Charlotte Shields-Rossi | staff writer

After graduating from Slippery Rock University with a Bachelor of Science in Social Work, Sharnay Hearn Davis began working as a “professional volunteer,” giving back to the Black community. In 2014, she started as the community affairs liaison for the city of Pittsburgh. During that time, she acted as a support staff for My Brother’s Keeper, a program created by former President Barack Obama in an effort to focus on Black male achievement.

“I found myself in the space where while I’m working with Black men, [I thought] who is working with Black women?” Hearn Davis said. “I had conversations with my mentors and they said ‘We are men, you do it.’”

So she did.

In 2015, the Duquesne doctoral student founded The Sisters Lifting as We Climb Network. What started as a small gathering of friends has grown over the years. The network has received numerous honors and awards within the Pittsburgh area. In 2018, Hearn Davis was featured in the Pittsburgh Courier’s FAB 40 for her community work. This award highlights Black people under the age of 40 who are impacting Pittsburgh with their professional journey and community engagement.

The non-profit organization has the mission of advancing economic mobility and amplifying the voice of Black women in the Pittsburgh area.

“We want to help spark or relight other people’s fire because they may have felt like they have been overlooked,” Hearn Davis said.

The biggest struggle the organization has faced is a lack of funding.

“As we move forward as officially a non-profit, there is so much more we need for support as we build out our capacity,” Hearn Davis said.

The importance of her organization became even more clear in 2019 when the University of Pittsburgh put out a gender equity and disparities study, which named Pittsburgh the worst place to live for Black women. After she heard about this, Hearn Davis said she turned to God wondering what to do.

“I prayed about it. [I] asked God what I was supposed to do with that. He said ‘You are supposed to use your influence that I have given you to help tell everybody else’s story,’” Hearn Davis said.

This led her to write a book titled “Realities of Black Women,” highlighting the stories of 10 different Black women in the Pittsburgh area.

In the past nine years, the organization has hosted various networking events. Last year the organization hosted a six-month Black women mental health cohort. They provided seven women with educational classes to understand the difference between mental health and mental wellness, while supplying more than $300,000 in professional development stipends to members of the organization.

One program the network works closely with is EDGE Leadership, an organization that hosts an annual women’s group coaching cohort. Christy Uffelman is the CEO and founder of EDGE and a Duquense alumna.

Offering scholarships to women in The Sisters Lifting as We Climb Network, Uffelman and Hearn Davis have worked together since 2024. Uffelman began working with Hearn Davis after she noticed disparities in professional development scholarship recipients.

“Consistently, over and over I was seeing that the women that companies would sponsor were white women. In my own personal anti-racism journey, Sharnay has been an amazing mentor, and has of course become a friend,” Uffelman said.

By recognizing racial bias, Uffelman realized the importance of uplifting Black women.

“If you look at the data you realize we need to do our part to support Black women, and if you are not a data person, and you are simply a human being, all you have to do is look around to see the inequities that are in your own circle, in your own neighborhood, in your own work group, and recognize that we can do better,” Uffleman said.

Hearn Davis began her Duquesne education journey in 2011 when applying for a M.S. degree in community leadership. She is currently pursuing an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and Administration at Duquesne. Hearn Davis reflected on her decision to enroll at the university.

“Most importantly was Duquense’s mission — the mission to serve,” Hearn Davis said. “It was the staff, especially the African-American staff, who kept me there and really supported me on my journey, and I don’t want to just say the African-American staff, I love my chair to life, Rick McCown.”

McCown has been a professor in the school of education for 43 years, while also serving as the chair of the department of educational foundations and leadership, the program Hearn Davis is enrolled in.

McCown said Hearn Davis is able to enhance her pre-existing organization with the help of the education she receives at Duquesne.

“It’s not that Sharnay came to the university, learned some stuff and then started this organization. She started the organization because she was already a committed community organizer and community advocate, and she brought her work with her, in our doctoral program she has been able to use the skills that she has developed as a doctoral student to enhance and improve her educational program,” McCown said.

The Sisters Lifting as We Climb Network officially became a non-profit in 2023. Hearn Davis has hopes for the future of the network.

“My goal for 2025 is to really count how many women we have really been able to pour into, some of those women who were blessed with those scholarships also now have their own non-profits that are impacting hundreds of other women,” Hearn Davis said.