Here’s an excerpt from that conversation, in Al’s words:
I grew up in Northern New Jersey, in South Orange. Both my parents are from Jamaica, and that had a heavy influence on my upbringing. I was one of the first people in my family to graduate college—also one of the first to navigate corporate America. That created a challenge for me in the earlier days because I didn’t have a ton of people at home to ask questions to.
My mom was a social worker for much of her adult life. She’s an incredibly selfless woman who I'd like to think I took a lot from. And my dad had his own carpet and floor covering business, which was super inspiring because being from Jamaica, with a heavy accent, navigating Northern New Jersey while starting a business must have been challenging for him.
I'm still friends with those that I had in middle school. I'm just that type of person. I was fortunate enough to grow up in a very diverse town, which has had an impact on my life. My friends, my classmates had all different skin tones. In some ways, I think that was the test run I needed for navigating corporate America, because I feel comfortable communicating with whoever, whenever.
I knew that I liked helping to support people in their careers. I get energy from people. I get energy from learning from people.