He Has Arrived: Roosevelt Williams Takes Center Stage In 2023

BY VYNCENT DE’VAUGHN

One of the founders of San Diego, Alonzo Horton, stands tall looking over a map of the downtown city he helped design in the early 1900s. Roosevelt Williams III makes it a daily ritual during his work week to come over to the statue and size himself up with Horton.

He deeply admires the man who stands in the Plaza named after himself. But he also understands it is time for someone to fill his shoes within the city he loves. And he’s willing to take up the mantle and make that happen by any means necessary.

“He’s the reason why downtown doesn’t have any alleys. He’s also why the corner buildings downtown are so large. He had them be like that so he could sell that prime real estate for more profit,” Roosevelt says. His main goal in this new year is to position himself as a new architect of the people, for the people.

A former sole cobbler by trade, Roosevelt’s style of service has always been accompanied by a certain level of decorum and positive swagger. As the CEO of YB&NB, his role as super-connector continues to build bridges that serve the needs and desires of YB&NB’s swelling membership.

YB&NB, as a business organization, dedicates its resources to providing instruction and inspiration to business people through the organization’s events, programs, and digital magazines. It also works with the NAACP San Diego Chapter and the Urban League of San Diego County to spread the word about its offerings.

Roosevelt and I continued to stroll the blocks of downtown, admiring Horton’s work as we made our way to The US Grant Hotel’s Grant Grill, one of Roosevelt’s regular meeting spots with clients and potential business collaborators. During our lunch, we spoke about his various plans for his business venture YB&NB as well as how he’s branching out of California and taking center stage at speaking engagements throughout the year.

Vyncent: Roosevelt, it’s been a while since our last interview. What’s planned on your end for yourself and YB&NB in the First half of 2023?

Roosevelt: Before our main event BIZCON, we’ll develop our latest YB&NB manuscript for Black History Month to honor Black Educators. It will be compelling, highlighting men and women from our San Diego Unified School district who have devoted their lives to teaching our future scholars how to thrive and providing them with life lessons and principles to excel inside & outside of the classroom.

This will be a part of our upcoming BIZCON focus, April 5th - April 6th, at Sycuan Casino in San Diego. We’ll have a Mastermind on the Mezzanine, a wonderful experience with two of their ballrooms for two days.

One is designated specifically for the trade show, the other for the seminars which will take place, classroom style. We’ve already begun to receive sponsors for the event, and I will have the local construction industry there for the event, as well as some special guests I’ve met networking thus far this fiscal year.

African American Heritage week, with the Padres, is also on the horizon. We met on January 17th to solidify this year’s assets, including doing the first pitch that week during the game series and ringing the bell during the match-off.

We are also preparing swag giveaways with our partners to benefit our local youth who will be attending the game for the first time, or potentially the only time this year. We’re incredibly excited about the decisions made thus far, mainly the decision to honor a local baseball icon from San Diego. More information about this will be delivered soon to our YB&NB members and collaborators.

Since the dates are so close to BIZCON, I will reach out to the Padres and see about having a section of our programming named Business & Baseball. The intention is to invite the studentathletes from Lincoln, Morris, San Diego High, Crawford, Hoover, and Kearny high schools to attend BIZCON and interact with MLB players, whether retired or active with the Padres, to speak directly about the business within baseball to the student-athletes.

The construction industry will be attending as well, about blue-collar opportunities, as well as white-collar professionals. The interest to involve uniformed individuals is also vital, and setting this all up, as we’re discussing, can be another homerun for the hometown I love and cherish.

Vyncent: Earlier in the day, we spoke about you branching out to do speaking engagements. Please speak to me about your intent to do so in more detail.

Roosevelt: I will be speaking on the same stage as Les Brown this year in February at the Global Awakening Summit in Florida. I’ll be talking there early this year. This March, I’ll also attend a Rotary International Leadership conference in Alabama.

I will be traveling more in 2023, but this will occur organically. The other day, one of my buddies, a newscaster in Vegas, caught up with me, and we had a conversation. I wanted to let him know that we needed to do an interview when I got to town this year. He told me that I was already taking over San Diego, and that humbled me to a large degree.

Another gentleman said similar things at the tail end of 2022, so it’s time to take my brand and its message on the road this year. The value I’m aware I can receive by entering new spaces outside my current reach can lead to new investors and partners that benefit the YB&NB community. It’s already a blessing to hobnob, rub shoulders and interact with the leadership of San Diego, whether with the various grassroots leaders or the established majors within our city.

Being the “elephant hunter” for my growing tribe of 100 members, I always focus on where the prize is to take what’s been built to the next level in San Diego and beyond. We’ve grown exponentially from an initial Facebook group centered around an intentional local movement to align a collective spirit in economic collaboration.

As a business this year, we’re already set to do six figures, but we’re in a position to supersede that in a few years. It’s inspiring and valuable to see how far we have come thus far, yet there is much more to accomplish.

Vyncent: What is something that most people who see you now are aware of that has led you down the path you are now on?

Roosevelt: One of the things that most are unaware of about me is that I’m a part owner in a kiosk here on Broadway downtown called Joey’s shoe shine repair. I’ve been a part owner for years because I was a former shoe cobbler by trade.

We used to be competitors at one point, as I was the only black cobbler in San Diego. Once I retired, I became a patron of his business, sending my old customers and former employees to help him scale his business. Joey has been in the industry for almost 30 years, with plans to expand his operational reach into the new courthouse.

Our YB&NB manuscripts containing our 100-year plan can be found on his shoe shine stand locations and are getting placed in the hands of the influential people that are his customer base daily. Businessmen and women, judges, politicians, and lawyers.

Most prominent individuals visiting his stand are checking out the YB&NB manuscript. They are watching the local news and witnessing the growth of our movement and initiatives. The blueprint is being seen and felt by those who make things move downtown. And it feels good to know it’s getting into the right hands.

About the author:

Vyncent D. Eiffel is a syndicated journalist for the Los Angeles Tribune and founder of Paradice Creative Agency. As a journalist, his career started with the San Diego Monitor in 2018, the oldest Black owned business journal on the West Coast. His professional experiences in journalism, public relations, and brand concept development within various creative industries span over a decade.