About the Author
Patti cultivates homegrown changemakers prepared to step into their power and work with others to create the world they want to live in. Get in touch to find out how you can grow the social changemaker in yourself and those you serve with Blue Roads Changemaker YOU.
Have you ever experienced the delightful surprise of unexpectedly running into someone in person with whom you've recently had a meaningful conversation online? That's what happened to me recently when I heard the voice of today's featured guest behind me at a meeting in Lambertville, New Jersey – far away from my home in Virginia and even further from Florida-based Thomasina Williams. Thomasina was wearing a mask, but I knew right away who she was because her name isn't one you hear every day. As she tells it, she was the eldest child of her father, Thomas, who wasn't sure he'd have the opportunity to save his name for a boy!
This is just the beginning of Thomasina's fascinating story as a lifelong changemaker who was born into a groundbreaking family in the segregated south. She was kind enough to join me to share her unique “Homegrown Solutions for a Patchwork World” for my show “On Your Own Terms” on WinWinWomen. You can catch the video of our conversation, listen to the podcast and read the summary below to learn how Thomasina's work as an attorney who made partner in just three years, then opened the first black-owned corporate firm in Miami led her to work at the Ford Foundation and later Wells Fargo Private Bank. Now, as founder of Sankofa Legacy Advisors, she's helping families who own businesses develop the leadership skills they need to function effectively as both a family and a business.
Homegrown Thomasina
Thomasina's grandparents were substantial landowners and citrus farmers who put a priority on their faith, their family, service, and their community. By working hard and making intentional decisions, they were able to create wealth from the ground up despite a system that was stacked against them. Their eight children were the beneficiaries of their high standards.
As part of them helping to get their eight children started, they gave each of them a parcel of land for their new homestead and their home. So, most of my entire block and my community actually were my family members.
“I grew up in Bellamy Park Heights. The park comes from the fact that my grandparents made sure that there was land for the city to put a park in what, to this day, is still the only park in the predominantly black part of town of a primarily white community.”
Surrounded by family members, Thomasina grew up learning lessons about fairness, equity and having a strong work ethic.
It was very important that people needed to earn their way…When my brothers in high school worked in the orange groves with the other laborers that my grandfather hired, he paid them…the same as what he paid the adult men.
These “homegrown lessons” continue to inform Thomasina as she works closely with family members to build upon and sustain what her grandparents got started for all of them.
Solution-Focused Thomasina
Thomasina had her eye on solutions from a very early age.
Watching the debate around civil rights legislation is when I decided as a child, there are no women on in this legislative body and there are no black people in this legislative body…What I wanna do is be one of those people who's in the room helping to make the decisions.
She made that dream come true in a big way. Since to her 5-year old mind the legislators all seemed to be lawyers, she decided that she would become a lawyer so she could be an advocate for those who have no voice. After clerking with an appellate court judge (just one step below the United States Supreme Court!), Thomasina became a partner in a substantial law firm within only three years and went on to open her own firm. These positions allowed her to do a lot more than pay off her substantial student loans. As partner and later founder, she was able to do the kind of pro-bono work around issues that meant the most to her.
It was the first black-owned law firm in Miami that had a focus on a corporate clientele. And while my corporate clients actually kept the place open and paid the staff, the work that was near and dear to my heart, I was able to continue in the area of voting rights and did some work on some landmark voting rights legislation,
Thomasina's Patchwork
Thomasina has always navigated diverse environments with finesse. While some have made the mistake of underestimating her because she is Black, female, and blessed with a youthful appearance, she has found support from many across her career. She has used her success and wherewithal to advance the progress of others through her advocacy toward voting rights and better public policy. For example:
If you lived in a predominantly black community …and won 96% of the vote…you still could not get elected because the coalition of the white voters who lived someplace else…
Thomasina's litigation over the years has made some substantial changes to that!
Changemaker Thomasina
Thomasina's work in recent years has brought her full circle back to thinking about the well-being of the family that raised her and the resulting network of relatives. Like many families who've benefitted from the hard work and forethought of previous generations, Thomasina's family faced a dilemma when it came time for the third generation after her grandparents to take over the family business. Things weren't going so well. Her personal and professional experiences led her to an entirely new field of interest that can be of great help to families with shared assets.
I was doing some research a number of years ago and came across a study that looked at why it is that families lose their wealth across generations? I learned about a phenomena called “shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves in three generations.”
By this, she is referring to an unfortunate trend among business-owning families around the world and across cultures. It seems that even families who've worked hard to build a successful business for their offspring tend to flounder by the time the grandchildren should, in theory, be ready to take over.
Through her work in her company, Sankofa Legacy Advisors, Thomasina is helping families to develop needed leadership capacity so success is not left to chance or to unspoken needs and agendas.
It's really about understanding that who you are is your most precious asset.
Thomasina works with families and individuals within those families interested in making things better.
One of the current projects that I'm working on is something I call the FEW. FEW is an acronym for “Family Enterprise Women.”
It is an emerging community that includes a combination of online training about the unique challenges that families who combine family and business have that other families don't. It also includes coaching, both group coaching and one on one coaching, in a community context. And it's specifically for women.
Why Women? Because while families are the bedrock of our societies, women are still essentially the core of most families and the glue that are holding the family together – whether they work in the business or not, whether they own part of the business or not. They are still raising the next generation and have tremendous influence in what happens within families.
It's a dynamic that plays out within her own family context. When a family is in business together or holds some other shared asset (like perhaps a family beach house), there are important questions to be answered. Who pays the taxes? Who is responsible for upkeep?
How do we make these decisions when I think we should go right and somebody else thinks we should go left? And then a third person says, “No, we should stand still.? And then you've got a fourth over there saying, “Well, what about moving ahead in this direction?”
Families need to learn how to work together to resolve those kinds of challenges!
You can learn more about Thomasina's work to help families who own businesses at Sankofa Legacy Advisors or by connecting with her here (99+) Thomasina H. Williams | LinkedIn.
Can you see how Thomasina's work is helping to forward United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #8- Decent Work and Economic Growth, #16 – Peace Justice and Strong Institutions and #17 – Partnerships for the Goals? What have I missed? Get in touch and let me know.
I'd also love to hear what you and others you know are doing to change the world on YOUR own terms. If you need some help getting started, I'd love for you to join our CHANGEMAKER YOU community on Fridays at Noon EST here on WinWinWomen.tv/show/on-your-own-terms. Together, we can make a difference – in our own unique ways.
Patti cultivates homegrown changemakers prepared to step into their power and work with others to create the world they want to live in. Get in touch to find out how you can grow the social changemaker in yourself and those you serve with Blue Roads Changemaker YOU.
