On this edition of In Black America, producer/host John L. Hanson Jr. speaks with Gladys H. DeClouet, former senior executive running multi-billion-dollar businesses, pioneer, and author of “ A Layered Life: Breaking Barriers as a trailblazing Black Woman in Corporate America.’

Born in Jacksonville, FL., in the 1950’s during racial desegregation and before the women’s rights movement, DeClouet shattered expectations by becoming the first female engineer in offshore oil and gas exploration and production.

As a pioneering African American woman in corporate America, DeClouet climbed to the highest echelons of leadership in both the oil and restaurant industries-ultimately running multi-billion-dollar divisions in spaces where women, especially women of color, were rarely welcomed.

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