Directed by Peabody- and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson, Boss: The Black Experience in Business shines a light on the story of resilience and resistance within the black American experience in the face of racial hostility and violence, economic exclusion, segregation and discrimination.
Tying together the past and the present, Boss: The Black Experience in Business explores the inspiring stories of trailblazing African American entrepreneurs and the significant contributions of contemporary business leaders. Stories featured in the film include those of entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker, publisher John H. Johnson, Motown CEO Berry Gordy, and business pioneer and philanthropist Reginald F. Lewis, among others. The film features new interviews with Vernon Jordan, senior managing director of Lazard, Freres & Co. LLC.; Cathy Hughes, CEO and founder of Urban One; Ursula Burns, former CEO of Xerox and chairman of VEON; Ken Frazier, chairman, president and CEO of Merck & Co., Inc.; Richelieu Dennis, founder, CEO and executive chairman of Sundial Brands; Robert F. Smith, chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Managing Partners, LLC; Earl “Butch” Graves, Jr., CEO of Black Enterprise; and John Rogers, CEO and founder of Ariel Investments.
Boss: The Black Experience in Business is a Firelight Filmsproduction for THIRTEEN Productions LLC, in association with The HistoryMakers, the nation’s largest African American video oral history archive. Stanley Nelson is director and producer. Traci Curry is producer. Marcia Smith is writer. For The HistoryMakers: Julieanna Richardson is co-executive producer. For THIRTEEN: Lesley Norman is executive producer. Benjamin Phelps is coordinating producer. Stephen Segaller is executive in charge.
Major funding for Boss: The Black Experience in Business is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Citigroup . Additional funding is provided by The JPB Foundation as part of Chasing the Dream, a public media initiative from WNET reporting on poverty, jobs and opportunity in America; and by Fairview Capital, Yusef Kassim and public television viewers.
