Um, was a lesson that stuck with me that my dad instilled in me and my brother growing up and it was in our household. Um, there was a C word that we were not allowed to say and still really not allowed to say nowadays. Um, and I was Can't can never say you can't do anything. You say it's hard. You don't know how to do something. You need help with it. Um, but they wanted to instill the mindset that no matter what it is. Um, you can always find a way to do it, whether it takes a little bit longer or a

simple fact. We'll discuss race and how it plays a factor and how we didn't even talk about this topic because we were

afraid. A Black Executive Perspective.

We are live at the new BEP studio for another thought provoking episode of a Black Executive Perspective podcast, a safe space where we discuss all matters related to race, especially race in corporate America. I'm your host Tony Tidbit. So before we get started, let's make sure that you follow our partners CodeM Magazine, whose mission is saving the black family by first saving the black man. So make sure you go and check them out at CodeMMagazine. com, CodeMMagazine. com. In today's episode, we are joined by Ricardo Yolas, a media executive at Zenith Media. Ricardo's here to talk about the significant challenges that people of color face in corporate America. He will share his personal experiences and the continued hurdles that minorities professionals still encounter. He will also introduce us to RISE. R I S E, which stands for retention, inclusivity, sponsorship, and empowerment. A program he founded at Zenith media aim at fostering the growth of black employees and their allies. And he will discuss how it's making impactful contributions at Zenith. Before Ricardo comes on to join us, let me give you a little bit around his background. Ricardo Yolas is a vibrant marketing professional. Avid traveler, music aficionado, and innovative problem solver. As an earlier graduate from a New York State's top public university, which I don't really know why he just didn't give us the name of the boy he went to school. He is an award winning entrepreneur and a pioneer in diversity, equity, and inclusion. Ricardo founded the current program I talked about, RISE, all right, which, as I talked about first, is a resource group dedicated to enhancing Professional and personal lives of black talent and their allies. Ricardo Yolas, welcome to a black executive perspective podcast. My brother.

Thanks Tony. I appreciate the introduction. Sounds good. Always like hearing myself being picked up. Happy to be here. Excited to have a nice conversation. Well, look, buddy, we're happy that you're

here because you're doing some tremendous things, um, in corporate America. And one of the things, and obviously we didn't, we didn't denote that in your bio, how old are you? Uh, only 24. So you're only 24? And the things that you're going to share with the audience is fantastic for a 24 year old who came into corporate America right out of college and really put some stuff together. But to be fair, you had baggage and fears and all the other things that we all deal with when we're at that age. And some people still have those issues, no matter what age they are, but you were able to overcome them and create something that's really helping a ton of people. so much. Not just in Zenith media, but in the advertising industry as a whole. So we're very excited to hear about what you're doing. Um, and and and how you can share how others, no matter what industry color, well, the case may be, can come in to corporate America and really put their input footprint. Okay, On that organization, but before we do that, let's learn a little bit about you, man. So tell us where you're currently living and tell us a little bit about your family.

Yeah, so I currently live in New York. A little bit outside of New York City, but I'm actually planning to move to Harlem pretty soon. Um, so that'd be nice. I grew up there. My family is originally from South Bronx, which that's where we've been living ever since. Uh, went to school in there, went to school at Stony Brook University. That was the top. Thank

you, buddy. I mean, make it prestigious and nothing against Stony Brook. It probably, it is a prestigious school, but I got it.

Had to

get the call

out there. Always repping Seawolves. Uh, but yeah, I've been there, uh, but always been around the New York area, have family down here. So I've always kind of been in the area.

Okay, my man. Perfect. And tell us a little bit, man, you know, I teed it up in terms of some of the things that you're doing, but why did you want to come on a Black Executive Perspective podcast? Talk about this topic.

Uh, yeah. One, uh, I love the platform that you've provided, uh, not only for the space, but specifically for. black talent, black executives, black people within this space are looking to get into it. Um, and I want to come on and share my story in hopes that I can inspire or motivate somebody else either thinking about starting something that I did or they have their own idea and don't really know how to get started. Hoping that my experience can at least help them in some way. Well, look, my friend,

um, let me, I appreciate that. And trust me, you inspired me. That's why we're talking and we're excited that you're here. So are you ready to hopefully inspire others? Are you ready to talk about? Yes, sir. Let's get into it. Okay, my brother, let's talk about. So let's back up a little bit. You gave us a little bit about Poughkeepsie. Um, You Stony Brook University where you went to, but let's, let's talk a little bit about you growing up. Right? So tell us some of the defining moments. You know, you're only 24 years old, right? Seven years ago, eight years ago, you were riding the bike eating Starbursts. All right. And you know, some of vacation out of school hanging. So tell us a little bit about what made, Who, what happened in your childhood that made you the person that you are today?

Yeah. Um, really from the beginning, uh, I was born at West Point military base. Um, so when I, they considered an army brat at the time, my dad was in the army. He was in the army until about, I believe I was six. Um, and I mentioned that because just that type of household, uh, that discipline, um, we were raised differently, our kind of disciplines and punishments were a little bit different from getting grounded. So that definitely, uh, shaped me. So people, you know, you don't do your homework, you get bad grades, you take your phone away, you get grounded. That wasn't my household. You get bad grades, you're doing push ups, you're doing planks, you're doing wall sits for half an hour. Um, so, different, different way of, you know, disciplining, but definitely shaped me, uh, cause I feel like it just shaped me. I'm very focused and, um, I feel like I can really tackle and kind of focus down on whatever I need to be and really focus in whatever a challenge comes up. And I think that has to do with having that mental strength from having to go through these workouts when I'm like seven years old. Yeah, yeah. So that I was at first just growing up in that but come from a very loving and supportive family. They're originally from the South Bronx, uh, but moved up to Poughkeepsie when my parents were growing up. And that's where I grew up and that's where we've been ever since. Um, so being there and then going up to Poughkeepsie, obviously Poughkeepsie is not the city, not the South Bronx. So there's dynamics there. But one thing that I always appreciated was they kept the household. Like the South Bronx, uh, no matter where we lived at, um, and that definitely helped because even though we were living in the urban city or the urban area of Poughkeepsie, uh, my parents actually put me in the, uh, schooling that was next door, which is the predominantly white school, um, just for better education, you know, trying to make the best opportunities for the children. Um, so growing up in that, yeah. As you can imagine, growing up in a household where we're from the South Bronx, but then going to a suburban high school or middle school that's surrounded or predominantly white people. There's just cultural differences, uh, that I had to deal with growing up. That also shaped me. Obviously you have the racisms, but also the diversity of being around so many different perspectives, different experiences, uh, different situations in life, uh, but all coming together. I feel like that helped me now in life because I have that. And I feel like I can talk to anybody. I can make connections with anybody because I have that relatability factor. Um, so those are things that I feel like. Really stayed with me as I grew up through life.

Well, listen, number one, um, and you kind of spoke of it, um, you know, grow up in a very, a military family. What, what branch of the military was your father? Um, my dad was in the army. So he was in the army. Okay. So I was in the army as well. Right. And, you know, growing up with a military parent, right, where discipline is the foundation of everything that we do. Okay. So I can imagine, um. Things that, you know, your father instilled in you and your siblings. Um, I can definitely relate to the, you know, your grounding, uh, or punishment was different than everybody else's, right? Now, let's be fair. Some people, they rebel against that. Okay. Um, because, you know, you being too hard on me or, you know, I can't do what the other kids are doing. But it seems like that really resonated with you. Um, and it gave you a sense of foundation of discipline and how to work hard, you know, hold your father was holding you accountable, right? And more importantly, you learn from that. So I can imagine that, you know, I always stated this, that anybody that went in the military, I don't care if you're a Navy, Army, Marines, mad respect for them, Coast Guard, um, because it's just a different way of life. But then also, to your point, you know, growing up, coming up in the South Bronx, okay, and then moving to Poughkeepsie for the audience here, which is probably, what, an hour outside of, um, It's

about two hours.

Two hours, thank you. Two hours outside of the city, okay? When you looked at your living room window in the South Bronx, and then when you moved to Poughkeepsie, and you looked out your living room window, all right, and you heard the different sounds in the neighborhood from the South Bronx and Poughkeepsie, those two different sounds, those two different

looks. You got trees and squirrels. It's a little different. It's trees and

squirrels. Exactly. And the squirrels, they make noise. They can wake you up, or they can scare you. But there's a different noise that you're listening growing up in the city, right? And then to your point, you know, now, because your parents wanted you to go to a good, get a good education, so you go to a school where there's not a lot of diversity. Okay. And now you got to navigate that. Right. And still do well, get good grades. You ended up going to college. So speak a little bit about, um, when you were there, talk a little bit about the racial makeup of the school and, and what was some of the things that you learned, you had to navigate, but more importantly, that you were able not only to take out of it, but also help the school and the administration as well.

Yeah. Um, so before I go into that, one thing that had that helped me get through that, um, was a lesson that stuck with me that my dad instilled in me and my brother growing up. And it was in our household. Um, there was a C word that we were not allowed to say and still really not allowed to say nowadays. Um, and I was can't. You can never say you can't do anything. You can say it's hard. You don't know how to do something. You need help with it. Um, but they wanted to instill the mindset that no matter what it is, uh, you can always find a way to do it, whether it takes a little bit longer or it's super fast. Um, and I say that because going into high school is just, just a schooling of kind of being an outcast, being the only one talking about a demographic percentage. Uh, if I had to estimate, I'd say 70 percent of the school was white. Maybe 10 percent or 15 percent was Hispanic, Latino, and the rest was a mix of AAPI and black and African American. So obviously, we're at the lower end as far as just representation in the school. So, as you can imagine, I have the same fears as everybody, especially being in a new place. I'm scared. I don't know anybody, and then especially not really seeing anybody that off the bat, I feel like I could be able to relate to just because. There's not that many black people in the school. Um, but going back to that lesson that my dad kind of instilled in me knowing, okay, this is how it is now. But just because I don't know anybody doesn't mean I can't meet people. I can't introduce myself. I can't break through whatever hurdles or challenges are thrown in front of me, um, and thrive at these schools because at the end of the day, um, The only job that my parents told me, my brother growing up when you're a kid, your only job is to go to school and get good grades. You gotta worry about paying bills. You ain't got no real work or nothing like that. You go to school, get good grades. And then enjoy, go play video games, whatever.

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Um, so having that, it was always. School, academic is first, no matter what. I played sports growing up, but if my grades weren't right, I don't care if they were good enough for the school. If they weren't good enough for my parents, I wasn't allowed to play. That's all that mattered. I feel like that kept me focused because it was like, regardless, obviously I want to make friends. I was still working to do that. But at the end of the day, I got grades that I need to maintain at the basis. And if I was sports, so it was grades due to sports. Now you're in sports. You can thrive. You can meet everybody, but the grades came first.

Right. Right. But I love what you said about your father. I'm teaching you. It was a family lesson, right? The word, the C word. Like you said, you didn't say, you didn't even say the word. You said it was a C word, you know, that's still forbidden to talk about, but the word can't. So setting that type of foundation. from a young age knowing that I can do anything. Your parents are basically saying, you can do anything. Now, it may be uncomfortable, all right? You may not be familiar with it. It may be hard, but you can still do it, okay? So, that is awesome. And then, obviously, you know, you know, one of the things, when I was a kid, I grew up in Detroit, Michigan. When people think of Detroit, you know, urban city, blah, blah, blah. When I grew up in Detroit, Michigan, it was diverse. All right. My neighborhood was very diverse. I even, we even moved when I got to high school and we moved to the West side of Detroit where we were like the. Black family in the whole, in the whole neighborhood. Okay. So very diverse. Now, how did that, uh, help me as I moved forward? When I went, I was in the army when I went into military. Okay. It wasn't like, and then I, you know, and, and, and not just basic training, but an AIT, uh, you know, I shared a room with somebody from, The Bronx, New York and, and Cheyenne, Wyoming and, and Tupelo, Mississippi. Okay. And, but, but because the way I was brought up in the environment that I was brought up, it wasn't like scary. Yeah, it was scary because I'm meeting new people. Right. And, you know, we all have confidence issues and, you know, they're not, I didn't look, it wasn't that I was worried about them because I was black. It was just more about, you know, do I rate as a, Physical human being with everybody else in the military at that time frame, right? But I'm going back to your point. The point of it is because I grew up in a diverse area, when I went in the military, It didn't bother me, right, that I'm now among people that's different from me because I grew up with people that were different from me, okay? So that has a lot to do with it. Now, let's be fair though. You were in high school and 70 percent white, 30 percent minority. But the, if I remember correctly, talk about the administration. Because they, even though, Uh, it's not 30, but they didn't really know how to deal with the minority, uh, population of students. So talk a little bit about that.

Yeah, um, so as you can imagine, being that the majority of students were, uh, descent, uh, Caucasian. It was very much the same in administration, whether it's all the way up to superintendents, all the way down to just our teachers. Really, the only black people or people of color that I saw from administration standpoint were the security guards, the lunch ladies. Um, and then I think I had throughout all my school, I might have had one black teacher and I was in second grade. So, um, yeah, needless to say, they don't, I wouldn't say they necessarily don't understand the experiences just because it's different from them. It's not, they're not a part of the culture. Um, and I had, I didn't see anything that would give them any in or to show that they have been exposed to it. Um, so it was really kind of until they started implementing new, um, um, I guess programs to help with that. We can obviously we'll get into that later. It was more so of us kind of working together. And when I say us, I mean like the students. Uh, because we really didn't have that many people to go to. Yeah, we can go to, we had guidance counselors just like everybody else. We go to the guidance counselors and I think it's been a similar experience. They don't help that much outside of helping you get your classes scheduled. They can't, they can't relate. If you're asking for help or this certain experience happened, bring up to them, uh, let's just say a racist experience because they did happen. Bring that up to them. Most of the time, they didn't know how to take it. This is, this is new to them. They've never had to deal with a racist, racist experience. It doesn't happen that much in their school just because there's not that many, but that's all they know to us. Obviously it's everyday life for us. We've been going through this every day, unfortunately. Um, so there, there were some disconnects there, but one thing that I would say that I did like is, can't say it about everybody, but there were a few that even though they didn't understand, they were making the effort to try and understand, they would come to us, that they would look for different, um, resources or feedback to help them understand so that they can at least try to improve the situation to the best of their ability.

Right, right. And then you guys, you know, because of that, you guys, because obviously it probably affected, not obvious, I mean, it did, it did affect the students of color, right? Because how they were being treated by their, by their teacher. There was an indifference, I should say, right? There was an indifference. So what, what happened where you guys came up? What, what happened in terms of being able to educate them?

So, um, in my last year, um, my senior year, Uh, the administrators, um, and I have been working with them. Uh, I just kind of meet. So I knew some of the administrators, uh, just from, you know, being in school for four years, but they had put together what they called a student equity, equity team, um, went to a pretty big high school is around 4000 kids total, but they chose 25 students out of all the students in the school broken out against different races, different religions, um, uh, grade levels from freshmen all the way up to seniors. Um, and brought us together really to one, uh, learn about the experiences that are going on in the school, but also the different experiences that student in our students in our school were experiencing back home, whether it was based off financial differences, uh, um, um, ethnic differences, uh, religious differences, whatever it was. Uh, but it was essentially a group to. Educate the administrators and the teachers on the population of their students and the type of lives that they were living, the experience that they were living. But also for those 225 students, I was a part of them. It was kind of, at least for me, my basis into the DE& I space. They were giving us lessons about the differences between equity and equality. And similar initiatives and initiatives in their case studies, just so we had more information on what it is that we were experiencing. Because a lot of the times we experienced something. We don't necessarily know what it's called. We don't know if it has a label label or title to it. We just know we're going through it. And until somebody educates us on, oh, this is actually caught this. We don't know about that. I went through that like anxiety and this was kind of a similar thing. We know you're going through these things. Let's try to. Kind of put them in categories so we can better speak to it and then action on it.

So buddy, that's great. That's fantastic. And you were one of the 25, what did, so let me ask you this. What did you learn out of it? And then what did the administration, what did they get out of it?

Uh, I learned a few things. One, like I said, it was the basis to my understanding around, uh, DNI space and kind of those initiatives. Uh, I learned that. Teachers did not know as much as I thought they were. I thought they would know. Uh, or this when you said they didn't know as much as what you thought they about what? About the students and the experiences that's going on in the hallways because these like experiences we're talking about These aren't things that are happening behind the staircase or out at lunch in the park No, these are while we're walking in between classes in the hallways with all the teachers standing in the hallways as well Um Um, so that was a big thing. But be specific, like what type of things are happening

in the

hallway? Oh, it would be any, anything from bullying. So just picking on people because of their religion, uh, their bodies, or there was a lot of, I like to call it subtle racism because it was played off as if it was a joke, but everybody else knows no matter how you use these certain words. There's no way you could put that in a joke, Amanda. Um, and it's, it's not like it was blatant. I mean, um, like the secretive, like it was hush hush or they're kind of whispering it. No, they're saying it out loud, yelling it across the hallways, across the rooms where everybody can hear this and the teachers were there. Yeah. To say, you go see it or hear it. It's like, what are you looking at then? Cause you're, you're in the hallway too.

We're all there. So, so let me ask you this, man. Um, how did that, and obviously. This is going on for a while, right? How did that make you and the rest of the students feel?

Um, it's, it might sound a little sad, but I think at least for like my group, uh, like my generation, we had been, like, it wasn't new to us. We'd been seeing this. We learned about it from our parents. They'd been going through the same stuff. While they were growing up, but we're still going through the same stuff now. So like, by the time it got to us, we were like, these have been going on these issues, whether it's current or happened five years, whatever it is, similar issues that still been going on, but not that much has been happening from it. So it was more of from us. We started to lose faith in the administrators. We're not going to go to them. We're not going to ask them for help because what are they going to do? That's basically what it came down to. Why would I come to you when. What are you going to do? What can you do about it? I don't think you're going to do anything. So it was more of us coming together as students and really just looking out for ourselves, trying to support ourselves, you know, sticking up for ourselves. If we hear something, somebody say something, we're going to stick up for the, for the friend group. And then as far as the feelings that come with it, you know, the sad, whatever it is, the anger, it was more of talking amongst ourselves to kind of vent each other, get it out where we needed to, or. We have other outlets. A lot of people play sports. I played sports. Uh, but it was nice to, after you, if you deal with something, you go to practice. Either I ran track and I was running all over the place or I ran football and I was running through people, but everybody had their outlet.

Right. So that makes sense. This, these things were happening in wide open. Um, nobody was really taking up for the students of color. Right. Teachers were there, they were hearing it, they were indifferent about it. Program comes up, trying to get more, more understanding of equity. You were a part of that. Um, you learned some things, but what did the team, what did, what, what was the net net for the administration? What did they learn out of this?

Yep, uh, so at the, at the end of the year, cause this lasted the entire year. At the end of the year, all 25 of them, Twenty five of us that were selected. We essentially put together presentations. Uh, and we presented to teachers, we broke up into groups and say it was three of us presenting to a room of 10 teachers or administrators on not only our experiences, but some of the things that we were learning. So. Teaching them the differences between equity and equality and how it actually looks, how they can implement that in their classrooms for their students, teach them different ways that they can support their students, depending on whatever experience they were going through in the schools. So, like, some of the one I just listed through, if you hear stuff, or if you hear some type of slur. In the hallway or in your classroom, what do you do? What can you do? What's what can you not do? So it doesn't make the situation worse. Um, and that's kind of what we had taught them throughout the year. And I think one immediately after, but also from going back, talking to people who, um, who were younger than me and administrators who I was still in contact with that first year acted as kind of like the guideline. Um, and they've been building off of that. So it was one. I feel like mine was more of an eye opening year for them to realize we have a problem. There's just things going on. And since then they've been implementing, uh, more programs and just more initiatives kind of changing around the representation they have in the school, the way they're treating their students, the way they handle certain situations as a result from these learners.

Wow, that is awesome, my friend. What was the feedback? Give me, I'm in the room, right? Ricardo is, you know, doing a presentation. I'm there with four or five other teachers. I'm sitting here. I'm learning from the students. Okay. So think, think about that. Let's turn the tables around, right? Typically, you're going there and they're learning from you. I mean, you're learning from them, now you're learning from them. So, what was the, give me a vibe in the room, if I was a fly on the wall, what would I hear? Was the teachers asking questions? Was they, was they arms folded like, yeah? I mean, what, what was the feedback?

I'd say, the best way to describe it, think about what students look like when they're in history class, learning about history lessons. Everybody, it's not that they're necessarily bored, but they're just zoned in. There's not much for them to really say. You might ask a question here and there, but you're learning a lot. So they were receptive. They were receptive to what they were hearing. So they were receptive to it. They were appreciative of us. Um, and it was a lot of thankful wishes for us, just from learning it. Because, like I said, they didn't know about it. They, they literally, the, the, the main, um, I guess, consensus, uh, feedback that we got from them was thank you so much for, um, presenting this to us because we didn't know this was happening in our hallways, in our schools. Right, right. So they definitely took something from it. I would say that there weren't too many questions, uh, because they were just sitting there learning, like, they were more like, wow, I did not know. This was happening. Uh, but they were so glad not only for us teaching that information, but the way we were written about it, the way we were presenting, uh, they thought it was very professional. It was cool for me because, like you said, Usually they're teaching me. So now I'm like, all right, guys, sit down, quiet. Every everybody, you know, did somebody give you an apple

or

something? Buddy.

That is fantastic. Right? Um, so look. That said, I mean, how did that make you feel? Okay. Um, you went to college, you went to Stony Brook after that, right? You just got finished saying a few minutes ago, this was like your first foray into DEI, right? Which you didn't even know what that meant. Okay. At the timeframe. Right. So how did that make you, did you feel like you accomplished something? You feel like, Hey, um, you know, that wasn't nothing. I'm not gonna even think about that. Or did that's, did that was a seed planted that you ended up watering? All right. That then became this bloom this, you know, when you went to Zen, so talk a little bit about that.

Yeah, I definitely would say more of the latter. Uh, it was more of the experience was like the seed that I decided to continue to water and just let it grow and see how, how big it could grow to, um, seeing that really put a sense of like inspiration to me to, cause it showed me I can have a valuable impact. On the way my community and my people are treated for the better. Um, and it showed me that from just opening my mouth, being vocal about it and not really not backing down, having a desire to speak up to want to make some type of change and just have a better life, have a better experience. Um, so that was the main thing. And then just going into college, it was more of trying to find more ways, more programs to really feed off of that. Um, so yeah, once I, once I went to Stony Brook. It was more of getting involved. I wanted to get involved with everything. I wanted to join a frat. I wanted to get involved with cultural organizations and I did. Just that, uh, joined the Black Student Union, uh, and I was one of the public relations officers for that helping, you know, blast out events, put on events to just not only create a sense of community for the students, the black students at the school, but also help them in their, um, their journeys. I was also a, um, intern. At the career center, but I was focused on working with those cultural organizations. So that's the Caribbean student organization, the Latin America organization, all those kind of student orgs from different cultures, working with them to market. Career development opportunities and events to them. So the job fairs, uh, resume workshops, things like that, that was helping them succeed or better prepare them for life after college. Um, that was really stuff that was feeding my passion because I was able to help not only my people, but also. People of color, people who are traditionally underrepresented, who may not necessarily have this, uh, these trainings or these exposures or experiences that are going to help them just simply because they weren't available to them, nobody ever put them on. So I felt like, um, if I have the opportunity to do so.

Buddy, that is awesome. You know, you said a couple, you said a lot of great things there. I just want to back up a little bit. You said, um, I learned not to be afraid to speak up. Okay. Um, which is, is, is something that the majority, no matter how old you are, people are afraid to do. Right, because they're afraid of what the outcome will be and and more from a negative standpoint, right? It's never if everybody thought everything was going to work out. Possibly you hear people, you, they wouldn't shut up, but at the end of the day, we are afraid to speak up because of, you know, the pushback or the confrontation that can come up or, you know, the negativity of people might not be receptive to our message or what we're trying to do. Right? So. I want to ask you this question, you know, you, and you confirmed what I asked you earlier that there was a seed planet. Okay. And then you started watering and you went, uh, as you got into college, you know, I want to ask you about a superpower, right? You know, one of the things that I always believe is that every human being, every person. I don't care where you grew up. I don't care your ethnicity. I don't care about your family income. I don't care what color you are. I don't care what religion you believe in. I don't care if you're straight, gay. It doesn't matter. Every human being has a talent. And every human being has a super power, right? Now, unfortunately, sometimes we don't find out what that is. Okay? Sometimes people don't find out what it is. You know, the old story about Whistler's mother, where, you know, she was like 60 something, so she can, till the family left, the husband maybe died, I think, and the sons moved out, and then she started painting, and that was her super power. So a lot of times we don't know these things. We don't find them out, but everybody's got one. So I want to, I want to hear from you based on your experience thus far. What do you, and those experiences, what, what, what has transpired? Tell me, what do you think your superpower?

Yeah. Um, I think I'll, I'll just based on all the experiences I've had and I've had, you know, the similar feelings have been scared, been afraid to say that all that. Um, but do that. I found that really my superpower is my voice. My voice goes a long way. The words that I say, the words that anybody says, you know, your words have meaning. Uh, and I, I didn't believe that. I know people always said that growing up, they still say it. Some people think it's just cliche. I did. I didn't believe it until I started believing in myself and then putting in the work to see, test it out. Let's see if my voice does, uh, you know, have some weight to it. If it does have a superpower, if I can make some change just by speaking up and it does. And that is something that I think everybody has because everybody has a voice. We're all born with it. Even if you're mute, there's sign language, there's different ways to communicate and that is your voice.

Right, right. So talk to us a little bit because you said you, uh, yeah, look, I, you know, I was going to make sure we're on the same page. You ain't talking singing voice or nothing like that, right? I mean, if y'all want me to sing, no. Okay, you can do that too. Okay. So you multi talented, which I love, right? But when you say voice, dive a little bit deeper in terms of what does that mean? Um, so really it's

speaking up when I say voice, it's speaking up for the thing that you want for either, whether your, your desires, your career goals, your interests, or advocating for yourself or advocating for other others. Even if it's as simple as, you know, you see somebody that you're interested in, you want, you want to test your luck. You want to date them. You gotta, you gotta speak up. They'll never know if you don't go say something. Now you might get rejected, but. That's a part of it. It's a part of life. You're going to get rejected, but it's really the taking the initiative to speak up and take action on the things that you want.

Absolutely. My friend, you know, one of the things, you know, I remember when I, you know, um, this was years ago when I was in the, um, in the army and I wanted to go to school and hurry, I got there. Uh, I was stationed in Hawaii and I met my first sergeant. And he said, Franklin, you know, when you get there, you, you, they take you to him and you just, and he said, Franklin, what do you want to do? And I said, Franklin, I said, first sergeant, I want to go to school. Okay. And he said, ah, okay, whatever. And then every time I saw him for the next six months, every time I said, first sergeant, I want to go to school. First sergeant, I want to go to school. Right. And then one day he called me in his office. I thought I was in trouble, Franklin. I was like, what did I do? Okay. And he said, Franklin, we're going to send you this program at the University of Hawaii, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, what? He's like, yep. And he told me what the, what it was about. And then I said, first sergeant, why'd you pick me? He said, you know why? Cause you kept asking me. Yep. Okay. Now I'm not going to sit here and say I was cured that I spoke up on, but one of the things that I learned from that is that you got to speak up, right? And the worst thing that can happen is no. What happens though? And, and, and, and why I'm so impressed with you. Okay. Is that you did something in high school, you then transferred that to college. Okay. And then You started at Zenith Media, right? Which for some people who's not in the advertising industry, big advertising, uh, company, a billion dollars worth of brands that they, uh, have, right? You start there as a young 22, 23 year old. I

was actually started at the company when I was 20. You're 20 years old. Not even 21. Everybody laughed at me when I told them it was like, you can't even drink. Why are you here? How many, how many employees there at Zenith? Um, at Zenith, we have, uh, between like a thousand, two thousand employees.

Thousand, two thousand, maybe more, whatever, right? Because they got offices all over, right? It's too much of an issue. It's huge, okay? Exactly, right? However, Most people come into big organizations like that, right? And they just got the job out of college. They're not looking to make waves, okay? They don't want to, my co host Chris P. Reid always says, when you come to, you know, there's three phrases of a career, survive, thrive, and then I forget the other one, right? But he uses the word survive, right? They're just looking to survive, all right? You didn't, you came in, you weren't looking to survive. Okay. So talk a little bit about that because you came in and you utilize that superpower that you have and you've made change happen. Talk a little bit about it.

Yes, sir. Um, really, I came in with a lot of confidence. Um, it was confidence that I had to build up through high school all the way through college, and it was really my college experiences, getting involved, doing the things that I was doing, accomplishing the things that I was able to accomplish, that built up my confidence. Um, to the point that when I came in and now everywhere I go, my mindset is when I come into a new spot, I'm not just coming here, you know, to be the part of it. I'm coming to take over. And that's, that's, that's what I mean. That's what I do. And it's no ill intent or anything. I'm not coming to, you know, Push anybody back on anything. No, I'm here to help the next man because I know it's not going to affect me. But my own mindset, I'm not coming here and just be, you know, just go through the days I'm here to take over. Um, so that's, that's the first thing that I was really coming into the company with knowing that we were a big company. I, instead of looking at it like that, I looked at it as I have a lot of opportunities here, a lot of opportunities to continue to grow and learn about not only the company, but the entire industry. And that's really the approach I took. So it was just a matter of, all right, now I'm here. I know I'm new, but I was going to use that. I'm new as much as I can. I was trying to meet as many people that I can make as many mistakes as I can. Uh, cause that, that was really the only way that I can learn, you know, where I messed up at, um, and then trying to get involved as much as I can, cause I saw that one, it helped me in high school, it helped me again in college. Um, so I just wanted to kind of keep the trend going because it had never really failed me getting involved in things that. Not only were progressive for my development, but also things that I was interested in. Buddy, that's awesome. So tell us

about RISE. R I S E. Yes. Right. And how did you start it? Tell us how that superpower helped you create something that wasn't there at a big company.

Yeah. Um, so I really started off with that superpower, uh, about six months in to the company. Okay. Uh, they sound like a monthly or a regular newsletter and in that newsletter, I'm just reading it and they had nominations or at least, um, they were taking, uh, applications for the diversity and inclusion council for the entire company. As you guys know, just kind of what we've been talking about. I've been very involved in that space and very, uh, kind of interested in that space. Um, so I was like, why not reply? I mean, why not apply to it? And that's coming from the speaking up, knowing that I have experience. And like I said, that confidence, I knew I'd done a lot of great work in that space and I had a lot of great ideas, especially kind of taking it from a younger perspective. So I decided to apply to it. Um, and then I got accepted. I got added on. Uh, and selected to be on the council and that was really the start of it because with that council it gave me opportunity, visibility, and resources.

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Uh, the opportunity was being able to work with and be in the same room as the people that run our company, this major organization. It was our CEO in our executive suite, our executive committee. So the presidents, the executive vice presidents, senior vice presidents, things like that. The people that are the leaders of not only teams, but departments. Um, and it really allowed me to not only hear how they operate, but let them know my opinions, let them know what I'm looking for, um, and just the different ideas that I had. And one of those ideas was something that I learned from college, learning about these employer resource groups. It was something that I was kind of hyper fixated on coming out of college because I learned so much about it, um, and I kind of did some work on it. So once I got this opportunity on the DNI council. One day I brought it up, um, at the end of one of our meetings that I learned about these. I know we have some as some of the other agencies that's a part of the holding company, but we didn't have anything here and I wanted to first just really wanted to know why trying to figure out if we did have something here. And if not, would there be a possibility to, and once I asked that and found out that there wasn't, uh, very simply and one of the reasons why I love this organization so much, got to give a shout out to our CEO, Lauren Hanrahan, uh, because I asked her, um, do we have one? She says, no, I was explained it. I feel like we should, we should start one. She agreed and simply. She asked if I wanted to start it. Uh, obviously I'm a little scared because I'm only six months into the company. I don't even really know the industry, but I took it as an opportunity as well. I've been given this opportunity. I know I want to make a change, not only for me. But the people in my community, so I said yes, and it was just a matter of I'm gonna figure out a way

And I did buddy. That is awesome. That is great And and look there's a lot of lessons in what you just got from saying first I want to give a shout out to your ceo Lauren Hanrahan.

Yeah, Hanrahan a amazing woman

Absolutely, buddy She has to be right because for her number one and that's what a leader does is they listen to you They listen to their people and then more importantly, when people like yourself come up and say, Hey, I got an idea. She said, Hey, I think it's great. Would you be interested? She didn't say, ah, you're not old enough. Ah, you know what? You haven't been here long enough. No, she saw you as a talented individual, right? Who came up with a great idea that was going to help the employees of that organization. So you got to give her a lot of credit for that and the leadership board. Second, you said something earlier, which I don't want people to miss. You're able to have an opportunity to sit in the room with senior leadership, right, that you can learn from. You could be part, you have, you have to see the table. Not only you can learn from them, but they can learn from you. Right? They get to know who you are. You are able to build your brand by being in that room. Right? And then number 3, and I'm going backwards. All right. I started with Lauren. All

right.

Then I'm going backwards. But then number three, you spoke up, you said, Hey, I see something, you know, what's that? I was saying, you see something, say something. I see something that could help our organization become better. And you ask questions. Why don't we have it? And you didn't get, and I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm speaking for you, but I'm just, you know, you could, you could have, I should say, got all bent out. I can't believe ain't got this blah, blah, blah. You didn't go there. Right. You ask questions. Why blah, blah, blah. Okay. They don't have it. Guess what? Can I implement something right? Which was awesome. And you're 20, 21, 22 years old. This people, 35, 40, don't do that. Okay. So that right there shows leadership that you have. And more importantly, the love for your human being. For you to put yourself out there to help others. Okay. So tell us more now. What does rise do tell us the impact that is having my brother.

Yeah. So it's honestly, since that moment, we've had tremendous and I want to, I don't want to belittle that at all. We've had tremendous amount of support from the, um, company, specifically our executive committee from Lauren all the way down. Um, so that's one that's really helped it kick off with the ground, um, as quick as it did. But we're coming up on our two year anniversary, it'll be two years at the end of this year. Um, and within that period, we've put on around 10 events, um, which span different, uh, uh, categories, whether it's a social event geared towards building that community, bringing people together to connect, or, um, a development event where we're teaching them something or bringing in people, uh, who are subject matter experts to teach them about a certain discipline, analytics side of the business, or just our empowerment. Uh, events that have people, other black, uh, entrepreneurs or just successful people in the space. Come and talk about the experiences, talk about the challenges that they had to go through and how they were able to get through that. And I'd say we, we had such a great year in our first year. We actually had the CEO of Revolt, uh, the Detavio Samuels come and he actually was able to bring on Jim Jones, which it was crazy. Um, so those types of events are what we've been able to put on as far as membership, where we were able to gain. Well, over 120 members in the first year. Now we're over 150 members and it's continuing to grow. Um, and we actually just expanded, uh, on Monday, we held our first event in Atlanta, uh, because our company has multiple offices. So, um, based in New York city, but we wanted to continue to expand, uh, as the demand for the group continue to grow and people want to get more involved. So we hosted our first event in Atlanta and it's a new market that's continuing to thrive. It was a great event, a lot of, uh, demand out there, a lot of excitement. So we're just continuing to put on events for our people, letting them, really letting them thrive in a space that's made for them.

That is awesome, my buddy. And here's the thing though, too, because I don't want this, you know, this obviously RISE is definitely, uh, a program that you put together to, you know, provide more equity, inclusivity for people of color. But at the same time, it's also, you know, educating, you know, Your white colleagues and stuff. Speak to that as well. The allies. Yes.

Uh, so as you had mentioned during the introduction, RISE is for, uh, the empowerment of our Black talent and allies. Uh, so it's not only just, you know, geared towards, um, our Black talent. We're not shooing anybody away. We're welcoming everybody. Because, really, we need everybody's help. Obviously, we're the ones that are underrepresented, uh, in the spaces around the world. But, how do we get out of that? Obviously, we can fight as much as we want, but we need a sponsor. We need somebody on the other end to help us out. An ally. Um, so this event, I mean, this group has also helped out with that because it's bringing them together. Uh, that our allies into our spaces, let them know, uh, so they can see how we interact with each other, how we really, um, communicate with each other when we're kind of in our own spaces, being authentic to our culture, to ourselves. Um, and they've been great. Our allies have been amazing. In doing that, in coming and being open, being receptive, being willing to learn and ask questions because they want to understand, they want to support as much as we can. Uh, we even on our board of people that actually help us build an event, we have, um, an executive vice president who is a white man. He's always had a tremendous amount of support from us from the first event, always saying, Hey, if you need anything, let me know that was last year. And then now he's volunteering. He's been volunteering all year this year, helping us send our communications, bringing more people, uh, put together, uh, events. So our allies are just as important, um, as the people in our community, because really it's a group effort. It's a community effort. We can't do it. One way. The allies can't do it by themselves. We can't do it by ourselves. We're going to come here and do it together.

That is awesome. My brother. Oh, let's, let's give everybody the proper, uh, shout out. Who's the EVP Ryan Van Fleet Ryan Van Fleet my brother, keep it up, man. That's exactly because here's the thing though. There's companies that have employee resource groups. Let's be fair. Right. But that's exactly what it is. It's employees. The leadership don't show up. They don't hang out. They got this. Let them do it. Blah, blah, blah. They don't come and learn anything. So at the end of the day, yeah, you got this going on, but nobody's growing from it. Because at the end of the day, unless the leaders get involved, right, break bread, right. Become uncomfortable and eventually become comfortable, right? Then they start, oh look at all this talent I got. Oh my god, Joe, he likes baseball too, for real? Oh my god. We have so much more in common, all human beings, than we think. And so, but unless we come together, Unless we break bread, unless we build relationships with each other, that we become separate and at the end of the day, we don't come together. So this is why I'm so excited about what you're doing. And look, at the end of the day, it shows that you speak up, how you can affect so many other people. But I got to give a lot of credit to the leadership. Okay. I got to get, we can't, and I know that's big for you to hear, right? For them to be involved, right. And not just, you know, a grand opening and come in and say, hi. Right

now

they're still involved. And then I think I remember too. You're helping people get promoted. You're helping people, um, uh, the organization, the talent, excuse me, the leadership, see talent that they probably didn't recognize before. And then not only that, if I remember correctly, there's in the industry, people are hearing about

this.

So talk a little bit about that.

Yeah. Um, definitely can. One of our pillars is to, um, help not only retain our black talent, but attract black talent, uh, to our company. So the organization to the industry, honestly, because it's, uh, it's an industry that I didn't really know about until my last semester, but it was something that I kind of fell in. And it's something that a lot of people fall in, unless you, uh, have a family member or a friend that's working in, in it that referred you to it. Um, so with that, uh, actually this, at the beginning of this year, we held our first event, uh, really recruiting college students. We had an event bringing in 30 college students, uh, from the local colleges in New York City. Um, and just kind of career development programs. So we also partner with co op. Um, and it was more of an introduction to the industry as a whole. Obviously our company, you know, we gave them a tour of the offices, gave them an overview of the company and then the industry. But the biggest thing was we allowed them to network. With the leadership. So Lauren, Lauren Hanrahan, CEO, she came down, the CEO of this major company is talking to juniors and seniors in college. That's awesome. Um, so that just shows you the support that we have, but with that, from that event, obviously the word is spread into the colleges and these development programs. We are actually able to hire since that event, uh, seven people from that event have been hired and I work here and we're hosting a part two, um, at the end of this month, so hopefully we can get some more in there. Um, but similar to how it's spreading to the different colleges around the industry in this organization, it's also spreading to the other agencies, uh, within the organization. So, we're kind of 1 of the big 5 of the advertising agencies. So, obviously, at the different events, work events, you meet people from other agencies. They hear about it. I'm always talking. I'm if I see another black brother, of course, you always talk. I see a black brother sitting there. You always talking. I can't deny it. I talk a lot. I'm a certified. Yeah, but, um, just from these events, um, and kind of the word getting out people joining rise, but then also spreading the word around is gotten out to these other agencies to the point where I personally have heard and I know someone who was working at another agency. I met them at an event. You know, we were talking about rise. He heard about rise. I was like, I started rise. So we kind of talk and he talked about how he heard so many good things about the community building and the culture that was being built, not only through rise, but just at the company as a whole, as a result of rise to the point where he wanted to come over here. Fast forward a couple of months, I'm walking through the offices. Guess who I see in the office? I'm like, what are you doing here? Now he works here. Um, so that just shows the, kind of the impact that it's had in this short year and a half.

Exactly my brother. And, and guess what? You were the genesis of that. Okay. And so listen, final thoughts, my man, what, listen, there's people listening to this that are very talented, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, doesn't even matter, right? But are afraid to speak up. What advice would you leave this audience based on your experience of things that you've done? And not only that, the impact that you've started, you've had and you can continue to have. What advice would you give them? All right, and how they can create their own rise in different industries or, and when I mean rise, I'm not just saying, you know, uh, employee resource group. I'm saying whatever they want to do with new ideas in any endeavor that they can create something by speaking up

exactly. And I'll start off by this. I growing up really until till I got to college. I was a very shy, quiet, insecure, non confident person. A lot of people now that know me now, nobody believes me because, you know, I talk a lot. I'm very open, but that was because I was the complete opposite. And I was so tired of that. So I've been through the phases of depression. I've had anxiety. I still do have anxiety. I just learned different ways to push through it. Um, And all that kind of growing up. I feel like for me, at least I got to a point where obviously I knew this is not what I wanted. There's ideas that I have in my head, but I'm scared to go out and show it because I'm scared of the judgment that people are going to show me. I mean, I'm sure a lot of people have that. Imposter syndrome is very real. I've had imposter syndrome. Just about everybody I've talked to. I've had it in some point. But I say this to say that if you're going through the same things, just know that the majority of people went through them. The highly successful people have been through that phase, but they have just gone through that. And it's not easy to get through it, but just know that regardless of what challenges or ideas or perceptions you have in your head, no one thing, these are perceptions that are in your head. This is not real life. That's the main thing I got that got me out of it. I'm a big overthinker. I used to think everything in my head. If I'm thinking in my head, it must be true. Or I try to put together a picture and play it out in my head. Then like, all right, this is how I'm going to do it. Never works like out like that. You can't control life, but you can control the mindset that you have going through life. So know that your voice has the power. You have the power. You have the opportunity. Whether you think you do or not, if you wake up today, that is your opportunity. It's just a matter of figuring it out. Everybody else has done it. So why can't you do it?

Awesome. My brother. I love that. And you are a hundred percent right, buddy. Thank you for coming on a black executive perspective podcast to share your story, share your perspective. Talk about all the things that you've helped others, you know, think all the way from, you know, high school, moving forward. So, so blessed to have met you. And final question I have for you, how can a black executive perspective podcast help you?

Um, I say there's three things that you can do. First, you can help me by helping yourself. I always love to help the next person. So help yourself by getting involved, doing the thing that you're interested in. I just picked up snowboarding. I don't know how to snowboard, but it looks fun. Um, Just, just, just go do it. And then secondly, we'll tie it back. Uh, you can, uh, follow me on LinkedIn. I'll be making posts. I like to connect with people, stay engaged, then also learn about different people's perspectives. I'll be posting some of my experiences on there, hopefully to get some motivation and likewise. And then lastly, you can follow me on Instagram on my creative page. I'll be posting a lot more. You can see more of my creative side, I do photography on the side and whatnot. Uh, that's at captured by Rico with an underscore after.

Buddy, I love it. I'm gonna follow you. Send me your stuff. We'll put it up. We'll have it out. We'll push it out. We're going to have you come back on. We want to hear more about rise in the, in the future. So excited about you, my brother, keep it up. I love you a lot. I'm so proud of you. And guess what? You just touching the surface of your greatness. You have it and it's coming. So just keep at it. Keep learning. Stay positive. Keep being aggressive. Stay confident. Everything is not going to work out. That's just life, but you just got finished saying it doesn't define you as part of learning and moving on. Right? So we really appreciate you joining. So now I think it's time for Tony's tidbit. And so the tidbit today is by John Quincy Adams and John Quincy Adams says. If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, and do more, and become more, you are a leader. And Ricardo Yolas, That tidbit is for you, my brother, because you are a leader, right? So you keep it up. All right. So really hope you enjoyed this episode of a black executive perspective podcast, breaking into spaces. You belong, make sure that you don't forget to follow or check out every Thursday need Nsenga Burton, who brings the fire each Thursday. Bringing in topics that you need to be aware of. So don't forget to check her out every Thursday on a black executive perspective podcast need to know by Dr. Nsenga Burton. Now it's time for our call to action. Buddy, are you going to help us with this call to action? Yeah. I'll help you a little bit. Okay, so BEP's call to action is called LESS. Alright, and our goal is to decrease all forms of discrimination, no matter where they are. So LESS stands, uh, starts L E S S. And so the L stands for learn. We want everyone on this pot, everyone on the planet to learn about new people, new places, new groups, because that's going to enlighten you.

The second letter is empathize, or E should I say stands for empathize. And that's really you, you want to empathize with other perspectives, other people, other experiences, because you never know what you can learn from talking to the next person. The next letter is S for share, share your experiences, share your wealth. Share all the education and insight that you have with the next person to help them out, to help them succeed in whatever it is that they're looking for.

Absolutely, my brother. And the final S stands for stop. We want to stop discrimination as it walks in your path. So if grandpa says something at the Thanksgiving table that's inappropriate, you say grandpa, We don't believe that we don't say that and you stop it immediately. Right? So if everyone can incorporate less L E S S, this is in your control. Don't have the right to Congressman. This is something that everyone can do. You incorporate. Less L E S S will build a more fair, a more understanding world, and we'll see the change that we want to see because less will become more. So again, don't have, don't always check out a black executive perspective podcast, wherever you get your podcast and you can follow us on our socials at X YouTube, tick top Instagram and Facebook at a black exec for our fabulous. Superpowered guests, Ricardo Yolas. We want to thank him. I'm Tony tidbit. We talked about it today. We learned about it. I love you. And guess what? We're out.

A black executive perspective.