[Nfbv-announce] Meet the 2015 NFB of Virginia Leadership Fellows

[Michael Kasey]

Introducing our 7 outstanding Fellows:

 

Christopher Walker is Outreach Chair for the Winchester Chapter of the
National Federation of the Blind of Virginia, and is responsible for
increasing public awareness of the blind within the City of Winchester and
Shenandoah Valley area.  Mr. Walker works with the blind who are not able to
attend monthly chapter meetings, keeping them up to date with the latest
information.  Mr. Walker is active on social media, interacting with blind
people all around the world.

 

Prior to being appointed Outreach Chair, Christopher served in a variety of
capacities for the following organizations:  Huntington T. Block Insurance,
Account Executive; American Physical Therapy Association, Meeting / Exhibits
Coordinator; American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association, Government
Affairs Assistant; Council for Exceptional Children, Meetings Coordinator.

 

Mr. Walker lost his sight in 2010 and has no-light-perception.  He currently
resides in the Winchester Virginia area with his spouse.  As a NFB of
Virginia Fellow, he plans to educate himself about different divisions and
committees within the NFB while strengthening his leadership skills.    

 

Michael Valentino is married and the father of two wonderful children. Their
home is in Mechanicsville outside of Richmond, Virginia.

He is a Multimedia Journalist, LIVE News Anchor, and DJ & on Air Personality
who shows a passion for radio. He is legally Blind and a certified guide dog
user.  He has an extensive knowledge of music and pop culture. This includes
over 23 years of experience in radio, strong social media skills, and a
powerful presence for promotional efforts, seasoned production skills in
both audio and video.  Michael owns and operates Party Central Entertainment
and Productions of Virginia, a mobile DJ service. 

He spends time on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University where he is
pursuing a master's degree.  He joined the Federation when he met other
members at the General Assembly advocating for Braille to be taught to Blind
children in Virginia.  He is now an active member in the Richmond Chapter.
Michael was accepted as a Virginia Leadership Fellow for which he hopes to
take more responsibility in the organization.

 

Brittany Savage is currently the youth coordinator for the NFB Virginia
state affiliate. She has the national certification of braille literacy and
is studying to take the unified English Brail certification test. She is
preparing for the Cain travel apprenticeship through Louisiana Tech. Her
goal is to be dual certified in Braille and Cain travel to teach blind
students.  She has been a member of the national Federation of the blind for
10 years. 

She has held a number of positions on our student board, and is looking
forward to doing so much more.  She has completed the independence training
program at the Colorado Center for the blind this past year. She has also
taught there for the high school program the past two summers. She taught
home management as well as braille and residential skills.  She is grateful
for the opportunity to serve as a Virginia leadership Fellow.

 

Uricka Harrison is 51 years old and   the mother of 2 daughters.  She lost
her sight    at the age of 9 from having a tonsillectomy.  Uricka attended
the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind at Hampton.  Where she graduated
in 1982.  Later attended Thomas Nelson community college where she obtained
an associate's degree in Public administration in 1997.  In 1996 joined the
National Federation of the Blind of Virginia (Peninsula chapter where she is
currently a member.  Throughout the years she has served as Vice President
and     on a few committees.  Uricka Has also been to 4 National conventions
and several state conventions so far.

For several years, she worked at Insight Enterprises (Peninsula Center for
Independent Living as an Independent Living Advocate.  The duties she had
while working was,             providing independent living, employment,
housing, advocacy and group counseling. During this time she participated in
lobbying for the (ADA) Americans with Disabilities Act before the House of
representative and the Senate.  Also was a part of advocating at the general
assembly for funding and needed programs.  Currently she is volunteering in
her community in various jobs and she sits on several boards and committees.


    

Stephanie DeLuca is currently the Science Policy Fellow at the American
Chemical Society in Washington, D.C. She has been living in Arlington,
Virginia since August 2014 and serves as a Board Member of the NFB Potomac
Chapter. Stephanie moved to Arlington from Nashville, Tennessee, where she
completed her Ph.D. in Chemical and Physical Biology at Vanderbilt
University. Prior to her graduate studies, she performed computational
chemistry research as a Fulbright Student Scholarship recipient in the lab
of Professor Dr. Peter R. Schreiner at the Justus-Liebig University in
Giessen, Germany. Stephanie grew up in Killen, Alabama and attended college
at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, or UAB, where she studied
chemistry and first learned about NFB. She received a national scholarship
in 2004 and attended her first NFB National Convention in Atlanta that year.
After a long hiatus, she joined the Tennessee affiliate during graduate
school and was awarded her second national scholarship in 2013. During her
time as a member of the NFB of Tennessee, Stephanie participated in
Washington Seminar and served as the president of the Tennessee Association
of Blind Students. Stephanie is excited to be a new member of the NFBV and
to participate in the NFBV Leadership Fellows program. She is passionate
about building partnerships, as well as increasing the NFB's reach in
advocacy, policy, and participation in science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics. Stephanie and her husband, Sam, have a cat named Callisto, who
is learning to be friends with Stephanie's new Seeing Eye dog, Karra.

 

Deepa Goraya has been a member of the NFB since 2005, graduating from the
Louisiana Center for the Blind in December of the same year. Originally from
California, Deepa was an active member and leader in the NFB of California,
serving as Secretary and then President of the West Los Angeles Chapter, and
as Secretary and then President of the California Association of Blind
Students. She is both a California state and national NFB scholarship
winner.

Deepa moved to the DC area after law school in 2013. She is an active member
and Board Member of the Potomac Chapter, and serves on the Virginia
Scholarship Committee. She has attended Washington Seminar several times
over the past few years, and the Richmond Seminar once before. She has also
participated in two national leadership seminars.

Deepa is a member of the California and DC bars, and graduated from the
University of Michigan Law School in 2012. She now works at the Washington
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs as a Disability Rights
Staff Attorney. She also serves on the American Bar Association's Commission
on Disability Rights, and as Board Member of the newly formed National
Association of Attorneys with Disabilities. She also serves as Co-Chair of
the ABA Young Lawyers Division Minorities in the Profession Committee, and
was a 2012-2013 ABA Young Lawyers Division Minorities in the Profession
Scholar.

 

 

Brian McCann was born in November of 1983 in Washington State, but he and
his family moved back to Virginia Beach, VA shortly after he was born. He is
the youngest of four siblings but has one younger stepsister. He has two
older brothers and one older sister, all of whom are legally blind due to a
hereditary eye disease called Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). He and is siblings
inherited the eye disease from their mother, who is also legally blind.
McCann became legally blind at the age of 27 and his vision is progressively
getting worse. Although he knew he would have a vision problem, as a child
he never felt limited in what he could do. His low vision meant he sometimes
has to work harder. 

McCann attended public schools and was an average student. He graduated High
School in 2002. McCann did not go to college right after he graduated
because he was already a successful manager at a major retail store and did
not think he would need a college education. After a few more years working
in the retail business, he realized he had to find something else to do for
a career. This was also during the same period that he starting to lose his
vision. After doing some research on the internet, he discovered that there
was an IRS training program at Lions World Services for the Blind in Little
Rock, AR. 

In November of 2007, he applied and was accepted into the IRS program. After
graduating and earning the highest score in the IRS training program
history, he was then sent to Holtsville, NY on Long Island to start his new
career. He worked for the IRS as a Tax Examiner from August 2008 to August
2010 and resigned due to injuries suffered from being a passenger in an
automobile accident. He was blessed though because he and his guide dog,
Julie, were the only survivors out of seven people including the driver of
his car.

>From 2010 to 2012, McCann decided to take time off from work and to focus on
getting his health back on track. Being restless and full of energy, he had
to find something to do with his time.  He has been actively involved with
several different organization of the blind throughout his life, but the one
organization that has inspired him the most is the National Federation of
the Blind (NFB). He became very active with his local and state affiliate
chapters of the NFB; serving as the First Vice President of his local
chapter, state board rep, web designer and webmaster for the NFBV affiliate
website, and several other committees on the local and state levels. 

He has been in the contract and procurement field since 2012 working for the
Department of Defense in Philadelphia, PA and Richmond, VA. McCann is
currently a contract specialist/project manager for the City of Virginia
Beach since March of 2015. He is also currently attending college full-time
at Stray University and is majoring in Business Administration (BBA) with
Acquisition and Contract Management as his concentration. A local community
college has made him an Associated Professor on the topic of Small, Women
and Minority Owned Businesses Understanding Government Contracts.

In 2014, McCann began to take on additional responsibilities within the NFB
by serving as the Youth Track Coordinator and then as Chairman of the Events
& Organization team for the Virginia state affiliate. Most recently, McCann
was accepted into the NFBV Leadership Fellows program where other NFB
leaders will mentor him to develop his own leadership path within the
organization. He has already adopted several of the NFB's philosophies and
is eager to share with anyone that will listen. 

 

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back.