On The Front Porch

29/11/2023

29/11/2023

Here's a recent piece I crafted for Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) - Educators Academy about that "first job" and its impact on our lives:

In our professional trajectory, both mentors and mentees draw strength from personal growth and shared wisdom, forging a path toward continuous improvement.

01/09/2023

It’s Forbes Friday!!

Given the emails that I write, I decided to share a few tips for engaging readers from JUMP!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2023/09/01/20-comms-pros-share-their-best-tips-for-writing-email-subject-lines/.

Writing a subject line to inspire receivers to open an email can be a challenge for comms pros, especially if the same message is going out to a large number of people.

21/08/2023

My Great grandmother’s spirit lives on on through me. I am SO grateful to have benefitted from her deep reservoir of experience and knowledge. Glad Forbes appreciates hearing her perspective through my pen, too. 🙏🏾

In business, promoting equity and fairness demands more than just good intentions. It requires deliberate action.

03/06/2023

A company has 99 problems when handling employee layoffs, but your girl provided one expert response!!

One of a senior executive’s most important, and often least favorite, responsibilities is being the face of the company when layoffs are necessary.

17/05/2023

Pull up a seat
A cushion
Or a chair
Listen in as author, entrepreneur, and soul food connoisseur Shanita Akintonde shares the story about her FIRST mentor. This Kris Kringle doppelgänger not only saved his protégé’s sanity, but left a lasting impression that Shanita still carries today.

Check out this great listen on Audible.com. Mentoring. Matters. So do you. Listen in as Career Coach Shanita Akintonde shares her personal story on how to combine both. Ma...

11/04/2023

Here’s my latest podcast! Able-bodied Brands from Marketing Insights on Amazon Music. https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4f0a2b4f-0faa-46b4-8738-3c5e77e21ad7/episodes/7e974f87-0122-4f4b-976b-357ede5ee371/marketing-insights-able-bodied-brands

Happy Spring! Time to shake out your bunny tails and prepare your earlobes for an EGG-cellent Marketing Insights podcast entitled Able-bodied brands. This special episode is courtesy of Marketing Insights host, educator, author, career coach and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion expert ...

11/04/2023

Meet our new member, Shanita!

Shanita's preferred pronouns are she, her, and hers. She is the president of ShanitaSpeaks, LLC. Shanita shares in her own words how she got her start:

"I have been writing since I first learned to spell my Bologna’s first name. Born in West Germany and raised on the South Side of Chicago, I love three things: books, a good burger, and anything with bubbles!

My penchant for the spoken word serves me well. I am an author, newspaper columnist, blogger, vlogger, and host of the #1-ranked podcast called Marketing Insights.

I am also an educator and entrepreneur. For 23 years, I served as the only Black, female tenured faculty member for marketing communication majors at Columbia College Chicago.

Today, I channel my expertise in media and marketing to make magic for clients as President of ShanitaSpeaks, LLC. My company provides training services in communication, Leadership, diversity and personal branding. My husband, Jimmy and I met in college. We are the parents of two amazing young adults—Jimi, a trained engineer and chess guru and Anthony, a Morehouse Man."

Her favorite hobbies include books, brunch, and anything with bubbles!

The song that gets her moving is "Smooth Criminal" by Michael Jackson.

07/03/2023

Click here to listen:

https://1drv.ms/v/s!Ak0zkEbqU6q-gsIiRTUhdfrAKaFDRg
To Influence or Not

07/03/2023

https://www.mheducation.com/highered/ideas/instructor/how-to-build-an-lgbtq-champion-brand

Do you want to become a better marketer for diverse audiences? Are you uncertain what to call that learning process? Are you an instructor interested in offering tools for future marketers to connect with diverse audiences? This article will provide that direction summarized in seven words: How. To. Build. An. LGBTQ+. Champion. Brand.

Do you want to become a better marketer for diverse audiences? Are you uncertain what to call that learning process? Learn how.

01/11/2022

Witch-ing you a Happy Holla! Ween!

If you missed the October 2022 exciting HushLoudly episode, ‘Marketing for Introverts’ with ShaniTaDa! (yours truly) 🌸, check it out here on CAN TV with host and my AKA sister Jeri Bingham. I was thrilled to join her to unwrap SWEET advice for introverts and extroverts alike. This is SUCH a relevant topic it’s scary! 👻

Jeri Bingham discusses Marketing for Introverts. With special guest Shanita Akintonde. Recorded at CAN TV Podcast Studio.

20/10/2022

On FIRE! Two words to describe otherwise costly advice for best strategies for reaching Hispanic consumers provided by my friend Jacqueline Camacho-Ruiz, Marketing/PR Expert.

It was a delightful exchange between two branding experts wIth DEI infused in their marketing DNA. ❤️

24/07/2022

One of the highlights of the 2022 Influence conference was networking with fellow POWER WOMEN of NSA.

26/04/2022

Here's my marketing story. In 1991, I didn't see any opportunities for Black girls like me who loved marketing. So, I created them. FIRST STOP: The American Marketing Association (AMA) at Columbia College Chicago (CCC).
My role: Founder & First President :-)

SECOND STOP: Pay it forward time (To whom much is hidden....)
Returned to Columbia as full-time faculty and the youngest and ONLY full-time African American female professor (a position that I still sadly hold 23-years later).
My role? Served as faculty founder and advisor for The Columbia College Marketing Association (10 years)
Creator and Founder, ADSTOCK, the largest career advice, networking, and leadership conference for Marketing Communication students in the Midwest (10 years)
Joined The AMA National Academic Council

THIRD STOP: Host, #1-ranked marketing podcast for McGraw Hill (Marketing Insights: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/walk-it-like-they-talk-it-brands-diversity-equity-inclusion/id1378417469?i=1000492069911)
2018 Elected to AMA Chicago Board of Directors
2018 BrandSmart Conference Presenter
2019 AMA Chicago Connex Speaker
2020 AMA Chicago Marketing Panelist
2021 B2B Marketing Conference keynote speaker
2021 AMA Chicago Linkedin Live Host
2022 AMA Collegiate Conference Keynote Speaker
2022 McGuffin Mornings DEI& Marketing Panelist
2022 Created and hosted, The AMA Chicago Marketing Boot Camp

¿NEXT STOP? Circling back to that 19-year-old who started it all and telling her to stay on task. The view from here is FANTASTIC!

29/03/2022

As Women’s History Month ends, I thought it appropriate to share the way I celebrated it a few years ago:

https://www.facebook.com/shanita.akintonde/videos/10220557536580666/

29/03/2022

I’ve been slacking on keeping your marketing podcast diet crack-a-lackin’! Here is my latest Marketing Insights podcast:

Unboxed Brands: https://www.buzzsprout.com/173016/10268425-unboxed-brands?mkt_tok=MTI4LVNKVy0zNDcAAAGDdSrS-hGclDV2SsmdfmPhTVHGeQsaOMCbfakXnmy0Oh22mQzMetE_VLUAvJ90flQ6XA8p9tr7Ja9peF-nFL4U8cwEXFxAl4XCuRuU5SCx02xmn3-Ab9b2

Join Marketing Sheroe as she shares a concept she developed called "Unboxed Brands." This shortlist of companies remain rooted in core values and beliefs, regardless of the cost, which depending on the circumstances may be daunti...

29/03/2022

It’s TOO THRILLED Tuesday so I get the chance to share why I LOVE working with this company. They’re definitely my peeps. Here’s just one example of why I feel that way:

Marketing Insights is https://info.mheducation.com/index.php/email/emailWebview?md_id=204286&mkt_tok=MTI4LVNKVy0zNDcAAAGDdSrS-hGclDV2SsmdfmPhTVHGeQsaOMCbfakXnmy0Oh22mQzMetE_VLUAvJ90flQ6XA8p9tr7Ja9peF-nFL4U8cwEXFxAl4XCuRuU5SCx02xmn3-Ab9b2

Hi Shanita, When you think about your favorite pair of shoes, do you consider the brand loyalty, design, and influence that impacted your purchase? I found myself buying a third pair of my beloved “Converse” tennis shoes because of the clean lines, the “AllStar” reputation, and memories I a...

21/01/2022

https://fb.watch/aGOlJshDDZ/

09/01/2022

https://us19.campaign-archive.com/?u=21c616a3e8061df0d4b2913b8&id=05eee9060b

January 11, 2021 Dear Fellow Toastmasters: Each ViewMaster is asked to jumpstart January! Here’s what you are asked to do: Bring an artifact to the January 15, 2021 meeting that represents your world ‘view.’ It can be a photo, a book, or a favorite plant. No need to get fancy (in other words....

09/01/2022

https://mailchi.mp/c7527e4e065a/viewmasters-news-may-edition?e=%5BUNIQID%5D

Dear fellow Toastmasters, L.O.V.E., L-Leadership O-Opportunity V-Value E-Excellence I’m on Vacation every single day Because I love my occupation If you don’t like your life, then you should go and change it.

09/01/2022

https://mailchi.mp/8ddcc9dad959/viewmasters-news-april-edition?e=e1e87c3b69

Dear fellow Toastmasters, L.O.V.E., L-Leadership O-Opportunity V-Value E-Excellence April Tools Day Happy April Tools Month! For this edition of the ViewMasters newsletter, I decided to share several time-tested tools that add a great deal of levity in my professional and personal life. These ...

09/01/2022

https://lnkd.in/em3fUP6

Join Professor Shanita Akintonde in her latest marketing medley where she unpacks what “Boss” brands do to attract and retain consumer loyalty! ...

09/01/2022

https://youtu.be/1bWJlbw9A0U

A new series of panel discussions featuring leading women business owners and entrepreneurs. Each panel delivers wisdom and advice with love, humor, sarcasm,...

09/01/2022

We're absorbing all of this wonderful information about diversity, equity, and inclusion, now what do we do with it? Allow me to shed some light on that topic, along with my dear colleague Rene Petties-Jones, president-elect of the National Federation For Just Communities (Buffalo, N.Y.) and fellow Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) member.
://lnkd.in/e6ADbRY2

This is " #2 Shanita Presentation and Rene and Shanita Q&A.mp4" by NFJC of WNY, Inc.; on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who…

06/01/2022

Want to meet consumer demands with more precision? ⁦‪Go down in the DM (direct marketing) with me! ⁦

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/marketing-insights/id1378417469?i=1000547055894

‎Show Marketing Insights, Ep Down in the DM (Direct Marketing) - Jan 5, 2022

21/12/2021

Can Netflix's Squid Game series teach you how to be a better marketer? Absolutement. My latest podcast, "Everybody Was Squid Game Watching," teaches you how!
https://lnkd.in/etpZaykE

‎Show Marketing Insights, Ep Everybody Was Squid Game Watching - Dec 8, 2021

09/11/2021

It’s my BOOOOOoootiful podcast! Just in time for the HALLOWeekend!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/marketing-insights/id1378417469?i=1000540906863

‎Show Marketing Insights, Ep Superstitious Brands - Nov 5, 2021