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26 | GRAVITAS MAGAZINE GravitasMag.com By Jules Lewis Gibson my BEST life first saw Lafern Batie on stage. Her compelling personality filled the auditorium. Mesmerized by her quick- wied confidence, the all-female audience was energized by her unique combination of strength and femininity. I k new immediately, I had to meet this women and share her stor y. Batie is most definitely a woman with gravitas. A few weeks later, we met for what was scheduled to be an hour lunch. We both brushed our schedules aside to enjoy an entire aernoon of lively conversion covering all the tabu topics of race, religion, politics, divorce and any thing else controversial we could think of. Two women with seemingly lile in common, we became fast friends and confidantes. Originally from Mar yland, Batie, 49, has called Florida home for close to two decades. She enjoyed an impressive career with Fortune 500 companies before starting her own company in 2005, the Batie Group. She uses her expertise to help international organizations and leaders across diverse industries ma x imize their collective and individual performance. She travels between her offices and homes in Tampa and Washington, DC to assist clients around the globe. You have an impressive background. How did your career evolve? I originally thought I wanted to be a teacher. I was a teacher's pet growing up. I didn't even want to go to recess, I wanted to stay and help the teacher. I was a dedicated student until the 9th grade when something flipped and almost failed. en I woke up and realized I wanted to graduate on time and do something with my life. I worked in bank ing as a summer job then stayed on and went to school. I ended up geing my accounting degree, then years later, I decided to go back to school for my MBA . I ended up work ing for a defense contractor, then a brokerage company when we moved to Florida. Out of the blue, I was offered an opportunity to run the human resources for an engineering team. For the first time, I went into an inter view with nothing to lose, so I was ver y honest. I said, "I do not want a routine where day-to-day ever y thing is the same. I need excitement, something different. Other wise, I will be like a caged tiger: when that door opens, I'm gone. e executive chuck led and said I LaFern Batie Business Strategist, Executive Coach and Speaker, The Batie Group LaFern with her husband, Bob.