Thaïs Bass-Moore, a native of Los Angeles, CA, received her B.A. from UCLA in African American Studies & English. Upon graduation, she taught elementary school in Los Angeles before getting married and relocating to Louisiana. Thaïs, an actress at heart, studied fine arts and playwriting at several institutions nationwide and served as founder and director of The Black Theatre Company of Baton Rouge where she produced many of her own works. After being a stay-at-home mother for 10 years, she began working at the University of Texas at Austin as a program coordinator. Seeing the need for a holistic development initiative for Black women on campus she partnered with colleague, Dr. Tiffany T. Lewis and created the Fearless Leadership Institute in 2013. In 2018, she earned an M.A. from The University of Texas at Austin in Human Dimensions of Organizations. She currently serves as director of the Fearless Leadership Institute. Thaïs is the author of A Syllabus for Black Women: 110 Life Lessons for Sistahs in College. She is married to Leonard Moore and together they have three amazing children.
Dr. Tiffany T. Lewis was recently appointed to Assistant Vice President of the Division of Diversity & Community Engagement where she oversees the Longhorn Center for Academic Equity. The primary goal of the center and its programs are to increase the college retention and graduation rates of its participants and facilitate the process of transition from one level of higher education to the next. Dr. Lewis received all three of her degrees, B.A., M.Ed., and PhD. from The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to becoming the AVP, she joined the Longhorn Center for Academic Equity team and led the Faculty & Staff Mentor Program, the Achieving College Excellence Program, the Gateway Scholars and Longhorn Link Programs. She is part of the leadership team of FLI which she helped to found in 2013. Tiffany is married to Shelton Lewis and has two children.
Cydni Cox is a native of San Antonio, Texas. She received a B.S. in Economics from The University of Texas at Austin in December of 2019. During her time on the 40 acres, Cydni launched a chapter of the national campus ministry, The Impact Movement, and served as the campus liaison. She became a member of the Fearless Leadership Institute as a freshmen and served as the FLI Marketing Ambassador during her senior year. Upon graduating she was hired as the program coordinator for the Fearless Leadership Institute. When she is not working, Cydni is usually singing or writing music.
Kessiena Ofunrein, an Austin native, is a scientist, mathematician, analyst, and everyone’s favorite hype woman. In 2019, Kessiena graduated from the illustrious Hampton University with a B.S. in Mathematics and a minor in Nanoscience. During her tenure there, Kessiena was a member of many organizations whose focus was to uplift and enrich. Within her department Kessiena led the Math Club for three years and founded the ∏rates Tutoring Program at a local middle. Currently, Kessiena is a graduate student at The University of Texas at Austin working on a M.S. in Business Analytics program. Kessiena continues to uplift and encourage as a graduate assistant for the Fearless Leadership Institute.
This page is currently under construction. More content to come.
