Introducing the 40 Over 40 judges
Choosing our award winners is a tough job, but this group is up to the task. Meet the 13 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 fourth 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 Friday, Feb. 10.
We’ll celebrate the winners on April 27, 2023, at a fun 1980s-themed party at the Charlotte Museum of History. Mark your calendar!
We know you may have some questions, such as:
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 13 judges for 2023 are between the ages of 24 and 38. 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, 38, is a professor and founder of LEADCITY Youth, a nonprofit providing school programs 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.
➡️ Jaime Cuellar, 38, 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.
➡️ Meredith Dean, 30, is a community builder, content creator, mentor and digital entrepreneur. She’s the founder and CEO of The Dean’s List Digital Branding & Career Consulting, where she does social media coaching and builds personal websites for students, public figures, journalists and more. Born and raised in Atlanta, Meredith came to Charlotte via Manhattan, where she worked in the news industry from CNN to CBS. In 2021, she launched The Dean’s List 20 Under 20 Awards, which honors some of the most diverse and influential 14-19 year-old leaders in Charlotte who are giving back to their communities and empower others in all that they do.
➡️ Christine Edwards, 34, is a local government professional turned entrepreneur. As founder and principal consultant at Civility Localized (formerly known as Amplify Consulting), she helps amplify the voices of the unheard in the Charlotte region through equitable community engagement practices. Christine lives in NoDa. Pre-Covid, she had fun traveling to presidential libraries. Now she enjoys Zoom happy hours and trying out new coffees and wines.
➡️ Allie Gamble, 29, 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, wellness, and traveling with friends and family. You can find her trying new restaurants with friends or walking her dog, Pepper, in her free time.
➡️ Alexis Kaiser, 30, is a director on JLL's Capital Markets Team focusing on selling land for redevelopment sites. Alexis lives in South End and walks across the bridge to uptown every day for work. Her hobbies include improv comedy, pickleball, tennis and leisurely biking the greenway.
➡️ Bethany Lane, 24, is a revenue strategist with QCity Metro, where she works with advertising clients to help them connect and engage with the news organization’s audience: Black Charlotte. Bethany is proud of growing the audience and increasing revenue by 25 percent each of the last two years. When she’s not working, she enjoys taking her dog to the park, working out and cooking vegan meals.
➡️ Christopher Lawing, 30, is the outreach and hospitality lead host at Jesse Brown's Outdoors. His title means he enjoys making connections with the community and making people feel welcome. As an 8th-generation native-Charlottean, Christopher lives in Cotswold, and directs the Charlotte Signs Project which is dedicated to preserving the Queen City's unique and historic signs. In his spare time, he enjoys photography, thrifting and drinking ice-cold Cheerwine!
➡️ Anna London, 36, is a workforce champion and advocate for individuals in need. She serves as chief operating officer for Charlotte Works, Mecklenburg County’s workforce development board. Anna, a Charlotte native, has been with Charlotte Works for more than eight years. She lives in south Charlotte and serves on several local boards and committees.
➡️ Maghan Knight, 31, is a community engagement manager with Unite Us, where she supports local organizations in their use of technology to connect those in need to community resources. Maghan lives in Midtown and in her free time can be found cooking, travel planning and training for her first marathon!
➡️ Brittney Rogers, 35, 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 2-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, 37, 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.
➡️ Corri Smith, 37, 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.
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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.
Last year’s 40 Over 40 Awards celebration was a 1980s-themed party. This year’s event will be April 27 at the Charlotte Museum of History.
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Staff writer: Lindsey Banks; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Contributing photographer/videographer: Kevin Young, The 5 and 2 Project