Foster Care Revolutionary
Bianca Williams is an attorney, law instructor, and visionary founder of Premature Millionaires. She established the law firm AFFC Law LLC in Columbia, South Carolina to provide affordable estate planning, probate, elder law, guardianships and conservatorships, and bankruptcy law services. A native of Florida, she survived a tumultuous and traumatic childhood in and out of foster care. Despite the challenges she faced, she devoted herself to her education, graduating with honors from Midlands Technical College before earning her bachelor's in accounting from the University of South Carolina Moore School of Business. After serving as an estate clerk at the Richland County Probate Court, she earned her J.D. degree (Magna Cum Laude) from North Carolina Central University. She later worked as a bankruptcy and probate attorney before becoming a technical college law instructor.
She is a member of the North Carolina, South Carolina, and District of Columbia bar associations, the South Carolina Foster Care Review Board, the South Carolina Bar Elder Law Committee, the Law Related Education Committee, and Wills Clinic committee as well as the J. Bratton Davis Bankruptcy American Inn of Court and the South Carolina Bankruptcy Law Association.
Katherine Myers Wilson
Legal Visionary and Changemaker
Katherine Myers Wilson is a prosecutor turned defense attorney who provides legal representation to individuals accused of crimes in the State of South Carolina through her Columbia-based firm, Myers Law. A Columbia native, Katherine graduated from C.A. Johnson High School before going on to graduate Cum Laude from Furman University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science. Drawn to law because of her interest in the Civil Rights movement, she earned her J.D. from the University of South Carolina Law School, where she served as the president of the Black Law Student Association, as a Student Ambassador, and as a member of the Moot Court team and winner of the school competition.
She began her legal career as a clerk for Chief Justice Donald Beatty of the South Carolina Supreme Court. She then went on to work for the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation as the Assistant Labor Counsel for OSHA and as the lead Whistleblower investigator. She later became a prosecuting attorney handling a range of criminal cases, with a special focus on fighting for victims of domestic violence. She is a recipient of the South Carolina Young Lawyers President’s Award and the Living the Legacy Award from the National Association of Colored Women. She was also named in the “Top 20 under 40” for the South Carolina Black Pages.
Mark McLawhorn
Voice for the Voiceless
Mark McLawhorn is the managing attorney of his Columbia-based law firm McLawhorn Legal, LLC. A native of Columbia, he graduated magna cum laude from the University of South Carolina with a bachelor’s in political science. He went on to earn his J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law. After serving as a judicial law clerk, he earned a Master of Laws degree in Chinese business law from the prestigious Chinese University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law.
Throughout his legal career, he has worked as a judicial law clerk, U.S. Attorney's Office lawyer, and assistant federal public defender prior to establishing his own firm licensed to practice law in South Carolina and New York. Through his work with the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the District of South Carolina, he represented clients in federal court on drug, firearm, white-collar, and criminal immigration offenses. His advocacy resulted in the suppression of an involuntary confession based on coercive police interrogation and suppression of drug and firearm evidence that was the result of an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment. In 2016, he was a fellow of the Richard W. Riley Diversity Leadership Institute, Midlands. In 2020, he was an honoree of The State’s Newspaper “20 Under 40” and the Columbia Business Monthly’s “Best & Brightest 35 and Under.”
Amy Speaks
Faithful Community Engager
Amy Speaks is a community advocate and prayer warrior who works by day as a sterile processing technician at both Lexington Medical Center and with the Columbia VA Health Care System. When she’s not working, she spends most of her time as an “engager” serving others through her faith community, Forward City Church in Columbia. There, she is an active member of the prayer ministry team and she serves as a City Group Leader.
Amy is fueled by a passion for serving the lost, hurting, broken, and distressed by bringing a spirit of unity and peace everywhere she goes. She is heeding a calling to help restore broken homes and communities with the healing power of God’s mercy, forgiveness, and love. She currently lives in Lexington, South Carolina.
LaShonda Linnen
Passionate Family Champion
LaShonda Linnen is a licensed master social worker passionate about helping South Carolina’s children and families thrive. A Charleston native, she obtained her Bachelor of Social Work from Columbia College and her Master of Social Work from The University of South Carolina. Over the next 15 years, she built a career as a social worker serving children and families in the Carolinas in addition to presenting on topics including adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), trauma, and other children and family concerns. She has worked in private practice, social services, group homes, and military installations providing children and families with a range of supportive services, employing creative therapeutic methods to support the mental health needs of her clients.
LaShonda loves guiding others to useful resources and sharing her knowledge and expertise through her presentations. She is a proud member of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and the School Social Workers Association of South Carolina (SCASSW) and holds many certifications related to her work. As a practitioner of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, she hopes to create and use tools to assist children and families in finding sustainable solutions to the challenges they face. She is currently a doctoral candidate in the school of social work at Capella University.
Denaa Griffin
Tireless Child Advocate
Denaa J. Griffin is a corporate attorney with experience representing clients ranging from small family businesses to multi-million dollar corporations. She has long worked to serve marginalized populations, particularly underserved youth. As a student at the North Carolina Central University School of Law, she served as a volunteer court-appointed guardian (Guardian ad Litem) in Durham County. After graduating and becoming a licensed attorney, she continued to serve as an attorney-advocate Guardian ad Litem in addition to other community service. Her work with young people helped her understand the need for child advocates to support and protect their interests in the absence of having someone fill that role at home.
Denaa currently serves as the vice-chair of the Chapel Hill Training and Outreach Project (CHTOP), a national provider of training and technical assistance services, audiovisual and print materials, and direct services to a diverse array of children, families, and communities. As a board member, she assists the organization in providing services to low-income households, families caring for the elderly, children with disabilities or chronic illness, and children at risk of abuse and neglect.
Christina Watts
Empowering Education Advocate
Christina Watts is a middle school English and language arts (ELA) teacher in North Carolina. For more than 16 years, she has served the community as an educator in middle school and high school classrooms, through her school district’s central services, and as her district’s ELA lead teacher. She is also a trusted coach and mentor to more than 50 novice teachers. She continues to model teaching excellence while collaborating with her colleagues in the North Carolina educational system.
As an expert educator, her professional focus is on empowering and enlightening future leaders. Compelled by her faith, she is a creative, committed, and open-minded educator with a passion for producing positive, student-centered environments for nurturing personal and academic growth. Christina is the author of the book “POWER Play: Positioning Our Schools for Victory.” The book offers a true blueprint for repositioning victory in our schools.