NAAWLI, Inc. is a non-profit, 501 (c)(3), leadership development organization that weaves a holistic model throughout its leadership program to accelerate the business and personal development of African-American women. NAAWLI, Inc. was co-founded in 2000 by Dr. Gloria R. Scott, former President of Bennett College, and Dr. Zulma X. Barrios, Senior Advisor of the Gallup Corporation and established to address the challenges African-American women face in the workplace. Through the customized program that is both gender-based and culturally relevant, NAAWLI, Inc. focuses on providing the most current leadership strategies and theories to its Fellows – the professional women chosen to participate in the program. NAAWLI Fellows are taught to identify and reinforce their strengths while developing proactive strategies and behaviors to make a greater impact within their organizations, their personal networks and the communities in which they live and serve.
The NAAWLI Leadership Program consists of three sessions during March, June and September of the program year, spanning 13 days. In addition to the thought-leadership curriculum focusing on core business and personal competencies, the program requires each Fellow to develop and execute a community service project that will make a measurable impact from a local, national or global perspective.
All three training sessions are hosted by a conference hotel in Dallas, Texas and led by world-class subject matter experts in leadership development. The 13-day program concludes in September with each Fellow presenting her community service project before a panel of evaluators, followed by a graduation ceremony to celebrate achievement of program goals.