Features

AAPRC Weekly: Leslie Short

Leslie Short
President, Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations
FUBU The Collection and FB Entertainment
NYC


Before Leslie Short traveled the career path that led to her current position as president of marketing, advertising and PR for FUBU The Collection and FB Entertainment, she had another career as a dancer and producer. In the two very different worlds, however, the same rule applies: if she can visualize it, it's as good as done. "If I can see it-–even as a dancer-– if I could see it in my head, I could dance it," says Short. "When I'm producing events and things now, once it's clear in my head it's done."

This attitude has taken Short to success in not one but two highly competitive arenas. "It comes from my family who pretty much said I could do whatever I wanted to do, end of story," says the New York-born Short. "I was a Black ballerina and I was told there was no such thing as a Black ballerina…but there was never a doubt in my mind." When she was 15, Short began training with the famed Joffery Ballet during the summers. The day after she graduated from high school, she returned to the Joffery to study full-time.

Her career in dance led to Europe where she lived for 10 years and danced for the Bal de Rose, as the principal dancer for the Prince of Monaco, and at Paradis Latin in Paris. In Paris, the owner of a theatre in Tokyo saw her perform and invited her to Japan. Short was doubtful. "They didn't really take Black dancers to Japan. It was all about being blonde," says Short. "I had nothing to lose. I was in a theatre performing in Paris. I had a job. I was just like, 'why you want a Black girl all of a sudden?'"

Despite her initial reluctance, in 1993 Short relocated to Tokyo. She was named dance captain and put in charge of all the show's dancers. Early on during her second six-month contract with the theatre, however, Short tired of what she felt amounted to baby-sitting a group of very young French and American dancers. She went to the owners of the theatre and told them she wanted her own show or she would quit. At first the owners resisted, but Short had the entire enterprise planned out in her head––from financing to choreography to lighting to marketing. It was as good as done.

Short's show idea was an all-male dance revue aimed at increasing what Short saw as very limited entertainment options for Japanese women. The following year, the production company Short founded, J. Men's Tokyo, was named the fourth best business venture in Japan. The ballerina who just barely spoke Japanese was running one of the top shows in a country she hardly knew. The following year, though, Short went home for a visit and made an abrupt decision. "I saw Oprah on TV. I saw Maya Angelou and I went, you know what? It's time. I'm not exotic anymore here. Things are changing. I'm going to come back and produce for television."

Short had picked up a few basics about television production during her work in Europe, but otherwise was a complete ingénue. She didn't know a soul in television. In fact, other than her family, she didn't really know anyone in the States. But none of that mattered. "My whole theory about life is it's not over till it's over," Short insists. "You don't have to stay in one of anything."

Short returned to the U.S. and got an internship at New York City's WNET television. "People always said to me, 'You owned your own business and you interned?' Short says. "I said, yes, because no one cared what I did in Europe. I had to come back here and I had to take a whole bunch of steps back and make it happen."

During her internship, Short stood out––most interns don't wear Chanel––and when a position became available she was hired on as the public television station's music coordinator. She left WNET for the "Montell Williams Show," wanting more production experience. After two seasons as an associate producer, Short realized talk show production was not her calling. "I wasn't 21 and this wasn't my first job…I would watch these kids––they'd be breaking down crying in the corner because their guest pulled out…" Short recalls. "I ended up leaving because I was working on a lot of news stories and I just couldn't hear one more rape story. It made my skin crawl…I also wasn't the type of producer that stood by that fax machine waiting for my numbers to come in. When I realized I wasn't one of them then I knew I shouldn't be there."

Her next move was to retail giant Macy's, as a special events manager for the company's flagship store in Manhattan. There, Short put together in-store fashion events for designers like Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein, and one day she was tapped to produce an event for FUBU. "It wasn't my area. It was another manager's area and she had a lot going on and I kind of got thrown this event," says Short. "When I met with the guys I was like, hmmm, there's something there."

Short was impressed with the FUBU founders' work ethnic and when they asked her to join them as their first PR and marketing manager, she said yes. "Everyone told me not to take this job," says Short of her decision to leave Macy's. "Everyone said I was taking a step back in my career, that they [FUBU] are not my type of people...It was a new, young company that everyone mainstream thought was just going to be a fad. They didn't think it was high profile enough for me. They didn't think it was organized enough for me…All the stereotypical images of Black folks and rap. I said you know, I'll be here two weeks, two months, two years. It's not that deep everyone. It's a job."

Short was a little concerned, though, about what her new bosses expected of her. "I sat down with the guys and said, 'You know the world that I come from. I was a dancer. I was in Europe…My Rolodex says CNN and Time and Newsweek…' I had never heard of Vibe and The Source…" Short says of that first conversation. "They were like, 'you don't need to know that because we know that and we'll give you that.' To this day I give them a lot of credit for stepping out of boundaries that they weren't sure of either. It has worked."

Short was thrown directly into the fray of hip hop fashion. In her first week there was a photo shoot with LL Cool J. Then there was the challenge of acclimating the company's long-time celebrity clients to the processes of the new marketing office. Suddenly, clients had to actually put in a formal request if they wanted to wear FUBU for an event–-and they had to actually return the items. "People were calling like, 'who you have over there? She told me I had to fax. You guys think you're big now? I used to come to the house and take it out of a box,'" says Short of the most delicate aspects of her early days. "I used to say to them, 'if you were there with them digging out of a box, then I know you got to be there with them now that they're growing into a solid company.'"

It has been eight years and the naysayers have been forced to eat their words. Short and FUBU have grown together and these days in addition to her marketing, PR and advertising duties, Short also sits in on design meetings and signs off on decisions made for the FUBU ladies line. In 2000 she became president of public relations and marketing for FB entertainment, the company's film, television and music production unit, and on occasion wears a producer's hat. In addition, in 1999, the tireless Short founded her own firm, K.I.M. (Keep It Moving) Media, a special events, branding and marketing firm based in New York with a newly-opened office in Los Angeles. "I'm working with celebrities and corporations and helping them pull together all the different projects they have going on and making sure there's one voice going out," says Short of the venture.

The former dancer manages to keep all the plates spinning by keeping a standing, crack-of-dawn appointment with the gym each day, praying and "knowing what needs to happen first." Short remains close to her parents, older sister and nephew, all of whom live in New Jersey. As for future endeavors, there are still a few things she hasn't tackled yet. She's been offered handbag and cosmetic lines but has turned them down, and, for now anyway, denies any ambitions for her own label. "At one point, way before I came to FUBU, I wanted to do a plus-sized junior line and I still want the education," she muses. "I've had my day on stage. It was an amazing day, and I'm good. I want to do deals now."


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