RE Log - Fall 2020

6 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2020 PhD at 50 and published a book four years before her death from cancer at 83, Rose Watson – also known as Dr. Mom – constantly sought out opportunities to step into new cultures, engage globally, educate others and learn. “Her fearlessness and desire to help others are things that she definitely passed on to me,” said Watson, currently the Director of the Scholars Program at King Philanthropies in Menlo Park, Calif., where she helps international students develop leadership and social-impact skills. “I think about the theme, the thread that goes through my life: How do you empower students and communities through education? That’s something I saw my mother do.” When Beverly Watson stepped off the plane in Luanda, Angola, the second person she encountered was Dona Fernanda, a woman who greeted her excitedly, saying she had been taught by Rose Watson. For the next year, Beverly Watson led educational, health and agricultural projects across the southern African country while frequently meeting heads of state, physicians and members of parliament who had known and been shaped by her mother, the daughter of a church minister who was born in Sassafras, Va., and grew up in the segregated South. “It was a beautiful way to connect with her,” Beverly Watson said, “to see her not only as a mom, but as a woman who not only influenced people’s lives, but generations of lives.” Beverly Watson, too, has been influencing lives since departing Ransom Everglades three decades ago. After the stint in Angola, she earned her law degree at Stanford University and launched a multi-faceted career in global education and access that has taken her around the world. She helped underserved students prepare for standardized testing at a company founded by her brother, Carlos Watson ’87 , and sister Carolyn Watson. She worked towards poverty alleviation in Mozambique, and founded a social impact enterprise to connect bright minds and university resources with needs in South America, Africa and elsewhere. She helped provide access to higher education as an executive at Laureate Education foundation, a global education company, and served as chief operating officer at the XQ Institute, a foundation devoted to innovation in secondary education. “I feel really blessed and fortunate that all the roles I have taken have one thing in common: they involve an issue or organization I care deeply about,” she said. “Being able to work at a place that has a mission you believe in, and can be part of the solution, is extremely rewarding.”