Dr. Deana Ervin is the Founding Director of The Intentional Focus, a result driven firm that helps organizations and entrepreneurs develop and apply strategy to vision for optimal achievement.  Her firm provides coaching and consulting skills for a diverse client roster that includes Microsoft, GitHub, Google, United Way, multiple Chambers of Commerce, universities, churches, and school districts. Before charting her own path, she served as an advisor to city council, mayors, and elected officials in her roles as a HUD Community Builder and Regional Faith Based Coordinator for the White House Interagency Council on Homelessness. 

Her passion for empowering communities revealed a burning desire to equip our youth earlier along their journey.  Her mission expanded to include leadership with several entities doing innovative work in youth development. Accomplishments she is most proud of include serving as the CEO of 19 Children’s Defense Fund KC Freedom Schools; CEO of the WEB DuBois Learning Center; and National Director of Program Effectiveness for Camp Fire headquarter office and Missouri Coordinator for the design of the Kauffman Scholars program. Her research, “Maintaining the Segregated City,” examined the role of school-based college planning guidance services in the college trajectories of central city students; which ultimately led her to launch Black and College Bound Scholars. This nonprofit serves diverse preschool through PhD populations but specializes in eradicating gaps in exposure, access, and preparation for students of color. 

Dr. Deana is extremely passionate about partnerships that strengthen those who serve the most vulnerable communities while empowering people to achieve their greatest potential. She can usually be found helping aspiring entrepreneurs and organizational leaders discover and monetize their expertise, teaching workshops on how to design and launch your dream business in six weeks or less, and secure funding to finance your dreams. 

Named 100 Most Influential Kansas Citians by the KC Globe, she serves as a consultant, trainer, and speaker for organizations across the country helping them design strategies and programs that advance diversity, equity & inclusion initiatives — especially those that bridge digital divides, empower disenfranchised communities, & create pipelines for people of color at all ages and stages. She is a proud HBCU alumnus of Prairie View A&M University, with MBA and MPA degrees from University of Missouri-Kansas City; as well as an Interdisciplinary PhD in Urban Educational Leadership & Public Affairs and Administration.