Ep 5.3 - Todd Brown

Alvin and German conduct a great conversation with Retired Vice Chairman of ShoreBank Corporation, Todd Brown, ’71.  Todd brings a remarkable track record of success across senior leadership roles in both the corporate and nonprofit sectors. At Kraft Foods, he led three major business divisions, including the company’s e-commerce, foodservice, and desserts units. He has also served on the corporate boards of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, Diversey, Inc., and ADVO, Inc., as well as on the board of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. A proud trustee emeritus of Colgate University, Todd began his journey in higher education as the second Director of Colgate’s Cultural Center. He later earned an M.B.A. from the Wharton School and a master’s degree in college administration from Columbia University. Todd holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Colgate.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The following podcast is being brought to you by the
Defile Life podcast Network.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to Aftergate, Powered by the Defile Life Network.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
Are You all Ready?

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Aftergate is a podcast series highlighting Colgate alumni of color
in their professional endeavors.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Aftergate. Are You all Ready?

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Aftergate? Is hosted by Alvin Glymph aka al and Herman
Dubois aka A.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Jerry Are Already?

Speaker 2 (00:33):
We are doing Aftergate because Colgate University has produced innovators
who have changed the world every day. Yet many alumni
of color and the mainstream Colgate community are unaware of
the amazing accomplishments of alums of color.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Are you ready? Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, This is your boy,
ol Alvin Glymph, co host of the Gate, the podcast
where we are focused solely on interviewing alumni of color

(01:07):
from Kobe University for the purpose of amplifying, documenting, sharing
their stories, honoring their journey. It has been an amazing journey.
As we are in season five, even whenever I say
that get chills because it seems like just yesterday was
season one. But here we are, season five, still at

(01:27):
it and looking forward to the conversation tonight. Before I
jump in as always let me make sure our end,
let me make sure our introduce my co host, mister
Headmond du Bois. What's going on, Jerry? How you doing, sir?

Speaker 4 (01:42):
What's good?

Speaker 5 (01:43):
Brother? All as well here in the Sunshine State can't
complain in that spring season, so weather is quite pleasant
and spring is always a good time just in general
with nature, with cycle of life, and just looking forward
to closing out this fiscal slash academic year.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
Good good, good, good, good well. Speaking of having a
good time, I have to get a sense of what
was the weekend like AOC up in New York. I've
seen some of the pictures. It looked phenomenal. Would love
to get your kind of debrief on how they win.

Speaker 5 (02:23):
I mean, that could be a whole nother show, but
in a capsule, it was phenomenal. The fact that it
was a combined effort between AOC having a couple of
networking activities going on in the city in Harlem on
one twenty fifth, so old stopping ground, being that my
high school was ten blocks away, and amazing to see

(02:44):
how Harlem has continued to transform and yet.

Speaker 6 (02:50):
Still felt like home.

Speaker 5 (02:52):
And then he also had a student leadership summit, So
about forty five students from Kolgate Students of Color from
COOLGI were part of a leadership training weekend which consistent
of workshops and dialogue and engagement with alumni. I would
easily say over one hundred of Love of Color were
in the space, some formerly speakers, presenters, and others as

(03:16):
uh just guests and uh, you know, it was dope.
It was empowering to see the cross section of generations
and classes, see some old faces meet some new faces.

Speaker 7 (03:28):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (03:28):
I'd like to think that, you know, we are.

Speaker 5 (03:30):
Our little cohort reps strong. You know, you had Jeff
Williams in the house, or La Perry in the house.
Nicole was a keynote, uh Colturna, Uh yeah, Tannica Williams,
who was a recent guest was in the house. Lorae
Martinez in the house.

Speaker 7 (03:47):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (03:47):
And then of course we had the classics. You know,
we had the uh, the Taconi's and the list goes on.
That whole, that whole cohort always comes out strong. And
so you know, uh uh special shout out to Garfield,
the Garfield who in to be part.

Speaker 6 (04:05):
Of the planning committee for the for the weekend.

Speaker 5 (04:07):
And uh, you know, shoutouts to him for for for
really spearheading and then taking the lead with with a
lot of the logistics.

Speaker 8 (04:16):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (04:16):
Dina and Denny aoc CO president, big shout.

Speaker 8 (04:20):
Out to them.

Speaker 5 (04:21):
Uh So yeah, man, it gets bigger and better. They
said it was bigger than better than last year. So
the BARS group set for for next year and so uh,
talk of the town is then looking at potentially doing
this in some other city.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
So stay tuned, stay tuned, stay tuned. Nice to hear
as you mentioned some of those names, many of them
after the Gate guests, So oh.

Speaker 8 (04:44):
Yeah, and after Gate was was was was well wrapped,
not only from a perspective of me constantly talking about it,
but just plenty of our prior guests that gave testimonies and.

Speaker 5 (04:58):
AOC even I think we saw, you know, we did
a post on behalf of AOC and get encouraging folks
to sign up.

Speaker 6 (05:05):
So yeah, man, it was a lot of leve all
around and you were you were there in spirit.

Speaker 5 (05:10):
Everyone of course asked for you, and so you know,
the Batman and Robin duo was was well wrapped.

Speaker 3 (05:16):
So we don't we are big believers in divided and conquer,
so I have a lot of confidence that you were
out there making sure that people were understanding what Aftergate
was all about and how we are just trying to
honor these great stories and the journeys and because it
has really been a highlight of our experience. So appreciate

(05:39):
uh you doing that. Appreciate AOC and definitely kogate for
investing in students as well as alumni because it's essential.

Speaker 5 (05:48):
Absolutely and just a shameless plug. We got to get
the after Gate merch COO. We had lots of people
asking about my hoodie. I repped a hoodie on the
on the on the panel and folks was asking about merch.

Speaker 6 (05:59):
So opportunity there, opportunity.

Speaker 3 (06:02):
I'll keep that in mind. We'll keep that in mind.
Take that back to the network.

Speaker 9 (06:06):
I had flashbacks, shout out the Kimic War.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
That's good stuff, good stuff.

Speaker 7 (06:14):
Well.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
Appreciate the update as always and definitely great to hear.
The AOC is not only continuing to do things, but
even exploring possibly doing in other cities. At l is
definitely a growing city in terms of alumni color presence.
So to those who are listening, please consider the South

(06:35):
as a possible landing spot for the next one. Now,
if it's alright with you, my brother, can I get
you a blessing to invite into the studio this week's guest.

Speaker 5 (06:48):
He can add the congregation and full faith and honor
gives you his blessings.

Speaker 3 (06:53):
My man. So after Gate listeners AOC, I ask your
blessings as we ask to come into the Aftergate Studio
the One, the Only Good Brother Todd Brown, class of
nineteen seventy one. Welcome to Aftgate, my brother.

Speaker 7 (07:24):
Hey, Alvin, Hey Jerry.

Speaker 3 (07:27):
Welcome, Welcome. How are you doing, sir?

Speaker 4 (07:29):
I'm doing great.

Speaker 3 (07:30):
Can't complain good, good, good good. Say hey, that's what
we're talking about. We like to hear that. We like
to hear that good stuff. So in our tradition, we
always like to share the context of whether or not
we know our guests, so that the audience gets a

(07:51):
sense of is this someone we went to school with,
do we have a long history, or is it someone
that we are meeting live as they will be as
they listen to this recording. To my knowledge, this is
our first meeting. I can't put a place where we
would have crossed paths before, but I might be wrong.

Speaker 4 (08:14):
It's okay, I don't I don't. I don't believe we've
crossed paths before.

Speaker 3 (08:19):
Good stuff. Well, let me let me start with that question.
How did you hear about after Gating?

Speaker 4 (08:23):
Which well, somehow I got I think it was Covet
Rooney's podcast that came to me and that was that
was the connection. Someone who was was there when when
when she came, we were the brothers on campus to welcome.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
Awesome, awesome, awesome. It's okay, good shout out to sister Rooney.
And for those who don't know, that was season four, amazing,
amazing episode like them all. But make sure you check
that out. So if you graduate from Coldgate in seventy one,
that means you graduate high school nineteen sixty seven, right, okay,

(09:09):
So take us back to that time in the late sixties,
mid sixties. What's life like for you? What do you
remember about that time? It's the sixties. Where are you from?
Would love to hear some of that context so folks
can get a sense of what the world was like
before you entered colchate.

Speaker 4 (09:31):
Yeah. Well, nineteen sixty seven was a pretty tumultuous year
in the country. You know, as I graduated from high school,
you know, I was fortunate to have an option like
Coldgate to you know, to go to. I had a

(09:53):
couple other places that I was looking at, but Coldgate
seemed to be the right place for me. Country was
in a very difficult place at that point. I think
back nineteen sixty seven Riots. I grew up in New Jersey,
ra Alway in New Jersey, and that summer of sixty

(10:14):
seven it was a difficult one in places like Nork
in Detroit, the Riots. I live close enough that I
could actually see the glow in the sky from the
fires on Springfield Avenue in the city of Nork. There was,

(10:36):
you know, some stuff going on in my hometown as well.
The country, you know, was at a cross where roads
in many ways. Civil rights kind of in its heyday,
the Vietnam War rising in importance as an issue within
the country. But you know, I was a young guy,

(11:00):
played ball. I was a football player and a track athlete.
I was okay, not good enough to get a scholarship,
but uh, you know, I was well rounded in that regard.
And I had a guy that I played ball with,
white guy who was a quarterback and actually ended up

(11:22):
going to uh to Colgate. It didn't really play there,
but at least I knew somebody, you know, from my
days in high school was a bit of a link
for me. So I decided that I go to upstate
New York and and give Colgate a try.

Speaker 3 (11:41):
What's the what's your neighborhood?

Speaker 4 (11:43):
Like?

Speaker 3 (11:44):
High school demographics give us a sense of the transition
from how you will live into the rural heaven known
as Hamilton.

Speaker 9 (11:54):
New York.

Speaker 4 (11:56):
Yeah, we're always you know, a relatively small power, you know,
twenty five thirty thousand people, a mixed community, although the
railroad tracks in town delineated, you know, where the black
folks like us lived and where white folks lived on

(12:16):
the other side of town. But there was a sizable
black population that all came together in high school. So
it was in you know, it was an integrade high school.
You know, your new new folks, you know, white folks
that became friends with you know, so early on it
was difficult. Uh. You know, my father was a chiropractor.

(12:39):
He was reasonably successful, but when it came time for
him to buy a new house and he had the money,
he was not able to buy a house on the
other side of the tracks, literally, uh, and ended up
you know, building a house on our side of town.
So you know, that's where I grew up. I grew
up in a segregated neighborhood, not far from white folks,

(13:05):
and went to high school an integrated situation, and you know,
I think that was good, and it allowed me to
enter into the Colgate community, you know, probably with a
little bit less stress than some might have had before.
One of the interesting things, you know, we'll probably get

(13:25):
to is that our class was the first sizeable class
of African Americans to go to Colgate University. We literally
doubled the number of African Americans on the campus, and
we were the first class of where there was any

(13:46):
number of people who weren't recruited as athletes. You know,
it was a situation, and I'll talk a little bit
about the Ford Founda had put together some type of
a program to push African Americans who scored very well

(14:10):
in the SATs. If you got a certain level in
ther SATs, your information got scattered around the country to
all kinds of great schools. So I ended up getting
recruited by a lot of different places. But it wasn't
just me. It was the first time that large numbers
of African Americans, and I say large the or eighteen

(14:30):
of us started going to predominantly white schools. If you
look at the class of sixty six versus the sixty seven,
a huge difference. So there was you know, it was
an important change point.

Speaker 3 (14:47):
So do you think that change was due to the
Ford Foundations initiative or was it something going on at
Kolgate that there was this impetus to increase the amount
of you're saying African Americans, but African American males because
it was all males, it was all male.

Speaker 4 (15:06):
It was a combination of things. So the Ford Foundation
I kind of just remember it because I know what
they were doing, and I was one of the benefactors
of it in terms of getting all these calls and
letters and materials from different schools. And so it wasn't
just Colgate. You know, there are a number of schools
that's you know, elite schools that started to have a

(15:29):
growing representation. But that also comes up. Remember I let
off with sixty seven, the riots, the civil rights movement,
it all was kind of to come together at that
point in time, and there were people on campus at
Colgate and other schools who said, you know, we ought
to do something, and this gave them the ability to

(15:53):
identify some potential candidates to begin to admit students at
Colgate case, it was a guy named Guy Martin who
was the at that point, he was the director of
admissions and he had just taken over that role. I
talk about him a little bit in our yearbook because
he is he essentially was the person not only let

(16:16):
this class of African Americans in, but the class of
seventy one in total. He was the guy who was
in charge. But he was you know, he was somebody
that thought he was doing the right thing and was
willing to stand up for it in a situation that
I'm sure for him, you know, wasn't always easy. He

(16:37):
actually became a mentor of mine later on, so.

Speaker 6 (16:42):
Just to be clear.

Speaker 5 (16:43):
So so your introduction to Kolgate came from basically the
initiative that you've mentioned that the Ford Foundation, by identifying
high students who scored well on the SATs, were sort
of earmarked and then you received correspondence from a variety
of schools. There was no counselor or a teacher or

(17:04):
somebody you prior that went to Colgate. It was it
was surely the recruitment efforts well of the campaign of
the Portfoundation.

Speaker 4 (17:12):
Just to be clear, Yeah, I mean that was you know,
that was the thing that started to open the doors.
I think back to guidance counselors back in that day.
Even though I was a serious student, I mean I
was you know, I was a smart kid. I did
well and you know on my test scores. You know,

(17:35):
it wasn't a situation where we were being guided towards
these kinds of places, at least from the standpoint of
you know, my sort of sophomore junior year kind of experiences.
But when this came about, it did begin to open
up the doors, and you know kind of I think
pushed some of those folks, the high school counselors and whatnot,

(17:58):
to realize that, you know, there was an opportunity for
some kids that they might not have pushed before. So
there's kind of a confluence of different factors coming together
all at once. And I said, the Food Foundation, I
just kind of remember, it's not the only thing, but
it was one of the triggers.

Speaker 3 (18:19):
Yeah, So what do you remember about those that early transition.
I mean, not just for you before the campus, I
mean you're doubling the size of blackmails on campus. I'm
sure that has to reverberate around campus as they're seeing

(18:41):
more black dudes on campus.

Speaker 5 (18:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (18:45):
I mean, the really great thing for us was the
brothers who were already there kind of welcomed us in
a way that you know, made it, you know, just
a lot simpler for us to begin to integrate into
the campus and kind of gave us, you know, that

(19:06):
kind of schooling on the place and what was going
on both on the campus but also just in general
in terms of deciphering you know, this crazy time that
was happening in the United States. You know, there were
guys like bout Bony, Bill Robinson who were greg three,

(19:29):
who were leaders in the community at that point in time.
You know, a couple of them had been ballplayers and
then decided, you know, this is not for me. I'm
not going to do this. I'm here for other reasons.
I can remember that there used to be a January
special studies period. We had the month of January off

(19:51):
to do essentially a one off project, and that first
year there was one that was done with a bunch
of us in the black community. The guys that I
just mentioned along with a number of us who were freshmen,
to talk about the issues that were going on in
the country, to read some books frankly that you know,

(20:14):
when I was growing up in high school, you know,
you just didn't see some of this stuff. You know,
the auto biography of Malcolm X was, you know, something
that I first got introduced to in that course. That
kind of thing that we discussed. So we spent quite
a bit of time just trying to understand more about
the civil rights movement, what was happening, and how did

(20:37):
that relate to us on campus. And little did we
know that later in that spring, after the assassination of
Martin Luther King, some racist you know kinds of things
started to happen on the campus that led eventually to

(20:57):
the takeover of the administration building.

Speaker 3 (21:00):
Yeah. So we've definitely heard about the takeover. We've had
great greet we've had Ed Morris, we've had traversal Lee
roy Lee, roy Le, Roy Cody and so, but love
to hear your memory, your perspective on the takeover of administration,

(21:27):
what that, what led up to it. Love to hear
you tell the story.

Speaker 4 (21:32):
Well, I mean, the the the first thing was Sigma
Knew and the incident that took place with Bonnie and
a couple of guys walking down the road and you know,
some guy in the fraternity decides to take shots that
you know, folks. Turns out he was using blanks, but
you know, a starter's pistol and blanks that you know,
walking down the street in that kind of situation, Uh,

(21:56):
just wasn't acceptable. Led to the takeover of you know,
fraternity and eventually, you know, the administration realized that that
place needed to go. But that kicked it off with
a realization that there are other fraternities on campus, most
notably Phi Delta Theta, that had on their books as

(22:18):
a recognized fraternity exclusive covenants that wouldn't allow blacks or
Jews to join the fraternity. And it was like, okay,
Signy New was the start, but you know, places like
Fi Del just have to go. And Bill and Bob

(22:39):
and Greg and the guys, you know, so of led
the discussions at first with the administration, but it wasn't
going anywhere, and we got to a point where and
I think if I've even got a copy of the
flyer that went around that said that if we don't
get what we want. We're supposed to meet at the
student union and you know, we'll go from there up

(23:02):
to the administration building, which we did and ended up
walking in, and there's anywhere. But the estimates are between
three and five hundred of us because there was only
eighteen years thirty six of us basically in total on campus.
But other students' faculty members as well followed us into

(23:23):
the building stayed there for like five days.

Speaker 3 (23:27):
Wow, So you are what year are you at that time?
Your freshman, sophomore, freshman year, freshman year?

Speaker 4 (23:34):
All this is happening year one, year one?

Speaker 3 (23:38):
Yeah, do jack on campus? What do you I mean,
what do you remember about being there? Because to your point,
there were some upper classmen who were kind of leading
the way as leaders on campus. But what do you
remember as a first year student as you're experienced in
this takeover.

Speaker 4 (23:57):
Well, it's interesting because I was also beginning to get
very active on campus. You know. Eventually I ended up
being the co chair of the concert committee for the
entire university. So if you were in a class of
seventy one, you listen to music that I wanted to
listen to. For the most part, we had some of
the top talent on the planet come to Colgate. But

(24:21):
I had started just doing some things, you know, residence
hall sort of activities, you know, concert kind of stuff
when I was a freshman. So that was sort of
my mainstream thing that you know, it was a part
of what I was doing beginning to you know, kind
of dig in with you know, coursework and you know,

(24:43):
just trying to trying to get through, you know, making
a big transition from a small sort of so so
high school. I mean when I when I started high school,
it was it wasn't even fully a credit. It was
it was kind of probationary. Roway High School wasn't a
very good school. So it took some getting myself together

(25:05):
to make sure that I could do handle things academically.
It was a challenge. One of my first faculty members
a guy named Jerome Balmouth. He's the legend of Colgate
faculty members. You know, he's he's the one who busted
folks chops year in and year out, didn't matter who

(25:27):
you were. And he was, you know, one of my
first professors in a core course. But he and I
kind of hated off. You know, he respected me and
and and you know, I studied hard. I ended up
taking three classes with him, even did an individual course

(25:48):
with him. But that kind of helped me, you know,
get started academically and then you know, just sort of
surviving through all the rest of his It was very
difficult with our families. I said, my father was a chiropractor.
He was you know, he had worked hard, he was

(26:09):
a war veteran. You know, he was glad to see
me get into school, but he did not want to
see me screw it up. And you know, when your
kids show up on the front page of the New
York Times, you know, we we did that. You know,

(26:30):
one of my eventually one of my best friends, ended
up with a sign on the steps of the of
of this administration building during the takeover, on the front
page in New York Times. That's it's pretty disturbing for parents.

Speaker 3 (26:48):
Yeah, yeah, is not what I sent you up there for.

Speaker 5 (26:52):
Right.

Speaker 10 (26:53):
Can we can we go back a couple of comments
you mentioned, you know, your concert serieson and I'm curious,
because you know, music is a he was a key
part of of our of our lifestyle and particularly.

Speaker 4 (27:03):
Our coolgie and I had to.

Speaker 6 (27:06):
Have some stories about that.

Speaker 5 (27:07):
But I'm curious what was what was the genre, what
were you, what were you bringing up?

Speaker 6 (27:11):
What were you Who was some of the artists dominating
the airways.

Speaker 4 (27:15):
Yeah, yeah, Well there's a couple that I'd mentioned that,
you know, I just we'll always remember. The biggest of
which was we got Sli in the Family Stone come
and perform at the hockey rink at the height of
their fame. It you know, their album had just come out.

(27:40):
I mean we actually got we contracted them before it
broke and that's the reason we got them. But we
were one of the early concerts they got when they
were doing stand and it's still probably one of the
greatest concerts I've ever been to in my life, you know.

(28:02):
And he's he's come to be recognized by a lot
of folks in today's genres that his charisma, you know,
his talent and the talent of that group. We had
the Chambers Brothers, who were a black rock group who
were really huge at that point in time. We had Chicago,

(28:23):
We did Sam and Dave at one point. That was
one of the first things I had worked on my
last concert. When I'll just kind of finish on was
Cool in the Gang had Cool and Cool in the
Gang my senior year. And the interesting story about that
is uh and a couple. This happened a couple of times.

(28:46):
They got lost on the way to Colby. Oh yeah,
we had an opening act and a comedian and everything,
you know, starting up, and we were trying to hold
everybody together, but they didn't up. We had a big
party planned at the Coup, and so we said, okay,
everybody could come over to and join the party, but

(29:09):
we'll have to refund your money. Well, at eleven thirty
at night, I'm in the back in the kitchen. We're,
you know, fixing up some punch and whatnot, and we
got a knock on the back door, and who is it?
It's cool mm hmm, And I said, look man, we
you know we we we had to give the money back.

(29:31):
So look, you give me eight her bucks. We'll play
the party.

Speaker 1 (29:35):
Oh wow.

Speaker 4 (29:36):
We came in. Cool In the Gang played the party
till like two or three o'clock in the morning in
the Coup. That was my last stand.

Speaker 3 (29:47):
That is a classic classic. People who were there, lelio,
did I ever tell you the time We're cool In
the Gang performed at a party because they got that
never heard that story before? That's why after Gate does
what it does, we are sharing these classical stories that

(30:08):
that's that's probably one of the best stories.

Speaker 6 (30:10):
And you're talking to two music lovers. So just some
of the names you dropped.

Speaker 4 (30:16):
It's pretty pretty Yeah. I mean, you know, there aren't
any number of other folks, but I figured those are
a couple of stand up, just a few.

Speaker 3 (30:26):
What did you major in?

Speaker 4 (30:28):
I ended up majoring in sociology social yeah.

Speaker 6 (30:32):
Oh yeah, the sociology bid.

Speaker 4 (30:36):
Arnie SiOH was my advisor.

Speaker 3 (30:38):
Okay, okay, okay.

Speaker 6 (30:42):
Where you lived for the four years and.

Speaker 4 (30:46):
I missed that?

Speaker 6 (30:47):
Do you recall your residences where you lived on campus?

Speaker 7 (30:49):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (30:50):
Yeah, well that was a part of the experience too,
because some some you know, we might have you know,
gone to some place like there are a couple of
fraternities with athletes and some brothers in them Lambda Kai
and alf and Du were a couple at the time,
and you know, thought about maybe going that way, but

(31:11):
that wasn't happening after the takeover, and so we ended
up Instillment Stone became, you know, the place where you know,
two or three rooms of us got together and and
and lived there up on the hill for most of
the rest of the time we were there. Awesome.

Speaker 3 (31:31):
Awesome, If I my Colgate timeline is right, the cultural
center is created while you're there.

Speaker 4 (31:39):
Yeah, So that's this second piece of the experience with
so one of the demands coming out of it was
to form something we can call the cultural center at
that point, but to get a cultural center coming out
of the sixty eight building takeover in sixty nine. Unfortunately,

(32:00):
there wasn't very good progress against getting that done, and
so I think this was when Nacy Ojiles was chair
of the ABC. At that point. We ended up going
back in and taking over was then Merrill House, the
faculty house, with a demand that we had to get

(32:21):
better progress against raising the money and making this whole
thing happen. And so there was yet, you know, second year,
another building takeover, another very difficult time for African Americans
on campus. This was really emotionally difficult and stressful on everybody,

(32:44):
and you know, it was just we started to think, well,
is this the right place for us? But eventually coming
out of the building, the administration says, okay, we'll you know,
start to pull this thing together. Ironically, one of the
other things that did happen there were four of us.

(33:05):
We became known as the Colgate Four. And you'll understand
how it was. It was myself, Lee, Rick, Cody, Ernie Pyle,
and Bill Nesbit. We were all good friends from Jersey
and New York. And we got to a point where

(33:25):
we said, you know, I don't know if this is
the right thing. Maybe we made a mistake. We uncovered
what was a sort of little known, little used exchange
program with Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, and you know, we said, well,
let's go see what it's like at a black campus

(33:48):
and if we like it, we can stay. And so
we ended up coming out of that whole experience, the
four of us going down to Lincoln to spend what was,
you know, to be a semester on the campus, and
four students came back to Colgate.

Speaker 3 (34:07):
Okay, so.

Speaker 4 (34:10):
This was you know, quite an experience for us. But
the environment was although it was very welcoming it's an
all black campus, it was it was co ed, which
which helped. But we were really activists at that point,

(34:31):
and you know the world was kind of moving ahead.
Civil rights was moving on. The brothers back on campus
were doing a lot of things to try to get
to that next phase. We enjoyed the experience, but it
you know, it wasn't quite us for any variety of reasons.

(34:52):
We weren't going to do you know, we weren't going
to pledge the fraternities or anything. We just just decided
we're gonna We're going to go back to camp campus
and all four of us went back to Colgate the
next term. Ironically, three of the four students from Lincoln
came and stayed to graduate with us at Colgate.

Speaker 6 (35:15):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (35:17):
Wow, So that was a It was quite a flip.
Another music sidebar, Gil Scott Heron, Yeah, Gil Scott. We
lived in a in a house that was just slightly
off campus. While we're there, Gil was our downstairs neighbor
in that house. And Gil was already into his music

(35:43):
thing big time. And you know, I've been starting to
do this thing with concerts and stuff. I really got
close to him, you know, he would do these shows
and whatnot. We we knew him as spider Man. That
was his nickname. I didn't know what his real name
was until we were getting ready to leave campus. Thus

(36:06):
he was spider Man. He was a tall, skinny, lanky dude.

Speaker 3 (36:10):
Spider Man spoken word right right.

Speaker 4 (36:16):
I actually I one of the things I did, I
brought Gil Scott and his group to Coldgate to perform
before he graduated. Before we left m So, yeah, we
we had a we had a great time. But we
came back the Cultural Center and I guess it was

(36:38):
it started to come together that junior year and we
had this old.

Speaker 7 (36:45):
Sort of.

Speaker 4 (36:47):
Administrative and I wasn't administrative. It was kind of a
buildings and grounds building that was being converted over. I
actually came back early the summer before my senior year
to help get it started, working on things like what
we were going to paint that. It ended up being red,

(37:08):
black and green. It wasn't exactly if you were a designer,
not a nineteen or twenty year old kid. Probably not
the best choice of colors, but it was symbolic enough,
and so he got it started, you know, kind of
coming out of that period of time, which you know,

(37:30):
it evolved over a period of time to become a Lana.
I actually came back, and this kind of trips into
my life after Colgate. I came back to Colgate after
a year to be on the staff as an assistant
Dean of Students for student activities and I was the

(37:51):
second director of the Cultural Center.

Speaker 9 (37:55):
Wow wow, Okay, I had a chance to serve as
UH student workers in the last year of that very
facility before they it was the new Culture Front Colony
and was in construction and we were able to transition

(38:15):
by our sophomore year into the new facility.

Speaker 5 (38:18):
But had heard a lot of the stories of how
that maintenance building was converted and became you know, sort
of the the early UH sort of building where where
so many folks just gathered and UH. So, thank you,
thank you for for for that trail blazing.

Speaker 6 (38:39):
UH role, because it's a great.

Speaker 5 (38:43):
Facility now, and the last time we were there, we
talked about the need to expand it and they may
need a bigger building and more property just because it's
it's it's busting at the scenes in terms of programming
and what it represents and not just to the community
of Color, but but to the university as a whole.

Speaker 4 (38:59):
Right, I've got a picture somewhere, I think it's in
one of the Colgate scenes of Dan Gaspi working back
in the kitchen.

Speaker 3 (39:08):
Oh wow, so his.

Speaker 4 (39:10):
First experience in the restaurant. I'll call it the restaurant
the food service business, was working in the kitchen at
the Cultural Center.

Speaker 3 (39:21):
Another former Aftergate guest his story was fascinating, Like you know,
so it's it's it's great to get these stories and
get a sense of how the sausage was made. So
to speak, whose shoulders do we stand on? Because to
Jerry's point, often these stories aren't shared when you're a student.

(39:45):
Rarely do you hear them as an alum because often
you're kind of circulating and socializing with the or the
lums you went to school with. So for us, it's
been an amazing blessing to have these conversations with he said, trailblazers,
but individuals that had such an impact and influence on

(40:05):
our experience. And while we get to say thank you,
we never would have been able to say thank you
unfortunately without this type of podcast. So thank you, my
brother for.

Speaker 4 (40:15):
What you did, my pleasure, Thanks for pulling it together.

Speaker 3 (40:19):
So any I mean, you've talked a lot about extracurricula,
but as anything you might not have mentioned in terms
of things you were into outside of your studies.

Speaker 4 (40:31):
The only other thing I mentioned the concert piece, but
it was also very active with bringing speakers on campus.
So one important lecture and we at the time, because
of our profile and what we did was the takeover,
especially the first one, we got some notoriety, so we

(40:55):
could get speakers, you know, because of who we were the.

Speaker 6 (41:00):
New York Times.

Speaker 4 (41:01):
One of them had a much more sort of personal connection,
and that was Adam Adam Clayton Powell Woo. So, you know,
Powell was one of the few and only black students
you know, back in the day, I guess it was
in the probably in the late thirties or something at
that point in time, and they didn't know he was black, hmm.

(41:28):
And when they found out, they put him off campus.
They made him they made him stay in a rental
downtown ended up you know, finishing. But it was that
kind of a situation, and so we had we brought
him back. It was the first time that he'd ever
been invited back to the campus, that he'd ever been

(41:48):
back to the campus. Wow, to spend you know, lunch
with him, you know, that day before he spoke, that evening,
and that kind of experience just you know helped inform
me and others, you know, in a way. It's just
hard to you know, understand completely, you know, here I

(42:08):
am talking to, you know, one of the leaders of
the movement of you know, black you know politics, sitting
across the table you know from me, and you know
we did that often. Bill Russell. We had Bill Russell
in and the same deal, you know, we we we

(42:31):
took him out to lunch, was actually at Merrill House,
but to hear his sort of first hand across the
table experiences of what it was like in Boston, of
what it was like being that you know, true pioneer
in the n b A and being the you know,
the the one of the all time greats of the sport,

(42:55):
Muhammad Ali. We had Muhammada during the period of time
when he was stripped of his crown and he started
going around doing lectures. We were one of the first
ones he did. He spent the afternoon over in West
Hall in one of the brother's rooms.

Speaker 3 (43:13):
I I don't know if pictures exist, but someone should
be logging the amazing guest black guests that have come
up to Colgate because these are names I had not
heard a little moment or Adam Clinton Powell visiting before.
So it's someone should be logging us because that's yeah.

Speaker 5 (43:36):
Angela Davis he came up a few times because we
brought her up actually in our time.

Speaker 6 (43:41):
So okay, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (43:44):
So Adam has to be I guess he would be
in his like fifties or sixties at that point, so he's, uh,
he was older. Well he's older than that.

Speaker 4 (43:55):
Okay, Well again, I was nineteen or two twenties. I'm
not sure I can appreciate he he was old. Yeah,
when you're sitting in that kind of.

Speaker 3 (44:07):
Any major takeaway in terms of like just sitting there
listening to him, here's a man that's accomplished a lot
outside off campus, but this is his first time coming
back to Colgate. Any takeaway that you remember, like well,
in that moment, from that conversation, the power.

Speaker 4 (44:25):
And influency had in committee work and whatnot in in Congress,
it was hard to appreciate. And you know, at some point,
you know, his white counterparts, you know, kind of trying
to figure out some ways that they could get him busted,
and you know, you know went after him for you know,

(44:50):
something that they could strip him of his of his
committee chair and enroll in that kind of thing. But
that he was always you know, having to fight for
whatever you got if you think about what's going on
today and that in this kind of environment, and he
was going through that and you know by himself back then,

(45:16):
and you know, just getting that appreciation for you know,
his struggle. He was you know, he's he had a
good time. You could tell the brother had a good time.
He spent time down the islands and you know he
talked a little bit about you know what what he
what what his life was like. And he had a

(45:38):
good time. But he also just made a huge difference
as a brother coming out of Harlem. He was the
guy mm hm, awesome.

Speaker 3 (45:46):
Awesome, awesome. Any when you look back at your time
at Colgate, You've shared a lot of amazing things. What
was you reference as an accomplishment, your greatest accomplishment, something
that you look back at on and that was a highlight.

Speaker 4 (46:03):
Right there, I think, you know, I it's hard to say,
but I'll go back to the Cultural Center only because
you know, I wasn't the leader of the ABC at
that point. You know, I ended up being like co

(46:24):
chair or something like that as we went along, but
I sort of followed it through into you know, its
first establishment and then you know, coming back to actually
run it again as a as a staffer, and you know,
solidifying it, getting it going, trying to make sure that

(46:46):
you know, it was something that wasn't just a flash
in the pan. And it's also something that I worry
about today, given what's going on, to make sure that
it gets through whatever is going to happen, you know,
now and during the next few years. It's one of
those things where you know, I feel really good about

(47:09):
that and just hope that you know, it can go
on be an important part of you know, campus life.

Speaker 3 (47:16):
You're here, So on that note, I'm going to take
a pause and we'll take a break so that we
can show some love to our sponsor, and then will
come back and finish this amazing, fascinating conversation with Todd
Brown class in nineteen seventy one. So this episode is
sponsored by Hope Murals. Hope Murals is a nonprofit that

(47:40):
provides adolescent youth with an interactive experience of creative expression
via an urban arts platform that stimulates both mental and
physical development. Please visit that website at www dot murals
dot org to learn more and find ways you can
support the work they do. Welcome back, Welcome back. We

(48:05):
are here in the second half of our conversation with
Tyre Brown. This is Aftergate. Looking forward to diving back
into that conversation, but before we do that, got to
make sure we take a time to thank our sponsor,
Hope Murals, know that we truly appreciate all the work
that they're doing with our youth. Expose of them to

(48:25):
the power of urban arts forstering their personal and creative development.
If you're looking to support an organization making a meaningful impact,
please check our Hope Murals. Learn more about what they're
doing at Hope Murals Social Media. Hopemurals dot org is
their website, so check them out. Show them so love.
Make sure you show some love to our network lead

(48:45):
the Firelife Network at Godefirelife dot co, Amazing Network, a
lot of dope podcasts besides Aftergate and some emerging content sports,
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about giving voice to those who go forward their way.
Show some love to the far Life because our voice matters.

(49:07):
Just a reminder, you can find our show on all
of your major podcast streaming services, so that is Apple, iPods,
Apple Pods, Spreaker, Spotify, Our Heart, etc. And that's it.
Make sure you like and subscribe when you do listen
so that you're getting alert whenever we are releasing our

(49:27):
new show. So now let's jump back into our conversation
with Todd. So, Todd, before we get into what life
has been like for you have to Colgate, as you
talked about some of your experience and how Coldgate has
gone through this journey of emerging from an old history

(49:53):
to this journey of being a more diverse, inclusive environment.
So the stories of the Cultural Center ABC takeovers the pushing,
the shoving, the nudging that your era did really has
propelled and put Colgate to where it is now. So

(50:15):
again we thank you and all of the students of
color that have nudged Colgated in that way. I feel
like we are in a new era right and I
think a lot of people feel like we are in
a new era. And this is an amazing time and
space where the concept of diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, belonging

(50:41):
is under attack, particularly at these institutions, and so for me,
I have taken a stance that while the administration can
attack the word, if you have built a culture and
now committed to the work, you still can be focused

(51:05):
on making sure that your organization, your institution is diverse,
it is inclusive, that students feel like they belong, that
all students feel like they belong. That's just my personal
take on where we are right now. I'd love to
get your perspective, your insight on where are we, where

(51:28):
we headed, where do we need to go? Love to
hear your thoughts on where we are and where we're going.

Speaker 4 (51:38):
Thanks, Salvin, It's it. You know, if I go back
to the earlier part of our conversation, one of the
things that was, you know, just so important for me
was that we were able to get this movement towards
more inclusivity, more diversity at the school started, you know,

(52:00):
and it's just been very fulfilling to me as an alum,
as an emeritus trustee to see the progress that's been
made over the many years you know, since we were
on campus. The campus I believe, is truly more vibrant,
perhaps than it's ever been. You know, we have a

(52:24):
campus where speech is important, free speech is important, safety
is important. I think, you know, the administration, Brian Casey
and his folks have done a good job of trying
to make sure the right balance is taking place on

(52:44):
campus that people can be heard but don't have to
be afraid. Having said that, I'm not sure in today's
climate politically that you know, that's good enough. The kinds
of things that are happening in terms of the attack
on funding for programs that help build the campus, uh,

(53:11):
you know, are are difficult to see, and you know,
I would just hate to see the progress that we've
made over many, many years and think about the kind
of people that have gone through the institution and have
gone on to you know, to lead great careers, to

(53:31):
make great contributions to society. How we could begin to
walk back from that to me is kind of really disheartening,
and I think we've got to do whatever we can
to try to make sure that you know, we don't
let this happen, that we stand up for what's right

(53:53):
and realize that we're a stronger place if we, you know,
try to do the best in terms of identifying, educating,
moving people who are able to go to a place
like Colgate through the process and onto the lead great
and productive lives.

Speaker 5 (54:15):
Definitely, that was echoed throughout the weekend this past weekend
at the summer and by many alum and I wonder
often if there's a meter to gauge, how the cur
incidents of color received that and do they understand the
level of responsibility that falls on them, Because when you
think of all the great stories from alum, they did

(54:37):
this when they were there nineteen twenty years old, you know,
and although we see how great their journeys have become,
we forget that at eighteen, nineteen twenty you have no
idea what's in store for your life, and yet you
had the courage and the boldness to fight and stand
up for what was right.

Speaker 6 (54:52):
So again, thank you, thank you for that. All right, now,
now this is where it gets. You know, I'm pretty.

Speaker 5 (54:59):
Excited about second half of the show because the first half, right,
we blew our minds with four years of highlights.

Speaker 6 (55:08):
Boy, now we're gonna take it back from seventy one.
So you're graduating Colgate.

Speaker 5 (55:15):
And and you're entering the world you walk us through
or skip us through, leaving good Ol'd Hamilton, New York,
or what's next and get us to twenty twenty five.

Speaker 4 (55:30):
Yeah, Well, there's one highlight that I missed from the
first part that's an important part of the story overall,
and that is that I met my wife, Cheryl Hello
at a party. Might get that all in nineteen seventy one,
right before I graduated. We have been married for going

(55:52):
on fifty two years, ameno, and so she's been a
part of this story for a very long time. But
I figured I'd feel remiss if I didn't get.

Speaker 6 (56:04):
That in there. Good good cat, great cat. Uh.

Speaker 4 (56:12):
But yeah, and and and and a part of my story.
I actually, I think I mentioned I came back to Colgate.
I wasn't sure exactly where I was going to go,
what I was going to do. I came back and
worked on campus for a year, thought that I might
be a college administrator. I you know, enjoyed it, seemed

(56:33):
like I was doing well at it. Decided if I
was going to do it, I had to get an
advanced degree. Went back and got a master's in Higher
right administration from Columbia, and went off in that tract.
I spent three years, uh doing that the state schools
back in my home state, New Jersey, did really well.

(56:54):
Ended up running a student center and student personnel for
Jersey City State College. But then began to realize that,
you know, I didn't really want to become I didn't
see myself becoming a college president. I was good at
the administrative side, but I wasn't really a faculty person,
and that I probably was better off. What I wanted,

(57:16):
what I enjoyed doing, was managing and leading people in
an organization. So my roommate Leroy Cody had gone to
Wharton gotten his MBA. I decided that I would follow
on his footsteps and go back and do the same,
and after getting the NBA with a major in marketing,

(57:38):
went off to work for what was then General Foods,
which eventually became Craft Foods as a marketing professional, but
really with the idea that I'd become a general manager
and run a business. That was kind of what my
goal was, and I was able to achieve that goal.

(57:59):
I became probably one of the more powerful sort of
business folks at that point in time in the country,
black business folks running you know, a huge chunk of
business for a highly recognized and important, multi multinational company.

(58:20):
I learned a lot during that period of time. I
think I was able to make an impression on folks
there and work through this idea of bringing more diverse
people into the organization, making sure that they got the
opportunities to advance and do better. I was a co
founder there of the Craft Foods African American Council, which

(58:44):
you know, we really used as a vehicle to help
mentor support younger folks in the organization. Uh So that
was something that I really enjoyed and and feel strongly
about it. But I got to run you know, brands
that everybody knows, everything from kool Aid to jell O

(59:07):
to Craft Cheese. You know, these are things that were
familiar to everybody and big businesses, and there was a
great opportunity for me to build a career. But I
got to a point where although I'd done really well,
I kind of knew that I probably was. The next

(59:27):
thing for me was could I be CEO? And just
reading the tea leaves and whatnot didn't feel like that
was necessarily going to happen. And at the same time,
I was being recruited by some folks on the South
side of Chicago, and I was living in Illinois at
that point with Craft to a place called Shore Bank,

(59:52):
and it was it was at a point where it
was doing quite well, but it was looking for some
body who had big company experience it could help them
kind of get to the next level as a bank. Now,
everybody knows the kinds of brands and things that I
talked about with Craft, the kool Aides and the Jellos

(01:00:15):
and the Craft Cheeses of the world, But Shore Bank
is a different animal. Shore Bank was founded by four
folks on the South Side of Chicago and what became
the first CDFI community development financial institution. It's the OG

(01:00:37):
and it was founded in seventy three and it came
out of an acquisition made by the put together by
these four founders to take an existing bank charter on
what was in the South side of Chicago, in a
community that went through a rapid flux and population and

(01:01:00):
from predominantly white to black. The bankers that were there
decided that they wanted to move the bank out and
get out of there. These the four founders actually protested
that and ended up getting the fd I c saying
the bank has to stay there and they got to
buy it. That's sort of the short answer as to

(01:01:23):
how that bank got started. But the intent was to
use the bank as a way to invest in those
communities where disinvestment and redlining had been the way of
the day and so the bank was founded with the
idea that we can invest in housing, economic development businesses

(01:01:48):
that make this community grow, whereas the you know, the
redliners the major banks had basically say no, we're not
putting any money in here. And it became the model
for that when there were some connections with the Clintons
that took place when when Clinton was in Arkansas as

(01:02:10):
governor and he actually uh started and signed into law
the fundamental laws that put together the ideas for c
d F I S and and literally Sure Bank became
the first one. I think the founders were up in
the in the in the in the audience when he

(01:02:33):
when he announced this, and he said basically, I want
to see a thousand more banks like that. So it
was an opportunity for me to take my business skills
and the kinds of things that I felt were important
to a different level in a different place. I wasn't
a banker, but I you know, they they were interested

(01:02:55):
in some of the things that I could do to
help them grow. Uh So I came over and became
vice chairman of the corporation, and the bank as a
corporation had the banking part of it, but also had
not for profits that invested in resources in those communities.
So it was a two pronged effort to try to build,

(01:03:18):
you know, build a community.

Speaker 3 (01:03:22):
And how long did you do that?

Speaker 4 (01:03:24):
So I was a true bank from two thousand and
three until the end of two thousand and nine, kind
of going into the Great Recession there was it wasn't
as much fun anymore. But importantly, we weren't getting the
investment support that we needed. Whereas the big banks were

(01:03:46):
getting tarp money kind of forced on them, we were
not getting the kind of bank, the kind of financial
support that was going to be necessary to get through that.
Even though we were able to raise a significant amount
of money, I think close to one hundred and fifty
million dollars. You know, the bank just was a very

(01:04:09):
difficult time for me. It was it was kind of
time to move on, and I took an early retirement.
At that point in time, I had begun to do
a corporate board work. I've done a number of things
on the not for profit side, including the time that
I spent as a trustee at Colgate, but I moved

(01:04:30):
on to the corporate sphere and began to get some
assignments as a corporate board member. That's kind of where I,
you know, moved from being a full time nine to
five or at the bank to sort of semi retirement
doing board work and continuing to do some of the

(01:04:51):
not for profit things that were interesting to me.

Speaker 3 (01:04:55):
Love to get your thoughts on this question in terms
of it really deals with perspective, right, So I really
love to get your thoughts on if you had the
opportunity to talk to a young Todd as he's graduating
coming into Colgate, what would be some of the words
of wisdom you would share with him? And then also

(01:05:18):
if you got a chance to talk to Todd graduating
from Colgate, what would be some of the words of
wisdom you share with that Todd.

Speaker 4 (01:05:28):
Well, I think a consistent theme at both stages would
be You're going to go through some really hard times
that at some point you think you're not going to
make it. But the resilience that you will have to

(01:05:49):
get through those difficult times, through the ups and the downs,
and most importantly the downs. Your ability to have that
resilience is going to be critical for your success in
the future. And so don't pack it in when you
think all is you know gone, keep pressing because you're

(01:06:13):
building a base you know that you know you'll get
better at as you go down the road. And that's
kind of whether it was before I was going into
Coldgate and going through all the things we discussed at
Colgate and the ups and the downs there and kind
of getting out the other side. But the same kinds
of things in the corporate world. I mean, you know,
that's pretty standard. You're going to have your ups and downs.

(01:06:36):
You're going to have times when you don't get the
promotion of the recognition that you expected, you don't get
the job you thought you should have had. You're going
to have those times, but you're going to get through it,
and you know, just keep on keeping on.

Speaker 3 (01:06:53):
One thing I didn't get your perspective on just going
back to Colgate for a second, what do you remember
about that transition from all males to having women on campus.

Speaker 4 (01:07:04):
It was an interesting exercise, especially for those of us
who were about to graduate. We had built up this
sort of social life of the road trip, so do
we legacy continued, so you know, on weekends, we were

(01:07:25):
where are we going? What school were we going? Where
you know there are women or inviting them to come
to see us. At Pardons. I think I mentioned that
I met my wife actually at a party that you know,
we were throwing at Colgate. But it was all about,
you know, that kind of that kind of experience. So

(01:07:47):
the idea that when when women came along, it was
important for us that it was a successful experience with them.
It wasn't that we were you know, finding somebody to date.
It was much more important that they come on campus

(01:08:08):
and feel safe and that they feel welcome, and that
we could do whatever we could to make sure that
they were successful as they move forward, because we knew,
we knew the difficulty that we had, and you know,
they were stepping through a whole other set of issues
that only they would understand.

Speaker 1 (01:08:30):
If you're a business looking to get your brand in
front of a loyal, supportive, successful market, you need to
become a sponsor of Aftergate. Our network recognizes the opportunity
to work with Coke Gates, a lum of color, to
leverage the reach of the show to increase awareness and
profitability for your business. Reach out to the Defile Life
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(01:08:52):
entire process. We have special packages to get you started.
Contact us at info at godfirelife dot com every week
professionals of color, ranging from politicians to educators, to judges,
to entrepreneurs to lawyers, corporate leaders, and even retirees. After
Gate reaches an a rate of successful bipod listeners contact

(01:09:15):
us to learn more about how we can benefit you.

Speaker 4 (01:09:20):
But we wanted to be there, I think, with the
mindset of being as supportive as possible, and you know,
probably still at that point, I was heading up to
Syracuse to see my girlfriend.

Speaker 6 (01:09:34):
So it doesn't help when you got cluling the gang
on campus.

Speaker 7 (01:09:39):
You know, well, wow.

Speaker 5 (01:09:45):
With that being said, a great story, great journey, Thank
you for that. We like to close out the interview
with an opportunity to have the guests take full of
that inage of the network that that Colgate alum Color
offers and share promote UH a business and initiative, a campaign,

(01:10:08):
any any of the above, all of the above, or
something that's near and dear to your heart that our
listeners UH would would be potentially interested in learning more about.

Speaker 4 (01:10:18):
You know, I don't have as much of a specific organization.
You know, there are a number any number of things
that you know I've supported, you know, financially, including you know,
giving back to Colgate, giving to some organizations in the arts.

(01:10:43):
You know, I've spent quite a bit of time as
a supporter of the arts in Chicago, and you know,
that's that's one thing that I do think that you know,
we as as black folks, need to continue to do.
I bought my one of my first pieces was an
Ernie Barnes and a part of that was that it

(01:11:05):
was white you know, movie stars that were buying his
stuff and it wasn't black folks. And early on that
was kind of way it was. I said, you know,
we know, we need to own this stuff, and you know,
built up a collection over time. And actually, as I
as I talk about that, that's probably something that I
would encouraging folks, is to support our brothers and sisters

(01:11:30):
in the arts that you know, an important part of
our culture. Uh and you know, can't really exist without
you know, the sort of the continuing support of folks
like us. And if you do it, and you do
it for a long period of time, it can actually
be quite quite uh a good way to invest your money.

(01:11:55):
It was certainly for me. I started collecting a long
time ago and didn't have a lot of money but
did it you know, piece by piece over time, and
it worked out, you know, in the end, really well
for me. M So, I think I might believe that
is the thing, you know, be supportive of the arts,

(01:12:19):
you know, take the time to you know, recognize young
artists as they're starting to get to grow. That's the
best time to get in is when they're young and
when their work isn't as super expensive as it will be.
One sidebar again, my my wife's great aunt is a
woman named Lois Jones who was one of the you know,

(01:12:42):
early highly successful black artists. I can remember we were
up at Martha's vineyard and she had some pieces that
she put out in the porch and said, you know,
you can have one of these. I'm not going to
give it to you, but I'll give you a good
price on it. We didn't have you know, two nickels
to together, and we didn't buy it. You don't want

(01:13:03):
to know what we ended up having to pay for
it later on.

Speaker 3 (01:13:06):
After Wow, Okay, well, thank you for those great words.
Any final words before we get out of here.

Speaker 4 (01:13:19):
No, just thanks for the experience. Uh, you know, you've
talked to a lot of people that I know, and
you know, I'm glad to be a part of the story.
Uh and I look forward to, you know, seeing you
guys do well with this. I think it's a great idea, uh,
you know, to kind of collect these stories and make

(01:13:40):
sure they're not lost because you know, we're not around forever.

Speaker 3 (01:13:44):
Oh yeah, here here, Well, thank you. I mean we've
said it quite quite a few times on this show,
but we really do appreciate you and and other alms
like yourself who have made such a big difference and
the journey for us and other students like us. So
really appreciate that this has been another episode of after

(01:14:06):
Gate season five. So thank you to our guests, Thank
you to our listeners. Aftergate is always powered by the
fire Life Podcast Network. Make sure you check us out
in the future on all of your favorite podcast streaming
platforms because we have many more dope episodes to follow.
And remember that the codgate of your day is not
the Cogate of today, and it's certainly not the Codate

(01:14:29):
of the future. Peace family.

Speaker 1 (01:14:34):
You hear that, listen closer that my friend is definitely
sud of focus. It drowns out all the useless noois
that can clutter The only nay sayers don't exist. Haters, smaters,
the peanut gallery. Who's that. When you're in your zone,
all that noise and all that buzz is just elevator music.

(01:14:56):
So enjoy your journey, focus on your goal. Ask in
the quiet role that is progress, Because when it's your
time to shoot that shot, spit that verse, or close
that deal, the only voice that matters is yours and
fire life