Our Founders

The leaders who helped bring the Bayou Collective to life

Rooted in Houston and grounded in shared responsibility, Courtney Taylor and Kelli King-Jackson co-founded The Bayou Collective to support Black-led organizations through collective giving and long-term investment.

Courtney Taylor

Courtney Taylor is a senior vice president of community development in banking, with experience spanning business, community development, and the nonprofit sector. Her work focuses on leading community investment strategies, building nonprofit partnerships, and advancing financial education initiatives across Houston and throughout Texas.

Courtney co-founded The Bayou Collective because she believes collective giving is a powerful way to sustain Black-led organizations and expand access to opportunity. Her commitment to education, workforce development, and supporting young women is reflected in her long-standing engagement across Houston’s nonprofit and civic landscape.

Kelli King-Jackson

Kelli King-Jackson is the founder of a social impact firm that advises leaders and organizations investing in Black communities across the South. As a leadership coach, she has spent nearly 900 hours coaching Black women and femmes leading in predominantly white spaces, supporting them as they navigate responsibility, power, and sustainability in their roles.

Kelli co-founded The Bayou Collective because she believes collective giving is essential to resourcing Black-led organizations in ways that honor their leadership and lived experience. Her philanthropy work has included advising grantmakers on equitable investments and supporting more than $135 million in funding to the Southern United States, alongside ongoing community engagement and local giving.

About Our Founding Members

Our Founding Members are Black women and allies who committed early to The Bayou Collective, offering their participation, resources, and belief in the power of collective giving to help bring this work into being.

Necole S. Irvin

Necole S. Irvin most recently served as Director of the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs for the City of Houston, where she guided cultural investments and policies that expanded access to arts and cultural programs across the city. Her leadership helped drive the redesign of Houston’s arts grant system. Necole is a philanthropic professional with experience spanning law, public health, culture, and policy, and she is committed to advancing sustainable, community-centered change.

Kentara John

Kentara John is a dedicated community advocate and philanthropic leader with over a decade of experience advancing equity, workforce opportunity, and health access across Houston and New York City. She currently serves as Program Manager for the Community Benefits Grants Department at Houston Methodist, where she oversees a $20 million annual grants portfolio supporting initiatives in health care access, mental health, and economic empowerment throughout Greater Houston. Before joining Houston Methodist, Kentara held leadership roles at the Brooklyn Community Foundation and Brooklyn Workforce Innovations, where she managed multi-million-dollar grant programs and designed workforce development initiatives connecting underserved residents to sustainable career pathways. Her work has consistently focused on creating systems that empower individuals, strengthen organizations, and expand opportunities for historically marginalized communities.

A thoughtful collaborator, Kentara brings a passion for inclusive community

investment and a strong belief in the power of partnerships to drive meaningful change. She holds a Master of Public Administration from Long Island University, where she was inducted into the Pi Alpha Alpha Honor Society, and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Queens College. Outside of her professional life, Kentara enjoys fine dining, playing mahjong, and staying active through pickleball and salsa dancing. She’s also an avid fan of Texas Hold ’Em and a lifelong Harry Potter enthusiast, always ready to share a good story—or a winning hand.

Bridget Y. Samuel

Bridget Y. Samuel is a human-centered strategist, organizational development expert, and founder of VESTEDin™ Consulting. With deep, hands-on experience across nonprofit operations, social work, philanthropy, executive leadership, and board service, Bridget brings both practical credibility and lived empathy to every engagement. She is known for her ability to zoom out to see the full organizational ecosystem while zooming in to address what matters most in the moment.

Bridget’s work is grounded in systems thinking, equity-centered practice, and emotional intelligence. She creates psychologically safe spaces where leaders and teams can be honest, learn quickly, and build sustainable capacity. Direct, warm, and collaborative, she cuts through complexity to offer clear, actionable guidance that aligns people, strategy, and structure.

At VESTEDin™, Bridget partners with organizations as a transparent thought partner—centering people first, honoring lived expertise, and translating vision into values-aligned, real-world impact.

Makia Akinola Thomas

Makia Akinola Thomas is a committed equity advocate and champion for early learning, public education, and social justice. Drawing on her experience as an early childhood dual-language teacher, school administrator, and professional development specialist, she has dedicated her career to expanding educational opportunities for young learners and strengthening the systems that support thriving, equitable communities.

Her commitment to social action, power building, and inclusive stakeholder engagement is reflected in her active leadership and participation in community-based organizations advancing educational and racial equity.

Makia holds a B.S. in Applied Developmental Psychology and an M.Ed. in Early Childhood Education from the University of Pittsburgh.

Don Titcombe

Don Titcombe brings more than 18 years of experience in social impact, spanning philanthropy, public systems, and nonprofit leadership. He has worked closely with communities, funders, and public agencies to expand access to mental health services, early childhood education, and family supports. Previously, Don helped lead Harris County’s $150 million Early Childhood Initiative, strengthening services for tens of thousands of children and caregivers, and spent eight years at the Rockwell Fund supporting investments in housing, health, and education, as well as several unique collaborative initiatives.

Don serves on the Board of Teen and Family Services and has been actively engaged in collaborative efforts addressing homelessness, recovery, and family wellbeing. He holds a Master of Social Work and a Bachelor of Arts from The University of Texas at Austin and is committed to using collective giving to strengthen families and communities.