Hello All:
Once
in a while, I highlight a brother or sister who is doing something
positive that we should know about. April Robbin-Bobyn is one such
person - this is a combination interview and conversation. It turns out
that we had so many things and acquaintances in common, it was almost
as though we were running in concentric circles. April is doing so many
wonderful things, it would take a compendium to adequately cover the
scope of her abilities - especially since she continues to grow and
broaden her capacity.
April
Robbin-Bobyn, founder of ARB Consulting Group, LLC has enjoyed over 20
years of success in the as an event planner, fund raiser, and program
consultant. Takes a lot to be an entrepreneur – especially
a successful one. Most of us - especially yours truly - needed our 9
to 5 dailies. So April Robbin-Bobyn is to be highly commended, especially
working in an highly competitive industry that is so people oriented, and subject to whims and trends.
But
she doesn't see her choice to start her own business as an either/or situation, saying, “It's
interesting because it all kind of blends together. Every
project that I've done, every person that I've worked with has
actually been a stepping stone; definitely a benefit, an addition to
my skill sets and my resources for today. It's been a very
interesting ride. And it's afforded me to meet so many different
people. And, in general, it's scary, no doubt. Gotta eat, gotta
live. But it's empowering when you're working under your own steam.”
She
attributes her success to her love of production. “I love the art
of putting things together!” she stated, ethusiasticaly. “I
was immersed in the advertising business. Started with Lockhard and
Pettus. During the time I was there I started various projects and
became very interested and enthused with the projects they gave me.
I got all this latitude to be creative, and really started creating
projects for them. One
of the more famous was KID'S
WITNESS NEWS, where kids had to
create news, and we showed who was going to win the contests." That
was over 20 years ago when there was still Phil Donahue, Montel
Williams, Sally Jesse Raphael and Joan Rivers talk shows. "KID
WITNESS NEWS was so brilliant. They created children's books at
the early stage, which drew me to it. I was also working with Black
Expo USA, started by Jerry Roebuck and Jesse Bozeman. The whole
structure of their format in business was very unique, but has served
as a template for Circle of Sisters – also held at the piers
– and many others."
After several years on hiatus, Black Expo
USA is actually starting up again. The first revamped exposition
was recently held in Atlanta, GA. "The
Black Expo USA
was definitely a jumping point and a marketing tool for so many. The
year I started with them, Reggie Hudlin had just finished HOUSE
PARTY. And he and his brother,
Warrington (of the Hudlin Brothers Productions), bought a booth and
were literally showing trailers of HOUSE
PARTY. When you look at how many
people utilized it, and where they are now, you look at the fact
that where they started is the Black Expo. It's amazing!"
ARB
Consulting Group also worked with New York State Governor David
Paterson.
“I knew David when he was a NYS State Senator. I produced his inauguration at Riverside Church when he became the Democratic leader. I miss Basil (Paterson) he was an amazing man. I spoke to him three weeks ago. He's good, actually. He's doing some good things.”
“I knew David when he was a NYS State Senator. I produced his inauguration at Riverside Church when he became the Democratic leader. I miss Basil (Paterson) he was an amazing man. I spoke to him three weeks ago. He's good, actually. He's doing some good things.”
While
ARB's clientele and resources range from corporate to political, the
company has the flexibility and capacity to innovate new protocols to
meet new demands. When I
asked her to tell me about some of the activities that don't appear on
her brochure, she took a deep breath, and responded: "Oh my
goodness!!! Concert productions, such as the concert
at Carnegie Hall with famed African artist, Youssou Ndour (which she
is producing in conjunction with concert Impressario, Sparkie Martin).
My favorite was the HALO Awards, to which for the last six years
I took 50 plus children (HALO = Helping And Leading Others, started
in 2009, was created and chaired by Nick Cannon, where celebrities
give out awards to youth who sacrificed themselves to better the
lives of others). This year (2018) is the first year that we didn't
have the HALO Awards.”
April is quite disappointed that the
awards have been canceled – they have been a major inspiration –
especially to African American children. After contacting
Nickelodeon to find out why she had not been informed about the cancellation of the November 2018 production, they informed her: “What happened was....Until six
or seven years ago, it had only been in New York. Nickelodeon also
had the HALO Awards in California. Last year, because I had such
a great relationships with them, they actually gave me a Coach Bus to
bring the children. So, when I reached out, because I hadn't heard
from them, and they told me that they weren't doing it this year, I
was like, 'What?? Why?' And she said, 'I think there's a new CEO
trying to make significant change, and it's not on their radar. She
sent me an email saying “I hope you find another event to take the
children to that will give them what the HALO Awards did.' So, in my
head I'm always thinking if I don't find it, I'm going to try to
think about ways of how to create it.”
Which leads to yet another hallmark of the ARB Consulting Group, innovation. No doubt, whatever April comes up to replace the HALO Awards, she's not only up to the challenge, but it will be inspirational, educational, engaging, memorable, and fun.
Which leads to yet another hallmark of the ARB Consulting Group, innovation. No doubt, whatever April comes up to replace the HALO Awards, she's not only up to the challenge, but it will be inspirational, educational, engaging, memorable, and fun.
Accordingly,
ARB Consulting and producer Sparkie Martin have also collaborated on a
myriad of projects, and there are more yet to come: "Well you know that Sparkie has like 100 irons in the fire; and then
he'll have his own stuff burning with 100 irons in that pot too.
One of the things we're working on in terms of music is expanding and
making Afro beats more mainstream. Giving it a platform here. It's
only a few artists who have gotten to a certain level in terms of
just people knowing who they are. But the music from the Continent
is beautiful and we're working on that. I'm working with him coordinating the African artists that are with
him." She personally assisting him with the Youssou NDour show at Carnegie Hall, which was
an amazing performance. " I can't remember the last time Youssou Ndour
was in New York. We're
working on January, we're going to be touring Seon Kuti, Fela's
son who will be coming to Philly. We're also going to be doing an
Afro-Cubana Tour with a group called the Havana Maestros. I'm the
point person for that tour."
April continued, thoughtfully, “I
thrive on causes. I thrive on there being a cause connected; and
being able to connect the two is awesome. They say when you do what
you love, you will never work a day in you life. I've had the good
fortune of doing the things that I love and being able to make a
living on top is the icing and cherry on the top. I didn't see a
lot of people doing it that looked like me. And I had the
opportunity.”
Her
initiation into the realm of advertisement via Lockhart and Pettus,
not only gave her the opportunity to grow and expand her skill sets,
the blueprint for her own firm. “I wanted to be able to have a
company not only that I could address and work with huge causes, but
also smaller causes. The smaller causes - the quiet person who
needed to raise money, but didn't have hundreds of thousands of
dollars to underwrite it. No huge budget.”
Her
penchant for looking out for the little person, as well as those with
deep pockets, has become another hallmark of her company, and makes
her in high demand on all levels. “I did an event for a woman
whose daughter suffered from cerebral palsy and was restricted to a
wheel chair. She had found in her research that there was a
facility in Austria where astronauts literally went when they came
from out of space for muscle reconstruction. because being no
gravity, their muscles atrophy from weightlessness. So they go to
this facility in order to rehabilitate. It was opened to anyone who
could afford it. But she couldn't afford it. She was trying
different things to raise the money. She wanted her daughter to have
it enough to better mobility – you know how some people may be
quadriplegic, but they still have the ability in their hands to use a
motorized wheel chair, even if it was limited. Her daughter would
never be able to walk, as she was told by medical experts – but she
wanted to give her a fighting chance to have some quality of life.
So I did fund raisers for her.” The fundraising campaign was so
successful that the Mom was able to afford the $10,000 per visit fee
twice a year over the period of time, making it possible for her
daughter to maneuver her own electronic wheel chair, and later, a
specially equipped vehicle.
ARB Consulting has an international flair, as well, leading her to
Africa, where she has connections and followings in Nigeria and for
starters, where she toured through several states. “I loved it!
It was amazing – absolutely amazing, which actually fuels why I
would like to utilize my company to be able to expose more of Africa
to the public, and make it all inclusive, because there is a general
perception – granted physically we were disconnected during the
Atlantic Slave trade, but a mistruth that African Americans weren't
liked by Africans. Nothing could be further from the truth. I've met
Africans from all parts of the Continent – Angola, Mali, Kenya
Ethiopia, Senegal, and they love us – we're like long lost cousins
– Where've you been?“
She
is especially proud of her affiliation with Queen Diambi Kabatusulia
(Kah-bah-tu-soo-lee-ah) of the Kasai (kah-sigh) Kingdom of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo. “I met the Queen through a
mutual friend, and she's a beautiful human being.” April explained
that the Queen is really a “King” in traditional Congolese
culture. “She had actually calls herself the “queen” for our
westernized understanding, but technically she's a king. In the
Congo, they don't recognize gender. They only recognize the position.
She accepts the title of queen, because that's something that we all
understand as female in that role. But in the Congo, and in Africa,
she's actually a king. She's a female king. And she is championing
unification. She's championing living, peace and all those things
that strongly resonate with me. She's hosting a fund raiser in New
Orleans that to assist orphans in the Congo. It's all about
positivity, empowerment, unification. She's striving to be in your
best self. It's also being yourself – especially in this day and
time.” The Queen of Hearts Jubilee Gala Fundraiser is scheduled
for November 10, 2018 in Baton Rouge, LA , and is sponsored by
Friends of the Congo. One of the honorees is Dr. Cordell Y. Parris,
a cardiologist affiliated with multiple hospitals in Baton Rouge.
In a recent conversation with Queen Kabatsusula, they talked about
the necessity for traditional African Culture and how it applied in the US. April stated, "When you have traditions there – they call it traditions for a
reason - It's a lifestyle. It's not something they're learning in
school, what they've learned from home – respecting elders and,
ancestral reverence for people who came before us. We actually had
this conversation the last time she was here. We
were snatched from every part of Africa there was. What we get from
our traditional African culture is that we were snatched, but we
survived – we made it through and we did what we had to do, and
surpassed in a lot of ways. People are fighting for our progress,
growth, involvement, success, existence, and they are doing it in so
many different ways. We
are responsible for others, not just ourselves; and we have to make
sure that we keep the lights on, not just in our homes but in
ourselves."
April's
vision is to “Take my company and use it as a vehicle to be a
culture creator between Africans and African Americans. When I work
with the school systems, I want to be an example, because I think
that, more than anything else, to be an example that everybody sees,
doing something positive is extremely important. ARB
Consulting Group can help bridge the gap in interaction between the
two cultures. There are certain areas you can't just go without the appropriate permits. Certain
regions like Nigeria, you can't go – just like the US. There are
certain governmental protocols you have to follow before you come
into their countries – even if it's a passport. I just think that
we don't get to see the beauty that is Africa that others do. And
they see it, know it and experience it. For Blacks, if you are
African American, Puerto Rican, Caribbean, South American, people of
color Brazilian – Africa is our home.”
I
asked her about Ghana's open door policy for African Americans, and
whether that new trend had any traction, she responded, "Yes, but you
still need a passport. But for Black people,
generally, we don't know what we need to go – if we choose to go
back. It's not in our thought processes, even when we talk about
vacations. When we get ready to go someplace – last thing on their mind –
and passports are the one thing they don't have. If we are to understand more of the world, we
need to experience more of the world. So I think everybody should
have a passport – period. We don't need to overlook the opportunities." ARB Consulting is always thinking way ahead of the program
- there's a lot of synchronicity. It's
changing, definitely, it's changing.
When
I cited a NYTimes shows article showing Ghana as the most prolific
economy of the 21st century, which meant all eyes are on
Africa, while we are on the late show, she stated, "We have a tendency
to overlook the opportunities, I think that we as a people need to be more globally minded. And
that's with anything."
Circling
back to how ARB Consulting works with people with lower budgets, I
asked her how it was dealing with regular people, who have no real
funds; how
would she did her outreach – most people who participate in
fundraisers are doing it for prestige, and publicity. Some do have a
sympathetic heart but what methods did she use in soliciting people or motivating people who lack the compassion?
She
responded, "Well for one, everything always starts with what are you
trying to
accomplish? What's your goal? What's your end game? What is it
that you want to do. And based on what that end game is, that kind
of directs you into what direction you should go. If somebody wants
to raise money, and it's not a lot of money, the process may be to
not necessarily have an event, per se, but to have a drive. Or to
have them look at what resources they may have that they may have
overlooked. Because people, when they're looking at something,
they'll look at the bigger picture, and that's what makes it look so
impossible or difficult. Instead of when they start chipping away at
it, what's possible, what can be done here – what's your goal. Now
let's break this up into pieces. Those pieces then become manageable.
They become more digestible, and you say, “Oh yeah, I can do that.
Do you know 10 people who will be volunteers? Yeah, I know that.
Those ten people that would be volunteers, can those ten people
contact ten people? And what can those ten people do? Who do those
ten people know? And because those are things that we don't think of,
we're so entrenched in what we are trying to accomplish, sometimes t
takes someone from the outside to say look at this; let's create a
plan. Let's talk about when you want to do it. Let's talk about
what it's going to take to get this done. Let's break this up into
manageable pieces. And you start looking at discovering that you have
more resources than you know. Sometimes it's not that we don't know
where the resources are, sometimes we're afraid to ask. We're afraid
to ask, because we don't want people to tell us no. And sometimes
it's aright to get told no – it's okay! It's okay to be told no.
You can't do this?? So, maybe what we initially may have wanted them
to do isn't plausible for whatever reasons. But, what can you do?
Because, typically, it's never – especially when you've made an
ask, it's never “I can't do anything.” It's usually, I can't do
that, but maybe I can do this. And you say, you know what, that's
good enough. Thank you! Thank you for that, now I can build on it
and go forward. So that's part of the consultation I was telling you
about. And part of the approach in understanding what it is that
they want to do. The when, the why and the need." Understanding that
there is more than one way to 'skin a cat' is why ARB Consulting is in
high demand.
Another
innovative event, THE DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD, that had been sponsored
at the UN, was abruptly canceled, eliminating an opportunity for African and
African American children to learn about and interact with each other.
ARB Consulting has sought to find innovative means of establishing similar program through their interaction with a variety of
organizations. "Those things are reflections of their sense of power, and things
like that. If I see somebody who looks like me, and they're doing
something like changing their community, and I say, if they can do
it, I can do it too. That person is like me. So I was definitely
saddened when I found out that they weren't doing it any more. So
we're definitely going to think about doing that. You know, they say
if isn't there, you got to make it. Necessity is the mother of
invention"
Of the things of which she is most proud over her 20 plus years as an entrepreneur: "What I'm most proud of on a personal, personal note, I'm most proud
of my five daughters. They are all doing well. They're smart,
intelligent and compassionate women. And I'm proud that I have he
great fortune and ability to be in the company of some beautiful and
dynamic sisters. And that we have worked collaboratively on so many
things; people in the political community and for them to look at me
as a resource, I'm humbled by that. And I think that, like we were
talking before, there's still more changes to come."
Summing up her career and accomplishments, April stated, "I
have had the good fortune of meeting all kinds of people of different
places and spaces, being able to maintain relationships with them and
it's been amazing!"
If you're interested in more information about the services ARB Consulting provides, log onto her website, www.arbconsultinggroup.com
Stay Blessed &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria
If you're interested in more information about the services ARB Consulting provides, log onto her website, www.arbconsultinggroup.com
Stay Blessed &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria
