Uncrowned Community Builders

Denise Brewer Easterling Mlee is a native of Niagara Falls, NY, born April 27, 1952, daughter of Ollie and Susie Brewer; wife of Robert Easterling and Simba Mlee (Arthur Stephens). She is the mother of two adult daughters and four grandchildren.

Denise was educated in Niagara Falls public schools and is a proud alumna of Centre Ave. Elementary, North Junior HS, and Niagara Falls HS. Denise returned to complete her education in 2000 at Niagara University where she earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Travel/Tourism Administration (2004) and her Master in Education Leadership, cum laude (2007). She was a member of the Eta Sigma Delta honor society.

A 10 year-plus breast cancer survivor, Denise has received several community, educational, and professional awards, including being named an inductee of the Niagara Falls Housing Authority "Wall of Fame"; a Senator Antoine M. Thompson 2010 Annual Women's History Month honoree; and a 2011 Niagara Gazette "Women of Distinction" honoree.

Denise is the founder of Underground Railroad Tours by Denise (UGRR TBD). Since 1993 UGRR TBD has provided consultation, research, guided tours , lectures and presentations about the UGRR activity in Niagara Falls/County, specifically, and general African American history surrounding the UGRR. She has created the fictional character, Mrs. Queenie Rivers who teaches the facts of general and local UGRR history.

Denise was the traffic manager at WJJL radio during the mid-1980s, where she also produced a 30-minute public service program "Soul Vibrations"; during that same period she wrote a column in the Features section for the Gannett- owned, Niagara Gazette, later moving to write on the Editorial page; she was the production manager at the scholarly press, The Edwin Mellen Press in Lewiston; during the 1990's she joined the Buffalo Challenger as the Managing Editor and Assistant Editor; during the early 2000's she was doing the UGRR research for the Murphy Orchards Farm, a National Freedom Trail site for Underground Railroad (UGRR) activity in WNY. She also conducted UGRR tours on the property which is a working farm. She has also worked with Marble Orchards, the Lewiston Arts Council troupe that conducts walking tours in Lewiston, NY. She was an UGRR consultant with the Castellani Museum "Freedom Crossings" installation. Officially retired, she continues researching and conducting UGRR tours and is presently working on a book about local UGRR activity. She is the administrative assistant at St. John's African Methodist Church in Niagara Falls.

Denise has a long record of volunteerism : she was a board member of the Highland Ave. Pres. Corp., which was responsible for bringing new single-family housing and construction in the Highland area; a board member of the award winning Niagara Falls Faith-based Collaborative; a member of the 1990's NF Underground Railroad Committee which, in collaboration with the Castellani Art Museum and their "Freedom Crossings" installation, coordinated a 19-day retracing of UGGR trails and locations on the Eastern coast starting from Atlanta on the 4th of July to New York City (and the freshly discovered Burial Grounds area) to Harriet Tubman's Auburn, NY and back home to NF and over to NF, Ontario and Niagara-on-the-Lake. After that trip she and Kevin Cotrell formed, Motherland Connextions, Western New York's first tour company focusing on the UGRR in Western New York and Southern Ontario. The company conducts tours and presentations to schools and groups; for several years she acted as MC, coordinator and tour guide of the Freedom Trail festival sponsored by Niagara University. She has also served on the NF Preservation Commission and the NF Tourism Advisory Board.

Denise presently serves as the president of the New Niagara Community Center and Vice Chair and Treasurer of the NF Underground Railroad Heritage Interpretive Center Museum, WNY's newest state of the art museum that focuses on underground railroad activities that took place here in NF and Niagara County and WNY. NF was the home of several waiters at the famed Cataract Hotel who were underground railroad agents and took people across the river and bridge to safety.