La-Verna J. Fountain
La-Verna Fountain has a history of being sought after for her input and expertise in both the public and private sectors. Through the various programs she has established, La-Verna has encouraged and guided the next generation to a place of enlightenment and truth. She is an award-winning leader, innovator, educator, and author, to put it simply, she is a woman of peace and of purpose.
After 12 years of service, La-Verna Fountain retired from Columbia University, where she was the Vice President of Strategic Communications and Construction Business Services -- a position created specifically for her. La-Verna believes it was the faith and prayers of her mother and the older saints that allowed her and her sister to be part of the multitude of walking miracles to emerge from their rural town of Mount Union PA. She has always had a personal relationship with and known from a young age that God heard her prayers and created her for a purpose.
As a teenager, La-Verna was told by a teacher that if she earned $10,000 annually, she should consider herself a success. By the age of 21, she had served three years in the Army, married, became a mother, and divorced. With her mother and sister’s support, La-Verna moved to Harrisburg. She enrolled at Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC) where a professor told her she was more than capable of doing the work and would be a huge success. It was also at HACC where La-Verna met her current husband and forever boyfriend. In January 2022, they will celebrate 40 years of marriage. She knows it was God’s grace that brought far more ups than downs to her blended family.
La-Verna worked for many government agencies, including the Pennsylvania State Police, where she was the first Black and first woman to serve as Press Secretary. She worked in senior-level positions for both Republic and Democrat administrations, serving two governors and one U.S. Senator. She became a senior advisor for Save the Children. She did not seek any of those positions; she was recruited or asked to serve by individuals who previously worked with her. La-Verna believes her life was always divinely guided by the hand of God.
She has had the opportunity to have inner-city young people testify before Congress; with her husband and another friend, created the Teach Teens to Teach Teens Nonviolence Youth Institute and the Discover the Leader Within You youth program. More than 50 teenagers met weekly in her home, learning principles of nonviolence as espoused by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. She also started the Gandhi/ King Peace Coalition and helped organize two statewide Martin Luther King, Jr. Youth Assemblies.
She remembers praying and asking God to help her obtain her master’s degree. In 2006, a former boss called and asked her to move to New York and work on one of Columbia University’s highest priorities. There, she obtained her master’s degree in Negotiations and Conflict Resolution. After graduating, she became an instructor in Columbia’s School of Professional Studies. For years, she had prayed to travel to Israel with her mother. While working at Columbia, one of New York’s prominent ministers entered her office to tell her that she had been accepted into a special program (she was completely unaware of) to travel to Israel, all expenses paid. While her mother had already passed away, each step La-Verna took while in Israel felt as if her mother was with her in spirit and that God was reminding her that He does not operate based upon our timelines or conditions. His timing is perfect.
In 2008, La-Verna was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. A decade later, after much prayer, she retired. Through the company she founded, Meaningful Communications Matter, La-Verna spends her professional time facilitating sacred listening sessions, retreats, and critical meetings and serving as a keynote speaker for large conferences. A former colleague told La-Verna, “You were born for such a time as this.”
La-Verna has authored two books, The Alphabets of Life: A Simple Guide to Simply Living and The Gold Coins: A Supernatural Adventure Inspired by True Events (published under her pen name Sa’lia Friend) and written numerous articles for a variety of magazines and newspapers, including the Harlem Community News. She has received numerous local, state, and national awards for her community service and currently serves on the HACC Foundation and Dauphin County Libraries boards.
For more information on La-Verna, visit http://IAmLJFountain.com.