Nedra Wakefield is a native of Long Beach, California. She grew up in a military family and has traveled extensively throughout the United States. Upon graduation from high school, she enrolled at Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina, where she majored in psychology. Nedra received her undergraduate degree in 1984, and then in that same year, entered graduate school in Orangeburg, South Carolina. She earned her master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from South Carolina State University in 1985.

Nedra has worked for the Tennessee Valley Authority as a Rehabilitation Counselor where she was stationed at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant. She has also taught school in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System.

She began her career with Jobs for Georgia Graduates in 1987 as a Job Specialist in Savannah. She was soon promoted to a supervisor and in 1992 relocated to Atlanta and became employed with the Georgia Department of Labor as the Project Director of Jobs for Georgia Graduates.

Under her leadership, the program has grown from 11 sites to 38 program sites. Nedra has dedicated her life to working with young people in order that they might not only dream dreams, but be able to make their dreams come true and experience genuine success.

She has been a member of the DeKalb Junior League and has served on the board of the DeKalb Economic Opportunity Authority, Inc. She completed Leadership DeKalb in 1996 and is currently active with the Metro Atlanta Chapter of the Bennett College Alumnae Association.