This week on The Urban Business Roundtable, UBR Contributor Bryant Monteilh sits down with award-winning fashion designer Kevan Hall of Kevan Hall Designs, who shares how he turned his life-long love for fashion into an influential enterprise and globally respected design brand.
Born and raised in Detroit, Hall noticed his gift for design early on, when he earned a Designer of Tomorrow scholarship from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles. In 1982, he launched Kevan Hall Couture, a successful collection that captured the attention of fine retailers, including Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Boodman. In 2002, Hall launched the Kevon Hall Collection and won the 47th Annual Gold Coast Fashion Award in Chicago as Designer of the Year. In 2005, he was awarded Stylemaker of the Year by Life & Style Magazine
for his ‘drop-dead glamour’ as seen on the red carpet with Felicity Huffman, Vivica A. Fox, Virginia Madsen, Garcelle Beauvais, Debra Messing and Renee Zellweger.Also, UBR Contributor Renita D. Young talks with Mim E. Rivas, co-author, along with Chris Gardner, of Start Where You Are: Life Lessons in Getting From Where You Are to Where You Want To Be (Amistad). An in-demand speaker, she has co-authored more than 18 books, including The Pursuit of Happyness (Amistad), also with Gardner, and Finding Fish: A Memoir (Harper Paperbacks) with Antwone Q. Fisher, both of which were adapted to critically acclaimed films. Rivas joins the Roundtable to share how entrepreneurs can use life lessons to make things happen in business.
In addition, in my “Alfred’s Notepad” segment, I talk about the Black Enterprise 20/20 Vision Forum on Job Creation and Career Opportunities in the Next Economy, taking place this week in New York. Hosted by Walmart, the forum will explore how entrepreneurs and corporate professionals can identify opportunities in emerging sectors of the economy and re-invent themselves for employability, marketability and advancement. Speakers include National Action Network President Rev. Al Sharpton, U.S. Department of Labor Assistant Sec. Bill Spriggs, Dress for Success Worldwide
VP Kelly Beaty, Executive Leadership Council CEO Arnold Donald and Social People Founder and CEO James Andrews. Stay up on topics discussed during and after the forum on BlackEnterprise.com and by following the hashtag #BEJOBSFORUM on Twitter.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 week for UBR Spotlight, which features additional resources, advice and information from and about the topics, entrepreneurs and experts featured on the show.