GAZELLE MAGAZINE Luxury Holiday Issue 2015 | Page 92

WOMEN WHO INSPIRE HARD WORK PAYS OFF PR and events professional Barbara Washington - dedicated volunteer By VICKI BENNINGTON Martin Luther Mathews heard her speak as a torchlighter, she began volunteering at the club, and was eventually offered a job. At times, life has been challenging for Barbara Washington, but even when things seemed bleak, she had a song in her heart and found the spirit that gave her hope. She started in PR, added volunteer management with 250 professional volunteers, then fundraising and development, and went on to event planning that incorporated it all. As a young girl, Barbara moved from the hot delta of Bourbon, Mississippi to Fort Knox, Kentucky, then to Nuremburg, Germany. There she became fluent in German and discovered her independence. She came back to the states to bury her mother in Mississippi, then to her sister’s home in St. Louis, where she decided to stay and make a home for herself and two boys. During her 30-year tenure at the club, she developed and/or directed many programs, like the Sheer Elegance Fashion Show, a holiday fundraiser for the club’s girls’ programs, and The Sky is the Limit, a career-readiness program matching girls from area school districts with St. Louis area businesswomen, and Barbara planned dozens of fundraisers, ultimately raising $60 million to keep the various programs going. She also introduced the Rams football team to St. Louis and vice president Joe Biden when he announced the youth job’s program for the state of Missouri. She worked three jobs to make ends meet, believing that if you work hard, it will pay off. Now retired as vice president of public relations and special events at Mathews-Dickey Boys’ & Girls’ Club, and owner of Bobcat Event Management & Consulting, LLC, launched earlier this year, Barbara had no idea how true that belief would prove to be when she was growing up in rural Mississippi. “Things happened in my life that could have caused me to fail, but I didn’t wallow in sadness,” she said. “My mom was ill, my dad didn’t want me. But my uncle loved me, and called me Bobcat because I was tenacious and hard working, and he said he knew I would be successful someday.” School was her refuge. She was smart in school, and several teachers encouraged and helped her along the way. 92 After moving to St. Louis, she studied business and journalism, while working at a bank, as a cocktail waitress, and a restaurant hostess, sometimes catching five buses in the mornings in order to get the boys to school and get where she needed to be on any given day. “One day, my sons and I faced a real dilemma and were almost homeless, but thanks to a good Samaritan, we found a place,” she said. “I always told the boys no matter what the circumstances, we should always be grateful and always be nice to people.” GAZELLE STL She took her children to church, which she said played a major role in their upbringing. “I volunteered at church, and the women there inspired me,” she said. “One woman helped me with outfits for work. Another always invited us to her house for Sunday dinner; another taught me how to pay bills.” She began working for a temp agency as an executive assistant, and ultimately, landed a job at General American Life I nsurance Co., which was a positive turning point for the family. She was also chairperson of the company’s Red Cross Blood Drive in St. Louis and secretary of the Women’s Society and volunteered with the United Way of Greater St. Louis, becoming one of the organization’s first torchlighters. “I learned many skills by observation and then putting those things into practice,” she said. Her job at General American prepared her for her next opportunity at MathewsDickey Boys’ and Girls’ Club. Barbara also loves to sing. Her gospel CD, “Calvary Lord,” raised $50,000 for The Sky is The Limit scholarship program, which helped establish the Barbara A. Washington Scholarship via a challenge match by Irl and Sue Engelhardt, resulting in a $150,000 endowment. Barbara Washington discusses program details for a “Media Persons of the Year” dinner roast with Baseball Hall of Fame announcer Jack Buck, who emceed the event.