From Wall Street to Women's Leadership Coach

As part of our Women in Leadership special, Steve Adubato goes One-on-One with Dee C. Marshall, CEO, Diverse & Engaged, who explains how she went from Wall Street to business owner, her take on women in leadership, and how she coaches others to build the life they've always wanted.

12/18/2019 #2267

 

 

 

 

Excerpt:

"There she is on camera! Dee C. Marshall. She is CEO of Diverse and Engaged. How you doing? I'm doing well my friend. For those who do not know about your great organization, tell them what it's all about. Diverse and Engaged. We are essentially a leadership development, workplace culture, and diversity consulting practice. You're part of a series of interviews we're doing with very strong women in business, leaders, right? Mm hmm. If you've been watching this show, you know. You had an experience on 9/11? Mm hmm. Changed your life dramatically? Yeah. Make it clear to us. Tell us the story. Yeah. So I worked on Wall Street on September 11th, and it was a very proud time of my life. I come from the inner-city. Where did you grow up? I grew up in New Brunswick. Alright. Believe it or not. My mom had two children by the time she graduated high school. So here I am on Wall Street, I am training million-dollar producers, that was my job. And I'm in the office with a colleague, Sue Ellen Margolis. We're talking. Folks are walking by. And we're like, "Wait? Are we late for a meeting?" And somebody comes in and they say, "Oh, there's a fire over at the World Trade Center." We go over, and no sooner that I'm there, out of my left peripheral, I see the plane come by our windows. You saw it? Yeah. And so I was the second person to the elevator. I know that, because they closed when I got there. And so down I went with everybody else on the floor. 33 flights of stairs. It was complete pandemonium, you know, on the ground. Battery Park. It was just... it was a nightmare. And I remember getting home by ferry, because that's when you remember that Manhattan is really an island. I remember an intermediate stop, like into, like a travel agent and picking up the phone to call home. I didn't have the courage to call my mom. Hmm. I called my church. You did. The pastor at the time was the then Secretary of State, Doctor DeForest Soaries. Wow. He was just sitting in this chair. Do you remember that? Buster was sitting in that chair recently. He also married my wife and I. So go ahead. Oh. Yeah. He's family to me. Yeah. So we get to Jersey City. Quarantined in Newark. I lived in Central Jersey at the time, and it was eight hours getting home on that night. I went to bed, but woke up the next morning, and I remember thinking, "Did that happen? What happened? Did something happen?" And there were these questions. And..."