Ayanna Lott Pollard had made a plan for her life, and then life got in the way of her plan. But she eventually found her personal ingredients for making it in the words of Maya Angelou — thrive with passion, compassion, humor, and style.

Welcome to Making It! This weekly show explores the lives and stories of entrepreneurs as they share their unique perspectives on their success and the path to making it.

Ayanna Lott Pollard is the executive director of Resilient Coders, an organization that provides transformational tech training to people from underserved and underprivileged communities.

“I’m not merely surviving, but I’m thriving, and I’m excited about the day.”

— Ayanna Lott Pollard

Ayanna Lott Pollard is the executive director of Resilient Coders, an organization that provides transformational tech training to people from underserved and underprivileged communities. Prior to this, she worked as an operations consultant at Virtua Health System for eight years, where she opened and managed the 54,000-square-foot health and wellness center and led 130 members of staff across operations, programs, human resources, client service, sales, and facility management. She is an intrapreneur with more than 20 years of experience developing and executing strategic initiatives, fostering high performing teams, and cultivating key partnerships with internal and external stakeholders. Her results have benefited organizations such as the Salvation Army, American Cancer Society, and the White House.

Resources or websites mentioned in this episode:
Mirasee
Ayanna’s LinkedIn: LinkedIn.com/in/ayanna-lp
Ayanna’s website: ResilientCoders.org

Credits:
Co-producers: Cassandra Topperwien and Geoff Govertsen
Supervising Producer: Cynthia Lamb
Executive Producer: Danny Iny
Audio Post Supervisors: Evan Miles and Christopher Martin
Audio Post Production: Post Office Sound
Music Soundscape: Chad Michael Snavely
Making our hosts sound great: Home Brew Audio

Music credits: 

Track Title: The Sunniest Kids
Artist Name: Rhythm Scott
Writer Name: Scott Roush
Publisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION

Track Title: Love and Circumstance
Artist Name: Shimmer
Writer Name: Matthew Wigton
Publisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION

Track Title: Veil of Secrets
Artist Name: Wicked Cinema
Writer Name: Matthew Wigton
Publisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION

Track Title: A Kind Word
Artist Name: Moments
Writer Name: Adrian Dominic Walther
Publisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION

Special effects credits:
24990513_birds-chirping_by_promission used with permission of the author and under license by AudioJungle/Envato Market.

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