http;//Www.theoharlottepost.com
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THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 200d
BUSINESS
PEOPLE OF PROMINENCE
Bryant
Barber a
native
player
Bobcats exec a
longtime
Charlotte
advocate
By Erica Bryant
SPECIAL TO THE POST
LaRita Barber is vice pres
ident for community rela
tions and player develop
ment for Idle Charlotte
Bobcats.
The Charlotte native has
held a number of jobs in the
area, including positions
with the UNC Charlotte
Urban Institute, Queens
College, and the Charlotte
Chamber of Commerce
Barber is one of five hon-
orees for this year’s
Charlotte Post People of
Prominence - Women of
Distinction awards. The
public is invited to attend
the awards ceremony on
May 4 at 6 p.m. at Spirit
Square. Along with the
awards presentation, there
will be an interesting con
versation with the honorees
about their careers, family
life lessons, and passions
outside of work. Attendees
will also have an opportuni
ty to ask questions. Tickets
are on sale now.
Following is an excerpt of
an interview with LaRita
Barber about some of the
secrets to her success,
EB; In aU of your years of
working, what are some
mistakes that you’ve sem
others make that may have
prevented them Sum
achieving the success that
you have?
LB: I never really like to
think of things as mistakes.
I like to think of them as
learning opportunities for
you to grow. It’s a chance to
expand yourself and buQd
your character through
those examples. I would say
as I’ve been in management
and observed managers
around me that I value
management that leads by
sample. I respect manage
ment that sets a good course
for others to foUow, and that
is in tune with the people
involved in the company’s
mission. Mthout the people
or employees and their vest
ed interest, the company is
just a name and a building,
EB: Sometimes people
can get hung up on status
and titles. What are some
misconceptions that people
mi^t have about you and
your job title? What might
they find surprising?
LB: I find that we some
times get caught up in what
people do, and not who they
are. I just want people to
know that I am just LaRita.
I’m a person that tries to do
her best to make a differ
ence, and I’ve got the same
insecurities as everybody
else. But what I have
learned is that I surround
myself with good people, I
am a person of great faith
andbdief I put my trust in
God that whatever I’m
involved in it is according to
His path. I am being
ordered, and that is part of
my purpose. I just try to be
obedient to that piupose.
All of the titles don’t mean
Please see ENERGY/8C
|#0I
PHOTO/WADE NASH
Livingstone College senior Goldie Phillips started Island Flavors, a Caribbean foodservice company, to
pay for tuition for graduate school. Philips is a native of Trinidad and Tobago.
Cooking for tuition
Livingstone scholar turns entrepreneur for grad school
The food
is real
good,
because
Goldie
puts her
love into it.
Masha
Finch on
Livingstone
Coilege
classmate
Goldie
Phillips
By Eric Bozeman
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
Goldie Phillips is cooking
her way to graduate school.
The Livingstone College
senior wants to further her
education in the U.S., so
Phillips decided to bring
Caribbean flavor to the
Salisbury campus by creat
ing Island Flavas, a food-
service startup that pre
pares food and drinks.
She’s using the profits to
pay for graduate school.
‘i just used this as an
opportunity to introduce
my culture,” said PhiUips, a
native of Ttinidad and
Tbbago. ‘T wanted to let
them know about speciali
ties fix)m other islands.”
Phillips is on a fuU schol
arship at Livingstone, but
U.S. immigration law pro
hibits the biology major
fium working while on a
student visa. Financial
help fium her parents was
going to be difficult. So
necessity gave birth to a
culinary idea over the
Christmas break.
“My parents can’t afford
to help me, and anything I
might need after paying for
tuition, room and board
would have to come fium
me,” Phillips said. ‘T saw a
profit the first week, but it
was a small one, then it
started picking up after
that.”
Another reason business
started picking up was the
help Phillips gets from
classmate Marsha Finch.
Finch has noticed the
impact Island Flavas has
had on the students and
faculty
“The food is real good,
because Goldie puts her
love into it,” said Finch, a
student from the U.S.
Mrgin Islands. “Kids in the
U.S. don’t experience island
food, but the majority of
them want to try it, and her
food is so good that differ
ent people ask for her to
cater food over and over
again.
One interesting item that
Please see COOKING^C
Drug maker breaks ground
with race-based treatment
By Mark Jewell
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LEXINGTON, Mass. - After
services at a predominantly black
church in Atlanta, parishioners in
their Sunday best roll up then-
sleeves to get their blood pressure
checked at a health screening
where they learn about symptoms
of heart failure and a new drug
approved only for use in blacks.
At another black church in
Detroit and a black health fair in
Chicago, participants pick up
pamphlets about the drug BiDil
that are filled with patients’ smil
ing black faces - not the usual sea
of white faces with just a smatter
ing of minorities,
hi the nine months since BiDil
became the first drug approved
for a specific racial group,
NitroMed Inc. has been sticking
with narrowly targeted, home-
spun-styie pitches as it tries to
turn aromd disappointing initial
sales that led two top executives
to resign last month.
There’s no plan to abandon
NitroMed’s grassroots-style mar
keting in favor of mass-media ad
campaigns that accompany many
drug launches. Meanwhile,
Nitroaded’s sales force is focusing
only on 144 U.S, metropolitan
areas that have large black popu
lations.
Such targeted marketing
approaches are expected to
become more common as technol
ogy continues to advance so treat
ments are more fi^quently tai
lored to individuals’ genetic make
ups.
“In a sense, BiDil is a trial bal
loon for personalized medicine, ”
said B.J, Jones, NitroMed’s vice
president of marketing.
In the near future, drug makers
could get medications initially
approved for a single racial group
- then eventually seek evmi more
narrow clearance for use among
people with specific gene t3^s,
NitroMed said last month ^at
researchers have identified gene
variations that may determine
which patients are most likely to
benefit fix)m BiDil ■ variations
that aren’t exclusive to blacks,
meaning the drug mi^t someday
be approved for people of other
races as well,
“Race is only a surrogate for
ultimately looking at one’s partic-
Rease see BIDIL/8C
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Black
business
start-ups
grow
Rate is four times national
rate from 1997-2002
By Stephen Ohleraacher
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tlie number of businesses owned by black
entrepreneurs grew more than four times
the national rate for all businesses from
1997 to 2002, the federal govanment said
TliesdayBlack entrepreneurs owned 1.2
million businesses in 2002, an increase of
45 percent fix)m 1997, according to a report
by the Census Bureau.
‘Tf s encouraging to see not just the num
ber but the sales and receipts of black-
owned businesses are growing at such a
robust rate, confirming that these firms are
among the fastestigrowing segments of our
economy” Census Bureau Director Louis
Kincannon said in a statement.
Revenues fiom black-owned businesses
increased by 25 percent during the period,
to about $89 biUion. Overall, black entre
preneurs owned 5 percent of U.S. business
es in 2002, Hispanics owned about 7 per
cent, and women of all races and ethnicities
owned 28 percent, according to the Census
Bureau.
‘T’m proud,” iaid’ Harry Alford, president
and CEO of the National Black Chamber of
Commerce. “We’re the fastest-growing seg
ment.”
Alford said black entrepreneurs have
been helped by improved education levels
and increased incomes among black con-
suma-s and business owners.
‘We’ve got the first generation of signifi-
Please see BLACK/8C
Wachovia
reports higher
1st quarter profit
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Charlotte-based Wachovia - Corp., the
fourth-largest U.S. bank, reported Monday
its first quarter profit rose 7 percent fix)m the
year-ago pmod,' boosted by hi^er overall
revenue and fee income.
Profit rose to $1.73 billion, or $1.09 per
share, for the January-March period fium
$1.62 billion, or $1.01 per share, a year earli
er. Tbtal revenue rose to $7.06 billion firom
$6.47 bOhon in the year-ago period.
‘We continued to see excellent sales pro
duction, top-notch customer service and
market share gains throu^out our busi
nesses,” said Chairman and Chief Executive
Ken Thompson in a statement. ‘We contin
ued to gain leverage fix>m improving our effi
ciency while at the same time investing sig
nificantly for future revenue growth.”
Wal-Mart’s
dilemma: Boost
low-cost model
By Anne D’lnnocenzio
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - After years of accusations
■ that it caused the demise of thousands of
smaller merchants, Wal-Mart Stores Inc, is
undertaking an unusual strategy, helping
competing local establishments stay in busi-
Wal-Mart recasting itself as a fiiendly
neighbor? It’s the latest course change by the
world’s largest merchant as it tries to modify
its corporate culture _ and the p^xeption
that it’s a ruthless competitor obsessed with
maintaining its dominance of the retail
industry
Wal-Mart’s proposal to help rival small
businesses, from bakeries to hardware
stares, focuses on blighted urban markets
where the retailer plans to op^ 50 stores
within the next two years. The efforts will
range firom giving those businesses financial
grants to producing firee radio ads that will
be broadcast on its stores’ radio network.
The image makeover extends to Wal-
Mart’s selling floor as weU. In recent months.
See FAST/8C