Our Board

Tristan N. Vaught is a Co-founder of Transform Cincy, a Community Shares member charity, and formerly the Director of Education and Training at Living with Change. They are an activist, educator, and the Founding Director of the LGBTQ+ Center at IUPUI. Previous to this role, they held positions as the Interim Director and first Program Coordinator of the LGBTQ Center at the University of Cincinnati. They hold a Master’s degree in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from University of Cincinnati with research centered on the effectiveness of LGBTQ+ ally trainings in higher education. They also graduated with Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from the University of Cincinnati. Tristan’s advocacy and education work focuses on intersecting identities and how they impact individuals’ lived experiences. They enjoy writing poetry and short stories, communing with nature, and considers themselves a bourbon snob.

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Jen Scott (she/her/hers) is a native Ohioan from Forest Park, Ohio. She attended Northwestern University earning a degree in Chemistry. After returning to Ohio, she embarked on a successful career in information technology and established her own consulting firm. In 2015, she began another path in life, that of a community organizer and grassroots activist. Through her volunteer roles, Jen learned how to use her personal passion to empower a community to make a real difference in the lives of others. She brought this passion to Equality Ohio, a member organization, when she joined the team in 2019 to establish and expand Equality Ohio’s work in the southwest Ohio region and now provides resources to all of Ohio as the Statewide Field Manager. Jen serves on the boards of American Atheists as Board Chair, as Director of Compliance and Parade Chair for Cincinnati Pride, and Vice President for the Kentucky Freethought Convention. She also runs Science on Tap Cincinnati, a science education program.

Jen joined the board of Community Shares in 2020 and is looking forward to furthering the mission of Community Shares to build social and economic equity and a healthy environment in Cincinnati and the surrounding region.

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A native of Cincinnatian, Shenda has over ten years of experience in banking. She has worked for various fortune five hundred companies such as Citibank, Bank of America, U.S Bank and currently First Financial Bank, where she is Community Outreach Officer. She is on the planning committee for WELD. Weld is an organization that develops and advances women’s leaders. It strives to increase the number of women serving in leadership in business and government in central Ohio. We build programs, events, and a community to support leadership development and business growth. Shenda is also currently sitting on the board for the Roselawn Business Alliance. Throughout the years she has obtained a wealth of financial knowledge. Specializing in retail banking and community relations. In her free time she loves spending time with her family and traveling the world. Her true passion is working in the inner city of Cincinnati to bring social change and improve the quality of life. She loves working with individual families and whole communities to empower them to identify their assets, needs, opportunities, rights and responsibilities.

David has spent his career gaining diverse experiences in many sectors. Currently, he is a Customer Project Manager at technology company Cisco. Previously, he lent his talents to P&G where he streamlined order management for Professional Oral Health customer support teams. He has earned degrees from both University of Cincinnati and the Union Institute and University.

When not engaging in professional endeavors, David enjoys spending time with his family, travelling, and he'll never say "no" to a game night. An Oakley native, he lives in College Hill with his two dogs and is passionate about the mission of Community Shares and the impact that we have in our community.

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Danielle Craig Hemphill currently serves as the Vice President of Communications and Education for Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region. She has been a member of the Planned Parenthood team since January 2014 and manages a team of talented folks who work to increase access to sexual and reproductive health care and education through comprehensive sex education, strategic communications, media relations, marketing, events, and community outreach. Danielle has more than 23 years of experience in communications, public relations and marketing. Prior to working with Planned Parenthood, she spent the first part of her career working in the corporate, for-profit world. Danielle has a BA from Purdue University in Professional Writing and Publishing and an MBA from Thomas More University.

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Claire has spent most of her career with the YMCA at both the local and national level. While she is an expert in youth development, her many years in the non-profit world has also made her a skilled fundraiser for Over-the-Rhine Community Housing, one of our charity members. She is an experienced world traveler with avid interest in other cultures, passionate conservationist, seamstress, youth development and social justice advocate. She embraces the positive opportunities that change creates.

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Isabella (Bella) Frueh (she/her) is a Cincinnati native who spent sixteen years in the non-profit education and youth services sector, before making the move in early 2023 to philanthropy. As Program Officer for Education & Workforce Development at Greater Cincinnati Foundation, Bella oversees their educational grantmaking cycles and partners closely with GCF’s Chief Impact Officer to support their Economic Mobility partners.

Bella received her Master of Arts in International Child Studies from King’s College London, and previously a BS in Psychology from the University of Cincinnati. She is an experienced connector and partnership-builder, and currently serves our community in a few roles: as Equity Committee Co-Chair for the Southwest Ohio Association for the Education of Young Children, as a member of the local Integrated Schools chapter, and as a volunteer for the Cincinnati Recycling & Reuse Hub. Some of her previous history of community service also includes the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s Young Professionals Advisory Council; the Public Allies Cincinnati Advisory Board; and the Learning Grove DEI Task Force. An impassioned advocate for systemic justice and cross-sector collaborations, Bella is committed to elevating and accelerating community-led change and always ‘votes with her dollar’. She lives in Northside with her partner, though truthfully she “claims” both the East and West sides of the city due to her expansive family roots.”

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La'Shawnta Lewis is a real-estate advisor and investor. She previously also served as Executive Director for Parents for Public Schools of Greater Cincinnati. She has spent her career gaining diverse experiences in many sectors. She has spent the past five years learning the world of non-profits, educating and advocating for equality in public schools.

Prior to leading Parents for Public Schools of Greater Cincinnati, La'Shawnta spent several years as a software developer for a home builders company based out of Florida. La'Shawnta is also the Marketing Co Chair for the Greater Cincinnati Realtist Association, where she spends time organizing and marketing events. La'Shawnta previously owned her own home health care company where she focused on the needs of geriatric and special needs clients.

In her spare time La'Shawnta loves to spend time with her 2 beautiful children and travel the world. Her true passions are helping others, education and children. She wants to make sure everyone from preschool through adolescence has an equal right to adequate education, resources and mental health.

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Kimberly McGinnis, advocate for birth and social equity, is a manager of a perinatal outreach program at Mercy Health, where she supports community health workers who partner with pregnant families in Hamilton County in an effort to address the disparities in Black infant and maternal health outcomes.

Kimberly is a yogi, certified doula, certified lactation counselor, certified community health worker, and licensed professional counselor. Kimberly has also been a advocate for marginalized students in higher education and served as an academic advisor for over 20 years. Kimberly is also a social justice facilitator, trained by the Racial Awareness Program, at the University of Cincinnati, where she is a proud alum.

Kimberly is a founding board member for Transform and a consulting board member of the Blaq Birth Circle and she has also served on the Queen’s Village Roselawn Neighborhood board and Main board. Kimberly is honored to be considered for the Community Shares Board of Directors. Kimberly hopes to positively impact the future of Cincinnati through service with Community Shares.

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Tom Schultz is a Technical Project Officer with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of State and Community Energy Programs. Previously, he was the Data and Program Manager for the Cincinnati 2030 District, an Initiative of Community Shares member organization Green Umbrella. A proud Cincinnati native, Tom returned to Cincinnati serendipitously in 2019 for a graduate fellowship with the City of Cincinnati Office of Environment and Sustainability after completing a Masters of Public Affairs from Indiana University, where he concentrated in Sustainability, Sustainable Development, and Social Entrepreneurship. In his current role, Tom works to analyze data and support programs to support creating a healthy and sustainable built environment for all a job he feels aligns perfectly with the mission of Community Shares.

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