A non-traditional career path has led Bridges to explore four careers in various areas of business including music and media business development, supply chain strategy consulting, IT entrepreneur, and small business educator. “I’ve never taken the typical step forward, and I don’t have life planned out,” says Bridges. “I don’t know what’s next, but I have my eye on a long term goal of making an impact and choose the next best step that makes sense.”
Helping entrepreneurs make sense of the many functions to successfully run a business has been a huge step in Bridges career as the Executive Director of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses initiative in Chicago. “I think that entrepreneurs are a backbone of our society,” Bridges tells BE Modern Man. “While we often look at big names like Robert Johnson or Oprah, we often don’t recognize the guy who owns the restaurant on the corner or the dry cleaners down the street. Establishing a culture of entrepreneurship is one way to grow communities, and through my roles at JANO and 10,000 Small Businesses I hope to do that.”
Making many, many small investments in the lives of the people he touches, Bridges stays focused on doing the little things everyday. “I don’t know how I will make an impact tomorrow. I just know that today I should work as hard as I can to make an impact on the small businesses owners that come through the 10,000 Small Businesses program, and my customers and employees at JANO,” says Bridges.
Working relentlessly to make an impact, Bridges vision is long-term and without boundaries. There used to be a day when you could categorize someone by what they wear, what they listen to, what car they drive or how many tattoos they have. This is not always the case today. “A BE Modern Man is unique, and cannot be placed into any box,” says Bridges. I look around at my generation and know that to us being a BE Modern Man is being original, and you can’t categorize originality.”
The BlackEnterprise.com team congratulates Vasco Bridges working to empower thousands of entrepreneurs, while successfully building his family business. Bridges is a standup professional who is able to use all of his experiences, and we are honored to call him a BE Modern Man.
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