child Health Block Grant, Breastfeeding Initiative, Birth Defects Surveillance, Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Program, the Office of Data Translation and Birth Defects Research and Prevention. He also served as Director of the Division of Health Access at DPH, helped found the Racial Equity Leadership Team and Cross-Department Racial Equity Collaborative at DPH and was Associate Dean of Health and Wellness and Director of Student Health Services at Wheaton College in Norton, MA.

Craig also served as cardiac critical care, public health and adult acute care nurse at Boston Medical Center; nurse manager and head athletic trainer at Buckingham Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge, MA; and was owner/operator of Active Health, a private health and fitness company. Craig is a registered nurse, athletic trainer, licensed massage therapist and strength and condition specialist with masters and doctoral degrees in public health from Boston University School of Public Health. His research interests include healthy socialization of boys and men, fatherhood engagement and behavioral risk management and resilience-building among children, adolescents and young adults.

"It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy
in creative expression and knowledge."

Paulette Lunn has quite an extensive performance history from Shakespeare to the classics, musical theater, dramatically playing both men and women, to voice- over commercials. She has traveled expansively as an entertainer, in the United States and Europe, and has a one woman show called Chronicles that she has performed in many venues including the prestigious Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, S.C, as well as the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in August Wilson’s Fences.

Camerine Robinson is the President and CEO of VQuesting Consulting and a Strategic Intervention Coach in process with Tony Robbins-Madanes. An accomplished and proven Sales Executive with over 25 years of extensive knowledge in the health insurance industry, as a healthcare business strategist, she identifies for each client, new business opportunities to increase revenue for organizations. As a sales and marketing expert, she has developed sales strategies, teams, and territories for Fortune 500 organizations.

As a sales and marketing strategist, Camerine is a results-oriented leader with fiscal, legislative, regulatory, and operational experience and guides state and federal regulations and recommends new policies and initiatives for the State of New York under the Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT), Valued Base Program, and NYSDRIP for managed long-term care.

She utilized her strong background and experience, managing cross-functional teams, including C-Suite executives, department leaders, sales staff, and broker distribution channels to develop overall organization strategies to drive company sales, client growth, and retention locally, state-wide and national level.

In addition to her business acumen, Camerine is driven to enhance the lives of women, children, and the elderly population. She is a Mentor with the NYS Mentoring Program, mentored students at the Abor Hill Elementary School, and served as a mentor at The Capital Region Chamber of Commerce Young Professional Network (YPN). Camerine serves on many committees and boards in the Capital Region, she is a member of the United Way Women United Leadership Committee, the International Center of the Capital Region(Board Member), the Capital Region Professional Women of Color, The Forum of Executive Women (FEW) members, Women@Work Innovators, and a public speaker at IHeart Radio events, WBLS radio station in New York City, and The College of Saint Rose.