CEO Smith Baker

Chanda Smith Baker has spent her 25-plus year career at the intersection of philanthropy, business, government and community. An experienced CEO nationally renowned for her power and poise in leadership, Chanda has proven success leading complex organizations, recognizing and nurturing talent, and engaging and activating audiences toward racial equity and a broadened social impact. Smith Baker brings both her executive leadership experience in philanthropy and the credibility of a life and career spent advancing equity to Conversations with Chanda. Her interview style, rooted in her natural curiosity, love of reading and a deep knowledge of community issues, has struck a chord both locally and nationally.

Chanda is the Founder and CEO of Smith Baker, LLC, Co-Founder in Residence with The Black Collective Foundation, serves on The Board of Directors of several high impact organizations and a Co-Curator of Portraits of Us: A Book of Essays Centering Black Women Leading Philanthropy.

Dr. Barbara Peterson began her journey of understanding the psychological effects of trauma while in her Masters in Psychiatric Nursing program at the University of Minnesota. She then practiced as a Psychiatric-mental health Clinical Nurse Specialist for 20 years, working with children and families who were dealing with effects of trauma. She is a board-certified child and adolescent Clinical Nurse Specialist and her clinical focus has been in the area of mental health in children and adolescents, effects of trauma exposure, and mental health support for immigrant and refugee families. Barb continued her studies about trauma exposure in children and adolescents while completing her PhD in Nursing through Wayne State University in 2011.

Now Barb works as a Clinical Professor and specialty program director of the University of Minnesota Psychiatric-Mental Health Doctor of Nursing Practice program preparing the next generation of psychiatric nurse practitioners. She is the President of the International Society of Psychiatric Mental Health Nurses with a special interest in global mental health.

Barb’s insights come through her personal journey of trauma experiences coupled with her mental health knowledge and trauma-focused research, all leading her to have deep understanding about trauma, post-trauma recovery and meaning-making.

Barb and her wife, Melissa, are both long-time Minnesotans and love all that the twin cities have to offer. She loves time on any of our Minnesota lakes, traveling, listening to music, reading, hiking, and spending family time her five kids who live in MN and across the country.

Marie Rickmyer is from St. Paul, MN, though she was born in Northern California and lived there until she was nine. When her mother divorced her father, they left the sea and golden hills that framed her life and came to Minnesota to be closer to her mother’s siblings. Marie works in health care as a Clinical Consultant for Oncology. Her work is an intersection between her passion of helping others and finding creative solutions to solve problems.

She completed her M.F.A. in Creative Writing in 1999 from Hamline University and moved up to St. Joseph, MN to teach English and direct the Writing Lab at the College of St. Benedict. While the position lasted only a year, she realized that one of her talents was teaching. She moved back to St. Paul to teach at a private school called Trinity School at River Ridge. Here she taught English, Theology, Art History, and Spanish. 

When the opportunity arose to work in the professional world, she took advantage of the ability to travel, and launch her own business as a chef and caterer to help heal and teach others how to cook life-sustaining food. Her creativity expands from the kitchen, to  writing, and helping others live healthier lives with her work at a major healthcare company. She recently published a cookbook titled "Mexican Cooking on a Budget."