Introducing the 40 Over 40 judges
Choosing our award winners is a tough job, but this group is up to the task. Meet the 15 impressive and wise under-40 judges who will make those hard calls.
Today, we announce a remarkable group charged with a weighty task — our distinguished panel of judges for The Charlotte Ledger 40 Over 40 Awards, presented by U.S. Bank.
Now in its third year, the 40 Over 40 Awards are a time-honored, highly prestigious tradition honoring people aged 40+ who are making Charlotte a better place. They are the unsung heroes, often flying under the radar: businesspeople, nonprofit leaders, community volunteers, healthcare and education workers; yada, yada, yada. (Side note: if you don’t get the Seinfeld reference, you’re too young to win this award.)
We accept nominations from the public (that’s you) to identify candidates for these awards. There’s still time to nominate someone. But not for long! Nominations are open through Monday, Feb. 7.
We know you may have some questions.
How does The Ledger decide among so many deserving candidates?
Who are these people entrusted with making those difficult decisions?
For that, we turn to our panel of judges who are charged with the heavy responsibility of sorting through the nominations, reading them and arriving at a decision. They make their evaluations completely independent of the Ledger staff or our sponsors.
For the sake of impartiality, (and possibly better eyesight), our judges are all under the age of 40. We chose them based on their own wide-ranging accomplishments, but also because they’re a wise group with lots of common sense.
Our 15 judges for 2022 are between the ages of 23 and 39. They are professionals from across Charlotte doing some dynamic work. Some have been judges before, and some are brand new to the 40 Over 40 Awards.
Let’s meet them:
➡️ Dr. Temeka Brantley, 37, is a professor and founder of LEADCITY, a nonprofit providing a school program where students learn social entrepreneurship to develop community projects that address social issues. Inspired by Gandhi’s words “be the change,” she is dedicated to encouraging, empowering and educating others through service, teaching and speaking. A resident of northern Charlotte, “Dr. T” enjoys running various greenways throughout the city with her husband.
➡️ Alysja Carlisle, 33, partners with her business to solve a wide variety of transactional matters as Belk’s VP - Legal Counsel. She lives in Villa Heights and enjoys cuddling her adorable cat, Mila. You can find her hiking on the weekends. She focuses her pro bono and community efforts on addressing diversity, equity and inclusion issues.
➡️ Jaime Cuellar, 37, is a financial advisor with Northwestern Mutual and is passionate about helping families and business owners with their relationship with money through financial planning. Jaime and his wife have 3 young boys, making it a busy, but fun household. When he’s not working or changing diapers, he enjoys playing tennis (he’s a former college student-athlete), grilling and traveling.
➡️ Christine Edwards, 33, is a local government professional turned ecosystem builder. As founder and principal consultant at Amplify Consulting, she helps amplify the voices of the unheard in the Charlotte region through equitable community engagement practices. Christine lives in University City. Pre-Covid, she had fun traveling to presidential libraries. Now she enjoys Zoom happy hours and trying out new coffees and wines.
➡️ Allie Gamble, 28, is a vice president at MiddleM Creative, a marketing and public relations agency serving middle-market private equity and investment banking firms. A Charlotte native, she lives in Dilworth and loves health, fitness and nutrition, which she exemplifies as a part-time nutrition coach. You can find her trying new restaurants with friends or walking her dog Pepper in her free time.
➡️ Alison Hall, 39, owner of Alison Hall Architect Inc., considers starting her own business from scratch while also starting a family to be her greatest accomplishment so far. As an architect, she specializes in single-family residential, remodels, additions and new construction. She lives in Colonial Village, south of Sedgefield, with her husband and three boys. They enjoy traveling, biking and hiking.
➡️ Shaynah Jerrell, 39, is the head swim coach and owner of Aquatic Team of Mecklenburg (ATOM). Though she describes herself as introverted, Shaynah has built a team of more than 160 swimmers ages 7-18 who have become a presence on the local, state and national levels. She lives in the Stonehaven neighborhood trying to keep her plants and kids alive and thriving.
➡️ Alexis Kaiser, 29, moved to Charlotte three years ago and works on the JLL Capital Markets Land team. Her hobbies include tennis, pickleball, setting up blind dates and golf. Alexis lives in South End and is an avid development and light rail fan. You can find her at Suffolk Punch many nights of the week.
➡️ Bethany Lane, 23, is a revenue strategist with QCity Metro, where she works closely with clients to help them connect with readers. As the youngest judge on our panel, Bethany is thankful she didn’t grow up in the 1980s because it would have meant doing homework without Google. She lives in NoDa and enjoys yoga and working out.
➡️ Anna London, 35, is the chief operating officer at Charlotte Works. Her background includes youth development, crisis intervention and family therapy. Anna lives in South Charlotte. She’s a lifelong Charlottean, which she recognizes is pretty rare these days!
➡️ Sophie Partlow, 39, is vice president of marketing and communications at UnboundEd, a nonprofit dedicated to eradicating systemic racism in education. She works to share their message of institutional change by way of excellent professional development for educators. In the 2000s, Sophie was a slam poet and hip-hop artist. Now, she maintains two residences with her husband and daughter, in England and their home base in North Charlotte. Sophie is writing a science fiction novel in her spare time.
➡️ Brittney Rogers, 34, is a campus recruiter for Bank of America where she enjoys jumpstarting the careers of budding technology talent. Her favorite part of her job is delivering the good news to candidates with internship and job offers, which she refers to as being “Professional Santa.” Brittney lives in the University area with her husband and 1-year-old son. When she is not working, she enjoys cooking, curating a myriad of R&B playlists and all things motherhood. It’s always a good day when there’s an opportunity to combine all three.
➡️ Clayton Sealey, 36, is an aspiring 40 Over 40 winner and Senior Director of Marketing and Communications for the Mint Museum. He is best known for CLT Development, a social media account that covers, explains and occasionally critiques commercial development in Charlotte, while fostering and leading discussion about urban planning/transit/city building initiatives. Clayton is a NoDa resident and spends his time trying new places and taking his dog, Bob Ross, everywhere.
➡️ Cassiel Smith, 39, is a dual licensed clinical mental health counselor and addiction specialist and the founder of Welltheology Counseling Center where he works to create a safe environment that provides dignity and respect to all of his clients, while ultimately empowering them with the necessary tools to help them overcome their challenges. Born and raised in New Jersey, he moved to North Carolina in 2001 on a football scholarship to attend Wake Forest University. Cassiel is new to Charlotte, having lived here only two years. He enjoys family time with his wife and two sons, spending time outdoors, gardening and doing house projects.
➡️ Corri Smith, 36, is the owner of Black Wednesday, a Charlotte-based Marketing and PR company focused on personifying brands through creative, innovative and organic strategies. With community-building as a focus, BW helps brands tell their stories in unique ways, specifically through use of PR, consultancy, social media, influencer marketing, events and design. When she’s not working in the BW office in west Charlotte, Corri enjoys spending time with her dogs and trying to keep 100 plants alive.
And there you have it! Many thanks to our distinguished panel of wise judges. No doubt we’ll be seeing some of them as 40 Over 40 nominees when the time is right. This year, they will have their work cut out for them. But they are surely up to the task.
Good luck to all!
And should you still need to make your nomination, do it right now — the clock is ticking! Nominating someone is fun and easy and it only takes a couple of minutes.
Need to sign up for this e-newsletter? We offer a free version, as well as paid memberships for full access to all 3 of our local newsletters:
➡️ Learn more about The Charlotte Ledger
The Charlotte Ledger is a locally owned media company that delivers smart and essential news through e-newsletters and on a website. We strive for fairness and accuracy and will correct all known errors. The content reflects the independent editorial judgment of The Charlotte Ledger. Any advertising, paid marketing, or sponsored content will be clearly labeled.
Like what we are doing? Feel free to forward this along and to tell a friend.
Change newsletter preferences: Go to ‘My Account’ page
Social media: On Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Sponsorship information: email brie@cltledger.com.
Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Contributing photographer/videographer: Kevin Young, The 5 and 2 Project