100 Atlanta Coffees, 007: Ann Cramer
A hummingbird of grace, positivity, and civic leadership
Senior Consultant with Coxe Curry, former IBM Executive, serial board member
Met at Folk Art in Inman Park on North Highland
As a refresher, I’m grabbing coffee with 100 good people in Atlanta and sharing inspiring takeaways.
How does she do it all?
In Harry Potter, Hermione Granger has a time-turner necklace that lets her rewind time in order to be in two places at once. I’m convinced that Ann possesses her own time-turner AND special powers that keep her at peak energy levels to pull off her commitments to the community with grace and passion.
The Atlanta Business Chronicle bestows an annual ‘Leaders in Corporate Citizenship Ann Cramer Lifetime Achievement Award’ within the Atlanta community. But don’t for a second think that means she’s slowed down. Ann remains a hummingbird of positivity and a titan of civic leadership.
By her count, Ann currently sits on 25 boards or advisory councils. Here’s a sampling:
Alliance Theatre Company, Atlanta Technical College Foundation, Atlanta Way 2.0, CareerRise, CHRIS 180, Crossroads, Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, Hope Atlanta, Learn4Life, Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs (RICE), Woodruff Arts Center, WABE, and the Georgia Foundation for Public Education & Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta.
So how has she balanced her multitude of pursuits across a 35-year career at IBM while raising a family, leaning into a faith community, and going on a spiritual journey of her own?
Roots and Wings
Ann is fond of sharing the concept of "roots and wings" - a metaphorical balance between grounding ourselves in a strong foundation (roots) while seeking growth, exploration, and freedom (wings). Just like a tree needs strong roots to support its growth and branches, individuals also need a solid sense of identity and stability to confidently reach their potential.
Ann has always had a desire to act on her many passions, but it’s only because of the grounding stability of her five-decade marriage to Jeff (living in the same house in Inman Park!) and her identity as a child of God that she feels able to pursue so many endeavors. She boldly asks “if not me, then who?” and acts accordingly, with her foundation supporting her along the way.
She also recognizes she can’t actually do it all. She thinks about her complete expenditure of energy as shared between:
Listening & learning
Meditating & praying
Acting & working
The way we prioritize our efforts across those dimensions sums to our ‘Whole Self,’ but each of us has a ‘Lead Self’ where we’ll be most inclined to spend our time based on what energizes us. It’s incumbent on us to organize and structure our lives so that our lead selves can thrive.
For Ann that has meant enabling herself to be an active worker on behalf of the Atlanta community she so loves, while still making space to learn and reflect along the way.
This moment calls for belonging
I asked Ann for an optimism/pessimism pulse check about this moment in time. She’s inherently an optimist who believes in a mindset of abundance over scarcity. She also said that, having graduated from college in 1966 and seen the evolution of civil rights over time, she believes the long moral arc is bending towards justice and shared prosperity.
Still, she’s nervous about ‘trust and truth’ in this era of abundant, often divergent information. She’s also invested in cultivating a sense of belonging for Atlantans, particularly young adults.
Ann cites a “stickiness” that comes from civic involvement. Acting for the benefit of your community inherently adds to a sense of belonging, which ultimately increases well-being. Exposure matters. People used to build this involvement from multiple sources - their job, a civic commitment, and/or a community of faith. Now, young adults are often lacking exposure from one or all three.
Ann recounted that when she joined IBM in the mid 1960s she had a Black teacher at her orientation and sat next to a Puerto Rican woman who was “smart as a whip”. This was just a few years after graduating from a high school with “no Black kids and one Jewish girl.” IBM broadened her horizons exponentially.
Our jobs used to ensure we’d get a baseline of exposure; exposure to different neighborhoods and rhythms of the city, exposure to the civic efforts the company was involved in, and (ideally) exposure to diverse people you’d meet through work. If folks are working from home and/or not plugged into vibrant civic networks alongside co-workers, they might gain convenience, but it could be coming at the expense of connective bonds to people, place, and a broader sense of purpose.
To help engender connection and community, Ann is contributing to an ‘Atlanta Way 2.0’ covenant that will help activate belonging in our city. I’ll have more on this coming in a future post, so stay tuned.
What drives Ann
I’m leaving you with Ann’s words directly, including her patented use of exclamation marks (which I’ve learned over time are 100% sincere):
I have a vision – that we can provide a climate in which all children – all children – will be able to grow up safe, housed, fed, healthy, educated, connected, and employable and be able to live into his/her own full potential as an interdependent contributing person!!
My current Mantra that abides in me every day: Hope lives!! Love always wins! Justice prevails!!! Face forward in faith!!! Persist with grace!!!!! Respect the dignity of every human being!!!! Ever onward in gratitude ..... and patience!!! Hold on and Dance!!! Always choose JOY!!
Reflections & Questions for Discussion
Roots and Wings:
Think about that balance between:
Listening & learning
Meditating & praying
Acting & working
Where’s your lead self that gives you the most energy? Are you structured and organized so that your lead self can thrive?
Conversely, is there one of those areas you need to be spending more time to cultivate your highest potential? What would that look like?
I’m sharing some of my own reflections:
About Folk Art:
FolkArt is a line-out-the-door type brunch spot in Inman Park that’s earned every bit of its popularity.
Ann walked in and they knew her order (shockerrr).
We went midday and I got one of the sneaky best Cobb Salads you could ever ask for. Chicken and Pulled Pork?? A southern gem.
About 100 Atlanta Coffees:
I decided to publish takeaways from having coffee with 100 Atlantans as a way to shine a light on some of the good souls, and local spots, in our city.
So far I’m having an absolute blast. Thanks to those of you who have suggested folks for me to meet with and spots to visit. All are welcome!
