Born To Lead: A Life In Public Service: South Africa, Haiti, Benin with Chapters on the 2004 Bush vs. Kerry Presidential Election

by Shawnta Walcott

Overview

Born to Lead was written to inspire change agents and young activists searching for an authentic story about the fight for social justice and life in public service. It's a non-conventional case study on the role of culture in America. It explores my personal loss while attending Yale Divinity School and transitions backwards through my professional and academic achievements that include: serving as president of the student divestment movement that convinced the University of Maryland Board of Regents and the state's eleven campuses to withdraw all holdings from South Africa; encounters living and working in sustainable development (in Benin, West Africa, Haiti, and other countries); and chronicles my rise in political communications having served as director of communications for the second largest polling firm in America during the 2004 presidential election (with partners like NBC's Meet the Press, Wall Street Journal Online and Reuters Newswire). It's a fairly short semi-biographic that celebrates the highs and lows of exceptional opportunities and the implicit pressures of being young, black and female in Washington, DC's political jungle.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940160967943
Publisher:	Shawnta Walcott
Publication date:	01/06/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	16 MB
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About the Author

Pollster Shawnta Regina Watson Walcott is the former director of communications for Zogby International. She joined Zogby in 2003 and served as surrogate analyst for President and CEO John Zogby throughout the 2004 United States Presidential election. In addition to overseeing the production of client news releases and data distribution, she provided television and radio commentary on multiple media outlets. During her tenure, the firm’s client list included the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Wall Street Journal Online, Reuters Newswire, NBC/ Meet the Press, United States State Department-Iraq, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and Kissinger-McLarty Associates.
Walcott is a graduate of the Yale Divinity School (MAR) and a recent graduate of Liberty University (M.Ed.) in the School of Education where she is pursuing a doctoral degree.
She is a graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park in government and politics with a concentration in French and was inducted into the Omicron Delta Kappa Leadership Honor Society. As a result of her work in the field of social justice and contributions to the college, she was asked to return to UMCP in 2010 to give the winter commencement address for the graduates of the School of Behavioral and Social Sciences.
Her polling acumen is enhanced by nearly twenty years of public relations and foreign policy experience that includes both remunerate and pro bono service. She served as close of service director for the United States Peace Corps (Benin, West Africa 1994–1996; St. Lucia, WI 2003); as a faculty and board member of the Women’s Campaign School at Yale University (2005–2009); as electoral information center director for the National Democratic Institute (Haiti, 1999–2000); and presidential elections pollster in Haiti for the National Organization for the Advancement of Haitians (2005 and 2010). She is currently working on a film project for Born to Lead: A life in Public Service and substitute teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic in Arlington, Texas.
Her published work and guest appearances can be found archived online in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Miami Herald, Reuters (EU, Italy, US), MSNBC, CNN Money, CNBC,