Founder - Stephen A. James

Stephen James is an Emmy award-winning director with over 30 years of experience in sports media organizations covering national and global sports events. During his professional career, he has directed a multitude of sports programs including but not limited to a host of shows on the NFL Network, Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith, Pregame and Halftime shows for the NBA on ABC from Times Square Studio in New York. His credits also include Directing CNN’s Paula Zahn Now and American Morning with Soledad O’Brien and Bill Hemmer. Mr. James received a national sports Emmy for his work on “Live Event Turnaround¨ during NBC’s Sports 2004 Olympic coverage of the Summer Games from Athens, Greece. His directing acumen was integral in re-launching Headline News in primetime for the CNN News Group in Atlanta, Georgia. Further, Mr James formed SJ Media Inc., a company that provides production services for the film, television, and news industries. Some of his clients include ESPN/ABC, Triple Threat Productions, NBA TV, BET, CNN, NBC/CNBC and more.

When I was in the 10th grade, I toured the local CBS affiliate in Dallas and they were preparing for a live 5pm newscast. I was mesmerized, curious, and determined. During that fateful day, I had an epiphany. I knew that I wanted to work in television, and I understood what I had to do to learn. I majored in Radio/TV/Film and I minored in marketing. My sophomore year I worked as an intern at that same station which led to my first full-time job. Being exposed to the industry at an early age has been a blessing, and my revelation on that day has propelled me forward and opened countless avenues for success. I founded Eyes Wide Open because I want to inspire, expose, and encourage our youth and young adults to identify and follow their dreams. Here at EWO, more epiphanies are waiting to be discovered, knowledge is readily available, and the opportunities to excel can be endless.

Dr. Arthur Tyler

Dr. Arthur Q. Tyler is the former chancellor of City College of San Francisco and served from 2013 to 2015. He led the restoration of the college’s accreditation, which had been terminated in 2012. He also restored the college’s financial bond rating from BBB to A+ and returned over $48 million to the taxpayers and balanced the budget. His experience leading community colleges in Sacramento, Los Angeles, and Houston, combined with his expertise in fiscal and accreditation matters make him uniquely qualified to lead the educational institutions. During his tenure as chancellor, he successfully returned the college to an accredited status; returned $48 million to taxpayers; and created a balance budget.

Dr. Tyler was responsible for leading the daily operations of the Houston Community Colleges System, including academic affairs, workforce development, student services and support, facilities and construction and finance and budget. During his tenure, he helped pass a $425 million general obligation bond, managed more than $750M in construction funds, and annexed two communities into the district’s taxing authority.

Dr. Tyler has been a leader in Minority Male STEM initiatives, a visiting scholar and lecturer at the University of Texas-Austin Community College Leadership Program, and is a frequent presenter at national conferences like American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) and the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT). As an innovator, he was selected to lead U.S. educational teams to create community college systems in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, The Kingdom of Tonga, and Vietnam. Dr. Tyler continues to publish and teach various subjects including business and doctoral research. He has been a visiting scholar at the University of Texas Austin.

Gabrielle Pina

Pina taught in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California for the past ten years, where she also received a Master of Arts degree. In March of 2012, Pina premiered Letters from Zora: In Her Own Words starring Vanessa Bell Callow, a play that showcases the artistic and literary triumphs of the venerable Zora Neale Hurston at the University of Southern California to a sold out crowd of over twelve hundred. Letters from Zora premiered and sold old all five shows at the Pasadena Playhouse in August of 2013 and was back by popular demand at the Pasadena Playhouse the following year for eight shows. Both Gabrielle Denise Pina and Vanessa Bell Calloway were nominated for NAACP Theater Awards for Best Playwright and Best Actress respectively in 2014. e National Black Theater Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina the same year.

Ms. Pina is also hard at work on her third novel, A Season for Hummingbirds and has completed her second play Dreaming of Harlem Under a High Southern Sky which premiered to a sold out house as part of the Visions & Voices: Arts and Humanities Initiative at the University of Southern California in March of 2015 and is currently slated to be a motion picture in 2018. Further, she is also the author of Bucking the Linean authorized biography of the Clougherty family, the founders of the Farmer John brand. Ms. Pina is also working on her third play entitled Forever Ella about the life of singing legend Ella Fitzgerald.

Darius Walker

Darius Walker was most recently Vice President and NY- Northeast Bureau Chief for CNN. In this capacity, Walker oversaw all editorial resources and assignments for CNN’s team of correspondents, producers, photojournalists and editors based in CNN’s largest national bureau. Before his New York assignment, Walker was the Senior Director of newsgathering for CNN’s Washington, D.C. bureau.

Walker also served as vice president of CNN Business News, where he managed business news coverage for CNN, CNNfn, Headline News and CNN Radio; Supervising producer for CNNfn’s Atlanta operations and as senior producer for the business news program, Lou Dobbs Moneyline. From 1996 to 1998, Walker worked for CNN’s national desk in Atlanta as a senior editor and producer.

Before joining CNN, Walker was the Managing Editor and Executive Producer for special projects at NBC’s flagship station, WNBC in New York. From 1992 to 1994, he worked at WAGA-TV, the CBS affiliate in Atlanta, where he was the Managing Editor and led the Emmy Award-winning coverage of the Atlanta stadium fire.

From 1988 to 1992 Walker worked as Assignment Editor, Field and Package producer for ABC News in New York. Prior to ABC News Walker worked in his hometown of Boston for TV stations WBZ and WHDH. He also worked at WBZ, WRBB and WBSM radio stations and began his journalism career at the Boston Globe.

Walker has received Emmy, Peabody and DuPont awards. He is also the recipient of the 2002 New York Association of Black Journalists Inaugural Trailblazer Award for Excellence in Journalism and the Tuck School of Business (Dartmouth College) award for Business Reporting.

Specialties: Leadership and Staff Development, Strategic Planning, Business Development, Organizational Prioritizing and Restructuring (Process Analysis), Crisis Management, Digital Development and Innovation, Executive Board Experience, Diversity Leader and Innovator, Government Relations, Lecturer.

Gina Strachan

Gina Hemphill-Strachan has had over 25 years of network and cable production and talent producing experience, spanning several genres of live studio, remote, taped turnaround, news, and feature production. She has specialized in booking A-list guests and producing celebrity segments and human interest stories for Oprah Winfrey, Johnny Carson, Bob Costas, Katie Couric and Anderson Cooper to name a few. Gina has worked as a Feature Producer for the coverage of nine Olympic games, two World Series and the Daytime Emmy Awards.

Most recently she was the Talent Producer at MLB Network, where she coordinated interviews with the players, managers and GM’s, for all of the network shows, features, documentaries and specials. She was the Sr. Talent Manager for ESPN’s talk show Quite Frankly w/Stephen A. Smith, where in addition to booking studio guests, she managed a staff of four Talent Producer’s, and was the Talent Producer for ESPNews.

Gina has won a total of 12 Emmy awards. She has had the distinct honor of carrying the Olympic torch in four Olympic torch relays, one of which was the opening ceremony of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics in honor of her grandfather Jesse Owens.

Nicole Watson

An award-winning producer/reporter Nicole Watson has worked for most of the top names in the broadcast industry including, Turner Broadcasting (TNT & TBS), BET, HBO, and ESPN. The veteran journalist has collected many honors during her career, but her passion is working with young people and empowering them for leadership and academic excellence. Nicole’s work as an accomplished media specialist allowed her to create and produce a ground breaking sports talk show called “The Sports Report” on BET. She was also a feature reporter/ producer for theNFL’s longest running program, “Inside the NFL.” Watson has hosted and reported on the NBA, NFL, NHL, college sports, women’s professional basketball, auto racing, ballroom dancing and Olympic sports. She is experienced in live television events, radio broadcast, entertainment and children’s programming.

She has worked with several organizations including Microsoft, the Atlanta Falcons, the National Black Arts Festival, CBS Radio, and many Atlanta based companies and individuals. Armed with a degree in marketing, Nicole has also been a project manager for many events that include golf tournaments, speaking seminars, business symposiums, various civic and entertainment outings.

"Eyes Wide Open (EWO) is a progressive approach to mentoring, student engagement and positive influences. It fills a tremendous void in our communities and has a powerful outlook beyond the school system. As a marketing communications professional and instructor, I have partnered with EWO simply because of their dedication to making a difference."

Yvette Thompson

As a Los Angeles native, Yvette Thompson started a career in operations management with Bailey Broadcasting Services. In 2008, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher recruited Yvette to oversee the consolidation of the branch based document processing services. Using an outsourcing model, she integrated a staff of 30+ specialists across multiple locations into a virtual captive exceeding 90% utilization, which serviced over 2,000 users and 16 global offices worldwide.

Yvette currently leads DTI’s Middle Office Document Services outsourcing teams, providing clients with superior on-site and off-site legal process outsourcing. As Director of Document Services, she has responsibility for customer satisfaction, operational excellence and fostering a strong environment for employee growth and retention. She joined DTI in 2013 to design and launch the Middle Office business line now earning over $4 million in contractual revenue.

An organized youth basketball enthusiast, she launched Basketball Preparatory Academy in 2004, a non-profit youth travelling basketball organization with a focus on continued education. She served as President and CFO supporting the development of underprivileged youth with a goal to inspire them to pursue higher education until 2007.