DiversityInc - Special Issue 2007

Yolanda Caraway:

Making the Right Connections

Yolanda Caraway started studying the buying habits of people of color when she was 12 and sold Amway products to her neighbors. These days, Caraway runs her own public-relations firm, The Caraway Group, which guides corporations on the best methods to attract diverse consumers.

“We [cover] everything but straight, white men,” says Caraway. “We literally reach into the communities and build strategic partnerships between corporations and organizations.”

One example is Microsoft Corp.’s “Making the Business: Youth IT Challenge.” Microsoft came to Caraway in 2001 seeking an entrée into black communities. So Caraway, who is well connected among civil-rights groups and throughout the political spectrum, partnered the world’s largest information-technology firm with one of the nation’s oldest civil-rights organizations, The National Urban League.

The Youth IT Challenge program teaches students throughout The National Urban League’s centers about entrepreneurship, the fundamentals of writing a business plan and the importance of technology to starting, growing and sustaining a business.

In addition to Microsoft, The Caraway Group’s clients include MGM MIRAGE, No. 40 on The 2006 Top 50 Companies for Diversity® list, Anheuser-Busch Companies, Bristol-Myers Squibb and General Motors.

Caraway incorporated her pub-lic-relations firm in 1987 and now sees more companies with a desire to involve themselves in community partnerships.

Democratic National Committee (DNC) and every four years worked on presidential campaigns, including those of the Rev. Jesse Jackson and former President Bill Clinton.

BY YOJI COLE

Entrepreneurial work and connections with leaders are Caraway’s forte — built during her decades of work in political circles. She first entered the political arena when she was 14 years old and volunteered for Sen. Robert Kennedy’s presidential campaign. She licked envelopes and answered phones.

“I did that for the whole campaign and got bit by the bug,” says Caraway, who grew up in Rochester, N. Y.

Later she got a job with then Congresswoman Barbara Mikulski, now a senator from Maryland, and moved to Washington, D.C. Caraway worked for the

Caraway was senior adviser to DNC Chairman Ron Brown, who became Secretary of Commerce in the Clinton administration.

All the while, Caraway created small businesses, selling crafts or bakery items she made. Caraway’s entrepreneurial spirit was a gift from her father, who after being laid off from his job as a Pullman porter in New York, started his own janitorial service.