My Hero Grandma Vera Mae
When I was 15 years old, I went to a Graduation ceremony for my hero. My grandmother Vera Bonnette Jackson, aged 60, donned her blue cap and gown and walked across the stage in a small high school in rural Arkansas to accept her high school diploma. Grandma Vera had been forced to leave school at 15 when her mother passed away – Vera became the woman of the house and cared for her older brother who suffered from Down’s Syndrome and her younger siblings. At 16, Grandma Vera was married and had 4 children by the time she was 21. I was born when Vera was 45 and she was a young and fun grandmother. She loved to play in the fields with us and help us saddle up the plow horses to ride down through the woods. She loved going on long walks with me, teaching me the names of the flowers, the birds and the bugs we saw. She took me to old cemeteries and told me stories of our ancestors. She loved to read and always had a pile of books for me to read while she stuck her own nose in a book. My grandmother was the smartest person I knew and when my mother told me she was taking night classes to get her diploma, I was shocked to learn that she had never finished high school. My grandmother had instilled in me the value of education and when I was the first person in her family and the only one of my generation to complete a bachelor’s degree, Grandma Vera cheered me on every step of the way! When I think about sitting on that front porch with my grandmother in the front porch swing on her graduation day, I think of how I believe so strongly in the value of education and access to education for all of us.
I do not consider myself a First Gen College graduate in the traditional sense, my father and his parents were both college graduates and their experiences and guidance provided me with much support and expectation that I would complete my degree – even if it meant late nights waiting tables at a local restaurant and then an early morning class! I turned to them many times in my early career days for guidance and advice – sometimes I even followed it!
When Betti Fujikado and I were having lunch a year ago – we started off as all Moms do – talking about our children. Betti and I have daughters the same age who are in the first years of their careers. We talked about their entry in the working world and how all of a sudden Mom conversations were centered on professional development, career questions, how to navigate asking for a raise, how to work with diverse personalities and ages of coworkers. As we laughed about how we were now suddenly valued for our advice, our conversation turned to some of our daughter’s friends who we knew were First Gen and were also entering the workforce and how our daughter’s “CEO Mom” privilege was setting them up for success while others might be left behind. Thus, over Mom stories and salmon, and a deep commitment that we both feel to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, the seeds of First Gen Cohorts began. We were unsure exactly how it would become a reality but luckily we are both “jump in and figure it out as you go” women!
As we are entering our 5th month of our 8 month long Alpha cohort program, I am so humbled by the opportunity to work with our amazing coaches and cohort members – they are teaching me so much! As a Vistage chair I have seen first hand how bringing together people with similar jobs and similar struggles can create a powerful peer network and that is the “secret sauce” of our cohort. The members come together to support and share and challenge each other and out of that work comes an amazing community of diverse people from diverse backgrounds working together to navigate the next steps on their journey. I strongly believe that our cohort members are the leaders of the future who will take us to a better country and a better world. I am humbled and honored to observe, encourage and assist them on their journeys. I think Grandma Vera would approve!