Meet The Team

Salim is a consultant with One Step at a Time Consulting. He attended Morehouse College and is a retiree from the United State Postal Service. Salim's passion is people and doing equity, diversity, and inclusion work. When not working, Salim spends time investing and exploring financial investments. Salim Burgess is a native of Baltimore, Maryland. He lives with his wife Aleia and their four beautiful children.

With over a decade of experience, Cindy specializes in grant management, program design, and impact evaluation, serving as Principal Consultant at Banyai Evaluation & Consulting, LLC. Her work encompasses data visualization, qualitative analysis, and facilitation, with a robust background in foundation and nonprofit sectors. As an adjunct faculty member she teaches courses in Global Studies and American Government. Her expertise extends to community development, strategic planning, and evaluation, honed through roles such as Executive Director at Around the Clock Caring and Evaluation Specialist with JICA. Holding a Ph.D. in Asia Pacific Studies, her research focuses on participatory governance and rural development in Asia.

Christy Shi Day is a seasoned systems thinker, strategic consultant, and process facilitator. She builds capacity in groups for awareness of self and others, to increase alignment and coherence while fully embracing complexity and difference.  From two decades of internal and external consulting in process improvement, organizational development, community engagement, systems change, and strategic communication, Christy brings experience and insights across financial, higher education, information technology, local government, and non-profit sectors as well as from small businesses, individuals, and community groups. Christy lives in Morganton, NC with her husband John.

Dr. Carmen Huerta-Bapat holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill, a MA in Sociology from the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill, and a MA in Political Science from Rice University. Carmen is a faculty member in the Curriculum in Global Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill and recently started her own consulting firm "Borderless Equity". Dr. Huerta-Bapat draws on her social science training and lived experience as a Latina immigrant to help organizations design interventions that incorporate underrepresented racial and ethnic groups through actions grounded in mutual understanding and respect. 

She  has worked with non-profit organizations and educational institutions to provide services including program and organization design/redesign, theory of change, logic modeling, and strategic planning. KICS is led by Dr. Karen T. Jackson, Principal Researcher and Evaluator. Dr. Jackson has a B.S. in Chemistry (1994) an M.Ed. in mathematics and curriculum and instruction (2004) from The University of Southern Mississippi and a Ph.D. in educational research and policy analysis (2014) from North Carolina State University. Dr. Jackson resides in Greensboro, NC.

Dr. Jeffs works with healthcare professionals, C-suite executives, start-up founders, government officials and many others to optimize their day-to-day stress levels. Together, they aim to enhance their organizations’ capacity, connection, and productivity, ultimately enabling these individuals and organizations to maximize their performance. Dr. Jeffs lives and breathes the resiliency principles with which he supports his clients. When not working to better these communities, he can be found working on his own resiliency with his wife and two girls on the trails of North Carolina or training for his next endurance adventure.

Dr. Willie Jones is a leadership development and diversity, equity, and inclusion expert with over a decade of experience designing and delivering high impact and engaging learning solutions. Dr. Jones holds a Ph.D. in Leadership from North Carolina A&T State University, M.S in Adult Education from North Carolina A&T State University, and B.S in Education from North Carolina State University. His biggest accomplishment to date is his family he has built with his loving wife Tecara, their 2 children Arielle & Cairo and dog Kobe.

At One Step at a Time Consulting, Karen is committed to helping our clients discover their full potential and reach their goals. With almost two decades of experience in the government sector, she offers her expertise to help individuals and organizations grow and succeed.

She specialize in leadership, equity, inclusion and diversity. My goal is to bring out the best in our clients and help them move forward, one step at a time. She resides in NC with her husband Jeff and their children.

Shantel brings over 20 years of experience in education, having held various roles including classroom teacher, preschool director, and currently serving as a school counselor. She earned her master's degree in School Counseling from Liberty University in Maryland. Currently employed at an elementary school, she specializes in facilitating individual, small group, and whole class sessions to support students' social and emotional health. Shantel is an active member of the Virginia School Counselors Association (VSCA) and the American School Counselor Association (ASCA).

Joseph Pauley (JP) spent two decades building and leading high-performance teams. Most notably a design team whose products have been voted "Best of the Web" by Forbes magazine multiple times, and praised by the International Herald Tribune, Town & Country, and the The Wall Street Journal. His specialties include designing and facilitating retreats, leadership development, strategic planning, and developing organizational capacity. After graduating from West Virginia University, JP web designed and developed teams. Later he received a Masters in Organizational Psychology.

Dr. Barbara Pullen-Smith’s public health career has span 35 years. Her early career included community engagement and health advocacy work for the General Baptist State Convention of North Carolina and American Cancer Society. At the state level, she served in key positions during her 27 years in North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, including founding Director of the NC Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities, serving in that role for 19 years.

At One Step at a Time Consulting, our executive assistant, provides outstanding service and support to ensure that all tasks are completed efficiently and effectively. She resides in NC with her husband and their 3 children.

Dr. Pamela Palmer has served in various roles related to nonprofit management and leadership, and organizational, program, and community development. Dr. Palmer is President and CEO of Pamela Palmer & Associates LLC, a consulting firm dedicated to enhancing the capacity of nonprofits, to improve the delivery of services that help people overcome life challenges and benefit from opportunities. Her firm acknowledges the contribution nonprofits make in the marketplace and advocate for these organizations in North Carolina, the United States, and beyond. Dr. Palmer has a doctorate degree in Leadership Studies and a master’s degree in human resource counseling from North Carolina A&T State University, and she obtained an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Winston-Salem State University.