When you’re walking the halls of Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit’s headquarters on Grand River Ave. you’ll likely get a warm hello and big smile from Felicia Hunter, chief administrative officer and executive vice president of employment and training. In her role at Goodwill, Felicia focuses on meeting the employment needs of those in Detroit, Wayne, Oakland and Macomb communities.
Felicia began her career with aspirations of becoming a school teacher but chose the path of social work as a result of a personal experience. While developing into that career, she found a passion for helping people overcome obstacles and hasn’t looked back since. Felicia joined the Goodwill team in 1979 as a vocational counselor where she provided guidance to a diverse trainee population interested in training and job placement.
Her career has evolved from providing guidance to providing mentorship to others on her team, allowing them an opportunity to expand their roles and grow professionally. Felicia now focuses on developing programs and services to meet the needs of the community through grant writing to bring in revenue and coordinating resources, staff, facilities, finances and accreditations that are necessary to ensure quality service delivery. She knows they’ve achieved their objective when someone tells her, ‘I wouldn’t have met this goal without Goodwill.’
Her colleagues would tell you that Felicia always puts her team first and pushes those she works with to be their best. “It takes a team to make an impact, and I’m more than thankful to be a member of a team that impacts those in the Detroit, Wayne, Oakland and Macomb communities every day,” explained Felicia. “We are changing people’s lives every day. If parents are working, the home becomes self-sufficient; when they are not at work, the home can fall apart.”
In her time at Goodwill, her favorite aspects of the organization include the diverse client population and services offered to clients. She feels that Goodwill offers clients critical programs to achieve success and is proud of the amount of lives she has touched through her career. When she first joined the team, Felicia was reaching 400 to 500 clients annually. Now, Goodwill serves more than 12,000 annually, an increase of more than 2,000 percent.
Felicia prides herself on the patience and balance she has learned from Goodwill. Her passion for Goodwill and her clients is evident and aligns with her personal value systems of providing public service in all you do and helping others. She comes to Goodwill every day ready to serve and looks forward to seeing her team and clients with a goal to put a smile on others faces.
When Felicia is not connecting Goodwill trainees to their dream career and mentoring other team members, she is a mentor for MARO, a state-wide organization providing leadership skills to emerging leaders, and serves as a board member for multiple organizations including the Torch of Wisdom Foundation and the National Association of Multicultural Rehabilitation Concerns. She also ensures she has a work-life balance and enjoys spending time with her sisters – her three biological sisters and her Delta Sigma Theta sisters.
