Episode 1: Valerie Rainford

Valerie Rainford: Passion Plus PurposeIf passion and purpose are the currency of business, then Valerie Rainford has a lifetime of wealth from which to draw. Now, the founder and CEO of Elloree Talent Strategies, she is author of the award-winning memoir Until the Brighter Tomorrow: One Woman’s Courageous Climb from the Projects to the Podium. Her remarkable career is loaded with firsts: the youngest officer promoted in the history of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the most senior black woman and the first black woman Senior Vice President at JPMorgan Chase & Co. where she created and led the company’s global Advancing Black Leaders strategy which helped increase black leadership by over 50% in less than three years.In this remarkable conversation with Stuart Crainer of Thinkers50 and Geoff Tuff of Deloitte, Valerie charts her rise from being the child of sharecroppers to success in the corporate world. ‘Especially early in my career, I didn't know what I was capable of. I didn't have any role models to help me. So, I think that combination of being observant—asking what's happening with other people, asking what are they seeing?—and then someone saying, "You could do that", has been hugely successful for me,’ says Valerie as she shares the remarkable and inspiring story of her life and career.  This is the first interview in the Provocateurs podcast series of conversations with remarkable people. This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in this podcast are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.