Young Professionals Group Event

Michelle Y. Merriweather joined the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle team in August 2015 as the Vice President. Her passion is combining her extensive sales, fund development, event planning and marketing background to better the communities in which she serves.

Ms. Merriweather is taking an active role in impacting her community. She serves on the board of directors for the Alliance for Education, KUOW, United Way of King County, MultiCare Behavioral Health Foundation, the Downtown Seattle Association, and is an inaugural appointee of the first Washington State Women’s Commission dedicated to shaping policy that directly impacts the women that call Washington home. Michelle is a proud active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated and serves as the advisor for the collegiate chapter at University of Washington. She is a proud graduate of the Xavier University of Louisiana, the nation’s only historically Black-Catholic University, with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing. In 2020 she was awarded 2 awards from the Puget Sound Business Journal: A Woman of Influence and a Puget Sound Power 100. In 2022, she received the Edwin T. Pratt Community Service Award from the MLKCC.

Starla Sampaco is a columnist, international keynote speaker, and host with a background in TV news. As a contributor to Forbes and Harvard Business Review, she teaches women and professionals of color how to advocate for themselves in the workplace. Previously, she anchored the news for Seattle's PBS station and taught graduate students at the University of Washington.

Shirline Wilson serves as the Executive Director of the Washington Employers for Racial Equity (WERE). WERE is a coalition formed in 2020 to advance a commitment to make progress on closing racial equity gaps that have most disproportionately impacted Black Washingtonians. The coalition’s work occurs over a 10-year period to specifically increase investments in Black talent, increase investments in Black-owned businesses, and invest in communities where their businesses serve people of color.

Shirline has had a long career across the disciplines of accounting, management consulting, leadership development, systems and process change management. Throughout her career, it was people and systems transformation work that drew her interest. Shirline studied organizational development and systems design at Antioch University and has a master’s degree in education policy from University of Washington Seattle. She has certifications in project management, process management, and change methodologies.