ABSTRACT
Judy Wiles was president and owner of First Impressions Inc. in Detroit Michigan. By 1999, Wiles had built the company to become the lead sheep of the flock among temporary food service employment agencies in the state. Yet her competitors held most of the market in the private club and party scene predominately located in the suburbs. Wiles was troubled with the realization that having technical superiority did not mean First Impressions would always get the deal. She was aware that social capital like whom you golfed with or what parties you were invited to often influenced who got the business. Most troubling was her own analysis that her face and voice, as a woman of color, were barriers to market entry. She removed her round-rimmed reading glasses as she rubbed her temple.
