Yohannan Terrell

About: Yogi Terrell has been with Warhol & Wall St. since 2011, and he leads sales and development for the branding firm. He leads overall strategy for the Columbus Fashion Alliance. Terrell has a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in marketing from Ohio State University. He’s the father of a 24-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter.

Outside of work: Terrell actively supports the minority community. The Columbus Harlem 100 Celebration was a year-and-a-half-long campaign that highlighted African American Artists in Columbus. He created 614 Day to celebrate and support local businesses. And the Columbus Fashion initiative is a multi-year effort to support the fashion industry.

What does Columbus need to thrive? Three words: innovation, culture and communication. Columbus’ biggest barrier is being the greatest city you’ve never heard of. Innovation is needed to help us embrace and grow our leading industries – we are seeing that with local companies like Root Insurance and CoverMyMeds. But we should also push for building culturally rich communities that are in high demand in major markets. When people visit or move to a city they look for culturally rich communities that feel authentic and not manufactured. The city investing in building cultural hubs would encourage these communities to bring out the best of their cultures. That then needs to be paired with telling our story.

Terrell’s idea: To take a culturally rich, minority dominant neighborhood and re-envision it to become a cultural hub. A blueprint, based on surveys and sessions would then be given to the community, helping show how minorities can build their future. An example of this could be in the Bronzeville district. This could lead to creating the hub that would enhance the arts and fashion district to create a community where African American and art/fashion cultures are thriving by reinvesting in our legacy institutions.