Mercury News: Alest Anthony-Coleman wasn't addicted to travel when she entered the travel business. That was 28 years ago, and she's still in the business, which makes her career move a road well-traveled.Anthony-Coleman is president of A&T Travel in East Oakland. She is what the entire travel industry should be: honest, friendly, compassionate, experienced.
"I didn't have a passion for traveling," she recalled Tuesday, "but I love serving, and that's how I got started. I've enjoyed it because I enjoy people. People come in because they're so happy to be going someplace."
Anthony-Coleman, 71, was born in Mississippi, but came to Oakland at 11 and now lives in San Leandro. She worked in real estate at first, but shifted to travel through a friend who worked for a travel agency that was about to be sold. Anthony-Coleman basically took a gamble, figuring it would be, at best, a short-term investment.
"I had no intention of getting personally involved," she said. "Then after I got embezzled, I didn't even know why I made that decision." A manager who worked for her in the early years "ripped me off, a lot of money." But she recovered, paid off clients and built a successful career -- that is before the Internet and the current recession jolted her with a one-two punch financially.
"You have to have patience to be in this business," she said. "Business has gone down the last nine years, and I would have quit many times. But I'm not a quitter, and people still need personal service, and I didn't want to see another boarded-up business in this community. And I'm tucked into too many people's lives."
Because of her caring personality, she takes that last part seriously. "You have to put yourself in other people's positions," she said. "A lot of people are struggling, so they want as much for their money as they can get. I've taken my commission back many times. My late husband told me that I didn't have a travel agency; I had a mission. But I've had the opportunity to inspire people." Ninety percent of her clients are also African-American.
She prefers traveling in groups because "I am a people person." But in her office, she works on clients individually. "I just tell them the places I like the best," she said. "I take a lot of time with them, and give them a lot of material to work with. I used to do a lot of home presentations. I don't do them much anymore, but I have a great track record."
But Anthony-Coleman is contemplating retirement. She just hired Kenny McDaniel, 57, an entertainer by trade, as her assistant and possible heir apparent. She lost her husband, James Coleman, nine years ago, but has two children, one grandchild, and two great-grandchildren she'd like to see more of.
And then there's God. "Mischievous" in her youth, she's a pastor in her church.
Thus she is giving in so many ways -- housing people for free in the adjacent building at 9859 MacArthur Blvd., that also has a computer room for children to develop their technical skills. At the bottom of Anthony-Coleman's business card are these words: "We plan your trip as if we were going." These aren't empty words.
"I believe in 'do unto others as they would do unto you,' " she said. "Honesty is my credo. I tell people I can walk on any side of the street I want to walk on. Integrity, along with your credit, are your most valuable assets." She isn't yet addicted to travel on a personal basis, but her "two dream trips" are a cruise to Alaska -- "so beautiful, so pure, so peaceful, so heavenly" -- and traveling to the Holy Land, where she has been four times.
She seems so holy herself.
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