April Showers Bring May Flowers…all the way from Ghana

— Submitted by Christine Winter, Xerox communications specialist

I love May. It’s not too hot in May; it’s not too cold in May; lilacs bloom in May (not to mention my birthday is in May). This May was particularly memorable because I had the privilege of meeting Nana Nana Addae Beecham.

Nana is the managing director of Seatec Telecom Services Ltd, a privately-owned company that provides advanced communications solutions for enterprises mainly within Ghana, Africa. She came to the U.S. via the FORTUNE/U.S. State Department Global Women’s Mentoring Partnership program to be mentored by Ursula Burns, Xerox’s chairman and CEO.

Much of her stay included meetings with senior women in U.S. government, academia and business in Washington, D.C., New York City and at Xerox headquarters in Norwalk, Conn. But we were lucky enough to host her for one exciting, yet exhausting day in Rochester, N.Y. to meet with various internal and external organizations that are parallel to her interests and business needs.

Almost the entire senior leadership team at PAETEC Holding Corp. welcomed Nana to their headquarters, offering her business insights and a look at one of their network operations centers. She also met with members of the Rochester Literacy Movement who shared their ideas for helping Nana‘s efforts to advance literacy in her community. And when you visit Rochester, you have to go to Wegmans. The manager there gave Nana a fabulous tour of the store, marveling at products we take for granted everyday– take milk and cheese for example.

Nana also met with Xerox’s Bill Steenburgh, senior vice president, Xerox Services, who provided  advice for better serving customers, followed by a roundtable with members of two women’s caucus groups at Xerox – The Women’s Alliance and the Black Women’s Leadership Council – a discussion that was truly empowering for women in leadership trying to obtain that work-life balance.

After all was said and done, it was sad to see Nana go. I knew she was grateful to learn from us, but I wasn’t sure she knew just how grateful we were to learn from her. What an experience…just when I thought my job couldn’t get any better.

— Christine Winter, Xerox communications specialist

2 Comments

  1. C Yvonne Hickey May 30, 2010 -

    Hello Nana!
    You are missed and welcome always! Please stay in touch… it was great to meet and host you in Connecticut, USA!
    Your friend,
    – Yvonne Hickey
    PS: I’ve been back for Ice Cream… per your direction!

  2. flowers July 20, 2010 -

    beautiful flowers

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