When I attended my first Influence, the premier conference for professional speakers, I was excited and also intimidated. But I was immediately embraced. One of the incredible, experienced speakers who welcomed me was Ed Robinson, the Rainmaker. Standing over six feet tall, his presence alone could have intimidated me. However, his smile and kind words […]
When the blueprint is not given to you, but you still succeed and exceed even your own expectations. That’s the story of my friend, Dr. Mario Brown. As college students at the predominantly white institution, the University of Memphis. We were often leaders together and our pictures were often included in promotional material together. And […]
Last weekend I attended my 25th anniversary class reunion. Even typing 25th anniversary doesn’t seem like it could possibly apply to me. It seems like it was just a couple of years ago that we got our green caps and gowns and excitedly walked across that stage. Living in a small city, most of us […]
Can you imagine one moment walking around doing your job and the next moment you don’t even have your legs? The unthinkable happened to Joshua Cobb only two weeks after he was standing in my living room. Just as unbelievable as the accident was his incredibly positive attitude even immediately after losing his legs. Joshua […]
Find your cheerleader. That was the closing advice given by the former athlete turned education leader, Tim Ware, in our interview. When we met over a decade ago, Tim Ware had started a school and today he leads another one just for young men. As a single mom raising a son and working in education, I […]
Bowties. Crawfish. And leadership. They are all things I immediately think of when I think of Bud Richey. As a student leader over 20 years ago, I met Bud Richey when he came to the University of Memphis to direct the Emerging Leaders program. He provided us with the definition of servant leadership (I still […]
This is Susanne. Super Strong Susanne. There is a small group of people who I credit with helping me to graduate from high school, supporting the strong girl I was, and becoming the woman and professional I am. Susanne is in that group. You might remember her from my memoir as the volunteer coordinator at […]
It’s never too late to get your degree(s). That’s one of the first thoughts I have when I think of Annette McNeil. Another is how she too was a 15-year-old mom. A third is our connection to the Fogelman College of Business and Economics and how Dean Rajiv Grover played an amazing role in our […]
There’s not much that really shocks me. But learning of the bicycle accident of my friend (Barbara Teicher) while she was in France certainly did. I had last seen her at the National Speakers Association’s annual conference. We laughed and had a great time like we had done at the speakers retreat in the Berkshires […]
