BIKING WHILE BLACK
CONTINUING TO RIDE
Through Decriminalization, Disenfranchisement & Gentrification
staff
Yolanda Davis-Overstreet
FOUNDER
Yolanda is a dedicated community-based activist and mobility justice strategist, with a degree from the Urban Sustainability Master’s Program (USMA) at Antioch University, Los Angeles. Her passion lies in community organizing and mobility justice, with a particular focus on enhancing pedestrian safety in communities of color. Yolanda is renowned for her directorial roles in two impactful short films addressing the issue of BIKING WHILE BLACK and her tireless advocacy efforts within local, regional and national communities.
In addition to her filmmaking endeavors, Yolanda plays pivotal roles in various organizations, serving as a board member for the California Bicycle Coalition and as a Commissioner for Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell's Highway Safety Commission - 2nd District. As a woman of color, mother, and committed social and environmental activist, Yolanda brings a unique perspective shaped by her training in urban sustainability. She emphasizes the importance of both individual and collective narratives in driving meaningful change.
Yolanda's leadership style is characterized by adaptability and inclusivity. She engages in continuous comparative research, observational studies, and cultivates relationships at local and national levels to advance her causes. Through her extensive community work, Yolanda embodies a commitment to fostering positive transformation within marginalized communities.
Consultants
Marlenia Myers
DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANT
Nonprofit Visions, LLC
With over 20 years of communications, management, and fundraising experience, Marlenia has helped organizations realize their overarching revenue and social impact goals through high-impact storytelling, content development, relationship building, grant writing, and strategic planning. She has a master’s degree from California State University, Northridge in Public Administration, specializing in Public Sector Management and Leadership. I earned a dual MFA in Creative Writing (Nonfiction) and MA in Urban Sustainability from Antioch University, Los Angeles. I served as a copy editor for Antioch University’s literary magazine, Lunch Ticket. As a writer and advocate for environmental justice issues, she was a panelist at the AWP 2019 Conference, “Back to Basics: Untangling Environmental Stories.” She serves as an advisory board member for the Design Thinking Executive Program at the University of California, Riverside, and in 2021, she became a California-licensed real estate sales agent specializing in commercial real estate. I am also a proud alum of ULI’s Project REAP program.
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Marlenia advises & consults on nonprofit operations & development, strategy, fundraising, storytelling and relationship
building.
Elizabeth doerr
COMMUNICATIONS & STRATEGIC STORYTELLING CONSULTANT
Doerr&Co. LLC
Elizabeth is the founder and principal at Doerr&Co. LLC where she brings her natural strategy-development skills to both how she tells the story and the content development process. She helps clients with strong missions for social, racial, and environmental justice with strategic messaging and storytelling to showcase how their work in change-making to position them as thought leaders in their field. She is also a ghostwriter and has helped authors get their ideas out in the world.Elizabeth is also a published writer and journalist. You can find her essays and reported stories in publications such as Romper, Civil Eats, Dwell, Business Insider, Bloomberg CityLab, and Portland Monthly, among many others. She also writes a weekly Substack newsletter called Cramming for the Apocalypse and publishes work on her book project.
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Works is working to streamline branding, messaging, and overall communications strategy for Biking While Black and positioning the project as a thought leader in mobility justice.
Ryan Makenian
VIDEOGRAPHER & PHOTOGRAPHER
Armenian writer-director Ryan Mekenian is writer/producer and director who has focused his work on mobility in Los Angeles and is a recipient of the Emerging Arts Fellowship from the California Arts Council.
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His short documentary, Spokespeople, celebrates the vibrant bicycle communities of Los Angeles and their fight for mobility justice. The film won the Jury Prize for Best Short Documentary at the Annapolis Film Festival and was an official selection at the prestigious Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the Cannes Film Festival. It also screened at other Oscar-qualifying festivals, including the Rhode Island International Film Festival, Santa Fe International Film Festival, Bogotá Short Film Festival, and the Edmonton International Film Festival. The documentary is now distributed widely by ShortsTV.
Mekenian's feature screenplay, The Man in the Flying Lawn Chair, was a quarterfinalist for the Academy Nicholl Fellowship and received the Screenwriting Discovery Award Grand Prize at the Rhode Island International Film Festival. He holds a Master of Fine Arts from USC's School of Cinematic Arts and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
Ryan helps to capture the work and story of Biking While Black as a documentarian videographer and photographer at key events throughout Los Angeles.
Annalisa Synnestvedt
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT
Annalisa advises & consults on non-profit financial management and projections. Her experience brings a 20+ year background of being a CFO for a large non-profit foundation.
NIAH Overstreet
Education and Engagement Associate (on sabbatical)
Niah is our Education and Engagement Associate that has been learning and engaging in mobility justice work since she was in elementary school. Under the mentorship of her mother, Yolanda Davis-Overstreet, founder of Biking While Black, Niah has gained a profound understanding of advocating for mobility justice and ensuring pedestrian safety for BIPOC communities. Her lived experience has shown her firsthand how standing up for communities of color can lead to transformative justice and joy. Currently, Niah is also pursuing her college education with a focus on the criminal justice system.
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Biking While Black is a project of Ground Truths Network (GTN), a community-based effort, supported by the fiscal sponsorship of Social Good Fund. This effort was born out of the extreme uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. GTN’s purpose is to bravely leap forward, better serving and transitioning communities of color into resilience, safety, and healing. Inclusive in our tasks is to expand upon the already active advocacy around pedestrian safety, wellness, and mobility justice for Black and Brown Lives. Our key resource is that of compassion.
