20 Questions With Nathan Alston, MBA ’22

During his free time as an MBA student at the Ross School of Business, Alston began a personal quest to learn more about Black queer history, something he realized had often been skipped over or erased entirely from the educational curriculum of public schools. 

“Someone asked me about who my favorite Black queer historical figure was, and I genuinely had a hard time naming my favorite because I didn’t know any in detail,” Alston recently told Business+Impact.

This was a catalyst for Alston and inspired him and his classmate Daniella Gennaro, MBA/M.Ed ’22, to take action. In 2021, while still students at Michigan Ross, the two founded Plucky Comics with the help of the +Impact Studio. The goal of Plucky Comics is to achieve educational equity by sharing the untold stories of Black queer historical figures through comic books. 

We caught up with Alston to see what he’s working on, what inspires him, what’s next for Plucky, and more.

What were some of the challenges you ran into when founding Plucky Comics? Were there any obstacles you didn’t expect?

The biggest challenge was finding artists. We had an idea that we loved and started to think about how we could sell it, but we needed to find artists who embraced the idea as much as we did. We spent time looking around social media for artists we liked and then hired them to develop our first comics. We were lucky, and some of those first artists are still the artists we work with today. We’re still always on the lookout for new artists we can collaborate with. 

Do you have any personal heroes or mentors who have helped make this project possible?

I love this question because Plucky Comics has been my opportunity to honor my heroes. I’m making up time for all the history lessons I went through that intentionally excluded my people. The first heroes that come to mind are writer James Baldwin, playwright Lorraine Hansberry, disco icon Sylvester, and choreographer Alvin Ailey. I am constantly inspired by how each of them fully embraced their Blackness and queerness in the 20th century when it was even harder for our community to embrace our differences. They committed themselves to making art that told their unique story, and they continue to inspire me long after their death. Their art serves as a constant reminder of how absolutely beautiful it is to be Black and queer. I desire to make art and build community in the same ways they did. 

What impact do you hope to make through your work spreading awareness of Black queer history through Plucky Comics?

I hope my work can help everyone gain an understanding of Black queer history. I want people to know all that we have done! In particular, I want young Black queer people to understand the legendary history and legacy that they are a part of. This is about representation.

In conversation with Dani, we talked a lot about representation within a school environment. There are studies about what happens to students when they never see a teacher who reflects their identity. It negatively impacts their ability to visualize their future and how their peers treat them. This also happens when people do not see their experiences reflected in their history books and in the media. This lack of representation is exacerbated as more people across age groups come out as LGBTQIA2S+. I hope that Plucky can be a place where we all get to see how rich and beautiful the Black queer experience is. 

How would you like to see Plucky Comics grow in the next five years?

I’d like to see Plucky in bookstores and comic book stores. Currently, we only sell on our website. I want to expand where people can find us. We have also talked to teachers and school systems about the possibility of building our work into their curriculum. Many educators are looking for information like this to share with their students. This information is even more critical as censorship of history and school curricula continues to rise. My goal is to make the comics and stories they tell accessible to everyone.

Are there any stories or individuals whose lives or work you would love to cover in the future through Plucky Comics?

I’d like to cover the Harlem Renaissance next. It was such a period rich in art, and I think it would play well in a comic book style. Plus, so many of our Harlem Renaissance heroes were queer. Some openly and some in secret. We have so much to learn from them. 

In addition to your work at Plucky Comics, you also currently work at Root, a strategy activation arm of Accenture. Can you tell us a little about your work there?

I enjoy my work at Root. We are focused on activating strategy and ensuring that that strategy connects to the hearts and minds of the people it impacts. This work is grounded in the idea that most corporate strategies fail because they don’t make any sense, and no one understands how it works. At Root, we break that strategy down using art and creative experiences to make this work more accessible. 

What is your proudest accomplishment in your career so far?

Before business school, I worked at a classical music presenter called Washington Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. During my time there, I worked as the assistant to president and CEO Jenny Bilfield. Together, we built a multi-year diversity, equity, and inclusion plan. Our goal was to make sure the artists on our stages, our staff, and our audience were not only diverse but felt a sense of belonging in the space.

This work was important to me because it felt really hard at the time, and I was given a ton of responsibility to see it succeed. I really cut my leadership teeth within that role, and I felt like I was building a coalition of art lovers who valued diverse stories. As I reflect, the concepts of this early work are what set me up for success with Plucky and Root. 

Who inspires you?

My friends inspire me. I’ve surrounded myself with artists and creatives across the gender and sexuality spectrum who are eager to learn and try something new. They aren’t afraid to challenge me, and I genuinely feel like they are rooting for me. I spent so much of my life in emotional isolation. The reality of discovering my sexual identity in the mid to late 2000s was that I avoided all intimacy in order to avoid being ostracized. It’s taken me since then to learn to be vulnerable and to embrace closeness. It’s an ongoing process and my friendships have been a safe place for me to just be more open and unlearn this fearfulness. I owe so many of them a lot for making me feel like my experience matters and is worth sharing. Or, to misquote Sylvester, “[they] make me feel mighty real!”

Biggest challenge you’ve overcome?

My biggest challenge is the tension between choosing work that’s easy and work that’s right for me. This probably sounds vague, but I have found that we all do our best work when we choose work that actually moves us. But it takes so much courage to build a business or find the perfect job. My goal at this point in my life is to really listen to my intuition and pursue the road less traveled if that’s what I desire. 

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give the person you were 10 years ago?

Speak up about what you want! You’ll need the practice when the circumstances are more complex later. Also, show up everywhere with confidence. If this corporate job has taught me anything, it’s that everyone is faking it till they make it. We end up becoming who we pretend to be. 

What’s one thing you learned in business school that you’ll never forget?

Sunk cost is an economic term that can be frequently applied to real life. The idea is that you should not continue to make a failing financial decision just because you have already invested a significant amount of time or money into it. This concept can be applied to everything from career decisions to boyfriends. 

How has your degree helped you in your career?

There is no way I could have founded this company or gotten my consulting job without this degree. My undergraduate degree is in theatre. While this provided me with a clear artistic perspective, I struggled to understand the business of the arts. My MBA helped me fill in those gaps. Now, I feel like I can approach business problems in the arts with clarity and perspective. 

Do you have any advice for current or incoming Ross students?

Go abroad! Pursue some opportunities that you never thought you’d be interested in. I was an exchange student at HEC Paris for a semester to study marketing luxury goods. I did not plan to work in luxury goods, but the opportunity to work with students from Europe was incredible. It was such a unique experience for me, and I learned so much about myself.  

What’s your favorite quote?

“My mission in life is not merely to survive but to thrive; and do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” — Maya Angelou

Favorite TV show to binge?

Sex and the City.

Your favorite book?

The Color Purple by Alice Walker.

First album/CD you ever bought?

The Writing’s on the Wall by Destiny’s Child.

Favorite sport to watch?

RuPaul's Drag Race.

Who is today’s most influential business leader?

It’s a tie between Beyoncé and Rhianna. No one is doing it like them. To me, they are unique in their ability to both make sound business decisions and build art that steals the hearts of people across the world. That balance is incredibly difficult to find, but they are succeeding even in the face of misogynoir. Their male peers simply do not have the range to build a business and a creative experience while wearing heels. 

If you could have dinner with any three people, alive or dead, who would they be?

The iconic performer Josephine Baker, the incredible writer Toni Morrison, and the queen of Broadway, Audra McDonald.