2012 Board Members
Cerise D. Lewis is the Founder and President of the Pink Purse Project. Cerise Lewis was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is a graduate of Minneapolis South High School. Cerise graduated from Hampton University in 1994 with a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering. In June 1993, Cerise married Connell and thus began a life of ministry, music and many, many life experiences. In January 1997, Connell and Cerise began the Church of Minneapolis (formerly Resurrecting Faith World Ministries). It was through a very humble beginning that Cerise began to learn the valuable lessons of leadership and compassion in ministry. As the head of the Women's Ministry, Cerise began to understand the many pains, trials and triumphs of people as she began to counsel and encourage countless women.
In 2007, Cerise started a weekly encouragement email. These weekly emails were purposed to provide encouragement and spiritual strength for women. Over the course of 2007 and 2008 these emails were sent out to women all over the state and throughout the nation. Cerise released Be Encouraged in the spring of 2009. This book is a compilation of the 52 encouragement messages from 2008. Currently, Cerise is a manager at Ecolab, she continues to teach weekly at the Church of Minneapolis and provides weekly encouragement seminars and distributions through the Pink Purse Project.
Wanda Elliott, is the Special Programs Director for the Pink Purse Project. Wanda was born and raised in Clearwater/Largo Florida. After receiving a BS in Computer Information Systems from Florida A & M, she moved to St. Paul, MN to pursue a career with 3M. Wanda worked several years for 3M and then accepted a position as an IT Specialist with Enclos Corp in Eagan, MN. At Enclos, she manages and administers the messaging and collaboration infrastructure and the BlackBerry and wireless device deployment and development. Wanda is a member of Speak the Word Church in Golden Valley, MN, where she has been involved in the Children's Ministry and the Video/Word's ministry. In her spare time, she enjoys, exercising, golfing, traveling and spending time with her family.
Barbara Washington is the Treasurer and Director of Fundraising for the Pink Purse Project. She is a life long resident of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Born in Baton Rouge, LA, she grew up and attended school in North Minneapolis graduating from Minneapolis North High School. She earned a BA degree in Elementary Education and Early Childhood from Concordia College, and earned a masters Degree in Educational Policy and Administration from the University of Minnesota.
Barbara was a teacher/administrator with St. Paul Public Schools for thirty-four years, where she was a classroom teacher and developed coordinated and directed programs in urban and urban-like environments. Barbara implemented the Urban Education Preparation Programs, serving as the founding coordinator for the Urban Education Scholarship Program (UESS) and was the Executive Director for the Center for Excellence in Urban Teaching at Hamline University, St Paul (2003-2006). She continues to teach, mentor and supervise pre-service teachers through Metropolitan State University’s Urban Teacher Program (UTP) as community faculty.
Tonya Allen, is the Board Secretary of the Pink Purse Project. She is excited about the opportunity to work towards empowering women to succeed. Tonya has a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from DrakeUniversity, a Masters degree in Social Work from the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis, and most recently earned her K-12 Principal Licensure through Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. Tonya has worked in the field of social work and education for I.M.P.A.C.T. International, Robbinsdale Area School District, Osseo Area Schools, and Brooklyn Center Schools. Tonya is currently employed as an ALC Director for Richfield School District.
