Ursula Burns

The Projects

Ursula Burns was born on September 20, 1958, in Manhattan’s Lower East Side (New York City, New York), a neighborhood with a lot of grit and not much glamor. She was raised by a single mother, Olga Burns, in a household that understood struggle but never surrendered to it. Money was always tight, and material comforts always scarce, but Ursula never felt or even noticed the impoverishment until she was an older teenager. And her good mother never allowed their poverty to be an excuse or a limitation. She often reminded her children that “where you are doesn’t define who you are.”

Ursula’s mother worked hard to send Ursula to Catholic school, knowing that a good education would lead to success. From a young age, Ursula was told she had “three strikes” against her: she was black, female, and poor. But Ursula obviously didn’t see those as strikes at all. Instead she called the world’s bluff and has hit a grand slam in the game of life.

When Ursula Burns was about eight years old, her family moved from an old, unsafe tenement into the projects. It was technically a step up, though still far from easy. Ursula described it as “from really bad to bad.” Her father wasn’t present in her life—he resurfaced when she was sixteen years old, but with little impact. She later said that her relationship with her father wasn’t sustainable, and she also had no desire to get to know him. Ursula felt that her relationship with her mother was enough. She described her mother as “so interested in us.”

Dreaming Like an Engineer

At Cathedral High School, an all-girls Catholic school, Ursula Burns wasn’t immersed in sports or distractions. Instead, she learned how to think critically, write well, and challenge herself intellectually. When she was a teenager, Ursula began to dream beyond the conventional paths offered to girls of her background: teacher, nurse, or nun.

She chose engineering. Chemical engineering was her first go-around, but she hated it. She tried mechanical engineering next and absolutely loved it. She applied to many different colleges and universities, so many that she thought she was making a big mistake. But she was accepted into Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, where she quickly realized that she was woefully underprepared compared to her classmates, most of whom came from wealthier backgrounds and had taken superior STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) classes in their high schools.

Ursula felt like an outsider, academically behind and socially isolated. But she didn’t lean out—she leaned in. And she worked hard to catch up and gain a foothold in this new world.

In 1980, Ursula Burns graduated with her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, and she soon earned a master’s degree from Columbia University, all while interning at the Xerox corporation, the printing and digital documentation giant that pioneered the photocopier market.

Rising Through the Ranks at Xerox

Ursula Burns began her professional career as a mechanical engineering intern at Xerox in 1980, thanks to a minority education initiative related to the company. She didn’t enter the corporate world with dreams of being a CEO. She just showed up and worked hard.

“When I came into work at Xerox, I just chose to work,” she said.

Burns did whatever was suggested to her, a concept called “true diversity” at Xerox, fueled by opportunities and lots of hard work. She got some business experience and some technical experience, often at the same time.

Her early experiences were deeply formative for her future career path. In her first role, Ursula Burns was given her own lab and partnered with a technician who, as she later reflected, taught her more about life than engineering. She became fascinated by systems problems and began to make her mark in the company.

A Life-Changing Confrontation

Arguably the most pivotal moment in her entire career came from a confrontation that turned in her favor. During a business meeting about workplace quality, she listened as someone asked why Xerox was hiring women and minorities who lacked the “formal education” of other candidates. Burns was stunned—not just by the question, but by the way a higher-up responded.

Although the higher-up gave, in her words, a “good answer,” Burns still felt that his nonchalant tone condoned or even legitimized the inappropriate question.

Afterward, she approached the man who, unbeknownst to her, was Wayland Hicks, a Xerox executive, and told him what she thought.

Later that week, she was called to Hicks’s office. Instead of berating or firing her, he admitted that she was right and that he could have responded to the question in a better way, but he reminded her that the way in which she approached him was also inappropriate.

Though Wayland Hicks and Ursula Burns came from different worlds and disagreed on virtually every social and political issue, they developed a deep and enduring friendship. That experience taught Burns that being respected and showing respect to others don’t have to hinge on whether political or social positions are aligned.

By 1991, Burns had moved into management a senior executive. Over the next two decades, she would take on increasingly high-profile roles—from Senior Vice President of the Workgroup Copier Business in London to senior VP of business group operations. In 2007, she became president of Xerox, and in 2009, it happened. She was named CEO, making history as the first African American woman to lead a Fortune 500 company.

And it all started when she came to the company as an intern and “just chose to work.”

Leadership and Legacy

As Xerox CEO Ursula Burns helped steer the company through a time of seismic change and many ups and downs. The company was known primarily as a copier business, but she had bigger visions. Under her leadership, Xerox acquired Affiliated Computer Services and pivoted toward business services, transforming the organization into a technology powerhouse. In 2015, Xerox generated $18 billion in revenue.

Burns remained CEO until 2016, when she stepped down as CEO and transitioned to serve as chairwoman on the Xerox board through 2017. After stepping down, she joined VEON, a Dutch telecommunications company, also as chairwoman, eventually becoming CEO. She has also served on several private company boards, including for Uber, and became a founding member of Change the Equation, a national STEM initiative.

Through all of her corporate success, Burns has never lost sight of where she came from, or the importance of lifting others as she has climbed to the top. She spends her time supporting organizations that help minorities and women pursue education and develop the courage to take bold career risks, just like she did. Her life, she says, is “a series of lean-in moments,” each fueled by courage, clarity, and a strong sense of community.

The American Dream: Still Possible, Still Alive

Ursula Burns’s story is not a fairy tale or an inspirational movie script. It’s a real and deeply American journey. It’s the story of a girl raised in the projects by a single devoted mother who encouraged her to pursue her dreams, a girl who went on to lead one of the most well-known companies in the world. She didn’t have a safety net of plentiful options to fall back on. She didn’t have connections in high places. What she had was a sharp mind, a loving but forceful mother, and a belief that she “could happen to things,” instead of simply letting things happen to her.

She has never been a victim. And that’s the kind of attitude that helped her become the first African American woman to be CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

Ursula Burns reminds us that the American Dream doesn’t come easy. It won’t just fall into your lap. You won’t wake up one day and suddenly find yourself living in it. It needs to be pursued. It needs to be deliberately taken.

When Ursula felt out of place, she could have leaned out, opted out, and given up. Instead, she leaned in, learned all she could, and took every opportunity that came her way. She has built bridges with people who are different from her.

Today, Ursula Burns is a mother (and she is proud of her children!), an author, and a legend in the business world. And she remains a living testament that the American Dream is not just alive but absolutely achievable when you dare to dream big, work hard, and never forget where you came from (and, ironically, that it doesn’t matter).