DiversityInc - Winter 2012

LEADERSHIP

holds. We work with communities of color to make sure they understand their power as consumers,” she says.

A Strong Voice

Pearson-McNeil is a vocal advocate for consumers, and an eloquent one at that. Her background gives her a clear understanding of both minority and majority cultures and how to communicate effectively with both.

She was raised in Fort Wayne, Ind., and moved to Illinois later. Her parents were middle-class (her dad was a foreman and her mom worked in pricing for a corporation). “We grew up in an all-white neighborhood and attended all-white schools. I’m very used to being the only person of color in the room,” she says.

In middle school, some Black kids were bused in from other neighborhoods. Some of her classmates thought she should choose one group only as her friends. “I didn’t understand why I couldn’t be friends with both. I didn’t want anyone to put me in a box and make me choose sides,” she recalls.

She successfully navigated relationships with both groups and went on to Purdue University, where Blacks were also in the decided minority. She majored in public relations. Today, she talks frequently with college students about “going in the direction that life takes you” and being flexible.

people, then and now, have a realistic sense of learning
from the ground up.”
After two years, she learned she had received the
highest performance evaluation in the entire company—
and promptly decided to leave. “I didn’t love this job
even though I gave it my best. I wondered what I could
do if I really cared passionately about what I was doing,”
She went to work in the newspaper
industry and eventually in marketing
and public relations, as well as broad-
casting. Her career included a stint as
press secretary for former Chicago City
Treasurer Miriam Santos and major
marketing and public-relations efforts
for the Girl Scouts and the Boys & Girls
Clubs of Chicago.

CHERYL PEARSON-
MCNEIL
CURRENT POSITION
Senior vice president, public
affairs, government relations
PREVIOUS POSITION
Senior vice president,
communications,
Nielsen’s North American
Consumer Group
COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES
Museum of Broadcast
Communications, Chicago;
has been active in Girl Scouts,
YWCA; board member, Chicago
Children’s Advocacy Center
EDUCATION
Bachelor’s degree, Purdue
University; MBA, Keller
Graduate School of
Management

Hotshots Beware

When she graduated from college, “I thought I was this hotshot young woman and everyone would want me. I thought I would make a zillion dollars,” she recalls. Her life lesson was that there were lots of “hotshot young women” out there, and finding a job wasn’t as easy as she thought it would be.

Pearson-McNeil took a typesetting job for $17,000 a year with the promise that if she worked hard, she would be in line for a promotion.

She says, “I looked at it as a learning experience, and what I’ve learned about fonts, kerning and type sizes has helped me in my career. I don’t think most young

Focusing on Consumers

Her work for Nielsen has been both challenging and gratifying, especially with Blacks, Latinos and Asians. “I used to get resistance from these consumers. But once they see someone who looks like them—and because we are so transparent about the process—that fear subsides,” she says.

Specifically, she and a team of 11
employees and several consultants
travel constantly, explaining to consumers such items
as the famous Nielsen Local People Meters that mea-
sure television watching, or home scanners that assess
grocery-store shopping patterns.

“We have them touch it and feel it and it takes away the apprehension … This is important information, and when you share it, light bulbs go off for people,” she says, noting such findings as that women are 22 percent more likely to use cell phones than men, and African Americans use Twitter 30 percent more than other racial/ethnic groups.

For Pearson-McNeil, her work and her 15-year-old son are her top priorities. Going forward, when her travel schedule slows, she’d like to get more involved with girls’ and women’s issues.