Roshelle "Darlene" Hudson

Current Chair 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 currently as a Social Worker with the Department of Family & Children Services, DeKalb County, Atlanta, Georgia where she relocated in 1998. Her community activist work has been as long as her professional career. She was a co-founder of the Bayard Rustin/Audre Lorde Breakfast in 2002 and continues to lead that project. She also serves on Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottom’s Mayor’s Advisory Board on the homeless youth committee 

Previously, Ms. Hudson was Vice Chair and later Chair of the Governance Board of Directors for Destiny Achievers Academy 2016-2018, a charter school established to serve as a second chance school for marginalized youth.  She co-chaired for 5 years (2007 -2012) 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.

Ms. Hudson has presented at national conferences and conducted trainings in South Africa in the areas of HIV/AIDS prevention, advocacy, capacity building, and self-empowerment. 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

Roshelle "Darlene" Hudson 

A Southern Community Organizer

Co-Founder of Rustin Lorde Breakfast

& Co founder Southern Unity Movement