Join Us for the 2nd Annual Community Event

Diversity and representation have never been more important. The Little Diverse Library, started by two young girls in Madison, NJ is located just outside of the Museum of Early Trades and Crafts. The library shares books with diverse authors, characters, and storylines with the community.

Our first Community Day Fundraiser saw the donation of over 40 books with diverse voices to this library. 

Learn more about the Little Diverse Library Project here.

Kenisha Tucker (Bonfield)

Co-founder and Lesson Coordinator

I am a native Jamaican and a naturalized American citizen who moved to Madison, NJ in 1990.  I was raised along with my two siblings Sharela and Kamur, by our grandmother Muriel Bonfield. I graduated from Madison High School in 1999. My husband, Rohan Sr. and I met at the Friendly’s, now the Haven Savings Bank on Main Street. After getting married and living in East Stroudsburg, PA for nine years, we returned to Madison, NJ in November of 2011, where we are now raising our five children (Ella, Rohan Jr., Lincoln, Logan, and Ava). I earned my BA degree cum laude in Science and Human Development degree with a Certification in Family, Child & School at New Jersey’s Montclair State University where I am continuing my studies at Montclair State University pursuing my MA in Reading with a Reading Specialist Certification.The vision for the Hidden Figures of Madison project was birth during the summer of 2020 when our nation heard one of the loudest cries for racial justice during my lifetime. I hope that the Hidden Figures of Madison project will be a platform for the untold stories in our history to be heard.

Sharela Coon-Bonfield

Co-Founder, Collaborating Artist, and Lesson Coordinator

I am a Jamaica-born, Brooklyn-based textile artist. I immigrated to the United States at the age of seven. I was raised by my grandmother, Muriel Louise Bonfield, who owned a seamstress shop in Jamaica before migrating to the United States. I was fortunate to have her sewing knowledge passed on to me. While attending Madison High School (Madison, New Jersey), I attended The Fashion Institute of Technologies Precollege programs in New York City. After graduating high school, I attended the Maryland Institute College of Art (Baltimore, MD), majoring in Fiber Arts.In 2011, I moved to Brooklyn, where I began teaching artists through a two-year fellowship with the Joan Mitchell Foundation. I continue to teach with the Guggenheim’s Learning Through Art Program and Studio in a School. I have exhibited nationally and have worked in the permanent collection of the Fortune Society. I also participated in the First Friday Residency with the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning. I use textile art as a catalyst to explore the ambiguities of language, popular culture, and race. I am intrigued with the intimacy of textiles; their texture, the grid of the weave, and the cultural roles of the medium.  My work often focuses on my perception of Americana as an immigrant woman of color. I use textile art to explore language, popular culture, and race as an immigrant woman of color.

Deb Farrar Starker

Committee Member; Venue and Promotion

I serve as the Executive Director of the Museum of Early Trades & Crafts (METC) in Madison, NJ. I hold a B.S. in Marketing and Economics from NY Stern School of Business and an M.A. in Museum Professions from Seton Hall University and have over 20 years of experience in the arts and culture sector. Leading a history museum at this pivotal time in our history is exciting and challenging.  We have an opportunity to be an integral part of the larger community with the ability to work collaboratively with all people to build connections, discuss topics that address current events, and present history as a way to inform our future.  I am a Native New Yorker but have lived in Madison for 30 years with my husband, Isaac, a surgeon.  We raised two independent and intelligent daughters who are products of the Madison Public School system and are now successful professionals working in pharmaceutical digital strategies and collegiate athletic compliance.  The Hidden Figures of Madison project has been an extraordinary and wonderful collaboration—although my part in this was very small! Working with these women has been such a joy, and they all inspire me to be a better, more caring human and a staunch advocate for tolerance, justice, and equality.