Board of Directors

Lauren Sanders

Executive Director

Lauren grew up in the historic African American, Detroit neighborhood, Conant Gardens. A graduate of Detroit’s Renaissance High and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, she also attended Wayne State Law School yet, she is perhaps best known as the weekend morning news anchor for Detroit’s NBC affiliate, WDIV Local 4 News. Starting as a newsroom intern, she landed her first on-air position in Detroit’s top ten news market as the solo, weekend morning news anchor. She thrived as a celebrated interviewer with a remarkable capacity to connect with the audience.

She has worked on hundreds of corporate projects as the host, the voice actor and as the moderator. She has traveled with the autoshow as an English and Spanish product specialist.

From interviewing award winning author, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson for the Commonwealth Club Inforum series to hosting a daylong, live streamed cryptocurrency summit for The Wall Street Wizards nonprofit, Lauren has worked with Fortune 500 companies bringing their event programs to life, including the multimillion dollar grand opening of General Motors’ Detroit headquarters and the United States Postal Services Washington DC based national forum.

Consistent with her early expressions of an entrepreneurial spirit, she launched the boutique marketing/media outfit, The Elevate Project Inc., providing clients with news and social media management and live and virtual production services. She’s also the co-founder of a fledgling, healthy beverage company.

Lauren is an active member of the Detroit Chapter of The Links Inc., and Jack and Jill of America Inc, North Oakland Macomb Chapter. She’s a dedicated mom of 3 boys; Nigel, a Howard University Junior and an accomplished music producer with national credits; Nicholas, a summa cum laude graduate of Detroit Country Day School, and a preferred walk-on on the Michigan State basketball team while studying business and 15 year old, Noah, an exotic car and aviation aficionado, who has his sights set on a college football scholarship.

Lauren believes in clean, conscious eating and practicing a variety of workouts.

Aida Owens

Treasurer

Born and raised in Detroit, educated at Detroit Country Day School and the University of Michigan College of Engineering, Aida brings a strong commitment to education to the SONShine Project. Her formal degrees include a BSE in Industrial and Operations Engineering, an MBA in General Management, and an AAS in Accessories Design, but her passion is fashion.

Automotive seats are surrogate dress forms in her current work as a Platform Manager in the Leather Division of Lear Corporation. Prior to joining Lear, she worked in various positions within the automotive industry including Engineering, Product Design, Program Management, Purchasing, Sales, and Commercial Account Management at companies that included Ford, General Motors, ITT Industries, Acument Global Technologies, and GKN Driveline.

Having an older brother 8 years her senior afforded Aida the opportunity to see the world unfold for a young Black man as he navigated Morehouse College and beyond. Now, as a mother of 2 school age sons, she seeks out the same type of support her own mother did, and finds society to be lacking.

Black young men are the most under-supported and under-invested group of people in society and have the heaviest burdens to overcome she has come to see. Her desire to be the change she wants to see in the world led her to the SONshine Project to be an active part of uplifting our sons (and brothers, and fathers).

Kimberly Dokes

Secretary

Born and raised in the Washington D.C. Metro Area; Kimberly began her architectural career in Detroit, MI working with local design firms. She founded Dokes Design Architecture, LLC. in 2009 and is currently Principal. She attended college at the

historical Tuskegee University where she obtained her Bachelor of Architecture Degree.

She has participated as Project Manager, Project Coordinator and Lead Project Architect for a variety of building design project types, including multi-family, K-12 schools, higher education/university facilities, recreation/youth centers, historic preservation projects, office space consolidation, office renovations, retail, tenant build-out spaces and hospitality.

Kimberly’s exposure to infrastructure design began in college with a summer job (two summers) at the Department of Interior Bureau of Mines. As a result, Kimberly has also enjoyed the complexity of large (federal bond) capital improvements, infrastructure, and modernization programs. Such programs include The Amtrak Infrastructure Improvements Project, which included Maintenance facility upgrades, bridge replacements, track work, security enhancements and station improvements. CIP Infrastructures Program at Detroit Metro Airport and Willow Run Airport, which included projects such as renovation of oil/water separators, removal and installation of airport security fence, replacement of damaged hanger drainage and runway repaving and apron repair projects. The North Terminal Redevelopment Program at Detroit Metro Airport which included demolition of an existing terminal, reconfiguring of roads for construction and construction of the new North Terminal building. The Detroit Public School Proposal S Bond Program which included construction of 6 new schools and renovation of 11 existing schools, along with security components such as fencing, and IT and security infrastructure.

TRACIE HIGHTOWER

Advisor

Tracie was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio. She’s a graduate of Fisk University with a Bachelor of Science In Physics. She moved to the Detroit Metro area after developing her career as an electronics engineer for both the Department of Defense and Motorola Semiconductor.

Tracie shifted her discipline to multimedia, video production, and editing for corporate training and documentary productions after attending Specs Howard. She worked for local firms and eventually founded Kemet Digital Media, LLC, a small video editing and design boutique to support small businesses with marketing materials.

While raising her daughters she saw the critical need for schools to be more intentional in their use and application of educational technology within instruction. She decided to study for her Master of Science in Instructional Media from Wilkes University/ Discovery Channel.

Armed with her Master’s she began consulting and developing after-school programming at two of Metro Detroit’s most prestigious schools, the Roeper School and Cranbrook Kingswood Upper School. She led transformative programming resulting in new learning spaces as and curriculum centered around interdisciplinary, project-based STEAM instruction that included virtual and augmented reality, drones along with diversity equity and inclusion and design approach to problem solving across the schools.

She enjoys speaking engagements where she has been asked to share best practices with hundreds of educators at local and national conferences. Tracie started her consulting practice, Collective Flow Learning, LLC which seeks to support nonprofits and mission-driven organizations to grow and sustain their business models with sound and practical problem-solving and capacity building through innovative communities of practice.

She and her husband Ed live in Metro Detroit and they enjoy all the adventures of having two daughters, both at the University of Michigan. Nia, a biomedical engineering graduate student and graduate of Purdue University and Kali, a Ross business student and dance major at SMTD, along with being on the UM Dance Team.