A Curious Choice?

Herman Cain is featured speaker at Women's Empowerment summit, talks of WARmantra

On Thursday, former presidential candidate Herman Cain spoke at the annualfinancial and leadership summit for the Texas Women's Empowerment Foundation.
Photo by Tyler Rudick
Before taking the podium, the business tycoon received an award from theorganization's youth outreach wing.
Photo by Tyler Rudick
Aside from some jabs at governmental regulation, Cain kept politics to a minimumin a warmly-received speech.
Photo by Tyler Rudick
Nearly 200 guests attended the morning breakfast event at the Royal Sonestahotel near the Galleria.
Photo by Tyler Rudick
After his speech, Cain joined state representative Sylvester Turner to discusshis early career and childhood.
Photo by Tyler Rudick

Business mogul and former presidential hopeful Herman Cain made an exclusive Houston public appearance Thursday morning, presenting a talk on leadership strategies to members of the Texas Women's Empowerment Foundation (TWEF) at the nonprofit's annual financial summit.

Anointed by the Tea Party before a sexual-misconduct scandal led to his exit from the 2012 primaries, Cain has made a name for himself in the past year as a charismatic, straight-talking pundit with years of business experience as owner and CEO of Godfather's Pizza. Still with his presidential campaign rocked by multiple sexual harassment accusations, Cain seems to be something of a curious choice for a women's group.

Not that anyone in the Cain-friendly crowd appeared fazed by it.

"The first principle I've experienced throughout my 45-year career is the success is a journey not a destination," Cain said to a room of nearly 200 attendees.

Aside from a several jabs at governmental regulation, the restaurant tycoon kept politics to a minimum in a warmly-received motivational speech lasting roughly 50 minutes.

"The first principle I've experienced throughout my 45-year career is the success is a journey not a destination," he said to a room of nearly 200 attendees at the Royal Sonesta hotel near The Galleria. "If you stand still, you lose. You must always be growing, always looking forward and always reinventing your business and yourself."

For those looking for the keys to success, Cain encouraged the audience to strive to be what he called CEOs of self. "How can you be a CEO of business if you're not a CEO of self first?"

From there, he laid out an easy-to-remember acronym to guide people through their business goals — WAR:

Working on the right problem
Asking the right question
Removing barriers that prevent success

Cain covered each of the three rules with examples from his own career before joining Texas state representative Sylvester Turner for a brief sit-down discussion about the businessman's childhood in pre-Civil Rights Georgia, his early work as a young executive with Burger King and his forthcoming syndicated radio show.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”