Voices of Innovation
Rhona Vega
Title: Founder
Organization: Parent Matterz
Rhona Vega is a Chief Dreamer, multi-award-winning community leader and entrepreneur. Rhona created Parent Matterz™ after her children received close to $1million in merit scholarships, high paid internships and jobs. That wasn’t enough! Rhona’s mission became democratizing access for all youth but especially those historically excluded. She created a holistic approach to guiding families through early career exposure to connecting them to life changing and generational wealth building opportunities. Thousands of youth have experienced Parent Matterz™ signature Opportunity Expos™. Hundreds have experienced the Jump Start™ program which provides college readiness to middle and high school youth with a 100% Success rate of attending college. Recently her new initiative is Middle2Medical™ school guiding middle, high school and college students into a medical school pipeline.
Rhona is a social disrupter, change agent, thought leader, dynamic motivational speaker, and success coach. She founded Imagine Me, an empowerment group that encourages women to focus on self-care and pursue their dreams. Rhona has been featured in the Bergen Record, Martha's Vineyard News. She is the winner of numerous awards and most recently the recipient of the YWCA NNJ Racial Justice Award and the winner of the Women Start It Up Pitch Competition. Parent Matterz™ has been featured on the Black Information Network radio show sponsored by Geico and in the New Jersey PBS docu series 21, featured on NBC (Black Behind The Wheel), Fox5 and most recently created training videos for BIPOC entrepreneurs with the YWCA USA. Rhona is a founding member of Teaneck Tea Talks, which was created by African American and Orthodox Jewish women to hold space for courageous conversations. Rhona is a co-host of Share The Mic Now in collaboration with the YWCA, which amplifies the voices of powerful Black women and connects the world to them. The Parent Matterz YouTube channel features The Power Of Exposure which showcases success stories and how parents can use their model. Please reach out if you'd like to be a featured guest.
Rhona is the proud recent author of “How To Raise Kids Who Will Thank You Later”, was inducted into the Goldman Sachs One Million Black Women: Black in Business and the NJ Black Women's Collective. Rhona loves traveling with her husband and five children.
To connect with Voices of Innovation or learn more about this program, please email InnovateHER@visionsfcu.org.
