“Never lose your voice.”

That’s what N.C. A&T alumna Jamilla Pinder, an agribusiness and food industry management program graduate, hopes for the younger generation as she fills the at-large Greensboro City Council seat left vacant by another Aggie, Yvonne Johnson.

“Definitely one of my priorities is to find out how to bring the same opportunities that I’ve been afforded (to others). This is not about ‘me’, this is about ‘we,’ ” Pinder said.

Pinder, who graduated in 2019 with a bachelor’s in agribusiness and food industry management, was sworn in earlier this month to fill the unexpired term of Johnson, who died Dec. 4.

Pinder was selected from a final pool of 19 candidates — narrowed from more than 40 contenders — and will serve the remainder of Johnson’s term, which ends late this year. With her mother, Vickie Flippen, holding the Bible, Pinder was sworn in at the Tuesday, Feb. 4, City Council meeting.

Pinder said people often mistakenly assume her academic background is in health care. “Ag is everyday life — from what you eat, to what you wear, to the house you’re living in, to the car you’re driving,” she said. “That schooling — looking at systems and how everything is connected — has definitely played a role in how I’ve approached a lot of my work.”

Kenrett Jefferson-Moore, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Agribusiness, Applied Economics and Agriscience Education, said she admires Pinder’s passion for the community. “People look up to her advocacy,” Jefferson-Moore said.

She recalled Pinder’s words in a recent conversation they had. “She says ‘you have to be active – lean out and lean in,’” Jefferson-Moore said.

Pinder, a Greensboro native, is director of community engagement and impact at Cone Health Foundation, which advocates for and invests in community-driven solutions to eliminate health inequities.

Pinder’s persistence is evident in her journey inside and outside of academia. She enrolled at A&T in 1996. A single mother with an infant son, she hoped to work part time and go to school full time. Eventually, however, she stopped taking classes.

But Pinder took advantage of the opportunities in the workplace at Moses Cone Hospital, which started with her third-shift job checking in patients at Moses Cone Hospital when she was a freshman. After more than 20 years of working for the Cone Health system and its partners, she returned to take classes part time at A&T to complete her bachelor’s degree.

Her mentor, Obed Quaicoe, Ph.D., an associate professor of agribusiness, said Pinder is very solutions-driven. “She is very, very engaging,” he said. “That passion to help people and find solutions to problems is going to really help the city.”

Pinder also makes it a point to come back and speak with students about career and volunteer opportunities.

“She brings context,” said Fafanyo Asiseh, Ph.D., an associate professor in the department of economics. “She talks about economic mobility. … She’s not just speaking theory, she’s talking based on her experience and what she has seen.

“And she’s able to link students to organizations, especially students who need internships,” Asiseh said. “She’s always linking people to resources.”