LaDrina Wilson is a talented storyteller. That combined with her willingness to confront uncomfortable issues and take on the difficult jobs that need doing have made her a respected and effective Quad Cities leader.
Consider that in 2022, even with the high demand for the services of her customized diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) training firm, Iman Consulting, and her leadership roles on community campaigns and organizations, Ms. Wilson took on the job of Quad Cities Chamber’s interim CEO. In January 2024, she handed the renewed, re-energized organization’s reins to President & CEO Peter Tokar III.
And yet Ms. Wilson was initially taken aback by her inclusion among the 2024 Women of Influence. “Women are so amazing and oftentimes we don’t get credit because we don’t want it, or we attribute our success or accomplishments to the collective rather than the individual,” she said. “We’re wired that way and we’re taught that as well.”
Little girls, for example, are taught to be nice and likable and not stand out. That matters, she said citing data that shows boys are called on in class more often than girls. “So I’m glad to be able to recognize the greatness that is here in the community through the other women leaders and honestly … just to have my name among them feels like a win,” she said.
There are advantages to not taking a bow. “That’s also kind of like our super power,” Ms. Wilson said. “We do it, it’s done and you move on.”
She also counts herself lucky that she can make a difference in the QC. “I get to do what I love and I get to help people.” And she brings deep academic experience in the past to her DEI work, including as Black Hawk College vice president of student services, Scott Community College dean of students and Eastern Iowa Community College District assistant director of enrollment. Her degrees include a Ph.D. from Iowa State University and a master’s from Western Illinois University Quad Cities.
Anamaria Rocha is Iman Consulting’s business manager. “Dr. Wilson is an inspirational leader who has a genuine way of connecting with others through candid storytelling,” Ms. Rocha wrote about her boss. “She is incredibly passionate about inclusion and equity and has an unmatched ability to facilitate difficult conversations to reach a shared understanding that I admire.”
Regarding that work, Ms. Wilson said “I’m not going to change people’s beliefs, attitudes and actions in 90 minutes. What I do is try to create curiosity, just enough that people maybe will lean in and do the work outside of this space.”
That work continues to be necessary. For example, she was approached not long ago by a community leader who told her “you realize that this other prominent influential community member – who was a male as well – doesn’t like working with women leaders,” she said.
“I don’t think that same person would have felt comfortable saying to me, ‘Well, you know he doesn’t like working with blacks.’ That wouldn’t have happened because we’re past that,” Ms. Wilson said. “That might have been a sentiment, and they might have felt it but no one would have been comfortable enough to say it.”
She added: “I wonder how much more powerful it would be if that same man said to the other man, ‘Sir, we’ve identified that you have a problem working with women leaders’ because the reality of it is that there are going to be more Women of Influence.”
Women today “are better positioned than we were 50 years ago, but yet and still, in 2024, I’m having that type of a conversation,” she said. “And if I can be a Woman of Influence for this region but still be subjected to that, what do you think it’s like for the people who are at the staff level, entry level, trying to ascend in their career?”
Ms. Wilson, who along with her husband Jadiem Wilson is raising four daughters, also lamented that women mothers are undervalued in some companies. “I do believe you can have the best of both worlds,” she said. “I have a really really rewarding career, an incredibly supportive partner and amazing kids and I make it work because that’s what we do. That’s what women do. We keep our heads down and we just get it done.”
This profile was originally published in the QCBJ’s 2024 Women of Influence publication. The QCBJ is excited to introduce this new awards program to the Quad Cities. Our inaugural class of Women of Influence are an inspiring group of trailblazers, role models and leaders in their workplaces and in their communities. They have overcome adversity, taken chances and committed themselves to making the Quad Cities community a better place for all of us to live, work and play.
The QCBJ will present the 2024 Women of Influence awards on Thursday, May 23, from 5:30-8 p.m., at the Quad Cities Waterfront Convention Center in Bettendorf. Tickets are still available to the event, which includes networking, dinner and remarks from the winners, by visiting quadcitiesbusiness.com.
