I first started down “the road to someplace better” in 1958 at the age of 18, leaving my family farm in rural Virginia for the bright lights and better jobs of New York City. Little did I know that the city was not awaiting the arrival of a naïve black girl armed with only a high school diploma. While working as a maid, clerk typist and salesperson, I never dreamed that one day I would be the CEO of a $20 million company with 1,200 employees. I went from pushing a broom to owning the broom and everything else connected with a building maintenance business.
First, I got back on the right track by doing what my college-educated mother said I should have done in the first place. At the age of 22, with the aid of loans, scholarships and part-time work, I enrolled in college. At Howard University, I met my mentor who convinced me, someone who had worn flour sack dresses in grade school, that I was “Harvard material.” But even after becoming the first black female to earn an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1969, my path to success hit another roadblock. I had no job offers. In that era of the emerging civil rights and women’s movements, no companies knew what to do with me.
I wrote this memoir “The Road to Someplace Better: From the Segregated South to Harvard Business School and Beyond” to share the life lessons I learned on a journey that took many twists and turns. I did get to someplace better with the help of many people along the way who believed in me and helped me believe in myself. I didn’t plan on making history. I just wanted to make a difference. I hope my story will inspire others to do the same.
For more information on Lillian Lambert, please see her website www.lincolnlambert.com and follow her on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.