Milton Scott - Never Gave Up Despite Misgivings

When he was a young child, Scott mentioned to his father that he might want to some day drive a construction truck. Clearly his father was disappointed. "I remember the look in my father's eye," Scott told CBB. Scott then developed an interest in law. He'd sometimes leave school and go to the local courthouse to watch the lawyers in action. In 1974 Scott graduated from St. Francisville High with plans to attend Southern University in Baton Rouge, earn a degree, and go on to law school.

Scott's plans changed when a congressman he had campaigned for suggested he complete the bachelor's degree and then get practical business experience before entering law school. In 1977 Scott received an accounting degree and landed a job at Arthur Andersen, the largest accounting firm in the country. He planned to work for two years, pass the CPA exam, and then tackle the law books.

At Andersen he was the only African American in his orientation class. Many of the new-hires there had attended prestigious schools and come from backgrounds very different from Scott's. "I remember not being very confident at the time; I began doubting myself and thought I had made a major mistake taking the job," Scott said. "But I remembered what my father taught me; nobody was going to make me quit." This difficult time in Scott's career taught him a valuable lesson about perseverance and raising his own kids. "As a result I instilled in my own children three important things: they belonged, they could compete, and they were always cared about," Scott told CBB.