CAROLINA ALBANSTOUGHTON
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATION & ENGAGEMENT
CARLSBAD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Last month, our Chamber took a stand rejecting any form of racism or exclusion and denouncing the discrimination that the black community has endured for years. We were intentional in making sure this statement did not just live on our social media channels and our website. Instead, we truly wanted to bring people together who had expressed their desire to learn more about the issues affecting our African-American members, family and friends.
We reached out to a member of our Board of Directors, Sr. Director of Engineering at Walmart Labs, Claude Jones, to help shape an event to encourage our members to learn about issues facing the black community with an open heart. We created a virtual panel discussion called “The Black Experience in Business” focused on understanding the obstacles and biases that African – Americans experience during their journey towards entrepreneurship. Jones kindly agreed to be the moderator. “I was both excited and nervous going into the event. Excited because we had a nice turnout and I felt the topic and the information that was going to be shared was important and there was high interest from the community. I was nervous because I was not sure how people would accept the information being shared,” said Jones. For the event, we also reached out to three of our most involved members, CEO of ALLMaven, Alex Renée, CEO of Sparkle Freshness, Stephanie Barneburg and Owner and CEO of Au Technology Solutions, Kevin Clemons. The event was one of our most attended events since we went online, with overwhelming interest from our business community to have an open conversation and reflect.
“An excellent conversation about generational growth inherited wealth and more importantly learning about money and how to leverage the information and knowledge that many underserved communities experience,” said Director of Business Development, College of Business Administration at California State University San Marcos, Miguel A. De Jesus. “I enjoyed the collaboration and shared experiences. Everyone has a different journey / experience even on the same road,” said Barneburg as she reflects about her experience as a panelist.
The hour-long event had to be prolonged as people decided to stick around to share their thoughts. This was precisely Clemons’ highlight of the event. “I believe the glowing support and love from the community during the open conversation afterwards was my favorite.”
The positive feedback we got from the event has been overwhelming, with members hoping for a Part II, which we are working on with details coming soon!
In addition to continuing our conversations about race and injustice, the Chamber will continue to find ways in which meaningful action can lead to change. As an example, our President & CEO, Bret Schanzenbach has officially added June 19, also known as “Juneteenth” as a paid holiday for Chamber staff, in order to celebrate the achievements of the black community, while recognizing the present struggles and how much more work there needs to be done. “In all honestly, I would not be surprised to see this become an official national holiday soon. But whether it does or not, we will honor this day as long as I am fortunate enough to lead the Carlsbad Chamber.”
For those who missed our virtual discussion “The Black Experience in Business” you can find it on the Chamber’s YouTube channel: www. youtube.com/watch?v=rwtle7x0Ync&t=8s