(one of MANY feature articles I had published long ago...this one in a terrific local newspaper)
It doesn’t require the keen eyesight
of an eagle to immediately focus upon the major symbol of Gentry W. Trotter’s
office.
Plaques emblazoned with eagle-inspired
expressions surround prized possessions of eagle replicas of jade and gold, and
other motivational sayings.
With all the eagle memorabilia in
view, a few visitors have inquired as to whether Trotter’s MultiMedia Services
and Companies, Inc was a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. But it is not too difficult to
understand Trotter’s penchant for the eagle.
“To me, an eagle is not a bird of prey
like most people think,” Trotter said.
“It’s a strong bird that soars.
Like the eagle, I like strength in people. I’m allergic to naysayers and
negative people. I like decisiveness,
the ability to soar above it all and the ability to dive into it all.”
That’s precisely the attitude Trotter
employs as president of his full-service communications corporation.
“I like to develop my own strategies
through my own experiences—not to copycat,” Trotter said. “This place is not a bakery shop or candy
shop where everything comes out on an assembly line format. When I work for clients, I compete with
myself, try to outdo myself, and enjoy bouncing new ideas off the other
creative members of my staff. I may have
had a good day yesterday, but I’m going to do even better today.”
Although throughout his office are
signs that read, “Efforts Don’t Count…Results Do,” Trotter nevertheless
understands the logical bond between the two, and the importance of perseverance
in attacking a job.
Trotter is indeed a tireless
worker. The 42-year-old native St.
Louisan gets less than five hours of sleep a day. He returns to his country home after a
grueling 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. work day, which includes a heavy schedule of client,
civic and employee meetings.
Few younger men can carry that
workload. But for Trotter, the sheer
number of hours put into the task seems insignificant compared to the pleasure
he derives from his efforts.
“I wake up every morning revved up,
but I have my pensive moments when everything just rolls through my mind,”
Trotter said. “I’m a very low-key person
prior to attacking a client event. When
I leave my office at the end of the day, I’m mentally disappointed that it’s
over with. It’s not work to me; it’s fun
and a great high. I want to take a nap
and get back to work, but God didn’t create our bodies that way.”
The diligent work performed by Trotter
and his many staffers has earned MultiMedia major accounts like Laclede Gas
Company, Hardee’s Food Systems, Fred Weber, Inc., the Clarion Hotel, Silo, Inc,
and World Events Productions.
But Trotter has been anything but an
overnight success. He started in the
communications business when he was 17, and credits the late Howard B. Woods,
former publisher of the St. Louis Sentinel; Citibank’s Gayle Lichtenstein;
Radio KRJY’s Richard Miller; former Globe-Democrat publisher Duncan Baumann;
the late grocery mogul Ed Schnuck; and former KPLR-TV owner Howard Koplar for
most of his apprenticeship and support.
Trotter left KPLR-TV as director of
programming, where he mastered managerial skills in his seven-year
association. In 1982, with the
encouragement of Lichtenstein, Trotter took his compensation money, sold some
of his art and other personal belongings and started a small, one-room
business.
“Many of my cheerleaders said, ‘You
should work for someone else,’ while others said, ‘You should work for
yourself,’” Trotter said. “I like the
partnership concept—working with the client to help him achieve his goals.” Today, the full-service agency is housed in
spacious, 5,000-square-foot offices downtown in the historic Security Building.
Since its inception, MultiMedia has
grown into an agency with five major subsidiaries—Graphics Plus, Fun
Fundraising & Company, MultiMedia PR Group, MultiMedia Ad Group, and Gentry
Trotter Productions.
Trotter knows that he is considered an
entrepreneur by definition, but his profit-making businesses hardly tell the
complete story of the man. He is equally
dedicated to the cause of helping his fellow man.
“You can’t be just a businessman, work
all day and not be concerned or aware of your environment,” Trotter said. “You drive through the daffodils and
mountaintops every day, but you know there are people without shelter or food,
in bad weather without heat, etc. You
have an obligation as a human being to share your spirit of concern as well as
your profits.
“As a spiritual person, you have to
consistently give back something to the community what God gave you. People deserve your time, effort and
resources. It’s a good feeling you can’t
get by smoking marijuana or coke, which some do. Giving and caring are the ultimate highs.”
Trotter is proud to declare that all
his clients are involved in charitable work.
To the same degree, Trotter utilizes his positive nature, assertiveness,
and outspoken demeanor to achieve considerable results for causes in which he
believes.
A few of the areas where Trotter
deserves credit are the Big Band Benefits which assist Edgewood Children’s
Center, Annie Malone Children’s Home, Missouri Energy Care, the NAACP, the
Arnold Palmer Gold Tournament, and several local hospitals.
One of Trotter’s greatest fund-raising
achievements is $10,000 raised within just two hours for Hardee’s “Rise and
Shine,” benefiting the late Sister Pat’s Dollar Help program. Since its inception in 1982, Trotter has
helped raise nearly $3 million for that crisis intervention program
underwritten by the Laclede Gas Company.
Although he recently retired after
serving 10 years as chairman of the St. Louis NAACP’s Freedom Fund
dinner—helping to raise a record $70,000 at last November’s event—Trotter still
has plenty of causes to pursue. He also
worked behind the scenes in New York recently for the National NAACP’s 80th
Anniversary Gala. That event raised
almost $500,000.
Trotter is still very active with the
United Way and in serving as National Press Secretary to the Chairman of the
NAACP Board of Directors, and as a member of the National Board of Trustees for
the Special Contribution Fund, Inc. But
he is more excited by his service on the Board of Directors of Junior
Achievement.
“That’s my greatest pride and joy,”
Trotter said. “I’m concerned about the
future of young people. That’s why I
keep pushing to get young people into Junior Achievement. It develops CHARACTER and PERSPECTIVE (his
emphasis) on life.
“Basically, young people today—who are
not in J.A.—don’t give a damn about anyone but themselves. They swing from job to job, pillar to
post. Youngsters today have no loyalty
to companies, just to themselves. They
don’t care about company productivity because they have no commitment or
integrity, either.”
Trotter has seen firsthand the
unwillingness of many youngsters to be cross-trained—to learn to perform as
many functions in an organization as possible.
“The secret to a viable corporate entity is multi-talented and
experienced employees,” he said.
In addition to our youth, Trotter is
concerned with every aspect of racism and bigotry—whether it’s directed at
blacks, religious groups, the downtrodden, or the elderly.
“There are black people who are bigots
and racists, and whites who are racists and bigots,” Trotter said. “There is even class discrimination within
blacks and within whites. The problem is
that the white racists are running the candy stores and have all of the
economic power. In their greed or
insecurity, some haven’t learned to share the power or the wealth. The everyday people who spend their
hard-earned nickels and dollars in those stores expect the powers that be to
hire them and provide them a chance to grow.
The problem is not dialogue; it’s sharing the wealth.
“Education is a major tool for black
achievement, but economic parity is more important. You can have five degrees, but it doesn’t
mean a damn thing if you cannot get promoted, get a bank loan, or move to a
better neighborhood. The power entities
have to sensitize people not to give blacks a free ride, but to give us
opportunities, and we will do the rest.
What good is it when the doors open, and there’s something on the other
side keeping you from getting in?”
Regardless of all the long hours
Trotter spends in pursuit of satisfying his clients’ economic goals, he said
that his principal concern is helping his neighbor.
“The older I get,” he said, “the more
I realize that I have only begun to scratch the surface in terms of
professional accomplishments and helping others.”
Unfortunately, the breed of truly
concerned people like Gentry Trotter has become as rare in America as our
national symbol, the bald eagle.
