Deborah R. Bell

I attribute my success to never giving up and keeping my faith in God. No matter where you are in life, you need to keep searching for God, because if it had not been for God, I wouldn't have been able to keep going. I wouldn't have had that get up and go even when my back hurt, even through my transplant in my spine, through MS problems and lupus. I went down the road of giving up on God once, but that experience became my encourager to tell people, don't give up. Keep searching for where you're supposed to be on this side of the cross, and don't give up, because your reward is in heaven, and that can't come until you leave Earth. God has kept my mentality very upbeat, because anybody can get depressed and give up on things. My mother was always telling me to never give up on my skills and always have more than one skill, because you never know when you might have to pivot to survive. The best career advice I ever received was from my typing teacher in high school, Mrs. Washington, who told me 'Never give up. You will need your education. You will need your backup. Don't give up.' She kept encouraging me throughout my life, saying 'Keep going, keep going.' I know my career transformations were God's doing. You don't make those kinds of transformations by yourself.

The best career advice I ever received was from my typing teacher in high school in 1974, Mrs. Washington. I was a young married woman then, still in high school, and I was getting ready to just quit and go on with my job. She encouraged me and said, 'You will need your education. You will need your backup. Don't give up just looking at the higher goal of working and taking care of your family. You need to continue. Don't give up.' I ended up working with her years later when I worked at the Board of Education here in Nashville at central office, and every time she'd go by me, she'd get excited and say 'Oh, there you are,' but she'd tell me not to tell anybody she was a teacher because that would make her old. It was so cute, but it was good to see her throughout my life, and she was my encourager, always saying 'Keep going, keep going.' My mother also always told all of us to never give up on your skills and always have more than one skill, because you never know when you might have to just wash toilets to survive and turn that hat around and do that other skill so that you can function in life.

The most important values to me are faith, perseverance, and service to others. My faith in God is central to everything. No matter where you are in life, you need to keep searching for God, because if it had not been for God, I wouldn't have been able to keep going through all my health challenges with lupus, MS, and spine issues. God has kept my mentality very upbeat, because anybody can get depressed and give up on things. I believe in never giving up and keeping that get up and go attitude. My encourager to people is don't give up, keep searching for where you're supposed to be on this side of the cross, because your reward is in heaven. I also value using whatever skills and abilities I have to help others. Whatever my hands find to do, I usually get a couple of folks together and say let's do this. I volunteer regularly with the Tennessee Prison Outreach Ministry and Nashville Mission, donate clothes, lead a prayer team of ladies, and stay very busy helping others because I'm never still. I believe in always having more than one skill and being willing to pivot when needed, because you never know when circumstances might change. Even when I was on a really low part of my life taking care of two boys by myself, I worked for the Board of Education in the daytime and sold clothes at night, using skills I had to keep going.