Mother-and-daughter team Teresa Brown and Alexis Brown are uplifting residents in the Miami area through programs and initiatives that address disparities in health care and finances within African American families.

Both women serve as presidents of prominent nonprofit organizations: Teresa Brown, president of the Dade County (FL) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, and Alexis Brown, president of the Miami-Dade County Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.

Their collaborative and individual efforts have earned them recognition among Legacy Miami’s Most Prominent and Influential Black Women in Business and Industry for 2025.

As president of the Miami-Dade County Chapter of AKA, Alexis Brown said she hopes to create a new chapter with innovative ideas, strengthened programs, and a renewed approach to community service—while remaining faithful to the sorority’s mission of engagement and impact. Her goal is to offer a modern perspective and a safe space for professional women.

“It’s been 37 years since there was a new chapter chartered in Miami in our sorority,” she said. “So, this is something that we’re doing in real time.”

For Teresa Brown, also an AKA, legacy is rooted in building a community-focused future.

“As a leader, I stay focused not just on the daily impact, but on building programs and systems that will endure,” she said, “as well as creating partnership opportunities that will remain long past my term.”

Alexis Brown, who is also a member of The Links, shares her mother’s vision of building a lasting legacy.

According to Teresa Brown, the most recent county data shows that more than half a million households in Miami-Dade County are living in poverty. The Links addresses this need through a network of programs that support or collaborate with community-based health initiatives offering free or low-cost clinics, preventive health education, mental health services, and chronic disease management.

“We have the Colgate partnership, Bright Smiles, Bright Futures, where we visit Title I schools in South Dade and North Dade on a yearly basis,” Teresa Brown explained. “We visit about 15 schools where we provide dental screenings for the children. At the elementary schools, we have a dentist onsite.”

If children need additional care after screening, they are referred to a free clinic.

The Links also provides a childhood obesity prevention program that educates children about healthy eating and nutrition. The organization further promotes health and wellness through a national initiative called “A Walk for Healthy Living.” According to Teresa Brown, all of the organization’s chapters participate annually, and her chapter has walked in Miami Gardens for the last two years, including events with Florida Memorial University students and local residents.

The Links also support Donor Sabbath, offering information to African Americans about the importance of organ donation. Additionally, the chapter provides 25 free mammograms each year to assist uninsured residents.

“We have what we call the Black Family Expo, again a national initiative across the country with all 390 chapters,” Teresa Brown explained. “For the last three years, we have gathered at Betty T. Ferguson, where we bring all types of resources to the residents.”

The Miami-Dade County Chapter of AKA, and the Dade County Links have partnered on several initiatives to benefit residents.

“Our chapter actually partnered with The Links to help produce that [Black Family Expo] event,” Alexis Brown said. “We sponsored the financial room, where we taught financial literacy related to college readiness, preparing for scholarships, estate planning, and retirement. That is one of the many ways that we collaborate.”

She continued, “For our Mental Health Month event, called ‘Hues of Healing: Yoga in the Park,’ The Links sponsored our children’s yoga and fitness components. Both organizations collaborated this year by supporting each other’s events.”

Along with these programs and initiatives, a newly developed swim program has been created to reduce drowning rates among adults and children and to dispel fear of the water.

“There is a health pandemic of drownings in Florida,” Alexis Brown remarked. “We have the No. 1 drowning rate in the country.”

For Teresa Brown, leadership reaches beyond impacting the present. She reflected, “It’s also about modeling integrity, courage, and service in ways that encourage the next generation.”