Rashida Dawson

Rashida Dawson is the Vice President of Financial Stability of United Way of Northwest Louisiana (UWNWLA) and responsible for the overall leadership and management of its Financial Stability impact area. Within her role, she oversees various financial empowerment programs including the Bank On Northwest Louisiana initiative. As a result of the initiative’s efforts, she has connected over 5,000 unbanked residents to safe and affordable bank accounts throughout the Shreveport-Bossier area. With great anticipation, her latest project includes the launch of Louisiana’s first Financial Empowerment Center in direct partnership with the City of Shreveport.

Rashida earned her Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from the University of Louisiana at Monroe and currently pursuing her MBA in Project Management. With an extensive background in government and public service, she has worked for Shreveport Federal Credit Union, ReRez Market Research and helped develop the Allie Smiles Foundation. She then began working for the City of Shreveport’s Department of Community Development where she developed and launched the Bank On Shreveport (BONWLA) initiative.

Fulfilling her commitment to serve others, Rashida is the President of the South Shreveport Rotary Club, member of BancorpSouth’s CRA Advisory Council, Northwest Louisiana Re-Entry Coalition, and the Young Professionals Initiative (YPI). She is also a graduate of the 2017 Greater Shreveport Leadership Program, 2013 graduate of LANO’s Leadership Program, and actively involved with various community organizations throughout Northwest Louisiana. Most recently, she was recognized as an honoree of Shreveport-Bossier’s 2018 Class of Forty Under 40 and the 1^st recipient of the Nonprofit Citizen of the Year for the 2019 Minority Business Opportunity Awards through the Greater Shreveport Chamber of Commerce.

When Rashida is not working or advocating for the needs of her community, she enjoys spending time with her family, watching football, and rooting for the New Orleans Saints.

Full of spunk and charisma, Rashida lives her life by these words of the great poet, Maya Angelou, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”