Scholarship recipients have an opportunity to form a mentoring relationship with any of the founders.

Ms. Jan Hice has been working in the telecom industry for the past 12 years and specializes in the Caribbean and Latin America. She majored in Marketing and International Business at Georgetown and holds an MBA from Emory University. She is also a published author and photographer. Learn more about her first book, Soul Work: Excerpts from My Journey by visiting heartsjoyphotography.com.


Ms. Karen Clanton is the Director of Internal Communications Manager at law firm Perkins Coie LLP. Ms. Clanton has many years of experience in the legal publishing industry and has taught university-level business and project management courses as an adjunct professor. Ms. Clanton serves on several boards and edited the book Dear Sisters, Dear Daughters: Words of Wisdom from Multicultural Attorneys Who've Been There and Done That.published by the American Bar Association. She obtained her B.A. in English Literature from Georgetown University and her J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law.


Ms. Angelique McLin-Kelley worked for 7 years as a Sales Representative for M&M/Mars. She and her husband now reside in Oklahoma where they are preparing for small group Christian Ministry. Ms. McLin-Kelley is not currently active with the Butler Fund.


Profiled by Newsweek as one of the people "Changing the Face of Hollywood," Ms. Taj Paxton is well respected within her industry for integrity and grace under pressure. Her career includes coveted positions in film, television and music and she has worked with some of the industry's greatest artistic minds. A graduate of the McDonough School of Business, she is an independent producer and writer.



Ms. Ava Rogers has been a U.S. Foreign Service Officer since 1992. She has specialized in Africa and the Middle East serving in Congo, Israel/Palestinian Territories, Nigeria as well as at the Department of State Headquarters in Washington, DC. From 2005-2007, Ava worked for the United Nations Mission in Sudan on the Darfur Peace Process as well as in the field in West Darfur - an experience she characterizes as the most rewarding of her career. Ava has just completed a year long sabbatical in her hometown of New Orleans. Beginning in the fall of 2008, she will be working for Congress on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.