Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Shanita Weeden
Shanita Weeden founded Cycle Breaker Initiative and created the Cycle Breaker Blueprint™. She leads the organization's work across institutional and community settings — with universities, financial institutions, government agencies, nonprofits and employers.
A U.S. Army National Guard veteran (Honorable Discharge, 2020), educator, project management professional and published author.
Why her perspective matters
CBI was shaped by lived experience, professional practice, academic study, and direct work with both communities and institutions. That combination is why the methodology looks the way it does — it was built by someone who has seen the problem from more than one side.
The methodology is designed to stand on its own. What CBI can demonstrate as an organization — the framework, the evidence base, the delivery model — sits on Our Approach, independent of any one person's story.
Leadership background
Education
- Thomas Edison State University — B.A. Liberal Studies, Management concentration
- University of the District of Columbia — Dean's List; Make-A-Way Scholarship; FARE SIE Scholarship
Leadership & service
- District of Columbia Army National Guard — Honorable Discharge, 2020
- Capital Area Food Bank Client Leadership Council Alumni
- Nominated to the National Society of Leadership and Success (2026)
- National Honor Society · NABA, Inc.
Professional training
- Project Management (2024)
- National Customer Service & Sales Specialist (2023)
- Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce
- Google Generative AI
- Former District of Columbia Public Schools instructional contractor
Areas of expertise
- Behavioral and holistic personal development
- Leadership development
- Curriculum design and facilitation
- Financial capability and economic mobility
- Project management
- Community engagement and strategic partnerships
- Program development and organizational capacity building
- Public speaking, consulting, and technical assistance
These are leadership credentials. They are not institutional compliance certifications, and CBI makes no such claim.
Selected speaking & conference engagements
Washington Association for the Education of Young Children
- Annual Conference — South Seattle College, October 2026
- Survival to Stability: A Lived Experience Journey of Breaking Generational Cycles in Early Childhood and Family Systems
- An intermediate professional-development session for early childhood educators and family-facing professionals.
International Conference on Social Innovation, Humanities & Global Transformation
- Tallinn, Estonia — November 2026
- The Cycle Breaker Blueprint™: A Proprietary Behavioral Leadership Framework for Social Innovation, Community Transformation, and Sustainable Human Development
- Accepted for oral presentation following peer review, with the abstract to appear in the conference proceedings.
Featured & Recognized
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NBC Washington
Featured on the impact of pandemic-era SNAP benefits ending across the DC region, speaking to what the change meant for families already managing tight margins.
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Capital Area Food Bank
Selected to the 2023 Client Leadership Council, advising on how the region's largest hunger relief organization works with the communities it serves.
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University of the District of Columbia Foundation
Make-A-Way Scholarship recipient, awarded to students balancing study against significant outside responsibility.
Talk to the person who built the framework.
Strategic conversations are led by Shanita directly, not handed to a sales team.