Sherman K. Kizart is the founder and managing director of Kizart Media Partners Inc. Kizart has acquired expert knowledge from over 20 years of experience as a marketing specialist. He is also one of the leading advocates and authorities in the U.S. on urban radio and multicultural media strategies and tactics.
For those who don’t know what you do as a CEO, where’d the idea come from?
I launched Kizart Media Partners 12 years ago. I spent over 20 plus years working in local radio and television markets like Memphis, New Orleans and Dayton, Ohio, working for both African American entrepreneurs and some of the names that you know, like iHeart. That was 20 years of working in local market, media, television and radio, and it helped me with the opportunity where I got for 15 years working for Interep, the world’s largest national radio media company, which had about 3,000 stations. And I was the highest-ranking African American in the company. Those two experiences helped me to set the foundation for what I’ve been doing in the past 12 years in my own business.
What does the next generation need to understand about being a CEO?
If they’re in corporate America or working for an entrepreneur, be a sponge. If you’re a sponge, it’s about absorbing as much knowledge, as much information and as many contacts. That responsibility is going to be so important in how you make that step to entrepreneurship. When I think back to the time that I spent working in local market media, in those 15 years, one of the things that helped me was to be a sponge and how I absorbed all the areas I just talked about, and it has made a difference.
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