People of Note: Ju-Don Marshall, Jameka Whitten

PHOTO | ALVIN C. JACOBS

Jameka S. Whitten has been elected president of Charlotte VegFest, a nonprofit that grows the vegan community and supports vegan-friendly businesses.

• Ju-Don Marshall has been appointed president and CEO at WFAE. Marshall, the public radio station's  executive vice president and chief content officer, is the first person of color to lead WFAE. She succeeds Joe O’Connor, who resigned last month.

Marshall, who joined WFAE in 2017, was credited with transforming WFAE into a multimedia organization by establishing several digital initiatives and creating partnerships to amplify diverse community voices in Charlotte.

In 2020, Marshall was promoted to executive vice president in addition to her duties as chief content officer.

Before joining WFAE, Marshall spent nearly two decades as an editor and executive across The Washington Post’s print and digital platforms. She led or contributed to news projects that have earned numerous awards including a Pulitzer Prize, a Peabody Award and others.

• Independence High School graduate Dr. Nia Bodrick was elected president of the Washington, D.C., chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which represents more than 400 pediatricians, trainees, and medical students.  

Bodrick, a general pediatrician at Children’s National Hospital at THEARC and assistant professor of pediatrics at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, is also medical director of pediatric innovations at the Early Childhood Innovation Network in Washington.

Her international experience in pediatrics includes providing clinical care in Nigeria, Bolivia, Equator and Kenya. Bodrick’s areas of interest include strengthening resilience in communities, early childhood mental health and wellbeing and food security.

Bodrick, a 2001 International Baccalaureate graduate at Independence High, earned her medical degree from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn., in 2011, and bachelor’s from Hampton University in Virginia in 2005. She earned her master’s from Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta in 2007.

Bodrick, the daughter of Leonard and Sharon Bodrick of Charlotte, earned her Girl Scout Gold Award through the Hornets’ Nest Council.

• Jameka S. Whitten has been elected president of Charlotte VegFest, a federally recognized non-profit organization aimed at growing Charlotte’s vegan community and supporting vegan and vegan-friendly businesses.

Whitten, the founder and CEO of JSW Media Group, a boutique public relations and brand management agency, has been plant-based and vegan since birth. A Charlotte native, she has been involved with Charlotte VegFest since 2019 and is the first Black president to lead the decade-old organization.

Whitten is Charlotte director for the National Association for Black Female Executives in Music and Entertainment, president of the Northwestern University Alumni Club of Charlotte, and member of the executive board for SEAL Arts & Literacy.

An official Charlotte VegFest meet and greet of board members and planning committee will be held April 28 from 6-9 p.m. at Pilot Brewing, 1331 Central Ave., during the monthly Humane Happy Hour.

• Raphael “Ray” Howell of Shelby had his second hole-in-one on April 10 at Woodbridge Golf Links in Kings Mountain.

Howell scored his ace on the 131-yard fifth hole using a 7-iron Callaway Club and Srixon Golf Ball. His previous hole-in-one was scored at the same hole on the same course. His playing partners were Al Wood, James Bullard and Curtis “Curt” Wilson.

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