The ‘Comings & Goings’ column chronicles important life changes of Blade readers.

The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected].

Samuel Brinton

Congratulations to Samuel Brinton, who recently founded Core Solutions Consulting to serve the national need for expertise on socio-technical translation on issues ranging from nuclear waste management to congressional outreach on advanced nuclear energy innovation policy. Along with his technical expertise on nuclear engineering issues and political connections in the energy policy field, Brinton will continue his state-level political work to end conversion therapy through the 50 Bills 50 States effort.

He recently served as a fellow at the Breakthrough Institute, Clean Air Task Force and at Third Way. He was also a senior policy analyst at the Bipartisan Policy Center. Brinton earned his dual master’s degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in nuclear engineering and the technology and policy program. He is a graduate of Kansas State University earning a bachelor’s in mechanical and nuclear engineering and a bachelor’s in vocal music performance, with a minor in Chinese language.

His activism included co-founding NuclearPride an LGBT organization in the nuclear field and creating the ‘Stand With Science’ campaign uniting 10,000 students and allies from across the country to advocate for federal science and engineering research funding.

Congratulations also to both Nakisha M. Lewis and Isaiah R. Wilson who have new positions on the staff of the National Black Justice Coalition. Lewis as director of programs and Institutional Development and Wilson as director of External Affairs.

Lewis is known as a thought leader in the field of philanthropy specializing in developing grant-making strategies addressing racial, gender and educational inequities. She worked extensively with individual donors and foundations to foster grant-making seeking to support, empower and strengthen marginalized communities, including in her most recent position as program officer and senior strategist for Safety at the Ms. Foundation for Women. She is co-creator of the Philanthropic Action for Racial Justice, an effort to organize black philanthropic practitioners around a shared vision for racial justice and investment in black communities centering on the needs and experiences of black women, youth and LGBTQ people.

She is a writer, speaker and lifelong community organizer most recently working to establish Black Lives Matter NYC. She is a co-founder of the #SheWoke Committee, the catalyst for the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls, established in 2016, and is the co-chair of Grantmakers for Girls of Color.

Wilson’s new position focuses on the public policy implications of critical issues for black LGBTQ and same-gender loving (SGL) people including: health and wellness; HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention; safe and inclusive schools; employment non-discrimination; relationship recognition; anti-violence; and economic justice.

He will lead the organization’s efforts to advocate for sound policy solutions empowering black LGBTQ/SGL people in the United States and play an integral role in the development of NBJC’s rapid response messaging strategy speaking to the diverse needs of its constituency at the intersection of racial justice and LGBTQ equality.

Prior to joining NBJC in January of 2014, Wilson spent five years working for former Rep. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.). There, Wilson worked on issues important to both working-class and marginalized communities. He was Rothman’s chief aide on the judiciary and LGBTQ issues drafting several pieces of legislation, including the original Juror Non-Discrimination Act, prohibiting attorneys from striking potential federal jurors on account of their sexual orientation or gender identity. He was as an officer of the Congressional Black Associates and member of the Congressional LGBT Staff Association.

Nakisha M. Lewis and Isaiah Wilson