Pepsi Multicultural Marketing Forum
at The African American Festival
July 2014: Kwame was the forum host and contributor from 2014-2017 at the Pepsi Multicultural Marketing Forum held at the Baltimore African American Festival, the second largest black family festival in America. As a multi-cultural marketing, Diversity & Inclusion consultant and thought leader for Pepsi, Kwame drove the discussion on the future of digital marketing to Millennial consumers and the black family with fellow Millennial and Gen Z advertising and digital marketing leaders. Kwame also led Pepsi’s HBCU - Historically Black Colleges and Universities – marketing and strategy initiatives, culminating with the design and creation of a multi-year marketing sponsorship agreement with the iconic culture creation event that is Howard University Homecoming.
Google Diversity & Inclusion
Firmwide Launch Event
April 2016: Kwame joined his fellow Diversity & Inclusion thought leaders Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry, and Michael Skolnik to launch Google’s race summit series at Google’s global HQ in New York City. This discussion focused on race relations, systemic racism and its impact on workplace culture. The Black Googler Network, the firm’s global employee resource group, and senior leadership were the primary firmwide audience for this internal webcast. Kwame offered strategic advisory to Google on how to link the gains they had made in female recruitment, hiring, and promotion to the more difficult topic of race in tech.
McDonald’s Corporate Leadership Forum
September 2017: As a returning McDonald’s alumnus, Kwame has maintained a decade plus client partnership relationship with his first employer in high school, McDonald’s corporation. Kwame has been a keynote speaker, brand ambassador, and diversity thought leader for McDonald’s internal leadership forums, national Owner/Operator leadership events, NBMBAA – National Black MBA conference, NSHMBA – National Hispanic MBA conference, McDonald’s CEO advisory team meetings, Global HQ Hamburger University Campus Training, and various major field marketing launch events in continuous partnership and consultation with McDonald’s CDO – Chief Diversity Officer since 2004.
GILD – Global Institute for Leadership Development
September 2019: As part of the #LinkageGILD executive leadership faculty, Kwame led the “Learning Through Difference” Learning Team of global business leaders to examine the important topics covered at GILD through an inclusion lens.
He also appeared on the main stage in front of more than 1000 global business leaders as a keynote panelist for the “Leading Across Difference: Unique Leadership Journeys” seminar, during which he joined a decorated West Point General from The United States Military Academy and a Muslim cultural inclusion expert to explore the seen and unseen differences in the workplace–and share how we can embrace, celebrate, and lead through difference to empower truly effective teams.
Millennial Week by Prudential
October 2016: In partnership with Prudential Financial, Kwame led 2 fireside chat discussions on Millennial career development, professional social media strategies, entrepreneurial finance, money management, and personal brand management at MILLENNIAL WEEK DC. Millennials are swaying elections, disrupting industries and reshaping America's cities. From forums highlighting activists and innovators across industries, to an Unconference exploring the impact of the largest generation alive, this unconventional event series engaged and inspired Millennial’s unique career aspirations and social impact strategies. Kwame was able to offer unique strategic linkages on intergenerational effectiveness ties between Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z.
CNN Presidential Leadership Press Conference
April 2016: Leadership is a moment, and Kwame believes that whole heartedly, so he was not going to miss his. To that end, Kwame delivered a courageous, cogent, and factual speech on the importance of Presidential leadership to a global media audience - offering a strategic road map on Presidential inclusion, temperament, and judgment just days before the US national election in 2016. Kwame partnered with his Rhodes Scholar colleague and fellow NBC’s Apprentice business and civic leaders in a “wake-up America” national television message for change, civic engagement, and leadership.
Harvard Business School – BET Voter Participation Tour
Black Entertainment Television
November 2016: As a frequent MSNBC & CNN commentator and speaker at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, Kwame returned to his alma mater, Harvard Business School, to join a panel of political thought leaders for Black Entertainment Television’s Vote 2016 - Changing the Climate national voter participation tour. The campaign sought to encourage young, African-American voters to get involved in the political process and voice their vote in the 2016 presidential election.
The 10-college tour included a panel discussion featuring leading civic activists and political commentators discussing what individual citizens can do to effect political change and improve their lives and their communities. Panelists like National Women’s March co-founder, civil rights and anti-violence advocate Tamika Mallory, political consultant Telley Madina, and Adrienne Cooper, deputy director of Defend Our Future came together to drive the strategic leadership framework and offer workable solutions from their robust civic experience. BET Vote 2016 worked to increase voter registration, voter efficacy and participation in the democratic process.
Verizon – STEM Diversity & Coding Conference
April 2015: In honor of Black History Month, Verizon teamed up with CITE, and Black Girls CODE to host a “Build a Mobile App” coding workshop at their global HQ in Basking Ridge, NJ. Kwame spoke to Verizon tech executives and students from local STEM schools on the importance of Diversity & Inclusion in STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering, and Math) career advancement and pipeline recruitment as a national kick-off to a hands-on experience building apps using MIT’s App Inventor.
“The greatest opportunities in the future will be high-tech jobs in science, technology, engineering and math. Despite this potential, however, STEM fields lack diversity. Only 18 percent of women graduate from college with a computer science degree. For women of color, these numbers are even lower. African-American women make up 3 percent of students graduating with a computer science degree. Latinas and Native American make up less than 1 percent. Despite these troubling statistics, more voices are calling for action to reverse this trend. One such voice is that of Black Girls CODE – a nonprofit that Verizon is proud to partner with in 2015.”
“We have our whole lives to be ordinary, and only a few fleeting moments to be extraordinary”
