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B M & T ••• July/Auigust 2014 ••• www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 32 AUGUST 1995 O ur cover story for this issue was enti- tled "Gaming Destinations, and included comments from long time Las Vegas industry icon Roosevelt Toston, as well as from Chandra Smouse of the Curacao Tourist Board. Roosevelt is now retired and spending more time playing golf these days, but Chandra is still in the mix selling Curacao. Other familiar faces in August issue includ- ed Brenda Scott (who went on the become the first female African-American president/CEO of a CVB (in Mobile, AL), Zita Steglich, Cassandra Taylor, Michele Hill-Pondexter, Glen Shumate, Phala Mire, Michelle Chester, and once again, Roy Jay. BM&T's Q&A featured the late Carroll Armstrong, director of Marketing for the San Diego Convention Center Corporation. Carroll, who passed some years back, was a strong supporter of BM&T from day one, and early on encouraged me to take a leap of faith and enter the publishing arena. APRIL 1996 T he cover story for April was "Destinations That Specialize in Family Reunions," and focused on locals that ran the gamut, from South Africa and Kenya, to Greensboro, NC, Jackson, MS and New Orleans, LA. If you thumb through the pages of this issue, you'll discover that some of your friends and colleagues' images appear in the advertising placed by the destinations they represent. For example, Ava Pope, then a sales manager, was in the Greensboro ad. Stephanie Mays, at the time a convention mar- keting representative, was in the Macon-Bibb ad. Camille Roddy, manager of convention sales, was in the Winston-Salem ad. And Dittie Guise and Laurie Nelson were in the Columbus, OH ad. A popular feature in the April issue was "Where Are They Now? An Update on NCBMP Founders," which included comments from industry legends Howard Mills, Lillie Van Landingham, George Turner, Sylvia Thomas, Oliver Childs, John Dixon,, Charles Wright and Bill Williams. Another attention getter was "Health and Fitness Tips," offered by Diane (D.J.) Johnson, and Lillian Pounds, who for many years provided early morning workout sessions for NCBMP delegates at the organi- zation's spring and fall conferences. The April issue also announced two important upcom- ing industry events – the National Pre-Olympic Multicultural Tourism Conference & Trade Show in Atlanta, and the first ever NCBMP conference held outside of the U.S. in Nassau, The Bahamas. MAY 1998 I used my May "Publisher's Message" to announce the BM&T's new website was finally up and running. Our cover story for this issue, and one of our most popular annual features, was "Meeting in the South." Romona Riscoe penned her new column "Marketing to the New Majority," which explored the differences between heritage tourism, cultural tourism and multicultural tourism. BM&T's "Hospitality Heartline" department reported on the NCBMP's launch of its Community Outreach Program during the organization's Spring Conference in Jamaica. CTO Secretary General Jean Holder took center stage in our "Caribbean Corner" department, urging coordinated approach to solving Caribbean tourism problems, while our "Pacesetters" department featured mar- keting specialist Gorge Cooley and his efforts to promote DC's tourism industry. Others included ion this issue were Elliott Lawrence, Davis DeBrady, Ardena Fleming, Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, Denise Searcy and Leonard Burns. Nineteen ninety-eight was the year Larry Alexander became president/CEO of the Detroit Metro CVB. APRIL 1997 I n this issue BM&T featured "NAACP Calls For Economic Reciprocity: Hotel Industry Get A Poor Report Card," which reported on NAACP President Kweisi Mfume's launch- ing of the Hotel Industry Report Card. Mfume explained it this way: "We seek an end to the one way trade relationship. We have designed this initiative to bring about radical ad fundamental change in our relationship with Corporate America. We are implement- ing our own program which is long overdue." April also included a profile of National Dental Association Executive Director Robert Johns, as well as a cover story about Don Peebles, the African-American developer who was chosen to build the Black-Owned Convention Hotel adjacent to the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale. If you scan the story carefully you will see an image of a baby-faced Andy Ingraham, who was (and still is) president of Horizon's Marketing International and was poised to MICHELLE CHESTER AVA POPE DITTIE GUISE OLIVER CHILDS KEN MIDDLETON ROOSEVELT TOSTON BRENDA SCOTT ZITA STEGLICH