*Originally recorded November 19, 2021*
Co-hosted by Inspiring Women Among Us (IWAU)

Mary Tidlund
Author

Abstract: Please join me to hear my story about starting life as a brown-skinned baby with the odds against me in the 1950s, to being the first black woman CEO in the energy industry. I also founded an international charitable foundation focused on development work with women and children. I share my story to encourage others to figure out what they’re capable of, and how to carve out a place in the world. I will cover three intertwined parts of my life, and talk about what we can accomplish while we’re still a “work in progress”. I will talk about growing up as a foster child, my eventual adoption, and my successful intercontinental search for my birth parents. I’ll touch upon my decade as the successful CEO of a multi-million dollar oil and gas service company, which ended with bankruptcy. I’ll share how I recovered from the devastating loss of my business and began again. I’ll also explain how I transferred my skills, founded an international charitable organization, and focused on “giving back” collaboratively.