Roz Brewer Defends Closing Starbucks for Companywide DEI Training

Bullish Gator

Spelman Chair Emerita Roz Brewer explains why she closed Starbucks stores for one-day diversity training in 2018 and calls modern corporate reluctance “shameful.” Interview at Bloomberg New Voices.

Editorial companion

What stands out

At a Bloomberg New Voices event in Martha's Vineyard, Rosalind "Roz" Brewer defended her 2018 decision to close all Starbucks stores for a day of diversity training, calling it "shameful" that most big companies would not make the same move today. The clip matters because it highlights a persistent investor trade-off: high-visibility corporate social actions can protect reputation but also impose measurable costs and operational risk. For a giant consumer brand, those choices ripple into customer behavior and the bottom line, not just headlines.