Welcome, everyone, to today's webinar discussion
focused on celebrating Black Business Month
and empowering black entrepreneurs.
My name is Hugh Allen and I'm the Regional President
of the Mid-South Metro for TD Bank.
Now, before we get started with today's program,
I want to take a moment to acknowledge some
of the barriers and obstacles that black entrepreneurs
have to face each day.
Things such as unconscious bias,
access to capital, and the racial wealth gap
just to name a few.
And although that reality may seem daunting,
I do have faith in the future
and I hope this event demonstrates that together
we can help bring about the change
and work towards a more equitable future.
And at the same time, it's also important for us
to celebrate the tremendous impact
that black-owned businesses have on creating
economic opportunity and empowerment
within local communities.
And that's why we're here today.
To discuss and especially impactful black-owned business.
So please, join me in welcoming
our special guest, Rose Staram
from Rosemark Production.
As well as TD's very own Chris Sylvestre.
The Retail Market Manager for greater Boston
and Rose's dedicated relationship manager.
Thank you both for coming and I'll turn things
over to you to share your story.
Hello, everybody.
I'm Chris Sylvestre.
I'm the Retail Market Manager for the greater Boston area.
I'm here with one of my favorite people, Rose Staram
from Rosemark Production.
How are you today?
I'm doing well, Chris, thank you for inviting me.
Thank you for being here today.
Today we're here to talk about you and Rosemark Production.
We've known each other for what, a decade now?
A decade at least, yeah.
So we're here to talk about Rosemark Production.
Mm!
I know what it's about, right, and I've seen it.
I've seen the media.
But can you tell the people what Rosemark Production is?
Sure, sure.
We are a large scale production company.
And when I say production, people are always thinking,
oh, event planner.
And totally not event planner at all.
We rig lights and we build stages
and you know, audio, video.
Some of the major platforms that you've seen
in political rallies.
That's what we do.
And we do it big.
You do it big.
We do it big, we try.
(chuckling)
How did you get into this type of business?
Well you know, I started volunteering years ago.
I really enjoyed politics.
I enjoyed events.
And so I started to, like literally,
I'm a tax accountant by trade.
That's what I do.
Yeah, because you used to do my taxes.
Yeah, actually, you were my tax client.
Now I'm seeing you do this, I'm like,
that's my CPA!
Yeah, I was transitioning between the two jobs, basically.
And so I did my, I was an accountant
for three months doing taxes, yours included.
And then for the nine months it allowed me
to get on the road and volunteer with political campaigns.
And you know, helping to do large rallies.
People like Deval Patrick and Martha Coakley
and Mike Capuano, you know.
Some of the representatives here in Massachusetts.
And so, I did it for nine months.
Did it for free, loved it, kept doing it
and kept growing from doing it, you know.
And then in 2010 I caught a huge break
and President Obama came knocking.
Well, not him per se, but his people did.
And they asked me to join his re-election campaign.
And that's how it all started.
That's when the doors just flooded open for me.
Yeah, that's when you started passing my taxes
off to someone else.
That's when you saw me a little less, yes.
How do you go from doing taxes
to now doing all these things for these big political people
and building stages and so forth?
You know, that's a journey.
How did you get there?
Where was your starting point?
So I think for me, my passion laid in doing these events.
And being able to get in and out of these places
and travel and see the world and the lights.
It just was so invigorating.
You know, that I would come back
and actually go to work, right?
For the three months doing taxes.
And so I knew deep inside what I truly wanted to do.
I just didn't know how I could make money doing it.
Gotcha.
But I was okay doing it for free, because I loved it.
And as time went on and I grew and learned a lot more
and realized that, hey, maybe there is an avenue here
for me to pivot and possibly make some money
doing what I love.
And so I think a lot of people shy away from that,
because it's like, well, you have to work, right?
You work for money and you don't work and be happy, right?
But I thought, maybe I could.
Maybe I could pivot from the grind
of just doing accounting to something
that I'm passionate about.
And that's how, kind of the journey started.
Yeah, and so once I was with the Obamas
it led to so many different experiences
and being with Mrs. Obama, she's such a person
who just teaches you so much.
And she really invigorated me to think through
what my next steps could be.
And you know, going through the book tour with her
and all of those things, yeah,
she taught me to swerve and to pivot.
And so, I'm quoting her book right now.
And so, I pivoted.
I figured it out.
And you know, having access to capital
was one of the things that kind of kept me away
from taking the leap of faith in the beginning.
Because I needed to be able to employ people.
And I needed to be able to provide funding
for whatever my client needed before
the client even paid me.
Yeah.
So, a lot of that was scary.
And so I think by the time that I realized that,
and this is where you came in, right,
that I realized that banking
and having that institutional knowledge
of how money works, how money flows in and out.
And you know, just the conception.
As an accountant I couldn't even tell you that piece of it.
But once I started to get into really figuring out
loans and how business loans work
and all that other stuff,
that's when I started to get a little bit more comfortable.
And joining your, with your guidance, basically.
That was very helpful for me to start
to see the bigger picture.
Well, that's the least I could do.
You kept me out of tax jail, so.
(chuckling)
Well, knock on wood.
Knock on wood, yes.
So what was the most challenging part for you?
What was the most scariest, I would say, probably.
Not challenging but most scariest part for you,
now that you're doing this venture?
What would you say that was?
I love that question as well,
because I'll tell you a story.
We landed a huge gig in 2021.
It was President Biden's inauguration.
Okay.
It was a seven figure contract.
Mm-hm.
That you helped me tremendously through
and I still am very thankful for that.
You're welcome.
Getting an AMX card and literally saying,
here's $200,000, I need get the staging in today.
So it was taking my own capital
and putting it forward before even really knowing
that I was gonna get this money back.
So again, a leap of faith.
You know, trusting the process.
Knocking on your door as well,
to get some capital to help us through
the inaugural.
And so, that was the scariest moment of my life.
You know, signing money that you're borrowing
and having to have that faith
that it'll come back through the door.
Got you.
And also, I think too, I have recently retired
from doing accounting.
Yes, you have, and I was very disappointed.
But you know, I get it.
I'll pass you on, of course.
But literally letting go of one rope
and swinging unto the next.
I think as an entrepreneur, as people who,
and other entrepreneurs will tell you,
it is scary to know that if you don't wake up
in the morning and go to work,
you're not getting paid.
But I knew, again, beyond the finances
my passion would bring me to greatness.
And you said it was a contract, right?
So do you have to bid for this?
Is there a bid war?
Yeah, so yeah, we always go,
almost 99% of our contracts, our work is through bidding.
What we call RFPs.
And so we have to put forward the best budget.
And also to have the best experience.
So they not only look at the bottom line
of how much you're bidding for, but like, who are you
and what have you done in the past?
Got it.
And so, I think that's a great question as well,
and I can pivot here to tell you how
it wasn't easy starting off getting these contracts.
It was very difficult.
But I looked for mentorship.
And I looked to people I had worked in the past with.
Not as an entrepreneur but just as
either a staffer or someone that they had known in the past
for doing great volunteer work.
Yeah.
And those people vouched for me.
They were my allies.
And I think as a person of color and a woman,
you need allies in this world.
Because people don't necessarily just give you
an opportunity when you walk through the door.
Nope.
Right?
So we have to struggle a little harder,
fight a little harder, and having people
to vouch for you and stand behind you
and say, hey, she got it.
I think that is so, super important.
That's very powerful, that's for sharing that.
So, a lot of success. That's awesome.
And it seems like you fought for every single piece of it.
Usually in these fighter stories
there's some hard times.
There's some very hard lessons learned too.
What would you say some of yours were?
Okay, where do I start?
For me, I think a lot of it was learning to trust myself.
Number one.
The anxiety and the stress, it's real,
and you have to learn to trust yourself
and believe in yourself.
I think that's like one of the main,
I mean, it's not like a tangible lesson.
It's more of a like spiritual
and intellectual lesson for me.
But leaning on myself and understanding that,
hey Rose, you've done this, you can do it.
You're smart enough.
I think that if I could go back
and correct anything, I think that I would start off
with more staff.
(chuckling)
Because this one-man operation is not feasible.
Yeah.
But I think that's a good point too,
for our entrepreneur crews out there
who are thinking about doing this
or who are in business now.
You can't grow if it's you by yourself.
So, I think it's important that you staff up.
Even if, again, it's like getting that loan
to staff up to grow your business.
But you've gotta staff up.
And that was definitely lesson number two for me.
The one man show definitely kept me up
more hours than it should, right?
And so once I did staff up,
things got a little easier.
I was able to kind of give people
responsibilities and roles.
And all of a sudden, I could now be more creative.
And I could now really focus on growing
the business through RFQs and RFPs.
And having people just go out there and actually work.
So, that was definitely a hard lesson learned for me.
Got it.
And you get a lot of support from your family,
which, I don't think people know.
Yeah.
And you have a brother and sister.
How do you guys not kill each other?
(chuckling)
Chris, no one said we don't kill each other
on a daily basis.
My mom is the reason we stay out of jail with each other,
but no, they were amazing.
I do have a brother and a sister.
My sister's actually the vice president of my company
and my brother is the chief financial officer
of the company.
We are a very close family.
You know, born and raised with a single mom
in the inner city.
We're Caribbean, so we went through
some tough times as children.
And we stuck together and as grown adults
we're still sticking together, right?
And I when I came to them with this crazy idea,
they did not hesitate.
They were like, let's go.
Let's do it, Rose.
We believe in you.
You've been out in these streets long enough.
If you think this could be lucrative,
we got your back.
Got it.
And it was nice, because I didn't have
to pay them for like a year.
(chuckling)
And if they gave me any--
They're gonna see this, by the way.
Oh god!
Don't worry, they've been paid since, so.
And my Mom kept us together, tight as children,
and it just resonated until today.
And so with all of the challenges
they were there with me, supporting me.
And with all the success,
they're there also cheering and supporting.
So there had to be some more growing pains, right?
You started with yourself, right?
And how many people do you employ now?
Today we have eight employees on staff.
Oh wow.
Yeah, yeah.
So how did you build that?
How did you get, I know brother and sister got your back,
but how'd you get other people involved?
Sure, once I started to realize people
were calling me for work, and I could do it alone.
Again, I brought in my brother who strictly does
all the finances.
Like pays, he goes online and says, I pay the bills.
So he keeps our lights on.
So he's not really on the road as much.
And Shirley, she's really does all our HR.
And then it started to be, well,
I can't be in two places at once.
And so that's when I knew,
I started to bring in consultants.
And that's the other piece too,
is I didn't just overnight hire a bunch of people, right?
It took time and the effort was let me consult out,
I don't have to deal with payroll taxes at the moment.
And I can just have these consultants go
and actually work on project to project as I build.
And so, I think once inauguration happened,
that's when I came knocking on your door,
I realized that, yeah, I'm gonna need a lot of funding.
And I'm gonna need a lot of people to work
such a large project.
And so, I think that was the turning point for me
and once I had a real taste of, wow,
this is how it feels to have so much support,
ground support, I knew that in order for my business
to continue to grow, I would have to obviously
continue to grow my staff.
Of course we got dealt a pretty bad blow with COVID.
Mm-hm.
You know, events companies went down left and right.
And that also was a moment that I had to scale back
and start to realize, hey, I can't pay everybody
like I was paying them before.
And that was a very hard moment
in the industry for all of us who worked events.
And so, there was a lot of growth there too during COVID
where we found in person events weren't happening anymore.
And we had to pivot to virtual.
And it was hard, you know.
That was hard.
Everybody, it was kind of like,
I still wanna go to the movies.
And I still wanna...
Well, we still want in-person events, you know?
And a lot of people who were holding out, I think,
and didn't pivot were definitely doomed
by their ability not to pivot.
And not to look for other ways to make money
in the events industry.
But because we are pivoters in life,
and I've been pivoting for a long time.
(chuckling)
Right?
I've seen it.
I pivot, you know, it's like I'm a basketball player.
I'll pivot all day.
I was able to look for other ways
to generate income and to stay afloat.
And it became in the virtual world.
And so, in-person turned into Zooms.
We were having Zoom parties for companies.
And we were doing conferences through Zoom.
And then we started to build that book of business.
How does that, you know,
because you go from building stages, right?
Yeah.
Now you're doing, so what does that entail?
Being virtual?
A lot of YouTube.
(chuckling)
A lot of YouTube, I mean,
I'm not the technical person, you know.
And people were developing softwares
and you know, just backend green rooms on a virtual site.
And so we were all learning
and pivoting together, I would say.
Technology and the events world.
And I think that, for us, was what saved us
from completely having our door shut on us.
And it also led to the Biden opportunity,
because we were doing so well in the virtual world
when it came to his inauguration,
most of it was virtual.
Most of it was virtual.
Yeah, and so even our evening with Tom Hanks,
his inaugural ball, that was a virtual event.
You know, so all of that played,
it just, again, taking those risks, pivoting,
leap forwarding, and not being afraid
to look into other ways to generate income
actually opened up more doors for us in the future.
So now, we're not virtual anymore, right?
We're back to in-person events.
What does that look like?
How is life now?
Thank you for that question.
What life?
(chuckling)
You know, I live on a plane, Chris.
I can't lie.
It is my time right now to take all that has
been given to me as far as success
and go beyond, right?
And so I've made a lot of great connections over COVID.
And I should say this to you.
During COVID I didn't stay idle just doing virtual events.
I took that time to really get to know people.
Yeah.
I really took that time to have those virtual coffees
and literally it was a reset moment.
And the networking came into play for me during COVID.
I met great people like Martha Sheridan from
the Boston Convention Center, yes.
And Carrie Campbell from the Red Sox.
And I started going to, I joined a couple of clubs,
like SCOW, it's a club for tourism.
And so I really started to hone in on things
that I probably wouldn't have,
had COVID not happened.
Gotcha.
And I started building those relationships
that I probably wouldn't have, if COVID didn't happen.
And so now that we've turned the key,
we've turned a plate, or whatever.
However you want to say it.
Those relationships now are coming back
and they're doing me very well.
That's awesome, that's great.
So, you know when I have Martha calling me
or Carrie calling me, or Greater Boston Chamber calling me.
You know, we got a great gig
with the city of Boston because of those networking
opportunities I took during COVID.
Yeah.
And so we've been busy.
I actually flew to Berlin, Israel,
and then back.
No, I'm sorry.
Israel, Berlin, then back to Israel
in a matter of two weeks.
Oh wow.
So, I'm a little jet lagged right now.
But things are looking good.
And I think it's all again, because I took
that moment during COVID to establish
a sound foundation of networking.
So now you're international Rose.
I'm international Rose, yes.
That's awesome, that's awesome.
So what's next for Rosemark Production?
Where do you see Rosemark Production taking off next?
I...
And I'm saying this like whole heartedly.
I want to be as big as we can be.
And I say that not only because of my financial gains,
but I think it's important that women,
people of color, see people like me at the top.
And not a mama poppa type situation,
but at a, I have 80 employees,
I have 100 employees, maybe I have 1,000 employees.
And so, my driving force is not only to,
obviously, succeed financially,
but also to be a mentor for others coming up.
That's awesome.
Because I believe like, if I could do it.
If I could do it, you know,
the inner city girl from Mattapan
with a disabled mom, why can't somebody else
who is in my situation or worse come up as well?
So I find like, this is a moment for me to be like,
maybe a mentor to your own daughter.
Maybe she'll look at me in a magazine one day
and say, hey, that's kind of cool.
I wanna be her.
She looks like me, you know?
And so, for me, what's next for Rosemark
is to continue to grow, be more international,
definitely open up more doors for people of color and women.
That is something that I strive on too
is hiring people that don't always get the opportunity.
Gotcha.
Because I know how that feels.
Gotcha.
And I will always be your banker.
Okay, you will always be my.
I'll move with ya, but we're not going anywhere.
We're not going anywhere, no.
Please.
I might have to hold you down if you try,
but no, we're staying here.
That's awesome.
So you talked, we talked about a lot today, right?
We talked about networking.
Yeah.
We talked about family, partnership.
What's important?
Why is that important, like, partnership?
What does that do for you?
You know, it's hard to trust people
and it's hard to put yourself out there
and say, hey, I need your help.
I'm a really strong minded person
and you know, my mom was very independent
and I grew up as an independent woman.
So, it's hard for me to say, hey, help me.
Yeah.
But you and I, I think, like our story, right?
So, we were together for awhile doing taxes.
Let me make sure that's clear.
I was your tax accountant.
You did my taxes, yup.
And you told me you were at a local bank
and, you know, come on over.
And I said, yeah.
I'm starting this business, Chris,
I'm gonna trust you.
And I put my trust and my money and faith in you.
And you never led me astray.
You guided me through a lot of things
and I just remember, I don't know if you remember this,
when we had that moment of fraud.
Yes, I do remember, yes.
And I just remember being like, oh my god.
You know, at that time I believe it was like $50,000
that we were defrauded.
Yup.
And to a small business, that's death.
You know, that's like, I'm just starting off.
My god, I just got ripped off.
Chris, what am I gonna do?
And you were calm, you were collected.
You held my hand through the process.
And you got us our money back.
Yeah.
And I think after that, like,
no one could tell me anything about Chris.
You know, and that's where our partnership,
I believe, started.
Our trust started.
And from there when you were telling me, hey,
I'm moving unto bigger and better, Rose.
I said, okay, Chris, where are we going?
Right? And you were like.
You did, you did.
I did, I was like, where are we going, Chris?
You said, TD Bank.
I said, cool, let's do it.
And I think maybe a month after is when I got
the huge contract and we were moving millions of dollars.
Wiring and all that other stuff.
And you, you helped us through the whole process.
Yeah.
And so for me, our partnership is based on trust.
I can go to sleep at night and say, hey, I'm good.
And even, I saw some, it's funny with the bank collapses,
we were a little worried.
And I was like, Chris got us.
Like, you know.
And so I feel assured in your hands
that you will always look out for us,
because you always have.
Yeah.
And that's important, yeah.
And you know, you're not only like my banker,
you're actually family.
Like we, you know, we text all the time, we laugh.
We do.
You know, your relationship with me
is beyond just 9:00 to 5:00.
And I got my Rosemark jacket finally, you know, so.
So I'm part of the street team.
(chuckling)
Which is important as well.
I rock it everywhere.
All the time, which is awesome.
Well, that's great, that's great.
And that partnership is huge.
And I appreciate our friendship and our relationship
because it's just like you mentioned before.
It's about people that look like us, right?
My daughter, right?
I know you have nieces and nephews
and they need someone to look up to.
And I love that about us,
because it's about giving back.
It's about showing the journey.
Because not everybody can do it themselves.
I've also had people to lean on, to reach out to.
So it's very important.
So I'm glad that's what we're in it for.
Obviously, we're in it for our success too.
Definitely.
But I always say, we gotta bring somebody with us.
And I love that. I love doing that.
Well, and I gotta ask you.
Why did you choose me?
You have taken me as a client
and you have brought me to places
I've never thought I would be.
You've introduced me to the CEO of TD Bank.
You've introduced me to countless other heads
of the banking industry here.
You've introduced me to entrepreneurs
that are 10 times the size of my company.
Why did you choose me, like?
It goes back to the trust.
When I needed a CPA someone gave me your name
and I checked you out.
We had a great conversation.
You walked me through certain things
that I didn't even know I could do.
And so, again, it was that trust.
And then when you asked me for help I was like,
why is she asking me for help, you know?
(chuckling)
But I realized what the power in the position that I was in.
Yeah.
And you know, obviously I'm a regional president now,
but back then I was just a store manager.
And to me, like, oh she's really leaning on me for help
and then after helping you,
you would send clients to me to help them.
And that just became a trust right there.
And you trust me with your clients
and I trust you with my information.
And then since then, we've just been laughing
and joking every single time.
Yeah, yeah.
When I see something like, hey, did you do this?
Yes, yes, yes!
So, that's how it's evolved.
And I think it happened just organically.
I mean, it wasn't purposefully.
It wasn't like, you know, let's go find Rose, right?
It just happened.
It just happened.
And I love that when you do just call me up
and say, hey, you know the interest rates are...
Hey, what are you thinking about doing with,
you know, you're moving it here.
And I appreciate that.
You always keep me up to date.
Now I'm just thinking through in my head,
you actually called me,
I don't know if you remember this,
for the PPP loan.
I did.
Yeah.
Yes.
I was actually at another bank.
I won't say any names.
And I had been doing private lending with them for years.
They didn't call me.
You called me.
Yeah.
And I think that was when I knew.
I was like, what is that, Chris?
What is the PPP?
You walked me through it.
You walked me through the application process.
And that is the type of stuff,
like little companies, black, brown,
women owned companies.
We don't get that special attention.
Yeah.
And it wasn't like I had millions of dollars.
But you took that time to make that call.
And I can never forget that.
And I do remember that time,
but what sticks to me the most is when
I told you I was leaving that financial institution,
you said, okay, I'm coming with you.
Yeah.
Like, that meant a lot to me.
Oh, I wouldn't leave you.
So, I appreciate your business.
I appreciate your friendship.
I feel like I'm part of the brother and sister.
You are!
Don't worry, I won't tell Rose.
You know?
I think I called you the other day just talking trash
about the brother and the sister.
Yes, you did.
So you are definitely apart of the family.
And for me it's just not like being your client
and your friend, but you're actually really good.
You're good at what you do.
Thank you, I appreciate that.
No, and I appreciate how you brought me in,
introduced me to these wonderful people.
And it just continues on.
So, you know, I can't ever leave you.
Yeah, I don't think you can now.
No.
'Til death do us part, yeah.
(chuckling)
For sure.
So you gave us a lot today.
And you gave us a lot of knowledge and wisdom
that I think our listeners are taking notes
as we speak, right?
But as we leave today, because you know, this has to end.
Even though
I don't want it to.
We could do this all day, right?
And I don't want it to, either.
What is the one piece of wisdom or knowledge
that you want those listeners to know about you?
Okay.
Or everything about the team, or Rosemark Production?
You say one piece, I'm gonna give you two.
Okay.
I can't just give you one.
All right.
I think the biggest piece that I touched on earlier.
Network.
Mm-hm.
If you're an entrepreneur,
you wanna grow your business, network.
Get a mentor.
Get someone who's been in the business
who knows the business that can show you the ropes.
I think that was the piece that really propelled me
is that I got a mentor.
I think that if I hadn't gotten
the mentor that I got, I wouldn't be so successful.
Because he was able to show me a model.
He was able to give me a blueprint.
There's a blueprint out here for these things, right.
And if you are the smartest person in the room,
there is a problem.
It's a problem.
Get some smart people around you.
Don't be afraid to take a leap of faith.
Gotcha.
I think the most important piece of this for me,
for anyone who's watching this who has an idea,
who's not sure if they should leave their job
and do something different.
I was a tax accountant for 20 years.
Now I build stages.
Yeah.
And I've never been happier.
Take the leap of faith.
Take a leap.
If your passion is there, your drive is there,
take the leap but do it smart, right?
I'm not telling you to just like, I quit.
(chuckling)
Abandon the job, you know, the wife and kids
and go out there trail blazing.
But take it, take the leap of faith
and do it smart.
Get people, someone like you, Chris, right?
You have backed us.
You know, TD has backed us.
Get a mentor.
I got a mentor.
And just take those steps forward and you can do it.
You can be the next big company.
Because I believe that Rosemark is going to be
the next big company.
And so, for me that's so super important.
Wow, thank you for today.
Thank you for sharing with us.
And I thank everybody for joining in
and listening to us.
Rose Staram from the Rosemark Production company.
Very astounding business here.
I'm Chris Sylvestre.
I'm the Market Manager for the greater Boston area.
And now, I would like to introduce Amy Dinkar-Patel,
head of Small Business to close out this program.
Thank you, Chris.
And thank you all for joining us today
in celebration of Black Business Month.
As we know, small businesses are the life blood
of our local economies.
They create jobs, drive innovation,
and help tie local communities together.
A special thank you to you, Rose, for sharing
the compelling story of Rosemark Production.
Doubling down on Rose's advice for small businesses,
resilience and adaptability are critical.
Especially during uncertain times.
A recent survey we conducted on the outlook
of small businesses found that 62% view inflation
to be the top business concern today.
As Rose points out,
it's important to ask for help sometimes.
Today, there are many resources and networks
available including trusted banking partners
that are dedicated to supporting small businesses.
Providing local and national insights,
and helping you achieve your goals.
As a top small business bank,
TD's focus remains helping small businesses access
the tools and capital they need to succeed.
For those of you that are looking
to start a business or grow an already established one,
I hope you walk away from today's conversation
feeling inspired and supported on your journey
to making your vision a reality.
Thank you.
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