From Youngest of 21 Children to 3 Corporate Board Seats: Meet Glass Ceiling Breaker, Stanford MBA and C-Suite Leader, Candace Matthews
What is your personal and professional story?
My personal and professional stories are interwoven. I am the youngest child of an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) minister and a mom who was a homemaker, who together raised 21 children. I was blessed to have grown up with 18 of them and I learned from each and every one of my siblings. Our household was full of prayer and education and the biggest priority our parents had for us, especially my mom, was education and faith. Sixteen of eighteen children attended college, 5 received advanced degrees and 2 earned Ph.Ds. My older siblings taught me so much and I am a fountain of trivia as a result of their many cross-sectional interests and paths. I am dangerous at board games and Scrabble.
I never knew there was an option not to go to college because everyone ahead of me went to college and there was no question that I would do the same. So I did. It was only later that I learned that some people elected to take alternative pathways. That never crossed my mind as an option.
My Dad, Eugene Joseph Sheffield, died when I was ten years old and six of us had yet to finish high school. While we had no money, we never thought about the limits of paying for college. My mom, Bessie Mae, had a philosophy that drove every decision:
1) Where there is a will there is a way
2) When God closes a door he opens a window
3) To whom much is given much is required
I enrolled at Carnegie Mellon and became an engineering major. At the time, there were few women, not to mention black women, pursuing engineering. I had a work-study in the admissions office where I was committed to overdeliver, and it was noticed by my manager. He told me that I worked so hard that they were going to get me scholarship funds and he did. I became a General Motors Scholar and my junior and senior years were completely paid for as a result.
This is the value of hard work and others who go to bat for you when you work that hard! One of my colleagues told me I had to get an MBA with an engineering degree and you have to go to the best school possible. So, I ended up getting into Stanford. I was so excited to tell my mom who said, “What’s Standford?! She had no idea. I called one of my brothers to ask him to explain to her what this meant.
The second I got out of grad school, I was mentored by a remarkable person, Ann Fudge, who was a leader at General Mills. “I will teach you all you need to know,” she said and she did. This made a huge impact on my life.
What are a few of your key life moments that led to where you are today?
1) My CMU and Stanford education, a foundation I cherish.
2) Mentorship from Ann Fudge, a pivotal influence in my career.
3) Cultural immersion through traveling to 51 countries, broadening my perspective.
While I married later in life and had twins after 40, I was lucky to have the support of a husband who allowed me to excel professionally while he stayed at home and raised our children. I know that this is a tremendous advantage and that many women could not achieve what I was able to do personally and professionally without the unconditional love, faith and help from my husband.
Where does your passion to serve come from?
My parents and especially my Mom. This was her life’s commitment and it is mine.
How can GlobalMindED help you achieve your goals?
My life and career have been so abundantly blessed that helping students know they can become anything they want is so very important to me. GlobalMindED is a vehicle to achieve these goals to give back for the rest of my life.
Join Candace and other inclusive leaders at the GlobalMindED 2024 Conference. She will be part of the First Gen Leadership Day and she will be speaking on panels June 18th.
