"Be the change you want to see in the world"
Colette A.M. Phillips
Colette Phillips Communications
Founder of Get Konnected! and The GK Fund
Interviewed by Aditi Goel. Written by Aditi Goel and Lisa Gilman.
June 2026
Ms. Colette A.M. Phillips is a winner of the Immigrant Learning Center’s 2025 Barry M. Portnoy Immigrant Entrepreneur Award. Ms. Phillips was born in St. John’s, the main city on the Caribbean island of Antigua in the country Antigua and Barbuda. She describes growing up in a country shaped by layers of history, cultural resilience, and strong community values. Ms. Phillips explained that Antigua—originally called “Wadadli” by its Indigenous inhabitants—was first home to the Arawaks and Caribs, two tribes whose histories and interactions formed part of the island’s early identity. Antigua was later shaped by European colonization, with nearby territories divided among the British, French, Spanish, and Dutch. The legacy of British colonization continues into the present through its British-style institutions, including education and governance.
English was the language spoken in Ms. Phillips’ home and throughout Antigua. She attended Antigua Girls’ High School, a prestigious all-girls institution that was private at the time, though it is now government run. The headmistress and some of the teachers were British and/or of British descent. Her education emphasized discipline, communication, and academic excellence. She studied British literature, English, Latin, geography, British and Caribbean history, and math. She also studied French for five years, reflecting the broader Caribbean influence of neighboring French-speaking islands and colonial histories.
Growing up in what she described as an “upper-middle-class” environment, Ms. Phillips was surrounded by both privilege and responsibility. Her family employed household helpers, yet her parents consistently taught her that every person deserves dignity and respect regardless of their social status. The people who worked in their home were treated like family, a value that deeply shaped Ms. Phillips’ worldview. Making space for others and affirming everyone’s humanity is a guiding force in her personal and professional life. The island of Antigua also shaped her understanding of resilience. Despite being surrounded by the ocean, it frequently experienced long periods of drought and water shortages. Ms. Phillips recalled how the government developed desalination programs to convert ocean water into usable drinking water by extracting salt. These environmental realities taught communities to adapt creatively and collectively in the face of challenges.
Ms. Phillips’ passion for communication emerged early and led her to the United States. In 1972, she came to Boston at the age of 17 to attend college first at Grahm Junior College where she majored in journalism and then Emerson College where she earned a bachelor’s degree in communication studies in 1976.
After graduating, Ms. Phillips returned to Antigua and quickly established a prominent media career working in television and radio for Antigua Broadcasting Service (ABS). She had her own half-hour talk show onABS’s local television station called “Let’s Talk” that covered issues and events on the island. The show became popular, and she was considered “the Oprah in Antigua.” She also filled in as an anchor when needed and was a newsreader on radio and television programs. She eventually served as the press secretary to the Prime Minister.
In 1978, Ms. Phillips came back to Boston to pursue a master’s degree in communications at Emerson College. where she also served as a Graduate Assistant in Communications to Professor Ted Hollingsworth. Though she had planned to stay in the United States for the two years needed to complete her degree, it has now been “more than 42 years!”
Ms. Phillips has become a trailblazing entrepreneur and community leader in Boston. Her first job out of graduate school was the head of public relations for the Patriot’s Trail Girl Scouts Council, now the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts. At the time, it was the fifth largest council in the country. This position reflected her commitment to leadership development, mentorship, and community empowerment.
After three years, Ms. Phillips began working for Cablevision of Boston, which became Comcast Xfinity. From the beginning, her work was driven by a deep commitment to immigrants and multicultural communities. For example, she built relationships in Boston’s Chinatown neighborhood at a time when Boston’s ethnic communities were heavily siloed, and there was deep distrust between people of different backgrounds. She recalled reaching out to the late Frank Chin, affectionately known as “Uncle Frank” (the unofficial Mayor of Chinatown), to connect with Chinese residents and to encourage cable subscriptions for Chinese language programming. For Ms. Phillips, representation and access matters—not only in media and business—but also in creating a sense of belonging for everyone.
Ms. Phillip’s next job was with Sonesta Hotels & Resorts. The company had recently renovated their starship hotel, the Royal Sonesta Boston in Cambridge, Massachusetts and “needed a public relations director to amplify the image of the hotel.” As she details in her book The Includers, she made the bold move of telling one of the owners Paul Sonnabend that she wanted to start her own consulting firm. He approved. In 1986, Ms. Phillips founded Colette Phillips Communications, a strategic marketing and public relations firm that was the first minority-owned, Black-owned public relations company in New England. Her first client was Sonesta Hotels & Resorts.
The Sonnabends supported her emerging business by allowing Ms. Phillips to divide her time in the office between the three days she worked for Sonesta and the two days she worked for other clients. As the company grew, she moved her office to her home. It was a two-bedroom condominium. She set up a workspace for herself in her bedroom, while her four employees worked in the second bedroom. It was tight, but the overhead was low, which allowed the business to expand.
The mission of Colette Phillips Communications centers on helping organizations expand their reach by understanding and connecting with audiences often overlooked. In describing her approach, Ms. Phillips said, “I bring a wider lens but a specific lens to allow my clients to grow their bottom-line by targeting markets they haven't targeted before,” specifically multicultural communities, “including Asian, Latino, and Black audiences.”
Ms. Phillips describes building the company as a Black woman in Boston as “the most difficult thing” she has accomplished in her life. Despite the challenges, Ms. Phillips has become a pioneer in multicultural marketing in Boston. She helps companies recognize the value and purchasing power of immigrant and minority populations. Long before diversity and inclusion became a mainstream corporate priority, she encouragedbusinesses to recognize that by failing to engage diverse communities, they risked losing both relevance and revenue.
In 2008, Ms. Phillips founded Get Konnected!, a business networking organization that brings people together across racial, cultural, and professional lines. It was during the Great Recession, and a lot of people were losing jobs, especially “people of color.” She noticed that there “was really no gathering place” where people who were the most impacted by the economic downturn could meet and connect. Get Konnected! provides “a space where people, regardless of your background, whether you're Black, White, Latino, Asian, Indian, Indigenous can come together in a venue and get to know each other and network.” Through getting to know one another, participants grow social and business connections. What began as primarily a networking initiative has evolved into a broader programmatic platform designed to foster opportunity and community. Events typically includeinformal networking over food and drinks, followed by a featured speaker who discusses topics relevant to career growth, leadership, and current issues. Get Konnected! is now known for creating “the most multicultural room in the city of Boston.” It has been cited by Boston Magazine on its “Best of Boston” list for five consecutive years as Boston’s Best Networking event.
In order to bring attention to the important contributions of Bostonians of different backgrounds, Ms. Phillips explains, “I started honoring people every year.” The “first” wave were people of color that were firsts in the city of Boston,” such as Shirley Leung, the first Asian woman and person of color to be the business editor of The Boston Globe and Ayanna Pressley, the first Black woman elected citywide to the Boston City Council. Ms. Pressley became the first woman of color and Black woman to be elected to the United States Congress. She also “honored the first Latino state senator Sonia Chang Diaz.”
In 2014, Ms. Phillips expanded the honorees to include White male allies, emphasizing that inclusive progress requires partnership and shared leadership. She explained that “we need allies. We need people who are willing to advocate for underserved communities—immigrants, women, other-abled and LGBTQ+. We need to know who the people in Boston who are inclusive leaders.” This is how “we move the needle on inclusion.” The 2014 award event drew more than 500 attendees and honorees who were affectionately referred to as “White Men Who Can Jump” included the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Eric Rosengren, the Red Sox owner John Henry, the State Treasurer Steve Grossman, and Boston’s Mayor Marty Walsh.
In 2016, Ms. Phillips created the first comprehensive historic list of the “100 most influential people of color in Boston,” which made it to the front page of The Boston Globe’s business page. In the fall of 2020, the City of Boston selected Colette Phillips Communications to be the lead firm for the “All Inclusive Boston Campaign,” a strategy to revive Boston’s hospitality and tourism industry by championing inclusivity and diversity. Ms. Phillips is also the author of a professional guide for women “21 Steps for Women to Win” and created and published a multicultural resource directory “Kaleidoscope.”
Having herself created lists to recognize people who have made significant contributions, Ms. Phillips was herself recognized in the 2018 -2026 Boston Magazine list of “Boston’s 100 and 150 Most Influential People!”Boston Business Journal has cited her multiple times on its list of Boston’s 50 Most Powerful Business leaders in 2016, 2017, 2020, 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Across her career, Ms. Phillips has used communication, entrepreneurship, and relationship-building to create opportunities for others. Whether through public relations, multicultural marketing, or community networking, her work has contributed to a more inclusive vision of United States professional and civic life.
Reflecting on what she would tell her younger self arriving from Antigua so many years ago, Ms. Phillips answered, “Don't be afraid to ask for help. Asking for help from people is a strength, a sign of courage.” She also believes that purpose should come before profit. “Do what you love,” she said, “and the money will come.”
Ms. Phillips emphasizes that immigrants are a driving force of the United States economy. She identified three qualities essential for thriving in any workplace: resilience, fierceness and belief in oneself, and the commitment to pay it forward. Everyone has an obligation to make the world better and to give back to the country, “even when the country is not good to us.” One of the principles that guide her life is Mahatma Gandhi’s advice to “be the change you wish to see in the world.” Another is the belief that “we make a living by what we do, but we make a life by what we give.” She also reflected that “what we do for ourselves dies with us, but what we do for others” helps the world, lives on, and becomes immortal.
At the center of Ms. Phillips’ outlook are hope, optimism, and possibility. Throughout her life and career, she has believed in “saying the quiet part out loud” — openly addressing difficult truths in order to create more inclusive and honest conversations. Her lasting remark is “Be the change you want to see in the world.”