The parking lot of a home-improvement store is not where one might expect to find comedian and radio host Steve Harvey on a Friday Morning. But there he was today, broadcasting his hit show from a big white tent beside the Home Depot on Wendover Road.

We had to find out why, so we asked Ronda Shepard, account supervisor at Uniworld Group in Atlanta, which handles multi-cultural marketing for the retail chain. About twice a year, she said, Home Depot, being a major sponsor of the Steve Harvey Morning Show, invites Harvey to broadcast live from a retail site.

The goal, she said, is to expose more African Americans to the do-it-yourself concept – and, of course the Home Depot brand. Earlier this year she show broadcast from a store in Cherry Hill, N.J.

“We’re looking to support markets that are highly African American,” she said. Charlotte’s population is more than 30 percent black.

Shepard said about half of all adult African Americans are the do-it-yourself type. The other half, she said, are the do-it-for-me kind.”

Among the companies spotlighted on the show was San Francisco-based Magnogrip, which was founded four years ago by Andre Woolery, a young African American who, at the time, was pursuing an MBA at Stanford.

Woolery (photo below) invented a line of products – wrist bands, tool belts, etc. – that are magnetized so that nails, screws and tools literally stick to their owner. In July, Home Depot began carrying his products, he told Qcitymetro.com.

“There are always challenges with the economy being what it is,” he said, “but we continue to grow the business.”

Click here to view our slideshow from the event.

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