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April, 1980 - New National BLACK MONITOR
MONITOR
Barbara Gardner Proctor
Making Dreams Into Reality Through Preparation and Protest
MONITOR Memorabies is a continuing
series which we hope will motivate young
black men and women, boys and girls, to
prepare to be productive and seek excel
lence. This series will present inspiring
profiles of business-oriented people of
African ancestry who have both achieved,
despite hardships, and been a significant
and continuing part of protest movements
for justice and equity.
One of the most remarkable women in
America today—regardless of race—is a
black Chicago advertising executive, Bar
bara Gardner Proctor, who is said on many
counts to be “a woman who defies descrip
tion.”
Barbara Gardner Proctor could not be
readily described as “a traditional person.”
She lends herself beautifully to the kind of
profile which inspires, almost beyond mea
sure, those among us who are called coura
geous.
Born in Black Mountain, North Carolina
in 1932 under what would have to be
termed the most modest circumstances,
Barbara Proctor began her life—and has
lived most if it—in the relatively routine
and hard-working circumstances which so
many (perhaps the majority) of us face.
Ms. Proctor graduated from Talladega
College in Talladega, Alabama, where she
earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in two
broad fields. One was in English literature
and secondary education. The other was in
sociology and psychology. This broad
training in “the arts and humanities”
served to provide Ms. Proctor with a
breadth of perspective about the kind of
world which we have inherited, and also
with a deeply sensitive insight into how the
affairs of life about us may best be man
aged—to make it what we would want it to
be.
So many of us fail to see or to understand
the value of education. Not so with Barbara
Gardner Proctor. She recognized early, as
most persons of success or accomplishment
must do, that “all of life is a school.” We
must learn our ABC’s. We must learn to
count and to calculate.. .and part of that
counting is “counting on others” without
whom none of us could ever have become
who we are. We must acquire a wealth of
knowledge by becoming acquainted with
what others have learned...or economic
wealth will not be forthcoming. But per-
w ■■ .■■■■
/X• > ♦
haps foremost, we must learn that living is
learning, and that the best kind of continu
ing learning is life itself —which must em
brace, in a skillful way, both preparation
and protest.
While still in college, Ms. Proctor was
deeply involved in the human rights strug
gle. She learned firsthand the value of—and
need for—protest against the inequities
faced throughout life. By her every act or
deed, she demonstrates that she is deeply
committed to a better and more equitable
America for women, men, blacks, whites
and all others.
These are lessons which Barbara Gardner
Proctor learned early. She learned them
we 11... and all her friends say she tries to
show her appreciation for others, at all
times.
Today, Barbara Proctor Gardner is a
person with considerable economic gains.
Her wealth and her many rich opportunities
did not simply fall into her lap. She began,
from early childhood years, to discipline
her mind with openness and wisdom. She
also developed a fine set of work habits that
included a strong sense of responsibility to
the tasks which were at hand. She has never
forgotten that she has a major responsibil
ity to others.
Fame and fortune came to Ms. Proctor
for two principal reasons. First, she was
capable, by virtue of a ceaseless spirit, of
bringing the best she could to every task
and situation. Secondly, she has always
been courageous and creative. Both of these
assets epitomize preparation and protest in
their highest and most productive forms.
If there is one biblical text which de
scribes the kind of success formula which
Barbara Gardner Proctor represents it is
these words, “For God has not given us the
spirit of fear; but of power and of love and
of a sound mind!” (II Timothy 1:7)
How many would want to live a fearless
life of power, love and wisdom just like
that! Barbara Proctor would be the first
one to tell us that courage and creativeness,
disciplined determination, dedication to
human good and the world’s betterment,
and a well-stocked, daily developing and
imaginative mind are possible for all of us.
And the rich rewards of that kind of life will
inevitably be within our grasp!
Barbara’s chosen field has been advertis-
ing, a field that is symptomatic of her p®
neering spirit. She went into the world®
work at a time when women’s liberal®
had not come into even its early flow®
There were few women or blacks in adv®
tising. But Barbara Gardner Proctor 1 1
always sensed, out of her profound app ■
ciation of the wisdom of the ages, that B
is not what has been but what might yet I
that turns the wheels which move life f I
ward.” She focused, therefore, on “w®
might yet be.”
In her present work, Barbara Procto®
President and Creative Director of Proc®
and Gardner Advertising, Inc. She is B
founder and owner. Less thaq a dozen ye®
ago, she was still a hard-working and p®
sistently pioneering marketing acco®
executive. This is a dressed up title fo®
type of salesperson.
Because she gave of her mind, her he®
and her courage with all of the sense B
power that we see typified in a model h®
or heroine in the world of business, N®
Proctor came to the fullest realization o®
truth, of which every person of success®
keenly aware: she came to know that in®
nite opportunities for service to others, ®
changing our world, and for rich and ®
warding life literally fill the air that ®
breathe!
With this kind of unique or special awai I
ness—and with the developed gifts whi I
she had to offer—Barbara Proctor reach I
out at what she saw as “her opportu |
time.” Within two years of venturing o I
on her own, with only the most meagfl
tangible assets, she was well on her way I
the fame and fortune which are now heiß
From this, one can see why few in our tir®
have been able to achieve so well for hers< ■
—and also for those she serves so faithful
and creatively.
t
Less than a decade ago, few people
the name of Barbara Gardner ProctCg
Today, she is listed in such books as Whc
Who In America, Who’s Who In Americ\
Women, Who’s Who Among Black Ame
cans, The Blue Book of London ai
others.
Her life story is one of an endless series »
awards for dedicated, courageous ai.
pioneering service to her work and
people. Today, she serves on the
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