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 theInternational
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 toCollaboration,
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, and Stem
Digital Village.
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).
