Naomi aims to reinvent her childhood “sustainable-square-mile” here in the Age of Climate Crisis.  She is the founder/President of Blacks In Green (BIG™), an urban theorist, attorney, activist, and proud granddaughter of Mississippi sharecroppers. Her heritage forms the foundation for BIG's course in Grannynomics™, The 8 Principles Green-Village-Building™ and The Sustainable Square Mile™ which Naomi authored and teaches nationally in lectures and workshops, and universities.  Naomi serves as a bridge and catalyst among communities and their stakeholders in the design and development of green, self-sustaining, mixed-income, walkable-villages within black neighborhoods – so that every household can ultimately walk-to-work, walk-to-shop, walk-to-learn, walk-to-play – and neighbor dollars can circulate locally to limit the greenhouse gases overheating our planet. She conveys the risks of global warming; the health/wealth opportunities of the new green economy; the power of neighbors to lead in their city’s enviro-economic policy and practice; and the primacy of land ownership.

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Naomi served on Governor-Elect Pritzker’s Transition Team - Powering Illinois’ Future, on Mayor Emanuel’s Transition Team for Energy, Environment, and Public Space, and was selected as a sustainability thought leader at Groupon’s First Annual Chicago Ideas Week.  She is a respected community advocate for equitable development in the communities surrounding the Obama Presidential Center and has lived and worked in West Woodlawn since 2010. She was born and raised in the walkable-village of St. Albans, NY; is a graduate of Woodmere Academy County Day School, Fisk University, and John Marshall/University of Illinois Law School.

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