Stories

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Founders' Award winner Beverly Watson '90 does her late mother proud

Photos by Chloe Jackman
Back in 1994, Beverly Watson ’90 landed a job offer from Africare, a Washington, D.C.,-based relief organization, to serve in Angola. Watson had just graduated from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, and Angola had just reached a ceasefire in a decades-long civil war. Africare’s chief executive officer, C. Payne Lucas, urged Watson to weigh the risks before accepting the post.

“Are your parents okay with this?” he asked.
The earnest question made Watson, then 21, smile.
“You do not,” she recalled saying, “know my mother.”

Watson’s mother, the late Rose Thomas Watson, also went to Angola early in her career, in her case as a teacher under the auspices of the United Methodist Church. A Fulbright Scholar who worked or lived in some 20 countries, taught at three universities, received her 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.

    • Beverly Watson ’90 and her mother, the late Rose Thomas Watson

“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.”

Beverly Watson '90

"Her fearlessness and desire to help others are things that she definitely passed on to me. 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."
In January 2020, Watson was named the recipient of the 2020 Ransom Everglades FOUNDERS’ ALUMNI AWARD, which is awarded to individuals who, through loyal attitude, inspired spirit and unselfish action, have helped fulfill the vision of the founders of the Ransom and Everglades Schools. Recent recipients have included Kelly Posner Gerstenhaber ’85, Rudy Prio Touzet ’76, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders ’70 and Maurice Ferre ’79. 

“She’s always been a big-minded, global person, a lot like my mother,” Carlos Watson said. “She fell in love with the world early on … She has always had a really powerful way of inspiring people, and helping them be their best. I know Bev will be an inspiration to what is an even more social-justice-minded generation, a generation even more focused on leaving the world better off.”
The COVID-19 crisis prevented Ransom Everglades from recognizing Beverly Watson in person last spring, but Head of School Penny Townsend promised that day would come.  “Beverly has honored Ransom Everglades for three decades with her work across the globe,” Townsend said. “She is the embodiment of our school’s mission; her work for the betterment of the global community illustrates what we hope for from every graduate. We look forward to presenting this award when it is safe to gather again."

The youngest of four siblings, Beverly Watson grew up in South Florida with role models all around. Her father, Carlos Watson, Sr., earned his master’s in sociology at the University of Pittsburgh and was a professor in the social sciences at Florida International University and Florida Memorial College. Carla Watson earned her MD and PhD at Heidelberg University in Germany and now uses her medical expertise to create educational initiatives at leading universities. Since graduating from Harvard University, Carlos Watson, Jr., has fashioned a distinguished career in television and other media as CEO of the OZY media company. Carolyn Watson earned her PhD in psychology from New York University and is now in private practice in Washington, D.C. 
And, of course, there was the family matriarch, who finished her PhD in International Studies at the University of Miami while her youngest daughter attended RE. She had received her bachelor’s at Virginia Union and master’s at Columbia University. She later wrote a book, Purposeful Parenting

    • Watson family portrait

“I know Beverly and her mom have a real spiritual connection,” said George “Trae” Williamson ’90, a longtime friend of Watson since her days at Ransom Everglades. “I always had a really strong sense that there was a bit of her mom in her. Her mom really represented who and what she wanted to be in this world, and she’s brought that forth with grace and completion.”

Thanks to their parents’ outreach and generous spirit, the Watson children frequently encountered interesting guests who visited for dinner, weekends or holidays. They mingled with international students from Germany, Pakistan, Brazil and other nations who were attending FIU or the University of Miami, or adopted brothers and sisters from Angola in town to visit. Yet even with a bustling house, a busy career and her dissertation, Rose Watson managed to carve out individual time with each of her children. 
“Mommy would wake us up early in the mornings on Saturdays; that was her time to have one-on-one breakfasts with us,” Beverly Watson said. “She’d tap you lightly, 6 a.m., and she’d whisper, ‘Come, come,’ so you had to sneak out of the room so no one would hear you, to a special breakfast with one-on-one time.”

Watson recalled family prayers in Portuguese, the most common language in Angola, a former territory of Portugal. By the time she entered Ransom Everglades in the 10th grade, she was determined to study abroad to learn more Portuguese and see more of the world. Her poise, sense of purpose and spirit helped her fit in immediately, recalled her friend Trae Williamson.

“It was such a breath of fresh air when Beverly came in,” Williamson recalled. “She brought a new energy to the class … joy, energy and perspective without judgment.”

Active in musical theater and basketball at RE, Watson traveled to Brazil for a semester during her junior year. She made three study-abroad trips to Brazil: in high school, college and law school. Those trips, her friends observed, seemed to cement her career path. “The trip [at RE] was a game-changer for her,” said Allison Estes Brown, a friend she met on the first day of kindergarten at Henry S. West Laboratory School in Coral Gables. “She really wanted to focus globally at that point.”

That focus could be seen most clearly in her work with Global Imprints, an organization she founded in 2007 to connect talented, service-oriented students or professionals with local enterprises in regions around the world where they could make a lasting social impact. She developed relationships with Harvard, Duke, Stanford and Northwestern universities, as well as Yale alumni and others during her tenure at Global Imprints.

Beverly Watson '90

"When I think about my career and even personal journey, I know it has been influenced and shaped and even inspired by my mom. Sometimes you can step up and become what you model."

    • Watson family at airport before Beverly departs to Angola in 1994. Left tp right: Dad, Bev, Mom, Carlos, Carolyn and in front, cousin Kamne Thomas

In 2018, a recruiter called Watson with an opportunity she couldn’t pass up. Robert E. King and Dorothy J. King had founded King Philanthropies two years previous in the hope of combating extreme poverty by amplifying the impact of high-performing leaders and organizations. They wanted Watson to join their team, helping launch young recipients of the Global Scholars Initiative into global leaders who could improve the lives of the world’s poor, particularly in their home nations. Watson accepted the post, and now invests personally in the more than 65 undergraduate scholars and 150 graduate students in the program, paying visits to their campuses at Dartmouth College, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Stanford University, occasionally traveling with them to special events, and communicating frequently by phone and email.

“What I am doing is creating a community of scholars that can help each other be leaders of social impact and change and also develop leadership skills,” she said. “I know all of the scholars, many of their family members, and some have come to my home for Thanksgiving.”

The scope of her professional responsibilities expanded in recent months with the simultaneous emergence of COVID-19 and the roiling racial reckoning in the United States. Her interactions with the Global Scholars evolved as she helped them navigate the dual challenges, trying to ensure they felt safe, seen and heard. The issues also took a personal toll, spurring deep reflection and a desire to take action. This past summer, she agreed to join the Anti-Racism Task Force that was established by the RE Board of Trustees.

“She’s someone who has seen the issues of race and racism play out not just in the U.S., but all around the globe, “Carlos Watson said. “If you are trying to make a real difference, not just talk, people of action are what you need. That’s who Bev is.”

The task force commenced its work in August. At the same time, Watson engaged with the Global Scholars to help them manage their unusual fall semesters. Watson isn’t sure what her long-term future holds – only that she will continue seeking out opportunities to make a difference in the world through education and meaningful cross-cultural experiences. 

By doing that, she will continue to follow the path set forth by her mother.

“My mom is still very much in my thoughts, in my heart, and in my conversation,” Watson said near the sixth anniversary of her mother’s death. “When I think about my career and even personal journey, I know it has been influenced and shaped and even inspired by my mom. Sometimes you can step up and become what you model.”

Beverly Watson '90

"What I am doing is creating a community of scholars that can help each other be leaders of social impact and change and also develop leadership skills."

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Founded in 1903, Ransom Everglades School is a coeducational, college preparatory day school for grades 6 - 12 located on two campuses in Coconut Grove, Florida. Ransom Everglades School produces graduates who "believe that they are in the world not so much for what they can get out of it as for what they can put into it." The school provides rigorous college preparation that promotes the student's sense of identity, community, personal integrity and values for a productive and satisfying life, and prepares the student to lead and to contribute to society.