Throughout her 40-year career, Rev. Dr. Patricia A. Singletary has demonstrated an aptitude for a variety of vocational areas. Her educational background is significant and much can be attributed to her receiving a divine call from God. She earned a Bachelor of Theology from the New World Bible Institute and Seminary in 1984, a Master of Religious Education from the New World Bible Institute and Seminary in 1986, an Associate of Science and Bachelor of Science from SUNY Empire State College in 1991, an Associate of Arts from Virginia University of Lynchburg in 1995 and completed training in investment banking at New York University in 1996. She also earned a Master of Divinity from New Brunswick Theological Seminary in 1995, a DD from Tennessee Baptist School of Religion in 1989 and a Doctor of Ministry from New Brunswick Theological Seminary in 2010.
Dedicated to the financial sector, Dr. Singletary started work for Depository Trust Company in 1968. Initially a senior underwriter, she became an accountant coordinator in 1990 and a security specialist in 1998, retiring from the company in 2003. Her work in the theological realm has demonstrated similar focus, and she has been a pastor at the Elmendorf Reformed Church since 2002. She has also served as vice president of the Eastern Baptist Association of New York since 2008 and has contributed to her field in numerous leadership roles, including as national secretary for the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., from 1984 to 1987, associate minister for Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church of Jamaica, and vice president of Queens County Young Pastors, Ministers and Evangelists. Dr. Singletary also founded Adoni Economic Enterprises, Inc., and has served as vice chair of the Spiritual Life Commission of Clergywomen since 1987.
Dr. Singletary has demonstrated creativity within her fields as well, authoring “African-American Guide to Buying Stock without a Broker,” which was published in 1986. Interested in community outreach, she co-founded the Harlem African Burial Ground Task Force, on which she did her doctoral dissertation, in 2009. The Harlem African Burial Ground Task Force is a group of concerned citizens who are working with the Elmendorf Reformed Church to preserve and memorialize its historically and culturally significant African Burial Ground. Dr. Singletary is currently in talks with the New York Economic Development Corporation in reference to memorializing the area.
Dr. Singletary has been involved with numerous professionally-relevant organizations, including the National Association for Female Executives, the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, Inc., the Interdenominational Board of Clergywomen, the Eastern Baptist Association of New York and the International Platform Association, among others, often serving in leadership positions. Able to apply her skills to many focus areas, Dr. Singletary considers raising her sons and sister to be her greatest achievements within her lifetime. Her achievements have also earned her recognition in such publications as Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the East, Who’s Who of American Women and Who’s Who of Emerging Leaders in America. She additionally received a Volunteer Services Award from the City of New York in 1980.
Moving forward, Dr. Singletary would like to be remembered as someone who loves people and enjoys seeing them empowered and uplifted, no matter who they are. As she put it, “The thing about it, it is not your past and it doesn’t matter where you are presently; God has a positive purpose and future for all of us.”
