At 35 years old, Tiffany Cooley is paving the way for a new generation of young black professional women.
Her biggest challenge, she says, is not her race or gender, but her age.
“At my last two jobs, I was the youngest person in the office and I was the boss,” said Cooley, who has more than 10 years of experience in Human Resources.
In January, she took up a new post as president of the Professional Organization of Women Inc., whose mission is to empower African-American women to learn, lead and succeed in both business and civic endeavors.
“I will be able to look back one day and say I was the president and look at where they are now,” Cooley said. “It’s a privilege and honor for me to leave a legacy.”
Cooley credited her success to her upbringing.
Cooley, raised in the Penrose neighborhood, was brought up in a very close-knit family that also includes her two sisters and two brothers. Her mother, LaJoyce Cobb, worked as a manager at Boatman’s Bank, while her father, Melvin Cooley, worked at General Motors.
But Cooley’s aunt, LaThea Morris, was the one who pushed her to do anything if she just believed in herself.
“She’ll push you to go outside and build a rocket and you don’t even have a tool,” Cooley said.
As a child, Cooley considered herself to be a girly-girl, loving to cook and make clothes for her dolls. Her mother would involve her in everything from sports to Girl Scouts to musicals to rid her of her shyness. At one point, when her maternal grandfather died, Cooley contemplated quitting college. But her mother held a family meeting to deter her.
“My uncle, both of my aunts, my grandparents and my mother were all there,” Cooley said. “I wanted to quit, but I didn’t feel like that was an option.”
Cooley eventually received her bachelor’s degree in business administration from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. Shortly thereafter, she obtained her master’s degree in human resources from Washington University. She also pledged the Gamma Omega graduate chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.
“I would fight for education, that’s how important it is to me,” said Cooley, who now works as the director of Human Resources for Hazelwood School District. “That’s not a result of me working here, but that has always been a passion of mine.”
By the time Cooley graduated from college in 1996, she had already had plenty of professional experience under her belt. Her experiences with her last internship, Whitney Design manufacturing company, ultimately landed Cooley her first job as the company’s Human Resources coordinator.
Before Hazelwood, Cooley’s last role was with the President Casino where she was the director of Human Resources and one of the youngest members on the executive team. She was responsible for more than 600 employees and directly oversaw two departments.
At the time, Cooley said she was looking for more ways to get involved in the community. That’s when she came across an article in the St. Louis Business Journal highlighting the Professional Organization of Women. Cooley said she saw the organization as an opportunity to socialize with other professional businesswomen of color.
“I said, “Wow, these were professional women like myself who are young and whom I can interact with to find out what they are doing,” Cooley said.
She joined POW and served as the organization’s parliamentarian for two years before getting voted to succeed Cynthia Watson as president in January.
To date, POW has partnered with a number of community-outreach agencies including Habitat for Humanity, Almost Home and Haven of Grace, as well as Community Women Against Hardship and Girls Inc. of St. Louis. Just recently the organization partnered with Marian Middle School to provide students with life and educational mentoring.
“I enjoy what I do, but the overall passion is I’m helping people,” Cooley said.
In the future, Cooley said she wants to focus on finding her purpose in life, which she believes lies somewhere in the realm of cooking or event planning. She got engaged in April to fiancé Michael Slater. The couple plan to wed in August and hope to start a family sometime soon. Cooley is also working toward her MBA at Webster University and is still very active with her alma mater, Cardinal Ritter High School.
But as of right now, Cooley said she is focused on leading a successful legacy for the Professional Organization of Women Inc.
Her advice to young women entering the professional field is simple – get your education.
“You’ve got to be educated, that’s the most important thing,” she said. “It’s already hard to get a job, so the more you can add to your resume, it will give you a step up.”
