Harmonizing Lyrical Heritage and Pursuit of Law

Editor: Melanie Carden

Coré S. Cotton was born into a heritage of music—and a home graced by visits from legends such as Sam Cooke and Lou Rawls, among others. She was born and spent her early years in North Little Rock, Arkansas, later moving to the Chicago area. In both locations, and as far back as she can remember, her home was filled with music. In fact, her grandfather spearheaded the quartet music movement in Arkansas. Her mother was an artist on the Stax Record label, where she collaborated with David Porter and Isaac Hayes. Following in the family footsteps, Coré herself remembers singing as early as four or five-years-old. Upon graduation from high school, she attended Spelman College, later transferring to Howard University. Ms. Cotton went on to earn a law degree from the University of Minnesota.

“Music was my foundation growing up, but my dream of practicing law was also there. I saw law as a way of changing people’s circumstances in a positive way,” shares Coré. On the heels of law school—while serving as a judicial clerk—she was offered the opportunity to join The Sounds of Blackness.  She left the typical law track and toured all over the world, performing with artists such as Luther Vandross, Prince, Daryl Hall, Stanley Jordan, and Janet Jackson. Cotton explains that “through all those wonderful experiences, I felt as if I was neglecting the law. So, I developed an entertainment law practice on the tour bus.”

The pull of the law became too strong to ignore. Coré began vacillating between her passion for music and her dream of practicing law. “My love of music would not be ignored,” she affirms. And embracing this truth, she climbed the corporate ladder and became General Counsel of a fortune 100 financial services organization. 

Struggling to choose between two worlds, she realized she had the best of both worlds. “I got tired of living someone else’s version of me. It was my big “ah-ha” moment.” Stepping into her power as a multifaceted woman, she harmonized her pursuit of the law and her love of music. “Not one more day,” Coré says, “of living a fragmented existence.” Coré is not only an associate general counsel at Wells Fargo, but she is also still serving her passion as a singer-songwriter through her one-woman story, A Woman Evolves. Using her own experience as a catalyst, Ms. Cotton also founded KoCo Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation, Inc.

PERSONAL MOMENTS WITH CORÉ

Q: What are you most proud of?
A: “Being one complete person unified by passion and dream—and depriving neither. Of developing a way to take leverage both to serve and empower others on their own path of self-discovery and transformation.  Of being able to live my passions and my dreams, and embracing new discoveries in between.”

Q: How would you like to be remembered?
A: “I lived outside the box and enjoyed the journey.”

Q: What’s the soundtrack to your life?
A: “Over the Rainbow. Shoot for that brightest light. Then go over it, rejecting constraint.” 

Q: If you could time-travel, back in time, where would you go?
“I wouldn’t. I believe that history is not to be rewritten, but to be leveraged to build a better tomorrow and write a new story.” 

Q: Where will you be five years from now?
A: “More of the same. In an effort to follow my heart’s mission, I have established KOCO Collective Empowerment Co. As CEO, I have established our mission as “Each One, Reach One.” Make someone else a better leader than you are today. We have a few programs on which we’re currently focused:

• The Elite Career Accelerator – Helping corporate professionals break through the glass ceiling to accelerate their career trajectory.
• The Empowered Woman’s Master Class – Helping women master their transformations by identify their relevant strengths and aligning these strengths with their true passions.
• A Woman Evolves- A One Woman stage production, with soulful music, powerful monologues, and audience engagement that chronicles Corés personal journey to empowerment. Her story captures audiences of all ages because the story is Corés, but the journey is everyone’s. 

Q: How do you define confidence?
A: “Knowing who you are and whose you are, and having the courage to step out boldly toward your pursuits.”

Q: What does it mean to you—to be a Black woman?
A: “To be confident, self-assured and determined despite perceived obstacles that may stand in your way or boxes that may attempt to lure you inside.”

Coré S. Cotton: https://corescotton.com/