Black Wall Street Homecoming
Two weekends ago I had the privilege of volunteering for Black Wall Street Homecoming in Durham, NC, set up by the amazing Dee McDougal of Square 1 Bank.
Black Wall Street aims to increase the number of minority entrepreneurs that create successful, scalable businesses by providing them with access to the right resources and creating a powerful network of like-minded business owners and investors. Throughout Homecoming it was so amazing to see the connections being built and the conversations that were started by the many founders, investors, and students in attendance. The day that stood out to me most, however, was the final day, which was led primarily by and for female founders.
Serial Entrepreneur extraordinaire, Ms Tiffany Norwood, presented after lunch and spoke about the economy of faith and the power of “We.” Norwood has built a truly incredible career in the tech space at a time when no one in the industry looked, or thought, like her. She has founded and co-founded seven successful startups/products to-date, including XM Radio, MP3s and MP4s, and a hospital in Ethiopia. Norwood has worked with iconic figures like Nelson Mandela, and across the globe. She is currently investing her time and focus into virtual reality gaming and building up entrepreneurial networks as the co-founder of Emortal Sports, and the founder and CEO of Tribetan.
Norwood’s concept of “The Power of We” was an excellent perspective to introduce to young entrepreneurs of color. She started off the talk by claiming “You are a billionaire,” which I immediately wrote off as cheesy. But she went on to state that we are all connected as human beings through the social economy and the power of faith, and not a faith based on religious beliefs but a faith in others and their ability. In the currency of faith and connections, we as entrepreneurs have endless resources. And while financial resources are the most sought after, what is even more necessary for an entrepreneur is to have one or two people who believe in you and your idea to make miracles happen, to move mountains on your behalf to make your idea a reality. This was a great reminder for those of us who may think boot-strapping and proving ourselves by doing everything on our own is the only way to later gain financial capital. We can’t isolate ourselves, and must seek out those believers who can help us make the right moves, even if they aren’t co-founders or official advisors/mentors. This concept of the “faith economy” also forces us as entrepreneurs to consider every connection a potential for future growth, and to keep us in a humble frame of mind in a way that does not detract from our confidence in our product or service innovation.
After her talk, Norwood fielded questions from the audience and continued to elaborate on the faith economy, the non-linear path of success, and the necessity for authenticity as a POC in the entrepreneur space, regardless of industry. Her speech was inspiring and an excellent reminder to me and several other women in the audience that we are not alone and have networks of people who can take our ideas and ventures to the next level.
The panel after Tiffany Norwood was equally impressive. Titled “Busting Through Bias & Barriers: The Importance of Women Leaders in Business,” the panel was headed by three “badass women.”
Dr. Deborah Stroman — a professor at UNC Kenan-Flagler and the director of The Center of Sport Business for the univeristy, Dr. Stroman had an impressive career as a sports marketing entrepreneur and top level manager at healthcare organizations before deciding that she wanted to teach sports business, marketing, media and entrepreneurship to students in a university setting. On top of serving as a director of the CSB, Dr. Stroman continues to provide consulting services to sports teams and sports-related organizations.
Dr. Tashni-Ann Dubroy — the current President of her alma mater, Shaw University, Dr. Dubroy actually began her career (and has her doctorate) in Organic Chemistry. She worked as a chemist for a large company for a while before one of the managers realized her talent for problem solving and moved her over to the operations side of the business. During this learning period, Dr. Dubroy and a good friend launched Tea and Honey Blends, which became viable and allowed Dr. Dubroy to quit her job and work on her venture full time. She then received a call from Shaw University requesting her service as the chemistry department chair. After turning her department around, the University was in transition and asked her to become the President. During her tenure , Dr. Dubroy has made the university profitable again with the help of a solid team of women of color. During all of this, she has also managed to raise a seven-year-old daughter!
Susan Scott — currently the Senior Director Strategic Alliances at UNC-TV, Susan Scott’s journey has been varied, to say the least. She started in sales because she wanted to make money, and soon realized that she had a real talent for fostering and managing relationships. Other companies and departments also saw her potential and she was invited to be the VP of business development in NY for Fox News, then was recruited to be a part of the VP of Sales as a member of the founding team for The Feedroom. Shortly after, Scott was recruited to be the Senior VP for iN DEMAND, then The Weather Channel, then IAC and finally, the GM for Frontier communications before landing her current position. She has served as a board member and chair for various organizations, as an independent telecom consultant, as an advisor for a venture fund and partner, and is the mother of a teenager! No easy task.
While all of these women were incredibly impressive and accomplished, they shared some great pieces of wisdom that entrepreneurs and employees at all levels could apply to their current situation.
- The secret sauce to success? All three women shared a general consensus that kindness, authentic engagement, seeing challenges as opportunities and their faith, had led them to achieve their current levels of success. My favorite quote from that question was, “You can gain a competitive edge if you simply show up!” When it came to advice about successful scaling of start-ups, they all enthusiastically agreed “get the money first!”
- Being entrepreneurs, how do you work when you need to be a team player? Stay humble, hungry, and socially intelligent. When you can remove ego from the situation, you will truly thrive. Susan asked, “If your dream could come true but your arch nemesis would get all the credit, would you still do it?” She encouraged us to get to that level of selflessness when it comes to accomplishing the mission.
- How do you maintain work-life balance? All three women strongly rejected that work-life balance is a ‘thing’. They instead asked that we embrace work-life integration as a key component of success. Dr. Stroman emphasized that you need to change the way you frame this concept so you can actually have wins. Susan stated that you can have it all, and it all will suffer, you have to learn along the way how to manage that. Dr. Dubroy finished off the answer session by stating that you should be cognizant of the model you are setting for your kids, be sure to schedule time to disconnect, and be realistic about the fact that you do no help to your organization when you are an exhausted leader.
While these were the only two panels I was able to attend throughout the weekend, they greatly encouraged and impacted me as a female business leader. I am incredibly grateful that I had the opportunity to serve as a volunteer for an event that provided so many resources and avenues for new and serial entrepreneurs of color, and to learn from Dee’s example and passion to mobilize a community.
