Dr. Shirley Stallworth

My professional journey spans 28 years in academia, where I served as an education analyst for 8 years and a college professor for 20 years in information technology. I started in corporate America as what they called a 'pink sheet girl,' then moved through accounting and eventually into an IT department as a secretary. Watching the programmers code, I realized this was something I wanted to do, so I went back to get my associate degree while learning on the job. A manager named Guy Geiger gave me my first opportunity in software distribution, where we validated data integrity on tapes. From there, I became an education analyst, which meant I would develop training courses and then travel across the country to teach them and validate that what I was developing actually communicated effectively to people. I traveled to 48 of the 50 states during those 8 years. I kept walking by classrooms and feeling empty and lonely, feeling like I should be in there teaching - that's how I knew I was supposed to be teaching. Eventually the travel became too much and I didn't have any kind of life, so I quit and got a job at a community college in the information technology department for 20 years. It wasn't until 2 years ago that I began to realize I had done some pretty amazing things - I didn't even think about it like that before. Through community outreach and leadership roles, I began to see what my gifts were, the things I effortlessly do. In 2024, I became a certified life coach and founded the Center of You, LLC. I'm planning to write a book called 'The Center of Me' using reverse logic - I came up with the title first and will go back and write the book, just like in the old days when we would design the output first and then code it to look like that.