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Working into the night, her ideas pay off this morning

By ERNEST HOOPER
Published July 17, 2006

For years, Carolyn Lighty has curled up with her keyboard every night.

Instead of uncorking a bottle of wine and winding down the evening, she has been uncorking e-mails and heating up the Internet in an effort to create more cohesion between Tampa Bay's African-American professionals.

Today, all that changes with TampaBayIn.com, a partnership between Lighty and Pascall Co. chief executive officer Teddy Pierre to inform people about social events and business opportunities.

The site launches after 18 months of preparation, and it's pretty impressive when you consider it started with Lighty sending blasts to friends.

"I was just trying to bring people together to collaborate," Lighty said. "I was frustrated because networking here was very different than what I was used to in New York."

Lighty started sending notices about social events and gatherings in 2002 to a list of blacks she had met after moving to Tampa Bay. Lighty even went so far as to stage a series of parties known as the Sugar Hill events, spurring more interest in her distribution list.

Eventually, her e-mail list grew from a handful of names to 1,500. Because her notices are forwarded to other groups, Lighty thinks the reach is even greater, perhaps 4,000.

Her efforts go beyond sending fliers about the next party. Lighty has distributed bulletins about job vacancies, scholarships, real estate opportunities and political forums.

At times, a single e-mail would develop into an online discussion on a particular topic. When Lighty would go on vacation for more than a few days, people would start asking what happened to her e-mails.

Anyone promoting something would seek out Lighty, often asking how much it costs. Lighty, however, didn't charge a fee. She simply sought to bring people together, even if it cramped her nights.

"It would take me two to three hours to send out all those e-mails," Lighty said last week. "My ISP only would allow me to send an e-mail to so many people, because they didn't want me spamming the world. So a certain number would get the message, and then others would get a different message."

In steps Pierre, whose human resources consulting firm specializes in diversity recruiting and training, and multicultural marketing. He convinced Lighty that combining her list with relatively new Web site technology could help them reach more people and make the notices more engaging.

The idea is to use animated characters known as avatars to welcome visitors and offer instructions on how to access the site's various features. Updated technology also will allow advertisers to use the avatar characters for paid ads on the site, Pierre said.

"It's going to be more engaging," Lighty said. "You'll be able to see something happening on the screen."

The site also will feature professional and personal development advice, and a business directory. Video links will be more accessible, even for people using dial-up access.

While Pierre approaches the venture from a technological aspect, and Lighty brings in marketing and advertising expertise, the two share a common interest in improving the community.

One of their plans is to offer free listings and free advertisements to nonprofit organizations.

With an estimated 70,000 black professionals in the Tampa Bay market, Lighty and Pierre hope to quickly grow the site. However, expansion plans already are in place to connect with other groups.

TampaBayIn will launch a Latino forum in October and a women's forum in December.

In the future, it may have dedicated sites for the gay/lesbian/transgendered community and an interfaith community.

"We just see this as a way to bring everybody together and get more people to collaborate and communicate," Lighty said. "It's a way to do it that makes more sense."

And it might just help Lighty get a little more sleep.

That's all I'm saying.

Ernest Hooper can be reached at 813 226-3406 or hooper@sptimes.com.

[Last modified July 17, 2006, 06:06:53]