I’ve always admired my mom, Benaree Pratt Wiley, and her courage, and was amazed when I discovered she was one of twenty-eight women out of 800 in Harvard Business School’s Class of 1972. During her tenure, they didn’t even have a designated women’s restroom in Aldrich. While the experience was one of the hardest in her life in a white-male dominated institution, the struggle was worth it.
Growing up, I noticed the value of the Harvard MBA experience, especially as a Black woman. It gave her the skill sets, credibility, and community to have an influential career. It allowed her to take risks that she might not have felt as comfortable with otherwise, like following her passion to found and build The Partnership, a sustainable social enterprise that has forever changed the fabric of Boston’s business community, especially for people of color. Even after stepping back from full-time work, she’s continued to drive impact through her current five Corporate/Non-Profit boards helping to strengthen their governance and commitment to diversity and inclusion.
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