How did you determine your career path?
I tried the corporate thing but it just wasn’t a fit. After I graduated Morehouse I went into sales for Mobil Oil and later Sara Lee Meat Group but I always felt like I wanted to be involved in something more creative, and that is what led me into the culture business.
Who do you consider your peers in your field and a few that are great examples of best practices?
I really look up to Tracey D. Brown who is the Managing Director of customer experience agency RAPP in Dallas. To be a Black female in the general market agency business is exceptionally hard and she does it with efficacy and grace. I greatly admire Nelson George who is, to me, the foremost expert on urban culture and film critique.
What information and increased skill methods do you use?
Since I have been working as a cultural strategist whose primary role is to help brands and companies stay relevant in this time of exponential change, I read an extraordinary amount. mainly, online publications, some scholarly writings, and use my twitter feed as a real time library. Twitter is my secret weapon for increasing my daily knowledge.
How/why did you decide to become a blogger? A dear friend in gest called me an Afro bohemian snob since I was such a culture hound, lover of music, and trend spotter. So when she said that it sparked me to create a blog around the things that I loved in culture. I also consider Afro Bohemian Snob to be a quasi political response to what I believe is marginalization of Black culture. I am passionate about making “us” beautiful, intelligent and smart via ABS
Technology plays what role in your daily life?A HUGE role. I believe it is essential and quite frankly I am grateful for it. Same for social media.
How do music/cultural events impact your self-identity?I just gave a presentation about my passion and what inspires me in my personal and business life, and I said its music and musicians who inspire me. Everyone from David Bowie in his sheer ability to reinvent himself and be creative, to George Clinton who through his zany genius inspired those around him to be creative and free in their expression.
Define your personal culture. I think Afro bohemian snob is a good definition
If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be? It would be racism toward Black people. It bothers me that across the globe, Black people have a hard time due to racism and classicism.
What is your guilty pleasure? Watching classic episodes of “Sanford and Son.” I love the cultural rawness of it and how Redd Foxx hooked all of his friends up on a major network like NBC. Love it!
Give us your POV of the future of social media and the overall impact it will have on how businesses leverage it through marketing? Social media is here to stay and now we are hearing more and more about social commerce, the merging of enterprise commerce with social media. I see social being woven into everything, however; the real important development as it relates to marketing is the use of data, and the growing prominence of digital design. The increasing ability to quantifiably measure the impact of marketing and media spend will also change the game. Marketing and customer experience will be a data and design game in the future.
What impact do you believe the Trayvon Martin case and verdict will have on our culture?It will challenge us to think of new ways for justice. I like to call it civil rights 2.0. We are in an era where we can use social media as the new frame work for social change and social justice. Social media is to this generation what marching was to past generations. We can make a statement real time and use that voice in unity.
