Tequionbrookins.com

🎉✨ Today, we celebrate someone whose impact spans across borders, time zones, and every part of our operations — Happy Birthday to our phenomenal Administrative Director, Claudine Morata!

Clau is more than just an admin — she is the quiet force behind the scenes who holds it all together. From client engagements to community partnerships, from board support to business operations, there is not a single area of our work or org that we’ve launched that hasn’t been strengthened by her brilliance, dedication, and care.

Since joining our team 3 years ago, Clau has been the backbone of everything we do — and somehow, she does it all with grace, speed, and precision, even while navigating her most important role yet: being a new mom. 💛

What Clau contributes can’t be captured in job descriptions or org charts. She’s the type of support other founders wish they had. The one who logs in early, stays on late to get it done, asks the hard questions, finds the right answers, and genuinely cares about the mission behind the work. Her talent is unmatched, and her loyalty and work ethic are a blessing we never take for granted.

Claudine, thank you for being you. We are endlessly grateful for your leadership, your heart, and your quiet excellence. May this year bring you joy, rest, and every dream you dare to dream. 🌏💐

Please join us in sending Clau birthday love from across the globe! 🥳

5 years ago, I started The Minority Freedom Community Fund to serve as a bridge connecting Black leaders & families to the resources & relationships they’re so often excluded from. At the time, I was still working at the McGregor Fund and witnessing firsthand how proximity & access were gatekeepers in philanthropy. Too many of the people doing the most important work were being left out of the decision-making discussions. MFCF was my action response, an experiment in what’s possible when we entrust the people living in the problem to solve it. Donors & Doers came shortly after as a way to honor that commitment. It’s not a panel nor a conference. It’s a sacred space for collaborative, intergenerational action where funders, lenders, community leaders, & policy makers show up to co-create solutions that match the urgency of this moment.

This year, we need it more than ever. With shifting policies, rising needs, & limited capacity, both community leaders & donors are being pushed to change how we work. That’s why on August 9, we’re hosting the 4th Annual Donors & Doers Summit at Aya House FREE & opening it to all ages, because our youth deserve a voice in shaping their future & our elders carry wisdom from similar battles we’ve faced before.

The night before, on August 8, we’ll kick off the weekend with a VIP Partner 5-Year Anniversary Celebration—honoring the volunteers, partners, & people that have sustained this work against all odds. You won’t want to hear about this weekend secondhand.

Our board, led by thee amazing Dr. Santarvis Brown, Ed.D, J.D. , has fueled every step of MFCF's journey with little to no outside funding. What we’ve built is a testament to strategic plasticity, stretching our resources & imagination to sustain a national movement for 5 years! That’s why I’m deeply grateful to welcome our first-ever event sponsors, DTE Energy and Old National Bank, who saw our vision & said: we’re with you.

This year’s theme—Power Up the People—is a call to invest deeper, collaborate wider, & organize smarter. And I’m honored to be joined by these incredible voices:
• Nimaj Driscoll – CEO, Driscoll Family Insurance & Wealth Solutions
• Nikia Washington – Director of Engagement & Communications, McGregor Fund
• Dexter Sullivan – Founder, Black Legacy Advancement Coalition
• Satonya Fair, JD – CEO, PEAK Grantmaking
• Alexis Dishman, MBA – Chief Lending Officer, Community Reinvestment Fund, USA
• Simmons Larry - Executive Director, Brightmoor Alliance
Plus community leaders &recipients from MFCF’s grantee and grassroots network

Here’s how you can get involved:
• Attend the summit & lend your ingenuity to the solutions we concrete
• Volunteer to speak, serve, facilitate or host a resource table
• Donate to support community-rooted leadership (sponsorships welcomed)
• Share this message to help someone else get in the room

We’re not just talking we’re doing. Together.
Join me: https://lnkd.in/eCsFQ93c

35.

Today I celebrate another trip around the sun. Not just with gratitude for life, but with deep reflection on why I’m still here.

This year, more than any other, has pushed me beyond my perceived limits. I’ve felt the weight of responsibility, the ache of sacrifice, and the quiet tension that comes with holding space for others while trying to hold myself together. I’ve also been reminded that legacy isn’t built in the spotlight. It’s built in the moments when you choose purpose over pride, community over comfort.

I’ve grown in ways that don’t make for flashy captions, but they’ve made me more grounded, more intentional, and more committed to the work I was called to do. I’ve also learned that asking for support isn’t a sign of weakness. It’s an invitation for others to be part of something sacred.

So this year, instead of gifts or grand gestures, I’m asking you to direct your love to Aya House — the community space I co-founded as a sanctuary for Black changemakers, artists, and everyday people doing extraordinary things. Aya House is more than a building. It’s a living ecosystem of healing, creativity, and collective power. And it needs you.

If I’ve ever poured into you with my time, my writing, my work, my advocacy, or even just my presence, consider this a moment to pour back and support via the

Thank you for seeing me. Thank you for seeing us. Here’s to the next chapter, rooted in impact, rest, and radical joy.

Legacy is not what you leave behind. It’s what you build every day.

Last weekend, I was deeply honored to receive the Legacy Builder Award from the during their 5-year anniversary gala. To be recognized for contributions that uplift community, create opportunity, and pave the way for others is both humbling and invigorating.

My journey with BLAC began in 2021, when the founder Dexter Sullivan reached out to share the vision for advancing Black legacy statewide. I was immediately inspired. By 2022, I proudly joined the board—and I’ve remained a committed advocate ever since.

What made their anniversary celebration even more powerful was witnessing history in real time: the Governor of Michigan and the Mayor of Detroit formally declared May 16th as Black Legacy Day—not just for this year, but into perpetuity. A date that will now annually celebrate the brilliance, resilience, and enduring contributions of Black leaders, dreamers, and doers across our state and city. I was immensely overwhelmed with joy and admiration hearing this and have been yelling it from the rooftops ever since.

To every hand I’ve held, door I’ve opened, or system I’ve challenged—I share this award with you. Thank you to & the Black Legacy Advancement Coalition for seeing me, and for showcasing to the world that OUR legacies aren’t just something remembered—they’re being built daily.