About Me
I grew up in pre-civil rights Mississippi, and walked across creeks and pastures to a one-room schoolhouse, carrying my lunch in a tin molasses bucket.
I went on to graduate summa cum laude from Alcorn State University in Lorman, Mississippi, then made history in the aviation industry when at Trans World Airlines (TWA) I became the first black woman to become an officer and vice president of a major U.S. airline. I first served as Vice President of Customer Relations, developing frontline empowerment programs that resulted in dramatic improvements to TWA’s customer service image. After that, I headed up critical operations areas, including Cabin Crew Manpower and Planning; Dining Services; Cabin Crew Management; and Hiring and Training.
Among accomplishments are: named to New York City’s YWCA Academy of Women Achievers; selected for Career Focus Magazine’s Eagle Award; listed in the International Who’s Who of Professionals and Strathmore’s Who’s Who Registry of Business Leaders; author of 3 books - A Primer on How to Achieve High Quality Customer Satisfaction and Personal Effectiveness, Soul Stirrings: How looking back gives one the freedom to move forward (Print and Kindle formats), An Introduction to Collaboration, Teamwork, and Networking (co-author, 1st and 2nd editions); president of online publishing company – Locust Hill Publishing.
Today, at an age when most people elect to comfortably retire, I am working diligently to leverage my assets for positional advantage and to increase effectiveness. I do this through – you guessed it – leveraging what and who I know to create projects that help others as well as add to my own sense of accomplishment. These projects include the Black Hair Project, High School CEOs, Young CEOs, Stem Digital Village, and Economic Soul Radio.
I also work with a number of other organizations, and on a variety of other projects aimed at improving effectiveness for individuals and organizations.
I have to admit that I created the Kindle version of my Soul Stirrings memoir ten years after it was first released in a print edition because it represents a new technology for publishing. I wanted to demonstrate that you’re never too old to learn and contribute. I also wanted Black youth with southern roots to easily access information about where they come from, and to embrace their heritage.
My favorite quotation that re-energizes me: Treat failure as practice shots by Deborah McGriff.
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I am available as a keynote speaker, and also to conduct workshops on the topics of Leveraging Your Resources to Achieve Effectiveness (for individuals and organizations).
