Robert T. Melvin and Manuela Velasquez

[00:01] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: Hi, my name is Manuela Velasquez. I'm 23. Today is November 21, 2022. We're in San Antonio, Texas. I'm here with Robert Melvin, Rob, who is my new friend and conversation buddy.

[00:16] ROBERT MELVIN: Hi, my name is Robert Melvin. I am 45. Today's date is November 21, 2002. I am in San Antonio, Texas, and I get the pleasure of speaking with my conversation buddy, Manuela.

[00:28] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: Well, Rob, great to meet you. Glad we're here together. We talked a little bit about jumping into one of these questions, so I'm just gonna go ahead and ask you who has made the biggest impact on your life, and what's one thing they taught you, do you think, or who do you think you've had the biggest impact on so far?

[00:46] ROBERT MELVIN: Wow. We're gonna just jump headfirst into the big question. So I think the person that has had the biggest impact on my life would be my grandfather. On my mother's side, we called him pa. Pa or daddy, depending on where you fell in line and who and if he likes you or not. But he had a 6th grade education, migrated west from southern Louisiana to Houston, Texas, and created an amazing life for himself. He was a serial entrepreneur, a no nonsense gentleman, very well respected, very carried himself impeccably. But most important, he kept family first. So he was the nucleus that just everybody kind of gravitated around. And so by the time I came along, he was a lot older. I'm the youngest of seven, so he was very well seasoned by that point. And as a business owner, he would always kind of talk to me about the importance of maintaining yourself as a business. And so that went into your appearance, that went into your work ethic, but then, just overall, how you carried yourself in general. The story that sticks out in my mind most vividly, he owned a convenience store, and they sold everything, beer, wine, or liquor store. So they sold liquor, they had music, just had everything in there. And one of the chores, or my job on the weekend was to break down the boxes from delivery. So if you have all these boxes for goods, you come back and they're voluminous, and so you just throw them in the back, and obviously they need to be broken down and stacked so that you can throw them away. And he gave me $10 to go and break those boxes down, and I was all excited. One weekend, I'm walking around the side of the building, and there was a number of gentlemen just sitting on the side, loitering, maybe shooting some dice, or, you know, just hanging out. And I was scared. I think I may have been, like, six or seven years old. I was like, man, I'm not going over there because they're loud and boisterous. And so I kind of went back, and I told my grandfather I couldn't do it. And he was like, well, I'm not really asking you. The offer was, this was to sweeten the deal, but you got to break those boxes down, right? You're a part of the system. And I explained to him why I didn't want to do it. He goes, well, you know that those guys are our customers. And I had to. He kind of acknowledged he recognized them, and he goes, why do you think they're hanging out on the side of the building? I don't know. They're loud. He goes, well, they're probably over there gambling, trying to, you know, come up with some money so they can come in and buy more from us. What do you think about going? You know, do you need $10? Yeah. Well, then you got to go do it by yourself. He said, but if you don't need the whole ten, because I'm buying lunch and, you know, you're staying with me tonight. So I got dinner. So if you went out there and offered those guys $5, I bet they'd be willing to help you. And so, you know, I went outside, saw someone that was most friendly, that was familiar, went up to them and asked them. And, I mean, these are grown men. They were done in ten minutes. Like, less than ten minutes. It was almost silly, right? And I gave them $5. And what that taught me was, sometimes we get in our own way and we're not thinking as clearly as we should because of the stress of a moment. But if we think about what we need or what we want and what the other person wants, we can both rise together without being selfish. So if I was selfish, right, I'd have kept the $10, and I would have blew it on anything, right? I would have. Was a kid. I would have bought candy. I would have given it back to my grandfather. So it taught me that if we look at a situation from all angles, there is a possibility of a solution that satisfies all needs.

[05:34] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: Yeah. Wow. That's such a powerful memory of your grandfather. And was this in Houston?

[05:40] ROBERT MELVIN: You said this was.

[05:41] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: Wow. What was it like growing up in Houston?

[05:44] ROBERT MELVIN: It was wonderful. I grew up in the inner city neighborhood known as Cashmere Gardens. It was a community of small businesses. It was a community of family. Everyone seemed to have had some relationship with southern Louisiana, so there was this common culture of food and music and language because everyone spoke Creole. So it was amazing. You don't know what you don't know. Right. And you don't know what to compare yourself to because you've not experienced it. So I believe that I had a very rich childhood growing up in Houston.

[06:33] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: Yeah. Wow. Just thinking about what the place and what your family had in terms of influencing you into where you are today, I think following back up to the question, who do you think you've had the biggest impact on in your adult life, and what does that look like?

[06:53] ROBERT MELVIN: Oh. So I would say that the only group that I would be able to take claim of having some level of influence would probably be my kids. They're extremely bright, very, very articulate and considerate in thought. And so I look at the lessons that I was taught by my grandfather. I try to mirror as much of that, not just my grandfather, but my family as a whole, but to mirror that, like, to make sure that they understand that, you know, family's first material things. Come and go. Stand for something or you'll fall for anything. And, you know, being a principled person is not always easy, but you sleep better at night. So I would say that I've had the greatest influence in their lives, but I guess it would be up to them to come and do a StoryCorps interview and share that piece with you.

[08:05] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: Yeah. Confirm it themselves. Absolutely.

[08:07] ROBERT MELVIN: I need confirmation. I need the wooden.

[08:11] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: It sounds like family is really important to you, and you have a really big family. You said you're the youngest of seven.

[08:17] ROBERT MELVIN: I'm the youngest of seven. It's a lot of us.

[08:22] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: Yeah. What's your relationship like with all your siblings?

[08:26] ROBERT MELVIN: I'm the baby, so, like, I have great relationships with my siblings, but they were, like, the sibling above me. The 6th is six years older than me.

[08:39] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: Oh, you are the baby.

[08:40] ROBERT MELVIN: Yeah, I'm the baby. Baby. So my oldest sibling, I think, was 22 when I was born. So my relationships with my siblings are unique in that they're at one point may have been or it was a parental kind of interaction where, you know, just based off of sheer age and respect. So I still. I have the good fortune of being the youngest and being able to call upon them. And again, I'm the baby. So, you know, even though I'm 45, I still get preferential treatment by the siblings.

[09:19] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: There you go. You got a lot of supporters. I am going to jump to a different type of question because I love hearing you tell stories. I'm wondering if you have experienced any miracles, whatever that might mean to you.

[09:38] ROBERT MELVIN: Wow. Oh, so that's a heavy question. I think miracles obviously have a foundation in faith and an expectation for, or not even an expectation or a request for something to occur that seems impossible. I would tell you that I'm not. I believe everything happens the way that it's supposed to. So, you know, I wouldn't necessarily categorize it as a miracle. However, I would say that, yes, I have experienced them or these chances. So if I look at my life and my peers as I grew up and my seriousness with education, the likelihood of me being in the position that I'm in today are slim to none. I grew up, I was not an academic all star. I flunked the 8th grade, had to attend high school out of the state after my freshman year, went on to college, saw success in college, started to see this, like, just the maturity of, or the evolution of growth unfold. And, you know, as a result, I have what some have referred to as what's Tom Hanks in the movie, life is like a box of chocolate.

[11:24] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: Oh, Forrest Gump. Yeah.

[11:26] ROBERT MELVIN: They say I have a Forrest Gump story, and I never even thought of it that way until I started, like, telling my sequences. And you go, it's very, very Forrest Gump like. So I would say that, you know, my life's journey has been anything but normal, and it has been nothing short of a miracle, if that's the terminology we choose to use. I've had the good fortune of going to college, interning for Janet Reno under the Clinton administration, going on to law school in Michigan state, becoming the state's first black law clerk under the leadership of Jennifer Granholm, who is now the secretary of energy. While I was in that post as a law student, my exposure was far and wide. I had the opportunity to clerk for district court Judge Amy Krauss, which was an incredible experience, and the one experience that really solidified that I did not want to be a lawyer. I then went on to Connecticut with my lovely wife, who I met in DC while I was clerking. We got married, moved to Connecticut. I had the opportunity to work for amazing, just hard nose politicians. John Distefano, Dan Malloy. I can't think of the senator's name now. Richard Blumenthal. But at that time, this was, it was just politics. So these are people that you were interfacing with. I mean, you know, you never really got on a first name basis, but it was very relaxed, and so that was an amazing experience, and that's how I cut my teeth in politics got a phone call from the governor's office for the state of Texas. They were going to be in New York recruiting businesses to the state, and they asked if I'd like to join them for lunch, of course. So I took the train down, and I met with Governor Perry, then secretary of State Roger Williams, and Aaron Demerson, who was the then economic development director, if I'm not mistaken. And they wanted to create a small business program in the state of Texas. Would I be interested? Absolutely. I don't know if you've ever heard of Texas politics. I don't care if you're red, blue, purple from your political affiliations. Politicians are sweet talkers. They are charmers, and they are. They make the sun brighter and the music better, and they just have that gift. And these two politicians were no different. So after I had really had an opportunity to listen to them solicit these big New York fortune five hundred s, I got in the car, and I was like, baby, it's time to go home. And so we transitioned back to the state of Texas, where I served as Governor Perry's small business advisor from 2006 to 2010. An amazing journey. So that is that miracle that I'm referring to. It's about being persistent, but there's no way. I mean, you can go and talk to some of my siblings and ask them if they saw me here, and I'm certain they would say no, but the journey has been amazing. So I transitioned from the governor's office. I did a lot of consulting work in Port Arthur with the oil and gas field, started building, and here I was recently named the 2022 luxury town home Developer of the year. I appreciate that. So, no, I think that is a miracle. I mean, I don't think I could read when I got into law school, so for comprehension, it was very stressful. But, no, I think that that would be that miracle or that journey.

[15:57] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: It does sound like quite the journey and a lot of different. I mean, it's really hard to envision a future for oneself, especially as you're kind of trawling through all of life's experiences and growing older and wiser. I'm wondering, when you went away after flunking the 8th grade, what sort of future did you envision for yourself then?

[16:21] ROBERT MELVIN: That's a great question. I don't know. I think that that was a different time. Expectations for or exposure beyond the immediate was not a regular thing. So I didn't see a lot of aspirational jobs or careers immediately. I was fortunate that I have a very blessed family who education is the cornerstone for everything that we do. So, I don't know. There was always this belief that there's something bigger, better out there. But I can't tell you where I was mentally at that time in my life. I was engaged. Yeah. I was active in a way that could have proved detrimental to my future.

[17:22] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: I understand. Yeah. I feel like, I mean, you've lived quite an impressive life and built quite an impressive career for yourself, it sounds like. And what kind of. Can you tell me more about the work that you're doing now with Sage?

[17:36] ROBERT MELVIN: Certainly. So my last project was completed and sold. And in that process, it's, you know, the life of a developer is you're always hunting, right? So once you find a piece of land that you want to cultivate and you have a vision and you bring the right people to the table, it's a process. And it's in the middle of that process, that, or towards the latter stages of that development that you start looking for what's next because you have to keep your team moving. And things kind of got slow. And Tuesday night, the former CEO, my predecessor, I was the board chair, had a family matter that required her to move out of state. And this was a direct result of COVID And so in that transition, two things were going to happen. I was going to find a new leader to step in and fulfill her role in San Antonio, filled with amazing leaders. But in doing so, that person was going to need at least 24 months just to get their feet kind of, you know, grounded to be able to actually be impactful. And there was a lot of things that were happening here in the city and within the county that were not going to be very forgiving with respect to the time consideration. And so my daughter, actually, we were having dinner, and she asked me, you know, what was next? You know, dad, what's next? And I said, I don't know. You know, we're kind of thinking it over. My brother is my business partner. You know, me and Uncle Tim, we're kind of playing with what we're going to do next. And she goes, well, you should take over sage. And I said, no, thank you. But it was weird because I think she planted a seed. And I began to consider things differently. So when I would go and engage I activities in East San Antonio, now I'm looking different. Now I'm thinking different, you know, can I be of value? So I stepped in as the interim CEO while we were looking for a replacement, and I found that light again. That candle was lit. I was inspired. My family was active in the work that we were doing over at Sage. They were happy to be involved. And I really. I'm having fun. Like, I'm having probably the best time I've ever had in my life.

[20:27] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: That's so awesome to hear. So when you say, like, the work is inspiring you, what sort of projects have you been working on that have felt inspiring?

[20:36] ROBERT MELVIN: Oh, man, we have. So that there's. It's inspiring on all levels. Right. I. I didn't grow up in East San Antonio, but I grew up in and east San Antonio. My daughter's gonna love that quote. But when I walk the streets and I'm interfacing with the businesses, I mean, I see my grandfather's business, I see both of my grandfather's business, I see my mom's business, my uncle business. Like, there's something familiar about the landscape that is welcoming and is warm. To be able to go and interface with those businesses and bring a level of expertise that I've developed through trial and error, through a lot of failures, more failures than successes. It puts a smile on my face, and it gets me back to why I launched my first company. And so I love that from a development standpoint, I mean, we have some of the most unique, innovative developments that are taking place in the country, that are taking place right in our backyard. The Texas Research and Technology Fund, led by Randy Harrig and his team, are in the process of cultivating and developing a San Antonio bioscience and research district, which will provide groundbreaking research technology for the military, and conversely, the universities that are conducting research that make us better and make us safer and make us healthier. What I love about that development, beyond just the immediate impact that it's going to have on our city, is that Randy has made a commitment to providing the families and the kids of East San Antonio with the training to come out and be able to fulfill those jobs that are being created. And so it's that level of synergy that really excites me, because more often than not, we think of developments and we look at them as being foreign kind of deposits within our community, and then we slowly get to understand what's going on and why it's beneficial and why we should care. What I enjoy working with Randy is before he broke ground, he made a commitment and has not backed down. He has created curriculum that is being instituted in the k through twelve academic system that allows for these kids to come out of high school making upwards of $50 to $60,000 a year. It's the new trade. When you look at trade schools and what they meant to our society in the past, it's bringing 21st century technology and development and then creating 21st century trades and bringing skill sets that can be transferable and ensure that those people who participate are able to feed themselves and forever. So I'm very excited about developments like that. Responsible corporate developments. They excite me. It is an opportunity to really recreate the wheel and show them what's possible when community comes together with the private sector for the betterment of the people.

[24:27] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: Yeah, yeah. It sounds like at the heart of a lot of the work that you're doing and a lot of what motivates you is community and creating ways to have this supportive network. Absolutely. People sharing the same, people sharing the same goals for the community and people sharing that same love for each other. It's very special that with all the professional development you had, that you're able to come back to Texas and be in the same place that you had called home and trying to create more of that.

[25:01] ROBERT MELVIN: Absolutely. That's what fills my bucket. The other part that is really exciting is creating an ecosystem for small businesses that can support small businesses. So as a developer, one of the things that is a tool of the trade and extremely necessary is blueprints. And so a set of blueprints are created by bringing a team of experts to the table to put their opinion on paper that will finally, ultimately be developed into a tangible that can be touched. But in that collaboration of how we design the blueprint, the input is kind of lame because you have experts at the table, people are saying, yes, that's a great idea, but have you considered that's an amazing idea? Did you know? Right, you need access to capital is the number one issue for all small businesses. But do you need capital? Right. Is that really what is going to save or turn your organization around? I don't know. So what I love about the work that we do is that we're able to bring all of the experts to the table, to collaborate, to give you a plan for your business. But it's also, if we think in terms of community, we're bringing the community to work on their blueprint. And how we do that is we want the input of all of these outside vested parties so that we can ensure that the mixture of ideas, the thought behind what they want to see in the form of entertainment and the like, is something that we can add to the blueprint. And with the experts at the table, they're gonna move things around and say, yes, if you want this asset, then it's more likely to be successful here rather than what you've originally chosen. But now everybody is invested, and so when it comes time for execution, everybody's excited. Cause we have collective buy in. And so it's really pushing us into a. An area that is focused on solution and what you want to see for yourself and your kids. More so than debating history and why things are the way that they are. We already know that lesson. I'm not interested in that conversation.

[27:42] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: It's important to be able to make plans to move forward and be thinking about the future in order to build that future, for sure. What for you and for you living in San Antonio with your family, what makes this feel like a community for you? Like, what elements of San Antonio make you feel at home?

[28:07] ROBERT MELVIN: That's another. You started with a really deep question, and I feel like you just hit another one out of the park. San Antonio is special. It really is. It is a community of people who really want the best for their community. There is a desire to maintain the close knit aspect of what we have. And I think the challenge is, how do we do so and still grow in the way that we want? Going down on McCullough to Barbaross and getting a slice of pizza is, you know, from Chad is great. Going down to extra fine and grabbing Saturday morning breakfast and, you know, the recommendations that are made by the waitstaff. Right? Like, oh, Rob, you would like this. Okay, let me try it. Going down to tank's pizzas, and I don't know what that boy does to that pizza, but, Lord, it is incredible. I gotta stay away from him. Mike Brown tanks pizzas on the bronfels. If you haven't had it, you're missing out. You know, being able to take my wife to a quaint little dinner over at Scorpion or Magpie, where the people that are in the environment are enjoying it just as much as you are. And there is a sense of just communal love. San Antonio has a lot of precious jewels. I think that the collective and being a part of this journey, I could have never done what I've done in my career anywhere else but San Antonio. I started with literally nothing. We were speaking with the gentleman that sold me my first house some ten years ago came, and he remembered it was a transaction. And to be able to close out a neighborhood is something special, and that's only in San Antonio. And the assistance and the support that you get from the developmental community and from the city itself, and from collectively. It's incredible and it's unheard of to be able to call Charlie Turner and ask him what did he do about these zoning issues? And to get a very straightforward answer, that one saves you time and money. This is a special place. So I truly have grown to not just call San Antonio home, but it's a place that I want to make better. I want this to be the city of the future.

[31:05] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: Wow. Thank you so much, Rob, for sharing that conversation with me. I really appreciate the time you took to talk about your life and talk about your passions.

[31:14] ROBERT MELVIN: I appreciate you, Manuela, and the opportunity to talk like this on a microphone. Thank you. Thanks.

[31:21] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: It.