Shamis Pitts (she/her) is the Founder and CEO of Pitts Leadership Consulting (PLC). She has operated at the intersection of strategy, people management and leadership and operations for 25+ years within various industries. Helping organizations and the people within them thrive is the purpose of her work.
Shamis holds an MBA from Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, concentrating in leadership and strategy, and a BA in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania. She is an ICF-Certified Professional Coach at the PCC level, a SHRM-SCP, an ATD member and holds other DEI and coaching-specific certifications.
Shamis has been featured in Employee Benefit News and in Authority Magazine. She’s also a Featured Expert in the Growth Leadership course within The Bank of America Institute for Women’s Entrepreneurship at Cornell online certification. Shamis was awarded a Bronze Stevie for “Mentor or Coach of the Year – Business” at the 21st annual Stevie® Awards for Women in Business and was also selected by Profiles in Diversity Journal® as a 2024 Women Worth Watching® in Leadership.
Shamis is passionate about mentoring early and mid-career women of color, playing golf with her spouse and watching Columbo reruns.
About Pitts Leadership Consulting
Pitts Leadership Consulting is a human capital consulting company specializing in organizational health and business readiness. Their purpose is to help organizations create the conditions that drive employee retention and performance to amplify profitability and impact. To achieve this, PLC collaborates with clients to amplify organizational resilience without sacrificing employees in the process.
Their services include consulting, advising, training and facilitation, coaching (individual, group, team), and keynote speaking. Their client services team understands that organizations must have the ability to adapt to changes over time and they utilize their expertise across organizational development, learning and development, strategic and operational HR and diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.
PLC is known for being thorough, thoughtful and compassionate in their work while addressing accountability. Launched in 2019 and formally established in 2020, PLC is an NMSDC-Certified Minority Business Enterprise and a WBENC-Certified Women’s Business Enterprise.
What does being a minority business, or supporting minority businesses, mean to you?
Being a minority and women-owned business means that I get to walk the talk. I am committed to supporting other minority and women-owned businesses. All of my service providers are minority and/or women-owned.
I also serve on The Acceleration Project’s President’s Council. TAP is an innovative, award-winning consulting firm focused on under-resourced and underfunded small businesses, particularly women and minority-owned enterprises.
How has being certified with the NMSDC helped your business
Being part of the NMSDC community has been a wonderful experience. I have gained mentors who are willing to share knowledge and “real talk” advice to help me grow my business. I have developed friendships with other suppliers who provide me with helpful insights regarding what they are seeing and experiencing in the market. Finally, the support that I have received from NMSDC affiliate leaders, especially my home NYNJMSDC and Mid-States MSDC, have been instrumental in inviting me into spaces where I can connect with potential buyers and build awareness about PLC.
What is one thing you wish you had known when you were starting out in your career?
I wish I had understood the importance of my personal wellbeing to enable sustained effectiveness at work. When I entered the workforce, I was an overachiever, which translated into perfectionism and workaholism. I loved being given the opportunity to learn and be involved in so many intellectually stimulating projects. I was highly engaged, but my wellbeing was low, which led to burnout.
Wellbeing is multidimensional. I have so many tools in my toolbox now and endeavor to help others build wellbeing practices to enhance their leadership capacity and capabilities.
For more information on Pitts Leadership Consulting, please visit: https://pittsleadership.com/ or follow them on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pitts-leadership-consulting/