Shows
TELLING OUR STORY Atlanta Business League PodcastsLESSONS from LEADERS: Willie WatkinsSend us a textThis episode follows the career highlights of Willie Watkins, a mortician. Willie doesn't like the word mortician. He starts the podcast explaining that he is an undertaker and then provides his definition of what an undertaker does. It is unlike anything you have ever heard because Willie Watkins understands how to grab a person's attention. He does that when he speaks and he does that when he stages funerals because he learned as a child that presentation matters.The ceremonies honoring the dead that he saw as a child in...2025-04-2826 min
TELLING OUR STORY Atlanta Business League PodcastsLESSONS from LEADERS: Kent MatlockSend us a textKent Matlock’s success is partially based on the fact that he has been guided by extraordinary men and women. Each of those influential people was focused on actions that were for the good of the greater community. But those actions also affected Kent as a developing professional in Atlanta. His first major life event took place at age 13. That’s when he morphed from being an average inner-city young person into a changemaker. Kent’s parents had moved him, and two siblings away from their urban Chicago, Ill neighborhood and into the r...2025-03-2429 min
TELLING OUR STORY Atlanta Business League PodcastsLESSONS from LEADERS: Janis WareSend us a textThis is a story about storytellers. Janis Ware has published the Atlanta Voice for 42 years. It's a newspaper written for the African-American audience in Atlanta, GA. But there's more to her life's work. It starts with her father, J. Lowell Ware an immensely talented and hardworking man who honored a deathbed request that changed his life. Lowell was far-sighted, creative and had an extremely strong personality. When he paid his only daughter's college tuition at the University of Georgia - she had planned to work with him only long enough to pay of...2023-12-3024 min
TELLING OUR STORY Atlanta Business League PodcastsABL DUOs: Delmarie Griffin and Rodney StrongSend us a textThis podcast is about two legal warriors who have spent the last 30 years protecting the concepts of equity in the courts, through analysis and by helping municipalities create policies that withstand assault. Rodney Strong and Delmarie Griffin are also a married couple who have come together from very different backgrounds. Delmarie was raised in Columbus, GA and attended an HBCU as an undergraduate and the University of Georgia for her law and business degrees. Rodney Strong was raised in Memphis, TN by parents who were active in the NAA...2023-12-1531 min
TELLING OUR STORY Atlanta Business League PodcastsLESSONS from LEADERS: William F. Pickard, Ph.D.Send us a textThis podcast is a 30 minute history lesson. When you listen, you'll hear stories about Black entrepreneurs who lived in 1800s, 1900s and 20th century that will make your jaw drop. That's because William F. Pickard, Ph.D. qualifies to be a part of this series for two reasons. He's a very successful Black business owner with more than 50 years of experience that includes owning a McDonald's franchise, a casino co-owner and being a parts supplier to major car manufacturers in Detroit, MI. He's also a researcher and his field of choice is Black...2023-11-3035 min
TELLING OUR STORY Atlanta Business League PodcastsABL DUOS: Jerome and Michael RussellSend us a textThis is an episode about the second generation of an incredible African American family. We describe the topics discussed as generational continuance. Herman Jerome Russell founded his Atlanta based construction company in 1952. He made it one of the largest Black owned companies in the United States and then diversified. He owned a beer distributorship. He managed real estate and he raised three children with his first wife, Otelia Hackney Russell. Those children have run their father's companies for decades. They are not resting on his accomplishments. The awe inspiring futurist...2023-11-1528 min
TELLING OUR STORY Atlanta Business League PodcastsLESSONS from LEADERS: Milton Jones, Jr.Send us a textMilton Jones, Jr. is one of the most respected business leaders in Atlanta, GA. He has a professional history in finance that spans decades and can trace his family tree back generations in Atlanta. However, there's one characteristic about him that almost everyone knows. Milton's mathematical skills are so formidable that he has a nickname. He's known as the walking calculator. It's an attribute that has impressed many people during his years as an executive banker. But his ability to conduct complicated equations "in his head" started long before that. More than one me...2023-10-3128 min
TELLING OUR STORY Atlanta Business League PodcastsABL DUOS: T. Dallas Smith and Leonte BentonSend us a textThe most important thing to know about T. Dallas Smith and Leonte Benton is that they are not quitters. That shared characteristic has allowed them to make history. T. Dallas broke barriers in commercial real estate by becoming the first African American broker in the Atlanta market and possibly the state of Georgia. He started his career, officially, in 1982 and immediately learned it’s a very insular business. He quickly understood the rules of the game and restructured his resume so that no one would who read it would think about race. That meant de...2023-10-1630 min
TELLING OUR STORY Atlanta Business League PodcastsAtlanta Business League's LESSONS from LEADERS: Shirley FranklinSend us a textShirley Clark Franklin is remembered by most people as being the 58th mayor for the City of Atlanta, Georgia. However, she had more than 20 years in various positions of city government that gave her a firm grasp on organizational structure. But her leadership training began much earlier than that. Shirley grew up in Philadelphia, PA. and had unique life experiences. She spent years training with one of the most recognized professional dancers in the world. She attended one of the oldest African American churches in the United States and atten...2023-09-3038 min
TELLING OUR STORY Atlanta Business League PodcastsABL DUOS: Al Edwards interviews Ernest Greer and Christopher WomackSend us a textThis is a special edition of Atlanta Business League DUOs. It features interviews from two Herman J. Russell CEO of the Year award recipients and the person conducting both interviews is ABL Chair Emeritus Albert G. Edwards. These three men are powerhouse leaders. Greer is the Co-President of Greenberg Traurig, an international law firm that has more than 2,500 attorneys. Womack is the Chair, President and CEO of Georgia Power a subsidiary of the Southern Company, it posted assets of more than 53 billion dollars in 2022. Edwards is the Fo...2023-09-1634 min
TELLING OUR STORY Atlanta Business League PodcastsLESSONS from LEADERS: Roosevelt GilesSend us a textRoosevelt Giles could only attend school, as a child, when it rained. Yet, he was such a talented technology person that a Republican billionaire from South Carolina, USA, sought him out and mentored him. As a result, Roosevelt became an incredible international business owner with technical skills that were so impressive that he was a keynote speaker at major conferences all of the country. He sat on stages that also featured Microsoft computer founder, Bill Gates and the president of communications giant, AT&T. None of these accomplishments inflated his...2023-08-3133 min
TELLING OUR STORY Atlanta Business League PodcastsABL DUOS: Andrella Kenner and Michael Baylis IISend us a textWhen Andrella Kenner was a little girl her mother exposed her to a series of aviation professionals in Nashville, Tennessee airport. That information gave her the foundation necessary to establish an aerospace, information technology and aviation company that operates in three countries and 22 locations. What position did Andrella's mother hold at the airport? She was a waitress. This podcast explains how her mother's job helped Andrella learn about entire industries that most African-Americans didn't know existed. Andrella used that knowledge to create, C1 Square, a company that employs air traffic...2023-08-1430 min
TELLING OUR STORY Atlanta Business League PodcastsLESSONS from LEADERS: Mack Wilbourn, Jr.Send us a textThere are very lucrative industries that aren't considered glamorous. The fast food industry falls in that category for most people, but not for Mack Wilbourn, Jr. He owns an Atlanta, GA based company named Mack II. It has operated for more than 50 years and has allowed Mack to develop extraordinary business partnerships. He is the franchise operator for more than five fast food brands that operate out of Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport. He also has a partnership with the Coca-Cola company for airport vending machines. But he started the de...2023-07-3034 min