When Felicia Turnley ’83 visited Berea as a high school senior, it immediately felt like home. Because of that instant sense of connection, she knew this was where she wanted to attend college.
“I wanted a feeling of home, where you can fit in and you can be a part of the fabric of the college,” she recalled. “I felt that Berea was the place for me because it aligned with my values.”
Back home in Birmingham, Alabama, Turnley’s parents had raised her to love people for who they are and to value people of all backgrounds. The feeling of alignment that came over her when she first visited Berea on that Admissions tour would come to be a crucial guide throughout her life, and one of the secrets to her success.
But while Turnley knew beyond a doubt that Berea was the place for her, she had no idea what she wanted to study in college.
“I was one of those students who didn’t declare my major until I had to,” she remembered. “I knew what I didn’t want to do. I had checked off a lot of boxes. I didn’t want to go into pre-med. I didn’t want to be an accountant, or anything like that.”
Finally, running out of time, Turnley chose the major she thought would give her the widest range of possibilities—business administration.
In both high school and college, Turnley’s father had encouraged her to work in an orthopedic physician’s office over the summer and during school breaks. “My father wanted me to go into medicine,” Turnley said. “I knew I didn’t want to do that, but the business end of things I really liked.”
The doctor’s office where she worked was connected to a hospital, giving her a good view of life in the healthcare industry. “I enjoyed what I saw there, the 24-hour hustle-and-bustle, and everything about a hospital,” she said. She decided that she wanted to work in the business side of healthcare.
After graduating from Berea, she earned her master’s degree in health administration at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. As part of that master’s degree program, she gained real-world experience in hospital administration.
“Part of that program is that you have to do an internship or a fellowship,” Turnley said. “And having been at Berea, I didn’t mind working. That’s part of the fabric of who I am.”
The organizations that I work for care for all people, regardless of their ability to pay or who they are or what they are. That really aligns with the values of Berea, too. And that’s who I am as a person.
Felicia Turnley ’83
Turnley took a fellowship working for a hospital system in south Florida. “I learned the system, learned about administering hospitals and actually opened a hospital as part of my first job and fellowship,” she said.
After her fellowship, she moved up through several organizations, becoming an associate administrator, vice president, chief operating officer, and, now, chief executive officer of Memorial Hospital Pembroke in Pembroke Pines, Florida. There are many things she’s done in all these roles, but Turnley has a favorite.
“One of the things that I’ve enjoyed in my career is construction,” she said. “Building new buildings, renovating, adding new equipment, that was all part of my experience and repertoire.”
The success Turnley has enjoyed in her career has several sources—her hard work, her natural gifts and the opportunities she received, both at Berea and elsewhere. But there’s also the factor of knowing which opportunity to choose—the skill of making the right decision. Turnley calls it “alignment”—it’s how she knew that Berea was the right fit for college, and it’s how she’s chosen which opportunities to pursue in her career.
“I want to make sure that my values align with the organization that I’m working for,” she said. “I need to feel like I am committed to their values, that our values are aligned. For the majority of my career, I’ve worked for non-profit hospitals or healthcare systems because they look out for all people.”
Like the alignment Turnley felt between Berea College and the values her parents taught her, she now looks for alignment between career opportunities and what she learned at Berea.
“The organizations that I work for care for all people, regardless of their ability to pay or who they are or what they are,” she said. “That really aligns with the values of Berea, too. And that’s who I am as a person.”
Berea College gave Felicia a firm foundation on which to build her life, helping her develop a strong moral center with which to weigh opportunities. Because of Berea, Felicia graduated from college ready to build a successful career serving those in need.
“Berea helped all of us learn how to work hard, play hard, learn, but also be of service to others,” she said. “I think that’s the key.”
