Sherika is a first-generation student of Caribbean ancestry who was born and raised in Harlem, NY. While earning her bachelor’s degree in psychology at Howard University, Sherika became passionate about human behavior and its interconnection to physiological, psychological, and socio-environmental factors. Upon completing her studies at Howard, Sherika began her lifelong commitment of leveraging her education to benefit society at large. During the span of time between her undergraduate and graduate degrees, Sherika worked for various organizations geared towards improving the quality of life for various marginalized groups.
As time progressed, her curiosity about the intricate systems of oppression led Sherika to pursue a Master of Social Work (MSW) at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College. In her second semester at Hunter College, Sherika became one of sixteen students accepted into a nationally acclaimed program specializing in the study of child trauma, funded by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. The program proved to be greatly enriching, as it broadened Sherika’s knowledge of how trauma can permeate through generations of family members.
While pursuing her PhD in social psychology at the University at Buffalo, Sherika has made it her mission to understand what Buffalonians need to thrive socially and economically. To accomplish this, Sherika joined Black Love Resists in the Rust (BLRR), an established grassroots and member-led organization. Throughout her time with BLRR, Sherika assisted with their No New Jail Campaign, which successfully worked to block the proposal for a new correctional facility in Buffalo that would have used over two hundred million dollars to create. Sherika also helped to conduct a community-based study to better understand how Black Buffalonians perceive safety. This work was then disseminated at the Third Annual Research Day conference hosted by UB’s Community Health Equity Research Institute.
Sherika’s long-term goal of pursuing social entrepreneurship and disseminating research is to bridge the gap between the theories and practices that surround both social work and psychology to effectively support marginalized communities. As a recipient of the WNY Prosperity Fellowship, Sherika plans to create a community-based think tank in WNY that will foster economic growth by leveraging the knowledge of WNY community members as researchers to better inform societal change.