Q: Congratulations on being named a finalist for the Leadership Trailblazer Award. What does it mean to you to be nominated? 

First of all, thank you for including me along with so many exceptional women as a finalist.

The Leadership Trailblazer Award is an unexpected honor for me because it is a national award. As we focus our efforts on our local communities, we don’t expect to draw attention at the national level. And it is especially exciting to be recognized while the first woman in our history prepares to break the highest glass ceiling yet and become Vice President Kamala Harris.

Q: What led you to a career in public service?

At an early age, I was the mother of two small children when I purchased my first home, a HUD foreclosure. I became involved in neighborhood associations and in Parent Teacher Organizations, and serving the community became a passion of mine. After leading an effort in my neighborhood, we changed the conditions around us: neglected and trashed lots, mispositioned utility poles, sidewalks half-finished, and streets where we had to navigate sewage tops sticking up through the pavement. Bonds were never released by the developers, and they abandoned the development.

This sparked a desire within me: To be vocal, to get involved in making a high quality of life possible for ALL communities. Any neighborhood could be a safe, well-maintained mix of single-family homes, condos, townhomes, and apartments with good schools, engaged seniors, and healthy families. With a caring voice at the table where decisions are made, any community could have these things — not just a few.

My education led me to the corporate sector as a Human Resources director. At the same time, I was able to stay involved with social responsibility issues, serving on the city boards of Zoning Appeals and Parks & Recreation, as well as the YMCA Corporate Board, the Adventure Science Center Board, the Nashville Parks Greenways Commission, and the Tennessee Technology Access Center Board. I was elected to the Metro Nashville Board of Education in 2006, and during this time, I rose professionally to the Director level in State Government. I was elected in 2011 and 2015 to represent my district in the Metro Council, where I served on numerous committees, leading some of them, resulting in my colleagues unanimously electing me Council President Pro Tempore. In 2018, I won my current countywide position as Nashville Davidson County Register of Deeds. I became the first woman and African American elected to this office — the result of a long journey.

Q: Who were your mentor(s) or advocate(s) in your career?

My first mentors, of course, were my parents, both educators, who adopted me at birth as a fraternal twin and gave me an unshaken belief in myself. An early advocate for me was Metro Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell, a former Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives, who recognized my passion for public service when I was selected for the Tennessean Top 40 under 40. Mayor Purcell appointed me to the Metro Nashville Board of Zoning Appeals — the beginning of my trajectory in local government.  Also influential in my development was Tennessee trailblazer Rosetta Miller Perry, a community leader who started the first and most influential statewide African American newspaper.

In the corporate world, mentors who saw something in me included Senior Vice President Spencer Wiggins of a Fortune 500 company, Shoney’s Inc.; the late Phil Patton, Senior Vice President at HCA, and Tom Ciggaran, CEO of Healthways and a member of the ownership group of the NHL’s Nashville Predators. Especially influential with me was Betty Marshall, also a Senior Vice President of a Fortune 500 company,  Shoney’s Inc., and Debra Story, another Senior Vice President and a cabinet-level Commissioner in State Government.

Q: What is the most important lesson you learned while coming up in your career?

The two greatest lessons I have learned – and continue to learn – are to persist and persevere in my purpose and to value relationships. I have seen repeatedly that, while challenges can and will be great, hard work and belief in my abilities, and desire to do all things with excellence and prayer will keep me moving. Along the way, relationships and experience have taught me to be vigilant, to be aware at all times of how complex local government is and how interrelated it is with the politics of getting things done for others.

Just as my relationships with women who went before me taught me the way of success, I have been blessed with the chance to help other women. I have been a senior advisor to a long list of successful women candidates in Nashville, including Council and School Board Members, Judges, members of the State Legislature, and a Mayor. One, in particular, became the first Hispanic elected judge not only in our city but in the State of Tennessee; another is now the first woman Deputy Mayor of Nashville. I’ve helped others become “firsts” as well, and we have built a hard-working network of women in public office who are a force to be reckoned with.

We as women do not strive and grow in a vacuum. We are a living, breathing continuum of history that must be nurtured in order to thrive.

Q: What advice do you have for women just beginning their careers who would like to be an executive in local government someday?

Volunteer. Get involved. Be someone who can be counted on to lend a hand, get positive results, and never gives up on serving others for the good, expecting nothing in return.

Few start at the top, and you probably will not be the exception.

It is the boards, both public and nonprofit, the neighborhood associations, the beautification committees, the PTOs that offer you great starting places. They give you a perspective of how things work, how citizens, from one street to the next, can interact with the local councils and commissions and boards and leaders to get results that matter in improving conditions for all people.

That is where you will build relationships with those in a position to notice your commitment and open doors to opportunities. They will come to know you as someone who works hard and makes things happen. Be known, and sincerely work for outcomes that change things for the better, and you will build a name that people trust.

Q: What do you hope to leave as your legacy in local government when your career comes to an end?

Nothing cinematic, just a record of being one of the best in this arena, a top-performing public administrator who earned and maintained the trust of the public by leading with excellence. Someone who continued to give back to the community, a leader who created opportunities for those who may not have considered public service careers and who went on to shatter the status quo. A woman whose success was built on thinking for herself, being original, unselfishly sharing knowledge, and looking beyond what seems impossible.

Remember me as one who opened doors of opportunity for other women whereby they could make the lives and conditions of others better.

Remember me as one who got things accomplished. Two recent examples: The Property Fraud Alert and the Thank A Veteran programs, a pair of initiatives I put into place that are already making differences in people’s lives, just two years into my position as Register.

Remember me as someone who never forgot to keep family and serving in the church first.

There are many young aspiring women who want to be in leadership positions where their passion can shine and where they can make an impact for others. Hopefully, my example will lead them to opportunities where they can achieve far more than I have.