Even though we are celebrating our 30^th Anniversary, we are essentially a new company.  We began publishing THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine in the 1970-71 school year under the corporate name of Black Collegiate Services, Inc.  Three decades later, we entered the 2000-2001 school year as iMinorities, Inc.  As times have changed, so have we, and in life and as well as business, you have to.  

When we started in 1970, our primary mission was to give Black collegians the information, guidance, and assistance they needed to survive and succeed in our complex and demanding society.  For 30 years, THE BLACK COLLEGIAN has been the premier source of information for Black collegians on where the jobs are and how to get them.  During our history, we have published NSBE Journal for the National Society of Black Engineers and Journal of the NTA for the National Technical Association.  While we no longer publish these, we publish Black MBA Magazine for P & L Publishing, the official publisher for the National Black MBA Association, Inc.  In 1995, we put THE BLACK COLLEGIAN on the Internet with THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online (www.black-collegian.com), the first African-American magazine on the Internet.  THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online opened our eyes to the vast potential of the Internet and led to the development of MINORITIES’ JOB BANK, now known as IMDiversity.com.  Our Web sites, THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online and IMDiversity.com, have been the growth engines of our company.  Our experience in the publishing business laid the foundation for the success in the Internet business.  So 25 years, from 1970 to 1995, of toiling in the publishing fields, cultivating and nurturing THE BLACK COLLEGIAN, contributed to the blossoming success of our Internet business.  We realized that in addition to serving Black collegians with information on where the jobs are and how to get them, we could serve all underrepresented minorities, and in addition to serving college students, we could serve experienced professionals as well.  Now this is a much larger audience.  Now we have a much larger market with greater potential.  Now we use the Internet to transmit the information that we had to print on paper and mail to the reader.  The Internet eliminates this and allows us to broaden the reach, scope, and frequency of our magazines.  So now we have a tremendous opportunity that we have been preparing for over the past 30 years.  We have transformed into a new Internet company and our new corporate name is iMinorities, Inc.

In order to assure the success of iMinorities, Inc., we have to keep pursuing excellence as we have done for the past 30 years.  We have to continue to produce products that serve the needs of our customers, who are our readers and our advertisers.  We believe that the way to make our magazine good for our advertisers is to make it good for our readers, so you are our #1 customer.  If you like our magazines and our Web sites, let us know, but more importantly, let our advertisers know.  I want to encourage you to respond to our advertisers.  Our advertisers are actively searching for Black collegians to hire.  I know that you or someone you know is actively searching for that dream job.  I urge you to e-mail our advertisers to apply for employment opportunities, or simply to tell them you saw their ad.  Your response helps them to justify their advertising, and tells them that the so-called “Digital Divide” does not affect you.   So please respond to our advertisers so that they can continue to support us.  We want our advertisers to feel and see the power of the press, our press.

We have been able to survive for 30 years without the big bucks through hard work, creativity and faith.  We must work hard.  Life is not easy and we know that the difference between success and failure is hard work.  But hard work alone will not get you over hurdles and around the barriers.  The way to do this is not always clear.  We have to be creative to develop the best solutions.  Even this is not enough when the problems keep coming.  We have to be persistent and we must have the faith to believe that if we persist, we will succeed.  The formula for success is work hard, believe in yourself, and keep God first.  If you do these things, you will succeed.  Rest assured, we will be doing that in our new business-iMinorities, Inc.

Please visit our Web sites at www.black-collegian.com and www.IMDiversity.com.

Preston J. Edwards, Sr.
CEO and Publisher