Mandi McReynolds is a naturally slow reader who nevertheless entered speech competitions and served as co-editor and co-author of a book. 

She overcame her problems with slow reading. She also ran a marathon despite this minor impediment: “I wasn’t a runner.”

“It’s a joke but that’s in my personality,” McReynolds said. “I was 2 years old and saw people jump off a diving board and I thought, ‘I’m going to go do that.’

“For the marathon, I spent a year and a half focusing on running. That one challenge wasn’t going to hold me back.”

Oh, she had other challenges on her way to a solid position at Drake University.

While McReynolds was working toward a bachelor’s degree in organizational communication, a professor in a communications 
class questioned her ability to accomplish much of anything.

“He wrote on a paper that he didn’t think I was going to make it in this world,” McReynolds said. 

“As a child, I had trouble with reading and some challenges with writing. If people asked me to read out loud, I was petrified, and I would stammer and stutter. I was slow at reading.

“The professor said, ‘I fear you will never make it in this world because you are a terrible writer.’ ”

McReynolds later received a master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies (higher education, speech communication and women’s studies) from Iowa State University and became director of community engagement and service learning at Drake University. The book she co-edited and co-authored is “Diving Deep in Community Engagement: A Model for Professional Development,” published by Iowa Campus Compact.

Not too shabby for someone who supposedly lacked the types of communications skills needed to  “make it in this world.”

Reasons she’s a forty:

• She’s a Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute member.
• She serves as co-chair of Drake University’s Experiential Learning Council.
• She’s a member of United Way of Central Iowa’s Women’s Leadership Connection.
• She serves on the Des Moines Social Club board.