A child of the great migration, Ava Willis-Barksdale has risen from a stint as a student in the steel mills to the Vice Presidency of Lincoln University, the nation’s first degree-granting HBCU. She has made her mark in both healthcare and higher ed fundraising, demonstrating a unique capacity for combining teaching and leadership with mentoring the people in her teams, leading to the development of cultures of transformational philanthropy. Ava shared some of her journey with us in this conversation.