As the world remembers Sept. 11th, 10 years later, Johnson Products remembers too. For three of our company members, they barely escaped that day with their lives.
(Right to left) 9/11 Survivors Eric and Renee Brown, Johnson Products, with company founder George E. johnson
An interview with Renee Brown
Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Johnson Products, Dallas, Texas.
by Isidra Person-Lynn
Host, Sunday Morning Live 9/11/11 @ 10 a.m. PDT 1 p.m. EST
This interview will be aired at this link in full audio:
As you know, on the legendary 9/11, Dallas-based Renee Cottrell-Brown, her husband, Eric, and their sales and marketing team at Pro-Line International (the company founded by Renee’s father), barely got out of New York City with their lives while staying at the World Trade Center Marriott Hotel. With just a hotel robe on her back and flimsy slippers on her feet, Renee and her husband fled on foot, and had to depend on “the kindness of strangers” to get to safety and ultimately get back home to Dallas.
Ten years later, the spirit of giving to strangers rings true more now for Renee than ever before. Today, as the Executive Vice-President of Sales and Marketing for Dallas-based Johnson Products Company (which her husband Eric led the effort to purchase and bring back to the community it serves), Renee and Eric have given over $50,000 to local and national nonprofits in the U.S. Moreover, next month, in support of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Renee will lead the third year of the company’s initiative on domestic violence called “No Excuse! Stop the Abuse!” This year, the campaign will stop in Washington, D.C. and Johnson Products Company will co-sponsor a congressional briefing on federal domestic violence support for children and women in association with the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
Eric and Renee’s horrific experience ten years ago will never be forgotten. And, the generosity shown to her is now being shown to others through her professional and personal commitment to making our society better for all.
For the complete audio interview, visit Sunday Morning Live at http://tobtr.com/s/2258953. It will air live on Sunday and be available for archive shortly after Noon PDT, Sept. 11, 2011.
Here are Assorted quotes from Renee Brown about that fateful day and the 10 years hence:
The Jolt that Started it All
My husband Eric was dressed and about to leave for his flight to Washington DC. I was pondering going up a floor to the gym. Surrounded by glass, it was beautiful to work out while gazing upon all of New York from that floor about 27 stories up in the hotel dwarfed between the Twin Towers–the World Trade Center. Just then we felt a jolt that would rattle us to the core. Debris began falling. I had slipped on a robe and slippers while Eric went to look out and see. I assumed that there had been an implosion that we did not get the memo for. That’s when he sprang into action. He said “let’s go.” He grabbed our laptops, I grabbed my purse, really wondering if all that would be necessary. We walked down the flights of stairs–a real feat considering my uncooperative knee and ankle which had been injured years before. When we got outside, firemen and policemen guided the growing numbers across the street.
Watching the Planes Hit:
When I looked up, this aircraft with a total grey underbelly, was flying so low I could see its windows. It happened so fast. The realization that the first explosion heard had been another airplane was just sinking in. And then when the 2nd plane hit the 2nd tower, there was pandemonium. People were running, screaming and crying trying to find a safe haven wherever they could.
When they all came tumbling down
Nobody knew while firemen and policemen were rushing into the scene that the next scene would be to see these massive buildings collapse on top of one another and create a volcano and avalanche of dust and debris that overcame many people. Fortunately, since all I had on was a robe and some slippers that morning, I did have on my night scarf and it may have saved my life, because when all that debris came, I wrapped it around my nose and mouth to keep all the suffocating debris out of my respiratory system.
Don’t Look Up!
They were warning us not to look up because at that time they knew there were jumpers and they didn’t want us to see that because they knew that would stop us in our tracks. But once the Firemen and Policemen got us across the street we turned around, there was pandemonium. We tried to run, and thought we’d found a taxi but as I was getting in, a stranger pulled me out and jumped in. The police were encouraging everybody to move out of the immediate area so we ran and we ran down to Battery Park (several blocks away. We found a bus but they did not want to let me on at first because I was so dirty. We made it to the downtown area and then over to the ferry to New Jersey.
Kindness of strangers
I always like telling this part of the story: Even in bad situations there is always some good. When we got to the ferry, a pregnant woman took us in, allowed us to come to her home in New Jersey, gave us food and took me to get my medicine for my bad leg. She knew nothing about us but she did this and a whole lot more for us. We could not have made it without her.
My sales and marketing team for Pro-Line was scattered everywhere
My husband and I were in NY because of a meeting with Pro-Line’s sales and marketing team with Uniworld, an advertising agency in New York. Some fled to Harlem, others went in other directions. My husband, is usually running a bit behind but in this case I was not mad at him because he encouraged me to leave the room after the first plane hit, which I had not considered since I was not dressed. I am really thankful we were together for all of this.
How did you get home?
“Remember all planes were grounded, which meant all trains and buses were packed. In a few days, the owners of our company chartered a tour bus (like the entertainers use) and it was driven up from Florida to pick up our team and get us back to Dallas.
How did all the other Proline survivors fare?
We all had issues after 9/11. When you are that close to the event, you do have psychological shortcomings after seeing people jump to their deaths. It is very difficult to manage psychologically. I was able to fly again relatively soon, but still am uncomfortable with heights. For one of our brand managers Deline Cormier, flying was very difficult for her.
Still, everyone is doing relatively well. We all keep in touch, especially on those anniversaries. We will always remember those who were not as fortunate as we were. We count our blessings, and send each other little prayers or greetings to let everyone know we are doing. Everyone else has their own things going. Most stayed in Dallas.
Believe it or not, my husband and I acquired a new brand from Procter & Gamble, Johnson Products Company, and brought it back to the African American community from which it grew. Dee, who now lives in New Jersey, continues to work for us now. As the years went by, I think the significance dwindled somewhat. The media was really on top of what was going on in the lives of those who had been there that day, but now I think with the 10th anniversary, it brings back the memories more vividly.
On Talking About it Each Year:
Sam Putney, Dallas morning news director, called me a year later and woke me up in the wee hours of the morning to talk about it. We have done many interviews. This year it probably touches me more than it has any year in the past. Maybe because there is so much media blitz there is a haunting memory. When I think back to that morning it is something I try to erase out of my mind. It was a very horrifying morning. I don’t think my adrenalin has ever been that high. I ran so much that day –I would dare to say maybe about three miles–that the next day when I woke up I couldn’t even move a muscle because everything was so tight and so worn out from the day before.
When Bin Laden was killed:
Eric went cheering around the house. We felt he took so many innocent lives that justice had finally been done. Normally, I don’t feel that way because I don’t believe in an eye for an eye, but innocent people were going to their everyday jobs minding their own business and terrorists decide to take their lives away from their loved ones. That was devastating. But now I am concerned about retaliation.
What have Eric and Renee been doing in the last 10 years?
After we left Alberto Culver (which purchased Pro-Line) I did some consulting.Two friends and I started a small start up natural hair care line called Nature’s Essential Ingredients. In 2009, my husband, along with some investors in CA acquired Johnson Products’ Gentle Treatment and Ultra Sheen brands and brought them back to the community. I became Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, so I am very busy these days.
Philanthropy
Thanks to Johnson Products, we are back to philanthropy–being able to give, which from the heritage of my father’s company, Pro-Line, is something that is inbred. Without the community there is no reason for these hair care companies. They are the base. If they don’t buy there is no company, so we know how important it is to give back.
Gentle Treatment’s No Excuse! Stop the Abuse! Domestic Violence Initiative
We donate to various causes, but in the case of Johnson Products, we thought it was very important to give back in an area that is somewhat neglected. One in 4 women is abused in the country, and that total number is very much more than those lost in the World Trade Center. We have a brand “Gentle Treatment” which resonated with this issue.
Early on, we founded Gentle Treatment’s No Excuse! Stop the Abuse! Domestic Violence Initiative. This is our third year working on this issue. We started in Chicago then Dallas and this year we are on our way to Washington DC, where we will co-sponsor a congressional briefing on federal domestic violence support for children and women in association with the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
Jobs for the Community
Our plant is located where African-Americans, Latinos and whoever uses our products can work. We could have located JPC anywhere but we wanted the company to be in the distance of a bus ride.
Why it is Important to Tell Our Story
Watching some of the media, you’d forget African-Americans were there. Many lives were lost, of all hues, and there are survivors of all hues, African, Latino, Asian, and Middle Eastern American citizens who are doing good things for our country. If we don’t tell out stories for ourselves, who will tell it?
Any hopes for the future?
World Peace! No matter how you ant to ignore what is happening abroad you cn see it first hand…I felt remiss not to tell my story this year, because I think people need to know yeah people were there that day they survived it and they re people of color. They are people who are doing the right thing. Giving back, and not suing, we’ve employed more people trued to get on with our lives we have overcome adversity just everyday good American citizens and we happen to be minority and
Was there anything you left behind you really miss owning?
It was all pretty much material. I got my purse, which had my credit cards which could help me move forward. I lost a $25,000 watch but who cares when it a matter of you saving your life? I would have gave up 10,000 watches if I could have helped save some of those people who perished.
Flickr.com, Creative Commons
