Socially responsible success suits Wicks just fine

Judy Wicks of the White Dog CafZ opened the Women in Leadership Series last night. A beat up Volvo and $3,000. These days, there isn't much you can do with those resources. However, those means were enough for Judy Wicks and her now ex-husband to start the Free People's Store in 1970, now known as the familiar clothing chain Urban Outfitters. Last night, Wicks -- who operates both the White Dog CafZ and the Black Cat store and serves as president of White Dog Enterprises Inc., which she founded in 1983 -- addressed an audience of about 20 students in Civic House as the first speaker in this year's Women in Leadership Series. During her address, Wicks spoke about the key events in her life that have spurred her sense of leadership and activism. For instance, when excluded from a softball team in the fifth grade, Wicks learned about the discrimination women face. "At that point, as a child growing up in the '50s, I accepted the idea that girls are second-class citizens," Wicks said. "I learned the destructive nature of discrimination and how it hurts the entire group." Years later, after marrying, Wicks began to challenge those traditional female stereotypes. Upon visiting Philadelphia, a friend who was a Penn student told Wicks and her husband that one thing the school was missing was a place for students to buy things. The two decided to start a store based on an easy strategy: "All you need is to buy things at one price and then sell them at a higher price." They rented out a space at 43rd and Locust streets and drove to New York City in their used Volvo, their one possession, and bought a variety of imports with the $3,000 they had. Without enough money for an apartment, they slept on the floor of the store. After just one year, Wicks left her husband and drove to her grandmother's house in Florida. But things did not go as planned. About a block away from the store, Wicks got into a car accident, destroying the one thing she had that was worth anything. Her journey cut short, Wicks settled on a job as a waitress at La Terrasse. Later, she became the restaurant manager there. Ten years later, after a falling out with her partner at La Terrasse, Wicks was on her own again. So she got an apartment on Sansom Street and opened up a coffee bar, called the White Dog CafZ, on the first floor. That coffee bar grew into a soup and bread shop and then finally into a full restaurant that serves fish, hamburgers and steak. But despite the success of the restaurant, Wicks was not content and wanted to add a new dimension to her career. "After I had the cafZ for five years, I began to get frustrated that I wasn't addressing social issues and tried to figure out a way to do it through work," Wicks said. After hearing about the way the United States was aiding the Nicaraguan contras, Wicks had images of another Vietnam-type quagmire. "I then realized how much of what we knew was duped by the government and the media," she said. Many of her projects incorporate successful business with social activism. "I ask myself the question how I can use my purchasing dollar to support people in local positions," Wicks said. Wicks tries to make her business as socially responsible as possible. She looks out for her employees' interests and the environment and supports minority inner-city companies. "It's not a restaurant with good food," Wicks said. "We use it to lure innocent customers into social activism." WILS, a series created to promote a greater awareness of the problems women face in acquiring leadership positions, continues next Tuesday night with Wendy Kopp, the founder and president of Teach for America, and hosts Susan Dietz, a drama producer and director, on November 17.

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