Chicago Tribune - December 15, 2004
Jacqueline Fitzgerald, jfitzgerald@tribune.com

Having earned her English degree in her early 30s, Wilson, also a mother of two, thought she wanted to teach and planned to get her master's that fall. But she found she had an aptitude for accounting, despite the fact that she never took a business course. Today, Wilson is Playboy's vice president of public affairs and executive director of the Playboy Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the company.

Wilson, 61, recalls of her early days there: "The foundation was an account that I handled and I became really familiar with the organizations they were giving money to and I started interacting with the executive director. I would go and ask, "Why are you giving these people money?"

Having spurred action on issues such as HIV/AIDS, gay and lesbian rights, and violence against women, Wilson is the recipient of numerous awards for community service and has served on boards for several organizations.

The native Chicagoan is also a founder and the volunteer president of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art at 756 N. Milwaukee Ave.

WN recently visited the center and chatted with Wilson.

Q. What is it about outsider art that stirs your passion?

A. One, that it's accessible. It hits you viscerally. So, either you laugh at it or you're moved by it, but it has almost an immediate reaction. I like how fun it is in some ways. And even the work that is disturbing is not frightening to me. I was first attracted to this work through the Black Folk Art in America show that was curated by the Corcoran back in '82. That exhibit came to Chicago. The first time I saw the work I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know what black folk art was going to be and when I walked in, I thought I was in the wrong place. (Laughs) And from then on, I've liked it a lot.

Q. Was going to college later in life an advantage?

A. I wasn't going to school to meet guys. (Laughs) I went there everyday like I was going to work. I had a mission. I had a goal. I loved it. And because of life experience, I felt smarter than all the 18- and 19-year-olds there.

Q. Can you talk about your job at Playboy?

A. It's the best job in the company. I love the issues. We fund civil liberties issues and I'm passionate about those issues--reproductive choice, anti-death penalty, the First Amendment, free expression and equal rights across the board. It's a very, very progressive foundation so it was a good fit for me and my ideals. ... I'm like the ombudsman for the organizations to our board of directors.

Q. What was it like when you were named executive director?

A. It was sort of serendipitous. The executive director got promoted ... and so she recommended that I be executive director. I didn't even want them to tell anybody that I had gotten promoted! (Laughs)

We had a discussion and they said, "We're going to have to put out a press release." And I said, "No, can't we just change the stationery?"

I didn't know what it was going to mean, you know, that people would be looking to me for something. And I wasn't sure I was ready. We did put out a press release.

Q. You received an award this year for inclusiveness in philanthropy.

A. [When] philanthropy, both corporate and private, started out, it was all white men. Now it's become much more female. But at the same time, the number of people of color--I think it peaked maybe five or six years ago--the numbers in Illinois actually are going down.

Q. And often the senior jobs are still held by men, is that right?

A. The bigger the foundation, the more likely it is that it has a white male running it. ... The boards of foundations are like corporate boards everywhere. They are not very reflective of the society as a whole. And I guess it wouldn't make any difference if we didn't have the social ills that we do. Where the dollars go shouldn't be like missionary work. The people who are most impacted by philanthropy should also be making the decisions about where the money goes. It shouldn't just be this paternalistic, "You have these problems, here's some money."

... People just aren't aware. By making it known where the disparities are, it gets it at least discussed. These are well-meaning people so I don't think it's this way on purpose. They just need to be reminded and take steps to make a difference.

Q. Can you talk about a time in your life when you were discouraged?

A. The worst thing in my life was that in 1985, my son, at 19, was diagnosed with schizophrenia. That was a horrendous few years. He died seven years ago. It made me feel very alone and isolated because I was dealing with enormous problems. It's pretty hard to try to explain to somebody that you have a kid at home who's just nuts and sometimes dangerous because he was irresponsible with matches. He was loud and violent. He heard voices and had hallucinations. It was just awful.

The other thing, as an African-American woman, or maybe it doesn't even matter if you're a woman or a man, having gone farther than anybody in my family, they all think that I'm a major success and that I don't have money complaints or whatever. The things that I would feel upset about or what I would see as personal injustices or discrimination or something like that it was pretty hard to try to explain to somebody. It's like, "What are you talking about?"

My brother, who was born and raised in Oklahoma, thinks that I'm the third-highest paid woman in Chicago, that it's Oprah Winfrey, Christie Hefner and me. It makes you feel very isolated. You're kind of straddling a fence between being in this professional, white world and then having to deal with family and issues and things that are very different.

Q. In your bio information, it says you have an ability to "cut through the crap."

A That's what everybody always says about me. (Laughs) As a child, I was told it was going to get me in trouble. There was a prayer that I was made to say because I would just blurt out everything: "Lord, set a watch before my mouth." (Laughs)

Q. Are you a good time manager?

A. No, I'm not. (Laughs) The one thing that I do have is the ability to just do it. When I know I have to do something, I just sit down and do it. I'm not a procrastinator.

Q. What movie have you most enjoyed recently?

A. I loved "Ray." Boy, did I like that.

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