As I write my publisher’s comments for our February 18 issue, I decided to take a stroll down memory lane. One of my favorite things about being the publisher of Greater Fayetteville Business Journal is having the opportunity to share something personal with our readers that hopefully will be impactful. But what I have learned about writing some of my life stories down in text is that the process forces me to stop and take time to reflect, remember and remind myself of these great memories and lessons learned. 

One special memory takes me back to 1985, and our school’s Beta Club initiation program. I was asked to sing a very popular song at that time called “Ebony and Ivory” with a fellow classmate. For those of you who are younger than 40, you may not know that this was a song performed by Stevie Wonder (Ebony) and Paul McCartney (Ivory). The song epitomized what race relations should be in our world – people of different races living together in harmony like the keys on a piano. One of my favorite lines in the song is, “We all know that people are the same wherever you go.” My young and very talented Black friend was also a great pianist. I was hoping to catch up with him at our 35th class reunion –  in 2020, and well, you know that this never happened because COVID closed that door. Oh well, there’s always social media and the 40th reunion! 

Our Feb. 18 issue has a special focus on minority-owned businesses. With February being Black History Month, we did not want to miss an opportunity to highlight some great businesses and leaders in our community who have made a tremendous impact.

I am so proud of Fayetteville, and our surrounding region. I know we have our own issues, but we are one of the most diverse cities in the nation, and we are better because of it. And we have made tremendous progress. We certainly can do better, and I believe we will!

More about this issue. There’s a great story about another minority-owned business called HealthKeeperz, Inc., a multimillion dollar healthcare business enterprise based out of Pembroke, N.C. What an amazing story of service, faith and family. 

And speaking of the health care business, our next Power Breakfast series on 2/22/22 is called “The Health Care Economy,” and we have some powerhouse panelists representing this topic. Please consider joining us by going to www.FayettevillePowerBreakfast.com. 

At the end of this next Power Breakfast event, we will unveil our newest annual publication, the 2022 Book on Business. You can get a free copy at this Power Breakfast or as a subscriber. 

And if you are receiving this latest issue of Greater Fayetteville Business Journal in the mail and you are not a subscriber, we are pleased to be offering this to you on a complimentary trial basis. If you are enjoying the journal, please go to Bizfayetteville.com/subscribe today so you can continue to receive these issues and other publications like the Book on Business. 

I hope you feel inspired after reading this issue, in particular. My most favorite line of the song that my classmate and I sang was, “Side by side on my piano, keyboard, oh Lord, why don’t we?” We can - with the good Lord’s help!

God bless you and yours!