Black History Month Spotlight: Dr. Sabrina Brandon Ricks

During each heritage month throughout the year, NOVA spotlights students, faculty and staff who wish to share their journey. Dr. Sabrina Brandon Ricks, president of SBR Workplace Leadership Services and adjunct professor of business at NOVA shares what has propelled her to focus her career on ensuring the success of others. Previously,  she was the executive director for the Prince William County Community Foundation and held various sales management roles in hospitality at international hotel chains. 

Ricks has received much recognition for her work, including being named one of five women in the county to receive Prince William Living Magazine’s 2021 Influential Women award. She was also recognized by the Arlington Leadership Center for Excellence’s “40 Under 40 Honorees.” As in her career ensuring business and student success, she also recently donated a kidney to a relative who had kidney disease and will be recognized this year by Georgetown Medstar University Hospital.

Please tell us a little bit about your background:
I grew up in Danville, Va. and attended undergrad at the University of Virginia where I studied psychology and music with a Spanish minor. I graduated in 2005 and, unbeknownst to me, the next eight to ten years would consist of mistreatment in the workplace at three different organizations. During that time, I did not know what this behavior was called; I just knew that there would be managers and employees that would try to keep me from growing in the company, even when I deserved a promotion. I would experience a reprimand for things that other employees did not receive a reprimand for and then be told I could not ask questions. I had become a target and could not understand what I had done to deserve this. Thus, my interest in the topic of workplace bullying emerged. 

By the time I started to work on a PhD program and move into the dissertation phase in 2012-2015, I decided to research and study this topic more to see what I could do to avoid these types of encounters in the future and to ensure that others could avoid these issues as well. Once I graduated with a PhD in organization and management with a leadership specialization from Capella University, I decided that my quest to prevent workplace bullying could not end there. So in 2015, I established what is now known as SBR Workplace Leadership Services (SBR). 

SBR is a business that exists to bring awareness to workplace bullying and to educate employees and employers on how to deal with it. It focuses on creating healthy organizations where all employees, regardless of position, can thrive, feel safe and enjoy working. We also offer workshops and classes on other management and leadership topics as well as healthcare topics. I am certified as a life coach, a virtual dementia facilitator and a facilitator of the five languages of appreciation in the workplace. With this education, I am able to offer a variety of sessions and services. I also wrote a book that was released in 2021 called Bullied at Work…A Journey of Growth & Perseverance, which is based on my experiences with workplace bullying. SBR also offers curriculum design, keynote speaking addresses and more. Details can be found at www.sbrleadership.com.

What are your passions/what has assisted you on your journey in higher education?
In my journey in higher education, I have found that empathy has been at the forefront of interacting with people – students, co-workers, contractors, everyone! I care about caring for others. This is my passion. It is a top priority in all interactions I have with people, especially students. I understand and relate to challenges outside of school that can serve as a distraction to academic progression such as relationship issues, food insecurity, homelessness, financial challenges and more. I have been known to buy students who are in need office supplies to ensure they can succeed in my class. This is also a way to ensure equitable circumstances for students, to ensure everyone has what they need to reach the same goal of completing a class and/or completing their degree programs. 

What brought you to NOVA?
When I entered the workforce following undergrad, I was not 100% sure what I wanted to do, but I was quickly pulled into the sales industry. I worked in sales for ten years and found I was dissatisfied and, despite making good money, I was not happy in that career. So, I had to dig deep and go back to the child in me who had been asked, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” At age 5, I would have said, “a teacher.” However, I knew I would rather teach adults than children and thus, my quest to become a professor was launched.

Through networking, I found that the business department at NOVA was in need of adjunct professors and the rest is history. Here I am, approximately seven years later, thankful to have served almost 20 semesters as an adjunct professor in the business and public service department and the student development department at the Annandale and Loudoun campuses as well as for NOVA Online.

What do you enjoy about NOVA?
NOVA is the most diverse place I have ever been, and I have traveled worldwide. I love the idea of walking into a classroom of 30 and seeing over half of my students are from different countries. I see different culturally significant representations, and as I share with my students, I can learn from them and their cultures just as they learn from me. We sometimes take breaks to share songs we like or books we like, and with such a culturally diverse group, there are so many amazing ideas that emerge and the learning process is still happening. Students take on new interests because of something another student may have shared, and I do, too! I think my students enjoy these cultural educational moments, and so do I.

What do you do to really connect with students?
I connect to students by allowing them to be themselves, allowing them to share their thoughts without judgment, understanding when they have challenges and need to talk to me, serving as a mentor, staying in touch with them even when a class has ended and offering opportunities for fun and laughter during class. I always ask them to share their favorite song, movie and book with me as I get to know them and allow them to get to know one another. Again, we might take a moment to listen to a song that has been recommended or watch a short video clip from a popular movie, just to take a break from class content.

It is a fun and exciting moment for students to just see us laugh about something fun or talk about something non-content related. This definitely creates a good connection to students, and they can start to see me as a human and not just some authoritarian figure who grades their work.

Do you have a specific advice you give to incoming students?
My advice to NOVA students is here and I abide by these same tips in my life:

1. Have a no-NOVA day on one of the seven days of the week — This is a day where you focus on self-care. You disconnect from schoolwork, checking NOVA emails, going to campus or anything NOVA related and just take a day to focus on you. Take some time to meditate, exercise, participate in a fun activity, sleep in late, hang out with a friend, play games, watch TV or otherwise.
2. Set boundaries with family and friends – When you are focused on classwork, reading chapters and other NOVA-related tasks, it is important to establish boundaries with friends and family. Communicate your need to get work completed and come to a compromise on how your relationships will operate independent of your need to focus on school. Say “no” when it is appropriate and necessary, and do not feel bad for the need to set a boundary to protect yourself and get you to your goals.
3. Stay positive and have fun! – Although there will be challenging times throughout the college journey, there are also fun and exciting times. Find those moments to be positive and smile through them. Celebrate the completion of reading a chapter, the completion of a worksheet or paper, attending the next class session, earning a high score on something in class and completing a class! Stay positive along the way. Focus on the good in all that you do, and try to find ways to incorporate fun. Maybe you create in-person or virtual study groups and take music breaks while you study. Maybe you reward yourself with dessert after you’ve completed something NOVA related. Again, these are great ways to build positivity, motivate you and keep you feeling good about yourself and your accomplishments at NOVA.

Submitted by:
Hoang Nguyen, Comms-PIO, HDNguyen@nvcc.edu