Growing up in the south, from Controls Engineer to Law School

I grew up in the south during the sixties as the youngest daughter of parents who experienced the economic and social impacts of Jim Crow. In high school, I knew generating my own financial resources was important to me. Financial independence. Economic freedom. As a young person though, financial independence meant owning my own car or a nice apartment. Nevertheless, my mathematical ability led me to receive dual undergraduate degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics from Tuskegee University, an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) in Tuskegee, Alabama.

After Tuskegee, I had a successful corporate career as an automation and controls engineer. As a project manager at Apple Computer, I had the opportunity to negotiate contracts, which in turn led to earning my J.D. at Golden Gate University in their evening program. I was inspired by and encouraged to go to law school by my aunt Cora T. Walker.  Aunt Cora was one of the first African American women to attend the School of Law at St. John’s University and to be licensed to the New York State Bar in the late forties. She started her own firm because it was difficult to get hired as a Black lawyer. She was a founding member of the Harlem River Consumers Cooperative, a food co-op that sold shares for $5 per household, a solution to Harlem’s food desert in the sixties. I learned from Aunt Cora that financial empowerment was also a form of activism, and an important aspect of creating change.

From The Law Firm of Tammy B. Haygood to Ballots in the Bay

Following in Aunt Cora’s footsteps, I founded by own firm in San Francisco. I became the principal of a practice specializing in corporate securities and tax law during the dot-com boom of the nineties, primarily advising aspiring entrepreneurs.

But with the boom came the bust. I closed my practice and accepted a unique opportunity to lead San Francisco’s Department of Elections as the Director of Elections. Despite my ability to improve the department’s processes and operations, I was fired by the new Election’s Commission.  A historic political fight ensued, pitting me and the city’s civil service commission against the city’s elections commission. The case went all the way to California’s Supreme Court. Financial empowerment. Economic freedom. Once again, these terms had personal resonance.

My spouse Stacy encouraged me to figure out what I really wanted to do. Engineering and law were in my professional toolkit, but this was a moment to dig deep to align my passion with my next move. Without savings and investments from several liquidity events, the story and timeline of my career in wealth management may have been different. Personally, I was able to experience the gift of time to decide on my professional third act. Wealth management, learning and applying disciplined principles, was the spark that ignited my interest in helping others achieve financial empowerment and economic freedom.

Wealth management and impact

Since 2005, I have been helping investors interested in aligning the pursuit of their investment goals with sustainability and social impact, using a combination of market rate investments, private capital, and philanthropy. At Black Pearl Wealth Management Group, we use wealth management planning tools and market analysis when advising our clients to help guide them financially through all the changes of life, creating a roadmap to help maintain their current or desired lifestyle and standard of living.

Divorce is financially transformational. As a certified divorce financial analyst and former engineer, I use the techniques of reverse engineering to aid clients in defining their current lifestyle and future standard of living. I collaborate with my client’s legal counsel and forensic accountants in support of a favorable and equitable negotiated outcome for property and support settlements.

Personally, as an art collector, in every aspect of the practice I bring a working knowledge of blue-chip art collections, real estate and collectibles.

Additionally, as an impact investor I strive to invest 100% of my family's wealth in companies having a positive footprint in the world; as an angel investor I have held memberships in Toniic – the global action community for impact investing and the 100% Impact Network communities, focused on building stronger impact ecosystems. My passion for investor education and the opportunity to broaden impact investment opportunities during my four years of a Keiretsu Forum sponsorship inspired me to co-create "Pitch Me Green", an angel investor community program supporting early-stage sustainable business models.

My speaking engagements have included the YWCA annual Young Women and Money conference and SOCAP (Social Capital Markets) conference. In addition to board service on the Queen’s Bench, my community work has included service on the Cecil Williams Glide Community Housing Board, Pride Law Board, the Harm Reduction Therapy Center, advisory board member of UCSF’s Center of Excellence in Women’s Health, and community chairperson of UCSF’s Human Gamete, Embryo and Stem Cell Research Committee. I currently split my professional time between the Bay Area and Washington, DC. I am at level 10 on the happiness scale when I am with family, friends, traveling, mentoring my team, and connecting people with others. I enjoy cooking (without recipes) and walks on the beach with my family and pooch Wally.

Black Pearl and mentorship

After a long career spanning forty years and several disciplines, I am most proud of building and mentoring my team. With all the grace I have been given, including wisdom and life-lessons my mother Pearl shared with me, I wake up every morning excited to share technical knowledge, while building a practice of people of color in the financial services industry, elevating the voices of the next generation.