Sheila Williams Umolu

1966-2018

Sheila Williams Umolu served as Soul Of America’s Senior Programming Director, a title that will never do justice to her monumental contributions to SoulOfAmerica.com. She gave her all to make the website a success, including devising unique programming opportunities, helping develop growth strategies, brainstorming marketing campaigns, crafting powerful stories about her travels, and gladly rolling up her sleeves to do tedious maintenance work that had to be done.

Sheila was such a warm-hearted and thoughtful person. Though family came first, Sheila’s travel exposure gave all of us a larger, more compelling view of our region, state, nation and the world. Since travel was her passion, Soul Of America would become her canvas.

When my wife worked at Pacific Gas & Electric Company, she introduced me to Sheila in 1999. We quickly discovered that shared passion for travel, how it enhanced lives, and a desire to open more eyes to black heritage and cultural sites nationwide. Sheila quickly joined our team.

We were both dissatisfied with the paucity of media coverage for North American and Caribbean destinations important to African-Americans. Sheila was the quiet force instrumental to the expansion from 20 travel guides to 135 guides and outreach to millions of visitors along the way. Her responsibilities grew from Individual Contributor to Sr. VP of Programming to COO at Soul Of America.

Though we occasionally expressed different points of view, I could never argue with Sheila. Given her warm spirit, thorough research, and honesty, I doubt that anyone could. BTW, she was right more than me. I proudly state that she was co-responsible for SoulOfAmerica.com winning 4 Best Black Travel Website awards and praise for our pioneering content from Arthur Frommer, the distinguished founder of Frommer’s travel guides.

Lists below detail her most impactful contributions to SoulOfAmerica.com Black Travel Website:

• 1st Black Cultural & Historical Site photo tours by destinations
• 1st Black Historical Sites listing by destinations
• 1st Top Black Museums listing
• 1st Nationwide Black Spas listing
• 1st Nationwide Black Inns listing
• 1st Black Cruises listing
• 1st Black Towns listing
• 1st Caribbean Travel channel
• 1st International Travel channel for African-Americans

In addition to helping us thrive, Sheila led a life of achievement and success:

• She obtained a B.S. Industrial Engineering from Stanford and an MBA from U.C. Berkeley Haas School of Business
• At Stanford, she served as President of the Society of Black Scientists & Engineers for which she received the prestigious Dinkelspiel Award for Outstanding Service.
• She raised funds for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Earthjustice, and Democratic National Committee.
• She helped the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) grow the alumni organization by thousands.
• She co-founded an NSBE program that shipped technical journals to African universities.
• She helped increase the diversity of the professional ranks at Pacific Gas & Electric Company
• She traveled to the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa, including a trip down the Nile River

We miss her dearly and I thank her for being my “Right Hand Woman” at SoulOfAmerica. Please join us in honoring Sheila Williams Umolu for her essential contributions to transforming the relationship between the travel industry and African Americans. Through her words, actions, and passion, she ensured the industry understood that Black Travel Matters.

Thomas Dorsey
Founder, CEO & Digital Media Director
SoulOfAmerica.com

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