About Roquita

It’s been said success comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it. Roquita C Williams is a living example of this as an award winning leader in the transportation industry for over 20 years. Being among the 10% of female executives in the male dominated railroad and transit industries was not enough for this firecracker. In 2016 this real life super woman (with a real cape in tow) traded her heels in for steel toe boots, becoming the only female executive certified as freight train conductor. In addition to an amazing stage presence and compelling storytelling, Roquita can help audiences discover the courage it takes operate a 14,000 ton train. This is a rare motivational speaker you do not want to miss!

Roquita has been recognized nationally – Top 40 under 40, Super Women in Business, Progressive Railroad’s Rising Stars of North American Railroads and recipient of NAACP Distinguished Service Award

Follow Me!

Keynotes

Leadership is not title, leadership is choice to walk in the light and not in darkness.

Google “What is leadership?” and you get 595,000,000 results. “Leadership is encouraging your organization to dance to music not yet heard.” “Leaders is having the ability to have vision and to inspire follow-ship” . But what it doesn’t say anywhere is leadership is a title. That’s because leadership is many things but a title it is not. There too many people who feel like they are trapped under a glass ceiling, that their value as professionals is only tied to advancement. What happens when your value is tied to advancement and organizational advancement is limited, or challenging, or takes too much time? You lose your best talent or worse they don’t leave but you lose the best of them instead.

Together we will explore how staff and mid level managers can be empowered to lead from where they are. Passion + Purpose + Pursuit of Organizational Goals = NO GLASS CEILINGS!

Takeaways:

The qualities of a person who leads from where they are
Aligning purpose and passion with the pursuit of organizational goals
How to develop a purpose, passion focused career development plan
The value of servant leadership in leading from where you are
How to inspire good follow-ship

Diversity is a culture not an initiative

As an African American woman in an industry dominated by white men, Roquita has seen diversity initiatives at their best and worse. In fact, the majority of her career she has found herself the beneficiary of one diversity initiative or another. But in an interesting twist, Roquita explores how disruptive diversity initiatives can be to our work groups, performance and profitability. Gender and minority balanced workforces is a matter of great importance, too important to close the conversation. Roquita opens up the diversity discussion in unexpected and refreshing way to ensure a side that is rarely discussed is put on the table.

Takeaways:

Discover the unintended impact on our diverse team members
Considering the systems and solutions that are needed to move beyond diversity initiatives to a diversity culture
How to empower open dialog about diversity
How to know if you have a diverse culture

Storealities

There is so much power in storytelling but the art of authentic wisdom sharing seems be lost. Instead of our young women relying on celebrities and reality tv to determine what it means to be women, they should be turning to us! It is now time for “the everyday woman” to find her voice, unpack her stories, explore the lessons her most difficult moments have taught her and share those lessons with the women walking the journeys we have already lived. Women have an opportunity to make our stories our legacy. Roquita will share her personal moments littered with lessons as tool for women who are ready to peel back the layers that we often hide behind.

Takeaways:

How to unpack your story
Turning your story into a legacy
Why the next generation needs less of our money and more of our wisdom
How storytelling supports servant leadership, non-profit fundraising
Bridging the gap between the marginalized woman the woman of privilege

“We were honored to have Roquita Coleman participate in the Hilton Worldwide Women’s History Month celebration in 2014. On a panel consisting of amazing, bright, successful, accomplished and personable women, Roquita was a shining star! Her engaging honesty about her career successes, and maybe more importantly, missteps left a lasting impression. Her insights into women succeeding in the business world were strengthened by personal experiences working and being promoted in a male-dominated field. A year later Hilton women were still referencing her comments and her appearance and relating her experiences to their own career steps. As a further testament, their male counterparts remembered and absorbed her comments! Roquita was a key component in our successful panel, and Hilton team member resource groups have her on the invite list for future speaking events.”

Denise Carpenter
VP & Managing Director NW Region
Hilton Worldwide

“She works tirelessly as a mentor and teacher always taking the time to lend her voice, her talent and time to those seeking to either start their career or move it forward. I first became acquainted with Roquita while she was serving as the President of Memphis World Trade Club. The organization flourished under her leadership paving the way for others to take advantage of the career opportunities Memphis provides….”

Cheryl Burch Citrone
Vaco Logistics Executive Search

“Roquita is an extremely passionate champion for the Supply Chain industry and more importantly, the workforce behind the industry. She is dedicated CN employee with her commitment to make not only the industry better but the community in which CN has a major presence in. She is involved in numerous organizations to make the Memphis region a better place to live and do business within. She is extremely connected throughout the industry and continually strives to make the industry better and more efficient. In addition to these outstanding qualities, she is also passionate about the next generation of workforce and extremely involved with networking, mentoring and coaching the next generation of leaders to the industry. Her relentless dedication to the industry will have impact for years to come which is one of the greatest compliments I can give her.”

Dan Pallme, Director of Transportation Leadership at University of Memphis

“The Raves Are In! We’ve had so many talented speakers over our 27 year history however, none of them have held our audience spellbound as you did! Everyone left with new exciting concepts on college and careers. Your presentations are ALWAYS bold and exciting. You touched on some very deep spiritual truths about life after high school, but wove them into a fine and palatable fabric for some that may have not been introduced to such ideas. I hope that you will join us next year!”

Dr. Tavis Wade-Jones
MDL Inc- Executive Director

“I had the opportunity to hear Roquita Coleman-Williams speak as a featured panelist at the FedEx Women In Leadership Forum back in May 2015. She is a very dynamic speaker and brings a fresh perspective to women in leadership, incorporating her personal journey and successes. Intrigued by her strategic process of “self-branding” and creation of value-proposition, some of the key points made was to “build your brand”, remain flexible and apply servant-leadership principles.”

Robin W. Tucker
Strategic Program Advisor