Inez Y. Kaiser
| Inez Y Kaiser | |
|---|---|
| Born |
April 22, 1918 Kansas City, Missouri U.S. |
| Alma mater | Columbia University |
| Occupation | Law Firm |
Inez Yeargan Kaiser (born April 22, 1918) is an African American educator, communications expert and entrepreneur. She has earned a reputation for being the “first” in many African-American female enterprises.
Personal life
Kaiser was born in Kansas City, Missouri. She grew up in a time when African Americans in the South were not allowed the opportunity of a higher education. But she was determined to gain an education and did.[1]
Education
Kaiser has a Bachelor's degree in Education from Kansas Teacher's College in Pittsburg, Kansas and a Masters Degree in Home Economics from Columbia University, graduating with a Certificate in Mass Communication. She also studied at Chicago University, Rockhurst University and Dartmouth College. Graduate Student of Color Awards AEJMC Public Relations Division. She has also undertaken special training in radio and TV network, retailing and merchandising in fashions.
Career
Prior to finding her place in public relations, she taught for over 20 years in public schools in Evanston, Illinois; Kansas City, Kansas; and Kansas City, Missouri.[2] She then founded Inez Kaiser & Associates in 1957; it is the oldest African-American, female-owned public relations firm in the country. This made her the first African American woman to own and run her own PR firm. Kaiser also was the first African-American woman to head an agency with national clients and the first to join PRSA.[3] She decided to go into public relations and was hooked immediately. In 1957, she opened Inez Kaiser & Associates, the first public relations firm headed by an African American woman in the U.S. It was also the first African American owned business to open in Kansas City, Missouri.
Writing career
She began writing her column, ‘Fashion Wise and Otherwise,’ as a hobby, but became so interested in helping the women of her race, she has devoted the past two years to contacting, publishers across the country, as well as promoting the use of pictures of models of color, giving them employment in areas where they had never been considered before. She also wrote a column in The Kansas City Star, “As I See It.” [4]
References
- ↑ "Inez Kaiser - Founder of the First African American Female-Owned PR Firm". Public Relations Museum. The Museum of Public Relations and Library. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
- ↑ Marcia, Taylor. "A SAlute to African American Public Relations Pioneers". PRSA. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
- ↑ "Encyclopedia of Public Relations". SageReference.com. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
- ↑ "Remember Women's Firsts, Too". Kansas City Public Library. The Kansas City Public Library. Retrieved 10 November 2015.