AMA Houston Hosts Panel on How Businesses Can Address Systemic Racism in August

Virtual Luncheon Includes Houston’s Grammy-Nominated Hip-Hop Artist Paul Wall; Trill Multicultural Founder Rolando Rodriguez; Founder, President of African American Marketing Association, Line 25 Consulting Michelle Ngome

HOUSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#AMAHouston—AMA Houston, the leading educational information, career-building, and networking resource for Houston’s marketing professionals, today announced that the August Luncheon, “Breaking the System: From the Streets to the C-Suites,” will feature a panel of esteemed Houston business and cultural leaders discussing how to address systemic racism in business. The event will be held virtually Aug. 12, 2020, from 11:45 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The panel includes:

Paul Wall – Grammy-nominated hip-hop artist and Houston cultural icon known as “The People’s Champ.” For more than 20 years, he’s led community programs benefiting Houston’s multicultural population and youth including efforts to provide resources to marginalized communities in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. Wall is a national trustee of the Texas Chapter of The Recording Academy.
Michelle Ngome – Founder and president of the African American Marketing Association and Line 25 Consulting, a marketing firm that focuses on inclusive messaging. She has been featured in Entrepreneur, Inc., Yahoo Finance, Industry Dive, USA Today, and more. She’s the author of “Network, Navigate & Nurture” and “Success Undefined.” In her podcast “Networking with Michelle,” Ngome interviews the world’s most successful thought leaders and influencers.
Rolando Rodriguez – Co-founder of Houston-based Trill Multicultural, a social purpose marketing and communications firm. He also founded and produces “The Activist Bootcamp” web series that guides new activists fighting injustice. For more than 11 years, Rodriguez has weighed in on culture, politics, and music as an opinion contributor at the Houston Press. His thoughts on the dynamics of multiculturalism in Texas have been featured in “Black-Brown Solidarity: Racial Politics in the New Gulf South” and “Hip-Hop in Houston: The Origin and the Legacy.”

The panel will be moderated by Edgardo de la Garza, a professional qualitative moderator and researcher with more than 23 years in the industry. Edgardo is also AMA Houston’s Director of Luncheon Presentations and the event’s coordinator.

“Recent events derived from the tragic death of George Floyd and many others spotlighted a difficult, but long-overdue, conversation about race across the country. While individuals and civil rights organizations are fighting systemic racism in the streets, businesses are searching for ways to address the issue within their own organizations,” said Emily Rhodes, 2020–2021 AMA Houston President. “AMA Houston is honored to bring together this expert panel to discuss the challenges in systemic change, what can be done, and what we can all do to help usher businesses into the new America.”

The AMA Houston August Luncheon is $15 for non-AMA members until Aug. 5 and $20 after. Registration for AMA members is $10 and students are $5. Part of the registration fee will be donated to The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the AMA Gives Back philanthropic program. For more information and to register for the event, visit https://www.amahouston.org/event/august-luncheon/.

The event is presented by sponsor CCR, Creative Consumer Research. In-kind sponsors Video Envy and the Sydenham Clinic are providing video production and the space to hold the event, respectively.

About AMA Houston

AMA Houston is the leading educational information, career-building, and networking resource for Houston’s marketing professionals and has been serving marketing professionals for more than 60 years. AMA Houston is one of the nation’s largest chapters and a repeat Chapter Excellence Award winner including a Silver winner in 2019. To learn more about the AMA or to join Houston’s largest marketing professional organization, visit https://www.amahouston.org/.

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