Charmaine Nokuri on LinkedIn: Well, I survived my first Black History Month without my mom, and I can’t… (2024)

Corporate America understandably gets a bad rap sometimes. But I have to say I have been tremendously blessed to work with some great people. As I look for a new opportunity, I hope they have leaders like Judi Cousineau , who was my mentor, at my previous job.Judi modelled authentic leadership and continous growth. As I have been grieving the loss of my mother and dealing with health issues, her posts have kept me inspired and hopeful, that when I eventually return to the work world there are people out there like her who will be apart of a healthy work environment that includes compassion and values self care. For most of my career I have been spoiled to have managers who encouraged me and help me grow my interpersonal skills. I believe working with wise servant leaders is what helps you grow your own value in the workplace, because you model what they do. I also recognize working for them only happens by the grace of God, because not everyone is fortunate to work for great managers and end up modelling poor leadership skills. #leadership #leadershipdevelopment #manager #management

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#Thirdplace I love how Gen Zers are "rediscovering" normal community and basically want to recreate the world that GenXers and Baby Boomers lived in sans the isms. Human connection can never be replaced by technology. It seems there is a strong contigency that wants to reduce everyone into mindless working robots that work 80 hours. Kind of like sweatshops in other countries.https://lnkd.in/e_Nz39wk

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Tomorrow will be my father, Pastor Ralph Duke’s, first birthday without his beloved bride. Even though Christy Lee is his favorite, as his eldest and the one who gave him his first grandson, I felt I would post a Black History Tribute to a man who is truly a rare jewel.In the 80s, my father was an OG soccer dad. A certified "Girl Dad", of four wild girls who owned a minivan and took us on family trips that would rival the Griswolds (Gen-Zers,see National Lampoon's Vacation). Some of us today would faint at the idea of raising 4 kids in the expensive Northern Virginia Suburbs, but my father held down a career that included opening a yogurt shop, helping my mom run her father's maintenance business, working for Jesse Jackson and Quincy Jones while also running his own side accounting business. If people ever wonder why I and my kids Imani Nokuri and Bakhari Nokuri are so passionate about serving the community, they can blame my dad, 😆 After he accepted the call into ministry, he later would become treasurer of the Baptist World Alliance, working with former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. In addition to hosting one of the most successful food pantries in NOVA, his church, Beacon Hill Missionary Baptist Church, has sent several containers of supplies and books to countries in Africa and the Caribbean. For over 20 years, my dad has had a prison ministry and has served in countries such as St. Maarten, Panama, Jamaica, and Liberia. Growing up, there were fourth things my daddy made sure we knew were important in his house: Jesus, education, service and hard work. He was born in 1951, which means my father was born a second-class citizen, and the legendary Ruby Bridges was younger than him when she integrated an all-white school. Even though his father was a WWII Navy Veteran, because of the color of his skin, my grandfather was denied an FHA loan for a $10k house that would be worth $500k today. We had etched deep into our DNA as a black family, that we could never depend on the government to give us fair treatment. My Grandmother Beatrice Duke, his mother, used to recount how, when they took prayer out of schools in the 1960s, she watched their neighborhood in East Orange, NJ become crime-ridden, and my father endured several violent attacks. Nevertheless, my grandfather, a college graduate who owned his own tailor shop, made sure that all 6 of his kids – 5 girls and my dad – would go to college. This is why the concept that black people don’t value education is completely foreign to me. I am a 3rd-generation college graduate. My father has two master’s degrees, and all of his sisters are teachers.There are no perfect families on this planet, and almost everyone has been through some sort of traumatic experience. However, as I honor my father for his day, I can honestly say that Black History Month hits differently when you have a godly man in the home who is willing to model resilience and tenacity.Happy 73rd Birthday, Dad!

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Something that I think is often absent from Black History Month and #DEI discussions, is a careful exploration of the ideologies that shaped our democracy and its concepts about slavery. When I studied Israeli History, Hebrew Scripture and Africa at The University of Virginia, I learned from a historical perspective, Christianity is based on the Torah and its writer Moses was educated in Pharoah's house which means he studied the principles of Ma'at. Moses, was married to an Ethiopian woman and his Egyptian upbringing without a doubt influenced his writing of the Torah.In the Torah, father Abraham became the father of many nations which includes all the nations of the Middle East and parts of Africa. Racialized slavery wasn't a thing in the Bible. In fact, the modern concept of race, as we use it today is a social construct that wasn't invented until the 17th Century Enlightenment Period. (Kind of how Agile and Scrum just poofed into the universe right Mike Hill ? Maybe we need to Design Think a new America 😂)This amazing Youtube video discusses how early Americans misinterpreted the Bible to create racialized slavery, when in fact it had no concept of modern day race and was infact a multiethnic inclusive book.https://lnkd.in/eCc5RvrA

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S/o to my daughter Imani Nokuri the president of the Black Law School Association at Stanford Law School whose team pulled off an amazing gala over the weekend for #BlackHistoryMonth !Your mom is so proud of you Imani, but keep praying daily that she stops helicoptering over you and your brother even as an empty nester 🤣To the parents healing, working hard and making sacrifices for your family, know that your work is not in vain. #GenXParent #Helicopterparent #Whoseyomommy

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Just realized this is the first Black History Month my mom hasn't been here to teach the kids their presentations.There is so much about Black American cultural that is being lost right now and it is painful to watch.Oprah Winfrey just turned 70. Who will be the next cultural juggernaut that brings people together ? The world has not been the same since she left the air. There will be generations who will never hear live and feel the magic of Patti Labell, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson and Prince. #BlackMagic isn't arrogance but the truth that an oppressed and enslaved people were able to impact the world despite their oppression. This is the hope that ALL RACES need, because we are all hurting in someway.And this is why I am so tired of younger unseasoned voices dominating civil discourse. This I believe vint cerf and Albert E. White is an artifact of the internet. There isnt just a digital divide between races, nations, and classes, but also age.One of my first jobs in the Dulles Corridor at Oracle back in 2000s, was digitizing documents. As a historian I found this fascinating, but didnt fully understand the implications. Archiving and preservation is essential for truth. While the focus is on STEM, we must maintain the social sciences as well. Social science helps us to live better as human beings. The Iron Age, the Brozen Age and the Information Age have passed away. The material world is temporal, the spiritual world of values like love, peace, justice etc are eternal. At least that is what my mother, the First Lady of Beacon Hill Missionary Baptist taught me with Black History.

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