Maggie Anderson (born Margarita; born 1971) is an American activist, author, CEO, and

co-founder An organizational founder is a person who has undertaken some or all of the formational work needed to create a new organization, whether it is a business, a charitable organization, a governing body, a school, a group of entertainers, or any othe ...

, with her husband John Anderson, of the Empowerment Experiment.

Biography

Anderson grew up in

Liberty City, Miami, Florida Liberty City is a neighborhood in Miami, Florida, United States. The area is roughly bound by NW 79th Street to the north, NW 27th Avenue to the west, the Airport Expressway to the South, and Interstate 95 to the east. The neighborhood is h ...

and earned degrees at

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...

and

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

. Her husband, John Anderson, is from

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

, went to Harvard, and earned his MBA at Kellogg School of Management. They conceived the project after an expensive dinner at the posh Tru restaurant on Chicago's

Magnificent Mile The Magnificent Mile, sometimes referred to as The Mag Mile, is an upscale section of Chicago's Michigan Avenue, running from the Chicago River to Oak Street in the Near North Side. The district is located within downtown, and one block ...

. Anderson studied

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in fe ...

under

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

Chicago Law School (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. She was an

executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dir ...

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

. Anderson and her family spent the entire year of 2009 patronizing, as much as possible, only African-American owned businesses, eschewing all others. She wrote a book about the experience, reporting that in some fields, it was difficult to find black-owned businesses, and that black people patronized businesses within their own ethnic group less than other ethnic groups. Anderson has participated in successful political campaigns for Rep.

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

Mayor of Atlanta Here is a list of mayors of Atlanta, Georgia. The mayor is the highest elected official in Atlanta. Since its incorporation in 1847, the city has had 61 mayors. The current mayor is Andre Dickens who was elected in the 2021 election and took o ...

Bill Campbell, and Barack Obama's campaign for

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

. She has done work for the RainbowPUSH Coalition.

Books

In 2012, Anderson published her first book ''Our Black Year: One Family's Quest to Buy Black in America's Racially Divided Economy'',Google Books page
/ref> which she co-authored with Ted Gregory, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist at the

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

. The book describes the struggle she and her family went through with racism in business professions. Anderson has also written the following romance fiction novels: *''A Night of Passion'' (2015) *''Driving Me Crazy'' (2016) *''Wolf Blood'' (2017) *''Wolf Curse'' (2017) *''Christmas, Mistletoe and You'' (2017) *''Wolf Lover'' (2019) *''Wolf Bonds'' (2021)

References

External links

* (video) * * Date of birth missing (living people) 1971 births African-American activists African-American businesspeople African-American women in business Businesspeople from Miami Emory University alumni University of Chicago Booth School of Business alumni University of Chicago Law School alumni Businesspeople from Chicago McDonald's people Living people American women chief executives 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women {{US-business-bio-1970s-stub

Biography

Books

See also

References

External links