Attorney Kerri Harper-Howie recently authored a book, “The Family Secret: The Business and Franchise Owner’s Guide to Building Generational Wealth.” In partnership with her sister, Nicole Harper Rawlins, Harper-Howie is also a successful McDonald’s franchisee.
The road to generational wealth for the sisters Harper-Howie and Harper Rawlins began with their father, William, who was a police officer, and their mother, Patricia, a social worker. Their father was originally from Alabama and their mother from Louisiana.
According to Harper-Howie, she has always been very close to her sister. Until Harper-Howie added her husband and two kids to the family unit, she said she was just surrounded by her small nuclear family of four.
Related Stories:
https://lasentinel.net/mother-daughter-trio-takes-on-mcdonalds-ownership.html
https://lasentinel.net/mother-daughter-team-update-local-mcdonalds.html
Harper-Howie’s sister is also now married, but with no children. Harper-Howie said they are now a “community of family.”
Harper-Howie is also a member of another community, a community of sisters — the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.
“I am a very proud member of Delta Sigma Theta,” said Harper-Howie. “I’ve always been very close with my sister. And because I have that natural bond with her, it’s created pathways for me to figure out how to connect genuinely and deeply with other women.”
Harper-Howie’s said her life has been deeply affected by sisterhoods, and even extended into her career when she was practicing employment law full time.
“Employment law is this really amazing area of law that is very expansive, and it covers a lot. But over time, it really allows you to develop expertise” she said.
In Harper-Howie’s practice, she originally worked for employers, but then her practice shifted to working part-time with women, and typically women of color, who were leaving their employment.
“So, if they feel that they’ve been terminated wrongfully, or they feel as though they can’t continue to work in a particular environment, and they just want to leave that environment,” said Harper-Howie, “then I have worked with them to typically negotiate a settlement or improve the severance terms.”
When Harper-Howie began working with her mother and sister for their McDonald’s franchise, she transitioned to practicing law part-time.
Harper-Howie said her maternal aunt was originally a franchisee back in the 1980s, and Harper-Howie’s mother, after observing her sister run the McDonald’s franchise, decided to start her own.
“What mom was able to see was that people in non-business careers were able to transition to become franchisees,” said Harper-Howie.
“I think the fact that it was a franchise was particularly attractive to my mother because the franchise model allows you to be an entrepreneur.”
Harper-Howie said being a part of franchise allows franchisees to connect to a brand like McDonald’s that already has systems and practices in place. There is also a support mechanism set within a community of other franchisees.
“Even if there are different circumstances, different markets, different demographics, different parts of the country,” said Harper-Howie, “you can see how you can adapt what they are doing to work well in your environment.”
Harper-Howie remembered her mother telling her and her sister that it [the McDonald’s franchise] was the right opportunity at the right time. McDonald’s was seeking more Black franchisees and her parents were able to take money out of their pensions to buy their first restaurant.
The regional vice president that approved her parent’s franchise was a Black man named Reggie Webb, who recently passed.
Harper-Howie said her sister would eventually become involved in the family business, and then she would follow, after the birth of her first son.
“Children create transition in your life,” said Harper-Howie. “It prompts you to start thinking differently about the idea of legacy, family legacy, [and] family business.”
Harper-Howie said she loved being a lawyer, and before pursuing the McDonald’s opportunity she was working with LA Fitness in the Bay Area. But watching her mother and sister working together moved her to join them in the family business.
Today, sisters Harper-Howie and Harper Rawlins together own 21 McDonald’s franchises all over Los Angeles. Unfortunately, according to Harper-Howie, their mother is no longer involved in the day-to-day operations of the family business due to challenges with Alzheimer’s disease.
In 2017, Harper-Howie’s mother was selected to be the face of McDonald’s International Women’s Day Campaign.
Unbeknownst to Harper-Howie at the time, those events would lead her to begin writing her first book, “The Family Secret: The Business and Franchise Owner’s Guide to Building Generational Wealth.”
“Out of all the women operators in all the world, they decided to put my mother at the center of this, which was shocking to us,” said Harper-Howie. “She was always highly regarded, but this was a big deal.”
Harper-Howie said the McDonald’s campaign brought a lot of attention to her mother. “People became interested in our story,” said Harper-Howie. “That’s when I started writing the book.”
Harper-Howie said shortly after the previously mentioned events was when her mother received her first diagnosis with Alzheimer’s.
“It became abundantly clear to me that mom would not be able to continue to tell her own story,” said Harper-Howie. “I just took it as a personal responsibility of mine to begin to do that for her.”
Harper-Howie said “The Family Secret” is not just about her family’s journey to generational wealth. She also interviewed other families for the book as well.
“It was a very slow and not easy process,” said Harper-Howie. “But I just kept ticking away at it until it’s gotten to this point. Now, it’s live on Amazon.”
Harper-Howie said a key takeaway she hopes other families can gain from the book is that it is possible to do business as a family successfully, even with complex family dynamics.
Harper-Howie also hopes readers take inspiration from the story of three Black female entrepreneurs, starting with how her mother, who despite all the adversities that come along with being Black, has triumphed.
“Not only did she do it,” said Harper-Howie. “But she managed to successfully transfer her business to her daughters, and you can do that, too. We can continue to thrive, and grow, and inspire as families in our communities.”
For more information on Kerri Harper-Howie and her book “The Family Secret: The Business and Franchise Owner’s Guide to Building Generational Wealth,” visit https://www.kerriharperhowie.com.
