Three years ago, Adonica Black ’07 was asked to contribute a message to a presentation for Pine Crest School’s Board of Trustees. Reflecting on an institution she had first entered as a fourth grade student, she described Pine Crest in a way that resonated deeply with those who heard it.
“A beacon of belonging.”
For Adonica, the phrase described something more consequential than feeling welcomed or included. It captured the confidence Pine Crest had instilled in her: the belief that she belonged wherever her journey might take her and that she had something meaningful to contribute.
“Pine Crest creates a space where it’s cool to be smart. Pine Crest makes it exciting to be curious, to challenge yourself and to pursue excellence. There is a culture that celebrates learning and encourages you to discover the full extent of your potential,” she said. “There are so many resources to support you in being successful, not just academically, but also in other ways in which they nurture the whole student and the whole person.”
She remembers that feeling as clearly as she remembers the physical spaces where it began. Mrs. Powers’ fourth grade homeroom, near the playground and below Mr. Anastasis’ classroom on the second floor. Pine Crest became, in her words, both “a place of comfort” and “a place of opportunity,” where being challenged and being known existed alongside one another.
“It gave me such confidence in knowing that as I go into other rooms, as I go into other challenges, I can face them,” she said. “If you’re in the room, you belong in the room and you can contribute and lead in that space.”
That conviction has stayed with Adonica far beyond Pine Crest, evolving from confidence in her own place in the room to a commitment to helping others find theirs. Throughout her professional career and extensive volunteer service, she has focused on creating an environment that allows others to contribute and lead. “Every major opportunity I’ve had, from Duke to law school to becoming a global executive, to serving on boards, started because someone invested in my potential before I fully saw it myself. Pine Crest was one of those places. That’s why I believe education is not just about preparing students for careers. It’s about expanding what they believe is possible for their own lives,” she shared.
Her career has spanned law, global business and people leadership. Fields that, on the surface, may appear distinct but that Adonica sees as connected by a consistent purpose: creating change for the better.
Even her name reflects that purpose. Created by her father by combining his name, Donald, with her mother Diann’s middle name, Veronica, Adonica was given the meaning “the change.” Fittingly, that meaning has become a through line in a career devoted to creating positive change through people and institutions.
She has always been interested in advocacy, fairness and the systems that shape people's experiences. As a litigator, she found herself thinking beyond the work of addressing harm after it occurred.
“I wanted to be part of the beginning,” she said, “building the systems and experiences so that we could create better outcomes from the start.” That instinct eventually drew her toward work centered on people and organizations, where the questions are less about any single individual than about the environments surrounding them and the systems in which they operate. How do leaders bring forward the perspectives of others? What allows talented people to operate at their full capacity? How do institutions become stronger because of the people within them?
Earlier in her career, Adonica admits she believed leadership carried an expectation of having all of the answers. Experience changed that understanding. The leader’s role, she came to believe, is to ask the right questions, bring the right people into the conversation and create enough space for their knowledge and perspectives to shape what comes next. “I learned over time that leadership is not having all the answers. Leadership is asking the right questions and empowering the right people to find the answers together,” she said. “I think leadership is all about listening and then being able to respond with empathy and impact.”
“Belonging is essential not only for individuals, but also for institutions, because institutions benefit when everyone within them is empowered to contribute their perspective,” she said. “Belonging creates that bilateral benefit, allowing for greater outcomes for everyone involved.”
It is an idea that connects Adonica’s professional work with the many ways she has chosen to serve others. The settings may differ, but the underlying values remain remarkably consistent: creating opportunities for people to participate fully and helping build institutions capable of benefiting from individual perspectives.
For Adonica, joining Pine Crest’s Board of Trustees brought her journey with the School full circle.
“When people ask why I devote my time to Pine Crest, the answer is simple. I see it as more than giving back to a school. I am investing in the place that invested in me. Pine Crest became my second family, gave me the confidence to dream beyond what I thought was possible and helped shape the leader I am today.”
Today, returning to campus as a Trustee carries particular meaning for Adonica.
“It is about investing in the next generation of students, so they can discover their own spark and realize possibilities beyond what they can see today. That ripple effect creates a profound impact, reaching across lives, communities and generations in ways we may never fully see or measure.”
Her involvement has extended beyond the Board. Adonica has returned to campus to mentor students in Pine Crest’s Social Entrepreneurship Program, bringing her professional experience into conversations with young people who are already testing their ability to influence the world around them. The program fascinates her because it gives students something she wishes she had access to at their age: the opportunity to understand business as a mechanism for addressing human challenges and building solutions. For Adonica, mentoring these students is another expression of the same cycle of investment that shaped her own life: someone sees possibility in a young person, gives them the tools and confidence to pursue it and watches that possibility become impact.
“I think business drives impact,” she said. Working with students has also given Adonica an unusually close view of the generation Pine Crest is preparing to send into the world. She has mentored Headstart, a student team developing a wearable medical device designed to support people who experience migraines, and watched its members wrestle with the practical work required to move an abstract idea toward a viable solution. “The students at Pine Crest today are already thinking about big issues to help the world move forward,” she said.
At a time when conversations about young people frequently center on uncertainty about artificial intelligence, technology and the future of work, Adonica sees students approaching those changes with considerable agency.
“I really think that this generation is willing, able and taking their future into their hands,” she said. “They understand what they’re facing, and they understand the new ways of facing it better than we even do.”
There is a meaningful continuity in seeing Adonica alongside those students. The opportunities available to them are different from those she encountered as a student, but she recognizes the culture underneath them: young people are encouraged to explore what they are capable of, trusted with consequential work and surrounded by adults prepared to invest in their growth.
From her seat on the Board of Trustees, that responsibility operates at a different scale. Working alongside fellow trustees, President Dr. Dana Markham ’18H and School leadership, Adonica helps shape the institution that future generations of students will inherit, considering how Pine Crest evolves, where it invests and how it continues creating opportunities while preserving the culture that has sustained generations of students.
“Today, my hope is to help ignite that same spark in every student who walks through Pine Crest’s doors.”
Adonica believes that alumni who have not recently experienced Pine Crest might be surprised by what they find. “Pine Crest is still the place that we know and love, but it has leveled up in such an amazing way that it’s worth getting familiar with again,” she said. “The things we know and love about Pine Crest, its values, its teachers and the communities that have always made it exceptional, remain true.”
For Adonica, that enduring sense of possibility is the essence of Pine Crest’s spark.
“To me, a spark is the moment possibility becomes belief. It’s when someone begins to see a future that feels bigger than their current circumstances. Pine Crest sparked that belief in me as a student. It gave me a community that felt like family, encouraged me to think beyond perceived limits and helped shape the leader I’ve become. Today, I see that same spark being ignited in the next generation of the Pine Crest community.”
That enduring foundation matters because Adonica knows what they can make possible. “Pine Crest did not just educate me; it helped shape who I am. It gave me a sense of family and belonging, challenged me to think bigger than myself and gave me the confidence to pursue possibilities I may not otherwise have imagined. The values strengthened during my years at Pine Crest continue to guide how I lead, how I serve and how I seek to create opportunities for others to thrive.”
That experience has shaped a broader conviction about the transformative power of education. “I believe education is one of the greatest catalysts for lasting impact. It transforms individual lives, strengthens families, builds communities and ultimately changes the trajectory of society. Pine Crest has done that for me, and I am honored to help ensure it continues doing that for generations to come.”
Continuing that legacy is ultimately what bringing the spark forward means. “If my story encourages one student to dream a little bigger, or inspires one alumnus to reinvest in the institution that helped shape them, then this opportunity to share my story has been worthwhile.”