Celebrating Gladys Brangman and the Impact of Her Leadership
2025 Noel Desch Key Person of the Year Awarded by the Tompkins Chamber
If you’ve ever sat across from Gladys Brangman, you know. She listens differently. She’ll ask, “What’s the quote that defines your business?”, and she won’t let you settle for something superficial. She’ll sit with you until you remember why you started. Until your purpose feels sharp, and your next steps feel possible.
That’s the kind of leadership being recognized this year by the Tompkins Chamber, as they name Gladys the 2025 Noel Desch Key Person of the Year. We’re beyond proud, and feeling energized. Because when one of us is seen, the work we’re all doing gets lifted.
Gladys founded Business Leaders of Colors (BLOC) with a clear purpose: to create space for entrepreneurs who are building outside the traditional mold, especially those who’ve been historically excluded. The rules of business weren’t built for everyone, and she knew we couldn’t wait for those systems to fix themselves. So she started building something better, where values like collaboration, equity, and shared power aren’t just talked about, but practiced.
BLOC isn’t just a network for Gladys, it’s a mission. It’s about creating structure with purpose, support with accountability, and power built collectively for entrepreneurs who’ve been underestimated, overlooked, or left out. Through BLOC, members register their businesses, raise their prices with confidence, find collaborators, and stop feeling like they’re in it alone. That’s economic justice in motion, built by a community, sustained through connection, and sparked by her vision for BLOC.
This award from the Tompkins Chamber recognizes the very real impact Gladys, and BLOC are having on this region’s economy. It’s proof that when you invest in underestimated entrepreneurs, you don’t just help individuals. You shift what’s possible for everyone.
On June 18, at the Ithaca Downtown Conference Center, the Chamber’s Annual Celebration will shine a light on Gladys’s leadership. This is her moment, earned, deserved, and deeply meaningful. And for those of us who’ve been impacted by her vision, it’s a chance to celebrate not just what she’s built, but who she’s been to so many: a guide, a champion, a force.
We hope you’ll join us to celebrate this recognition, and the woman behind it. Because this celebration is a reminder of what’s possible when leadership is rooted in justice, when success is shared, and when one person’s vision makes room for many.
And if you’ve been wondering whether BLOC is for you, whether there’s space for your kind of business or your kind of story, consider this your invitation. BLOC is for entrepreneurs of all races and backgrounds who are committed to doing business differently: with purpose, with equity in mind, and with community at heart. That includes all business owners who are building outside the old rulebook, those who believe in shared power, economic justice, and a future that works for all of us.
There’s real work ahead, work that challenges old systems and creates new ones. Work that isn’t always easy, but is always worth doing. And we don’t need you to have it all figured out. We just need you to care, to show up, and to be ready to build something that lasts. Together.
To Gladys, whose leadership makes this work not only possible, but powerful.
