GameChanger

Skip Cooper: “Breaking Ground for Black Businesses in L.A.”

GERALD BELL / CONTRIBUTOR

What I am most proud of is that my deceased parents can look down (from Heaven) and see that I made some positive contributions. They couldn’t have imagined it when I was this little boy in West Oakland not doing homework, not studying, not going to class, the least academic of their four children...

The old adage, “You can’t keep a good man down” will never apply to Earl “Skip” Cooper, II because his passion is what has kept him steady on his feet for nearly fifty years advancing the cause of Black business enterprise in Los Angeles.

At the end of 2021, Cooper took a big step and officially announced that he would be retiring as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Black Business Association (BBA). While a few eyebrows raised at his decision, it’s no surprise that Cooper vowed to remain active with the organization in the roles of Chair of the Board and President Emeritus. He wanted to help the leadership transition and support the incoming interim CEO.

In the 1970’s, when Cooper was first presented with the opportunity to help Black-owned businesses succeed via the BBA, it was an answer to prayers for the Oakland, California native who moved to Los Angeles to attend grad school at USC.

“Before I left Oakland I was praying, and I said, God I really want to be an expert on black business. I want to know everything about the programs that can help black business owners,” Cooper shares. “I was taught as a little kid to pray for everything, and sometimes I did it all day.”

With a laser sharp focus, Cooper began to build his career just as he prayed by taking a part time internship with a minority business organization while completing his education. Upon graduation he assumed a position with the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC), an organization named and endorsed by the late Mayor Tom Bradley.

“I was empowered to do as much as I could to help black business,” explains Cooper, whose master’s degree was in business administration with an emphasis on entrepreneurship. “In fact, it was understood that I would not accept the position under any other circumstances.”

Within a matter of months, Cooper joined the BBA and was named program manager. By 1979, several doors began to swing open for Cooper and that single prayer started to yield some answers.

The LAEDC promoted him to Executive Deputy Director, which was his full-time job. That same year, he was named president of the BBA, and sat on advisory boards with the Small Business Administration, the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of Small Business, and on the board of KCET. In addition, he started his own consulting firm, EC2 and Associates.

With an inundated professional schedule, Cooper couldn’t have been more poised to lead BBA. It was under his leadership that several programs were initiated to fulfill the organization’s long-standing commitment to be innovative, creative, and provide access to capital and financial resources.

“We serve as advocates for the growth and development of black enterprise in LA,” Cooper affirms. “So, we had to develop relationships from city hall to the White House.”

Early in his tenure, Cooper and his team would make visits to Washington, DC to meet with federal agencies to identify contract opportunities for BBA members. They also established several special events such as the Annual BBA Awards Gala, business seminars, workshops, and conferences, as well as “Bankers Day”, which served to help BBA members strengthen relationships with their banker or branch manager to improve opportunities for substantial business loans. Cooper also organized weekly early morning and evening convenings where high profile speakers from across the U.S. came to empower and uplift the BBA members. In addition, the organization took their mission to talk radio with a Sunday evening moderated show that aired on KACE covering topics relevant to black business owners and entrepreneurs. “I was young and bodacious,” reflects Cooper. “I had some of the top money-making African Americans coming to speak to our members even though we had no money to pay them.” Now the oldest African American business organization in California, the BBA remains committed to ensuring that Blacks and other diverse business owners have advocacy efforts that initiates and implements policy that improves access to contracting and procurement opportunities.

“We were blessed to develop a very strong relationship with Mayor Bradley,” offers Cooper who led a group of more than 100 BBA members to meet with the 1985 Olympic Chair to discuss contract opportunities. “We also had strong relationships at the White House during the Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan administrations. We even held advocacy meetings at the White House with cabinet secretaries.”

Thanks to the work of Cooper and the BBA, a growing number of corporations who are realizing the value of supplier diversity in their supply chains, are looking to the BBA to refer African American owned businesses in Southern California for contracting opportunities. This month, the BBA board will host a tribute reception to salute Mr. Cooper for a lifetime of service to the organization.

On two occasions, Earl “Skip” Cooper Day was announced, once in 2007 by the City of Oakland, and in 2013 by the City of Los Angeles.

“It’s nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice,” quotes Cooper. “What I am most proud of is that my deceased parents can look down (from Heaven) and see that I made some positive contributions. They couldn’t have imagined it when I was this little boy in West Oakland not doing homework, not studying, not going to class, the least academic of their four children, and the only one to barely graduate from high school.”

“Everybody was born with gifts and blessings,” remarks Cooper. “I am never ever satisfied because I will always believe that I could have done more. My commitment is not over with. So, until the day I die I am going to keep trying to help folks…This is my special purpose in life.”

Through the Storm

Emerging Gospel Artist Recalls the Loss That Left Him “Broken”

Vincent Bohanan and the Sound of Victory (SOV) Choir

If it were not for his gift of music and the subtle success of The Sound of Victory Fellowship Choir, Vincent Bohanan, 31 doesn’t believe he could have endured what is, to date, his life’s darkest season. At the age of 26, when news reached Bohanan that the woman who raised him to be the man he is today died, it was a blow to the gut that continues to resound even now—almost five-years later.

As the youngest of three children and the only boy, Bohanan admits (and his sisters agree) that his mother spoiled him “rotten.” In fact, to say that he was “mama’s favorite” would be an understatement. And while Bohanan came up in a two-parent home, even his father understood and endorsed the special mother/son bond the two shared.

“I was a total mama’s boy,” admits Bohanan, who was born in Queens, New York but grew up in Brooklyn. “I was up under her my entire life—choir rehearsals, prayer meetings and church all the time—until she passed away.”

But more than her son’s beloved mother, the late Rev. Marie Bonanan was a 20-year veteran police officer with the New York City Department (NYPD). Her dedication to the force had a sordid end three months before her retirement date when she was called to respond to the site of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

That unforgettable day in American history would years later prove to be the source that led to Bohanan’s major bout with grief. His mother was among the many first responders who survived the initial destruction but were sent to Ground Zero to clean up the rubble and debris.

It was that line of service when a high number of police officers, firefighters and emergency caregivers were reported to have developed significant respiratory illnesses and disease, including cancer. Such was the case with Bohanan’s mom who was diagnosed in 2014 with lung cancer related to inhaling toxins that filled the air in Lower Manhattan.

“That day changed everything,” laments Bohanan. “She was all set to retire and then the bombing happened.” The signs of his mother’s sickness really began to show up in 2016 when he says, “the cancer seemed to just spread throughout her body.”

Faced with a new normal, Bohanan’s first course of action was to accelerate his prayer disciplines and invite others to join him. With church members, choir members and intercessors on board, “We were literally praying night and day. There were morning and evening prayer calls,” explains Bohanan. He then, along with his father and siblings, took to providing regular care for his mother which included the dreaded trips to chemotherapy, accompanying her to medical specialist appointments, lifting her in and out of the car, cooking and serving meals, among countless other demands and duties.

“All of a sudden I became a caregiver,” said Bohanan who was serving in leadership at House of Hope Ministries where his mother was the lead pastor—a role he would eventually assume.

With increasing responsibilities piling on his plate, Bohanan was further forced to juggle another priority with The Sound of Victory (SOV) Choir which was simultaneously landing big on the gospel music scene under Bishop Hezekiah Walker’s music imprint, Hez-House Entertainment.

SOV released its first singles, “Only God” and “He Reigns,” in 2015. “He Reigns” climbed to #4 on the Billboard Gospel Digital Song Sales chart. Bohanan went on to record “We Win” as a tribute to his mother, and the song also topped the Gospel Digital Song Sales charts and earned SOV a Stellar Award nomination for Choir of the Year.

“At the end of the day, it was all about my mother and everyone knew it,” assures Bohanan, a self-described “choir-head.” “She played an important role in the choir’s foundation because she wanted to support whatever I was doing…My mother put up money, invested her time, was at every rehearsal, and even rented buses to make sure we got where we had to be.”

In August of 2017, Bohanan paid a morning visit to the hospital to check in on his mother. Leaving her to get some rest, he whispered in her ear that he would return that evening following an SOV engagement. That moment would be their last exchange.

Later that day, one of his sisters called to say their mother “didn’t make it”. Bohanan was at a gas station about to refuel his car and denial kicked in. He began to insist doctors do something to immediately bring his mother back to life. “Tell them to at least try,” he asserted to his sister believing his prayers for healing were to be answered and there was no way her time was up.

“That was very traumatic for me,” recalls Bohanan. “I was broken. I was surprised because we prayed so much. It was crazy and it still is to this very day.” Within two weeks after his mother’s funeral, Vincent Bohanan & Sound of Victory were back to work despite the many recommendations for Bohanan to take an extended break to rest, process, and grieve.

“Touring, writing, and producing really helped me to release,” Bohanan reasons. “It helped me to laugh and smile again. If I would have taken a break, I probably wouldn’t have the same zeal and the same push that I have today.”

Now in the senior pastor position of the ministry his mother launched, Bohanan recently changed the church’s name to The Winners Assembly New York (TWANY). The effort to keeping his mother’s legacy alive is also a source of healing for him. He reflects on the lessons of his mother (and father) about prayer, studying the Bible and even being on time to church. All of which he is now imparting to the congregants of TWANY. “For a moment we were all at a lost,” says Bohanan of both SOV and the congregation he inherited.

“I didn’t know how I was going to do it because she was so involved in everything. It was hard because we all had unanswered questions, but we were able grieve with each other.” Still coming to terms with the loss of the women he describes as “courageous, loving, patient, strict and victorious,” Bohanan accepts the reality of her absence but also admits, “it still hurts to this very day.”

Continuing, “I was her only little boy. Whatever I wanted she wanted to make sure I had it. She invested her life in all of this and is why I take it very seriously.” Confident his mother would be so proud of him, Bonhanan can boast of two more Stellar Award nominations with SOV, appearances on major stages alongside A-lists names from CeCe Winans to P. Diddy, and more recent recordings landing on the Billboard charts. “I don’t think the hurt will ever totally not be there, but we know how to handle it now,” says Bohanan. “In everything we do we try to honor my mother.”

Vincent Bohanan