Kenya L. Eddings

Kenya L. Eddings, a native of Little Rock, Arkansas is the executive director of the Arkansas Minority Health Commission (AMHC). She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology with a minor Chemistry and African-American Literature from Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama and Master of Public Health from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Prior to joining the AMHC, Eddings served as the Worksite Wellness Director for the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH). In this role, she helped state agencies, non-profits, and for-profit businesses establish and maintain wellness programs. A portion of her duties included training the aforementioned in the importance of lactation accommodations in the workplace and in the public. Kenya is proud to have played a major role in helping organizations like the Bill & Hillary Clinton National Airport, Philander Smith University, and Junior League of Little Rock’s Holiday House establish breastfeeding rooms for their employees and patrons. Preceding her work for the ADH, Kenya worked as a Research Scientist for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. A published author with dozens of peer-reviewed articles to her credit, a few of her research interests included behavioral weight loss and maintenance in African American women, stress management and its relationship to obesity, and access to healthy food and food deserts.

Kenya is humbled to have been appointed Vice-Chair of Governor Asa Hutchinson’s Food Desert Work Group and to the City of Little Rock’s Food Desert Task Force. She is a member of Delta Omega Public Health Honor Society, Leadership Greater Little Rock Class XXIII, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and served on various civic/community boards including the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts (formerly Arkansas Arts Center), Junior League of Little Rock, Quapaw Quarter Association, and ACANSA. Kenya is the co-founder with Garbo Hearne, founder of Hearne Fine Art, of Kuumba Arts Collective, an art appreciation group for young professionals of color and is the founder of Today’s Communiqué, a web-based and social media platform designed to promote experiences and opportunities with a specific emphasis on communities of color that empower, educate, and entertain in central Arkansas and beyond.