Adora Curry

AY wants to share the stories of women here in Arkansas on Wednesdays in hopes to inspire and lift up others. Come back each week to read a new one. 

 

While the phrase “build the bridge” is used often to try to bring people together with differences, this Wednesday’s woman is encouraging others to “be the bridge” when it comes to racial justice, restoration and reconciliation. 

 

Adora Curry is a single-mother of two sons, ages 15 and 9, who has been living in Arkansas for the past 13 years. She currently serves as the advancement marketing and alumni relations manager at the University of Arkansas – Pulaski Technical College. Furthermore, Curry is a leader of a small group for single mothers at the Church of Rock Creek. 

 

With a passion for people and desire to make the world a better place through actions, she is setting the world on fire and helping those around her do the same.

 

Curry is originally from Colorado and worked in Washington D.C. at a lobbying firm on Capitol Hill prior to living in Arkansas. 

 

“I went to a Catholic all-girls school in Colorado and was one of the few African American students,” she says. “I grew up in spaces where I didn’t always feel like I fit in, but I used my friendships to unite people and became a reconciler.” 

 

Today, she also serves as the leader for the Be the Bridge Central Arkansas group. 

 

“Be the Bridge is an organization founded in 2016 focused initially on racial reconciliation within the church, but it has expanded to provide training in all spaces including corporate America,” Curry says. “We bring people in to talk about issues of race and reconciliation. It’s a great place for employers to start to understand the purpose and need for people to lament and address issues of racism. They are almost like internal audits to check things, but also move forward and make plans to be a better workplace.” 

 

Curry wants to eradicate racism for good and  “continues to be persistent in the spaces [she occupies]” in effort to make changes. She says that her experiences with adversity and ability to be proactive with them have helped “make lemonade out of lemons.” 

 

“I have been in spaces where the people questioned my authority and automatically assumed I was beneath them or at their level because the thought had never occurred to them that I was in charge or their supervisor,” she says. “I have been reaching out to the high school I attended in Colorado for the past four years inquiring about why they don’t use alumni who are persons of color in their photos. Representation matters, and now with the current state of the world, the school finally responded and asked for recommendations. It’s not that hard when people of color are successful in all industries today.”

 

Recently, Curry partnered with another AY Wednesday’s woman, April Pollard with Women Influencers USA, to host a series of “Come ToGather” virtual meetings to bring people together to have educational conversations around diversity, equity and inclusion. 

 

“It’s a great time to sit down, bring issues to the table and walk away with solutions,” she says. “While they may be hard topics, we go through them together and can make more sustainable solutions.” 

 

Curry hopes that everyone remains “encouraged and stays the course if they are being confronted with hard truths or whether past hurts are awakening in them” because it is a journey of becoming better together. 

 

Her advice for other women is the following: 

 

“Listen more, speak less and get to know yourself better. Use your powers for the good of yourself and others around you.” 

 

She certainly is using her powers to unite people by “being the bridge” in numerous settings. 

 

If you know a woman from Arkansas who inspires and empowers other women, please nominate her to possibly be featured here!

 

READ MORE: Not Your Everyday Event Planner – Taren Robinson Uses Her Talents and Success Follows