Hi there!

I’m Solange Lopes. I’m a working mama, wife, daughter, sister, friend, and believer in the magic of fulfillment and purpose for all working women. Professionally, I find joy in the classroom as a professor, using my gift for writing, and speaking to fellow women about working and living purposefully all over.

Yet, I wouldn’t be here speaking to you if didn’t go through my own transformation. After over a decade in the corporate world as a Certified Public Accountant, I became a professor, writer and entrepreneur. Most importantly, I found the clarity, the sense of direction and purpose I was lacking. And this is exactly what I’m here to share with you…

I grew up in Senegal, West Africa, in a single-parent household. As a young girl, and later a young woman, my mother taught me very early on to do what was practical for a woman to succeed. In my family, it meant excelling in school, finding a career that could support my family and I, and work hard at being a respectable, upright, and honorable woman. Mom ran her household (and still does) with an iron fist in a velvet glove, as a hard-working, dedicated and determined woman. Her impeccable work ethic, extraordinary courage and relentless drive provided for my sibling and I growing up, including an outstanding education and some of the best bed-making and laundry folding skills.

Even as a little girl, I would carry around notebooks everywhere, scribbling stories that I would make up in my mind. I dreamt of writing books that will tell the stories of that would change people’s lives. I was a dreamer, and still am. Imagining concepts and ideas to implement came easy to me. In school, I would write stories about imaginary characters overcoming struggles and obstacles, and distribute them to my friends every week and even started building a faithful following. Even at such an early age, the seeds of Purpose were planted in me, although I didn’t know it quite yet.

Later on, I had to the opportunity to attend college in the United States. I picked a safe and secure career in a safe and secure field and shut down the other voices inside of me.

Despite finding a great job, I faced my own struggles and challenges as I began my career. As a woman of color in the corporate world, I struggled with self-confidence, bias and owning my voice. And can we talk about the dread of networking and public speaking. Yet, I was able to progress through my career journey and learnt many invaluable career, business and personal lessons. Throughout these years, the voice of Purpose kept growing louder. That’s when I started The Corporate Sister.

All around me, I kept seeing women who were unfulfilled, had given up on their dreams or were unsure of the right career path for them. They knew they wanted MORE but lacked the clarity, accountability and support system to make it happen. Some of them had failed along the way, and lost the confidence to pursue their goals. These were brilliant women with incredible talents, abilities and personalities. Yet, they were stuck in cubicles and offices too tight to hold the vastness of their potential, asking themselves: “Is this all there is?”

As a young working mom, I felt torn between my family and my career. I felt torn between my calling for writing and teaching, and the safety of a regular paycheck. I sensed the familiar tug for MORE, MORE freedom There were so many things I was aspiring to, personally and professionally. Yet, I lacked clarity, a sense of direction, and fulfillment. I was going from one thing to another, busy, frantic, yet un-fulfilled.

 Then I hit a wall…

Mentally, spiritually, and physically, it was time for CHANGE. That’s when the transformation journey started for me…It was a process, one that was at times grueling, tough and challenging, both on a personal and professional level. Yet, it was a process that taught me so much about myself, about turning Potential into Power, and about reaching our own summits as working women and working moms.

It’s this same process, that is so common to so many of us, that I’m here to share with you. So we don’t all have to go through the grueling growing pains, the constant dissatisfaction and lack of fulfillment, and the sense that we’re just spinning our wheels…

I invite you on this journey of transformation from feeling stuck or not as fulfilled as you could be, to tapping into the extraordinary potential and gifts that are uniquely yours…You don’t have to settle for less than your best…You CAN have the fulfillment and purpose you’ve been craving…