Mellody Hobson is the Co-CEO, President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Ariel Investment Trust and Chairman of the Board of Starbucks Corporation.
Born in Chicago to a single mother, she experienced poverty which motivated her to understand money.
She graduated from Princeton University and joined Ariel Investments as a summer intern, rising to become its president.
Mellody has been recognized globally for her leadership and is involved in numerous philanthropic endeavors.
In 2021, Ariel Investments launched “Project Black” aimed at closing the racial wealth gap.
She made history by becoming the first African-American woman to head The Economic Club of Chicago, chairperson of an S&P 500 company and part-owner of an NFL team.
In 2013, she married George Lucas and they have a daughter.
I have compiled the best quotes from Mellody Hobson in this article.
Top 10 Mellody Hobson Quotes
You know, when you’re the youngest kid, you kind of get the last of everything. ~ Mellody Hobson.
On my worst day I always tell myself I’m not in a field picking cotton. ~ Mellody Hobson.
Be brave for the kids who are dreaming those dreams today. ~ Mellody Hobson.
Let’s make sure we’re audacious enough to not leave anything on the table. ~ Mellody Hobson.
I loved college, I loved Princeton. ~ Mellody Hobson.
The biggest risk of all is not taking one. ~ Mellody Hobson.
We cannot afford to be color blind. We have to be color brave. ~ Mellody Hobson.
You cannot be brave without fear. ~ Mellody Hobson.
I’ve been thought to be a flight attendant many many times. ~ Mellody Hobson.
The average American has 11 jobs in their lifetime, and I’ve only had one. ~ Mellody Hobson.
Inspirational Mellody Hobson Quotes
If you exclude a group of people from the boardroom or the leadership ranks of a company, the company is not as good as it could be. ~ Mellody Hobson.
How many people, though, do I meet that I think have talent? Well actually a lot. That’s what drives my enthusiasm in the conversation about diversity. ~ Mellody Hobson.
When I think of my career and why I leaned in, it comes down to basic survival. ~ Mellody Hobson.
In the spirit of debunking racial stereotypes, the one that black people don’t like to swim, I’m going to tell you how much I love to swim. I love to swim so much that as an adult, I swim with a coach. ~ Mellody Hobson.
I love Obama. And Michelle. I was so grateful for them. They were such stunning people. We were lucky to have them. They were great symbols for our society. ~ Mellody Hobson.
Hard work plus bravery equals…success. Imagination plus bravery equals…creativity. Love plus bravery equals…happiness. ~ Mellody Hobson.
I’ve told stories about people coming to my office and giving me their coats and requesting that I hang them up and get coffee – which I dutifully do. And then I come in and sit at the head of the table. It’s awkward. ~ Mellody Hobson Quotes.
I know that my life is a miracle and because of that, I can’t think my success is because I was so great at this, that or the other. A lot of things happened and came together. A lot of people went out of their way for me. ~ Mellody Hobson.
Famous Mellody Hobson Quotes
We don’t prognosticate macroeconomic factors, we’re looking at our companies from a bottom-up perspective on their long-run prospects of returning. ~ Mellody Hobson.
If we can learn to deal with our discomfort and just relax into it we’ll have a better life. ~ Mellody Hobson.
Being aware of challenges doesn’t make them sting less, but once you see them, you can assess the best way to handle them. ~ Mellody Hobson.
I always felt very insecure financially as a child. I was desperate to understand money as a child. I was desperate to be secure. Because I always felt like the rug could be pulled from under me. ~ Mellody Hobson.
Don’t be color blind, be color brave. Embrace diversity as a competitive advantage. ~ Mellody Hobson.
I’ve used some of my differences as a way to stand out and to hopefully count and matter – and hopefully create an opportunity for others. ~ Mellody Hobson Quotes.
A year’s worth of Social Security for an individual is not considered to be below the poverty level, and yet we know that would be extraordinarily tough to live on. ~ Mellody Hobson.
When people look at all the things I do, they say it’s overwhelming, but I don’t feel overwhelmed. I get it done. I’m very organized, and it’s all tied together. ~ Mellody Hobson.
Having a financially illiterate society is dangerous, and we have to do something about that. ~ Mellody Hobson.
The first thing I do after waking up is check my phone for news. I like to make sure the world is still here and understand what happened overnight. ~ Mellody Hobson.
I think the one thing about the Zoom calls is unlike being in a room with people where you can look away or drift off, I feel like with Zoom, everyone’s face is just dead center, head on, there is no drifting. It takes a lot of energy from me. ~ Mellody Hobson.
Best Mellody Hobson Quotes
People can be sensitive, so if I need to, I’ll suck it up and be more flowery. I’ll do what it takes to get the outcome I want. As I like to say, sometimes you have to crouch to conquer. ~ Mellody Hobson.
I want my daughter to be proud of me, and because of that I work really hard for her. ~ Mellody Hobson.
When you’re type A you always think you can fix anything. Sometimes there’s nothing you can do. ~ Mellody Hobson.
I have a strong point of view, and that’s a double-edged sword. It can be a phenomenal characteristic in terms of getting things done, but it can also mean I will be relentless in my pushing for my point of view. ~ Mellody Hobson.
I grew up going to a school where there weren’t a lot of black kids. And so my mother, from a very, very young age, has sensitized me to race. ~ Mellody Hobson.
The first step to solving any problem is to not hide from it, and the first step to any form of action is awareness. ~ Mellody Hobson.
Now, race is one of those topics in America that makes people extraordinarily uncomfortable. You bring it up at a dinner party or in a workplace environment, it is literally the conversational equivalent of touching the third rail. ~ Mellody Hobson.
As citizens, I’m asking you not to leave any child behind. I’m asking you not to be color blind, but to be color brave, so that every child knows that their future matters and their dreams are possible. ~ Mellody Hobson.
Black people use body lotion every single day. ~ Mellody Hobson.
Popular Mellody Hobson Quotes
I found my own orthodontist, my own high school. I set up interviews and did college trips. Despite her incredible concern and caring, my mom didn’t have the capacity for that. It was outside her experience, and she knew I was on top of it. ~ Mellody Hobson.
I believe in civility, inclusion and diversity. I believe that everybody can contribute. I don’t believe in labelling and stereotypes. These things are the antithesis of what I believe in and go against everything I love in America. And I do love America. ~ Mellody Hobson.
I don’t want to be a victim. I want to be a victor. ~ Mellody Hobson.
As often as she told me that ‘life isn’t fair,’ she also told me, ‘You can do anything.’ ~ Mellody Hobson.
The way I go about it is that we should all be inviting people into our lives who don’t look like us, speak like us and don’t come from where we come from. ~ Mellody Hobson.
Invite people into your life who don’t look or act like you. You might find they challenge your assumptions and make you grow. ~ Mellody Hobson.
I’m confident in a very bright future, years down the road. ~ Mellody Hobson.
Black women have a kind of advantage over white women in the workplace. They go in prepared to face some discrimination, so when it happens, they aren’t shocked. ~ Mellody Hobson.
We’ve got one shot at this life, and to not be productive with what we’ve been given, to me, is a travesty. I think the biggest waste is when a human life is wasted. It’s unforgivable. ~ Mellody Hobson.
The role of a board of directors is to be a sounding board for the vision of the company – to hold executives accountable in executing that vision and to ensure a management succession plan is in place. ~ Mellody Hobson.
I have always been ambitious – and I say that with pride. ~ Mellody Hobson.
My mother always wanted me to be in the best environment that I could be in. She wanted me to go to the best schools. Every now and again she’d save up enough for us to get a nice apartment in downtown Chicago, but we were never able to sustain it. ~ Mellody Hobson.
Inspiring Mellody Hobson Quotes
I’ve never met Colin Kaepernick, but he’s a hero of mine. I’m in awe that he took it upon himself to publicly promote the American values of life and liberty that we all cherish. ~ Mellody Hobson.
You can teach someone with basic smarts to be smarter; you can’t teach cultural fit or personality. But you also want someone who has a passion to win; someone that is all in. ~ Mellody Hobson.
Every game is won with patience. ~ Mellody Hobson.
Do more than accept diversity: Seek out diversity. I promise it will make you more interesting, more informed, and more understanding. ~ Mellody Hobson.
It would be lovely to think that success was a result of my being extraordinary, but the answer is far more boring. I worked hard. Really hard. ~ Mellody Hobson.
When I wanted the CEO of Starbucks to keep me in mind for their board, I sent him a note rather than calling. I call it dripping: You don’t want to be like a faucet full-on; you want to drip just enough that they don’t forget about you. ~ Mellody Hobson.
Observe your environment. Invite people into your life that don’t look like you or think like you. ~ Mellody Hobson.
People feel a great deal of their wealth or lack thereof in their home value. Despite the fact they’re living there and not going to sell it per se, it does have a big psychological effect. ~ Mellody Hobson Quotes.
Powerful Mellody Hobson Quotes
Diverse perspectives lead to a better outcome. There’s so much data, when you look at the math, in terms of the investor returns and the shareholder value that gets created from more diverse boards. ~ Mellody Hobson.
Bravery is not the absence of fear, it is overcoming it. ~ Mellody Hobson.
Even though I will never be evicted again, I am haunted by those times and still work relentlessly. ~ Mellody Hobson.
I honestly think I’m going to rot my brain with all the news. I’m a news junkie. ~ Mellody Hobson.
I had very big dreams for myself, and I wanted to work really hard, and I wanted to make sure that I didn’t leave anything on the field. And that’s how I’ve always lived my life. ~ Mellody Hobson.
So these were the 65 top Mellody Hobson quotes and sayings.
