The 3 Black Women Leaders Disrupting The Boys Club Of Fortune 500 CEOs & Ivy League Schools

Black women are busting down barriers and putting everyone on notice. These three BOMB black women – Erika James, LaShyra Nolen & Ramona Hood – are changing the business and leadership game, proving the future is female. More inside…

2020 is the year of female bosses! Not only that, it’s Women History Month and we have a few new entries to add to the collection of powerful woman who have made contributions to society.

The future is female and three bomb black women are proving just that, disrupting the age-old “boys club” of CEOs limited to elder white men.

Erika James is a name you should get familiar with. She just became the first WOMAN and black person to be appointed dean of the University of Pennsylvania’s prestigious Wharton School of Business in its 139-year history. The Ivy League business school has been ranked as the best in the country!

And get this…

This is Erika’s second time becoming the first black person and woman to serve as dean for an esteemed university! #BlackGirlMagic

Erika has a Ph.D. and master's degree in organizational psychology from the University of Michigan, in Detroit. She also has a bachelor's degree in psychology from Pomona College of the Claremont Colleges, in California.

The Philadelphia Business Journal reports:

The Ivy League business program has a storied legacy and has consistently been ranked as the best in the country. James has an impressive resumé in academia fitting of the appointment. She will replace Geoff Garrett, who accepted a position as dean of the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business.

With a master's and Ph.D. in organizational psychology from the University of Michigan, her career has focused on leadership development with an emphasis on gender, racial diversity and crisis leadership. She parlayed her academic expertise into leading Emory's Goizueta Business School for almost six years. While there, she also became the first woman, and Black person, to be named dean of the business school.

During her tenure at Emory she facilitated faculty and student unconscious bias workshops, a niche skill that caused her to be sought out by "some of the nation's largest and most prestigious firms," Penn Provost Wendell Pritchett said in a statement featured on the school’s website.

Erika James isn’t a novice when it comes to overseeing higher education practices. Here’s some of her background and accomplishments:

Before serving at Emory, James was a senior associate dean for executive education at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business. She taught at both Tulane University's Freeman School of Business as an assistant professor and at Harvard Business School as a visiting professor.

As far as awards and professional accolades, she has a lot. She’s an involved member of the SurveyMonkey Board. She’s also been awarded the Earl Hill Jr. Faculty Achievement and Diversity Award from The Consortium, which is "an organization committed to growing diversity in business, starting with graduate school admissions."

As the cherry on top, in 2014 she was named one of the Top 10 Women of Power in Education by Black Enterprise.

Def an inspiration.

Another fab chick breaking barriers....

 

LaShyra "Lash" Nolen just became Harvard Medical School first black female class president! The Compton native told Teen Vogue she found inspiration to make something of her life by the strength of the women around her. Lash's mother had her when she was 18-years-old, but she didn't let that stop her dreams. Her mother went on to her masters, while busting her behind to support her daughter's dreams.

"Mom pursued life with grit and a desire to win. She would tell me: 'I’ll see you at the top,'" Lash tells Teen Vogue.In third grade, Lash won first place in a school science fair for a project that studied the patterns of fish. After this, she told her grandma she wanted to become a brain surgeon-slash-astronaut.

"My grandma would tell me that whatever I wanted to do, we were gonna make it happen," Lash recalls. "After telling her I wanted to become a surgeon, she would tell me to protect my hands."

Lash chopped it up with Teen Vogue about what the history-making moment means to her, how she's going to make an impact and she also shared some advice for young black girls who are chasing their wildest dream. Check it:

Teen Vogue: What does it mean to you to be the first black woman elected as class president of HMS?

Lash Nolen: For me it means opportunity — opportunity in the sense that it will allow me to create a pipeline for others who look like me to hold positions of leadership at Harvard Medical School. When applying to HMS, I didn't see people who looked like me in student council or positions of leadership at that level. I think it is important to show that black people can also be the face of a university.

TV: How do you use student council leadership to make a sustainable impact?

LN: I try to use my resources and platform intentionally. For example, this year with our budget, we decided to create an annual community outreach event for youth at local elementary schools for Halloween. Right now we are working on a project that will highlight members of our community who are custodial staff, cafeteria workers, security guards — the people that make our community whole, with portraits that will be displayed in the main atrium at HMS. By doing things like this, we’re able to sustainably change the narrative of who belongs on the walls and on the grounds of Harvard Medical School. To me, that answer will always be our community.

TV: What advice would you give to young girls of color pursuing their wildest dreams?

LN: Go get it. Our society has a way of implicitly reminding young black girls what they cannot achieve and what they cannot be, while explicitly giving the green light to white men. For those same reasons I almost didn't apply to HMS. It wasn't until my mentors told me that I was capable of being a student at a place like this. And there are so many young girls out there who are excellent and deserve access to opportunity, but won't take the leap because society tells them that it's not for them. So no matter how crazy it might sound, no matter if someone in your family has done it or not, just go get it, because you miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

You can read her full interview https://www.teenvogue.com/story/lash-nolen-harvard-medical-school-class-... ">here.

Last but certainly not least...

 

Ramona Hood is a perfect example of if you want something and you put the work in, you can obtain it. She was just named the newest CEO at FedEx after starting out as a receptionist for the company in 1991. Won't he do it?!

Ramona is the first black woman to land the title. Through the years, she showed great intentional in leadership and was given various roles in operations, safety, sales, and more. And now, she's at the top of the company.

She oversees the FedEx Custom Critical executive leadership team and is responsible for the performance and strategic direction of the company. Along the way, she admitted having been “pretty intentional and purposeful with gaining experience” in the company.

Dallas Weekly reports:

Hood has climbed up the ladder of success from heading subsidiary FedEx Truckload Brokerage before moving to an officer position at FedEx Supply Chain in 2016. She then returned to FedEx Custom Critical for an executive position, a full-circle move after being a receptionist there years ago.

She brings more than 28 years of FedEx experience to her role, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Walsh University, as well as an Executive MBA from Case Western Reserve University.

Sweet!

Congrats ladies! We salute you.

 

EXTRAS:

1. Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. has been nominated to become the first ever African American chief of the Air Force. STORY

Photos:LaShyra's Facebook /Twitter/FedEx

source: theybf