Ep. 5 - Dr. Iris Ann Cooper had to learn how to overachieve during haters. Growing up in a turbulent era, she was interviewed for TrailBlazers Impact Podcast by DeeDee Strum and has been a Trailblazer in the financial sector for 26-years and clearly an overachiever by design. Her mantra is, "Haters are a very important lesson for achievers." Listen and find out why. She is an amazing breakthrough woman who achieved her full potential in the world of entrepreneurship followed by a gubernatorial appointment.
Top Takeaways:
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- The importance of learning how to be a contributor to the family circle early in life
- How Iris learned to thrive as a black woman in a world where she was not welcomed- both at school and work
- How to become a market disruptor with a new product or service
- The power of becoming a bolder woman in the face of adversities
- How to lead a determined team that can perform excellently even in the absence of money
Listen in to learn how being smart and the hardest working person in a room can help you achieve what others would never expect.
"Haters are a very important lesson for achievers to prove them wrong."
In this episode of the Trailblazers Impact Podcast, Dee Dee Strum interviews Iris about her struggles and successes as a black woman entering the world of business back in the 1970s following her undergraduate years at Indiana University. But, with being a lifelong learner instilled in her during her childhood at age 60 she returned to academia to earn her PhD in Business and Entrepreneurship.
Her many other achievements include author, professor and successful working mom. She provides expert business development advice.. She appears as a guest presenter for national women's and business development organizations along with radio and television appearances. She established herself on the national business stage when she became co-founder of the first line of packaged ethnic foods found on grocery stores across the nation under the brand name, Glory Foods. Overtime she was able to take the company public with an Initial Public Offering (IPO) that grew the company its place on the New York Stock Exchange as GLYYY.
Listen to a young dreamer from Indiana who recounts incidences of discrimination based on both race and gender but never allowing such encounters to derail her dreams, nor her potential!
Key Moments:
She narrates how circumstances led her to learn to be smart and self-reliant in her childhood [2:03]
Why being discriminated against in high school and experiencing culture shock in college only made her work harder to accomplish her goal [7:58]
Her achievements when becoming the marketing director for the Lazarus department stores at age 23 [23:50]
She explains how she got into the banking world [25:55]
Iris describes how she helped bring Glory Foods into the national marketplace where it became an instant hit [30:18]
The personal struggles she encountered, how they broke her, and how she learned to rise above them [38:27]
Her transition from the private sector to the public sector [42:40]
Relevant Links:
www.linkedin.com/in/dr-iris-dr-cooper-0598a911/
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