Black in Business — A Black History Month Celebration of Industry Transforming Figures: Mellody Hobson

It is never easy to escape cycles of poverty centuries in the making, and it is harder still to create generational wealth. Mellody Hobson has managed to not only do both but is also creating pathways that will allow other Black Americans to break out of the institutionalized patterns that deprive communities of economic mobility.

The Foundational Building Blocks

Mellody Hobson has achieved many firsts throughout her career, however, during her youth she was more familiar with being last as the youngest child of six. Mellody was raised by her single mother and the family struggled financially throughout her youth. Before entering high school, she was all too familiar with eviction notices on the door and the darkness that accompanied unpaid electric bills.

Despite these circumstances, Mellody refused to be left behind when her friends applied to private high schools. Determined to attend a high-quality school that would provide better education and greater opportunities, she earned a scholarship to St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago and was later accepted to both Princeton and Harvard. After attending a recruiting event, John Rogers and other alumni convinced her to commit to Princeton, changing her entire life trajectory.

Breaking Into the Industry

When John met Mellody, he was the Founder, Chairman, CEO and CIO of Ariel Investments, the nation’s oldest Black-owned investment firm, and he immediately recognized how her brilliance and thoughtfulness stood out from the crowd.

Mellody and John remained close throughout her studies, and after graduating in 1991, Mellody joined John at Ariel Investments. John made his intentions for her future known early, informing her that he believed her intelligence, dedication and patience would best serve the company as its president.

Over the last 30+ years, Mellody helped to lead Ariel through turbulent times first as president, and now as a co-CEO with John. Beyond Ariel, Mellody also made history as the first Black woman to become chairperson of an S&P 500 company, Starbucks.

Giving Back

Over her career, Mellody has served her community and has been a tireless advocate on behalf of Black Americans. She has conducted extensive research on minority investing patterns and is also engaged as a board member of the Chicago Public Library and its Foundation, The Field Museum, The Chicago Public Education Fund, the Sundance Institute and After School Matters.

Yet, what may be her most lasting contribution is her work to diversify corporate boardrooms through two initiatives: the Black Corporate Directors Conference and, her brainchild, Ariel’s Project Black, a path to engage Black and Brown communities with the promise of capitalism.

Mellody co-founded the Black Corporate Directors Conference in 2002 with John and Charles Tribbett to ensure that issues of civil rights and diversity were addressed at the boardroom level. The conference helps to bring together the nation’s leading Black directors to help develop and share best practices to encourage corporate diversity, equity and inclusion by focusing on people, purchasing power and philanthropy.

As for Project Black, the premise is simple yet revolutionary. Following the murder of George Floyd, companies committed to expanding their supplier diversity to include more minority-owned and -run businesses. However, many companies claimed they could not find minority talent or suppliers.

After closing its first fund with $1.45 billion, Project Black will buy middle-market businesses and inject diversity directly into their governance structures. By placing more Black talent on company boards and in C-suites, Ariel will help to diversify immediate supply chains while also staging these companies to acquire smaller Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) and grow into preferred vendors across networks.

It is no exaggeration to say that Mellody would not be where she is today without her perseverance and willingness to seek out and embrace new opportunities. Now, Mellody serves as that aspirational figure for so many Black Americans, and she is making sure that they have the resources and support to overcome the challenges that plague Black communities, students and businesses. Perhaps Mellody’s greatest legacy will be the numerous Black women she inspires to go forward and forge a new, living Black history.