The Exchanges

Q So, so Janice, I read that, um, when you were in high school, your mom and dad decided to send you to a, an all-white high school. You were going to be the first African-American student at that school. What do you remember about, about your first day going in there?

A Well, mom and dad Didn't send me. We decided as a family that that would happen. Our community wanted to have our best and brightest go to the white school to lessen any fear around whether or not the school would, ah, dilapidate in any way by our, ah, attending it, and I was one of the first, and I remember my first day going into my English class, and I thought, oh, English has always been one of my better subjects, and I'm gonna fail because I couldn't understand my English teacher. She had a twang that sounded so different to me from my side of Tarboro. Mind you, we're talking about a distance that I could walk to school from my home. Wow. Uh, but she sounded so different. The communities were truly divided in that way.

AI assessment note: “I remember my first day going into my English class”

Q Did you want to stop going to that school? I mean, I could imagine being a sixteen-year-old, 15, sixteen-year-old kid, and, and feeling that level of hostility, and then hearing a teacher say that, somebody with power to say that,

A I absolutely did want to stop going, and I told my dad I didn't want to go back, and dad gave me three options. He said, you can come back here and compete against other black kids who are going to need scholarships to go to school. He could go up and he could floor the teacher and, ah, seek retaliation. Or I could go back and I could understand, and this is something that if you say to many black people, they will finish this sentence for you. It's not what they call you. It's what you answer to. And that was my first big lesson from dad. That I should not listen to what they called me. I could only be what I answer to in life.

AI assessment note: “I absolutely did want to stop going, and I told my dad”

Q So, so Janice, I read that, um, when you were in high school, your mom and dad decided to send you to a, an all-white high school. You were going to be the first African-American student at that school. What do you remember about, about your first day going in there?

A Well, mom and dad Didn't send me. We decided as a family that that would happen. Our community wanted to have our best and brightest go to the white school to lessen any fear around whether or not the school would, ah, dilapidated in any way by our, ah, attending it, and I was one of the first, and I remember my first day going into my English class, and I thought, oh, English has always been one of my better subjects, and I'm gonna fail because I couldn't understand my English teacher. She had a twang that sounded so different to me from my side of Tarboro. Mind you, we're talking about a distance that I could walk to school from my home.

AI assessment note: “I remember my first day going into my English class”

Q I, I guess at a certain point, this is like, 2007, 2008, you know, your business is worth well over half a billion dollars by that point, And you decide to merge with Bernard's business, with your husband's business. Tell me, why, why did that happen? Did that just, was it just the sort of the natural point to kind of bring your businesses together?

A When Bernie and I were leaving a conference in San Diego, we decided to take the scenic route back to L.A., And we were having a discussion about our children, and I remember my brother had said to me, Carlton had said, you know, Janice, you and Bernie, Have something that nobody else in this industry has, and I asked him what he meant. He said, well, you guys work from completely different sets of strengths, often time, and if you were to combine that, that could be dynamic in the industry, and I thought that was nice, and I mentioned it to Bernie, and Bernie said, that makes sense. I said, but it's not enough to, to, to merge our companies, and we talked more, and then I said, you know, Bernie, I think the thing that would make it interesting for me is that our son not have to decide which one of us he wants to work for, because by then our son was looking at our industry as a future for himself, and he had worked in my company, he had worked in his dad's company as a kid, and I said, Bernie, I don't think he should have to make a choice. And it is a lot better succession planning for us to go ahead and do this now. Let's not have him have to do it later. And that was the decision. That was the thought around how we would blend the companies.

AI assessment note: “our son not have to decide which one of us he wants to work for”

Q Did you want to stop going to that school? I mean, I could imagine being a sixteen-year-old, 15, sixteen-year-old kid, and, and feeling that level of hostility, and then hearing a teacher say that, somebody with power to say that.

A I absolutely did want to stop going, and I told my dad I didn't want to go back, and dad gave me three options. He said, you can come back here and compete against other black kids who are going to need scholarships to go to school. He could go up, and he could floor the teacher and, uh, seek retaliation, or I could go back, and I could understand Understand, and this is something that if you say to many black people, they will finish this sentence for you. It's not what they call you. It's what you answer to. And that was my first big lesson from dad. That I should not listen to what they called me. I could only be what I answer to in life.

AI assessment note: “I absolutely did want to stop going, and I told my dad I didn't want to go back”

Q I mean, can you imagine what your dad would make of this? Like, his daughter running the largest women and minority owned business Of this kind in the world? I mean, what do you think he would, he would say or, or, or think?

A I absolutely can't imagine what dad would say or what dad would think. My dad is the one who told us it was our attitude, not our aptitude. My dad was the one who told us education is freedom. My dad was the one who taught us that we wake up on purpose, you know, and, and, and, and I, I think about him so often, and you can't not think about him when you're with mom. I was, um, voted princess in high school, and I remember asking for a new gown to wear on a float, and dad said, oh, we can't afford it. We worked so hard for you guys, and I remember my mom putting her hand on my dad's hand and said, no, daddy. They called each other mommy and daddy. She said, no, daddy. Don't tell Janice we work hard for our kids. We work hard because of the decisions we made, and I've kept that in my mind as I built my business, and I've made a point never to tell my children. I don't work hard to give them what they want. I work hard because of the decision I've made, you know, and for me, it's a joy. It's a joy to do what I do.

AI assessment note: “I absolutely can't imagine what dad would say or what dad would think.”

Q And that was gonna get you the office, a lease on the office, and I guess a phone. But here's what I'm trying to understand. You're so young, and you just, you essentially just got there. So how did you even start? How did you even find people To, to recruit, to say, hey, I, you know, are you looking for work? I can help you.

A Well, finding people to place was not an issue during that time. Uh, finding the jobs was, and the core of our business remains today as it was when I was one desk, and that's understanding the power of the interview. Understand, I mean, you've talked with me for a few minutes now. You know a lot about me, and you know a lot of resources to go to gain more information, and that's the way the interview worked as well. So, The power of that interview enabled me to make sure that I understood the individual who was looking for work. I knew where they'd already worked. I knew if they were already employed, that once they left, there was going to be an opening there, and because of the rich network that I was able to achieve in the social side of how I lived with my brother and sister, I knew people who were looking for assistance, people who were looking for people to hire, and built it on that. In the early days, I call it the womb, word of mouth baby. I got, I got most of my leads toward opportunities to fill positions, and most of the leads toward applicants by word of mouth.

AI assessment note: “I got most of my leads toward opportunities to fill positions... by word of mouth.”

Q Yeah. And what did you do when you graduated?

A First, I worked in the National Academy of Sciences in Washington DC. I worked there for about a year and a half, and I went home to visit mom and dad, and I remember one morning, My mom and dad, when we were kids, early morning was always their time. I told you dad left to work really early in the mornings, and their date time was early morning, and they dated in the kitchen in the little bay window where she has the table there to this day, and I got up to walk through the hall, and I saw them kissing and hugging just, just like teenagers, and I thought, ooh, you know, I'm an adult by then, right?

AI assessment note: “First, I worked in the National Academy of Sciences in Washington DC.”

Q And that was going to get you the office, a lease on the office, and I guess a phone. But here's what I'm trying to understand. You're so young, and you just, you essentially just got there. So how did you even start? How did you even find people To, to recruit, to say, hey, I, you know, are you looking for work? I can help you.

A Well, finding people to place was not an issue during that time. Uh, finding the jobs was. And the core of our business remains today as it was when I was one desk, and that's understanding the power of the interview. Understand, I mean, you've talked with me for a few minutes now. You know a lot about me, and you know a lot of resources to go to gain more information, and that's the way the interview worked as well, so. The power of that interview enabled me to make sure that I understood the individual who was looking for work. I knew where they'd already worked. I knew if they were already employed, that once they left, there was going to be an opening there, and because of the rich network that I was able to achieve in the social side of how I lived with my brother and sister, I knew people who were looking for assistance, people who were looking for people to hire, and built it on that. In the early days, I call it the womb, word of mouth baby. I got, I got most of my leads toward opportunities to fill positions, and most of the leads toward applicants by word of mouth.

AI assessment note: “I got most of my leads toward opportunities... and most of the leads toward applicants by word of mouth.”

Q Yeah. And what did you do when you graduated?

A First, I worked in the National Academy of Sciences in Washington DC. I worked there for about a year and a half, and I went home to visit mom and dad, and I remember one morning, My mom and dad, when we were kids, early morning was always their time. I told you dad left to work really early in the mornings, and their date time was early morning, and they dated in the kitchen in the little bay window where she has the table there to this day, and I got up to walk through the hall, and I saw them kissing and hugging just, just like teenagers, and I thought, ooh, you know, I'm an adult by then, right?

AI assessment note: “First, I worked in the National Academy of Sciences in Washington DC.”

Q When you were, um, when you were little, did you, would you dream about what you would be when you grew up, or Did you already have big ambitions as a kid, or were they kind of like, yeah, you know, I'll see what happens?

A Now, see, print media was really the thing that taught me so much, and books, print, period. My mom bought encyclopedias, and then she paid them off over time. She also had periodicals that came to our house. There was a magazine called Scipia. There was, Ebony was popular. Jet Magazine was popular back then, and so I knew a lot about the world, and I knew a lot about What black people were doing, and so I had role models who, uh, fulfilled thoughts about what I might do when I grew up, um, but as a very young child, I remember admiring my mom so much, which I continue to do to this day. She, even then, I could sense, even though I couldn't put label to it, was quite an efficient person, and she ran our home like a business.

AI assessment note: “I had role models who, uh, fulfilled thoughts about what I might do”

Q So you married essentially your competitor. How did you keep, like, work and personal life separate?

A My husband and I love each other very much, so definitely we Have rich and open conversations. I think it would be the same as if we had been physicians or scientists. We are going to share a love of the industry and talk about it, and we're still competent, capable people building a business. My husband is a white, European-born man, and I have had instances where there have been inferences in social settings, not ever in business, where people have, oh, you might, you're so lucky you were married to him, you must have learned so much from him. But at the end of the day, I think Bernie, in his best honest conversation, will tell you that he has rather learned a lot from me.

AI assessment note: “We are going to share a love of the industry and talk about it”