Roshelle "Darlene" Hudson

Ms. Hudson’s careers over the past 30 years include two professions: Health Educator with the State Health Department in her home state of Arkansas, and a Social Worker in child welfare in Atlanta, Georgia where she relocated in 1998. Her community activism has been as long as her professional career. 

In 2002 she co-founded the Rustin/Lorde Breakfast  to honor two gay activists of the civil rights and feminist movements, Bayard Rustin and Audre Lorde, over the ML King Day observance weekend. 

Previously, Ms. Hudson served on Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottom’s Mayor’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Board on the aging and youth committees, was Vice Chair and later Chair of the Governance Board of Directors for Destiny Achievers Academy (2016-2018), a charter school established to provide a second chance to marginalized youth. From 2007 -2012, she co-chaired the annual State of Black Gay America Summit, and held numerous other volunteer positions beginning in the mid-1990s to early 2000s, including: Executive Director for In the Life Atlanta for four years, member of Board of Directors for the Atlanta Gay and Lesbian Center, executive council member of the Georgia Community Planning Group, and the Ryan White Council. In 1992 Ms. Hudson founded and directed for 10 years Arkansas’s first Black gay organization, Brotha’s and Sista’s, which addressed AIDS awareness and social change issues.

Ms. Hudson received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Central Arkansas in the field of Health Education in 1985. In 2011 she obtained her Master of Social Work degree (MSW) and graduated with honors from the Whitney M. Young Jr., School of Social Work at Clark Atlanta University.

She presented at national conferences and in 2000 conducted trainings in HIV/AIDS prevention, advocacy, capacity building, and self-empowerment in South Africa. She is a published author, charter member of the Alpha Epsilon Lambda graduate honor society and was inducted into the Zeta Kappa Chapter of Phi Alpha Social Work Honor Society. She has been a recipient of many awards and honors including Gentle Woman of Service award in 2017 from the Gentlemen’s Foundation of Atlanta, the Community Service award from Georgia Equality 2012, and a Resolution from the state of Georgia recognizing her work in Georgia, a distinguished honor. She is also a proud member of The Vision Church of Atlanta. Ms. Hudson loves family, fishing, dancing to house music, grilling, and cooking for family and friends in her home