We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sherry D. Henderson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sherry below.
Alright, Sherry thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
My brand is “Writing Inspires a Village”. The village is the people that invest in your life and show you much love along the way. The backstory behind the mission that drives my brand is when COVID-19 interrupted my plans to travel the world after retirement in 2020, I asked the question “What do I do now”. My thoughts kept coming back to sharing my story of survival and thriving with my family. I wanted them to truly understand that we are genetically equipped to weather any storm. This rings true because we have the ability to master a lot of somethings from a lot of nothings. We learned from the master of them all-my great-grandmother. I also wanted to inspire my family to read about the genetic strengthen and tenacity of the Henderson family in print. Telling the story to family members again and again was well and good. But a lot of the complete story got lost as a different version was rendered from one person to another. Therefore, my vision of capturing our family’s low points and triumphs in print appeared to be the next best avenue to pursue. My vision didn’t stop there. I expect my documented journey to be the beginning that sparks the desire of other family members to author the first “Henderson’s Family” written New York Times Best Seller. Yes, I am claiming it into existence. My goal was also to write so I could inspire others to take an honest assessment of their lives. Encourage them to make a commitment to achieve self-actualization (blazing their life paths on their own terms). I want to impress upon them that there is another option to just settling for what is handed to them or what they may have happened to stumble upon. I want others, especially young adults to understand the sooner they design their life paths, the sooner they will become all that they can gracefully envision. This means that they can live more of your lives enjoying the magnificent person they purposefully designed. This also means that the world will be fortunate to read many more inspiring stories from those that have been inspired by my brand “Writing Inspires a Village”.
As a self-published, independent author, my overall mission is to plant the seed of survival and thriving with determination, dignity and honor by enlightening each member of my family and the world that all possibilities, including failures are motivational, innovative and creative opportunities. I also want to leave an imprint of my strong stance to pursue and champion equality all over the world.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sherry D. Henderson, author of Black Magnolia: An Unequivocal Southern Belle was born and raised on a modern-day plantation (cotton-cultivated land) in the backwoods of Mississippi, fifteen miles southeast of Clarksdale, Mississippi (Route 1, Box 204). Her great-grandmother was a sharecropper who raised her five grandchildren, and Sherry, her first great-grandchild. She and Sherry were inseparable until her death, when Sherry was eleven and a half years old.
Sherry resides in Aurora, Colorado, where she recently retired from a career as an Adult Nurse Practitioner. Her nursing career spans over thirty-eight years of service to others. She served the veteran population at the Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Denver, Colorado, for thirty-six years. She spent the first two years of her career at the Mississippi Baptist Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi.
Having grown up in the racially charged state of Mississippi, it was of utmost importance that she stayed committed to the unmovable values of her great-grandmother. Contrary to the values of the Deep South, she taught Sherry that Caucasian beauty was not superior to African American beauty. The real kicker was that she made Sherry face the mantra of her life-long path, that her beauty was not superior to Caucasians. This value became the guiding post that lights her daily path and keeps her embracing and practicing the simple fact that we are equal in the eyes of God. Because she seared her great-grandmother’s beliefs into her heart, she was able to face racially tinged and sometimes outright racially painted situations, deal with them head on, learn from them, and use the greatest bonding weapon in the world—LOVE. With love, Sherry learned not only to survive but to adapt and thrive in all type of environments and situations.
Sherry faithfully serves her community as a member of the Federal Employed Women (FEW), Chi Eta Phi nursing sorority, and the National Black Nurses Association. As a member of FEW, she proudly served as the Rocky Mountain Regional Manager, Assistant Rocky Mountain Regional Manager, and Treasurer of the High Plains Chapter. In these FEW roles, she received Outstanding Member and Lifetime Achievement Awards. The FEW Rocky Mountain Region received several outstanding awards under her leadership.
Sherry received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), a Master of Arts in Business and Personnel Management from Webster University, a Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS), and an Adult Nurse Practitioner Certification from UCCS. She was selected to be part of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. During her career, she was nominated several times for the prestigious Nursing Nightingale Awards. She was an outstanding trailblazer and pioneered many First Leadership endeavors at the Department of Veterans Affairs. She is also the former owner of Precious Moments Healthcare Agency, LLC.
Sherry is most passionate and forever-spirited about serving and advocating for the world’s most honored veteran population. Her teaching and role model mantra stems from the Serenity Prayer and the quote, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” —Lao Tzu.
She has been a sports fanatic for as long as she can remember. She is also an avid traveler and reader. Sherry loves to explore autobiographies and historical documentaries of all of mankind. She has always been an advocate for humanity, but especially champions women to stand up and embrace their power as they strive to become self-sufficient, without losing their ability to love and let others love them. She first had to make many mistakes before she learned these pearls of wisdom and landed in a comfortable place of peace in her life. Sherry’s willingness to bear all is a result of her commitment to help others, especially women, step into their truth and own their story.
Sherry’s debut book is a portrait of her life: a memoir of humble beginnings to a place of celebrating her golden years in modern, emotional, financial, and physical bliss. Sherry is the sister of two brothers who would travel through fire and brimstone to protect her from all evils of hell and high water. She is loved and respected by her small, loved-filled family. She is a risk taker and sees failure as another opportunity to get up, dust herself off, and reach for higher dreams.
If this book inspires at least one person to be proactive, seek out healthy life goals, and learn to see subtle danger a long way off, Sherry believes it will be worth the joy and pain of sharing her story. She advises, “If unable to avoid unhealthy ‘pies in the sky,’ at least be able to assess the situation as soon and possible, develop a plan, and parachute to a sound and safe landing.”
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
My book Black Magnolia: An Unequivocal Southern Belle sums up my stories of resilience in a large nutshell. It is my wisdom-rich story as an African American woman raised in the unsophisticated backwoods of Mississippi. I tell the story of my life through the beautiful Mississippi flowers that surrounded me from home to home. Just as all the flowers came together to create a bouquet of symbolic relationships, each chapter of my story blends with the next to reveal the blossoming tapestry of my life. Grounded in the wisdom of life-changing seeds my great-grandmother planted into my psychic at a very early age. I learned the value of being true to myself and seeing myself as equal to others. Although a woman of few words, my great-grandmother watered and nurtured those seeds that ultimately produced an amazing adult me.
I have chosen to share a moment in time of my journey as an African American girl who grew to see myself as Black Magnolia: An Unequivocal Southern Belle, despite the challenges of growing up poor in the rural south. Resiliency lies in the reality that my challenges became gifted opportunities.
For this project, I will focus on one make or break challenge. As a top five high school honor student graduate, a community college salutatorian graduate, survival of physic classes at Howard University, I found myself in one of the largest struggles of my life. I was struggling to complete my first semester of nursing school. I didn’t know the reason for my struggles and I certainly didn’t understand how to navigate the transformative uncertainty. All I knew was that I had to lean to the wisdom of light that my great-grandmother has instilled into me. With that light as my guide, I decided to keep my eyes focused toward the mission of the most importance- finding a way to graduate as a registered nurse. It didn’t take long to realize that I was struggling with the subjectivity of my instructor’s opinion versus the objectivity that I assumed the institution’s integrity was based on. The subjectivity of my instructor concluded that the window seals in my patients’ room were not spotless enough, the sheets on their beds were not tight enough, nor was the furniture arranged like it was waiting to be sold in a department store showcase. This is where I turned my challenges into life-long opportunities. The unspoken motivation for me to buckle down and face the wrath of subjectivity was that this was my one and only opportunity to become a registered nurse. There would be no second chance. This is also where I learned that every challenge does not have to be faced head on. What my instructor’s motive was nor her opinion of me were my top priority. I looked beyond such road-blocking obstacles. I lived and breathed studying enough to make all A’s on my objective exams. I dismissed the why this was happening and focused on a plan of actions that overpowered the why. My belief in my ability to succeed as I had done in the past and my entrenched work ethnics, fearless determination and no-quit attitude propelled me to the finish line. I was taught at an early age how to masterly make positive outcomes from the most challenging situations in my life. This was a family legacy born out of necessity and survival. I learn to utilize my positive energy to maneuver around energy-wasting barriers and stay far enough ahead of energy-draining dilemmas. I also practiced looking to the future and not looking back for career road blocks in my rearview mirror. I had learned from the master-my great-grandmother. I later learned that my will to power through had overpowered the institution’s embedded practices that had nothing to do with how smart I was. Thanks to my ability to stand tall and make a way out of no way I made my family proud by becoming a Bachelor of Science prepared Registered Nurse.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Three years after I graduated from Nursing school. I decided that I wanted a career in nursing management and administration. My mission was to be a chief nurse in the Veterans Administration somewhere. I really was willing to go where the openings were. I started this pursuit as a shift charge nurse. In this role, I managed a nursing unit for an eight- to twelve-hours period of time. Then I moved to the next level as a nurse manager. My responsibilities increased by leaps and bounds. I managed a staff of 30-35 employees and 30 patients 24/7. This positioned me pretty much on a straight-line trajectory of accomplishing my ultimate goal. For educational preparation, I obtained a master’s of arts degree with a major in health care management and a minor in personnel management. With this degree, tons of confidence and the excitement of risk-taking I once again embraced an increase in responsibility as a nursing supervisor. In this role, I managed the entire nursing staff for eight-hour periods of time.
By all standards, I was ready to seek the chief nurse position. I could taste it. I was right at the door of pursuing my ultimate career dream. I was just where I had strived to be. Then surprising with all of my education and experience in tow, I began to feel that something was missing. I felt sandwiched between upper management and the staff. I didn’t feel that I could practice my dreamed management philosophy. I dreamed of being a facilitator of resources and training instead of a traditional line manager of the staff. I also frequently found myself gravitating back to patients’ interactions on my supervisory rounds. Deep soul searching revealed that this awesome long sort-after career was not my destiny. I had just strayed/deviated from what really made me feel fulfilled-direct hands-on patient care. As I climbed the management career ladder, I had distanced myself further and further from daily patient interactions.
Fifteen years into my career, ten years of management experience and one master’s degree later, I was yearning to return to direct hands-on care with the patients. My desire to serve my veteran population up close and personal was enough for me to pause and pivot in a big way. I obtained a master’s of science degree in nursing and an adult nurse practitioner certification.
Finally, it had all come together. I had found my career peace of mind and happiness. In this capacity, I served the Veterans at the Denver Department of Veterans affairs for another twenty-one years. It was easy to serve the Veterans who faithfully had stayed awake at night and watch over the nation as I slept safely in my comfortable bed each night. I had found my niche. Each day I was fulfilled with ‘Thanks’ from my patients and seeing that our mutual efforts changed their lives for the better. In this role, I was motivated to serve 110%. The learned message for me was that I can only tell with certainty where I have been. What my future holds is unknown even when I have prepared so diligently. I could find myself unfulfilled in one chosen path and have to pivot in a major way to another path for priceless peace of mind.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Black_Magnolia