Honorary Co-Chairs:

Hon. Alex Sanders
Hon. John Tecklenburg
Hon. Lucille Whipper

Leadership Team:

Audrey Lane   Co-Chair, 3E Educate, Empower, Elevate
Carolyn Rivers Co-Chair, The Sophia Institute
Herbert Drayton III, Vertical Holdings
Dwayne Green, Dwayne Green Law Offices
Amanda Lawrence, Trident United Way
Sandy Morckel, Solutions for the Greater Good
Rev. Nelson B. Rivers, III, Charity Missionary Baptist Church

Steering Committee Members:

Craig Ascue, Ascue’s Auto Body & Paint Shop
Nella Barkley, Crystal-Barkley Corporation
LaVanda Brown Johnson, YWCA – Greater Charleston
Rhoda Green, Barbados & Carolina Legacy Foundation
Amber Johnson, City of Charleston Commission on Equity, Inclusion and Racial Conciliation
KJ Kearney, Charleston County School District
Don Kennedy, Charleston County School District
Phyllis Martin, Tri-County Cradle to Career
Andrea Schenck, Pacifica Humana Communications, LLC
J. Goosby Smith, PhD, The Citadel

Social Justice Racial Equity Council:

Jessica Boylston, Solutions for the Greater Good
Cam Busch, The Sophia Institute
Sandra Campbell, Civic Activist
Kerri Forrest, Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelly Foundation
Quinetha Frasier, Social Missions Architects
Kristen French, Medical University of South Carolina
Paul Garbarini, Uniquely Charleston Tours
Shirene Hansotia Esq, ACLU of South Carolina
Julie Hussey, Civic Communications LLC
Wilbur Johnson, Clement Rivers, LLC
Barbara Kelley-Davis, Fashion with Confidence
Linda Ketner, KSI Leadership and Management Development
Marina Lopez, The Citadel – Oral History Program
Brittany Mathis Siewe, Nonprofit Professional
Caroline Mauldin, Happy & Bennett
Bernie Mazyck,  SC Association of Community Development Corporations
Madeleine McGee, Together SC
Rev. Kylon Middleton, Mt. Zion AME
Rodly Millett, East Cooper Medical Center Governing Board
Lee Moultrie, Lee H. Moultrie & Associates, LLC
Ben Pogue, Ben Pogue Law Offices
Denise Relyea, Womble Bond Dickinson (US), LLC
Thetyka Robinson, The Asiko Group
Rev. Jeremy Rutledge,  Circular Congregational Church
Minister Vertelle Seabrook, Charity Missionary Baptist Church
Geona Shaw-Johnson, City of Charleston
Rev. Bill Stanfield, Metanoia
Paul Stoney, YMCA of Greater Charleston
Kenda Sweet, Community Volunteer
Erica Taylor, Charleston County School District
Sandy Tecklenburg, First Lady, City of Charleston
Brenda Tindal, International African American Museum (IAAM)Eric Watson, Charleston County Sheriffs Office
Mike Whack, City of Charleston
Magistrate J. Seth Whipper, Charleston County Magistrate
Lydia Cotton, Art Pot
Garcia Williams, The MEDI Community Resource Center

Special Advisors

Melissa Maddox-Evans, Annapolis Housing Authority
Brenda Lauderback, Denny’s Corporation
Henry Smythe, Womble Bond Dickinson (US), LLP

Engagement Partners:

ACLU South Carolina
Avery Research Center for African-American History and Culture
Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation
Center for Women
Charity Baptist Church
The Charity Foundation
Charleston Area Justice Ministries (CAJM)
Charleston Forum on Race
Charleston Illumination Project
Charleston Illumination Project
Charleston Legal Access
Charleston Promise Neighborhood
Charleston School of Law
Civic Communications
Coastal Conservation League
E3 Educate, Empower, Elevate
Friends of the Charleston Public Library
International African American Museum (IAAM)
League of Women Voters
Lowcountry Local First
The MEDI Community Resource Center
Metanoia
Mount Zion AME Church
Passages Artists Collective
Quality Education Project
Quality of Community Life Initiative
The Race and Social Justice Initiative
SC Association of Community Development Corporations
Second Presbyterian Church
Solutions for the Greater Good
Together SC
Tri-County Cradle to Career
Trident United Way
Unity Church of Charleston
YMCA of Greater Charleston
Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of the Lowcountry
YWCA – Greater Charleston

At Sophia Institute we are pivoting because of the pandemic and learning to bring you programs that you know and love virtually in the comfort of your home. We are pleased to announce that this program will be a VIRTUAL EVENT.

Have you ever taken a personal program at home? If not, then doing so will be something worthwhile for you and a new, potentially lifelong, practice that will be beneficial ongoing.

A recording of this event will be provided to all those who have registered for this event. The recording is exclusively for registrants only.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dr Joan Borysenko

Crossroads for an unprecedented time

“Crisis sets our souls on fire – a fire fueled by sorrow, grief and anguish.  But this same soul burns with an eternal inner flame, just waiting to be aroused by the fans of hope and possibility. Once ablaze, our inner flames can consume the darkness of despair with the lights of love and promise… and they are powered by the virtues and values of human goodness.” 

Do you feel like a caterpillar swelling inside a cocoon in this unprecedented time? Do you know that there’s an inner metamorphosis going on, and are you ready to put your ear to the ground and listen for and to your heart’s longing?

Crossroads is an opportunity distinct from any other retreat. It is an opening to discover wise ways to say “yes” to life, yet again. Or, maybe say “yes” to your own personal transformation yet again.

Are you asking questions like, “How can I best honor my gifts, my family, and the larger Spirit that’s unfolding in a way that feels gentle, true, and powerful? Is there a new purpose for my life that is ready to emerge?”

Successful and resilient individuals understand that change is the very nature of life. Change can be an exhilarating process – rather than a daunting one – when we learn to understand its transformative power in our lives.

Throughout this retreat you will delve into the wise elements of change. Dr. Joan Borysenko will lead you into exploring your own rites of passage and claiming new possibilities you dare dream. Our wise master teacher will lead us into new territory of discovery relative to the choices we have made and will yet make.

• Map the journey of change and identify where you are

• Discern the direction of the underlying flow

• Identify the adversaries of change within and without

• Drawing from your own vast creative realm of infinite potential to encounter new ways to say yes” to life!

• Surrender the old to claim the new.

In the shelter of one another, using processes of inquiry that invite deeper ways of knowing, we’ll let the mud settle so that we can see more clearly together and as individuals.

Lets celebrate your next rite of passage together!

JOIN US FOR

LUNCH (IN)

CELEBRATE 20 YEARS OF THE SOPHIA INSTITUTE

FRIDAY. APRIL 16, 2021
12 NOON EST

OUR SHARED HUMANITY EXPRESSED THROUGH WORD, MUSIC, AND ART

With CAROLYN RIVERS,
FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR

SPONSORSHIPS AVAILABLE

Although the LUNCH(In) is virtual, the need for your support is real. As we face new challenges in a world in transformation, we are dedicated to the vision that, together, we can create a more conscious, sustainable and unified world that expresses the vastness of human potential for all. 

PLEASE JOIN US