Title: Founding Director of the Brainerd Memorial Project

Company: Brainerd Institute

Location: Chester, SC

Chester, SC, March 1, 2016, Vivian Ayers-Allen, Founding Director of the Brainerd Memorial Project with Brainerd Institute, has been recognized by Elite Women Worldwide, for dedication, achievement and leadership in operational management.

Established by newly liberated African slaves just years after the Civil War, the Brainerd Institute is remembered as one of the earliest and finest private schools in South Carolina. As a member of the last graduating class of Brainerd Institute in 1939, Ms. Ayers-Allen is passionate about preserving the institute’s memory and helping it be remembered as the establishment it once was. For the past 50 years, she has dedicated her personal and professional life to the continual pursuit of education, and is currently responsible for fundraising and creating awareness as the founding director of the Brainerd Memorial Project. Throughout the course of her career, she has also served as the founder and director of ADEPT, as well as an advisor for the National Endowment for the Arts.

In addition to her time with Brainerd Institute, Ms. Ayers-Allen also completed coursework at Barber-Scotia College and Bennett College for Women. She considers one of her greatest accomplishments to be publishing “The Hawk: an Allegory of Freedom,” which was released 11 weeks before the first Sputnik. In addition, Ms. Ayers-Allen is the only poet acknowledged by NASA, and was a nominee for the Pulitzer Prize. She has received honorary doctorate degrees from Bennett College and Wilberforce University. As she moves forward with her career, Ms. Ayers-Allen hopes to publish some of her works.

Contact Vivian Ayers-Allen