White Advantage,
Systemic Inequality,
and the Paths to Change
Stephen Dorsey delves deeper into racial discourse through conversations with insightful guests who have their own take on what’s at play. Because it’s time to Be Better, Do Better, Live Better, Together. Presented by Flatiron Wealth Management.
Ross Cadastre
| S:2 E:4On today's episode of Black & White, Stephen sits down with Ross Cadastre, CEO of Innovative Talent Solutions and Board Chair of the Black Business Professionals Association. Their conversation includes Ross's immigration to Canada, his early entrepreneurial story, the generational wealth gap, the work of the BBPA to assist Black entrepreneurs in Canada, and more.
To learn more about Ross Cadastre and the BBPA, click here.
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Stephen:
Hello, welcome back to Black & White, a rallying place where we come together to learn and hold everyone gently to account, a podcast for the ally in all of us. I'm your host, Stephen Dorsey. Black & White is recorded in Toronto, Canada, on the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat Peoples, and now home to many diverse First Nations, intuit and Metis people.
My guest today is Ross Cadastre, founder and CEO of Innovative Talent Solutions, a Canadian recruitment services agency based here in Toronto, serving Canada, most of North America, and founder and CEO of [inaudible 00:01:28], a nearshore knowledge process outsourcing operation located in St. Lucia. I first connected with Ross in 2020 when I engaged with the Black Business Professional Association, one of Canada's leading non-profit organizations that addresses equity and builds programming to support black owned businesses across Canada. A frontline organization making an impact, and where Ross now currently serves as board president.
In 2017, Ross was recognized at the Black Business Awards and inducted into the black Canadian national wall of role models. More recently, Ross was recognized as one of Canada's top 100 professionals. Ross immigrated to Canada from St. Lucia in 1998, a place where he still has deep connections and where he manages several businesses, and has been the leading contributor in the black community for more than 25 years. I've been looking forward to reconnecting with him to chat about a wide range of topics we touched on over the years.
Okay. So, that was a big long list of things. This man is amazing. But I'm super impressed by who he is and he's basically been modeling success his entire career and supporting others to do the same as an entrepreneur, as a mentor, as a community leader, as professional role providing direction to the Black Business Professional Association. So let's get to it. Ross, welcome to Black & White.
Ross Cadastre:
Thanks, Stephen. As I listen to you speak about those words on paper, they're just that. If I were to think about my greatest accomplishment, those would be my beautiful wife and my three excellent kids. That's the driving force for doing what we do as black men in the community, building generational wealth for our families and being able to fight through the challenges to get to success.
Stephen:
It's nice to hear that. So, Canada has a rich tradition of immigration over the centuries, from Europe, from Africa, from Latin America, from the United States, but also a rich tradition from the Caribbean. So many black Canadians have Jamaican roots, roots from St. Lucia. Can you tell us a little bit more about what brought you to Canada all these decades ago, what was that like in terms of the difference from coming from a Caribbean nation that has, I would assume, predominantly black and brown and people of color, to Canada, where now you were really a visible minority?
Ross Cadastre:
Like most, or like a few of my friends, I first came to Canada, or first left St. Lucia for school. I came to Canada for university. At first, I decided that I wanted to do my grade thirteens, for those of you are young enough to know about the grade 13 year. So I went to high school for about one semester and then from there went to attended Seneca College and then went to Horizon and finished up at Horizon. That was my first entry into the country. That was my first experience with a lot of different things because here I am, a black kid from a small island, all alone. When I entered the country, no friends. My parents weren't with me, didn't have that day to day guidance. I had to navigate through all the challenges that a person, even more so a person of color would to go through.
I went through racism, not even knowing what I was going through at that point, because I came from a small island where the guy who sat next to me didn't look like me, but he was just as, or even more St Lucian than me, because he was this white kid. We used to call him white boy, and it was just our nickname for him just because he was lighter than all of us. But he would go to the farms, he would go carry the bananas, he would do all of this stuff that I never even did. He was part of us. So when I think about the island, colors didn't exist. There was a class structure, yes, but from a skin color standpoint, we were all the same.
So coming to Canada as a high schooler and I went through a very, very interesting time. Completed school, went back to St. Lucia, and then wanted to officially migrate back to the country because I found Canada to have some of the things that I wanted my kids to have access to. It's simple things like the four seasons, I quite enjoyed the change in seasons. Being able to take your kids to the park at that time on the island, these facilities were not available. So some of the experiences that I had, I wanted to ensure that my kids, as I started to have kids.
Stephen:
So now you've done your school, you've gone back, you're saying to your family, "We've got to move back to Canada. There's opportunity. We can have a different life, maybe a better life." So what finally brings you here and what do you decide to do to take care of yourself and your family?
Ross Cadastre:
Yeah, so I made the decision to move to Canada. I said to my fiancé, now wife, I said, "Listen, I'm coming to Canada, I'll pack all my stuff, and I'm going to give myself three weeks. If I get a job, I will stay. If I don't get a job, I come back." I was lucky enough to land a job in recruiting, an industry that I never even knew existed. I jokingly say to people that I didn't even know how to spell recruit when I started in the industry. But I landed in there, and it should have been a sign then, but my then boss said to me, "Hey, I'm going to give you a job and I'm not going to charge you for the training that we'll give you, so you can't charge us for coming to work." So, I laughed.
Stephen:
Did you forget to omit that to your fiancé that it was an unpaid job?
Ross Cadastre:
Well, I had to get a part-time job to pay the bills. But the reality is it was a 100% commission job. Within three, four weeks I made my first placement. Then they realized that they probably had a superstar in the making. They started offering me all kinds of money to stay and not to leave and that sort of thing.
Stephen:
Of course. So now you're in Canada, your family has come here with you. Since that time, you got your training in recruitment, but at some point you became what I would characterize as a serial entrepreneur. So how do you go from getting into an industry you knew nothing about, to becoming an all star, to then parlaying that into multiple businesses, not just in Canada, but also in St. Lucia?
Ross Cadastre:
Entrepreneurship has always been a part of me, of who I am, what I see, what I've been exposed to. My dad, a St. Lucian, grew up in abject poverty on the island. Couldn't go to school because his mother couldn't afford a dollar a day for his room and board. So at the age of 14, he walked about an hour each way to work at a distillery, but he persevered and he became one of the most accomplished and one of the most known St Lucians on the island. He himself was an entrepreneur. He started in the insurance business and he bought the company that he worked for. Became one of the first, if not the first local person to own an insurance company. Then he went into the hotel business and the rest is history. So he has a number of businesses.
So growing up, that entrepreneurial spirit had always been part of what we did. I remember saying to someone after school every day, we had a business called Mothercare, which sold maternity clothes and had a toy section. I was responsible for the toy section. You would appreciate, as a kid going to high school, we were in an all-boys high school. There was an all-girls high school a little ways away. After school we'd go to the ice cream parlor where we'd meet the girls. I couldn't do that because I had to go man my toy section. But what that did at the time, of course I hated it because I wanted to be one of the cool guys at the ice cream parlor. But it taught me how to run a business, how to be accountable for my stock, my products, my sales, and looking at myself.
I remember my first business was at high school where my dad was big into videos, VHSs for those who can remember VHS, the old VHS. He had thousands of those movies, and because he had so many of them, I used to take them and rerun them to friends at school. That was my first business, video rental. So I came to school here in Canada, went to university, I sold computers. I've always looked for an opportunity not to be an employee, that's because of where I came from.
Unfortunately, my father lost all his businesses, everything. He went through a bad time and the business had lost everything. I think when that happened, it had a little bit of a psychological effect on me. In that I was like, okay, is entrepreneurship the right way to go? What if you fail? Because the person that you looked up most in business has just failed. So what if you fail? That's what kept me, I believe, in corporate Canada for as long as I did. What was very interesting is one day I woke up and I said I was just tired of growing a business and making profit for people who didn't know I existed. That's when I made the decision, full on entrepreneurship.
Stephen:
Interesting. I had Wes Hall on the podcast last season. He's got quite an incredible story of growing up in a tin shack with I believe 10 or 11 other siblings and working in a chicken farm. He called himself the chicken undertaker. As we know, he's one of the most successful block entrepreneurs in North America. He was talking about going to the bank the first time and trying to get $100,000 loan to start his business, which is now a multi billion dollar company. Time after time in terms of the system being denied by the banking system, even he had collateral on a home. Can you share some of your experiences and challenges about being a block entrepreneur in Canada over the decades, with the black business professionals? But tell me about your personal experience being an entrepreneur and trying to make your way.
Ross Cadastre:
I've heard Wes' story, and it's remarkable that he has achieved the level of success that he has. He's certainly a role model to the black community, one, but to anybody who really wants to identify a success story. In 2007, 2008, I started a company called Healthcare Staffing Solutions, I believe. We were going to take over the healthcare industry by storm.
Stephen:
Absolutely.
Ross Cadastre:
That was the vision. We started a very small, and we went to numerous banks for loans just to help us. We had the volume of business, we had the right plan. When I look at it now, with the experience that I have now, I have worked for global organizations. Some of our budgets and some of our plans in the business, were actually more achievable than some of the other ones that I've seen in my life. But for some reason, every door closed. At the time, when you're so focused on making the business work, you don't look at things, I don't look at things as this person just denied me a loan because of the color of my skin. My attitude was, oh well, onto the next.
But as I reflect, I do know that the reason why we were turned down had nothing to do with the success of our plan, had nothing to do with being able to back it up. Had more to do with that person making a judgment call by looking at me and saying, I don't care what the paper tells me, this guy is not going to be successful, and that comes from the color of his skin.
Stephen:
The first thing I wanted to address that you talked on was that, in the moment, you're just focused on being a business person. I know this as an entrepreneur myself, I'm not going that person just said no because I'm a black person. If you're an entrepreneur and you're trying to achieve and you're a hard worker, your mind doesn't think that way. It's just another obstacle that you need to figure out how to get around, and you're not perhaps putting it in context. The other thing is, we know that the difference between individual racism and systemic racism is very clear. If someone stops you on the street and calls you a name because of the color of your skin, you get it. That person is a racist, doesn't like you. Systemic racism is a lagging indicator. It's something that you prove and show through data analysis, which is actually quite interesting. It's months and years down the road where you look back and you look at the data and go, that's interesting. Black men, boys, are 20 times more likely to be killed by the police than white boys.
Now, you're not assessing that in the moment, but when you look back, go, I wonder why that is. Then in terms of advantage, the word white privilege. I've changed it, in my term, I use white advantage. This is something I've tried to explain to white people, my white friends and people I know in my community, of the advantage that they have in many areas of our society, simply because of the color of their skin. You've just described one, most people would go to a bank and go, as you said, I have a good business plan, I have a track record, I have corporate history. I've worked in corporations, and I've showed success. My plan is solid. Yes. Every business plan has an innate risk attached to it.
The one thing is white people don't go to the bank and go, wow, I hope they don't deny me because of the color of my skin. Other thing that you touched on earlier was wanting to come to Canada and wanting to work and make money and create generational wealth for your family. Well, one of the issues that we've talked about on this show is the wealth gap that exists in our society between black people and white people in North America. This is the most shocking part, is that it's so large that if nothing changed as of today in terms of the systems and the approach, and we know things are changing, but if nothing had changed, let's call it pre George Floyd, maybe before, it would take 238 years to close that wealth gap between black people and white people.
So this is part of the conversations that I'm having with business people and entrepreneurs like yourself about how we make that change. Because you're never going to get to equality if you don't figure out the elements of eliminating that disadvantage and creating some equity measures to get to the equality. So your personal story as an entrepreneur, I think just highlights exactly what we're talking about because you're just trying to get started. It's hard enough to be an entrepreneur and start a business, but when you're already on your back foot, it's very difficult. This has also tied to a story of perseverance and resilience and pushing on through. So tell me about figuring out how to fund your businesses and building them in challenging circumstances, not just as an entrepreneur, but as a black man in a country where there are some systemic realities of disadvantage, but still making your way.
Ross Cadastre:
So that business, Healthcare Staffing Solutions, actually, we decided to shut it down because we couldn't build it any bigger without the funds. So I went back into corporate with Canada, worked for a few global companies, but that wasn't enough. I made the decision to be all in, quit my job, build a company that I could be proud of. I founded Innovative Talent Solutions in 2017. What I sought to do is take out everything that I didn't like about the recruitment industry and keep the stuff that I like about it and build, I don't call it a company, build a community of people. So everybody we hire is part of this community that we're trying to grow. Once bitten, twice shy, I went into business without even having to have a conversation with the bank except to open an account. We started a business with the knowhow and very, very little funding. We managed to, in the last five years, have a few different brands. We have the St. Lucia operation running as well, and we're growing what I think is a very respectful business in the Canadian landscape.
Stephen:
Amazing. Well, I know of your businesses, I know you've done quite well, and you should be proud of that. It's a great story of immigration. The immigrants that come to Canada from all over the world. I looked at the stats and I touch about it in my book, which is they become very successful very quickly because there's the echo out there of immigrants taking people's jobs, but they actually create jobs and so on and so forth. So actually, it's win-win for this country, immigration. You're a perfect example of a success story.
One of the things I also spoke with West Hall about was representation, which is a big focus right now, representation of black people in leadership positions on boards. I know West Hall initiated the Black North Initiative, which has been going on now I think since 2020. I wrote an op-ed that I called Corporations Need to Go Deeper. One of the things is you can't just create black leaders. Where are they? Let's just get them in here. I should say, you have to develop them. You have to go deeper and go into the communities and start building this pipeline of diversity, black people, people of color, indigenous people. Diversity also of women, we know that they're still having challenges, people with disabilities. So that's one of the things that the Black Business Professional Associates, which are now president, is really, really focused on.
When we come back from the break, I really want to start digging into the work that you're doing, now Canada wide. It started here in Toronto and about how you're building that pool of talent, how you're training the next generation, how you're starting to be able to engage the community and create this pool that we can now then put through this pipeline of opportunity in corporate Canada and reach some success. So after the break, I'm going to come back with Ross and we're going to talk about that and other topics. So, stay tuned.
Okay. Welcome back to Black & White. I'm Stephen Dorsey, your host. I'm here with Ross Cadastre, my guest today. We're having a great conversation. So one of the many roles that Ross holds is now, recently in the last year, the new board president of the Black Business Professional Association, which is arguably one of the frontline organizations that's working with black community in Canada to coach and mentor black entrepreneurs, black business people. Get them fully loaded, if you will, in regards to understandings about different aspects of business they may not be as versed in, so that they are well equipped for success. So Ross, tell me a little bit about the Black Business Professional Association, how it got started and why it got started.
Ross Cadastre:
The BBPA this year is enjoying four years of service to the black business community. It was started by a group of business leaders led by Denham Jolly, and you may know Denham Jolly, he's an entrepreneur himself. He founded the first black owned and radio station, FLOW 93.5.
Stephen:
One of the big stations here.
Ross Cadastre:
Yeah. Even that was a fight to get black music on there. So he's a fighter, Denham Jolly is. Is to this day, a fighter for our community. But the purpose of the BBPA was to advocate for and create equity for black entrepreneurs throughout Canada. There are two staples in the last 40 years for the BBPA that has remained. One is the Harry Jerome Awards, which celebrates black excellence. It's kind of like the Grammys for the black community. The second one is our scholarship program where we give scholarships to young students going to university to help them. I think in spite of the 22 other programs, which I can touch on a few of them, those two are what I call the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. Because in order for us to highlight black excellence, there must be a start. That start usually comes from what they do at school to be that accountant, to be that business leader, that they can get that business leader award. We've had quite a few students who got the scholarship and were either nominated or won award. To me, that's what we here for.
Stephen:
That's a great full circle story when that happens. This is what we're talking about.
Ross Cadastre:
Yeah, because we know, Stephen, that the challenges that a black community has is access. It's all around access. It's access to capital, access to information, access to the training and the networks. That's what the BBPA seeks to do through our programming. So we launched about a year ago a signature program called BAIDS, Business Advisory Implementation Development Services. What that does, it's a wraparound service for black entrepreneurs. As you would well know, that the federal government launched a $290 million program, which included a loan program, which is administered by black organization, so that's FACE. Then they also launched an ecosystem, which included partners like the BBPA, to be able to provide support services to black owned businesses. BAIDS was our response to providing those services.
Stephen:
So let me bridge this a little bit. So the global reckoning, the George Floyd moment, not that the Black Lives Matter movement had been really enforced for almost a decade. Then we get to George Floyd and the conversation changes, not just in Canada, but globally. When I reached out to you and Nadine Spencer, what is her title now?
Ross Cadastre:
CEO, she's the CEO.
Stephen:
She's the CEO, boss lady. The boss lady of the BBPA, who's an amazing brand marketing expert here in Canada. I was working for a client, as you can imagine, they turned to me to get their diversity equity inclusion to just get started, really. They had nothing on the books. So we actually did some work first to understand our values and what it is that we wanted to do as an organization. Then we looked for organization we wanted to support in the black community that were already making an impact. That's what took me to the BBPA.
What I really liked about the organization was that real programs that were making an impact. You had mentorship programs, you had internship programs. I think actually one of the programs was called Boss Woman. It was to empower black women. What I liked about your organization was that you were prepared for that intake. Before George Floyd, for the most part, you're raising money, you're getting support from organization corporations, from individuals, you're getting volunteers. Then post George Floyd, now there's a change. Now we have federal government of Canada deciding to infuse hundreds of millions of dollars into the BIPOC community. Some of this flows from organizations right back down to the BBPA. Now you're in a different position, I assume, and I want to hear from you, where you have more resources to facilitate, to accelerate, to motivate, and to inspire. So tell me about the difference that you felt through that moment.
Ross Cadastre:
Well, so there are a couple things. That few minutes, that knee on the neck, opened a lot of possibilities. It was a time where corporate North America says, and even globally in some cases said, that we've got to do something. Governments around the world said we've got to do something. Canada's response, among other things, was that $290 million fund. We found a lot of corporates, like what you've just discussed, reevaluating internally what they can do. What they can do from a standpoint to make a more equitable environment, but also to support the cause, either through some sort of donations or even getting involved. Like you rightfully said, we had a number of organizations say we want to get our hands dirty too. We want to help the movement.
I think the other thing is COVID. What COVID allowed us to do almost overnight was to make all of our programs virtual. What that meant, is that if you were a black business in Nunavut or a black business in some other part of Canada, BC, you can dial in and take full advantage of all the programming that we had to offer. So for us, there was a lot of negative around, of course, the George Floyd, of course, COVID. But that was one positive that we took. We were able to impact more businesses quickly throughout Canada. At the same time getting a lot of people putting their hand up saying, we would like to support what you're doing in any way that we can.
Stephen:
Amazing. We're in Toronto where arguably it's, aside from places like in Nova Scotia and other places, but the black population of Toronto is significant. So we have a significant community. It's very diverse, from the Caribbean to African, from all over the world. There are certain pockets, if you haven't been to Toronto, Toronto is a place of neighborhoods. You go, you can go to the Portuguese neighborhood. Everyone mixes, but everyone's made their little village. If you're at Little Italy, Little Portugal, Danforth is Greek, and we have Little Jamaica. So how are you seeing the momentum of the work of the BBPA, over the 40 years and in recent years, in starting to transform some of these communities, starting with small business operators and entrepreneurs who are succeeding and bringing that value back into their community? Are we seeing that traction?
Ross Cadastre:
Yes. I have to say, there's still a lot of work to be done. We have only scratched the surface. When we look at the government funding, if you think about it, $290 million is not a lot of money. It sounds like a big amount of money. But when we look at all the challenges that the businesses have, in order to get them to a point where they can even compete in a lot of areas, we're just scratching the surface. I must say that while more funds are needed, we're grateful for the funding and the support that we have received. Through our programming over the last year, last few years actually, we've seen a lot of success stories. One in particular, [inaudible 00:30:57], this entrepreneur, female entrepreneur, came into our program. She had been doing sauces for a long time, and when she came into the program, she didn't have a business plan. We helped her get her business plan, we helped her with her marketing, we helped her with her pitch. She pitched to Loblaw and now she's on the shelves.
Stephen:
Amazing. What's it called?
Ross Cadastre:
It's called [inaudible 00:31:19]. It's a bit French, and it's amazing. She's in, I think, 130 stores. But that's a great story. We also have stories of a gentleman with an idea and the will, starting his business and having to live in his car. Now he's fully producing his products. They're on the shelves. All because we help him with the infrastructure, we help them build this plan, his marketing and his execution. These are the stories that are important to where we go. There are tons of other stories like that, that we can point out to. I mean, I spoke about the scholarship program. We can point to a number of people that received BBPA of scholarships, either to do business or medical field or accounting, and now have achieved running their own practices and having it. That's the story.
Stephen:
This is where transformation begins. We talked earlier about the wealth gap and wealth generation. The restrictions on the ability to generate generational wealth has many effects. One of those is that, for example, the majority of the black community hasn't owned as much real estate or property over the generations that's accumulated value and be able to borrow from it to send your kids to school or to start a business. So these are domino effects, and this is the cycle. This is where we need to make a change. Now we're talking about the hundreds of millions that the federal government's put in. Now, as you know, there's been a lot of talk on south of the border here in Canada about some type of equity measures to try to minimize that gap. Some have talked about reparations. I talk about the need to do something. Maybe part of that is a fund, we're seeing some funding. But I'm talking real money here, billions of dollars. I've heard people say I'm not big on reparation. But we've done it before, we've done reparations before. So where do you sit on that topic?
Ross Cadastre:
My viewpoint on this. Without an injection of cash into some fund, it'll be very difficult to even the playing field. Here's the thing that we've got to recognize. When the BBPA gives a scholarship up until 2022 this year, there is a large probability that this student getting the scholarship will be the first in his family. Has the effect on that. It's not just having an education, but it's the access to networks.
So if you think about it, if you didn't go to university and you didn't meet and have the relationships with people, who in the future would be leaders, then when your kid's looking for a job, you can't say, "I know Johnny. Give Johnny a call." Johnny will have a conversation, at least have a chat with my kid. We don't have that. So we're always going to be not having the networks, not having the training. So it's very important for us to level the playing field is to ensure that at every stage of that growth of the community, that we are ensuring that these accesses are being available for those people. I said a few years ago at work, my daughter was looking for a job and I helped her get a part-time job. But my boss, for his son to get a job, he just called the law firm and said, "Hey, my son's looking for a job." He started Monday. I'm not holding that against-
Stephen:
Of course not.
Ross Cadastre:
But that's the reality that a lot of black people go through. I want to touch on a point that you mentioned, you mentioned about home ownership and having been able to pull out that equity to start a business and that sort of thing. If I look at the journey of an entrepreneur, and we do a lot of work, especially in Little Jamaica. As you know, Little Jamaica used to be one of the most populated areas for black businesses. The businesses come mainly in three areas. The beauty salons, fashion, and restaurant. Those are the main areas. A lot of these businesses started as a result of, I no longer want to work for anybody, I'm going to start my business. What business am I going to start? Did they think through it? Well, my friend Peter tells me I'm a good chef, so I am going to start a restaurant. They start the restaurant.
They go to the bank and the bank says, "No, we can't fund it. For whatever reason, we can't fund it." They don't own a house, there's no collateral. So they go in and they start. How do they start the business? With friends and family as much as possible, lines of credits or credit cards. Then they start their business. The business starts to do well. Now they need to fund the growth of the business. They go back to the bank and the bank says, your ratios are off, your credit cards are too high. So what are these businesses supposed to do? So they stay at the same level and they don't have this opportunity to grow. In a long-winded way, I think with the proper training, the proper financial literacy access and some of the stuff that is happening with some other groups in the city, providing access to housing. All of that, not just what the BBPA is doing for businesses, but all of those pieces need to come together to be part of the bigger picture, to move our community forward.
Stephen:
Go back to something you said right at the beginning about you barely knew how to spell the word recruitment. But you talked about building networks and all of that, and careers that they are not modeled in their community exists. Beyond restaurants and fashion and beauty salons, where their parents aren't perhaps accountants or work in the film industry. So that's where other work needs to happen is the exposure of those vision opportunities for careers that need to be modeled. Where people go, I never even heard that. For me, it was the film industry. I was passionate about film and television as a young kid. No one ever told me there was actually a career to be had in that, or that there was an industry. I just figured it was on the screen. I didn't know that you could be someone that wrote a film or directed a film or financed a film or created a set on a film or whatever.
So, this is the other part that needs to happen. We need to broaden the vision that is possible for communities who have traditionally been marginalized. I think that's part of the work that you're doing. So Ross, we've covered a lot of ground. Let me ask you this. What are you most excited about today in terms of, now we've talked about the programs at the BBPA, what you're doing in your personal and professional life. In terms of what's happening in the black communities in Canada, in North America, what gets you very excited about the times we're in today?
Ross Cadastre:
When I took the seat as board president for the BBPA, my vision was no business gets left behind. Whether you sit in Nunavut or in Newfoundland or anywhere else in the country, the BBPA is here to serve you. We have a very hardworking team, and their mission and their goal in life is to ensure that no business gets left behind. What excites me as a result of that is that we are at a stage right now where we have great opportunity to impact that. Some of the conversations that our CEO is having with a number of organizations are very promising to lead to that end goal. Showing that black businesses have the tools, not just the money, but the tools that they need for them to be successful. So that's pretty exciting.
Stephen:
Amazing. Well, I think it's a great place to end. Thank you, Ross, for joining me today. I knew we'd have a great conversation and thank you for all the work that you and Nadine and the team at the BBPA are doing. Also, all of your entrepreneurial efforts, which are really making impact broadly in the community. So well done, my friend, and we'll speak to you soon.
Ross Cadastre:
Thank you. Pleasure being here. I look forward to more conversations like this.
Stephen:
Thanks everyone for listening to Black & White. If you've enjoyed today's conversation, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast app and take the time to rate our show. Black & White is a production of Evergreen Podcasts. Special thanks to my producer, sound designer and engineer, Noah Foutz. And our executive producer, David Allen Moss. A reminder that my book, Black and White, An Intimate, Multicultural Perspective on White Advantage and the Paths to Change is available at your favorite bookstores across the US and Canada and online at Amazon and Indigo Chapters. I'm Stephen Dorsey, reminding all of us that we can all be better, do better, but that eventually we can all live better together.
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