It takes a tremendous amount of dedication and perseverance to climb the corporate ladder at your workplace. Twenty-two years ago, Krista Bourne started at Verizon Consumer Group in its mailroom where she began to discover the needs of the company’s large customer base. Now, she’s a part of leading how the business runs daily to ensure it’s upholding its mission of quality service for over 100 million customers.

After having more than 10 roles to her name at Verizon Consumer Group, Bourne now holds the title of chief operating officer (COO) — making her the first Black woman to be in the role at the company. According to the c-suite executive, her drive to enact positive change is what helped her have a tunnel vision of reaching where she is now in her career.

“I charted my career to ensure that in every role I’ve had, through customer service, retail sales, and operations, I’ve been able to drive positive change through customer feedback,” she told AfroTech. “Now, I’m at the level where I get to drive transformative change for the entire Verizon Consumer Group. That’s 100 million customers using our services every single day.”

Bourne spoke with us about her roadmap to becoming COO, how her mission connects with Verizon’s, and the overall impact she hopes to leave on Black women through her story.

Black Woman COO

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