In Black Enterprise‘s August 1995 issue, the featured list of 25 Future Leaders to Watch included up-and-coming professionals and entrepreneuers across several industries. Some of them were well-known, while others were on their way to the top. Check out this update on seven of them, who are now dominating forces in the work world and have created household names for themselves:
Keith Clinkscales, CEO of Revolt TV
In 1995, Clinkscales was president and CEO of VIBE magazine during its most influential period (1993-1999). After just 18 issues, Vibe’s circulation tripled to 275,000 because of Clinkscales’s expertise and skill. Vanguard Media followed next, where the executive oversaw Honey, Heart & Soul and Savoy magazines as chairman and CEO, which Black Enterprise described as “the most highly capitalized black company in U.S. history.” Since 2007, Clinkscales, a Harvard graduate, has served as senior vice president of Content Development and Enterprises of ESPN. He also developed The Shadow League, a digital sports platform, as senior vice president at ESPN. His latest venture includes partnering with Sean “Diddy†Combs and has since launched Revolt TV.
Born Carl Williams, Kani is president and CEO of the clothing brand Karl Kani, which launched in 1989 when he was 26. In his first year of chasing after his dream, the company made a whopping $43 million in sales.
The innovator and entrepreneur was the first African American to launch a hip-hop fashion brand. People magazine named him one of the 100 richest black Americans in 1996, earning him the nickname “King of Black.†He also goes by the moniker ‘The Originator,†paving the road for and inspiring other entrepreneurs in urban fashion. Today, he is still producing hip-hop-inspired clothing and his brand is as big as ever.
Debra Langford
Nineteen years ago, Langford was vice president of television at entertainment giant Quincy Jones Entertainment and produced the iconic series The Fresh Prince of Bel- Air
. President Obama appointed her to the USO Board of Governors. Langford’s reputation for speed reading scripts and strategically developing executive networks has brought her to the top. She has placed more than 100 diverse executives in Fortune 100 companies, and she is a motivator and national speaker. Langford has been featured in several consumer books and magazines discussing the importance of networking. She is now CEO of The Langford Co., which provides brand activation and diversity and inclusion strategies to audience members via exclusive events.Isiah Thomas III
Isiah Thomas is regarded as one of the best point guards in NBA history. He played for the Detroit Pistons and retired in 1994. Soon after he moved to Canada with his family and worked as general manager for the Toronto Raptors. He became CEO and owner of the CBA or Continental Basketball Association in 1999. He remains one of the top African Americans working in the front office of the multimillion-dollar basketball industry.
John Bryant
In President Bill Clinton‘s best-selling book Giving, he wrote, “John Bryant is a 41-year-old whirlwind of ideas and action. Lean, intense, focused, and completely positive in his belief in the potential of poor people to prosper, with ‘a hand up and not a hand out.’†If that isn’t a testimony of character, President Obama appointed the entrepreneur to serve on the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans in 2014.
The entrepreneur is a widely known figure who has received more than 500 awards for his work and is recognized worldwide. As founder and CEO of Operation HOPE, he leads the country’s first nonprofit social investment banking organization, which operates globally serving more than 1.5 million clients. He is the only African American who is a best-selling business leadership author; he is also one of the founding members of the Clinton Global Initiative and of the Young Global Leaders. The former U.N. Goodwill Ambassador to the U.S. will continue to provoke positive change.
Reginald Hudlin
Hudlin directed House Party, Bebe’s Kids (first animated black feature film), Cosmic Slop, and Boomerang (one of the top grossing black films at $120 million). The director and producer was also president of Entertainment for BET from 2005 to 2008. He was executive producer of the NAACP Image Awards on NBC in 2013, which received the highest rated show in the history of TV One this year. The entrepreneur also produced Django Unchained, which received a nomination for Best Picture in 2013.