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President, Black Professional Coaches Alliance

Running from the police, having different aliases, engaging in shootouts, and living in an abandoned church were just some of the things that Veronica Conway became accustomed to during her childhood. Today, Conway is the president of the Black Professional Coaches Alliance, showing that you can never count someone out.

"My father was a former Black Panther. We had to pretend we were leading a normal life, in the middle of what was a war zone, I remember this climate of fear," says Conway. "I always had the sense as a child that we were being followed, watched or that our phones were being tapped - which was true. We received death threats. There was always this overwhelming fear that we were going to be shot or something."

Conway's father was eventually convicted of murdering a park ranger. He was sentenced to life in prison, and is still serving time today. Conway recalls the day her father was captured.

"One morning in 1972, there was a knock on the door. It really wasn't a knock, it sounded more like thunder. It was six in the morning and I [still] remember my mother looking out the window, [and then] saying [to my father], 'They're here.' The next thing I remember is the doors being beaten down and all of this commotion. They came into the room and one of them put a gun to my head and said, 'If you move, we'll blow this black b*!ch's head off.' So he surrendered. I still remember that day," says Conway. Conway would eventually rise above such a harrowing past, and move on to create new leaders as the founder of the Black Professional Coaches Alliance, an organization devoted to providing personal inspiration for today's business people.- adrienne gadling

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