TELLING OUR STORY Atlanta Business League Podcasts

This podcast is about two legal warriors who have spent the last 30 years protecting the concepts of equity in the courts, through analysis and by helping municipalities create policies that withstand assault.  

Rodney Strong and Delmarie Griffin are also a married couple who have come together from very different backgrounds. 

Delmarie was raised in Columbus, GA and attended an HBCU as an undergraduate and the Un...

This  podcast is a 30 minute history lesson.  

When you listen, you'll hear stories about Black entrepreneurs who lived in  1800s, 1900s and 20th century that will make your jaw drop.  That's because William F. Pickard, Ph.D.  qualifies to be a part of this series for two reasons.  He's a very successful Black business owner  with more than 50 years of experience that includes owning a McDonald's franch...

This is an episode about the second generation of an incredible African American family.   We describe the topics discussed as generational continuance. 

Herman Jerome Russell founded his Atlanta based construction company in 1952.  He made it one of the largest Black owned companies in the United States and then diversified.  He owned a beer distributorship.  He managed real estate and he raised three children with his fi...

Milton Jones, Jr.  is one of the most respected business leaders in Atlanta, GA.  He has a professional history in finance that spans decades and can trace his family tree back generations in Atlanta.  

However, there's one characteristic about him that  almost everyone knows.  Milton's mathematical skills are so formidable that he has a nickname.  He's known as the walking calculator.   It's an attribu...

The most important thing to know about T. Dallas Smith and Leonte Benton is that they are not quitters.  That shared characteristic has allowed them to make history.    T. Dallas broke barriers in commercial real estate by becoming the first African American broker in the Atlanta market and possibly the state of Georgia. He started his career, officially, in 1982 and  immediately learned it’s a very insular business.   He quickly u...

Shirley Clark Franklin is remembered by most people as being the 58th mayor for the City of Atlanta, Georgia.   However, she had more than 20 years in various positions of city government that gave her a firm grasp on organizational structure.  

But her leadership training began much earlier than that.  

Shirley grew up in Philadelphia, PA.  and had unique life experiences.  She spent years training with one of th...

This is a special edition of Atlanta Business League DUOs.  It features interviews from two Herman J. Russell CEO of the Year award recipients and the person conducting both interviews is ABL Chair Emeritus Albert G. Edwards.  

These three men are powerhouse leaders.  

Greer is the Co-President of Greenberg Traurig,  an international law firm that has more than 2,500 attorneys. 

Womack is the Chair, Presi...

Roosevelt Giles could only attend school, as a child, when it rained. Yet, he was such a talented technology person that a Republican billionaire from South Carolina, USA, sought him out and mentored him.  

As a result, Roosevelt became an incredible international business owner with technical skills that were so impressive that he was a keynote speaker at major conferences all of the country.   He sat on stages that also ...

When Andrella Kenner was a little girl her mother exposed her to a series of aviation professionals in  Nashville, Tennessee airport.  That information gave her the foundation necessary to establish an aerospace, information technology and aviation company that operates in three countries and 22 locations. 

What position did Andrella's mother hold at the airport?  She was a waitress.  

This podcast explains h...

There are very lucrative industries that aren't considered glamorous.  The fast food industry falls in that category for most people, but not for Mack Wilbourn, Jr.  He owns an Atlanta, GA based company named Mack II.   It has operated for more than 50 years and has allowed Mack to develop extraordinary business partnerships.  

He is the franchise operator for more than five fast food brands that operate out of Hartsf...

The sale of cars, travel and dealerships has a history in African-American communities that is often ignored or unknown.   That's why the story of Gregory and Juanita Baranco is so inspiring.  They own two Mercedes Benz car dealerships.  One is in one of the ritziest zip codes in Atlanta, Ga and the other is in their home state of Louisiana.  

In this episode of ABL DUOs you will hear stories about three generations o...

This is the final episode created for Black Music Month, which is in June.  This broadcast completes a trilogy of information about the business side of music as experienced by the professionals who are in the industry.  

 Peabo Bryson is unique in this category because, at the time of his interview, he has been a performer for 58 years.  

His life story is fascinating. It also covers a variety of topics which inc...

This episode takes a look at what structured  business planning looks like at the beginning of a person's career in a creative industry.  

This is the story of Jacques and Maretta Johnson; mother and son.   

Jacques, in June 2023, is a 26-year-old musician. He's had a mild degree of success,  has opened for internationally known acts and has his own reality TV program on a local station.   His mother has...

June  is Black Music Month in the United States. 

This episode of LESSONS from LEADERS actually offers a mini-lesson about the music industry from the perspective of a professional who has been able to experience it from two different views.  

Frank Ski is the professional name of a radio personality who has been entertaining  African-American audiences in major markets up and down the East coast for 20 years.   I...

Friendship and respect,  in a challenging academic setting, helped  mold two women into history making captains of industries. 

Before Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice became President and Dean of Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA she studied chemical engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology.  That's where she met Wonya Lucas,  another chem-E student. 

Both were young,  extremely bright African-Ame...

Science and business are not two topics that ordinarily operate in sync.  But this episode of LESSONS from LEADERS focuses on the achievements of an extraordinary man.  
Lonnie Johnson's name might jog something in your memory that makes you smile.  That's because he's the acknowledged inventor of the Super Soaker a powerful water gun that, at one time,  was the best selling toy in the world.  
This podcast a...

This is a story about friendship. 

 Ryan Wilson and T.K. Petersen met each other in college.  However, learning  about their lives before they shared a dorm room on the campus of Georgetown University really helps more people understand why Variety Magazine, INC.,  Wired,  USA TODAY, Bloomberg,  Black Enterprise,   The Guardian, The Root,   All the Fly Kids,   Buzzfeed  and many, many more label them - with astonishment,  ...

This is the story about how a brilliant builder used  the life  gifts of a stable family upbringing, good education,  and both cultural and business mentorship to do more than just benefit himself. 

Egbert Perry L. J. Perry is the dynamic and articulate chair and president of the Integral Group, LLC.  It's described as an Atlanta, GA based  real estate development, advisory, and investment management company.  However...

This episode of ABL DUOs actually aired during one of the Atlanta Business League's signature events, the Super Tuesday conference, in 2021.  The event is the largest gathering of Black business and professionals in the United States. It is an all day conference that has several segments and this Q&A session ran as a 45 minute broadcast.  

The two women who are a part of today's podcast are mold breaking icon...