Vanessa Dowdy
Vanessa Dowdy was awarded the HerStory Award at the National HerStory Award Ceremony of the Global Women's Peace Network on May 21, 2022, for her exemplary work of serving and uplifting others, including young girls, mothers and daughters, those facing the emotional and physical toll of cancer, and many others, based on her journey of overcoming unimaginable challenges. We applaud her service to the community filled with love and compassion.
Mrs. Vanessa R. Dowdy is the Chief Executive Officer of Amour Finer Touch, where she plans and creates conferences, seminars, weddings and other events. She is also the Executive Officer and co-founder of It’s A Girls’ Thang (an entity of Greater Hope Baptist Church), where she has organized and hosted events for women and girls for over two decades. In April of 2017, she launched PEARLS which is a program designed to empower girls aged 3-18 while teaching them basic life skills.
Before starting her own business, Vanessa worked nearly twenty-four years for the Tennessee Board of Regents as an administrator. She served as the Director of Admissions and Recruitment in the Division of Enrollment Services at Southwest Tennessee Community College. She collaborated with all entities of the college in developing the Strategic Plan for Enrollment, and under her leadership the college experienced a 16% growth in new enrollees. She served as the Principal Designated School Official for International Students. In this position she advised, orientated and issued the necessary documents to admit students traveling from abroad. Vanessa also served as the grant coordinator for the National GEAR-Up (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) Program where she created initiatives to help failing high school students realize college as an option.
During her tenure she served as President and Vice-President of the Tennessee Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, Director of Testing and Chair of the Process Activated Training Systems (PATS) Initiative. She received the Jim Willis Spirit Award for enthusiasm, dedication and meritorious service to the college from the President. Vanessa has been a long time leader setting standards for high quality education and has encouraged both young and seasoned individuals to develop a plan for life and make it happen. Her favorite saying is to BE GREAT!
Believing strongly in the family unit, education, human potential, transforming lives and creating new visions for others is what drives Vanessa. She believes we should live for the sake of others and not concentrate on self wants and needs. She has served as Youth Director, Sunday School Teacher, Choir Director, Director of Family Life and the Leader of Women’s Fellowship in her church. She has co-sponsored a mother and daughter retreat for the past twenty years and loves the opportunity to introduce a better way of life to those who need direction.
Vanessa feels that God has given her another opportunity to help those who struggle with life, in that he cured her of breast cancer over twenty years ago. She is always willing to assist those who are traveling the same road she has traveled. She shares her experience, scriptures and prayers with those going through chemo therapy and radiation. She reassures them that they were chosen by God for this particular battle, because he made them and knew they could help the next vessel who would face the war between life and death. Vanessa will tell every believer as well as non-believer that God is good, and all the time he is good. God wants us to obey his greatest commandment and that is to love ye one another.
