When I take a scan over my life, up to this point, It shows very clear, whether it was asking too many questions to my dad about football games or being constantly asked by my elders to lead my peers, I see, very clearly, from assessing new and innovative ideas to helping  my team achieve goals, to being conscious of the needs of people that were on my team, knowing their strengths, and encouraging and motivating them to change, it’s evident. Identifying problems as opportunities, with my team, and knowing who to connect to who to attain unforgettable results. It was all these things that allowed me to lead, be led and achieve optimal results. these opportunities have pursued me throughout my life,  in various capacities.

Summing up my qualities and strength capacities, I know for sure where I thrive- remaining curious, listening, leading, creating, and innovating, all leading me to execute on abnormal levels in problem solving, and relationship building.

If I am functioning and operating in these core areas, in some way, I am thriving. These skills are innate. When I am thrown into any situation these attributes rise to the top and are the catalyst to leading others to high effects on an end result. 

Having the natural ability to build relationships very well and connect people quickly, started at a very young age for me. These qualities led me to an internship at Emmis Communications where I eventually worked as an advertising exec. At that time I was coming right out of college and radio was still hot. I would go out and I would find ways to help people advance their businesses, thinking through ways that they could take their businesses to the next level, and it would all start by asking the right questions. By accessing my innate abilities of curiosity, leadership, creativity, innovation, problem solving, developing and building relationships, my clients would walk away quite happy. From that, I was very successful. Even then I thought, “you know, there's something missing”. I was with people, surrounded by people, and helping to sell a product which was radio advertisement but I didn't feel connected. At that point, a friend of mine, who worked at the YMCA suggested I should try to get a job at the YMCA as a program director. She said, “I think it's something that you would really love . You said that you're missing a soul connection to your work and the YMCA is really all about the soul! Mind, Body, and Spirit.”

My mother would always say, “as long as I provide my children with a library, a church and a gym, I will have whole and well children”. That most certainly followed me throughout my life. It subconsciously found me. So I went to that interview at the YMCA and those words lingered, I thought “wow, this is pretty interesting”. 

In that interview they offered me $30,000 less than what I was making at the time. I thought to myself, these people are out of their mind, I'm on a trajectory for success. However, when I really thought about it, where I was working was really missing that soul connection. I pondered. “what if I let some money go in order to connect well with myself, and better to my work? I took the $30,000 pay cut. I went to the YMCA as a program director for about a year and a half and wound up quadrupling that income in three years. That was only because it was a soul connection. That soul connection led me to program director, then to Executive Director, and then into District Executive Director at the YMCA in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I had a chance to do so much work there, working within those five core strength capacities l, and it was totally amazing. I had a lot of rewarding experiences and I was just thriving

I always wanted to go to New York City, and there was an opportunity that arose at the YMCA in Long Island City. A friend of mine told me about the position. I interviewed and left that interview with the job. I worked with that YMCA for almost nine years. In total I was with the YMCA for over 20 years and had an amazing time doing that work.

One day, my mentor told me, I think your capacity level has outgrown your current organization. I think you need to think about other things. After nine years of being at the Long Island City YMCA, I was really keen on taking myself to the next level by looking at external models of mind, body, and spirit and taking it out to the community. I saw an opportunity to not just work with people in the YMCA but take health and wellness outside to engage the community differently. In the process of testing my theory I ran into some real estate developers. I talked to them a lot about the millennial generation of social responsibility and how they could scale in their recruitment strategies if they thought about recruitment a little bit differently.

From that meeting, I got a job working with TF Cornerstone and working as Vice President of Social Responsibility. I really loved that work. Taking community outside of the four walls and in the midst of my community I was encouraged to run for office, so I ran for public office. While I was running for office, I still needed a job to take care of my family. I worked as the Chief Operating Officer for the Ladies of Hope Ministry, which is an organization that helps women who are reentering society and coming out of the penal system. Once again, I was coming outside of four walls and helping women in New York City and it was an amazing opportunity as I was running for city council. In addition, I took on a consulting gig, which was the President of the Black Entrepreneur Initiative, which helped to scale black people in the tech space.

After I ran for office and did not win, I knew it was time for me to scale up, come back to leadership in a different light, and in a different way. I interviewed for a couple of positions and was called on by Queens Borough President, Donovan Richards, who asked if I was ready to run a 2.4 million person borough. I thought to myself, “Oh, absolutely, I'm ready, I'm more than ready. What do you mean?”

I took on the role as Deputy Borough President of Queens, I am able to execute so well on past experiences, execution, and training, keeping curiosity, leadership, creativity, innovation, problem solving, development, and relationship building at the forefront of success. I am in my zone and I'm not finished. Just like you! I'm not done. Even though this run is a four years, working beside our Borough President Donovan Richards, there's more to come. I am looking to expand those innate abilities and continue to push myself to the next level.