The People Carrying Cynthia's Legacy
Cynthia’s legacy lives on through the people who knew, loved, and were inspired by her. Together, our Leadership Team and Board of Directors carry her spirit of faith, service, and generosity forward.
Leadership Team
Our Leadership Team carries Cynthia’s legacy forward through the Foundation’s daily work, guided by her spirit of faith, service, and generosity.
Monique Thompson
Daughter, Leadership Team
The child doctors said would never be born, and the joy of Cynthia's life. Everything the Foundation stands for flows from the love between mother and daughter. Monique helps lead the organization as a living continuation of her mother's heart for God and for others.
J Thompson
Son-In-Law, Leadership Team
J Thompson, Cynthia's son-in-law, was loved by Cynthia as her own and shared in the affectionate bond she extended to family. Alongside Monique, J helps guide the Foundation, keeping Cynthia's values of devotion, stewardship, and care at its center.
Diondre Johnson
Grandson, Leadership Team
Diondre Johnson is Cynthia's grandson. One of the three grandchildren Cynthia adored, Diondre represents the generation she poured her hopes into. Leading the Foundation's day-to-day mission, he carries his grandmother's legacy of faith, service, and generosity into its future.
Board of Directors
Our Board of Directors honors Cynthia’s legacy through thoughtful leadership, guidance, and a shared commitment to the values she held close.
Carma Young
Board Chair
Carma Young, Cynthia's cousin, serves as Board Chair. Family was sacred to Cynthia, and the bonds she shared with her cousins, many rooted in her beloved Jacksonville, were among her life's greatest treasures. Carma brings that same devotion to family and legacy into her leadership of the Foundation’s Board of Directors, ensuring Cynthia's spirit guides every decision the board makes.
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Marketta Genus
Vice Chair
Marketta Genus serves as Vice Chair. As Cynthia's goddaughter, Marketta experienced firsthand the nurturing, generous love Cynthia poured into the next generation. Cynthia took her role as godmother seriously; guiding, encouraging, and celebrating those she claimed as her own. Marketta now honors that investment by helping steer the Foundation's mission forward.
Gentry Hill
Treasurer
Gentry Hill serves as Treasurer. As the best friend of Cynthia's son-in-law, Gentry became part of the extended family Cynthia welcomed so warmly, a reflection of her gift for making everyone feel they belonged. Cynthia's own stewardship of documentation and funds was legendary, and she would be proud to know the Foundation's finances rest in such trusted and capable hands.
Charles Wheeler
Director
Charles Wheeler holds a place in the Foundation's leadership as a close family friend who walked alongside Cynthia in more ways than one. As Monique's track coach, he helped shape her daughter's discipline and character; as a fellow church member, he shared Cynthia's faith and service. Cynthia valued people who showed up consistently and invested in her family, and Charles was exactly that kind of steady presence.
Samesha Ivey
Director
Samesha Ivey's relationship with Cynthia began at Hewlett Packard, where Cynthia recruited her as an intern, an early glimpse of Cynthia's eye for talent and her instinct to lift others up. That professional connection blossomed into family: Samesha became a big sister and tutor to Monique and a beloved play daughter to Cynthia. Her service on the board reflects the way Cynthia turned colleagues into kin.
Sharri Zachary
Director
Sharri Zachary was far more than her daughter's best friend to Cynthia, she was, in every way that mattered, another daughter, and godmother to Cynthia's grandson. The depth of that bond speaks to Cynthia's boundless capacity to love and to claim others as her own. Sharri brings that same devotion to the Foundation that bears Cynthia's name.
Karel Danzie
Director
Karel Danzie, a close friend of Cynthia's daughter Monique, was embraced into the circle of love Cynthia extended to everyone her daughter cared about. Cynthia had a gift for adopting her children's friends as her own, and Karel's service to the Foundation continues that tradition of chosen family.
