Rev. Al Sharpton, president and founder of National Action Network (NAN) and one of the country’s foremost civil rights leaders will announce during NAN’s upcoming national convention in April, the appointment of Munson Steed as Director of the Madison Avenue Initiative (MAI), a program under the National Action Network that addresses fairness in advertising. Mr. Steed is the CEO of Steed Media Group, Inc., a multimedia conglomerate that includes newspapers, magazines, television programming, internet properties, custom publications, video on demand signature events and more. Over the course of more than ten years, Mr. Steed, a noted and much sought after motivational speaker and thought producer, has not only moved the company’s flagship publication, rolling out, into national prominence as the largest chain of African American-owned weekly papers in the nation, he has also soundly established a consummate urban lifestyle brand.
The accomplished publisher, a Morehouse graduate, is directing a concerted effort to develop partnerships and internship positions with marketing corporations, advertising agencies and media related technology companies. “We can assess the focus and commitment of an entire company based on the inclusion of interns, strategic partners and diversity in their business portfolios as well as the boardroom,” says Steed. As the director of MAI, the media expert intends to concentrate his considerable skills and resources to instituting strategic partnerships and relationships to enhance industry diversification and forge fertile and economically rewarding experiences. Corporations which are traditionally unfamiliar with individuals and companies of color will be encouraged to expand their business interests to avail themselves of their valuable contributions to media and technology companies.
“We’ll offer a creative workshop which will facilitate internships and incorporate a national creative workshop tour to highlight future workplace opportunities in the areas of technology, science, marketing and design. It is critical that the future generation is clear as to where their focus needs to be and that they extend themselves beyond simply listening to music and playing video games to embrace the economic opportunities enveloped in the creation and marketing of those activities,” Steed explains. The new partnerships planned will provide the foundation for NAN to develop creative workshops as a future training ground and industry incubator for media and business development forums. –roz edward
