- 2 months ago
Conversation with leading industry experts on the digital landscape
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00I think entrepreneurship is true passion, true determination, and true grit. You know,
00:11I can't imagine a world without people who are brave enough and who have the courage to go out
00:16and start their own businesses. We need every single one of them. Entrepreneurship is being
00:22determined, being an innovator, never taking no for an answer, and being a true embodiment of the
00:29phrase, what's the best for you? Entrepreneurship is joy. It is the satisfaction in knowing that I
00:37can pave the way for my career and my future. It is also showing my son that he can be his own boss
00:45as well. Entrepreneurship is seeing things before other people see them and being stubborn enough
00:53to dream into action. Hello, everyone. My name is Tina Eskridge, and I'm a Senior Director of Marketing
01:00at Microsoft, and I'm so excited to be here today. With me, I have three outstanding women who each
01:07have a very distinct lens on digital transformation and what that means for any entrepreneur in this
01:12new world that we're living in. First, I'd like to start by introducing each of our esteemed
01:16panelists. Amy Cisse is the founder of Cisse IT Solutions, which provides customized technology and
01:23IT solutions, web application consulting services, and training for other companies that need assistance
01:29improving their business models and processes. Next up, we have Samantha Thompson, who is a digital
01:34marketing and search engine strategist who works with some of the world's top retailers with expertise
01:39in Microsoft Ads, Google Ads, and more. And last but not least, we have Sandy Castro, who is a president
01:46and co-founder of IC Stars, an innovative training nonprofit that prepares underserved young adults for
01:53technology careers and community leadership. Sandy has a long track record of designing interactive programs
01:59and experiential learning modules for over 70 schools. She is on the board of Chicago Innovation Awards and has been
02:05recognized by the Chicago Community Trust, Chicago United for Equity, and the Rainbow Push Coalition.
02:12So first and foremost, I'd like to thank each of you for being with us today. I'm so excited to have you.
02:19And first, I want to start about thinking about this one quote. There's a quote that I love that says,
02:25when your why is big enough, you will find your how. And I think each of you embody that as entrepreneurs and business professionals.
02:31So before we get into our lightning round of questions, I'd love to hear a little bit more about each of you
02:37in your own words and what it means to plan for success.
02:41In the IT industry, we always have to learn new skills. And I think that when you have that level of flexibility,
02:49it's important to have your plans and it's certainly important to have your goals set up.
02:55But I also think that it's very important to be adaptive, especially as it relates to learning new skills.
03:02When circumstances change, you're able to kind of keep pushing forward in order to survive the unexpected events of life.
03:12Awesome. Thank you, Amy.
03:14Yeah. To add on to that, pretty much when I think of planning for success, I think of a couple of things.
03:21You want to be very specific. You want to be intentful.
03:24Make sure that your plans are clear and you know what it means to get there.
03:28You want to stay present. This is something that I'm personally guilty of.
03:32A lot of times we get caught up in these 10 year plans, these quarterly goals.
03:36We forget that there are small things that we can do right now that will make a huge impact.
03:41And then something that is super cliche, but super important is that understanding that failures are OK.
03:48A lot of times, especially in the marketing field, we have to keep testing and learning and repeating.
03:54And what doesn't work isn't a failure, but it's a lesson learned and potentially a solution to a problem you didn't even think of.
04:02So we always value those learnings, even if we fail.
04:06Sandy, what about you?
04:08Yeah, sure. I really believe that leadership is making opportunities for others.
04:15And as entrepreneurs, we're making opportunities for our businesses, for our customers, for our team.
04:22But ultimately, I think we have to think about the long game.
04:26What are we really creating opportunities for?
04:29What is the world that we want to see and be a part of?
04:34And how is it that the work that we do today is working towards that outcome, that goal?
04:41Awesome. I love what each of you have said, particularly about it's OK to fail.
04:46I think people really need to hear that right now and also focusing on the long game and transitioning.
04:52And, you know, we've all had a very long year due to the pandemic.
04:56What has it meant for each of you to pivot in your respective business areas and disciplines?
05:01Yeah, I could answer that question. So like you said, we're in a pandemic.
05:06So between the pandemic, social justice movements, the election, it was a really huge game changer for marketing.
05:14We had to adapt our strategies and we had to adapt them quickly.
05:18Some of the key changes that were made is growing our digital presence when businesses had to close due to lockdown orders.
05:25Online shopping became their sole and primary source of revenue.
05:29So they really had to ensure a very strong digital presence in order to stay competitive.
05:35In some cases, keep their doors open.
05:38Another huge factor that we saw was this emphasis in changing your message to make sure that we're very inclusive.
05:46Brands and businesses had to really embrace inclusive marketing because consumers values have changed.
05:52A lot of things are going on in the world and people want to see ads of people that relate to them and images that they can relate to.
06:00So this was a huge. Those are two huge components that we saw as an after effect because of the pandemic.
06:10So I think for us, we saw a huge surge in training requests and then also the need to use Microsoft Teams from our existing clients and also prospective clients.
06:24We were able to also start offering services around security and compliance so that organizations were more proactive about having security controls in place in order to protect their company data.
06:41I would say that, you know, in March, the whole world got grounded.
06:48And just like when we were kids and we got grounded and we went into our rooms and stomped around and said, it's not fair.
06:56There was that moment when we shifted from being angry and upset to picking up our favorite activity.
07:06Like for me, it was singing into my hairbrush, you know, and like being a famous singer or something.
07:12And that that is the activity that grounded us, that reminded us of who we are.
07:18And I think it's a really great metaphor from going from being grounded to grounding us in what we really stand for.
07:26So we've all been at home. We've all had to pivot in our businesses and work through things.
07:32But along this journey, we have learned so much about who we are and what we stand for and what really grounds us.
07:41And I think that it's such an important thing to think about because, you know, whether it is we're changing our businesses, we're pivoting to meet the market where they are.
07:52It's a time of learning and I'm in the learning business.
07:56And so we've certainly had to pivot and become all virtual and figure out how to teach transformation without hugs.
08:06You know, but I think that the bottom line is it's a time for learning.
08:14And so getting certifications, get upskilling, learning new tools is more important than ever.
08:21It's our it's our hairbrush.
08:24Yeah, absolutely. I totally agree with you.
08:27I'm going to pivot a little bit. And, Amy, I want to talk to you a little bit more about your business, CSA IT Solutions.
08:33You discovered your true passion a while ago and you've had 15 years or more of experience in the IT space.
08:41But you discovered that you wanted to work one on one with clients to understand their specific needs and develop these customized IT solutions.
08:48Tell me about your experience with the Black Channel Partner Alliance and how this impacted your business.
08:54Sure. So we have had a few partner company relationships through IMCP, which is Microsoft's channel partner network, who have brought us into larger deals.
09:04Most notably, BizTech Fusion has been really great about bringing us into numerous deals over the years.
09:11And these relationships have helped us to generate B2B leads and create direct revenue streams for our company.
09:18IMCP created a new ecosystem recently to support black businesses called the Black Channel Partner Alliance.
09:27The Alliance wants to support 100 black owned partners by adding 100 million dollars of net new revenue at 800 new tech jobs and provide support for 1000 digital transformations to nonprofits focused on providing services to the black community.
09:46That's awesome. That is really, really wonderful.
09:50One of the things that I've been thinking about is, you know, we have plenty of entrepreneurs on this call and in this session.
09:59And of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that many of them may not be in tech or may not see themselves as tech businesses.
10:08So what would your advice be to those businesses and why should female entrepreneurs specifically think about digitally transforming transforming or reinventing their business models?
10:21I think it's all about efficiency. I don't believe that a business can really grow and be sustainable with manual tedious processes.
10:31We are working with a fitness instructor right now and just looking into the processes for sending online meeting invitations, sharing a fitness schedules and electronic payment collections.
10:42I think that sometimes smaller companies are discouraged by the fees for payment processing or buying digital products.
10:50But if you have a business, I always say don't make it hard for people to pay you.
10:55There's plenty of different systems out there and creative ways to account for those costs.
11:01But the solution is never to make it more difficult for the client experience.
11:06Thank you, Amy. Samantha, what about you? What are your thoughts on helping businesses, particularly in this pandemic, as they pivot around their advertising?
11:16You mentioned some of the things that you've learned on your journey this year.
11:20Yeah. So basically, like some of the stuff that I was talking about earlier where, you know, we had to change that message,
11:30make sure that, you know, people are seeing things that are relatable, but you don't want it forced at the same time.
11:37You know, when things are forced, it comes across as offensive.
11:42So those are the huge trends that we saw in marketing where making sure that your message is customer centric and that there's no room for anything else except what is valued by them.
11:54And of course, making sure that you're available online any way possible.
11:58So if that's through Microsoft advertising search ads or the shopping product ads or even some native display ads,
12:06you want to be able to reach those customers at every point of their every point of their journey,
12:14because now, you know, people are online and it's not going to change.
12:18People are going to stay shopping and browsing for businesses and researching online.
12:25I totally agree. I think this is, you know, some people are calling it the new normal.
12:30I don't know what to call it, but here here is where we are. Right.
12:34Sandy, I you know, I think we often forget that a large percentage of entrepreneurs are actually nonprofits.
12:41They're not always for profit businesses.
12:43So can you tell me a little bit more about your journey in creating IC stars and the importance of learning new skills, particularly digital skills?
12:52Yeah. So, you know, we founded IC stars in 20 years ago.
12:58I was five.
13:03And if you remember, 20 years ago, from a technology standpoint, things are really different.
13:09Like not everyone had cell phones. There was no Facebook. There was it was it was a very different world and there were dot coms everywhere.
13:16So there was a real need for technology talent because everyone needed a website.
13:22And and I love technology because it's creative.
13:26It shouldn't matter what you look like.
13:28It can be a meritocracy and larger still.
13:33I love the the systems thinking and the process and methodology that's embedded in doing technology work.
13:41And so for me, this was a no brainer. Right.
13:45Right. We can teach people programming skills, technology skills, and at the same time, use that systems thinking and the ability to solve problems and build solutions to also develop community leaders.
14:02So what if we were the ones that solve the problems and build the solutions in our communities?
14:07All at the same time, we're doing technology work and building the systems for businesses and to help our end users.
14:14And so that's really how I see stars was born, like putting this both pieces together, the learning of technology for low income young adults and the recognition and celebration of the resiliency and brilliance of the same young adults who are coming from low income backgrounds.
14:35And so we started in 2000 with our first cohorts and here we are 20 years later.
14:42And I'm really proud to say that we've we've had alums go out and start their own businesses, 57 businesses to be exact.
14:51We, you know, have over 70 homeowners who are buying homes in the community that they came from because we asked the question, what if we determine success not by getting out of the hood,
15:04but by investing back in, how would that change things?
15:08And so every cohort we work with different corporate partners to sponsor a project and build solutions and we learn in a project based learning environment.
15:18And it's a four month boot camp, super intense, 12 hours a day.
15:23But I think that having that experience that is so all encompassing really helps us see ourselves in a different way, see ourselves as technologists, as consultants and as future entrepreneurs.
15:38So awesome.
15:39And I'd like to say thank you for partnering with Microsoft as well, because we really appreciate it.
15:45I know we are up on time, but I wanted to ask if any of you have any parting words of wisdom for this audience of entrepreneurs, because, you know, I certainly have valued your commentary thus far.
16:00I know you have tons and tons of experience between you.
16:03Is there anything else that we didn't touch on that you'd love to impart before we go?
16:08Like I said earlier, consumers values change for good and their behaviors change for good.
16:14This is our new normal.
16:16I think it's estimated about 70% of consumers are going to shop online even after the pandemic is done.
16:23So it's really important to embrace these technologies like Microsoft advertising or learning some of other cloud solutions or ways to make your business efficient.
16:32But shifting to digital is no longer like an option.
16:36It's more a way to survive now.
16:38Thank you, Samantha.
16:41It's a great time for learning, regardless of how our businesses are doing.
16:46You know, we can never lose when we're learning.
16:54And one of the aspects of our partnership with Microsoft that I'm so proud of is the Global Skilling Initiative and all the ways that Microsoft is making learning easy and clickable and powerful.
17:09And so, you know, get your power on and continue to challenge yourself to learn new things, especially digitally.
17:18Awesome. Amy, anything for you?
17:21There's lots of online resources out there for learning and growth.
17:25LinkedIn Learning has great resources.
17:28And so I would definitely encourage everyone to embrace technology, not be afraid of technology.
17:35During the pandemic, I've talked to a lot of my teacher friends and I definitely have also even provided support because I love technology so much.
17:45So on a weekend, I'm perfectly fine with saying, let's get together and, you know, figure out how to use this technology because you can really see true value in it.
17:54And it is also self gratifying when you can figure out how to make your life easier using technology.
18:01Thank you so much.
18:03And you all put that so well.
18:05And Sandy, I love to get your learning on power on.
18:09I would just want to say thank you to each one of you for your wisdom today.
18:13I also want to tell the audience, if you're looking for more tools and resources, we have plenty of them.
18:19I know there's lots to choose from.
18:21You can go to ads.microsoft.com.
18:23You can also go to aka.ms forward slash partner growth so that you can learn more about these black partner initiatives that we have within the company.
18:34And we'll see you soon.
18:35Hopefully.
18:36Take care.
18:37Take care.
18:38Take care.
18:44Take care.
18:53Take care.
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