June 3, 1987, Portland Observer, Page 9
Julia Wilson
Study finds severe
Biography
shortage of black
A future in fashion was Julia Wilson's focus while a young girl growing
up in Oklahoma.
Drive, fierce determination and a will to succeed fueled that fantasy.
Now a reality, Julia is the president of Fashion Across America, Inc., which
produces Adolph Coors-sponsored fashion shows. She also serves as the
executive producer and host of "Fashion Focus," sponsored by Pierre Car­
din, for Black Entertainment Television.
Born in Tulsa, Julia was at the microphone and on stage at the age of
four. A model and orator, she won a State Championship when she was
eight. Says Wilson, "I had The Creation' by James Weldon Johnson
d o w n ." Julia's mother raised six children by herself and installed a strong
,
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magazine. Chocolate Singles and Black Enterprise magazine.
In 1984 Julia began a television career as the Olympic fashion expert on
KABC's "Eye On L.A ." and fashion expert on the KCBS show "T w o With
You." In 1985 she coordinated and hosted the fashion segments for KCBS'
"Friday At Sunset."
Early 1986 was a time of regrouping for Julia. Determined to make a
significant contribution to the fashion community, she developed the con­
cept of "Fashion Across America" as a way to showcase people of color in
the fashion industry. Inspired by Hands Across America, Julia, with only
six weeks from concept to showtime, created the fashion event of the sea­
son. After liquidating all of her assets in order to produce the show, "Fash­
ion Across America," hosted by Stacy Keach, she wowed 2,000 patrons
at the Hollywood Palladium on May 25th. This year, "Fashion Across Ame­
rica, Inc.," sponsored by Adolph Coors and benefitting a variety of chari­
ties, plans to produce ten live shows across the United States.
Fresh with the success of "Fashion Across America, Inc.," Julia flew
to New York in late 1986 to visit the Pierre Cardin organization with the
concept of a television show. The Men's Musk division of Cardin imme­
diately agreed to sponsor twenty episodes of "Fashion Focus With Julia
Wilson" for Black Entertainment Television. The highly praised five minute
segment of "This Week In Black Entertainment" reaches twelve million
households in 950 markets. "Fashion Focus" is the first national television
show hosted by a black personality, featuring blacks in the fashion indu­
stry for a primarily black audience.
Flushed with the success of her cable show, Julia feels that 1988 will see
her producing network fashion specials. A recent assignment as a fashion
expert on "Hour Magazine" attests to the accuracy of that prediction. An
agency of "exotic beauties" is also in the offing.
Spare time is at a premium and reserved for her ten year-old son, Jona­
than. Spreading the fashion gospel is the focus of Julia Wilson's mission.
Self
M arketing
■y
/
y
Julia W ilson is President of Fashion Across A m erica, Inc.
sense of religion and self in each of them. Always a risk-taker, Julia de­
cided to leave home when she was fifteen, and with $135 in her pocket left
for Portland, Oregon. She found a job within a week, and thus began the
"refinement" of Julia Wilson. Finishing school to remove "m y southern
drawl” and modeling lessons led to United Airlines, where Julia was a flight
attendant from 1972-1976. A four year stint as a fashion model and two
years as a modeling instructor followed the airlines. In 1982 Julia created
the fashion section for the Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper. As fashion
editor, Ms. Wilson covered fashion events, wrote articles and authored
'Julia's Fashion Q's" for the paper. She also wrote articles for Dawn
------ MM MM M
'
The concept of self-marketing is not particularly unique, most of us have
no trouble understanding the idea and benefit of selling yourself. The act
of self-marketing, however, is not nearly as common as the concept of
self-marketing, especially, self-marketing as an end result rather than a
means to an end.
Consider effective salespeople who use self-marketing as a means to
gain a customer's confidence, which increases each salesperson s ability
to market the product and make a profit. If these salespeople have deve­
loped this skill of self-marketing, why do so many of them work for some­
one else? They work for someone else because they lack the self confi­
dence to take the risk of putting themselves on the line as the "product".
But when you are looking for a job, like it or not, you are the product and
the employer is the consumer!
All effective sales people will talk about the importance of "product
knowledge". Without it, a salesperson cannot assist the consumer in de­
ciding on the product which will best meet the consumer's need. So, if,
indeed, you are the "product", who knows the most about what this ' pro­
duct" can do (or w ill/w o n't do) than YOU?
I
health professionals
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WASHINGTON, D .C .—A. new
study o f black health professions in
American released recently said “ se­
vere shortages” exist in the nation’s
supply o f minority doctors, den­
tists, pharmacists, and veterinarians
and warns the problem will worsen
in the eighties and beyond unless re­
medial action is taken.
The study, conducted for the As­
sociation o f M inority Health Pro­
fessons Schools, said predictions of
impending surpluses o f physicians
and other health professionals
simply do not apply to blacks.
Although blacks accounted for
11.7 percent o f the U.S. population
in 1980, the study found that blacks
comprised only 2.6 percent o f all
doctors, 2.9 percent o f dentists, 2.3
percent o f pharmacists, and 1.6 per­
cent o f veterinarians.
Louis W. Sullivan, M .D ., presi­
dent and dean o f Morehouse School
o f Medicine in Atlanta and presi­
dent o f the Association, said in a
preface to the study that the ratio of
blacks to whites in medicine and
other healing professions histori­
cally has been low.
“ This is the legacy o f decades of
segregation and discrimination,
which, until the late 1960s, resulted
in unequal educational opportunity,
including a relative lack o f access to
health professions education for
black Americans,” Sullivan said.
“ As a nation, we need to utilize
the most talented individuals avail­
able for the demanding health pro­
fessions in an effort to improve
health status o f our citizens and to
improve our nation’ s system of
health care,” he said. “ For blacks,
who are aware o f the fact that,
compared with whites, their lives are
shorter, their pregnant mothers and
their infants die more frequently,
and they have a greater burden of
illness and disability, the statement
that the United States has the best
system o f medical care in the world
has a hollow ring.”
In addition to Morehouse School
o f Medicine, the Association o f M i­
nority Health Professions Schools
includes the Meharry School o f Me­
dicine and Dentistry, Nashville,
Tenn.; Charles R. Drew Post-gradu­
ate Medical College, Los Angeles,
C alif.; Tuskegee Institute School o f
Veterinary Medicine, Tuskegee In ­
stitute, Ala.; Florida A & M Univer­
sity College o f Pharmacy, Tallahas­
see, Fla.; Texas Southern University
School o f Pharmacy, Houston,
Texas; and Xavier University C ol­
lege o f Pharmacy, New Orleans, La.
A t present, o f the 127 medical
schools in the U.S., four minority
schools produce almost 25 percent
o f the black physicians; o f 58 dental
schools, the two minority institu­
tions produce 38 percent o f the
black dentists; o f 71 pharmacy
schools, the four minority schools
produce 45 percent o f black phar­
macists; and o f 27 veterinary medi­
cine schools, predominantly black
Tuskegee produces 75 percent o f all
black veterinarians.
The study found that black health
professions students and institutions
are generally under much greater f i­
nancial pressure than those of
whites—a significant obstacle to in­
creasing the number o f black health
professionals.
Black students, the study notes,
generally come from lower-income
families, tend to be older, and are
more likely to incur greater indebt­
edness to become doctors or other
health professionals. The study said
current federal student aid policies,
which are heavily tilted toward
loans tied to commercial interest
rates rather than scholarship grants
and subsidized loans, are making it
more d ifficult for minority students
to enter and continue health
professions education.
VOUR
MHIEVEmcni
t ' • l • . • • • ’ « • '
Class of '87
PACIFIC PO W ER
A d d in g q u a lity to y o u r life.