Reimagining Black Relations

Ken Bentley, black male executive and CEO of APGA Tour, and previously a Vice President at Nestle USA spoke about his childhood experience as a black inner city kid from Los Angeles. He cited a number of black role models that many are unaware of, and he discussed his path to the top at Nestle, the significance of "Amen corner", and bridging the opportunity gap.

"Then my mother showed up, she had been parking the car. She shows up and she said, "I'm going to have the NAACP investigate this. This is racism." And here, my mother was 5ft tall. And here is this woman, 5 ft tall, standing up for her son, and standing up to this white establishment, which were all men. I was so impressed with my mom because that was an " - Ken Bentley

Brian Levy, a black, Native American Indian executive shared a different dimension to the black phenomenon. He spoke on the intercession of the natives and blacks, approach to navigating the success route, and his strategies to improve the life of the marginalized.

"And so, she's being sheltered from that entire life, I'm really just more happy that she doesn't have to go through what I went through. Where, you know, I had to scrape and crawl through. It was made known to me really early on in my entire life, that I was not equal. Always had to double down, I mean, with 30 certifications, my mentality is always, if you have to make it, you have to prove that you are better than everyone else"  - Brian Levy

Sue Subocz PhD - a white female executive, is the Provost of Walden University.  She shared her experience as a Coast Guard Captain, and provided the specifics on the importance of higher education in driving the conversation forward.  She emphasized the importance of critical listening, vulnerability, and skepticism.

"More a series of events, where you say to yourself, some kind of inequity or disparate treatment because of confluence of events or systems that influence decision-making " - Sue Subocz

Tolu Bamishigbin PhD/JD, a Nigerian-American female, shared her experience in the legal profession before she switched paths. She expanded on issues faced by black women in academia, the intellectual fear faced by black business leaders, and self-internalized racism among blacks.

"A white man with a criminal record has a greater chance of getting a job, than a black man with no criminal record and a college degree"  - Tolu Bamishigbin

Dwight Coates, Chief Information Officer for Cydcor, expressed dismay about what America is experiencing in 2020 regarding racism. He shared his repertoire of actions, personally and professionally to effect the change we need for the reimagined black relations.

"When I look back, could I have done more, absolutely could have done more. To think this terrible situation with George Floyd has just really awaken a lot of us to have conversations that we should have been having twenty thirty years ago. I mean, the fact that black women couldn't vote until the mid 60s, I just learnt that. That was shocking to me, and I was born in the 70s, and to think that wasn't there ten years ago? You're thinking in your mind, maybe this was there two hundred years ago, or a hundred years ago." - Dwight Coates

Jennifer Randolph, the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)  executive at ThinqShift, shared a personal experience on finding allies in interesting places, and professionally, how DEI works to benefit all stakeholders.

"And that was really my first experience of having a white male ally in the work place. And I will say, in the first 30 days of our working together and developing a rapport, he knew I was ready. And the education he gave me about what I needed to do to raise my visibility and to show my skills to this managers, so that I can get to the next level, was an education that I have never forgotten" - Jennifer Randolph

Stephen Hill, a black male executive, most recently the President of programming at BET, shared his thoughts on pre- and post-crack relationships with law enforcement, the importance of supporting your own, and the criticality of making it home alive.

""I'm Officer Friendly, Friendly Officer".  And his whole thing is like, when you see me, come up and shake my hand. Let's talk. And so, that was my interaction with police when I was very young, because of the way the D.C policing system was set up." - Stephen Hill

Vicki Shillington is a white, female, South African born executive. She introduced us to white life in South Africa during "apartheid". While describing the subtleties of white privileges in our everyday life, she also provided insight at the C-suite.

"And it's inconceivable to me that, that's what you live through, and it's embarrassing to me, to not even know that was going on, and I've never even thought to ask - and this are my friends, and I had no idea this was ...(sigh of emotional pain) - Vicki Shillington

Valerie Sheppard, a black female executive took us on her journey to the top. Her struggles for acceptance among whites, and not being black enough for blacks. Her call to action were profound.

"I have been acculturated white in a black body. It was always instilled in me that black people have to work twice as hard to get half as much. Like, that was just a given....Outwardly, it's obvious I'm black, I don't pass for something not black, I am black or of black descent but inside..." Valerie Sheppard

Matt Smith was a Vice President at RGP. He shared his thoughts about: the genesis of the gangs, challenging socio-economic systemic issues, and proffered top down solutions to meet the energy from the ongoing bottom up engagement.


"I think when it's tangential, when it doesn't really touch you at home, it's a concept, and then as kids or young adults, you start to look for reasons why, why was there a Watts riot, why the uproar about Rodney King. It must make logical sense, there must be some justifications to that. There is something going on in that world that they are doing wrong." Matt Smith