Meet the Equality NC Foundation Board

Erica is a board certified specialist in trademark law and attorney with Ward and Smith, PA. Erica advises clients with a wide array of intellectual property matters. She is active in leadership positions with the North Carolina Bar Association. While not practicing law, you can find her immersed in music - at her piano, enjoying friends and her wife performing at live events, or listening to music while running in half marathons (albeit slowly). Her wife and her share their home with two cats and a great pyr, so there’s love and fur everywhere. Erica is honored to join the ENC Board to support their community, especially now.

Madison is a passionate queer family law attorney. Madison serves on the board of Equality NC, as well as Blue Ridge Pride. Madison also serves on the diversity, equity, and inclusion and sexual orientation and gender identity committees through the North Carolina Bar Association Family Law Section. Attorney Root is ecstatic to live out her passion through helping fellow queer families navigate changes that need legal support. When not serving her clients or serving the community, Madison can often be found walking around downtown wondering how they got so lucky to live in such a beautiful place.

Vice President of People and Talent Acquisition at Atento and has held global leadership roles in Talent Acquisition and Staffing with Alorica, Xerox and Kelly Services. He has over 20 years of recruitment and human resources experience in both the staffing industry and corporate recruiting including international, executive, high volume and professional recruiting. He has led teams in the US, Canada, EMEA, Asia and throughout Latin America. He has served in many volunteer roles such as SHRM Southeast Region Membership Advisory Board Member, President and Board member with Raleigh Metro SHRM and served as Director of the NCSHRM State Council. He has served on SHRMs HR Disciplines, Talent Acquisition, Global, Diversity and Inclusion expertise panels and currently on the Together Forward at Work Taskforce since 2020. He also has been on Parks and Recreation Boards. He is also a Board member with the LGBTQ Center of Lower Cape Fear.

Milan is a partner of NicholsonPham, PLLC a boutique law firm located in Durham NC with a practice centered on emerging issues of family formation and dissolution including surrogacy, assisted reproductive technology and adoption. She is an ART and Adoption Fellow with the American Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys (AAAARTA). In addition to managing her firm, she is a member of the National Family Law Advisory Council of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and serves on the boards of The Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice and Equality NC. In service to her profession, she serves as Chair of the Modern Family Committee and Chair of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Committee of the NC Bar Association.

Megan holds degrees in Feminist Studies and Literature, as well as a law degree. Professionally, Megan's roles can be distilled into one word: advocate. Prior to attending law school, Megan had a robust career in nonprofit fundraising, most notably the several years she spent working for the Los Angeles LGBT Center to secure millions of dollars for its HIV/AIDS related services. Since then, Megan has worked as a judicial law clerk at the North Carolina Court of Appeals, and as a litigation attorney.

Ricky has a background in visual communications, design, and website development with a multimedia journalism degree. For the past decade, he has worked with grassroots immigrant and Asian communities in North Carolina to advocate for immigrant and voter rights through socially just policy changes.

Robert is a retired Banking Executive, having spent more than 36 years in financial services; most recently as an Operations Leader at Wells Fargo. Robert is a proud champion of Diversity and is very active in the community. He is a former Board Treasurer of RAIN (Regional AIDS Interfaith Network), where he also has co-chaired two AIDS Walk Charlotte & received the prestigious Red Ribbon Award in 2018 for his more than 15 years of dedication to the organization. Robert also served on the Board of Governors for the Human Rights campaign for 5 years and Co-chaired two of the organization’s Gala Dinners. Robert is a founding member of the Charlotte Lesbian & Gay Fund (now called the PLUS Collective). He is past President of the FTS Foundation, which has provided more than $2 million to LGBTQ organizations for more than 30 years. When not working for equality and justice, Robert enjoys traveling and spending time with friends. He is an avid Carolina Panthers and Duke Basketball fan.

Kamela is an applied anthropologist and policy strategist who prioritizes engagement with her growing communities. The words of Audre Lorde guide her coalition building, “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.” In her local, national, and international work, she advocates for environmental justice, equitable digital access, secondary and higher education, and parents of LGBTQI+ children. She is the former chair of the Durham Open Spaces and Trails Commission (DOST), an advisory board for the Durham City Council and Board of Commissioners. A former member of the HRC National Parents for Transgender Equality National Council (PTEC), she wrote the resource, “A Resource for Black Families, Family Members, and Caregivers of Black Transgender, Non-Binary and LGB Youth.” As an Equality NC Foundation board member, she is honored to deepen her commitment to human rights.

Tim is a dedicated public servant and advocate. With a bachelor's degree in business and a Master’s in Public Administration, he has spent over a decade of his career working to improve the lives of North Carolinians. Tim began his career serving Senator Kay Hagan before taking on key roles in state government, including at the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ), the Governor's Office, working on Hometown Strong—Governor Cooper’s rural initiative—and the NC Department of Public Instruction. A steadfast advocate for progressive causes, Tim has held numerous leadership roles in community and advocacy spaces, focusing his efforts on uplifting marginalized and maligned communities. His passion lies in creating meaningful change by improving lives and fostering understanding. Outside of his work, Tim is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys hiking, camping, and kayaking.

Sharon has spent her life caring for and supporting other people, from being a physics teacher, to teacher professional developer, to grant writer, to pastor, to food pantry founder, and now to working in the grief and bereavement sector at Growing Thru Grief. She sees ENC as another opportunity to bring her skills and resources to bear on providing a better world for all people, adding her drops of care to help create an ocean of love and compassion.

Orlando has a degree in Sociology and he devotes his life to the advancement and development of young people. He is the current Director of Campus Activities/Fraternity & Sorority Life at Winston-Salem State University where he serves as the advisor to the WSSU Royal Court. He also serves as the Founder and Advisor for the NASAP Student Leadership Institute National HBCU SGA Presidents Consortium as well as the Mister HBCU Conference and Competition Director. He holds active memberships with Kappa Kappa Psi Honorary Band Fraternity and Life Member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated.

Ronette is a technologist, researcher, learner, and activist. The red thread of her career has been understanding people-- listening to them about how they feel, about what they think, and blending that with data about how they act. Ronette built a career around this understanding-- building enduring products and brands that people love; and predicting what is coming next. She spent the last 17 years of her career at Microsoft. In 2023, Ronette retired from commercial work to be able to use these talents on personal projects including influencing equality policy and to have a more hands-on impact in her communities.