Sister Accord’s Mission Is To Improve The Lives, Careers Of 1 Billion Women Worldwide

Sonia Jackson Myles, founder of Sister Accord, is on a mission to help one billion girls and women learn to love themselves in a time when social media is a catalyst for low self-esteem. After 20 years in corporate America, she decided to start her company and foundation. Over the years, she has received numerous awards and recognition, including being named one of Essence Magazine’s Women of Power, Bloomberg Report’s History Makers and Trumpet Award Foundation’s Women in High Heels. In addition, she has partnered with many notable brands, including espnW, Wells Fargo and TJ Maxx. 

“I get calls every week with people feeling like they’ve been bullied,” Jackson Myles expresses. “Whether it’s the workplace or school, we have some work to do. The billion is a big goal. But it’s a necessary goal if we are going to give our children a legacy of love and respect. … They’re looking at us as adults, and they’re asking, ‘Are you really going to do that? Are you really going to say that? Are you really going to treat another person that way?’ They’re looking to us for examples, and I believe that the Sister Accord is the answer. When you think about this love and respect that I am talking about, it comes from within.”

Jackson Myles’ career began at Ford Motor Company in the purchasing department. Over her 13 year stint, she realized that her success came from her ability to build meaningful relationships throughout the industry. She even started a women’s resource group at the company before it became a trend.

Seeking a new challenge, Jackson Myles uprooted and moved her family to Boston to take a role at Gillette as director of global indirect materials. Here she was responsible for all indirect purchasing. She thought that she would end her career with the company. However, P&G acquired Gillette in 2005. Even though Jackson Myles thought she would never move to Cincinnati, she wound up working for P&G for six years overseeing $7 billion annually in media spending. 

“I had a plan for my career,” she states. “I needed to be open. I couldn’t be so stuck on one way to get to my goals and aspirations. Procter and Gamble said, ‘Hey, we’ve been trying to bring media buying into purchasing for seven years unsuccessfully. We believe that you have the skills to lead this organization, design it and then run it.’ I said, ‘Are you setting me up for failure if you haven’t been able to do it in seven years?’ So they created a role for me and then asked me to lead part of the integration of Gillette into P&G. I said, ‘My goodness, who gets the opportunity to do this?’ I was so humbled that they would give me that opportunity as a young professional.”

Jackson Myles served as a mentor to young professionals worldwide. She noticed that she had different conversations with her male mentees versus female mentees. The men would share their business ideas while the women struggled with relationships within an organization. So she took a risk and launched her own organization to help professionals, especially women, confidently show up to work so that they can drive results. Through the company’s foundation, it enlightens girls and women of the power of sisterhood and eradicates bullying and violence against females.

Fast forward eight years, Sister Accord announced its first chapter in Africa. Also, it celebrated its eighth annual Sister Accord Day honoring celebrities Daymond John, DJ Spinderella, Johnny Gill and Byron Cage alongside Janice Bryant Howroyd, Dr. Janet B. Reid and Jim Bechtold. Additionally, Jackson Myles serves as an executive coach and speaker working with the Walt Disney Company, United and other corporations and celebrities. She just spoke at the Cannes Lions festival.

“I have had to rethink, retrain my brain, from some of the things that I learned in corporate America,” Jackson Myles shares. “In corporate America, it was all about being risk-averse; thinking about and talking about it for a long period of time before we actually move. Whereas as an entrepreneur, I can’t do that. I can’t afford to overthink things. I have to test things. I have to make sure that I am understanding what the needs of my customers are. But then it’s time to move. … What I was surprised about was that I was so conservative in how I was approaching my business. And I said, ‘If I do this, there’s no way that I will ever make any money because I will be overthinking it and not taking action.’ So I’ve had to make sure that I am very thoughtful with what I do but not overthinking it to the point where it causes inaction.”

As she continues to transition in her career, Jackson Myles focuses on the following essential steps: 

• Discover what brings you joy. Ask yourself what activities you feel engaged with and align your goals with that. 
• Develop meaningful relationships wherever you go. You never know when you will need guidance or assistance from them in the future. 
• Seek out a mentor who has done what you want to do. You will save yourself time and energy learning from their mistakes.

“I was afraid,” Jackson Myles concludes. “Let me just be honest. I was filled with fear because I knew and loved the corporate world. I’ve loved my roles. I didn’t know anything about this entrepreneur thing. That was not a part of my plan. So I was afraid to leave. But I knew that I was called to make a difference in helping girls and women understand how to truly love and appreciate themselves so that they could show up differently in the workplace. That’s what caused my passion for wanting to solve this issue that I was observing.”