About the Founder

Lynette Shelborne-Barfield

Founder & Chief Engagement Officer, Girls Who Wear Glasses, Inc.

Biography

For three decades, Lynette Shelborne-Barfield has poured her heart into the lives of youth and young adults as an educator, youth leader, mentor, and role model to young women. A proud daughter of the Rockaways, Queens, and a first-generation college graduate of the historic Wilberforce University, she knows firsthand the power of believing in young people and opening doors for them.

Her career has taken her from NYC public school classrooms to leadership roles with the New York State Senate and the New York City Council. Along the way, she has become a trusted community and public advocate. She served as Vice President of the Far Rockaway Branch of the NAACP, stepping up to serve as President for one year in the president's absence. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award for Volunteer Service from AmeriCorps and the Office of the President of the United States and a Community Leadership Award from the You Can Go To College Committee, and has been recognized by federal, state, and local elected officials. A prolific public speaker, she is also a sought-after Mistress of Ceremonies, known for her fiery delivery and her gift for engaging any audience. Through Girls Who Wear Glasses, Inc., she helps youth and adults show up with confidence and grace in every room they enter.

Excellence is the blueprint for everything Lynette does: careful preparation, high expectations, and genuine care for every person she serves. Grounded in a steadfast Christian faith, she lets its teachings guide how she lives and leads. Wherever she serves, her purpose remains the same: to be a vessel God can use to help others grow into their best selves.

Her Story: Where the Compassion Comes From

Some people find their way to public service through ambition. Lynette Shelborne-Barfield found hers through a place. The Rockaways, the narrow peninsula of Queens between Jamaica Bay and the Atlantic, raised her, and its people have remained at the center of her work ever since. As the first in her family to earn a college degree, she left home for Wilberforce University and came back carrying a lesson she has never set down: talent lives in every neighborhood, but opportunity does not, and someone has to stand at the door and hold it open.

She began holding that door in New York City public school classrooms, where she saw how much a young person could become when one adult believed in them. That conviction followed her into the halls of the New York State Senate and then the New York City Council, where she learned how policy reaches families, and how often it misses them. Her membership in Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, connected her to a sisterhood built on service, and raising two children of her own, now grown, kept her mindful that every young person she met was somebody's whole world.

Then, in October 2012, Superstorm Sandy came ashore. The water swept through the Rockaways, flooding homes and leaving neighbors without power, without shelter, and in many cases without a clear way forward. For Lynette, this was not a story on the evening news. It was her home and her people. Out of that season of loss she founded Living Hope Ministry for Outreach and Evangelism, joining faith with practical help for families who were trying to rebuild. Her recent membership on the NYC Emergency Response Team reflects the same resolve: when crisis comes, she wants to be among those ready to answer.

She has never been content to serve only in emergencies. As an inaugural board member of the Rockaway YMCA, she helped lay the foundation for a place where young people and families could gather, grow, and be safe. As Vice President of the Far Rockaway Branch of the NAACP, and for one year as its President in the president's absence, she gave voice to residents who too often went unheard. Her service has been recognized with the Woman of Distinction Award from the National Council of Negro Women.

Through it all, the source of her compassion has stayed the same. A licensed minister, and prolific public speaker, Lynette sees public service as ministry in action: meeting people where they are, treating every person with dignity, and refusing to give up on anyone. That same fire comes through whenever she takes the stage. Event organizers call on her again and again to serve as Mistress of Ceremonies, because her fiery delivery can lift a room, hold an audience's attention, and make every person present feel part of the moment. Today, through Girls Who Wear Glasses, Inc., she carries that calling forward, helping youth and adults walk into every room with confidence and grace, just as so many in the Rockaways once believed she could.

Lynette Shelborne-Barfield
Founder and Chief Engagement Officer
Girls Who Wear Glasses, Inc.
Leadership experience across the NYC Council, NYS Senate, and NYC Department of Education