THE STORY
Commerce
Eggs, Butter, and Croker Sacks
My Great-grandmother was a hustler!
By circumstance she was a sharecropper, by nature she was a shrewd businesswoman.
Great-grandma Pearl Murphy was married to John Randolph Johnson. They were local ministers and oftentimes congregants would gift them with their Sunday meals by way of poultry and livestock. However, great-grandma Pearl didn’t see a meal, she saw marketplace trade opportunity.
Great-grandma Pearl would churn the cream from the cow and make butter, gather up the eggs, and go to market to trade for flour and meal. The flour and meal were packaged in big croker sacks, of which great-grandma Pearl converted into yet another revenue stream. From the croker sacks, she made aprons, quilts, and skirts and sold them to the locals in town as well as the church members.
Conquest
Dominate your space!
My grandmother had insight!
Cut from the same cloth as her mother, great-grandmother Pearl, Grandma Mattie Ruth had a knack for business.
Grandma married Brown Anthony, Sr., an owner of a marginally successful cleaning service. She came aboard with vision and business savvy and grew the company exponentially in just a couple of years. She legitimized the business, added new services, built the clientele, and hired a full working crew that covered day and night shifts.
She would say, "if your name is on the marquee, (in her case, her last name was on the cleaning vans) its your responsibility to become more educated than your competition and dominate your space".
Character
A woman of resilience and resolve
My mother is the quintessence of a consummate leader!
Withdrawing from her lineage of strength, Cassie Hammock was able to stand against and overcome challenges that would render most out for the count.
...She would write and read poetry to my brothers and me, speak worth into our lives and tell us we were kings and queens, and in the next breath, make us a promise, “Momma's going to beat this drug addiction”. She would also say, “I’ve learned a lot from these streets...the school of hard knocks, and the tuition was almost paid with my life, but I made it through, and soon I’m going to get my college degree, and I'll do it in my own time, on my own terms”.
She kept her word! She beat her heroin addiction, and graduated Magna cum laude with a Masters’ Degree in Social Work at the young age of 65! She's been clean for over 30 years and has dedicated her life to educating and empowering the masses. She is a woman of resilience and resolve, and my Shero!
Committed
AWI will advance women and help to avail robust workplaces
These women are the foundation of the Astute Woman Institute’s story, and as the proud beneficiary of such a balanced blend of entrepreneurship, leadership, and prowess, Anisa and the AWI team commits to advancing women, workplaces, and the workforce alike by providing top-level professional services and general management consultancy services.