[Editor’s Note: In our January 2020 edition, this column began its celebration of Black History Month with a remembrance of Joseph Varney Baker(1908-1993), who is believed to be the first black man to own a PR firm in the U.S.
This month, we offer the story of another pioneering figure in the history of communications. Inez Yeargan Kaiser was the first black woman to own a PR firm in the US. Like Baker, this PR professional deserves more recognition inside and outside the industry.
The similarities between Kaiser and Baker don’t end there. Both had journalism experience before entering PR. Each also belonged to PRSA and were active in their communities and politics. Each of them forged their impressive careers while they struggled for basic rights that were denied them during much of their lives. Both Kaiser and Baker were involved in the civil rights movements and used their talents as communicators to get out messages about the movement.
This article is part of a series with The Museum of PR that celebrates PRNEWS’ 75th anniversary.]
A Difficult Start
Inez Yeargan Kaiser was born April 22, 1918, in Kansas City, Missouri. She came into the world only 53 years after the end of slavery, as the Great War was coming to its conclusion. It was a time when women had yet to win the right to vote, and Jim Crow ran rampant. Not exactly an auspicious time for an African-American child to begin life.
Standing in at a small, but powerful 5 feet as an adult, Kaiser would not allow circumstances to hold her back. She always lived her life by the words of author Napoleon Hill, who said, “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”
In the 1930s, a time when most African-Americans weren’t allowed to pursue higher education, Kaiser applied and was accepted to Pittsburg State Teachers College of Kansas and received a bachelor’s degree in education, in 1941. She would later earn a master’s degree from Columbia University and an honorary doctorate from Lincoln University.
Fighting Back
Given the institutional racism that existed in the country at the time, Kaiser’s path was anything but easy. During one of her classes at Pittsburg State, the instructor in a sewing course ordered all of the black students in the room to leave. The instructor didn’t want them in the class.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Kaiser responded.
The determination that Kaiser displayed during her undergraduate years would become a constant theme in her life. After graduating from college, Kaiser began teaching home economics. She taught for 26 years.
Avocation, Vocation
At this point you’re likely wondering, ‘How did Inez Kaiser get into PR?’ Good question.
In the mid-1950s, as a hobby, Kaiser began writing a column called “Fashionwise and Otherwise.” The column was published in African-American newspapers across the country. Kaiser’s column covered fashion shows in New York, California and at the House of Dior in Paris.
She also wrote a column in The Kansas City Star titled, “As I See It.” In addition, Kaiser authored a cookbook, in 1968, called “Soul Food Cookery.” It was the first cookbook to explore what we now consider a typically American cuisine.
Roots in Journalism
One morning in 1957, Kaiser decided she had done enough teaching. She typed a one-line letter of resignation. Again, the determination of Kaiser is impressive. She chose unemployment at a time when she had $13,000 in debt – the medical bills from her father’s long illness added up quickly.
It was at this point that she decided to go into PR – a field she had never heard of – at the suggestion of an editor of an African-American newspaper.
That was the start of Inez Kaiser and Associates, Inc., the first PR firm in the United States that was headed by an African-American woman. In addition, it was the first African-American-owned business in Kansas City.
Good Advice and 7-Up
7-Up was Kaiser’s first major account. The win is associated with a story that includes PR advice that rings true to this day. Kaiser acknowledged that she won the soft drink’s business because a 7-Up executive liked that she admitted she didn’t know the answer to one of his questions – but promised she’d get back to him within one day.
By the early 1960s, after securing 7-Up and other accounts such as Sterling Drug, Sears & Roebuck, Lever Brothers and others, Kaiser became the first African-American woman to run a PR firm with national clients.
Political Life
A lifelong Republican, Kaiser told “The Kansas City Star” in 2014 that she was a Republican, “because all the people who helped me get my business started were Republicans.”
She advised Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan. The Nixon administration sent her to represent the U.S. during an economic conference in Africa. She also served as an advisor to minorities in business during the Ford administration.
in an early photo.
A PRSA First
A trailblazer and civil rights activist, Kaiser was the first African-American to join PRSA. In addition, she was the first African-American woman to join the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. She also founded Del Sprites, an organization that helps disadvantaged African-American junior and senior high school girls learn social graces, assisting them in pursuing higher education.
Kaiser earned many accolades, including being named the National Minority Advocate of the Year in 1997, Teacher of the Year by the Missouri State Teachers Association and the Business Woman of the Year in Kansas City.
Homecoming at Pittsburg
Kaiser received the Eartha M. White Women’s Achievement Award for being a pioneer black woman in the fields of PR, fashion and food. Her alma mater, now known as Pittsburg State University, awarded her the Meritorious Achievement Award for outstanding leadership and achievement in PR.
A college scholarship program, the Kaiser Graduate Student of Color Award, was named in her honor by the PR division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
Relationships Count
In an interview with The Museum of Public Relations in 2015, Kaiser, who was in a nursing home at the time, offered these words of advice to those practicing PR: “Always be thoughtful and thorough with your clients. And try your best to develop a personal relationship with them.”
Kaiser passed on July 31, 2016, aged 98. Her son, Rick Kaiser, donated his mother’s papers to the Museum following her passing. The collection includes proposals she wrote for corporations and photos with presidents. There’s even a copy of her famous cookbook, according to Shelley Spector, the Museum’s co-founder and director.
The collection also includes the above-mentioned interview the Museum did with Kaiser in 2015. It is a charming and instructive audio interview that is available at the Museum’s site: https://www.prmuseum.org/video-and-audio/#inez
Note:For more information about Inez Kaiser and other prominent African-American PR pioneers, visit The Museum of Public Relations and its site at: www.prmuseum.org
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