A native-born Liberian, Henrietta “Henrie” Tonia White-Holder is a humanitarian, social entrepreneur, community builder, breast cancer and COVID survivor, and an award-winning advocate for disadvantaged and underserved Liberian, West African, and other marginalized populations in Rhode Island.

After spending over 18 years in nonprofit management, helping to transition individuals with disabilities from institutionalized settings to community integration, Henrie moved on in 2008 and founded Higher Ground International. She has dedicated her career to furthering HGI’s mission: to restore dignity, empower, and provide life-changing services for immigrants and refugees in Rhode Island. To date, the organization has served over 60,000 individuals. Henrie and HGI have also worked to improve living conditions in rural Liberia, including bringing clean water and sanitation services to over 10,000 community members in the country.

Henrie is a graduate of Rhode Island College and Johnson & Wales University. A lifelong learner, she is also a graduate of Leadership Rhode Island (2011), the Social Enterprise Greenhouse (SEG) accelerator program (2011), and the United Way of RI Executive Director Leadership Circle program (2017). She has received numerous awards and has had many local, national, and international articles published about her work. During her downtime, Henrie likes to spend time with her loved ones, read, create and be around art, and be in nature.