SOMA Living February 2022

MEET THE GODFREY FAMILY Like so many of our neighbors, Annie and Darryl Godfrey moved to South Orange for the promise of a diverse, inclusive community and were drawn to the Village. “Annie and I were high school sweethearts in Newark so we were familiar with the area and South Orange was a natural fit when we decided to move from Newark 24 years ago. I think the town dynamics and fabric of our community should be painted across the country as a model community,” Darryl shared. “We’ve met so many lifelong friends from the countless hours spent together on the baseball fields and basketball courts throughout our son Nile’s childhood as he played travel baseball and basketball. He moved away from baseball in high school to focus on basketball and I was devastated that I was losing my baseball family,” Annie reminisced.

Photography by Jamie Meier

The duo was entrenched in the sports community while leading demanding professions that required long hours. Darryl is currently the Chief Operating Officer of the New Jersey Redevelopment Agency (NJRA) working with municipalities, real estate developers and community organizations to provide financing to redevelopment projects in underserved neighborhoods. He was the Executive Vice President with Cory Booker’s Brick City Development team in Newark after pivoting from 15 years in the banking world at GE Capital and JP Morgan Chase. Annie also spent many years in corporate America with a long career leading Global Compensation at Johnson & Johnson along with positions in Human Resources at American Express and TIAA-CREF. “We really relied on our tight-knit group of friends and neighbors with our long hours in the city and Nile’s busy sports schedule. It really took a village because we were either working or having a blast with our friends and kids at their games. It was actually when Nile graduated college that I took the leap to become a full-time entrepreneur,” Annie shared. In 2007, the couple created

FEBRUARY 2022 | SOMA LIVING 7

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