This week on The Urban Business Roundtable, UBR Contributor Renita Young sits down with Jermikko Johnson, executive director of design and CEO of the Jermikko label and collection of chic outerwear, suits, separates and evening wear for both men and women. With over 30 years of experience, Johnson is the first designer of color to be named Designer of the Year three times by The Apparel Industry Board, and has also been recognized by the Society of Mannequins as Woman of the Year. Her designs have been worn by celebrities such as actress Della Reese, singer Dionne Warwick and NFL legend Gale Sayers, and are available in stores and boutiques across the country. Johnson joins the Roundtable to share just how she turned her Chicago-based design business into a profitable enterprise.
Also, UBR Contributor Bryant Monteilh speaks with Dr. Dennis Kimbro. A professor at Clark Atlanta University’s School of Business, Kimbro has authored best-selling books on the secrets of some of the world’s most accomplished people in history, including the classics Think and Grow Rich: A Black Choice (Fawcett) and What Makes The Great Great (Broadway). He’s currently working on his next book, Have vs. Have Not: What Black Millionaires Know That Others Do Not. Kimbro joins Monteilh at the Roundtable to share common traits of the wealthy and how we can adopt them into our own lives.
In addition, in my “Alfred’s Notepad” segment, I share some of the common mistakes that successful entrepreneurs and millionaires have made along the road to success, according to Robert Jordan, author of How They Did It: Billion Dollar Insights from the Heart of America (Redflash Press). Avoiding these mistakes can be the difference in whether your business soars to success–or crashes and burns.
And finally, every week on UBR, you’ll get motivation and inspiration from author and entrepreneurial icon Farrah Gray, a weekly wrap-up of business news from USA Today business correspondent Charisse Jones, our Patient Investor Report from Ariel Investments and key economic intelligence for small business owners from our UBR economists Derrick Collins and Rasheed Carter.
If you have a question you want answered or a topic you want addressed on The Urban Business Roundtable, connect with me at BE Insider, the social media network for people who are serious about Black Enterprise. You can also find me on Twitter and Facebook.
Alfred Edmond Jr. is the senior VP/editor-at-large of Black Enterprise and the host of the Urban Business Roundtable, a weekly radio show, sponsored by Ariel Investments, airing CST Wednesdays at 8:30 a.m., Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. on WVON-AM 1690, the Talk of Chicago. You can also listen live online at WVON.com. Check back each Wednesday for The UBR Morning Post, which features additional resources, advice and information from and about the topics, entrepreneurs and experts featured on the show.