Skip to main content
Mark E. Brooks

Mark E. Brooks

Founder and CEO of Hyde Park Hospitality, a Chicago-based airport concessions and hospitality company that grew over 900% since 2018.

Sep 14, 2026

speaker_0NARRATOR
10:24
Wow.
10:25
And in seeing that deal happen, employing people, a lot of black and brown people, people of color, to see the job creation, that sort of tipped the scales for me because I had a chance to work with him in various summer jobs.
10:41
He started me off mowing the lawn outside the building.
10:45
It wasn't just coming to the office.
10:47
He made me earn it the hard way, working on the line with people, working in the warehouse, doing all kinds of crazy stuff.
10:53
But it was...
10:55
Again, going back to that foundation of not going to hand you anything.

38 MINS LATER

49:23
Doing your tenure as a business, as a successful black business owner, what steps do you see is needed for more black business owners to partner together in order to reestablish a black Wall Street in today's business environment?

We value your privacy

We use cookies to understand how you use our platform and to improve your experience. Click “Accept All” to consent, or “Decline non-essential” to opt out of non-essential cookies. Read our Privacy Policy.