Photo courtesy of Sherri Belfield
Sherri Belfield
Director of University Communications and Marketing, Johnson C. Smith University
By Vanessa Clarke
Public relations professional Sherri Belfield uses her platform as the Director of University Communications and Marketing at Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU), to serve as “a connector.” She has served on the board of directors of the Junior League of Charlotte (JLC), and she was recently selected to serve as the first JLC Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Belfield also serves as the President of the College News Association of the Carolinas; is the Co-chair of Communications for the Mid-Atlantic for Alpha Kappa Alpha; and she’s on the board of the Carolina Raptor Center; and is a member of Outdoor Afro.
Belfield is committed to helping to maintain a healthy environment and making sure that we care for our natural resources. “Environmentalists, doctors and mental health professionals have been telling us for years that nature plays an important role in our physical and mental health,” Belfield said in a video for EarthShare North Carolina last year. Sherri believes the pandemic has emphasized the importance of protecting the natural environment for our physical and mental health. Enjoying nature in a park and other places such as Greenways helped many people cope during the darkest days of the pandemic. “We must make sure that all people have access to nature, no matter their street address, as one way of addressing health disparities,” she said.
Belfied, who earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said she has “learned to be strong and grounded in her own self-worth.” She said she’s proud of JCSU students and wants them to assert themselves confidently in the world and confidently taking their seat at the table because they are “just as good as anyone else.”
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