I had several jobs before I got to Washington, including my role as president of Peoples Gas here in Chicago, so I’ve done a lot of work in corporate settings. Some of those fundamentals translate into a family-owned business, but a lot of them don’t. You might have a general framework, but nothing can prepare you for the emotion and company history. On top of that, being a world-renowned brand that’s so close to every African American I know, it’s very humbling to be asked to do the same work that John Johnson did. This role was probably the most difficult work I’ve done, considering the state of print at the time and being a family-owned business with both founders having passed away. There was grieving inside of the company because they had worked there. Many employees had worked with them and stayed for life, and there was a lot of emotion there.
The world was also changing very rapidly in terms of views on African American publications and businesses. There’s still a tremendous amount of racism that affects the success of these prints and organizations. They also lack capital. I was trying to spread capital across the publishing, the Johnson Archives, and Fashion Fair Cosmetics. The Guggenheim just bought the archives, so now the world will see the rich history that the Johnson family created for everyone, not just African Americans. I am very honored to have been a part of that history and continue the cosmetics brand legacy.
