What do you consider leadership? &gt;&gt; Well, when I think of leadership, I think of our elders. If there's anything or any move I'm making, I'm asking the elders about what they think or what's going on or talking to family about it. whether they're local elders, here are some of our elders that are in Utah. I'm definitely always looking towards mentors for advice and for knowledge. Because I don't have all the answers and definitely I think it's really important to know where you come from. I've made so many mistakes. I made so many mistakes and definitely learn the hard way on a lot of things. I think what people do see on the surface is the strength and the resilience and definitely the leadership. But, I've [LAUGH] fallen more than I've like gotten up. And it's important to have that humility. I think it's really important for any leader or somebody who aspires to be in any kind of leadership role is to have that humility. And to give people a chance because we're not all coming from a place of knowing all the answers. We're seeking these answers and keep an open mind, open heart 

When pursuing your passion as a career, give it your all. You will get out of it what you put into it. I am currently working on my master's degree and am in the studio from 8am to 8pm some days. If this is your passion, you have to treat it like that. 

I would get bullied and discriminated against in school for being Native American. It made me want to crawl out of my own skin. As an adult, I've reconnected to my culture and have even merged cultural issues we face with my art.

I'm a slow reader, so I'd struggle with it in school. Having learned this about myself, I make a point to inquire with my professors ahead of the semester to get copies of the textbooks and reading materials so that I can start early.

I struggled with drugs in the past through harsh teenage years but thinking about it now reminds me of how far I've come. I hated that time in my life, but I'm very proud of who I am now compared to who I was then.

First, I spend time reading emails and responding. I'll also do some social media plugs. After digital life is handled, I'll read, research, and write. Then I'll create art! My creative time is scheduled in but sometimes happens before other duties. I just do it when it feels right. Other daily activities include sewing, self care, exercising, eating, stitching, communicating, painting, repeat.

Artist

You should pursue business, communications, or marketing.

Character

Culture

Self-Reflection

What It Means To Be A Leader

[FOREIGN] I just introduced myself in Paiute. Hello. How are you? I'm a member of the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe, but I also have roots in the Moapa Paiute, Cheyenne, Pawnee, and Creek Nations. Ever since I was younger, I've always been an artist. But I think I was seeing from society, it's like, well, what can artists do? Or, how can we make money that way, or make a living? And so I, instead of doing art in the beginning, I went from communications, to business, to marketing. And everything felt really dry, and I came back to art. I was like, I'm an artist. Let's be an artist, and really just focus on that, and give it my all. &gt;&gt; Can you tell us the culture that you grew up in and what it was like? What kind of experiences you had? &gt;&gt; I grew up downtown on the Las Vegas Paiute Colony. It was pretty much Skid Row, but we were a community, and we stayed together. We didn't really go outside of the confines of our own mini borders. And different cultural practices are passed on from family members, but sometimes, you grow up in a city and some things get a little lost. In fact, I'm just starting to go back and learn my language. I was very much an urban Indian, and I was losing part of my culture, and not really paying attention to much. Even when my grandmother was showing me how to forage, and get wild spinach or different things, I was pushing against it as a teen. I would be so embarrassed, and plus with the school system, you'd get picked on. It was really an awful time. It's almost like it was embarrassing to be Native American. So I was trying to focus on well, not even my art, or anything, but how do I make a living? How do I live in this society, not as a native, but just as a person? And it wasn't until later on in life that I really started to hone in on, no, my culture is beautiful. There's a lot to fight for here. I wasn't always awake in knowing of all the different things that are going on in the environment or with native issues. It's only the past couple of years that I've really been educating myself to those issues. 

Community

Negativity

Growing Up As A Native American Artist

When were you like, I'm gonna be me? &gt;&gt; It really took me a long time to really find my journey back to art, and realize my talents or what I could aspire to be or do. I was seeing that there was other native artists that were doing things. So our people have been here since time immemorial. And our writings, our stores are etched on the rocks all around Southern Nevada and beyond. So I was painting about it and drawing about it and protesting about it because some of these places were under attack. It was back in 2015, when everything started to really move forward. And so when I was speaking out more for the environment, and for our indigenous rights, what these lands and such, that's when my art really started to take off. Think Standing Rock lit a fire in many people whether you went there or not. I went to Standing Rock twice. I went there the first time with my community. We raised some funds and got donations and stuff of warm gear and we got a van and took the supplies out there. That first journey was, it was really beautiful. We all felt good, pat each other on the back like, yay, we took supplies out. We feel good. Then it really hit the second time I went out so there was my friends from New Zealand that went and met up with them. We got an RV and when we got a lot closer to the area we're getting our phones are going crazy and Facebook was just going wild like they're shooting at us or shooting at us. It's cold and help us and it was just mayhem. That was the night that they're releasing the water cannons on the the water protectors in this freezing, freezing cold weather. And when we arrived some of the people are coming in from the front Lines It was like a war zone there is stumbling in and these young men are probably like 18, 19 and they look like they move like elderly people and there's been huge just welts like red puffy welts on their bodies. And it was just really horrific to even see. So that second journey [LAUGH] definitely hit me a lot harder. And it's taken a long time to even talk about it without crying, but I think it was really important to see the people standing together and to see the humanity around that and everyone who is helping with it. In that time I really felt that spark that fire from anger [LAUGH] from love from compassion, but knowing that we have to do more for our environments. We have to do more for the people. And take that fire back to wherever we are. We can always be physically at that place, helping out but what can we do where we live and you share it and you educate about it and you keep on learning. &gt;&gt; How do you think somebody fast tracks himself to that stage of self development? &gt;&gt; Education is key. I think it's really important to decolonize and learn about what colonization is because colonization isn't something I just affected indigenous people, but it affected everyone. And so we really need to dismantle those things. So I think people should really learn about decolonizing, learning about indigenous ways and practices and listening to elders speak. You don't have to be indigenous to care about your land, your environment. I mean this is all of our home and we have to work together to protect it. And I think that indigenous people have a lot to teach everyone, people just have to listen. 

Education

Importance Of Culture, Activism, And Education

&gt;&gt; I was just in Tokyo few weeks ago at a Thunderbird, because I'm on their alumni type board. We had a group of about 50 of us from around the world meeting in Tokyo and I also around that was also a reunion for just Thunderbird, and there's like 40,000 T-birds from around the world from every country. And so there was this about another 5 or 600. So I had a lot of discussions with people from all over the place everywhere from Kenya to Malawi, Nepal, all of the different countries and. And one thing I will say is that everybody still thinks America is an amazing place. And that the opportunities, the freedoms we have, our system of allowing people to try and build entities and businesses and not have the intrusions that happen, it is viewed as really the beacon out there. When you look at what's happening in the changing economy and everything that's going on out there, there are such huge opportunities. I mean, everything that's going on in technology and data and all the different, the industries that are changing and new ideas. And I mean, I think the world's your oyster and you got to get out there and, and go for it. Even with as things are going on and there's also a lot of touring going on around the world. It's not just in the United States. &gt;&gt; Yes. &gt;&gt; But when you look at people, they really see us and what we have. I mean, we're extraordinarily lucky and I wish everybody could travel internationally, because you would see it and you would see the opportunity that we have on a daily basis that people don't understand. I was in a cab in Washington, DC the few months ago and my cabbie. I always talked to cabbies. I like to talk to everybody, but I stopped at a cabbie to see what's going on and he was from Pakistan. He just got here and he was talking about it's amazing. I can go home. I can be with my family. I never feel like anybody's watching me and think about that. Think about something as simply goes, I feel so free here. Because I can go where I want and I can do my own business, and we take it for granted 

Careers don't have to be for life. If a new door opens for you, it's okay to take that opportunity and make a change. Don't be afraid to fail. It's a part of life. I've had my fair share of failures but I've learned more from those failures than my successes.

My father always urged me to be an engineer, but after a year as an engineering major, I was miserable. I decided to get a business degree instead. It's not worth it to make other people happy with your choices if you yourself are miserable.

As CEO, I lead nine allied health colleges across Texas and one online college. The College of Health Care Professions currently holds 3800 students and 540 employees. We've increased enrollment by over 80% and are now the largest provider of allied health graduates to Texas.

Opportunity

America Is A Place of Great Opportunity

So I came as an exchange students. I lived with an American family and through high school, it was a huge cultural shock. I lived in a city, I went to boarding school back home. And I wore uniforms, and then I came here and I was thrown into, like you go to school everyday, you have to wear home clothes. I wasn't even used to dressing myself for school. So there were lots of things that were just brand new to me. I did get homesick, and when I would get homesick, I'd cook something, [LAUGH] that was Ghanaian, and that would help me heal myself again. And maybe I'd call someone to speak in the Ghanaian languages that I speak and that always felt more like home. And then coming to Houston, my husband is Nigerian. I'm from Ghana and we still have tons of people that make us feel right at home, but it's still not the same right? Still not where you grew up and you know the language, and you walk out and things are super familiar to you. Luckily, I get to go home pretty often, maybe once a year, if I can. But now I've been in the US for 17 years, at this point feels just as much home as been home feels cuz I've been here almost the same time. 

Networking is everything. Once you know what niche you want to work in, figure out where that industry is booming. Then reach out, make connections, and network to make sure people know your name, talent, and experience. If you’re applying for a job and you’ve made a connection with someone at the company who can vouch for your ability to get the job done well, it’s a lot easier for the hiring manager to pull your application out of the hundreds of others they receive.

I grew up in Ghana and came to the U.S. when I was 16 as part of an exchange program. It was a huge culture shock and I got homesick often. I felt a lot better when I moved to Houston because of the diversity.

I left accounting to start a clothing line but it didn't work out. I was also working at Nordstrom as a manager at the time. Even though the career change didn't work out, I gained analysis skills as a manager that I use as an internal auditor today.

I’m assigned specific projects and lead a team to audit those projects. I set up meetings with the companies I’m working with to understand their processes and perform tests on those processes. When I’m done testing, I’ll issue a report to the company and then discuss improvements with them. Sometimes, that means traveling to festivals and shows to make sure they’re compliant.

Internal Audit Manager

Experiencing Culture Shock And Coping With Homesickness

And someone says what did I do, or what did I love about my job? What is never going to be mentioned are the number of stores we openned and amount of sales that we have. All that so easily Googlable. If you ask other people about me, or if I were to ask someone about other leaders here. What they would say that sticks with them, good or bad, is how they were treated. And so to be able to be in a position now at such a high level to influence that culture throughout the organization, I know that how I treat others has such a high likelihood to trickle throughout the organization to affect how others treat others. For the good and for the bad, I'm most proud of the way that shows up in how people get to achieve and live their lives because of my leadership. 

Ask yourself, "Do I have a compelling alternative?" There is no set path to success and you don't have to do the same things as everyone else. If there is something else that you would rather be doing, then go do that. 

I grew up with a single mother who struggled with alcoholism. As a result, I had the responsibility of helping to raise my sisters and growing up much faster than most kids my age.

I am the first person on either side of my family to go to college. I didn't have any "white collar" examples growing up, so I had to find my own way. I ended up dropping out of college to work instead.

I am currently responsible for leading the company’s six domestic franchise brands and overseeing FOCUS Brands’ licensing division, building revenues and profits through global licensing, manufacturing, and e-commerce. Most of what I have to deliver as President is partnerships and building investment relationships. I spend a lot of time collaborating and communicating with our franchisees and helping them succeed. I also advise founders and early-stage startups. 

COO & President, North America

Support & Encouragement

How To Treat Others

It's hard to explain to people where you come from and why I want to go into science. Because I want to show that my people are scientists too in different way! Not exactly the same way you think, and that's not a bad thing. And for me, I always struggle with that. &gt;&gt; You know, for STEM and science and integrating you always know that the culture is the backbone, automatic. Everybody says that, everybody knows that. Professors, you gotta think, they like to see evidence. You put in a science work because that's your evidence. And integrating it is probably the most hardest thing ever. Because they don't share the same values, rather than like integration, just think about it as, you're gonna come do mapping. I'm going to be over here doing water quality but we're all gonna lift this rock and put it over. Don't look at it as separate but a collaborative effort. 

Have a function that contributes to strengthening your community.

Beautiful work environment at the beach, students learning about the resources available in their community, students working together to strengthen the habitats that sustain the coastal resources. Laughing, having fun, working efficiently, and carrying on the sustainable practices of their ancestors. Place-based learning at its best!

Manager

Values

A Collaborative Effort

I was wondering, cuz for a lot of local students, especially Native Hawaiian students, they like to connect their work to their culture and their identity as a Native Hawaiian. So I was wondering how this program, or how you have done it in your work. &gt;&gt; Just being able to go to all of the places that my ancestors went to and learn about the things that those places are familiar with, the winds and the rains and the wahi pana. Well, the gulch names, everybody in our program knows all the gulch names and ridge names in the Waianae mountains and a lot of them in the Kohala mountains. And so we're really fortunate to actually be able to go into and, I guess, get connected with and really deeply experience what it is to be in those places, the [FOREIGN] 

Volunteer and get internships. Needs to be the right fit for you and only way to find out is to try it out.

I hike or fly (by helicopter) into a remote site in the Koolau Mountains. I am searching for rare endangered plants. I hike through untouched forest, nearly 100% native and I discover a plant that is extremely rare or that I have never seen before. Along the way I see amazing views, breathe fresh air and work hard physically. At the end of the day, I am tired but fulfilled. I have seen a bit of what Hawaii would have been like before humans arrived.

Natural Resources Manager

You can't make a career out of conservation.

Culture

What It Means To Be A Leader

What It Means To Be A Leader

Fawn Douglas

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