Bradford to be honored at Girl Scouts event

Trussville resident LaJuana Bradford remembers being a Brownie. She remembers the celebrated campfires, and she remembers standing in neighbors’ doorways selling the even more celebrated Girl Scout cookies.

Today, she’s a different type of scout — one who examines her community with a closer eye — as senior vice president of corporate social responsibility for Regions Financial Corporation. She also serves as a role model to young Girl Scouts.

Bradford will be recognized this month at the annual Women of Distinction Awards Luncheon, hosted by the Girl Scouts of North-Central Alabama, at the Harbert Center in Birmingham. She will be honored in the financial literacy category, nominated based on her civic and professional involvement and contributions to the community.

“Many times the things we get involved in as kids, we end up doing as adults,” she said. “Children and family is a passion for me. I also believe in working for the community and giving back.”

Bradford is a busy person most days, both in her job at Regions and serving as a board member of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the YWCA of Central Alabama, the Alabama Region of the American Red Cross, the Alabama Humanities Foundation and the Miles College board of trustees. She is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, The Links Incorporated — an international, non-profit volunteer organization — and a mother to two adult children and a grandmother to her 2-year-old grandson.

“Enjoy life and be productive,” Bradford said. “When you do that, you might be tired, but it doesn’t weigh you.”

It’s clear that Bradford finds her work rewarding, whether it be at Regions or elsewhere.

In her role as director of corporate social responsibility for Regions, she studies the communities that their Fortune 500 company serves: analyzing small business growth and contributing to that, looking at diversity, acting as a liaison with corporate sponsors and making tough decisions when natural disasters strike.

During those tough times, Bradford determines if there should be corporate donations to those in need. After Alabama’s 2011 tornadoes devastated Tuscaloosa and other towns, her group allotted $1 million to support the efforts in rebuilding.

“We connect the dots between the community and the bank,” Bradford said. “We have to step out and make a difference.”

Because one of the core initiatives of Girl Scouts is financial literacy, Bradford hopes to use her wide financial knowledge base to be a real-world mentor to the young girls and provide them with a solid understanding about money management and finances at an early age. This could ward off later potential problems such as unemployment and debt, and overall, forge the path for this group--one that has grown to almost 10,000 girls in Alabama -— to become financially empowered women who accomplish their goals.

Teaching these skills is key, Bradford said, and it’s a job that she feels honored to do.

“Our customers need financial education,” she said.

“And these young girls also talk to their parents about what they learn as well. You end up touching both parent and child with financial literacy.”

Spending time with her grandson on the weekends also reminds Bradford that sometimes what people in her community need most is love. 

“I wish we could bottle up that loving nature that children have and spread it into the community,” she said. “What would the world be like then? I always try to think about what the world will be like when he’s older. It’s up to us to keep the world the way it should be for the children. We should aspire to that.”

Local Girl Scouts had the opportunity to interview the Women of Distinction award winners as part of a short video, which will be shown at the ceremony March 11. Proceeds from the luncheon support Girl Scouts of North-Central Alabama. For more information, please contact Tonya Mines at 800-734-4541 ext. 1030 or tmines@girlscoutsnca.org.