Dorchelle Spence is an author and motivational speaker, lending her voice to topics ranging from self-advocacy and cancer survival to self-worth and the power of shoes.

Her book, Into the Gathering Clouds, is a memoir of survival incorporating faith, friends, and finesse. The novel, No Less Worthy, tells the story of a girl fighting the cycle of abuse and poverty to become a young woman finding her worthiness through strength and perseverance. 

Formerly, Spence served as Vice President of the non-profit charged with managing Memphis’ riverfront. As second in command, she provided strategic direction and oversight of all organizational initiatives. Among her most memorable projects was directing an international design competition that led to construction of the first new structure on the city’s public riverfront in decades.  

Prior to beginning her 18-year career leading waterfront improvements, Spence worked with the Memphis Redbirds Baseball Foundation where she was instrumental in the completion of AutoZone Park, often the #1 rated minor league ballpark in the nation, and Toyota Center, a historic rehabilitation office complex.  She has led the communications and community relations offices of Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation, First Horizon Bank (now TD Bank), and Girls Incorporated of Memphis. She has also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Memphis.  

Spence earned her MBA from Fogelman College of Business and Economics and is an alumnus of both Leadership Memphis and the New Memphis Institute. 

In 2021, Spence was awarded The University of Memphis Journalism and New Media Alumni Association’s Charles Thornton Award for Alumni of the Year. In 2013, The New Tri-State Defender named her a Woman of Excellence. She was recognized in 2003 as one of the Top 40 Under 40 by The Memphis Business Journal and in 2001, she was named one of 50 Women Who Make a Difference by Memphis Woman magazine. 

A native Memphian, Spence enjoys travel, arts festivals, and walks in nature. She, along with her husband and four adult children, call Memphis home.