The Trailblazer

Story written by Caroline Clark

I walked into 1871, Chicago’s Technology & Entrepreneurial Incubator and heard her laughter before I turned the corner.  I followed her breezy giggles into a room drenched in light.  It seemed that sunlight, daylight and the spotlights brought in for the filming, all conspired to give her the perfect set for the Equity Crowd Funding video that she was shooting with her client turned partner… KaZoom Kids Books.

The Light

 I could immediately tell that she was at ease in light. The way she moved through it, exuded it and sat with it. It let me know that they were friends.  

I was a little early for our interview so I took a seat in the back of the room to look over some notes:  she grew up on the South side of Chicago in Englewood, to a single mother, 3 sisters, 1 bathroom, cold winters and government cheese. When Spring came, you could find her at her eldest sister’s classical piano lessons and at her Symphony Hall recitals.  Every summer she traveled to Natchez Mississippi to visit with her grandmother and learned southern decorum to soften the grit of the hood. For high school he attended the top college prep school, for college, one of the most notable and fly HBCUs, and afterwards scored a full time job overcoming obstacles with no excuses. 

To show for it:  10+ years in Corporate America, C-Suite stepchild, denied entry into the good ‘ole boys and good ole’ girls club yet excelled anyway.  She couldn’t see how companies could have inclusion without diversity in its leadership ranks so she bucked the system, took risks with stagnate progress.  Frustrated… she resigned. Then she started her own Multicultural Advertising boutique agency.

I looked up and in between takes and noticed her talking with the crew telling spirited stories that seemed to draw them into her memory until they laughed as if they were there.

She was a contradictory force of energy.  Her big yet soft gestures, lithe but formidable frame and charming yet protective reserve, made her aura mysterious and hard to identify.

When she spotted me in the shadows, she flashed her mega-watt “ebony model” smile, which she would later reveal was what an old family friend used to call that wide and contagious grin. She mouthed, “one more minute please” and finished talking with the crew.. Twenty minutes later we found an empty room and I, just like the crew,  was pulled into her and stayed there enthralled for two hours that seemed like minutes. 

The Purpose

 Caroline Clark

When did life turn you into a creative?

Angela Williams

“I think it was at a very young age…about age nine.  I was keenly aware of the surreal juxtaposition of me playing outside of my dirty dilapidated tenement on the Southside of Chicago, hearing Tchaikovsky, Bach and Chopin from the opened windows of our apartment where my sister practiced classical piano.  Literally I was woven…without my permission…into a beautiful inescapable score that seemed to predict the temporariness of my poverty.

I remember feeling as though I were in a period film.   I think that’s why I love those types of films and classical music to this day.”  

She puts her hand over her heart and quietly laughs at the memory.  An elegant and seemingly natural gesture that she would repeat several times during this interview as if silently petitioning me to pardon her vulnerability. 

“My life was filled with moments like that, moments that forced me to appreciate beauty in the unlikeliest of places.”

CC

Then why the detour?  You spent a lot of time in Corporate America…Financial Services no less.  I can’t imagine that was “artsy” or creative.

Angela Williams

chuckling…

“Fear quite frankly.  When you come from a poor family, the goal is not to live the dream.  The goal is not to be poor anymore.” 

“However, I did enjoy Corporate America for most of my career.  The roles I loved the most were the ones where I was solving problems creatively.  By having an English Literature degree, sitting in a board room with Business and Finance degreed Executives put me at an advantage. I was always thinking differently from them.  My art and creative background helped me to see things from a different perspective which contributed to a lot of success for the firms that I worked for. “

CC

An Executive at Bank of America, General Electric and most recently serving as Chief Diversity Officer for Synchrony Financial… those are some pretty big successes.  

Angela Williams

“Yes…I have been blessed.”

CC

So why did you chuck it all to go back to Ad School and start your own Advertising Firm focused on the Multicultural Market.  That’s pretty ballsy.  

Angela Williams

“First of all thank you for calling the move ballsy instead of crazy.”

She laughs…hand over heart again.

CC

(I interrupt her answer) Forgive me for interrupting…but I have to ask…why do you do that?  That gesture? It’s as if you are asking me to forgive you for something?

Angela Williams

Wow!  You are very observant.  I wasn’t aware that I was doing it until my business partner pointed it out to me a few months ago.  As you can see I still have the habit.  

I think that is why I “chucked” it all…Corporate America… to answer your question.  I always felt that I was apologizing for being myself even as Chief Diversity Officer.  I was always being told by well intentioned mentors and colleagues, “wear glasses so that you can look older,” “don’t smile as much,” “say it this way instead”. 

There is a very real and agonizing dance in Corporate America for a woman of color…  the dance between your authentic self and your corporate persona.  I always had to be aware of my tone of voice, any display of vulnerability,  the degree of laughter or anger I displayed and even my pragmatism,  managing it so that it would not be perceived as arrogance.  I was always censoring myself.  So I left Corporate to take control of my own voice and to be who I am unapologetically.  And that’s why I started an Ad Agency focused on the Multicultural market. I wanted to better represent our image and authentic voice in the media.  

The Mission

Tell me about your latest project KaZoom Kids Books.

Angela Williams

KaZoom Kids Books is a Digital Media and Publishing Company that creates read-a-long and interactive Multicultural Children’s books and other media.  My agency was commissioned to do all of the branding, marketing, promotion and website design for the Start Up.  After a successful launch of the business this summer, Donna Beasley, the CEO of KaZoom Kids approached me about staying on as a Creative Director and becoming a partner.  I guess the rest, as they say, is history.   

CC

I see where you are marrying your business, creative and diversity and inclusion expertise at the agency but why children’s books?

Angela Williams

Well because only 5% of children’s books published last year featured a child of color. 

When kids do not see themselves or their experiences in the books that they read, during the formative years of their development, they have trouble actualizing their dreams and aspirations. The notion of authenticity of voice and identity falls right into the Agency’s mission and extends to every client, every person and to every child.  So of course it is my responsibility to help children see a positive image of themselves and help them to grow up proud.  And I take that responsibility very seriously.

CC

So what’s next for you and Ruth Devon Advertising?

Angela Williams

We are launching the Equity Crowd Funding Campaign this month for KaZoom Kids Books.  You can go here to find out more about it and invest.  https://us.trucrowd.com/equity/offer-summary/543-KaZoom-Kids-Books,-Inc-Illinois-60654

Also there is a real opportunity for agencies who cater to the 3 trillion dollar Multicultural Market. There is no denying that there’s a new mainstream in town.  The population is becoming more diverse and it is no longer a valid marketing strategy to assume that ethnicity and race will eventually become irrelevant and dissolve into a homogenous “general market.”    Ruth Devon wants to help brands and corporations market to these new influencers and help them change the world.  That’s all! 

CC

She laughs.  This time I notice…with no hand over her heart.