Kings and Queens Love is about inspiring love into the new generation and helping our present and past generations heal from love trauma. Kings and Queens Love will help single individuals find and rediscover love within themselves, encouraging them to love again, and will also empower those in relationships to share their love stories and explain what makes love special to them.

The Women's Celebration panel will feature panelists who are making extraordinary moves in their industry. This conversation will be centered on women's impact in today's society and celebrate their achievements.

Christopher “Ace” Pearson - Founder + Host

Expertise: Community Connoisseur… Bridging the Love Gap

Pillars: Love, Fitness, Healing and Success

Positivity starts with quotes

Business Women Celebration Panel:

Naeema Thompson - Vice President, Arts, Culture & Global Experiential at CitiCarmen Jones - Senior Experiential Director for ESSENCE Tanisha Pinkins - Associate Attorney Marvellous Iheukwumere - Corporate Law AssociateAisha Quinones - Athlete Agent, Founder of Bequiñone Sports Agency & Senior Editor at CBS Amissa Pitter - Content Strategist and Wellness EnthusiastCynthia Gitonga - Founder/Owner of PUSH Sea Moss WaterBrooke Howard - Reporter/Social Justice Loudmouth

Naeema Thompson is Vice President, Arts, Culture & Global Experiential at Citi. As part of the Global Marketing Team, she manages sponsorships with fine arts and museum partners to create unique events and maximize brand presence for Citi. Additionally, she executes sponsorship activations while working with internal partners and stakeholders to enhance the experience for Citi clients.

Before joining Citi. Naeema held roles in Event Marketing at J.P. Morgan, and Grassroots Events at the NBA. Naeema started her career in the Special Events department at Major League Baseball, where she coordinated logistics and operations for MLB events including the All-Star Game, World Series, and the World Baseball Classic.

Naeema earned her B.A. in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania. She is an avid sports fan and enjoys traveling. She serves as Secretary to the board of the NYC Metro Chapter of WISE (Women in Sports and Events), and is also the Programs Committee Chair for the AthLife Foundation.

Carmen Jones serves as Senior Experiential Director for ESSENCE Communications, Inc., which is the number one media, technology and commerce company dedicated to Black women. In this role, she leads the Experiential division inclusive of strategic planning, development and execution of the brand’s most notable live+virtual event franchises, including the ESSENCE Festival of Culture, Black Women in Hollywood, ESSENCE Beauty Carnival, ESSENCE Fashion House and the ESSENCE Entrepreneurial Summit. Her exemplary leadership efforts have garnered awards and recognition from prominent industry press outlets as BizBash, Forbes, CBS News, Event Marketer and more.

Jones joined ESSENCE in 2018, with more than 20 years of experience cultivating successful brand marketing and event strategies. Throughout her career, she has had a strong track record of creating programs that have driven brand awareness, market growth and revenue for a variety of prominent brands including Volkswagen, Moet Hennessy, Lowe’s and Panasonic. Her portfolio has been featured at high-profile events such as NBA All-Star Weekend, NASCAR, the Super Bowl, Kentucky Derby, Solar Power International and the Mobile World Congress. She also developed the Kenny Smith Hurricane Katrina Relief Weekend in New Orleans in response to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

Jones received both her Bachelor of Arts and Master of International Management degrees from the University of Maryland. She resides in Harlem, New York.

Tanisha Pinkins counsels professional athletes in the NBA, NFL, Grammy award winning entertainers, business entities and individuals in the music, sports, film, television, and private equity industries.

Tanisha's corporate experience includes helping clients with a variety of transactional matters, including all aspects of entity formation, multi-million and billion dollar merger and acquisition transactions, the protection of intellectual property, corporate formation and governance mergers and acquisitions.

Tanisha has extensive experience drafting offering documents, reviewing contracts and related agreements.

Marvellous Iheukwumere is a Corporate Law Associate at a global law firm based in New York City. She provides legal and business advice to Fortune 500 companies and individuals across tech, media, and sports/entertainment industries. She is also a versatile legal scholar with experience at international law firms, professional sports leagues (NBA, WNBA, and MLS), NFTs and tech start-ups, and government agencies across the U.S., Europe, Ghana, and Nigeria.

Marvellous graduated from Harvard Law School as a 2021 Class Marshal. At Harvard, she also led multiple student organizations, was a negotiations teaching fellow, served as an editor/online chair for the Journal of Sports & Entertainment Law, and was an SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) Honors Legal Extern. Before law school, she graduated from Columbia University, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. In college, she was also a track and field student-athlete and finished her collegiate career as an 8-time Ivy League Champion, NCAA Woman of the Year, and school record-holder in the 100 meter dash. After graduation, Marvellous worked for the NBA where she assisted in managing the league’s global compliance and legal affairs. Outside of her role at the NBA, she was also a professional track athlete and finished her 2016 season as a Nigerian Olympic Trials Finalist.

Originally from Aba, Nigeria and Austin, TX, Marvellous enjoys all things at the intersection of sports, tech, culture, and social impact. She loves mentoring and giving back to her communities. She is currently a board member for We Make a Play, a nonprofit that prepares underrepresented athletes for executive careers in competitive industries.

Aisha Quinones is a Harlem, New York native who has taken the sports media world by storm with her pen game blessing publications such as Complex Sports, Vibe Magazine, amNew york, just to name a few. Transitioning into the digital media world, I took a pivot to app programming and strategy at Bleacher Report and CBS Sports. While holding down my full-time role at CBS Sports, I took a leap of faith in my long-term goal of becoming a sports agent and created my own sports agency: BequiñoneSports. From Harlem to South Florida, I'm living my dream one goal at a time.

Amissa Pitter is a programming manager at In The Know by Yahoo, where she mainly analyzes and maximizes exposure for various content. Before In The Know by Yahoo, she wore many hats managing digital content strategy and creation at Nickelodeon, Fuse TV, and Townsquare Media’s The Boombox. Born and raised in New York, Amissa received her Bachelor’s degree in Multimedia Journalism from CUNY Lehman College. She is big on culture and community and is committed to living life to the fullest, usually doing something active and outdoorsy.

Cynthia Gitonga is a Houston, Texas native and the founder of PUSH a Sea Moss and water company based out of Jamaica and Los Angeles. Cynthia attended the University of North Texas where she received her bachelor’s degree in Converged Broadcast Media and Communications. After graduating Cynthia was scouted in New York and began her modeling career. Cynthia continues to model in the U.S. and internationally for major beauty brands such as L’Oréal, Bobbi Brown, Lancôme, KKW, Fenty, OLAY, and more. Cynthia’s on-going goal is to show representation for Black and Brown girls. While modeling Cynthia began her voiceover career and currently partners with networks under Viacom CBS. Cynthia’s mission is to deliver clean water and healthy options to underserved communities and give back to Black divers in her family’s homeland of Jamaica through her company PUSH.

Brooke Leigh Howard is a reporter based in NYC covering race and identity. She is originally from KY/OH.