The Energy Within Us : An Illuminating Perspective from Five Trailblazers

You've heard of the glass ceiling.

It's the barrier holding women back from breaking through to the highest echelons of corporate America. A few women are promoted to those power seats, but the realm of leadership in America's top companies remains mostly male--and mostly white.

If striving for success in that reality weren't daunting enough, some women face an additional barrier: the black ceiling.

That's the barricade blocking African Americans from ascending into the top levels of corporate leadership.

Black women who aspire to become senior executives or CEOs face the double obstacle of the glass and the black ceilings, especially in certain industries where the statistics for female and black representation are discouraging.

Think about how difficult and disheartening it might seem as a black woman aspiring to excel and transcend to a corporate leadership position through the glass ceiling and the black ceiling in the historically white male energy industry.

We are five African American female executives who have achieved all of the above.

And by sharing our stories in this book, our objective is to offer our lives and our careers as inspirational blueprints for other women and people of color who aspire to leadership positions in the corporate arena.

We have blazed new trails in the energy industry by shattering ceilings. However, much work remains. The low representation of women and people of color at the helm of corporate leadership requires a strong commitment to persevering past the many obstacles that can delay and derail a career.

That is why we convened on the pages of this book to show that, Yes, it can be done! We show it through: our own personal belief systems; networking with other women and people of color in our industry; receiving guidance from mentors; committing long hours to our jobs; relocating when opportunity knocked; pursuing our education and training to propel us on an upward trajectory in our field; and celebrating the successes as they come.

Very importantly, we have demonstrated a commitment throughout our careers--and now into retirement for some of us--to reaching back to mentor others so they can follow the paths that we have blazed into uncharted territory for women and people of color in corporate America.

We hope that by reading The Energy Within Us: An Illuminating Perspective from Five Trailblazers, you will be inspired and informed about how to succeed in business and in life.

Joyce Hayes Giles is an energy industry executive with over 35 years of experience transforming organizations' customer and philanthropic performance. Most recently she was Assistant to the Chairman and Senior Vice President of Public Affairs for DTE Energy, a Detroit-based diversified energy company involved in the development and management of energy-related businesses and services nationwide. In addition, she served as the company's Chief Ethics Officer and Ombudsman for employee related issues. Carolyn Green is Managing Partner of EnerGreen Capital Management, which she founded in 2009 to invest in late-venture and early-growth-stage companies involved in the energy and environmental industries. Prior to founding EnerGreen, she was a Vice President with Sunoco, Inc., the Philadelphia-based oil refiner/marketer. Telisa Toliver is currently GM, Chevron Pipeline and Power, has led many commercial functions throughout the energy value chain, and has been a strong advocate for the inclusion of African Americans and women in the energy industry. Rose McKinney-James, Managing Principal of McKinney-James & Associates, is a seasoned small business leader, clean energy advocate, and independent corporate director with a long history in public service, non-profit volunteerism, and private sector corporate social responsibility. Hilda Pinnix-Ragland is the CFO of AHK Global Resources and is also an independent corporate director. Most recently, she served as a senior executive of corporate public affairs at Duke Energy with national and international responsibilities. Her experience expands into financial, operations, and utility regulations. She founded the HPR STEM Academy, now in its fifth year, which serves girls going from elementary to middle school.

Elizabeth is a best-selling author, actress, TV host, and an award-winning journalist who uses a multimedia platform to inspire people to unlock their infinite potential and live with passion, prosperity, health, and happiness. Her 2019 spiritual memoir, God's Answer is Know: Lessons from a Spiritual Life, provides the launchpad for her global intuitive teachings. Elizabeth's desire to empower others springs from a trailblazing matrix of colorblind love and courage from her mother, an African American and Italian judge, and her father, a former Roman Catholic priest who was English, French Canadian, and Cherokee. They taught her to challenge the status quo by writing innovative ideas to edu-tain people. With a master's degree in Journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor's degree in English Literature from the University of Michigan, Elizabeth has written over 20 books, including novels White Chocolate, Dark Secret and Twilight (with Billy Dee Williams). Elizabeth has ghostwritten books for executives, prominent government and civic leaders, physicians, a surgeon, an intuitive medium, a family that triumphed on NBC's The Biggest Loser, an insurance agent, and a quadriplegic man who lived his dream to become a record company CEO. Her novellas about empowering women to overcome abuse and identity crises were published in My Blue Suede Shoes: An Anthology and Other People's Skin: An Anthology. Elizabeth runs Two Sisters Writing and Publishing with her sister, the young adult author Catherine M. Greenspan. Together they have published over twenty books, including an annual anthology of short stories by international writers who won the Two Sisters' ongoing short story writing contests. Elizabeth is a health and fitness enthusiast whose 100-pound weight loss was featured on Oprah. Elizabeth co-hosts a weekly television show, MI Healthy Mind, which promotes wellness by shattering stigmas around taboo topics such as mental illness, addiction and abuse. She is a popular writing coach whose PowerJournalTM program teaches people to enrich their lives with journal-writing. She has taught writing at Wayne State University, Oakland University, Wayne County Community College District, and at national conferences. As a speaker who promotes human harmony, Elizabeth was previously represented by the American Program Bureau. She rouses ovations by reciting her autobiographical poem, "White Chocolate," and has spoken at Columbia University, the University of Michigan, GM's World Diversity Day, Gannett, 100 Black Men, the NAACP, and many other venues. As an actress, Elizabeth plays a major role in the feature-length film Anything Is Possible, nominated for "Best Foreign Film" by the Nollywood and African Film Critics Association. She composed an original screenplay, Redemption, a gritty drama about a Detroit gangster and a writer. And Elizabeth plays a 1950s journalist in the international shipwreck drama, Are The Passengers Saved? Elizabeth has been a guest on Oprah, Montel, NPR, Good Morning America Sunday, The CBS Evening News, and many national TV shows. After writing her master's thesis about mixed-race Americans, her work appeared in The New York Times, The San Diego Tribune, Essence, Ebony, and many publications. Her Detroit News articles on race were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and she wrote a biography for the Presidential Medal of Freedom tribute for Rosa Parks. Elizabeth runs, cycles, lifts weights, does yoga, journals and meditates to cultivate a joyous and peaceful mind, body and spirit.

Catherine holds a Master of Arts degree in Writing from the University of San Francisco and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of Michigan. Catherine is a past recipient of writing grants from the Sierra Arts Foundation and the Nevada Arts Council. She has done extensive freelance writing and editing, including a recurring community-focused column, where she highlighted the work of nonprofits, as well as regular restaurant reviews, book reviews, features articles and cover stories, including an interview with Nigerian playwright and poet, Wole Soyinka, winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature. She also earned a Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages at Centro de Lenguas e Intercambio Cultural via the University of Cambridge International House, Seville, Spain. She has taught university-level English, Creative Writing and English as a Second Language.