Baltimore, Md. (Mar. 6, 2015) -- Growing up in Mississippi with a single mother, who was a registered nurse, Brenda Johnson-Turner thought she would like to try that as a career. She worked one summer as a volunteer (called a candy striper) in a local hospital. She did not like it.
Instead, she graduated from Alcorn State University in 1999 with a bachelor of science degree in business administration, began working for the federal government, and recently became the newest, and youngest, member of the Army's Senior Executive Service (SES).
Johnson-Turner brought her story of achievement in the federal government to the Mar. 4 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, Women's History Month event in the City Crescent Building. Sue Lewis, Chief, Baltimore District Real Estate Division, introduced Johnson-Turner as "a leader who builds consensus and is a role model, recently meeting with interns in real estate to hear their stories and encourage them."
"I'm glad that Women's History Month celebrates the contributions and achievements of women," said Johnson-Turner. The poster that highlighted the event bore the evidence of multiple women who have achieved, and are still achieving and making contributions to what Michael Hoffman, Equal Employment Opportunity manager for the district, called "the fabric of American history."
Johnson-Turner is the director of Real Estate for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. As if that was not enough responsibility, she is also the chief, South Pacific Division, and Great Lakes and Ohio River Division, Regional Integration Team.
As an SES member, she is responsible for the USACE Real Estate mission and its policy, program execution, and direction of real estate acquisition, management and disposal. She oversees a program encompassing 24 million acres of Army-controlled land and improvements world-wide. Annual budget expenditures are approximately $1 billion.
Her career spans 15 years of civilian leadership that includes the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; she joined the Corps of Engineers in 2005.
"When I think about the contributions of women, it is like a quilt with many patterns, colors and sizes." She carried the analogy of quilt making, guided by a mentor, to her own experience as she was mentored by a woman in her first federal job. "She gave me what I needed at that time."
She noted her family was important. "I have two children so I wrestle with time choices all of the time," she said. As a final note, she encouraged everyone to "mentor others and make a difference."
The 2015 Presidential Proclamation noted that "We know that when women succeed, America succeeds. As a Nation, we must join our voices with the chorus of history and push forward with unyielding faith to forge a more equal society for all our daughters and granddaughters -- one where a women's potential is limited only by the size of her dreams and the power of her imagination."
There is a unique Maryland connection to Women's History Month. In 1981, Sen. Orrin Hatch, Utah, and a congresswoman from Maryland co-sponsored the first Joint Congressional Resolution recognizing a week on this theme; in 1987, it was expanded to a month.
The Congressional co-sponsor was then Rep. Barbara Mikulski.
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