As the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of New Disabled South, Kehsi Iman brings over 15 years of experience building and scaling mission-driven organizations to the work of advancing disability justice across the south. Early in her career, she worked at the intersection of social justice and educational equity and access at a range of colleges and universities, including the University of South Florida, City Colleges of Chicago, and Vanderbilt University, where she started the Office of Inclusion Initiatives and Cultural Competence. She started her first company, a non-profit created to connect minorities pursuing post-secondary educational opportunities to mentors in 2009 and went on to support multiple social impact startups and scaleups in their launch and expansion.

In 2016, she shifted her focus to business operations and strategy for fully remote organizations, becoming the COO for an online continuing education company. She held subsequent roles in organizational leadership and HR/Operations in a range of industries, including politics where she served as the HR Director for Stacey Abrams’ second gubernatorial run.

Iman has a Bachelor of Science in Communications from the University of Florida and a Master of Education from the University of South Florida. She is also a certified Professional of Human Resources through HRCI. She serves on the Board of the ME-Action Network, a global network fighting for the rights of people with ME-Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Long Covid, and has been a member of the Junior League for 10 years. She enjoys mentoring and coaching other women and working moms. She lives in Tampa, Florida with her “men” – her husband and 6-year-old son.