Journelism

Paulette Brown-Hinds: Making the Media Work to Support Black Voices

Growing up in a predominantly African-American community in San Bernardino and having two parents actively engaged in their community, especially through work with local newspapers, Paulette has been able to follow in their footsteps, yet still carve her own path. Her first job—not surprisingly related to politics (even before graduating high school, she had worked with Congressman Joe Baca)—was in phone banking. Though she now works with the family newspaper, the Black Voice News, she began her career from the bottom, first handling the newspaper’s subscriptions. While originally wanting to attend Hampton University, Paulette decided to stay local and attend Cal State San Bernardino, graduating with a degree in English Literature. She continued her studies at the University of California, Riverside, earning her master’s and doctorate degrees in English in 1998.

Following graduation, Paulette and her husband uprooted their lives after she accepted a tenured position at the University of Cincinnati. Though they continued their tradition of community involvement, Paulette found that “a lot of the community we were trying to build in Cincinnati, we already had in Southern California, where we had a foundation.” Soon after returning to California, she focused her attention more closely on the family’s community newspaper, particularly when her father became ill. Although she enjoyed being able to work with her family and stay connected to her community, Paulette devised a structure that would enable her to work for her parents’ company, yet also allow more autonomy (she found it difficult to continue answering to them). During this process, she co-founded—with her sister—BPC Mediaworks, which allowed her to work with the paper while expanding her interests. “The best thing about founding BPC Mediaworks is being creative; I like to be able to implement my designs and visions.”

As a small-business owner, Paulette worries about how the economy will affect her business. She admits that advertising is the first thing to go in companies’ budgets, but has protected her businesses by “diversifying our interests. BPC Mediaworks is always getting clients beyond advertisers, thus expanding what we can offer.” Despite all her success, and whatever the economic vagaries, Paulette admits that her biggest challenge is still learning not to worry about what people think of her. She remembers agonizing over the decision to leave a tenured teaching position after working six years for her degree. “Overcoming being burdened by other people’s opinions is like layers; first you have to get over the outer layer—colleagues—then you have to get to the inside where family lies.” Over the course of her journey, putting aside those issues, Paulette recognizes that “I learned what I am good at and what I am not; I acknowledge my limitations and try to bring in people to do those things.” Among her goals, though, is to overcome such limitations wherever possible.

Paulette’s journey has been touched with celebrated political names. And because BPC Mediaworks grew so rapidly in its early stages, Paulette had the opportunity to work with the likes of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver. Because of the nature of the company she started, Paulette continues to explore a wide array of interests and creative projects. She reflects that her biggest accomplishment has been to “create a life I like. There’s no separation between work and community, and I feel like I can create my own rules and am not bound by others.”

Paulette recalls that she had always envisioned a life as president of a college; while that dream has taken a back seat (at least for now), mentoring students has become a key focus; she has instituted programs such as the Black Voice News Internship Program. When counseling college students, Paulette guides them by asking, “What is your ideal world? What would it look like and what do you need to get there? What would be your fallback plan that would still keep you in that world?” She reveals her pleasure at being able to make a difference through mentoring those who are generally quite hopeful, and who believe in their potential to create an ideal world. “I still have an opportunity to shape that and to help people do things that are innovative in the world.”

Here is a life all the more satisfying by having been dictated from within, among the great benefits of the entrepreneurial spirit.