Connecting With a Community
Most of us want to belong to a strong community. Whether it’s through our churches, our schools, or even our professional fields, we often find ourselves achieving higher pinnacles of success and growth when we take on partners who shape us. For Dr. Hopelyn M. Brown, joining a community where people could help her take her leadership skills from successful to transformational was a lifelong ambition.
“I was longing for a connection to a group of like-minded, like-valued people who I could build new networks with and mature into the transformational leader I was purposed to be.”
When she was a student at Oral Roberts University, Dr. Brown began following John Maxwell and reading his books. She attended on of his simulcasts in 2000 and signed up for Maximum Impact. “Last March, one of his monthly emails had a huge impact on me and I felt that this was my time! I did not know how it was going to happen, but after talking with my husband and praying about it, we agreed for me to sign up to join the John Maxwell Team.”
Dr. Brown has always wanted to transform the lives of others through speaking, teaching, and coaching. “For over 12 years I’ve been working with female leaders and professionals as well as young girls.” However, she has often struggled at staying consistent and developing systems to ensure she grows her skillset while reaching out to a wider audience. With a desire to expand her influence, she found the resources and relationships the JMT community gave her have helped her to reorganize her daily life. “Developing peer support with like-minded individuals has helped me to stay consistent in my personal development. The power of association is certainly strong here.”
Since joining the team, Dr. Brown has found support during even the most difficult moments in her life.
This past year, her family suffered the loss of their first grandchild to SIDS. Devastated, she found strength and comfort in the support of her fellow members. “Our hearts were so broken. I was surprised to receive a sympathy card from the JMT and a personal message from Paul Martinelli himself.” She knew that she wanted to transform the lives of others, but she didn’t know how much the JMT community would transform her.
Today, Dr. Brown travels between homes in Vancouver, Canada and St. Ann, Jamaica. When she isn’t spending time with her husband of 12 years or her three grown children, she is working with organizations, executives, and their teams to grow their leaders with strategic leadership development tools through mastermind workshops and one-on-one coaching. “My gift is to transform the lives of people through speaking, teaching, and coaching.”