Member Spotlight: Charmaine McClarie
What is your industry or area of expertise?
I say that I help smart people get promoted and get the big picture about themselves and their organizations across the globe. I’m a communications strategist and leadership consultant. One of the ways I do that is through executive coaching, and I also teach in two programs at Mary Washington University in Virginia and at Smith College. The work that I do is helping people to find their voice because I believe if we do not define ourselves, others will define us, and their definitions will inevitably be inadequate.
Why do you believe in the mission of BlackFemaleProject?
Because it is a spirit and a space where I see our power in action.
What brought you to BlackFemaleProject?
The answer is Precious. I love and adore her. I met her when she was a student and I went to give a talk at Cal State Hayward in the business school, and she became an intern. Then I hired her, and then I said to her, “It’s time for you to leave me because you need to go to something bigger. I want this to be a springboard to your future. You will be smarter and more strategic, and you will learn things.” And then she hired me! I help create strategy for BlackFemaleProject. My whole thing is self-advocacy, and what she does is that. She helps bring voice.
How has BlackFemaleProject impacted you personally?
BlackFemaleProject has given me hope. I get to see badass, bodacious sisters doing their thing. It’s sort of like I can look into that bubble and I can see the future, and that gives me hope in humanity. It renews my conviction for humanity.
What motivated you to become an advisor to BlackFemaleProject?
I’m about strategy: plan your work, and then work your plan. And I could see a future bigger than what Precious saw when she started BlackFemaleProject. I told her almost 10 years ago, “You may not know it, but this is going to be big.”
What BlackFemaleProject content or offering have you found most resonant?
One is Teacher Truth. I find that to be such a powerful program, and it empowers so many. There was a time when, if you were a teacher, that was like being the CEO of a company. You had entrée; you had clout. There was prestige; teachers had reverence in any community. And I remember when that flipped, it was devastating for communities of color. Teacher Truth is this place to come and speak about your pain, your power, your joy, and create language to heal yourself and to heal your students.
I’m going to also say the program I did, Your Winning Story Makes You Unstoppable. Every person who has participated in that program has made a positive shift in their life.
Bio:
Charmaine McClarie is a C-suite advisor, keynote speaker, executive coach and executive presence authority who helps leaders have their best year ever. She has worked with leaders in 27 industries across five continents. Her clients include top executives from Cisco, Gilead Sciences, Impact America Fund, Humana, Johnson & Johnson, MasterCard, Starbucks and T-Mobile. For more than two decades, 98% of Charmaine’s clients have been promoted within 18 months. For CEOs, that might mean a promotion to corporate directorship. For other senior leaders, that might mean a promotion from SVP to EVP or even CEO.
Charmaine works predominantly with C-suite leaders and executives with demonstrated readiness to be in the C-suite, coaching them on leadership acumen, communications ability and executive presence. Charmaine and her work have been profiled in People, Forbes, Harvard Management Update, The London Times and The New York Times. She is on the faculty as a leadership and communications expert at the University of Missouri Kansas City Bloch School of Management, EMBA program, and is a visiting lecturer at the Smith College Executive Education program.
CONNECT WITH Charmaine
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mcclariegroup/
