TrailBlazers Impact

Sheila Jones thought she wanted to be a scientist while growing up. Living in segregated Washington, DC, she was inspired by her parents’ insistence on education as an avenue of achievement for African-Americans in a society that didn’t offer equal opportunity. Yet as she came of age in the 1960s, the Civil Rights movement inspired her to instead pursue law, leading her to Harvard and a desire to push for change.

Hear about her legal career in fighting for racial and environmental justice and the advice she offers those who want to make a difference in their nation. Jones provides insightful analysis about understanding why environmental policy is so critical, and what the road to equality looks like.

Hilary Lentini runs an in-demand marketing firm in Los Angeles. Her team is known for really listening to their clients and building long-term relationships that support their brands.

Lentini shares how taking a leap of faith by coming west, initially to support her husband’s career, turned out to be the springboard for future success. Los Angeles is a city that’s welcoming and with opportunity but it must be earned, she says. Most importantly nurture and give back to your network to support others and stay ahead. With over 20 years of experience, Lentini has much to share about building a business, raising a family and maintaining a steady flow of satisfied clients.

Like many successful businesses owners, Linda Gorin got started at her kitchen table. Creating fun and memorable gift baskets began as a hobby, filling a few orders at a time. But customers loved the creative baskets that would make a friend’s day or bring joy to a significant other. One year later she and her husband launched their first standalone store in San Diego, which has expanded six times.

Gorin says there have been so many good stories and memories over the years she plans to write a book. There’s the customer whose basket capped the perfect wedding proposal. Or the boss who was able to salvage a work relationship after being grouchy at the office. Gorin shares the magic behind just the right gifts for all of life’s moments. www.thebesttoyou.com

Dr. Carolyn Sue Williams shares part of her journey from a childhood with 11 other siblings in the Baton Rouge of the 1950s as an totally un-inspired high school student with only the prospect of "working in a white woman's kitchen" after graduation, to becoming one of the first handful of Black women in America to be awarded a PhD in political science in the early 1970s; an accomplishment even she never saw coming. She shares her eye-opening experience in a state sponsored civics and leadership development program after her junior year of high school, the Bayou State Girls program, and the life-altering outcomes that flowed therefrom, and ultimately leading to a full scholarship for undergrad school with a class ranking of #13 and No expectation of college, at all! Ten or so years later with a B.S., M.S. and PhD in Political Science and the totally unexpected opportunity to move to D.C. she subsequently received a Presidential appointment as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development followed by 35+ years of entrepreneurship and sage advice worth sharing with others.

Thresette Briggs saw the joy and unintended consequences of entrepreneurship while growing up. Her father was a source of inspiration given his business leadership and determination to succeed. But that often took him away from the family, and his young death at 56 weighed on her ambitions.

Entrepreneurship was the dream, but she describes “head trash” needing to be emptied out for the journey ahead. So after enough time in the corporate world, Briggs knew with the right balance she could build up her career as a successful entrepreneur and mentor. Now she leads her firm Performance 3 as Chief Performance Officer. Briggs patented her own team leadership technique, and uses it to guide organizations of all sizes who wasn to embark on business transformation.

With many European nations striving for 30 or even 40 percent, Berkhemer-Credaire says it’s time for the U.S. to catch up. The author of The Board Game, she shares how increasing womens’ presence on boards makes all the difference in building better companies and gaining wider perspectives to issues where women excel.

SHOP for her book, Winning the Board Game, on www.TrailBlazersImpact.com

www.berkhemerclayton.com

Renowned for her financial advice to women, Jean Chatzky has spent most of her career writing for financial magazines and offering her business knowledge in the media. She has authored 11 books, produces podcasts and is a motivational speaker. Hear about her journey from the Midwest to her successful life on the east coast. Learn about Jean’s initiative, Work and Save, which is a more effective and lesser expensive version of 401 (k)s that helps both the employer and employee. She includes her five-step "how to" for a financially successful life. Website: www.hermoney.com and SHOP for her books here. Listen to her story on www.TrailBlazersImpact.com.

Coping well with adversity is a learned skill. People need to not let emotions get carried away and gives several examples of people with adversities and how they have moved through it. Grieving is a lifetime event but Eileen Lenson helps people find a way to not let it destroy them and find purpose in the loss they had. She discusses the signs of teen suicide. She says, "Kindness begets kindness." Her website is www.lensonlifecoaching.com.

SHOP on our site for her book, Overcoming Adversity: Conquering Life's Challenges. LISTEN to her on the Coping in Crisis podcast.

Andrea Campbell survived cancer not once, but twice. While such an experience could drive many to despair by fighting through the ordeal twice, she ultimately came to a place of catharsis, healing, and purpose.

The ordeal presented Campbell with stark choices about what to do. She felt she had been playing things too small, so it was time to ditch the corporate job and embark on a journey to her true passion as a professional speaker and transformational coach. She devotes her days to helping others find their own “beautiful journey” and finding how to live the life they desire. Shop on our site for her latest book, A Beautiful Journey. www.andreadcampbell.com

In this interview, Virginia W. Harris, National President, National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc., with 60 chapters and thousands of members nationwide, shares reflections of her start as a servant-leader that, more likely than not, was planted as a seed when she found herself as one of only three Black girls integrating an otherwise all White high school in south Georgia during the early 1960s. Her high school years were followed by college years and then the early career-making years where she continually found the need to defend both her gender and her race. She juggled the demands of being a wife and mother of two young children and the self-imposed strategy to succeed by being the First at work and the Last to leave; remaining mindful of the needs of the young women who reported to her for both leadership and mentoring with consideration of the demands on becoming a wife, a mother and a professional; a journey that mirrored her own! As a resident child and adult of the "deep south" living in Florida, Georgia and Louisiana, her school teacher mom and her military dad stressed to their three daughters that being Smart was more important than being feminine. With only three girls, her parents repeatedly stressed: SMART, STRONG, INDEPENDENT. And, so, she shares her journey and the successful outcomes borne of Becoming and Remaining, SMART, STRONG & INDEPENDENT!