Women’s History Month: Celebrating HERstory
Source: iOne Digital / Radio One
We’re recognizing Women’s History Month by Celebrating HERstory.
Throughout the month, we will recognize some area women blazing trails in their respective industries, organization, and/or communities.
Learn more about these amazing women below:
Nicole Cyrille-Superville, MD
Source: Nicole Cyrille-Superville, MD
Nicole Cyrille-Superville, MD is an Assistant Professor in Cardiology and practicing heart failure and transplant cardiologist at Atrium Health – Wake Forest.
She completed her medical degree and Internal Medicine residency at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and subsequently, pursued a general cardiology fellowship at Montefiore Medical Center. There she served as Chief Cardiology Fellow (2016 – 2017). She concluded her training at Massachusetts General Hospital with an advanced heart failure and transplant fellowship.
She serves as the Associate Director of Heart Failure in the Southern Region at Sanger Heart and Vascular Institute and over the past few years, has transformed her clinical experiences and observations into interventions that improve the outcomes of heart failure patients on a larger scale through research. Nicole Cyrille-Superville, MD recently received an NIH grant award to serve as the Diversity Champion leader across the seven HeartShare sites in the US.
Her commitment to advancing the care of vulnerable populations, further in intersects with her growing interest in health disparities and social determinants of health. She is a member of Atrium’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee and a recipient of one of the 2024 Cardiovascular Sciences Center pilot grant in support of her research on the impact of social support and health literacy in HFpEF patients. She also received a Top Principal Investigator award by the Heart Failure Collaboratory in association with American Heart Association this past year.
Robyn Hamilton
Source: Robyn Hamilton
Robyn Hamilton serves as the President & CEO of the Urban League of Central Carolinas. The Urban League is North Carolina’s oldest civil rights organization and an affiliate of the National Urban League. She is a seasoned leader who has built deep trust in many communities across the United States and led impactful work that Charlotte is still benefitting from. Since her tenure as CEO began in 2023, the ULCC has increased funding, programming and the coming into the Charlotte region from state and federal agencies by $2 million dollars over the next three years.
A mission-driven leader, her passion for people, strengthening communities and improving lives was a winning combination to lead the North Carolina DHHS, Healthy Opportunities Pilot on behalf of Dogwood Health Trust. At Novant Health she was Director of Community Engagement. Her deep community relationships helped lead a team to distributing over $6 million dollars to multiple organizations. When the Democratic National Convention came to Charlotte, Robyn was sought out to make good on President Barack Obama’s promise of the most diverse political convention ever held. She served on the leadership team as the Senior Advisor of Diversity, Business Relations and Procurement where she was responsible for achieving the unprecedented 41% diversity spend with a local, union and minority suppliers for the convention.
During her tenure as the CEO of Carolinas Minority Supplier Development Council, Robyn authored and established the Charlotte Minority Economic Development Initiative for the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce in 2011, which generated over $52 million in contracts and created 469 jobs by minority owned firms. Many remember the work Robyn did with Charlotte’s African American leaders with Access Charlotte, a mentoring program for African American emerging executives. The program saw 20% of the participants to go on to C-suite level positions. She holds an MBA from Queens University and a B.A. in human resource management from Saint Leo College. She honorably served our country in the United States Army as a Military Intelligence Analyst and also in the U.S. Air Force as a Social Actions Specialist. Her spare time is spent looking for a horse or a fishing rod on her farm.
Cherise Walker
Source: Cherise L. Walker
Cherise Walker serves as Chief of Staff at Mecklenburg County ABC Board. In this role, she manages the marketing and communication efforts in addition to ensuring the strategic goals and objectives are met and tracked across the organization. Ms. Walker also oversees several special projects and events in collaboration with team leaders which is critical to advancing a positive culture in the organization and community.
She previously served as Vice President of Talent and Inclusion programming for the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce and the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance. A seasoned professional, she dedicated time and talent to promote small businesses, entrepreneurs and member and investor companies to increase their visibility in the marketplace with networking and relationship building while managing volunteer groups, sponsorships programs and initiatives.
A Buffalo, New York, native, prior to working at the Charlotte Chamber, Cherise worked for the Greater Buffalo Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Buffalo Convention and Visitors Bureau on the sales and services team. Cherise graduated from Bryant and Stratton Business College and also received certification in paralegal studies from Canisius College in Buffalo. She currently serves on the board of directors for the Steele Creek YMCA. She previously volunteered for the Humane Society of Charlotte and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Animal Care and Control.Cherise has a strong love of dogs, making a way for the elderly through her non-profit, Mulberry and High, and creating pathways for those that seek any personal or professional guidance she can give. “If I can help someone avoid a pitfall I’ve experienced, I’m all in.”
Monifa D. Drayton, MPA
Source: Monifa Drayton
As an award-winning leader and described as a gentle disruptor of inequitable systems, Monifa Drayton is the CEO of the Drayton Leadership Group LLC in which she has over 25 years of experience in systems change, coalition building, executive leadership, strategic planning, and team engagement. With a robust track record of driving growth and ensuring equity, during the 2024 election, she served as the Executive Director of the Mecklenburg County Democratic Party where she worked collaboratively with the state to lead the reactivation of the Mecklenburg Hispanic Caucus, hired the first bilingual associate and executed the framework to mobilize several minority groups. Within a 30-day period, she hosted more than 40 engagement and canvassing events in an effort to reach underserved and neglected communities. Currently, as a volunteer with the African American Caucus of Mecklenburg County she is helping to organize majority-minority precincts to ensure future voter engagement across all communities. With a passion for politics, Monifa was selected as a member of the inaugural cohort for the Congressman James E. Clyburn Leadership Institute where she has learned to master political strategy, management of campaigns, geopolitics and aligning messaging with policy. To date she has a 100%-win rate as a campaign manager for six Democratic elected officials and seven campaigns within Mecklenburg County.
Prior to her role with the Mecklenburg County Democratic Party, she successfully served as a leader within the healthcare industry for more than twenty years, leading several sustaining initiatives such as operations for the Atrium Health Huntersville Emergency Health Plex, process improvement, community engagement and provider services. During her time there, she had the opportunity to launch the award-winning Employee Resource Group which had a membership of 2,400 Black women.
Dedicated to community engagement, after serving as a Board member since 2017 for the Mecklenburg Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, in February 2023 she was appointed by the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners to serve as the first Black woman to chair the organization within its 75 year history. In this role she, oversees a nearly $300 million dollar budget and more than 30 locations. The profits from this organization help to support over thirty nonprofit organizations whose mission include health, wellness and substance abuse prevention. Humbly, she is the recipient of numerous awards including “Who’s Who in Black Charlotte,” Mecklenburg Times 50 Most Influential Women, Q City Metro “Great 28” Leaders in Charlotte, Atrium Health Excellence in Diversity and Equity Honors, Diversity MBA Top 100 Under 50, Emerging Leaders and Charlotte Regional Business Alliance Emerging Leader Award.
She received her Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, a Bachelor’s of Science degree from South Carolina State University and is a certified Executive Coach.
In her spare time, she enjoys global travel, live music and spending time with her three young nephews who make her heart full.
Patrice Wood
Born in Kingston, Jamaica – Patrice has lived in Nova Scotia and Toronto Canada. Lived in New York and Atlanta before moving to Charlotte in 2012.
Patrice worked in the Automotive Industry since 1995. She started with Hendrick Automotive Group in Fixed Operations (in Atlanta), learning all aspects of the Service Operations of a dealership. In 2012, Patrice moved to Charlotte accepting the role as Service Director at Hendrick Honda of Concord and in 2018 transitioned from the Service Department to Sales as the General Sales Manager.
In September of 2024, she transitioned to the Kia dealership in Concord as the General Manager.
What Patrice loves about the Automotive Industry is that we are truly in the people business. She enjoys the interactions with my peers, teammates and customers that are part of the Hendrick Family. There are so many facets to the automotive industry so there is constant learning and growth. Training and developing those that are new to the industry is what she enjoy most.
“Paying it forward – I have had so many great mentors I almost feel an obligation to be that for others.”
Patrice has a daughter at the University of Kentucky working on her masters in Clinical Mental Health. She is a foodie and enjoy any opportunity to visit Charlotte’s restaurants, old favorites and new openings. Basketball and Tennis are ger favorite sports, and she love going to concerts and shopping.