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Title graphic for the 2023 Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Advancement Summit with a background of the Purdue University campus

Speakers

Opening Session

Jody Sunna

(LA’01)

Vice President for Corporate Communications // Philip Morris International

Sunna spent nearly two decades guiding and shaping brands and supporting their corporate, cause, and communications efforts before she shifted to working on the client side. She was named among PRWeek’s 40 Under 40 and received PRNews’s People of the Year Award for three consecutive years. Sunna’s presentation is called “Gaining a Seat at the Table: How to Harness Your Influence.”
Shanita Starks

(M’96)

CEO // Stark Truth

Starks is a servant leader who has worked in various leadership roles throughout her career. The first CEO in her family, she is inspired to influence change in the world and make it a better place, which aligns with her motto “The stark truth will set you free.” Starks’s presentation is called “Get Anchored: Saying Yes to Yourself.”
Karil Sommers

(LA’10, MS T’17)

Senior Business Manager // Business Office for Student Organizations // Purdue University

Sommers began working at Purdue in 2004 and completed her degrees while working. She has a registered yoga teacher 200 certification as well as certifications in chair yoga and yoga nidra. She teaches yoga classes online and throughout the community. Sommers’s presentation is called “Restore With Yoga Nidra,” and she will lead a morning mindfulness session.
Cassandra Salazar

(LA’17)

Community and Staff Engagement Administrator // Purdue Extension

Salazar was named a woman of distinction by the YWCA Greater Lafayette and has won three professional awards—Greater Lafayette Commerce’s Top 10 Under 40, Indiana Latino Expo’s Young Professional, and Indiana Latino Institute’s Rising Latino in Their 20s. She serves as the 4th Congressional District’s representative for Indiana’s Latino Legislative Committee. She also volunteers as the copresident of the Purdue Latino Alumni Network and as a mentor for Women Who Create and Latinas in Tech. Salazar’s presentation is called “Shaping the Future: Latina Women as Change Agents.”
Janessa Rhoades

(MS LA’20)

Owner and Small-Business Marketing and Operations Consultant // J Rhoades Consulting

Rhoades helps small-business owners systemize their marketing and operations systems to increase revenue and build businesses that will sell for a fortune. She is passionate about empowering women to design and live their dream lives by understanding their professional worth and not compromising their personal goals. Rhoades’s presentation is called “Taming the Burnout Beast: Seven Strategies to Catapult Professional and Personal Success.”

Additional Speakers

Jody Sunna

(LA’01)

Vice President for Corporate Communications // Philip Morris International

Sunna spent nearly two decades guiding and shaping brands and supporting their corporate, cause, and communications efforts before she shifted to working on the client side. She was named among PRWeek’s 40 Under 40 and received PRNews’s People of the Year Award for three consecutive years. Sunna’s presentation is called “Gaining a Seat at the Table: How to Harness Your Influence.”
Shanita Starks

(M’96)

CEO // Stark Truth

Starks is a servant leader who has worked in various leadership roles throughout her career. The first CEO in her family, she is inspired to influence change in the world and make it a better place, which aligns with her motto “The stark truth will set you free.” Starks’s presentation is called “Get Anchored: Saying Yes to Yourself.”
Karil Sommers

(LA’10, MS T’17)

Senior Business Manager // Business Office for Student Organizations // Purdue University

Sommers began working at Purdue in 2004 and completed her degrees while working. She has a registered yoga teacher 200 certification as well as certifications in chair yoga and yoga nidra. She teaches yoga classes online and throughout the community. Sommers’s presentation is called “Restore With Yoga Nidra,” and she will lead a morning mindfulness session.
Cassandra Salazar

(LA’17)

Community and Staff Engagement Administrator // Purdue Extension

Salazar was named a woman of distinction by the YWCA Greater Lafayette and has won three professional awards—Greater Lafayette Commerce’s Top 10 Under 40, Indiana Latino Expo’s Young Professional, and Indiana Latino Institute’s Rising Latino in Their 20s. She serves as the 4th Congressional District’s representative for Indiana’s Latino Legislative Committee. She also volunteers as the copresident of the Purdue Latino Alumni Network and as a mentor for Women Who Create and Latinas in Tech. Salazar’s presentation is called “Shaping the Future: Latina Women as Change Agents.”
Janessa Rhoades

(MS LA’20)

Owner and Small-Business Marketing and Operations Consultant // J Rhoades Consulting

Rhoades helps small-business owners systemize their marketing and operations systems to increase revenue and build businesses that will sell for a fortune. She is passionate about empowering women to design and live their dream lives by understanding their professional worth and not compromising their personal goals. Rhoades’s presentation is called “Taming the Burnout Beast: Seven Strategies to Catapult Professional and Personal Success.”
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President’s Council

John Purdue Club

Patsy J. Mellott

BS College of Health and Human Sciences, 1969
Fishers, IN

Patsy earned a bachelor’s degree in food and nutrition in business from Purdue in 1969, in addition to an MBA in food marketing from Michigan State University in 1970. She retired from Kraft Foods in 2006 after 36 years in corporate food marketing and marketing communications management.

A community volunteer, Patsy serves on the Women’s Fund of Central Indiana Advisory Board and the Purdue College of Health and Human Sciences Dean’s Leadership Council, in addition to the President’s Council Advisory Board. She is a former member of the Health and Human Sciences Alumni Board. Patsy held several offices from 2006 through 2013, including president and treasurer. She serves her community’s Discover Indianapolis Club in Fishers, holding several leadership roles for over 10 years.

Patsy has received several honors, including the Purdue University Nutrition Science Department Hall of Fame recipient in 2009 and the Purdue University College of Health and Human Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award in 2016. She also received the college’s Gold and Black Award in 2016, an honor reserved for donors who have moved the college forward by committing exceptional financial resources.

In addition to endowing two scholarships, the Patsy J. Mellott Scholarship and Patsy J. Mellott HHS Scholarship, she established the Patsy J. Mellott Teaching Innovation Award in the College of Health and Human Sciences in 2013. In 2015, she endowed the Patsy J. Mellott Women’s Tennis Coach Performance Award. She is a lead donor in the Christine M. Ladisch Faculty Leadership Award and the Purdue Women’s Network Virginia C. Meredith Scholarship for the College of Health and Human Sciences.