Triangle woman called trailblazer in global biostatistics, Durham jazz scene

While she’s part of “two very different worlds,” she said both passions have made her who she is today.

“Both biostatistics and Art of Cool chose me," she said.

“It just came really easy to me. I like being able to have strict rules on how you come to an answer," she said.

She said she was one of the only black girls in advanced math classes as a teenager, something she admits could be lonely and isolating.

After majoring in math and physics at Tennessee State University, a historically black university, she felt that loneliness again when she earned her Ph.D. in public health and master’s degree in biostatistics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Mitchell said she finds parallels to Katherine Johnson's character in the movie “Hidden Figures.”

“Certainly, some of the ways that her counterparts treated her like, where they might not have had the best confidence in her figures and her numbers that she was running, that has happened before,” she said.

Art of Cool is an annual music festival in Durham that began in 2014, hosting nationally-known musicians as well as local artists. This year's festival will take place September 28 -29.

The festival was an extension of the Art of Cool Project, a nonprofit founded by local musician Al Strong and Mitchell in 2010. The organization was formed to promote and celebrate jazz and jazz-inspired music in Durham.

She fell in love with jazz after meeting and briefly dating Strong.

Last year alone, the festival brought $1 million to the Durham economy.

Mitchell and Strong also host a free summer camp for children in Durham to learn about jazz and its history and culture.

"Her drive is really unmatched. She's in a class by herself," Strong said. "She sees the broader picture really clearly, really well, and she's just not afraid."

Mitchell and Strong recently sold the Art of Cool festival to The DOME Group, a larger entertainment group, saying the sale will "take (Art of Cool) to another level." Mitchell will stay on as creative director and continue running the children's summer camp.

"By day, I'm a statistician, and I want to get back to doing statistics. So let's get it in the hands of somebody like (The DOME Group) – they do that."

The festival's 2018 lineup includes headliners Erykah Badu & Nas, Son of Kemet from the United Kingdom and local jazz artists that have yet to be announced.

“One knock that jazz used to get outside of this area is that it’s for old people," she said. "So we’re here to bring that counter-narrative that there are young people who are still studying this music across the country...The new players are continuing the tradition. That's what Art of Cool is all about."

Mitchell said she hopes to inspire other women to chart their own path in any industry.

“I would say to that young lady, ‘It’s OK that there’s no one in that seat. Envision yourself in that seat,’” she said.