Black women executives offer career advice to those who follow in their footsteps

Black women executives offer career advice to those who follow in their footsteps

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In honor of Black History Month, CNN Business asked three of the highest-ranking black women in corporate America to reflect on their career journeys and offer advice to those looking to follow in their footsteps.

Jasmin Allen, senior vice president, Hennessy, USA

Jasmin Allen, SVP, Hennessy, US, at Moet Hennessy USA:

Hometown: Alexandria, Virginia

Education: Bachelor of Finance from the University of Virginia (2002). MBA from Duke University (2008)

Specialty: Marketing

Industry: luxury goods, spirits

Career advice: “It’s okay for you to make decisions in your career, even if they are not popular. If you feel in your heart that this job or this path is for you, then you have to go after it because no one knows it better than you do.”

Allen made history in December, when she was chosen to head Hennessy’s operations in the United States, becoming the best-positioned black executive in the brand. She is now responsible for maximizing the image, equity and profitability of the company’s popular line of spirits.

Allen has spent most of his career developing and executing marketing strategies to sell alcohol and soft drinks. Her tenure at Moet Hennessy USA, the U.S. sales and marketing division that represents LVMH’s wine and spirits brands, started as brand director for Belvedere vodka in 2016, and the company said Allen launched several successful campaigns that made grow the brand. She also spent more than eight years at Coca-Cola, where she designed personalized Dasani bottled water packages for the 2010 Winter Olympics and the FIFA World Cup.

Allen’s last promotion came after a year of roller coaster rides for Hennessy and its parent company, LVMH (LVMHF), which had major impacts on its financial results – nationally and internationally – when the covid-19 pandemic caused the closure of retail stores, bars and restaurants selling products owned by LVMH. The conglomerate’s spirits brands led its recovery during the second half of 2020 with Allen’s help.
Both LVMH and the largest luxury goods industry for years have been criticized for using themes from black culture and celebrities to market products, while no longer hiring black stylists and business executives. Throughout his career, Allen says he got used to being one of the few, if not the only one, with a black face in the room, but he never let that stop him from reaching his goals. She credits the advice her father gave her in high school, when she campaigned to become the first black president of the last year of school, for helping her to persevere in the face of institutional adversity.

“My dad said to me, ‘Jasmin, just because there never was, doesn’t mean there can’t be,” she said. “His advice summarizes my approach to being a black woman who aspires to ascend.”

Bonita C. Stewart, vice president of global partnerships, Google

Bonita C. Stewart VP of Global Partnerships, Google:

Hometown: Denver, Colorado

Education: BA in journalism from Howard University (1979). MBA from Harvard Business School (1983)

Specialty: Global Partnerships

Industry: Technology

Career advice: “We must redirect more black women to profit and loss responsibility versus cost areas (such as HR and operations) early in their careers. In addition, we need more sponsors to provide the ‘extensive’ assignments that drive careers through unique learning experiences. “

Stewart is a proud graduate of Howard University who in 2012 became the first black woman to serve as vice president of Google. She has been leading Google’s global partnership team – search management, mobile apps, broadcasting, commerce, news, telecommunications and domains for the company’s largest publishers in the United States – since 2016.

Stewart has won many prestigious awards throughout her career, which spans more than four decades, although she admits business was not her original career choice.

“[My dream was] becoming a news journalist until I discovered business through my minor and served as an advertising manager for Howard’s school newspaper, Hilltop, “Stewart told CNN Business.” After that, I chose to study law or administration. [I] I chose the business school for a greater career option and for the opportunity to lead a company and chart my own path. “

Stewart’s first taste of the technology world came in 1979, when she started working as a marketing representative for IBM. She joined Google in 2006 after a successful stint in the automotive industry with DaimlerChrysler AG, leading Chrysler’s $ 400 million advertising and marketing operation and winning the Advertising Age 2005 Interactive Marketer of the Year award.

His long list of career accomplishments includes leading Google’s Howard West technology exchange initiative in 2015. Google has been working to strengthen its partnerships with Howard and other HBCUs even more this year, after being attacked in December for splitting from the prominent AI researcher Timnit Gebru diversity recruiter, April Curley. Gebru and Curley are black women who accused the company of promoting a hostile work environment.

Stewart and Google did not respond to requests for comment on Gebru and Curley’s allegations, but Stewart said the company’s emerging evolution as a more diverse team in 2020 was one of its most proud achievements.

“As a black woman, I worked in male-dominated industries for most of my career,” said Stewart. “Although it was a unique challenge, I have felt very comfortable being the pioneer and opening a path for others. I brought courage every step of the way.”

Susan Chapman-Hughes, EVP, Digital Capabilities, Transformation and Operations, American Express, photographed in November 2018.

Susan Chapman-Hughes, EVP, Global Digital Capabilities, Transformation and Operations, American Express:

Hometown: Cincinnati

Education: Bachelor of Engineering from Vanderbilt University (1990). MBA from the University of Wisconsin (1998)

Specialty: Digital transformation and strategic leadership

Sector: Financial Services

Career advice: “Be very excited about the opportunities that lie ahead. Recognize that you need help to make this happen. Be humble enough to get the feedback and help you need to get the job done. There is no way that I could be sitting in the seat I’m on without the help I got. “

One of Chapman’s career-defining moments came in 1995, when she won an essay contest organized by the Executive Leadership Council, a flow organization for emerging black executives, and was invited to a national honor symposium to meet some of its senior members.
At that meeting, Chapman and his fellow contest winners met some of the country’s most successful black executives, including Ursula Burns, who later became CEO of Xerox, and Kenneth Chenault, who became chief executive of American Express, where Chapman’s career flourished later.

“We met all of these black executives, which was phenomenal because many of us never met them,” said Chapman. “It allowed me to start developing relationships with many of them, where they trained me and gave me guidance, advice and advice as I started to navigate my way through it.”

Contest winners and c-suite executives remained connected and founded a global network of black leadership now known as Calibr.

Chapman says that black business professionals can certainly have mentoring relationships with people who are not African American, but having black mentors is also the key to their success.

“There is nothing like someone who walked a mile with the shoes you want to wear,” she said.

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