As the new marketing manager for an e-commerce company who already leads her own successful and busy career consulting firm while also volunteering to empower others to succeed, Rachel Pitchford’s life is a busy one.
This QCBJ Woman of Influence quipped that she inherited that hectic lifestyle from a family deeply rooted in community service, but she clearly embraces it.
Tomeka Toney – a colleague who nominated the friend she calls “a force for meaningful progress, a visionary strategist, and a champion of equity and access” – has seen firsthand Ms. Pitchford’s commitment to others.
“Rachel embodies the essence of a Woman of Influence – not just through titles or achievements, but through the lives she impacts, the policies she shapes, and the opportunities she creates,” Ms. Toney wrote. “Her leadership is bold, her commitment is unwavering and her impact is undeniable.”
Take Ms. Pitchford’s Life Advisors LLC, the busy development training and marketing consulting business she created and owns. Its goal, she said, is to “fill a gap that I kept seeing over and over with brilliant people who had these powerful ideas but who lacked the clarity, confidence or the communication tools to move forward.”
Then there is Ms. Pitchford’s new role at Anya’s Reviews. “I am really excited about this endeavor because they’re really redefining how people think about comfort movement and foot health,” she said. “They’re not just selling shoes, they’re helping people, making their lives better.”
That’s a common thread woven into the life of this leader who is passionate about connecting with women and helping them achieve their goals professionally and personally through the empowerment organizations she supports.
Near to her heart is Lead(h)er, where she has served as a mentee, mentor, governance committee member and now on the board of directors. At Lead(h)er, Ms. Pitchford said “We are really trying to dissolve the isolation trap that a lot of women can fall into when you’re needing some of that support, when you’re needing guidance, when you’re needing clear next steps.” That work, she added, “accelerates careers and lives.”
She also is on the board of Humility Homes & Services where “we strongly believe that housing is a human right. It is not something that you should have to struggle to afford.”
She also is a member of the Davenport Civil Service Commission and lends her expertise to Quad Cities Dress for Success and other groups.
Ms. Pitchford credits her parents and older sisters for leading by example. But it wasn’t until Ms. Pitchford, then a student at Black Hawk College, got a powerful nudge during a phone call from her grandmother. “She said, ‘What are you doing?’ I was like, ‘Oh, you know just going to school and just going home.’ And she was like, ‘No! … What are you doing for your community? What are you doing for the world, for other people?’” Ms. Pitchford recalled.
The next day, she went to the student life office “and got busy.” She began attending student government meetings and rose to secretary, vice president, and student government representative on the statewide Illinois Community College Board.
Were their challenges ahead? “Absolutely, especially as a woman of color navigating different leadership spaces,” she said. “Sometimes people have preconceived notions about who should be leading and who belongs in a room.”
She soon learned, however, “to be confident in myself and standing in my purpose.”
And she had this advice to young women seeking to lead: “Above all, build as you climb. Leadership is not about being the only one who made it. The impact that matters most is the kind that outlives you and the kind that opens doors, shares the blueprint and opens the path so that others can rise too.”
BIO
Childhood home: Quad Cities
Residence: Quad Cities
Family: Two older sisters
Education: Black Hawk College where she served on the BHC Student Government Association and was student representative of the statewide Illinois Community College Board.
WORDS OF WISDOM
“Leadership is not about being the only one who made it. The impact that matters most is the kind that outlives you and the kind that opens doors and shares the blueprint so that others can rise, too.”
