Sydney Montgomery, Esq.

Founder of Barrier Breakers®

As the first lawyer in her family, the first person from her high school to
attend Princeton University, and a Harvard Law School graduate, Sydney has used her platform since 2012 to help students break down generational barriers and step confidently into their future. Issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion are incredibly important to her.

Sydney is the Founder and Executive Director of Barrier Breakers®, Inc and CEO of Outline It, Inc. She holds her B.A. in English from Princeton University, J.D. from Harvard Law School, and is a candidate for the Dual Master of Arts in Christian Education and Formation and Masters of Divinity Program at Princeton Theological Seminary. She is a Co-Founder of College Equity First, Inc. a Maryland 501(c)(3) non-profit, sits on the Board of the Institute for Anti-Racist Education, a New Jersey 501(c)(3) non-profit.

Board of Directors

  • Yolanda Ingram

    Yolanda Ingram is the Director of Access to Law School of Education Programs at University of Pennsylvania. After completing her B.A. in English, Yolanda attended Washburn University School of Law as a first-generation law student. She began her career at a mid-sized law firm and eventually became a professor at Temple University. Her journey led her to her current role supporting underrepresented students in applying to law school.

  • Melissa Kellogg Leuck

    Melissa Kellogg Lueck, MBA, is a business and marketing coach for ambitious solopreneurs. She has over 15 years of experience building her own business and working with clients, especially women solopreneurs build their business. As a coach and lifelong student of business, she specializes in seeing exactly what is holding entrepreneurs back, what is getting in their way, what is keeping them stuck whether it is thoughts, mindset, and/or strategies.

  • Michele Evard

    Michele Evard, Ph.D. is the founder of Evard Educational Consulting, where she helps students with homeschooling, high school, and college planning. She holds a Ph.D. from MIT, an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Oregan, and a B.S. in Mathematics and B.A. in Computer Science from Andrews University.

  • Brandon Rhodes

    Brandon Rhodes an experienced strategy and analytics professional with a track record of leading cross-functional strategic initiatives. He holds a B.S. in Operations Research and Financial Engineering from Princeton University and has 8+ years of experience as an analyst. He is currently the Manager of Consumer Growth, Strategy, & GTM at Affirm.

  • Ashley Lipscomb

    Ashley Lipscomb is the Co-Founder & CEO at The Institute for Anti-Racist Education, Inc. After working as a teacher and youth minister, she developed specialized interventions for students, teachers, and educational leaders. A graduate of Hampton University (BA English and Master in Teaching), Harvard Divinity School (MDiv), and Montclair State University (Certificate in Supervision), she has participated in and spearheaded several committees focused on diversity equity and inclusion in both K-12 and higher education settings

  • Alice Kroutikova

    Alice Kroutikova is a director specializing in intellectual property and litigation consulting at Elysium Digital, an Aon company. Alice holds a B.S.E degree in computer science from Princeton University. At Elysium Digital, she has worked as both a consulting expert and a testifying expert in a variety of technical areas, including database analysis, telecommunications, network traffic analysis, middleware applications, and machine learning.

  • Richard Thornton

    Richard Thornton is an engineer by degree and a scientist in practice looking to find novel intersections between collective cell behaviors and bioprocess engineering. He is currently a Molecular Biology Ph.D. Candidate at Princeton University and holds his B.S. in Biological Systems Engineering from North Carolina A&T University.