Month: February 2022

Presidential Leadership Scholar Shareefah Mason (2020) is diversifying and strengthening the teacher pipeline with a specific focus on increasing the number of Black and Latino candidates. Mason joins us for a Q&A on what motivates her to do this work, reflections on Black History Month, and more.

Can you tell us about your new role at Dallas College and its impact?

While my personal leadership project, RACE – Rapidly Achieving Campus Excellence, did not come to fruition entirely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the idea of RACE has manifested in my new role as Associate Dean of Educator Certification at Dallas College. Now, I am leading the work around diversifying and strengthening the teacher pipeline with a specific focus on increasing the number of Black and Latinx candidates who complete the bachelor’s degree program and earn a teacher certification.

What motivates you to do this work?

I’m motivated to do this work because I grew up extremely impoverished in New Orleans in the 1990s. Hailing from a city with such a high crime rate largely due to the invasion of street drugs and a dismal educational system that consistently ranked amongst the lowest in the country, I knew the importance of education. I was raised to value learning and to exude intelligence in any endeavors in which I engaged because education was the only consistent path out of the disenfranchisement and destitution that plagued my hometown.

What makes you most proud of your heritage?

What makes me most proud of being a Black, African American is that I am engrained with the drive to create and design what I desire to see. The inherent ingenuity that lies within me has been the force behind all of my accolades. Being a part of a race that can endure struggles and overcome obstacles while courageously presenting as my authentic self is very empowering. I know that I am carving out a legacy that will be the guide for young girls who look like me to embrace the field of education and create new ideas that will transform and revolutionize this space as they empower Black, Brown, and White students across the globe.

What does Black History Month mean to you? 

For me, Black History Month is a time of reflection and projection. I often think about the sacrifices of amazing leaders like Ida B. Wells, Opal Lee, Malcolm X, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Reflecting on their difficult, yet valiant journeys helps me to appreciate the opportunities I readily have that they did not. More importantly, it is the foundation that reminds me that there is much more work to do, and I am obligated to do that work because of the luxuries that I have been afforded.

Can you tell us about the people who have influenced you?

The people who have inspired me are my parents, Sharif and the late Taahirah Nadir. My dad was a high school dropout, and my mom held a high school diploma. They made higher education a non-negotiable item in our home. They were very intentional about ensuring we were culturally diverse and articulate. I believe that the greatest gift you can receive is to have someone to provide something for you that they have not experienced. My parents gifted me with access to an education, and it has opened doors to a world they didn’t know existed. For that, I am eternally grateful.

In celebration of Black History Month, we spoke with Presidential Leadership Scholar Jerry Hawkins (2020), the Executive Director of Dallas Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (DTRHT). Jerry gives an update on his PLP, Young Leaders Strong City, reflects on what Black History Month means to him, and shares who has influenced his life and work.

Full Transcription Below

Can you tell us about your role at Young Leaders Strong City (YLSC) and the program’s impact?

So my PLP, Young Leaders, Strong City, started off as a small fledgling idea from three women when Dallas Faces Race, a collaboration between the Boone Family Foundation and The Embrey Family Foundation brought Race Forward, which is one of the nations leading racial justice organizations to Dallas to have the Facing Race Conference, which is the largest racial justice conference in the country. There was no space for youth to have learnings at this conference, it was mostly adults. So these three women created a Young Leader, Strong City, for youth to have a voice in this conference. They continued having a summit for youth every year out of their pockets and asked me to join in and helped them grow that program. We actually grew it with UTD and took it on as a separate project ourselves.

Young Leaders, Strong City, is a organization that helps youth realize their power in their communities, advocate for change in their schools, and also organize for the world that they want.

It’s a really cool program, but it also is now independent. Since 2020, we have grown. We have hired a executive director and I’m now on the board, so really excited about it.

What motivates you to do this work?

So what motivates me? I think one, we all deserve to live in a world that we can feel free, that we can have joy, that we can live and grow together; we don’t have to worry about where we are or who we are, and why are we there. I think that because of some of the intentional decisions of policy makers in the past requires a little work on all of our parts; some a lot, right? And so I am inspired in that I see a world where that can exist.

What does Black History Month mean to you?

Black History Month means everything to me. It was founded in Chicago where I’m from. Carter G Woodson started off this platform for Black people to learn about their history, because it was erased from the general American history.

In the Wabash Y where actually I had my first membership of any kind as an adult in Chicago on the south side, Negro History Week was started and that week became a month, And that month became Black History Month.

It allows us to kind of recalibrate what the contributions of Black people to the United States are, but also it’s just American history that we all need to learn and continue to build that foundation for us to grow together, and I think that’s what Black History Month does.

Can you tell us about the people who have influenced you?

Oh, for sure. So many people. I’ll say, Mother Thelma Meyers and Brother Martin from my Roosevelt University Upward Bound Program. They taught me how to write. They gave me confidence. They gave me self-esteem in who I am and really allowed me to grow as a young reader; they gave me all of these books. Obviously my mother and my father, and my grandparents. My kids really inspire me now. I have three kids, and they’re amazing humans, and they challenge me every day.

And then my friends and family, I would say I have a great group of friends. We research together. We talk about these hard problems, and even my PLS friends. So I’m really inspired by folks like Charles Drew, who was also part of my fraternity, Omega Psi Phi fraternity incorporated. He perfected the use of blood plasma and started what became the Red Cross, even though he couldn’t get a blood transfusion because he was a Black man. Amazing people like that.

Q: Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your personal leadership project (PLP). 

I grew up in Columbus, Georgia, and have spent much of my professional career in Atlanta, with brief stints in Boston and Washington, D.C. My wife Jackie and I have been married almost 14 years, and we have four adorable kids, a small fish, and a bearded dragon named “Bruce Willis.”  

In our community, Jackie and I are very focused on education. We believe every kid deserves a great education, and that good schools are a gateway to opportunity. As a hobby, I love to write and have just published my third book, The HBR Guide to Crafting Your Purpose. It’s an important topic for me because I think everyone is capable of living a meaningful life but we often allow our own fears and misconceptions about purpose to hold us back.  

Professionally, I’ve worked in investments on and off since 2004. At the time I was a Presidential Leadership Scholar (2018), I worked for a large asset manager. For my PLP, I wanted to develop an impact investing capability for my firm. After my term as a Scholar, I was selected to lead our team investing in diverse managers where I put some of that thinking to work. But the topic of my PLP stuck with me, and in 2021 I joined a small investment manager, Sovereign’s Capital, doing nothing but values-based investing. My time in PLS (as well as my time writing about purpose) really encouraged me to go “all in” on the idea that all investing is impact investing and that investing can serve a redemptive purpose in the world.   

Q: Please give us an update on what you have been working on since graduating from PLS. 

The two biggest projects in my life since PLS have been joining Sovereign’s Capital and writing the HBR Guide to Crafting Your Purpose. At Sovereign’s, we try to invest in ways that encourage “human flourishing” and “love of neighbor,” partnering with entrepreneurs, owners, and fund managers to create great cultures that serve people. It’s remarkably rewarding work, and I wake up every day excited about our mission and the possibility of growing that mission through new investment strategies and through increasing our ability to partner with more leaders, companies, and funds.  

My work on the Guide was also heavily influenced by my time in PLS—so much so that it features four women from my PLS cohort whom I came to admire greatly. We are living through a crisis of purpose— when huge numbers of people are feeling lonely, directionless, and disengaged. Part of why it’s so difficult for many of us to live purposefully is a series of fundamental myths we hold about “finding our purpose.” WE don’t find purpose; we build it. And each of us has the opportunity every day to craft more meaningful lives. 

I certainly saw this in my classmates. The book features Julissa Carielo, a wonderful entrepreneur in San Antonio who built a construction business from scratch and now also invests in empowering others who would like to start or grow businesses in her community. I had the chance to profile Ezinne Uzo-Okoro, a NASA scientist (now in a senior position in space policy at the White House), who through grit and curiosity is revolutionizing the way we think about space. I was blessed to profile Lisa Hallett, who lost her husband, John, in Afghanistan but used her pain to create a nonprofit (wear blue: run to remember) to remember our fallen service members and to support their families and loved ones. And I got to talk with Tynesia Boyea-Robinson, a leader in the impact space, about her career and how she invests in relationships and connects her work to service. I was blown away by these four in the program, and I honestly wish I could have told all 58 stories from my class.  

I think so many of the people I met in PLS were such a fit for a book on living a meaningful life because that’s a focus of the program. We got to learn from four presidents and those close to them about living well-rounded, purposeful lives— serving others, engaging fully in public life, building deep and meaningful relationships, investing in family, and taking on work that matters. And everyone in the program aspires to live that kind of flourishing life as well. It was genuinely inspiring to me. 

Q: Which lessons learned during PLS have stayed with you the most? 

Gosh, I learned so much in PLS. I actually had the chance to write articles with key learnings from each president— Lyndon B. Johnson, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. But if I’m honest, the impression that stuck with me most was the importance of family and of relationships. This really jumped out learning about George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush.  

President Bush was courageous, fiercely competitive, and smart…but his defining characteristic was his deep desire to form relationships with others and to serve them humbly. You could sense that in the way his former staff spoke about him, still dedicated to him after all these years. You could see it in the stories about his relationship with world leaders like Mikhail Gorbachev and the way his ability to form those relationships genuinely shaped the outcomes of the Cold War and the Gulf War. It was a critical part of the way he really invested in building a family of others committed to service. And we got the best sense of it in the genuine love both President Clinton and President George W. Bush had for him. He was a quiet man who seemed to influence others through service. That was a great lesson for me in an era where so many are loud and abrasive rather than kind, humble, and loyal. 

Q: How do you put those lessons into action? 

Not as well as I’d like to, certainly! We’re all a work in progress, and I have a long way to go. I think I came out of the program recommitted to a well-rounded life— dedicated to my family, my friends, my community, and finding ways to serve others as I’m able. The program and my PLS friends have really helped me think through my shift in career and through my writing. They’ve also been extraordinary thought partners as I’ve considered new opportunities to serve. I’m really inspired by what I see from them— building nonprofits, running for office, serving at the highest levels of government, and building people-centric businesses. And I’m trying to work some of those very admirable traits slowly but surely into my own work and life. 

Q: What advice do you have for the 2022 Scholars?  

Approach the program and your classmates humbly, with curiosity, and with a commitment to respect and know others. This is a remarkably diverse program in every respect— geography, race, gender, political alignment, profession. Everyone in the program has been chosen carefully for their leadership and for all the traits that make them such a unique human being. If you simply used your six months to ask questions and to learn more fully these outstanding people with whom you’ve been placed, it would be time well spent. And the relationships you form here will last a lifetime. Resist the urge to write others off or jump to conclusions. Any program that intersects with politics has the chance to become heated. But I think PLSers have a rare opportunity to show how remarkably diverse people can approach one another respectfully and can learn from and love one another. That’s a rare gift.