By day, Raymona Holloway Lawrence, DrPH, MPH, CDE is an associate professor of community health education and behavior in the Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health at Georgia Southern. Her main research focus there is community engagement in rural, hard to reach populations – especially targeting those with Sickle Cell Disease.
But outside of work, she is addressing a different kind of need – one that she identified through her own experiences and success with network marketing. Network marketing, also known as multi-level marketing, is a business model that many people gravitate toward these days, as schedules become busier and there is a need for not only extra income but also flexibility.
Dr. Lawrence, fueled by her mindset toward community health and engagement, noticed a need in the network marketing world and has set out on a mission to make the change herself.
“I’ve been in network marketing for 7 or 8 years and love it, but I noticed there were a lot of issues with diversity, equity, and inclusion,” she said. “There were no people of color at the top of these companies.”
And, Lawrence explained, this was indicative to her of a “systems issue” – something wrong with the way the network itself was operating from the top down.
Imagine, she says, the same two women – one white and one black – trying to sell the same sunscreen to their respective social networks. Their success simply wouldn’t be the same. It’s the same product, but they’re not the same people nor do they have the same environment.
“We have to understand that we have to give different people different things to have the opportunity to reach their highest potential,” she said. “You wouldn’t put an Olympic athlete on a tricycle and ask him to win the Tour de France.”
Her goal, then, was to challenge the inner workings of the system for the betterment of all using it. As her first step, she began doing diversity, equity, and inclusion training within the network marketing company for which she was a consultant.
“I challenge broken systems that keep people from reaching their highest potential,” she said. “Individualism says, ‘If I can do it, so can you,’ but we don’t always look at the circumstances and structures surrounding a person.”
Even more interestingly, she says that network marketing often mirrors what’s happening in our society as a whole, so it was also indicative of a much larger issue. She decided then to expand her dream beyond her own network marketing company and begin helping women all over who are looking to improve their network marketing potential.
She offers online coaching and training to network marketers, solopreneurs, and small business owners. This includes not only guiding these women on how to create their businesses but also educating them on the unwritten social rules of business, which can make or break you. In short, she’s helping them to set up a strong foundation for success with business systems. Her specialty, she jokes, is creating “beautiful back-ends.”
Dr. Lawrence also offers diversity, equity, and inclusion consulting services to company leadership in industries like pharmaceuticals. On top of that, she is often doing speaking engagements, podcasting, and podcast guesting in a variety of spaces and places.
She is certified in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training and has been coached by individuals like Jeremy Anderson and Dr. Eric Thomas, a nationally recognized motivational speaker, to hone her craft. She is a member of Jeremy Anderson’s Next Level Speakers Elite program, as well.
In her trainings for company leadership, she uses her ROAR framework, which includes Recruitment, Onboarding, Accountability, and Retention. These steps ask leadership to examine how they are finding people, treating people, and keeping people (or not).
The overall goal she seeks to accomplish is to make sure there is a system in place to retain people of diverse cultures and make sure they succeed.
Her guidance is invaluable to new and growing business leaders, but she doesn’t just push them out of the nest and expect them to fly.
“What I really am passionate about is not only setting up the environment but also giving people the training and skill set to thrive in that environment,” she said.
This is a perfect illustration of her “why.” She is sharing her gifts with others, and her passion for what she does is evident any time you hear her speak. With her in your corner, you know she’ll be cheering you on from behind the scenes, all the way from foundation to fruition. And that’s a beautiful back-end, indeed!
Married to George Lawrence, owner of OffTrack EnterTRAINment, Dr. Raymona is mom to Geonna, 16, and Geordan, 6 , and enjoys exercise, yoga, reading, and dancing in her limited free time.
For more information on Dr. Raymona’s services, please contact her here. She also offers free resources and encouragement on her website for all.
