Can-Doers

Anga L. Sanders is a graduate of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where she earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees.

Anga is founder and executive director of FEED Oak Cliff, a nonprofit initiative aimed at disrupting and eradicating the food deserts of southern Dallas. FEED Oak Cliff is currently engaged in activities designed to result in construction of a community grocery store and healthy neighborhood bistro.

She also founded the Dallas VegFest, FEED Oak Cliff’s annual festival promoting nutrition and healthy living that attracts attendees from all over the United States.

She serves as CEO of Global HR Solutions LLC, a human resources consultancy providing HR outsourced services both domestically and globally. She has held the Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) designation, the highest level of certification in her field, for more than 23 years.

Anga is current Board Chair of the Community Council of Greater Dallas, an 80-year-old charitable organization dedicated to providing economic mobility, elder services and community wellness. She is also Vice Chair of the Board of Greenspace Dallas, an environmental restoration and development organization.

She has previously served as a member of the SMU Alumni Board and the SMU African American Alumni Board, where she was a driving force behind the creation of the Black Alumni of SMU Scholarship. In 2016, an annual award at SMU was created in her honor. The Anga Sanders Community Impact Award is presented each year to an SMU student who has consistently demonstrated dedication and personal activism on campus or service in the local community.

In her free time, Anga engages in a variety of interesting pursuits, including reading, traveling, feeding the homeless, parasailing, zip-lining.

Meet Chef Amber Williams – Oak Cliff, TX native, home grown on a blend of Texas & Louisiana culture and flavors, which sparked her immense love & passion to make food as an unforgettable experience as her life’s work.

Since 2014, the CEO and Executive Chef of her company Le Rouge Cuisine, have been curating elevated culinary experiences for their Corporate, Private/Exclusive & Special Event clientele to enjoy – all with a Creole Fusion flare and Southern charm.

Chef Amber, a product of a food desert, broadened her reach by lending a helping hand to to communities like the one she grew up in who suffer from Food disparities through her newest venture – Surviving the Food Desert Project – a Food equity resource hub focusing on providing sustainable and healthy Food & Lifestyle educational tools, programming & products. In November 2023, Amber released her first project under the initiative, a Food Desert friendly Cookbook & Resource guide entitled, “Surviving The Food Desert Cookbook & Resource Guide.”

After sharing her expertise & culinary knowledge on local news stations, national tv & media outlets, such as Food network, USA Today & Essence Magazine, the culinarian now hopes to join forces and support corporations and organizations bridge the access for healthy & sustainable food through her new initiative to use culinary & food knowledge to bring a holistic approach to change the mindset and lives of those who suffer with food disparities.

Chef Amber’s mission is not only to create experiences that put great food back at the center of entertaining and dining experiences but also to spread a message of resourcefulness and resilience to those who desire and deserve an elevated quality of life, fueled by learning your body and exploring fresh food that’s both healthy and delicious!

With over 15 years of experience developing social enterprises, Elizabeth Wattley's keen insights and breadth of knowledge allow her to lead Forest Forward with a depth of expertise. Dedicated to driving economic development in South Dallas/Fair Park while maintaining the rich history, culture, and pride of the community, Elizabeth is a community architect.

Whether that is scaling what works, thinking of innovative ways to increase impact through nonprofits and businesses, curating development strategies or building networks of collective impact, she is devoted to the infusion of resources to Dallas' most underserved communities.

Prior to joining Forest Forward, Elizabeth led transformative initiatives at CitySquare as the Director of Strategic Initiatives and Paul Quinn College as the Director of Service Learning. During her time at Paul Quinn College, she led the effort to transform the college's unused football field into a nationally recognized organic farm to combat food access. In these roles she was able to catalyze concentrated growth in Southern Dallas while raising millions of dollars to address inequities in education, food, housing, and healthcare.

Due to her commitment to Dallas and its residents, in 2020 the Dallas Business Journal awarded Elizabeth with the coveted 40 Under 40 Award. In 2021, Elizabeth was honored with the SMU Cox Outstanding Young Alumni award, and in the spring of 2022, Elizabeth was named one of the 78 women who make Dallas great by DMagazine. In 2024, Elizabeth was named an Axios Dallas Power Player which recognizes young people creating the future of North Texas. Elizabeth completed her undergraduate studies in economics at Spelman College in Atlanta and earned her MBA at the SMU Cox School of Business with a concentration in strategy and entrepreneurship.

Jess Garland is a Dallas-based singer-songwriter, recording and performing artist. She is a multi-instrumentalist who combines harp and guitar loops to evoke her unique brand of celestial avant-garde pop with ethereal jazz tones. Jess most recently became a member of the Recording Academy. She was recently featured in Modern Luxury Magazine as a December 2023/January 2024 Power Player by Visit Dallas. In May 2024, she received the Chase Bank’s 2023 Entreprenista of the Year award. She was also recently on the cover of Guitar Girl Magazine and Dallas Weekly in June 2023. Jess most recently shared a stage with Dr. Opal Lee and Erykah Badu for the Juneteenth Freedom Walk in Fair Park for Visit Dallas. Jess opened for The Suffers at Tulips in April 2024 and also performed with Kam Franklin from The Suffers and The Bayou City Comeback Chorus at the Wortham Theater with Performing Arts Houston in January 2024. She produced and performed in the 22-23 season of the Elevator Project at the Wyly Theatre debuting her 3D printed laser harp. Jess opened for Dru Hill for Deep Ellum Foundation’s 2023 Juneteenth Block Party. Jess performed and presented a talk for TEDx titled, Facing The Music: Finding Your Purpose in October 2022. Jess has also opened for Stones Throw artist MNDSGN and Warner Music Group artist Adia Victoria. She performed at the historic Kessler Theater on June 3rd. Jess sold out a concert at Undermain Theatre on February 19, 2022. In 2021, Jess opened for Jackie Venson and Hayden Pedigo. She has also opened for Gingger Shankar and Madame Gandhi. Jess has also performed with The Suffers and The Seratones. Recently, Garland was awarded the Local Legend award in Nashville, TN from Wild Turkey’s Creative Director, Matthew McConaughey for keeping music alive in Dallas.

In May 2021, Jess released “Harp & Sol” which is an art film and music composition focusing on environmental racism in Dallas and Black feminism. Jess co-produced the film and composed music for Their Lives Mattered: A Dialogue Honoring Stolen Lives by Dallas law enforcement.

Jess has partnered with She Shreds Media and has been featured in Guitar Girl Magazine and Kyser Presents Locals. Jess has also worked with other guitar brands like D’Addario for funding and supplies for Swan Strings. Jess sponsored Deep Ellum 100’s Sounds of Deep Ellum vinyl album to be released on Idol Records. As a recording artist, Jess was featured on the Ataraxia Trio’s + 2 album “Nights Enter” released on Ayler Records in March 2021. She was also featured on the title track of the Billboard charting Truth to Power Project, a local fundraising initiative released on Record Store Day in June 2021. She is the featured harpist on These Machines are Winning‘s Slaves for Gods album, as well as Sunshine Village’s album, The Buffalo Trees Saved The Children of The Sun. Her debut single, “Glow” is out now. Her most recent single “I Tried (Live Again)” is available now on all streaming platforms.

Jess is also the President and Founding Director of Swan Strings and has recently been appointed Executive Director at Girls Rock Dallas. She serves on the Board of Directors for Decolonizing the Music Room, Friends of WRR 101.1 FM and Girls Rock Camp Alliance. She has served on the millennial board at The Black Academy of Arts & Letters, the auxiliary board at The AT&T Performing Arts Center and the Arts Council for Booker T. Washington High School of Performing and Visual Arts. Jess also participated in the 2023-2024 Racial Equity Now Cohort at Dallas Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation.

Jim Neil, Chief Executive Officer, USL Super League Dallas Team (Dallas Trinity FC) 
Co-founder and CEO of Churchill Capital Company (established 1995). Churchill is a Real Estate Investment Bank which also invests for its own account (based in Dallas). Jim has been in the commercial real estate business in Dallas since 1980.
Jim received his MBA from the Harvard Business School and his BA from Yale University and has been a guest lecturer at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.
Jim played Varsity Soccer and Baseball at Yale, 1973-1976.  He was a starter on Yale’s first soccer team to compete in the NCAA postseason tournament in 1973, where Yale was eliminated in the round of 16. 
Jim has also been heavily involved in coaching youth soccer and baseball in Dallas for over 35 years.  He is past President of the Dallas Amateur Baseball Association and coached two youth girls’ soccer teams.  Jim has also been a major donor/supporter of the US Deaf National Women’s and Men’s Soccer Teams for the past 20 years.  
Jim and his wife Jean were also instrumental in helping Ursuline Academy (Dallas) develop a girls soccer field in 2014.  The Neil’s assisted in a 15-year process to get the necessary approvals and entitlements and then joined a capital campaign to pay for the state-of-the-art facility.
Jim (with his partners at Boxer Property Company) also acquired and redeveloped a 1.2 million square foot shopping mall in Fort Worth and turned it into an Hispanic themed town center catering to the local Hispanic Community, generating scores of jobs for local minority communities, and producing many millions of dollars of additional revenue for the City of Fort Worth.  

Charlie Neil, President, USL Super League Dallas Team (Dallas Trinity FC) 
Charlie Neil serves as Club President for USL Super League Dallas. Born & raised in Dallas, Charlie was an 8-time varsity letter winner in soccer and baseball at Yale University before being drafted in the 2012 MLB Player Draft, spending time as a professional baseball player in the Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals player development systems. A graduate of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, Charlie worked in the League Economics and Operations group at Major League Baseball’s Office of the Commissioner before spending time in Baseball Operations with the Texas Rangers. Most recently, Charlie served as a senior executive for a sports technology company specializing in customer data insights & generating revenue for major league sports teams, leagues, and media companies.

Trip Neil, Chief Operating Officer, USL Super League Dallas Team (Dallas Trinity FC)
Trip played soccer in North Texas for Comets ’85.  He graduated from St. Mark’s School of Texas and went on to play at Johns Hopkins University.  His teams went 68-8-10, setting a record for fewest losses.  He collected 2 ECAC Championships, 2 Centennial Conference championships, and made the NCAA Sweet 16 and Elite 8.  
Trip holds a BA in economics from JHU and an MBA from Duke University.  He is a Partner for Churchill Capital Company. 
In 2004, Trip was selected to the US Deaf Men’s National Soccer Team.  He has attended 2 Deaf Pan American Games, 4 Deaf World Cups, and 3 Deaflympics.  He holds the record for most International Caps of any US Deaf soccer player (50), most consecutive international tournaments with a goal (5), most consecutive matches earning a cap (43), oldest player to score a goal (39), and longest tenured captain (10 years). He captained the team that won the 2019 Deaf Pan American Championships.
Trip served on the board of USA Deaf Soccer Association from 2010-2023, including time as President.  He has extensively supported both the women’s and men’s deaf national teams.  In 2022, he successfully led the Deaf National Teams into the US Soccer Extended National Team program where all players are now treated equally (funding, staff, gear, access, opportunities, competitions, etc.).
Trip serves on the board of PowerSense, a North Texas nonprofit, which helps create communities for deaf and hard of hearing children, family, and friends.
He was elected to US Soccer’s Athletes’ Council in 2023.  His wife (Whitney) worked for the Dallas Mavericks from 2012-2018, after time at the NBA, WNBA, and Duke Athletics.  They are die-hard Dallas sports fans and proud parents to 2 girls and a boy.

Dori Neil Araiza – Dallas Trinity FC Founder & Principal 
Dori Neil Araiza, an SMU alumna, began her professional career in 2009 in marketing at L’Oreal in New York before founding her own advertising firm in 2011. Neil Media Group represented various publications such as Allure Magazine, Inc. and Modern Luxury’s National Portfolio. Beyond her professional achievements, Dori is actively involved in her community as the former President of the Preston Hollow Early Childhood Association, current committee member for Cattle Baron's Ball, and co-chair of the Catholic Foundation, where she helped raise over $1 million for charitable causes. Balancing her entrepreneurial pursuits, Dori is also a mother of four children - two of whom she coaches in soccer, alongside her dad, Jim Neil. As passionate advocates for sports and for championing their community, Dori and her family founded Dallas Trinity FC, Dallas’ first professional women’s soccer team, deeply rooted in family values. Her commitment to philanthropy and community leadership underscores her dedication to making a positive impact both on and off the field.

Jenny Glenn – Dallas Trinity FC Founder & Principal 
Jenny Glenn grew up in Dallas, TX where she was a two-time soccer state champion at Ursuline Academy. She then went to continue her soccer career at Rhodes College in Memphis, TN where she played soccer all four years and met her husband, David Glenn. At Rhodes, Jenny majored in Business and was also a member of the Tri Delta sorority. After graduation, Jenny moved back to Dallas and started her career in banking. She then joined Goldman Sachs in their Private Markets Investment and Lending division where she underwrote over $2 Billion in financing commitment for alternative investment managers across private credit, private equity, and other asset classes. After three years at Goldman, Jenny joined her father Jim Neil’s company Churchill Capital. In her first year at Churchill, Jenny closed over $56 million in principal and brokerage transactions generating over $700,000 worth in fees to the company.
When Jenny is not working on real estate transactions or helping her family launch the first professional women’s soccer team in Dallas, she enjoys spending time at her family Ranch in Graford Texas. She and her husband love traveling, going out to dinner with friends, and playing with their nine (9) nieces and nephews.