Born and raised in Baton Rouge, she left as an adult and never imagined returning home. She was working on the West Coast, preparing to take a job overseas, when the 2020 lockdown occurred, causing her to reconsider some of her plans.

“After I graduated from high school, I spent about a decade away from Louisiana,” She explained. “I attended Clark Atlanta University in Georgia, and then worked for about six or so years across California and the UK. The plan for 2020 was actually to move permanently to London, but I ended up back in Baton Rouge. And it’s been a blessing, but really a learning opportunity as well, because I had to essentially relearn the city.”

Danielle grew up in the Eden Park area of Baton Rouge in a multi-generational household with her mom and grandmother. She is a proud graduate of Baton Rouge Magnet High School and says that growing up in our city helped her navigate other opportunities. She says she experienced an unexpected sense of disconnection when she finally returned home.

“It was a bit of a culture shock. I think I had expectations of picking up relationships that I had from high school.  And people were just at different points and parts of their lives. I think as an adult, it is always difficult to make new friends; it’s harder to make friends now than when we were kids. So I give a lot of credit to CHANGEMAKERS for giving me that chance to not only grow my network but really make friendships.”

She credits the cohort trip to San Antonio as the moment that really jump-started her friend group. While learning and traveling together, she formed close relationships that she calls her family. Danielle says the group regularly gets together for dinner and has quickly become integrated into each other’s lives. 

Danielle was a member of our VI cohort of CHANGEMAKERS, which not only opened her eyes to the shifting educational landscape in the East Baton Rouge school district but also reintroduced her to the city she now calls home. 

“What I realized through opportunities like CHANGEMAKERS is that there wasn’t a lot that had changed. There wasn’t a lot of growth at scale when it comes to access to opportunity, and students really having a chance to become more productive contributors to community and society. For me, CHANGEMAKERS really exposed me to all the different types of learning models for students and families. It was really a moment of reflection on what my matriculation through the public school system looked like.”

For Danielle, becoming involved with the Alliance not only introduced 

her to like-minded people, but also helped educate her on the current state of local education and politics. 

“At the end of the day, I think it all comes back to education. So the Alliance really gave me a good foundation of how to view different campaigns and candidates. Seeing where they are putting their values and focus. Helping me make more informed decisions and become an advocate for a better city.”

Danielle Brown is a member of the Junior League of Baton Rouge and serves on the Marketing Council, Club Blue, Boys & Girls Club of Metro Louisiana, Forum225, Urban League of Louisiana, and the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, where she is the Local Public Policy Chair. Danielle is a graduate of Urban Leadership Development Metromorphosis Cohort 9 and Leadership Baton Rouge Class of 2025, a recipient of the Baton Rouge Business Report 40 Under Forty Award, and serves on the board of Nexus Louisiana, is a limited Partner at BAG Ventures, and an investor at BAG Collective.

Business leader, CHANGEMAKERS alumnus, education advocate, and family man, Coulter McMahen is proud to do his part in bettering our community and is motivating others to do the same.

Born and raised in Shreveport, Coulter first ventured to Baton Rouge to attend Louisiana State University, where he received his Bachelor’s degree. He briefly returned to Shreveport before earning his law degree from LSU in 2017 and has called Baton Rouge home since. He currently serves as the President and CEO of the Louisiana Automobile Dealers Association. He says that his role has reinforced the importance of having quality education options in our city. 

“So this position has given me a little bit of a different outlook,” he explains. “There are opportunities that high schools can be taking advantage of, like technician training within the schools. So when students graduate, they’re prepared to go into the private sector. What I’m trying to do is improve that workforce pipeline, because when you do that, you bring in businesses, ultimately improving Louisiana’s economy, and you keep your children and talent here. But when we talk about bringing in businesses to the city, one of the questions often asked is, ‘What’s your education look like?’ It’s important, when we’re out there recruiting companies, that we’re able to say, our education system is strong, because that’s a big factor in whether they consider our state.” 

When Coulter first became involved with the Alliance, he wasn’t a parent, but knew he planned on starting a family and wanted a starting point to navigate the school system. He says that his time and participation with CHANGEMAKERS helped him feel more equipped as a parent and community member, calling the experience “eye-opening.”   

“When I say I grew up in Shreveport, I grew up in the public school system. When you look at Shreveport/Bossier, the school system is very strong in that area. You don’t have as heavy a private school draw as you do here in Baton Rouge. So, being a CHANGEMAKER with the Baton Rouge Alliance for Students, I learned about the East Baton Rouge Parish School System and how it can be improved to provide better outcomes for all children in the parish. I think it’s important that if a parent elects to send a child to a public school, they are able to have that same great experience I had.”

Coulter encourages other business leaders to be involved in the education work happening in our city. “If we want to grow as a city, as a parish, then everybody has to be involved in the educational outcomes of our children. When I say be involved, not just monetarily, but do things like encourage your employees to participate in CHANGEMAKERS, and support the policymakers driving the change for our educational system. We will all benefit from the trickle-down effect when our students succeed.” 

Coulter is a member of several organizations outside of his career, including the Mary Bird Perkins Investor Collective Advisory Council, Red Stick Leaders for Students, and the Kappa Sigma Fraternity Star and Crescent Foundation.

Since moving to Baton Rouge in 2012, Monica has thrown herself into her community. From volunteering with community service organizations to participating in leadership cohorts like CHANGEMAKERS, she has always taken pride in identifying and addressing problems in the world around her. 

Born and raised in Corpus Christi, Texas, Monica says her passion for education started young, having a mother who was a school teacher. She credits her parents for instilling a drive to learn as much as the world can offer, which she has carried throughout her adulthood. Monica attended Rice University, in Houston for her undergraduate degree. This is where she first became involved in improving the lives of young people. 

“In college, I ran a mentoring program between a local elementary school called Wharton and Rice [university],” she explained. “It was so cool because the kids got to ride the bus beyond their neighborhood. We were teaching how to talk to adults, they’d have a little bingo card and go up and ask someone, what their major was, or what city they’re from, small things. And it was great because I also got to share some of my culture with them.”

After graduating from Rice University, she went to law school at the University of Michigan, then worked her way back down south to Baton Rouge. Through volunteering and work experiences, she became familiar with the team at The Alliance. She joined CHANGEMAKERS in 2020 and says going on the city visit was vital in her understanding of policy in the city. 

“We went to Indianapolis, and I’d say the greatest takeaways were about access to school options and empowering families to have choice. I would say the term choice has historically felt like it only meant charter schools. The way that Indy runs it, school choice equals empowering parents to understand what their options are and creating a more seamless system for access. I do think that the Alliance has impacted my ability to engage. I feel like they do a great job of capacity building, taking where you are and elevating that with skills, resources, information, and the why. The Alliance talks a lot about those issues that stuck with me, access and barriers to entry, and for parents being empowered. And I think that’s a really powerful message.” 

She recently served on the East Baton Rouge Parish Parent Advisory Council, organized by Superintendent LaMont Cole. She says the opportunity was a great way for her to expand her awareness about what was happening on her children’s campus and at the district level. 

Her message to people looking to improve our city, and especially education, is to put yourself out there.  “Just start, start anywhere. If it’s attending a meeting, or reading to students at a local school. Investing some of your time and effort into the world around us will help make it better.”

Monica is a member of several organizations and boards, including: Hispanic National Bar Association, serving as Deputy for Region XII, Baton Rouge Bar Association, Baton Rouge Bar Foundation, President, CHANGEMAKERS Alumni Board, Louisiana State Bar Association, Louisiana Bar Foundation, and past president of the Westdale Middle School Parent-Teacher Organization.

Rob is a graduate of Louisiana State University, a business leader, parent, and proud educational advocate. He strongly believes in the intersection of business and education to improve the outcomes for our students and that the introduction of different career options at an early age will help drive student interest in post-secondary education and training. 

“One of the very first times I felt like I made a connection in school was probably in fifth or sixth grade. We had  Junior Achievement come to our classroom,” he explained. “I think business and education should be intertwined and entangled as much as possible. There are many businesses that want to make an impact in schools and want to bring exposure. I think a key element that’s missing is kids are not getting exposed to actual, real world jobs, environments and industries at a young age. They’re just not exposed at an early enough age to industry professionals, to business owners, and business leaders that can share, ‘hey, this is what my job is.’”  

Rob first became aware of the Alliance after meeting our Chief Strategy Officer, Liz Smith, at a Leadership Baton Rouge program. He became intrigued about CHANGEMAKERS and wanted to learn more about the city’s education system. He applied and was selected for cohort III of the program and was blown away by the information and friendships he made being a CHANGEMAKER. His favorite parts of the program are the Data Deep Dive session and Education as A Civil Right. Learning more about the history of education in our city and state truly changed his perspective. 

He told us that his upbringing and his children having a quality education was a major driving factor in his desireto advocate. 

“Part of the reason why I’m so passionate about education is because I feel like I didn’t have a very great one growing up. Ensuring my kids have a school where not only the education is great, but the culture is as well, has been huge. There is more to learning than grades and tests and students deserve that. Nothing could have prepared me for what that kind of education actually looked like in person. It was nothing like what I had thought, and it exceeded all expectations. I say that because it’s also amazing to see what a good principal and good staff can do for families.”

He says his hope for families and students in Baton Rouge is for them to find a school that cares about the whole student. He also wants to see more opportunities for collaboration in business and education so other students can have their “ah-ha” moment like he did when junior achievement visited his classroom. 

In addition to supporting CHANGEMAKERS as an alumnus, Rob volunteers with Young Entrepreneurs Academy in Baton Rouge and is an American Academy of Entrepreneurs Mentor. To learn more about his company visit https://itinspired.com/

Dejunne’ has dedicated her career to understanding and improving education across the state. She holds three master’s degrees in Teaching, Counseling and Guidance, as well as a MEd in Dyslexia Therapy. At the core of all her work is a belief in the power of community, in the talents of students, and her hope to aid them in their journey. 

“I feel like the work I do is a piece of the pie,” She explains. “That’s what community is about. It’s not about the one solution to the one problem. There are multiple solutions to one problem, and education is one of those highly multifaceted, solution oriented problem solving areas. I’m trying to solve the problem of literacy but I can’t do that without students being there. So then I’m touching truancy, and I can’t do that if they’re not healthy, so I’m touching wellness and mental health. And so there’s just so many opportunities to bring together the layered challenges of a community that we all can contribute to finding solutions for.” 

As a Louisiana native but Baton Rouge transplant she thanks the Alliance for creating a space to access resources and be engaged in education. As a former teacher she came into the advocacy field with a different perspective than others but says her time with the Alliance as a CHANGEMAKERS and partner helped her make informed decisions as a parent and become deeply involved in the advocacy for other students and families. 

“I was able to learn so much from the Alliance about the landscape of Baton Rouge and the history of Baton Rouge that I was not privy to because I didn’t grow up here. That helped me as a parent understand how I make choices for my kids. My oldest son was the catalyst to a lot of the switching from just involvement to engagement to real deep, intimate advocacy and work.  It started from needing to find services for him. Additionally in my work, they helped me understand where we could put our resources into, what areas we should focus on, and the ‘whys’ behind some of the challenges that we were running into with providing services across the parish.”

Her message to our city is that we should utilize the power of parent engagement as a tool for student success. She urges schools and organizations to directly engage with parents and guardians. “This is highly impactful and needed in Baton Rouge, that is the power of parent engagement. Intentional, strategic, parent engagement and communication. And I think that’s an area that is underestimated here. Now I understand that there are lots of opportunities to engage the community, and parents are part of the community right? Community roundtables, town hall meetings, etc, but utilizing parent engagement at the school level can alleviate some of the burden at the district level.”

DeJunne’s current leadership includes serving as President of The Reading League Louisiana and state leader of Decoding Dyslexia Louisiana. She serves on many boards including: Louisiana Literacy Advisory Commission, Special Education Advisory Panel, Early Childhood Care and Education Commission, and BRCC Program for Successful Employment. DeJunne’ has the honor of being selected to the Louisiana Department of Education’s Dyslexia Bulletin 1903 Workgroup, and is the co-author of The Speech Language Pathologist’s Guide to Dyslexia.

Justin is a proud Baton Rouge native and has always had a desire to improve his community since he was young. He considers himself fortunate to have attended a private school on scholarship growing up but didn’t realize how different his education experience was compared to his friends from around the city. 

“I attended Christian Life Academy and had a really good educational experience there,” he explained. “Getting involved with the Alliance was a moment where I realized that I kind of had an education experience that was in a bubble. Going to private school is much different than everything else. I did have a lot of friends in the public school system, and even the charter school system, which gave me a broad perspective. But tapping into the Baton Rouge Alliance for Students really is what helped me get true understanding of what the education landscape in Baton Rouge looked like, and how novel my experience was.”  

Wanting to leave his “bubble” Justin applied and was selected to be a member of the CHANGEMAKERS VI cohort. He recalls his time in the CHANGEMAKERS class as an opportunity to expand his knowledge of the education system and to build lasting relationships. 

“CHANGEMAKERS is one of those programs you could tap into and really broaden your awareness and understanding of what education truly looks like in our city. Because it’s easy to say, ‘Oh, yeah, we need education to be better. We need to serve our kids better’. But if you have no understanding of what the ecosystem looks like, then you actually tangibly cannot impact change. You can’t make it happen if you don’t have an understanding of it. I think CHANGEMAKERS was the perfect onboarding vehicle for gaining an understanding of our education landscape and then knowing the areas I can put my effort into to make an impact that our community can feel.”

His hope for our community is that we can continue to serve students well “ I think that sometimes we lose sight. Me as a civilian, as somebody in the community, I only care about one thing, and that is serving our students well. I can care less about what form it comes in, whether it is charter, public, private, whatever it may be. My only commitment, the only thing I care about and want to hold our leaders to, is, can you adequately state and actually show proof points of how you’re serving our students well?” 

As Justin reflected on his experience navigating the education system as a student and now visiting the options that exist as a parent, he encouraged students to take control of their narrative and create the story they want. “I would love for students to understand the importance of where they’re at and every single day showing up to school, what it does for them. You may not know it, but while you’re a student, you’re literally writing your story with a wet pen.”

Justin serves on the advisory board for Power Pump Girls and was recently honored in 225 Magazine’s 20 in their 20s edition.

She is a graduate of Louisiana State University where she received her doctorate in Musical Arts and non-profit management. Sinella was born and raised in Tehran, Iran and migrated to the United States when she was 18. She moved to Baton Rouge in 2016 when she began her doctoral studies at LSU and has since made it home. She is deeply committed to the Baton Rouge community and specifically the children of our city. 

“Education has always been my thing, especially arts education,” she explained. “All the roles that I have had expanded on providing those programs, whether it’s with after school organizations or music and arts programs, and in my current role now. A very big part of my goals for our immediate future is to expand our educational offerings for K-12 students in the area.”

Already having a hunger for educational advocacy, Sinella was excited when she first heard about the CHANGEMAKERS program. Being relatively new to the area, she sought ways to get involved in the community and help implement the change she knew was needed and possible for our city. In 2021, she was selected for Cohort IV of the program and recalls her favorite moment in the program as the City Visit to Atlanta. 

“What I gained the most out of the CHANGEMAKERS program is that it just gave me another lens, another depth of understanding of how to prioritize the students, the schools, and to ensure the services we provide to students are equitable. I think another aspect of that is better understanding of policy and how to follow it.”

Sinella says that since her involvement in the program she tries to attend as many school board meetings as possible, whether virtually or in person.

She says that her biggest hope for the students in our city is having equitable access to anything that can help them be successful long term. “Education is definitely the first stepping stone in the livelihood of a person. When we think about K-12 education, some people think about students as kids, but I think of them as the people that I will be working with in a decade. So how are they going to be affecting my community and the institutions that I interact with everyday?” 

In her strive to continue the conversation about educational access in the city, she encourages more people to become involved in these discussions even if they aren’t parents. 

Sinella serves on several boards including: Louisiana America 250, Dream Teachers, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Foundation, and Leadership Baton Rouge Alumni. She is a 2025 Panelist at Business Report’s Women’s Leadership Symposium and currently a member of the Louisiana Tourism Leadership Academy 2025.

If you are interested in learning more about Dr Sinella Aghasi follow her on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/aghasimoshabadsinella/