Menokin Descendant Collective Spotlight: Salama Shani Saunders

Our Descendant spotlight for the month of April is on Salama Shani Saunders, great‐great‐granddaughter of Daniel West Gordon and third great granddaughter to Amanda Beverly and Stafford Gordon.  

Shani is passionate about serving the community and lives by the motto, “Representation matters.” Amazingly, for 30 years, she has worked in law firms and the corporate world, having only earned a high school diploma.  

Shani has served on numerous boards in the private and public sectors, worked for a former U.S. Ambassador, established her own bakery and catering business, mentored teenage girls to develop workplace skills, and led corporate initiatives that enhanced employee engagement and gave back to underserved communities.

With renewed vigor, she returned to college and recently graduated summa cum laude from @rutgersnb School of Management and Labor Relations with concentrations in Diversity in the Workplace, Law and the Workplace, and Workplace Organization and Management. She also holds a Specialization in Culture-Driven Team Building from @uofpenn on Coursera, a Certification in Understanding Diversity and Inclusion from @lifeatpurdue on Future Learn, and a Certification in Diversity in the Workplace from @rutgersnb. 

Shani has recently been accepted into the Penn Carey Law School and the School of Social Policy & Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. This fall, she plans to pursue dual master’s degrees in Law and in Nonprofit Leadership. Shani hopes these programs will help her develop her voice to be an impactful leader and changemaker for Black women and girls facing seemingly insurmountable personal and systemic barriers. Her goal is to continue to lead by example so that underrepresentation ends, and the expectation is that everyone will have a seat at the table. 

Understanding her family’s lineage at Menokin is personal for Shani because it deeply aligns with her belief in making sure those who are unseen are seen. She says, “Our history is American history, and we are still here not to hide from our past but to serve as living testimonies of our ancestors’ strength, bravery, intelligence, and dignity.”