WHERE THEY ARE NOW
A regular feature highlighting the work
of those who’ve left the profession
SHARON JOSEPH Co-Founder and CEO, Harlem Lanes
By Eric Krell
On a Roll: From Booz Allen to Bowling Alley
The competitive analyses Harlem Lanes co-founder and CEO Sharon Joseph churned
out as a consultant in Booz Allen Hamilton’s
financial services practice helped get a commu-nity-oriented entrepreneurial venture rolling.
Joseph and her aunt, Gail Richards, were struck by
the same thought as they walked through Harlem
in late 2001: Why is there so little interactive, family entertainment in rapidly revitalizing Harlem?
“I treated the question as a consultant would,
and set out to solve the problem,” says Joseph,
whose ensuing survey work, competitive analyses
of the bowling and roller-skating “industries,” pricing studies, business planning and fund-raising
activities culminated in the 2006
opening of Harlem Lanes at 126th
Street and Seventh Avenue.
The two-story facility, which
offers family friendly lanes on the
ground level and a hipper, singles-ori-ented vibe upstairs, is located in the
newly renovated historic Alhambra
Theater. Joseph and Richards made
history as the first African-American
women to own a bowling alley in the U.S. In addition to bowling, Harlem Lanes also features a sports
bar, a conference room and meeting area, and a children’s activity area. Harlem’s first bowling alley in
more than 20 years (since Lennox Lanes closed)
also hosts community and corporate meetings, and
offers team-building sessions.
The company’s growing number of corporate customers includes American Express, Morgan Stanley,
Microsoft, Amnesty International and Island Def Jam
Records among other notable organizations. The list
reads like a consulting firm’s client roster for good
reason. Joseph has remained tight with her former
colleagues since leaving Booz Allen in 1999.
“That’s the great thing about Booz Allen,” she
asserts. “It’s a family, and they really keep in
touch with you.” She credits former colleague
Reggie Van Lee, currently a Booz Allen senior
Harlem Lanes is
located in the newly
renovated Alhambra
Theater, and is
Harlem’s first bowling
alley in 20 years.
vice president who co-leads the firm’s not-for-profit engagements, with providing significant
help in building her current business.
Joseph first encountered the firm as a Columbia
Business School student. She took a class, “
Inner-City Consulting,” taught by a Booz Allen consultant.
“I really liked what I learned in that class, and I really
liked the people I met at Booz Allen, who encouraged me to interview with the firm,” she recalls.
Based on her prior experiencing in banking, the profession she pursued after graduating from Tufts University, Joseph knew she wanted to remain in the
industry, but she also wanted broader experience.
“I thought consulting would help me hone basi-business schools and broaden my view,” she says.
It did just that, and after two years as an associate
serving on international and New York-based engagements, Joseph returned to the client side where she
sharpened the fund-raising skills she later tapped
while raising seed money for her new business.
Yet it’s her consulting skills that still receive the
most frequent workout. “I constantly put on my consulting hat to identify how actual conditions differed
from our plans, continually evaluate the marketplace
and keep an eye on new competitors,” she says.
Those tools came in handy as she and Richards
analyzed what sort of business would best meet
Harlem’s need for more interactive family entertainment. They discovered, for example, that nearly
30 percent of Manhattan’s downtown bowlers lived
uptown and endured a long ride to bowl. They also
evaluated the viability of opening a roller-skating
rink, an option Joseph rejected because it would
have generated lower returns per square foot.
Yet her Booz Allen experience failed Joseph in
an important area. “The one thing consulting didn’t
teach me,” she laughs, “was how to bowl. I can
barely break 100 … with the bumpers.”
If you know a former consultant pursing a passion
or unique endeavor, please e-mail your suggestion
to ekrell@sbcglobal.net.
