ABOUT
Our Mission
To create economic sustainability, promoting self sufficiency and improving quality of life.
OUR VISION
Through its impactful initiatives, IN HER SHOES strives to address the needs of low-income and low-access communities.
The organization's three key programs
HOUSING
FARM BUSINESS ENHANCEMENT
FOOD ACCESS
play a vital role in providing assistance and opportunities to those in need. By concentrating on these areas, IN HER SHOES, INC. is achieving significant progress in empowering individuals, families, and communities towards a brighter and more stable future.
Meet the Team
Board Members
Marquitrice Mangham
Marquitrice Mangham may have a full-time residence in the Atlanta metro area, but her heart is always close to her home in Tallahatchie County, Miss. The executive director of the nonprofit In Her Shoes, Inc., is often home running her family’s 150-acre farm and managing Farmacy Marketplace, a grocery store she opened in 2022 to fill the community’s need for grocery services. Like many Mississippi Delta residents, many in the small town of Webb, Miss. often had to drive more than 20 miles to purchase fresh fruits, vegetables and meats.
Mangham’s personal experiences and professional training have prepared her to serve under-served communities in Mississippi, Georgia and Alabama in meaningful ways. Mangham, an Army veteran, holds postgraduate degrees in public administration, urban planning and law. She has been a professional community planner for more than 20 years.
Dr. Elizabeth B. Myles
Dr. Elizabeth B. Myles is a proud native of Pattison, Mississippi, is the associate director of teh Mississippi Small Farm and Agribusiness Center in the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences at Alcorn State University. Myles is an adjunct instructor in the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences. She holds master’s degrees in education and science agriculture from Alcorn where she has also served as secretary, project manager/research associate and marketing specialist.
Email: V.Shonkwiler@uga.edu
Vanessa Shonkwiler
Vanessa P. Shonkwiler is an economist, market research specialist, and instructor specializing in small agribusiness economic development and marketing strategy analysis. She has been working 24 years in public institutions dedicated to agricultural research, extension, and instruction. Her areas of interest focus on direct-to-consumer marketing, eliciting consumer preferences and willingness to pay, assessing the potential economic benefits of specialty crops for Georgia farmers, assessing farms’ sustainability in a direct marketing context, and evaluating the impact of local food systems in Georgia. Through clientele need-based studies, she also provides critical insights benefiting agribusiness industry stakeholders at the state, national, and international levels to improve efficiency, profitability and a better understanding of the socio-economic characteristics of their market.
S. Watson Turnipseed, Esq
S. Watson Turnipseed, Esq. is from Sumner, Mississippi, located in Tallahatchie County.
Turnipseed graduated from the University of Mississippi with a B.A. in economics in 2017. Following a brief stint living in New York City, Turnipseed graduated from the University of Mississippi’s School of Law in December 2020.
Following Law School, Turnipseed passed the Mississippi and Louisiana Bar Exams in 2021. Shortly thereafter, Turnipseed opened his private practice with offices in New Orleans and Tallahatchie County. Watson serves as in-house counsel for In Her Shoes, Inc. He also provides heir property technical assistance to farm program participants.
When not practicing law, Turnipseed works the land on his grandfather’s farm, and pursues music professionally.
Benjamin Saulsberry
Benjamin Saulsberry is the Public Outreach and Engagement Director with the Emmitt Till Interpretative Center, Sumner, Mississippi. In addition to being a soulful gospel singer Ben is a speaker and educator on race relations in the Mississippi Delta and has spoken on race, racism, and racial reconciliation across the country including at Harvard Law and the University of Detroit at Mercy. He attended Mississippi Valley State University and the University of Mississippi for graduate work in music.
Monzella powell
Monzella Powell (Board member/Citizen representative) is native of Tallahatchie County currently residing in Webb Mississippi. He’s retired from farming and construction, but still very active in the community. In his spare time he loves carpentry, work and helping people in the community.
Linda Ross Aldy
Linda Ross is an author, former newspaper reporter and editor and television host as well as a former award-winning manager of a Fortune 500 company, Aldy has been named as one of Mississippi’s “50 Leading Businesswomen”. She is a former state agency director, having served as Executive Director of one of the largest state agencies at that time, and has worked for three Mississippi Governors. Aldy’s consulting work includes leadership development, strategic planning, succession planning, staff recruitment, team building, advocacy training and more for clients in the public, private, and non-profit worlds.
