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Dr. Ernestine Barnes-Small was born in Edgecombe County, North Carolina in the late fifties.  She is number twelve of thirteen children, and was born and raised on a farm.  Her parents, Chames and Mae Eliza Barnes, were sharecroppers.  Ernestine does not remember her father, who died of a swimming accident just before her second birthday; so she spent many days in the cotton fields or under the tobacco shelters, with her mother and younger brother, until she was old enough to go to school. However, during the summer months she worked in tobacco, as did all her sisters and brothers until they graduated from school and went on to the army, other jobs, or they caught a bus up north where there were older sisters willing to help them make a start. There was no choice of jobs during the summer months, because the only reason Mrs. Barnes (Ernestine's mother) was allowed to stay in the shacks on the farms was if the children worked the cotton and tobacco crops. Ernestine was the first child to attend a four year college.

There were many survival challenges in the Barnes household, but Ernestine insists that though they were poor, she didn’t realize it until she was grown. Her mother was so good at making a piece of cornbread for dinner with a serving of sweetened water seem like a treat. Of all the things that she was taught by her mother, the two things that holds strongest to Ernestine is that there truly is ‘no such thing as can’t’ and that discipline and hard work was not negotiable.
  
From a presentation given by Ernestine, where she insisted that what is missing for the struggling women today is motherly guidance, mentorship, and sisterhood, she proudly stated, ‘My first and most impressive mentor had a third grade education. My first mentor raised nine of her thirteen children alone. My first mentor raised Chemists, Independent Truckers, a Sgt Major, a Master Sgt, a Surgeon, Executive Assistants, Teachers, Line Repairmen, Plant Operations Leader, Mothers, and Fathers… My first mentor’s name was Mama.'

Ernestine retired from Cummins Inc. after 30 years of service where she started out working production and was promoted into several leadership roles.  She attended and completed the Masters of Science program at Springfield College Charleston, SC Campus in August 2010.  In 2015 Ernestine earned the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Nonprofit Management and Leadership from Capella University; where she was recognized as Graduate with Distinction.

Upon retiring from Cummins in 2012, Ernestine created CallMAMA Incorporated, a nonprofit organization that mentors women and children.  She achieved tax exempt status (501c3) within four weeks of applying.

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"There is truly no such thing as can’t…"