Hello, and welcome to my blog. Sorry for that dated movie reference. Unless you are the world’s biggest Austin Powers fan…in which case, you’re welcome.

This is a little strange for me. I don’t remember exactly why, but I swore I’d never blog. It was sometime during graduate school. I did my MBA at Michigan State University. We had someone from Microsoft (I think) doing a presentation during the one of the seminars that we had to do during the first year. He was talking about blogging, and I jokingly told a classmate that I’d never blog. I don’t think that’s why I’ve never blogged before, but here I am 15+ years later trying this out for the first time.

Let me back up a bit a little bit and tell a little more about myself. As I said, I did my MBA at Michigan State University. I also completed my undergraduate studies at MSU. Before that, I grew up on the southeast side of Grand Rapids, MI. I grew up on Ballard Street, right near the intersection of Burton and Eastern. My neighborhood was mostly black and working class. My neighbors lived paycheck-to-paycheck at best, and as I got older even that worsened.

But even in all that, I had some things working for me. I had a community around me from my family, to my church, to a host of neighbors and friends who were there to support me. My dad and all 13 of his siblings, despite being born as sharecroppers in Mississippi, had all gone to college – so when I went away to school I had people I could call on who had experienced some of the things that I was going through. In short, I had enough love to make up for any resource deficits that I might have had.

So now on to why I do what I do… One of the most formative moments in my career came from my support network. I grew up in the Church of God in Christ, a large Black, Pentecostal denomination (not the snake-handling kind #noshade – the dancing/shouting/singing kind). My dad was a minister, so my brothers and I always spent some time alone in the pews (my mom often had to work on Sundays to allow us to make ends meet). The head usher of our church was Mother Montgomery. I thought she was the meanest woman on earth. If she saw any kid chewing gum, sleeping, talking, or committing any violation of proper church behavior she was on us with a sharp reprimand that left no room for disobedience. But when I graduated from college, I felt like she was as proud of me as anyone. She hugged me, told me she loved me. I realized in that moment that she was never angry with me, she was making sure I had the discipline I needed to be successful. She said to me, “Sol, now you have to go help us.” I took that to heart, and that’s what has guided me for much of my career. I do this, not for the profit (hence the name of this blog), but for us. For my people – the people who work hard just to make enough to be broke, the people who the power structure has at best ignored and at worst oppressed, the community that nurtured and loved me and made me who I am, for my mom and dad, my brothers, my cousins and aunts and uncles, for Ballard Street…and for Mother Montgomery.

Thank you for choosing to read this far. I just wanted to share a little about myself before I jump into sharing my reflections on my life and career as a Black leader in the Civic Sector. If you want keep up with those reflections, head to the home page and add your email address to my list.

Everybody Love Everybody (#ELE),

Sol