Commercial Integrator May 2021 - 40

INDUSTRY DEI

ARTMEDIA CORP AND
DIVERSITY IN THE
AV INDUSTRY
Eugene Ababio and Giovanni Agramonte of ArtMedia
Corp explain their paths to the AV industry and how they
think diversity can best be fostered in any organization.
By Jonathan Blackwood
WHEN IT COMES to fostering diversity in
the AV industry, it's important to remember
the diversity in diverse hires.
Every AV integrator knows there is no
such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution,
and that holds true for creating diversity
programs at integration firms.
ArtMedia Corp. is a minority-owned integration firm led by founder and chief executive Eugene Ababio and VP of operations
Giovanni Agramonte. The two came to the
integration industry as most do-indirectly.
Both worked in different capacities until
they discovered the AV industry, which
focused on a variety of their technological
passions.
Most integrators, regardless of race or
gender, came to the AV industry in a similar
way-and, like any other integrator, Ababio
and Agramonte's paths to the industry are
unique to themselves.

out how it worked, " he says.
" It was from there that I realized that I
had the ability to start my own business, "
says Ababio.
After working for many other firms at every capacity from tech to executive, Ababio
says he realized his value and decided to
leave his full-time job and pursue his own
business. He had already learned much of
what running an integration firm entailed.
" I was pulling cables, doing procurement, bidding on projects, meeting clients,
collecting checks, arguing with clients

started ArtMedia Corp in 2015.
Ababio says that his experience as an
immigrant in some ways psychologically
shielded him from the realities of casual racism. He says he didn't realize as a child that
he may not have opportunities that others
did because of the way he looked.
It wasn't until Ababio was an adult that
he began to realize that others may see him
for his complexion rather than his technological prowess.
" I came in on one of my projects on a
weekend and one of the guys made a comment that he was shocked to see me there
on a Saturday morning because he doesn't
usually see people like me, " he says.
" I took that home and I told my wife
about it. I didn't understand what he was
saying. It took my wife, who was born in the
United States, to explain to me what that
actually meant, " says Ababio.

" Representation matters. It shows other people
who look like me that they can be this too. We
decided that, in our business practice, we were
going to find young people and introduce them
to this market. " - Eugene Ababio, ArtMedia Corp

Finding the AV Industry
" I have always been into technology, "
says Ababio, who immigrated to the U.S.
from Ghana with his family at a young
age. " I lived in the Bronx for a majority of
my childhood and, at the age of about 10
or 11, I was repairing VCRs and TVs in the
neighborhood.
" Friends and family would say, 'Hey, my
VCR is broken. Can you take a look?' I've
always been that kind of person - opening
things up or breaking things trying to figure
40 Commercial Integrator MAY 2021

CM2105 pp40-43 Art Media.indd 40

about checks, generating new contacts for
new opportunities, doing the engineering
and programming, hiring technicians to do
the installation, " he says.
It was on one of his side projects
building a recording studio that Ababio
met Agramonte. It was the recognition of
one another's focus, drive and hard work
that started a connection that eventually
brought them back together after Ababio

" They don't expect people who look like
you working on the weekend, and definitely not in your position telling them what to
do, " he says. " I can only imagine someone
who hasn't come from my background,
coming from another country and realizing
that there are opportunities without seeing
the roadblocks in the way.
" Some of the limitations that they may be
going through where people who look like
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