Q&A With an Emerging Leader: Bronlynn Thurman

Join ATHENA Akron virtually via Zoom as we welcome Bronlynn Thurman, Program Director, GAR Foundation. Bronlynn will tell us her story and answer questions from our moderator. Chat will be open for questions from our attendees.

Cost: There is no charge for this program; however, donations are welcome. A portion of your donation goes to non-profits that positively impact the lives of women in our community.

An email containing a private Zoom link and a PDF copy of Bronlynn’s full bio will be sent to all registrants on Tuesday evening, October 17th.

Bronlynn Thurman

Bronlynn Thurman is a creative and nonprofit professional in the Akron area. In 2016, she joined the GAR Foundation team, spending the last several years focusing her efforts on equitable community development, small business, and arts in education as a program officer for the foundation. Prior to going full-time with GAR, Bronlynn worked as a program associate for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in Akron. In 2021, Bronlynn co-founded Black Women Explore, a Northeast Ohio outdoor recreation group for Black, Brown, Asian, and other women and femme-identifying folks of color.

An Akron native, Bronlynn serves on several area boards and committees, including the Akron Black Artist Guild; Akron Civic Commons core team; City of Akron’s Planning Commission; the marketing committee for the Fund for Our Economic Future; Akron’s Bicentennial Commission; and the Elevate Greater Akron working group, Spark Akron strategy group, and Refocus on Downtown strategy group.

Bronlynn earned her B.S. in Advertising and M.S. in Information Architecture and Knowledge Management – UXD from Kent State University. In 2019, she was selected as a Greater Akron Chamber 30 For the Future award recipient and in 2021, was named the Community Member of the Year by the National Association of Social Workers Ohio Chapter Region II. Most recently, Bronlynn was a 2021-22 Ashé Fellow in Big Picture Learning’s inaugural Ashé Leaders Fellowship program, a national fellowship focused on supporting the development of leaders as they seek to transform systems in their communities. In her free time, Bronlynn is often on her bike cycling around the area or hosting her book club, the Coffee and Cocktails Book Club.