[ad_1]
he said: “Colette, you’re an adorable little island girl… Why would you want to go through that kind of frustration? You’d be better off getting a job in the marketing department of a local company.”
He advised me to talk to Kendall Nash, the owner of WILD, the leading black radio station in Massachusetts at the time. He suggested that Kendall tell me how hard it was to get business in Boston. Allows the community to purchase advertising for his station.
I don’t think my friend’s advice was bad. I think in his mind he was trying to give me a sober reality and avoid the inevitable setbacks and heartbreaks.
I came to Boston in the early 1970s at the age of 17 from Antigua, a small Caribbean island. As a communications student at Emerson College, I had high hopes and high expectations. After researching in my hometown’s public library, I was convinced that Boston was not as racist and explosive as the American South I had read about. After all, it was an intellectual and wealthy place, home to Harvard University and the Kennedy family. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. attended Boston University School of Theology, where he met his wife. The first black Bostonians to die in the American Revolutionary War were the only non-white regiments in the Civil War, the 54th Regiment, based in Boston.
And the city, especially Back Bay, where my school was, looked very British. Because I myself grew up in a culture influenced by British colonialism, I truly believed that I would fit in well in Boston without thinking about my race.
Oh, I was in for a terrible wake up. The nightly news footage of angry white parents and frightened black children being bussed into white communities echoed Boston School Board member Pixie Palladino and City Council members. It was fueled by outspoken racists such as Louise Day Hicks, but it told a very different story. It didn’t take long for me to realize that the areas featured in these news articles – South Boston, Charlestown, the North End, and East Boston – were apparently off-limits to blacks.
I was not discouraged by these experiences. They taught me early on how difficult it is for Black people to break into the halls of power, and the resilience and initiative it takes to do so.
But as I’m about to learn, there are white men who see things differently. They take public and private actions to expand the circle of those in power and invite those who have been excluded in the past.
how to do business
In 1985, I was working at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge and told my boss, Paul Sonnabend, that I wanted to start my own PR business and that I wanted Sonesta to be my first client. When I made this bold statement, I had some expectations for what would happen next. Layoffs were one of them. I also knew that if he said yes to being a client, the check would be less than my current salary. But I was willing to take a chance on both. If I got fired, I was going to quit anyway. And once a hotel becomes a customer, it becomes a springboard for other customers.
What I didn’t expect was that he proposed to me. It was an opportunity for him to use his old office three days a week for his new business and to continue to participate in the company’s health insurance plan, even though I was now a consultant rather than an employee. I was pleasantly surprised and deeply touched by his generosity and support.
Around the same time, I contacted Bob Spiller, CEO of Boston Five Cent Savings Bank. I knew Bob from his previous work, so I called him, ostensibly to talk about his TV ads. Five Cents Savings Bank was the only bank in Boston with a branch in Roxbury, a minority neighborhood in Boston. Five Cents’ advisory board included black members, which was virtually non-existent at other companies at the time. problem? They weren’t getting any use out of it.
During the call, I told Bob that his ad was great, but it didn’t tell the whole story because it didn’t feature people of color. I explained that his bank was leaving money on the table and sending the wrong message that Five Cent didn’t want black business. I knew that wasn’t true. After all, they wouldn’t be at the heart of the Black community if they didn’t want Black community residents and business owners as customers.
Based on that conversation, Bob hired me as an ethnic marketing consultant. I reviewed the bank’s collateral materials and incorporated black and brown faces into them. I also advised him to co-sponsor a lecture series on first-time homebuying in Roxbury with Twelfth Baptist Church and Black Realtors. Bob and others at the bank were skeptical that they would be able to get anyone to attend, but they went ahead with the plan. As they say in “Field of Dreams,” “If you build it, they will come.” And sure enough, 150 people showed up.
Then I convinced Boston Five Cent Savings Bank to partner with Roxbury Community College. The bank hired Roxbury students as part-time tellers and offered them opportunities for advancement.
Around the same time, community activists and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law targeted banks with the practice of redlining, which prohibits them from making mortgage loans in certain areas (usually minority areas). It was starting. Most banks feared negative publicity and reputational damage from participating in this type of illegal activity. I said to Bob: “You don’t have to worry about anything. You’re making loans in these communities!” He listened to me and focused on what Five Cent Savings Bank was doing in black communities. I have put together a presentation. After the presentation, one of the activists asked me to present the Boston Five Cent Savings Bank model to other banks in Boston and encourage them to follow suit.
What has changed and what has remained the same?
Certainly, a lot has changed since those days. Currently, my public relations office is located in Charlestown. In 2021, two women of color became Boston’s mayor. First was Kim Janey, a former City Council president and a Black woman, and then Michelle Wu. And the City Council itself is no longer all white Irish, but is now made up of 70 percent people of colour. This reflects demographic changes and broader environmental changes, not just in Boston but in the United States. But one thing hasn’t changed. This means that most of the executives in the company are people like that. Major political movers and shakers. And the gatekeepers who oversee policy, government, sports, arts, and entertainment are still white men.
And we still need them to learn from guys like Paul Sonnabend and Bob Spiller. They are not “white knights” rushing to save people of color or women like me, but allies and champions willing to lean in, listen, learn, and “lead from behind.” Ta. It took courage to support Black employees in new ventures. It took courage for the bank to partner with the historic Twelfth Baptist Church and a Black real estate agent who knew its clientele. And their courage gave me the victories I needed to grow as a young black entrepreneur.
When someone has the courage to advance access and opportunity for underrepresented and marginalized people, it can have a huge positive impact on careers, businesses, and communities.
Colette AM Phillips is the founder of Colette Phillips Communications and author of the forthcoming book, The Includers: The 7 Traits of Culturally Savvy, Anti-Racist Leaders. This essay is adapted from this essay with permission.
[ad_2]
Source link
