Modern Minorities Sharon Thony & Raman Sehgal

"How do you express what you want in a way that activates you, is unignorable, and automatically aligns your beliefs, your values, and how you show up in the world?”
Bonnie Wan knows what it feels like to struggle with burnout and uncertainty about where to go next. As a celebrated advertising strategist she spent years helping brands like Pepsi and BMW get clarity on their values and purpose, but she one day found herself mired and directionless in her own life–a “recovering perfectionist” with a crumbling marriage, a big job, and three young children. So she put her “work brain” to work - and sketched out a creative brief (one of the key tools of the ad trade) for herself, granting clarity on what was missing and what she really wanted in her life. Not only did “the Life Brief” save Bonnie’s marriage, recenter her parenting, and catapult her career (she was named Ad Age’s Chief Strategy Officer last year)—it has since gone on to help thousands of others through her speaking at Apple, Bain & Co, Change.org, Google, Goop, Jane Goodall’s “Activating Hope” Summit, SXSW and more. Her new book — “THE LIFE BRIEF: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living “ — creates a clear guide for anyone to break through life’s clutter and create deeper meaning through three simple stages: Get Messy. Get Clear. Get Active. This is a perfect conversation to help so many of us who seem to “have it all” yet feel restless or rudderless. 

LEARN ABOUT BONNIE

Thelifebrief.com

BOOK: goodreads.com/en/book/show/176443602

 
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"Some have to carry more weight than others - everybody's got to do their part to try to lighten their load."
Linda Clement-Holmes served as P&G’s Chief Diversity Officer AND P&G’s Chief Information Officer - significantly elevating early efforts in corporate Diversity & Inclusion. Starting as a systems analyst in 1983, Linda has led a global career as an “executive of firsts” - the first Black female Senior VP, and later President. Linda’s been named one of Computerworld’s Premier 100 IT Leaders, Black Enterprise magazine’s Top Executives, and Working Mother’s “Working Mothers of the Year,” among many other honors. Linda is an active active Board leader among many business and community organizations, is a graduate of Purdue University, and a proud mother of two accomplished sons. In this candid conversation about authenticity and courage, Linda speaks about her personal - and professional - experiences in race, and comments on the unique moment we face today. Linda shares how she works everyday to lighten the load of others, and gets everyone to do their part. 
For Black History Month, we’re sharing conversations from Raman’s other podcast “Learnings from Leaders” where we have candid mentorship style conversations - with business leaders, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists, many of whom are alums of Procter & Gamble - where many industry leaders got their start with a foundation of purpose, values, and principles. 
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“Making improvements is challenging. But we can't give up and we've got to learn how to do it better.” “Speak, engage, help, be helped. Be part of society. Be an optimist towards the fact that people can change, that people can learn.” 
John Pepper and Ursula Burns sit down for a candid conversation on race, understanding and the state of our society’s devolving discourse. Ursula Burns was one of Americas first Black female CEOs, and John Pepper was the former Chairman of both P&G and the Walt Disney Company. This is a conversation among two of corporate America’s most celebrated CEOS - longtime friends - have been having for years - and wanted to bring us along for the journey. 
For Black History Month, we’re sharing conversations from Raman’s other podcast “Learnings from Leaders” where we have candid mentorship style conversations - with business leaders, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists, many of whom are alums of Procter & Gamble - where many industry leaders got their start with a foundation of purpose, values, and principles. 
LEARN MORE

John Pepper: https://pepperspectives.blogspot.com/

Ursula Burns: https://hbr.org/2021/07/im-here-because-im-as-good-as-you


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“Don’t take the straight ladder, go up and across to build your toolkit.”
Najoh Tita-Reid is a Black leader of marketing reinvention who’s maintained feet on both sides of the world - literally. Najoh spent many years as a Black American living in Europe with her husband and two kids. Najoh’s worked across in multinational roles across leading brands like Mars, Logitech, Hero, Bayer, and Merck, after having spent 19 years at P&G - rising through the ranks of marketing and sales. Najoh earned an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and a BA in English from Spelman College. She also completed the Executive Leadership Program at IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland, the Woman’s Executive Leadership Program at Simmons University and the Design Thinking program at the Stanford School of Design. As a member of The Executive Leadership Council, she serves on the International Steering Committee and the Community Service Committee. Najoh’s a longtime mentee of John Pepper (P&G + Disney’s former Chairman) who first made the introduction - and you’ll enjoy this candid conversation from the perspective of an American on the outside looking in.

For Black History Month, we’re sharing conversations from Raman’s other podcast “Learnings from Leaders” where we have candid mentorship style conversations - with business leaders, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists, many of whom are alums of Procter & Gamble - where many industry leaders got their start with a foundation of purpose, values, and principles. 
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"People are willing to risk a lot to show their support for our freedoms."
Ed Rigaud was the first President & CEO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, which pays tribute to all efforts to abolish human enslavement and secure freedom for all people. This conversation’s actually from June of 2020, when we were in the midst of a long overdue conversation about race in America. It was a great chat about coming up as a Black professional in the 60s and 70s, and a reflection on where we are today. 
Ed was P&G’s second-ever Black Vice President - spanning a 36-year career at the company in 1965 - during which he was the R&D Technical Brand Manager who helped create Pringles. Ed was later the first Black co-owner + lead investor of the Cincinnati Reds, as well as CEO of EnovaPremier, and CEO of Legacy Acquisition. Ed has served on numerous company boards, has received appointments from the Governor of Ohio, and a sitting US President. He’s a husband, father, grandfather, accomplished artist and guitar player. In this candid conversation on race, work, and life - Ed shares his thoughts as a Black man growing up in Louisiana, rising through the ranks of corporate America in the 60s and 70s, and reflections on the current climate. Ed believes that his number one mission is to help those who have been consistently under-represented to achieve higher levels of freedom…especially in the areas of education, economic empowerment, and inclusion.
For Black History Month, we’re sharing conversations from Raman’s other podcast “Learnings from Leaders” where we have candid mentorship style conversations - with business leaders, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists, many of whom are alums of Procter & Gamble - where many industry leaders got their start with a foundation of purpose, values, and principles. 
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“I used to have this dream where I would be laying down, looking up, about to die - I used to make all my decisions -  how I dress, how I presented myself to be opposite of that because I didn't want that to happen for me.”
Kris Stith is a DC native who has won awards in photography, painting, and podcasting. He is now freelancing as an Art Director / Creative Director in Los Angeles. Previously, he was an Art Director at AFSCME, and creative consultant for NAACP. He has always been a twin (double the trouble, double the flavor). In addition, Kris is the co-hosts of Beyond Hood and Evil, a comedic podcast about the Black experience exploring the themes of community, responsibility, professionalism and ethics as it relates to making it out the hood.Creatively, Kris aspires to deliver quality solutions for even the most nebulous asks. Using tangibility, transparency, and traction as his foundational principles Kris has been able to engage and activate audiences for some of America's most trusted institutions and emerging brands. Kris’ Clients and collaborators include: NAACP, NFLPA, AFL-CIO, the Biden Campaign, the Clinton Campaign, Intuit, JP Morgan Chase, AFSCME, the Democracy Alliance, Color of Change, International Association for the Study of Pain, UNAC, NUHHCE, the Mussar Institute, American University, Mimconnect, Fighting for Our Vote, ONE / OFF, the Dap Project, the Pinkline Project among others.

LEARN ABOUT KRIS

stithworks.com

behance.net/KStithWorks

instagram.com/Kris.Stith

beyondhoodandevil.com


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