Dr. Avonia Richardson-Miller

So I would say it was on that farm that my core work ethic was forged.

So I learned two fundamental lessons there.

The first came from my mother.

While working in the field, she taught me that whether I was given a row of cucumbers to pick or tobacco to prime,

The lesson is the same.

You execute with excellence.

And the second came from my father, who once stood in a bare field and, you know, profoundly said to us, this is my new Cadillac.

And so in that, he taught me to see the harvest in an empty field.

And that is to have a vision and an action plan to make it real.

When we came back from the farm back to New Jersey, my parents made that decision so that there could be more opportunity for their children.

And so my first major opportunity was when I was accepted into science high school, which put me on that path to major in chemistry.

and also to apply to attend Howard University.

And Science High School is a magnet school in Newark.

At the time, the school system in Newark was underperforming, but this was an excellent magnet school.

And so as a first-generation college student, I lacked the mentorship that I would have needed to successfully navigate that.

path to medical school.

But I pivoted and applied, you know, the principles of execution to become a research chemist and later a pharmaceutical sales rep.

And then, you know, years later, I made another big conscious decision to pivot.

And, you know, after a successful year as a child care entrepreneur, I then reentered back into

the corporate workforce and was quickly promoted to a vice president role.