Tech is the great equalizer with Anika Howard

Erik  00:02

We want to welcome all of our listeners to another episode of MRP, Minority Report Podcast with Erik and Kerel. Each episode we talk with real operators and leaders in media, tech and business. And today, joining us is Anika Howard, Anika is the President and CEO of Wonder Nation. We're excited to have Anika here. Let's jump in and say hi to Anika. Anika, welcome. How are you?

‍

Anika Howard  00:27

I am wonderful. It's good to see both of you, Kerel and Erik. I was looking forward to this conversation.

‍

Kerel  00:33

Oh, yes.

‍

Erik  00:34

Oh great, as are we, thank you so much. Anika, I have so many questions for you. I'm so curious about Wonder Nation, and everything you're up to there. But first, Anika, tell us a little bit about you. Where did you grow up and where were you born and raised?

‍

Anika Howard  00:50

So I was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and raised in Washington, DC. My parents were student activists. And so they both met at Southern University at Baton Rouge. And there was a really, actually, it's documented on PBS, but during a student protest, two students at Southern University were murdered. A police officer fired into the crowd, never was identified, never was prosecuted. And two of my father's friends were killed. And a lot of the student activist and organizers during that time were targeted. And so after some time, they were like, it's time to get out of dodge. And so after I was born, they moved to Washington, DC, which was great. They were doing a lot of that for student activists at the time trying to get them out of the south, at least a little bit further north, where they would have a little bit more protection. And so I always like to say that I am first generation post integration, because both of my parents integrated schools and museums.

‍

Kerel  01:53

Mmm.

‍

Erik  01:54

That had to have a profound effect obviously on your parents.

‍

Anika Howard  01:59

Yeah.

‍

Erik  01:59

So much that they're like, "Okay, we gotta get the heck out of here." Right?

‍

Anika Howard  02:04

Yeah, I mean, I think so. I think it made them pour a lot into me, and to my brothers and sisters, I'm the oldest of eight. And I think from a very, very early age, a lot of kind of, I would say their trauma that they experienced, they wanted to make sure that we didn't grow up with any limitations. And so a lot of things that they did, and that growing up in DC afforded me the opportunity to do was just everything that they can do. I think that's how I really got into technology. I mean, I got into engineering, I was building robots, I was working at programs at NASA, I did this really cool claymation video with the museum, and with the aquarium there. And so any program that they could get us into anything that they wanted to do, they wanted to make sure that we knew that there was really no limitations in terms of what we can do. For me, technology became this great equalizer of knowing that, you know, it was a universal language. And if you were smart, and if you were passionate, and you were creative, that really the playing field was leveled. And so I liked that piece of it. And that's kind of what drew me to some of the things I'm doing today, still today.

‍

Erik  03:15

Yeah, I want to ask you about that. And also back to how it started. Because I can't imagine and we'll talk about in a little bit about, you know, your early interning days to like where it is now.

‍

Anika Howard  03:28

Yes (laughs)

‍

Erik  03:29

Huge, huge leap. So we'll get back to that in a second.

‍

Anika Howard  03:33

Ok!

‍

Erik  03:33

Yeah, tell us a little bit about Wonder Nation. What is Wonder Nation and like what's going on over there today? Great.

‍

Anika Howard  03:39

Great. Great. So I love talking about Wonder Nation. So Wonder Nation is an online gaming and entertainment company. And it's actually owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. And so if you know anything about tribes, it's a federally recognized Indian tribe. It's located on one of the oldest reservations in existence in Mashantucket Connecticut, that's southeastern Connecticut, not that far from where I live. And they are pioneers in gaming for tribal casinos. And so Mashantucket was the first casino resort. And that really was the genesis of the online gaming, or not the online gaming, but the Indian gaming industry in the US. It's now equivalent to commercial gaming. So over, you know, billions and billions of dollars of revenue coming in through tribes. And what Wonder Nation has done is it's one of their newest entities. So today, it's just one of the largest gaming resort destinations, but it also owns a lot of complementary businesses. And so has a golf course, spas, a health center, but most recent is this online gaming entertainment company. And I like to describe it as everything beyond the physical experience. And so, much of what I have been focused on my career has been on gambling but if you notice I keep on saying gaming because gaming is this you know, I think it's gonna be over almost $400 billion industry by 2026 and we see this a good opportunity to expand beyond just the physical experience and create different opportunities that are unique. And it's a very nice value proposition for a tribe to be able to present and move forward.

‍

Kerel  05:17

Anika you mentioned, you know, your career in gaming, has that always been where you wanted to take your career? You've always been interested in gaming.

‍

Anika Howard  05:26

It's interesting. So no, I always have been interested in technology. And I've always had this desire to, you know, have this intersection between art and technology, and creativity. And I loved you know, science fiction, I love fantasy, I love history, all these things together, but I thought I was gonna go down this path to, you know, to be an animator and to do film and to do things like that. While I was in business school, I got recruited by now Caesars Entertainment, and they have a program called the President's Associate Program. And what they were trying to do at that time was, you know, bring in diversity into the organization, not just diversity in terms of, you know, people that look like us, but really just diversity of thought and ideas and having people outside of just the core gaming. And so I will say that the time the leaders there, did see that innovation needed to come from external. And then they were really, really focused on teaching people the craft and teaching people gaming, and giving them the opportunity to take on some leadership positions there. And I started there as an intern, it was great, because you know, even as an intern, comparing what I did to some of my other classmates, I had real world opportunities that, you know, extended real world problems to solve that extended even while I was in school. And then at the end, they just kind of put the icing on the cake and allowed me to actually start my career, do my rotation in New Orleans, which was basically like coming home. So one of the things too, is just kind of got really, really involved in the people and just all the things and realizing that it was an industry that I had no idea how many different things and how many different paths that you could go. And at that time, they were looking to figure out how do you kind of marry technology and so it was right up my alley. And it was something that I really enjoyed to do. And I just, I felt like it was just a good- kismet. It was good timing for when I was coming out of school and when they were recruiting and really ready to embrace technology.

‍

Kerel  07:30

Gotcha, gotcha. And I see to that most of your career has been in marketing. So product marketing, brand marketing. How did you make the jump from a senior leader in marketing to now CEO? What was that sort of pivotal moment if there was one pivotal moment>

‍

Anika Howard  07:51

So, I think it's interesting, I always call myself a marketing technologist. And so I started out in school and pre engineering, I have a dual master's and kind of IT and a lot of the work that I did was, although it was marketing, it was steeped in technology. So I worked very closely with the IT and technical teams, I led mostly technical teams, I worked really closely with engineers, and this one I keep on coming back to this idea of tech being this great equalizer. I remembered, I think, where things kind of shifted for me, I was working with IGT, Internet National Gaming Technology. And I was heading North America Games and one of the things that IGT has been focused on has been slot machines. But now with the eye gaming and sports betting, a lot of the focus had expanded. And so one of my favorite memories was going to Serbia. So going to Serbia and having to talk to a site full of Serbian engineers. So, no one looked like me. There were not even hardly any women at the site. But a big piece of it, what connected us was my ability to understand and be able to be that translator between all of the things that they were building from a technology standpoint, understanding how that related in a European market and being able to translate that to what's needed for US market. And really be the bridge and liaison between our tech teams, our creative teams, our clients. And for me, I feel like being able to see all sides has been one of the things that has been allowed me to elevate to, you know, and continue to level up in my career.

‍

Erik  09:33

Anika, I want to ask you a couple follow ups to these stops in your career because-

‍

Anika Howard  09:38

Okay.

‍

Erik  09:38

I want to point out to everybody a little bit that you're being a little modest here, but that's that's really, really nice, because we think about the timing here. I mean, as Kerel pointed out, and as you pointed out marketing, right, but it was internet marketing.

‍

Anika Howard  09:54

Yes. Yeah, it was interactive.

‍

Erik  09:56

It was interactive, but in 2002, right, 2001. So, you know, I'm putting some dates on these because, all of that was kind of nascent, right?

‍

Anika Howard  10:06

It was, it's so funny I talked to some of my colleagues that I knew then and they were like, you were way, way ahead of your time because like 2002, when those times I was already kind of doing virtual casino and play for fun type research, I didn't realize, you I was kind of saying, "Why are we doing this?" And it took like, 20 years before the industry caught up with that. And so a lot of the things that we were able to do very, very much then was shift. I mean, it was, when I think about it, when you're young, you just don't even think about how crazy it was that you had the opportunity to do that. But really, it was a cultural shift in the industry and the organization. Because when you think about that time, everything was very, very high touch, you didn't have smartphones, you didn't have a lot of the other technology. And there was this belief that interactive was not something that was going to take off that people weren't going to embrace it. And so you think that's crazy now, but during that time, a big part of what I did was education. So I remember doing workshops and going across the country to all the different casinos and talking to the managers and talking to the divisional presidents, and really kind of creating this groundswell to get people on the same page and excited about doing this. And so I look at it now, it's just standard place. But a lot of the work, for example, with loyalty, kind of combining and doing revenue management and combining and making sure that you know, as a loyal customer, the experience you had in the casino was the same experience you had online 20 years ago. So a lot of those things that are now just kind of commonplace in terms of, you know, not even a thought were still very, very, very much new and things that we were advocating, and pushing and really fighting to make sure-

‍

Erik  11:56

Ok you said it now, finally, all  right. (laughs)

‍

Anika Howard  11:58

(laughs)

‍

Kerel  11:58

Yeah. (laughs) Not only that part, but even just gaming in general and betting, how that has changed. So much. You know, it's, it's, wow, what a difference 24 years makes. (laughs)

‍

Anika Howard  12:15

I was four when I started so... (laughs)

‍

Kerel  12:18

(laughs)

‍

Erik  12:18

That's right. (laughs) You know, one thing that I told you the beginning thinking about going back to your early days, and that experience in New Orleans, working with technology assignments, as you described it, and in marketing, and then heck, even being Y2K ready. (laughs)

‍

Anika Howard  12:35

Oh my goodness. I remember that. I remember that because we thought like the world was going to end and like the slot machines are gonna cut off and turn back over? I remember that so distinctly, you know (laughs)

‍

Erik  12:47

Anika, are those things that you sort of think about now as the President and CEO, like you're sort of origin story there, you know, from a group of summer interns in an executive management program, right, that's designed to mentor and develop executive leaders like that had to have impacted you. What does that do for you now thinking about, like how you interact with others who are earlier in their career?

‍

Anika Howard  13:12

I think what it did for me was, it was a humbling experience, because one of the things that I feel like, I do credit to the success because the Presidents Associate was a rotation program, so you had to go and learn all the different things that people were doing. And you had to learn from everyone. And I think, when I talk to some of the executives, after they said, you know, what happens is that the people that are humbled are the people that are successful, because you realize that, in order for something like that, because it's basically a cruise ship on land, everyone has a part to play, and every person has a touch point. And I remember the CEO at that time, we talked about the million dollar minute and just saying that, you know, each experience, each person has the opportunity to create an experience that keeps people there a little bit longer, and maybe keeps someone just, you know, over time there a minute longer that kind of has a direct impact on the revenue. For me, it was just kind of being able to see and understand how everything works together and how important that was, but also my technology brain also seeing, okay, wow, here are things that you can streamline through technology, here are things that you can do, I think that really helped me understand when I did kind of move on to the next thing, where the opportunities were, and not just being able to say, "Oh, here's what you want to do from a technology stock standpoint, but understand operationally, all the different things that went into making that technology work." And so for me, I would say for someone starting out, is you know, one, listen. Listen more than you talk and really observe and learn because when you're starting out, I think you have this desire to rush so you think you know everything and you don't. So really, I think, you know take the counsel of others, take the time. And I would say speak up. One of the things that I think I did, very, very early on while I was in New Orleans, I had the opportunity to go to a dinner with the Board of Directors for the company, as well as kind of the head of HR. And she asked me what I wanted to do. I said, you know, I'm really excited about interactive, here's the things that I want. Here is, you know, my whole world according to Anika at that time, and a week later, I was on a plane for an interview and moved to Vegas, like within three months. And so I think some of the times, you just never know who's really listening. And so I think just always live in your authentic self.

‍

Erik  15:40

Anika, that's pretty cool. I'm curious, you know, as a CEO and President, a lot of what you're doing is driving vision, kind of mission, culture, and then also sort of leading the daily operations, right? Where are you drawing inspiration? And where are you finding the next, you know, levels of energy?

‍

Anika Howard  15:59

So I think a lot of it, I go to a lot of conferences. And so what I do, it's kind of learning from that very original experience. And so AfroTech, South by Southwest, I remember hearing Sarah Bond who now is the CEO of XBOX for Microsoft, prior, like years ago, and just being so so inspired by how they thought about gaming and how they thought about the experiences and really understanding what a unifying force gaming could be. So I get inspiration a lot from that from reading. I do a lot of reading and listening to podcasts and really just trying to see, but for me, it's really looking at complementary industries. And so, like gaming, it's interesting, but there's so many other things that are people out there doing and want to understand, like, what is the cool thing? What are people doing? I have a bunch of nieces and nephews, and so, you know, going down the rabbit hole of playing Minecraft, and Roblox and all the different things too just to kind of understand what resonates with people.

‍

Erik  17:03

They like it when Auntie comes over.

‍

Anika Howard  17:04

(laughs)

‍

Kerel  17:06

(laughs) I always look at my 16 year old daughter for as the use case of what's hot and what's trending as well.

‍

Anika Howard  17:12

They will tell you (laughs)

‍

Kerel  17:15

They certainly will. Anika, you mentioned reading, do you have a book that every person should read?

‍

Anika Howard  17:23

Oh, my goodness, yes. So The First 90 Days, I just got the book, and I just hired, you know, four new people. And all of them, you know, I ordered it just all of them can have it. I think it's a very good kind of baseline of how do you just kind of focus and create a path for success forward? And how do you prepare? And what are the things that you need to do to just show up? And so I think it's a really good book.

‍

Kerel  17:49

Awesome. Thank you for that. What gets you excited?

‍

Anika Howard  17:52

I mean, I think people get me excited. One of the things that I take inspiration from are like, you know, we're still a relatively new company, we started in July of 2021, right, like, literally right after the pandemic, as all online gaming and sports betting, were coming on board. And so, as we were building the company, and as we were doing a lot of other things, just listening and taking inspiration from other people, and being able to bring together just this amazing cast of characters to bring the vision to life. And so I get motivated by smart people, by people that are passionate about what they do, no matter the industry. And so when I look at my network, and my friends that pour into me, and then I pour into them, I mean, that's really what it is. It's people that are passionate and authentic, and just bringing their true selves.

‍

Kerel  18:42

Gotcha. Leading a company, right at the sort of end of the pandemic there must have been, you know, an interesting experience there and probably had its challenges. As a CEO, you mentioned, obviously, listening is important. But leading, I know is also super important. What are some of those keys to leadership?

‍

Anika Howard  19:03

I think the biggest one is empathy, empathy and emotional intelligence. For me, one of the things that, I feel like that's the hardest thing to lead with in many cases. I think people think that of course, you need smart people, of course you need some of those other things too, but you need to be able to understand and know that everyone is different. And you need to understand how to approach a situation and how to be able to step back and how to be able to be a servant leader, as opposed to, you know, always feeling like you know the answer. I think part of being a leader is clearing roadblocks and making sure that, kind of, the team has the tools and everything they need to be successful. Also, I think a lot of it is just being present. One of the things that I remember distinctly and this is before because during the pandemic I worked for Foxwoods, and I remember having to shut down the casino. And I remember you know, just all of the things are trying to understand like, what are all the things that you need to do to make sure that the teams are cared for? And how do you kind of make sure -  we did a lot of volunteering, a lot of making sure the community was right and making sure that as we brought things back online, people were still connected. So I feel like leadership is really I think about caring.

‍

Erik  20:24

That's great. Anika, you mentioned conferences, you know, being kind of big, right? That's about networking, right? That's about finding others that are really important to connect with. And you had a series of groups you were excited to meet with. One was African Americans in Gaming. Another one was Accessibility Inclusion for People with Disabilities, including Neurodiversity, right? Gender Equity and Gaming, Pride and Gaming. A lot of different groups.

‍

Anika Howard  20:53

Yes. And so one of the things too, that I do see as a shift in gaming, is it's been a long road. I talked about kind of when we're in Serbia, I was like the only one, in many cases to be the only one. And so me and one of my good friends, Alex Dixon, one of the things that we wanted to do was, once again, you think back to when you're starting your career, how do you make sure that you create something that you wish you had? And so we wished that we had this kind of group, because it's still splintered, I mean, it's becoming more and more diverse, but you still feel in many cases that you can be alone. And so how do you create these business resource groups? How do you create opportunities to connect people that are going through the same thing, but are geographically not in the same place or not in the same company, because many cases,  you might be the only one. And so really just making sure that there is an opportunity to connect. And I have to give props to Global Gaming Expo because we had started kind of the year before with doing that. And then really getting some of the feedback, adding kind of all of the different meetups that we could do it. So I was really happy to see that because that was a first in gaming. That's the first time in my career that the organization that is the premier gaming conference had so many different opportunities for people to connect in different ways. And so that was very special. And I saw other conferences in turn doing the same.

‍

Erik  22:26

Anika, I want you to respond to this.

‍

Anika Howard  22:30

(laughs)

‍

Erik  22:30

"My brain works differently. Instead of just seeing things in the linear pattern, I can visualize multiple possibilities and mobilize multifunctional teams to make them a reality." Those are your words, right?

‍

Anika Howard  22:44

Yes, yeah.

‍

Erik  22:44

I love that, "my brain works differently," I love that. How much of that do you think connects back to growing up the oldest of eight and you know, everything that comes along with a childhood like that?

‍

Anika Howard  22:59

I mean, I think it does. I have to credit a lot to my parents because like, even from something as basic as religion, they're like, we don't want you to kind of just defer to that. So we went to the Kingdom Hall, we went to the mosque, we went to you know, Catholic school, we went here and so they wanted to make sure that we really got an understanding of there are more things that connect us and divide us. And early on being able to do all these different things, everything just kind of came to Kaleidoscope and so I always, always had all of these different things going on at once. And no one ever told me I couldn't. And so I think that's kind of a big piece of the foundation. But yeah, I think also dealing with seven other personalities growing up, (laughs) seven other personalities cats, dogs, squirrels, (laughs) all types of pets, that you know, kind of what have you. It made for a very interesting childhood.

‍

Kerel  23:59

Great. What is something that you wish you were better at?

‍

Anika Howard  24:03

I wish I was better at turning off. Like I think what happens is that I'm always always always going and I'm always present now when I'm taking the time to do it, but I think when I look back I wish I was more present and spent more time with family. And I'm making up for it now, but I think that's kind of one of the things that I wish I was better at staying connected in that way.

‍

Kerel  24:25

Gotcha. Gotcha. Alright, fun question. What's in your music rotation?

‍

Anika Howard  24:30

Oh man so [inaudible] my dad collected music so when kind of go pick it up it's a very eclectic mix. So like hands down [inaudible] doesn't matter. But my, kind of after that, my standbys are Nina Simone, Bob Marley and Sade. And then if I'm thinking about, you know, I must say I am enjoying the Kendrick Lamar diss tapes every two days or every 30 minutes (laughs) just because, you know, why not? But I really do, I think Nina Simone like that is, you know, kind of the cure to anything.

‍

Kerel  25:05

Gotcha, gotcha. Well, I would say, you know, my opinion, Exodus, Bob Marley is probably one of the greatest albums of all time.

‍

Anika Howard  25:15

You will get no arguments here. (laughs)

‍

Erik  25:19

And if somebody doesn't like it, you almost gotta look at them like...

‍

Anika Howard  25:22

I know, like, "What's wrong with you? Who raised you?" (laughs)

‍

Erik  25:24

I know right (laughs)

‍

Kerel  25:28

(laughs)

‍

Erik  25:28

Aw man, I love it, Anika it's been so much fun hanging out with you. Often our listeners and viewers love to stay in touch and just kind of reach out. What are some simple ways that they can get in touch with you?

‍

Anika Howard  25:37

On most of my platforms I'm WebDivah on Instagram, on Facebook, you can reach me you know, kind of look me up on LinkedIn.

‍

Erik  25:53

Excellent. Thanks again Anika. Thanks for sharing a lot of great insights and some of your experiences with us. And thank you everyone for listening to another episode of MRP, Minority Report Podcast with Erik and Kerel. You can find all kinds of episodes a whole lot more. Wherever you find all of your audio and video, just search for the logo and look for Minority Report Podcast. Thank you very much.

‍

Anika Howard  26:17

Thank you.

‍