The Birth of HUB RTP: How Three Transforming Leaders Alumni Found Shared Purpose

In 2019, Morgan Cartier Weston, Ken Branson and Angela Caraway got to know one another through Leadership Triangle’s Transforming Leaders program. Almost a year later, in collaboration with Ricardo Hicks, they delivered a powerful virtual groundbreaking event for one of the most exciting new developments in the Triangle, HUB RTP.

Angela Caraway is a Leadership Triangle Alumni Board Member, 2015 and 2019 Leadership Triangle Goodmon Fellow, and Founder of The Caraway Management Group, providing full service event production.

Ken Branson is a 2019 Leadership Triangle Goodmon Fellow and Founder of Mastermind Productions, a full service videography and photography studio.

Morgan Weston is a 2019 Leadership Triangle Goodmon Fellow and the Director of Marketing & Communications for the Research Triangle Foundation, the managing body of Research Triangle Park.

Ricardo Hicks is the Owner of Tech Factory Productions, a full service Virtual, Hybrid, and Live event production company.

Kristine: When I saw the virtual groundbreaking video and heard the story of your collaboration from Jes, I knew that this is exactly the kind of story we need to be telling and uplifting right now. You all are leaders based around the Triangle who came together and said, yeah, this is not going to be a traditional way of doing things, but we’re going to do it together in collaboration and community, and it’s going to be incredible. How did this collaboration come to be?

Morgan: Ken and Angela and I were all in the 2019 Leadership Triangle Transforming Leaders cohort together. We met then — I remember getting to know everyone and of course we had our smaller groups that we worked with closely and bonded with closely. Actually Ken and Angela were actually not in my group, but through our sessions, we got to know each other through sharing our stories and I got a sense of what everyone did for a living. I remember thinking about them and quite a few other of our classmates and feeling disappointed that I would probably never get to actually see them in action because they were amazing people. Well, never say never because of course we did have that opportunity.

Angela: And I’ve known Ricardo for years, we have worked together before. When I think about AV, mics, screens, anything like that, I think about Ricardo and Tech Factory. I don’t remember exactly where we met -

Ricardo: I remember — National Coalition of Black Meeting Professionals.

Angela: Oh you know that’s right! We actually met -

Ricardo: Out of town.

Angela: Newport Beach, California!

Ricardo: That’s right.

Angela: I met Ken who I know has done work with Jes and Leadership Triangle before and then we were all part of Transforming Leaders together. When Morgan hit me up, she didn’t realize this, but when she asked me to submit a proposal for the HUB Groundbreaking event, I literally was about to shut my doors the next day. The pandemic had stopped my industry and I was about to close my company. When she asked me if I was still doing events the first thing I thought in my mind was “No” — but I sent that email back and said “Sure, absolutely”. And so when she reached out to me it was a saving grace.

Angela: And then I hit up Ken because I knew he did video work and asked if he was going to submit a proposal as well. He was, so I decided to add him into my proposal. That way if either of us got it, he would still get the work. I wanted to do this thing together — work together and make this happen.

Ken: About Ricardo…there’s nothing like having some dope audio and dope lighting for any video that we create. Having an A/V Professional on-site, making sure the scene is lit perfectly, enhances the emotions of the story being told for the viewer. What we do can’t be done without somebody like Ricardo. I’m so glad I know him and that we are connected.

It’s the challenge of entrepreneurship that keeps me going every day. So, when I was confronted with the challenge of a virtual groundbreaking for this freaking monumental event; 2 million square feet of live, work and play space, $1.5 billion project…initially I was like “Who am I to be on a project like this?” But then it quickly changed to, “Who am I NOT to be on a project like this?!”

Kristine: So what about this groundbreaking event and the HUB RTP is compelling for y’all? What does it offer to the future of the Triangle region?

Morgan: I think everyone in the Triangle has heard of RTP. Maybe you have a story or a personal tie to it, whether it’s, Oh, my dad moved us to North Carolina, so he could work for IBM or Glaxo, or my grandpa worked there or, you know, it’s a bunch of trees and there’s always a lot of traffic — ha, whatever it is, you’ve got an awareness and a story about RTP. So our challenge was kind of twofold because what we’re building at HUB is really meant to open up RTP to the whole community. RTP won’t just be a place where people go to work in these high tech roles. It’ll be a place where, you know, you and me could meet for coffee even if we aren’t scientists. Or I live in Pittsboro, and maybe you live in Raleigh and it’s a central place for us to convene and have a collaborative meeting or go for a walk. Or if you work in downtown Durham and your partner works in downtown Cary, there’s a central apartment that you two can share.

So it was really important, if we are going to change the perception of RTP, that we tell the story of the park in an honest way. That we look to storytellers who bring a fresh lens and a new perspective on the future of the park. We can’t say “this is for everyone” and hire people that look like me, a white woman. We have to get other people’s perspectives, expertise and eyes on this. I’ve never done a virtual groundbreaking before, so that was also part of the learning curve. But I really think we couldn’t have told the story any other way now. I’m really grateful to Angela, Ken and Ricardo for helping us bring it together.

Angela: Whenever I think about HUB RTP, I think back to whenever I served on a committee back in 2003 that looked at the expansion of RTP. We looked at greenways, we looked at homes and schools, industry, we looked at it at all. And we talked about 2020, which was crazy to me then. Now here we are in 2020 and when I look around and see some of the things that I was in the room talking about future changes…I feel really good about my role in this project.

Ken: I’ll tell you what was so compelling for me was the fact that a virtual groundbreaking had never been done before. I remember back when we started conversing back in July/August, I asked the typical questions that I ask every client — what do you see when you press play on the video? They were like, well, we don’t know! So it was a challenge to be able to make their vision come to pass. A challenge is one of the things I thrive off of. Challenge is the thing that got me 13 felonies back when I was 19/20 years old. It’s the challenge of entrepreneurship that keeps me going every day. So, when I was confronted with the challenge of a virtual groundbreaking for this freaking monumental event; 2 million square feet of live, work and play space, $1.5 billion project…initially I was like “Who am I to be on a project like this?” But then it quickly changed to, “Who am I NOT to be on a project like this?!” It was a challenge all the way around.

Kristine: I hear in that, like, both the ways that you thought about that professionally — how do I make this come together? And then personally, do I see myself as the creator of this narrative and this event? Both of those were kind of at play for you. Ricardo, would you add anything?

Ricardo: It was just great and fun to collaborate with everyone and to find out where everyone’s skill set fit into the mix. So Angela and I had several conversations on that, on the back end to figure out, okay, what do you do versus what do I do? I’m very explicit in saying that I’m not a storyteller. I can give you a clean video. I can give you audio. I can light it. But you know, storytelling is not a part of my brain that I’m not trying to use, but Ken, Ken is that guy. So it was good to be part of a team that was so complimentary in our skills.

Ricardo: I do want to double down on something that Morgan said about being intentional, you know, to find people that don’t look like you to help with major projects. In the climate that we have right now socially, it’s very, very important to have allies and people that understand barriers. I wouldn’t be where I am if I didn’t have an audio mentor, who doesn’t look like me, who brought me into the audio industry (Raymond Winters). He tells people, I was the best person he ever trained because I paid attention to the details and I kept showing up. Allies are people who recognize — here’s a guy who is smart. He works hard. Let me push him to where I am, give him an opportunity, and maybe one day he can have the same opportunities that I have. You know, I know people are buying Black and that is important. Black people are buying Black, but you still need allies to help push everything forward so that we can build and start getting to that point that we are building generational wealth for our families. I want to commend HUB RTP for seeing that and acting with that perspective.

Morgan: I really agree. It’s not like there’s a lack of talent around. It’s just making choices. This was the best way to tell this story. If we had just done any other groundbreaking event, like our CEO Scott said, it would have been a handful of old white guys on the microphone for half an hour, saying things we’ve all heard before. And we would not have gotten an ounce of the energy or captured the audience in a way that we were able to with this method. I feel like not only have we succeeded with what we set out to do together, but we also, I feel like have set a new standard for virtual events in the Triangle

Kristine: So for people who have not yet watched the video, how would you summarize HUB RTP in two sentences?

Ken: HUB RTP is an accessible two million square feet of live, work, and play space, right in the heart of the Triangle, projected to employ 6000+ residents and provide for 4% of Durham County’s GDP. It includes 14 acres of greenspace, a commitment of almost one third of the development’s land to the preservation of our forests and greenways.

Kristine: And how can people connect to the project?

Morgan: Go to hub.rtp.org to learn more, watch the video and get involved.