WATCH: ESSENCE Clocked In With Dr. Stacie NC Grant

essencemagazine

Dr Stacie NC Grant visits the ESSENCE office to talks about being the 26th International President of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc and more.

Transcript

00:00The most rewarding part of leading Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated is knowing that I am moving

00:07forward a 105-year legacy of five courageous college co-eds who started this organization

00:15January 16, 1920 on the campus of Howard University. Built on the tradition of understanding

00:22the importance of scholarship, service, sisterhood, and final womanhood. I would like to think that I

00:29am living our founders wildest dreams. One misconception people have about sororities are

00:37we're a cult or a gang and that's not true at all. We are women who are aligned on purpose

00:43and understand to whom much is given much is required so we are able to not only attain

00:50the highest ideals of scholarship but to serve the communities in which we live, work, and play.

00:56The biggest leadership lesson I've learned in my current role is understanding that change

01:02management takes time. It's not overnight and there has to be patience in the process of

01:09growing to new levels of opportunity and service to our world at home and abroad. Service is

01:17something that has been at the core of my existence. I ran across a quote from Gandhi

01:23that said the best way to lose yourself is to find yourself in the service of others and that

01:29is what I have attempted to do every day of my life learning and growing in what God has endowed

01:36me with to be of service to others. One word to describe a Zeta is finer. My go-to self-care

01:45practice after long days of service is to sleep first and foremost but if I'm not sleeping I enjoy

01:54just watching a few hallmark movies and pretending like I don't know the end. It's hard to choose

02:01which Zeta from history I would love to have dinner with but if I really think about it,

02:06it would be awesome to have dinner with our first president and founder Arizona Cleaver Stemmins.

02:14She was the first woman to lead this new organization founded January 16, 1920 and I

02:21would love to sit down and talk with her about all of the emotions she must have felt having that

02:27kind of resilience and vision and just being at the precipice of something so new and what that

02:35meant to bring along the other four founding members of our organization and how she balanced

02:41that while matriculating through school and creating what I get to sit in 105 years later.

02:49As a leader in our Black community what needs attention now is our opportunity to galvanize

02:56resources together to understand the power in collaboration and that all of us have chosen

03:03chosen different means to the same end and what's that end? To make sure that everybody in our

03:08community gets to live the American dream, gets to have access to health care, gets the opportunity

03:15to move economically within their financial capacity. They have the opportunity to get

03:23the attention that is necessary for their children, for the seniors in their family.

03:28Right now we can't operate in silos. We have to come together and collaborate on the joint

03:35lived experience of the communities that we serve with one mission of making this world

03:41better than how we found it and the next generation better off than how we are able to proceed now.

03:48For me this is kind of personal on what book every leader should read because my faith

03:53guides my steps. So the Bible is my book of choice that everyone should get acquainted with the words

03:59in it and how you live by it and I know there are many faith traditions but I'm unapologetic

04:05about knowing that every gift skill and talent I have have come from God above and my ability to

04:10use that is my way of saying thank you for this gift called life and then outside of that the

04:16four agreements is a great book to understand in leadership how not to take things personally how

04:23to really find some humor in the things of life and how to ultimately be your authentic self

04:29because there's only one you and we're blessed every time you share the gift of your life with

04:35us. What keeps me motivated when the work gets tough is knowing that my foremothers and forefathers

04:42some of the names that I have not been able to discover on a family tree did more with less.

04:48What keeps me motivated is that I have children and nieces and god children who I want them to

04:55live in a world with opportunity and access to everything that they desire. What keeps me

05:01motivated is my best thank you to God for this gift called life is how I make a difference and

05:07service is what gives me the greatest joy. So when it does get tough I focus on everyone that is

05:14connected to me walking in my divine purpose. How would I describe Zeta's legacy in three words?

05:23It's hard to put it in just three words but it really is embodied in our scholarship in our

05:29service and in our sisterhood and it is punctuated with being finer women. What's next for Zeta

05:39Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated under Team Extraordinary as we continue to grow the work

05:46that we do and the impact that we have through our international Zeta Health Think Tank and the

05:52impact that we have made particularly around maternal health and all of the areas of health

05:58initiatives that we've been focused on for over 50 years with our relationship with March of Dimes,

06:04with St. Jude's, with the American Cancer Society and so many more is to really create the opportunity

06:11for communities here in America and abroad to have resources to combat those diseases and

06:19challenges that have plagued our communities. We've already invested in Monrovia, Liberia in

06:25West Africa for those who need breast cancer screening and be able to get treatment and we're

06:32going to expand with some innovative ways how we can get more resources to those in maternal

06:40deserts with our partnership and work with the March of Dimes. We're going to increase how we

06:45are able to impact children being able to get cures for cancers that are still being researched

06:52and diagnosed through St. Jude's so we're elevating our current partnerships to a whole nother level

06:58of opportunity that no child gets left behind, no family doesn't have resources to what they need

07:05and continue to fight for that justice in social justice, health justice and economic justice

07:12at home and abroad.

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