Women with Vision Knoxville

About Us

Women with Vision is a Black female-led organization seeking truth and root causes for existing disparities impacting our neighbors and to build better futures for all. Women with Vision (WWV) serves as a trusted resource and messenger in the Knoxville community with a mission to Restore and pursue social justice in disinvested communities through community-driven social science. Women With Vision is a co-op model, made of mothers and caregivers with lived experience as longstanding community members in the city of Knoxville.

WWV has demonstrated our ability to engage and conduct community-driven research across a range of social issues: mental health, food, and housing disparities to environmental justice. WWV is committed to evidence-based social science approaches that involve the collection of both qualitative and quantitative data through community conversations, surveys, focus groups, and storytelling platforms. Importantly, we, Women With Vision aim to restore community voices and knowledge through such means as participatory action research and engagement strategies. WWV aims to be an applied community-driven research organization that values and supports stakeholders across sectors to better connect to each other. At the heart of their work is the need to provide and protect members of historically disinvested communities.

Who We Are

Caity Southall

Corporate Secretary

Caity Southall, is a co-founder and the corporate secretary for Women With Vision, Inc. Ms. Southall is certified in ethical human research through 2027 through the University of Tennessee’s (UTK) CITI training and has received a separate certification from UTK in motivational interviewing. Other certifications include Community Health Work through the CHASM community benefits organization (CBO) and a separate certification from Meharry Medical College in the same field. She is working towards an additional certification in community health work from Vanderbilt University.

Ms. Southall is a born native to Knoxville, Tennessee and has spent her entire life living within this community and advocating for racial justice and human rights. She is an active community advocate through her role as a steering committee member since 2022 with Knoxville Water and Energy for All, a Knoxville- based advocacy group seeking to make utility services affordable to all and combat energy insecurity.

Other advocacy projects and organizations that she has served as a contributing member of include CBOs such as Sleeves4Needs, Black Coffee Justice, SEEED Knox, Grow Partnership Tennessee (formerly Alliance House Community Coalition), and Pellissippi State Community College, as well as independent organizing efforts to address topics such as community health in schools during the COVID-19 pandemic and for racial justice/against police brutality.

Her extensive background in community engagement and advocacy spans from 2020 to present day, creating an overwhelming involvement in community-focused initiatives, with intentions to continue to expand these efforts through her organization.

Jasmine Bryant

Corporate Treasurer

Jasmine Bryant, Co-founder and Corporate Treasurer of Women With Vision Inc, brings a wealth of expertise and dedication to our organization. Certified in ethical human research until 2027 through UTK CITI training, Jasmine is currently pursuing Community Health Worker Training at Vanderbilt University. Her journey in community advocacy began during the COVID pandemic at SEEED, where she engaged with the community. Since then, Jasmine has been at the forefront of addressing critical community issues such as gun violence, mental health, food insecurity, homelessness, and community building.

Jasmine advocates through her involvement in various initiatives, including the Housing Systems Advisory, Food Assessment Core Team, and Tennessee Justice Center. She has also been an active partner of organizations such as Three3, UWGK, Knox County Health Department, Rooted East, The Bottom, Grow Partnership Tennessee, Knox Pride, and SEEED. Recently, Jasmine collaborated with Yolanda Grant, Housing Director of UWGK, to lead focus groups aimed at fostering collaboration among organizations addressing housing issues, identifying gaps and barriers, and finding solutions for effective service delivery and funding resources.

Jha’Niyah Holland

Director of Advocacy and Accountability

Is the co-founder of Women With Vision and currently serves as the Director of Advocacy and Accountability. A dedicated young leader advocating for community safety,the overall well-being and life quality of underserved communities. Jhaniyah currently serves on the Mayor's Mental Health roundtable and is a Alumni of the Cites Unites Young Leader Fellowship that focuses on building collaboration nationwide to reduce homicides and shootings among Black men and boys. Ms.Holland is a former board member of Alliance for Integrated Awareness where she was able to gain insight and advocate for advancing equity in mental healthcare. While advocating in the community over the past three years, Ms. Holland has also been soaring in her career as an entrepreneurial esthetician.

As an community engagement and outreach specialist for a research non-profit Ms.Holland has been able to facilitate focus groups in many spaces that has allowed diverse perspectives from community members and stakeholders, identify effective intervention strategies and develop comprehensive approaches to address the needs and barriers of our underserved communities. She participated in creating Health portraits for 21 counties in Southeast Tennessee with the University of Tennessee Medical Center and facilitating focus groups for a Health Brain Intitiative with the Knox County Health Department.

Ms.Holland is dedicated to community driven research, committed to making an impact through collaboration and innovation. She has a passion for advocacy in research for minorities where she believes that research does not define us but gives us a voice and an opportunity to be heard.

Thomajah Bishop

Marketing Director

Thomajah Bishop, is the co-founder of Women with Vision and currently serves as the Marketing Director. In addition to her professional roles, Ms. Bishop serves in the Army Reserve and is pursuing a nursing degree to become a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN).

In 2022, Ms. Bishop began her career as a social science researcher, collaborating with SEEED Knoxville. She leveraged her lived experience and expertise in community concerns to enhance their community engagement team. She holds a certification in ethical human research, valid through 2027, from the University of Tennessee’s (UTK) CITI training program.

Ms. Bishop is passionate about advocating for community needs, using her voice and skills to drive positive change. She specializes in focus group facilitation, data collection and analysis, and community engagement. Through her work, she actively gathers and disseminates data to promote informed decision-making and improvements within her community and beyond.