women making history: melanie littlejohn

by maya aguirre

“She doesn’t stop.”

These were the words Melanie LittleJohn used when asked to describe herself from the perspective of the people closest to her, professionally and personally.

And this makes sense: today is the first official day of her term as the CEO of the Central New York Community Foundation. Before that, LittleJohn spent two decades in the electric and energy sectors as a leader at National Grid and Niagara Mohawk, where she put people at the forefront of her work – all through her dedication to corporate social responsibility and advocacy for others.

But when describing herself, she added the qualities she hoped to embody as a person. And those qualities were also true to how she leads. “She is kind, thoughtful, and a fierce warrior when she needs to be,” LittleJohn described herself.

“You know I had someone very early in my career say to me, leave your personal life outside the door. I said I will not. I am a mother, 24 hours a day. I am a wife, I am a daughter, I am a friend, I am a sister. That does not stop when I walk in the door.” LittleJohn said. 

LittleJohn is not afraid to bring her authentic, whole self into any room she walks in. Her sentences were thoughtful and self-assured. Her bright lipstick matched her purple and blue dress. She was unapologetically confident.

“When I say that I am a fierce warrior, I am a fierce warrior to get rid of foolishness – that has no place, in a workplace, or in the community – where we don’t see and value people first. And I am a people's first leader, always have been, always will be until I'm not. My fierce warrior is a fierce warrior for people.”

While she has taken time to become the ‘fierce warrior’ she is today, she has done so equipped with the values and foundation the people she loves and trusts, or her ‘board of directors,’ have given her. And that board of directors, as she described them, ranges. 

LittleJohn was nurtured and sewn into by people around her professionally and personally, from those who taught her the unspoken rules in her first job on Wall Street (hint; bankers wear black, blue or gray. Brown is for the trees and green is only for money – she learned this the hard way) to those who taught her how to be an advocate and voice for those who needed it.

And it wasn’t always easy for LittleJohn, some days it still isn’t. She faced the same imposter syndrome many of us face in our lives every day, as leaders, and as people in every realm of our lives.

“The moment you lose imposter syndrome, people will stop treating you like an imposter,” LittleJohn continued, “As a Black woman in corporate America specifically, [I’ve been] the first, the only, and the lonely in the room. And then as I began to sit at some of these tables, I started to see how someone treating me as though I was an imposter was their own insecurity about who I was. I made someone uncomfortable with who I was. Which made them lean in heavier to trying to discredit or appreciate the value I brought.”

But LittleJohn has always known better than to get up from those tables. She carries responsibility, and a great deal of it. 

“I had a few ‘a-ha’ moments. I said wow. My light is making you uncomfortable. My brains, how I think about something – and I am a very nontraditional thinker – is making you uncomfortable. What’s that about?” 

Being a leader is a lot of pressure. LittleJohn leaned into that.

“If I get up from this table, someone else won. Not on my dime. So it’s a responsibility. And that is the advocacy. That is standing in the gap, being courageous and fierce, but in my own way.”

LittleJohn was recognized first for these qualities when she was working her first job, as a receptionist at a brokerage house. She was a young, wide-eyed woman from Queens with curiosity, and a foundational belief in ‘blooming where you’re planted.’

“All of the partners would get the Financial Times, the Walls Street Journal, just all of the papers. And I would get bored. So what did I do? I’d pick up papers and just start reading everything. And of course, a part of what I did with some of the partners was ask about trends I was reading in the newspaper. One partner came to me one evening and said to me ‘Alright. I have a friend who is looking for some folks to come to Bankers Trust. You've outgrown this.” LittleJohn recounted.

LittleJohn worked her way to the positions she is in today through opportunities. She expressed gratitude for the ‘calculated, good chances’ others took on her, which allowed her to be an instrument for real, tangible change.

LittleJohn referenced her own mother’s words, words she uses to motivate herself when things get hard. Her mother’s influence, along with that of her other relatives, came up a few times. 

“My mother always used to say, ‘Girl, stay in the ring. Go stand on the ropes for a minute, catch your breath, but stay in the ring.’,” LittleJohn said.

Embracing imperfection allows LittleJohn to stay in the ring, even on days when fighting gets hard.

But it all comes back to the people for Melanie LittleJohn.

“Sometimes the word mentor feels limiting. Because it is really to encourage, to show people what I see in them.” LittleJohn said.

“I like to use myself as an instrument of good, helping people to see all of who they are. When I do that, the work I do here, it becomes my second skin. It’s about how we do the most good.”