1.       What drew you to this region?  

I was born and raised in St. Louis.  I left when I was 17 years old to attend Purdue University and from there spent a short time working in Atlanta followed by nearly 10 years in Silicon Valley.  I was drawn back to St. Louis by the professional opportunity that presented itself with Kwame Building Group and the opportunity to raise my family near their extended family.
 
2.       What is the best piece of sales advice you’ve received? 

Sales is 80% listening and 20% talking.  Often sales people are so passionate about their product/service/solution that they reverse the ratio and never truly understand the needs of their client.
 
3.       Can you offer any sales tips for young professionals?  

Listen more…talk less!
 
4.       What is your greatest accomplishment at KWAME?  

I don’t know that I, individually, have had any accomplishments at KWAME.  We recently won a significant project with a new client in a new geographic market.  It would be disingenuous for me to take full credit for this accomplishment and would unfairly minimize the contributions of our extremely talented team.  Everything that we do is around collaboration and diversity of ideas in order to ensure that we are in position to bring the greatest value to our clients.  I am extremely proud of all that we have accomplished over the past 23 years and truly excited about the many things we will accomplish in the future.
 
5.       What is one way St. Louis can attract and maintain new young professionals?  

Young professionals are looking for opportunities – opportunities for professional growth, personal development, financial reward.  Young professionals what to be part of something that is bigger than themselves and certainly bigger than a paycheck.  I am excited by the energy that is beginning to gather in St. Louis around the start-up community, CORTEX, etc.  As a business community, we have to continue to make these opportunities available within our organizations, support entrepreneurs within our community, and engage these young professionals as an integral part of improving our community.