We were lucky to catch up with Rizwan Peera recently and have shared our conversation below.
Rizwan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, let’s start with a hypothetical – what would you change about the educational system?
As someone with two university degrees, I have always been a proponent of formal education. Not because of the content being taught, but because of the overall experience that a traditional, formal education provides. The environment that a student gets to feel a part of at many traditional institutions of higher learning across the country and really the world is unparalleled. From connecting with fellow students from all walks of life, to learning valuable intrapersonal skills via incredible student-led organizations, to formalized mentorship programs and beyond the student experience for higher education provides us with many opportunities as students to enhance our professional and personal lives. however the content being taught in the classroom is where I feel the largest improvement can occur. In an increasingly digital world, gone are the days when physical textbooks could serve as the most up-to-date and effective tools for communicating content for students to learn. Gone are the days when institutions can expect students to pick up valuable life learning skills outside the classroom at home. I believe that in these two areas: classroom content and life skills are areas in which the educational system in the United States could do a much better job at providing students with better foundations to build upon.
Classroom content is always a topic up for discussion at any level, whether federally mandated curriculum standards down to simple teacher bias and preference. However, I personally believe that the way we have historically delivered content inside the classrooms is fundamentally flawed. Now, I don’t claim to have all the answers, but I can speak to my experiences and that of those around me as I’ve gone through the formal educational system. The phrase “you can’t judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree” always comes to mind when recounting my friend’s and I’s experiences in the educational system. With all the advancements in technology and learning in the past decade, I feel the educational system has failed to adapt as quickly as it should. The one size fits all model, the rigorous testing, I have time and time again seen some of my most successful (professionally and/or personally) friends failed to meet arbitrary standards set by those who are so far removed from the life of a student, that it has stunted their eventual climb to the top. I believe the way we deliver content to our students needs to change by utilizing a more personalized and digital approach. Now I know this is way easier said than done, but I truly do believe that we need a fundamental shift in how we approach education in a country that at times praises its diversity yet doesn’t do enough to cater to different learning styles and personalities. Leveraging our technological advancements with a big push for investment in the education of future generations, I believe there can and should be a way that we can adapt different methods of learning for the classrooms from beginner education up to the highest level of advanced degrees. As more and more turn away from a formalized education in favor of YouTube videos, bootcamps, and so many other new ways of learning, there is an opportunity to marry the experience that a formalized education offers, with more unique content delivery and personalization to ensure that students are provided the opportunity to grow in their own spaces rather than having their intelligence being measured against that of their peers who by all means aren’t wired the same way to learn.
The other part of where I believe we can better prepare the next generation in this country is through more practical learning opportunities that really teach our students how to navigate basic life skills that have been striped from curriculums in favor of professional pursuits. From taxes and cooking to networking and negotiations, there are so many life skills that are being missed in our educational system, which in part feeds right into the incredible amount of mass misinformation out there that causes so many to end up on the wrong path. I believe more can and should be done to ensure that when we have our students for x amount of hours in a classroom, we should maximize that time to also provide them with information that can help them for outside of their professional lives – this in turn leads to more satisfied and successful individuals which always benefits our society in the long-run.
Rizwan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
In 2016, after a few years of working in a variety of marketing and operations roles, I decided I wanted to get my MBA to take my career to the next level. Having a lot of connections at my alma mater, Georgia State University, this seemed like the natural place to start. To my surprise, my reputation preceded me and I was immediately recruited into GSU’s MBA program. As GSU’s Robinson College of Business conducts the majority of their classes at their Buckhead center, this was naturally my beginning introduction to the Buckhead business community. The graduate recruiter who got me into the program at the time, April Williams eventually became President of the Buckhead Business Association’s young professionals group aptly named Young Bucks. As I had an existing working relationship with her (I was leading GSU’s Graduate Business Association at the time), she recruited me yet again to become a part of the organization and sit on the board, using my marketing skills to help drive the brand awareness of both Young Bucks and BBA. Once I got involved, I was hooked. The Buckhead community is one full of promise and vitality and everyone I have met since joining strikes me as incredibly bright and successful yet down to earth. For those who don’t know, the Buckhead Business Association (BBA) was founded in the 1950’s as a way for Buckhead business leaders to build relationships with each other and in turn positively affect the community they were a part of – sort of like a smaller and hyper-focused chamber of commerce for Buckhead. Over the decades since, BBA has been instrumental in helping to form (and eventually spin off) tons of local initiatives that have taken life of their own in the way they affect their community. BBA has also had incredible leaders over the years that include the likes of the late former Atlanta Mayor Sam Massell. BBA is an organization dedicated to being the driving force for business success in the Buckhead community and prides itself on providing its members with opportunities to build close relationships with local business leaders, hosting business empowerment breakfast to help our members learn and grow, and the list goes on and on from ribbon cuttings to the annual Taste of Buckhead which showcases the best that Buckhead has to offer in dining, beverages, and business. With a rejuvenated young professionals group now driving the future of the organization, the Buckhead Business Association is an amazing organization that is poised to be the destination for all Buckhead business leaders and professionals who wish to build relationships and empower their business. I’m excited that after 5 years of serving on the board that I was selected to become President in May 2022, and am honored to continue serving as its President into 2023.
The future is bright for BBA and I cannot wait to show the community what we have in store for 2023 to truly live up to our mission of being the driving force for business success in the Buckhead community, and I urge all those who live in, work in, or have an interest in the Buckhead community to take a closer look at our organization for their business needs as we are to ensure that Buckhead business community stays connected and stands as a source of pride for the city of Atlanta.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
From a Buckhead perspective, particularly in my many roles within the Buckhead Business Association (BBA) over the years, I believe that my reputation has been built upon my work ethic and passion. I strongly believe that while there are some people who are inherently skilled in their line of work, skills can always be taught, but passion is something that you need to feel and have in order to thrive. Ever since I joined BBA and by extension its young professionals division, Young Bucks, I’ve felt a passion for enabling businesses and professionals in the area to be successful. This stems from my previous role where I was leading marketing and public relations for La Unidad Latina. In that role I was responsible for not only the branding of the organization on a national and global scale, but I was serving as a mentor to college students across the nation. In that role I wanted to make sure that they didn’t make the same mistakes that I did in my undergraduate days and that they took full advantage of all the opportunities that are afforded to them. In my role now as President of the Buckhead Business Association, I try to emulate that same purpose, tailoring it to a new audience. I want to help businesses and professionals in Buckhead thrive, which is why I have such a passion for leading this organization and ensuring that not only are our events targeted towards our mission of driving business success in Buckhead, but also ensuring that anyone who joins our board receives what they put in. This means checking in with all my board members and seeing what value adds I can provide them in return for their service on the board, while we do our best to serve our community. All this boils down to the fact that my reputation in the Buckhead community is a direct result of the work I put into the organization I now lead and my passion for helping others achieve the success I know they can in this community.
Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?
I could go on and on, but one of my favorite marketing stories is actually one that happened very recently. For Taste of Buckhead 2022, we decided to take a different approach from self-promotion of the event, and utilizing a network of micro-influencers from across the city to drive brand awareness of our event and promotion. Micro-influencers typically can be anyone with a few hundred to a few thousand loyal followers on their platforms of choice and are still being viewed as a person rather than a brand. This makes them more likable and trustworthy which in turn leads to their loyal brand following. Additionally, from a business perspective, they cost less (if at all) and produce a better ROI with regards to ticket sales.
We started out this year by making a list of micro-influencers we wanted to target in order to spread awareness of the event and also have content created for us that we could use in future promotions for years to come. After making this list, we proactively reached out to these influencers to gauge their interest in our proposal – two complimentary VIP tickets to our event in return for a giveaway, promotion, and content. The majority of these jumped at the chance as the Taste of Buckhead is a large event that can bring great exposure to those looking to grow their influence. While we anticipated this having a good effect on ticket sales, we didn’t anticipate the effect it would have on other micro-influencers across the city as once we went live with a few of them, we were suddenly flooded with requests from other influencers to take part in our new program.
This program was so successful that it grew our following by around 25% and helped us to beat out previous year ticket sales in addition to attracting multiple sponsors that we hadn’t even reached out to. This just shows as a testament to my Taste of Buckhead committee this year and their tenacity to take calculated risks that can produce a bigger payoff than expected. With over 600 attendees to Taste of Buckhead this year, in addition to the presence of current Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, we can firmly say that this year’s event was a huge success and cannot wait for next year’s when we can start to use this newly found network of Atlanta’s amazing micro-influencers to help us continue to grow our event year after year.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.buckheadbusiness.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zentrinity
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rizwanpeera
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/zentrinity
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=EaLnhvQ95zwMuPj203xL_w
Image Credits
Photo Credits: M Suarez Photography (MSP), Matt Simmonds, David Gatewood, Cromwell Parkes Photography