141854696

About Sheila Jenine Kennedy-Bryant

Nicknames: Sunshine, Sweetie

Sheila Kennedy-Bryant is President and Chief Executive Officer of Custom Digital Solutions (CDS), ( www.customds.com ), a seven-year old company with operations in New York and Los Angeles, specializing in on-site corporate computer software training and consulting.   Major clients include Martha Stewart Living, Colgate Palmolive, Simon & Schuster and all of the Viacom companies - CBS, MTV, VH-1, Showtime, Nickelodeon, Nick-at-Nite, Comedy Central, Noggin, TV Land, BET, UPN, Viacom Interactive Ventures, the Movie Channel and Nickelodeon’s Digital Animation Studio.

Mrs. Kennedy-Bryant holds a Master’s Degree in Interactive Telecommunications from New York University , a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business, and, other related credentials in her field.   Prior to starting her company, Mrs. Kennedy-Bryant was a highly sought after computer consultant for IBM’s training company, as well as and other computer training and consulting companies in New York City .

 

Having lived and gone to school on five continents, Mrs. Kennedy-Bryant has gained appreciation, understanding and respect for world cultures and people.    Her parents were international educators and media pioneers - mother , journalist/entrepreneur Janie Sykes-Kennedy , and father, professor/ playwright Dr. James Scott Kennedy .

Her international experience started as a young child growing up in countries where her parents worked.   In the late 1960’s they lived in Africa, working at the University of Ghana and producing for the 1966 First World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar, Senegal, and the First Pan African Cultural Festival in Algiers, Algeria in 1969. In the ‘70’s, they were invited as Fulbright scholars by the Prime Minister of Australia to live in Adelaide and introduce new concepts of people - African-American and African, to that continent. They were also asked to produce for the Papau, New Guinea Independence Arts Festival in 1973.   They were the first African-American family to live on the Australian continent.   In addition, during her early years she was a performer, a competitive athlete in swimming and gymnastics and a member of a dance troupe.

As an adult, she studied at the University of Madrid in Spain , The United States International University in Niarobi , Kenya   and at Heibei University in the People’s Republic of China .   She did professional studies in Germany and worked in Nairobi , Kenya .  

Believing that public service and giving back is very important, Mrs. Kennedy-Bryant has served as a mentor and tutor for the Beacon Schools in her native New York City , and has been a volunteer teaching adult literacy.   She currently serves as President of the John & Sheila Kennedy-Bryant Family Foundation, a charitable non-profit organization focused on urban youth education and leadership development based in Los Angeles , California .  

Education and public service have been a family tradition which goes back to her great grandmother, Mary Atkins, who graduated from Knoxville College in the mid 1800s; her great uncle, James Atkins, was a member of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Black Cabinet,” advising on education; her uncle, Dr. Joseph C. Kennedy, co-founder and International Director of Africare , was (in 1960’s) a Peace Corps director for the Africa region and later a Peace Corps director for the South East Asian region; and her aunt, Dr. Lillian Kennedy Beam, was for 18 years a visionary builder and former Vice Chancellor of the United States International University Africa in Kenya.

Mrs.Kennedy-Bryant is involved in many social causes including being a supporting member of the National Council of Negro Women; serving as the co-chair of Operation HOPE’s digital empowerment program for the HOPE Inner City Cyber Café Network and serving on the advisory board of UCLA in LA.   Mrs. Kennedy-Bryant resides in Los Angeles , California with her husband, Mr. John Bryant , Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Operation HOPE, Inc.