Small Talks Recap:

Jaylon is the Head of Marketing at Manhattan Toy Company. Manhattan Toy is a manufacturer of inspired toys for early childhood – for the Manhattan Toy team it’s about giving kids a happy start in life. Jaylon is responsible for the overall marketing strategy and Manhattan Toy’s e-commerce site. Prior to Manhattan Toy, Jaylon was an independent marketing strategy consultant working with small and medium sized brands to realize their business goals by using marketing tactics. Prior to consulting, Jaylon was a Director of Marketing at PepsiCo, leading the innovation agenda for the Pepsi brand team.

At PepsiCo, she held various roles on brand teams and customer marketing teams. While at Pepsi, Jaylon launched two product platforms, executed customer specific activation that yielded results that outpaced market trends and grew a brand community from 33K to over 1M followers. Prior to PepsiCo, Jaylon was a Buyer and Merchandise Planner at Bloomingdale’s. Jaylon has endless curiosity for understanding consumer needs, which fuels her excitement about doing deep dive diagnostics on businesses and pulling those insights through to building strategies. Jaylon has a BA in Economics from Brown University and a MBA in Strategy and Marketing from NYU Stern School of Business.

Rinal Ray is the Associate Executive Director at People Serving People where she oversees the organization’s Engagement programs in Family Supports, Education, Systems Change, and Community Engagement. She also leads the organization’s strategic work around racial equity, authentic engagement, and organizational culture. She is co-chair of the Voices and Choices for Children Coalition Steering Committee. Rinal also teaches Nonprofit Advocacy, Lobbying and Organizing in the Masters in Advocacy and Political Leadership program at Metropolitan State University.

Prior to joining People Serving People, she was the Deputy Public Policy Director for the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits. Rinal currently serves on the Board of College Possible Minnesota and the Advisory Board of WinPoint, incubated at Grassroots Solutions. Ms. Ray has a B.A. in international studies and political science from Macalester College and a law degree from William Mitchell College of Law. She was a 2015-2016 Policy Fellow at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs.

Sondra Samuels is the President & CEO of the Northside Achievement Zone (NAZ), a collaborative of over 40 partner nonprofits and schools. Along with parents, students, partners, and staff, Sondra is leading a revolutionary culture shift in North Minneapolis focused on ending multigenerational poverty through education and family stability.

The NAZ Collaborative is working toward a single goal—to prepare low-income North Minneapolis children to graduate from high school college- and career-ready. NAZ has scaled up in support of over 1,000 parents and 2,300 students as they turn the social service model on its head and lead the creation of a college-bound culture throughout the community.

Representative Rena Moran is the Chair of the Health and Human Services Policy Committee of the Minnesota House of Representatives. In 2010, Rep. Rena Moran became the first African American to represent District 65A. She represent the St. Paul communities of Rondo, Frogtown, Summit-University, Thomas-Dale, Midway, a portion of the North End and Cathedral Hill.

As a legislator, she has focused on protecting children in the child welfare system, strengthening schools, reducing educational disparities, and fighting for affordable housing, economic opportunity for all, and womens’ rights.

Rep. Moran formerly served as House Deputy Minority Leader and is the current Chair of the People of Color and Indigenous (POCI) Caucus and the United Black Legislative Caucus. She holds a B.S. in Early Childhood Education from Southern Illinois University and was recently the Director of Prevention Initiatives and Parent Leadership at Prevent Child Abuse MN dba Minnesota Communities Caring for Children. Rep. Moran is a graduate of the Bush Foundation Fellowship, Humphrey Policy Fellowship, and Henry Toll Fellowship.

On a national level, Moran serves as Executive Secretary of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL), Midwest Region Coordinator for the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women (NOBEL), and as the Minnesota State Director for both the Women Legislators’ Lobby (WILL) and the National Foundation for Women Legislators (NFWL). She is a proud mother of seven and grandmother of eight.