Our Team
A HEART FOR THE CITY | A HEART FOR THE PEOPLE
Ashley Knight, Founder/Executive Director
Ashley Knight is the Founder and President of Rock Nation. She has a M.H.S. degree specializing in Child Protection and the Juvenile Justice System from Nova Southeastern University. After graduating, she began a career as a Communications Officer for a local sheriff’s office; which afforded her the opportunity to work with Child Protective Services. Ashley has seven years of expertise in community involvement, which includes tutoring and a legal background. Her experience provides a foundation to craft and build stronger community ties with the local police departments and school systems. These bonds cultivate an environment that aids to deter young people from delinquent behavior while giving each child and their parents the skills and tools necessary to assist children at- risk. As Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Ashley is passionate about her community and the future of our youth. Growing up in the City of Fort Lauderdale, she has endured peer pressure, low self-esteem, depression, an unstable living environment, and bullying. Never feeling adequate or good enough, she sought solace in reading, sports, and music. It was through her academics and her faith that she prided herself, she became an Entrepreneur and Community Leader. Her mission is to generate a support system for young women and men to restore their passion and belief in themselves.
-Ashley Qtd. “ROCK Nation is my attempt to empower young people that they can be someone within their community just by having a heart for the city and a heart for the people. It was deeper than merely influencing young people to succeed. It was about restoring faith, love, and forgiveness within ourselves so that we may walk in our God-given purpose.”
Lekesha Weems, Treasurer
Lekesha oversees the use and disbursements of all assets as it relates to the organization. She is also responsible for the leading and guiding development of long-term financial planning, preparing budgets, an interpreting and using financial statements, and serving as the Finance Committee Officer. Lekesha is a motivated and accomplished grad with an extensive business background. She is fluent in American Sign Language, English, German, and Spanish. She has a BAS degree in Organizational Management with experience in several positions to include, Director of Marketing, Personal Banker, and Indian River County Sports Ministry.
Shana Lorde, Aquatics Director
Shana Lorde is responsible for aquatic programs such as swimming classes, recreational events, ensuring strict compliance with pool safety regulations, eliminating potential hazards in and around the pool, and overseeing the maintenance and daily operations of a swimming facility. Shana grew up swimming competitively since around the age of five; traveling around Europe competing in Germany, Spain, Moscow, East Berlin, and several other European countries. She finished her competitive swimming at Broward College. After finishing school Shana joined the military where she found herself not only teaching and training her children to swim; but teaching military soldiers and other military dependents how to swim. While working as a medical professional in a pediatric hospital emergency room, Shana would come to see that a vast number of drownings is ever present in the youth population. It is because of this knowledge she decided to bring forth her passion of swimming by becoming the President and Founder of Let Us Swim LLC where she is dedicated to educating people on the principles of water safety and promoting the knowledge that anyone can learn how to swim. After years of watching these babies come in and never get to see another day; She was determined to not allow their tragedy to be the story of another family.
-Shana Qtd. “I wanted to save lives on a very real level, I wanted to prevent families from suffering from the loss of their child from a 100% preventable thing”
Brianna D. Lewis-Screen, Public Relations Officer
Brianna specializes in building and raising awareness on behalf of the organization. She is responsible for editing written correspondences, promotional material, and publications. Brianna is an Administrative Assistant with a local municipality and Executive Director of Management for Screen Transport LLC. She has 25 years of Administrative Service experience that allotted her to work within the State of Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, The Executive Office of the Mayor of Miami- Dade County, Miami-Dade County Office of Community and Economic Development, and the City Manager’s Office with the City of Miami Gardens. She is a published Feature Writer, Columnist and former Editor-in-Chief of Bold Favor Magazine and Bold Favor Plus Magazine. She is currently working on her Legacy of Love Forever My Sissy’s Keeper in honor of her late sister Ursula Y. Lewis; brining awareness to Sarcoidosis and blessing those in the community with random acts of kindness.
Dwight Thomas, Director of Security Operations
Dwight is in charge of conducting fingerprinting and background checks on adults and volunteers affiliated with our organization. He is focused on child safety awareness, manage security-related training and communication with the staff and visitors. Dwight grew up in Miami Florida and owns a Private Investigative/ Security Consultant company. He is also the Founder and President of Thomas for Them, a nonprofit that focus on homeless reunification with loved ones. He has a BA in Political Science and a Masters Degree in Psychology from Colorado Technical University. He has 12 years of experience as a Private Detective and 9 years in Security Management.