A spotlight on individuals who are moving onward & upward

MARK PITTS

His biggest break was managing the Notorious B.I.G.

That was more than 15 years ago. Mark Pitts didn't know it at the time, but he helped create one of the world's most famous rap acts while working closely with Scan (Diddy) Combs on one of the industry's groundbreaking hip-hop labels.

Fast forward to today. After working for years with rap mogul Diddy (his Howard University classmate), and fellow musicians Usher, Ciara and Anthony Hamilton, the 36-year-old Pitts was recently named president of Urban Music for the Zomba Label Group, a company that oversees live, LaFacc, So So Def and Gospocentric.

MARK'S FIRST J.O.B.: "For my first job, I was 10. I worked at a supermarket, Speedway Supermarket in Brooklyn."

"I feel like I'm a star living inside an executive's body," says Pitts, a Brooklyn native who scouts talent for Zomba and is working on Usher's follow-up to the hit Confessions album. "First and foremost, I am not changing what got me here. I want to be involved from the rooter to the tooter."

Pitts majored in liberal arts at Howard. He almost became an architect. Music pulled him in when he started at Bad Boy Records, Pitts says. Since then, the father of three says patience, hard work and listening to God are the keys to his success.

"Sometimes when you work with your heart it may take longer, but it feels better," says Pitts, who learned to play the piano at age 4 and has found it nearly impossible to be starstruck unless Al Pacino is involved. "I took the long way, but it's all good. It paid off."

LORENZO CREIGHTON

This man might run one of Las Vegas' trendiest hotel-casinos, but gambling is not his passion. Instead, he'd rather oversee the entire operation.

Lorenzo Creighton wrote the book on gambling--literally. Creighton, the president and chief operating officer of the New York-New York Hotel and Casino, started off in the gaming industry by helping the state of Iowa solidify its regulations over riverboat gambling.

Now the man from tiny Waterloo, Iowa, might possibly be the only African-American in complete charge of a property on the Las Vegas strip.

"I've done a little bit of everything," says Creighton, 54, who lives in Las Vegas with his family. "I worked in corrections, in banking for a number of years, went to law school ... A lot of career changes."

As president and COO, Creighton is always negotiating a deal or working on plans to spruce up the hotel and casino.

"I just got off the phone negotiating a lease extension for a small nightclub we have here," Creighton says. "I walk the casino floor. I see that the tables are staffed appropriately, but when you have good people you don't have to worry about the details so much. You do the big-picture thing like working with your vice presidents and planning strategy for the future."

LORENZO'S FIRST J.O.B.: "I had a job when I was 14, washing dishes at the Elk Club. The unique thing was they didn't allow African-Americans to go there when I worked there. I washed dishes and pots. I made $1.20 an hour. I was so tired of hand-me-downs from my brothers and sister I ended up buying clothes with it."

DONALD PROPHETE

Donald Prophete is one of those rare individuals who knew from an early age what he wanted to be when he grew up. By the time he was 7, he knew he'd be a lawyer. Now, at 39, he has been named to the board of directors at one of the nation's largest labor and employment law firms.

"I don't ever remember wanting to be anything else," says Prophete, a native of Haiti who moved to the United States at 6 years old.

As one of five people sitting on the board of directors for the law firm of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, Prophete helps shape the law firm's policies and direction. He manages the firm's Kansas City office.

"I represent large corporations that have been sued by former or existing employees for discrimination," says Prophete, who owns exactly 23 suits, one for each day of the business month. This consummate businessman rarely wears gym shoes. "I think as a professional, you need to look your very best every single day. That is just my motto."

Prophete is the firm's chief diversity officer, and he mentors several younger associates of color.

"This firm is very interested in continuing to diversify its ranks," says Prophete, who lives with his wife and two children. "It takes that challenge very seriously."

DONALD'S FIRST J.O.B.: "My very first job was at a dry cleaner. When you walk into the dry cleaners you ask for your clothing, and I'd go retrieve the clothing and take your money. I made a striking $20.00 a day."

COPYRIGHT 2007 Johnson Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning