Although he declined to be interviewed Forbe’s magazine featured African-American billionaire Robert Smith on it’s cover last year. Since then many people have known the face of a man that before that moved around in relative peace. He still tried to maintain an out of public presence but now he appears to be finally putting his face behind his work.
His wealthy status is all his own, he made that money as a venture capitalist. He fixed up many software companies, and now he is the second biggest donor to the African American Museum.
Only Oprah beat him out by donating $1million more!
The Washington Post got a chance to speak with the man and they said that:
Watching TV news, he saw the unrest in Ferguson, Mo., after the 2014 fatal shooting of an unarmed black youth, Michael Brown, by police. Last year he watched the turmoil following Freddie Gray’s funeral in Baltimore. Across the land, he feared, a sense of opportunity is giving way to rising hopelessness and despair.
The article goes onto say:
For years, Smith shied away from photographs. He says he is now more comfortable in the public eye, partly because he wants others, particularly young African Americans to see what he is doing.
As a college student, he read about pioneering black executives Kenneth Chenault, CEO of American Express, and Richard Parsons, former chairman of Time Warner and Citigroup.
“I thought, ‘If they could do it, so can I,’ ” Smith recalled. “Now I want people to say, ‘If Robert Smith can do it, I can do that and more.’ ”
Parsons, 68, said Smith focused on doing the work, instead of talking about it in business publications and on TV news shows.
“The brother has been working,” Parsons said in an interview.
Parsons, who, like Chenault and Winfrey, is on the new African American Museum’s board of directors, said Smith chose to spend more of his time perfecting his craft in private equity and software companies then being in the public eye.
“If you’re successful and do the hard work and focus on your job, focusing on the mission instead of the role, your success will be recognized and given visibility,” Parsons said. “That is where Robert is right now.
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Read more about the reason for stepping out, the donation and Smith himself here on the WP.
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