Pressed Into Purpose
"Pressed Into Purpose" explores the transformative journeys of individuals who discovered their calling through life's challenges and triumphs. Each episode features intimate conversations with guests from diverse backgrounds who share how they identified their unique purpose, overcame obstacles in pursuing it, and experienced profound personal transformation as a result.
We dive deep into the pivotal moments, unexpected detours, and guiding principles that shaped our guests' paths. Whether through career shifts, personal crises, spiritual awakenings, or gradual realizations, these stories illuminate the various ways purpose reveals itself.
More than inspirational tales, these conversations offer practical insights for listeners questioning their own direction, feeling stuck, or seeking greater meaning. Join us as we uncover how being "pressed" by life's circumstances often reveals our most authentic purpose and highest potential.
Pressed Into Purpose
Sacred Cows Beware: One Leader's Mission to Change the Status Quo
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Dr. Vanessa Scott-Thompson shares her remarkable journey from reluctant teacher to pioneering leader, demonstrating how divine purpose often manifests through the very things we initially resist.
• First in her family to earn a doctorate degree, completing it by age 31
• Career evolved from teaching to leadership positions in K-12 and nonprofit sectors
• Found her calling in sacred teaching despite initial resistance
• Turned her church curriculum into a published book after multiple divine nudges
• Experience as an educator uniquely equipped her to advocate for her neurodivergent children
• Views herself as a divinely appointed "change agent" guided by Joshua 1:3
• Redefined success from achievements to making meaning and being light to others
• Emphasizes respecting all career paths and recognizing everyone's value
• Recommends taking career interest inventories, seeking divine guidance, and trusting your instincts
For more about Dr. Vanessa Scott-Thompson, visit her website at drvmst.com or find her on social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Thanks for listening!
Until next time, continue to press into your purpose!
Meeting Dr. Vanessa Scott-Thompson
Speaker 1Hello, my name is Valeria Wright and this is Pressed Into Purpose. Pressed Into Purpose is a podcast dedicated to examining the journey toward discovering, embracing and living out one's purpose. In each episode, my guests will provide their perspectives on how they identified their purpose and the ways in which accepting and pursuing it has influenced and transformed their lives. Today's guest is Dr Vanessa M Scott-Thompson. She is an interdisciplinary leader with K-12, higher education and nonprofit experience. Since 2019, she has served as a vice president in the nonprofit sector. Dr VMST has a bachelor's degree from DePaul University in secondary education English. She has both a master's degree in education administration and supervision and a doctorate in higher education administration from Loyola University, chicago. She is on the board of directors for Girls Inc Chicago. She has been married to her husband for 22 years and has two children, one in college and a sixth grader. She is an accomplished writer and her writing has been featured on a variety of Christian blogs and magazines. She is also a certified life coach, editor and speaker. She has also been a leader in churches, including praise and worship team, youth choir, youth church and new members class. In 2022, she released her inaugural book entitled Foundation Basics for New Members Teacher and Student Manual. You can find her on Facebook, ig, tiktok, youtube and LinkedIn. To learn more about her, please visit her website, drvmstcom.
Speaker 1There's one more fun fact I have for you about today's guest. She's also my sister and my friend. Please help me. Welcome, dr V. Hello Dr V, hi sis, how are you today? I'm nervous, but I'm good.
Speaker 1Well, you know, the Pressing to Purpose podcast is a comfortable place. You know, we're just going to have some genuine conversation here. I want you to relax and just enjoy this time and we're going to talk like we always talk. Okay, okay, all right, okay, well, welcome again to the podcast. I'm so glad to have you here. You are one of my sisters, one of well, there are four of us, and you are the closest to me, actually by two years, right, and I'm just really excited that you're here today because, I mean, we could talk about a myriad of things. We won't get into all the things because everybody doesn't need to know everything.
Journey to Earning a Doctorate
Speaker 1It's not my business, but today, today, I want to talk about some of your many accomplishments that I just read, and I want to start off with doctorate. Okay, and the reason I want to start there is because in our family, before you, the highest degree that had been achieved was a master's degree, correct, and if I am not mistaken, that was by our mother, correct? And so I would like for you to share with the people what made you decide to get the doctorate degree and what kind of challenges presented themselves along the way. Okay, so I don't know if you remember this when we were children, mom says she wanted somebody to go further than her, and so I was like, okay, well, what's further than a master's? Because at the time I didn't know. Okay, so I learned that it was a doctorate. I don't know how I learned that, because we didn't have internet back then, but I learned it. Somebody told you, I'm sure, so, probably.
Speaker 1And so when I got to high school, I met Dr Dagny Blowland. And so, dr Blowland, I was in regular English. She said, vanessa, I think we need to put you in honors English. And I was like what does that mean? So she was like it's more rigorous classes. And I was like, okay. And then, junior year, she approached my teacher and told him to put me in AP English with her. And I was like what? But, dr Blowland, I asked her a lot of questions in high school about what it meant to have a doctorate. So I learned about all of the years it would take, the dissertation process, having a committee, yada, yada, yada, and I said, ok. So she was like the first person I saw with a doctorate.
Speaker 1So then I decided, all right, I can't keep going. So it's kind of insane, because I did. Of course, we all did K-8. Then I did high school, then I went right into college and right after college I went right into my master's and after my master's I went right into my doctorate. Yes, you did, yes, you did.
Speaker 1And so I was 31 or 32 when I got my doctorate, which was pretty young. I didn't really have any challenges. I did have a professor try to put up a barrier. So he told me you're kind of young to be applying for the doctoral program because I was 24. And I said huh. And he said we'd really like you to have more experience before you apply for a doctorate. He was like, plus people your age bracket seem to be immature. And so I told him I say, well, look, if you want to deny me admission, then you do that. But what is it that you're calling me for? He said I want you to withdraw your application. Actually, oh, wow. I said I'm not withdrawing my application. If you're going to deny me, deny me. He didn't deny me, okay.
Speaker 1Seven years later, when he sat on my dissertation committee, he said I was one of the best decisions he had made, accepting me into the doctoral program, because all the professors talked about how I showed up mature and how I showed up ready to learn, and my laughter always reverberated throughout the room. Well, you know we have memorable laughs. That's true, okay, sure, okay, wow. So you were how old when you received the doctor? So I got my doctorate in 2010. So I look, math ain't much stronger than less than dealing with money, okay, but I think I was 31 or 32, okay, okay, and I remember that time uh, because you, uh, mom and dad were so proud, yeah, and they, they said we have to throw her a party. Yeah, because nobody in our family has done this before, yeah, and so I remember being at the party and being so proud.
Speaker 1Listen, you know I've never wanted to do all of that extra education, but you have since you were a child. You know you have always been a what I call an overachiever, which is not a bad thing, okay, it's just, it's just. You're always reaching for the next goal. Now, since I've been an adult, people have told me that I am an overachiever as well. I never knew that about myself, um, but I did. But I have never been an overachiever when it comes to educational things, however. So from that, were you the youngest one in your class? Yes, that year that I graduated, I was the youngest person to get a doctorate. Okay, and did you face any Barriers in those classes With your, I guess, uh, fellow students or professors, or was it just that one professor? It was that one at the beginning.
Speaker 1And if I did encounter barriers, I wouldn't notice them anyway, because I don't, I don't view life like that, I just keep it moving. Okay, I keep it moving. So when you say you don't view life like that, what does that mean? So I do not see so. A lot of people see life as successes and failures. I see life as successes and things you need to learn from and grow from. Okay, so for me, anytime something happens where it knocks me off my square, I'm like okay, okay, pause. So, first of all, what am I supposed to see in this moment? Okay, what am I supposed to experience in this moment. And then, most of all, what can I learn from this moment? Because I don't like repeating lessons even though often I have in my life. I mean we all do when we don't learn the first time. Correct, correct, not a fun place to be in. Okay, okay, okay. So if we move from the doctorate, okay, and we go to.
Career Evolution and Leadership Roles
Speaker 1I know that at one point you were a teacher. Yep, so very early in my career. Yeah, so it doesn't say that in your bio, but I know that you were a teacher, I was, and so tell me about that time as a teacher and then what prompted you to move from teacher to administrator? So you know this, because you're my sister, you know I move around a lot. So I started my career as a teacher at a school, and so we're in Chicago. So in Englewood Really didn't like a school, and so we're in Chicago. So in Englewood, really didn't like the school. And so I went to teach at a high school that our sister taught at, and then during that time I was pregnant and so I wanted to come out the classroom or at least try to figure out a different schedule. But in teaching you really can't do a different schedule. So I quit my teaching job and I became a.
Speaker 1I went to a nonprofit around the corner from where we lived, actually in Austin. Okay, did that for six months. That was not a great fit. Got asked to go work at Hero Washington for their dual credit program and also service learning. So then come, as I'm coming into the close of that, my old principal from the high school called me and invited me back to teach for him after I had called him. So I called him and said hey, I really would like to come back to teaching, because at that point I think my son was two or three and he was like he might have been two, and he said you can come back. He was like, but I don't have a job right now. Well, you know, a few weeks later he had a job. So he called me back. He gave me freshmen. That was not my jam. Freshmen need a lot of structure in order to be successful for the rest of high school. Okay, that wasn't my jam. So halfway through the year he asked me to take over juniors because of a maternity leave. Okay, that was my jam. Okay. Okay, you found a sweet spot. So I taught juniors that summer, and that next year as well. Test scores went up, okay, and then I announced to my boss that I needed to quit again because my son at that point was showing signs of things that I needed to get assessed. He couldn't work with me because, again, teaching is not flexible. Yeah, so then I became an instructional coach of teachers in four high schools in Chicago, did that really well, did it for two years.
Speaker 1Then we all got laid off in a massive layoff in 2010 with Chicago Public Schools, because that's just what they like to do, and I had a newly minted doctorate, and so you would think I would be panicked, but I wasn't, because I was just like it's going to be what it's going to be, I'll get a job at some point. Okay, I ended up becoming an assistant principal in our community that we grew up in, because the principal got my resume from two people who knew her and from me applying. She interviewed 49 people, or 48 people, and she said, when I saw your resume, I was like I got to, like I gotta meet her. Well, at the time I had like this funky fro. That was uneven, I needed a pedicure, all kind of stuff, but I went into the interview with the best I could, but she was impressed by my intellect and so I got hired okay, work with her for a year. She actually I learned a lot from her. Her name is Dr Jasmine Baked Okay, and then, after that year, our school was closing, so I got laid off again, and I didn't panic because three weeks later she asked me did I want to lead a school on the west side that had two campuses?
Speaker 1And I was like, say what? So I did that, went to lead that school for two years. No, for three years, okay. At the end of the third year, though, I had some philosophical differences with the management company. Okay, and I have no shame talking about this, because there were 12 principals in their portfolio at that point and nine or ten of us resigned Wow. So I knew that my philosophical differences we all probably had them, and so people walked away and I took a few months off like six months, because I was at that point to have my daughter and then got the opportunity to work at a university as an assistant director of a teacher-rear program, and I liked that job, but I didn't love it because I had to travel downstate in order to sometimes do the work I needed to do, okay.
Speaker 1Plus, it moved kind of slow and in K-12, things move a little faster than they do in higher ed and you definitely need things to keep going. I need things to keep moving To keep your attention. Yeah, so about nine months in, I get a call from a school I had interviewed at the prior year. It was an all-girls high school and I it was an all-girls high school and I was asked to come and lead that school. Okay, so I remember walking to the interview. It was like 12 or 13 people I interviewed with and while they interviewed me, I also interviewed them. Mm-hmm, because at that point, my job was, even though it was kind of not challenging, it also wasn't stressful, which was different for me, and so I was like I'm not trying to go back into stress. Well, I did. I took that job. The job taught me a lot because I was a single site charter. I closed that school in 2019.
Speaker 1A single site charter Explain that. What does that mean? So it was a charter school where it was the only one, so we had to do everything on site. So, like when you work in a school district, there's a district office that handles curriculum and payroll and teacher development and all that stuff. When you're a single site school, all that stuff falls on me as the principal, so I really function as an executive director. Oh, wow, I learned how to fundraise in a job. I got media trained in a job. I learned how to do videos in that job Okay, it was a lot of things. I never realized that. That's why you were doing all of those things. Yes, because it was a single-type charter and, although I had a team, I still had to be able to lead that team, okay.
Speaker 1So then in 2019, when that school closed, I made a deal with another charter school in the area. I had 135 girls at that point. The new school took 110 or 120 of those girls Okay. And I had 35 staff at that point and the new school took about 15 to 20 of those staffs Okay. So I felt like I had done my job, okay. Like, okay, I have closed the school will. Everybody has found a soft place to land, mm-hmm.
Speaker 1And then I had about five or six different jobs I could have had, and I chose a job in the South Suburbs, where I'm at now, at a Christian nonprofit where we serve people with developmental disabilities. Wow, wow. That is a journey that is eclectic. I mean, you've done a little bit of this, a little bit of that, some more of this, a little bit more of that, but it's all culminated to this place where you're in now, yep. And so my next question would be with all of the steps along the way, with all of the steps along the way, how did you choose the next spot? It sounds like a lot of the places chose you.
Speaker 1Yes, like you weren't even really looking for things all the time. I would say that's true. It's a mixture. It's a mixture of sometimes I had to apply interview, like that job at the university, and sometimes, like my last job, I got a call. I would say it's all divine. So I'm not one of those people that say, oh, it's serendipitous, my life is not serendipitous. My life is order by the Lord, and I'm sure of that, okay. My life is order by the Lord, and I'm sure of that, okay, okay. So have there been any times throughout the journey in your career where you were like I'd rather not do that, but you did it anyway because you knew that that was what you were supposed to do? I got to think about that to do. I got to think about that.
Teaching in Sacred Spaces
Speaker 1Honestly, the one job I did not enjoy was being a teacher. Believe it or not, out of all the things, out of all the things I did not enjoy being a teacher, because when you teach high school and people always talk about, oh, teachers get all this time off, but they don't know the load that teachers carry, particularly English and math teachers. Okay, so we have to teach our five classes. In the city, you have anywhere from 25 to 30 kids. When you're an English teacher, you have to give out essays and stuff, because the children have to know how to write. You got to do presentations. They got to know how to speak. You need to do readings and you need to do discussions. They need to do readings and you need to do discussions. They need to know how to discuss different things. Then, on top of all that, you're planning lessons, grading papers. I also did after to be able to really just impact the student.
Speaker 1Yes, ok, so I thought I'm sitting here and I was going back and forth and I was going to bring this up, but it's just a kind of a laughing moment really, because you said, out of all the jobs you did not enjoy being a teacher. I did not. And I go back to when we were children and we used to play school, school, yeah, and you always had to be the principal, yeah. And whenever I would beg and beg me like I want, I didn't want to be principal this time. I want to be the principal this time. I don't want to be a teacher, I want to. I want to be principal this time. It was rare. And then you'd finally relent and let me be the principal, but you just would not act. Right, but now? But now I know that you just didn't want to be a teacher. And that's the funny thing. People say I'm a great teacher. When I run the conformer students, they say I was a wonderful teacher. Okay, but I did. I did not love teaching, okay, okay.
Speaker 1So let's talk about there's teaching in the secular, and then your bio talks about teaching in the sacred. Yes, and so tell me about teaching, your journey in teaching in the sacred. That's so interesting. So I knew it was always in us well, in me and you, because our mom is a both secular and sacred teacher. So mom was a retired teacher, but she also taught Bible class. Well, she still teaches Bible class.
Speaker 1What am I talking about? Absolutely, I think I want to say you and I first started teaching at the church. We grew up in youth church. Yes, we didn't call it youth church then, I think it was just youth sunday school, whatever it was. Youth sunday teachers would allow us to kind of provide lessons and so, but I didn't really do anything with that until I got to the not the church I'm in now, but my previous church okay.
Speaker 1When I was asked to get be over the new members class, okay, and be in christian education, okay. So I didn't mind it. But the lady who was over it, sister Londa Brewer-Baker, love her, but also because she is tough, she knows her Bible back and forth Okay, and she wants you to know your Bible back and forth Okay. She wants you to know hermeneutics, homiletics, esagices, yada, yada, yada, all those things, all those things that were new to me when I got to that church. And then she was giving us exams and giving us homework. Okay, I didn't always cooperate I'm not going to lie Because typically I had a full-time job and a family and so sometimes I would do the homework and sometimes I wouldn't, but when I would do the homework, particularly when we did it as a group, we always did pretty well, okay.
Navigating God's Nudges and Purpose
Speaker 1But I was asked to teach a new members class in my last church because the young lady wanted to resign. All right, and the minister, elder Larry Long. He said God told me you're supposed to be the new members class leader. And I was like that's nice. And so he circled back to me, said it-huh, and I was like that's nice. And then the lady who was over the class said didn't elder long tell you that? God told him. And so I have this theory that when god sends something to me three times, okay, I need to do it. So the second time I heard it, I knew I was gonna end up having to do it, but I'm stubborn. And so when I got the third request, I went to my pastor and asked him could I flip the new members class? Because I had gone through the new members class and I didn't enjoy it. Okay, and he was like, basically, what gives you the right and the? He didn't say it that way, but it was kind of like who are you to want to change the class? What qualifies you? Because he didn't know at the time. Okay, my credentials, my experience. Once I flipped the curriculum, he was like whoa, what has come from? I was like from me and the Bible and Jesus. And so I taught that class until I left that church. And they still want to understand. Teach that class almost in the way that I left it Okay, wow. And teach that class almost in the way that I left it Okay, wow.
Speaker 1So it sounds like your pressing hasn't necessarily been in the secular teaching. It sounds like your pressing has come from the sacred teaching yeah, it has. So what have some of those? If we had a window into your world and your talks with God, what are some of those conversations like when God is pressing you to do a thing that you don't necessarily really want to do? So I had this happen earlier this year. Okay.
Speaker 1So earlier this year my husband was driving and he was like I think I need to send my wife away. Well, I was already thinking about taking a sabbatical. Okay, and the sabbatical meaning that I need to time to write and do some other things without the interruption of him and my daughter. I love them, but I need uninterrupted time. He comes home, he says, bae, he says I want to send you on sabbatical and I said, okay, and so I go on sabbatical and typically when I go on sabbatical because I try to go once a year I try to make sure in my hotel room the TV is off, okay, that I have my journal, that I have my, that I have my. I don't use my physical Bible as much anymore, but I take my iPad because I like Bible Gateway. Okay, because I like NIV, nlt, message you need those all the different translations, yeah. And then also I have found a Bible dictionary online and also a concordance, okay, and so all those things. So the way God talks to me really is, the older I get is through scripture, and sometimes it's through confirmation, through other people. Ok, so if somebody calls me with a message from God and I haven't heard it yet, I don't discount it. I just write it down, ok, until it manifests.
Speaker 1So I told you the long story because we talked about me being a lifelong learner. So I'm currently a recipient of a Duke Reflective Leadership Grant. Okay, how did that happen? So I was in an executive coaching group and one of the guys sent me an email and said hey, dr V, I think you should apply for this. And I deleted it. And while I was on sabbatical a LinkedIn post came out about the Duke Reflective Leadership Grant. Wow, and I was like so I pulled the application up, but I saw that it was multi-layered and every question they wanted 1,500 words. Okay, and I was like no thanks. But while I was on sabbatical I started doing the application anyway. Okay, because then when I got back home I saw something else about Duke and I was like, fine, god, I will apply.
Writing a Book from Curriculum
Speaker 1So he keeps, just God keeps nudging me and typically by nudge two I'm submitted. Well, no, let me not laugh. By nudge two, I am ready to be submitted. Nudge three is when I get submitted, but nudge one, I always say no thanks, or you know my phrase not interested, yes, yes. So I would say that's how god talks to me. It's through scripture, okay, and sometimes through confirmation of other people, though. Sometimes go to the nature. Do I hear God in nature? No, but I can hear the stillness and I need to get real still sometimes because my brain is going to mat, limit it. I mean what the Bible tells us be still and know that I'm God. So he wants us to be still so that we can hear Him clearly. Yes, that's a very important thing to be still, so that we can hear him clearly. Yes, you know, that's it. That's a very important thing to be able to do.
Speaker 1Today's episode is brought to you by destiny film and media. Go to destiny fam onecom for all your media needs. Destiny film and media, your destiny through film and media. So we've talked about your career in the natural. We've talked about the teaching portion in the spiritual. So your bio also talks about how you've written a book, yep, and so I want to talk a little bit about this book and how you like.
Speaker 1What was the inspiration for the book and how did that all come about? So in 2020, when we had the pandemic. So I really get irritated when people talk about the pandemic. Most people talk about it in a negative way, like it was a rough time, I had a little depression, whatever, and I'm not saying that wasn't true for some people. That's not how my life works.
Speaker 1So when the right before the pandemic happened, I heard God clearly say the curriculum that you did at your old church, you need to flip it into a book, and I was like that's nice, wait a minute, wait a minute. So let's put a pin right there, okay. So what you didn't want to do, the class that you didn't want to teach, correct, the class that God had to tell you three times Correct this is what you're going to do, correct. And then he gave you a roadmap to flip the class as you say Yep To to, to make it even better than it was. Then God took that very thing that you didn't want to do Correct, and then gave you a book. That's what he said wow. So he said take the curriculum from your old church, write a book. I was like nope, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. So so you had already had the curriculum written. It was I had a teacher manual and a student manual, 10 lessons each. That you had already had the curriculum written. It was I had a teacher manual and a student manual, 10 lessons each. That you had already written. It was done. And you said no when he said put it in a book. I did, because I was just like I'm in my mind and this is what's funny. So I recently this is a sidebar, so get me back on track after this story Okay, recently I went to our parents' house and I went to the basement and I found three plaques.
Speaker 1I won an essay contest in eighth grade. I won an essay contest in high school and I won an essay contest in college. Wow, eighth grade year, twelfth grade year, senior year of college. And I sat there for a moment about a month ago when I was in the basement and I was like God was just taking me back to what had already been started at 12 and 13 years old. You're a writer, I'm a writer, so I say no, but because we're in the pandemic and you went home and I'm trying to half homeschool my daughter which was a disaster and also trying to work, because once again, you don't like teaching, I don't like to teach. And also trying to work, because once again, you don't like teaching, I don't like to teach. And then trying to also do my job and learn Zoom and conference calls and all that, like we all were, yes.
Speaker 1And then God is like and when time slows down, you need to be writing some introductions and stuff for this book. Well, first of all, I didn't even know where to start, but we all have the internet, right? Yes? So then I Google't even know where to start, but we all have the internet, right, yes? So then I Google. I know I Googled like parts of a book, okay. And then I started I have a bunch of books in the basement. So then I pull a bunch of books out the basement, mm-hmm, spread these books out, start to look them over and I'm like, fine, I will write this book, take this curriculum and write this book. And I really didn't have to write it. It literally only needed like a table of contents and an introductory chapter and appendix. And then I added because my husband read my book and said this book is missing something. I just don't know what. It is Okay.
Speaker 1And so we started talking about what it means to go to church. So then I wrote a chapter on church etiquette, like what do you do when you're not feeling well? How do you know how to choose a seat? How do you do when you're not feeling well? How do you know how to choose a seat? How do you know when you how to dress those kind of things? Because when people get saved, we assume that they're going to come into church and know exactly what to do, and that's not truthful. They need to be taught. But also, why can't I give them a cheat sheet? So back on track about this book. So I write this book and we go on vacation that next summer, even though it's in a pandemic.
Speaker 1In the meantime, I was like God, how am I supposed to publish this book? Am I supposed to self-publish? Because at this time, I had learned it was three different ways to publish a book Self-publish, hybrid publish, traditional publish. Self-publish is you do everything yourself, you use your own money, you go on Fiverr or something like that and you figure it out. Hybrid publishing is you pay the company to do everything for you, but you still own the rights to your book. Okay. Traditional publishing is you're trying to put together a book proposal in order for a publisher to agree to publish you. Mm-hmm. But every publisher typically wants you to be able to write three books, so they're not going to say yes most times to your first book, unless they believe that you'll be able to write two more books, because they want a two to three book series. Okay. So after I learned all that, I decided to go hybrid publishing because we had pretty good savings and so I made an investment. Okay, book comes out in February 2022.
Speaker 1Didn't know then what I know now. I get on Facebook the year prior because you know I had been anti-Facebook yes, you had been anti-social media, everything. So I got on Facebook that fall, because I was like, well, I'm going to have a book to put out. And that fall is when my first article got published my Educational Family Vacations. Do you remember that? Oh, yes, I do. Okay. So once that gets published, I hear God clearly say that got published.
Speaker 1The book is coming out in February. Okay, you can write. So put this book out Now. To date, I've only sold 200 copies. Let's know. No, no, know, no, no, no, no. That's not how we say that. Okay, how do we say? We say that to date, we've sold 200 copies. And counting and counting, come on, that's how we say. That's how we say that then, because there's not an only because, listen, selling one book is success, right, but when I went to a writer's conference this summer, they said the average author only sells 250 books over their lifetime. So I know I'm doing pretty good. So in what a year? No, the book has been out in February to be three years, okay, so in three years you've sold almost 200 copies. Okay, listen, your lifetime is much longer I mean yeah Than three years. I mean that just means that the people have not heard about you yet. They haven't, and so let me tell people what the book is about. Yes, please. So the book is for new members or new Christians? When I wrote the book I wanted for new members, but it really is for new Christians.
Speaker 1And the topics that the book discusses, besides church etiquette, is salvation, the Godhead, which is Father, son and Holy Spirit. A lot of people call it the Trinity. The word Trinity is not in the word. Stick to the word, which is Godhead, tithes and offering, praise and worship spiritual gifts, and I'm missing a couple right now because I'm blanking on it. But each lesson is set up the same way An introduction, the materials you need, the questions that you need to ask as a teacher in particular, and then the students have like a student manual where they can take notes, and I've put in a lot of them in like charts and graphs and stuff, so that they can take notes.
Speaker 1The book is in one. It really should be two, but you know when I use my hybrid publisher, I didn't have an infinite amount of money, so at some point I will be republished Amen, hallelujah and it will be two books, like it's supposed to be, and I believe that this book will be good, not just for US churches but any church, because I actually had a Baptist person, a Methodist person, a Catholic person read the book prior to publishing to make sure that it met the needs of everybody. The only lesson that people disagreed on was the tithes and offering. Everything else everybody was okay with. Okay, wow, that's pretty major. Yeah, that's pretty. It sounds like people should go out and get the book. Shame on me, because I have the book right upstairs and I did not bring it down here. We'll fix that, don't you worry, we'll fix that. We'll make sure that we plug the book so people know where they can get the book and I'll just show them the book and all the things. Okay, so now we've talked about the book. Are there any more books coming out of you? You know what's interesting? So right now I am writing my second book. I got my little feelings hurt this summer at a writer's conference.
Speaker 1Why do you say that the book that I wanted to write that I'm still writing, but it has a different twist is about being the pioneer and trailblazer in quite a few things in our family. But what a literary agent told me when I met with her is that a lot of times, people of color are pioneers and trailblazers. She was like so your experience is not that special? She was like you have to figure out. What can people learn from your experience? Correct, how can you make it more as a, as a you know, like an educational, teachable moment? Well, even before getting your doctorate, you were also the first person in our family that we know about to study abroad. Yeah, so you were out there doing a lot of things that were different, not only for our family, but for the people that were around us on the west side of Chicago.
Speaker 1That's one of the chapters in the book actually is about being. That's why it's pioneering and trailblazing Studying abroad, joining a board of directors, getting a doctorate, having neurodivergent children the list goes on. It's a lot of first pioneering and trailblazing that the Lord continues to do. And how does that make you feel? I'm not going to lie to you. I get pretty upset with God, because in my mind, I'm always like for example, at my job, I was the first person of color hired in the executive team when I got hired in 2019. Now, this organization at that time was 70 years old. You said 70? At that time it was, the organization was 70 years old and I was the first person of color hired in the executive team Wow. So when that kind of stuff happens, I'm looking at God and I'm going, and you know, we always ask the why me? And I do it too. I'm like God. Why me?
Speaker 1And the scripture that God gave me for my leadership back in 2010, when I first became an assistant principal. It's on every wall and every job I've had Joshua, chapter one, verse 10. Every place of the sole of my feet shall tread upon. That have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. And what he makes me say is every place that I have given unto you. You, vanessa, you're supposed to be a change agent. You're supposed to push back on status quo and you're supposed to kill sacred cows. Wow, that is hard to do, but I have done it just about in every organization that I have led in. Wow, because organizations are better typically when I leave them, he goes.
Speaker 1A great example I told you about that charter management company where, you know, 10 years ago, I quit that job with 12 of the principals. At this point, my old school is the only school that's still standing in their portfolio. What do you mean by that? They had 12 schools at the time. They now only have one, and the only school that they have is the school that I led. Wow, so that lets me know that what I did and what some previous principals did and what some principals did after me we were all able to build upon each other, got it, and so I'm pretty stoked about that. I'm sad now because I actually learned that they're closing, but that's because they lost a really good principal, so they had a bad one after me and then they got a really good one right after that one and he decided he didn't want to be bothered either after eight years and that's when the school started to struggle. But that school probably would have stayed open a long time and because it was some good foundation there, wow, wow, okay, okay, we are pressing him to all kind of purpose here.
Raising Neurodivergent Children
Speaker 1Um, so I, if you don't want to talk about this, we don't have to, okay, but I'm going to ask a question because you, you, you, you brought it up, okay, and, uh, you used, I believe, was neurodivergent, yes, children, yes, can you explain what that means? Yes, so 20-something years ago, when my son got diagnosed. We would say and we still say it that a child has disabilities, okay, but if your children are high-functioning, you really shouldn't phrase it as disabilities. You should phrase it as neurodivergent, because that means their brain works different, okay, okay. So I have a son who's on the spectrum Okay, even though right now he's flourishing in college. But he still has issues, though, with perspective taking. That will probably be lifelong and that's okay because he is uniquely made the way he is. I also have a daughter who has ADHD. She is energetic from the time she gets up until the time she goes to sleep.
Speaker 1There is no kindness whatsoever, and so I don't. I love my children Absolutely, but I have looked at God and I'm like you gave my other two sisters these normal kids. I mean normal, normal in terms of like. My kids have had a lot of therapies and IEPs and supports and had me running around the city where really I found UIC was a safe place, in order to know how to support them, and that's, that's a. It's a lot, but I was capable of doing it because I had been an educator, but that doesn't mean I wanted to do it.
Speaker 1So, once again, here we are, here you go. You're about to make this thing. I hear you, here we go. I mean the thing that you didn't want to do right, correct you. God used that very thing that you didn't want to do to equip you to do, to walk in the administrative space Yep and the leadership space, and he also took what you learned in the secular to be able to help you in your home Correct, with your own children. Correct.
Speaker 1And I've helped other people's kids though too. You know, sometimes you and my other sisters or friends call me Absolutely so I can help other people's resources, because it's devastating when you get a diagnosis about your kid but you can't again. You can't say your kid will fail. You have to say what is success going to look like for that child? Say that again for the people in the back. When you get a diagnosis for a child, whatever it is, you cannot say it's a failure of what your child can't do. You have to figure out what will success look like for that child. And that's what you just said for me has become a part of just my everyday life when it comes to success, because success looks different for everybody. It does. It really looks different for everybody it does.
Speaker 1Growing up, I thought that success was you know, you got the big house, you making a certain salary, you living in a certain place and you making a certain amount of money. And that's what. That's what I thought success was, because that's the quote, unquote American dream, right. As I've gotten older, I've realized that it's. It's not the American dream for everyone. Correct, because everybody doesn't want to own a home. Correct, everybody doesn't want to make a million dollars a year and everybody doesn't want to Does it. Every everybody's definition of success looks different, right, so for so, for me, success is being able to take care of my family. Success is being able to take care of my family, and it does include, you know, living a certain way, okay, which includes being in certain neighborhoods and, you know, with certain amenities and those things. But then also, for me, it's about being able to travel and being able to just live comfortably.
Redefining Success and Purpose
Speaker 1So I'm going to shift you a little bit, because this week I was in executive education, okay, and my professor, andrew Sykes, shout out to him. He talked about how every human wants to be able to make a meaning out of their lives, and I think that that's what you're talking about, is, success is not all the material, consumer stuff, but it's more about what is your mind, spirit and soul saying about how you want to make meaning of life or, to your point, live it on purpose. Yeah, okay, I like that phrasing how to make meaning out of life, how to make meaning out of your life, because I can't always say that success was me living on purpose. I can't say that that was my truth. Okay, it is becoming my truth. Okay, but when I was younger and I would venture to say even like my, my definition of success has even shifted in the last five years okay, because it really was, it was about doing. It was about doing things for God, which for me meant really not just my fellow man, but mostly at church. That's what it meant for me. And so now it's shifting over the past five years where it's more of impacting my fellow man, got it and realizing that God placed me on earth to be life, light and encouragement to people.
Speaker 1Although I've known that for a while, I've never really thought about centering everything that I do around those principles. So what would you say your? What would you say? You are placed, you've been placed on earth to do Joshua 1, 1 to him, which is Every place is the soul of a butcher treader boy. That have I given unto you. As I said unto Moses, god sends me places, whether it is church or work or whatever, to be a change agent, push back against the status quo, kill sacred cows In secular spaces.
Speaker 1It has been too, and this is something that people don't always love about me. I have a standard of excellence. That's what I believe. That god sends me into places to do to be a change agent and give people a standard. Okay, because oftentimes people think they have a standard. They don't. They have a. I'm good. For most.
Speaker 1It is as Professor Andrew Sykes said this week. He called it you get to a certain point and you learn it and you're like I'm good and you don't want to really challenge yourself to learn anything more. People get comfortable or they just get satisfied with where they're at and that's okay Not me. So that is something that we have in common and maybe it's in our DNA. Okay, because it's very challenging. I feel like every time I set a goal, whether it's a personal goal or God-given goal every time a goal is set and then I achieve that goal, I'm looking for the next thing, right? Not everybody and I know you do the same thing I do, but not, I'm learning. Not everybody does that. No, because some people, when they get their lives to a certain point, they're good and there's nothing wrong with that Not at all. I'm learning, though, that there is nothing wrong with that, correct, because for me, correct, correct for me back in 2010, if you had to ask me what success looked like, I would have told you my doctorate, and I still believe that, because this is something the doctorate has done that I don't think people give enough credit to.
Speaker 1When you have masters and doctors and even bachelors, college degrees give you opportunity and access, just like the trades, and so I don't want to knock on that, because I may have a college degree, but I still need that mechanic and I still need that carpenter, absolutely so college degrees and trades give you opportunity and access, not just for you, but also for those who are coming behind you, your family, those in your sphere of influence, whatever they may be. I love that you highlighted it's not just about the college, but it's also about the trades how much the the you get paid as a union uh, laborer? Uh. Cement mason yes, uh. Electrician plumber, uh, uh, iron worker yes, all the different trades you with once you finish your apprenticeship program, you are easily making anywhere between 90 and well into the six figures. And that's why I get irritated when people feel like and I feel like in america we've done this and we shouldn't have, we've made the college degree the pinnacle, when really it's about what does success look like for you? For you, because so I, so I went to a technical high school and at the time we had trade classes, like they had the auto shop, wood shop, print shop, all the different shops, and those things were important and we had board drafting, which is what made me realize that I wanted to be you know, to be an architect, that I wanted to be, you know, to be an architect.
Speaker 1And now a lot of those, a lot of schools don't have that in the Chicagoland area, which to me is a kind of it's a sad state of affairs, not that there aren't still some schools that do have the programs, but I don't think that there are enough of them, because we, to your point, we still need the people who want to work with their hands yes, and some people are just born to work with their hands, yes, and they're favored and graced to do it. And we also still need the people too. Let me add this my sound strength is coming from somebody with a doctorate. We also need people who just finished high school to do some of the jobs that we think are menial but really you would notice if they weren't done. Listen, you need the security officer Absolutely. You need the custodian Absolutely. You need the administrative assistant Absolutely, because when people have big roles and they don't have some of the other roles that are entry level or mid-level, you notice it. You notice that gap, yes, that lack.
Speaker 1And I've gotten like this, the older I've gotten, because it really irritates me that people really and downplay yes, they downplay all their careers, yes, certain certain careers, certain, uh, uh, quote-unquote statuses of life, in life. And we need everybody. We need everybody because if we, because if we have no one to pick up the garbage, then the city is overrun, exactly, the city is overrun with trash and rodents. Correct, you see what I'm saying? Correct, if we have no one to drive the bus or the train, then a lot of people are not getting to the jobs that they need to. Yeah, exactly, and our parents, our mother specifically, she stressed to us you treat everybody with respect. Yes, from the CEO, yes To the janitor. Yes, you treat everyone with with the utmost respect, because everybody matters.
Speaker 1And I lost that for a little while. I did and I had to get back to it matters. And I lost that for a little while. I did and I had to get back to it. Well, welcome back.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, I lost that for a little while because it was like, oh, I'm getting a doctorate, and then I just I remember when I became a assistant principal. That's when I realized, like, wait, all these other roles don't just as important just as my doctorate and being an assistant principal? Absolutely. That's when I changed my tune, because who are you leading if there's no one to follow? Bingo, you know.
Speaker 1And how is vision carried out if there are no hands and feet? Correct, you know, you need the visionary, but you also need the people to carry out the vision. Correct. And there is no shame in any position. In any position, because all positions are necessary, they all matter, all of them. That ain't even what we're supposed to be talking about. But look, that was a good, that was a good side note, just some information that you need to know. Um.
Practical Steps for Finding Purpose
Speaker 1So, as we kind of wrap up the conversation, okay, I want to. I would like for you to talk to the person that is looking or seeking purpose, who doesn't really know what their purpose is. What advice would you give or what steps would you give to that person that is looking for their purpose or is afraid to step out on it? So I'm going to be practical first. So in high school or even in college, you should have taken some kind of career interest inventory, okay, so that you can know the kind of jobs that you will be, that you will be interested in.
Speaker 1A lot of times, when you miss that, that just real basic step, you end up doing a whole lot of stuff that maybe you wasn't purposed for. But then we'll have to go spiritual, okay. So then we have to seek the God, the Father, and say God, what is it I'm supposed to do? And a lot of people wait for an audible voice for him to say it. But lots of times it will just show up in things that you're good at or things that people acknowledge and say you know, has anybody ever told you? And that's how sometimes you can try to figure out at the beginning, what your purpose is.
Speaker 1If you're further along in life and you're trying to shift, then you're going to have to sit back down and say, ok, these are the things that I've done. What is it now that God is calling me to, where some of this will have a remnant of that, but it may be something totally different. You're kind of an example of that. Right, you're in construction management, but this podcast is what the spiritual side of you is supposed to be doing. It's to help press people into their purpose, and so I guess my encouragement will be in the natural take a career interest inventory, no matter what age you are. You can find it on any Google. It get you, do one. Spiritually.
Speaker 1If you're a Christian, please sit down and pray and ask God for guidance. And then somebody in the audience may say I'm not faith-based, fine, so sit down somewhere and listen to your gut. People say don't trust your gut, but a lot of you all have instincts and gut that have not let you on and so trust that I'm right here. So get, uh, do it and do an inventory, inventory or assessment. Sit with God and simply ask, yes, yes, and trust your gut, okay, all right.
Speaker 1Well, I think that this conversation has been. It has blessed me and I know that if it's blessed me, that it is blessed some of you that are listening out there today. So I want to say thank you, dr V, for stopping by the Preston's Purpose podcast, and I appreciate your insight, I appreciate your willingness to share your story and I just appreciate you being a great sister and friend. So thank you so much. I appreciate you and I love you and until next time, this is Preston's Purpose and we'll see you next time. Today's episode is brought to you by Destiny Film and Media. Go to destinyfam1.com for all your media needs. Destiny Film and Media your destiny through film and media. You.