Black Domers: Black Well-being

Experience the Event

Presented by

Thursday, February 22, 2024 7:00 pm

“Recent events in our nation have led to a national reckoning, to soul-searching and a demand for action with regard to racial and social injustice…There is a widespread sense of urgency to come together, to take meaningful action to achieve a more just and equitable society. Accompanying the urgency is a sense of hope that now is the moment for constructive and lasting change.” – Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Notre Dame: A Strategic Framework, June 2021

Black health and wellness may look different for each person, but having a community in which one can be listened to, cared for, and advocated for is essential for everyone. Learn how self care and community care intersect to enable us to live the most fulfilling lives possible while we share our time in the world and embrace generations of culture, diversity, and history.

Our panel features appearances by Tiffani Tatum ’01 Student Recruitment Director of the Black Alumni of Notre Dame and Pat Parks ’01 Student Relations Director of the Black Alumni of Notre Dame, and a discussion with moderator Dr. LaKesha Legree, M.D. ’99, founder and CEO of Dr. Legree and Associates Medical Expert Services Firm, Kimmi Martin Troy ’00 SMC, certified Health and Wellness Coach, and Wendy Whitsett MC, LPC, CPC ’08, Licensed Professional Counselor & Clinical Professional Counselor.

Experience the event on Thursday, February 22, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. ET.

To submit a question for the speakers before the event, please use this form.

Meet the Moderator: Dr. LaKesha Legree, M.D. '99

Dr. LaKesha Legree M.D. ’99, an accomplished general anesthesiologist, medical consultant, and expert witness, graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1999 as a Science Pre-Professional major.  She went on to attend medical school at the University of Iowa and completed her residency training in Anesthesiology at the Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York.  Dr. Legree is also the founder and CEO of Dr. Legree & Associates Medical Expert Services Firm.  Its focus is to assist/support attorneys in fields such as personal injury, medical malpractice, criminal defense, and other litigations to gain context of all medical data and information pertinent to their cases.  Additionally, her firm provides specialized expert opinions in the form of reports, depositions, and trial testimony.  As a health and wellness enthusiast, Dr. Legree often gives corporate talks and leads conference discussions about a  wide variety of health and wellness topics.  Her approach to teaching combines the dissemination of information with engaging dialogue so that all in attendance can walk away with a clarified understanding of medical conditions, pharmaceutical solutions, associated alternative methods, and the overall significance of self-care in achieving optimal health.  Dr. Legree has been featured in the Charlotte Post, the Huffington Post, Rolling Out Magazine, and katiecouric.com.  She has shared her expertise on media outlets such as the Black News Channel, WCCB Charlotte, WSOC Charlotte, WCNC Charlotte, AM Joy with Joy Reid on MSNBC, with Emmy Award-Winning Journalist Erika Bryant and with the US Black Chamber of Commerce.  Dr. Legree is also the proud mom of an 11-year-old daughter, Lael, and a 1-year-old French Bulldog fur baby, Sir Pickles.

Meet the Speaker: Kimmi Martin Troy '00 SMC

Kimmi Martin Troy ‘00 SMC of Granger, Indiana, is a certified Health and Wellness Coach, Fitness Instructor, and Wellness Workshop presenter, with over 15 years of experience. 

 Kimmi regularly leads Yoga workshops and classes for a variety of departments on campus as well as the Notre Dame Women’s and Men’s Basketball teams. She also partners with the University Counseling Center leading a Yoga For Healing program.

 A member of the NAACP, The Black Yoga Alliance and Saint Mary’s College Board of Trustees, Kimmi has collaborated with the City of South Bend, The South Bend Alumni Association, The Kelly Cares Foundation and other organizations that promote wellness. 

 She earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Saint Mary’s in 2000.

Meet the Speaker: Pat Parks '01

Prof. Pat Parks ’01 earned a graduate degree from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame.

Bringing a strong mix of intuition, emotional intelligence, and a studied approach to all Prof. Parks does, Pat has dedicated an entire career to building expertise in performance and executive coaching, leadership development, branding, creative consulting (Music and TV), multi-cultural and global team development, team building, performance management, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, profiling/assessment, general management, and functional benchmarking.

Prof. Parks has done production work/creative consulting for television networks: BET (UNCF: An Evening of Stars/segment production), NBC, as well as many other projects. Prof. Parks was tapped to host a TV pilot that aired on the CW Network and was shopped to the Game Show Network (GSN).  

In 2022, Prof. Parks developed a coaching program for up and coming BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ artists and artist managers attempting to gain greater impact in country music. This program was developed for the Equal Access Program in partnership with mTheory (an artist development, marketing, and strategy organization for artist managers) and Paramount (Country Music TV/CMT). 

Most recently, Prof. Parks brought the Wasserman Music Entertainment Accelerator to Howard University that featured classes with agents, tour managers, business managers, festival founders, promoters, music publishing executives, music label executives, and film & television production company leaders. Universal Music Group, William Morris Endeavor, United Talent Agency, Warner Music, Soundcloud, and a host of A-list organizations had facilitators in the Accelerator. JustBlaze and Pink Sweats were among the artists that participated in the program as well. This Accelerator has placed students in summer internships in LA, NYC, Chicago and Nashville to date.

Additionally, Prof. Parks was the Curriculum Specialist on Ulta Beauty’s inaugural MUSE Accelerator. The MUSE Accelerator supports BIPOC beauty brands as they prepare to launch and thrive in retail. It educates, inspires and support diverse leaders, founders and entrepreneurs with time, resources and mentorship for retail readiness. 

Prof. Parks also supports corporate clients, celebrities, as well as Public Relations and Marketing firms with brand strategy, brand development, archetyping, social media strategy, media pitching, media training, and market research. Prof. Parks supported a top speaker’s bureau with company strategy, technology advisement/consulting, and brand strategy and brand partnership strategy. The agency represents a roster of talent that includes Gabrielle Union, Angela Rye, Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Iyanla Vanzant, Bakari Sellers, Tina Lifford, Dr. Cornel West, Tamika Mallory, Hill Harper, and many other notable thought leaders in their respective fields. Pat presented “Hyperlocal to Global: How to build brand cultural relevancy & hegemony” at Social Media Week (SMWi)—an international Social Media conference. 

Prof. Parks has worked with many Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 companies as well as SMEs to include but not limited to Ulta Beauty, Diageo (Red Stripe, Ciroc, Guinness, Jose Cuervo, etc.), NBC Universal, Paramount (CMT), Campari, and the National Football Association (NFL). In terms of companies beyond the entertainment and lifestyle arena, Prof. Parks has worked across several organizations such as the Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Sagicor Group Jamaica, First Caribbean International Bank, Scotiabank, Chicago Stock Exchange, United States Department of Defense (Working Capital Fund), Rio Tinto, Brambles Ltd., Axel Johnson, Cadbury, British Airways, Tesco, American International School of Kingston, Astra Zeneca, and Merck among others. 

For Prof. Parks works primarily at senior levels with members of the executive committee, board chairs, chief executive officers, vice presidents and select high potential executives. Prof. Parks has also consulted to the staff and boards of nonprofits including the National Civil Rights Museum and the Memphis Grizzlies Foundation. Prof. Parks has supported various corporate teams in unpacking unhealthy dynamics and behaviors that stymie decision-making and problem-solving at the executive team and board level. Prof. Parks has worked and supported projects in Europe, North America, South America, Central America, Asia, India, and across the Caribbean.  
 
During Pat’s tenure as an Executive Coach and Senior Consultant at a business psychology firm headquartered in London, England, Prof. Parks grew the relationships and commercial strategy for Latin America and the Caribbean markets—leading to the opening of offices in São Paulo and Mexico City.   Prof. Parks has also worked for IBM Business Consulting Services (formerly PricewaterhouseCoopers/PwC) in the Strategy & Change practice area.  During George W. Bush’s Administration, Prof. Parks worked as a leadership analyst and profiler for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). At the CIA, Prof. Parks worked across several divisions in the Directorate of Intelligence including the Medical and Psychiatric Analysis Center (MPAC) and was also a member of the diversity council for the Directorate of Intelligence.  
 
Prof. Parks also created a talent management collective that teaches breakthrough to corporate executives and professional athletes across the globe. To this end, Prof. Parks utilizes conventional and non-conventional diagnostic assessments and experiential learning experiences to unleash breakthrough ideas, talents, and results for their clients. In many instances, Pat leverages relationships with world-class pro athletes to co-facilitate many of these experiential sessions. This approach heightens participant engagement and accelerates necessary behavioral changes for breakthrough results.

Prof. Parks is a co-founder of the Keepers of 306, an action initiative of the National Civil Rights Museum. Prof. Parks currently serves on the Harvard Black Alumni Society (HBAS) as the Alumni Relations Director. Prof. Parks also serves on the Black Alumni Board of Notre Dame (BAND) as the Student Relations Director. 

Prof. Parks teaches in the Arts Management, Production, and Administration area. Prof. Parks teaches several courses to include  Human Resource Management; Leading in a Changing Society; Intro to Finance Management; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging; and The Arts & Innovation.

Prof. Parks was recently selected as an Associate Review Editor for At the Cutting Edge. At the Cutting Edge is an international, peer-reviewed, digital journal that fosters research, vigorous discourse, and critical analysis through an African Diasporic cultural perspective. At the Cutting Edge publishes articles and manuscripts that disrupt the mundane, and introduces new thought, arts, theories, histories, frameworks, and novel interdisciplinary discussions.   

Prof. Parks is currently working on a book entitled Coming to the Stage: Becoming an MVP, Being an MVP, and Beginning Your Next MVP Journey. 

Meet the Speaker: Tiffani Tatum '01

Tiffani Tatum ’01 graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a Bachelor in History and Art History before receiving her Juris Doctor from Northwestern University. Tiffani possesses over 15 years education experience across the government, corporate and nonprofit sectors. She has developed strategies to improve student success at colleges and universities, implemented change management strategies, and has overseen education policy and funding across K12 and higher education. Tiffani looks forward to using her time on the Black Alumni of Notre Dame Board to expand access to the university to communities of color, increase enrollment of Black students, and deepen her involvement in the University.

Meet the Speaker: Wendy Whitsett MC, LPC, CPC '08

Wendy Whitsett MC, LPC, CPC ’08, majored in psychology and sociology while at the University of Notre Dame. During her involvement with the University’s Social Cognition Lab, she co-authored research at industry conferences. After graduation, she received a master’s degree in counseling and successfully operated a private practice. Her clinical experience focused on aiding teens, individuals with mental health challenges related to chronic illness, and individuals with Serious Mental Illness. Wendy has been a featured expert for various media outlets, such as Fox News and Reader’s Digest. Now in healthcare administration, she maintains clinical licensure. Wendy’s diverse experience in health insurance includes behavioral health content production, utilization management, quality, operations, and provider network contracting.

Additional Resources

For more information, please see the following additional resources:

• Current Notre Dame students can call the University Counseling Center Talkline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to reach a counselor at +1-574-631-TALK. The UCC Talkline is staffed by licensed counselors who can provide immediate assistance by phone regarding a variety of issues that require on-the-spot help or consultation, and can facilitate transition to regular UCC daytime services. For more information, please visit  https://ucc.nd.edu/counseling-services/24-7-talkline/
• Indiana Suicide Prevention
• The 988 Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals in the United States. Simply dial 988 from any phone or visit https://988lifeline.org/.
• Safe Reporting Guidelines for Media
• Resources for Your Well-Being from the McDonald Student Center for Well-Being at Notre Dame
• Therapy for Black Girls

*** If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide and seeking emotional support, there are crisis lines available via phone, chat, or text ***