Founder and Host, She Did That! Podcast: Age 28
They call it the Dream Maker Award.
It’s presented by Girls Inc. of the Valley to individuals who make a commitment to working with young women in the community to help make their dreams become reality.
And it’s just one of many awards and accolades that Nikai Fondon has earned over the past few years. Others include everything from first place in a pitch contest for a podcast that she conceived called “She Did That!” which highlights young professional women of color locally and across the country, to a BEST Award from the National Assoc. of Multi-ethnicity in Communications.
Because of these and many other accomplishments, she’ll soon have another award — a Forty Under 40 plaque. It’s been earned partly for her current work at Berkshire Bank, but mostly for a host of accomplishments and initiatives within and for the community, including, but certainly not limited to:
• Serving Girls Inc. as a board member, clerk, and, now, vice chair;
• Starting the first-ever DEI committee for the Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield;
• Creating the region’s first virtual co-working space for young professional women of color during the pandemic;
• Facilitating leadership workshops through the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts, Maine Community Foundation, Bay Path University, UMass Amherst, and other entities starting at age 16;
• Teaching classes at Westfield State University and the YWCA of Greater Springfield;
• Speaking before more than a dozen youth groups across the region about entrepreneurship, leadership, and personal branding; and
• Facilitating the Springfield partnership between the Young Women’s Initiative and the Women’s Fund.
Until recently, Fondon, a graduate of UMass Amherst with a degree in business and marketing, was Financial Inclusion & Entrepreneurship community liaison at Berkshire Bank, where her work included building programs for financial literacy, workshops, and “opportunities to build trust in the community and provide educational opportunities within the community on financial matters.
“We want to make sure that the underbanked find a home at a bank in general, but, hopefully, our bank because of the work we do in the community,” she added, noting that Berkshire supports many nonprofit groups and initiatives across the region, and she has been involved with many of those efforts.
On the entrepreneurship side, she was also involved with a Berkshire Bank loan program called the Futures Fund, which has lower barriers to entry than typical loans and provides easier access to capital.
All this explains why Forty Under 40 isn’t the first award that she’s earned, and it almost certainly won’t be the last.
— George O’Brien
Sean Dolan had June 20 circled weeks before the other 39 honorees in the Forty Under 40 class of 2024.
Dalila Cardona has seen a lot during her time at the YWCA.
The restaurant life is a tough one. Kara Bombard wants to make it a little easier.
The levels of food insecurity in this region rose dramatically during the pandemic, Lev BenEzra notes, and they continue to rise, for several reasons — from inflation, and the enormous toll it takes on families’ budgets, to the curtailment of many COVID-inspired relief initiatives.
Shirley Arriaga says her life and career have gone pretty much according to plan. Or the plan, to be more precise.
Raymond Berry is founder and general manager of White Lion Brewing Company, the first craft beer company post-prohibition to recognize the city of Springfield as its home. Berry, a Forty Under 40 member, class of 2010, is currently a board member at Springfield College and Blues to Green, and an attorney general appointee to the Commonwealth’s Cannabis Regulatory Committee. He also sits on the Basketball Hall of Fame Finance Committee, Diversity & Inclusion Committee for the Mass. Brewers Guild, and Philanthropic Committee for the National Brewers Assoc. Berry earned his BS from American International College, MBA from Springfield College, and a graduate certificate from Tufts University. He was a graduate in the region’s inaugural Leadership Pioneer Valley LEAP class. He has received the Spirit Award from the local housing authority, the Affiliated Chamber of Commerce’s Community Leadership Award, the Assoc. of Black Business & Professionals’ Business of the Year Award, and a Martin Luther King Social Justice Award. He has also been recognized as one of the region’s Top 100 Men of Color.
Latoya Bosworth is a life coach, author, and program officer for Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities. She worked in Springfield Public Schools for 18 years, first as a special educator and then as a behavior specialist. When she is not facilitating workshops for nonprofit and corporate clients or inspiring others with her speeches and self-published books, she is giving back to her community with through mentoring and collaboration. She was a member of the 40 Under Forty class of 2016, and one of BusinessWest’s Women of Impact for 2022.
Brian Canina is executive vice president, chief financial officer, and chief operating officer at Holyoke-based PeoplesBank. He has more than 20 years of experience in the finance industry. He is a graduate of Bryant College and is a certified public accountant. He is also a graduate of the ABA Stonier Graduate School of Banking and is a recipient of the Wharton Leadership Certificate. He is president of the Finance and Accounting Society of New England. He serves on the board of directors for Helix Human Services.
Jessye Deane is the executive director of the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce and Regional Tourism Council, and is the owner of two award-winning fitness studios, F45 Training Hampshire Meadows in Hadley and F45 Training Riverdale in West Springfield. She was a member of the 40 Under Forty class of 2021, Franklin County Young Professional of the Year in 2020, and the 2019 Amherst Chamber MVP. She has serves on more than a dozen community-based committees, and is this year’s campaign co-chair for the United Way of Franklin & Hampshire Region. 
Aundrea Paulk is the Marketing and Communications director at Caring Health Center. She is also the founder and creative force behind Soiree Mi, LLC, an event-planning and design business. Soiree Mi offers creative and personalized services for private and corporate clients. She is a member of the 40 Under Forty class of 2022. A graduate of Bay Path University, her areas of expertise include marketing, branding, communications, event planning, social media, and website content management.
Anthony Gleason II is the president and co-founder of the Gleason Johndrow Companies, which provides commercial landscape and snow-removal services, property management, real-estate development, and leasing, as well as self-storage. Under Gleason’s leadership, the company has grown into one of the largest snow-removal contractors in the country. It now boasts a number of large contracts, including the city of Springfield (250 locations), UMass Amherst and its 157 parking lots, Western New England University, and many others. Gleason was part of the 40 under Forty class of 2010, and the 2022 recipient of the Alumni Achievement Award. Gleason and his company are strong supporters of Spirit of Springfield and many other local community organizations. 
Ashley Bogle is assistant general counsel and director of Legal Services for Health New England. In these roles, she manages the day-to-day operations of HNE’s Legal Department which includes a wide range of duties, from reviewing contracts to providing regulatory guidance and maintaining licenses and accreditation. A 40 Under Forty honoree in 2021, she is a founding member of HNE’s Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) Committee, which guides the organization toward its goals of embedding DEIB and health equity into its strategic plan, mission, operations, community outreach, and member community. She currently serves as president of Art For The Soul Gallery’s board of directors in addition to working on other community projects. A proud UConn Husky, she received both her juris doctor and her bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of Connecticut.
Payton Shubrick is a Springfield native and graduate of Springfield Central High School, College of the Holy Cross, and Bay Path University. A member of the 40 Under 40 Class of 2019, she’s an entrepreneur, and started 6 Brick’s, a cannabis dispensary, with the help of her parents and sister. 6 Brick’s opened in September of 2022, and has already garnered ‘Best Massachusetts Recreational Dispensary’ honors at the New England Cannabis Community Awards. Shubrick she is an adjunct professor at American International College, teaching graduate cannabis courses, a coach in the CT Social Equity Accelerator Program, and was recently named Young Entrepreneur of the Year for her leadership and success in her industry. 
“When preparedness meets opportunity, amazing things can happen.”
As a commercial lender at Greenfield Northampton Cooperative Bank, Adam Baker led all team members in both number of loans originated and dollar amount closed. Not just one year, but in seven consecutive years, from 2016 to 2022.
By her own admission, Jennifer Bell was born to be a helper.
When asked what he likes about the restaurant business, Andrew Brow gave a quick, resounding answer: ‘everything.’
Madison Bull, as one of her several 40 Under Forty nominators noted, wears a number of hats.
Arlen Carballo’s career in the casino industry provides ample proof that, once someone enters this field, there is no telling where the business may take them.
Robert Carter’s career in IT and robotics has taken him to a number of positions, ranging from 11 years at MassMutual, where he worked his way up to robotics process automation developer — tech lead, to CVS Health, where he currently leads a team of developers as a robotics process automation consultant.
Jessica Chapin was a decorated collegiate athlete. In 2010 alone, she was named the University Athletic Assoc. Women’s Basketball Player of the Year, the Brandeis University Female Athlete of the Year, and a State Farm Women’s Basketball All-American; in 2018, she became a New York State Section 5 Basketball Hall of Fame inductee.
Sarah Erman didn’t attend college to prepare for a financial-services career. In fact, her focus as an undergraduate at MCLA was photojournalism.
Dave Fontaine Jr. said it was probably only minutes after the sign went up on the door at the White Hut in West Springfield announcing that it was closed that he was on the phone to Andy Yee, saying something had to be done.
Heather Gawron is nearly 15 years removed from her days as an elementary-school teacher, and there have been many career stops in many places — from Paris to American International College — since then.
When you ask Lucas Giusto about the secret to success for the Naples Group, he responds, “we always answer the phone.”
Amid all the physical-therapy practices in the region, Daniel Griffin had a vision for a different approach.
Growing up, Jessica Holloway wasn’t exactly sure what she wanted to do for a living.
Terrell Joyner describes his life as an ever-expanding journey.
Sara Hulseberg tells a story that demonstrates the meaning of a loyal clientele.
Ashley LeBlanc says it’s “weird to be happy when you find cancer.”
Delmarina López aspired to be a lawyer — and did, indeed, practice law for a while after earning her juris doctorate at Western New England University School of Law. But she soon found that her passions — and there are several of them — also lay elsewhere.
Rob Madrid considers himself a marketer who has always used digital marketing as a primary tool.
He calls it the ‘Marcotte Ford campus,’ and that name certainly works.
Jeffery Markham Jr. is no stranger to the nonprofit world, having worked with them in many capacities, from volunteer efforts to convening them in a major public-health research project. Now, the tables have turned — literally.
Longmeadow native and Bay Path University graduate Stephanie O’Leary observed that “I’ve completed all my schooling in a town that’s eight square miles.”
By the summer of 2017, Nick Pandolfi was at a crossroads in his life and career.
Amanda Pham joined the Springfield Redevelopment Authority in 2010, at what would have to be called a watershed moment — for the city, the SRA, and her own career.
