Westina Matthews Shatteen - Shared The Gift Of Faith With The Public

In 2002 Matthews launched the "Black Women on Wall Street" symposium. Her goal was two-fold—to provide a forum for sharing experience and strategies, and to create a mentoring environment between seasoned Wall Streeters and eager newcomers ready to make it in the traditionally white, male world of finance. The success of the program has touched Matthews. "To be able to look into the faces of over 200 young, bright, smart and talented women who are eager to climb the corporate ladder on Wall Street is certainly a very proud moment," she told CBB.

Matthews desire to help reached well beyond the moneyed boardrooms of Wall Street. Through a venture called Have a Little Faith, she began publicly sharing the lesson she learned from her mother—with just the faith of a mustard seed you can overcome anything. Matthews self-published Have a Little Faith: The Faith of a Mustard Seed in 2003. She bought five pounds of mustard seeds and hand-filled thousands of packets of seeds to include with each book. The sequel, Have a Little Faith: For Women Fully Grown, came out in 2004. Through the internet, speaking engagements, and word-of-mouth the books have sold over 7,000 copies. "This has become a labor of love for me," she told CBB. "The response has been overwhelming. I receive notes from perfect strangers, and people are passing the books along to others. They're comforting people during an illness, a loss, a broken relationship, a lost job. That was the intent, and it's been very rewarding to watch that."

Matthews's third book Have a Little Faith: In the Midst of Relationships was released early in 2005. Meanwhile she continued to spearhead innovative community programs in her role with Merrill Lynch. The woman, who long ago planned on a teaching career in small-town Ohio, had very successfully found a way to touch thousands around the world through both her corporate work and her spiritual convictions.