"This isn't my first time at this. I've always been that one black kid … I've gotten used to it. I've learned to wear the mask; I've learned to interact. I've learned to be myself, but, at the same time, I've learned how to move among the crowd. So for me, going on the show wasn't any different. It isn't like there were a billion African Americans running around at Goldman Sachs and on Wall Street. For me, being around an all-Caucasian cast was nothing new.
"These are people who don't look like me, don't interact like me, they don't know anything about me or my history, and they don't value it. [...] But if you hammer people over the head enough [with your blackness], you're going to turn people off and people aren't going to want to work with you, and then they will be quick to label you. That's one of the biggest lessons; it pays to get along-to be a team player and build relationships without compromising yourself."
| Two quotes from former investment banker and "The Apprentice" runner-up Kwame Jackson in Kenneth Meeks' Black Enterprise article "Kwame's Take on Corporate America"
posted in articles on April 16, 2004 11:24 AM | t (0)
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