Secretary Machelle Sanders: First Black Woman To Helm NC Department Of Commerce
RALEIGH, NC – Governor Roy Cooper has a special sauce in his Cabinet – and it ain’t Sweet Baby Ray’s.
Meet Machelle Sanders. If you don’t know her, perhaps you should. Since last March, Sanders has served as Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Commerce. Her area of responsibility runs the gamut from unemployment benefits and economic development to highway welcome centers (which are lovely, by the way). In today’s economy, diverse problems necessitate diverse problem-solvers – and Secretary Sanders fits the bill.
Sanders is the first Black woman to helm the Department, and she is acutely aware of this fact. “It brings joy to my heart…to model for other girls who look like me.” This includes her two twin girls, to whom she says, “I hope [you] take comfort in your own skin…the sky’s the limit for what’s possible.”
After four years leading the Department of Administration, she moved on up to the fifth floor of 301 N Wilmington Street. The day of our interview just so happened to be her one-year anniversary in the role.
Sanders did not tread the privileged, ivied path to power that did many of the Raleigh political class. Regardless, she has proven herself able to work with the ‘good ole boys’ on Jones Street. Sanders’ appointment confirmation last year earned the unanimous consent of the Senate – no small feat in our fissured, post-Gingrichian political landscape.
A graduate of North Carolina State University, Sanders holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and a Master of Health Administration from Pfeiffer University. As a mother of twin daughters, she is passionate about improving the status of women in our state. Some of her work includes creating a Women’s Innovation Network at Biogen and the Lady Cardinals STEM Program for High School students while at the North Carolina Department of Administration. After all, as Sanders puts it, “Improving the status of women in North Carolina is not just a woman’s issue — it is a family, poverty, and economic issue.”
Secretary Sanders is a daughter of the down-east Pamlico lowlands. She got an education and trekked her way up to the Research Triangle. From there, she embarked on a second career at the Halifax Mall – where much of the Cabinet is situated. Though Sanders has since settled this side of the fall line, she maintains, “I am a small-town girl. I will never forget rural North Carolina.”
The First in Talent initiative, which Sanders readily touts, aims to boost investment in rural and other marginalized communities. Surely every North Carolinian deserves a piece of the pie, no?
Sanders believes North Carolina can be a “lighthouse of excellence” in the national and global economy. Places like Belhaven, Sanders’ quaint waterfront hometown, are a top priority under the plan.
Secretary Sanders brings investors and interviewers alike to the table with her down-home hospitality. She is unpretentious in her manner – but unwavering in her mission. It is no wonder Cooper tapped Machelle Sanders as the state’s chief development officer and sales rep.
Sanders peppers our conversation with homemade, soundbite-ready nuggets of wisdom. Ever hungry for “the scoop,” I happily indulge. With the help of Sanders and her self-proclaimed “special sauce,” the state served up a heaping of jobs (is 24,000 spoonfuls okay?) and a smothering of capital investment marinade.
Secretary Sanders has the recipe for success – but we need more cooks in the kitchen (in this instance, you can never have too many). Black, white, or brown; woman, man, or other; gay, straight, or bi; rural, urban, or suburban – from Manteo to Murphy, Aberdeen to Zebulon. “It is going to take everyone,” she avows in a velvety drawl. “We can change the world for a better place.”
Finally, Machelle Sanders cites her 86-year-old mother as her “top, number one role model.” First Lady Michelle Obama, with her “style, resilience, intellect, charm, and charisma,” is perhaps her runner-up. “We can’t be great without women,” Sanders holds. Indeed, we can’t be anything without women. And you can take that to the bank (or your nearest woman/minority-owned financial institution…hopefully you can find one).
Only after the interview did I realize I forgot to ask the Secretary’s opinion on the eastern vs. western-style barbecue debate (a smidge out of her jurisdiction, I know). Oh, well – there’s always next time.