Publisher's Note Aug/Sept 2k7

NUMBER 50

As I reflect back over the past eight years and 50 issues of NV I cannot help but to be proud and thankful. I am proud of the fact that I have been able to make a living doing something positive for my community, helping to uplift, educate and inspire. I am thankful for the great individuals that I have had the honor to meet and work with throughout the years. Several of whom I am proud to call my friends.

In particular, I am thankful that God has sent people my way whose talent and loyalty have helped me create and shape the magazine into the publication it is today. Mr. Christopher Chaney is one of those people. He has been with NV before the first issue was even printed and stood steadfast with the vision from the very first issue to this one. Now I cannot say by any stretch of the imagination that this has been easy, but you have to hold to your vision and never give up. I remember once joking with a friend about how I see the light at the end of the tunnel, but someone had put a hole in my tunnel and it was starting to fill up with water. We laugh and they (knowing me the way that they do) said, “Kyle, if you have to swim to the light I know you will get there.”

MY DARKEST MOMENT

My darkest moment with NV was in the publication’s first year of publication in which my whole staff (with the exception of Mr. Chaney and Mr. Darryl Brown) left. They left NV because I decided not to do a financing deal in which I would no longer have majority ownership. Potential investors wanted to make an equity deal without giving me any cash and the cash infusion they would make to the business would be in periodic installments. So basically, they would control the company and I would have to come to them for a check and would not have any cash to litigate should something go awry. They did come in promising my staff nice salaries and one of the investors was a famous, former NFL player, which added to the anticipation of closing the deal. When I decided it was a bad deal my staff decided to go. I will never forget after proofreading the next issue, my former editor in chief wrote “NV lives” on a post-it note and placed it on the proofing copy of the magazine. He actually thought that NV would fold, but in no way was I having any of that. Failure was simply not an option.

I am sharing this very personal story with you because that is simply what NV is all about. It is about New Vision! The ideology, that you can do and achieve anything, regardless of the obstacles as long as you hold to your vision. Things will always happen, but it is how you handle what happens which is most important. Will you fold during your darkest moment, or will you allow the sun to beam your way? Will you put a hold on your vision or your career just because someone said, “no, no, no and no?” Will you give up at that fourth “no” or will you go and find your “yes?” We all know that it is not easy, for there is nothing worth its salt that is, but as long as you can evolve your thinking you can always come up with a New Vision.

MY BRIGHTEST MOMEMT

Well, I don’t think that has happened yet, but I do think that it is right around the corner. I will tell you that a reoccurring one is each time we do the NV Awards, our salute to urban professionals in business. We present awards to some of the best and brightest in business. We award them not for how well they act in a movie, nor how fast they run with a ball, but instead for their minds, their courage and will to succeed in business. The room is always filled with fine, young, urban professionals in business, creating an outstandingly bright moment.

I must thank the creator of all things for giving me the talent and wisdom and vision to get to number 50. To Chris, who greatly made this possible, and to my advertisers, readers and subscribers, this could not be done without you.