Keshia Walker is the founder of Insights Marketing & Promotions, Inc. and chairwoman of The Black Collegiate Gaming Association.
With more 20 Fortune 500 corporations in its client portfolio, Insights produces marketing events during the Super Bowl, Essence Festival, BET Awards, and more. She also prides herself in creating a space for Black and Brown women in gaming.
Walker opened up about her excitement for this year’s National Black MBA Association Conference.
What are you looking forward to most at the NBMBAA Conference this year?
I’m super excited. I got my MBA from Florida A&M University, at our School of Business and Industry back in the summer of 1993. Since my 30th anniversary, of being a part of the National Black MBA, I’ve been active in the National Black MBA since day one. I joined before actually finishing my MBA at FAMU, so I’m super excited about going to Philadelphia and getting a chance to catch up last year. I’m excited about Philadelphia because we do a lot of work in that area and will be hosting on Thursday night. We’ve been doing Thursday and Friday night events and receptions for over 20 years around the conference, so I’m excited to be going back.
You’re celebrating your 25th anniversary in business. What are some things that you’ve learned along your way?
You want to make sure you have an amazing team around you. There are a lot of my market managers who I still work with. Staying in touch with people and building good relationships, because those relationships matter. I tell people, to be careful. You don’t want to burn bridges, You may never get a recommendation, referral, or reference. You just want to make sure that you always do great business, and you deliver on what you say you’re going to provide. I’ve also had the opportunity to work with some great celebrities. People can become your marketing team for you, they’ll refer you to other opportunities and visitors. I definitely could not have done this without God, I’m in three industries that are very male-focused and dominated. You have to be strong, confident, and persistent to be successful in this space.
How is The Black Collegiate Gaming Association contributing to the Black and Brown community?
When I get a chance to see young Black and Brown women in this space [become] excited about learning that they don’t have to be a computer engineer, or do coding, or do software engineering, or do game development to work in this space. There are social media influencers, they’re graphic designers, and they’re doing animation. They’re creating a lot of Black and Brown characters you’re seeing in and around video games. They’re running accounting, HR, or Public Relations at the gaming corporations. Exposing Black and Brown women to this space and help them to understand that you don’t have to play video games like I do, to be able to work in this space and be successful.
