Jacqueline Cromity

Jacqueline Cromity is an entrepreneur, speaker, facilitator, engineering manager, and emerging author with a gift for reaching and motivating people with REAL messages. She is the founder of Genuine Self Images (GSI), an organization that provides a variety of unique services for teen girls and young women, empowering them for personal growth, positive change, and healing. GSI seeks to aid its members in developing needed skills while transitioning to adulthood, promoting emotional and social competencies. 

Jacqueline comes from humble beginnings. She lost her mother when she was only five years old. Meanwhile, in elementary school, she was put in remedial classes, picked on by other children, and found herself struggling economically—like so many African American families in the 1970s. Despite her upbringing in church and the blessing of a strong father, she made bad decisions, struggled with low self-esteem, and didn’t have much hope for a bright future. But that wasn’t the end of Jackie’s story. Her stumbling blocks became her stepping stones, and she went on to become a strong leader in the 21st century, influencing others with the kind of real-life experience that has made it easy for people to relate to her. 

Though she went on to college in 1997, Jacqueline’s decision making didn’t improve until she returned to what she considers to be her foundation, recommitting her life to Jesus. Afterward, she founded “Woman to Woman” (W2W) at Winston Salem State University—a group that began small enough to meet in a library, but quickly grew to over a hundred members.

A solid work ethic is one of the hallmarks of Jacqueline’s life, having been instilled in her by work experiences that began at age 13 and continued through high school and college. Jacqueline gained professional experience teaching computer courses to high school students at the Math and Science Academy in Winston during the summer of 2000, and completing two research projects during an internship with NASA. In her last year of college, Jacqueline worked as a computer technician for the RJ Reynolds Company. Then, in 2001, she graduated summa cum laude from WSSU with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and a minor in Mathematics. 

Jacqueline joined the IBM Corporation in Rochester, MN in 2001 as a software engineer. Working simultaneously with multiple design projects for both internal and external customers. Jacqueline received an Academy Affiliate Honorable Mention award for her work, “Physical Design Topology Checking Methodology,” which led to three initial patent submissions. She was also invited to be a presenter at the 2003 IBM Tech Connect Conference held for early career and early tenure employees at the Armonk Learning Center. Jacqueline undertook studies to complete a Master of Science degree in Computer Engineering at the University of Minnesota, and she was Dale Carnegie certified in 2002. 

In 2003, Jacqueline was selected out of a world-wide pool of technical talent as the first to join the prestigious Academy at IBM headquarters, where she shadowed the Academy president and worked with top IBM executives and technical leaders. She served on the core team for the Risk Management Study and the program committee for the Human Impact and Application of Autonomic Computing Systems Conference. Jacqueline coordinated and organized the World-Wide On Demand conference in New York. After her assignment at the Academy, she returned to Rochester and by October of 2004 she was managing a team of 27 engineers. In recognition of her achievements, Jacqueline received the “Rising Star” award at the Women of Color conference in 2004, where she gave a speech on Innovation.

IBM recognized Jacqueline as a highly motivated and influential leader with a broad range of skills and the ability to drive organizational improvements while navigating her way through complex technical issues. In December of 2006, she was asked to move to Raleigh, NC to manage a team of 18 engineers responsible for systems solutions, consulting, and software services that leverage IBM’s broad patent portfolio and products. 

In her eight-year journey, Jacqueline consistently received high performance evaluations and was promoted biannually—a notable achievement in an environment in which the average time for promotions is between five and six years. Jacqueline has certainly stood out among young African American females by the impressive array of achievements credited to her while still in her twenties. It is this personal experience that has compelled Jacqueline work so hard to motivate young people. Believing that it is the reality of her experience that inspires people the most, she is as eager to share her mistakes and failures as she is her success. 

During her IBM career, Jacqueline facilitated a program called Smart Girls at the Boys & Girls Club—a new group at the local women’s shelter. She also participated in various camps and youth awareness activities. Jacqueline is also the founder of a new outreach program called Women on One Accord, an initiative of a local church in Rochester, MN. 

Jacqueline is wise beyond her years, down to earth, and passionate about her desire to impact the lives of others. Shunning the kinds of re-warmed pop psychology and buzz words that are so common among motivational speakers, Jacqueline builds her speeches on real-life experiences—both the good and the bad—mixed with the wisdom she has accumulated in academia, church, employment, family life, and her work with others who have struggled just as she has. She strives to help her audiences to discover the exhilaration of facing the unpredictable in life on the way to personal, professional, and spiritual fulfillment.