Melvin Coleman on How the Atlanta Black Chambers is Building Economic Power

Anthony Codispoti : Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired by how they’ve overcome adversity. My name is Anthony Codispoti and today’s guest is Melvin M. Coleman, President and CEO of the Atlanta Black Chambers.

This nonprofit organization champions the creation and growth of profitable, sustainable, black-owned businesses by offering quality education programs centered around ownership and economic development. Now Melvin has guided the Chamber since 2017, transitioning from executive director to his current role. Under his leadership, the organization has continued to expand its reach, winning recognition for promoting inclusive business practices. Melvin himself holds notable distinctions like the 2023 President’s Volunteer Service Award, the 2021 ABC’s Transformative Leadership Award, and the 2019 LINC Award from the Atlanta Association of Insurance Professionals. Before joining the Chamber, he was a senior account executive at UPS for 15 years and served in the U.S. Navy.

He’s also the founder and chief portfolio strategist of essential wealth management. Now before we get into all the good stuff, today’s episode is brought to you by my company, Add Back Benefits Agency, where we offer very specific and unique employee benefits that are both great for your team and fiscally optimized for your bottom line. One recent client was able to add over $900 per employee per year in extra cash flow by implementing one of our innovative programs. Results vary for each company and some organizations may not be eligible.

To find out if your company qualifies, contact us today at addbackbenefits.com. All right, back to our guest today, the president and CEO of Atlanta Black Chambers, Melvin Coleman. I appreciate you making the time to share your story today.

Melvin Coleman: So excited to be here. You know, this is so cool, looking forward to having a conversation with you.

Anthony Codispoti : All right, let’s jump in, Melvin. So let’s go back to your Navy days. Why is it that you wanted to serve in the Navy? What drew you into that?

Melvin Coleman: Well, I think for a lot of us seeing you’re in high school and you’re like, I got to get out of my mom’s house. So that was some of the inspiration was at that time is interesting. I was not so interested in college, but knew I wanted to do something and actually signed up to go into Navy early several months before I had to. And it turned out to be one of the best decisions, say, of my as a young person that I could have made just from the travel, the experience and all the people that I had to interact with really allowed me to mature over just a few short years. That was my activity was only a few short years, but accomplished a lot in that time. So yeah, I look back on it and I know that, you know, that was a great move for me.

Anthony Codispoti : Say more about how it helped you to mature and develop as a person.

Melvin Coleman: Yeah, so I’m, you know, you may have asked this at some later point, but being born and raised in Savannah, Georgia, okay, and then you leave from there to really go out into the world. And for the first time, you’re really, really interacting with people from all over the country.

Different race, ethnicity, what have you. And so you don’t have a choice but to grow and expand. Okay. And as you well know, once you do this, you know, you don’t come back to this. So it’s, you know, it expanded my horizons tremendously. And then you couple that with the travel, you know, Europe and North Africa, the Caribbean and all of that, you know, at 19, 20 years old. Okay, you know, that, that, that plan worked out pretty good.

Anthony Codispoti : So, so yeah, I get what you mean. I wasn’t in the services, but I had the opportunity to travel a fair bit in my early 20s. And wow, the way that it opened my eyes, I went from, you know, kind of this Midwest bubble, so to speak, you know, where I grew up to, you know, all these different cultures and languages and, you know, just having the exposure to lots of different people really opened my eyes. So I can appreciate the value there. So you were in the Navy a few years. What did you transition into as you were getting out of the service?

Melvin Coleman: Yeah, so the really cool thing that happened for me in the Navy is I did mature and, and I realized that, okay, yes, I need to go to college. So, so that’s what those few years allowed me to do. And I always tell my friends who, who did go straight to college, some of them, and they’re doing quite well, that as opposed to wasting a couple of years trying to figure out, you know, what you want to do and what your major is going to be, you know, I spent that time in the Navy really getting focused and then came out of the Navy and was, you know, all about business. And it was interesting is that I almost caught up with some of my buddies who had gone straight out of high school. You know, they may have graduated a year ahead of me as opposed to, because, you know, they, you know, you go to college and sometimes you get a little distracted. So that was again, how things played out for me very well.

Anthony Codispoti : So you came out of the Navy and you were laser focused on, okay, I’ve grown up a little bit. I’ve seen the world. I need to get to work here.

Melvin Coleman: Yeah, what was so focused that right after the my, my bachelor’s, I went straight into an MBA program. So I did like six years, got an MBA and all of that. Yeah. Yeah. And I know that time that I had to really figure some things out at 18, 19, you know, that was helpful. That was helpful.

Anthony Codispoti : And so undergrad right into MBA, you got down to business, you got serious about it, you coming out of your MBA, what’s the first opportunity?

Melvin Coleman: Well, while in college, you know, UPS, the big brown machine, as we call it, big brown, they have these great jobs for college students, you know, you can go to work for four or five hours inside the operation and load the trucks. And so as a college student, I was working for UPS. And once I did complete my education and everything, I was actually going to relocate to Charlotte, North Carolina, because of the financial center that it is. And the, the, the manager of the operation at UPS said, hey, he came to me Monday, said, Hey, I hear you’re thinking about leaving, you know, you’ve been here, you know, got solid reputation, you got your education. We’ve got some opportunities in management. So he really wanted me to stay with the company, right? I was kind of homegrown. And so I was promoted into management at UPS. So it was, it was, it was really, really good, you know, situation

Anthony Codispoti : for that promotion happened while you were still in school, or did that happen after you had gotten your MBA?

Melvin Coleman: I think I, right around shortly, I just graduated. It was all the timing and all kind of happened right there. Okay. They knew I was like, he’s going to graduate, and he’s moving to Charlotte. He’s going to go into the banking system investments and all that. And, and so they were like, Hey, you know, I guess when you have, and you, you and I know at this point, you have good talent, you know, just let it, you know, get out, get out of the building. So to speak. And so that’s what, that’s what happened to me.

Anthony Codispoti : What do you think they saw from you, Melvin? Because if I understand correctly, at that time, you were loading boxes under the truck, you know, maybe in that environment, they don’t really get to see sort of the brilliance of what’s going on up here.

Melvin Coleman: No, I think the core fundamentals of what, what, what a quality individual is, you know, always, always to work on time, never late, you know, always about business, even, even when it comes to loading and unloading and sorting, you know, you can see it, you know, what’s going on. So yeah, yeah. And I think, you know, that, that sort of kind of speaks for itself. And so yeah, it worked out very well because I ended up having a 15 year career with, with big Brown. And that’s where I really acquired all of my professional skillset because of all the training and, you know, you’re in corporate, you get, you know, there’s going to be training, there’s a whole lot of, you know, how do you, how do you, how do you go about doing things in a professional way? Otherwise, you won’t last in that environment. So, so that, that was good for me as well.

Anthony Codispoti : Say more about maybe some of the big benefits that you gained from that 15 years. I mean, that’s a long time early in your career to stay with one company. Clearly, there was a match there for a while, right? You enjoyed being in that environment and learning and growing. And obviously they saw value in having you there. Think about in terms of sort of your, your personal and your professional development, some of the key things that you took away from that UPS experience.

Melvin Coleman: Yeah, a lot of, you know, working well with, with teams and, and having, having goals and objectives and deadlines. Okay. And, and, you know, execution, there’s a process and, and you, you go about that in a particular way, according to how you’ve been instructed and educated on, on how this whole thing works. And so that, that foundation, you know, once, once you get that, you know, you can take that with you now anywhere. So, so I think that happens for a lot of people when they, when they’re in that environment, you know, they soak up all of the, the ways of, of how business is done in relationships are, you know, cultivated and, you know, you do what you say you’re going to do, that type of stuff, you know, or else it’s not going to work out for you. You know, it’s like, you get it, you understand, this is how the world works. If you’re going to be successful.

Anthony Codispoti : So before we get into talking about Atlanta Black Chambers and your work there and the organization itself, tell me a little bit about essential wealth management, your business, what was sort of the, the inspiration to starting that and what, what services do you provide?

Melvin Coleman: Great question. And I think I need to kind of set it up so that people listening understand. I did a 15 year career at UPS, which was, which was awesome. Many of us in those jobs, in those positions, sometimes there’s a, there’s a, there’s a point where you’re like, you’re feeling like, I think they call it burnout or, you know, something else needs to happen here.

So, so that was great. But what, when I left UPS, I wanted to go into the thing that I always wanted to do. I guess the opportunity at UPS, it was great, but it was not what I had planned in terms of what I wanted to do.

And so it just turned, it just turned out that after, you know, 15 years, it’s like, Hey, you, you want to, you always want to do this particular thing. So, so I left and went to work for a brokerage firm and went through their training to become a financial advisor. Got my securities licenses, the series seven, series 66, shout out to Raymond James and associates, a great firm, no doubt.

And I was definitely fortunate to have that experience was only at Raymond James for a couple of years. Now here’s where the Atlanta thing kicks in the the ATL experience. So I’m in Atlanta having left UPS. When I left UPS, I relocated to Atlanta.

Anthony Codispoti : That was you had been in Savannah the whole time that you were with you.

Melvin Coleman: Well, actually, I got a second promotion at UPS. That took me to Columbus, Georgia. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. It’s a big military town. You may be familiar with it near Alabama on the West, West side of, okay.

Anthony Codispoti : So you leave UPS and you end up in Atlanta now? Yes.

Melvin Coleman: And in Atlanta, Atlanta is the, is like the global hub of entrepreneurship. It’s a part of the culture. It’s part of everything. So when you’re in Atlanta, so let’s say, you know, I’m still at the firm at the time.

And so I’m not in the community. I’m networking with people and meeting, meeting a lot of folks and I’m meeting all of these fantastic folks who have their own, whatever it is, you know, if they’re an insurance broker, they got their own firm. If they’re an attorney or whatever, or they may have a business where, you know, it’s a, you know, a product or whatever. But it’s like, how do all these folks have their own business?

Like what is going on? So when I left Raymond James, I became an independent advisor, which is essentially saying, now I got my own business. So it’s a, it was my own investment management company, if you will, and it’s essential wealth management. And so I’ve got clients that I’ve been working with for 20 years. Because yeah, that was, that was 20 years ago. So yeah, that’s the.

Anthony Codispoti : And so who’s a good fit for you at essential wealth management client wise? What’s the profile? Yeah.

Melvin Coleman: So my clientele looks like individuals who actually have jobs. And in some cases, they’ve left a previous company where they were for five, 10 plus years. And there’s just, there’s something called a 401k rollover.

Because when you leave, you have the opportunity, and maybe you’ve got 50 or $100,000 in an account. And so now you can actually do that rollover into an IRA, individual retirement account, and that’s something that I can manage. And so my business is, that’s probably 60% of my clientele. Now the other 40% is going to be business owners and other individuals who have money that they want managed professionally. But it may not be retirement assets. Yeah.

Anthony Codispoti : Got you. Okay, so you’re starting this business, you’re building it up, things are going well, you’re getting some traction. Why split your attention with the Atlanta Black Chambers? What is it about that organization that called to you?

Melvin Coleman: I have a real passion for for the community. And I understand on a really deep level, like what needs to happen for a lot of the disparities that exist and have been have existed for, you know, 100, 200 years. And when I say disparities, I’m talking about the, from a big picture perspective, the racial wealth gap, but then very powerful data points such as, you know, the revenue of say, an average revenue of black owned business compared to say other businesses.

The difference is is just way too much to be comfortable with. And so, you know, getting into our discovering the black chamber and discovering how those were the conversations that were taking place and being really educated to understand like, okay, wow, you know, we should be working to change this. So that’s what drew me to the organization in that sense. But but initially, now it was about meeting people networking and forming relationships. So that’s what brought me to the organization.

Anthony Codispoti : But then first you came as a member. Yes.

Melvin Coleman: Yes. Right. Right. But then you start to get exposed to like, oh, wow, you know, and again, for me, it was like, hey, we should be working and doing things to change that to make that better. You know, we shouldn’t accept the fact that the average revenue for a black owned business is like 50, 60,000.

And if you look other other places, it’s 500,000 is like, whoa, that you know, that makes me uncomfortable. And if I have the time and energy, you know, I want to dedicate. Yeah, I want to dedicate really my life to making that better, you know, because then if I can do that, my daughter may have a really good opportunity to do great things. So so that’s where the, you know, the passion and the real sincere interest lies. It’s really in improving and bringing about change that you know really needs to happen. And I always tell people this when these things do happen and we get to a better place, our nation is going to be much better. So it’s not just about, you know, the black community or everything is, you know, you’re just doing, no, there’s a there’s a bigger picture here as well. You know, how can America be its best version of itself with other other communities, say minority groups per se, that have these in some cases, enormous disparities. We should none of us should be comfortable with that. And we should be somehow committed to bringing about the change that needs to happen.

Anthony Codispoti : So how do you do that? So the goal is, hey, we want to help black owned businesses. We want to help them get on their feet. We want to help them grow.

It’s part of a bigger mission. It’s going to be, you know, good for the local economy, good for the national economy. How do you actually help to affect that kind of change?

Melvin Coleman: So there are one, two, three, four, there’s several ways and and and and methods or strategies that that are already enforced and we need to stay committed. So one is historically, there are a lot of policies over, say, 100 years ago that that benefited some, but say, in particular, the black community or black people were excluded, denied opportunity, could not participate. So we need some, some corrective measure there to address that. And that’s called, that’s called public policy. And a lot of people will speak on that directly.

That’s one. Two is just just economically, we’ve got to shift how we spend where we spend. And I’m talking about, you know, the black consumer, but then beyond the black consumer, everybody saying that, yeah, I’m going to find a black owned business that I can support, because I understand from a picture perspective, how this impacts the United States. So so that would be the second thing is that all of us should be spending slash supporting black owned businesses as a part of the, a part of the solution. Another big one is the federal government spends, oh my god, it’s like $700 billion. It’s an enormous amount in terms of contracting opportunities.

It’s enormous. And in particular, black owned businesses receive like less than 3% of that. And we’re about 14% of the population. But minorities in general, it’s, it’s less than less than 5% of that. So that is not fair.

That’s not right. And that has an impact on why our businesses in a large part have the low revenues, because they’re not getting the opportunities that drive the growth and scale and, you know, the opportunities have to be available for them. And so we’ve seen and we know, you know, what works in this environment, that’s not going to happen. That’s been made clear.

But we’ve seen what works and sometimes in some local and say city and state governments, they’ll have a policy in place that is going to make sure, going to ensure that some opportunities go to what, what can be called the underrepresented groups. And that matters, that makes a difference. And you can see the progress when you do have a program, a commitment like that. What we haven’t seen is when we leave it up to just market forces. I don’t, yeah. Like people saying they’re going to do the, you know, that, that has not delivered the outcomes that we, that are necessary.

Anthony Codispoti : What about like educational programs or like other ways that you might help to lift up the Black owned businesses in the Atlanta community? Are there, there are opportunities like that that exists with your organization?

Melvin Coleman: So one of the things that we definitely do consistently is educate and inform. So the role of the chamber, I think first and foremost is to be a trusted source for information and education and knowledge. So we do have a lot of activities that would focus on all of the critical topics.

If you’re a business owner, say for example, accounting and finance, bookkeeping, also make marketing, a lot of technology, obviously AI is big and we’ve had sessions or definitely presentations on AI. So, so that’s a big part of the chamber’s mission. Yeah, absolutely.

Anthony Codispoti : Is the education component. Are there other specifically Black chambers for either cities or states around the country?

Melvin Coleman: Great question and absolutely. So all of your major markets will have a Black chamber of commerce. So it was a few weeks ago and I can’t remember why he was here, but the president of the Black the Dallas Black Chamber was in Atlanta. And so we’re all part of a network and though I had not met him personally prior to this, he did reach out and say, Hey, I’m going to be in Atlanta. You know, maybe we can at least meet for an hour and just, you know, have that introduction.

And so it was good to meet him. But that’s just an example of, yeah, all the major markets will and some of the, you know, small, mid-sized markets, you might have a Black chamber as well.

Anthony Codispoti : Are you kind of mostly sort of doing your own thing because you’re very, you know, local, regional based or I don’t know, is there any sort of like cross promoting or like, you know, support that you guys offer each other?

Melvin Coleman: So, so you have your chambers in your local markets, but then there is there is something called the US VC, which is the United States Black Chambers based in DC. And so, you know, we all affiliate with that state national level organization.

And that and that is the network that I speak of. And so we have, you know, have an annual conference every year in July in DC. And that’s where we get to meet our colleagues and peers from the other, you know, whether it’s Los Angeles, Oakland, St. Louis, Chicago, you name it, Miami, they’re, they’re, yeah, they are.

Anthony Codispoti : Who’s your typical member there in the Atlanta Black Chamber? Are they like, you know, mom and pop shop like less than 10 employees? Are they, you know, bigger companies with hundreds of folks? What kind of mix do you see?

Melvin Coleman: Well, there is, there is a mix. It is a pretty wide diversity from the individual who has just started or in some cases the individual who has not yet even started and it’s all, it’s just a dream.

They want to be in the room with the folks who are further along in the process in their journey so they can learn. And so you have the, you know, your mid tier whether it’s, you know, five, 10 million dollar enterprise, you know, in revenues annually. And then you’ve got 50 to 100 million in terms of businesses that are much larger, well established, employees, major operations. But do understand that that level of Black owned business is, it might be 5% of the Black owned businesses that exist that have, say, several employees. And going back to an earlier point that I made and you asked some great questions, that is the commitment and the focus is to build and grow and have more of those larger enterprises to make an impact in the community.

They can employ people. And so some of the issues, challenges, the social struggles that we have, a lot of that stuff tends to go away when you have thriving, successful entities in the community that are supporting the community. This is all about community. And then that community then connects and ties in well with other communities. And there’s one big community we call the United States of America, as opposed to having a community that is struggling and issues. Yeah, we want to fix and address our issues. And we don’t necessarily want folks working against that.

Anthony Codispoti : Are there any particular industries that seem to be drawn to the Atlanta Black Chamber more than others?

Melvin Coleman: A lot of professional services. I think that may be reflective in the broader economy. But in Atlanta, you have a lot of professionals. And when I say that, whether you’re a dentist or an attorney or some type of consultant, so you’re going to see a lot of that. We do have, and I’m happy to say, some product-based type of businesses where they actually, either they make something or they sell something tangible that you have to go there to get it, or perhaps you can purchase it online. But if you look at the trends demographically, so healthcare, anything in health and wellness is going to be big and only going to get bigger just because of the population. But yeah, there are some things that we see more than others.

Anthony Codispoti : I want to hear more about a couple of the programs that you guys have spawned, specifically the Women’s League and the Young Entrepreneurs Collaborative. What was the inspiration behind these initiatives and what exactly did they do?

Melvin Coleman: So you have to be innovative in the space of networking and bringing people together in order to get the participation levels that you seek. And so what I mean by being innovative is you say, okay, we’re going to focus on a particular group and bring people together based on what they have in common. So women love to get together. Yeah, with just them in the room, they love it. And it just, you know, because they support each other. And so that’s been great. You know, the women are very connected and how they support each other. There’s a real bond there.

So the Women’s League is very strong. The Young Entrepreneurs Collaborative. Those young people, 25, 30 years old, sometimes, you know, they definitely don’t want to hang out with, you know, the 50 plus. And so you have to create a space for them if you want them to show up. So if you want them to show up, you have to say, this is what it is, brand it that way, and then you’ll get their attention. You can’t just necessarily have just a general whatever type of event and say, man, I want to wish there were more 25 year olds here. It doesn’t work that way.

Anthony Codispoti : You have to have something that’s specifically talking to them, drawing them in, saying, hey, here’s your sort of sub-tribe of folks that you can get together with. Yeah. That’s what works there. So Mel, when during your time as the executive director now, president and CEO, the chamber there has seen a pretty significant growth in both membership and programming. What specific strategies or initiatives have you found that have been really helpful in drawing in new members?

Melvin Coleman: And we touched on it a little bit with those two affinity groups that you mentioned there, the Women’s League Young Entrepreneurs Collaborative. But then we have several committees as well. And so the way our organization is structured, really breaking things down to where people can clearly make a connection. So we’ve got 12 committees across several different industries, financial services, transportation, analogistics, health and wellness, marketing, communications, advertising, technology, global opportunities. So when people see that, they say, oh, wow. Yeah, I want to be a part of that.

Or I can do this. It’s like, oh, and so that helps a lot in terms of folks taking action and saying, I want to join. But then the other thing is the volume of activity that we do puts our brand everywhere, not just Metro Atlanta. Globally. Yeah. Yeah, we have members all over the, well, Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, and South Africa.

Anthony Codispoti : Oh, interesting. I guess I just assumed that folks who are a member are in sort of the Metro Atlanta area.

Melvin Coleman: No, Atlanta is an international city. You may be familiar with that little airport we have. But no, but it’s an international city. And so people come here from all over the world to either do business or start or expand an existing business. So in particular, black people all over the country and all over the world, if you’ve got a successful business in Chicago, New Orleans, California, New York, when you say it’s time for expansion, what market?

Am I going to? For a lot of folks, it’s Atlanta. Yeah. And that’s just, I mean, historically, that’s what the city represents. Yeah. And we’re very proud of that history.

Anthony Codispoti : We mentioned some awards that you’ve won in the intro. Which of those has been the most meaningful to you, Melvin?

Melvin Coleman: The one that actually got from the organization that I lead, that transformative leadership award was really the membership and the team saying, you know, this is the moment we want to recognize you for your commitment and your work ethic. Because that’s really, people say, hey, what’s your superpower?

Like, hey, I’m just going to go to work and we’re going to make this thing happen. And I’m never going to, what I’d like to say is I won’t cheat the process. I’m going to do it. And if I get good people on the team, we can make some great things happen.

Anthony Codispoti : Is there a particular book or a podcast or a course that has influenced or affected you along the way, Melvin, that might be good for our listeners to hear about might be helpful for them?

Melvin Coleman: You know, it’s simple stuff that I read along many years ago. And I just go back to those principles and, you know, as a man think it. Yeah, that’s a great, it’s just, you know, it’s awesome. Everybody should read.

What did you get from it? Well, what you focus on mentally is what will happen in your life. You know, you’re going to see it manifest. So if you are focused and committed about something, then your time and energy and your actions are going to follow. And then in reality, you’ll see these things happen. That’s a big part of it. But also, you know, the positive versus the negative and just really guarding your thoughts.

Anthony Codispoti : If you’re focused on gloom and doom and negativity and being angry and all the people that you think are angry at you, you’re just going to create more of that. There’s just the negative energy kind of swirls in your head and your living environment. But if you can turn it around and focus on the good stuff.

Melvin Coleman: Yeah, yeah. And whatever you’re truly sincere about and you’re focused on that in your mind, you know, whatever your belief system is. So I believe those things will manifest.

Anthony Codispoti : What is your belief system? Say more about kind of your guiding principles or guiding philosophies in life.

Melvin Coleman: Yeah, well, I believe in good and I believe in good and evil. I believe those two things exist. I believe we have within us, you know, the opportunity to spend time where we decide to, right? So you have this free will and you can feel it, you know, in your heart or on your mind. So you’re making decisions every day. You know, you can do the right thing. You can be the better person. You have that opportunity or you could fail, you could fall, you know, so, so yeah, so it’s a constant.

Anthony Codispoti : Yeah, but what’s a serious challenge that you’ve gone through either personally or professionally? What was it? What did you learn? How’d you get through it?

Melvin Coleman: Well, you know, I’ve always been kind of like the rock star on my family. You know, I was the one who never messed anything up and what really helped me a lot was the first time I really did have failure in my life.

Now, this was a long time ago, but it’s still the thing that helped me tremendously. You know, I had everything I told you about my promotion at UPS and, you know, great corporate career, everything. And I got married to a wonderful, she was amazing. She really was. And I failed her in that marriage and ended up divorcing. And that was the first time I really ever messed anything up in my life. And I can remember sitting in my house all by myself, all alone and not and I would say, you know, why did this have like confused and it actually drove me to reading scripture. And that led to my spiritual growth in terms of really becoming a better person. And I had to forgive myself. You know, I had to understand the concept of forgiveness. I had to forgive myself so that I could then move on and go forward. So failure is what is what helped me tremendously because I had to go through that process. And I’ve never been, I’ve always been a better person having had to go through that shame and the, you know, I’ve never really experienced it. Other people had, you know, I’d seen people mess stuff up. And so when you are that you never messed anything up when you fall, you fall hard.

Anthony Codispoti : If you’ve been the golden child all along and now here you are in your adult life and first time that you mess up. And it’s it’s it’s big, right? It was a woman that you cared about deeply and you’re going through divorce hard emotional stuff. And what’s interesting to me is the way that you were able to take that and rather than, you know, letting that that really hard fall kind of be, you know, the spiral, the thing that sends you spiraling is, you know, I’m sure you spiral for a bit, but then you picked yourself up, you brushed yourself off, you found help in scripture and you use that as a leverage point to become a better person going forward.

Melvin Coleman: Yeah, really, it definitely was got similar moment or experience for me, you know, to feel shame and guilt and oh man, I’d not experienced it like that before. And it helped me relate to other people who when they when they fail, you know, I have a lot more compassion and understanding and all of that.

Anthony Codispoti : You can be a lot more empathetic now that you know, you’ve got some of your own battle scars, you’re like, Oh, hey, I get it. I’ve been through rough stuff myself. So I’m not going to be maybe so harsh or you know, I’m going to be more supporting in this kind of situation. Yes, sir. Yeah. Where do you see the Atlanta Black Chamber going from here? What are the future growth ideas opportunities? What? What do you guys want to do?

Melvin Coleman: Yeah, so we touched on the fact that our membership is global. And for us, because we have a global opportunities initiative, you know, in a whole committee that we have created that literally goes on trade delegations around the world to meet other business owners to start these relationships that will lead to doing business across borders. So, so we’ve been to South America, Columbia, Cali, Columbia to be exact. We’ve been to Africa, think South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe. We were just in Europe. So Great Britain, France. So and we’re starting these relationships.

Anthony Codispoti : So what are you doing while you’re traveling to all these places?

Melvin Coleman: We’re talking to we’re talking to business owners about how do we how do we do business together? No, globally and establishing what is you want to buy from them?

Anthony Codispoti : You want to sell to them? You want to? Yeah. Co-manufacturer thing like all this is on the table. Yes.

Melvin Coleman: So they have they have a product that that they want. They want to be sold here. We have products and services that that they actually need. So it starts with the having a relationship and the communication. And so opportunities present themselves when you’re connected. So when you’re not doing these things, and you’re like, well, I don’t know anybody.

I don’t know. Or I didn’t know that that there was this population in Columbia. So for example, the largest black population between North America and South America. It’s actually in Brazil. There were black people in Brazil than in the United States. Two and a half times.

Anthony Codispoti : Wow, that’s significant.

Melvin Coleman: Yeah, it blew my mind. I was like, whoa, two and a half. And I just learned this in the past five years. Okay. Columbia is third. So Brazil, United States, Columbia significant populations of black people. And so our outreach to them is again to engage, learn and see what we could possibly do together. Because in those other places, they need us. We need them, but they really need us.

Anthony Codispoti : Yeah. Can you think of a specific example that you’re able to share where one of these international trips has led to some business taking place? Yeah, so this is 2025.

Melvin Coleman: So 2023, almost two years ago, because it was August 2023, there was a trade delegation from Atlanta. 25 entrepreneurs went to Cali, Columbia. And we met with several, had several meetings with people. And one, I know at least one of our businesses that someone who traveled there with us is doing business with someone that she met in Cali. I believe, yeah, she’s sending stuff there. I think that’s the arrangement there.

That’s one instance that I know. And there’s some other things going on where, so we will take samples with us to these different places. And then we’ll bring things back so that we can expose that and say, okay, hey, here’s an opportunity where we could bring this.

Here, sell it here. So they also come here to Atlanta from Africa and South America. And then we take them to different black owned businesses here in Atlanta.

And in some cases, the products that the folks visiting have, they talk to those business owners about having their product from where there’s Africa, South America, in those stores, in those retail operations. And so, yeah, we are seeing some success and everything we do, we’re committed because we know it takes time. But this is the work. I mean, this is the work. What I’m talking to you right now about, this is the work that we do. This is the stuff that makes a difference.

Anthony Codispoti : Can I go back to personal things? I’m curious to hear about any maybe daily habits, practices, rituals, melding that you have that gets you started, keep you on track, get you centered.

Melvin Coleman: I’m such a nerd in terms of geopolitical stuff. I’ve got to keep up with everything that’s happening in the world. So, yeah, if I’m not feeding myself with knowledge and information, say, in that sense, then I’m not plugged in or in tune to the things that I need to be on top of. So that’s what I spend my time doing, if you will.

Anthony Codispoti : Absorbing what’s going on in the world. Taking in the news and kind of understanding the big picture.

Melvin Coleman: Yeah, and from reliable sources, you know, a diverse, you know, I listen to everything, you know, if somebody said, OK, are you right, left, center? I’m definitely, I believe the solutions are in the center. I think if you’re far left, extreme, that I think that’s a problem.

If you’re far right, extreme, I think that’s a problem. I think that this is where we need to be. This is where the solutions are. And that’s where I am. And so, and so I get it from everywhere so that I can

Anthony Codispoti : take it in from lots of sources from the right from the left from the center. So you get sort of the spectrum.

Melvin Coleman: I stay balanced. Yeah. I don’t get lost on either end of the spectrum.

Anthony Codispoti : Melvin, what’s something you like to do outside of work for fun? Personal enjoyment.

Melvin Coleman: Well, now that I’m, you know, now that I am in my 50s, OK, the health, health is everything, you know, your health is your wealth. So, so I’m into taking care of myself physically. I haven’t, haven’t conquered the diet thing yet, meaning, you know, I still eat stuff that I probably shouldn’t. But I’m, that’s one thing that I want to change, really, really want to change. I do exercise and work out. And so I enjoy that, you know, I get some gratification from, from that because it helps me look good in my clothes. OK, and that’s important.

Anthony Codispoti : And live longer, longer and higher quality. Yes, let us not forget about that. But let’s admit it. Yep, we stay active because there’s a vanity perspective to it as well. Yes, yes, yes.

Melvin Coleman: So, so yeah, those I do spend time there as well.

Anthony Codispoti : Melvin, if you and I reconnect a year from now and you’re celebrating something, what would you hope that is?

Melvin Coleman: That’s a great question. Wow. We are celebrate. I want to, I want to celebrate my, my, my daughter getting a full scholarship.

Anthony Codispoti : She’s in high school right now. Yes, she is. Right.

Melvin Coleman: The average is like, look, hey, kid, that would be great. I don’t, when you ask the question, I’m like, you know, because I’m obviously not prepared. I’m like, what would I like?

Anthony Codispoti : Hey, that would be awesome. Whatever, whatever’s top of your mind. That’s the right answer. So, and is she looking in the Atlanta or the Georgia area or is she considering all over?

Melvin Coleman: She’s considering all over, but it’ll, it’ll get more, you know, she’ll focus more and we’ll, we’ll really be able to see what’s going on. You know, she’s still got a couple of years, but, but I, I, she could still secure a lot of interest. And scholarships and things, because it does start, it does start early now. It’s, there’s a lot there that, that goes into that. But yeah, yeah. So I have just the one daughter.

Anthony Codispoti : And so, so hopefully we’re, we’re popping a cork on champagne bottle for your, your daughter getting a full ride scholarship to a great school somewhere.

Melvin Coleman: Hey, that would be, that would be so exciting.

Anthony Codispoti : I’ve just got one more question for you, Melvin, but before I ask it, I want to do two things. First of all, I’m going to invite everyone who’s listening to hit the follow button on their favorite podcast app. Continue to get more great interviews like we’ve had here today with Melvin Coleman, the president and CEO of the Atlanta black chambers. Melvin, I also want to let people know the best way to get in touch with you to follow your story that have Atlanta black chambers. What would that be?

Melvin Coleman: So of course the chamber has a website, Atlanta black chambers.org. I would always tell people don’t forget the S on chambers Atlanta black chambers.org. And there’s an email address on that website that I do have visibility of, but it’s simply info at Atlanta black chambers.org. Yeah.

Anthony Codispoti : Great. So last question for you, Melvin. As you look to the future, what are the most exciting changes that you think are coming to the Atlanta black owned business community?

Melvin Coleman: Well, you know, we’ve got this little thing called World Cup coming to Atlanta. And the economic impact of that is, you know, is going to be mind blowing. And I’ve heard people say, you know, one of those games we and we’ve got several of them that are going to be played here. They’re like one of those games is the equivalent of a Super Bowl. So, so we’re, you know, preparing to put our businesses in position to capitalize on on that opportunity.

Right. And, you know, the culture of Atlanta culturally, it really, it really does come out of the, you know, the black community. And, and we want the, who, I don’t know, what definitely hundreds of thousands of people who will be here for that experience. We want them to experience the ATL. We want them to know what that means. So, so that that’s big. But, but yeah, we want to move the needle in those critical areas.

Government and corporate contracts. That’s that’s huge because clearly we’re not getting our fair share. I mean, it’s we focus on data.

We don’t make stuff up. There’s so much data and evidence out there. And, and that’s why I’m here doing the work that I’m doing because I know that, you know, this is what needs to happen for the United States of America to be its best version of the game. And, and this is the best version of itself.

I mean, I’m a veteran of the United States Navy. And, you know, this is, this is, this is the greatest place on earth. And we just have to keep making sure we, we don’t, we don’t let it, we don’t let it go crazy.

Anthony Codispoti : Keep turning the dials and making things better every day. Melvin Coleman, I want to be the first to thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us today. I really appreciate it.

Melvin Coleman: Thank you. This has been, as you said, it’s going to be fun. And indeed it was.

Anthony Codispoti : I’m glad to hear that folks. That’s a wrap on another episode of the inspired stories podcast. Thanks for learning with us today. Thank you.