Sheila Hawkins-Bucklew is an entrepreneur whose journey has been woven together with a common thread: the empowerment of women. She is a proponent of equality and women’s rights, something she has held close to her heart throughout her career.

Sheila was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

After graduating from Duquesne University, where she earned a B. S. Degree in Business Administration, Sheila began her professional career in retail buying and store management.

Her passion to empower the underserved naturally lead her to actively becoming involved with sever- al professional organizations. Sheila held several industry leadership positions including becoming the 2006 Austin Chapter President of Women’s Council of REALTORS®. She also served as a director for both the Austin Association of REALTORS® and the Texas Association of REALTORS®. As a director of the Austin Board she worked hard to bring International Real Estate course offerings to local members. Her enthusiasm for professional education led to her 2009 appointment as the Professional Development Team Liaison for the Texas Association of REALTORS® working on behalf of 80,000 state members. Sheila is also a graduate of the Texas Association of REALTORS® 2009 Leadership Program.

Through her servant leadership roles in the real estate industry she began to want to do more, she wanted to impact her global community by empowering women. In 2014 during Austin Fashion Week she launched Hawkins BucklewTM Handcrafted Jewelry Designs as the face of her mission and the financial arm of the Hawkins BucklewTM Foundation.These two Hawkins Bucklew ventures tied perfectly together the common threads of Sheila’s creativity, business ex- pertise, and passion for helping the underserved.

In 2017 Sheila was selected by the U.S. Department of State for the Mandela Washington Fellowship Reciprocal Ex- change Award. A flagship program of former President Obama, the Reciprocal Exchange program supports American professionals in their travel to Sub-Saharan Africa to engage in collaborative projects that demonstrates a substantial impact on the community and country of an African Fellow. Sheila partnered with Hauwa Liman, a Nigerian Fashion Designer to host their inaugural “Creative Entrepreneurship Bootcamp” in Lagos, Nigeria. This project focused on en- trepreneurial programs for women who were creative entrepreneurs.

Sheila remains active in her local community as a member of the Greater Austin Black Chamber, National Council of Negro Women, the Four Point’s Task Force in District 6, and Jewelers of America. She is also a former member of The Links, Inc. Town Lake Chapter, National Black MBA Association, and National Association of Real Estate Brokers (RE- ALTIST). Sheila enjoys volunteering in the community dedicating her time to such organizations as the Capital City Black Film Festival, Austin Area Jazz Festival, and SXSW.

Sheila has been featured in articles of the following periodicals: The Austin Chronicle Newspaper, Community Impact Newspaper, Austin Women’s Magazine, Tribeza Magazine, Eclectic Shades Magazine, and British Vogue.