Category: Civil & Human Rights
Stella Jones Adams
CEO
S J Adams Consulting
Durham, NC
SPECTACULAR MAGAZINE (SM): Describe what makes you a successful leader in the category for which
you were honored?
Stella Jones Adams (SJA): I believe that successful leaders in the civil and human rights field have to
be well informed about the policies and practices that negatively impact communities and individuals
because of their group status. I think it is important to go beyond identifying the problem, and put
forward solutions that work for the victims of oppression. You have to work in coalition with others
who are suffering oppression by the same hands. You have to be willing to make sacrifices, to be
bombastic and opinionated, to pick you battles and man your post.
Can you name a person who has had a tremendous impact on you as a leader? Maybe someone who
has been a mentor to you? Why and how did this person impact your life?
SJA: Civil Rights is in my DNA. My grandmother Lizzie B. Askew was the first black
journalist for the Zebulon Record she wrote the “Colored News” she was brilliant and
taught school at the age of 18, my grandfather, Rev. C. E. Askew was responsible for the
creation of one of the very first Fair E