DARK, DIRTY, DANGEROUS | A Busboys and Poets Books Presentation
Date and Time
Nov 3, 2024 6:00 pm
Location
Columbia
6251 Mango Tree Rd, Columbia, Maryland, 21044
Nov 3, 2024 6:00 pm
Columbia
This Is Not "Old School" Manufacturing-It's a New Beginning!
From the brilliant mind of entrepreneur, business owner, and Black generational wealth advocate Karla Trotman, emerges a thought-leadership book unlike any other. As the owner of Electro Soft, a thriving Black-owned manufacturing company founded by her parents, Sheila and James Wallace, Trotman has developed her own lane in electronics manufacturing.
Manufacturing's workforce for decades has been male-dominated, with specific demographics creating its majority. However, the future of this barrier industry is looking brighter because a new diversified workforce is emerging. At the forefront of this evolution are diverse change-makers like Karla, innovators who see the evolution from a different perspective, offering a fresh take.
From ground-breaking viewpoints on industry recruitment strategies, and a game plan for securing much-needed funding for obtaining business ownership, to successful succession planning for a family business, Trotman has filled the pages of this book with actionable steps to benefit professional readers. If you are:
you will find value in the pages of this book. Trotman prides herself in curating content that aims to teach, entertain, and become a business-building bookcase staple. Instead of the dark, dirty, and dangerous stigma of yesterday's manufacturing, it's time to replace it with a modernized vibrant version.
Karla Trotman is joining us on the Busboys stage to share more about the dark, dirty, and dangerous stigma of yesterday’s manufacturing and why it’s time to replace it with a modernized, vibrant version. Copies of the book will be available for purchase during and after the event, and Trotman will be signing following the program.
This event is free and open to all. Our program begins at 6:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of DARK, DIRTY, DANGEROUS will be available for purchase before and after the event. Please note that this event is in person and will not be livestreamed.
We ask that guests RSVP in order to receive direct updates about the event from Busboys and Poets Books
Karla Trotman is president and CEO of Electro Soft, Incorporated (ESI), an electronics manufacturing and engineering firm in the United States. She holds a B.S. in Business Logistics from Penn State and an MBA from Drexel University. The breadth of her experience in business extends to supply chain logistics, purchasing, global scheduling and e-commerce, where she served in key roles in companies to include Honeywell, Gap, and IKEA.
Trotman welcomed her two sons during her time at IKEA, giving her firsthand experience with the difficulties prenatal and postnatal mothers face in their professional and personal lives. While on maternity leave, she founded the Belly Button Boutique, an online shop for pre- and postnatal women. Over the span of eight years, her business expanded to celebrity and international clientele, earning her features in PEOPLE and on NBC 10, CBS News, HuffPost Live and more.
The success of Belly Button Boutique inspired Trotman to propel ESI, founded by her parents in 1986, even further forward. Over the past 15 years, she served in the roles at ESI as special projects and marketing manager, executive vice president, COO and currently CEO and president. Under her guidance, ESI implemented both online marketing and acquisition strategies, dramatically increasing revenue.
Through her leadership at ESI, Trotman was named an Enterprising Woman of the Year, Transformational Woman in Family Business, Top 25 Leader Transforming Manufacturing, and most recently Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2024 Greater Philadelphia Award winner.
Trotman recognizes the plights and potential of minority business enterprises (MBEs) and how their power can be used to help close the ever-widening minority wealth gap. Leveraging her connections to funding, access and networks, she advocates for minority business owners and educates on how investment in minority businesses uplifts minority families and communities.
Trotman is a board member for the Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation, Museum of the American Revolution, African Women’s Entrepreneurship Collective (AWEC) and Forum of Executive Women Foundation. She is co-chair of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Manufacturing Alliance (SEPMA) and a Member of both the Drexel University Board of Governors and Drexel’s President’s Council.
