The Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville (ABC) is pleased to welcome six new board members to its board of directors. The new directors are Cara Greene, Tré Hardin, Jined Lamata Holladay, Emmanuel LeGrair, Marcia Masulla, and Tracy Denean Sharpley-Whiting. Each will serve a three-year term which will begin November 1, 2022.
In addition to electing new board members, the Arts & Business Council also named new officers for 2022-2023. Thor Urness, of Bradley Arant Bolt Cummings, is the 2022-2023 board chair, and Kirsten Jacobson, of Asurion, is vice chair.
Jacob Tudor is this year’s Young Leader Council (YLC) board intern.
The Arts & Business Council fills an important and unique niche in Nashville’s cultural community as the first and only private sector organization of its kind dedicated to providing resources and support to help organizations and creatives of all artistic disciplines at all career stages. The full list of the Arts & Business Council board of directors can be found here.
LEARN MORE ABOUT ABC’S NEWEST BOARD MEMBERS:
CARA GREENE, Dryden Architecture and Design
Cara Greene, native Nashvillian, is the Director of Operations at Dryden Architecture and Design. She returned to Nashville four years ago after directing the boutique architecture firm SO-IL in Brooklyn, NY. A lifelong artist, she works in many mediums including ceramics, plaster and stained glass. She is a graduate of the Arts & Business Council’s Arts Board Matching Program and a member of ULI Nashville where she sits on the Civic Leadership committee. She was a Nashville Metro Arts Thrive Panelist in 2021 and has held many volunteer positions with New York based arts nonprofits such as The Creative Center, The Beat Within, and Materials for the Arts.
TRÉ HARDIN, Don Hardin Group
Tré Hardin currently serves as Business Development Manager at Don Hardin Group, a Nashville-based construction management firm. Tré previously served as a public art project manager with Metro Nashville Arts Commission for five years and helped bring various public art projects to fruition in the Nashville community. Notable projects include permanent public art installations at Smith Springs Community Center and the Nashville Farmers’ Market. As a native of Nashville, Tré aspires to seek out the synergy between the city’s construction-heavy development and the constantly evolving and growing creative community. Creating spaces for local artists and designers to be involved in development conversations and processes is more important than ever, and Tré serves as a connecting link and thought partner in these spaces. An alumnus of Howard University, Tré studied International Business and received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 2016. Tré is a Nashville Soccer Club season ticket holder and often spends time playing in recreational leagues and keeping up with various European cups and competitions. With a strong desire to travel, Tré loves to experience new cultures, especially through art, film photography, and music.
JINED LAMATA HOLLADAY, Holladay Ventures
Jined Lamata Holladay is the Co-Founder and Chief Operations Officer at Holladay Ventures, a real estate development company specializing in creating and investing in affordable and mixed-income communities. The company’s mission is to create quality housing opportunities and empower the residents to realize their full potential. Jined is passionate about affordable housing, community empowerment, entrepreneurship, art, and personal development. In addition to her years of experience in business, leadership, management, and marketing, Jined is a trained Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with the International Coach Federation and has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a focus on Communications from Florida International University. She began her career in marketing by working for the top Spanish-speaking television network, Univision Inc. where she led the marketing team for the company’s Community Empowerment Initiatives.
EMMANUEL LEGRAIR, R.H. Boyd
A native of Akron, Ohio, Emmanuel has been a Nashville resident for 9 years since receiving his M.Ed. from Vanderbilt University in Leadership and Organizational Performance. He currently works in marketing and community engagement at R.H. Boyd but also is a stylist, singer, and creates experiences for the menswear community here in Nashville via his business The Commonwealth. He currently serves as a member of the Warhol Society Board of the Frist, is a member of the board of directors for the Kindling Arts Festival, and recently started a charitable arts foundation with his brothers. As a former teacher, nonprofit leader, and consultant, Emmanuel has witnessed first-hand the effect that the arts have on a community and how much strength and color it can bring to it.
MARCIA MASULLA, Nashville Fashion Week / Roar Nashville
Marcia Masulla moved to Nashville in 2008 and went on to build Nashville organizations such as Nashville Fashion Week, where she is a co-founder and managing partner, and founder of the Tiny But Mighty Fund, a nonprofit that raises funds and awareness for animal welfare and rescue. In addition to serving as a mentor for Vanderbilt University’s Wond’ry innovation and entrepreneurship program, she also served on the board of the Belcourt Theatre for 6 years and was the Fundraising and Community Engagement Chairperson for Tennessee Action For Hospitality. Marcia was appointed to the YWCA Board of Directors in 2022 and also serves on the Community Benefits Agreement Board for Major League Soccer – Nashville Soccer Club. Masulla has been recognized by Nashville Business Journal as part of their Women of Influence 2021 and 40 Under 40 class of 2015, Arts & Entertainment winner at the 2015 Nashville Emerging Leaders Awards, one of Nashville Lifestyles’ 25 Most Beautiful People of 2013, honored with the Julia Colton Animal Welfare Award by Nashville Humane Association, inducted into the Tennessee State Museum Costume & Textile Institute, and is a 2018 alum of Leadership Nashville program where she served as a member of the Alumni Association Board. Masulla launched her own Communications, Strategy, and Creative Agency, Roar Nashville in 2017.
TRACY D. SHARPLEY-WHITING, Vanderbilt University
T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting is the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Vanderbilt University where she directs the Callie House Research Center for the Study of Global Black Cultures and Politics and serves as Vice Provost for Arts and Libraries. She is author/editor of 15 books and three novels, the latest of which include the L’Harmattan French edition, La Vénus hottentote: écrits, 1810 à 1814, suivi des textes inédits; the co-edited Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism (2018) and Sexualités, identité & corps colonisés: XVe siècle – XXIe siècle (2019), and Bricktop’s Paris: African American Women Expatriates in Jazz-Age Paris and The Autobiography of Ada Bricktop Smith, or Miss Baker Regrets, a 2015 American Library in Paris Book Award Long List nominee and Choice Outstanding Academic Title of 2015. Her Emily Toth award-winning Pimps Up, Ho’s Down: Hip Hop’s Hold on Young Black Women was also recognized by Ebony magazine as an April 2007 top non-fiction book. It has been reviewed in Ms. Magazine, The Source, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Washington Post. Sharpley-Whiting testified before the 110th Congress in 2007 on “Degrading Images of Women” in the Media and Popular Culture in the wake of the Don Imus controversy. She lectures widely in the United States and abroad and has offered commentary on a range of issues for Fox News, MSNBC, NPR, C-SPAN2, CBS News, and Oprah Satellite Radio. She was the 2006 winner of the Horace Mann Medal for Distinguished Graduate School Alumni from Brown University.
About the Arts & Business Council
The Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that leverages and unites the unique resources of the arts and business communities to create a thriving, sustainable creative culture in Nashville. We accomplish this through programs including Volunteer Lawyers & Professionals for the Arts, Periscope: Artist Entrepreneur Training, Creative Advantage, Fiscal Sponsorship, Education for the Creative Community, Creative Exchange and Arts Board Matching, among many other resources and opportunities.