Data from the Pew Research Center<\/a>\u00a0shows women hold more leadership roles in the workplace now compared to decades ago
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As deputy director of the county’s Community and Family Services Department, Lavon\u00a0Williams leads half of Orange County’s government divisions and supervises hundreds of employees
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Williams says she is most proud of organizing volunteers that pack 1,000 meals on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to help feed the hungry
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Williams\u00a0says she is looking forward to taking part in the Orange County Annual Women\u2019s History Forum on Thursday, March 26<\/p>\nWilliams is in charge of Parks and Recreation, the Regional History Center, Community Action, Citizen Resource and Outreach, and the county\u2019s public information department. Williams said her ability to manage all of that didn\u2019t develop overnight \u2014 she grew up going to local government meetings with her family.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only were we there doing our homework, in those specific occasions where they needed some youthful voices, my brothers and sisters and I would sometimes talk,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n
Williams said those experiences inspired her to launch a career in public service. She said the example her mother set when she became a single mother also played a role in Williams\u2019 career plans.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet a home, establish herself, finish college, all of that\u00a0 \u2014 my momma is a superhero,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n
But Williams\u2019 journey wasn\u2019t always easy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were times in my career where I felt like i was being told, ‘Go sit over there and be a good little girl,’\u201d she said. \u201cAnd maybe they didn\u2019t say it in those exact terms, but you knew what was being told to you: You\u2019re not in your place.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Williams said she never stopped pushing forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of times it really comes to the decision of, if not me, who?\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n
And Williams achieved that leadership role, all while she and her husband raised two sons \u2014 and while she also worked as a family attorney.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI started early on learning how to develop a voice for myself, and how to advocate for others,” she said. “I think that is how it shaped me as an adult, because that\u2019s what I do: I help others find a voice.<\/p>\n
“And I help advocate for them for issues that range from how to get your utility lights on through my Orange County work, or whether it\u2019s working with a child who\u2019s been abused, neglected or abandoned through my attorney work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of the achievements Williams said she is most proud of include organizing volunteers that pack 1,000 meals on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to help feed the hungry; helping to launch the county\u2019s financial empowerment center; and establishing the county\u2019s Neighborhood Services Program, which revitalizes blighted neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be able to drive around the county and point to a place and say, ‘You know what? I did that. I worked with that neighborhood organization to accomplish that in this community,’\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
And to take care of herself while taking care of others, Williams said that in her downtime she loves to go to Disney.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity for me to remind myself that play is important, and that I am important,” she said, adding that “my wellbeing is critical to the ultimate goal of me succeeding in life.”<\/p>\n
Williams\u00a0credits her success to three things: \u201cFaith, hope and pixie dust,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Williams\u00a0said she\u2019s looking forward to taking part in the Orange County annual Mayor’s Women\u2019s History Forum as a way to celebrate and empower women. The forum, which is\u00a0organized by Mayor Jerry Demings, is scheduled to take place from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday at the Orange County Multicultural Center, located at 7149 W. Colonial Drive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Women are holding more leadership roles in the workplace now compared to decades ago. Data…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":204256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[767,274,28,12716,115,1335,139,141,140,278,53989],"class_list":["post-204255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-app-community","tag-app-top-stories","tag-florida","tag-jeff-allen","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-top-stories","tag-womens-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}