Janice Bryant Howroyd

My dad taught me to love people who were actively, physically, socially hating me.

And I learned something from him that later was epitomized in a couple of lines out of a book called As a Man Thinketh.

I gained the right to rewrite that book into As a Person Thinketh.

And what those two lines say is, we think in secret.

and it comes to pass environment is, but our looking glass.

And he taught me that if I didn't like what I was seeing around me, that it was within my capacity and my responsibility.

And we were very Bible based and Christian.

Then as I remain today, um,

And so he taught us that it was a responsibility as well as an ability to build forward and to be inclusive.

And don't hate people because you hate them, because that's a sickness and that's an illness they have.

There was no pushover, mind you.

You didn't want to get on the wrong side.

He did what he needed to do.

I think importantly, he loved his family and he taught us to be together.

One of the main themes in my company throughout the years has been together we win.

That started, that was formulated in my home.

There were 11 kids, one mom, one dad.

That's how we did it back then.

And together we win was kind of a Bryant household theme.

And that meant that if your siblings weren't getting good grades in school, then you couldn't brag about the grades you got until you helped them get it.