Black chamber to give awards
When Khalilah McAfee opened her Quail Valley Family Dental practice in Missouri City last year, she faced an unusual challenge securing patients.
The practice had previously been run by a white dentist for 20 years and an Indian dentist for three years afterward. She had to deal with older white residents of the Quail Valley neighborhood questioning her longevity, as well as wondering if they were comfortable with a black dentist.
McAfee reached out to the community, and while she ended 2015 with a profit margin of negative 3.1 percent, she’s set to close this year with a positive 33.7 percent, and possibly an award.
Quail Valley Family Dental is a finalist for the 2016 Upstart Award, one of the recognitions given at the Greater Houston Black Chamber’s Pinnacle Awards. Saturday’s event marks the 22nd run of the awards ceremony, with Mayor Sylvester Turner to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Courtney Johnson
Rose, chairwoman of the Chamber, described the ceremony as a showcase of Houston’s best and brightest African-American entrepreneurs who have not only demonstrated financial success, but have also dedicated time and effort to give back to the community.
The Upstart Award in particular is a unique opportunity for young businesses as it offers the winner a cash prize as well as dedicated mentorship from the Chamber. McAfee’s nomination makes her feel validated in her work as she continues to overcome hurdles.
“It helps you feel that you’re doing the right thing,” McAfee said.
For Zawadi Bryant, winning the Upstart Award a few years ago was a godsend. Bryant, cofounder and COO of NightLight Pediatric Urgent Care, noted that the cash prize, an HP computer and free advertising in the black business journal D-Mars, helped her and her co-founder better network within the business community and improve productivity.
Opened in 2007, NightLight Pediatric Urgent Care offers after-hours urgent care for children at five clinic locations.
“Most children don’t get sick from 8 to 5,” Bryant said.
The company networks with most insurers and even has Xrays on-site.
Today, all five clinics are profitable and Bryant and her cofounder are set to open two new clinics next year. Last year, they won the Pinnacle Award.
“Every time you win a prestigious award, it raises the level of your cachet,” Bryant said.
Raising cachet for the service they provide would be the goal for The Education Valet, one of the nominees for the Pinnacle Award this year.
Founded in 1999 by current CEO Michelle Bonton, The Education Valet is an education consulting firm that partners with local community day-care centers offering staff training as well as runs the Rhodes School performing arts charter.
Bonton has spent years in education from teaching high school students to being a certified school counselor, a former public school administrator and even once hosting a talk show on 93.7 called “the Principal’s Office. “She has also contributed her time to education policy work.
In 2007, her firm opened the Rhodes School, which serves more than 1,000 young students at four campuses. The firm as a whole employs 135 and generates an estimated $11 million for Houston.
For Bonton, the opportunity to affect children’s lives in a meaningful way is what drives her and her business. The chance to be formally recognized as a Pinnacle winner would further boost the significance of an industry often cast aside.
“Education a lot of times is treated as that field that you need, but isn’t held at high esteem,” Bonton said. “We are the foundation for Houston’s future workforce.”
Being a role model for future generations is also a driving factor in McAfee’s line of work.
Last year she attended a local Juneteenth celebration where she was giving out toothbrushes and toothpaste. There she met an African-American grandmother whose young granddaughter, like many young children, had a fear of dentists.
Yet after interacting with McAfee, the girl’s attitude changed.
“Granny, I want her to be my dentist,” she said.
A few days later the little girl came in to get a cavity filled in. No tears were shed.