Sheila Johnson. Provided photo.
Sheila C. Johnson is an entrepreneur, philanthropist and influencer in the areas of hospitality, sports, television and film, education, women’s empowerment and community development.
“If we’re all accountable for the choices we make, we can look back at a day or a week and measure the time in what we were able to accomplish,” Johnson told the website entrepreneur.com. “Failure is okay if you tried something for the right reasons and you are able to learn and move forward.”
Johnson, on Dec. 21, will be the keynote speaker at the morning session of George Mason University’s winter graduation. GEICO chairman and CEO Tony Nicely will speak at the afternoon session.
As founder and chief executive officer of Salamander Hotel & Resorts, Johnson oversees properties in Florida, South Carolina and Virginia. A co-founder of Black Entertainment Television (BET) and vice chair of Monumental Sports and Entertainment, Johnson is the only African-American woman to have ownership stakes in three professional sports teams: the NBA’s Washington Wizards, the NHL’s Washington Capitals and the WNBA’s Washington Mystics.
She is on the board of governors of the New School’s Parsons School of Design in New York City, and is a member of the leadership council at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership.
Johnson, who is no longer associated with BET, executive produces feature films and documentaries featuring African-American narratives. She was an investor in “The Butler,” the critically acclaimed 2013 movie about a sharecropper’s rise to work in the White House.
“I really believe African-Americans have lost their voice,” she told Forbes. “That’s why you are seeing what you are seeing in the general mainstream media. There’s not that area where we can come together and really talk about a Ferguson or talk about what’s going on in the police community and all the racial turmoil.”
Ranked 21st on Forbes’ list of America’s richest self-made women, Johnson believes women bring unique skills to the business world.
“I think women are able to juggle a bit more,” she told the Loudoun Times. “I think they’re often more visionary, more creative. They’re a little more patient. They’re more willing to make changes and they’re more resilient. I really admire the women I have around me.”