Our Leadership
Juanita C. Britton
CHAIR OF THE BOARD, QUEEN MOTHER BOTWE NANA ADOBEA II OF KONKO VILLAGE
Juanita C. Britton, Advisor for the Literacy Empowerment Action Project (LEAP), is a communication and public relations expert who focuses on building bridges between corporate and community-based entities. A consultant, motivational speaker and trainer, Juanita, affectionately know as “Busy Bee”, enjoys working with aspiring entrepreneurs; rural women on micro-economic developments projects; and, artists and merchants from around the world. In 1980, Busy Bee graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Education from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI. She returned to Detroit, as she had promised her high school principal, to teach for a year. She then moved to Washington, DC, where she attended Howard University, earning a Masters in Public Affairs. Shortly after graduating, she landed a competitive internship in the Office of the US Trade Representative during the Reagan administration. Busy Bee has held positions overseas with the US State Department in Dakar, Senegal. She has also assisted on several special assignments during Presidents George Herbert Walker Bush and William Clinton administrations. Busy Bee’s exciting career has allowed her to enjoy a wide range of consulting and management- levels roles in the District of Columbia and the Federal government.
A driven entrepreneur and community leader, Busy Bee operates several business ventures simultaneously. In addition to the BZB Holiday Gift & Art Show, Busy Bee also manages BZB International Tours, an educational and recreational travel service and‘Up, Up and Away’, a program that educates young people by exposing them to golf, aviation and airport retail industries. This is done in conjunction with her parent company, BZB International, Inc., which coordinates special events and works with small businesses on retail development, marketing and strengthening consumer and community relations. Busy Bee is a partner and Senior Vice President of Paradies-BZB, DC, LLC, a company that operates retail stores & food operations such as Brooks Brothers, Heritage Booksellers, SAY SI BON Gourmet Market, SPANX, Brighton, MAGIC Pan, Washington Pour Bar and CNBC stores in Washington Metropolitan area airports. She works closely to contract local businesses and with 250+ employees on publications & merchandise mix, customer service, team building and community outreach projects.
In October 2011, she was official bestowed the honor of being enstooled as Queen Mother Botwe Nana Adobea II of KONKO Village in the Eastern Region of Ghana, West Africa. She is responsible for development projects and educational improvements for a community of over 400 citizens of Timber Nkwanta. Busy Bee’s most recent endeavor is a partnership with Cardinal Resources of Pittsburg, PA where she serves as the Managing Director for Africa. In this role, Busy Bee delivers the patented Red Bird System, a solar-powered community-sized drinking water system, to communities and industrial wastewater treatments facilities. Red Bird is a self-contained, water purification system that is a high-tech solution designed to function in any environment and without any existing infrastructure. Senegal, West Africa was the site of the launch on the African continent with other launch site countries scheduled throughout 2017.
