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My personal mission is to promote equity and opportunity in health, education, and employment for all people through teaching, research, practice, advocacy, and service.
I am president of Southern Bancorp Community Partners, a CDFI loan fund and financial development organization promoting economic mobility in rural Arkansas and Mississippi. At Southern, we understand that wealth building isn’t just for the wealthy, so we provide the products, services, and support to help people reach their financial goals.
In 2013, I started a statewide grassroots organization promoting passage of the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act. The legislation was passed with no dissent in 2015. My 2015 TedX talk focused on this work. I am the author of the award winning blog, So What Can I Do, and serve on the boards of the Arkansas Access to Justice Commission, the Little Rock Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. I maintain an active interest in heir property retention, internet equity, and nontraditional access to education and speak frequently on these topics.
After a career in the basic biosciences, I transitioned to work that has a more immediate effect on human well-being. I speak frequently on family economic security, internet equity, and career development and have taught both online and in the classroom at Emory University, Loyola University Chicago, Shorter College, and the Arkansas School for Mathematics and Sciences.
After graduating from the historic Little Rock Central High School, I completed my undergraduate degree in biology at Swarthmore College and later earned a doctorate in genetics from Emory University and a master’s in bioethics and health policy from Loyola University Chicago. I also completed executive education in impact investing at the University of Oxford Said School of Business.
Access to my writing, musical compositions, and more is available here at www.karamaneal.com. ORCID ID orcid.org/0000-0002-0337-9963.