For those that do not know you, can you please provide a brief background? I grew up in Sumter, South Carolina, attended Furman University then received my Master of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. Growing up, I originally desired to be an OB/GYN nurse following in the steps of my grandmother and then later a lawyer. As fate would have it, my first job was in a management developmental program with my first rotation in Human Resources (HR). Outside of a brief stint as a bank examiner, I have remained in HR for my entire career! I have been with Bank of America for the past 22 years in various compensation and benefits roles and am presently a Compensation Executive, managing the bank’s global pay equity program.
A member of WIF since 2018, I have served on the grants committee on both Human Services and Education and for the past two years as Education Co-Lead.
Outside of work, I enjoy traveling with friends and trying new restaurants.
What makes our purpose or mission meaningful to you? The focus on women working together to strengthen our communities is a key value for making the WIF mission meaningful. I especially love attending the Annual Meeting and seeing our group celebrating grant recipients and acknowledging all the work that has been done to make Charlotte a little bit better.
What energizes/motivates you? It can be anything from a quotation, a song, a person, etc. I realize how fortunate I’ve been in my life and probably never fully appreciated it. As I see the needs facing the community and the nonprofits working to address them, I am energized by the change that can be made through WIF actions – hopefully giving someone the opportunities that I was lucky enough to have.
What are you the most excited about for the upcoming year? For the upcoming year, I am excited to start learning about my role as Incoming Finance Chair and Treasurer, as well as joining the Board. Learning about the organization’s finances in more depth and how we can ensure the continued future success of WIF are big on my list. I am also excited to see the work that we continue to drive around increased diversity and inclusion for the organization.
Advice to make the most out of your Women’s Impact Fund membership? Probably not going to be a surprising answer, but if you can, join a committee and/or attend an event. It can be overwhelming in large organizations to get involved. A committee or event is a smaller setting where you can really get to know the other members. I joined the grants committee right away and the two things I got out of it were meeting more WIF members and learning about my Charlotte community. My education on the number of needs facing our community and the wonderful work being done by so many local nonprofits connected me even more to the valuable work WIF is doing.
What is your favorite restaurant in Charlotte? This is a hard one – there are so many great choices and I cannot say a true favorite. My top three would be Good Food on Montford, Futo Buta, and Copper Modern Indian Cuisine.
