03/11/2026
“This Is My Proudest Moment”: Inclusion, Legacy, and Philosophy in Action at SUNY Cortland!
Shontay Lundy ’04 returned to SUNY Cortland's campus as the keynote speaker for Abraham Lincoln De Mond 1889 Day, her words resonated strongly with strength, growth and intensity. The annual event honors Abraham Lincoln De Mond, Cortland’s first African American graduate, and serves as the official kickoff celebration to Black History Month. The event recognizes individuals who carry forward De Mond’s legacy of perseverance, leadership, and representation.
For Lundy, founder of Black Girl Sunscreen, this moment was deeply personal. “This is my proudest moment.”She says…
It's not a national television appearance, not recognition from major media outlets, not the expansion of her company into approximately 14,000 stores worldwide. Her proudest moment was returning to the institution that shaped her to be the beautiful and impactful women standing before students who were once like her. A student with an idea, a goal, a message…who may one day reshape the world themselves.
She started here at SUNY Cortland as a business economics major and Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) scholar, Lundy spoke openly about the perseverance she developed at Cortland. As well as reflecting on the intensity of the cold Cortland winters, her first realization is being dropped off at DeGroat Hall she says “It was the first day when I felt like, “Ok, I’m doing this. I’m in this big world.” It gave her that sense of stepping into something larger that mirrors the experience of many first generation and underrepresented voices of students. Programs like EOP do more than provide access; they cultivate resilience, belonging, and a sense of community.
Lundy’s later success is rooted in that foundation. When she asked, “This dark skin is beautiful. How do I protect it?” She identified a concern and longstanding gap in healthcare and retail industries. She knew she wanted to make a change to this myth that melanin rich skin does not require sunscreen which reflected a broader pattern of exclusion and lack of research, one in which certain bodies are treated as the default “standard” and others as a gap of invisibility. Black Girl Sunscreen disrupted that narrative. Creating a product formulated specifically for brown and Black skin without the white cast common in traditional sunscreens, Lundy reframed sun protection as both health equity and self care.
During her time at SUNY Cortland, Lundy was mentored by Dr. Mecke Nagel of the Philosophy Department. The philosophical message and vision that encourages students to ask who is centered, who is protected, and whose needs and voices are overlooked and shunned echoes directly in Lundy’s entrepreneurial vision. Her work challenges structural norms and demonstrates how critical inquiry can move from just classroom discussion to market transformation.