R2S Embraces New Black Leadership

Read to Succeed Asheville/Buncombe (R2S) is thrilled to welcome Ile Adaramola and Jaimee Stanley as the newest members of their leadership team.

Co-Executive Director Jaimee Stanley (left) and Board President Ile Adaramola (right)

Ile Adaramola, a prominent local Black lawyer and business owner of ​​Adaramola Law Firm in Asheville, NC, was elected as Read to Succeed’s Board President on Thursday, July 29, 2021, for a three-year term. Adaramola has been a longtime supporter of R2S and was initially recruited by R2S founder Isaac Coleman in 2015 to join the board. She additionally serves on the board of the Asheville City Schools Foundation.

“The maternal side of my ancestry established a powerful precedent of civil rights activism,” said Adaramola. “My great-grandfather paid poll taxes for Black Americans in his community to ensure their participation in voting. My grandmother organized a protest on her city’s mayor’s lawn during the 1950-1960 civil rights movement. It is a profound honor to be able to lead this organization and continue to develop partnerships within our community with leaders who seek to remove the barriers of equity in education.”

Jaimee Stanley joins R2S as a Co-Executive Director by way of Asheville City Schools (Claxton Elementary) after earning her Masters of Education in Educational Leadership from Florida Gulf Coast University and teaching first, second, and third grades. “I come from a long line of Black women educators; they taught me that reading was a gift and an opportunity to imagine a better future,” said Stanley. “I am excited to be the new Co-Executive Director at Read to Succeed, and I cannot wait to work with community partners to provide more literacy resources and support for children who have historically been pushed to the margins.”

Jess McLean transitioned from Interim Executive Director into the partnering role as Co-Executive Director with Stanley after a synergistic and collaborative summer working together putting on Summer Reading Carnivals for 250 families at the Edington Center and in the Hillcrest, Deaverview, and Woodridge Apartment Communities. McLean shares, “Jaimee has had an immediate impact on our organization, bringing her deep teaching expertise and her sparkling positive energy to everything she touches. We are excited to work together with a passionate visionary like Ile to support Black families with reading and move literacy forward in
Asheville.”

Read more about this exciting news in our press release here.