Erik C. Smith is currently the Managing Member of Inclusive Roots, LLC, with offices based in Florida, specializing in Cultural Competence, Community Relations and Cross-cultural Marketing. He also is the Chief Diversity Officer for Minorities for Marijuana 501- c(3). Most recently Erik was the Cultural Competence and Inclusion Director at Valpak where he developed a cultural competency rubric to show how diversity, coupled with inclusion, creates opportunities for innovation, drives revenue and enhances recruitment, retention and professional development of employees and suppliers. Previously he was the Executive Director of The Jeff Johnson Institute for Urban Development whose focus was to train young urban professionals for leadership. Concurrently, he served as the COO of Jeff’s Nation, a consulting firm with offices in Maryland and Ohio whose specialty is media and message consulting. Moreover, he has consulted for numerous Fortune 100 advertising agencies, public relations firms and consumer product companies globally. He has over 25 years of experience as a corporate finance and marketing professional.

Before founding Carlton Consulting, LLC in Cleveland, Ohio, Erik led all marketing functions for 216 Entertainment and Recording, LLC, a small cutting-edge agency that specialized in ethnic marketing where he explained how popular culture trends originate in urban culture.

Lastly, Erik’s educational background consists of a Master’s in Business Administration from Case Western Reserve University and a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University