Waynesboro Vice Mayor Lorie Jean Akanbi has filed a federal lawsuit against her former employer, the University of Virginia, and her former supervisor, Mark S. Cartwright, alleging race, sex and color discrimination and retaliation.
“For nearly 19 years, my work was about advocating for small businesses and helping others gain access to opportunity. When it came time to advocate for myself, I was afraid—not simply of speaking up, but of what speaking up might cost me,” said Akanbi, who held several positions in procurement services at UVA, including serving as interim supplier diversity director from 2020-2022, and later as a supplier diversity construction team lead from 2022-2024.
Her lengthy tenure at UVA, which began in 2007 as a SWaM contract administrator–data analyst, included advocating for architecture, engineering and construction small businesses seeking opportunities to do business with the University.
Akanbi’s lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Charlottesville, notes that throughout her tenure, the supplier diversity director position was held on a permanent basis only by men.
“Eventually, I had to ask myself: What kind of advocate am I if I can’t advocate for myself? The answer to that question brought clarity about what I needed to do. I knew I could not remain silent about what I was experiencing,” said Akanbi, who was elected to the Ward A seat on Waynesboro City Council in 2024.
Black and White
Akanbi alleges in her suit that she experienced discrimination not simply on separate grounds of race, color and sex, “but at their intersection as a dark-skinned Black woman seeking advancement into permanent leadership.”
According to the lawsuit, during a February 2024 meeting, Cartwright, her supervisor, compared the risks of recommending Akanbi for a leadership role with recommending a hypothetical White woman he called “Susie Smith.”
Cartwright, from details in the complaint, said recommending “Susie Smith” was “less risky,” explaining that if “Susie Smith” did not work out, the person recommending her would not be “damaged,” whereas in recommending Akanbi, “they’re gonna hold me accountable for that.”
Cartwright, who is also Black, is alleged to have told Akanbi that Black people have to be careful not to give others a reason not to support them.
“It’s not fair,” the suit alleges Cartwright saying. “You might have to do something that the other folks” — presumably White people — “don’t have to do.”
What he may have been getting at there: during the same conversation, according to the complaint, Cartwright suggested that if she were more conscious of how others might perceive her, she probably would not wear her hair in dreadlocks.
The lawsuit also alleges that Cartwright compared Akanbi to other Black women who held leadership roles in supplier diversity, distinguishing one woman from Akanbi by noting that the woman was “not dark complexion.”
Denied opportunity
From the complaint, after a nearly 10-month selection process in which Akanbi interviewed twice before different committees, UVA closed the first search for the director position without making a hire.
Cartwright then encouraged Akanbi to apply again when the position was reposted; she did so, and also filed a written race, sex and color discrimination complaint with UVA.
The suit alleges that a scheduled interview with Akanbi was canceled during the second round in the search process, which closed eight months later, again without a hire being made.
Akanbi alleges in her lawsuit that the cancellation and failure to reschedule constituted retaliation for her discrimination complaint and denied her the opportunity to continue participating in the selection process for the position.
One other allegation: Akanbi’s position was eliminated effective Dec. 23, 2025.
According to the suit, hers was the only permanent position eliminated from the supplier engagement team, while supplier engagement work continued.
The lawsuit alleges retaliation culminating in her termination.
The cost of justice
Akanbi, just the second Black woman to serve on Waynesboro City Council, and the first to serve as the city’s vice mayor, said her experience at UVA raises a broader concern about access to justice.
“The cost of litigation and the difficulty of securing litigation counsel on terms an ordinary person can afford can become barriers to accessing the courts,” said Akanbi, who filed her suit pro se – translation: she’s representing herself.
“Attorneys deserve to be compensated for their work, but people also need a meaningful way to enforce the rights the law gives them,” Akanbi said. “A legal right should not effectively disappear simply because the person whose rights were violated cannot afford to enforce it.”
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Chris Graham
