A reflective exploration of authentic leadership grounded in service, humanity, and systemic impact. Discover how purpose-driven leadership transcends titles and creates meaningful change in communities.
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Once I stopped shrinking my voice, I stepped into leadership differently. Influence is not about perfection; it is about purpose, authenticity, and the courage to lead anyway.
Corrin FaggéTt · In Her Own Words
Her Story
About Corrin
Corrin FaggéTt is a dynamic public sector leader, advocate, and entrepreneur committed to strengthening communities and empowering families. With over a decade of experience across child welfare, early intervention, and human resources, she has built a career at the intersection of systems change and human impact supporting vulnerable populations while driving trauma-informed, family-centered solutions. Currently serving on the Early Intervention Team with Ramsey County, Corrin leads facilitation and prevention efforts that help families stay together and avoid system involvement. Her work centers on collaboration bringing together families, and professionals to create sustainable plans that prioritize safety, stability, and long-term success. She is recognized for navigating complex, multi-agency systems and turning high-stakes challenges into meaningful, lasting outcomes. Beyond her public service career, Corrin is also a creative entrepreneur and former food caterer, founder of Delightful Bites by Corrin Elizabeth. What began in her mother’s kitchen grew into a community-centered business rooted in passion, culture, and connection. Her work in the culinary space has been recognized for bringing people together through food and creating spaces of joy and resilience especially during times when community healing was most needed.
As highlighted in her media features, Corrin’s journey reflects both purpose and perseverance building her own lane as a young Black woman entrepreneur while continuing to serve her community through public systems. From kitchens to courtrooms, training rooms to family meetings, her work is unified by one mission: to create opportunities, restore hope, and leave systems and people stronger than she found them. Grounded in faith, leadership, and service, Corrin continues to expand her impact by bridging public service, workforce development, and community empowerment proving that influence is not just about position, but about purpose.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Corrin
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to continuous self-growth and the lessons I’ve gained through personal challenges over the past few years. Even during difficult moments when I felt like giving up, I used those experiences as motivation to push forward and improve myself. Over time, I’ve overcome obstacles I once thought were beyond my ability and have learned to value small, meaningful changes that contribute to long-term growth. I now place greater importance on self-care and prioritizing my well-being, recognizing that helping others also strengthens my own development as a person.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I’ve ever received is to push myself beyond my limitations and comfort zone, while also learning to accept setbacks as part of the process rather than the end of the journey. I’ve learned that downfalls are opportunities for reflection, allowing me to assess what I can improve and adjust in order to keep moving forward. Most importantly, I’ve been encouraged to stay committed to what I love, continuously refine my approach, and persist even when challenges arise.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My advice to young women entering my industry is to be patient with themselves and extend grace throughout the learning process. Building trust and connection doesn’t always happen immediately, especially when working with families, so it’s important to stay confident and consistent even when things feel uncertain at first. When you show up authentically and allow your true self to come through, it creates space for others to trust you and gives you the opportunity to build meaningful, lasting working relationships.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge in my field is learning how to manage the emotional weight of working with difficult cases and families while still recognizing the limits of what I can accomplish within a given workday. I’ve had to accept that I can only do what I can in the moment, and that it’s important to leave work at work and return with a clear mindset the next day. While it can be difficult at times, I’ve learned the importance of setting boundaries and not carrying that stress home, which has been essential for maintaining balance and long-term effectiveness in my role.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
In my work, I value being effective and knowledgeable, and I take pride in my ability to support and train new social workers so they can remain grounded and resilient even in challenging situations. I also value leading by example while remaining a student of the profession, continuously learning and growing alongside others. In my personal life, I prioritize my emotional health and the importance of expressing myself honestly, even when it feels uncomfortable, as well as advocating for myself when needed. My spirituality is also central to me, as I rely on God and recognize His role in guiding my path. Above all, I value honesty with myself, which has allowed me to acknowledge areas for growth and make meaningful changes.
Her Content Hub
Articles by Corrin
From Systems to Service: Leading With Purpose in Public Service and Community Impact
Redefining influence through service, authenticity, and accountability in public service and community empowerment.
Leadership is often associated with titles, authority, or visibility. But in my experience, true leadership is built in the moments no one sees crisis calls, difficult conversations, family meetings, community spaces, and the daily decision to continue showing up for people during some of the hardest moments of their lives.
For more than a decade, my career has centered on public service, advocacy, and community empowerment. I’ve worked across child welfare, early intervention, victim services, workforce development, and human resources within county government, nonprofit organizations, and higher education systems. Each role has reinforced one truth: systems work best when they are rooted in humanity.
Today, I serve on the Early Intervention Team with Ramsey County, where I facilitate family-centered meetings designed to prevent children from entering foster care and strengthen support systems before crises escalate. My work includes leading Family Group Decision Making meetings, collaborating with multidisciplinary teams, and helping families create sustainable plans centered on safety, healing, and stability.
The work is complex. Families are often navigating trauma, poverty, domestic violence, mental health challenges, systemic barriers, and generational hardship all at once. In those moments, leadership is not about having all the answers it’s about creating space for dignity, collaboration, and hope. What makes this work meaningful is the ability to help people feel seen, especially in systems where they have historically felt unheard.
Before transitioning into early intervention, I worked in Child Protection, managing high-risk cases involving abuse, neglect, and family instability. These experiences strengthened my ability to navigate high-pressure environments while collaborating with law enforcement, courts, schools, medical professionals, and community organizations. I learned quickly that effective leadership requires emotional intelligence just as much as technical skill.
At the same time, my professional journey has never existed in just one lane.
Alongside my public service career, I pursued entrepreneurship through my food business, Delightful Bites by Corrin Elizabeth. What began in my mother’s kitchen became a creative outlet and eventually a growing business rooted in culture, connection, and community. Food became more than a service it became a way to bring people together during difficult times and create moments of comfort and joy.
Being both a public servant and an entrepreneur taught me resilience. It taught me how to build something from the ground up, adapt during uncertainty, and continue leading even when resources are limited. More importantly, it taught me that leadership does not have to fit into one category.
Women especially Black women in leadership are often expected to choose one identity: professional, advocate, entrepreneur, caregiver, visionary. The truth is, we can be all of those things simultaneously.
As women in leadership, we are redefining influence. Influence is not simply about visibility or recognition; it is about impact. It is about using our voices, our lived experiences, and our positions to create opportunities for others and challenge systems that no longer serve communities effectively.
My leadership philosophy is grounded in three principles: service, authenticity, and accountability. I believe in leading with empathy while still driving results. I believe collaboration is stronger than control. And I believe communities thrive when people feel empowered rather than judged.
The work I do today whether facilitating family meetings, training staff, supporting workforce development, or mentoring others is all connected by one mission: helping people move from crisis toward stability and from survival toward opportunity.
There is still much work to do within our systems and communities. But I remain hopeful because I see resilience every day in families fighting for change, in professionals committed to service, and in women who continue breaking barriers while creating space for others to rise alongside them.
Leadership is not about perfection. It is about purpose. And purpose-driven leadership has the power to transform communities for generations to come.
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