Shakur is president of the Redstone Family Foundation, which fights racism and antisemitism through civics and cross-cultural education for children, youth, and families. The foundation—where Shakur works closely with her mentor, Shari Redstone (LAW’78,’81), chair of media behemoth Paramount Global—supports programs such as curriculum development, family events, and policy initiatives.

“It’s really just an opportunity to change hearts and minds and to build a new generation that understands tolerance, inclusion, diversity, acceptance, and belonging,” Shakur said about her work at the foundation on a recent episode of Proud to BU, the University’s official alumni podcast. “It’s wonderful to be able to provide resources for great nonprofits who are doing this work around combating racism and antisemitism and hate, and building cross-cultural understanding.”

Shakur, who grew up in Roxbury, Mass., was recognized as a 2022 Influential Leader by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business and BU’s Questrom School of Business. Prior to joining the Redstone Family Foundation, Shakur was chief executive officer for BUILD, a national program that helps students in struggling high schools become entrepreneurs.

Over her four-decade law career, Rubenfeld has been a tireless advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights. In 2015, she represented several plaintiffs in Obergefell v. Hodges, the US Supreme Court case that ruled that same-sex couples have the constitutional right to marry. The next year, she was honored with the Stonewall Award from the American Bar Association Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, which honors those who have made significant changes and who work to support LGBTQ causes and gender diversity in the legal profession.

Rubenfeld says she’s wanted to be a lawyer as far back as she can remember. “I was not inspired by any particular person, but rather, I think, by a sense of justice that my parents instilled in me and a deep awareness of discrimination and inequality,” she says. “I went to segregated schools until high school and was keenly aware of the effects of segregation and Jim Crow. My life experiences and the world around me growing up in the ’60s and ’70s influenced me significantly.”

Olson is the cofounder and CEO of Disclo, a software firm that helps human resource departments tackle the complex world of the Americans with Disabilities Act. In its three years of existence, the start-up has received $6.8 million from such major investors as Y Combinator, Bain Capital Ventures, and General Catalyst. The work is personal for Olson. After graduation, she began her career while undergoing intensive treatment for Lyme disease, which required self-administering IV antibiotics eight hours a day. She realized there was no easy or safe way to request accommodations on the job and set about to change that. Today, she is known globally for her disability advocacy.

“To make workspaces more inclusive, it’s key to encourage everyone to share their unique needs,” says Olson, who was named to the 2024 Forbes “30 Under 30” list and is a recent Proud to BU podcast guest. “Leaders play an important role in this—they should be open about their struggles and inspire their team to do the same. My hope is that the future of work is so inclusive that ‘disclosure’ doesn’t even have to be a thing we do.”

Jackson-Williams is the vice dean for medical education and a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine. She recently delivered BU’s second annual Rebecca Lee Crumpler Alumni Lecture, named in honor of Rebecca Lee Crumpler (CAMED 1864), the first Black woman to graduate from a US medical school.

In her talk earlier this month, Jackson-Williams discussed curriculum changes she made at the University of Mississippi to address critical problems, such as the lack of primary care physicians in the state. Mississippi is ranked toward the bottom nationally in the number of physicians per capita, and much of the state is rural and considered at least partially medically underserved. In 2020, Williams managed a federal grant that helped the university focus on educating primary care physicians for rural areas.

Jackson-Williams said that 75 percent of the students graduating from the six health science schools at the university now remain working in Mississippi, one of the highest rates of retention in the country. “People with the right skill set will always be our most limited resource,” she said.

Morgan is a financial services executive with more than 25 years of experience in the United States, London, and Bermuda. She is the external senior advisor to the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority (which supervises more than 1,500 financial institutions, including banks and insurance companies)—the first Black person to have this role, she says. She is also a member of the Boston University Alumni Council, which conveys alumni interests and con­cerns to the University.

This month, Morgan received two big honors from the city of London, where she lives: she was featured in the city’s International Women’s Day celebration and was given the Freedom of the City Award from the City of London Corporation. This award dates back to the 13th century and recognizes individuals who make outstanding contributions to London and public life.

“Throughout my diverse career in the US and internationally,” Morgan says, “I have and continue to inspire inclusion by using my influence and position to challenge stereotypes that exist in the professional spaces that I occupy and bring other women and underrepresented groups to the table with me.”