Shelley Henderson is Founder of READY Nationwide, a racial and gender equity focused consulting, coaching, and facilitraining firm. READY Nationwide's culture merch line, NewSuns, features apparel, accessories, paper goods, home decor, and more Afrofuturism. Shelley also founded Racial & Gender Equity Enterprises, a membership public benefit corporation for social entrepreneurs prioritizing girls and Black women. Shelley is also Co-Founder of Black Indulgences by Her—a family-owned, business ventures collective.

She recently delivered a TEDx Talk called “Is Schooling a Mechanism for Racial Control?”—the story of one minoritized girl educated in the Midwest in the 1970s, the story of a teacher, the story of a mommy, and the story of a social impact leader.

Equipping adults to dismantle inequities and advance social justice has been a priority throughout her professional journey. Shelley has spent over 20 years working as a youth development specialist, certified teacher, nonprofit executive, university program coordinator, community organizer, public policy advocate, coach and volunteer for a number of organizations and initiatives locally and nationally. Because of her commitment to empowering a critical mass of equity-focused change agents, any given semester she serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Nebraska Methodist College.

Shelley earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Secondary Education and her Master’s Degree in Educational Administration and Supervision of Secondary Schools from the University of Nebraska. She is working on a PhD in Leadership and Change at Antioch University and a certificate in Diversity & Equity in Education with an emphasis in Human Resource Development at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

She lives in St. Louis, MO and adores her five children and grandchildren to the utmost. Ask her what she’s reading if you come in contact with Shelley as she is an avid reader as well.