#LeadershipTuesdays: Why not me?...Geisha Williams

"It's the power of influence and having someone that you look up to tell you that they think you can do something that you don't think you can do yourself. I didn't know I was going to become CEO. At that point, I doubted it, but I thought, I'm going places. I'm going to work hard and I am going to be a leader."

--Geisha J. Williams, CEO, PG&E

On Tuesdays, womenatliberty.com presents #LeadershipTuesdays, a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage and strengthen women leaders. Geisha Jimenez Williams immigrated to America from Cuba with her parents at five years old in the mid 1960's. Fleeing as political refugees, they started out with virtually nothing but the clothes on their backs. Her parents eventually became successful business owners and she grew up to be the first Latina CEO of a fortune 500 company.

Her story is an amazing example of success. Even more interesting is how she, an immigrant who spoke no English, prepared herself to be in a position to lead a major corporation and make history? She gives a lot of credit to her parents, her work ethic and her mentor.

After leaving Cuba where her father had been held in jail for three years because of his political views, her family migrated to Minnesota. But because their initial sponsor died within a month after their arrival, they had to move again. They eventually settled in New Jersey where her father worked in a factory during the day and washed dishes in a restaurant at night. Her mother worked out of the family home. They saved their money and were soon able to buy a modest grocery store in New Jersey. After school Geisha would come to the store, do her homework and then relieve her mother who also worked at the store so that her mother could go home and start the family dinner. Seeing her parents work hard, gave her a strong work ethic that has followed her throughout her career.

Williams also credits an early mentor at her first job at Florida Power and Light, Clark Cook, with helping her question her limited view of what she could achieve in her career. He said to her, "Geisha, somebody has to run this company some day. Why not you?" She refers to him as a role model for diversity and inclusion.

That question and his belief in her abilities stayed with her and helped her to ask herself, why not me? 'Why can't I be the first Latina President of a large company'. An unimaginable dream for any Latinx at the time.

She believed, work hard, and prepared herself. She earned an engineering degree at the University of Miami and later an MBA at Nova Southeastern University in Florida. She took on a series of work assignments in customer service, marketing, external affairs and electric operations to make sure she was prepared and had a broad base of experience. Today, after 30 years in the utilities industry, she is the President and Chief Executive Officer of PG&E, a position she was promoted to in March 2017.

Williams is a shining example of excellence and achievement. She and her husband, Jay, have raised two daughters, Carolyn and Anne, whom she is very proud of. Check out her talk with Poppy Harlow at Fortune's 2017 Most Powerful Women Summit.

For more information on #LeadershipTuesdays, go to womenatliberty.com. There you'll find resources to help you develop your leadership skills and learn from others who are successful leaders.