I don’t get warm and fuzzy feelings about any celebration that tends to commodify culture.
I do get them when words are put into action.
As a capital and business advisor, I obligate myself to help underserved, and under-represented competent stakeholders get access to capital and leadership positions whenever I can.
It is why I always make myself available to @USC Ross Program In Real Estate and @University of Southern California – Marshall School of Business alums who need mentoring or access to whatever my Rolodex will allow.
Currently, I am negotiating to win an assignment that will assemble capital for a several hundred-million-dollar redevelopment project in a primary market.
The market is Hispanic and Latino.
The first thing my business partner and I said was, “We need to ensure a capable stakeholder that looks like and knows the community is leading the pack, even if the larger, institutional check writers like the #Blackstone’s of the world join the party afterward.”
Words matter, but only when your actions follow through.
“What one does is what counts. Not what one had the intention of doing” – Pablo Picasso
