00:00When you're a black woman, you have to allow yourself to make the decision when you move and go.
00:05I'm not allowing anybody to make that decision for me.
00:08Did y'all catch that?
00:10It's just true.
00:16Hi guys, I'm Marquita Harris, the Working Money Editor for Essence,
00:19and I'm seated with two amazing, very colorful, beautiful women by my side.
00:24I have Michelle Thornton G.
00:26Michelle is the EVP of Business Development for Endeavor Global Marketing,
00:31and I have Vanita J. Clements, who is the Senior VP of Human Resources for Nationwide.
00:37How did both of you kind of, if you can, dig into the journey of how you got into the roles that you're in now with these amazing companies?
00:44I started with a company in which I was in sales, and I was blowing sales out the water, 200% of objective.
00:52Something happened when I wanted to manage people.
00:55I remember managing people, and they did not care about meeting 200% of the objective.
01:01And so I had to really find out, what is it that you're here for then?
01:04Why did you choose this company?
01:06And I learned that when you get, or when you tap into the motivational triggers for people, that's when they excel.
01:14Okay.
01:14It was then that I moved into Human Resources, and that's been about 20 years ago, and I've never looked back.
01:20What about you?
01:21I had an amazing opportunity to work for Viacom BET Networks and had an opportunity to create the first network for black women, which is BET Her.
01:30And I had done all that.
01:32I don't care how many books you've written or what your title is.
01:35Sometimes you're still invisible.
01:37So I decided that it was time for me to make a move and to go to a powerhouse company.
01:43And I don't believe there's any company more powerful, at least in the entertainment, sports, culture business, than Endeavor.
01:49If you know, we own William Morris Agency, IMG, IMG Sports, but in the center of that sits Endeavor Global Marketing.
01:56So there's this little agency, which is actually 800 people, that actually control the narrative for a lot of clients that we do business for.
02:03So many big brands.
02:03Yeah.
02:03And so we allow them to touch culture in a way that really makes sense.
02:07And I wanted to be on that side of the business.
02:09And the last thing I want to say about this is Sisterhood Matters.
02:11And there's a woman by the name of Bozema St. John, who's our CMO, who's a fair sister herself, and she advocated for me.
02:18And we have to do that for one another.
02:19There is room for more than just one of us.
02:22We have to advocate.
02:22It's a trick when they tell you it's not.
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