Local executive Top 40 Under Forty
Tonit Calaway
Harley-Davidson Motor Company employee Tonit Calaway was named one of the Network Journal’s Top 40 Under Forty in the magazine’s April issue. Calaway was also honored at the Network Journal’s Tenth Annual 40 Under Forty-Achievement Awards in New York City on June 21, 2007.
Tonit Calaway, 39, associate general counsel, Harley-Davidson Motor Company, is an African American female who is making a difference in the business world and proving dreams do come true. Calaway is a Milwaukee native and holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a juris doctor’s degree from the University of Chicago.
Before accepting a position at Harley-Davidson in 1998 from mentor and general counsel of Harley-Davidson, Inc., Gail Lione, Calaway worked at a medium-sized firm in Milwaukee. In her nine-year tenure at Harley-Davidson, she has been promoted from corporate counsel to senior counsel and now associate general counsel.
As Associate General Counsel, Calaway focuses on providing legal advice, support and expertise to both Harley-Davidson, Inc. and Harley-Davidson Financial Services, Inc. She wears a number of hats, serving as H-D’s licensing and copyright expert and senior securities counsel.
On working at Harley-Davidson, Calaway states, "Things are always happening. There is a lot of work, but it is fun, challenging and interesting work." As for her future, Calaway comments, "I’m still on the journey, and I’ll see where the ride takes me."
Calaway’s impressive resume includes being personally appointed by Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle to serve as a member of the Board of Wisconsin Health and Educational Facilities Authority. She is a volunteer on the board of Meta House, which supports women recovering from substance addiction. Calaway has also served a number of years on the Board of the Northside YMCA and continues to assist Harley-Davidson with its participation in the YMCA’s Black Achiever program.
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Move over MySpace, there’s a new network for Black women
BlackNews.com--"Move Over Myspace!" is the low rumble that continues to repeat in certain powerful circles, as more and more Black women are clicking on www.richblackgirls.com instead of Myspace.com to network. Rich Black Girls has quietly and steadily become the cornerstone for social networking among Black professional women and college students. The members are encouraged to increase their ranking in their own community and society at large, by exchanging virtual business cards, attending free seminars, receiving empowering articles, as well as online and offline meeting forums. "Black Women have been assaulted on all fronts, and we need a safe haven to regroup, to heal, to share, to survive," Rachel Lymons explains.
The membership has women in every career field imaginable: doctors, educators, lawyers, nurses, college students, real estate agents, bankers, advertising agents, computer scientists, corporate executives, engineers, journalists, lawyers, publicists, nurses, research specialists, fashion designers, jewelry designers, actresses, authors, stylists, just to name a few. Again, every field imaginable is covered in the membership database. Traci Newhart explains, "If you want to get ahead in your career, or if you simply want to just talk to women who understand your quest for self-improvement and community improvement, I would encourage you to join." Ms. Newhart doesn't stop there, "I've seen women come together who would've never sat down with one another if they met face to face, because of the way this society pits us against one another, as women. This new method of networking is building bridges, and reconciling people who were not even speaking before."
Shanda Sealy, the membership director, is delighted with the overwhelmingly active response from her peers, "It is wonderful to know and realize that so many Black women are interested in improving not only their own lives, but the lives of others." Ms. Sealy further explains, "I am proud to have been chosen as the membership representative, because I have had the opportunity to network with so many powerful women." The network boasts of members who have been at the top of their class, are entrepreneurs, and who have rubbed elbows with the highest A-list celebrities on the totem pole. But what is more important to this growing networking firm is community service that the members are committing too. Shanda Sealy beams, "We have facilitators in four main regions, and every state has a facilitator or a member willing to commit to becoming a facilitator." Ms. Sealy further explains, "Sandria Washington is the Midwestern regional leader, Melissa Chambers is the Southern regional leader, Ashley Burgh is the Mid-Atlantic leader, and ShaVaughn Morris and April Davis is the Eastern regional leader. All of which are already powerful in their own right." Each facilitator has committed to creating and fostering sisterhood, all the while empowering the community on a monthly basis. There are online forums that are hosted by Latisha Williams, Davina Brown, Christina Spriggs, Kim Holmes, Jackie Moore, Melissa Sawyer, Antonette Kirby-Adams et al, encouraging women to stay in shape, find out shopping deals, discuss issues that affect the family on a daily basis.
To join other powerful Black women or for more information, simply go to www.richblackgirls.com. |
