Gloria Carter-Hicks was standing at a crossroad 18 years ago where many successful entrepreneurs have found themselves.
“I lost the job,” said Carter-Hicks, who is now president, CEO and owner of Hicks-Carter-Hicks, LLC. “A company that I worked for sold a large division, and I was the head of human resources over that division.”
They wanted to transfer her to Chicago, but at that particular time, her daughter was still in high school. She didn’t want to transfer, so she had to make a choice. Did she take her 15 years of experience as a human resources executive and find another position, or did she go off on her own?
“My parents owned a business,” Carter-Hicks said. “I thought: Now is the time to do that. I took my severance and started my company. So something good came out of losing my job, which was starting my company.”
In 1999, she launched Hicks-Carter-Hicks, a full-service performance-improvement company. She and her team help organizations build better workplaces, through learning and development, executive coaching, management consulting and organizational development.
“We help organizations work with their employees to create a better, stronger work culture and to also improve the goods and services they deliver to their customers,” Carter-Hicks said.
Within her own company, she sets very clear goals for herself.
“I want to be a servant leader,” Carter-Hicks said. “Being a servant leader is someone who gives their employees all the tools, the nurturing, the coaching that they need to be successful. I believe that if you treat people like superstars, they will perform like rock stars. Flip the organizational chart. I’m at the bottom, they’re at the top.”
On Friday, November 17, Carter-Hicks will receive the 2017 Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the St. Louis American Foundation’s Salute to Excellence in Business networking luncheon and awards reception. The event will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel St. Louis.
Growing up in Alton, Illinois, Carter-Hicks watched her parents – Floyd and Lula May Carter – grow their independent grocery business, Carter Groceries and Café. They were in business for 35 years.
“My dad is probably the most influential person that was in my life,” she said. “He passed away when I was a sophomore in college, so he really never got to see me live my dream. But my father said that ‘can’t’ is never in your vocabulary.”
When she graduated from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, she decided that she wanted to go a more corporate route, rather than taking over the family business. However, becoming an entrepreneur one day like her parents was something she felt was inevitable.
“I knew that I needed time to work in the corporate world to gain experience, to gain exposure and to better know how to run a business,” she said. “It was just a matter of time.”
Carter-Hicks is proud of the recognition that her growing company has received, including the recent Diverse Universe Award by the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) for her company’s exemplary consulting and training performance. From 2010 to 2016, the company received the Salute to Excellence in Business Award for being one of the Top 25 African-American businesses in the St. Louis region. The St. Louis Small Business Monthly recognized Carter-Hicks as one of the region’s 2012 Diversity Heroes. In 2012, the United States Small Business Administration (SBA) recognized Hicks-Carter-Hicks as a Business Consultant Extraordinaire.
Larry W. Lee, CEO of Andy’s Seasoning, said his company has been working with Hicks-Carter-Hicks to develop a strategic plan and performance-appraisal process. “They have been very helpful,” Lee said. “We have found Gloria Carter-Hicks and her team to be very professional, very knowledgeable, as well as very accessible. We have been very satisfied with the work that Hicks-Carter-Hicks has done.”
Hicks-Carter-Hicks also helps companies expand their diversity and inclusion efforts. And within her own company, Carter-Hicks stresses that diversity and inclusion are absolutely a key part of their core values.
“It’s important to me in life to experience people who are different from me,” Carter-Hicks said. “Those individuals bring things to the table that I don’t have.”
The 18th Annual Salute to Excellence in Business Awards & Networking Luncheon will be held Friday, November 17 at the Four Seasons Hotel St. Louis, with a networking reception at 11 a.m. and luncheon program at noon. Tickets are $100 for Preferred/VIP seating and $75 for general admission. Call 314-533-8000 or visit www.stlamerican.com for more information or to purchase tickets.
