(upbeat music) - She's President of Ms.

Wheelchair America, plus she coordinates Ms.

Wheelchair in her home state of Michigan.

Of course, she's worn the crown herself, so let's hear her story.

Welcome, Shelly Loose to this edition of "Power Women, Let's Talk."

It's good to be a Shelly.

- It is.

Shellies are good.

- Good that you are here to share your powerful story, and of course, I have to ask if you still have that crown from what, 2007?

- Yes, I was Ms.

Wheelchair Michigan 2007, and yes, I still have the crown, I put it on just to make myself feel special.

- Yes, hopefully that's on a daily basis, but you are special, the things that you do for our community.

But I need to take, you need you to take us back, well, to your beginnings, maybe even pre-wheelchair.

- Wow, boy, that was a long time ago.

I have been using a chair for 35 years.

I had just finished college, I went to Aquinas, graduated with my degree in music education, I was almost done with my first year of college, or first year of teaching, and I swerved to miss a deer, lost control of the car, and broke my neck.

- [Shelley] And, 35 years later, would you go back?

- Would I change it?

- Yes.

- No, no.

- I heard that, why do you say that?

- Well, because when you're faced with that type of adversary, adversity, you realize how strong you are, and you wouldn't have, I wouldn't be who I am had I not lived through the experiences that I have, and I wouldn't have a story to share that would impact others either.

- Let's talk about how you're special to us.

You are involved in Ms.

Wheelchair Michigan, Ms.

Wheelchair America, what's this all about?

- Ms.

Wheelchair America is really an organization that is about empowering women.

Now, you know, we don't say it's a pageant, we say it's a competition, because we don't, the girls are not, girls, the women are not judged on their outward appearance, even though we're all beautiful, they are judged on their advocacy skills, on their ability to talk to others about disabilities, and how to make the world a better place.

And to this date, has it been successful, has there been a new woman crowned that goes and shares her platform and represents women in chairs?

- Oh yes.

50 years, we are finishing our 50th year of advocacy, and we have crowned a new title every year except pandemic, we had to skip a year, so one of our national titleholders was titleholder for two years.

- Nice.

Bring me back again to your title of Ms.

Wheelchair Michigan.

What was your advocacy campaign?

My campaign was to reach children and get them to understand that disabilities aren't something to be afraid of, the things that we do are things they do, we just may do them differently, and to make sure that they understood that we're just people, too.

So I went around to 30 different elementary schools and would talk to them about my disability, ask them what they think I could do, and we'd play a thumbs up, thumbs down, like do you think I can drive, and it's like oh no, you know, and it's like no, thumbs up, I can drive.

So you know, it was just fun to do those types of things, to interact with them, to show them that I could do things they didn't think I could.

- Yeah, educate us to the American Disabilities Act and any other facts and figures we should know.

- Wow.

The Americans with Disabilities Act actually was signed into law in 1990, and I was already a chair user, so I can remember hearing or seeing on the news that the Americans with Disabilities Act had been signed, and I was like, oh, you know, kind of what is this?

And never realized the impact that it would truly have on my life at first.

- [Shelley] What still needs to be done?

- Oh, a lot.

- Need a half an hour.

- Yeah, got another half?

Yeah, I think one of the things that I see is that these laws are in place, but many of them aren't enforced, people don't know how to get them enforced, they don't know what their rights are, and but I like to say, you know, don't make the changes because it's the law.

Make the changes because it's the right thing to do.

Making the world accessible for all makes it accessible for all.

- Move into perhaps myths you'd like to dispel when it comes to using a chair and those who don't use a chair, what makes you boil?

- Okay, dispelling some of the myths, you know, there is life after a wheelchair.

It can be an amazing life, it can be a very successful life, you can you know, you're still gonna have goals, you're still gonna have dreams, you just need to pursue, continue to pursue them.

It may take a different avenue, and but you know, if it's something you truly feel you want to do, there are ways to do it.

- Do you want us to hold the door for you?

- Okay, I might not fit in with everyone else, but you know, yeah, you can hold the door for me, because doors are probably one of the hardest things for me to deal with, and I always make sure I say thank you and you know, I on occasion will say, "Would you please open the door for me?"

I can open the door myself, but it's just nice to have that little bit of assistance when it saves me time and energy that I can use on something else.

- And I trust you want us to talk to you, and not your caregiver about you?

- Oh absolutely, absolutely.

It's quite interesting, my husband and I are both in wheelchairs, so when we go out to a restaurant, quite often it's who do we look at, who do we talk to?

You know, that kind of unsure, and at that point, I just always say, you know, "We would like," or "I would like," you know, so just put them at ease right away and know that I'll talk for myself.

- Let's spend some time talking about that husband.

Tell me about your wedding day.

- Wow, there were 10 million people that attended our wedding.

We were married in 19-- - You said 10 million.

- 10 million, yeah.

- I'll let you talk.

- It was a big wedding.

In 1993 in February, my husband and I were married on "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee," and Regis was the best man, Kathie Lee was the matron of honor.

It is hard to believe that it's almost 30 years since that happened.

It was incredible.

Again, it's just one of those experiences that I wouldn't have experienced had I not been in my chair, if I hadn't had my disability.

- And you both met at a rehabilitation center.

- Yes, we both met at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Center in Grand Rapids.

It just so happened we were both inpatients at the same time, he was injured two years after mine, I was back to work on some new skills, and because his injury is the same as my injury, they had us working together so that I could, you know, as an expert teach him what things worked for me and how I did things.

Little did I know, you know, two years later, he would be teaching me a whole lot more than I ever taught him.

- I bet they were just matchmaking in the end.

And I understand there's a child, to dispel some myths.

- Yes, definitely to dispel the myth.

My husband and I were able to conceive, we conceived through University of Michigan's Spinal Cord Fertility Clinic, and it was 33 round trips, we were determined, and finally, we conceived.

I was able to carry her almost to term, she was six weeks early, and yet everyone, that's another myth is oh, she must've been a C section, and no, she was a natural birth.

- [Shelley] You remind her of that every day.

- Yeah, well actually, labor with her was only 45 minutes, so I say if everyone's labor was like hers, there'd be a whole lot more children in the world.

- What do you say to a young woman who has just had an accident and is looking at using a wheelchair?

- There is life.

There will be struggles, but there is life, and then I would talk to them about what I've overcome, and how I've handled some of the challenges or point out other women and other people that have handled these situations, you know?

If you want to go skydiving, you can still go skydiving.

- You have.

- I have, yeah.

You know, if you want to water ski, you can, there's adaptive equipment to make that happen.

Snow skiing is another big one, golf, you name it, and we can adapt a sport.

- [Shelley] What's still on your bucket list?

- Oh, I'm pretty old so I'm not as brave as I used to be.

Boy, bucket list.

I don't know, that's a hard one, that's a hard one.

- You'll have to get back to us.

- Okay, I can do that.

- On that, and I guess in conclusion, what is the future of those with disabilities with hopefully laws, with the society becoming aware that we're all equal?

- I think now is a perfect time for acceptance and everyone is you know, we're all learning and changing about accepting people even though they are different, you know, and respect their differences.

So I really think that, or I hope that things for people with disabilities will start to get better and we will just be part of the fabric, we won't stand out, people won't notice us and you know, think that we're weird or you know, be afraid to talk to us because we have a disability.

I think that's kind of one of the other myths is that if you have a physical disability, you also have a mental disability, and that's not necessarily true.

Sometimes it is, but even those people with their cognitive impairments have something to offer.

- 10 million at your wedding.

If each would've given you a dollar for like a wedding gift?

- Wow, that would've been amazing.

I would've been set.

- That chair would've, could probably fly.

- Yes, I think so.

- You're powerful, Shelly Loose.

Thank you for this edition of "Powerful Women: Let's Talk" and sharing your story with us.

- Thank you a lot, Shelley.

(upbeat music) - Hello everyone, thanks for joining us.

It is time for another edition of "Powerful Women: Let's Talk."

I'm Jennifer Moss, again thanks for joining us.

So happy to bring you today's powerful woman, Valissa Armstead, she is the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Spectrum Health System, for the Spectrum Health System.

Valissa is responsible for ensuring the strategic alignment of DEI to Spectrum Health's internal and external strategies.

She's a proven innovator, relationship builder, change event, and an influencer for diversity, equity, and inclusion, bringing firsthand an expert knowledge to Spectrum Health's DEI efforts.

I'm so glad to welcome you, Valissa Armstead, to "Powerful Women: Let's Talk."

- Thank you Jennifer, I'm excited to be be here.

- And we're excited to have you.

A little more background before we get started with our conversation.

Valissa joined Spectrum Health in July of 2015.

Under her guidance, Spectrum Health's leadership signed the #123forEquity Pledge which builds on the efforts of the American Hospital Association's national call to action to eliminate healthcare disparities.

A native of Flint, Michigan, Valissa previously worked as an engineer and as a direct result, understands the importance of data as the foundation for strategic recommendation.

You have quite an accomplished career.

The big question that I always like to start with is, are you enjoying your journey?

- I am enjoying my journey, and it has been quite the journey.

One of the things I'm passionate about is DEI, and I actually did diversity, equity, and inclusion before it was my formal position, so I always joke about if there was anything you loved to do and you didn't get paid to do it, what would it be, and it would be working in the DEI space, except I want to get paid to do it.

- Absolutely, that's always a big thing that you want to have, right?

It's like, that's okay, I'll do it, but.

So as we talk about powerful women, have there been any barriers that you've encountered along your career's path, and I would especially say and ask this, when you move from being an engineer into the DEI field, I mean I don't know how that transition works, engineer, DEI, tell us about that.

- So being in the engineering field, I worked in engineering for 14 years, and that actually is what helped shaped my lived experience and my passion for DEI.

Most of the times I was either the only female or the only African American in my positions and roles-- - [Jennifer] Or both.- - Or both, and so facing the barriers of a lot of times, the glass ceiling, being able to move up within my organization was a challenge for me, and so I used that challenge to actually fuel my passion to be able to help other women not face the same barriers that I faced, such as being able to grow within your organization, and put an emphasis on career progression.

So from that point, I decided to take a career change, go and get my masters degree in business, and really start to tap into understanding organizational dynamics and what is entailed when we talk about career progression, and then what strategies out there exist that could help women such as myself move up within their organizations.

- So as you mentioned that, and looking at those things, on this journey in life as you strive to move forward, many women say it took awhile to get there.

You face those challenges, those obstacles.

What did it take, for our listeners and our viewers, for you to become comfortable in your own skin, you know, to kind of find that voice?

Doing equity and inclusion work, which I would imagine could be challenging, you had to get comfortable with you first before you can go out there and go for other folks, right?

- That's a good question.

I think I was always comfortable, I think the challenge for me was finding a mentor that looked like me, and that was a big journey, and for a long time, I didn't find a mentor that looked like me.

I created what I call my board of directors, so I have a mentor, I have someone who supports me as a sponsor, and then I surrounded myself with a network to help me grow and develop, develop in terms of my knowledge and skillset, and then really how do I learn to become more political savvy, and that is really what helped me to progress forward, it was really my board of directors.

- And that gave you that confidence, did it give you that inner, you know, self of I can do this?

- Correct, correct.

- And that's where it kind of bounced off from there.

You know, I know you work with a lot of people, clearly, what leadership traits do you like to see in folks, you know, perhaps those that you work with, that are on this journey with you and even those you mentor?

- Yeah, in the DEI space, I think you have to really be resilient, so I'm looking for someone who has traits of being a resilient leader, knowing how to flex their leadership style too.

In DEI, you really need to have some servant leadership skills as well because we're really there to serve, serve the community, serve our workforce, serve individuals who we partner with and our own peers, so for me, it is a lot around resilient leader, servant leader, and a participant leader.

One of the things we talk about in the DEI space is we can kinda call ourselves chief collaborative officers, 'cause it's all about how do you build those relationships and be able to be an influencer, even when you're not in a leadership role.

So those would be the traits that I would say.

- You know, there's a lot going on in the country today, diversity, equity, and inclusion is a centerpiece in many organizations now, for many reasons.

How difficult, or is it difficult to navigate in the climate of America today being a DEI, in leadership in DEI, heading up a major organization?

- Yes, that's one of the things we talk about in our sister circle.

We talk about how do you ensure you have a tough skin, especially being an African American woman and seeing some of the things that are happening in society and has happened in society like around African American men, for example, myself raising an African American son and seeing some of the things that's happened in society potentially coming into our workforce.

How do I ensure that I remain nonbiased and yet still be active in the work that I do?

I think just looking at my children and knowing that the work that I'm doing is actually helping to pave the way for them to be successful, continues to drive me forward in the work that I do, so.

- We talked about this, touched on it, what inspired you to make your home with diversity, equity, and inclusion, making that switch from being an engineer.

I mean, what really kicked that off, because you were 14 years, you were an engineer, and there's a difference there, I think there is.

(laughs) - It is.

One of the things that I was fortunate enough to do is when I went into engineering, my mentor, one of my mentors was in HR, and so she would pull me in and we would talk strategy on how can we increase diversity within the engineering space or the organization that I worked for at the time, so part of that was looking at data, seeing the gaps that we had in terms of representation and then how do we come about developing strategies to increase and close those gaps?

I found myself being more excited when I was working with her to address diversity issues as it related to representation than I was just doing my own engineering work.

A lot of times in engineering, those positions can be very siloed, very introvert type of work, and I'm more of am ambivert, I can go either way, and so just being able to be more involved in that work.

Later on, I ended up joining our volunteer African American group and started to get more involved in DEI work and that just continued to fuel my passion.

When I found myself looking at other people who was getting jobs, being excited about being with an organization that they thought they wouldn't be able to get into, I said, you know what?

I think I need to make a career change, because I'm really, really enjoying this, and so, the benefit is data.

Everything we did in engineering drives by data, and for me, everything in DEI drives by data if you want to move the needle.

- Okay, if you want to move that needle.

So basically, it was a passion, it was in your heart.

- [Valissa] Yes.

- So the move makes a lot of sense for you.

Are you enjoying it again, so I just want to reiterate that.

- I am, I am.

- Good for you.

So a lot of women deal with those daily pressures, even if you're enjoying your work, getting it all done.

You're raising kids, you still have kids at home, what is your advice to women who are in the process of raising kids, perhaps maybe on a similar journey, you know, feeling that pressure of getting it all done, because it takes a lot to be a mother as well.

- Mm-hmm.

I would say learn to turn it off.

When you get home, it's important to turn it off.

In the DEI space, living it at work and then sometimes coming home and living it in the community can be very challenging, it can be stressful, but you gotta learn to turn it off.

You gotta be able to ensure that you have self-care.

If you don't find a space that you can be comfortable with just not doing anything, that's when you might need to look at, you know, what are you doing wrong, and looking at how that is really impacting your family.

So self-care.

- Speaking of self-care, speaking of turning it off, what are some of the ways you relax or have fun with your family and friends?

- I'm very competitive, and so are my family is as well.

We're very sports-oriented, but one of the things I really love that I found out of happenstance, if you will, is running, and so I'm passionate about running, passionate about long-distance running, and that did, and anybody who knows me from high school, I won't say what my nickname was in running, but I was not the best runner.

- Uh-oh.

Contrasting where you are today, probably.

- Correct, correct.

I did not love long-distance running.

I loved short running, but I was diagnosed with high cholesterol many years ago, and when that happened, my doctor said, you know, "You would have to be on medication "for the rest of your life unless you change "how you eat, how you, your exercise," and prior to being diagnosed that way, I was already very active, but I didn't realize how much I let myself go.

So I started incorporating running, and I had a trainer, and my trainer said find something, you need a target that will keep you going, so I found a 5K here in Grand Rapids.

Shout out to Fifth Third River Bank Run, and that was the first 5K I did, and after that I got hooked on running because I found it as a way for me to have time to myself, time to decompress, and so I've been using that time to continue to run and it just so happens, cholesterol free for many years now, no concerns there.

- Good for you.

- And it just helped me to continue staying with my self-care.

- And again, finding that self-care, finding that piece that you can stick to, and that's a problem I think for a lot of people is finding what they like to do so that they stick with it.

- Correct.

- To make those changes.

Easy-breezy question, what makes you laugh?

- My kids.

(laughs) And I wold say one of the things that makes me laugh now is my great niece.

She is, she just turned one, and she's just the cutest little thing, so you know, reliving that childhood again when I raise my own kids, just watching her now that she's walking and things like that is, and trying to talk, makes me laugh.

- That's kinda fun, isn't it?

So so much happening in the world today, people are often looking for a word of encouragement.

Do you by chance have any favorite sayings, perhaps a motto or something that you use to encourage yourself or others?

- So that's a good question.

I would say my favorite word is beautiful, and if you're talk to anybody, say, "You always say beautiful," but to me, it is, you have to look at everything as it is being beautiful, or in the world today, you'll really be down with some of the things that is currently happening.

But beautiful is my word.

- Well beautiful has been this conversation.

Valissa Armstead, we really enjoyed you coming here for "Powerful Women: Let's Talk."

Thank you so much, and thank you so much for joining us for another edition of "Powerful Women: Let's Talk."

See you next time.

(upbeat music)