Alexandra Pinckney’s Post

Transcript

Hi how y'all doing? That we need a little more energy. How y'all doing? My name is Alexandra Pinckney. I am Class of 2020, and it is so beautiful to be here with y'all. And it means so much because five years ago this was an idea of mine. It was a vision. And four years ago I stood right here in the same spot, addressing the attendees of the inaugural Forward Summit in 2020. We're just meeting, so I want us to get acquainted while while y'all eat and I'll ask you to look around the room, turn your neck, say hello to somebody. As you're doing this. Love it. This is like Thanksgiving I want you all to think about. How it feels to be in this space and what it means to you and some, Several panelists have said already, I don't see this at my job, right? What does it mean to you to be here, sitting next to who you're sitting next to, rubbing shoulders with who you're rubbing shoulders with? And my ask of you is that you make it your business and every single space that you step into to make sure that it feels and it looks like this because you have that power. So we're gonna have a little chat. It'll be a little interactive about what it means to dream big, holding steadfast to your what and forgetting about your how. So the first point. I like to move and this mic's not moving with me. So the first point is, your need feeds your dream, right? We all came to Business School. Come to Business School with this desire to change our lives. Whether that means building a new product, making a career pivot, creating generational wealth for your family. This is why we're here. And the same was true for me when I came here in 2018, right? I was gonna change. Marshall was the how to my what? My what was. I was going to be a transformational leader, be a boss, take things over. And all of that was made possible by being here. But reality set in shortly after I got here. And I recognize that I was often in spaces where I did not feel seen or hurt and had remarkable professors, amazing guest speakers. But the fact of the matter was. There were too many times where I heard. A leader, an entrepreneur, tell me that they started their business because they raised $100,000 from family and friends. Now, Sir. And it was Sir, because they were mostly men. I could probably get $5000 from family and friends, but $100,000 was unrealistic. And it was the same for my peers. The peers who look like very many of you. So I couldn't find my place. That was the need. We needed a pathway to success, right? One that we could relate to as black and brown, future leaders of tomorrow. On 1st Gen. So that means I'm the first of my family to go to Business School. There was no one telling me how to maneuver in this space, so my access and my social capital does not look like that of my peers. I'm a black woman. Hi, in case you couldn't tell. So that corporate ascent is a lot harder. There, that created my dream. And my dream was to create a space where faces like you and me could be celebrated to celebrate the black and Latino leaders, not for being black and Latino before their inherent talent that they possess to illustrate tangible pathways and to change the face of business as we know it. And there was a data professor that came here earlier this morning and told us the numbers behind and the fact that that is true. That's not a feeling. It is a fact we need to change the face of business leadership. That dream birthed my What? I'm a firm believer that if you're going to identify a gap baby, you better come up with a solution because otherwise it's empty complaint. And we're business leaders, we're here to problem solve and we're here to innovate and bring. What's the theme? Breaking barriers and building futures. That is how you build break barriers and build futures. I wanted to make sure that we were woven into the fabric of leadership on this campus and beyond. That's what was placed on my heart. So for me at the time, that meant a conference, a place where we could look around just as I asked you and see people who looked like us, hear stories that were relevant to us and would show us how we too can use our inherent skills and gifts to take over the world and do what we do best. So point #3. When you meet your wife but you don't have your how Because we had no idea how this was gonna happen. Just know that your big one is coming. And it's coming because when you don't have the how, but you have the vision, that means that that is your divine purpose, you are uniquely made to bring this forth. Does anybody in here run marathons? Triathlons. Y'all look at ohh come on. That's right. So then you know what's your name. Chaz. Nice to meet you, Chaz. So Chaz knows that a marathon is 26.2 miles in a triathlon. Makes the marathon look easy because that's 26.2 miles running. You bike a distance, you swim out in open water and don't get me to lying about the distance. We won't do that. But it's long and when you start, you don't see your finish line. It's not even insight. You have a blind faith that you've been prepared to do the task set before you. A good friend of mine is a triathlete and I remembered when he started and I would say how do you even get yourself to the end? And he looked at me and he said. Listen, Slim, that's all he talks. We're. We're friends. We're all family here, right? He said. Listen, Slim. It's 1 foot in front of the other. The workout does itself. He did the what and forgot the how. Because when you think about the how, especially when it's something that you've never done before, your mind will psych you out and tell you that you can't do it. There's also help along the way. You've got cheerleaders on either side of your path. You've got hydration stations for when you're parched. And then you have your fellow athletes y'all in this room for when you're tired, when you get a muscle cramp, when you can't stand to push you and keep you going. So I will reiterate, I had no clue how I was gonna pull this off, but I could see the vision plane down to this room. We need community. A community, a group of people who can hold the vision with you, who can climb with you. And and me realizing that I tagged Rob Granados, who was president of Lambda at the time. I'm from Philly all day. Forever and ever. I'm not from LA, but I've seen enough movies, cult classics, things to know that if you're gonna talk about representation in the city of Los Angeles, you have to make sure that black and Latino people have seats at the table. So we combined our E boards, at the time, 21 people to take on this undertaking on paper was impossible. We had not a budget. We didn't have again the know how, we just had this vision. I mentioned earlier divine purpose, and I don't say that lightly. The symbol that you know when you're in your divine purpose is that things, there's a flow, the doors open. And that doesn't mean it's gonna be easy, because you have to have sweat equity, you have to work hard. But it's almost as if the resources that you need continue to fall into your lap. And that is why we were able to make Forward Summit a thing Doctor Sharoni Little, who was Vice Dean and senior EDI officer at the time, advocated for us. In shepherded us through this entire process and Seminyak advocated for our funding and branding resources here at the university. So all of these, this beautiful signage that you see, that was because Anne. Advocated in pitched for us to get that funding. The GSG supported our funding. MetLife out in New York gave us sponsor dollars because one of our E board members who was a hustler. Intern there so they threw money at us. USC hotel at the time. Discounted our services, quiet as it's kept. Don't get us in trouble. I don't know what they're doing today, but that's what they did in 20/20/2020. We kicked off the first successful Forward Summit in March of 2020. Our keynote speaker, Sandra Evers Manly, was so inspired by the energy in the room that people like you brought that at the end of her speech, she committed to $10, 000 to ensure that Forward Summit could continue in 2021. Doctor Sean Harper, a professor he could not attend because he had a schedule conflict, committed $10,000 to ensure that forward summit would continue in 2021. So when I tell you that the how. It's really not your business. It's really not your business, but at all. None of these things can be made-up. We had speakers from Vera Shop, Universal Music Group, Milani Cosmetics, Mayor Garcetti's office, swag bags from Fab Fit Fun. All in the first year because everybody that I mentioned saw us running our race, believed in our vision and wanted to push us forward. Today we are on the 5th Forward Summit. I'm just gonna pause there so y'all can clap it up. For the leadership team that has made today possible. There are 131 people or plus. That number may have grown who've registered to be here today. Since inception, $55, 000 in scholarships has been provided to current Marshall students, 18,000 of which will be given today and I. My leadership team and myself cannot take credit for that because that is something that there's a lady right there. Aria. Raise your hand. When she and her lamba. Cohort. She and the BBL and Lambo cohort were running this thing. They implemented scholarships. This is the divine plan that can't be crafted. This is why you don't need to worry about the how. So when you go out and you start your careers and you build your business and you want to change the world, dream big and allow your what to keep you going one foot in front of the other because the workout will do itself. Don't get stuck in the house because. Thank you. Let's do that again. Don't get stuck in the house because. It's not your business. You'll have help along the way to fill in because they will be so inspired and driven by your commitment and your passion that they will help you keep going even when you don't believe that you can. So with that, allow the magic to happen. They're not going to tell you in Business School, because there's no business foundational principle to hold this down. But business success is one part genius, one part action, and one part crazy. Because the truth is, you don't know what you're doing. The magic, I call it blessing however you want to identify with it, is the Sasson that sits on top to make it all come together and validates that crazy idea that you have. So y'all we did our big one. From 2020 to 2024, I want to say congratulations again to the B, GB, Lin, Lambda E boards in leadership and their respective communities in making today possible in the four years prior. Forward. Ever. Backward. Never. Please hold on to that. And the last thing I want to say that I heard today, a few panelists talked about maybe it was Aaron talked about being in spaces and being seen as aggressive and I want to encourage you to be aggressive. Be aggressive because everybody else gets to be. Be aggressive because the fact of the matter is, you're not being aggressive. You're standing on what you believe. And as we say today, you're standing on business because you deserve to be in the room. And if people think that, you're too aggressive. Then say thank you. This is not my space, because you're too big for them and they're too small for you. The last thing I will say to quote Joshua Pincay. Come on, sometimes you need to say I am he, him, she, her, they then King, Queen and let people know what it is. So with that fight on and thank you so much.