Her Story
About Sharon
Dr. Sharon Hargro Porter is an accomplished educator, media executive, publisher, and leadership coach whose career spans more than 30 years in education and over a decade in media and publishing. She currently serves as an elementary school principal and is the President-Elect of the Maryland Association of Elementary School Principals, where she advocates for educational leadership and school improvement across the state. Throughout her educational career, Dr. Porter has served in a variety of roles, including classroom teacher, instructional specialist, leadership coach, assistant principal, and principal. She is also the founder of the Aspiring Principal Leadership Academy, where she mentors and prepares emerging school leaders for successful transitions into the principalship.
Dr. Porter's entrepreneurial journey began in 2017 after publishing her first book and discovering a passion for helping others bring their stories to life. She founded Perfect Time SHP Publishing and launched the Write the Book Now podcast to provide authors with a platform to share their work and experiences. What started as a single podcast quickly evolved into SHP Media and Broadcasting, where she now produces and hosts multiple podcasts and interview programs. Her media portfolio continued to expand with the creation of The I Am Dr. Sharon Show and the launch of Vision and Purpose Lifestyle Magazine, where she serves as Editor-in-Chief. Through these platforms, she amplifies voices in leadership, business, education, and personal development while providing opportunities for authors, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders to reach broader audiences.
Known for what she calls her professional "trifecta"—education, leadership, and media—Dr. Porter has built a career dedicated to empowering others through mentorship, storytelling, and community impact. Guided by values of excellence, integrity, trust, and relationship-building, she invests countless hours developing educational leaders, producing meaningful content, and creating platforms that inspire growth and purpose. Looking ahead, she plans to expand her media presence nationally through satellite studio locations across the United States while continuing her mission to elevate voices, strengthen communities, and prepare the next generation of leaders. Outside of her professional pursuits, Dr. Porter enjoys listening to music and finding time to relax and recharge.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Sharon
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to excellence being one of my core tenets. I try to do everything in excellence, everything that I do, and that's why I try to make sure that I do what I have the bandwidth to do, so nothing falls short. I try not to take on too much and I try to know my limits. So I would say, really, it's just a mindset of excellence and influence in all that I do.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Focus on mentorship and continuous growth—never stop learning and always invest in developing others, because leadership is measured by the success of those you help rise.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Seek mentorship. That's true across all three areas that I serve - education, media, and publishing. A lot of times, people try to get through things alone, but I actively encourage you to seek someone to assist you. You want to try to avoid some of the pitfalls. There are lessons in failure, but if you don't have to fail, then don't. So if someone can navigate you through those pitfalls, definitely have that person by your side. My advice would be to seek mentorship.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenges in education right now are funding as number one, chronic absenteeism among students as number two (which has been a major issue post-COVID for school districts across the nation), and third, the social and emotional issues that students are demonstrating, again post-COVID, in children as young as elementary age. On the opportunities side, there's a great opportunity to really work in partnership with the community and with families to help resolve these challenges, to get parents and the community in the schools helping. That's one of the things that my school does a great job with - bringing the village together to help resolve these issues. A second opportunity is for advocacy, to stand up for what we need, which is one of the reasons why I chose to accept the nomination as president-elect for my principal's organization, for the opportunity to advocate for what we know we need as educators.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me are integrity, which I believe is probably the most important because you have to have that to build relationships and to have people work with you. Trust is also another value that I consider extremely important. And relationship building - I've learned later as an entrepreneur that you really have to not only network, but connect with people and cultivate relationships, because you need people to succeed. You can't be successful by yourself. Excellence is also one of my core tenets, as I try to do everything in excellence.
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