I recently watched the Netflix documentary on Flint, Michigan, Flint Town. This neighbor city to my father’s birthplace, Detroit, is consistently among the country’s most violent. Residents are impoverished, underserved by the short staffed, underfunded police department and have had to endure a city wide water contamination cover up affecting the community of 100,000 people. The city still does not have clean drinking water. Violent crimes often take days for police to respond. Flint Town exposes a crisis happening in our own back yard. They need our help.

As I watched, often horrified the suffering of these residents, I thought of 1 who hailed from these streets. In 1995, she was recruited by Starbucks and became Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs. As you sip your morning Starbucks java all over the world (including my co-blogger and sister in Germany) imagine at this time, there were only 550 stores in North America! In 2006, after 11 years at Starbucks, this woman from the streets of Flint retired at age 53. At the request of CEO, Howard Schultz, in 2008 she returned to manage international communication during the company’s transformation.

I tell this woman constantly and today I share publically how proud I am of her accomplishments and how she inspires me. This morning, you too can all be moved as you listen to her give her keynote address from Michigan State University.
https://goo.gl/o5ybsb

Wanda Herndon, we have spent countless years be it laughing, celebrating, attending plays, parties, theaters, mourning, giving or sharing.
Keep on keepin’ on- you are the 1 against all odds, and I’ll drink to that!

Wanda pictured far right.