Story by DDNS Reporter Jerry Don Burton

JONESBORO – Rose Stuckey Kirk, an Arkansas State University journalism alumna with a successful corporate career spanning 35 years, presented the annual Corinne Sternheimer Greenfield Lecture, sharing her journey with struggle, support, and success.

Kirk’s speech, titled “From Innocence to Innovation: A Lattice (not Ladder) Climb to the Top of Corporate America,” was given at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 17 in the Fowler Center at A-State.

At the start of her speech, Kirk listed three things she wished to accomplish: break down the title of her speech, describe how she uses her support systems to have a successful corporate career and suggest how attendees can build on the platform of success she has laid out.

“It struck me a number of years ago that I was never climbing the corporate ladder, because when you are climbing a ladder, you are either going up or down and there are huge gaps in between those rungs and one wrong move, and you can seriously hurt yourself,” Kirk said. “Instead, I was clinging to a lattice. This grid-like structure is flexible and organic; its lines are sometimes diagonal, sometimes curved.”

The Greenfield Lecture speaker said she always made slow and steady progress, despite many missteps and lateral movements. She said that as she climbed, she never forgot her childhood aspirations.

“I never stopped remembering that little girl from Pine Bluff, Arkansas, who just knew one day she would take New York City by storm,” Kirk said.

Kirk said that while in elementary school, her teacher showed her class a picture of the Statue of Liberty and told everyone to remember what it looks like, because most of them would never make it to New York City to see the statue. She said this stirred something up inside her innocent self.

Decades later, Kirk said she lived in New Jersey and would drive to New York multiple times a week. Every single time the Statue of Liberty came into view during her commute, she said she would pause whatever she was doing and look at it until she could not see it anymore.

Kirk said she does not think her teacher meant any harm, but she would not let her life experiences be based upon what she saw in a book, but instead what she had personally experienced.

“Sometimes in life we look for signs, these big moments of lightning flashing or fireworks to affirm for us those dreams,” Kirk said. “But it’s often the quiet moments, the little things that come into your world that can and will set a path to live your best life.”

Kirk said her strategic mindset and self-reliance, developed from her childhood as one of eight children, helped her succeed as a student at A-State.

Lillie Fears, professor and interim director of the School of Media and Journalism at A-State, said she met Kirk when they were both undergraduates.

“I thought she was very energetic, very outgoing, popular, one of those outgoing personalities. When she said she was an introvert [during her speech], I thought, ‘you sure fooled me,’” Fears said.

Cherisse Jones-Branch, College of Liberal Arts and Communication (CLAC) dean, said Kirk’s status as an alum of A-State and CLAC set her apart from previous lecture hosts.

While hosts for the Greenfield Lecture series are not limited to A-State alumni, Jones-Branch said bringing successful graduates back to A-State to host the Greenfield Lecture is important.

“I like people like that to come back and talk to our students so that they can see what’s possible,” Jones-Branch said. “We saw someone who came from small-town Arkansas, who’s talking to students, many of whom come from small-town Arkansas. The way she was able to connect with them, because they come from the same place, was really special.”

During her time at A-State, Kirk worked at The Herald student newspaper, tutored students and attended a full course load, in addition to working as a clerk for the Social Security Administration. Kirk said college was one of the most impactful times of her life.

“I learned curiosity and how to translate that curiosity into written words that allowed me to explain both simple and complicated issues to the mass population,” Kirk said. “So you can only imagine how amusing it was to me when corporate America began to talk about attributes of successful leaders, and one of those key attributes is that great leaders, often, are great at storytelling.”

Before Kirk could face the corporate world, however, she first had to face rejection.

After graduating, Kirk said her eyes were set on working at the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, one of the predecessor companies of AT&T. She sent her resume and was served back a rejection letter, stating they only hired people with at least two years of experience.

So, Kirk began work at the Pine Bluff Commercial newspaper. Eight months later, she moved out of state to work for The Times Daily, a set up from her hometown paper. However, she would soon face struggles again.

While working in Alabama, Kirk said she received news of her sister’s death. She said she grieved for weeks and was lost at work, which annoyed all but one of her coworkers.

She said one peer, a quiet man who was a Vietnam veteran, pulled her aside and spent time with her.

“He let me know he saw my suffering. He didn’t pry into my struggle, but instead, he told me a story about his own struggle,” Kirk said. “I learned from him the value of empathy and compassion in the workplace and the need to speak up for others when no one else will.”

Fears said the way Kirk confronted challenges, dealt with tragedy and helped others impressed her. Fears said a friend was having a hard time recently and she did not know how to help beyond listening. But, she said Kirk’s speech touched her and helped her understand what she can do to help in the future.

“It let me know that when I see somebody, it’s okay to reach out and help them,” Fears said.

While working in the journalism industry, Kirk earned awards from the Associated Press and the New York Times. Eventually, she updated her resume and applied again for a position at Southwestern Bell. Within weeks, she was hired.

“Rejection is not bad. What you do with it, how you learn from it, how you respond to feedback, is your choice,” Kirk said.

Even in the corporate industry, Kirk was not free from struggle. She said she spent six months under the leadership of someone who did not believe she was worthy of her position.

John Thompson, a sophomore political science pre-law major from Pine Bluff, Arkansas, attended the lecture. He said struggle was the most important theme Kirk explored in her speech.

“She really didn’t hold back on all the struggles that she experienced in her life. She claims that it did, in fact, shape her, but it shaped her in the best ways possible,” Thompson said.

Years later, after Kirk said her career surpassed his, she bumped into her old boss. She said he was surprised by how far she had come in her career.

“I thought to myself, ‘my success is based upon my opinion of me.’ There will be many people along the way, for whatever reason, will not be your supporters. Sometimes you can change their minds, many times you cannot. Your goal is to build a massive amount of support in your circle so that non-believers don’t have the votes or the voice to block you.”

Thompson, a CLAC ambassador, said Kirk’s definition of success initially confused him. He said people usually gauge success by comparing themselves to others.

“I think I’m struggling with that concept of success,” Thompson said. “However, I do think that that is beneficial to me, because success really is in you and it is what you want out of this world.”

Carson Campbell, a junior creative media production major from Jonesboro, met Kirk during a breakfast event held before her speech. He said Kirk was very personable.

“She was a very down-to-earth person and very successful, so it was cool for her to come in and spend time with us and try to get to know us before her busy day,” Campbell said.

Kirk said she wanted to exhaust her life of all it has to give.

“When I die, I want the people at my funeral to go ‘yup, she did it. She exhausted this life,’” Kirk said.

Fears, Thompson and Jones-Branch said this phrase resonated with them.

Kirk concluded her speech by addressing A-State students.

“I hope that what you take from this is that you’ve got to believe in this institution. You’ve got to lean into whatever your professors are trying to teach you. You have to take advantage of everything that is here,” Kirk said. “Be flexible, build your lattice, network, be a good person and launch yourself into society in a way that you can make this institution proud and you can be proud that you are a graduate of Arkansas State University.”

Fears said one of the most important messages Kirk touched on is to take advantage of everything being taught in class.

“Even if you’re bored to death, you might be very surprised at how it’s going to help you later,” Fears said. “You can take the skills that you get here and take them to any workplace and keep developing them.”

Thompson said he anticipates rejection in his career and faces struggles already in college. However, he said he will take what he learned from Kirk’s speech about the inevitability of struggle and rejection and apply it going forward.

“In front of me was a woman who had struggled, not only in her adult life, but also as a young child, and here she is giving a lecture on 60 years of success,” Thompson said. “What I take from this is that struggle is going to be on my career path, but that’s just a part of the path itself.”

Thompson said he did not know much about Kirk before her speech, but loved her story. He said he had never been to a Greenfield lecture before, but believes the series is a great tradition because it allows students to spend a night listening to a success story from an A-State graduate.

Fears said even though she and Kirk are near the same age, she was still inspired by her speech.

“That lets me know you can never be too old, or too advanced, to get some inspiration from people,” Fears said.

After numerous promotions, setbacks and movements in all directions on the lattice, Kirk is successfully retired and said she is excited to work on her garden.

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