Bessie R. Edwards

Bessie R. Edwards has always been committed to helping and inspiring others to achieve their goals. She believes that all things are possible and that the key to achieving any goal is to start by taking the first steps, and the rest falls into place.

With an interest in community issues, education and professional development, Ms. Edwards reinvented herself to match her evolving interests and workforce needs. She began her professional career as a clerical skills teacher for OIC, a jobs training program, and within just a few months, she saw how people’s outlook on life turned from hopelessness to life with a future.

Armed with her OIC experience, Ms. Edwards went to work in the cable industry for Time, Inc. companies in Human Resource and Training Management. She simultaneously taught as an adjunct professor at Borough of Manhattan Community College in the Career Education Department. In 1988, she left the corporate world and co-founded Pizzazz Meeting and Events Planning Group, a special events management company that planned non-profit and corporate conferences and events throughout the United States. Ms. Edwards wanted to share her entrepreneurial experiences, so she created a course in Special Events Planning, serving as an adjunct at New York University and Kingsborough Community College.

Always committed to serving others, Ms. Edwards developed B.R. Edwards Associates Real Estate, a boutique real estate firm specializing in residential, condominiums, co-ops, and investment sales. She has been a real estate professional since 2000, and in 2010, became a full-time real estate broker.

Ms. Edwards is past president of the Bedford Stuyvesant Real Estate Board, where she served from 2011-2013. She also served as Chair of the Board of Directors and currently is an active member. Additionally, Ms. Edwards works as a consultant to educate community leaders and residents of the importance of home ownership in Black communities and the steps needed to purchase, maintain and keep a home.

Ms. Edwards is one of the founding board members and Executive Director of Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium, and is a member of the Age Friendly Advisory Council for CD 36, a Board member of Brooklyn Neighborhood Housing, president of the New York Club at Bridge Street AWME Church and is active in Bedford Stuyvesant community organizations.

Ms. Edwards is a lifetime resident of Brooklyn, raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant, and attended PS 70 and Franklin K. Lane High School. She attended Brooklyn College and earned a Master of Science in Human Resource and Organizational Development from the New School of Social Research.

Ms. Edwards is the mother of two daughters, Monique and Marci, and proud grandmother of five grandchildren.