National Black NBMBA Hosts Women’s Leadership Summit in Atlanta

National Black MBAAssociation Hosts Women’s Leadership Summit

By: Sabryna Crutchfield

On Tuesday evening, April 26, 2022, the Atlanta Chapter of the National Black MBAAssociation held
their fifth NBMBAA – Women’s Leadership Summit. The summit took place at the Hyatt Regency
in downtown Atlanta. This year’s theme was Connecting, Uplifting and Empowering the Next Generation.

The evening began with aperitifs and a few moments for the guests to mingle with the
themselves to get to know each other. This audience was full of impressive women and men who held master’s degrees in various fields such as education, technology, medicine, and more. The audience also included students who were considering earning a master’s degree themselves – the perfect arena to network and inspire.

As everyone began to fit in, Dr. Darryl Holloman, senior vice president of student affairs at Spelman
College caught everyone’s attention as the summit’s moderator. He presented the remarkable
the women who sat on the panel: Asha Hope, global head of DEI for DoorDash; Katherine
Richardson Senior Leadership Executive at Apple; Jean Johnson Senior VP and GM at Fiserv, and Tasha Smith Executive director and COO at Morgan Stanley. The night was full of nuggets of wisdom as these women discussed topics such as preparing for your next opportunity, new rules of engagement, building your professional values, and ways to empower the next generation.

When asked to discuss new rules of engagement as things pivot due to the pandemic
Cathleen Richardson emphasized the importance of good leaders. “A great leader has a vision, but an even better leader takes time to cultivate a shared vision for their team.” She went on to explain that each person has a “special genius” and it’s the leader’s job to tap into that special genius, and in turn, your team becomes that much stronger. Another moment to remember was when Asha Hope compared creating professional value to building a house. She compared founding a house to raising a person, basement as one’s experience and transferable skills, first level as expertise and becoming an expert in one’s role, second level being l self-assessment and the creation of new goals, finally the attic being where one would store learning moments that they could take advantage of.

NBMBAAAtlanta Chapter President Travis Townsend said the night’s mission
was to establish a supportive environment among women and, more importantly, to inspire. Townsend
discussed the panelist being authentic, sharing their journeys as well as their struggles, and how he hoped
individuals would leave the top feeling better about their chances and ability to succeed in their careers.

The AANB will hold its 44th annual conference and exhibition from September 27
until October 1 in Atlanta this year. The event has an attendance of around eight to ten thousand
people, with more than two hundred corporate sponsors looking for black excellence to hire. Registration
starts in May on the official NBANB website