L LEADERSHIP
MORE THAN ONE WAY TO GIVE BACK Through her business and volunteering, Asheya Warren is making a positive impact in South Dallas and beyond
BY NICHOLAS SAKELARIS
Asheya Warren was hungry. She had a great corporate job writing and reviewing requests for proposals for major construction jobs at Austin Commercial. During her tenure, she worked on some of the most iconic buildings in North Texas: Museum Tower, Parkland Hospital, and the terminal redevelopment at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. While the job paid the bills just fine, Warren’s soul was crying out, looking for a higher calling. The kinds of projects she worked on would still come to fruition, she says. “I wasn’t doing anything game-changing from a public service or people standpoint,” Warren notes. The question became, “How are we giving back every day?” The Oak Cliff native is passionate about the systemic problems that plague South Dallas, specifically, and more broadly, minority and women-owned construction contractors. Her experience at Austin Commercial gave her first-hand knowledge of the RFP process and the challenges minority companies have in getting projects bid.
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“I saw a real gap in what they were able to provide from a collateral, branding, and strategy standpoint,” she says. “There’s a lack of representation across the board for people of color. That became another passion point for me.” She’d found a problem, and she had the expertise to do something about it. In 2012, she took a leap of faith, leaving her job of nine years to found Praxis, a niche marketing firm that focuses on branding, proposal management, and strategies for minority and women-owned businesses. “Our business focus is helping level the playing field from the standpoint of minority and women-owned business to make sure they are competitive and able to win product for their firms,” Warren says. “The marketing and business development side of the architectural industry is unique and niche-based.” Warren also became the first African-American president of the Society for Marketing Professionals Dallas Chapter where she served two terms. She joined SMPS in 2006 and says it’s played a large role in her career development. A HEART TO GIVE Warren’s heart has always been about giving back, whether she’s on the Mayor’s Star Council, Dallas’ GrowSouth Task Force, or the board for Harmony Community Development Corp. The HCDC is a nonprofit organization founded by Concord Church that advocates and helps people in need with a food pantry, counseling center, and workforce development. A recent grant from The Real Estate Council funded an expansion of the food pantry last year, allowing them to open a “micro-grocery store” where clients can shop for items rather than just taking prepackaged boxes or baskets, she says.
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