This week on The Urban Business Roundtable, UBR Contributor Renita D. Young talks with the mastermind behind a standout in the digital marketing business, Tynicka Battle, founder and CEO of Think Tank Digital. Battle’s digital marketing and promotions firm has spearheaded campaigns for Pepsi, Motorola and the 2010 U.S. Census.
With offices in New York and Los Angeles, Battle has also been behind the campaigns of some of the hottest acts in the music industry, including Alicia Keys and Lady Gaga. Other Think Tank Digital projects include Laugh At My Pain, the CodeBlack Entertainment film version of the 2011 tour of star comedian Kevin Hart, and the David E. Talbert produced film What My Husband Doesn’t Know. A self-proclaimed “Jersey Girl” (she hails from Princeton, N.J. and holds a B.A. in psychology from nearby Rutgers University), Battle stops by the Roundtable to chat with Young about how she built her digital marketing powerhouse.
Also, UBR Contributor Jason Smith sits down with world-renowned educational consultant and lecturer Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu, author of the book Black Economics: Solutions for Economic and Community Empowerment and founder and president of the Chicago-based publishing company African American Images. Kunjufu has been an adviser to urban school districts and is an expert on issues facing the Black community. He joins the Roundtable to share ideas on how to keep both Black-owned businesses and Black communities financially viable.
In my “Alfred’s Notepad” segment, I review one of the topics I covered as a presenter at the 18th Annual WVON1690 Financial Seminars at Malcolm X College in Chicago: the importance of entrepreneurs understanding the difference between their mission, their passion and their purpose as business owners. I share why passion is not enough and the mission of a business cannot be served if the purpose of starting a business–to generate enough money to sustain the enterprise and
turn a profit–is not achieved. My bottom line: too many business owners fail to focus on making money.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.