The only reason I’m attending the Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit again

Mariam Bekele
Nov 7 · 6 min read

How the interview with Serena Williams really went down at the Forbes Under 30 Summit and the only reason I would ever consider coming back.

Last week, I joined over 9,000 others at the Masonic Temple in Detroit for the Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit. I had spent the last month before that in excited anticipation. Forbes had a great lineup of sessions and two of my favorites, Serena Williams and Quavo were being interviewed.

I’m going to fast forward to the part I want to talk about because everybody else has already written about the performances, the startups and Serena’s outfit (which was bomb btw!). Nobody has said a word about how Forbes executed the summit, however.

When I arrived on Monday, October 28th, I was disappointed to learn that pretty much all of the panels I wanted to attend were full. Long lines packed the halls of the Temple and I spent most of the day climbing up long flights of stairs. Fellow attendee and social entrepreneur, Rebecca Williams, described it perfectly:

“It felt like a rat race… By the third day, I had mastered the unbelievable task of coordinating my travel between 6 floors, 3 elevators that barely stopped, crowded hallways and standing in 15-minute lines only to be told this session is at capacity. I only met people standing in line. There were lines to get in the venue, to get food, to attend the sessions and even to exit the building.”

Well, at least I have Serena’s interview to look forward to…or so I thought.

Serena was being interviewed by Forbes’ Chief Content Officer, Randall Lane, who recently came under heat for only including one woman on Forbes’ 100 Most Innovative Leaders list.

Serena Williams with Forbes Chief Content Officer, Randal Lane. Credit: Forbes
Serena Williams with Forbes Chief Content Officer, Randal Lane. Credit: Forbes
Randall Lane and Serena Williams on stage at the 2019 Forbes Under 30 Summit (Victoria Engblom for Forbes).

About halfway through the interview, Randall asks Serena about retiring. Now this is a normal question for any athlete but he asked her not once, not twice but three times during the interview. Each time she gracefully told him she’ll think about it when Swiss tennis champion, Roger Federer decides to retire.

In this Forbes article, Serena is quoted saying:

“I wasn’t the best player [growing up], I wasn’t the most talented, I’m not the tallest, but I work the hardest at what I do.”

They failed to mention how Randall interrupted her right after though.

“Actually, you’re pretty tall,” Randall interjected as if he was trying to discount her hard work.

For reference, Venus Williams is 6’1, Naomi Osaka is 5’11 and Maria Sharapova is 6’1. Serena is only 5’9.

Then Randall asked if she had any co-investments with her husband, Alexis Ohanian. Serena seemed surprised, it was clear that this question was not discussed with her beforehand. “I think we have a few together…don’t put me on the spot like that,” she said before she mentioned a few companies they had both invested in.

Randall kept prodding, he asked her if she and Alexis fight over any investments. She decides to laugh it off to which he says,

“Oh well, it’s both of your money anyway!”

Perhaps Randall did not realize that last year, Serena had a net worth of $180 million, compared to Alexis’ 9 million. She was also at the Summit for her partnership against domestic abuse with the Allstate Foundation and later explained to him that financial independence is incredibly important, especially since over 99% of domestic abuse cases also involve financial abuse.

The next day, we got to hear from Quavo. His interviewer, Zack O’Malley Greenburg, Senior Editor at Forbes was no better, asking him

“Which one of the Migos makes the most money on tour?”

And Quavo rightfully responded with

“This man crazy as hell!”

This was also the same man who interviewed Kevin Durant and asked him about season and media predictions. Umm sir, preseason just started. Zack also tried to end his interview with Kevin early until someone informed him that there was still time for his session.

After another day of climbing the stairs of death, I finally found some standing space underground in the Red ballroom of the Masonic Temple where I got to hear from revolutionary panelists like Kezia Williams from The Black Upstart. I couldn’t tell from the signage, but I later found out that it was For(bes) the Culture, the official community of inclusion for the Under 30 community, who had organized these panels.

For(bes) the Culture and CultureMakers Co-founders, Rashaad Lambert and Vinasia Miles.

They put together an excellent line up of authentic programming like Shop Talk: Raising Money While Black — an intimate conversation in a barbershop-like setting where venture capitalists like John Henry and travel influencer Jessica Nabongo talked through their journeys. Along with global agency, CultureMakers, they brought together a diverse crowd for dinners, brunch and even game night where I had the chance to meet some incredible individuals who are passionate about making an impact. For(bes) the Culture is the only reason I would ever consider attending the Summit again (and not just because they were the only ones who fed us during the event).

Prior to attending, I read that For(bes) the Culture formed organically after founders Vinasia Miles and Rashaad Lambert met during the same summit in Boston two years ago. Eager to connect with other people of color at the Forbes Summit, they made dinner reservations for themselves and about 25 others they had met at the conference. By the end of the night, over 300 people showed up. “The next morning I woke up to 400 messages, and that’s pretty much how For(bes) The Culture started,” Rashaad told Forbes. In 2019, after recognizing the demand, Forbes officially added the organization under their umbrella.

CultureMakers and For(bes) the Culture Cofounder, Vinasia Miles recently told Essence,

“I want people to see that there are people that look like them, that support them, and want to see them grow in their careers.”

That’s exactly how I felt after attending their events. We had a good time but we also delved deep into the issues that plague society today and how we could solve them. Some of us were curious college students, others exceptional and experienced leaders, but we all came with the same purpose — to build equity for everyone.

While I’m glad Forbes finally recognized the need to be inclusive, I wouldn’t be surprised if the only reason they incorporated For(bes) the Culture was to tap into this global network of 3000+ Millennials who are killing the game. Diversity is the new buzzword and businesses want in.

Forbes wanted to act like they were down with the people but it was clear that true diversity isn’t valued by their leadership. Their executive board has only two people of color — Sherman Lee, CEO of Forbes China and Chief Digital Officer, Salah Zalatimo. Less than 30% of their executive board are women and none of them are women of color.

Some of the company’s reviews on Glassdoor seem to confirm my initial impressions. Many employees thought that management was a mess. One former employee said that working there felt like an ‘old boys’ club and another anonymous reviewer said: “Management only promotes employees that are incompetent and white.” Sounds exactly like Randall if you ask me.

Listen up brands trying to be ‘woke’

Consumers can sense the inauthenticity when your efforts to be inclusive are not genuine. We understand that to you diversity just means more people, more customers and more sales.

So if you want our money, you have to do it the right way. Yes, bring in more diverse voices like For(bes) the Culture to the table but don’t limit them or try to ride in on their wave. You need to have diverse voices curating the entire experience, not just marketing it.

As a bonus, here are some tips Rebecca so kindly put together for next year’s Summit:

  1. Get a bigger venue with less distance in between the sessions
  2. Plan for travel time between sessions
  3. Have a 30-minute slot for lunch or have it built into the cost of registration with food vouchers
  4. Make the sessions workshop style
  5. Do not have a panel of more than 2 people in a 20-minute time frame (the quality and breadth of information becomes limited and the audience only gets little bits of information)
  6. Have bigger signs for directions
  7. Print handouts with agendas and a map layout

Oh and have For(bes) the Culture create their own summit already! Maybe they can teach you a thing or two about logistics as well.

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