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Vanessa Womack Consulting LLC Provides Facilitation And Training In Soft Skills, Governance, Strategic Planning, Diversity And Inclusion

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Below is our recent interview with Vanessa Womack from Vanessa Womack Consulting:

Vanessa Womack

Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to Vanessa Womack Consulting?

A: I started as a Solopreneur mainly focused on entrepreneurship, small business assistance, and career transition for individuals. For about 10 years, I managed multiple small contracts and part-time jobs providing soft skills training, leadership development and motivational speaking. During that time, it was exciting to have a local radio show called ‘On Track with Vanessa Womack” that interviewed guests sharing topics like small business development, education, and leadership. I was also an instructor in higher education. In recent years, I have become a BoardSource Certified Governance Trainer and added administrative/governance compliance reviewer in the healthcare industry to my profile.

Q: Can you give us insights into your services?

A: Vanessa Womack Consulting LLC provides facilitation and training in soft skills, governance, strategic planning, diversity and inclusion. One of my most proud accomplishments has been the “Managing a Diverse Team” course on LinkedIn. Recently, I facilitated a “Problem-solving Skills That Makes Sense” webinar for a national association.

I place great value in doing research, developing customer specific and public training that challenges the audience to think creatively and critically. Leading the participants to experience a deeper learning experience that blends best practices and infuse fun helps participants improve their roles and responsibilities as a governing body or performance on the job.

Through careful attention to client’s need, I like to focus on building trusted relationships with governing boards to help them rise to high performance level. Of particular interest is addressing board diversity and inclusivity – recruiting qualified diverse candidates for governing boards. I have secured a website, BroadenYourBoard, yet to be constructed, to work with this board development idea.

Q: Why soft skills will always be critical for internal and external communications?

A: Soft skills are traits most revealed in the human-kindness we bring particularly into the workplace. An upbringing that instilled how important we treat, appreciate and respect others can translate into positive behavior in our workplaces often shaping the culture and value systems there. Soft skills are sometimes referred to people skills for which some might declare or judge others’ lack of possessing. Some people will be stronger than others in certain skills. It is not surprising that the communication skills gap resurfaces often as a problem. Yet soft skills aids in the ability to connect and work with each other internally and externally. Examples of soft skills like communication, collaboration, adaptability, time management, problem-solving and creativity are used daily in our workplaces complementing the hard skills like technology, machine operation, math and reading comprehension. To be most effective, cultivate and appreciate the skills folks bring to the workplace.

Q: I read something about your educational idea related to STEM and career choices, particularly for young people of color; could you tell us something more?

A: This is a book series that introduces a pathway to success integrating STEM careers for students in grades 4 – 8. The target markets are students in underserved diverse communities in urban and rural populations in the United States. The idea came about after a second try running for a local school board. Although I did not win the election, I wanted to further explore the platform I developed that proposed a school reform agenda which included offering more STEM focused curriculums in the classroom; critical thinking and restructuring the school year to become year-round. I knew that I wanted to build a learning tool that could help some students focus on developing career possibilities that they imagined but saw no way to make it a reality because of negative self-image, lack of resources, home environment, or funding. Each character’s story is written based on real life scenarios many students deal with regularly, such as bullying, low self-esteem, fewer support resources and communication barriers. Several stories have been written. I am in the process of selecting an illustrator who can meld the storyline and data tools in an appealing print format and transfer content into interactive learning tools. The latter part requires the hard skills – technology.

Thinking creatively on how to expose this concept to an innovative and technological audience, I decided to just ‘go for it’ and submitted this STEMulate Education idea to Fast Company’s FC Innovation By Design Awards. Hopefully, it will catch some sparks!

Q: What are your plans for the future?

A: Rebranding Vanessa Womack Consulting LLC, more networking and developing the two ideas mentioned above, BroadenYourBoard with more diversity and the STEMulate Education products to include learning through technology, i.e. apps, interactive learning modules in the classroom and home, etc. My goal is to continue to seek opportunities to grow the consulting, particularly the governance and soft skills training; and, invest in the STEMulate Education products.

Just as Superb Crew/TechCompanyNews found me, I want other organizations to find me too. It is critical for the vision to materialize to garner the interest of potential stakeholders who understand how both ideas could disrupt, in a progressive, sustainable way, to include and improve performance in the board room and many school systems. Yet, I need the Tech wizards to help me build the products that provide a seamless integration in the classroom learning experience. With the right soft skills and hard skills collaboration, these two products will:

1. Increase visibility and placement of qualified diverse candidates on for profit and nonprofit boards.
2. Inspire more creative methods for developing career choices to meet the needs of students who have been underserved in school systems.

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