Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Juneteenth mark's both
Speaker 1: a long, hard night of slavery and subjugation and a
Speaker 1: promise or brady morning to come. This is a day
Speaker 1: of profound in my view, profound weight and profound power
Speaker 1: to day which you remember the moral stain, the terrible
Speaker 1: toll the slavery took on the country and continues to take.
Speaker 1: And that, of course, was just moments ago President Biden
Speaker 1: in the East Room of the White House signing into
Speaker 1: law the eleventh national annual federal holiday in the US. Juneteenth,
Speaker 1: also known as Emancipation Day, a reference to ju E
Speaker 1: sixty five. That's the day when a Union general arrived
Speaker 1: in Galveston, Texas, telling African American slaves at the Civil
Speaker 1: War it was over. They were now free under the
Speaker 1: Emancipation Proclamation, which had been signed two years earlier, back
Speaker 1: in eighteen sixty three by President Abraham Lincoln. Were joining
Speaker 1: us right now is Bloomberg New York Deputy Bureau Chief
Speaker 1: Shartilla Brantley joining us in our Interactive Broker studio. You
Speaker 1: know you do wonder especially after the year that we've had,
Speaker 1: we are having conversations. I had to pause for a
Speaker 1: moment because I was thinking, Chartier, if the last year
Speaker 1: hadn't happened. Uh, And in many ways we wish it
Speaker 1: didn't because of the pandemic, but of course of what
Speaker 1: happened to George Floyd and so many other black Americans. Um,
Speaker 1: but if it hadn't, wouldn't this have happened? And would
Speaker 1: we be having some of the conversations that we're having
Speaker 1: in corporate America, that we're having in the Bloomberg newsroom,
Speaker 1: that we're really having around this country. I don't think so.
Speaker 1: I think we were satisfied with the glacial piece of
Speaker 1: progress that we had been making, and we were okay
Speaker 1: with ignoring the eight hundred pound elephant in the room.
Speaker 1: You know, you have so many conversations as part of
Speaker 1: our Bloomberg Live events. You produce the Equality Summit, you know,
Speaker 1: and you've been doing that for a few years. Here
Speaker 1: has the conversation changed, especially when it comes to corporate America,
Speaker 1: about you know, more inclusion, more diversity, and not just
Speaker 1: talk but actually the walk it really does actually shameless plug,
Speaker 1: we just hosted Corporate mandate for change. Earlier today a
Speaker 1: Bloomberger Quality briefing, and I had the opportunity to speak
Speaker 1: with LEVI CEO chip Berg and his chief Diversity, Equity
Speaker 1: and Inclusion Officer, Elizabeth A. Morrison on just um the
Speaker 1: reckoning that they've had within that organization. And we also
Speaker 1: had the heads of d n I from three M,
Speaker 1: Twitter and Mass Mutual to talk about how their organizations
Speaker 1: have been impacted as well over the past year. You
Speaker 1: talked about a reckoning and LEVI, is that just within
Speaker 1: the management structure? Is it within the employee base or
Speaker 1: a little bit of everything? A little bit of everything.
Speaker 1: I think UM over the past year, companies have had
Speaker 1: to take a serious look at their numbers. And you
Speaker 1: may have diversity in the you know, entry level positions,
Speaker 1: but when it comes to senior management representation, what are
Speaker 1: you doing? And I think companies like LEVI and other
Speaker 1: organizations are taking a step what does our board look like?
Speaker 1: What do our senior ranks look like? You know, you
Speaker 1: can't be what you can't see. What's interesting too? And
Speaker 1: if I look at corporate boards and you know, I
Speaker 1: feel like we went through a period where it was
Speaker 1: the same Black Americans on the same boards, right, rather
Speaker 1: than branching it out. And that's part of it. Right,
Speaker 1: diversity means and inclusion means not just diversity among a few,
Speaker 1: but right really including the population that are such a
Speaker 1: significant part of our country. And we've seen quite a
Speaker 1: few initiatives pop up over the past year, you know,
Speaker 1: or slow Burns and her board Action for Diversity and
Speaker 1: other initiatives have propped up over the past year to
Speaker 1: try to a um educate and major corporations that there
Speaker 1: is a huge pool of executives who of color, who
Speaker 1: are more than qualified to join corporate boards. Well, someone
Speaker 1: taking actions, someone looking to educate, someone looking to help
Speaker 1: and really spread out the wealth in our country is
Speaker 1: none other than singer, songwriter, producer, entrepreneur Pharrell Williams, who
Speaker 1: joins us right now on the phone, joining our own
Speaker 1: Bloomberg New York Deputy Bureau Chief Shartier Brantley. Pharrell, It's
Speaker 1: great to have you here. It's a very significant day
Speaker 1: for this country. Talk to us about hearing about seeing
Speaker 1: about the President put Juneteenth a making it a federal
Speaker 1: holiday here in the United States. Well, of course, as
Speaker 1: an African American and African diaspora. All of our DNA
Speaker 1: is excited. We're very grateful to be recognized on a
Speaker 1: federal level. Um, But there's a lot of there's there's
Speaker 1: so much more work to do. UM. I'm not sure,
Speaker 1: but I think our state was first. Man, Um, it
Speaker 1: would be the first state to do it. But man,
Speaker 1: it's been a long time coming, you know, and for
Speaker 1: so long people have you know, debated as to whether
Speaker 1: you know, it's an either or situation with you know,
Speaker 1: Independence Day. But my ancestors, most like everybody else who's
Speaker 1: African American and people of color here, our ancestors had
Speaker 1: to fight in the war, whether it was on either side,
Speaker 1: they had to do it. Um. But they were not free,
Speaker 1: and nor were white women, and nor were lgbt q
Speaker 1: I a like. Essentially, no one was free, accept our
Speaker 1: our white brothers at the time, you know. Um, But
Speaker 1: this was America, and America was trying to figure out
Speaker 1: what it wanted to be. And once they made that decision, Um,
Speaker 1: it took a very long time for us to be emancipated.
Speaker 1: And for so long that day of emancipation for us,
Speaker 1: which was such a joyous day, Uh, we go ignored
Speaker 1: like it was something that was seen as like some
Speaker 1: sort of like divisive thing, but it's really not. Um,
Speaker 1: it happens to be our history. And for us to
Speaker 1: be free, everybody's free. It's like we talk about liberty
Speaker 1: in our pledge, but even if we're really going to
Speaker 1: use that word, then everyone in this nation needs to
Speaker 1: be free. Everyone. So it was a good day. It
Speaker 1: was when I say that I'm in Americans. By the way, well,
Speaker 1: you're being inclusive, which is wonderful. And that's what this
Speaker 1: is about. For rell, Why has our history become so
Speaker 1: controversial as of late and what does today's uh, you know,
Speaker 1: the President Biden signing this into law, does it increase
Speaker 1: the much needed conversations we need to bring us all together,
Speaker 1: because you can't move forward if you don't know where
Speaker 1: you've been, right right, Well, I mean there are those
Speaker 1: who just don't know the history, and then there are
Speaker 1: people who know the history but don't want to hear
Speaker 1: about it. Um. And then there are people who would
Speaker 1: like for other people to not know the history. And
Speaker 1: then there's a lot of people who want people to
Speaker 1: really understand the history. Um. You know, we're on Bloomberg
Speaker 1: right right right now, right, you are and do you
Speaker 1: all know you know this this place that everything is
Speaker 1: where everything is traded, right, you know this place Wall Street?
Speaker 1: Do you know the history of Wall Street? Yes, you're
Speaker 1: talking about you do. The first commodity that was ever
Speaker 1: traded on Wall Street? Slave trading? Is that what you're referencing.
Speaker 1: I can't yes, I can't hear you. Oh I said
Speaker 1: slave trading, right, because that's what they needed to stand
Speaker 1: against the wall. And there's a lot of people that
Speaker 1: don't understand that or know that. Um. And and there's
Speaker 1: so much more, I mean, you know, and there's so
Speaker 1: many that and I don't want us to get off
Speaker 1: of the beautifu full celebration that is on teeth and
Speaker 1: and and what our president was able to do today
Speaker 1: and what by the way, the Senate and the House
Speaker 1: and we needed them both everybody unanisments that unanimously voted
Speaker 1: and and uh, I thought that was a very beautiful thing.
Speaker 1: It's such a it's a great gesture and such a
Speaker 1: great step in the right direction. But again, we have
Speaker 1: a lot more to go. There was there was some
Speaker 1: delay between us, and I couldn't hear what you all
Speaker 1: were saying. But it's just there's so much um and
Speaker 1: I see I see critical race theory being like um,
Speaker 1: you know, I see it being question I see it
Speaker 1: being debated, and I see it see it being vilified.
Speaker 1: But why would you not want people to know the
Speaker 1: history of our country in order for us to move
Speaker 1: forward like that is like the natural thing for us
Speaker 1: to do is to understand, you know, like celebrate our
Speaker 1: difference versus being afraid of them. You know, celebrate our
Speaker 1: stories and um and and and and and try to
Speaker 1: get bluff of healing. Are you concerned that in terms
Speaker 1: of as you said, this was an important day, but
Speaker 1: you don't want this to be necessarily a distraction, right,
Speaker 1: There's still a lot of work to do. Shartie and
Speaker 1: I were talking before we got going with you, for all,
Speaker 1: is that we look around corporate boardrooms and they're still
Speaker 1: not really diverse, or the c suite isn't still really diverse.
Speaker 1: So we've had a lot of conversations again in the
Speaker 1: past year. What do you see from some of the
Speaker 1: work that you're doing, are having an understanding of being
Speaker 1: a black American that what really needs to be done
Speaker 1: to make significant change so that there you know, we're
Speaker 1: not talking about d n I, we're actually having it
Speaker 1: done and seeing it done well. So firstly, we have
Speaker 1: a jiltee pledge UM, and it would be great to
Speaker 1: have all of the fortune five hundred you know, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, all of the bigger corporations assignment UM and
Speaker 1: make sure people have a pay holiday or at least
Speaker 1: like a skeleton they are ghost day where they can
Speaker 1: figure out what they want to do with to day
Speaker 1: but still UM paid for it. There are Americans, right
Speaker 1: and Juneteenth is now in American federal holiday. UM. But
Speaker 1: what we're what I'm doing specifically as it pertains to
Speaker 1: like the UM, the disparity and the disproportioned access to
Speaker 1: education health UH and health care UM and legislation is
Speaker 1: Black ambition and Black ambition. It's a prize that we
Speaker 1: put together so a five or one C three that
Speaker 1: we work in partnerships with the historic black colleges and
Speaker 1: universities to find more UM, black and Latin X entrepreneurs. Now,
Speaker 1: why did we do that because if you look at
Speaker 1: the American pie chart, like we don't own enough things
Speaker 1: out there right where you find people in communities that
Speaker 1: own things their children actually have great acts health care,
Speaker 1: education and legislation. So in order us to have a voice,
Speaker 1: we've got to own more things. UM. And it wasn't
Speaker 1: just Tulsa, Oklahoma that this that this happened too. It's
Speaker 1: happened many, many, many many times. Right. So what we
Speaker 1: want to do is create a level playing field, because
Speaker 1: we think that HBCUs have the most fertile grounds to
Speaker 1: launch such a prize in such as search UM and
Speaker 1: then and then once you win, the coolest part is
Speaker 1: there is mentorship. If you ask the less than three
Speaker 1: percent of the private equity and VC founders, UM, you know,
Speaker 1: of color, what was their biggest hurdle? You think it
Speaker 1: was the capital. Capital is hard, but what's even harder
Speaker 1: as mentorship. It's like, you know, it's like giving a dirt,
Speaker 1: you know, a motorcycle to you know, a really excited
Speaker 1: twelve year old without training wheels or any kind of
Speaker 1: practice or any kind of UM schooling or tutelage. That's
Speaker 1: what we want to do is make sure that like
Speaker 1: when these people who have a good idea UM but
Speaker 1: may not have the business acumen, this has given them
Speaker 1: the advice to make sure that like their idea actually
Speaker 1: can take off. I know that you launched this initiative
Speaker 1: back in December, and you're targeting you know, startups and
Speaker 1: black and Latin X entrepreneurs within consumer products and services, design, healthcare,
Speaker 1: UH and tech. UM. I was on your website and
Speaker 1: it said that National Demo Day is scheduled for next month.
Speaker 1: How many of these entrepreneurs will be making presentations. There's
Speaker 1: a lot. There's a whole, whole whole lot. I can
Speaker 1: also tell you the numbers were crazy. UM. What I've
Speaker 1: tried to do, UM is get out of the way.
Speaker 1: I'm a galvanizer. This is something that I knew needed UM,
Speaker 1: But I'm not one of those like you know, celebrity
Speaker 1: people who are like, man, I'm like right in the
Speaker 1: middle in the front of this because one, yes, I'm
Speaker 1: an entrepreneur, but as it pertains to like training these
Speaker 1: people and mentoring these people for what it is that
Speaker 1: they need. We wanted to make sure that, like, UM,
Speaker 1: this was in a true real partner with the g
Speaker 1: bc US, because there's a lot of talent that come
Speaker 1: out of there and they don't really get the love
Speaker 1: and the light and the shine that they deserve. So
Speaker 1: this is not like something where like I am like
Speaker 1: the Griffin on the ship. UM. If anything, it's just
Speaker 1: the black ambition that is. I don't know if that's
Speaker 1: answering your question, but I just wanted to just tell
Speaker 1: you like it does. Well, I'm a proud graduate and
Speaker 1: I don't want to be I said, I'm a proud
Speaker 1: graduate of a historically black college and university. I graduated
Speaker 1: from Albany State University in Georgia. And one thing I
Speaker 1: do want to say, UM mentioning about black ambition. I
Speaker 1: see you partnered with some major organizations such as the
Speaker 1: Rockefeller Foundation, Adidas, UH, the chan Zuckerberg Initiative UM, and
Speaker 1: Ron Conway as the Angel. Was it um a challenge
Speaker 1: bringing these big names together for this endeavor. Well, let
Speaker 1: me just tell you Ron Conway, and that's the Angel
Speaker 1: where he was the first one. It was on his
Speaker 1: birthday last year. I had a conversation with him at
Speaker 1: a dinner and he, you know, he stopped what he
Speaker 1: was doing and he got his falled out and he's
Speaker 1: got a piece of paper and literally he started working
Speaker 1: right there at that table, and honestly the rest has
Speaker 1: been history. He called Willis Selden, African American partner at
Speaker 1: Bridge Fan UH to come on board to help us
Speaker 1: architect this thing. And she put together one of the
Speaker 1: most amazing, comprehensive, mostly female uh a mostly female team.
Speaker 1: It's one of the most amazing processes I've ever seen
Speaker 1: in my life. You realize that these five are one
Speaker 1: C three's are are just like any other art like
Speaker 1: it is it is, it's comprehensive, and these people are
Speaker 1: real true architects, UM. And you know, Ron started picking
Speaker 1: up the phone and everyone answers the phone for him.
Speaker 1: He's a very smart man and he's lent his time,
Speaker 1: his likeness, and his resources to a lot of great causes.
Speaker 1: And I literally got a chance to watch this man work,
Speaker 1: UM because he really believed uh in black ambition. And
Speaker 1: so it hasn't been that hard. I mean, we've raised
Speaker 1: a lot of money UM, north of north of fifty
Speaker 1: million dollars and we're not gonna stop because it won't
Speaker 1: it won't matter less than a year. It won't matter
Speaker 1: if the minorities and we're not really minorities, but the
Speaker 1: minorities in this country, you know, have an equitable opportunity
Speaker 1: to own and to and and by the way, not
Speaker 1: just own, but also senior leadership position. Something else that
Speaker 1: you talked about, like we need that, we need the diversity.
Speaker 1: That's what America really and truly looks like. And what
Speaker 1: and and and to go back to your other question
Speaker 1: about whether it was hard or not, you know a
Speaker 1: lot of these big corporations realized, like these that that
Speaker 1: their consumer base votes by their purchases. You know, they
Speaker 1: vote with their credit cards. So it's like they got
Speaker 1: to make these decisions. They have to make these changes
Speaker 1: because if not, people go to their competitor or they
Speaker 1: create their own right for you make a really good point,
Speaker 1: and Bloomberg has done a lot of reporting about this,
Speaker 1: that this isn't an income story. It's about being able
Speaker 1: to acquire wealth. And Black Americans haven't had the same
Speaker 1: opportunity when it comes to homes. They haven't had the
Speaker 1: same access when it comes to the establishment in the
Speaker 1: financial community. Do you fault and and and does the
Speaker 1: traditional financial community still continue not to embrace minority communities. Sure,
Speaker 1: but that's just because they don't The ones that do that,
Speaker 1: they don't understand us, you know, they just think that
Speaker 1: we are consumers. They have no idea that we are
Speaker 1: so contributors. We are all co creators. Right, We're made
Speaker 1: in God's image, or at least in the universe's image,
Speaker 1: Like we're all co creators, and they just gotta come
Speaker 1: around and seeing that, right, And so until they do,
Speaker 1: we're gonna we're gonna flex our you know that word flexure.
Speaker 1: We're gonna flex our black ambition. This is this is
Speaker 1: what it's about. And if you love us, man, it's
Speaker 1: just like June tenth. If you love us, then you
Speaker 1: know that that's like a pledge that your cooperation should
Speaker 1: be a part of, or your small business to be
Speaker 1: a part of. If you love us, you see that black.
Speaker 1: You said that black colors are very interesting color because
Speaker 1: they like black glasses, black dresses, black shoes, black cars,
Speaker 1: black tent, black remote controls, like black everything, black leather,
Speaker 1: black jackets. But when it comes to the people, there's
Speaker 1: an issue. You like black food, you like black dancers,
Speaker 1: You even like black sling. You know, all the companies
Speaker 1: give you swag. Now listen, and we love you for that.
Speaker 1: But you gotta love us back, because at night, when
Speaker 1: you up open to that sky, I don't care what
Speaker 1: color your eyes are. You see a lot of black.
Speaker 1: There's nothing wrong with that color. And it's a lot
Speaker 1: good with us. So it's time, well, has something much
Speaker 1: we love you back? Has something changed in the past year.
Speaker 1: Is the conversation different? Is it the recognition different? Do
Speaker 1: you think that's a different conversation altogether. I'm just working
Speaker 1: on the front lines ofism. But there's there's a lot
Speaker 1: going on in the background, and I know you all
Speaker 1: see it. There's a lot. The world a very different
Speaker 1: place when you think about the fact that like everything
Speaker 1: is in the air, all the information is in the air, right,
Speaker 1: this is definitely the age of Aquarius. This is where
Speaker 1: I get a little weird. Um, but everything is and
Speaker 1: you know, more people are work working remotely. I mean
Speaker 1: the new phenomenon of companies saying hey, okay, so finally
Speaker 1: we need you to come in, and people go, I'm
Speaker 1: really sorry. You know, I moved to like Florida during
Speaker 1: the pandemic, or I moved to Austin during the pandemic.
Speaker 1: And companies are having to change their operation hours and mandates,
Speaker 1: uh because they don't want to lose the talent to
Speaker 1: their competition. And you know what, the workers now know that.
Speaker 1: So we are in a different time. You know, it's
Speaker 1: it's different It's like, yeah, we have an offline life,
Speaker 1: but your online life, that's life, and that has a
Speaker 1: tremendous effect, a trickle down and domino effect on everything.
Speaker 1: Every every sub talk about is being affected by that,
Speaker 1: including race relations, including citizenship. You know what these companies
Speaker 1: have to realize right now, this is what you have
Speaker 1: to ask yourself if you're a company, Um, will you
Speaker 1: accept a black dollar? Sure? Okay? Will you will you
Speaker 1: accept a transgender dollar? Now? Some of them will pause
Speaker 1: for a second, but they say, okay, yeah, right, would
Speaker 1: you steven undocumented workers dollar? They really pro paused for
Speaker 1: a second, but then they say yeah. But then the question,
Speaker 1: the real question, real question, and I'm done, sorry, the
Speaker 1: real quick apologize. It's can your business survived without the
Speaker 1: black dollar? Can your business vibe without the lgbt q
Speaker 1: y A dollar? Can your business survive without the undocumented
Speaker 1: workers dollar? That is the new question. This is where
Speaker 1: we are now, so Farrell and our remaining moments, where
Speaker 1: do we go from here? Juneteenth is now federal holiday, um,
Speaker 1: but we still did not have the George Floyd Justice
Speaker 1: and Policing Act, um, you know past for an example,
Speaker 1: So where should we focus our attention and energy at
Speaker 1: this time and forgive her. It's a big question, but
Speaker 1: we've only got unfortunately about fifty seconds left here. That's okay.
Speaker 1: It was a universal question. So the answer is, just
Speaker 1: like the universe, the universe growing in all places, all
Speaker 1: at the same time. We need work in all places
Speaker 1: at the same time. We need improvement. That's my black
Speaker 1: ambition doing better. Hey, listen, Thank you so much, Pharrell.
Speaker 1: I really appreciate it. Pharrell Williams of course UH singer, songwriter, entrepreneur,
Speaker 1: producer joining us. UH there from UH. I believe he
Speaker 1: was on the West Coast, and UH of course our
Speaker 1: own Bloomberg News New York Deputy Bureau Chief Shartilla Brantley,
Speaker 1: a really thoughtful conversation. To really appreciate it.