BE BOLD

THE FIRST STEP: Finding Your Truest Self
*WHAT DOES MY “HAIR DOWN/SHOES OFF” Self Look Like? What am I doing during these moments?
My “hair down / shoes off” looks like a Saturday and Sunday afternoon in my cozy home/office at the computer working on a couple of client campaigns. This is when and where the magic happens. Alone and in my own environment, I have the freedom to spend as long or as little time thinking up innovative approaches, new theme ideas, variations on old approaches to my work. I think about the specific needs of each client and how I can bring a special impact and interest to their event, project or message.

MY ACTIONS TAKEN IN LIFE WHICH BEST REFLECT WHAT’S MEANINGFUL & WHY
I graduated from college in 1984 and for the past 10 years I have always dreamed of going back to school to obtain my masters. The area of concentration vacillated from a masters in business administration to public administration to public affairs or policy. Public affairs and/or Public affairs were most intriguing when I became more involved in social issues and social marketing campaigns for clients. Since 1991, I have entered into the world of independence as a PR, Marketing and Events contractor growing to support the visionary directions of a host of non-profit organizations, government agencies and elected officials. In reflection, I see that almost all of the projects promote social issues in some form or fashion. This was my niche, while other events/public relations professionals in the marketplace focused on corporate, business and personal objectives.

Approaching “burn out” once again in 2010, it was the online ad message “Changing Communities” that caught my eye one earlier morning on the computer. I clicked through to request the brochure to read more. The brochure sat for a couple of weeks before I would thoroughly read the details. The deadline was now fast approaching and I had to make an instant decision. Was this for me? YES! I applied and just missed the deadline. Two weeks later I received two emails which I read out of order while I was in San Diego during a national black journalist conference. The second email stated the 2010 academic schedule. I shared with a friend that it would be nice if I had got an email that said congratulations. That is how the next email I viewed read! I was accepted. I thought what a blessing. I knew that I was not ready because I had a few major summer client events in progress. So many dilemmas: How would I pay for school? How could I not do my client events? How would I juggle this all? I realized this blessing was for me if I was really ready to make the change in my life I had prayed for. I reassigned my client events, later received financial aid for school and was on my way. As a servant leader, this meant the world to me to have the opportunity to invest in my future, to work on improving my life and the lives of others in my community.

*WHAT DO I DO THAT MAKES ME FEEL ALIVE?
Helping and lifting others up to a better place and consciousness. Sometimes, I feel alive just by bringing a new approach to a client’s project – giving it the professionalism and comprehensiveness that it needs for people to take the issue more seriously. Other times, I start from scratch and create a whole new vision that a client can become invested in – one that resonates with the target audience or community group. I am especially pleased when I can create an event or message that not only brings in the targeted audience, but others as well. When many groups feel welcome to impact an issue, discuss a topic or strategize a new direction – this is a beautiful thing!

*IF TATTOOED BY BODY – WHAT WOULD IT BE & WHY?
Girlpower. To me, girlpower is more than a catchphrase – it’s a way of living and thinking. It means harnessing all of your god-given talents, the unique feminine approach and perspective that makes me and all women special – for the greater good of all. Being a woman in the world isn’t always easy, but if we stick together, look out for one another and work together for change, we can accomplish anything we set our minds to. Girlpower is a unifying call to action as well as a personal mantra for reaching my full potential!

MY INSPIRATIONS: Moments of Obligation

*WHAT TRULY INSPIRES ME. What am I drawn toward? What moves me?
I am passionate about the mentoring and development of the next generation of women leaders in efforts for them to ascend and excel to positions of power and influence on public policies impacting disenfranchised communities of color. I am inspired by the generations of powerful women who have come before me and created the history that I am proud of and that drives me forward. Others paved the way for me to take advantage of each opportunity and now it is my turn to provide that for the next generation. My work leading up to now and especially going forward has been and will focus on young women and their role as change agents in their own lives and communities, as well as the wide world of policy that affects society at every level. Through effective, persuasive and compassionate advocacy, young women can harness the power to impact their neighborhoods through the institutions that can better serve their needs including: schools, healthcare centers, arts facilities, City Halls, businesses, foundations and other organizations. Teaching women to hear their own voice and understand how to use it to work for something larger than their selves. This moves me and inspires me.

*HOW DO I KNOW WHEN THINGS INSPIRE ME and what happens?
I have built a program designed to train women to impact social policy. When a cohort of students fills the rooms of our conferences and forums, then brims with excitement – charged with enthusiasm to use new tools now at their disposal, I know I’ve done something right. I feel a sense of responsibility, unity and passion that keeps my focus on providing this service to many others.

*WHO HAVE I LEARNED THE MOST FROM? Why are these people my most influential teachers? What they taught me?
I have an array of mentors: My mom is the greatest person and is my first inspiration to be an entrepreneur. She gives me the best, most sound advice and has allowed me the space to grow into the most caring and giving individual. As I reflect back on childhood, I remember occasions when I would notice that a friend was having trouble in their home or life. With my mother’s support, I would advocate for them to spend the summer or weekends with us as respite. I always wanted others to have the sense of safety and family that I had. To her I tribute my morals, values, ethics and caring nature.

One who is most instrumental in my life on the political front is Dezie Woods Jones, former vice mayor of the city of Oakland and the state president and founding member of Black Women Organized for political Action (BWOPA). She has taught me to have more patience for people and allowed me the opportunity to grow into a great community leader and role model of young leaders in the community.

Business leader and Oakland’s entertainment ambassador, Geoffrey Pete, is one of my closest political confidants. I enjoy predicting political outcomes, bantering on issues and advocating together on a host of concerns that impact our Oakland community.

During my early corporate days, I was working in San Francisco for Businessland, Inc., in the service department as an administrator when met Valerie Edson from the district office. On the next occasion that I saw her, a few weeks later, she inquired if I would be interested in moving to the district office as the district finance administer. I was a little perplexed as I had only been on the job for three months and had two more months on probation. A series of meetings took place that, I was not a part of, during which Valerie convinced the executive management it would be a good move. Thereafter, every three to four months while working for and with Valerie, I would move up in the company from one job to another. Moving from the SF showroom store’s Service Administer to District Finance Administer to District Account Manager and Systems Trainer to Sales Executive in the Businessland’s San Francisco office and then finally to the Palo Alto office managing large corporate accounts. Although I was challenged at each and every step, it was Valerie’s lessons that taught me to aspire for the greatest life offers. Businessland, a computer and peripheral reseller, eventually had to close its doors after a series of store closures and downsizing, due to small profit margins. Valerie and I were a few of the last people to go. Soon thereafter I started my PR, Marketing and Events business. If Valerie had not continuously pushed me throughout the four years of working with her, I am not sure if I would have had the determination and courage to go out on my own. Valerie later discovered she had leukemia, when she called to let me know she was going to have a blood transplant, she told me to stay strong, healthy and to always follow my heart and dreams. I just knew that she was so determined that she would pull through this obstacle. Later I would learn that because Asian Americans have a low blood transplant match rate, Valerie had left me with her last comments to follow my dreams. She is and has always been a great inspiration in my life.

*TRACING MY DECISIONS IN LIFE THAT LED ME TO WHERE I AM TODAY!

1980 | College – undergraduate school

1991 | I decided to step out on faith to launch my public relations, marketing and events business, LA Jones&Associates. During my entrepreneurial venture, I was offered several contract opportunities and took a couple of short-term jobs. These took me away from the day to day independence of being in the office when I wanted, but allowed me to focus on one client during a period of time. I realized this would be strategic for me in terms of learning new skills in a different environment, with an opportunity to travel, live in another state and break away from the daily business development I faced as an entrepreneur. In 1993, I worked in IBM’s corporate communication division, running their national employee charitable contribution campaign and thereafter managed other community projects.

I opened two (2) children’s model agency franchises in Seattle and Dallas and later streamlined the SF headquarters operations to run a more efficient and profitable business.

All in all, my desire was to run my business to support the community’s growth by empowering the people to be productive and participatory citizens.

1995 | I was offered the opportunity to work on a state assembly
campaign with a top campaign consultant. This was my first but not my last electoral campaign. Years later I would run, as regional director, two state party “Get Out The Vote” campaigns to educate over 90,000 households to turn out and vote on election day.

2010 | Graduate School at Pepperdine studying Social Entrepreneurship & Change.
Inaugural class of 2012

* THESE DECISIONS ARE POSSIBLE MOMENTS OF OBLIGATIONS. Does that change the way I see them?
These moments were the most significant moments of my live to make an impact for the greater good of my communities. I learned a wealth of knowledge and gained resources and skills which directly benefit the community. If these decisions were obligations, they were my opportunity to take on challenges that ultimately made me a better, more professional person. They have allowed me the responsibility of being a servant leader – one with more to give, more credibility and a greater capacity to access and master my personal power to share with others.

*MY MOST SIGNIFICANT MOMENTS OF OBLIGATIONS. How do you know it was a moment of obligation?
At Businessland Inc., I knew that I had the obligation to take each challenge and opportunity head-on, to learn from each success and mistake and to develop myself personally and professionally so that I would have that much more to offer to the world.

When I joined Black Women Organized for Political Action almost twenty years ago, I knew that I had tremendous drive and motivation to fulfill the organization’s mission which is, “to activate, motivate, promote, support, and educate African-American women about the political process, encourage involvement, and to affirm our commitment to, and solving of, those problems affecting the African-American community.” I soon realized that others noticed the energy that I brought to the work and I was asked to lead BWOPA into the future. I knew this was something I had to do, though I also had obligations to make a living and to grow my business. This organization spoke to me and nurtured the things that were of incredible importance to me personally. To increase young adult participation in BWOPA and the community at large, I knew I had to start a pipe-line targeted towards young women. I developed TILE, the Training Institute for Leadership Enrichment, specifically aimed at young black women – a group that lacked a distinctive leadership program at the time.

I had reached a point of saturation in my life when I decided to further my education at Pepperdine. I had been working in my community at full capacity, surrounding myself with mentors (and mentees) and taking every opportunity that came my way. However, there was an outstanding personal goal – to get a graduate degree – that was nagging at me. I knew that I had to branch out from the life and business that I had created to learn more and to grow. This was my obligation to myself and to those I wanted to help.

* WHEN I THINK OF MY ROLE IN THE NON-PROFIT SECTOR and what inspires/draws/moves me
My inspiration to mentor and develop a whole generation of women leaders who will ascend and excel to positions of power to impact disenfranchised communities of color for the better links to my next career move in a couple of ways. First, I plan to expand my international engagement, broadening my scope to the continent of Africa. I plan to travel there, learn from the people I meet on how best to provide relevant leadership training for women and girls so that they can access the economic opportunities stirring in countries all over Africa. I will join forces with like-minded women already doing work there to create something truly exciting and useful to the women we serve. Next, I will take lessons learned to enhance the mentorship program I lead here in the US – tying it to the globalized world and the larger African community.

LARGER THAN LIFE: Gall to Think Big
*Which social movements, from today or from any point in history, resonate the most with you? Why? Have you been involved in any work that you would define as part of a social movement?The Civil Rights, Black Power, Voting Rights and the Women’s Rights movements have all influenced me at different times in my life in terms of my perspective, my determination and my involvement in progressive politics. I’m paying close attention to the Workers’ Rights movement happening all over the country with unions under assault. Though I don’t always agree with the positions of individual unions and I am self employed, I know the value of collective bargaining for working people. My mother worked for a unionized company and we benefited from the gains bargained for at that time including fair compensation, over time and pension benefits. Currently, I participate in a local movement for good jobs that benefit Oakland’s African American communities. The Army Base development will create thousands of career jobs that will have lasting impact on the economic stability for Oaklanders. I’m at the table with unions and developers strategizing solutions that won’t leave anyone out of Oakland’s long-term economic pie. I’m also a part of the effort to create healthcare access equity in low-income predominantly African American neighborhoods in the East Bay.

* IF MY CAREER (in its entirety – long term) ALLOWED ME TO TACKLE A FEW BIG PROBLEMS IN THE WORLD WHAT WOULD THEY BE?
One of the biggest problems in the world today is the lack of women’s influence, perspective and ideas in tackling societal problems. The world’s population is over half comprised of women yet those addressing the issues that affect them and their families are mostly men. I would seek to improve access to leadership training to women locally and internationally. Women are often shut out, not invited or overlooked for the debate in formal representative bodies setting local, regional, state and national policies which affect them directly. Some women may lack conditioning and tools to be leaders, but once these are gained these same women become powerful advocates for change. The health of communities can be determined, predicted and improved by providing culturally relevant, timely and wholistic services to women and girls. Women are often sole bread winners in low-income communities of color. If you want to impact an entire family, make sure the women are getting the access to health and educational services, job training, career counseling and access to housing. These are regularly the issues women who do break through the electoral process seek to address in concrete ways.

* AS A CHANGEMAKER – HERE IS MY MOST AMBITIOUS GOAL AND HOW I WOULD BEGIN ACHEIVING THIS GOAL?
My most ambitious goal would be to expand TILE with lessons learned in Africa and elsewhere. I would like to create the premiere leadership training institute for black women and girls in the country. Next, I would help create a national movement to increase black female participation in the federal legislature by 100% in ten years. This would equate to 15 members and would be possible with heavy recruitment, fund development and coordination across the states.

*WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I ACHEIVED MY GOALS.
Issues concerning women and families would be front and center. The debate on family planning, comprehensive healthcare reform, social security, education reform and other matters would no longer be able to be sidelined into obscurity and unnecessary compromise.

*HOW MY WORK WILL IMPACT MY NEICES AND NEPHEWS?
My work would impact my grandchildren by providing untold opportunities for reframing and rethinking the policy decisions that will influence their lives. By including women in policy who are intimately concerned with outcomes in their communities, long- term planning would predominate. Not only would my grandchildren’s chances for success increase through the advocacy of a national policy that champions families of color, but a whole generation of children would prosper in greater numbers.

FINDING SOLUTIONS: New and untested

*WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MOST CREATIVE THINGS I HAVE DONE & MY NATURAL SKILLS I DRAW UPON
Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums’ Model City Summit on Women 2009 / 2010: Along with team of passionate leaders we embellished the summit to a dynamic multifaceted summit that empowered, engaged and enlightened over 800 women, men and youth in year one and two. I drew heavily on my skills as an arbitrator of ideas. I spent a good deal of time mediating brainstorming sessions of creative and well-intentioned East Bay power brokers, in addition with my client. I am adept at multi-tasking and simultaneously engaged in fund development, evolving a theme, mission development, public relations, multi-event production, partner development and much more. In the end, the event was visual dynamic, cultural inclusive, stimulating, thoughtful and relevant.

WHAT IS MY BIGGEST RISK EVER TAKEN? & Was it Worth It? How Did Taking This Risk Make Me Feel?risk make you feel and what was the result?
The Mayor’s Summit was a personal and professional risk to raise the necessary monies and scale up to Oakland’s first lady’s vision to execute a most memorable and engaging summit for women in the greater Bay Area. Taking this risk, I felt some apprehension not knowing if I had the support I needed and not knowing if the money was there for a constantly evolving and expanding event. The risk was well worth it and the result was outstanding and overwhelming for everyone involved, including it was great for the city’s image.

* IS RISK TAKING SOMETHING I DO DAILY/MONTHLY/ANNUALLY?
As an entrepreneur and now student, yes I step out on faith every day. I am responsible for making my living and engaging in business development constantly to perpetuate my income. Additionally, I take risks on ventures that others might shy away from such as social causes and campaigns, elective officeholder events and non-profit programs and projects. These may be more complicated than corporate sector contracts, but I am working towards building a better future on the things I believe in.

* IF I WERE TO TAKE MORE RISKS IN MY EDUCTION, PROFESSION — What Else Would I Do?
I am taking a significant risk now putting on hold my community involvement and key business engagements while in graduate school for the next year. Though obtaining an advanced degree is a personal goal, it is a professional gamble. There is no guarantee that I will become wealthier from it. In fact, I’m taking on debt. However, I have faith in myself and know that I will maximize the benefits of my degree and walk through every door that it opens. I am supremely versed at networking and am expanding my personal and professional universe with each class, project, paper and professor.

* A FEW ISSUES IN MY COMMUNITY OR WORLD THAT FRUSTRATES ME?
I don’t understand why we don’t have equal representation of women in public leadership compared to their population totals. At the root of this perplexity is determining exactly what would it take to change this situation. The electoral and political system was clearly not structured to welcome women among the ranks of the elected. Women that do make it are anomalies. I want to further explore what structures must be put into place to assist women to climb the ladder to public leadership. There must be explicit, systemic changes that can simultaneously address the inability of women to participate.

* CHOOSING ONE OF THE ISSUES IDENTIFIED IN THE LAST QUESTION, HERE IS AN OUTLINE OF CURRENT APPROACHES TO ADDRESS THE ISSUES.
One way women are addressing this issue is to create leadership development programs such as: Training Institute for Leadership Enrichment (TILE), Emerge California, Hispanics Organized for Political Equality (HOPE), The White House Project and others. Some research has shown that targeting communities or districts with particular characteristics can yield election wins for women. The trick is giving women the confidence to run for office and then raising the money that is required. Public financing of elections is one concrete solution to the funding issue. Long-term, however, working women have little access to capital, have less in savings and pensions than their male counter parts and are still paid only 77 cents on the dollar compared to men. Running for office is a long-shot luxury for women in most circumstances. Solutions are to close the gender wage gap, recruit men to help women run for office and fully fund confidence-boosting, tool-developing organizations like the aforementioned.

VISIONING – SEEING THE POSSIBILITIES
*LOOKING BACK AT WHAT I HAVE WRITTEN – NOW I WILL ANSWER: What do I Wish For Myself? My Community and the World?
For myself, I wish for professional success in my endeavor to create access to leadership for women. I wish for a substantive and extraordinary trip to Africa. For my community, I wish to provide outstanding enrichment to African-American women in what they learn about the political and social process and about themselves. For the world, I wish to promote and elevate some of the most amazing and accomplished leaders yet seen in politics.

* STEPS I WILL NEED TO TAKE IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE MY PROFESSIONAL VISION.
Next steps include: curriculum development and project implementation with Barbara Becnel in Africa, completion of graduate degree, networking and brainstorming with other dynamic women, expansion of TILE through BWOPA and new partnerships.

IT TAKES A LOT OF TIME TO FIGURE OUT WHAT REALLY CAPTURES OUR ATTENTION. Make a list of five experiences you will pursue in the next year to explore what your long term focus might be.
*Interview women legislators learning what worked for them and what they would like to see available for other women pursuing office
* Interview social entrepreneurs who have developed innovations that significantly changed their field
* Travel to Africa and implement economic development project with women in Africa, noting successes and mistakes
*Author culturally tailored leadership curriculum – a template for possible TILE expansion
* Organize and produce a national call to action summit for African-American women interested in public leadership

* WHEN HISTORIANS WRITE MY BIOGRAPHY, HERE’S WHAT I WANT THEM TO SAY & WHAT I WANT TO BE REMEMBERED FOR:
I want to be remembered for my devotion to equality for women and communities of color. I want to be remembered for my passion to work with anyone on issues of social significance and for bringing all communities of people together through information dissemination and opportunities to learn from one another.

DARE TO LIVE BOLDLY
*My moment of obligation has led me to: have faith in myself and my abilities.

* By acknowledging this moment of obligation, I have the gall to think big about: creating a movement that ushers women into public leadership.

* If I were to act on my gall to think big and develop a new and untested idea, it would be: to produce a national call to action summit for African American women interested in public leadership which would offer unique culturally relevant leadership curriculum to enrich the lives of women seeking elective office.

* If my new and untested idea were fully enacted, I see possibilities that the world would be better in the following ways: A women could run for and potentially win any office, the needs of women and families of color would be fully debated and addressed.