About Desireé Harris-Bonner

CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF?

As an award-winning vocalist and multi Amazon bestselling author, I am a Managing Partner in my global firm, DHBonner Virtual Solutions, LLC, where I operate as a Spiritual Midwife for emerging Authors, by providing Ghostwriting, Editing, and Book Creation & Design support to International Organizations, World-wide Ministries, and Independent Solo-Preneurs. 

It is my passion to assist others in getting their compelling stories from HEART to PAPER to PUBLISHED!

HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN YOUR CURRENT CAREER, PROJECT, OR PATH?

In 2012, after a successful 30+ year career in Technology working for Fortune 20 corporations, I found myself part of a reduction-in-force (RIF) and unable to find a comparable position that would make use of my MBA and years of high-level industry experience. To be truthful, I could not even get an entry-level position anywhere, due to my being considered over-qualified.

This was shocking and depressive to me; especially since as a baby-boomer, I had come from an era of employees who believed that you stay with a company until you got the gold watch. I was only three years away from being able to take early retirement and get mine!

So, a year later, after the layoff package funds ran out and I was still without a job that could support my grandson (who I had legal guardianship of) and me, I turned to God and asked him, “What should I do?” I laugh now because it was a little late in the game… I am almost certain He was laughing a bit as well.

Still, He answered by asking me one question: What is in your hand?

After listening and prayer, I began to understand that what was in my hand was all of the skill, education, and experience that I had amassed over the previous three decades. The job may have been gone, but I still possessed those things and that what I had given to those corporations, I could now use for myself.

And that is exactly what I did.

WHO HAS INSPIRED YOU THE MOST AND WHY?  

The very word ‘inspire’ means to take in breath—or life. So, for me, this list would be exceptionally long because I find inspiration, or life, in everyone and everything. Seriously, if you look for what you need, the next breath is always out there; it could be a word spoken in passing, an act or gesture, or the visible witness of someone who is pushing through in spite of seemingly insurmountable odds. Whether biblical, fairy tale, fictional, true-life, old, young, past, present, friend or foe, if we are open to the lessons that life has to offer us, we will find the inspiration we need to keep living… without fail!

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY WERE THE THREE BIGGEST STRUGGLES YOU HAVE FACED ON YOUR JOURNEY AND HOW DID YOU OVERCOME THEM? 

My all-encompassing struggle was dealing with the initial transition from thirty-plus years of Corporate work history. Why? Because I was so accustomed to working for someone else, having my responsibilities and activities set before me, and knowing that I could perform my work on a foundation that a major company had built. The traditional employment route had been a huge cushion for me, and now it was gone!

As a managing partner, I am the one responsible for building that foundation and ensuring that all operational aspects of the business—Marketing, Customer Service, Accounting, Production, etc.—are not only functional but also demonstrated in excellence. Soon, I was able to design a business that supports me (and others) both financially and personally, in my own unique way, by having God as the CEO of my company.

Each morning, we have “staff meetings” to discuss what’s on the board for the day: What I need to focus on and how to perform the work effort. And one of the critical keys He taught me is that I must be consistent. No matter what, show up... consistently!

WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS? WHAT GOALS ARE YOU WORKING TOWARD ACHIEVING?

I am deeply concerned about the lack of diverse voices at the tables of many organizations where the decisions that deeply impact the lives of various groups of people are being made—it doesn’t matter if the organization is for-profit, a non-profit, a small firm, a ministry, solo-preneurial, a political agency, or a major corporation—the exclusion of voices that don’t echo the dominant one allows for a lack of inherent checks and balances, a fresh exchange of ideas, and multi-cultural awareness and representation.

Therefore, I am currently working toward a Doctoral degree in Strategic Leadership (DSL), while continuing to support emerging authors and entrepreneurs through coaching and mentoring. In this way, my voice can be added toward helping others make a greater impact in this world.

HOW CAN OTHERS FIND OUT MORE ABOUT YOU? 

Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn; like me on Facebook or visit my website @ www.dhbonner.net