Kim Rudd on Building A Business Beyond You

AI is loud right now, but Kim Rudd is clear on what still wins: imagination, systems, and real service. We’re sitting down with the CEO of Rudd Resources to unpack what it takes to grow a sustainable communications agency, especially when your work is rooted in Black community impact, cultural perspective, and relationship-based client service. If you work in PR, marketing, storytelling, brand strategy, or strategic communications, you’ll hear yourself in this conversation.

We talk about Kim’s early path and how “being nosy” becomes a superpower in journalism and business, then we trace the leap from owning Curves fitness franchises to building a professional services firm. Along the way, we get practical about the messy middle: pricing the intuitive value you bring, hiring so the business can outgrow the founder, and documenting your process so quality is repeatable. Kim also shares how she thinks about collaboration and proximity, why scarcity thinking blocks Black entrepreneurship, and how changing perspective literally changes narrative.

We also go there on tech. AI can help, but it cannot replace trust, creativity, or the human talent clients are actually paying for. We close with what civic engagement and board service can do for your social capital and your business, plus why Black businesses matter to the economy, to our neighborhoods, and to the joy and excellence we bring every day. Subscribe, share this with one person building a business, and leave a review so more listeners can find Black Businesses Matter.

Transcript

Why Black Businesses Matter Starts Here

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to Black Businesses Matter, a podcast about why Black businesses matter and the benefits of collaborating and advocating for Black businesses to drive impact. Each episode will cover legacy, hope, black joy, funding sources, cultural shifts, equality, and so much more. We will provide inspiration and action while spreading some joy to a thriving community of black business owners and leading company.

SPEAKER_05 0:29

I am Larvetta Lofton, your host and the founder of the L3 Agency.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Known as the brand maiden who transforms organizations with her storytelling promise, meet Lorvetta L. Lofton Arnold, host of Black Businesses Matter, a podcast about why black businesses matter and the benefits of collaborating and advocating for black businesses to drive impact.

SPEAKER_04 0:55

All right, welcome back to another episode of Black Businesses Matter. Well, y'all, and we said it, it's official. This person we have in the studio, it took us two years to get her. Yes, it was two years. She was like, no, the associate producer who handles all of our outreach said it was two years. So, but we're grateful that we have you now. Um, when I say y'all, this woman is just priceless in every way. Um, she is a mentor. I've shot her out on an episode before because she represents when they say we work in similar disciplines and businesses, but never is always collaborative, always sisterly. She is my sorority sister. You know, someone would be like, oh my gosh, y'all do the same thing, right? Okay, and what does that mean? And so that's the beauty of this. And I love when I get to bring my people in that talk about my language, and we get to do this because I just told her we just gonna talk. So Kimberly, um, also known as Kim Rudd, has 35 years of writing, strategic marketing and communications and coaching experience, a skilled project manager. She keeps that straight face for a reason, and I love it. Um, she is trusted to provide counsel, support, and ideas to clients. She honed these skills while working at Borrell Public Relations, managing marketing and sponsorship for the Chicago Park District, and later helping grow the national nonprofit Kaboom.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

Is Kaboom still? It is. It's turning 30 this year.

SPEAKER_04 2:35

Wow, that's incredible. She proudly and warmly served customers at two brick and mortar retail businesses she owned and ran in Chicago. She is a board member. Shout out of the Publicity Club of Chicago and most recently, Woods Fun, right? Yeah, Woods Fun Chicago, and a charter member of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women's Chicago Metropolitan chapter in her spare time. She loves to dance Zumba, house music, line dances. So that's the one thing you can catch both of us doing, and mentor burging um entrepreneurs and early career professionals. Welcome to the show, kid.

SPEAKER_03 3:15

Thank you, Larvetta.

Childhood Traits That Became Strengths

SPEAKER_04 3:17

So um, now that we gave them the intro, and she is also the CEO of Rudd Resources. Um, and I'm so excited that we get to be adjacent to you in this new office, too, because as she's growing, we get some of that too. Because I believe in being surrounded around that level of excellence, it's gonna get on you. So I'm grateful. But before we jump into Kim, who was Kim as a little girl? Yeah, I want to know. I'm gonna cough first. She's coming off of a cold. Um, sorry.

SPEAKER_02 3:55

Because that question is funny. Who was Kim as a little girl? Um, I was as nosy then as I am now. I can believe that. Not not curious. I was a little step above that. I was nosy. Always over listening, overhearing. Um, I was as quiet then as I am now. I just prefer to listen. Um I'm a listener. Um, I was as silly then as I am now. I love to laugh. So I am who I have always been. That's just a little, maybe a little um sassier, a little more confident. Um, and I got a little more money than I I know, that's right. And what would your kids say? What would my kids say? Hmm. My kids, I think I'm uh I think I'm authentic with my now adult children who are also turning 30 this year. And so I have twins. Yes. And um I think that they get to know the authentic me. Um I don't I don't think I've been that parent who's like, well, I don't do this in front of my kids. I didn't curse in front of my kids when they were growing up, but I do now. You know, because they grow. They grow. Um I d you know, I I didn't let them see me drink because I was like, there's you know, I was that role model kind of a mom. Yeah. Because my mom was that role model. That was my mom.

SPEAKER_04 5:17

And I thought it was, I was like, this weird.

SPEAKER_02 5:19

Yeah. Yeah. You know, I knew she drank because I because I grew up in the in the 70s and 80s when your the parents and the aunties had basement parties. Yeah. You go down the steps and look and see what they saw. I knew she drank, and I think she even smoked a little bit. But I never saw it until you know we were both fully grown women, and then we we we socialized together. So um I think I've been authentic with my my my children, my friends, my husband. Yeah. You try to just be able to do that.

SPEAKER_04 5:47

You try to be, and I think that I think that is amazing um to be able to do that. I think it gives being authentic, not a badge of honor, but that's just like humanly, that's who you are. Um much similar um in that space where I parents, you don't didn't let you drink, but but my mom was always like, be who you're gonna be. Like, be who like she never wanted me to be anything else, like you're not like the rest of them. You gonna do everything different. That you are not my child. It's like, I'm gonna sit there, nope, I'm gonna sit there, talk to everyone, you know. So realizing that and understanding that you from a little girl has turned this into this now this communications powerhouse, right? And taking that into something, that's that's that's profound. Yeah.

Curves Franchise Lessons On Community

SPEAKER_02 6:41

I think I think so. I think it tells you that um rather than try to restrict a child, yeah, uh, or dismiss traits that may seem negative. Yeah. How do you encourage those traits and how do you let a child find his or her own way with those traits? So I I knew I was a curious, nosy person, you know, and got my hand slapped a few times for listening and all that kind of stuff. But then I found my way to journalism where you have to be nosy and you can't trust information and you have to dig a little deeper and you gotta be willing to ask courageous questions. And then I found my way to running a small business, and the the business was a women's fitness women's fitness centers. And you gotta ask some tough questions. You cannot be afraid to say, do you really think you can lose 20 pounds in a week? When have you ever done that before? You know, that kind of you gotta be you gotta be willing to ask those kinds of questions and then running a business, you you have to be equally correct.

SPEAKER_04 7:40

Were you the youngest to have a jazz? Because at the time I was like, I don't know anybody like cool that has a like I didn't know anybody. I was in the younger group. Yeah, you were in the younger group, right? You were you were a little revolutionary then because I didn't, I didn't personally because I remember when you had it, I was like, she has like a judge, is she curves? It was right, it was curves, it was curves, and I remember saying, like, but like I had to really think about. I was like, is she not my mama's age?

SPEAKER_02 8:15

No, I was about to say, it was a great time. I started it in my late 30s at 36. That's when I started. Yeah, and so most of the women who came were 56, 66, 76. Yeah, so it taught me so much about aging. It taught me a lot about how um as we were chatting before we started, how the body changes and what to look out for. When your hip hurts, you're like, did I do something? Was that an accident? No, it's just age, you know. It taught me about the aging body, it taught me about the aging mind, but it also taught me about the the commitment to having a young spirit. So you you you only get as old as you choose to be. You know, the body is gonna do what it's gonna do, but the mind and the willingness to continue to learn and to stay savvy and to be willing to have fun. And yeah, you know, so I had a lot of Curves members who, you know, they came out to learn new things and they wanted to stay strong. So, you know, it it used it usually was the younger woman who would come in and talk about weight loss. It was the older woman who came and talked about strength and you know, wanting to be able to pull herself up and to stand and sit and and chase after grandchildren and things like that. So hearing those lessons in my 30s and 40s helped me prepare for a kind of older adult life. Um, so few things have come as a surprise to me. I still laugh at the changes my body goes through, like, well, here it is, you know.

Leaving Systems To Build Your Own

SPEAKER_04 9:54

And that's and I say that like I think you're absolutely right. Because when you think about it, I also think that when curves came out, it made curves look sexy, right? Because, you know, for growing up, we heard the word, right? You either skinny fat, right? That was those were the two words, skinny fat. When you start to see curves, it was like, oh, she got curves, right? Right. And so I think when they came out with that, it was, you know, it was a great moment because it allowed you to have curves and it was and it was cute, it was cool, it was all the things, right? And so even as you age, we you can still have your curves. You can have your curves. You can still have your curves. And now go away. So I do think that um that business, so just understand understanding, like navigating from that business, then building this firm, like was that all in one? Was that okay, stop and start? Is it pivot? Like, all like how did you get to the place where you're like, and of course, coming from Borrell, right? A major communications PR firm in Chicago, renowned, has had McDonald's, all the things we all have worked and got all of our skills from there. Like coming from that, did you see all that?

SPEAKER_02 11:18

There's definitely some connected dots for sure. Um, my my work at Burrell, um, if you worked at Burrell, you worked on McDonald's at something.

SPEAKER_04 11:26

That's it.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

Everybody worked at McDonald's. Everybody had to work at McDonald's. And so I met a lot of franchisees who were black who were doing very well. Um I had- Can you say that again? They were doing very well. Very well, yeah. They were doing very well. Very well. Yeah. Um had having had having worked at McDonald's as a teenager, though, I did not want to drop fries. I did not want to be a franchisee. I didn't think that that was my um, that was the path for me. Uh, number one, you it takes a quite a bit of an investment to get started. Number two, McDonald's, um, my impression of McDonald's was that you you were more of an NBA person who were ready to run that kind of operation. And I've always been a creative person. But I saw the benefit of a system, of a franchise system. And then another account I worked on was Mary Kay, cosmetics, the the women with the pink cars. Oh, yeah. And that was a system, and some some of those women did very well. So I came into the Curse franchise having a healthy respect for systems. I but I also came from having had um years of working with Kaboom, which was like this wonderful social enterprise. We were uh we would start a Monday with an idea, and by Thursday, we were doing the idea. Like it was very free-flowing, very visionary leader who let us try all kinds of things. So it's very entrepreneurial. So I had this respect for systems, but I also enjoyed this the feeling of like, let's try this. Can we try this? How much is it gonna cost? Let's just do it, you know? And we we we played a lot of, we had a lot of fun at Kaboom. So Curves for me was this blend of an affordable franchise opportunity that had a system. It had worked in many, many small towns across America. There's a simple um form of exercise: 30 minutes, no men, no mirrors, no makeup was the mantra. Women could come in and be themselves and be out back in 30 minutes. Um, but it also allowed for some creativity, or at least I thought it did. But a franchise system is a franchise system. So about a year in, after I kind of got the system down, I realized, well, I want to try this and that. For example, um many of the curves owners I knew were older women who did not have much of a technology background. Whereas, you know, I kind of knew what Facebook was, and I, you know, um I knew how to work a computer. And for some, they did not. And um, so there was some catching up for them to do, whereas for me, some things were moving slowly. Wow. Um, my Curves, I had two, they were located in in and just outside of Chicago, so Blue Island and and in Auburn Gresham. So that meant that most of my members were black women and Latinas. Many of the marketing materials I would get were of white women because Curves was largely a small town, rural America brand. So I'm, you know, I'm changing things. I'm trying to switch up things, which meant I was a little bit of a rule breaker. In a franchise system, you don't change things, you do it exactly how you're told to do. And I'll give you a quick example. One of the questions we were trained to ask during the sales process, when someone would come and join, one of the questions was, well, do you want to be able to wear your wedding dress again? And I guess in some communities, that's an aspirational goal. But I asked the average black woman, she'd be like, No, I don't want to wear that dress. I don't want to think about that dude. You know, no, it was a bad memory. And it's like, okay, we can't ask that question. Or she might have she might be smaller now than she was when she got made. So it was just a bad question. So we started changing the questions to get different responses to form different connections. And invariably someone from Curves Corporate would call and say, Yeah, you can't, you can't change the questions. And I'd be like, who told, who told on me? Who snitched, you know? So we did, we did things differently. We were one of the first Curves um in Blue Island to offer Zumba. Before Zumba became a big deal, we said, you know, we got to do some line dance. Our our members want to dance. So we started doing line dancing and Zumba and dance parties because that's what they wanted. Yeah. And it was not approved. And so um because you were doing birthday. You could have your birthday. We could do birthday parties. We were doing all kinds of breaking all kinds of rules. But it worked for my community and for my my membership. It just didn't work for the franchisee or the franchise or but it taught me to connect the dots. It taught me that I was probably more ready for entrepreneurialism than I gave myself credit for. That I really didn't need that system. It was helpful, but I didn't didn't need the system. So by 2014, when I was out of that system, I had fulfilled my 10-year contracts and I was trying to figure out well, what's next. And I was looking for jobs and just having all just bombing every interview. Just, you know, I get an interview and I'd be like, I don't think I want to be here. And they would say, You don't really want this job, do you? You know what? I do not. So I was not doing well and with my interviews, and so I started freelancing just to make make some money, close a gap, keep myself busy. And the freelancing started, you know, being steady. And then it was like, oh, I need some help. And I reached out to friends like Sonya Moore Lewis, like, Sonia, I need some help. And so Sonia would come and help me, and other people would help me. And then I realized, oh, this is it. This is this is what I'm supposed to be doing. And connecting the dots was that I didn't need the system. I knew I had the experience to start something and to grow it. Without a system, I could create the system myself.

SPEAKER_04 17:19

And you know, just in knowing that, right, and understanding though, and I say this as a marketer, part of marketing is systems, and people want to make it all pretty and oh, let's gotta, no, it's the system, right? You have to have a creative brief, you've got to gather the assets, you have to have the copy, you have to make all that is a system, right? But when you see, oh, you can do that, oh, we do that, oh, it's a system. And knowing that, right, to your point, it was like, oh, I've been knowing the system because of the work that I'd already been doing. But I do think that when you bring a new word to the table, we think in our minds like that's something different. When ultimately it was um, we just said transferable. We were just talking about that, being transferable and understanding that. And so now that, right, you move into this, you've had this small business, somewhat brick and mortar. Now you move into professional services, right? Into a space where people don't always value professional service, but going into a brick and mortar, you pay your money, you come out, you know, it's very transactional. It's very transactional. And you are not a transactional person, you're a relationship person. So, like, did you were there some pitfalls of people kind of knowing that's where you came from and transitioning to really who you really are from a relationship standpoint?

SPEAKER_02 18:44

I I would say yes. Okay. Um maybe a pitfall was I think along the way I've had to value myself differently and value the systems differently and put put higher value on um the the intuitive knowledge that that those of us who are relationship people have, that there can be a price placed on that. So um putting a value on that um Yeah, so I think w to your point, when you would come into a gym of a curves, it's like I'm paying you this money, I'm getting this this thing back. But even then what I found was that getting um the the kind of curves that uh I helped to establish had a culture of relationship. I can't I can't necessarily get you to come in and exercise and stay committed if you don't like the people, if you don't, if I don't figure out what makes you tick. So, you know, this woman is really doing it for the grandchild that doesn't even exist yet. And this woman is doing it for the red dress, she just cannot wait to get back into it. And this woman is doing it because she's got um a fear of or an actual disease. So I you gotta understand those those nuances and uh how do how you bring that to professional services and put a fee to it. Yeah you know, because professional services can be as transactional, as you know. Like I want media coverage and I'm gonna pay you all, and that's really all I want. But the relationship comes in and me understanding why do you want it and what's behind this desire? And is it a validation? Is it is it is it your job? Like what's um, you know, what's at stake here? So the the things were connected. I think the internal change in me was like how to value it.

Hiring For Freedom And Opportunity

SPEAKER_04 20:42

So it's so a lot of it was you, right? And understanding your value and and understanding like someone could pay for my my writing, right? Um, that doesn't mean that someone still can't pay for to go into a gym. So they're both can, you can, you can use and and not or. That's what we have to understand. So in understanding this, like I want to say, let's talk through like this moment of growth, right? We're in a season where people call everything the it's the microwave season, right? This you just want it and we want it. But the growth of right, coming from curves, going into this firm, freelancing, when was the aha to say, I'm ready for um, I'm ready to expand, I'm ready to get, I'm ready to hire. Like when does that moment, because I find that when do we get to a point where we can no longer control, right? Because it's control in that space. So what at what point did you say, all right, it's time?

SPEAKER_02 22:08

I think that I knew from the beginning that I didn't want to start a business that this sounds I'm trying to this sound might sound offensive, but I didn't want to start a business that would be similar to Curves and similar to one of my favorite Chinese restaurants. One of my favorite Chinese restaurants, it used to be on 103rd and Western. And I would go in, and no matter when I ordered and when I went in, the husband and the wife were there and the kids, the two little children were in the back. No matter what time, no matter which day. And there were times at curves where I felt the same way, where it's like, in order for this to work, I gotta be here all the time. Yeah. All the time. So I wanted to start a business that could that would be more than me and that would give me certain freedoms. Otherwise, you you may as well just kind of get a job. But if you're because if you're tethered to a physical space all the time, um, that might not, that might not feed my spirit. So I I knew I wanted a business that could be more than me. I've always enjoyed building community and I've always enjoyed giving people opportunities. My start at Borrell was because somebody gave me an opportunity. Somebody hired, you know, at the time a 20-year-old intern and said she's got something and they decided to pour something into me. So I wanted to do that for other people, which means you got to be able to create jobs. Um, and I could also see, as I know you do, our industry doesn't create a lot of opportunity for young people of color. It does. Or for people of or for old people of color. You know, that part, yeah. It's just it's our P PR when you when you cast a net of like, what does the typical PR person look like? They do not look like us. They don't. And so I knew that if I was gonna do this, I wanted to create opportunity for people who might struggle to break into mainstream um big name firms, or might get into the firm, but might not be able to stay because of certain um trappings of the firm. For example, I remember in the summer of 2020, I think, uh the first COVID summer, one of my play nieces had gotten an internship at a big name firm. And she was so excited. And then once COVID extended, they decided to change the nature of the internship. This is a she's a Howard University grad going into PR, and they changed the nature of the internship, and they said, still come and still gather and still be a part of this cohort virtually, but we won't pay you. Yeah. Well, some people could afford to do that, but she's like, I need to, I'm a graduate, I need to make some money. So those kinds of opportunities exist at a lot of firms where a lot of firms and a lot of PR departments where they will create opportunities for young people. But for a lot of young people, it's just not realistic. You you need to you got loans to pay, you got bills to pay, you need money. So I knew I wanted to be able to have an agency that would allow those types of opportunities for young people to be able to have an opportunity. And then lastly, I wanted to be able to have a place where people who had PR skills or a nose for PR, like they got something there, but maybe didn't take a traditional path to be able to find their way to a role. Yeah. And so it was it was pretty much from day one that I was like, okay, if I'm doing this, my my first big hurdle is to be able to get enough revenue so that I can hire me first. You know, pay me first. And then my next big hurdle was to be able to hire somebody else and then grow from there. I I was not going to um be satisfied with I it worked really well, really. My first two or three years was built on the strength of a consulting team that was willing to ride with me and then float, lay back when there was nothing going on and come back in when we had picked up business. But my my intent was to get to a sustainable revenue stream so I could start to hire people.

SPEAKER_04 26:30

And I I I'm so glad you said sustainable, because this whole evolution of entrepreneurship is the word that I want us to start saying is sustainable, sustainable. Because we can scale, right? Because let me say this during COVID, right, people scaled selling masks, right? But was that sustainable? Right. And so we gotta realize scaling can get you there, but will it sustain you? And we haven't, we've taken that out of that ecosystem and not making that. And I'm so glad that you bring up that. And so when you think about growth, right, PR, and we know it looks very different. Um, when I started, people when I started, it was different, and I went the broadcast way, right? Very different. Well, no, well, no, it wasn't it's great to see today, but then it was no black and brown, and you definitely couldn't be black and brown and animated. Like you couldn't move with y'all, you couldn't do any of that. So it was it was very hard to break into the industry because you were not part of the robot. And I used to call it like I wasn't the robot from that standpoint. So even when we think about technology today, right? And how we're bringing in robots to do some of the same work, we're doing all this stuff. How does that shape storytelling today? Like, how as storytellers and in the businesses you all do, like how, if I was to say this this episode is for every person that works in storytelling, that works in communication, that works in PR, what is it that we all need? Because I'm included too, that we all need to realize, because I think it's some real mindsets that we have to realize to be able to build a sustainable firm that can create jobs that allows for us to have the freedom, and it's not us, um, the same people. Like, what is it that we have to do? Because you've built the model, right? So the model is what it is, and I know you, Kim, you're like, and we're gonna keep modifying and pivoting and doing what we have to do, but what's that thing that we have to realize to get there?

SPEAKER_02 28:50

I think that the thing that we have to realize to get there is that our our greatest um tool is our own imagination, our own brain. Um I just think that I think a lot of people are um sluggish when it comes to being imaginative or they've just never learned how to harness creativity. Yeah. I think everybody has it. But you just if you if you've if you've not if it's not been encouraged, um if it's not been stoked, you are more likely to kind of shut it down. So that's why a lot of us are so like infatuated by what chat, GPT, and other software programs to do can do. We tell us something and within seconds we have something, we're like, wow. But you could also tell yourself something and sit quietly, and maybe it won't take seconds, maybe it takes minutes or hours, but you can come up with some pretty good ideas if you give yourself time. And so I think the the entrepreneur who is working on sustainability has to be willing to give themselves time to think and give themselves time to be imaginative and then encourage others to do the same. You know, my day, your day is probably a lot of as a consultant, I'm I'm talking about time all the time.

SPEAKER_04 30:23

If that's not what I just said to today, that's scary.

SPEAKER_02 30:26

I was and I was tracking the time, and I know, I know my team was like, here she comes again with that. Oh, I know they're mad at me. I was like, yeah, yes, yes. It's how we make money. But at the same time, if they really, um, if they if they really assess me fairly, they also have time to just sit and look out of a window. Come, yeah. Or, you know, I there's there's one woman on my team who we we are sympathetical in that we can go practically anywhere and see something and it's like, I saw some I saw some glit glitter shit strange. You know what? Client ABC might want some glitter or something, you know. Like we find ideas in everything. And it's that I I I just think that um whether you whether you're using artificial intelligence or not, it just won't top what can come out of our own brains when we give ourselves the the fuel that our brains need and the time that our brains need. I think that um using AI to help sustain your business is savvy. I mean, it is another tool that can think with you. And if you train it and give it the right prompts, it can it can run right alongside of you and challenge you, but it will not replace Larvetta. It won't. It just won't. No. And you know, maybe I'm being somebody is probably gonna say, Oh, you're being ridiculous and you don't fully understand the powers. I'm like, whatever. Right. Go ahead and try to replace me. I I just don't see I agree. I agree. Um so it and it won't replace me if I also don't let it. So part of this is about good old-fashioned customer service, client service, and being useful to your clients in a way that while they might ask if you're using AI or they might have a preference for to use it or not, it's it's you and it's your team, and it's the collective intellectual capacity and talent that you have that that they're buying. Yeah. Not not what a tool can produce.

SPEAKER_04 32:33

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SPEAKER_03 33:15

Now let's continue.

Proximity As A Collaboration Superpower

SPEAKER_04 33:17

And I and I I I just loved how you just like gave that whole as a storytelling moment because oftentimes it you hear, oh, it's gonna dummy us down, right? That's the short version. But what you're saying is you have it inside of you, you just want it faster. And because we're in this microwave space, and so realizing that tech technology, and I try to tell my teammates, it's not going, you're not gonna lose your job with it. We just gotta be aware of it, right? Because there's about 50 systems that we're working in anyway. Right. So if we if you go into a job and say this, we use Slack or assign or whatever it is, you're not gonna say, yeah, I'm not gonna use that, right? Right. You're just not. So you're going to practice it and use it and learn it, and and and it is your tool that you work with. Exactly. It's just another tool. It's just another tool. And so it's technology. So when you think about where we are today, where black businesses are, brick and mortars, um, and then you look at technology. What are the things that you see that I mean, because literally, Kim, you are at the forefront of this stuff, right? You are, you are. Um, sometimes seeing it before it happens, right? Sometimes you are seeing that before, like, hey guys, and I could speak for this because I I I gotta say this. This was about maybe 12 years ago, maybe, maybe a little older, a little longer, I don't know, maybe shorter. This is a true story. You told me, you were like, you can go after that grant. And I was like, No, I can't. Yes, you can. Here's we'll tell you why. We did, this is what we were able to do. And that's when you have the office on the south side. And I was like, she got like an office on for those of us in Chicago on 70-something on the south side of Chicago, and you doing this kind of, it was, it blew my mind, right? And so because I couldn't attach it, I could only attach it from the cheesecake place, right? And I'm just making that up, right? Or the cookie place. I couldn't attach it to professional service in that space. And you were like, no, you can get the grant. Let me let me tell me let me tell you this. Like, they're talking to you, Larvetta. Yeah, you have the ability to do that. And I think in some regards, we are just like, so in some, you know, it's it's our heads, right? We're removed from it. But just knowing, like as small businesses, like, what is it that we have to like remove because that moment you it was you were working, I'm just saying this adjacent lot program. You were like, oh, you live, you lavetta, you, you know, you you could benefit. So a lot of times you are doing the work, but then you're in proximity with friends to give us information that really says you can do that, but from afar, we're seeing it's like, oh, well, she's at this big firm and she's this, and no, I can't do it. But then we don't realize that proximity, when you gave and dropped it with me, that gave me the runway to say, I can do it. And so, as small businesses, how do we see proximity as as a tool and as our superpower?

SPEAKER_02 36:44

Yep. Well, you said it. I'm just gonna say what you said. I think putting if you're a small business owner and you are not a part of a community of like-minded business owners and ideally like industry, yeah, then you are setting yourself up for sort of a lonely path. And it takes some it takes a little bit of a um switching of the mind to say he or she is not my competition. He or she is a probable or potential collaborator.

SPEAKER_07 37:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:22

Um what's what's for me is for me. That's right. If it's not for me, then maybe it's for her. Correct. Um, so a lot of times, um, you know, things come my way, world resources way, and it's just not a fit for whatever reason. Yep. And there are times I when I've referred it to other people and I'm I'm met with some skepticism. Well, why aren't you doing this? What's wrong with it? You know, if you don't want it, what's wrong with it? And I have I've learned how to phrase it to say, not everything is for me. That's true. This might be for you, or maybe we go for it together. I think that um that that community building, that ecosystem is what's gonna help sustain us and make us stronger. And one of my mentors, Michelle Flowers, my first job. Michelle, Michelle, see, but Michelle is a leader of this pack where she's like, you know, let's do some stuff together. Yes, because together we will go further. That's right. So um I think that it to me, it's no different a tool than AI. AI is getting all the attention, it's so exciting, it's fun, yeah, it does goofy things, you know, it does amazing things, but it is just a tool. And there's still some, this is me being an old lady, but like there's some old school rich tools. Oh, Rich Auntie. Old school tools that should not be ignored, like collaborating, like um pass it on. Like don't don't don't covet and hold power, spread it, yeah, share information. Um, if I hear about something, yeah, put it out there because not everything is for me and it might be beneficial to other people. Um and you don't have to, you know, we we've heard this before about how black women in particular tend to make sure that they are 101% ready for everything before they go for things. And I think that applies to this too. I don't have to have 100% of the information to share the information with you to say maybe this is for you. If I got 50%, it's a star. I don't know what you know. You may have another 50%, so let's just put it out there. Yeah.

Document Processes Before You Scale

SPEAKER_04 39:41

And that's there is power. Um, I remember some years ago, uh, Kim, someone, and it's sad as sad as this maybe um they saw an opportunity for a black firm, they were engineering us marketing to collaborate on some energy business some years ago. And I was, when I say excited, because I'm, you know, I was like, oh, I'm excited. Very much in my mind, I looked at her as very much like a Michelle Flowers, right? In that space. Um, so this was actually during COVID. I thought this two firms could come together, collaborate. I had built the whole PR. Like, I was when I say excited, um, actually, one of my really good friends, Shonda Rowan, brought us some, thought that she was like, you, this, I mean, like we all saw it. It was an epic feel. Right. Because what I figured out was someone on the team didn't see this. Wasn't her, but someone on her team didn't see this. And so, because oftentimes what was happening was you believed that we were gonna take your job for whatever reason. I don't know where you got that, but we were that we they hired, they brought us together because in their minds, they're gonna bring this creativity and marketing. Y'all are gonna bring, they knew the engineering, the numbers, all the things that we are like, what's that? Yeah, yeah. I don't know nothing. But there was like, but we feel like we can do it, and you can, right? But the strength of how we came together was because I had an existing relationship with them, you had an existing, you were not, for lack of a better, we're failing in one area. We were just not adept in another area. I would because they told us that they were failing. That's what we were told. So, and that's not a bad thing, right? A fail doesn't mean you don't get to pass. It's like, how do we pivot? So, what I realized though is that in the space of collaboration, is we knew that this was gonna be great. The founder was, I ended up having to have a relationship with her. I mean, have a conversation with her separately. And she was clueless, right? So she was clueless to what was happening and was clueless to what we offer. So they didn't tell her that, right? So in her mind, oh my gosh, this is you know, this is amazing. And we were doing outreach. They were in Michigan, we were in Chicago. You do an outreach, but we're here. We like, let's make it make sense, right? But there's a part where, and I said this when we are the only, you you feel like you can just grab it. I don't have to grab all y'all up. Let's figure out how to you still shine, I can still shine and collaborate. But I do think that what happens is it's alignment. There has to be that alignment to be able to make sure that the other party understands that they have something that we're really not that great at, and vice versa. Not to say we can't do it, or maybe how about this? Maybe we've pivot out of it, right? So it's that space. And I think the other, the other part to this ecosystem of collaboration is understanding that it's okay, it's just not this one, right? It can be to somebody else, and recognize that somebody else can see it, but it's just opening that door and making people understand that space, right? Because growth, growth, and I've heard this a hundred times that, and someone told me this as a mentor, he was a guy, was ear hustling, trying to figure out what I do. And he said to me that you will only make this amount of money by yourself. And that was an eye opener, right? Because in my mind, I'm like, well, I'm over here waiting. What you talking about, right? He was like, Yeah, but that's about as far as you're gonna go. You're gonna make a little bit more, and that's about it. And that was because you didn't have these, you were not sustainable to be able, so what if something happened? Happens to you now. What? How does the business go beyond you? Like that was a real thing. And so when we think about it from the standpoint of like solopreneurs, but we all get in somewhere. That doesn't always mean that's where we end up, right? And so I recognize that in this place of like small business space and technology and making us understand the importance of it. Can you also share what it's been like as you were growing?

SPEAKER_07 44:33

What was the one thing that you wish you had done? And you're doing it now.

SPEAKER_04 44:43

So you could say, okay, I wish I had done it, I'm doing it now. You gave me one um before, but I'm not gonna give that one away. Okay. You gave me one.

SPEAKER_02 44:53

I I wish I had written down, I wish I had brought some of the systems work from my prior experiences earlier into Rudd Resources. A lot of a lot of what we what we did, what I did in the first few years, five years, um is is just gut. Like this this is what feels right, this is what I think is the right thing to do. But I didn't have the the steps articulated. Um I have the steps, they just were not articulated. So they couldn't be trained to, they couldn't be be easily replicated by other people. So some of my team members probably at times felt like I just pushed them on, like, get out there and do this, you know, as opposed to here's here are the eight way, here are the eight steps we do with this type of a project. Um so I wish I had done more more of that procedural stuff. And we're trying to catch up now and document things. And we have a way for sure of articulating our approaches. We have a process for this, that, and the other that brings comfort to our clients or at least confidence to our clients. But it it's taken us some some work to get there. You speak in my language because it's that's that's a real thing. It's a real thing. It's a real thing. And some things, some things you can't you can't build it until you fly it. You know, you really can. Can't build it until you fly it. And the other things you have fun building it while you're flying it, you know, you're setting uh creating a process. But there are there are some things where it's like, you know, had I sat down and and written out the the steps for the ideal approach to X, this is how I want it to be done, um it would have made it easier for some team members. Yeah. I think another thing that I I won't say I don't to say I wish I had done it sounds a little bit like a regret. I know, but I know it's more like you know, um if I had done it, this would be cool. Yeah. I think that there are some agencies who whose work I admire that have done a good that have done a good job of naming their thing. Like this is the such and such way. Yeah. And sometimes it's a really clever way. Like, wow. Other times it's like that's that's kind of basic, but you put a name on it, tip yeah, tip my hat to you. It's kind of basic. Yeah. But I I do think that there are some ways that we do things at road resources and we try to do it consistently. That is really a road resources way. You know, it's just it it's just not done by 90% of PR firms. They don't have to think about it this way. Yeah. Um, an example would be that when we're doing work with a client and they pick a photo to represent themselves. So, you know, sometimes it's always a photo of sh if they pick a photo to represent Chicago, it's always taken roughly from Hollywood on the north, looking downtown. So what you see is this beautiful skyline, and you see this great lake, you see the city, except you don't see what's on the other side of, say, Roosevelt. And so we're always asking our clients, can you just change your perspective a little bit? Can you can you s take that picture from Austin Boulevard from the West? Get the same downtown view. You still see the water, but it's from another community's perspective. So there's there are things like that, there are questions like that that we ask of our clients that we almost always bring to the conversations that we have. And I wouldn't necessarily say it's um they're black questions, as one client said, Oh, that's a black question. Black question. That was just a perspective that's different that many, many firms still don't have, and it's grounded in the the diversity of our firm. And so putting a name to that, calling it a process is is what's new to us, but it's always been there.

SPEAKER_04 49:11

And I think, you know, for some with firms, and I, you know, I wanted to share this with you. I remember I was working with the producer, and I'm bringing this up because this is a moment where this doesn't even exist anymore, which is why we have to be careful as in this place of PR and marketing of them telling us that we're not valued, right? You remember the show The Real?

SPEAKER_06 49:31

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 49:33

So at the time we were pitching a client. Um, I'm just gonna keep them quiet for a minute just for the sake of this, because it it really does, that's not the part. But essentially they were like, Yeah, um, great story. We, we, we, we queued it up. I mean, dope, right? It's somebody that you know very well known things. But they would only say, Well, we not gonna let her, and I mean, this was this talk, you're gonna pay us because you know they did the pay-to-play. And I said, But it's not your name of the show. So I challenged it. It's called the real. So how could you ask us? You want the real, but you want us to pay for something that's not real, right? And they literally couldn't understand it. But the producer was like, Well, this is how I said, Well, then you're not looking for good stories, you're looking for good advertisers because those are two very different, and that's fine, but that's not the story, that's not what you presented to your people, right? You said this was the real. And that was a moment as a professional that I had to check and said to the client, right? That ain't the show. You want it because this was hot and oh, it's on this, but your real story ain't for the real. So hence, the real isn't even in it. It's realizing that that's the point that we have to get to. And I brought it up when you were saying this, the point that we have to get to, like, we we're channeling this world of like, oh, we gotta have this, we gotta have take it, we gotta have all these things, but we're really not understanding the community impact of this real story of changing that perspective. And I mean, this person, I mean, did blow up on its own, but I had to challenge the client and say, why do you want to go there? Because why? Just to say you were on the real, but they're not, this ain't the real. It's not the real. When I hear the word, you know, on the real, is this is real talk, me and you talking, no fluff. Right, right? I mean, no, no, no advertisers. This is what you could tell. So you've messed up and told us that the real isn't what you said it was, right? So you flip that, you take that whole storyline and you put that in urban communities, honey. They would give you the real on everything. And so you took to me what was our language and put it in front of general market, and you thought you and you made it something completely different. But it wasn't until we had to challenge you to say no. And I hate to say it, I said that show was not gonna last. When when I had that with that producer, I was like, this is, and the people that work for it won't last because you're working for something that's not real, and the show is called the real. I mean, imagine that. So when you said the process, they created a name, which you said clever. It was clever, but they didn't have a process. And they were willing to just take advertising dollars to say that they had a show, right? And so I think as PR professionals, I think it's our responsibility to be able to challenge that and share that narrative. And I had, you know, had to do that, and that was when I was done with media. That was literally when I was done. I was like, No more media. I was like, no more media, media relations for me. That was it. Because that's when I realized that we were moving into a pay-to-play model, and that wasn't gonna work, you know, for me personally, that because it just was not going to resonate from that. And so, just how do we help business owners, even in our industry, there to be okay with taking the pivot? Be okay with, I don't do that no more. Uh, be okay with, yep, yep, uh, that's that's for this person, right? That's not for me. I'm gonna send it to you for my vice president. Like, right, when do we get, like, how do we, and I'm gonna say this, how do we get to the space to release that and let that go? Because if we're relationship, right, it's hard to this my relationship and now pass it to my vice president.

SPEAKER_02 53:55

Well, you know, I I joke with some with old friends about what I used to do when in the so Rudy's horses is almost 12 years old in the first year. Oh, you you need whatever, whatever, for how you got$500. Okay. You know, so I used to do whatever, just trying to make some money and get a reputation going and build relationships. And then you become you you become a little more discerning because some of that chasing led to doing work for people who never paid me. So I was chasing money with maybe not the right opportunity.

SPEAKER_08 54:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:35

And then I didn't even get the money. So um you you become discerning, you start to um discerning of people and discerning of opportunities.

SPEAKER_01 54:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:44

But grounded in that is the takes us back to the first question of who were you as a child. Grounded in that is your own authenticity. Like if grounded in that is me telling you I was nosy then, I'm nosy now. Grounded in that is saying, I worked at McDonald's long enough to know I do not want to work for McDonald's or be a friend, McDonald's owner. So when there are projects that come my way, now I know myself enough to know I just don't care enough about that topic. To, it's just not my own. Can I take the breath? I like that. I don't care about that topic. I don't care about it, it's important. I'm not, you know, it's just, I just don't, it doesn't move me. So how can I motivate myself and others to go for that work? Or, you know, it might even be a good fee, a good budget, but I'm not gonna enjoy it. Yeah. And if I'm not gonna enjoy it, how will I motivate others to enjoy it?

SPEAKER_08 55:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:48

If they tell me we don't need your motivation, we we love it just because you don't love it, we love it. Okay, that's fine. I can I can separate myself from it. But if I'm gonna be saying, hey, you guys, we've got this new pro new project, and it's about, you know, um, I saw that book that was on your on your lap. If it's about that, shoveling something, you know, and nobody really wants to deal with the something, but we got to all shovel it so we can make a lot of money, it's just not worth it. Yeah. So I think part of a successful being a successful business owner is really trying to figure out the nexus of who am I, that circle of you know, you, your authenticity, what matters to you, and what will someone pay me to do. And somewhere in the middle is like that's your client's dream. That's your that's what you should be selling, that's your key service. Um, because once you start reaching for things outside of that circle of who you are, and you're just like, I'm I'm just chasing things for money, um, it could lead to you being unhappy. It could lead to you doing performing poorly, which then damages your reputation. And every year, and let me knock on some every year, we do a project where it's like, yeah, it was all right. You know, we have one of those, you know, and if we dissect it and go back, there were probably some warning signs where maybe we should have said no. Yeah, maybe we shouldn't have gone for it. Yeah, you know, I know that feeling. You know, it's a it's a it's a it's not a great feeling, and sometimes it leads to some humility. And I'm a I'm kind of a fan of humility. Every once in a while you just have to say, I correct, I slipped up, I messed up. Um which might mean calling a client saying, Hey, you know, do you forgive us? We gave it, we gave it our best, but it wasn't good enough for you. And we we get it. Um, or or asking that of a client. We gave you our best. We need you to be happy with that because we gave you our best. Yeah. So sometimes it's not the ideal fit, but having um a little bit of humility and and honest assessment connected to authenticity, allows you to kind of learn from it and move from it.

Customer Service As A Business Edge

SPEAKER_04 58:06

I love that you really gave us how we need to be from a customer service because that's what you're speaking. That's really, and I think we don't do enough of talking about the customer service of these firms because we only see customer service when you're up and close from a customer paying for a particular product, not necessarily from a service standpoint, but understanding that that's customer service.

SPEAKER_02 58:31

It is. I I think, I mean, did you did you have a retail job before you started? I sure did and was great. I was great at I think that's key. I don't, I kind of let's go out on a limb. Maybe you shouldn't start a business if you haven't had that real retail experience. Agreed. If you hadn't had somebody tear you off in front of your face, well, you know, and bring me, take give me my money back and all that. If you haven't sold something for five dollars or fifty dollars, it's hard to sell something for fifty thousand dollars. That's so it's the same money, it's the same.

SPEAKER_04 59:02

You are and when I tell you, the only reason why I said that that I was good at it is because you got bonuses. That's the only reason why I knew I was good at it. I was like, oh, I'm getting a bonus. Oh, yeah, because you did you in your mind, you're just doing what you do, right? But you you put money attached to it. I was really great because it got me a bonus. Yeah, right. I agree. You're listening to Black Businesses Matter, and we will continue our conversation in a second. But first, take a listen to this special message for our BBM fam.

SPEAKER_01 59:35

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SPEAKER_04 1:00:00

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SPEAKER_03 1:00:07

It helps us keep telling these stories. Now let's continue.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:12

That's the space that um is missing because it's so funny that you bring that up. Um it was a program um that the city of Chicago has where they hire, you know, that you can what is it? What is it? Um, I don't know what it's the summer school. You can um one summer Chicago. One summer Chicago.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:31

And so you just changed the name.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:32

I know they did. Um right? Yeah, okay. Chicago Youth Clubs, maybe. It's called Youth. Chicago Youth Clubs, I think. Yes. And so you would, they would place them in small businesses. And I remember saying to them, what was your first job, right? And so I was like, Did you? I was like, we like TJ Maxx. I said, so what I want you to do is treat just like TJ Maxx. Right. And so when people, you know, we were in a small people come into the office, they're not coming first, but I want you to be like, hello, how are you? And initially it was like, and when I say this, this is this is a true story. This young lady did that, showed up. We worked at university co-work. She is the manager of Starbucks. Right? Because it was just that she was like, Oh, you just I said I want you to just greet everybody. None of these were our businesses, but just greet them. Hello, how are you? You know, oh, and they would be like, I'm looking for. She was like, okay, well, just go to that lady right there. And it was just that basic because in that space of TJ Maxx, the difference, what I said, that the reason why I want you to come work here is because the difference with TJ Maxx is they're not gonna give you what I'm about to give you, right? They're just not. Their whole goal is for you staying there, you know what I mean, which is great. But what happens is, and on top of that, how many jobs is that TJ Maxx that's in your neighborhood is only gonna supply that many people? So you gotta go someplace else. And that's what happens in a lot of our communities. We don't have that level customer service, and TJ Maxx might be a little light, but I'm giving you that perspective because you had a Marshall Fields and a Macy's, and those experiences were at a whole nother level. Um, and we see that. And so I hear this term all day customer service is going out. Have you have you do you hear that? Like, oh, customer service gone. Like people don't get you customer service. I have. But here's what I'm saying. Aren't we service? Yes, we so to me, I said, does that mean I need to change my game? Because in my mind, I'm like, aren't we service? We are customer service. We are literally telling these clients service and get and serving it to stakeholders, people, whatever, right, consumers, whatever they are, to be able to do that. And so I do see like how customer service is part of our ecosystem, right? From a technology standpoint, is I think it's now what's your customer service tech person?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:01

Right.

Narrative Change And Modern Messaging

SPEAKER_04 1:03:01

That's what it's becoming because you you get it on, you call a right, you call all these places, what do they do? You can either text, you can do a chat, you can do off a phone, which is very hard to do, or send us an email. But we've realized that oftentimes we only have one way. That's right. And that's not necessarily the best way because you're missing other people by having just that one way. And so recognizing that we all so which means that we all have to pivot from that standpoint. Um what do you see um here? And I'm just gonna add to this because I just want to ask you this. This is not on my um thing. What was what do you think is the hottest messaging right now?

SPEAKER_07 1:03:53

Ooh, let's see.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:55

Um just because I love when I can get people that to speak my language. Ooh. And it can be whatever.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:08

Like a brand name.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:09

And I said it because I said to myself, like, what's what's the thing that's like, oh, I like that. So I I I just do it with the young people. So one message, well, one brand name that I absolutely love right now is Creed. Like, it's it's just like, what's your creed? Like, it's it's the whole thing, and it's us. So I felt like that's powerful, that speaks to all people. Okay. The other one that I can't, the other one um that I recently came across was um, oh gosh, now that that it just scaped me. It's pink, but I can't, oh my gosh. It's the um, oh, I just had it. It's I was I just saw it on a billboard and I was like, oh my gosh, this is giving me um, gosh, it's gonna come to me. Creed was one that I said because I recognized that we've never really looked at that, and for that to be a colon, like it's like you can walk in the door and feel that way. I feel like that was a great brand mood move, and it literally speaks to like us, right? In that space, um, that I feel like it hasn't. Um, and I said that I was like, what's our messaging that I feel like as a as experiences we're saying or we see? And it's it's becoming, it's, it's, it's building momentum and people are paying attention to. And it's like, oh my gosh. One that I will say that believe it or not, what I'm about to say is gonna blow your mind. But just coming off this trip trip is that some brands, some names that we said 20 years ago mean nothing. Today, HBCU means a lot. But when I said I went to HBCU, it went over people's eyes. I mean, it was like, okay, and what does that have to do with anything? Today, where did you go?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:03

People understand it and value it.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:05

Yeah. Yeah. It's things that were once like not a message, right? Now it's a whole message. Like people use that in their messaging. It's a whole message. And they get it.

unknown 1:06:17

You know?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:18

It is a shorthand.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:19

That's for sure.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:20

Yeah. Yeah. So from there, um, when we think of it, I also think another um another one that we see is we used to think that the West, right? Everything rep in the west side to the south side, right? That was considered deemed bad. If you said, oh you south side. Like if you say it just like that, ooh, right? Now it's a whole thing. It's a whole thing, right? So I'm starting to see all these things that were deemed negative now, like part of our culture.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:56

Yeah, that's that's that's the beauty of narrative change, right? That if enough people speak well of you know, Southside, Southside Pride, what's good in the hood, you know, Inglewood, what's good in the hood. It it starts to change when we think about it. Yeah. You're you you've asked such a provocative question. I'm thinking I know I there I saw something this morning was really clever. It's clever. It was from the National Gallery. So the US, the the America's gallery. Okay, okay. And it was uh a video on Instagram that showed um it began with an older white woman, and by older I mean well into her sixties, who then passed the mic to an older white man. But the whole everything they said was the language of young people. And it it was like like, you know, oh, you tweaking. It was like the language of hip young people.

SPEAKER_07 1:07:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:53

And instead of it being instead of it feeling um like acculturation, it was really interesting because they weren't making fun of the language, they were discussing a piece of art using language that young people would use. It was really well done, I thought. Yeah. And um I just thought, who's running this account? You know, like this is really, really clever. Yeah. So I think the more you can you can kind of tell when, just like you can tell when like some bros, not bros, but bros, yeah, are running an account where it's very male-oriented, yeah, kind of goofy. You can tell when somebody has allowed a younger voice in the room to say, yeah, let's try this. And so I think that can create a powerful message.

Social Media Is Everyone’s Media

SPEAKER_04 1:08:42

I agree. I agree. And know that because we were having a conversation around TikTok and what's cool, what and you know, I have to admit, my TikTok is my when I go to TikTok, it's late at night because that's what that is, what I want to do. And so because I like, I like TikTok to just at night do it, I'm like, oh, I just want to be on TikTok. But for me, it's just a guilty pleasure. It's not, you know, it doesn't, but it's good information. I'm not saying it's not, right? But it's good information, right? And understanding like we all have different perspectives on how we see one platform performing versus another one, right? And understanding that space. So I'm gonna ask you this and we're gonna um wrap up. Is social media dead?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:32

It is alive and kicking. It is um, I I think that you know, I have a couple of favorite journalists who whose stories I read, who even three years ago, they they did not do anything with their stories after their stories were published. The the this publication of a news story or the broadcasting of a news story was the end of their time with that story. Now journalists have to take that story and they've got to put it out on LinkedIn and Instagram. TV journalists sometimes record, you know, they go live before they go live. They go live and they're like, so today I'm gonna be covering this, that, and the other. So social media is is everybody's um personal media. I I think I think it's exciting, it's scary. It makes it harder for those of us who are looking to break through to figure out how to break through, because it's not like 20 years ago, if you had a Tribune story or sometimes story or something on Channel 7, you were like golden. That's just the beginning. It's or maybe it's the middle, but it's not the end. I agree, it's not the end. And so when you have voices out there, I think about my friend and yours, Sherman, Dilla Thomas. Yeah, when you have voices out there like Dilla, who has done an influence and in the museum and on his tour bus, and he's an influencer. And in just in three years or so time, he's now got sort of a he's got a legacy. He does. Now we have Malik Shachu. Malik Shachu is out there interviewing people, and then there's gonna be somebody else right behind him. So there's all these newsmakers, in my opinion, who maybe they don't approach the newsmaking with the same subjective sense of journalistic ethics that a traditional journalist would. But if they told the story of my clients' work, I'm not gonna be mad because they have a huge social media following and they're able to connect with um consumers and in my case with resonance in meaningful ways. Yeah. And so much of my work is about reaching communities in a very specific way, very geographic way. We need to reach the neighbors around this project or that project. And so I think that the more we can uplift people who have influence, people who are willing to get on the mic and talk about things and share the community news, the better it is for all of us. So I don't think social media is good at all.

Board Service And Civic Involvement

SPEAKER_04 1:12:08

I agree. And I think we have we have all these stories about it, and I want us to use it for good. And I think more good has to come. I mean, that's in everything, right? We we find you just said from AI, it's like it's that's what's shining, right? But know that it's all a tool, right? Social media is the same as putting flyers on the on the cars outside of church, right? It's the same thing, right? It's the same thing. And so understanding that piece. Yeah. So I'm excited about that. So what's next for you? Um, you know, I have to ask this, and before I move to this, because I have to say this, how do entrepreneurs, I mean, like when you think about business owners, you are now, you know, a board chair, you know, and getting that role. We used to see that as only executives. Um, we didn't see like business owners. I mean, you and Michelle, I follow and I love it for it. But I think, I think that's a message, Kim, that, you know, young entrepreneurs don't know how to do that and how to, you know, I want to be on a board chair. I want, I mean, use that and leverage that. Um, how? Like, what's that process?

SPEAKER_02 1:13:20

Do you do you know? We we all we we all or should have all heard the quote, you know, services, the rent you pay for being on this earth as that that um Miriam Wright Edelman quote. I think that you have to give back. You you you just need to find the right mechanism for putting your energies and your talents and giving back. And if you happen to be good at communications, even if regardless of what your business is, if you're good at communications, that is a talent that is increasingly more um valued. I remember not too long ago, if if you were on the communications committee, you were like the last, you know, you got you got the thing at the end. You were not asked for strategy, you were not asked for input on this, that, or the other. It was like once it was all said and done, can you do a flyer? Can you do a press release? Now they've said, come on up closer to the front of the table and give us some input before we start on this. What do you think? So communications people are more strategist today than we ever have been before. Our our skills and talents are recognized by business leaders. And so while um while I am learning the business side, the number side, you know, how to read a pro forma and how you know how to read all the I'm learning that part, I recognize that I can be a hundred percent ready to be a leader while I learn the number side. For for my in my role with Woods Fund, I'm learning so much about philanthropic investment and investment portfolio strategies. And it's fascinating, but it's not my natural language. But rather than say, let me wait until I know that and then I'll be ready. I trusted the CEO of the organization who said, I think you're ready now. Okay, let's let's do this. I love it. So I would say to any entrepreneur, if you if you're interested in having a civic role, first just get civically involved, find something to do. You know, in Chicago, we're we got so many opportunities. For sure. You can run for LSECs, you can run for police district council seats, you can like have many a small campaign and get elected to something with a hundred votes. And now you know how to run a small campaign. And now you, you know, you you have a voice in some things. And so I just think it's a matter of people kind of um, sometimes it means we got to step away from the social media we just talked about because we can lose a lot of time every day doing that and give that hour or two a day to some civic thing, and then the relationships will come from that. That's true, and the business will grow because people will get to know you authentically. And they they won't just hire you because they heard about you, they're hiring you because they know you and correct that and and I I'm a firm believer it just builds your social capital.

Excellence, Joy, And Why It Matters

SPEAKER_04 1:16:11

It absolutely you know, it just builds it and it it doesn't build immediately, but it does build. And I think we have to that's the microwave versus the oven. But that's the oven and let it bake a little, let it bake a little bit. It's and it's gonna be real good that way. Whereas the microwave, it's just it's tolerable, but it's tolerable. And I gotta eat. So let me just take this, right? And goes back to your thing about time. You really got it inside of you, right? Just take the time and be present. Um and I say this, you know, I could talk all day um with you, first of all, because we're in the same discipline, so we can talk about that all the time. And to know that in this place that we're in today, I know you have a perspective because that's what you do. Why do black businesses matter?

SPEAKER_02 1:16:58

Black businesses matter because we bring a level of excellence and imagination and commitment to one another and other people, hiring people who may not fit naturally into other roles and other spaces. We matter because we tend to be based in community. And so we connect to and uplift our community. Whether we're on 47th Street or 85th Street or 63rd Street, which are all streets that I've been on, um, we are generally not alone. We simply are not in the loop. But that does not mean that we're out of the loop of being um entrepreneurial, capitalistic, and um investors in what we're trying to do. So I think black businesses matter because we our our city, our state, and our country benefits from the diverse school of thought that black business leaders bring to their work, the joy that we bring to our work, and the the creativity and creative approaches that we bring to our work. I mean, I just don't think balloon arches would exist if it weren't for black event planners. I think we created some of these things.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:10

I think we I absolutely believe that. So I'm with you on that one. I I believe, I believe we are the genius behind a lot of things. So much. Um, so much. So I was, I think I mentioned to you the the uh was at the um National Um Museum of Um of African American History in DC, right? Did you know this? And I'm probably gonna talk about this a lot because I love tea. A black man created the beautiful tea kettle. The one, like the stainless steel, I have because it is a reminder that almost everything you probably pick up, put in your mouth, whatever it is, we've created it. We just don't necessarily know about it, right? And so that's the part that I just you know makes me happy because I'm like, and I love tea, and I love the tea kettle, like I love the real tea kettle. Like I'm not like one of those, like, I mean, tea bags are great, I'm not saying it, but I love for it to go. And then I was like, see, that's all connected. It's all connected, but that makes like imagine that you pour it, just it does something to you. So I was like, see? And it was a whole black person that did that, right? So that must have been on the third floor. Yeah, it was yes, it was. It was on the third floor, it was, it was, it was on the third floor. So I was like amazed by that. And and I probably paid attention because I love tea. So for that, it was important for me. What brings you joy?

SPEAKER_02 1:19:37

Dancing brings me joy. Um, I have uh my family brings me joy. We have good times together. Um, my sister group, my sister's uh, we have a name called our name is Sass. And so Sass, we've been we've been friends for 30 years. They bring me joy. Um sometimes just like the sun, you know. I just sit sometimes. I'm I'm driving and the sun is hitting the window, and I'm like, well, I gotta pull over and just like let that let that sun soak me. So I find joy in a lot of things. I I have moments of frustration. I'm a Libra Scorpio, so I have these, oop, I heard the sound. You know, you have these moments where it's like, ah, the world, and then it's like, come on back down, find equilibrium. Life is gonna be okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:25

Um I I find joy in a lot of things. I find I will close by saying I find joy also in something that might be troubling to other people, but I like keeping my world pretty small. I just I cannot control everything. I cannot allow myself to be upset and to carry the worry worries of a global system that I cannot control. That's good. So if I shrink my world and look at the flowers, as I as I came here, there were some pretty flowers on the steps. And you know, there's apparently there's a University of Michigan alum who lives um who occupies the space. And so I find joy in that. Yeah, you know, there's so many things like someone's pride in their school. That's a that's that's that's beautiful. So there's like joy everywhere. You just have to tell yourself to be committed to seeing it and to let the big worries take a step back.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:23

I'm so glad that you said that as someone who works in communication, because they I find they sometimes they think we know we're tapped into all the things, right? And we're connected and we know all the people. And so I think the fact too much information coming at us.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:37

So like when we started, I asked you if you had heard about the human resolution. Yeah, and I was and you said no. Yeah, and that's okay. Yes, you can't, we cannot know about everything, it's just coming at us so quickly. But if we're curious or nosy, yeah, we're like, ooh, and with your body, your body's like, ooh, what? You like leaned in. So rather than feel guilty of like, oh, I don't know, I'm gonna fake it like I know. No, let's just learn. You're not fake it.

What’s Next For Rudd Resources

SPEAKER_04 1:22:02

Listen, yeah, no, I don't know. And as a matter of fact, tell me about it. And then so I can go Google it and learn more and go down a rabbit hole and be able to do that. So um, what's next for Kim and Red Resources? So and this is an opportunity and that people can connect with you, and the best way to connect with you, you know, whatever. You tell us um what's next.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:23

Well, thank you. Yeah, well, we we're doing some very interesting projects um that are related to infrastructure in the city. And so um, we're part of the Red Line Extension work. I didn't know that. Oh that's yeah. We love our we love transit, so we're part of that. We're part we work with Ventra, um, and so we're part of um the new changes that are coming. Um I know the the state is creating a new agency, and so there's some new changes that are coming with that. We are working with um our friends at Grow Greater Inglewood on the Inglewood Nature Trail. Yes, that's gonna be. You know, I'm an Inglewood resident, so I'm excited about that. And I know you know that space at 58th in Halston, that's gonna be one of the, you know, the um the starting points for that. And I think, you know, the the phrase that um the Inglewood Arts Collective created called We Deserve Beautiful Spaces, it applies because this is gonna be a beautiful space. Yeah, and we like working on projects that are about changing the landscape of our communities because that changes what you think about yourself.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:26

Correct.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:27

You know, you we think of the the child today who's walking down some of the streets of Southside communities. How can you feel good about yourself when the community does not show you love? It doesn't look beautiful. But these things are changing, and so we're excited to be a part of of land use projects like that that are um, you know, gonna just create better looking communities and communities with more jobs and things like that. So we try to use communications, our communication skills to undo racism. So a lot of what we're experiencing, the way we live, it's just plain and simple. It's racism. Well, we can undo that, speaking different stories, telling different stories, taking different pictures, all that kind of stuff. So the rest of the year is gonna be full of projects that are around land use. Yeah. Um, we've got our 12th Rudiversary, that's what we call our.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:17

Yes, and y'all get the best part. I was at the 10th, so I remember it.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:21

I had and I had a good time. Good, good. So yeah, we gotta figure out what we're gonna do for our 12th year. And um trying to think what else is next. I don't know. Some fun stuff. It's a lot of good stuff.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:33

It's a lot, actually, you just said a lot. Like what you just said, that's a lot for a whole year. I mean, like, that's that's a lot. Thank you. Yeah, that's a lot. And it's and it's and it's beautiful to see and witness and champion on this side. Um, because it is one that I say that the work that you are doing um really honestly is beautiful. And I think while you're have a campaign, it is beautiful. It's just, it's just like, oh my gosh, this is absolutely beautiful, right? Um, and I think one of the things that we all have to do better, um, I know I I I this is my intentional, but I think as people, you take this episode and you say to yourself, like, friends that you have champion, sometimes just show up for. You ain't gotta do nothing. Just show up. Because the moments that I was, I'm able to show up for the work and I'm not there. I'm just there to show up as I'm a fan. And I love to see, I love to see my friends win. When I was on the west side, when y'all opened up the new uh Spire Center?

SPEAKER_02 1:25:43

Yes. Yes, I was just there.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:45

Yeah, just there to support, right? As one, a resident of Illinois, I mean of Chicago, no, I'm not from the West Side, but so what? But I know who put this together and I just want to be there, right? Sometimes we don't believe that that right there is huge just because I I know what it took. I know what it took. And so just to see your familiar, your your, you know, seeing some familiarity that knows you outside of that, it gives you a little bit more push. Yes, right? It just be like, ooh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:18

What also gives us push is Larvetta, you have the best laugh. And so this is this is gonna to some people this is gonna sound like an insult. It is absolutely not. Well, you wouldn't. You are our new neighbor, and we're probably laughing. And sometimes your laugh comes through the wall, and I'm like, oh, she having a good time. What is going on over there? And I'll come around and I say, Maya, is it? She's like, Yeah, that's Larry.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:42

Love it.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:43

So we love it.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:43

You have a good laugh.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:45

It's fun.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:47

That makes me feel special because um my mom used to say that. So that's sweet. She used to always say, Um, there she goes over there laughing and talking. That's what she does. So I appreciate that. And yes, people, we are adjacent to each other, which is so lovely. It is. Um, it's such a blessing to be um adjacent. Like there's a there's there's something powerful about the word adjacent. And I say this as we wrap up because McDonald's, when I had them as a client, and we all had them, they looked for land where there was Kentucky, Burger King. They looked for that. We, on the other hand, well, I don't want to sit next to somebody. We they do the same thing I do, and they look for land. That was an eye-opener for me.

SPEAKER_08 1:27:32

Yeah.

Final Takeaways And Share The Show

SPEAKER_04 1:27:33

Um, that they were either like, okay, if they were on the north side, they were gonna be on the south side of it. If they were on the east side, they were gonna be on the west side. Like that part of proximity was so huge, and we don't understand that there's value. And they would almost be like, is there a subway there? I mean, they would ask all these questions, and I would be like, they were like, because here's what's happened. A home is gonna want a burger, a sandwich, some chicken. Nuggets, a chicken sandwich, and some fish. And you can go and get them. And but you can go over here and get this burger and you go over there and still come back and go get a soda, whatever it is. They were clear. And I think that that's something that's a model that I think that McDonald's created for me that made me see things in a way that says we can all be on the east or the west side, the east wing, we on the west wing. It's okay, right? It's okay, it's okay. It's all right. So um amazing, amazing episode. Um, I have to say this. If you working in the space of communications, PR, marketing, this episode is the episode that I think you will find value. I also think that community impact work, you're doing work in this community space, you're doing work from a local impact. All of that matters, right? And so understanding that this episode is the episode that you should share with someone, follow us. Uh, Black Businesses Matter Podcast. And the other thing that we have to understand is being open to perspective, being open to understand that there's firms out there that are doing work to undo racism. And that's powerful, right? So while we're out here screaming, angry, all the things that we're doing, there are firms out here that are doing the work to undo it. So that's enough to give you a breath. That's enough to find your joy in whatever you're doing. And all I ask is share this episode.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:33

Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Black Businesses Matter. See you next week.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:39

The Black Businesses Matter podcast is produced by the L3 Agency, a culturally sensitive influencer, marketing, and communications firm in Chicago, where relationships are our currency. Passion is our profit maker, and people are our bottom line. Follow us on Instagram at Black Businesses Matter.