Vanessa Whiting

Franchise owner/operator and lawyer Vanessa L. Whiting was born on December 26, 1959 in Richmond, Virginia to Josephine and Walter Whiting. She received her B.S. degree in public policy from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina in 1982; her M.S. degree in urban affairs and public policy from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale in 1983; and her J.D. degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1986.

After completing law school, Whiting was hired as an associate attorney by Bryan Cave in 1986 and Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP in 1989. In 2007, she became a partner at the law firm of Roetzel & Andress in Cleveland, Ohio. Then, in 2011, she founded Vanessa L. Whiting, Esq. Law Firm and served as its principal lawyer.

In 1990, Whiting and her husband, Anthony Edward Smith, opened their first restaurant, Dock’s Great Fish. The couple opened their first Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen location in 1995 in Cleveland, Ohio under the A.E.S. Management Corporation. Whiting opened her sixteenth Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen in South Euclid, Ohio in 2020. After Smith’s passing in 2014, Whiting assumed the role of president of A.E.S. Management Corporation.

In 1995, Whiting joined the Cleveland Housing Network as a board member and later served as vice president. She began serving on the Cleveland Neighborhood Progress board in 2012 and became the president of their subsidiary, New Village Corporation. Whiting served on the board of the Greater Cleveland Partnership Chamber of Commerce as the DEI executive committee co-chair. She established the Metro Health System Public Hospital diversity committee in 2018 and became an Olympic Steel board member in 2019. That same year, Whiting joined the United Way of Greater Cleveland board, where she later served as chair. Whiting served on the board of trustees for the Cuyahoga Community College Foundation, Metro Health Systems, PlayHouse Square, and Cleveland State University. Whiting has also served as a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the Links, Inc., Jack Jill Associates, Northeasterners, the American Bar Association, the NAACP, the Ohio Franchise Management Corp., and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Whiting has received numerous awards and honors including being inducted into the Women of Color Hall of Fame in 2017. She was also listed on Crain’s Cleveland Business “Women of Note” distinction in 2019. Whiting was the recipient of the Black Professional of the Year Award from the Black Professional Charitable Foundation in 2019, the 8th Annual Maltz Museum Heritage Award in 2021, the YWCA Women of Achievement Award from the Cleveland YWCA in 2021, the Norman S. Minor Bar Association Trailblazer Award in 2021, the Business Legacy Award from UBIZ Venture Capital in 2022, the J.F. Kennedy High School Community Leader Award from the JFK Alumni Association in 2023, and the Olympic Steel Diversity Leader Board Culture Champion Award in 2024. That same year, Whiting was named a Legacy Philanthropist by Soul of Philanthropy.

Whiting resides in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. She has three children: Taylor, Lorin, and Anthony Smith.

Vanessa L. Whiting was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on December 12, 2024.