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The Top Strategies for Building Your Brand as a Black Professional

Mon, 23 Jan 2023 11:25:01 GMT

Every Black professional and entrepreneur knows that successful branding is key. How can you incorporate your brand image everywhere? Learn here.

You know you've got big ideas that will change the game. You know you've got the drive that it takes to start something from scratch. Now, it's time to take those first steps toward starting a business.

Black-owned businesses are on the rise. In 2021, we saw a 28% increase in small Black-owned businesses, a sign that more Black professionals are stepping into their power.

When it comes to starting a business these days, it takes more than just great products or services. You have to know how to build your brand and establish yourself as a frontrunner.

We're going to talk about how to make that happen. Read on for the top marketing strategies that every Black professional should know in 2023.

Get on Social Media

When over 70% of US adults are using at least one social media platform on a regular basis, it's time to start building your brand on social media. We've seen Black-owned brands both big and small, from Rihanna's Savage X Fenty to the Brave + Kind Bookshop, make waves using platforms like Instagram and Twitter.

If you're not on social media, you're missing a chance to connect directly with consumers. Social media is a great place to establish your brand's persona, aesthetic, and goals. While Facebook was a frontrunner for several years, TikTok is creeping in as one of the most-used social media platforms, particularly with younger audiences.

Know Who Your Audience Is

Who are your products or services for? Which people are you trying to reach to build your consumer base? Trust us when we tell you that your audience isn't the whole wide world, and you're going to have to find them if you want them to pay attention.

One way to think about your audience is to think in terms of demographics. That can include race and ethnicity, age, gender, income status, and more. Your job is to figure out who you're marketing to and then start creating marketing content that will appeal to those groups and find them where they are.

Speak Their Language

What do we mean when we say you need to appeal to your target market? We mean that you need to speak their language, speak to their needs, and breathe life into their desires.

Your goal is to establish trust by showing your target audience that you understand them and you respect them. After all, if you don't understand your target audience, you won't be successful in creating products or services that would make a positive difference in their lives.

Build Your Email List

Email might seem old school, but research shows that it's still one of the best ways to reach consumers and turn them into repeat customers. Building an email list is a great way to keep that line of connection open, especially in the face of ever-shifting social media algorithms that can sometimes decrease the visibility of your posts.

Use tools like pop-up prompts and discount codes to build your email list. Then, make sure to send out email blasts at least twice a month. You can share information about new products, upcoming sales, and even the behind-the-scenes information that makes your consumers feel like they know you a little better.

Be Authentic and Transparent

In the past, businesses tried to keep their secrets and struggles locked up tight. The idea was that consumers didn't want to see what was going on behind the curtain because it might change the way that they thought about a product.

Now, there's a difference between being appropriately transparent and unprofessional. As we've mentioned already, consumers want to connect with you and understand more about your journey. When you post on social media or compose emails to your customers, be authentic and transparent (but don't drop your professional edge).

Stay True to What Matters to You

What made you decide to start a business besides wanting to make more money and become your own boss? What communities or causes would you give back to if you had the means? How can you build what matters most to you into your business model?

Research shows that 75% of consumers prefer shopping with small businesses that give back to their community or other significant causes. Donating a percentage of your proceeds, partnering with organizations, and holding fundraiser sales are all great ways to show your consumers what matters to you and how you're making the world a better place with your business.

Narrow Your Focus

One mistake that many entrepreneurs make is trying to sell as many products as possible. Believe it or not, you're more likely to turn a consistent profit if you focus on perfecting and marketing fewer products . This is a viable business model for a few reasons.

The first is that you can spend less money on marketing when you're selling a single line of products, rather than dozens of unrelated items. The second is that you really can focus on perfecting those products and making sure that yours are some of the best in the business. Finally, selling too many products from the get-go can make consumers suspicious or overwhelmed by all of the options you seem to have.

Use These Tips for Black Professionals and Step Into Your Power

If you're a Black professional and a Black entrepreneur, this one is for you. Take it as a sign that the great idea you've been thinking about for years is ready to come to fruition. Use this guide to get your business off the ground and stay in control of your branding.

Looking for more ways to thrive as a Black business owner or investor? Stay with us as we share more tips, success stories, and business news.

Top 10 Influential Black Entrepreneurs

Sun, 18 Sep 2022 07:43:04 GMT

Do you want to know influential Black entrepreneurs? Read this article to discover the top 10 influential Black entrepreneurs!

Black business is booming! More than 3.1 million businesses have Black owners in the United States.

The majority of these businesses are small, and some have only one employee. Yet Black entrepreneurs are getting millions of dollars and running massive corporations. If you're looking to start a business, you should examine a few entrepreneurs and model yourselves after them.

Who are the major Black entrepreneurs in the arts, technology, and business sectors? How did their careers start, and what companies have they created? How much money have they raised?

Answer these questions, and you can join the legions of Black professionals throughout the United States. Here are 10 great Black entrepreneurs.

1. Young Paris

Milandou Badila, better known as Young Paris, was born in Paris in 1988. From a young age, he became interested in music, and he began a music teaching career in New York when he was 17.

Young Paris's career took off in 2016 when he signed with Jay-Z's ROC Nation. He released his debut album that year, combining Afrobeat with rap and hip-hop. His second album, Blood Diamond, became popular in Africa and has more than five million streams on Spotify.

Young Paris went on to join the fashion scene. He is currently an ambassador for the Council of Fashion Designers of America, working with elites like Anna Wintour.

In addition to fashion, Young Paris has produced artworks for NFTs and the Metaverse. He is outspoken about his hopes for Black designers and artists to join the Metaverse, as he thinks NFTs have high potential return.

2. Kimberly Bryant

Kimberly Bryant was born in 1967 in Memphis. She excelled in mathematics and science at an early age, and she went to college with plans to be a civil engineer. However, Bryant grew interested in personal computers, and she became an electrical engineer instead.

After working for electrical companies, she switched to a career in pharmaceuticals and business. She became an entrepreneur in 2011 when she founded Black Girls CODE. Black Girls CODE is an educational organization that provides classes to young Black women in afterschool and summer programs.

Black Girls CODE became a fast success, opening 15 chapters across the United States. In 2014, it received a $50,000 grant from Microsoft. In 2018, the organization partnered with Lyft, allowing drivers and users to donate to the organization.

3. Jason Njoku

Jason Njoku was born in London in 1980. He moved to Nigeria when he was 12 years old and went to the University of Manchester where he studied chemistry.

After he graduated, he started a magazine for students called Brash Magazine. He then tried launching a series of businesses, but none of them succeeded.

He moved back into his mother's home and developed the idea of a distribution business for movies in Nigeria. In 2010, he launched NollywoodLove, a YouTube channel that would post Nigerian movies online. He received $3 million for the project from the venture capital fund Tiger Global.

In 2011, he launched a video-on-demand movie platform called iROKO. The platform became extremely popular, and Njoku has raised tens of millions of dollars for it.

Njoku has also started Spark, an investment vehicle for internet start-ups in Nigeria. The company has invested in dozens of companies, helping Black professionals throughout the country.

4. Jessica O. Matthews

While a student at Harvard, Jessica O. Matthews and a classmate launched a product called SOCCKET. SOCCKET was a soccer ball that stores kinetic energy as people kick it around. Users could then attach the ball to lights and power them for three hours.

The product was successful, and Matthews founded a company called Uncharted Power to handle its production. Matthews served as CEO of Uncharted Power, guiding it to three consecutive years of doubled gross profit margins.

In 2016, the company was valued at $57 million. She raised $7 million in funding for the project, making her one of the few Black female entrepreneurs to have raised $1 million in funding.

Matthews has also worked on infrastructure projects. She serves as the executive director of KDDC, which develops hydropower dams in Nigeria.

5. Ryan A. Williams

Ryan A. Williams was born in Baton Rouge in 1988. At 13, he founded his first company, a sports apparel organization. He went to Harvard where he founded the Veritas Financial Group, which helps students become more financially literate.

While at Harvard, he became interested in real estate technology. After graduating, he worked at Goldman Sachs and Blackstone and then founded his own company, Cadre.

Cadre is a financial technology company that users can use to invest in real estate. The company intends to make the real estate market similar to the stock market, as investors can select individual transactions to make.

Cadre has received tens of millions of dollars in funding, including from Harvard University. In 2021, the company sold three buildings for more than $310 million, making it one of the largest ever online real estate transactions. He also works as a public speaker, educating people on financial literacy.

6. Paul Judge

Dr. Paul Judge began his entrepreneurial career with CipherTrust, an email security company. The company was sold in 2006 for more than $270 million, and Dr. Judge transitioned to Purewire, a web security company.

In 2011, Dr. Judge co-founded Pindrop Security. The organization helps companies stay safe during phone calls. Pindrop acquired more than $100 million in funding between 2012 and 2016.

In 2014, Dr. Judge co-founded TechSquare Labs, a company-building studio. The organization has invested in dozens of technology companies, many of them run by Black entrepreneurs in 2022.

Dr. Judge also serves as Managing Partner for Panoramic Ventures, an organization that funds technology companies in the Southeast. He focuses on funding projects run by overlooked founders, including students and entrepreneurs of color.

7. Binta Brown

Binta Brown began her career as a legal clerk to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. She then served as a corporate advisor and public policy aide.

In 2014, Brown founded her first company, Fermata Entertainment, an artist development firm. In 2016, Brown co-founded the Music Lab, an after-school program to teach high schoolers about music and open mic performances.

The Music Lab became popular, and Brown has since dedicated her career to the music industry. She has worked with artists like Chance the Rapper and advises several music companies on diversity and legal matters.

8. Yetnebersh Nigussie

Yetnebersh Nigussie was born in Ethiopia in 1982. She lost her eyesight when she was five, and her parents sent her to a school for the blind. Yetnebersh was an extremely successful student, chairing several clubs.

In the mid-2000s, Yetnebersh became involved in AIDS activism. She received awards for her work and used her fame to start dozens of organizations. She co-founded the Ethiopian Center for Disability and Development, funding companies in Africa.

In 2016, Yetnebersh joined Light for the World, an NGO that fights for disability rights. She continues to work for Light for the World and several human rights organizations.

9. DeMaurice Smith

DeMaurice Smith began his career as a trial lawyer. He then worked in the U.S. Attorney's office and with the Department of Justice, arguing cases in the U.S. Court of Appeals.

In 2009, Smith was elected to become the executive director of the National Football League Players Association. Smith has worked with NFL owners to raise money for players and improve player safety.

Smith has since expanded his portfolio to cover many operations in football. He founded a venture capital company that lets players use their name, image, and likeness rights to make money. He also partnered with the NFL and MLB to create a trading card company currently valued at more than $1 billion.

10. Larry Lawson

Larry Lawson worked as a producer at CBS News. His work included reporting on Princess Diana's death, which was viewed by millions of people.

In 2008, Lawson became a senior news director at NESN. He produced digital tools and handled millions of dollars in operating budgets, helping expand network viewership by 40%.

In 2021, Lawson joined the Black News Channel. He launched the organization's streaming platform and created production tools to streamline operations.

Influential Black Entrepreneurs in America

Black entrepreneurs affect every sector of the American economy. Major entrepreneurs in the arts include Young Paris, Jason Njoku, and Binta Brown. Black technological entrepreneurs include Kimberly Bryant, Jessica O. Williams, and Dr. Paul Judge.

Many entrepreneurs like DeMaurice Smith and Larry Lawson started their careers outside of business and then successfully transitioned into it. Other entrepreneurs like Yetnebersh Nigussie and Ryan A. Williams combine their efforts with charity work.

Whatever business you want to start, you can get help and inspiration for it. RISE Urban Nation helps support Black entrepreneurs and business leaders. Contact us today.

10 Great Small Business Grants for Black-Owned Businesses

Wed, 17 Aug 2022 08:06:43 GMT

Eighty percent of Black-owned businesses fail within the first 18 months. That's scary. But before you think about closing up shop, remember the benefits of being a small business owner.

You get to set your own schedule, determine your own work hours, and have the freedom to innovate and grow in ways that large corporations cannot. Of course, there are the minor challenges that come with any business venture: starting up, costs money, it's hard to get funding, and competition is stiffer than ever before. That's why grants—free money from the government—are so valuable.

For Black-owned business owners who want a leg up on their competitors with little or no capital, a grant could be the difference between success and failure. And right now, there are countless grants available to you.

Reading about all of them could take months, so we compiled a list of ten that we think are the most valuable and relevant to Black-owned businesses. Let's dive in.

1. The Coalition to Back Black Businesses Grant

The Coalition to Back Black Businesses came about when a group of entrepreneurs in the Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia areas saw a gap in resources for small businesses led by people of color. Its mission is to provide financial help to eligible small business owners who are working hard to grow their companies and create jobs for others but need help getting over certain hurdles.

The Coalition awards grants that are valued at $5,000 each. A select few businesses may receive $25,000 enhancement grants in Summer 2024.

To qualify, your company must be at least 51% Black-owned. The business must also have between 3 and 20 employees, including you. It also can't be a part of a large franchise (25+ corporations or 250+ stores).

2. SBA 8(a) Business Development Program

The SBA 8(a) Business Development Program helps socially disadvantaged small businesses gain a share of federal contracting dollars. The program awards at least 5% of all federal contracts each year.

This grant is open to businesses that are majority-owned by individuals who experience cultural bias because of their race—and whose financial circumstances were threatened as a result.

You must have a personal net worth of $750,000 or less and assets totaling no more than $6 million. Your business can either be at least 2 years old or show potential for success if it's new.

3. FedEx Small Business Grant Contest

Each year, the FedEx Small Business Grant Contest awards 12 companies with grants of up to $50,000 each. If you've been open for 6 months with under 100 employees, look into this small business funding option. The only downside is that it's a contest, so the offer isn't always available.

The FedEx Small Business Grant Contest deadline is usually within the first 6 months of the year, but the next dates for the contest have not been finalized. Visit FedEx's website to sign up for email updates so you can be on top of the next contest's start date.

4. National Employment Association for the Self Employed

The National Employment Association for the Self Employed (NASE) is a non-profit organization that provides small business grants and mentorship. The grant application process is competitive, but the organization provides funding for a variety of projects, including business start-up, expansion, and marketing. Grants of up to $4,000 are available for businesses.

To be eligible for a grant, you must be a NASE member and meet specific criteria. This includes detailed use of the proceeds of the grant and a review of your business needs.

5. The Rural Business Enterprise Grants (RBEG) Program

The Rural Business Enterprise Grants (RBEG) Program offers grants to rural small businesses. RBEG grants usually range from $10,000 to $500,000. However, there is no limit on how much the grant can pay.

For this grant, your business must earn less than $1 million per year (gross revenue), have under 50 workers, and operate in an economically challenged area.

6. Power Forward Small Business Grant for Black-Owned Businesses

The Vistaprint and Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation administer this grant. The reward is up to $25,000 and will allow recipients to be featured on national co-branded platforms. They will also receive marketing and design resources.

This grant requires your business to have under 25 employees and be based in Massachusetts, Maine, and other selected areas. Applicants should be able to show how the impact of their business extends beyond its walls and what they plan to do with $25,000 in grant money.

7. Backing the B.A.R.

The Backing the B.A.R initiative is an NAACP project that provides support, education, and grants for black-owned bars, restaurants, nightclubs, and liquor stores. Each cycle, the program will award $10,000 to 35 new and growing businesses. Business owners must be at least 51% black owned with a liquor license or aspirations for one.

8. IFundWomen

If you're a Black woman who's passionate about their company, IFundWomen may give you the funding you need to thrive. The organization's grants hub provides a collection of grant opportunities organized by deadline.

Visa and IFundWomen have partnered to offer grants for Black women of up to $10,000 for their business operations. To qualify:

Be a woman-owned business
Your business must be for profit
You must be a U.S. citizen

9. Grants.gov

If you're looking for a government-funded, small business grant, Grants.gov is a great place to start. The site includes information about both federal and private grants for small businesses—and for individuals who want to start their own businesses.

The platform also offers tips on how to apply for different grants and funding opportunities, as well as information about what types of grants are available in certain industries or regions of the country (such as rural areas).

10. Amber Grants For Women

The Amber Grant Foundation provides grants to women-run businesses. The foundation awards monthly grants of up to $10,000 each to help female entrepreneurs launch their businesses.

Grants can go up to $25,000 and are funded by the Amber Grant Foundation and its supporters. Once you apply for a grant, you'll have to pay a $15 application fee before they review your business idea.

Ways to Know a Grant Is Worth Pursuing

Sometimes, grants can feel like you're asking for a handout. You might think you've failed as a business owner if you need help to get your company off the ground. It's not that cut and dry.

Grants are based on merit, so you won't be accepted if your idea is not feasible or well-thought-out. So receiving a grant is actually an enormous accomplishment. But if you're still unsure about it, here are three ways to know if a grant is worth pursuing:

Your Business Is Impacting Your Community

If your business is having a positive impact on your community, this can be a key to getting a small business grant.

For example, if you are creating environmentally friendly products or working with local farmers and food producers to create more sustainable methods of production, a grant can help you assist your neighborhood even more.

Community impact can be measured in many ways. If you help create jobs for local people, that's something worth noting! If your company hires people who have struggled with unemployment or poverty before, it's a necessity in your community and deserves a reward.

You Have a Sound Business Plan

If you have a sound business plan, a grant application may be easier for you than for others.

A business plan is a document that describes a company's future, business goals, and how it plans to achieve them. It also shows investors or lenders what they can expect from their investment in your company. A well-
written plan can help you attract grant programs that believe in the same things as you do.

When writing your business plan, include:

A description of what your company does (and why people should care)
An analysis of the market where you operate
Financial statements showing past performance, projected targets, and assumptions about future growth
Explanation of your business's unique selling point
Partnerships and shareholders
How much funding is needed
Areas where your business can improve (i.e., why funding is necessary)

Empower Your Small Business

We hope this article has shed some light on the grant opportunities that are available to help Black-owned businesses grow and flourish. The more successful enterprises we have, the stronger our community becomes.

Black business owners have a lot of work to do in order to combat the racial disparities they continue to face. Stay informed of the opportunities for Black entrepreneurs by reading our blog. You'll find a wealth of information on navigating the world of Black business.

What You Can Learn From These Black Philanthropists

Tue, 02 Aug 2022 16:39:43 GMT

Oprah Winfrey has donated over 300 million dollars to a multitude of charities.

She's a well-known Black philanthropist who's gone out of her way to improve the lives of the people around her.

However, there are dozens upon dozens more Black philanthropists you should know about.

Some of these philanthropists have given back to underserved communities. Others have invested in the youth of their city, providing a brighter future for those who feared tomorrow. No matter the cause, these philanthropists have taken the shirt off their own backs for people who needed help the most.

We can learn a lot from past and current Black philanthropists. Allow us to introduce you to some of the people we admire most.

What Is Philanthropy?

Philanthropy is the act of showing love for humanity. It comes in the form of selfless, private acts that benefit the public good.

Philanthropic acts can be carried out by individuals or larger groups within the community. We often hear about philanthropy when researching charities or non-profit organizations.

Black Philanthropy Is a Centuries-Old Practice

When thinking of philanthropy, you may picture large charity events and big, signed checks. While this isn't an incorrect image, it's important to do the research to widen your scope.

The Black community has been practicing philanthropy for centuries. Everyone from Black leaders to everyday people has been sacrificing their own time, money, and energy to give back to the collective around them.

Much of the philanthropy in the Black community has been to battle the hostile effects of adversity. Black philanthropy dates all the way back to the beginning of the slave trade and beyond.

The Importance of Community

Imagine being pulled from your home and sent away. And when you arrive at your new destination, you're met with violence and hatred.

There are no words to describe the horrors the Black community faced during the times of slavery. Coming together as a community was a means of survival.

Kinship spread throughout the Black communities during slavery, bringing people together as brothers and sisters. The members of Black communities shared food and sang songs of yearning together.

The love they shared knew no bounds. Bloodlines didn't matter. Hope for a brighter future bound them together.

Moving forward in time, the strong bonds of the Black community are clearly seen during the Civil Rights movement and present-day activism. Many people believe the death of George Floyd sparked activism against inequality. However, the Black community has been fighting together for greater freedom for decades.

Philanthropy Is Shown in Many Forms

These days, much of philanthropy has become about who can write the bigger check. It is true that money holds political and social power due to the world we live in.

However, philanthropy is more than pulling from your wallet.

Black communities around the world have demonstrated that philanthropy also includes dedicating your time, using your talents for the public good, and extending your own emotional energy to lift up those around you.

Not everyone can give money, but there's something everyone can give.

Unfair Stereotypes Still Surround the Black Community

Despite the number of selfless acts the Black community shows, negative stereotypes still surround them.

Many poverty-stricken areas with large numbers of people of color are facing the effects of generational trauma, and they very rarely receive adequate community resources. These things continue the cycle of poverty and inequality.

In order to survive, many members of these communities apply to government-run welfare systems.

Too many people blame Black communities for not being able to help themselves, despite the lack of government support and equality. This, in turn, causes people to view members of the Black community as selfish.

However, Black communities are far from selfish. They are prime examples of sacrifice and unconditional love, and individuals outside of the Black community can learn a lot from well-known Black philanthropists.

Allow us to introduce you to some!

Famous Black Philanthropists We Can Learn From

We don't have the time or space to cover every Black philanthropist who's made an impact. Let the few we mention serve as images of benevolence and strength.

Patricia Hamzahee

Patricia Hamzahee is a force of nature and one of the most influential Black female leaders. She's currently an independent advisor that's been in the world of finance for over 20 years. Hamzahee is a prime display of the definition of a powerful Black woman .

She donates her time and money to teach young people about finances and how to make an impact with investing. Hamzahee is also the trustee of several charities.

She has spoken out about her privilege and her dedication to lifting up those who haven't experienced the same privilege. Community service is her way of showing love.

Thomy LaFon

Thomy LaFon was born as a free person of color. His father was a Frenchman, and his mother was a free Haitian woman.

LaFon's father left the family when Thomy was very young, and Thomy was then tasked with educating himself. This self-education didn't go to waste. He became a merchant in New Orleans by 1842, becoming one of the most well-known Black entrepreneurs .

He accumulated an incredible fortune and was the richest African-American in the nation at the time. LaFon donated much of his earnings to charities, and he founded the LaFon Orphan Boys' Asylum.

Alicia Keys

Alicia Keys is a well-known singer and songwriter. Her talent is obvious, but very few people know she's also an incredible philanthropist.

Along with Leigh Blake, Keys co-founded Keep a Child Alive. This organization tasks itself with providing medicine and support to those suffering from AIDS in India and Africa.

She's also raised millions of dollars for impactful charities and continues to give through her time and leadership.

Georgia Gilmore

One of the most popular names of the Civil Rights movement is Rosa Parks. She was a strong figure that stood for what was right, even in the face of adversity.

A lesser known, but just as powerful, person is Georgia Gilmore. She was a key figure in the organization of the bus boycott.

Gilmore spent her time and money making food to give and sell to those refusing to take the bus. She poured nothing but love into her pork chops, fried chicken, and fish.

Much of the funds she earned from selling food were given towards transporting Black community members to and from work within the Montgomery area. Her home later became a VIP hub, even welcoming prominent figures such as President Johnson.

Madam C.J. Walker

For all of the ladies working to be self-made millionaires, look to Madam C.J. Walker .

Madam Walker, legally named Sarah Breedlove, grew up poor and later became a widow. Luckily, she didn't let these events stop her from building her own fortune. She grew to develop a hair-care empire, earning herself millions of dollars.

Because she wasn't educated growing up, her heart was set on giving to Black educational institutions. She gave large sums of money to Booker T. Washington's Tuskegee Institute, among many others.

Even throughout her business model, she aimed to employ young Black women and lift them out of poverty.

Companies Leading as Examples

In addition to key Black philanthropic figures, there are also a number of PanAfrican companies leading as examples.

Some of these companies include:

Calendly
Hygear
Jego

These companies, and more, aim to lift up and celebrate the innovations of people of African descent. PanAfrican companies aim to bring together the creative minds, voices, and endless love of brilliant people.

Many PanAfrican companies are also fighting to break down barriers surrounding people of color, and they aim to help Black community members build generational wealth and successful businesses.

Lessons We Can Learn From Black Philanthropists

Philanthropy is a time-old practice that focuses on love for humanity. We often see acts of philanthropy carried out through fancy charity events and celebrities signing big checks.

What many people don't realize is that the Black community has been full of Black philanthropists for centuries, all through slavery and the Civil Rights movement. You can also see the impact of philanthropy on Black communities today. It's an impact created by sacrifice, selflessness, love, and innovation.

We at Rise Urban Nation are working to lift the voices of marginalized groups, bringing equity to companies around the nation. We don't just start conversations, but we also take the needed action. Contact us today if you have any questions or if you'd like to book a speaker for your next event.

How to Build a DEI Program Within Your Organization

Sun, 17 Jul 2022 08:26:08 GMT

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is imperative to companies across the United States. DEI is the most powerful employee-centric operation an organization can carry out. Without DEI, an organization will crumble.

A DEI program may look different in each organization. However, each DEI program should have the same core goals and foundation. To create a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment in the workplace.

If you are thinking about creating a DEI program for your organization, you have come to the right place. Continue reading this article to see all the benefits and strategies for DEI.

What Does a DEI Program Look Like?

Good DEI programs are a large part of an organization. They cover practices, certain strategies, policies, and programs. All of these are used to achieve the company's overall goal of initiating and sustaining a healthy environment for all employees.

The plan will work around every employee. The plan will take into account each employee:

Age
Ethnicity
Sexual orientation
Physical ability
Marital status
Veteran status
Gender identity
Much more

DEI initiatives at different companies have different characteristics. Although, most will essentially look the same. If your company wants to retain employees and be successful, there needs to be a DEI program.

A diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment allows for the best workplace culture. In short, this will allow each employee to feel appreciated and generate a positive workplace environment.

If you are confused about what you want your DEI strategy to look like, use the help of professionals .

What are the Benefits of DEI?

When an organization allows for everyone's voices to be heard, many benefits will arise. By creating an environment where everyone feels safe, heard, and appreciated, the benefits will go beyond workflow.

DEI will allow everyone to feel more appreciated. This will allow employees to feel a sense of pride in their workplace. In short, this will translate into employees doing more work for their organization.

When a company incorporates a good DEI initiative, it will become a sought-after employer. In a recent study , Glassdoor found that companies that prioritize DEI in the workplace are more desirable. People will come to a company that puts its employees first.

A great benefit that goes beyond the workflow is improved employee engagement. Having a strong tie and relationship with employees is crucial. Many companies have seen a drastic increase in engagement with employees when they create an inclusive environment.

Advancing DEI efforts will create more economic benefits for your organization. If you have a diverse gender population, you can expect to see 35% higher financial returns than those without.

Inclusion at Work

Inclusion at work is something that can be easily achieved. This can be done by creating a safe environment in the workplace for everyone. Inclusion at work ensures that everyone feels welcome, appreciated, and can contribute. Everyone needs to have an equal opportunity to succeed.

It can be easy to get lost in thought about this. If all your employees come from the same place, have the same experience, and have the same background, inclusion is easy.

When you have a mix of diversity in the workplace, that's where you need to question yourself as a whole. A mix of backgrounds, experiences, and social status' will make you question your DEI efforts.

If you realize you aren't inclusive, it's time to fix it. Realizing you aren't inclusive is the first step towards creating a better environment for all employees.

Diversity at Work

Workplace diversity is equally as important as inclusion at work. The two must go hand-in-hand. When evaluating your workplace, look past the physical diversities of this world. You need to look into education, experience, beliefs, and personalities.

Once you have a diverse environment of ideas and personalities, you are in the right place. An organization can be considered diverse once they break down race and bias barriers.

Once you have established your DEI strategies and initiatives, you can set a benchmark. Creating a diverse workplace isn't something you do once and leave. You need to keep working at it and improving where you can.

Equity at Work

Equity in the workplace is just as important as diversity and inclusion. Without one, your workplace will not be the best it can be. However, once you have achieved all three, you will start to see benefits.

Equity at work means that everyone has proportionate representation in opportunities that arise. Simply put, equity tears down barriers to create an even playing field for everyone.

Putting Everything Together Into a DEI Program

By now, you should know that DEI is incredibly important in the workplace. If other companies are including DEI initiatives and are benefiting from them, don't you think you should do the same?

Making a DEI program at work is easy. Not all programs need to follow this exact blueprint. This guide can help you get ideas generated and foster your discussion about DEI in the workplace.

Step 1 - Do Your Homework

Before you can create your program, understand the principles of DEI. You need to educate yourself on what DEI looks like. You also need to understand what good and bad DEI programs look like.

Step 2 - Look Internally

After learning more about DEI, you need to look internally. Looking internally will let you see your data and metrics in terms of DEI. You will have to collect qualitative and quantitative data from employees.

You can start setting your goals once you have your internal data. Goals are different for each company. Goals may also change in a single company over time to ensure DEI efforts are thorough.

Step 3 - Make Your Goals Measurable

Set a measurable target and stick to it. You need to hold yourself accountable and follow through on everything you have said. What do you think it looks like to employees when a company falls flat with DEI?

If you want to make an impact, make a public statement. Then the world will hold you accountable. You can hold yourself accountable by tracking your DEI progress and reassessing it every quarter, month, or year.

Step 4 - Integrate DEI Everywhere

After establishing your targets and goals, you need to spread the word to every corner of the company. Everyone must feel that you are making a change and that the program is happening.

Include your DEI values in the company mission statement. If you want to have an effective statement, it should include language about your commitment to diversity and the company mission. The statement should also include inclusive language and talk about under-represented groups.

Step 5 - The Hiring Process and Who to Hire

A large part of DEI is the hiring process. You also need to be aware of who you are bringing into the company. Look inward again and see what the hiring process looks like. Investigate to see if there are any holes in the process and create new training.

Be thorough with your talent searches. Do not settle for an employee. Make sure you are looking everywhere you can for great talent (away from the LinkedIn and Indeed sites).

Hire talent for cultural contribution. Hire people who will add to your workplace and not conform to it. These employees align with your values but have diverse ideas and backgrounds.

Here is a good rule of thumb: don't just hire the person that is right for the role; hire the person who is good for the team and workplace.

Step 6 - Create New Onboarding Policies

After you find the right person, make sure they follow the right training programs. An onboarding program needs to be extensive. This is where new members will learn about the company's DEI values.

Make sure that employees in this process have an ally and mentor. The onboarding process can be tough, and everyone should know they have a friend who is there for them. Make sure to guide them in the right direction if needed.

Step 7 - Create an Environment Where it's Okay to Speak Up

You won't know everything that is happening in your company. However, you need to do your best. You can do this by encouraging employees to speak up when they want to.

Meaningful discussions and conversations should always be encouraged. These talks will help the company progress in the right direction. Not allowing these talks to happen can cause major issues.

Step 8 - Encourage Communication

DEI communication includes everyone. EVERYONE. From interns to the top of the top, everyone needs to communicate with each other. Communication can offer feedback, points of reflection, and new ideas and thoughts.

Communication will also ensure everyone is on the same page. By having open vertical communication, all employees will know where the company stands and how to align with its values.

Integrate DEI Into Your Workplace Now

It is never too late to start your DEI program. DEI programs have several benefits that will stretch beyond your imagination. Employees, workflow, and culture will all be impacted by a new DEI program.

If you stick to your plan, listen to everyone, and encourage participation and communication, you can succeed. However, as there is a lot of room for growth, there are chances for failure. Create a team to help you forage this new DEI program.

If you need help or are stuck with your DEI program, we are here to help. Contact us today to get started!

Black Financial Literacy: Key Insights You Need to Know

Mon, 13 Jun 2022 09:33:47 GMT

Black people in the United States have one of the most unique and complicated experiences. From chattel slavery to Jim Crow, to Civil Rights and police brutality, there have been a lot of struggles that have lasted through eras.

Black financial literacy is a key to acquiring power, which can provide protection and the ability to get a fair shake.

This group of people has a collective $1.1 trillion in spending power. Putting some financial prowess to this income and spending power can be a big part of uplifting the community.

Here are some points you should understand about the power of black financial literacy and what we should know and understand.

Create a Budget

Most people don't take care of their finances because they don't have a roadmap or a blueprint. When you run a household, you need to have a budget in place that lets you plan out your income and expenses and helps you with each decision that you make.

A budget is a tool that takes the mystery out of the way you spend your money and makes provisions for every dime that comes in and out of your account. It allows you to set aside money for all of your bills, groceries, medical expenses, and so much more. Knowing where your money is going takes the stress, anxiety, and fear out of finance so that you can build the coffers and take care of business.

Focus on Growth and Investing

Turn on the news today and you're going to hear a lot about inflation. Regardless of how bad inflation is at any given time, it's always best to focus on growth rather than just letting your money sit in a bank account. When your money sits in an account, you're liquid, but that money is losing value based on the current value of the dollar and exchange rates.

The key to financial prosperity is to use your money as a tool that brings you more assets and grows your net worth. Always set aside money from each check to make your money work for you. Here are some of the best investment vehicles that you can look into:

The stock market, index funds, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs)
Real estate investing
Investing in cryptocurrency

Focusing on these avenues of growth will help you expand your net worth and secure your future and your family's future for years to come.

Build Emergency Savings

While growth is the key, you have to also have some money that will help you out when you're in a pinch. The majority of people in the United States have between $1,000 and $5,000 in savings.

Figure out how much money you need to have in your liquid savings account so that you're able to pay for things like emergency medical expenses, car repairs, and any other unforeseen instances that come along. You need to protect your family from hardships so that you don't have to take out loans or borrow money when life happens.

As a good rule of thumb, strive toward setting aside 3 to 6 months of living expenses so that you can take care of these matters that come along.

Grow a Business and Streams of Income

Revenue is the key to handling your financial life. It takes multiple streams of income so that you can grow your wealth. This way, you're not relying on a single salary to take care of your finances.

Millionaires and people with financial freedom never rely on a single paycheck. Thankfully, there are several avenues today you can explore that are available to anyone looking to build their net worth. Running a business is the best way to make it happen, and there are also investments you can make that will pay you every month or quarter.

Here are a few of the best streams of income you can look into:

Creating courses and selling digital content that you get paid for monthly
Renting out properties and Airbnb
Dividend stock investing
Reselling items for profit
Opening a franchise and building other types of businesses

You will love the results that come about when you grow these streams of income so that you have a solid foundation for growth and abundance.

Support Black Business

A lot has been spoken and studied about how Black people are some of the biggest consumers, but how the dollar doesn't circulate in the Black community for very long. Combining your resources with people that look like you will allow you to uplift the community and look out for each other.

Learning to share with each other will allow you to educate your kids and build schools and neighborhoods so that you can teach financial literacy for Black youth. This way, the next generation will continue to prosper.

There are several Black businesses you can support that'll help you in your own business pursuits, such as:

Calendly
Hygear
Jego

Do your due diligence when supporting Black businesses and make sure to spread the word.

Become a Lifelong Learner

The key to true financial literacy is making sure that you're constantly learning and growing. If you invest in the stock market, you should be reading publications, studying financial reports, and tuning into media that teaches you. You can also subscribe to a black financial literacy podcast as opposed to spending your commute listening to music or things that don't build your life.

When you're a lifelong learner, you'll be better able to pounce on opportunities that can grow your wealth to the fullest.

Embrace Black Financial Literacy

Black financial literacy is the biggest key to freedom. The tips above are helpful regardless of your age or lot in life. The key to remember is that it's never too late, and having the right information can change your life.

Risepreneurs exists to bridge the gap. Check out more of our articles and take the time to get in touch for more information.

What Should New African Entrepreneurs Invest In? A Guide

Thu, 12 May 2022 07:51:40 GMT

As a new entrepreneur, you may have bootstrapped when growing your business. Many minority entrepreneurs start their companies with little funding.

Despite the challenges, you're now seeing some constant cash flow. And you would want to find the best way to grow your net worth.

Investing money the right way can help you increase your income and build more wealth. So, what are the best investments for new African entrepreneurs? Find out in this guide.

Invest in a Solid Team

New entrepreneurs often think they can do everything themselves. Many new entrepreneurs are used to wearing many hats but end up getting burnt out.

As much as you're so passionate about your business, you can't scale up when you're alone. Playing too many roles impedes your growth.

One benefit of having mentors or talented teams is access to different perspectives. You can avoid many mistakes along the way when you're drawing ideas from a talented pool.

If you're getting started, you'll need a compatible co-founder. This should be someone intelligent and capable of matching your entrepreneurship zeal. But if you think you can handle it alone, create a solid strategy and find good mentors. Getting mentorship is one of the ways Black professionals can become successful entrepreneurs .

A solid hiring strategy will ensure you're hiring people who can buy and invest in your growth vision. The right talent can maintain quality and free you to focus on growth.

Quality talent is a wise investment because it can help unlock our entrepreneurial potential. Think about building a diverse team to gain from varied perspectives and cultural competence.

Invest in Yourself

If you've just stepped into the entrepreneurship world, learn to be humble. Admit you have a lot to learn to become a better entrepreneur.

Many entrepreneurs, including serial entrepreneurs, lack core entrepreneurship skills . Many young African entrepreneurs don't perceive a lack of business skills as an impediment to their success.

The truth is entrepreneurship is about learning and development. Only by being curious can you keep up with the fast-changing marketing dynamics.

So, as a new entrepreneur, or founder, maximize your opportunities to expand your mind. Invest money in books, courses, podcasts, conferences, and mentorship to sharpen your skills.

Every challenging part of entrepreneurship is an opportunity to learn about the game. If you're a beginner investor , you must learn how to invest, or else you'll make bad investments.

It's easier to invest money in a financial asset than in personal growth. This is a common mistake because the most important investment is you. Investing in personal development will help you deprogram and build a growth mindset.

Invest in Building Your Personal Brand

Building a personal brand is one aspect you can easily overlook as an entrepreneur. More often, you're likely to focus on your business which may mean your personal brand suffers.

A powerful personal brand is a powerful tool in the digital world. It's a component that can position you as an expert or industry leader. Every popular leader has it, which gives them the most influence.

A personal brand is like a brand image. It refers to how other people regard or perceive you as an entrepreneur. People will define you based on what you say, do and share in the media.

Building your personal brand is the key to building a loyal following. People will pay attention if you're famous or offering something valuable. Celebrities and influencers are examples of successful personal brands.

Building an ultimate personal brand is an investment. You need to figure out how you want your audience to perceive you. After that, identify the tools and platforms to reinforce your desired personal image.

Ensure your social media profiles, bios, and messaging reflect your desired brand image. Please make sure they're clean, professional, and precise about what you do and your values.

The next way to reinforce your personal brand is to build a personal website. Define your purpose and let your website reflect it. This way, people can quickly learn about you and what you stand for when they're online.

Remember to identify your audience's favorite channels and focus on influence. With so many platforms, you must ensure you're targeting those related to your business.

Invest Money in Other Businesses

Many experts recommend reinvesting profits back into the business. Black entrepreneurs often say they find it a challenge to access credit. So, reinvesting profits into your business is an easier way to grow your business.

You may also want to help other African investors the same way you're probably helped. Many African-owned startups will do with a bit of backup.

The good thing about helping other entrepreneurs is it can be very rewarding in the long run. You'll choose high-potential startups, which could be another way to grow your money.

Supporting other businesses is another opportunity to broaden your network. You'll build relationships with new entrepreneurs and investors, which boosts your brand. Besides, you may learn about new strategies and techniques that will be useful in the future.

Entrepreneurship is risky, and it's not for everyone. 80% of black-owned businesses fail before their second anniversary. Holding onto your money rather than investing kills other businesses.

The success rate of black-owned businesses is likely to increase if we support each other. More startups will thrive, and the appeal of our businesses will improve, leading to more investors.

Invest in Real Estate

One of the many ways successful black millions started is by investing in real estate. 90% of millionaires attribute their success to real estate investments.

Yet, the Black community lags when it comes to investing in real estate. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, fewer than 6 percent of all real estate professionals are Black.

The good news is the Black community is coming together to encourage Black's homeownership rates. The Black Real Estate Agent program provides Black agents financial, educational, and career support.

Investing in real estate is an excellent opportunity to create wealth. For an African entrepreneur, it's both an investment and a cause to address the income gap in the industry.

You need a financial cushion if things don't go as planned in your business. Real estate can give you more control of your investment. The best part is that it can be a passive investment that doesn't require your time to manage.

Saving is one of the ways to get started in real estate. It's more affordable using your savings, especially if you're a new entrepreneur. Remember, your company is probably too young to help you manage debt effectively.

You can also consider partnering with other like-minded Black entrepreneurs when getting started. Real estate investment groups allow you to own shares in investment rather than buy an entire property which can be expensive.

Invest in Oil

Investing in oil is one of the most powerful investment opportunities. Oil runs the world. Countries stop functioning when there's an oil shortage.

Even if you're not ready to invest, this is one of the opportunities you should learn more about. Oil or gas investments can offer excellent financial benefits.

There are many ways African entrepreneurs can get started in the oil business. The most straightforward one is to invest in the leading oil stocks. You can own a stake in BP, Shell, Sinopec, or ExxonMobil.

Another way is to invest in oil futures. Futures allow you to speculate on oil prices and buy or sell at a later date when you can make a profit. To get started with futures, you need to join an Oil futures trading platform.

Many traders prefer investing in oil EFTs (Exchange Traded Funds. EFTs are one of the simplest ways to trade or invest in oil. An EFT combines stocks, futures, and derivative contracts into one trackable investment.

Invest in Stock

Stocks are a common topic in many investment and personal finance classes. Stocks are also one of the easiest and fastest ways to start investing.

Investing in stocks allows you to own shares in any listed business in your country or the U.S. This can make you a partial owner in your choice of trading companies.

You hope to see a stock that you bought appreciating. Appreciation of your stock makes it valuable and sellable at a profit.

Speculating stock prices is an experience game. It's usually tricky to tell whether a stock's price will go up or down. Experts recommend thinking in the long-term when investing.

Another good rule of thumb is to diversify your stock portfolio. This helps you to contain the ups and downs in any market. For example, The S&P 500 returned an average of 11.82% per year between 1928 and 2021.

Take Advantage of the Best Investments for New African Entrepreneurs

Many new African entrepreneurs start their journey by investing in stocks, real estate, or oil. But investing is not only about financial wealth.

To become a successful investor, you also need the right mindset and skills. Personal development is also an integral part of the process.

Your dream should be to become an all-around entrepreneur. Join our mailing list to receive the latest investment resources.

Brett Izu - Entrepreneur | Visionary | Youth Development

Mon, 25 Apr 2022 09:47:12 GMT

The youth is the future but they need people who can guide them along in their journey so they can succeed. Brett Izu is passionate about youth mentorship and development. He is a young and up incoming entrepreneur from Manchester, England. He is the Founder and CEO at YamUp Inc. YamUp Inc. brings the first African & Caribbean grocery shopping app to help close the technological gap between our community's cultural traditions. Bret is currently working on a business venture with his girlfriend called Lay&Slay. Lay&Slay provides you with what you need for your natural hair journey. In this episode, we discuss how mentorship and non-formal education helped him advance in life and business.

"Let's work together to change the face of education so Black youths stand a better chance at a future filled with ascension." - Brett Izu

Connect with Brett:

Twitter: @Empowerblack333

Instagram Brett: @bizu84

Instagram Lay & Slay: @lay_n_slay20 (Brett and his girlfriend's business)

Facebook: Brett Paul Izu

We are currently surveying our listeners (or viewers) to learn more about you. Please take a few minutes and visit our website and click on the 'Listener Survey' link found on the home page. Thank you.

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Listen to the podcast here

Brett Izu - Entrepreneur | Visionary | Youth Development

In this episode, we get to talk to Brett Paul Izu . What can I say about Brett? I enjoyed my conversation with him because he and I share a special connection in the reference that we grew up in two different cultures as I had eluded. Partially, I grew up in American culture and Nigerian culture. He was the same growing up in African-Nigerian and Jamaican cultures and having those two worlds and living in the UK, how sometimes those worlds did not work hand in hand. Sometimes they would collide. As he would say, nowadays, it wasn't as cool to be so grounded in your African or Nigerian culture at that time.

He's an outstanding gentleman. I loved his story and his journey as a Founder and CEO of YamUp. YamUp was the first African and Caribbean grocery shopping app to help close the technology gap between culture, traditions, and community. You can imagine the market on your phone. It was a great audacious goal to get connected and save time but still enjoy all our dear traditions. In this episode, we talk about his journey through that, other entrepreneurial journeys, how he met Sola, and all that good stuff. There are good and valuable life lessons along the way. Without further ado, I hope you enjoy this episode. Here is Brett Paul Izu.

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We’ve got a special guest in the building, Brett Izu . Thank you for joining us. Where are you?

I'm in Manchester, which is up North.

Give me the backstory. How does the Nigerian brother get out into Manchester?

I've been a bit of a traveler because I've been living in different cities, to be honest with you. My mom's not originally from Derby, but she moved to Derby and he met my dad, who’s Nigerian. My mom's Jamaican, by the way.

To all the Jamaicas out there, “Big up.”

Big up to the rest of the Jamaicans and the Caribbean islands. My dad, at the time, moved down with my Nana and everything into Derby. Not Derby CityThat’s the countryside and everything, but I only lived down there for a while but then met my mom and everything. They got it cracking and my dad decided to disperse off and they moved to London. He’d think that he would ever see my mom when he was away. There used to be a book where you could look and see somebody's surname back in the days. By the surname, they will have somebody’s phone number.

They had a phone book and had everybody's name in it and everybody's contact details like their own telephone number. My mom looked and she remembered his surname. She looked and there were two surnames at that time because my granddad and my Nana weren’t together. She picked one of them, found the address, and went straight to London. That's when they were moved back to London. I met my family in London.

From then on, I've always been going back to London. My Izu family wanted me to move there, but it was too expensive for me. London is way too expensive. North is cheaper. I wanted to move out of Derby, but I didn't want to move there, so I moved to Nottingham, and eventually, I moved to Manchester, the second-best city to live in right now in the UK. That’s my background.

Thank you for telling that backstory. You got introduced to Sola. She’s amazing. I know she's doing big things over here in the US with startup businesses and so forth. How do you and Sola meet, out of curiosity? Give me that backstory.

At the time, I was working for a company called Innovation Networks. What that company was was a startup for people who wanted to start their own business. What we do is we give them advice, help them with a business plan, and give them a loan that’s government-backed. If anything goes wrong with that business, we'll back and help.

My role was to go out into different cities or speak to different people, get contacts and see who wanted to get involved or somebody like Sola, who was helping people in business. We can help her supply people with loans. I didn't know the event at that time, but my aunt introduced me to her. She said, “There might be somebody that you could have caught with.” I told her to come down to my event and she liked it. She liked how I was as a person. We hooked up from then and we stayed in contact. I helped her get some business and she helped me get some business. Out of work, personally, me and Sola and I have got on. She's a nice person. She chats a lot.

Every time we have a business, I'm trying to figure out how to cut her short because we need to go to the next thing. She chats so well that I had to make her the cohost of the podcast.

She does speak her mind. I'll be going somewhere with her and she'll be talking. Somehow, she slips me into the conversation and gets me a job. I’m like, “I don’t even know what I’m doing here. What's going on?” She’s like, “You're involved in this now. You're the director.” I was like, “Director? What are you talking about?”

You’ve got to love her, though. She gets business done. I was like, “Hold on. My plate is full already. Let me figure something out first.” Something that we were talking about before we even hit the record is I love the fact that you got Jamaican and Nigerian. Those are two different cultures. Dinner must have been amazing at your house. You had everything from curry goat to stew.

That's the best part of looking at it, but on the flip side to it, there was this part where I felt like I didn't know who I was before the two culture clashes. Nowadays, everybody's cool with each other. We've got this understanding going on, but there was no understanding at that time. I had to tone down being a Nigerian. I was proud to be Nigerian, but I had to tone it down because of gangster Boyz n the Hood. Little kids say you’re an African booty scratcher. They use that phrase a lot on me. I had to keep my head up, but it hurt me.

One thing I loved is that you grew up in two different households, per se. You’ve got that Nigerian and Jamaican influence. It’s two different cultures. How was that growing up?

Now it's okay because we’ve got up on the standing, but when I was a teenager, there was definitely a big ignorance because what would happen is when I’m with my friends, and a majority of my friends are from the UK and was heavily influenced by the Caribbean and Jamaican. There were probably a lot of Africans, but they toned it down because, at the time, they didn't want to pick it up. It wasn't in fashion. It wasn't in fashion to be African or Nigerian. Caribbean, overall, talking, walking, and making music, it wasn’t the in thing, so I had to tone it down.

I had to take getting called African booty scratcher and all stuff like that. It was a horrible time for me, but I didn't lose who I was at the same time. At the time, I was living in a small city in Derby, but when I would go and see my Nana, my dad, and everybody in London, it was a whole different ball game because in London, that city alone, there are a lot more Africans. It’s a different game. I was always in the middle of everything. Even down to the clothing, I would not put African clothing o back then. It's not happening. You knew it wasn’t a con if you even wore that.

I feel you on all of that because growing up in the US, my stepdad was Nigerian. I didn't know my biological dad, so I was raised in Nigerian culture. It’s funny hearing you talk because there were Nigerians over here, even with the hood that I grew up in, Jamaicans over here, Trinidadians and other Black Islanders. We all grew up in the same hood, but the Blacks looked at us like rejects.

They call us, “African booty scratcher,” and, “Get out of here,” depending on what culture I was associated with. Whenever I have my Niger gear on, that's when they know, “Look at this guy. Kuta,” and every negative thing in the book. It didn't get popular until I got older. I was like, “Now this is the way? Niger is in. Now all the music that they bump in and dancing to are Afro beats.”

Youth Development: Once you know what you want, you then walk in that direction and you'll find that mentor.

They more than me. They’re in tune with it. You're telling me about it. I was like, “I knew this for months. Why are you telling me this? You should be proud that you’re African. What are you talking about?”

Another thing that we get from our culture, I don't know if you got through this culture, but for me growing up in the culture, I always got that, “You're going to go to school. You're going to study your books and you're going to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer.” It was like this set. What my parents thought what success was that they guided me down. Did you get that?

Mine was slightly different because my dad wasn't around. I got brought up in more of a Caribbean way than any other way. Remember, on a six weeks holiday, I will still go down to see my family and stay down there for six weeks after school. Their approach was a bit different to me because they knew they couldn't force things on me because they were not around me as much. What they did was demonstrate what success was. At that time, when I was young, my Nana owned two shops. One shop was selling materials in East London and the other one was making clothes for people and that’s what my Nana did. My Nana had my auntie and uncle in the back, making and selling clothes from the age of eleven.

You’ve got a long history of entrepreneurs in your family.

No. The reason why I'm saying my auntie and uncle is my auntie, who then became adults, started making clothes on her own for Versace and Moschino. Independently, she would make clothes for Madonna, Janet Jackson, and stuff like that, so I’ve seen success. I knew what success was and what to do to get there. My Nana closed down those two shops and worked directly for Donna Karan. I used to go and see my Nana, see what was going on, and everything else. They didn't force it on me, but they demonstrated what success was.

Being that you had all those influences around, how did that influence what you decide to do with your career once you finish your formal schooling years.

Let’s go to a different course. Schooling wasn't for me. I only learned to read. I started to learn to read at nineteen years old. All through school, I couldn't grasp it. I couldn't get it at that time. One thing that saved me was I'm a street dancer. I was not trying to blow my own trumpet, but I was good at it. It got me to a good level and that's what saved me. If I didn't have that, I would have no confidence. I didn't have the whole reading, writing, and everything else, but then I had confidence somewhere else to say, “Look what I've got and I'm good at it.” I did that for a bit, but I dropped out.

I focused on finding myself and who I was. As a start, what I had to do was, I had to learn to read, write, and stuff like that. I read so many books about being successful, passion, and stuff like that. I was buying things like Anthony Robbins. I will spend £250 for Anthony Robbins’ audiobooks to understand. He’s on a whole different level. I invested in myself heavily, but it's almost like I forgot that being successful has already been taught to me because of my Nana, and my auntie. I was getting all this information and it went on a journey of learning how to do direct selling and stuff like that. It’s almost like I clicked.

I look at it like you were self-taught and you went on this journey to find yourself, your passion, purpose, and use that as fuel to create your version of success, which is definitely working for you and I love all. Formal education is overrated at times because it doesn't teach you to be successful in life. It only teaches you to be successful at simulating a system and being part of the herd. I love that you went this route. Tell me a little bit about the industry you're in? How would you define your career? What industry would you put yourself in?

My girlfriend and I decided to create an on-demand delivery app called the YamUp. Instead of people going to their shop, we'll do their shopping for them. We managed to get the money, create the app and get it popping. We're in the food business. We're delivering the food itself. I'll stop there because I was in the food business. What happened was we were getting into the place that we wanted, we were getting to the contact that we need, the connections that we need, and everything else, but it went flat, and nothing happened. It didn't work. We spent thousands on it and it didn’t go where we needed it to go.

In the industry that I’m in, I'm a natural-born hostile hustler. What that means is I don't want to put myself in any industry. I would say that I bounce over an industry that works because what’s going to happen is I was in a situation where I was still working at the time and wanted to make something work. I was doing delivery business now.

I work for DPD, which is similar to FedEx. I was doing daily collections and I bumped into an Asian guy who supplies all the beauty salons around the Manchester area and he had a warehouse full of stuff. I said to him, “Would I be able to buy some of that stock and resell it?” He goes, “Of course, you could. You have to buy a certain amount.” “Alright, cool.” I had money hanging around and I wanted to spend that money. I didn't want to keep it.

What happened is, I brought some stuff and I decided to go to the barbers. I’d say, “These are the boxes that I've got. Do you need anything?” He goes, “Yes.” Bear in mind, I had 3 or 4 boxes and each box had about twelve cans of olive oil on it. I sold the boxes within less than an hour. I thought to myself, “I might have something here that I could do.” What I did was I sat down, and I went on Facebook and the internet to see if I could search for a supplier for hair products that barbers need. I managed to find someone.

My girlfriend at the time said, “Go onto Facebook Marketplace and see if you can find somebody there.” I managed to find somebody. I linked up with them and he goes, “This we're going to do for you. I'm going to give you all the stuff that will sell.” He asked me how much I wanted and how much I got. I’m like, “I’ve got £160. What can I get for that?” He goes, “This is the stuff I want to give you and I’ll give you this. This is what it's worth and this is how much I get back.” He was more or less than my mentor because he was helping. Four months later, I got £4,000 worth of stuff.

Having a mentor is important. That's something that I always tell people. If you can't get a mentor, what would you say to those who are looking to do some of the things or who took the steps you took in that many careers that you've had businesses, and so forth? How important is it to have a mentor? What are the steps to take to build a business or start a business?

Let's start with a mentor. I will start with my personal mentor. Before I had my mentor, I remember I was watching Law of Attraction. When it first came out, it was something spooky to me. I’ve never heard this one. What I did, I started learning its practices and mixed it with Anthony Robbins as well. My thing was, at that time, I knew that I needed a mentor, which was more like a father figure to me to demonstrate what being a man was and how a man should live on this earth. I was asking. I would wake up every day, and I would ask, “I need a mentor.” Eventually, what happens is, somehow, you will find that person, but when you find that person you didn't even know at that time would be your mentor. You would just be talking to that person.

What happened is, when I was trying to find myself, I thought it would be radio because I loved music that much. Somebody linked me with a guy who does radio. I spoke to them, “I want to do radio, this and the other.” They’re like, “Cool. Come at this time.” I came at this time and he sat down with me. He looked at me and went, “I don't think you're here for this.” I was like, “What am I here for?” He goes, “You want me to help you.” I was like, “Okay.” He goes, “You want me to help you get to where you need to get to.” I was like, “Wow.”

Four years later, I became who I am because of him. The reason why I'm telling you this story is because the first step that you need to do to find a mentor that you want is you need to know what you want first and what you want out of it. You can ask all you want to, but if you keep asking, you're going to put yourself in different situations. You could ask and ask and find that this mentor is not giving you what you need because you weren’t clear about what you were asking for. The first step I would take to get in that mentor that you want is to be clear on what you're going to ask. Once you know what you want, you don't walk in that direction and you will find that mentor.

A mentor helps you with that first step of clarifying what you want, your vision and so forth. What would you say is the next step that entered your career of helping you understand what it takes to build a successful business?

With that mentor or understand it myself? Is that the question?

Understanding yourself. What are the lessons that you learned in steps that you learned along the way?

It’s understanding that sometimes you think that you know and you’ve got to go, “My customer knows this and you could go with that.” I'm going to be honest with you. When you go out there, it's not that. You go there and go, “I know what everybody wants.” Eventually, you find out that you don't know anything. What are you going to be? You’ve got to be open. More or less, that does happen.

Youth Development: In sales, to be able to sell a product, you need to be confident.

My mom turned around and said to me, “You have to be a blank canvas. On this blank canvas, you paint everything and you become that picture.” You’ve got to be open to this new information. Don't be closed. If you closed, then you might as well stop from there. You’ve got to be open to go and say, “Let me take on this information, refine it and go back again.” Always be open and always be willing to get up because it's going to be a lot of knockdowns. You’ve got to get out quick as well. None of this, “I'm in pain.” No. Get out quick and be ready.

A lot of times, when people are starting a business, they do the customer services and they figure out, “I know everything the customer needs,” and they’re not open to receiving information and that feedback loop that allows them to improve their product or services. You have to be open. I love that. I'm going to go back to a conversation we had earlier before we started. I told you that I often go out to the schools and high schools and talk to students.

Out here, I do programs where I help young people get jobs, their first job, or internships, so they get that experience. I always tell them to pay attention to that job because there are a lot of things they can learn in that job that will help them be successful later on in their future if they get the lesson. My question to you is, what was your first job? What are some things that you learned from that first job that you still carry with you today?

My first job was as a laborer, but I haven’t learned anything from that. I learned skills when I went to be a door-to-door salesman and it was commissioned-based. This was when I was learning to be confident with myself. At the time, I didn't have the confidence. In sales, to be able to sell a product, you’ve got to be confident. You’ve got to be confident to be able to sell it. How do you be confident about the product? You then have to find information to then say, “I know this.”

I had to sit back and go, “Okay.” When I look at it, being confident with myself, I was going to find this information to be able to push myself because clearly, if I'm not confident, there's a lot of information missing in my head. That's the way I've looked at it. What I did was I read so many books on life. It's hard to get an understanding of what passion is and where passion comes from. How I do my business is pretty much how I do my life.

What would you say once one good lesson life has taught you? Your knowledge of self, self-mastery, everything that you learned from Tony Robbins and the mentor, life has probably taught you a lot of lessons. What's one good lesson life has taught you?

It goes back to what I was saying before. You always get knockdowns and you’ve got to get up straight away. You always want to get knocked down. It doesn't matter about business. It's life, business, or whatever. You're always going to get knocked down. People are always going to say no to you, but it all depends on what you say to yourself and how fast you get done. That's what got me on here.

When I speak to people, they can almost see that I’m, and I agree with them, arrogant. Yet, in a way, I have to be arrogant to be able to be successful. Most people assume that there's so much negativity in the air that I need to protect myself. I've got to protect my life. Sometimes, I get myself a lot. I know someone's on a call, but when it comes, I know to, “Soak it in and get back up again. We don't cry in this. We go again and we go again until we get it.”

You’ve got to have a level of confidence and arrogance because if you know so much people will doubt your ideas. When you become successful, people even have the audacity to be like, “He's an overnight success. He didn’t work as hard and as long.”

When I started getting into my reading and stuff like that, my mentor said to me, “What I want you to do is I want you to start listening to BBC 5 Live.” There's no music on this radio. All they do is talk about different information and ask him, “Why is it that you want me to listen to this?” He goes, “What will happen is the way you talk will change.” I was like, “What are you talking about?” He goes, “You listen to hip hop music. Mostly, the language that you’re going to say comes from hip-hop. Change it.”

I did that. Bear in mind that when I went to school, I only went for one lesson and went home because I was bad at school. I wouldn’t say I was great at talking and using big words and stuff like that and knew how to be around different types of people. I'm short with different words. When I learned that, and afterward, I'm starting to speak differently now. I've had people come up to me and say, “You’ve gone to college.” “You’ve gone to University.”

I was like, “Only if you knew my life.” It’s weird like, “You've definitely gone to university.” “No, I haven't been to university. It is self-taught.” It's crazy. People don't understand that you can change, especially nowadays some people don't believe that you can change and you can reshape yourself, the way you look and talk.

You totally rebrand yourself and market yourself. Look at how many times Puffy Daddy or P. Diddy rebranded himself. What advice would you give to someone who would like to start a career or a business like Yams or get into entrepreneurship?

Before you started recording, you were talking about how it is passion. Many people have business ideas, and I speak to lots of people. Especially now, people will want to be more like entrepreneurs now than ever before. You need to find who you are and what your passion is before you go in any direction of doing business.

The mistake that I had was I was funneling money before. I was like, “This makes money.” I will go into that and I will never last long in it. I would stay for a little bit and I would go on to the next one. If you find who you are, you then find your passion. When you find your passion, you'll find what business you want to go in. If you've been in a business that you're passionate about, you will stay in it when the tough times come.

That goes right along with what I always say when I give these talks to young people. It’s what I alluded to before we started recording, “Do what you love. Love what you do. Don't take the money. Let the money chase you.” What I mean by that is when you’re doing something that you love, you do it with passion and bravado. It comes easy and people will gladly pay you top dollar for that thing that you do.

You can outlast recessions because people are willing to pay for that thing that you do even in a recession because it brings them value, whether you're great at organizing like my sister, you're great at solving problems with creative and innovative solutions, you make castles, whatever it is. People will still want that thing even in a recession because it brings them joy, value, or something that other people can't bring.

Also, from my sales, I learned that they would always change a charity every three months. There were seven charities at a time. There are charities that will change every three months. There were certain charities that I was passionate about and there were certain charities that I was not passionate about. My sales go up and down, so I learned that whatever I do, I've got to be passionate about it, so I'll always be 100% on it regardless of whatever comes in my way. You know me, I know I'll be 100% on it. For my dancing, everybody knows I'm a good dancer. Why? It’s because I loved dancing at that time. From the person looking at it, they can see there’s love in that.

They probably saw love and they wanted that energy around them as well, whether a choreographer or another dancer, so it carries with you.

That’s the advice I’ll give.

What do you think the future has in store for the next generation of Black and African entrepreneurs?

It's funny you say that because I was chatting with my girlfriend about the black community. Sometimes the black communities are doing well in terms of working together and sometimes, I see videos and I’m like, “You’ve got a long way to go.” I’m positive that we're going to get somewhere. What was the question again because I'm going in a different direction?

Youth Development: When there's a level playing field, once we go, it's go time, we're flying.

We’ll go wherever we’ll go. What do you think the future has in store for Black and African entrepreneurs?

I see it doing fine. The reason why I'm saying that is that there's a level playing field now. For example, natural hair products. That birthed out of what? For what reason? It’s because of buying products that don't represent us and the people who are buying them don't respect us. Saying it birthed out of, “Let's do our own.” It's birthing without any cap of anybody trying to stop us and everything else. That shows you that we can be entrepreneurs. Without anybody blocking us, we can flourish.

Another example is this, the UK hip-hop scene. For a long time, nobody wanted to hear us because of our accent, this and that. Look at it now. The UK scene is blowing up. It’s the same amount of numbers as the US. It’s big numbers, so it shows you that we're in a good place and it's got to go to a place that we’re not even going to be able to describe

I'm even getting put on it over here in the US. A friend of mine sent me a video of Dave. He did this song called Black Live at the Brit Awards. That song was on point.

It shows you that we can do it too and when there's a level playing field, once we go, it’s go time for us. We're flying.

Are there some other artists I should be looking out for?

Tion Wayne. He put me on blast because I've listened to him. I’ve got a blank thing.

Shoot me a text and I'll tell everybody you gave me a whole bunch.

Millions is a good artist. I’ll shoot you a text because off the top of my head, it's gone blank, but I know the UK scene.

Out of curiosity, is that Afrobeat scene blowing up over there?

It’s been blowing up for a long time. For over twenty years, more African people are showing up now. You can see and feel that through the music. It's been blowing up lately. In London, they've got their own radio station. It's a big time. I don't listen to soul because I'm a big hip-hop fan, but they’re big things.

I see it starting to blow over here and I knew about it because of my influences growing up and the culture. A few people in the mainstream take it on and I'm like, “What's going on here?”

It's because there are a lot of Nigerians in England.

I do love what's going on with the UK hip-hop scene though because I feel that's the hip hop I grew up on from the ‘90s when we had people like Wu-Tang, Outcasts, and all that in the messages they were sending. The UK rappers are doing that.

To be honest, UK rappers have always been doing that. It’s because the record labels ignored those at the time. Every time a record label would give us a chance, they would Americanize it. They would have us on bikes. The video will have American cars. That does not represent us. We drive European cars. When this whole YouTube came about, bear in mind, we did our videos, but it was on a budget level. YouTube set it straight.

Let’s start from the beginning. I’ll tell you what changed the scene was the Chicago rapper, Chief Keef. When he had done that first video, I Don't Like, it was so budget, but it blew up. From that time, it was like, “We're going to make our own videos with our own little camera. We don't care how cheap it looks. We're going to do that.” That's when it started to level up because that’s when we show our own culture, the way we talk, the way we dress, how it is in the UK and that's how it started to blow. Now, you’ve got Americans people like yourself looking at it and going, “They’re kicking over there.” Also, it's got that heavy Caribbean influence in terms of how we rap and how we do the music. We're doing our thing.

I'm sure we could talk for hours, but I don't want to do a Sola interview here. I want the interview to stay in a car length drive so people can pay attention and listen. What projects are you currently working on and where can people find you?

I got nothing because I go to the barbers and sell stuff. I'm still doing that, but I remember when the lockdown was in tier 5. That means no go into anywhere within the city. Please don't ask me what tier 5 is because I still don't know and I still don't understand.

Don’t worry. We’re in a lockdown here too. I don't know how long it's going to last.

On the other hand, my girlfriend has her own business. It’s all boxes. It’s hair stuff. She does boxes. She packs them together and does it for a reasonable price. She's setting that, so we're investing in that. I’m here, there and everywhere at the moment. I'm investing in this and that. If one stops and I'm going to invest in this, so that’s where I'm at.

Once you get some online presence, definitely shoot us the link. We want people to be able to get in touch with you. We need those boxes.

Before you end the show, I know people turn around and say, “Don't give up.” “There's always a light at the end of the tunnel.” That only works when you keep on going in that direction. The minute you stop, that’s the end off. The world stops when you stop. The world carries on when you carry on. It's as simple as that. If you have that attitude, you will always go for it, and not only can you use that to be an entrepreneur but in your life in general. Keep on pushing. Always be willing to change and go in different directions, but you’re still going in that direction that you want to go. That’s my motto.

Youth Development: Keep on pushing and always be willing to change and go different directions.

The world only stops if you stop. Make sure you keep carrying on. That’s something that I always try to say to and be mindful of any time you're going through anything, make sure you're going through it not stuck in. Brett, it's been a pleasure getting to know you and meeting you. Big ups to everything that you're doing. I hope that we get to connect again because this has been fun. Make sure that you guys tap into this episode. This has been another episode of RISEpreneurs. Make sure you check out some more of our content and check us out on social media . Those are inspiring words from Brett and some things about his girl and what she’s doing. Maybe we'll get her on one of these.

Get her on. She would love that one. She's good and well-spoken than me as well. She’ll keep that conversation, not as well as Sola, but she’s good.

RISEpreneurs, that’s the episode with Brett Izu. Thank you.

Thank you.

We’ll see you on the other side.

Important Links:

Brett Paul Izu
@Empowerblack333 – Brett Paul Izu Twitter
@Bizu84 – Brett Paul Izu Instagram
@Lay_N_Slay – Instagram
Social Media – Rise Urban Nation Facebook
Instagram – Rise Urban Nation
Twitter – Rise Urban Nation

About Brett Izu

I help businesses connect their goods and services directly with the African and Caribbean community via my App. I partner with local retailers in the grocery industry, entrepreneurs whose goods and services are specifically for the African and Caribbean community.

When you partner with YamUp Inc, you get quick turnover on your inventory. You get to connect directly in the most efficient, effective, and affordable way to provide a mobile grocery shopping experience that the African and Caribbean community are looking for right now.

We are a one stop shop for your typical 6-8 hour shopping run. You can setup a family account where you can create joint shopping lists. We have what Africans and Caribbeans shop for and we deliver within 2 hours of you placing your grocery order.

What Black Leaders Want You to Know About Entrepreneurship

Wed, 13 Apr 2022 13:56:59 GMT

Entrepreneurship is not an easy path, but for people of color, starting a business can be especially difficult. Historically, Black people have faced many roadblocks whenever they reached for financial empowerment. Despite all these problems, there has never been a better time for Black people to become entrepreneurs.

Black leaders in business that have built successful enterprises are excited by the increasing number of Black entrepreneurs. They are willing to share the wisdom they have gained from triumphing over their business battles.

If you are an aspiring Black entrepreneur, you could save a lot of time and money by standing on the shoulders of these giants.

Keep reading to learn some of the most important things Black business leaders want you to know about entrepreneurship.

1. Feel the Fear But Start Your Business Anyway

For years, Black people have faced a lot of barriers to ascending the corporate ladder. This is why entrepreneurship has always been a great avenue to make our way in the world. This is evidenced by the fact that in 2021 there was a 38 percent increase in the number of Black entrepreneurs after many people lost their jobs due to COVID.

Even so, Black entrepreneurship is still lower than that of other demographics. In 2019, only 2.3 percent of all American businesses were Black-owned. This is concerning when you consider that the fastest way to become

financially independent and create generational wealth is to start a business.

This is why many Black leaders want you to start your own business. The more Black-owned businesses we have, the wealthier the Black community will get. Black-owned businesses can hire disenfranchised members of the community.

Their success can also inspire other Black people to start their businesses. A strong community of Black entrepreneurs can also help influence government policies in a way that makes life better for Black Americans.

2. Learn and Know Your Numbers

If there is one skill entrepreneurs cannot thrive without, its financial literacy. You may hire an accountant to manage your financials, but you must have a general idea about the financial health of your business.

Many Black leaders have fallen into bankruptcy or financial hardship due to unscrupulous accountants that swindled them of their hard-earned money. For example, Steve Harvey had to pay the IRS $20 Million in back taxes and late fines. For years his accountant had been stealing the money intended for his tax payments. Knowing your numbers will allow you to identify red flags in your business’s finances and prevent your staff from stealing from

you.

Black leaders also want entrepreneurs to know their business numbers like they know the back of their hands. A business is only viable if its sales exceed its expenses. Entrepreneurs often get sidetracked by their business idea and other glamorized aspects of running a business.

But there is a reason why the first thing investors ask for is your numbers. Knowing your numbers will keep you focused on the important things that will keep your business operational. It will also give potential investors the confidence that you know what you are doing.

So, what are the numbers we are talking about? Well, make sure you know your annual revenue, gross profit percentage, setup costs, operating costs, breakeven point, and payback period.

3. Be Yourself Unapologetically

One of the benefits of being part of a minority group is your uniqueness. Do not try to blend in with the rest of the business crowd as doing so will dilute your power. No one else can be like you, so guard your authenticity and show off your real self to the world.

But don’t confuse this advice as a ticket to behave unprofessionally. There is a difference between being yourself and showing up late for meetings or being loud at inappropriate times. Observe business etiquette but maintain and display your sense of self and culture.

4. Master Your Emotions

Nothing will push you out of your comfort zone as much as entrepreneurship. Running a successful business will force you to do things that scare you. For instance, if you are introverted you may have to spend most of your time networking, pitching to investors, or selling your product.

If you hate the limelight, you may find yourself having to toot your own horn to market your business. You may hate numbers but be forced to learn financial management.

On top of operating outside their comfort zone, Black entrepreneurs may also have to deal with humiliating encounters stemming from racism or sexism. All these stressors and microaggressions will take a toll on your mental health, so you must strengthen your emotional intelligence. Many people get triggered by such circumstances and become verbally or physically violent which costs them lucrative contracts or important business connections.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, use and manage your emotions in a way that allows you to live your best life and achieve your goals. Those with high emotional intelligence can also recognize the emotions of those around them to their advantage.

Mastering your emotions will help you react appropriately to stressful situations at work. You will also be able to manage your team and clients better. The Harvard business review estimates that emotional intelligence accounts for more than 90% of what sets apart high-performing leaders from their average peers.

5. Push for Equality

The Black community trails behind other racial groups when it comes to wealth. One reason for this is unequal access to wealth creation opportunities. For instance, Black women earn 63 percent of what white men earn for similar jobs.

Can you imagine how much more wealth the community would have if women got paid their full 100 percent? Black leaders want entrepreneurs to do their part to ensure that all their employees get equal treatment.

If you're in a position that can help empower Black people, you should take your role seriously. For instance, bankers can help Black entrepreneurs access capital and funding. Real estate agents can also help reform their sector to reduce racial inequality in housing so that more Black people own homes.

6. Give or Get Exposure

The future of Black America is in the hands of our young adults. But they can’t be everything they can be if they don’t know of the possibilities open to them. Successful Black entrepreneurs can help mentor young adults to show them all the possibilities they have in the business world.

Exposure to excellent role models does wonders for children and young adults. Successful entrepreneurs can help mold the mindset of the younger generation.

Black entrepreneurs also need to be visible because representation matters. Children and young adults should see people that look like them succeeding in certain industries or as entrepreneurs. This can help them to be more confident to pursue similar goals.

7. Support Black-Owned Businesses

Black entrepreneurs need our support to grow. This is especially true in their start-up phase. Established Black business owners can also support upcoming business owners through mentorships.

Successful entrepreneurs have insight that could help new entrepreneurs reach their goals faster. Established business owners may also have important networks and contacts. These may be of great help to newer entrepreneurs.

8. Capitalize on Your Teams Strengths

One thing new entrepreneurs quickly learn is that they can’t run a business alone. You must hire people that are experts in their field to help you achieve your vision. Each of your team members will have a unique talent that they can use to build your business.

To get the most out of your team you must create a collaborative environment where everyone feels compelled to contribute their best. Give directions on what you want but build the trust that allows you to loosen the reins on your business. This will empower your team to do their work while you concentrate on growing your company.

9. Take Regular Breaks for Your Self Care

It takes a lot of energy and mental capacity to run a business. This is why entrepreneurs must take care of their physical, mental, and emotional health. Without self-care, you will burn out and fail to achieve your desired goals.

So, what do we mean by self-care? First, you must ensure that you are eating healthy, nutritious food.

Entrepreneurs are always on the go so they can fall into a habit of eating junk food on the run.

Take a few hours a week or month to cook batches of healthy nutritious food so that you always have something to eat during the busy week. If you can afford it, hire a chef or food service that does your weekly meal prep for you.

You must also include about 30 mins of daily exercise into your routine. This could be a morning or evening gym session or something as simple as going for a walk during your lunch break. Exercise will help you maintain your physical and mental health.

You should also include a daily spiritual practice like prayer, meditation, or journaling to destress. Also consider hiring a coach, counselor, or therapist. You may need a support system to help you navigate stressful periods of your entrepreneurship journey.

Get Motivated By What Black leaders Want You to Know About Entrepreneurship

Black leaders know how important entrepreneurship is for the Black community. This is why they have given lots of advice on how Black people can succeed in the business world.

Use the tips above to start and grow your successful Black enterprise. For more guidance on how to grow a thriving business, contact us today to learn how we can help.

6 Resources Every Black Entrepreneur Should Leverage

Sun, 06 Mar 2022 11:33:39 GMT

It's 2022, and it could not be more evident that there are extreme racial inequities in the US. One of those many inequities is the pay gap that people of color experience compared to their white peers.

You've likely heard that women make 72 cents for every dollar men make. But those statistics are for white men and white women.

Black men make 86 cents to the white mans' dollar, but black women? Less than 70 cents .

All that can make running a business as a black entrepreneur seem impossible. You're already up against harsh odds — but you're black. You're used to that, and you're used to breaking that racial ceiling.

Thankfully, black professionals before you have set up resources you can use to get a leg up. We're detailing some of those below.

Resources for Black Professionals

When you're creating a business, you need all the help you can get. Everyone does. Even people born into privilege! 45% of new companies fail within the first five years.

Accessing and using resources to your advantage increases your odds of being in that successful 55%. Don't let your ego tell you that you have to do it alone. Knowing how to leverage help is one of the things that makes a great entrepreneur and sets you up to help people in the future.

1. Take a Financial Literacy Course

Before you start a business, or even if you've already started, it's essential to have a strong understanding of financial literacy. As a business owner, you have to understand taxes, profits, and how to balance your business and personal finances.

There are plenty of courses online that teach you financial basics, but you may need something more advanced.

Listening to podcasts like Rise Urban Nation will not only give you the information you're looking for but will help you find inspiring mentors.

On that note, there are courses for businesses and entrepreneurs that cover everything from financial literacy to marketing.

2. The Small Business Empowerment Program

This program is an eight-week course in small business development. So far, it's offered over 2 million dollars in "Financial Dignity Services," helped over 75,000 entrepreneurs, started over 1100 new businesses, and has access to 25 different startup lenders.

Operation Hope offers the program, whose mission is to "expand economic opportunity, making free enterprise work for everyone." They want to give minorities and young adults the information they need to build secure financial futures and add value to the economy.

They're a 501(c)(3) non-profit and have been around for thirty years. The program is not currently open, but you can opt into their newsletter for application updates and information.

3. Register for 8(a)

As a business run by a minority group, there are certain awards and contracts you can apply for that white-run businesses can not. One of those is the 8(a) Federal Contracting Award.

You'll have to apply online, prove that more than 51% of your business ownership is from their list of disadvantaged groups, and prove that your income meets certain limits. If you can do all that, you can tap into the 5% of Federal contracting dollars that the government commits to spending with 8(a) businesses each year.

Bidding for and getting government contracts is another subject in and of itself; stay tuned into the podcast to hear from people who successfully do so.

4. Join a Mentoring Program

The best way to learn about business is from someone who's gone before you, faced what you will face, and came out on the other side. That's where mentoring programs come in.

The most well-known one is Black Girl Ventures . Clearly, it's marketed towards black women entrepreneurs. They have programs you can apply for, as well as a website full of resources. You'd recognize many of the businesses that are program graduates.

Another good resource is the site SCORE for Black Entrepreneurs. It's less of a program and more of a search engine for mentors that match your needs. They also have a resource library for all entrepreneurs, with templates, advice, and anything else a new business owner could need.

5. Register with the Coalition to Back Black Business

Do you know the difference between a grant and a loan? A loan has to be paid back, while a grant does not. This organization gives grants to black-run businesses if they meet specific standards.

The program is sponsored by American Express and the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation. According to their website, they've granted almost 1,100 grants, with more than half of them going to women-owned businesses.

Grants are available in 40 states — so check if yours is one of them.

6. Get Posted on Black-Owned Everything

You can do everything for your business right on paper, but if you don't have customers or visibility, it doesn't matter. The site Black-Owned Everything aims to help you with that. They're like a marketplace for black businesses and feature different businesses each week.

You can apply to be on the site by entering your email address. They have a good following on Instagram and Facebook if you're more comfortable sharing content there.

Resources Every Black Entrepreneur Should Leverage

Getting help isn't a sign of weakness: it's a sign of strength. Get the help you need as a black entrepreneur in America with the resources above. Once you've gotten the help you need, we'd love to feature you on our business podcast.

We're always looking for more black professionals to interview.

For more inspirational content about black business owners, subscribe and listen to our podcast.

8 Black Founders You Should Know About

Wed, 09 Feb 2022 09:23:15 GMT

With the new year comes new aspirations and expectations for many Black entrepreneurs and African professionals.

For some, these upcoming months will be about waiting and seeing which way the world turns. But for others, they've already begun jumping into the world of entrepreneurship with both feet. They're signing deals at an alarmingly high rate and taking up startup room to get the attention of high investors.

Product launches and expansions of services are being produced like never before by some of the top Black

founders in the game.

Here are eight founders paving the way that you need to watch out for.

1. Funke Opeke: Founder of Main One Cable Company

All African entrepreneurs begin their journeys in a similar fashion: see a problem and fix it. Funke Opeke is no exception to that.

After working as a former Verizon executive for over 20 years, Opeke left the company to move back home to her native country Nigeria. There, she discovered how little the connectivity of her home country and its surrounding countries was.

In 2008, she raised funds and laid 4,400 miles worth of fiber optic cable from Nigeria, all the way to Portugal. She's credited for not only starting one of the biggest major network providers but also for the boom in technological opportunities that soon followed. Plus, there are rumors that she's just getting started.

2. Frederick Akpoghene: Founder Of JéGO Technologies

Frederick Akpoghene continues to break the boundaries of technological advancement with his Black-owned company JéGO. JéGO, a manufacturing/ design-based company of self-driven, autonomous pod vehicles, streamlines the way consumers receive goods and services.

This includes COVID tests, IV treatments, and other essential products delivered by a robotic automobile right to your front door. Akpoghene, with over 15 years of technology development and software engineering experience, created this fast-growing tech company because he felt like he needed to assist service providers who pay high rental costs to serve their community.

With the approval from the American National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and growing partnerships with multiple businesses all over the nation, Akpoghene ensures that you'll see these pods and shuttles within the near future.

3. Adesola Akindele: Co-Founder of HyGear Technologies

Adesola Akindele is paving the way for young African professionals looking to expand their entrepreneur portfolios. As a 20-year international serial entrepreneur, Akindele can attest that entrepreneurship is the key to prosperity for economically misrepresented groups like Black professionals.

She's made it her mission through her co-creation of global hygiene tech company, HyGear Technologies , to help communities gain access to innovative non-toxic hygiene products that keep air, surfaces and water cleaner. HyGear currently develops patent-pending technology in the UVC disinfection space and have operations in 3 countries.

Akindele has raised HyGear Technologies to be a top competitor in the disinfecting market. She did this all while managing her time as the marketing partner of Rise Urban Nation , a Pan-African economic group whose mission is to help create equal and profitable opportunities for Pan-Africans.

4. Peter Njonjo: Co-Founder of Twiga Foods

For many years, African countries have strained to find affordable ways to access food and produce. Due to the outskirt locations of many produce farms, Africans spend 10x the amount of their disposable income to get food, compared to citizens of countries like the U.S, who spend roughly around 6% of their disposable income shopping for food at local markets.

Peter Njonjo saw the huge disparity and sought to create a sufficient supply chain system in Africa. Thus, Twiga Foods was created. Twiga Foods is a B2B market platform that makes it easy to directly source produce from the direct farms and deliver them straight to urban retailers.

Njonjo receives recognition by not only solving a huge shortage crisis but also for the way he funded it: acquiring over $50 million through fundraising last year. With such a huge relief project going on, many are ready to see what this Black entrepreneur will come up with next.

5. Olugbenga GB Agboola: Co-Founder of Flutterwave

With multiple wallet managing platforms popping up, you would think that this oversaturated market would cease to create new companies that could stand out from the rest. Well, Olugbenga Agboola has proven that to be false, as he leads to be the top Black-owned payment system across Africa and the U.S.

Created in 2016, Flutterwave has helped over 290,000 businesses process payments from their customers. That number continues to increase as the demand for contactless payment in Africa continues to rise.

With Agboola at the reigns, the company scored a huge amount of investment money within the last year. With that said, it's definitely worth noting his name as someone to watch.

6. Tope Awotana: Founder of Calendly

What would you call a Black man who risks his life traveling through war-torn territories with hope and a dream to streamline the way businesses schedule meetings? The only answer is the word "hero.

Tope Awotana knew that the only way his company, Calendly, would ever have a shot at progressing to one of the top scheduling software companies would be through working with a business to help build his tech in Kiev, Ukraine. After quitting his job, maxing his credit cards, using all his savings, and taking out business loans, he set out to do just that.

Now, 8 years later, Calendly has accrued over 10 million customers with a whopping revenue of $85 million just within last year, proving that if you want something hard enough, you have to go out and get it by any means.

7. Ham Serunjogi: Co-Founder of Chipper Cash

When Black creators and entrepreneurs come together to discuss the things that drive them to success, the answer most often revolves around education and expanding your life views through travel and living. This is the perfect combination that drove Ham Serunjogi to co-leading his company, Chipper Cash, to become Africa's most successful startup company.

Born with a sharp mind, Serunjogi became a swimming prodigy by the age of 6. He balanced school while learning through his experience as a young Olympian in Singapore.

After quitting his job at Facebook, he and his partner, Maijid Moujaled, created a fast and easy money transferring company called Chipper Cash. This is where he now continues making a huge economic splash.

8. On yekachi Izukanne: Co-Founder of TradeDepot

It wasn't enough for Onyekachi Izukanne to create one company, and it certainly wasn't enough when he founded two companies. Izukanne strived for a greater purpose: to be the founder of three major companies. TradeDepot, his latest company, is one of the largest e-commerce product distribution platforms in Africa.

Founded in 2016, Izukanne and his co-founders sought only to solve one particular issue: to distribute milk to small retailers across the African continent. Now they've expanded using the same advanced technology to distribute various types of food, beverages, and care products, improving the lives of hundreds of people.

Black Founders Are on the Rise

The world's crisis doesn't seem to be slowing the entrepreneur flame for these Black founders anytime soon. As everyone holds their breath to see what will unfold in this next year, they'll also be watching and waiting as these Black leaders in their craft shape and create inspirational influence across the continents.

For more updates on leading Black entrepreneurs, check out our podcast .

Consult With Sola - Building Your Business With Biabook

Thu, 03 Feb 2022 00:02:23 GMT

Don’t you wish there’s just one clear manual to building your business? Biabook, Business in a book, was birthed from the Biabox program developed by Adesola Akindele to help guide her mentees. After helping aspiring entrepreneurs to start their businesses, she realized tracking their progress and keeping them focused and motivated was tricky. From her experience, Sola saw that many needed guidance on cultivating self-awareness and emotional intelligence. Listen in as Sola shares with Taryell Simmons how she developed her skills, held herself accountable, and tracked her progress over the years through Biabook.

Biabook Website: www.biabook.com

Biabook Digital Edition Risepreneurs 50% off Discount Code: RISEWITHBIABOOK

0-2-1 Consulting: http://www.adesolaakindele.com/work-with-me

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Listen to the podcast here:

Consult With Sola - Building Your Business With Biabook

As I promised, we brought Sola back in and I told you she was here from time to time. Sola and I were talking about how this is the top of the year, the beginning of the year. We have that New Year's resolution of, “New Year. New You,” and all the different things that come with the new year. Some of us might have taken a step back from doing resolutions but knew that we wanted to do something differently. 2020 COVID has taught us that you have to have something to pipeline. If you have been sitting on the idea for some time, maybe now is that time to work and grow that idea.

We often do workshops with REC, Regional Entrepreneur Center out here in San Diego, one of the things we were talking about was to coach, work with other startups and young entrepreneurs to do workshops, some coaching tips and tricks from things that we have learned along the way. One thing that was coming up was building your brand and business. In this episode, we will dive into a little bit of that, some of the common questions, themes and so forth.

I'm grateful and happy that Sola has allowed us to pick her brain for a little bit and not charge us too much for it. It’s a brief insight into that to help you build your brand and business. If you need further info, definitely reach out to her. She's a wealth of knowledge and information. I'm pretty sure she's willing to help any of those individuals who want to take their brand-new business to the next level. Without further ado, let's talk about building your brand, your business with Sola.

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We’ve got Sola in the building. We are going to do these monthly sessions of Sola. We will call it Consulting 101 with Sola but I'm not saying you will get the full consult but we get to pick her brain for a little bit. If you want full and undivided attention with Sola, you have to go find her and get her consulting service. She's amazing. We are going to start this New Year episode with our monthly check-in consulting with Sola, Consulting 101 with Sola, by talking about building your brand and business. Welcome, Sola. How are you?

I am good. Thank you for having me here. I'm excited to give you guys some training. Hopefully, this helped you get your year wind up and started the right way as well. Thank you for having me.

No problem. Sola and her background, you will know how organized this woman is. She’s got sticky notes all on the wall. She got ideas and it looks like a whole little mind map going on her back wall. Building your brand and business. I want to get into something that you have created that will help because I know a lot of readers out here are trying to start the new year right with building their brand, their business. Your Biabook dives into this because you talk about you, your idea, and your brand.

One interesting thing that I want you to talk about before we dive into some of the concepts of your Biabook is the holistic approach to entrepreneurship. Why do you say, “The holistic approach to entrepreneurship?” This is something new that I don't think I have heard before anywhere else. What does that mean?

I'm going to give you a brief description of Biabook. It's about the overall well-being of an entrepreneur as they embark on their entrepreneurship journey. Being an entrepreneur isn't about having an idea and executing it. There's so much more to it. There's so much more that you become by taking that step and making that decision to put everything into something that no one has seen or might not even believe in to make it a success.

I'm writing another book. There’s an extended level of psychosis that you get to as an entrepreneur, especially when things are not going the way you want or reach a sale grade, or there's a massive hurdle on your wall. Most entrepreneurs usually feel this, especially when they are trying to raise capital. The whole thing about this book is, number one, you need support.

Throughout my book, we have something called a mentor and self-awareness emotional intelligence checkpoint. You need to do that. You need to have a mentor to guide you through the steps and hold you accountable. The way I want people to see entrepreneurship is not a pathway to me becoming a successful person, it's the whole thing, what it does to you as a person, how it makes you grow.

For me, entrepreneurship was my vehicle for growth, for mental wellness. It pushed me to the brink of so much but I'm still here. It's like, “I have gone through the worst already. I'm not afraid of anything anymore.” That's what I want people to understand. There's a wall picture when it comes to entrepreneurship aside from the whole standard process that you have to go through to become an entrepreneur.

That whole living as an entrepreneur, being an entrepreneur, speaking like one, becoming someone that gives back once you reach a certain point, that's a whole view. That's a holistic view. It's all about wellness and your well-being and that has to be at the forefront when you start your entrepreneurship journey.

I liked that when you said that. When you said it, it made me remind myself. I'm starting to work out. Speaking of a holistic view, it’s when you exercise a muscle. When you take it to that breaking point, it heals, restores, and gets stronger. How you get stronger as an entrepreneur is by having that holistic view. I see your first chapters and exercises about you.

It’s everything from self-awareness, social awareness, self-management. Dive into that, why did you decide to focus on t he person, individual when making this book, talking about your brand and building your business? Why start there? What was the mindset behind that and how did you come up with that vision and concept?

I realized that I was on a different journey. Simultaneously as I was an entrepreneur, I own my businesses, running my businesses, and managing people. It was important that you came first because you are your business. If your business is ill, if you are mentally unfit, your business will not do well. I realized there were so many correlations to a successful business and this is why you need to be surrounded by an excellent team, so your shortcomings match up. They cover it up for you more or less.

Building Your Business: There's so much more to being an entrepreneur than just having an idea and executing it. You put everything into something that no one might even believe in to make it a success.

It was a situation where I realized that if I don't always check in with myself, I don't manage myself well, I'm not aware of myself, what's going on socially, and with people who are closest to me or beyond me, for instance, I’m thinking about my target audience. I'm not going to be able to motivate myself. Big things like procrastination, “How do I overcome that when I like to relax and stuff but I know that I need to get this work done?”

It's important to get to know yourself better before you get on this journey and you understand your personality because you need to know who's going to rub you the wrong way and you wonder why. It’s like, “Why does this person irritate me? He doesn't have to do anything. He’s just there.” I'm like, “This was a personality clash.”

All these things were important and I worked on them after my first failure. I’m like, “If I had known all this stuff out, I would have made so many different decisions.” This is what I see and there's a quote that's in my book, “Self-awareness allows you to make sure that you get it right the first time. Without it, you are going to keep making mistakes and you will not learn from the mistakes.” I'm like, “I can't keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result. I need to check myself.”

To go on this journey, you cannot be a victim-minded person. A victim-minded person cannot be a good leader. You need to be someone who reflects. You have to self-reflect. Self-reflecting is not about sitting down and thinking. It's going on a discovery journey. That's what entrepreneurship does and that's why I use the word holistic. You are going to discover so much about yourself but you need to be aware of it. Document, process, absorb and accept it. If it's something you can't change, make a note and move on. You have to keep moving and that's what this SAI means. That's the journey that you are also taking while you are making this decision to become an entrepreneur.

It’s what my auntie used to say, “You better check yourself before you wreck yourself.” I find that to be key in entrepreneurs who are great at what they do and entrepreneurs who are, for lack of a better term, messy. They tend to react to everything. A good entrepreneur who has self-awareness knows how to take that pause and respond to things instead of reacting to things.

As everything is important, out of e verything in the you portion when you are mentoring different entrepreneurs, which ones did you find is the one that comes up the most? I see self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, procrastination, relationship management, making connections, personality type, motivation activation, passion. You do a lot of mentorship with entrepreneurs between the rack here and Miramar College, young entrepreneurs, which one do you see come with the most?

To be honest, everything is important. If I pick one that I would do without doing the whole thing, it would be the personality type. Even in the corporate world, in the working world, 9:00 to 5:00 space, most HR teams will have you do that or a form of it. We know MBTI, that's quite popular with HR managers. this allows them to identify what is the best place to put them in the company or a department if they are going to rub off the wrong way with a different personality type.

It's also good for managers to know if they can identify quickly what the strengths and weaknesses of that person are from their responses. For me, personality types are something that people need to start looking at, the center or questions you answer based on your result will give you your personality point and it changes.

Years ago, I was an ENTP straight up but now I have evolved to being something else. I'm an ENTP, an advocate, which you can tell. I'm an advocate for entrepreneurship, I always have been. For people as well, even when they are not advocating for their own selves. That's the thing entering because that's something that is important. You are seeing that potential.

You are helping them get from that poi nt that they are in now to sit in their full greatness. That's not the thing to do but it's always good when they know themselves. It only works when you know yourself because then you are open to learning. You are more willing to make the sacrifices you need to do the work and do the work that's going to get you to where you are supposed to be.

That's an important thing that I tell entrepreneurs, my managers, and executives, all the time, “You have to do the work. There's no shortcut to this. You’ve got to do the work on yourself and with your team. If you are asking your team to do this and you haven't done it, it doesn't work.” They don't understand the change that needs to be made.

Sometimes those moments are necessary as you know. When we work together, you see me go into those spaces before and sometimes when diplomacy is needed. That's what self-management is. You need to know when to zip it and when to talk. Being the CEO of this new company, I found myself having to do that consistently. In fact, when I'm not putting myself to heighten, I send my COO, “This conversation that needs to be had. Can you reach out to this person?” I know that person can be calm consistently. She used to be a teacher, so she's learned the art of a straight face when you are delivering something. I'm learning from her. I’m like, “I need to learn how to do this.”

Self-management comes from pulling and absorbing the best of what you see and making it your own. It's like leadership, there's no playbook for leadership. Everyone’s leaders are different. I would love to be Steve Jobs but I'm not him, so I need to find my way to become or be the best in that space in that set rule. That's one key thing about this journey, it's not easy.

I'm not one of those entrepreneurs t hat will tell you, “You are going to have a ball.” I'm like, “At the end of the day, all the pain is going to be worth it.” That's what I tell people. There's a lot. You have to grow in this process. You are going to learn so much about yourself. You would never survive if you are not open to being that person that is flexible to change and transcends where they are now to become the best of what they can be.

That’s the beauty of it too as well because I tell people all the time, “Any journey or achievement that you are on in life, it’s usually the things that were hardest to obtain were the best journeys.” It’s well worth it because you come out a better person, hopefully, and you gain so much from it. Let's jump into Your Idea. Tell me about the Your Ideas section. What is it about? I know it looks like what's the big idea, idea clarity goals and idea viability. Tell me a little bit more about it. What is the idea section and what does that do for somebody grabbing this book?

Building Your Business: To really go on this journey, you cannot be a victim-minded person. A victim-minded person cannot be a good leader.

You've got this idea. One thing to understand is ideas are a dime a dozen. The ones that do make it are the ones that get broken down, planned and executed. That’s what this section is. I have a book of ideas but not all of them are ready for the moment in time or available at a particular time. I jot it down and leave it. One day I meet someone and I'm like, “This thing that I wrote down, would work for you.”

When you get ideas daily, es pecially like me, I'm a conduit, so I'm always receiving. The key to entrepreneurship and what makes you an entrepreneur is putting it down, breaking it down into tangible steps like you would with a goal. I’m working my way towards where you want it to go. Researching the market and looking at, “Has anyone got something similar? Would anybody be my competitor? What are they doing to be successful? Why are they not successful? What am I getting to change here?”

Having an idea is not having that lightbulb moment and stuff. You have to create a map that's going to take you from what you have thought of to make it a reality. That is why this section is so important. First of all, you go through the idea map. Once you've got an idea map, and there are quite a few exercises and things that you have to pull and flush out, it makes you have to think. That's the key thing.

It’s thinking, “What is your problem? What's the idea? Why do you need it? How are you going to deliver it? Do you need IP?” It’s important. “Do you need to patent it? Do you need to put a trademark, copyright it or something? What's it going to take financially?” This is another point that people mess up. What would it take financially for you to start this business, if you make it a business, this idea? How do you make your first sale? People go around chasing capital. They haven't even thought about, “How I am going to get the first dollar, pound, naira or whatever? How am I going to get the first check for what I'm doing?” These are mistakes I have made, by the way. Everything I've got here will be fine, too.

You reverse engineered your failures and gave a blueprint.

Writing this book was a healing process for me. We will get there another day but are you going to collaborate? This is something that we need to think about in a community where singularly, it's more difficult to do stuff. You need to collaborate. You need to create some groups, and stuff like that, so you can move with more energy in your movement.

If it’s just you, you get exhausted. Who's going to back you up? Who's going to push you completely? Also, sharing the work. That's what I love about collaborations. You are sharing thoughts. That's the key thing of any good manager. It’s learning how to delegate. I know the best manager who ends up going on a holiday while their workers are still working.

Price points. Price thing. That took me a while to realize what I was worth consulting . At one point in time, I used to charge about $50 an hour. I'm a $500 an hour consultant. How did I get from $50 to $500? That wasn't easy but when you realize that your time is valuable, you now realize, “How do I come up with a price?” We can't ignore social media. It's here to stay. You need to figure out how to do it. I'm not that great at it. In terms, I can create a strategy for it but to execute it is a pain. There are people specifically, who have a career doing that.

Revenue streams are my favorite part. I always tell people, “Make sure you have three revenue streams.” When 1 is dying, the other 2 can get activated.” It’s those things, then your exit strategy. Once I realized that I have an exit strategy, I feel better about my business because I'm thinking, “At what point would I feel satisfied? I have done the best that I can for myself to move on.” Especially someone who’s creative like I am.

I like writing projects. Once I have sent them a point, I know it has gotten traction, it's successful, and pays me back the money, someone else can take it to the next height. You need to be able to let go. That's the key thing about venture capital. The goal is to exit. You need to leave your things okay with the IPO or when you would get acquired. That means that from day one, as you are planning your idea, you already need to know who's going to possibly buy it from you.

It’s building from there. You have to build your company around its own ethos because you don't want to stay where they absorb your company and disappear, which happens a lot. Especially with these big tech companies, if it doesn't match with their culture, they are going to take what they want, strip it for parts, and somebody will pay you some money, which is a good thing.

Building Your Business: You need to be someone who reflects; you have to self-reflect, and self-reflecting is not just about sitting down thinking. It's all about the discovery journey.

If you want that idea to survive as your lineage, you want to make sure that you build it for it so it can stay intact. If you are trying to money exit, you don't care what they do to it.

The thing about it is it depends on what your mission is. The company that we are building now has a mission specifically for Africa. The company that would acquire us will be one that has been trying to figure out how to lay roots and distribution channels in Africa. The only people that can do that are Africans. If you acquire our company in the next 5 to 10 years, you are looking at absorbing all of that. The best thing is to look for some vertical company that requires the products and services that we have that you can add to an offer and upsell. We have already thought about this years ago. Those are things to think about.

The best people to talk to are people who have been in mergers and acquisitions. I did that for about a year. Ethically, it rubbed my soul wrong in some ways. Skillset is there, so the key thing is to speak to someone who has helped acquire companies, patents or has sold their own company because you need to understand what headspace must you and your team be in. Your core team is looking at having a career for the long-term, so they should be in your company. They are looking at, “I own equity in this company. I'm going to get a good payday when this thing gets sold.” In an acquisition situation, it's not buying, giving you money, and walking away.

Those are options but most times, they buy it and lock you in a company for a few years before your equity activates. That's good because you get to work for and stay at a bigger company. There are different things there that you have to look at. That's it for ideas. The last thing on that idea that I want to hop on is giving back. Every brand from day one needs to already have a section that gives back, something that is giving back.

That is a problem with the world now. We have this massive disparity where people are poor. If these companies that are massive had been thinking about giving back from day one, the old 100, 200-year-old companies, we wouldn't be where we are now. It's important that you create that section area or collaborate with someone to who you can consistently give back the money. For instance, when you are trying to build your startup, I use this platform called SeedLegals and it's based in the UK. There's a section there where you can donate a portion of your equity and lock it down in your cofounders' agreement to a charity of choice.

Once your company gets acquired, and let's say, you get a $100 million payday, you already pre-stated that you are going to give $1 million out of that to a particular charity. I love that. Knowing that before we even started, we have already signed up a portion of our stuff to a charity. The charity I have looked at is the one that I know I want to work with and they get notified that you have already done that. You automatically create a relationship with a brand and it makes you feel good that when you succeed, they succeed.

They will ensure that they are part of that success story as well. It's something that somebody else is now rooting for you. It’s the thing that you need to set up. It’s different morale. There's a different way people will see a company knowing that even if they ever find out about what happened but before you even made a dime, you have already signed off a big chunk of your equity.

That's something wrong that people need to think about but the whole idea again, not to reuse the word but it's a robust thing, your idea. It’s not that you had this moment and boom. It now spreads up into something completely different and from all these blocks here, you now build the sections of your business that are vital.

Key points I want to jump back into are the idea map and building out the purpose of this thing, and how are you going to make your first dollar. Raising money is not making money. It's not the same thing. I love the last point that you touched on about giving back. I don't know if you have ever seen me wearing these shirts that say, “Decolonizing Wealth or decolonizer.”

The Decolonizing Wealth brand is all based upon the fact that if all the top percent companies gave 10% of their wealth back to these communities, we will have no such thing as hungry kids, homelessness or poverty because all that wealth will trickle back down. It can dissolve all those problems. It would take away all those problems. Those problems would not be existent anymore and all it takes is 10% of the top wealthiest companies to give back 10% to these different initiatives and it can end hunger, all this stuff. It was a fascinating concept. I love where you are going with that.

Let’s jump right back to the Idea Map. Break that down. Does the Idea Map help you do all these things like clarity? What is the Idea of Map for somebody who's new to this, coming on our podcast, this is their first time and they are probably like, “What is that?” “There’s a map out there to help me organize my ideas, so it takes me down the road to entrepreneurship. What is this Idea Map that you speak of?”

I use the term Idea Map because people tend to use brainstorming. Brainstorming happens a lot but sometimes nothing happens at the end of it. My Idea Map is designed for you to chew through your idea, all these parts of your because you now realize the work is going to take. That point is when you need to make a personal decision. “Do I have the time for this? Do I have the money for this? Can I do this?” There are certain questions here that people do not ask. They don't ask how they are going to make their first dollar.

If you notice in my book, I didn't put how you are going to raise capital because that has become a massive distraction for founders. They don't think about what their business is, how it's going to make money, revenue versus profit. They don't even think about profit. That’s the thing, what do you think your investors are buying into? They are buying into the possibility that you are going to make a profit because that's where they make their money. It's not in the revenue space. These are the things that people like me realize, I chose the word map because a map leads you somewhere. A map starts at a point and you end up at another point.

You use this method of thinking and processing your thoughts. The key thing is processing your thoughts. For someone like me, I use maps all the time. What you see on the back here is how I get things done. If I leave it in my head with every single other product I have, they become a big bowl of mush. You need to draw it out. You need to visually see.

That's what I love about this map. You are visually seeing it. You are the one writing. If you don't have the answer, which happens in some of these sections, you are like, “I don't know.” If you care about this, I want to make it something that you are going to go find out or find someone that can help you out with building this map, which is one of the reasons why a mentor and an accountability partner are key in moving forward when you are starting anything.

Building Your Business: A good entrepreneur who has self-awareness knows how to pause and respond to things instead of react to things.

For instance, remember when we started RISEprenuers ? We didn't know, it was going to be what we already believed it to be. We bounce off each other. You have to have someone like that. You have to have someone you can bounce off. Some people are lucky because it could be their spouse, some people are lucky because it could be someone in their family that's interested or their best friend. One thing you need to remember is, is that person going to move at the same pace as you? If they don't, there's a limit to what they can offer you.

You are on the same journey as someone, which is why they always advise CEOs to hang out with CEOs. If you want to be a millionaire, hang out with millionaires. There's a way you would notice how that person, number one makes decisions, number two, takes care of themselves that you have to take up. This thing about the map. A map allows you to see, “I'm going to point Z. I'm at point A now. What are the things I need to check off?” This idea map is like your check engine. You check the engine to see if you have all the things to go on this journey and that's what this is.

The next section of your book is the brand, your brand. Let's break this section down. What are some key things when people get this book that they should pay attention to? What is the section that helps you do when we talk about your brand? We know that branding is important but a lot of people don't know how to build their brand or what their brand is and how it relates to the business. Break that down for us in your brand section. What are some things that you took away or learned when you built out the brand section?

Once you are done with the Idea Map, you have gotten clarity of your goals, and you are checking the viability of the idea. The next thing is how it is going to look. How will people perceive what I'm doing? That’s something that's important. I spent a long time marketing. Branding is a lifestyle. What are people going to feel in their lives because they are interacting with your brand? If you have a good brand, your audience will follow you and that's something that's important. You have to be able to bring this perception of your product or service into one succinct way that would not only draw people in but will keep them loyal.

The best examples on this planet are Amazon, Apple and Facebook. You love to hate it but you are using it. You have to use it. We’ve got Instagram , Clubhouse , and lots of things out. Clubhouse hasn't done much in terms of it but their brand is their messaging. The fact that you can get in a room with some of the most amazing people in the world and have a conversation with that person, that's a message already. I don't care what a logo looks like. I care that it works and does what it says it is going to do. What will make your brand success? You need to define it.

Be crystal clear about your brand's mission and vision. You need to be authentic because people can see through a fake easily. Be accountable. You need to make sure that the system there holds you accountable for your vision and your mission. Guarantee and manage expectations. That’s the thing about brands. Make sure that you are not over-promising and under-delivering. You need to keep it in check. There's a balance that you need to maintain there.

Be consistent and that means across all touchpoints. Your brand needs to look the same and make people feel the same, not irritated or annoyed. A brand that makes people feel like laughing is better. You need something like that. When you see the two golden arches, “I'm going to fill up my belly with some McDonald's fries because I know they've got the best fries.” If I buy a burger somewhere else, I'm stopping at McDonald's to get my fries. It’s a weird habit. That’s a part of their brand, their chips. Tell your story.

This has become so important that I am happy this happened in marketing. There's nothing like your story. No one can replicate it. No one can replicate the journey you have taken to get to where you are going. You need to infuse that into your brand. When I’ve got to know who Steve Jobs was, and what he had gone through as an entrepreneur to make Apple what it was, I appreciated the brand more. Founders need to get ready and be prepared to share their pain, successes, happiness, struggles, challenges.

If you put that somehow into your brand story, it makes it so compelling because people feel that. This idea that you are like this god-like thing doesn't work. Eventually, people will follow other gods. Why don't you let people see the real you and be authentic? What makes you unique? Find your unique spot and attach your brand to that. That's something that's super important. We are RISEprenuers and we have a unique spot. We are like, “Africans.” We have a unique target audience. No one pays attention.

In the current climate, immigrants have been seen as more or fewer criminals. They are here to make not only our lives better but to share our culture with you and show you the best of us. Most of the top 500 companies in the US, for instance, have immigrants running the helm. Contribute to society. I can 't stress this enough. Your brand needs to show what you are doing to make the world a better place. Legacy, that's something about a brand you want to brand that will outlive you. Now and for generations to come we are going to be talking about Apple. We will probably be going to be talking about Amazon as well.

We are not ever going to stop talking about Apple and Amazon. They are going to be around long before our parents, siblings, daughters, and we are gone. They are going to be around. They submitted their mark in history.

Apple has built a legacy. Everyone involved in that company from the onset needs to be proud of themselves. Yes, the visionary is gone but it's alive, kicking and creating. They have an aggressive innovation model, so they tried to make their old items obsolete. That is amazing. They are like, “I'm going to make what I created obsolete.” That's why we are hooked on it.

Every time you get an iPhone it’s better than the last one. That's part of their brand. That's part of the ethos. This is something that people need to think about when building their brand. Articulate it well. If you can’t speak to a brand consultant, someone like me, so I look at the whole of what you are trying to deliver because people care about these things.

In fact, your brand and how people perceive it is a subconscious decision. People are deciding what they think about your brand without it being at the forefront. All they need to do is hear someone speak in your company or speak to you before they decide. Why don't you let your brand look so good that you don't even need to speak to someone to convince them? That's what you need to look at when you are thinking about branding, brand strategy, and creating a brand that sings.

Building Your Business: When you really know yourself, you are open to learning and you're more willing to make the sacrifices you need to do. That's going to get you to where you're supposed to be.

We could do this on and on all day long but if people want to do a deep dive, I'm encouraging you to go get Biabook to start your new year, build your brand, your business, take the holistic approach, and be well. Where can people find you, Sola? Where can they get this Biabook?

You can get Biabook on Amazon. You can also get the eBook on my website or the Biabook website. My website is AdesolaAkindele.com or Biabook.com . You can reach out to me for a session if you want me to be your mentor as well. We can sit down, have a talk and see what that looks like or look for resources that are local to you that you can use as well.

I built this book because of some of the grand mistakes that I made. I know that it's going to be useful for you and most entrepreneurs. The way I have designed it is that this is the start. I know that if you go through Biabook, it will be a smooth sailing relationship for you and me when I start mentoring you. You make that effort to work on yourself to make sure that your ideal business is viable. That's what Biabook will do for you.

I'm almost afraid to say this but Sola and I might work out a little special agreement for our reader for a little RISEprenuer discount or promo. We will let what that is when we figure that out. I'm putting her on the spot now. You hate to put a Nigerian on the spot about discounts but we are going to work something out.

This is different. In RISEprenuers, we want people to provide the whole goal. You rise. This book will help you rise up from where you are now to take the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th steps because it makes you decide that you are going to take this journey. You are going to make this work and you are doing it the right way. You’ve got the right tools to start. Check the engine before you go on the journey. I’m happy to partner with RISEprenuers to allow you to be able to purchase a Biabook.

That's our first session. We are going to try to do these monthly Consulting 101 with Sola on tips that you guys want to know about and help you rise up for the new year in your entrepreneurship journey. Sola, thank you.

Thanks, Taryell.

About Adesola Akindele

As an economic strategist and serial entrepreneur with 15 years of experience, I have developed a strong visionary sense in identifying unique business opportunities not easily seen by most. I enjoy being a catalyst for innovation, challenging corporate leaders to initiate growth within their organizations and communities. These skills I now translate in my daily professional life as a Strategic Marketing Partner in an International IT firm, Author of an entrepreneurship workbook, Startup Mentor, Venture Capitalist as well as a co-founder of 3 tech Startups. I enjoy working as an engagement vehicle to assist underserved audiences by helping them develop collaborative pathways to ownership as well as foster economic equality and financial wellness in their communities and beyond.

Six Ways Black Professionals Can Become Successful Entrepreneurs

Tue, 11 Jan 2022 10:26:01 GMT

In just a few short years, Black entrepreneurship has seen soaring numbers. In the US, the number of Black business owners has increased by 38 percent since February 2020. These numbers indicate a lot of change and transformation for the landscape of Black wealth overall ─ which falls behind racial counterparts.

The great news is that with more success of black businesses comes more opportunities to stabilize wealth gaps.

So how can entrepreneurs make sure they're headed down the right path of business ownership? Keep reading for seven ways Black professionals can become successful entrepreneurs.

1. Seek Out Mentorship

One of the best ways to reach success is to follow in the footsteps of those who have already done so. Mentorship is important because it gives Black entrepreneurs the chance to cut time and loss on learning lessons without coming out of pocket. It also helps develop certain traits and qualities that help to keep entrepreneurs on track such as confidence, knowledge, and mindset shifts.

Mentors act as great tools for nurturing and incubating entrepreneurs throughout growth phases. They can help with goal-setting and finding clarity in direction. You'll also be able to get tailored advice and feedback on your entrepreneurial journey that can help improve decision-making.

2. Network Like a Pro

The cliché phrase "your network is your net worth" has not gone out of style for good reason. And it's especially useful for Black professionals who are looking to thrive in entrepreneurship. Before you ever even set foot in your entrepreneurial journey, you can build relationships that will propel your efforts forward significantly.

One of the most significant responsibilities of the entrepreneur is to be their first and biggest cheerleader. Another is to learn to build genuine relationships that are value-based and equally yoked in leverage. Former CEO of Time Warner and interim CEO of the Los Angeles Clippers , Richard Parsons, says “It’s up to you to bring yourself to the attention of powerful people around you. They’re not going to find you on their own.”

3. Be a Forever Student

The road to success will have plenty of twists and turns. Stepping into territory that you've never been in before will surely come with setbacks and new challenges─ which isn't always a bad thing. The best thing Black and African entrepreneurs can do is to learn lessons and adapt during the journey.

Choosing to turn situations that seem like losses into valuable lessons will take you far. Here are a few things to make sure you're remaining a forever student in your entrepreneurial endeavors:

Personal development, business and finance books
Professional seminars and conferences
Educational classes and training
Online courses and products
Private coaching and consulting

Another key factor to keep in mind is to never underestimate where you can gain a piece of knowledge from. Stay open to finding education around every corner.

4. Find Funding From Different Resources

One of the main reasons why 20% of businesses fail within their first year is because of financial issues. This can be especially difficult for Black businesses since funding isn't always as accessible as need be. So a great way to be a successful entrepreneur is to figure out multiple options for finding funding.

There are many ways of funding businesses and utilizing more than one can set Black professionals up for long-term success. You can start with going after government allotted funds for small businesses. SBA loans help with providing cushions for working capital that support starting or growing a business.

Here are some other methods for funding:

Angel investors
Crowdfunding
Venture capitalists
Private/bank loans
Eligible grants
Self-funding/Bootstrapping

Using more than one resource for funding gives you the advantage to stay afloat if one well dries up. You can also be resourceful and reach out to friends and family to ask for assistance.

5. Manage Cash Flow Efficiently

Speaking of funds─ once entrepreneurs have the funds available to invest in their ventures, managing those funds is a huge determining factor of success. Creating positive cash flow comes down to managing money efficiently and effectively. And this boils down to knowing what's coming in and what's going out.

Black professionals should stay on top of their finances by using a variety of management tools and systems. For instance, you may track weekly spending and expenses as well as do monthly overviews and projections. This gives you a good idea of where you are and what the most feasible steps to take are.

Businesses that maintain control over their money win long-term. Tope Awotona showed us this with his SaaS scheduling product, Calendly. After raising 350 million dollars, Calendly is now valued at around 3 billion dollars.

Awotona says that the company has been profitable since 2016 and even doubled subscriptions since the pandemic─which helped to catch investors' eyes.

But this type of success starts with the small actions of keeping up with revenue details. Not creating a habit of tracking your financial status can lead to "leaking" money─ thus creating more negative numbers in your bank account than you'd like. Setup systems using spreadsheets, finance apps and software, calendar trackers, and even an old fashion pen and paper to manage cash flow properly.

6. Be a Visionary Leader

Technology has opened the doors to tons of new solutions for old problems. A great way for Black and African entrepreneurs to reach success is to work with the direction that the world is going in. Take risks with your big vision and create new and innovative lanes to thrive in.

JéGO, founded by Frederick Akpoghene, is looking to offer service providers more mobility through the use of autonomous shuttles. Akpoghene mentioned how the pandemic affected more than 1 million small businesses, showing a large decline in revenue for retail and brick and mortar. His disruptive response was self-driving vehicle startup as a solution for helping entrepreneurs and consumers navigate the new changes.

Black Professionals Can Lead the Way as Successful Entrepreneurs

There is a lot of potential and playing field for Black professionals to find their pieces of success in entrepreneurship. The important factors to consider are understanding which skills, habits, and lessons to develop and take heed to.

Start with the ones we've listed as foundational points and continue to grow as you learn. For more tips on becoming successful as a Black entrepreneur, check out our podcast .

Journey to Success: What Black Professionals Who Want to Start a Business Need to Know

Tue, 14 Dec 2021 09:26:01 GMT

According to the annual business survey in 2018, 124,004 businesses were owned by a black entrepreneur. If you're looking to add yourself to the list of black professionals, there are some things you need to know to increase your chances of success.

It's time that you rise to the occasion and take your place in your industry of choice, and we're going to help you do that. Get ready to read on and find out what makes black young professionals the best versions of themselves
possible.

Don't Be Afraid to Take a Risk

There will be highs and lows; you've got to calculate which lows are worth taking. With that being said, don't be afraid to take risks as you continue to further your business.

As a young entrepreneur, you're going to face several challenges, and one of the biggest ones is missing out on an opportunity because you're afraid of what will happen. If you don't take risks in your business endeavors, you do not know when something will pay off.

When taking a risk is the push you need to take your business to the next level. If you don't take any chances, you're not going to reap the rewards that come with them.

It's easy to decide you're comfortable with where you're at, but it takes a genuinely successful black entrepreneur to step out on a limb with the idea that it will work out in their best interest.

If You Fall, Don't Stay Down

4% of small businesses don't fail, but instead, find ways to survive without any real success. Other companies find themselves falling soon after opening, but that's not going to be you.

Do you know why? The reason you're not going to fail is that you're going to understand that failure is a part of business, but that doesn't mean you have to accept it.

For example, if you've been turned away for loan after loan, you might begin to wonder if starting a business is something you need to be doing. The answer is yes; you've just not found the right lender yet.

If you've ever heard of Cathy Hughes , the owner of Radio One and TV One, you've heard the story about how 32 lenders turned her down before she secured a loan that would change her life forever.

She understood she was destined for greatness and has risen to the top, making her one of the most prominent and influential black female entrepreneurs of all time.

When one door closes, all it means is that it wasn't the door meant for you to open.

Now Get to Work

To truly be successful in business, you can't be afraid to put in the work. If you're not willing to do the work, failure is inevitable.

During times when things don't seem to go your way, continue to work hard. When revenue isn't coming in the way, you thought it would continue to work hard.

Success isn't going to happen overnight; you've got to be diligent in the things you do and keep your eyes on achieving the goals you've set for your business.

While you're working hard, don't forget to work smart as well. The last thing you want is for all the work you've done to be in vain. It also helps if you surround yourself with people that have the same hardworking mindset as you.

When you've got people like this around you, it helps you to remain focused and continue striving to make your business the best it can be.

Be Receptive to Learning

Industries change every single day, and that means there are always opportunities for you to learn more. If you intend to be one of the leading forces in your industry, you must remain receptive to learning.

Learning can come in several forms, including:

Seminars
Networking conventions
Taking classes

If you want to ensure you stay up to date on the latest trends in your industry, the best thing to do is learn. This also shows others around you that you're progressive and always looking for ways to better yourself as a young black professional.

Understand the Innerworkings of a Business

When you decide to add your business to the list of black-owned businesses , you might not understand the number of factors contributing to getting a business off the ground. You must take the time to understand what is required to run a business.

This includes things like:

Opening a business banking account
Registering your business as a legal entity
Understand startup cost
Securing a store space

If you've not taken the time to review these things, now is the time to do it. You wouldn't put a cake in the oven without the right ingredients and expect it to turn out right, would you?

The same attention to detail needs to be taken when you're becoming a business owner. It would help if you used more attention to detail because overlooking one thing can delay your grand opening.

Don't Betray Yourself

There are times when someone believes they have to change who they are to get to where they want to be. Don't sacrifice your sense of self to be successful.

The thing that will make you successful and keep you at the top is being yourself in combination with several other factors. It's essential to stay true to the values you've established for yourself and your business before opening it.

If you find yourself in a situation where you're being asked to become someone else, it's not the right opportunity for you.

Empower Yourself and Others

There's something empowering about seeing successful black entrepreneurs following their dreams and taking the steps needed to improve their future.

In everything you do, ensure you find ways to empower yourself and other people around you. When you empower others, it improves the relationship you've built with your target audience.

Another reason to empower others is that you can open their eyes to opportunities and ideas they didn't have before.

Being a Black Professional: Solidifying Your Rise to Success

Are you a black professional that enjoys creating dope shit and the process that comes with it? There are several things to know about becoming a black entrepreneur, like finding ways to empower others and never compromising who you are to make it to the top.

If you want to check out other posts or need to schedule someone for your next event, contact Risepreneur . Taryell or Adesola has the words your young professionals need to hear to continue moving towards their seats at the table!

10 Business Tips For Powerful Black Female Entrepreneurs

Sun, 07 Nov 2021 09:44:41 GMT

Black women are currently the fastest-growing business owner population. With business ownership at a 164% increase since 2007, Black female entrepreneurs are leading the way when it comes to reaching for their goals.

However, there are still many challenges that come with taking this risk.

Certain hurdles that lie on the journey of entrepreneurship for Black business owners (especially women) aren't always included in other peoples' journeys. But that doesn't mean success is impossible. Quite the contrary!

If you're a black female owned business forging your own path, there are some key factors that can help along the way. Keep reading for 10 business tips for Black female entrepreneurs that can take you to the top.

1. Start With Your Values

Business can be a cutthroat game for any entrepreneur. Sometimes there will be situations in which people ask you to do things that you just don't have the capacity for or aren't aligned with your values. Women especially have a tendency of overextending themselves.

In order to stay balanced and clear-headed, you need to remain connected to your values. Write down your goals and the things that are important to you. Keep this vision in your mind as you move through making daily decisions for your business.

Be wary of partnerships, deals, or even advice from others that doesn't sit well with you. It's best to use, both, your logic and your women's intuition so you don't lose track of your unique path and destination.

2. Research the Market

Starting a new company where you'll be able to serve and assist others is an exhilarating experience. However, even with good intent at the forefront, you need to make sure you research the market. This is especially essential if you are disrupting an industry with something fresh and new.

Market research begins with you collecting basic demographic information about your intended target audience. This includes things like age, location, occupation, etc. You'll also want to gather information about competitors to get a big picture of how the market runs and where you can fit in.

The last thing you want to do is introduce your company and feel unprepared. Figure out what's going on around the industry to best position yourself for success.

3. Be Willing to Take Risks

Hollywood powerhouse and creator of Grey's Anatomy, Shonda Rhimes, has something to say about taking risks . In her 2015 hit memoir, "Year of Yes", she highlights the great potential of changing your life with a three-lettered word. She spoke of how saying yes to more things helped her to take risks and become more fulfilled.

These same concepts can be applied to Black female entrepreneurs in their pursuit of happiness. Rhimes made it a goal to consistently bet on herself and open up to new opportunities. Remember that the breakthrough you might be looking for could be on the other side of something that scares you.

How often do you find yourself standing in your own way? Take more risks and be open to change. You should still use discernment and calculate the ROI for certain decisions.

4. Overcome Imposter Syndrome

Many Black female entrepreneurs hold high accolades, including multiple degrees, certificates, and years of experience. However, there's still this chronic feeling of self-doubt that tends to take over. If you've ever felt like you weren't good enough even when all logic says that you're overqualified, you might be experiencing imposter syndrome.

Imposter syndrome is extremely common in women of color. You'll see plenty of stories from women in executive positions who doubt their ability to lead well. And more accounts similar to these plague female owned business founders.

But the one thing about imposter syndrome that can't be denied is that it's all typically a lie. The voices you hear in your head aren't typically an accurate depiction of the situation. Oftentimes, this internal dialogue and scenarios pop up as defense mechanisms to protect us from failure (or success).

When you find yourself feeling like a "fraud" or devaluing your worth, interrupt those thoughts with positivity. Try making a list of all your accomplishments and using affirmations. Make constant efforts to psyche yourself up and practice validating yourself instead of giving others' opinions too much weight.

5. Identify Available Resources

Black female entrepreneurs might find it difficult to start a business due to a lack of accessibility to available resources. While there is truth to this, it doesn't have to stand in the way of you and your dreams. As a business owner, it's important to keep your eyes open to what can be resourceful to you.

For instance, your community is a resource. You can lean on your local neighborhood or online communities for support. People love to support great causes and missions so hosting fundraisers or other events for them to participate in can go a long way.

Also, remember to research different organizations for business such as a chamber of commerce. Be proactive about putting your name out there for people to offer their support.

6. Find Funding Options

Most businesses fail within the first three years. One of the main reasons for this is due to lack of financing. Many

business owners underestimate the importance of being realistic with starting funds until profitability kicks in.

For Black female entrepreneurs, this can be discouraging as there seem to already be fewer financial options. But with a little digging, you'll find that there are piles of money waiting to be granted or lent. You just need to go after them.

Avoid the financial struggle by looking into various funding options. Here are a few ways to get funding for your business:

Apply for SBA loans (via US government)
Research grants specifically for women and minorities
Find a private lender (bank, credit union, etc.)
Search for cash giveaways for small businesses (social media helps with this)
Consider crowdfunding
Seek out angel investors
Connect with venture capitalists

Try multiple methods of funding if one doesn't work for you. And remember, just because you get a "no" doesn't mean you won't find your "yes".

7. Master Networking

You may have heard of the old saying "It's not what you know, it's who you know" once before. And this statement couldn't be any more relevant to business owners.

Building a strong network can open your business up to new opportunities (and revenue) that you would have never imagined possible. It can also help you connect with others who can help you along your journey. Some people may shy away from networking for multiple reasons but it's worth brushing up on your people skills.

Reach out to others and develop genuine relationships. Remember to provide value to them as a reciprocal relationship is important to most entrepreneurs.

8. Keep Track of Finances

Besides having enough money to fund the business, another part of financial struggles is money management . Thriving businesses find success when they understand positive cash flow and how this is created. If you don't have a system for tracking finances, it's best to put one in place immediately.

Being in charge of all the business finances can be overwhelming. So start with a simple routine. Write out all of your expenses and subtract them from how much money the business is bringing in.

Create a budget and monitor this in a spreadsheet to keep these numbers organized. Check in on your finances on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis to get an overall picture of where your cash flow is. Try to keep your overhead low in the beginning until consistent revenue comes in.

9. Outsource Small Tasks

When your business starts to grow, you automatically become busier. Most of the time, the small day-to-day tasks you could handle are too much for you. They take away time from the things that tend to make your business run.

If you have too much business and not enough time then consider outsourcing. You can outsource some of your tasks to different contractors to help get the job done. For instance, you may hire a virtual assistant to keep up with your email inbox and scheduling appointments.

Most successful people get the most out of their outsourcing partnerships is to already have systems in place. This way, the person knows exactly what to do and how you do it.

10. Build a Solid Support System

Running a business is no easy feat. There will be times when you feel like giving up or become discouraged. In these cases, lean on your support system for some uplift and inspiration.

Taking time away from your business sometimes to be with family and friends is healthy for business owners. Also, consider joining groups of other entrepreneurs that can provide advice and guidance as well.

Black Female Entrepreneurs Are Leading the Way

Black female entrepreneurs may face adversity in business but this hasn't stopped them from reaching great success. One of the most vital things to remember when you start a company is everyone starts somewhere. Keep your big vision in the front of your mind when things get tough.

Looking to find more advice and guidance on running a successful black owned business? Check out our RiseUrbanNation podcast today.

The Importance of Diversity in the Workplace

Sun, 07 Nov 2021 09:39:47 GMT

A diverse workplace is a significant asset to any business. It gives you access to a wide range of talent.

Also, it acknowledges the potential each employee brings and their strengths. But, achieving workplace diversity in practice is much more complicated than you think.

The secret to a thriving workplace is valuing the differences of each other. It helps bring everyone together and encourages a fair work culture.

Continue reading to learn more about the importance of diversity in the workplace.

Variety of Different Perspectives

A diverse workplace will have employees with different characteristics and backgrounds. Their abilities, experiences, and skills will also be different. It means you have a well-rounded team.

It's a great learning platform for employees to exchange different perspectives and ideas. It helps them widen their learning and experience. Employees will come together and combine their creative and innovative ideas.

This is key to achieving success in any business. Your teams' efforts are essential in planning and executing your business strategies.

When all your employees are on the same page, you risk having a stale environment. A more comprehensive range of opinions is needed to make decisions faster. It's especially true for tasks that need creative problem solving and collaboration.

Your team should comprise professionals with different cultural backgrounds and experience levels. In turn, there will be more sources of knowledge and inspiration to draw from.

Increased Creativity

As different backgrounds and cultures work together, it increases creativity. People with different perspectives can come up with solutions to problems. When employees see the same thing but in different ways, they are more likely to get new and fresh ideas.

You will notice an improvement in the creativity of your workforce with time. Diversity can only enhance creativity if you have a culture of sharing knowledge. When teams share different opinions, it is hard to see the other person's perspective.

Good leadership is vital for greater creativity and innovation. Having a team leader helps mitigate any conflicts that may arise.

Leadership is an essential resource for organizations. It helps employees set aside their differences and cooperate. If all members of your team have a similar background, it's hard to get creative results.

But diverse teams can come up with creative results. They share ideas to learn new ways of doing things. When you're looking for solutions, it's essential to get creative.

Employees from different cultures will look for information by diversifying their thinking. It helps them generate more creative ideas to solve problems.

Increased Employee Retention

Owning a business means that you're open to various characteristics and perspectives. Employees who feel valued and accepted are less likely to leave. When they are happy, they will not look for new opportunities.

A diverse workforce makes employees feel motivated. They are more likely to stay in your business.

You'll have a reduced employee turnover rate. They will also respect you and your business. We all know that the recruitment process can be time-consuming and expensive. It's best to hold on to your valuable employees.

You'll have a better potential of staying ahead of your competitors. You will not waste time recruiting employees. Instead, you will invest the funds in a different area of your business.

It shows that workplace diversity is essential for employee retention. Employees need to have a sense of belonging to your organization.

When you have a diverse workforce, your business will be more appealing to a wider customer base. Employees will also feel valued for their unique contribution and individuality.

But it would help if you came up with the best diversity policy to benefit your business. Without a strategic approach, diversity will only be destructive to employee retention.

Increased Profits

The main aim of developing a business plan is to increase revenue. Having a diverse workforce will bring you closer to your goal of increased profits. If your company consists of diverse top teams, you will be among the top financial performers.

It also becomes easy to make decisions faster. It gives you an advantage over your competitors. As a result, you'll be able to achieve better results and get more profit.

Not only that, but it also helps increase your marketing opportunities. A diverse workforce encourages customers and employees to relate with your company more. Using advertising that shows ethnically diverse individuals increases marketplace awareness.

Achieving workplace diversity means bringing out the best of your employees. It pushes them to reach their full potential. By doing so, you encourage a more varied talent pool for the benefit of your workplace.

Increased Productivity

Productivity and diversity go hand-in-hand. Research shows that diversifying your employees can increase productivity by 35%. A diverse team will understand the needs of your customers and come up with ideas to meet them.

It also increases the morale of the team and their desire to work more efficiently. This helps to increase productivity in your company. Diversity is valuable both at lower and upper management levels.

Keep in mind that diversity is a knowledge-based asset. It's a strategy used to come up with the best ideas and solutions. It encourages individuals to think about different perspectives and develop better approaches.

For lower-level management, it means better problem-solving skills. They can come up with original ideas that they can share with the senior leadership.

In turn, the senior management can develop innovative and creative formulating strategies. When you work as a team, information exchange and interactions become more effortless.

Better Reputation

Owning a company means that your employees should perceive you as a good employer. Potential employees want to work with employers who are tolerant of their backgrounds. You have to treat your employees fairly if you want them to stick around for a long time.

A diverse workplace helps create a good reputation for your company and brand. People will view your company as socially responsible and more human. It also makes it easy for different people to interact.

Diversity opens doors to new business partners, customers, and markets. Your reputation affects your sales and recruitment.

Investors, customers, and potential employees view companies dedicated to building diversity positively. If you can prove that you are a diverse employer, they will want to work with you.

You also need to recognize the importance of social media. It will help bring more public awareness of diversity in your workplace. Potential employees and key stakeholders will see this when searching for your company.

Better Decision Making

When employees come together, they share different perspectives to create diverse solutions. Decisions are made faster, which is ideal in today's competitive business marketplace. As a team, you're able to solve problems faster than cognitively similar individuals.

Employees from different backgrounds can provide a wide range of solutions. They have different views and experiences, which leads to faster problem-solving.

It shows that workplace diversity has a direct link to better decision-making. Diversity is crucial for the success of any business.

Businesses with more diverse teams outperform their competitors financially. It's because they are good at

decision-making.

Diverse teams are more innovative because they focus on facts. They take their time to process the facts more carefully. Such employees scrutinize the actions of each other.

They also consider the perspectives of others who think differently than they do. Executing any decisions requires inclusion and not just diversity.

Inclusion is key to executing good decisions into actions. To make better decisions, you need to build age, gender, and ethnically diverse teams.

Higher Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is heightened through inclusion and diversity. The link between employee engagement and workplace diversity is straightforward. When employees feel valued and included, they become more engaged.

The best way to learn about other ethnicity and culture is from your colleagues.

You don't have to research different backgrounds online. Instead, talk to your team. Ask and learn from them during after-work drinks or lunch breaks.

The main aim of having diverse employees is to learn from each other's culture and lifestyle. By sharing personal experiences, you will build a trusting relationship with each other.

It helps to increase employee engagement. It also boosts their motivation which is best for your company. Your team will have a wide range of knowledge and skills.

A culturally diverse workforce reduces racism. When employees from different cultural backgrounds interact, they learn new insights. It teaches them to be more understanding and tolerant of each other.

You Now Know the Importance of Diversity in the Workplace

It is the responsibility of the employer to ensure there is diversity in the workplace. Managing diversity is part of human resource management practices. It helps to address issues of inequality within your business environment.

Hire an expert to provide your employees with business advice. They will learn how to overcome different challenges in your business.

Here at Risepreneurs, we tell our stories to help those who are building businesses. Our focus is on the various challenges Africans and Blacks encounter. We will give you advice on career and community development.

10 Black-Owned Companies to Support This Year

Sun, 07 Nov 2021 09:35:49 GMT

Black-owned businesses may come across barriers that can slow down growth. Black entrepreneurs may struggle to access funding than their white counterparts, for example.

And there are many more challenges that POC face when growing their businesses. This makes it important to reach out to and support black companies. Here are ten black owned companies for you to check out and
patronize today.

1. Fe Noel

After years of trying, Felisha Noel (aka Fe Noel) grew the thick skin to launch a successful black fashion brand. Fe Noel is a fruit of her struggles and a testament to how passion and hard work are integral for entrepreneurial success.

Noel ventured into the fashion industry at the age of 19. She says she had that passion for fashion from a young age but never viewed herself as a designer. She entered the industry because she believed she could find success in business.

Before Fe Noel, Felisha tried her hand in business by running a retail store that failed due to funding. But with the inspiration of her entrepreneur mother , she held on to her dream and now owns Fe Noel.

The womenswear brand's motto is "Eat well, travel well, and dress to inspire". Fe Noel, the brand, designs clothing for free-spirited, playful women. It's synonymous with creative, bold prints designed to give her fans a sensual,

beautiful look.

2. Movita Organics

There are several great black-owned wellness companies. But Movita organics is a favorite for various reasons. Movita Organics promotes a healthy lifestyle by emphasizing pure and all-natural ingredients.

The founder, Tonya Lewis Lee, comes with immense experience in healthy living to lead Movita Organics. Tanya's professional entry into the industry began in 2007 when she served as a National Spokesperson for the "a healthy baby begins with you" campaign. This campaign was initiated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health.

Tanya believes health, beauty, and wellness begin from the inside. She says health is a journey and Movita is the road to a healthy destination. Movita offers certified organic vitamins and supplements. You can shop Movita Organics for multivitamins, beauty supplements, and prenatal vitamins.

3. Inner Workout

Self-care is essential but it can be hard to find the right learning materials. Inner Workout, one of the leading black-owned wellness companies, is filling the gap.

Inner Workout started from its founders' quest to help people build the skill of self-care. According to their mission, Inner Workout is a self-supporting self-care system.

As the founder, Tyler Elyse Morrison, says, she aims to help people connect and care for themselves to achieve their full potential. She does this through podcasts, speaking, and training the Koshas Yoga concept.

Inner Workout is different from other self-care programs. They emphasize a unique self-care approach to help individuals become their self-care experts. To join the program, you have to know yourself first with a free self-care assessment .

4. Postal Petals

Creativity knocked on Talia Boone's door in 2020. Right in the middle of a global pandemic, she found inspiration. Postal Petals is like a farm-to-table produce box service but for fresh flowers.

Postal Petals is a flower gifting solution for companies looking to boost their brands with custom gifts for clients and employees. Their mission is to help companies empower recipients with empowering and thoughtful gifts.

The company sources and packages fresh farm high-quality flowers and delivers them to the doorstep of the intended recipient. Talia says, "our product is for those who enjoy the mood-enhancing beauty of bold blooms and appreciate the mind-calming experience of arranging them".

Supporting Postal Petals impacts a list of fresh farmworkers and farmers. This innovative company has built a strong community of twenty-plus domestic farms to produce and deliver the finest flowers.

5. Grounded Plants

Want to support black-owned companies that provide something therapeutic? Something that will linger in your home and transform your life? Grounded Plants is the answer.

Grounded Plants is a virtual plant online shop and subscription service business. It was founded amid the

pandemic by Danuelle Doswell and Mignon Hemsley.

These two women are true embodiments of resilient entrepreneurs. Both were running freelancing businesses before joining hands to launch Grounded.

Danuelle and Mignon say they were always passionate about plants. And with Grounded Plants, they can offer an easy way for people to buy plants online. The two entrepreneurs believe that they can bring joy, healing, and wellness to many housebound families through plants.

"With so many technological shifts, our society is overanxious", says Mignon . Their goal is to bring people back to calmness and help them unwind.

6. Blk & Bold

Supporting black entrepreneurs and their businesses is an essential cause to take part in. With Blk & Bold, you can take part in a meaningful cause. 5% of your spending goes to support youths locally and nationally.

Pernell and Rod are the founders and owners of Blk & Bold. Their mission is to popularize purpose through the world's most popular drinks—coffee and tea. Every cup of Blk & Bold is a means of giving back and equipping youth with tools and resources to overcome challenging circumstances.

So, next time you're shopping, look around the shelves for the brand Blk & Bold. Be specific and ask for a cup of Blk & Bold when you're out in a local cafe or restaurant. Blk & Bold is available in around 5600 retail outlets in the US. It's also served in many select restaurants and outlets.

You can also show your support for a black-owned coffee brand by buying online. Enjoy specialty coffee from an authentic black-owned brand without leaving your home. Create your account here to kickstart your partnership with a business that makes sense of your spending.

7. Buy Better Foods

Buy Better Foods helps you cut down on excuses for eating unhealthy foods. Buy Better Foods is an organic food and products brand located in Bedstuy, Brooklyn.

The store stocks a range of organic products, including groceries, vitamins and supplements, natural cosmetics, and body care items. It's a resourceful solution for healthy foods and also offers education on a healthy lifestyle.

Myriam Simpierre, the founder, always came up with the idea to give people a complete healthy eating package. Her dream had always been to make organic foods accessible. She also wanted to help customers understand the products through in-store nutrition workshops.

She says it took her three years of planning and pooling funds to open her business. At some point, she had to leave her full-time job and work in a natural food store to learn the business for two years. In 2020, she saw her dream come true as she successfully launched it. Visit her online store to learn more about her products.

8. Don't Sleep Interiors Brand

Black art tends to evoke an inner feeling that reminds us of our innate abilities and what we are made of. Don't Sleep Interiors uses art to remind us of our culture and inspire people of color.

Don't Sleep is first a black-owned interior decor brand. They bring black culture indoors with pillows, posters, and mugs that present art and messaging from the African diaspora.

It was inspired by artist Emory Douglas & designers Sheila Bridges, Joshua Kissi & Travis Gumbs of Street Etiquette. Their mission is to free the Black minds and liberate them indoors through African art and culture.

Seeing African Diaspora art on interior decor every day can help us reconnect with our ancestry and heritage. These pieces don't just stop at uplifting your home. They'll also spark meaningful conversations and encourage you and your guests to think about your culture.

9. Zafa Wines

We couldn't close this guide without mentioning one of the top black-owned wine brands . Several black entrepreneurs have ventured into winemaking. We chose Zafa wines for the simple reason the brand champions the rights of marginalized identities.

Zafa Wines is 100% women-owned. It was founded in 2018 by Krista Scruggs and is located in Isle La Motte, Vermont. The wine brand maintains that they hire 85% of their employees from historically marginalized groups.

This is more than wine because every sip impacts and empowers someone who may never have the opportunity to make a decent living. Above that, you can rest assured of enjoying quality, sustainable wine.

10. D'IYANU

D'iyanu is a brand that evokes the African feel with its vibrant, bold prints inspired by African culture. This is genuine African fashion brand with all the trendy African-inspired outfits.

D'iyanu was founded and is owned by a Nigerian Addie Elabor. She's a leading fashion enthusiast who found her calling in enabling self-expression through a fun, bold, chic clothing line. If you want to show pride in your African roots, D'iyanu is a must-visit.

D'iyanu is 100% black-owned and dedicated to promoting African culture. Their all-female design team conceives and designs all the outfits in Philadelphia. Shop now to celebrate your culture and background.

Support Black Owned Companies Today

Supporting black owned companies can have a lot of positive effects on the community. It's an opportunity for promoting and empowering people of color.

This is a great way to play a part in assisting the black community overcome economic and wealth challenges. For more conversations about black business, sign up for our newsletter.

How Did Successful Black Millionaires Get Started?

Wed, 22 Sep 2021 13:20:44 GMT

Are you wondering how Black millionaires get their start in the world?

There are statistically fewer Black millionaires and billionaires out there, but many have still been able to overcome systemic inequality and gather wealth.

But, how can you copy what they have achieved? Let's go through some of the most successful Black millionaires so you know how to get on the same path.

Oprah Winfrey

If you haven't heard of Oprah, you've been living under a rock. But do you know about this billionaire's humble beginnings?

Oprah grew up in poverty and moved around a lot as a child. Eventually, Oprah's academic success brought her a full scholarship to Tennessee State University. Oprah became the first Black female and youngest-ever news anchor at a Nashville news station.

She worked her way up to become the host of a Chicago morning talk show, which eventually led her to sign a syndication deal for what would become the Oprah Winfrey Show.

Today, Oprah is one of the richest, most famous, and most powerful people in the entire world. Oprah has her own television network, satellite radio network, magazine, and so much more.

Mary Ellen Pleasant

Mary Ellen Pleasant was one of the first Black millionaires in the united states. She lived back in the 1800s, in Massachusetts. When she moved to San Francisco during the Gold Rush, she started eavesdropping on wealthy businesspeople during her work as a chef.

She used the information she gathered to start investing. She invested in real estate and various businesses and eventually built her wealth up to what would be over 800 million dollars today. Financial literacy and information allowed Mary Ellen Pleasant to build her fortune.

Do you want to start making money like Mary Ellen Pleasant? There are lots of different investment resources out there today you can use to get started.

Tyler Perry

This film and television giant generates tons of talent every year. Perry is a high-school dropout from New Orleans, Louisiana.

He started creating content with the musical I Know I've Been Changed, which he wrote and staged with his own money in Atlanta in the early 1990s. He became successful staging plays, which he eventually used to start creating his own film content. The first Madea film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, came out in 2005.

Since then, Perry has created and produced dozens of films and television shows. In 2015, he even began building his own movie studio in Atlanta.

Tyler Perry also uses his considerable wealth to give back to the community. In particular, Perry has focused on supporting charities that help unhoused peoples. In the world of supporting Black professionals, Tyler Perry is high up on the list.

Aliko Dangote

In terms of African entrepreneurs, Aliko Dangote is one of the biggest in history. Dangote founded the biggest cement company on the entire continent, Dangote Cement.

Dangote was born in Northern Nigeria, in Kano. He was born into a wealthy family, so he did have more of a head start above other Black millionaires and billionaires.

He established the trading firm The Dangote Group in 1977, but eventually shifted the focus of the company to other businesses, including the cement companies. Dangote's other holdings include a flour company, a sugar refinery, telecommunications, shipping, and so much more.

Robert F. Smith

If you're familiar with private equity, you're probably familiar with Robert F. Smith, who made his fortune after founding Vista. Smith was born in Denver, Colorado, and both his parents were teachers.

He studied chemical engineering at Cornell, and eventually also completed an MBA at Columbia. After completing his chemical engineering degree, he worked in the field for a while before eventually moving over to investment banking. He founded Vista Equity Partners in 2000, where he started giving consistent rates of returns to his investors.

Smith has also used his success to give back to his community. He was the first Black American to sign the Giving Pledge in 2017. He's also given to causes such as prostate and breast cancer research and treatment, protecting national parks, educational causes, and supporting the performing arts.

Madam C.J. Walker

The first woman self-made millionaire in the United States, Madam C.J. Walker founded the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company. Walker started out working as a laundry person in St. Louis, Missouri, in the 1880s.

Her brothers worked as barbers, which helped give her the idea to work on different types of hair products. She started working with Annie Malone, another early Black American millionaire, who created hair products, which inspired Walker to begin working on her own line of hair care products.

She began selling her products door-to-door, and eventually developed a mail-order system for her products. She moved her businesses to New York City, then to Indianapolis, where she also had a beauty school to show her salespeople how to properly promote her products.

Walker's incredible business acumen is spoken about to this day. Madam C.J. Walker is portrayed by Octavia Spencer in the Netflix series Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C. J. Walker.

Join the Ranks of Black Millionaires Today

There are lots of ways that Black millionaires have succeeded, but the main thoroughfare is their passion. If you work hard and care about what you do, you're sure to be successful.

Do you want to learn more about succeeding in the world of business as a Black entrepreneur? Make sure you listen to the RiseUrbanNation podcast .

7 Things You Should Know Before Starting a Business

Wed, 22 Sep 2021 13:17:44 GMT

Over 440 thousand new businesses were created in June of 2021 alone.

Spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, people across the country have decided it is time to become their own boss. Fortunately, starting a business has become more accessible than ever.

It's a new era of entrepreneurship, and the opportunities are endless. But with so many new businesses, how do you ensure your business stays on top?

Here are seven things you need to know before you go out on your own.

1. Get Support

You might be the new CEO, but that doesn't mean you need to do it all independently. Starting a business can help you build your riches. But many new entrepreneurs don't make it.

Save yourself time and money by relying on the real-world experience of others. Learn from their successes and failures before you start to make your own.

One of the best ways to do this is to locate a mentor. Check out other businesses in your community and start to network with successful owners.

If you don't know where to start, see if organizations in your area offer assistance to new business owners. Having someone to talk to about your plans can help you fall into traps that others have experienced.

At the very least, listen to advice from successful people, so you don't have to gain wisdom the hard way.

2. Develop a Business Plan

It can seem like a hassle, but a business plan is crucial to a successful business. It helps you get the finances and other assistance you need. A business plan is necessary to show potential investors and partners that you are serious.

A business plan isn't only for investors, though. The process of writing out your plan will get you to think of parts of your business strategy that you may have not previously considered.

As you develop your plan, you'll begin to consider who your competition is, how much money you'll really need, and what areas you need to focus on. Your business plan is your path to success, so don't rush it.

3. Identify Your Customers

You're starting a company because you've got a great idea. You know that you have an audience for your product, but what else do you know about them?

Before you start marketing your product, get to know your target audience well. Listen to their wants, needs, and struggles to refine your product. This will help reduce your marketing budget and increase sales.

It will also help you develop new products and services as you continue to grow your business.

4. Become a Regulation Pro

Not many people have a passion for government regulations. Unfortunately, running a business means learning and complying with federal, state, and local laws. But cutting through the red tape can help keep you in business.

Make the painful call or email your local licensing and permitting offices to ensure you have everything you need to start and run your business. Bureaucracy is part of every business, but getting ahead of it will keep things running smoothly.

5. Manage Your Finances

Managing your cash flow is critical to a successful business. Having a solid business plan will set you up for success when it comes to your business finances. But there is more to it than that.

To start, make sure you've got a handle on all of your start-up costs. Work on projecting your sales and profits. Keeping an eye on cash flow will save you massive headaches later on.

Look for ways to streamline your startup and save money as well. For instance, social media marketing may save you more than traditional advertising. There may also be grants for local businesses in your area to help with funding.

You don't have to be an accountant to get a business running, though. Know when to ask for help.

6. Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses

Before you embark on your business journey, take an honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses. Learn to feel empowered in what you don't know.

By assessing your strengths and weaknesses, you can determine what parts of the business you should lead and which areas are better outsourced. You don't have to do everything alone. Proper business management means getting help when you need it.

Maybe you make your own product but don't have a handle on marketing. Or you can handle the books, but your people skills could use some work. Be honest with yourself so you can get help in the areas you might be lacking.

7. Live Your Business Mission

When you first developed the idea for your business, you had a vision in mind. Transform that vision into your mission statement, so your goals are clear from the start.

Keep your mission at the forefront of your mind from the moment you begin building your empire to when you first launch the business. Creating your own business takes dedication and focus, with new situations arising regularly.

If you keep your focus on your mission, you'll have an easier time making the right decisions for your business.

Starting a Business the Right Way

Starting a business can be the most challenging experience of your life. But it can also be the most rewarding.

Preparation is key to ensure your time, money, and efforts are put to good use.

With these tips, you'll be off to a great start. Subscribe to our newsletter to keep the advice coming. We'll help you build your empire in no time!

Investing for Beginners: Tips and Tricks on How to Get Started

Tue, 03 Aug 2021 08:54:14 GMT

Do you dream of the day when you can retire from the day to day grind of heading into work? If so, you should know that experts predict you'll need approximately 80% of your current yearly income per year in retirement. If you currently have a salary of $80,000 and live comfortably, you'll need about $64,000 per year in retirement.

Maybe you dream of sending your kids off to college in the future and want to make sure you'll have the funds to do it.

Investing for beginners doesn't have to be intimidating or hard if you have some real goals in mind. If you're ready to learn some investing basics so you can prepare for the future, we can help. Read on to learn some basics of investing and how you can start to prepare for your future goals.

What Is Investing?

You certainly hear the term investing thrown around like you should understand it. You hear brokers and investment firms advertising on tv. But let's go to the basics and understand what it really means to start investing.

When you invest money, you put it into something with the goal that over time the funds will increase in value. So, investing goes beyond just saving. Sure, you are saving money because you aren't spending it. But ideally, the money you put into an investment would increase in value over time.

Saving is more of a short term way of putting money away. Whereas, think of investing as a long term plan to save and grow your own money.

Why Is It Important to Start Investing?

So, why is it so important to start investing? You may have financial goals for the future that you want to achieve. This might include retirement or college savings.

It's also important to start investing because instead of just saving, you're making your money work for you. When you invest with the long game in mind, you are making a plan for your money to not just get saved, but also to grow for you.

Frankly, to achieve the goals of being able to retire or send kids to college requires you to start early so you know you'll have enough money put away.

How to Know You're Ready to Invest?

So are you wondering how to start investing or even if you have enough money to start investing for the future?

You might even be thinking you don't have a whole lot of spare money and wonder if it's enough to start investing.

Most experts suggest that before you take a deep dive into investing, you should first make sure you have an emergency fund in place. Most of the places you'll want to invest won't allow your money to be fluid . So, you want to be in a situation where you have access to funds for an emergency without having to tap into an investment.

It also makes sense to pay down debt. If you have high interest credit card balances, you'll lose any gains you make in your investments by paying those interest costs.

Once you have an emergency fund and have paid down your debt, you're ready to begin investing in your future.

Places to Invest Your Money as You Get Started

As a beginning investor, you might be wondering what types of investment options are available for you. Let's take a closer look.

401K or Other Employer Retirement Plan

Not all employers offer this, but if you have access to a 401K plan or a pension fund through work, you should absolutely be taking advantage of it. Often employers will match funds that you put away into a 401K. The money is also taken out before taxes, saving your tax liability too.

Robo-Advisor

Robo-advisor investing is smart for beginning investors because it requires very little effort from you. You can invest a small amount of money, even monthly, and the computer using algorithms will handle the investing for you.

Mutual Funds

A mutual fund is a group of investments all grouped together. Your money basically gets pooled with other investors and the fund makes investments. Many employer retirement funds allow you to put your money into a mutual fund. Again, a mutual fund is managed by a team of experts , allowing you to know there are experts handling your assets.

Index Funds

An index fund is very similar to a mutual fund. However, in an index fund, the computer is programmed to monitor the market index and adjust the funds investments accordingly.

Investment Basics, What to Consider

As you prepare to begin investing, there are some investing basics you should consider. You want to think about these items as you decide where to put your money and for how long.

Watch Out for Fees

Fees are a reality of investing. The people doing the work on the investment need to get paid. Yet, fees can vary from investment to investment. If you select an investment with a higher fee structure, it can really eat up your potential growth over time. You should always understand what fees you'll be charged with each investment.

Consider Risk

Anytime you invest money, you need to be prepared for risk. Some investments carry more risk and the potential to lose more than others. There is always an associated risk when you put your money into something. It's important to know the level of risk associated with any investment.

You also need to remember that investing is a long term activity. Investments will rise and fall, but in the long run haul, most will grow.

Understand Diversification

To combat risk, it's important as you begin investing to work on diversification. This simply means you are putting your money in a variety of places versus in all one place. If your money is all in one place and there is a loss, you have the potential to lose more.

Long Term Game

As you make investment decisions, you want to consider how long before you should need access to the money. This can help you to create a plan and give you time for the investment to really grow.

Tax Implications

As you consider how long you have before you need access to your investment, also consider tax implications. Often if you take money out too soon, it can be very costly. Talk with your financial advisor about what tax implications are associated with the investments you make.

Investing for Beginners, Get Started Today

Investing for beginners doesn't have to be overwhelming or scary. In fact, it should make you feel empowered that you're taking hold of your finances and planning wisely for the future.

For more opportunities to learn and grow in your life, be sure to check out our podcast page .

How to Be a Better Leader in All Facets of Your Life

Tue, 03 Aug 2021 08:50:25 GMT

Being a great leader is fulfilling. People will look up to you and you'll know that you're making a real difference. But do you know how to be a better leader both in and out of the office?

Leadership in a work environment is crucial, but true leaders use their leadership abilities in all facets of their lives.

They never forget the importance of leadership skills outside of the office.

Are you unsure of how to be a better leader? Even if you're great already, it's always helpful to continue learning and stay humble. We're here to offer you some advice.

Keep reading to learn how to improve your leadership skills and become a mentor and guide for others.

Never Stop Learning

A good leader keeps learning throughout their life. They never get too proud to learn new things, read new books, or look to other people for leadership and advice.

There are plenty of ways that you can continue your learning journey to develop your leadership abilities. You can listen to podcasts, read books, attend relevant classes, watch seminars, and so much more. The internet has made learning accessible and easy for anyone willing to put in the work.

Remember, no one is ever too smart or experienced to learn. Even if you've "made it" in life, there is always more to know.

Be a Good Listener

Great leaders are also great listeners. They want to take in the ideas and opinions of the people that they're leading, even if they counter their own opinions.

If you want to improve your leadership skills, try to improve your active listening skills. Active listening is when you take an active role in a conversation instead of waiting for your turn to speak.

When you use active listening, you make eye contact with the person who is speaking. You may display and observe appropriate body language for the conversation at hand, and you'll respond thoughtfully to what the other person is saying.

When you listen to someone in an active way, you're showing them that you value them. It improves your overall ability to communicate .

Improve Your Critical Thinking Skills

Good leaders also have to have good critical thinking skills.

As a leader, you need to know how to both think on your feet and take time to process information that you're unfamiliar with. There will be times that your kneejerk reaction isn't the right one, and you need to seek new information.

Critical thinking is challenging. It means that you may have to put your beliefs aside to make room for nuance. When you do this, you show that you're a flexible person who's open to change.

By applying critical thinking skills, you'll understand people around you more.

Learn Emotional Intelligence

Have you heard of emotional intelligence?

While great leaders should know their craft and have a strong baseline of standard intelligence, emotional intelligence is also crucial.

Emotional intelligence is your ability to understand the emotions of others, understand your own emotions, and healthily manage your own emotions.

Emotionally intelligent people are understanding, empathetic, and controlled. They don't have frequent emotional outbursts or react to logical problems with their emotions.

When you display emotional intelligence, you're creating a healthy environment for the people that you're leading. You'll come off as mature and responsible, and you'll feel better as well.

You'll be able to form and maintain strong attachments and relationships and build trust. Having good interpersonal skills is crucial if you want to be an effective leader.

Lead By Example

Leading doesn't mean that you no longer do "lower-level" work. Don't think of the people that you're leading as "followers" or "beneath you." You need to continue doing the things that led you to a leadership position.

If you want the people around you to display good interpersonal behavior, why would they do so if you aren't also doing it? As a leader, you're setting an example for the people that you're leading. If it's not a good example, your leadership efforts will fail.

Show other people kindness, display determination, and creativity, and work hard. Through these efforts, you'll inspire the people around you to be better as well.

Uplift Others

Speaking of displaying good qualities for others to mimic, you also need to uplift the people around you with your behavior.

Everyone needs someone to hype them up now and again. You know how good it feels to have someone believe in you and help you out, so why not extend that same gift to other people?

Everyone is capable of great things. When you internalize that belief, you'll see how much most people are worthy of praise.

If someone is having trouble with something, and you have the means to help them, offer that help. If someone has a fantastic idea, let them know that you support them.

Uplift your community and they'll lift you up in return.

Don't Make Excuses

It's easy to fall into the excuse trap. All of these things that you should be doing to build your skills, why bother if you have so many other things on your plate? Why not put them off for future you?

Time is going to pass regardless of whether or not you're choosing to better yourself, so make it time well-spent.

It's true that you might be tired, overwhelmed, or stressed out, but don't let these things become roadblocks.

When you learn to manage your time, set goals , and make adjustments to your priorities, you'll discover that many of your excuses never held any water.

Leadership starts with leading your own life in the direction that you want it to go.

How to Be a Better Leader: You're on the Right Track

Learning how to be a better leader is a noble goal. You're doing a great thing for yourself and your community, regardless of where these leadership skills are coming into play.

Think of the leaders that you've had in your life or even the ones that you've wanted. What do they have in common? How do they make you feel?

Use this information to form yourself into the best leader that you can be.

Are you interested in listening to leaders, guides, artists, entrepreneurs, and other successful icons in your community? Check out the RISEpreneurs podcast to hear stories from people just like you.

12 Simple Money Management Tips That You Can Start Right Now

Tue, 03 Aug 2021 08:46:17 GMT

Are you struggling to budget your money?

We've all been in that situation where you get your paycheck on Friday and it's already gone by Monday. It can be stressful and worrying not having any money to put aside for a rainy day or an emergency.

Managing your money is one of the most important life skills you can learn. But knowing where to start can be a difficult and daunting task.

It doesn't have to be like that! Keep reading for these 12 simple money management tips to get you started today.

1. Make a Personal Budget

The first step in how to manage your money is understanding your expenses. Make a spreadsheet with your income after taxes and your monthly expenses. These should be the necessities like:

Rent/mortgage payments
Utilities
Food
Gas
Insurance

This will give you the amount of "disposable" income you have left to spend as you will each month. You need to stick to that amount and should consider savings.

2. Write Down Financial Goals

Another of the best budgeting tips is to have financial goals in the next five to 10 years. Write down your financial priorities, like clearing your debts or buying a house.

Then, make a financial step-by-step plan on how to achieve it. Having a plan and working towards something you want is a great way to stay on top of your financial health.

3. Put 15 Percent Away For Retirement

One of the most important tips for managing your money is saving for retirement. If you're starting to save late or want to retire early, you could need to put aside more than 15 percent. For most people though, that's a good starting point.

If you can't save that much, put as close to that figure away each month as you can to build those savings. Retirement should be at the top of your priorities when it comes to managing your money.

4. Don't Touch Your Retirement Savings!

When you see a small amount of savings for retirement it's tempting to spend it elsewhere, but don't. It does matter, as that amount will grow over the years of employment as you keep putting into it.

There are also taxes and deductions to consider when you take that money out. You could lose 25% in one go. Not to mention each $1 you take now is a loss of $10 to $20 in the future by the time you retire. The best money management advice is to leave the money there and watch it grow.

5. Set Aside Emergency Savings

For emergencies, you should have savings equal to 3 months' expenses. Some money management experts would suggest 6 months' worth. The reality though is it can take years to build up this level of savings, especially with other things to pay for.

While you're building your savings, see what plan B options you have. You might need to consider using a credit card, or a line of home equity credit you're not using.

6. Cut Down Your Leisure Spending

No one is saying you can't treat yourself but think about if you need that Frappuccino every morning. Do you and your colleagues always need to eat out for lunch?

Cut down little by only buying a coffee once or twice a workweek instead of every day. Bring packed lunches to work instead of buying them. The little things soon add up.

7. Buy Used Cars

It's nice to drive a shiny new car but they're costly, and most of that value is gone after the first 2 years. It's better to have someone else pay for the depreciation and pick up a second-hand car instead.

The better-built cars of today can run for 10 years or more when looked after, so a used car is still reliable. Over your driving lifetime, you're looking at savings of the hundreds of thousands.

8. Use the 20/4/10 Rule for Car Loans

In an ideal world, you won't need to borrow money to buy your next car. In reality, it's not always possible to be a cash buyer.

In this case, protect yourself with a 20 percent downpayment and limit the loan to four years. Then, make sure your monthly payments are no higher than 10 percent of your gross monthly income.

A larger downpayment stops you from owing more than the car is worth once it's off the lot. Some cars can lose 30 percent of their value as soon as they're driven off the lot if you're buying new (which you shouldn't).

Limiting the time of the loan means you build equity faster without paying a lot of interest. And capping the size of your payments will stop the loan repayments from taking all your budget.

9. Use Credit Cards Right

If you're carrying a balance look for a different low-rate card to transfer it to. This can help you pay off that debt faster, and avoid rewards cards for now.

When you're paying in full each month (like you should), look for reward cards offering at least 1.5 percent of what you spend. Review your rewards often to make sure you're getting the most out of them.

10. Wait and Save for Non-Essential Items

It's easy to get swept up on the moment when a shiny new item catches your eye. And it can take a while to realize that you don't actually need it.

If you're in the mall and see something, keep shopping around for 30 minutes. If you still want it and would only

like it, it's better to save your money.

For larger items, don't use the credit card right away. Wait until you've saved up enough money for the item that you could pay it off once you buy it.

11. Get Insurance in Place

Protect against catastrophic sudden expenses should disaster strike. Insurance is there to protect against disasters that could wipe out your finances:

Fire
Car accident
Flooding

You want to choose policies with high limits and high deductibles. You'll need to cover small insurance payments but the peace of mind is worth it. What you spend won't be as much as you'll save if the worst happens.

12. Fix Your Mortgage Rate

If you're a homeowner try to fix the rate of your mortgage for at least as long as you want to live in the home.

Plans change but you don't want a huge payment increase to force you out of your home before you're ready.

Always compare your mortgage rates online and check out reviews of the lenders. You don't want to be stuck with a bad lender who doesn't look after or value their customers.

Money Management Tips You Won't Want to Miss

So, there you have it! Now you know these top 12 money management tips you're on your way to financial success. Remember, to succeed it is important to make your money work for you.

If you found this article useful, be sure to check out our podcast . Each week we spotlight inspirational Black and African success stories. Gain access to these accomplished professionals' knowledge and resources to help you with your own success story.

Personal Finance Basics: 5 Principles All Young Adults Should Know

Tue, 03 Aug 2021 08:40:45 GMT

Picture this.

You wake up one day and you suddenly have more cash in your bank account than you ever thought possible. After you've made all the right phone calls and made sure there were no mistakes, what do you do with the money?

If you're like many young adults who have just started learning about finance, chances are that you've thought of multiple bills that you'd pay and products you've been dying to buy. But depending on how much money is involved, it's easy to reach a point where you're having thoughts of "What am I supposed to do with this money now?".

Here are five personal finance basics that every young adult should know. Keep reading to find out more.

Principle #1: A Good Budget Is a Consistent Budget

In some regards, a budget is basically the financial version of being on a diet. Most people start off well when restricting their calories. They buy carrots, they chow down on the celery, and, if they're really committed, they may even carry a fancy water bottle that helps them keep track of how much water they've been drinking.

But once the weight comes off and the cravings for chocolate cake start to really settle in, it's not unusual for people to end up back where they began in their fitness journeys.

Managing your money is kind of like maintaining a healthy weight. You have to be consistent to get the results you want. If you love dining out and going shopping, add a fun money fund to your budget. Do you have a preference for going on road trips? Have vacation savings built into your financial plan.

Budgeting isn't about not spending money. It's about spending money in a disciplined way.

Principle #2: Tomorrow's Wallet Is Just as Important As Today's Wallet

In 2019, the Guardian reported on how global attention spans had been trending downwards over the past 40 years. While this tendency can make for more action-packed movies and better YouTube experiences, it's important to balance deals and bargains against the long-term impact on your finances.

Here's what we mean:

Say you're shopping for a new jacket and you find two. One is priced at $120 and one that's priced at $40. At first glance, the cheaper jacket might seem like the better deal. But if the $40 jacket needs replacing after two years while the $120 jacket lasts for ten, you could find yourself in a situation where buying the cheaper jacket could actually be harder on your wallet than the more expensive one.

Believe it or not, this is a concept that can often determine whether or not that deal you've stumbled across is actually a bargain. Financial literacy is often about being able to assess how the items you buy in the present can impact your finances in the future.

Principle #3: You Can Never Start Preparing for Retirement Too Early

When you're fresh out of college or just getting your feet wet, retirement sounds like an abstract, "Yeah I'll do that some day." kind of an affair.

But as the years go by, life can come at you fast. In 20 or 30 years, when calling it quits is looking more and more like a possibility, you don't want to be looking at your savings and wondering how you'll survive without the steady income that comes with having a job.

In 2016, a deceased janitor made headlines when it was revealed that he had built an $8 million fortune in secret.

While you may not have to put aside every dollar you have or go to extremes, it does go to show the importance of putting aside a little bit of money over a long period of time.

Plus, on a very real level, nobody has ever retired and felt like they'd put aside too much money. You may have medical bills to cover or college expenses for your grandkids to consider. As such, you can't go wrong by planning for your retirement early.

Principle #4: It Pays to Know Your Financial ABCs

There are some people out there who understand investment research the way basketball players understand how to make jump shots. And there are other folks who are undeniably talented when it comes to putting their spreadsheets to work.

The good news is that with personal finance, basic knowledge isn't like getting a Ph.D. in a field where knowing advanced mathematics is the bare minimum. If you understand the basics of finance really well and you make a point of doing them over and over again, you'll never have to worry about being broke again.

As such, if you're able to budget and get your money where you need it to go, you're in a strong position to continue making solid financial decisions for life.

Principle #5: Be Intentional With Your Credit

When you've got a shiny new card and a high spending limit, it can be tempting to see a bunch of items on Amazon and think "Let me get this now and I'll pay down my credit card later.".

But all it takes is one change to your billing cycle or a sudden job loss to get stuck in a cycle of debt that takes several months or years to pay off. And while your finances may be able to bounce back once or twice, credit card interest rates can eat away at your finances over time.

Of course, we just came out of a pandemic. If you've been using a credit card to buy groceries, for instance, sometimes you do what you've got to do. But as a general rule, if you use the credit card to establish your history and stay within your means while doing so, you can avoid getting into an awkward situation that has you googling things like "How do I fix this credit card debt?".

Knowing Your Personal Finance Basics Can Set You up for Life

In personal finance, folks often talk a big game about investment portfolios, houses, and cars. And while there's nothing more personal finance-oriented than strategizing towards your financial goals, there's a key reason why these basic principles are so important to know:

Financial habits have a way of snowballing for better or for worse.

Whether you're starting from zero with loans and bills to pay or you're about to start your first job, knowing your personal finance basics can keep you on track for the rest of your life.

Looking for more advice on how you can level up your financial life? Check out the rest of our site today!

Starting a Business 101: 5 Facts You Need to Know

Tue, 03 Aug 2021 08:37:16 GMT

Are you interested in starting a business?

The idea of starting a small business is thrilling, but it's harder than it looks on the surface. Sure, anyone can come up with ideas or create a small side hustle online, but it takes dedication and planning to follow through with it.

Basically, if you want to make this work, you need to know the ropes of how to start a business.

You're nervous but motivated. We get it because we've been there. That's why we're here to help.

Keep reading to learn our top tips for starting a business for beginners.

1. Research Must Come First

As a small business owner, you're going to have to do a lot of research throughout your career. Start before your business is even off the ground.

You need to investigate your target market . Is there room for you? Remember, a good business fills a void or need in the market.

Start looking into the local competition. Why would a potential customer choose your business over others? If they wouldn't, how can you make changes to your plans?

Take owning a bakery for example. If there are already ten bakeries in town, how will you make yourself stand out?

2. Planning Is Key

While you're researching, you should also be brainstorming. Creating a business plan is essential. You're going to consider things like:

Staffing (if necessary)
Funding
Marketing
Goals and objectives
Target audience

This plan isn't just for you. You'll use it when you're trying to find investors. Investors like seeing that you have a framework for your business ahead of time.

3. Branding Is More Important Than You Think

In 2021, personal branding is everything. What does yours look like?

Your branding will carry you through your social media profiles, your website, and even your products. You need it to be recognizable, appealing, and professional.

Consider other successful brands and try to mimic their methods while also creating something that's individual to you.

4. Money Matters: How to Get Funding

You need to find someone to fund your business.

If you have the funds, you can start by yourself. Eventually, though, you may need some help if you want to expand

and improve. There are several ways to accomplish this.

The first is through loans. You can take a personal loan from a friend or family member, but these are often risky.

You could also take a bank loan. If you're lucky, you might be able to find someone who believes in your vision so much that they'll invest.

5. Legal Facts You Must Consider

You don't need to be a legal expert, but you do have to know the basics. You should look into local laws regarding permits, employment, and insurance. You also need to understand tax basics, even if you're going to have someone else manage your taxes for you.

Make sure that you understand the basics of patents and intellectual property law before you jump into ownership.

Starting a Business: Are You Ready?

With these helpful facts and suggestions in mind, is starting a business on the horizon? You can be a successful entrepreneur with enough discipline and planning.

Do you want to hear real stories from POC making their way in the world of business and entrepreneurship? Tune into RiseUrbanNation and get inspired.

Dr. Craig Wright Metaphysical Practitioner| Numerologist

Mon, 07 Jun 2021 07:17:20 GMT

Want to know what your numbers are and what they mean? You may want to contact Metaphysical Practitioner and Numerologist Craig Wright for that. Craig is an Ordained Metaphysical Minister, and a Certified Metaphysical Practitioner. It was the tragic death of a friend in the summer of 1972 that prompted Craig to search for the meaning of life. This began his study of NUMEROLOGY. After many years of personal research, Craig went public in 1988. His presentation on Numerology generated so much excitement that people began to ask him to share his knowledge about this fascinating science. The momentum has continued to grow. Craig's services have been sought nationally and internationally. He has served as a resource to several human service agencies by conducting seminars and workshops. He has a wide array of clientele who consult with him regularly on personal as well as business matters.

Connect with Dr. Craig today and get the meaning of your numbers:

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/IamDrCraig

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/numerology_services/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NumerologyServices

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Listen to the podcast here:

Dr. Craig Wright Metaphysical Practitioner| Numerologist

This episode got Dr. Craig . What can I say about him? His energy, wisdom, whole spirit and being are amazing. We went into a conversation about his career as a numerologist. I got to learn a little bit about how numbers play such a significant role in our life. There's a certain side that he spoke to with the way he's developed his career in numerology, spirituality, and being able to connect both of those worlds together.

As you'll see in this episode, some of his lived experience of talking about history in the flesh, being around during the death of Martin Luther King, and now being able to see a Black woman as vice-president and then the tragic killing of George Floyd. How do these moments in time have differences? The impact in these two moments in times, and looking back on how he sees it from the being here on earth and living during both of those times and different phases in life?

He has a book that's all about numbers. I definitely invite you to check it out. Go to his website. There's something unique that he does with numbers that allows you to tap into yourself, understand who you are, your calling and purpose, and hopefully, you get to try it out, see it for yourself. Dr. Craig, Ladies and Gentlemen.

That made you very wise. Even as a young person, you were wiser than your years, as they say.

I love that whole analogy. I do resonate with a lot of that. There's a lot of truth in that statement. Either you know me very well, or you're in touch with the ancestors and everything else.

I'm a numerologist. That was a definition of the letter Y that I shared with you. Every number and every letter represent a spiritual quality. As we were created by the word of God, the letters in our name and the numbers in our birthday are symbols for the word of God that created us.

Amen to that.

When is your birthday?

It's December 7th, 1978.

There's that seven again. The letter Y, you're born on the seventh and your year, 1978. If you add 1 plus 9 plus 7 and 8, that adds up to 25, and 2 plus 5 is 7. It's a lot of number sevens in your chart. That is indicative of strong, intuitive power. The need to spend time alone on the seventh day, God rested. You need quiet time by yourself. What was your day again?

It's December 7th, 1978.

It's 3-7-7. That's your month, day, and year. 1 plus 2 is 3. It was 12 and 7 is 19, 19 and 25 is 44. That's a master number. The number 44 is called the master liberated vibration. It was expressed by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It was a 44, and so was Nelson Mandela. Your advice and counsel can set other people on their path of liberation. Your focus is more within than your intuitive side.

I'll put it this way. You knew about the secret before the book came out. You're wired that way intuitively. Seven is a number of faith, so you're a mountain mover. You never have to worry about how things are. You have to get alone or near some water or mountainside, countryside, a serene environment and visualize, and you can materialize.

The only challenge you face is follow-through. You're very creative. You've got a lot of things going on, and you're dropping some things that will take you where you want to go. The challenge is to follow through and limit your focus to no more than four things at a time. Most people can't do that, but you can take on much more. You have to limit it to four things at a time. You'll start to manifest your ideas and feel okay. I'm not spinning my wheels, coming home tired, but I haven't accomplished anything.

That is spot on. Especially since the pandemic, there's been increased productivity on certain things because I was able to have that time alone to focus and isolate myself. Pre-pandemic, I had a lot of things going on.

My thought was, “What if we do that too?” With the pandemic that slowed everything down, and that's been a benefit, not only as you phrase it, but it's also been a benefit to the planet. Getting us back in touch with slower times and truer values, Trump represented how far off we had gotten. Now we're back on track.

That's what I do. I share with people information about their name and their birthday. Their birthday was God's part of the contract, and naming deals are part of the contract. Like the prophet Jeremiah, we have a contract with God before we are formed in the world, but we come with the owner's manual that most people aren't aware of.

If people start to look more within, they will find everything that they need and more.

That's the message from the number seven to the people. That's what you're here to share. The seven have come with a shovel, and they're here to discover treasures and share them with others. You also have an ability for written and verbal communication. God wouldn't give you the ability to find treasure if you didn't have the ability to share your findings. You're also a writer.

How did you get in touch with this unique gift you have that you are sharing with me? When did you first learn that you had it? How did you begin to harness?

Before I answer that, I have to say this. There's a difference between figures and numbers. For example, if I hold up this recorder and I say, "I have one recorder," that's the figure. If I say, "Olympus recorders are number one," that's not a quantity. That's a quality of being the best. See the difference, and one is for quantity. The other represents a quality. Number one, the best.

I started off being very good with figures. In the seventh grade, I got As in Math and Science. My parents decided I was going to be an Engineer. Every Math course, every Science course, they could imagine all year long. Summer school, seminars, or workshops. My mother was a school teacher, so I was never out of school. I'm preparing to become an Engineer. I wanted to go into the Air Force, fly jets, and become an Engineer. I had my life all planned out.

My best friend died from a drug overdose, and I didn't even know he was using. That stopped everything. My roots weren't deep enough for that experience. Up until then, I was an atheist. I didn't believe in God. I thought God was a thing in people's imagination or a crutch for the weak. If you couldn't measure it, quantify it, I was a technocrat.

When that happened for the first time, I began to pray and asked God, "Why was I here? What was the meaning of life? I wasn't going any further. You could take me now. I need answers." That's where I was. From that state of yearning, I heard a song. The song was by Roy Ayers. It was on an album called Everybody Loves The Sunshine.

They played a cut from that in the Super Bowl 2021. The song that I heard that intrigued me was on a jazz station, Morgan State University Radio, and it was called The Third Eye. The lyrics went, "Baby, baby, baby, look to the sky, seeking to find the third eye. Secrets of numbers, secrets of sound, secrets of wisdom can be found what I wanted to know." That song mesmerized me.

I bought the album, read the jacket cover. There was no Amazon or Google. It took me two years to find a book that the author of the song had read. It was called The Finding of the Third Eye by Vera Stanley Alder, and that was my introduction to numerology. I started reading about The Secrets of Numbers . Every number has a meaning.

Everybody knows 1) Leadership. 2) Patience. 3) Expression. 4) Work. 5) Freedom. 6) Service. 7) Faith. That's your number. 8) Money and power. 9) Selfless giving. I began to study those numbers, and it started feeding me. These were the answers I was looking for. That's how I got started. It was the death of my closest friend.

What's your number out of curiosity?

My month, day and year add up to the number seven. My year of birth, 1951, adds up to 16. That's a seven. My name is a seven. My vowel total is seven.

No wonder you know me so well.

That's what I discovered. I'm a seven and doing what I'm supposed to do. It's studying mysteries of life, the next part came. It was time to share with others. That was the hard part. This was back in 1972. People weren't as awoke as they are now. I was definitely at the oddball talking about secrets of numbers and sounds.

People are getting as far away from me as they could. They didn't know what was going on with me. I began to pray and ask, "What should I do?" I started off in the seminary and didn't stay there long. They didn't want to hear about third eye or any of that stuff. Even though it's in the Bible, raining 40 days, 40 nights, name changes. All of this is based on the science of numerology.

I ended up going to the University of Metaphysics after doing a great deal of study on my own. For years, I would go to the Library of Congress and read the books they have. That's the only thing that was, but now there's numerology for dummies. You can go to any library and get it. This dawning of the age of Aquarius thing, I've lived through it and seen it happen. Whereas people were running from me now, people were seeking me out. I realized God was preparing me in those early years, so I'd be ready for now.

I'm finding that to be true now in my career and life. Everything that I had endured from being the black sheep when I was younger allows me to be the prominent leader that I am now, and everything that I experienced has prepared me for this moment.

It was a test to see if you would stick to that path and listen to God's voice, as opposed to the naysayers, the doubters, the haters, as they are called. That's the test that the number seven has to face.

In that test of faith, there were some dark times where I was like, "Maybe I should switch gears here. I need to stop holding on to this thought."

It cost me my first marriage. I was given an ultimatum, "You either going to choose this numerology stuff or me." I said, "You or God. That's what you wanted. I'll be over every weekend to see the kids." When you're seven, you have to give up something you're attached to. That's the test. You will be asked to give up something, at least one thing you're very attached to. It's a test the faith.

What is your doctorate in? What'd you get your doctorate in?

I ended up going to the University of Metaphysics. My PhD is in Metaphysical Counseling, but I did it backward. As a numerologist, I was already doing metaphysical counseling, and God came to me and said, "It's your credentialism. I want you to go to this school." I couldn't find it anyplace else, but I was guided to the University of Metaphysics. It's distance learning.

I wonder if you're able to use that to answer the numerology. It seems like they could work hand in hand with each other, but you answered that question. Welcome everybody to another episode as me and Dr. Craig was getting right into it. When you see your soul brother, and he starts speaking your language, you sometimes forget that you're on a show. What I've learned in doing these shows is that sometime in the introduction, we get into a great conversation.

To tell you a little bit more like back in a time when I was doing what you were doing, trying to share all the knowledge and information I learned from whatever I read it internally, or however I acquired that knowledge. I go out to different communities, especially to people that look like us, schools, and so forth. I often find that we have limiting beliefs of whether who we are or could be. These limiting beliefs manifest in other ways in our trajectory of success and navigating the world.

I want to start a show like this where we can have these conversations. We were having a day. Unlock some of those mental beliefs about freeing yourself from mental slavery. As we start to see more of us having these conversations and these dialogues, they will unlock something in somebody else, and then they can go share and unlock. The cycle continues. I greatly appreciate you being on here.

That's the true method of change. It only occurs from within. When each person journeys within, I lived through Martin Luther King and Kennedy’s assassination when everybody was excited, we had the White House, Senate and marches in the street, and then suddenly, it was all over. That's what taught me the true revolution is within. That's where true and lasting changes occur.

We've been talking about freedom for years, but when everybody around the world saw what happened to George Floyd, that was a gut-level reaction. There was a global response to Black Lives Matter. You got to reach people within. There are souls like Christ who came to sacrifice himself for us. The name Jesus is a number eleven, and the name George Floyd is also a number eleven. The number elven energy is about sacrificing yourself for your ideals.

George Floyd was a great soul who had a contract to change the world by sacrificing his physical shell because I believe the spirit is on. It can't be destroyed. The first thing they teach us in Physics is energy can be neither created nor destroyed. I said, "God is real. I should tell everybody. Why are you saying it like that?"

Here's what I would like to know from your point of view. You were around when Martin Luther King got assassinated, and you're here now when the George Floyd situation happened. We have two different decades, two different eras. A Black man gets assassinated and murdered. Both changed the trajectory of our country emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually. What's so different about both of those moments in time, in your essence and opinion? What was the catalyst? What was the energy and the difference between both of these significant moments in history?

In one aspect, similar because they helped move things forward. The difference was in Dr. King's assassination during those times, there were a majority of the people who weren't in favor or did not have that same belief that he had. People were saying, "We'll give you stuff separate but equal," or "We'll let you have this and plan out something in a few years from now." He was about, "No. Now is the time. Let's energize."

His model was Gandhi. He saw what Gandhi did fighting the British, the biggest empire on the planet. They said the sun never set on the British empire. Those guys had their hands on everything. Without firing a shot because they would have lost if they took arms, they were ready for that. Gandhi showed how passive resistance, faith, prayer, meditation and belief is the stronger force. He was King's example.

King practiced that. Over here, we had never heard about this non-violent thing. I didn't hear about Gandhi until they made the movie. I wasn't aware. We didn't have the internet. People weren't as worldly and as aware. That's the main difference with the George Floyd incident. Everybody in the world had access to those videos and saw them live. Not reading or hearing about it, but I witnessed it with that guy with his knee on his neck for nine minutes.

He could hear him calling out. That was a major difference. People had more ability to experience it. It thrust everything forward. I saw people from countries I'd never even heard of carrying signs saying "Black Lives Matter." It was a global awakening, consciousness, and an uplifting of global togetherness if you will. That's how I view this pandemic. It's going to require that we work together. It doesn't matter if we get numbers down in North Carolina. If in South Carolina, the numbers are 80% positive.

It doesn't matter if the US controls. In Jamaica, things are under control. As long as one person or individual is dealing with this situation, one community can affect us all. This is a universe telling us to step it up. We are one. We're starting to realize that now. Our children are going to take these things for granted. The things that we fight for become their norm.

I even see it in my daughter now. Partially, I am to blame because I have spoiled her not to need and want the things that I needed growing up, but with that comes another level of entitlement. I struggled with this. How do I make sure the next generation, including her, doesn't take for granted the things we fought for? At the same time, I want her to start the conversation at a different place from where we started it, so she advances things forward. I don't want her to live in the past. I wanted her to move forward, but I wanted her to know that, "This thing that you enjoy did not come on a silver spoon."

There are people who are making tremendous sacrifices. We can't forget that. There are people who die for the right to vote. We had 40% or 50% turnout of registered voters. I think that's another thing that changed. We saw states that were traditionally red turned blue. I don't like those terms, but that's how they speak of it. We saw populations who didn't see themselves or couldn't visualize their vote even matter. Tied to George Floyd and not just George Floyd, but in Baltimore, there was a guy there who suffered the same fate through a rough ride. All around the nation, but it reached a swelling point where the same energy they got people out in the streets took them to the polls.

I hope that level of consciousness stays there, but because of that, we were able to put the new president in the White House. We saw a state that was traditionally Republican-Democrat because people who would not vote before got registered and made it to the polls. Thank goodness we have a president now who recognized that and has vowed to respond. There's a new block of voters that's been totally ignored. A new coalition that they're going to have to respond to is how politicians live. Things are looking up.

Talk about things looking up and things changing and so forth for the new norm. I remember having a conversation with my friend, and we were talking about, in my lifetime, I never thought I would see a Black president. I've seen a Black president and a female Black vice president. My daughter's grown up seeing that. She thinks that's normal. For me, that's not normal.

I had the same thought. I thought to myself, "During those eight years Barack Obama was president, people had kids. There are kids being born, and that's all they would have known would have been a Black president." I don't know if they are politically aware enough to realize that, but that's their norm. What do you mean? There's no equity and fairness. We got to see it when the capital was attacked and the difference in response to folks that did that. The whole time I was watching that show with my wife, we would say, "How they would have probably brought in napalm if there were other people doing it," and took everybody out.

You hear the feedback, "They made a couple of hundred arrests." Are you kidding me? They would have dropped that net on us and scooped everybody up. There's definitely was a difference in response. People saw that too, and that's raising some eyebrows. There were a few commissions that have been formed to investigate that. I hope they follow through on that. Unfortunately, there was a police officer there, a guy who lost his life, and they have not found the perpetrator yet.

I hope they make their reward high enough that ultimately that person is called to justice because it isn't right. We had a president trying to normalize that behavior, and the pendulum swings. I'm glad to see it's swinging back now. I hope we never go back to that again. Numerologically speaking, the number nine is the last number. When we count, we start with zero. That's a symbol for God. We go to the number nine, which is endings and completions.

Trump was 45. The reason why I'm saying that is Trump was the 45th president. 4 plus 5 is 9, which means we will never, and I can say that confidently, there may be people who had that type of mentality still around forever, but we will never have to deal with that type of energy on that level again. That was goodbye to the past. That's what that was.

I'm glad to hear that because I don't know if my soul could take another one.

That was goodbye to the past. That's America's past. That's the world's past history now. We're going to see it over the next decade or two. We're going to see democracy sweeping and people demanding a voice. We're going to see that. The majority is going to change. People who enjoy being a majority are going to be in the minority. This is what they've been fighting, but it's a natural progression. Going back to our original roots, the original person was a cock.

As we grow and get rid of these inequities, and as we mature, it's going to be all that way again. That's what's happening. If you look around the world, that's what's going on. To some people, they're freaking out because of it, but it's a tide. It's a way, God's plan as we awaken to our oneness, the material we always respond to the entire world. That's the natural progression of things.

I'm looking forward to it. I want to shift gears a little bit and go into your illustrious career and then take us back down memory lane of how we got to here. I know you mentioned the education part. One thing I like to ask my guests, there are going to be some people who are inspired by you who want to focus on numerology and possibly take that up. I like to show people the transition of how people got to where they're at in their careers.

I like to do it by asking a question, and I want you to entertain it for me for a second. I always liked to ask what the person's first job was because I like people to know that people don't jump into this career by starting in the field of their profession. There's usually a process. It's not where you start. It's when you finish. You can learn anything from that first job that helps you transition and catapult into where you're at now. What was your first job, Dr. Craig?

No one came up to me and gave me a book and said, "Here, this is about numerology reading." I heard a song. I followed my instinct. It led me to a book that took me to the Library of Congress, reading everything I could. I was my first client. When I began to share with others, as I mentioned before, as a number seven, our mission was to discover the truth and share it. The discovery phase was fine, but when it was time to share it, I began to get a little nervous because I knew it was time to share. I'd be in a checkout line, and someone would mention their birthday, or they'd be wearing a name tag. It will be a spirit telling me, "This is what I've been preparing you for, speak."

I would tell a person, "The money you've been waiting for will be in the mailbox now," and they run out of the store. I would tell someone, "You're expecting, don't be surprised if it's twins," and I would disappear. Eventually, people started realizing this guy knew what he was talking about. A buzz began, and I got invited to be a guest on a radio show. The way that happened was I heard a radio show, and I went to visit the host because she had classes on spirituality.

I was in this state of awakening and yearning. I tried to leave her office, and she said, "We're not done yet. You know about numerology?" I said, "What? I didn't tell you that." She said, "I've heard people talking about Craig Wright. I thought that's why you came. You never mentioned it. I want you to be a guest on my show." I go on a show. I'm doing readings for people to call the air.

This is where my career started. I didn't plan this. I was naive because now I expect people to give out my phone number, but she gave up my phone number on the air. She didn't tell me she was going to do that. I'm sharing my gift. People started calling me, "I want a reading. Do you do classes or house calls?” “I'm having a party. Can you come to do readings with me?" That's how I got started. I had to create services in response to the demand from being a guest on her show.

Are you telling me this was your first job? Is this a story prelude to that?

That was my first numerology job. That started my career as a numerologist. If you want to know my first regular job, my first regular job was working in the corner grocery store. I was about twelve years old. I had to get a work permit and sell bubble gum and candy at the corner grocery store. I thought you meant as a numerologist.

You are a man who has a life well-lived. I'm sure there are plenty of lessons we can get from you. What was one good lesson life has taught you in this journey of seeking and finding the truth?

The most comforting lesson that life has taught me is that God is my supply. It has given me courage. Sometimes I've maybe been a little too exuberant, but by stepping out on faith. The thing that I found is that God is real and that we are literally the living word. That's what I discovered. I started off as an atheist. I was born into a family where no one talked about God in my family. No one took me to church every Sunday. I'm a metaphysical minister now, but I did not have that in my background. I was raised as an Ethical Culturalist. That was a humanistic organization created by Felix Adler in New York. They believed that religion didn't matter.

You were supposed to do good because you were supposed to do good to help people. God had nothing to do with it. All the life you had when this was over. It was over. That's how I was raised. Life taught me that wasn't true. We are literally created by the word of God. The best example I can give for readers, if anyone's been involved with music, composers use letters for notes. A, E, B flat is a chord. They use letters for notes and numbers for timing.

A march is 4 four times, 1, 2, 3, 4. A waltz is 3 four times 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3. As a composer uses letters for notes and numbers for timing, the letters in our name and the numbers in our birthday are symbols for the song we play in the symphony of life. I have validated, quantified, added, subtracted and read it. It's true. I can literally say that's the biggest thing I've learned in this life is that God is real.

No matter what you call him. Let me put it that way. I'm not trying to exclude other religions or belief systems. If your system honors a higher power, that higher power is real. We are children of a higher power, have gifts and are here for a reason. We are not physical beings who have an occasional spiritual experience. We are spiritual entities having a temporary physical experience. This is part of our development.

The things we get tested within the flesh, we're not tested in our spiritual and natural state. It's like a seed. We have to be planted in soil, and all the elements of our body match the elements of the soil and the earth to a T even a percentage of water in our bodies matches that of the earth. The body is a physical shell. The earth and our spirit were God seed planted in the spirit. The scripture tells us seeds can fall on good or bad soil. What they don't tell you is you're the soil. The scripture says, "You reap what you sow," but what the scripture doesn't tell you is the mind is soil, and thoughts are seeds. There are forces working against what you're trying to do. Make no mistake.

Apparently, they caught on. Let's say I got some folks who are probably reading this, like, "I love everything that Dr. Craig is putting down, and he's dropping, numerology and spirituality thing. I want to further my development in." What would you give some advice to someone who would like to start their career in numerology or rewire their thinking and spirituality? If they're atheists or their faith is not as high as they would like it to be at this time. They're getting re-energized from this conversation. What advice would you give to them?

There are so many books on numerology now. You can go to the library if you're interested. I have a book. If you're interested, you can go to my website. The name of my book is It All Adds Up . It's available on my website and get an eBook. You could download it and be reading in my book. I cover readings, forecasts, compatibility reports. You can literally start a career utilizing my book, and that's available at www.CraigEWright.com . You can peruse the site. I have a free download on there. If you click on it in the upper left-hand corner says "Online Class." There's a list of how you convert letters and numbers and what each number means.

It's based on the alphabet. A is one, B is two, C is three. It's simple. Every number has a meaning. It's only nine them, so it's easy to master. What I found as I began to look at numbers was like turning on a radio. You turn a radio, go to your favorite station, 98.9 or 95.6, whatever it is. When you go to that station, you know what music is going to come. There's going to be a rock or jazz-based on that number. That's how we are. That number is going to produce music. Your last name Simmons is a 30 and 0 is a symbol for God. When you speak, you have to be very careful of what you say because your words have the power of the creator behind them.

The name Martin was a 30, Martin Luther King Jr. Simmons is a 30. That's your last name. It has that power behind it. It also means you came here to be a service to help others. You're the rescue one. That name makes you the rescuer. Especially young people will be drawn to you and your instruction. You make a great coach and advisor to the youth, but you're also a singer. I don't know if you sing. You've got to get to sing. We didn't talk about that. You have a voice that must be heard. I'll put it that way. Keep your ID with you. Nobody's ever going to believe your age when you tell them because the three is assembled for you.

The three is also a very spiritual vibration because it's the number of the story of Christ. Sought by three wise men, denied three times by three sleeping disciples. His main board denied them three times before the rooster crow. We celebrate Easter because he arose on the third day. When he's asked, "Master, why are you here?" He says, "I'm here to have life and have it abundantly." As a number three, expect abundant living so that ties into philanthropy as well.

You have philanthropic leanings, and guys want to feel your call for it so you can pursue that. That happens a lot. I'll have an intention of some way I want to talk about, but then God said, "I gave you this for a reason. Share that message." I used to fight it and resist it. I realize that's why I'm here to be that channel, not to try to become powerful.

That's what happens. The world tells you, "Go for the Gusto, look out for number one, try to build that ego look." When you study the story of Christ, where he was crucified was called the point of the mind, Gethsemane means the point of the mind. We have to crucify our egos and our minds, so the Christ within us can awaken, and we can be obedient to the spirit. That's how you have abundant life.

That's what leads to abundance, tapping into who you are, why you're here. There are many paths to do it. People use meditation and visualization. It so happens I was geared toward the numbers. God sends me the doubters and the scientists who say, "God is not real." Check these numbers out. It's all a link, a branch, religion to me, means reconnecting with the source, whatever way, the path you have to take, there are many, but all roads lead back to the source.

What do you think the future has in store for your industry or in numerology?

When I first started this book by Vera Stanley was written in 1938. I went to the library. Nobody knew what I was talking about. This was 1972. I would use my vacation time and travel to Washington, DC, park the car, walked to the Library of Congress. You can't take those books out. You have to ride them on a car and give it to a runner. You could get six at a time. You give them your car, and they would get the books to you, bring them out, and blow the dust off of them. You start reading and studying.

That's how numerology was when I started. Now you can go to any library, online and there are hundreds, if not thousands of people practicing numerology. The future looks bright. People are awakening. When I started, I had ministers chasing me away from their church. Now I have ministers inviting me into their church to teach classes, do workshops and seminars. The age of Aquarius thing is real. That's where we are right now.

There's a great awakening. There's an awakening going on. This is one of the tools that's being used. I woke up to it when I was 21. That was in 1972. I started professionally in 1988 and had my biggest year ever in 2020. 2021 started out bigger than anything I've ever experienced. It's growing. It's been a vocation, a part-time thing, but it's getting to the point where I'm able to make a living doing this. That was remarkable. I'm sure you feel the same way about what you're doing. When you're doing something that you love, it does not work. If you find something you love, you do that. You never work a day in your life again.

Everything you said, 2020, as much as it's been a polarizing year, has been a year of growth and development for a lot of people, from business to professional. It's definitely has been for me. There are a lot of people who've taken the time to focus and go within themselves and business that has been able to elevate.

2020 was a 22 year, 2 plus 0 plus 20 is 22. That's a master number. I mentioned the 44. You're the master liberating, the speaker of truth and the profit. That's the 44. The 22 is called the master builder. When things slow down, people start focusing and manifesting things. 2 and 2 is 4. The Bible tells us, "God created the earth on the fourth day." As a numerologist, we know the message of the intellectuals and the spiritualist who wrote that story. They were telling us things come into physical manifestation under the number four. The 22 is the highest of all the 4s. There was a lot of progress. It's also a global vibration of 22, and that's why we saw the whole world react to injustice.

What does the year 2021 have in store for us?

After the 22 year comes 23. This year is a 23 year, 2 plus 0 plus 21 adds up to 23 and 2 plus 3 is 5. It stands for freedom and change. Right away, we saw a sweeping change in the Senate, the House, red states turning blue, new president, things are changing now. Numbers in the pandemic are starting to go down for a change, getting a handle on it, but five stands for freedom. We got to have to be careful to maintain our discipline in five year, but it's a great year for promoting new ideas, new concepts. The 23 leads us to protective forces. There is a spiritual energy looking over the planet right now, guiding us and leading us to more protective safe ports. On a personal level, this is a year to reach out to those in a position that can help you.

People in high places are now willing to be more generous. We're going to be able to see higher wages, people being able to stay at home, not come back to work, more freedom, but there's going to be a new normal. Things will never go back to being the same as they were. We're going to see travel pickup in a five year. It's going to be a new normal with that too. 2020 was a 22, 2 plus 4, so we felt boxed in. We're in a box. The five, freedom will come back. We'll be able to open up and move again. Although I think some people have been a little premature with it, we're going to see this manifest in September.

By September of 2021, things will be a little more like they used to be. We may still be wearing masks, but things will be more controlled. As long as it exists in one place, one person dealing with this virus can come back and get us up. Unfortunately, people in Appalachia or people in rural areas, we might as well call those third world countries too, going to be the last to get the vaccine. Ultimately by September, there shouldn't be a level where we're going to be able to see some normality. That's what 23 is going to bring in.

What projects are you working on? Where can people find you?

You could visit my website, www.CraigEWright.com , because I'm getting ready to start some classes. I've been approached by the Metaphysical University of Tacoma Park. They had asked me, along with others, a brand-new school, to share my knowledge. Would I teach some classes? I'm going to be teaching three classes. One is called The Jeremiah Effect, where we talk about your contract with the creator.

One is called Perception Versus Intention, where I talk about our heart desires, what we're hoping we can do, and our personality number, where people judge the book by the cover. For all things, there is a season. That's my third class where I get into seasons. There are spiritual seasons like weather, storms, clouds, rain. Those classes are going to be made available. I'm going to be posting how you can register for them on my website. That's the biggest thing that I have going on now.

Dr. Craig, it has been a pleasure to have you on the show. I can't wait for you to come to the radio show that I do with my guys so we can have another extensive conversation. Everybody, thank you for tuning in and make sure you follow Dr. Craig and get his book. He's a brilliant man. Let's manifest for the rest of 2021 so we can have that freedom.

Thank you.

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Erin Horne McKinney - CEO | Entrepreneur | Equity Builder | Futurist | Change Agent

Mon, 17 May 2021 06:31:52 GMT

How do businesses thrive despite different issues that arise? It’s time to start looking at miracles that are happening in our lives and opportunities that we can turn to reality. Technology is also playing a huge part in it. Passionate about social impact, equitable entrepreneurship, and inclusive innovation, Erin Horne McKinney is the founder of Black Female Founders (#BFF). She is a founding member of the Black Innovation Alliance (BIA). In this episode, she shares the importance of equity and why black women should be treated fair and right. She also discusses the concept of innovation and how companies survive to make an impact in an industry. Tune in to learn a lot of deep insights on economic and business development, diversity, and more.

Twitter: @erinhmckinney

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erinhornemckinney

Instagram: @erinhmckinney

Pinterest: @ehornemckinney

Clubhouse: @erinhmckinney

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinhornemckinney/

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Erin Horne McKinney - CEO | Entrepreneur | Equity Builder | Futurist | Change Agent

Welcome to another episode of the show. It is great to always be with you. We are running strong and getting a lot of feedback. Make sure you support us on social media. Click the link on Instagram. Also, make sure that you like and leave those five-star comments on Apple Podcasts . I’m excited to say that over in South Africa and Nigeria, you brought us to the number 87 spot.

We are so thankful. Keep doing that for us. That is how we show that platforms and shows like this are needed and wanted, so keep on liking and leave the comments. Let us know what you think and look out for the Risepreneurs website to find more ways to connect and engage with us. We want to engage with you to get your feedback.

The next guest that I have is Erin Horne McKinney. I have always loved connecting with people from our hometown of Washington DC in that DMV area. She is at Howard University. I didn’t go to Howard, but I spent plenty of time trying to sneak into Howard parties and party with people at Howard campus. I know the vibe and the lingo a little bit. She is a phenomenal woman and making entrepreneurship more inclusive.

She has been everything from an Angel investor, and I believe she still participates a little bit in Pipeline as a member and Angel investor. She is the Chief Executive Officer at ACCESS Consulting. She has also done some stuff with Boston Impact Initiative Funding, the Founder of Black Female Founders , and the Chief Executive Officer of WomenVenture . She is truly making entrepreneurship and innovation inclusive and bringing all these amazing groups together. Her story and testimony are amazing to me. I don’t want to steal her thunder, so without further ado, let’s get into the episode with Erin Horne McKinney.

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This show started after years of people telling me, “You got to do a podcast,” because I do a lot of public speaking locally in San Diego and HU.

Are you HU? I didn’t know that.

I’m not HU. I lived in Northwest, Washington DC. I grew up in DC. When I was in high school, we used to sneak to some HU parties. I always wanted to go to HU but it didn’t happen for me.

I’m impressed. Do you know how many Howard people were? I’m like, “HU,” and they are silent. I’m like, “Did you go? I feel like you didn’t go.” You don’t even know how to do a throwback on that because that is almost how you determine whether or not it takes them as the Black card. It is the same concept.

I grew up in DC when DC was the murder capital. It was terrible.

That is around the time I went to school there.

If you go back now, it looks more like a chocolate chip cookie.

I tell people like, “It used to be Chocolate City, then it went to mocha, then a little latte, and then now, I don’t know if there is any chocolate in it left. It has been pushed out and pushed out.” It was a murder capital but for all that was happening in DC on the negative side, there were so many positives, and that was so influential to me to go somewhere.

I remember being in college not just on Howard’s campus but even around DC. I never saw White people for days. It felt like you had a government that had so many cool programs that were created. Every doctor I went to, every dentist or lawyer was Black. The level of Black excellence and Black entrepreneurship, more importantly, around you was so ingrained in me early on, but not even realizing the impact until you see it later or recognize that later and see the starting different.

I agree with that. I didn’t have my biological dad growing up, so I was raised by my stepfather, who is Nigerian. I was influenced by not only Black American culture but African Culture and then African from the diaspora. I had Jamaicans and Haitians in my community. I was drenched in a lot of Black and African culture when I moved to San Diego. I moved out here because I was getting a lot of trouble over there. It was a complete culture shock. I was like, “Where are the Black people?”

I grew up in Maryland through elementary school but I moved away, came back, and went to go to Howard. In my first semester, I took a Black diaspora class. I didn’t even know what the word meant at seventeen, like, “What does that even mean?” Everywhere I went, people would either talk to me in Spanish, and I’m like, “I don’t speak Spanish,” and they are like, “Are you not Dominican?” I’m like, “No,” and then it would be somebody who was Black, so I’m like, “Do you speak Spanish?” They start explaining their history, and I’m like, “Black people in the world speak Spanish?”

My first boyfriend in college was Haitian. I heard him and his family talk in French, and I was like, “What is the history with Haiti?” DC is like the entire globe in a bubble. To me, that is why I have a bit of a more sophisticated palate because I have always loved food from around the world because of DC. You can get all of that there. Anyway, the diaspora is such a powerful concept in terms. I have had so many businesses that have been named diaspora in it.

What do you think influenced that?

It was that first semester at Howard and realizing how many Black people are all over the world, and we have influenced it. Like many entrepreneurs, you have ideas that are too ahead of their time. Black travel has now become a thing, but while I was in grad school at Howard, I got with a young brother who was a Black diaspora professor at Howard. We were creating a show called Destination Diaspora, and it was about the influence.

Think about the Rick Steves travel books and videos that you see on PBS. It was like that but from the lens of Black folks. Rick Steves is always going to Europe and talking about the history of Germany, but nobody ever does that for the African culture around the world. The idea and concept of the show were that we would go to all of these different places around the world and talk about how the African diaspora impacted that culture from the food, the arts, the architecture, and language.

Sometimes, we need to revive that concept because people are embracing their Blackness now. Even when I started Black Female Founders , people were like, “Putting Black in the name is a little too much. People are not ready for that.” That was years ago, but now, Black is in everything, and people are all empowered and excited.

People would say, “Why don’t you change it to Brown or this?” I’m like, “That is not what I’m doing,” because I feel like in order to talk about Black folks, we need to include every other minority. When they do their stuff or when they are empowering themselves, they are not including us. Why do we need to do that in order for our struggles, our needs, and our culture to be seen?

I don’t know if you remember it. I feel like we are coming back to Black empowerment. There was a period of time in our history and culture where everybody was rocking the HBCU shirts during the mid-‘90s when Martin was out.

That was the time we had A Different World and the Cosby Show. Boomerang is still one of my favorite movies. Also, do not forget School Days.

We were rocking The Medallions. Somewhere, I don’t know what happened, that culture went away. It died. I’m not sure if the media or powers were saying, “This is too much Black empowerment. We need to cut this. Let’s highlight gangsta rap music. All this conscious stuff, let’s make it not cool.”

As a communications scientist and somebody who has studied media, that is exactly what happened. We started to have too many positive images. The media influences everything that we do. We don’t even realize that subconsciously. My mom said to me, “It is so great now. Every commercial you watch now has a Black person in it where before, you never saw that.” Many advertisers are changing that narrative or there are a lot of interracial couples in the commercials now and you have never seen that before.

A couple of years ago, I remember there was a Cheerios commercial that came out with a Black father and a White mom. The little girl pours the Cheerios on her dad while he is taking a nap to help with his heart. Social media lost their mind. They were like, “Oh my God.” People have to see those things in order to process that that is what the world looks like. You can’t continue to have commercials that just show White couples doing everything, especially when so much of our culture is being appropriated each and every day. From my mother in her 70s, to take note, I thought to see a noticeable shift in commercials was pretty significant.

I can see me and you are going to have a great conversation in this episode. The reason I finally decided to do this show is because I did workforce development for a long period of time in HR building youth programs. It transitioned from adult programs to shifting in the HR space in government, but during that journey of where I’m at now, a few years ago, I got a call from Google to help with a program called Startup Weekend with TechStars .

They are like, “We want to get more people of color to this event. We recognize you as somebody that is really in tune with your community. Could you help us promote this event and get some more people of color?” They were on a DNI at that time. I was like, “I can do that,” and then they were like, “You should join.”

I was like, “I’m not an entrepreneur and I’m not in the tech space.” They were like, “You are more entrepreneurial than you know,” because I developed a lot of different workforce development programs, which I didn’t realize at the time is the same as building a startup. I was just building it in the hub of another company.

Much of my work is people, including myself, who have been there. We are teaching people to see that they are entrepreneurs. That goes back to the imagery. We haven’t seen it, so we don’t know how to apply that terminology and language to ourselves. Were you an entrepreneur?

I was an entrepreneur and then I got introduced to entrepreneurship. Long story short, we won the competition and we were the most diverse team there. That is when I got to this journey that I’m still on, and the eye-opening came. I was introduced to Angel investors and venture capitalists. I was new to it but also understanding that 10% of my company for $400,000 didn’t seem right for me. Navigating that world as a Black man, I was like, “How come you gave Susie over here this deal and I’m getting this deal?” I was trying to navigate that. It was a whole new world. There are things that I still don’t know and need, and I get that, but you try to rake me over.

That is so common. In 2020, there was so much love and honor to George Floyd because his life has unlocked so many dollars, but it still pales in comparison. We still are not the place and space of any real reparations or real equitable access to capital.

Along the way, I have met so many amazing people like yourself in this space, whether it is intrapreneurship, entrepreneurship, or community developers that built these amazing programs. I was like, “This story needs to be told. This is a Black history in the making.” I realized it needed to be told even more because from the adults that I have worked with in the workforce development to the youth, we have such limiting beliefs about what we can do, what we are, and what we are able to do. When they see one, they are like, “That is an anomaly. That person just got lucky and was able to do it.” I was like, “There is more of us out here. I’m going to create this show to highlight more of us out here that are doing amazing stuff until every one of them believes that it is possible.”

Thank you for doing it because even the episodes of yours that I have had an opportunity to listen to, I rarely get time to listen to the way that I would like. I always find myself sharing them with other people, including my kids. I’m like, “You got to listen to this episode. You will thank me later.” It is very powerful to share these stories. Not enough of our stories are being told so thank you for creating that space and holding space.

It is no problem. With that being said, welcome everybody to another episode of the show. I’m going to steal nuggets from that first bit. I always like to record that because I get into such rich dialogues. To begin the episode again in case you don’t get the first part, but those of you, will know this a little bit later. I’m going to do the HU.

You know.

For my Howard University people, you already know what it is. We have got a great episode. I want to ask that introductory question. Who is Erin?

Who I am is ever-evolving like everyone, but in 2021, I am a womanist. I’m an Afrofuturist, a mother, and a community builder. Also, what I often tell people is I’m an advocate and an activist at the end of the day for the Black community, specifically around our participation in the innovation economy and in entrepreneurship.

We are the hub of the innovation economy even though we don’t get all our due credit, but that is another conversation of the story. I have been hearing this term Afrofuturist. Break that down. What does that mean? What is an Afrofuturist?

Futurism comes more out of Sci-Fi, but it is around being focused on the potential of what can be in the future and is captured a lot in creative spaces. Black Panther is all about Afrofuturism. The Afro piece is applying that lens to Black culture and Black participation in the future. A lot of Afrofuturists are around making sure that we are included in the future and being advocates for that, whether it is capturing it in the art and in creative spaces, but it is also around our thinking specifically in the innovation economy and making sure that we are going to be thought about and included.

Right now is a great example of it with the impact of COVID and that term digital divide that was around in the late ‘90s and early 2000s. It was around internet adoption and whether or not people even had broadband access and so forth. It reared its head because how many children were impacted when their schools were not ready to shift to remote learning? How many kids didn’t have laptops? It has been highlighted a lot around education, but it is the same around our workforce. How many people lost their jobs because their businesses or employers had not prepared their companies to be fully engaged and touched by technology?

Technology touches every aspect of our life. There are some organizations that are still slow to that adoption, which is unfortunate because, at times like this, that is where we see a huge impact on our economy, but more importantly, the whole communities are left out of it. The statistics around how many children of color have not learned in 2020 is sad. This is going back to who I am and being this town crier. One dear friend had referred to me as the Harriet Tubman of tech because I have been doing this before. It was cool.

I have been talking about our communities, trying to bring our communities along, and following the North Star into making sure that we are participating, we understand it, we have businesses, and we own things within the innovation space. Innovation and tech are two different things. Sometimes, those terms get used interchangeably, but tech is specifically all things technology like devices, software, and what have you, but then the innovation is about doing something new, better, and efficient. Oftentimes, that efficiency is aligned, connected, or utilizes technology in order for us to get there.

You probably would have helped more people if they knew they were slaves to outdated technology, processes, and procedures.

So much so because some people are thinking, “I don’t want robots to take my job,” and that is a very real concern, but also, own and create the robot that companies are hiring to automate systems. Own the technology. In our community, we are so used to having so much of our ideas, products, and services either completely stolen from us or undervalued. We are an underestimated community.

I agree with that. I’m going to jump into your career here a little bit. I don’t know how to define you other than a Renaissance woman because I’m looking at your career. You went from adjunct professor to managing partner to VC, student, success lead, Angel investor, and CEO. What can you not do?

There was an interesting Ted Talk years ago about being a multipotentialite. I loved it because it was around who says that you have to pick one thing and be good at one thing. I do remember when I was a kid, I had one of those books that you get to pick what you want to be when you grew up, which studies show now is the worst question to ask children. I remember I went down that list and I picked almost everything. I wanted to be an artist, a teacher, and a scientist. I also wanted to own a business.

I was like, “I want to do all these things,” but it was dismissed as a kid because it was like, “You don’t know what you want to do. You are all over the place,” but what I realized is that I am all of those things in everything that I do. All of the things have come. I am creative. I just create differently. I create economic development and business. I am a teacher. I have been a professor, but I also teach and mentor. All of the work that I do is around bringing everybody along with me. It is not just by myself.

I’m a communications scientist. What that means is I’m looking at communications in the field of media and the impact that it has from our language to media imagery and the messages that it sends. I wanted to be a firefighter too. That was on the list. I put out fires all the time. My background is a long windy road, but all of those skills are transferable. If you want me to talk about it, I will tell you how we got here, but every single experience has shaped me for this moment and the moments that are to come.

We will talk about it in a different context. This is my own personal preference because when you said teacher, I feel like a teacher doesn’t do you justice. I would like to call you an educator because I feel as an educator, no matter what space you are in, you are an educator. Even in this conversation that we have had now, you have educated me on a couple of different things. You are a natural-born educator and you bring that educational component to you no matter what field you are in or what room that you touch. Somebody will leave with a valuable lesson nugget, piece of knowledge, or information if they are paying attention.

One thing I often tell clients or students when I speak to them is, “It is not where you start but it is about the journey and where you finish.” A lot of individuals have trouble with the start, so I always like to hype my successful people where they started from. The simple question is, what was your first job and a valuable lesson that you learned from your first job?

Are we talking about the first job as a kid or the first full-time job? Which one do you want?

It can be both because I want people to see the dirty side, so give me the first one as a kid and what did you learn, and then your first full-time W-2 job because I know sometimes the first job as a kid may not be that W-2 job.

I won’t go through every single one but I started working very early and realizing the power that I had with bringing skills. My first real job is, because I grew up in the era where there were the Baby-Sitters Club books, I was a babysitter/pet sitter for neighbors. I found that very empowering to get paid and do something that I love. I love kids and animals. Also, to get that at 10 and 12 was super cool to me. Moving from that, my first part-time job and played a role in who I have become now, was with Fingerhut. I don’t know if anyone remembers Fingerhut.

Is that a pizza place?

No. It is a catalog where you order things out of a catalog. Somebody I knew worked there and it was good money. You could start working there as early as 15 or 16. You are doing telemarketing and selling products over the phone. I realized how good I was at sales. The great thing about Fingerhut is you get it, and if you didn’t like it, you could always send it back, but that didn’t matter because I got that sale and that counted. I was the number one salesperson all the time in whatever shift I worked.

I know the people that worked with me hated me but my family loved me because there was always a price per shift so whatever we were selling, oftentimes, we would get to take that home. I packed my family’s kitchen with all that cool stuff. Interestingly, I went to school. I went to Howard to be in Broadcast Journalism because I knew I wanted to be the next Connie Chung, Oprah, or Cathy Hughes. I grew up in Minneapolis. I went to high school in Minneapolis, as we talked about in the crack era of the day. The only Black radio station we had was a community radio station.

It upset me because I could not listen to the music that I wanted. I couldn’t get the signal all the time, so I realized like, “I got to own it in order to fix that problem.” I started looking at ownership issues as a kid. To me, I thought I had to be the best journalist possible in order to own something because that is what Oprah was doing at that time. I got into journalism and realized that is not how it works at all. Those people work on the business side. They understand advertising as much or exactly like the show Mad Men. Did you ever see that show?

I have seen that show.

That is exactly what that whole world is about. It is a bunch of ideas and selling it. I realized going to work at TV stations, newspapers, and so forth at that time in the mid to late-‘90s. All of the journalists were driving hoopties. When I talked to the publishers and the GMs, they had all gone through the business side and they were pulling up in Benz’s, BMWs, and so forth. I was like, “There is a power dynamic here.” I shifted my career at the very end of college to Communications Management.

I had an amazing professor who was one of the first Black general sales managers in the country. It was on radio if I remember correctly. He blew my mind with the business structure of it all. I got coveted for my very first job that blew my family and everybody away because I had a number of offers to go into journalism and be on air or be a copy editor.

I was like, “I can be on air for $18,000 a year in the middle of nowhere of the country town. I can maybe make around $30,000 a year as a copy editor at a newspaper, but I will have carpal tunnel by the time I’m 30 or I can sell an intangible, which is airtime, and make six figures. That is what I’m going to do.” I ended up going to New York and getting into a very coveted training program selling national advertising. It was a rep firm that had CBS Radio, Clear Channel Radio, and ABC Radio at that time. They had a lot of those different groups. I was on the ABC Radio team.

I resonate with so much of your journey because I started out in radio as well or tried to chase that radio dream. After taking the internship in the Black radio station I was interning for, it got bought out by Clear Channel. Clear Channel started buying everything. Although I saw the structure or the dynamic shift already, it changed once Clear Channel took it over.

I was passionate about art, music, and I wanted to connect with different artists and bring them on the shows, but we couldn’t do that. We had to do whatever the upper boss said. They were like, “This is going to be the formatting and this is what’s going to be played.” The DJs had no voice. They had no power. All the execs had the power. The other part of the power was in sales and marketing because they were bringing in the dollars. I switched my major to Business Marketing because I was like, “This is not what I wanted.” I resonate with everything you are saying.

Later on, I ended up working at Clear Channel locally in Memphis and then also in San Francisco radio. I have jumped on Instagram Live with one of our talents. We both went through horrific experiences with Clear Channel due to consolidation. They started gobbling up everything and cutting what they were paying their talent and salespeople. Those margins have been smaller and commission checks were cut smaller. My whole trajectory in life changed because I was working for Clear Channel in San Francisco.

On Barack’s first inauguration, I don’t even think they were public at that time. They might have still been family-owned. The owners were from Texas. They were very conservative Republicans and we are hot to death. The economy was shifting already. They made it mandatory that nobody could take off across the country to go to the inauguration. You had to work that day. She and I were retelling this story to each other. We had to sit there in a conference room, at least in our market, and watch the inauguration on TV, which was such a historical event. I had two Black boys who at that time were under seven and I had wanted to go back to DC, although I hadn’t lived in DC since graduating from Howard.

At the top of 2009, they made us sit in a conference room, watch the inauguration, and then laid us off one by one. They had a massive layoff across the country under the hype and the historical event, and that was the inauguration. Thousands of people were laid off across the country, especially a lot of women and minorities. It was one of the worst days of my life, but now, I look back, and I’m like, “Thank you, Clear Channel.”

What I had then was a whole Legally Blonde moment where I was like, “The companies that I pour myself into and do all this work for don’t give a crap about me.” That is one. Two, at the same time, I had been trying to get into tech from an employee standpoint, and those companies were like, “If you went to an HBCU, we rank those lower in our hiring practices,” so I couldn’t get a job in tech.

I had tried to start a tech company while I was out in the Bay Area. I couldn’t get into any of the programs such as the Y Combinator and things that existed in the mid-2000s when they were very few programs. I said, “Nobody is talking about women and minorities in the innovation economy from the standpoint of workforce and employment.” If you get into those ecosystems, oftentimes, founders of other tech companies used to work at other tech companies. They get to know everybody, so then, they are validated off of the companies that they have worked for or in entrepreneurship.

Legally Blonde is a funny movie, but it really is about getting angry enough about something and doing something about it. I went back to DC to go to Howard for grad school to get into what was now looking back the early days of tech policy, but at that time, it was media ownership issues and new media policy work. That shaped my career, so thank you, Clear Channel, for giving me the boost.

People don’t even know that background because what you are talking about and reading off is my background from 2009 when, at that point, I was divorced with two young children. I’m a single, independent mom. I have gone from making six figures to having no money, which I had never done. I was going on unemployment for the first time and only had food stamps. I packed up my Prius with garbage bags with our stuff and drove me, a seven-year-old and an eighteen-month-old, across the country by myself. That itself was an experience from driving from California to DC.

I learned so much about myself and that strength that I had within me. I had never thought I would go to grad school. I never thought I would do something different but that experience made me realize that sometimes, you got to jump and do it. If you don’t have things in life that force you to do it, you will just sit there and be comfortable in a horrible situation. I don’t care if it is jobs or marriage. Now, when I see those storms coming in my life, I’m like, “I’m ready for this,” because that means there is about to be a transformation. Something is about to change.

That is so true. As I think about your story and my transformation, it is the same thing. After getting the degree and making good money, I got laid off. I was like, “This is not it.” I could have gotten another career doing the same thing, but it didn’t feel right anymore. It wasn’t the right path for me, so I was doing that soul searching, like, “What are you going to do?” Life is going to deal with you or you are going to deal with it. You can’t avoid it.

You can’t stop living out your purpose. That is the thing. I’m a firm believer in everything happens for a reason. I believe you should have goals and other stuff, but I’m also a firm believer in going with life’s flow because it is going to take you there whether you are kicking and screaming or not. There are plenty of times, as a woman of faith, that I have fought with and wrestled with God about what I wanted to do versus what God had for me, what I needed to do, and what I have always learned. The wisdom that comes with getting older is that what he has for you is always bigger and better than what you could even dream for yourself.

When I started to step into that flow, I realized I didn’t fight it anymore. Even in 2019, I took a sabbatical because I was like, “I don’t know where I’m going.” I hit some really troubling waters, and I thought, “I’m going to move back to the Bay Area.” I had never planned on being gone that long from moving in 2009. I thought I’d be right back after grad school, but as I started to try to move to the Bay Area, it was not happening. I ended up back in Minneapolis to take care of my parents during COVID, which I thought would just be for a few months.

The world changed. I was mad with God for a little bit. I was like, “Why have you forsaken me? Why am I back in Minneapolis?” I love Minneapolis, but it was because of my family. Sometimes, I’m still always sixteen and I don’t feel like they realize the grown woman that I am. It is more about family dynamics and other things.

The work that I have been doing is not known for tech policy or venture capital. I’m thinking like, “Is this where I’m supposed to be?” Who could have foreseen the long-term impact of COVID? Who could have foreseen that a whole global movement would be kicked off by the murder of George Floyd here in Minneapolis?

When all of that started to happen, I was like, “I see you, God. I need to be here as a soldier. You put me and aligned me at the right place at the right time to do the work,” because at the end of the day, that is who I am. I’m a soldier in the streets to make a powerful economic change, create generational wealth in our community, and rebuild, give hope and inspiration to people around what is possible by connecting these systems and these barriers that have existed.

Some people talk about breaking the glass ceilings, cement ceilings, mirrored ceilings, or whatever you want to call it, but I’m that first one in. I go in and take out some stuff. I feel like you can do more taking-it-out within the system versus fighting it necessarily from the outside. I move stealthily. I get into stuff and make it pop. I realized that once I saw the impact of his death on the world, that is where you got to honor God. You are like, “I see what you are doing here.” You set stages for things. These are unprecedented times. Even if you are not a person of faith, whoever or whatever you want to call it, you would better be paying attention because it is very powerful, and that is where I am with it.

I am content. I know that I’m supposed to be in Minneapolis right now and have now purchased a multigenerational home for my parents to live with me with my kids so that I can protect everybody and love them while we get through this because we still don’t know where this is going to go and because Biden and Kamala are in office and a vaccine is out. What we saw on January 6, 2021, and what we are still seeing is, there is a shift that has happened and some things that I think that are still yet to reveal themselves.

There is that old saying, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.”

That is one of my favorites.

I do a radio show called Let’s Talk About It on GODRadio1 with other Black gentlemen. One of my cohosts, Mike, says, “Sometimes, you have to get in alignment with whatever your spiritual faith of being is. When you get into alignment by surrendering and being in mental gratitude of being a servant, then everything will happen for you the way it is supposed to happen.” I’m in agreement with that. These are unprecedented times, so it is the fact that you need to have some type of awareness and stillness to take this in. It is not just business as usual or another thing as usual. Take a pause and reflect on what is going on in life right now.

I will add to that. Take a pause and look back at your life. I don’t care who you are. There are so many times when if we really pay attention, our life is a series of millions of miracles all the time. This is still the journalist in me, but I love hearing people’s stories because you can see God moving that work and riding them through all of those trials and tribulations. It doesn’t matter how horrible or how amazing your story is.

There was one that I think I saw as a meme somewhere. It said something like, “How many hundreds of ancestors had to have certain things happen in order to even create you?” Having a baby itself is such an amazing miracle. There are so many people who will tell you who can’t have kids, “You talk about that alone.” Your existence is such a miracle, and also, surviving childbirth because that is no punk stuff either. My point is that I’m an imperfect human. I don’t ever want to be like, “I’m so perfect,” but I am trying to align more with God and my purpose every day. My goal every day is to get closer to that.

You mentioned ancestors. When you were telling your story of being back in Minneapolis, I was thinking to myself, “Her ancestors must be proud,” because you are who your ancestors have prayed for. They could not do the things you do, so they are praying for you to do the things that they could not do. Look at you going there and doing the things that your ancestors wished they could have done or prayed that could happen.

Let me tell you how many times I almost died in 2020. I got in a horrible accident on a highway and hit some blocked ice on Easter in 2020. Even as early as New Year’s Day of 2021, I went sledding with my kids and hit a tree. My head was getting ready to hit that tree. Don’t even ask me why we were sledding anywhere near trees. I’m not going to talk about that but the point of it is something told me to put my arm up at the very last minute. I’m thankful on the cushion in my coat on my arm. I have put it up in time that it was the barrier between my head smashing into that tree.

That evening, I was bawling because I was so thankful. I told a friend of mine, “It was nothing but God, the angels, and my ancestors that were like, ‘It is not your time to go.’” Another friend of mine was like, “Are you trying to go out like a celebrity? Do you know how many celebrities have gotten killed in skiing and sledding accidents? What were you doing?” I don’t know. I haven’t gone sledding in years. Every time I try to take myself out, those ancestors come through.

Something that you alluded to, and we dropped nuggets of history in there or histories in the making. We got an HU vice president. I know you watched the inauguration. It had me teary-eyed as a Black man raising a Black queen, but what was that like for you? What was that moment in history like? What were your feelings when you watched it happening? Let’s not forget Amanda Gorman.

She did that. She was glowing. The sun was out as cold as it was. You wish you could have been there, but also, probably not because you would not be able to see it and hear it the same way. Like many people, I got very emotional watching Kamala take her oath because I went through depression in 2020 watching her once her vice presidency was announced. Even when she ran as president, how people came for her, whether it was her not being Black enough or whatever the issue was. At the end of the day, none of us are perfect. I’m not saying that anybody is perfect.

Sometimes, it breaks my heart to see how Black women are treated in general. When it became that she was going to be on the ticket with Biden, the way that folks came for her was worse than they even came for Hillary. It crushed me for a little bit. We are still not where we need to be in how our country treats Black women, so for her to have that moment, it was also a moment for women.

It was a moment that she is bringing with her the power of going to a historically Black college that I think is undervalued so much in that experience because people would even talk about her competence and she was arrogant versus so respectful when people were being disrespectful to her. She was like, “I’m speaking.” That is all she said.

I love the whole virtual fist bump between her and Michelle, but her giving that oath made me very emotional because of not just what it meant to me, but we have talked a lot about imagery and what it means to so many children of color to see somebody that looked like them, and that it was possible. I can’t wait to see it because now, my kids have had a Black male president and a Black female vice president in their lifetime. My hope is that they never think that anything is impossible or unobtainable and that they don’t have those mental chains that so many of us had in our lifetime.

In my lifetime, when they say you could be anything when you grow up, that excluded being president and vice president but there are a lot of other things we could do. Now, to see both of those happen.

I’m looking at my baby girl and I’m in tears because the Black woman, and I always knew this but even more so, as we start to see this unfold, is the most unappreciated and disrespected human being on American soil. When I do these fights for equality and equity, I do it from a Black woman lens because I see it more as I raise my Black queen.

I realized my imperfections of where I was ignorant to some things, and I’m working on myself in that process. I saw a young Amanda Gorman and I’m like, “Look at this Black queen at a time when America needs healing. She is providing America with the words to soothe America and get us into a place of healing.” This is a young Black woman putting the world on our shoulders saying, “Come here. I got you. We are going to get to this.”

There was a huge pressure behind that, but she came through like a champ. It blew everybody away. It stole the show.

She reminded me of Maya Angelou and the ancestors that came before Maya Angelou. I think about the Black women who have been held down from slavery to now two sets of families, the White families and Black families, communities that we need to put some more respect on the Black woman’s name.

I was talking to a dear friend of mine who led Black engagement for the Biden-Harris campaign. When you have given all that you have in you, who is there to replenish you? We come in there and we try to save the world in every aspect of what we do. That is insane to me. That is why I try to love my community of Black women the best that I can and continue to try to shine a light on our value, our gifts, what we have done and lift us up because, at the end of the day, when you solve the issue surrounding Black women in this country, you solve for everybody, because we are at the bottom of the totem pole. We are the most mistreated.

What you are referring to is that Malcolm X quote. We solve that in every aspect around employment, healthcare, or what have you, because even now, Black women are the fastest-growing entrepreneurial group in the country, but at the same time, we still have the least amount of resources. There are billions of dollars spent in venture capital. Black women get less than 1% of that money. I find it crazy. Kathryn Finney, who I greatly admire, did a lot of studies for #ProjectDiane through the organization digitalundivided .

It has only been a few years of the study so it has changed a little, but the average failing and unsuccessful White male tech startup received $1.2 million but the average successful Black female tech startup receives an average of around, and it is fluctuated, between $40,000 to $50,000 through the years. Maybe this 2021, we will see a huge spike in that because everyone now wants a Black woman doing something, but they are still not giving us access to capital, resources, support, and even social capital the same way. There is a lot of tokenism happening right now. We will see how much it is continued or sustained moving forward.

My cohost and I from GODRadi01 had a heated Clubhouse conversation about how from all studies, Black women entrepreneurs are the highest-ranking new entrepreneurs, developers, business developers, and so forth. They are not getting the access to capital as they should, but they are still making things work without it. How come we are not paying attention to this and importing it at the rate that we should? It was a very heated conversation. I’m not going to hash it out here, but it shows we still have a lot of work to do, which is why you being CEO of WomenVentures is so important.

I’m not even full-time yet. That is hot off the press.

Let’s go back into the career journey a little bit because I want to give some more nuggets to folks. If I’m a young woman who’s reading this right now and I’m inspired by your journey and I’m like, “I want to create a business that is helpful that impacts women of color,” what will you say are the steps you took to get into your current business that you can share?

I don’t know if you should follow me because I live a very fearless life that is not bound by anything in particular. I did always have five-year plans and things like that but I never was somebody who was like, “I have got to do this by this state.” As an innovator, there is no blueprint. As one mentor said, “You are also creating language.” You are helping people figure out what is inside your head because those concepts don’t exist yet.

I had a dear friend refer to me as the Black female da Vinci because people don’t appreciate you now, but they will appreciate you once you are gone because so many of your concepts are too far ahead for people to understand. Therefore, people want you to slow down and dim your light to help them keep up with you.

First and foremost, what I would say to any young person is don’t ever dim your light. Don’t stop being who you are. Continue to be authentic and lean into that even though people might tell you don’t be curious or you are asking dumb questions. There is no such thing as a dumb question. What you are unlocking and inquiring about could change the world.

A lot of my favorite movies are kids’ movies, and one of my favorite movies is Robots. Since you have a little one, you may have seen it. It is about entrepreneurship around innovation. There is a line in there that talks about seeing a need and filling a need. That is the most basic concept to me of entrepreneurship. When you see a need, you fill it. I have noticed that a problem that you have, probably a bunch of other people also have but the difference is who is going to implement it, take the time to research it, figure it out, and become the subject matter expert on that thing.

Whether it is investors or whoever, people think that they are funding an idea. That is not what they are funding. What their funding is, are you the person that can get it done? Are you in that team of the people that can get it done? That is why investors tend to invest in the same teams over and over again no matter what the concept is because they know that that team is a team of implementers. They can have a great idea but it is about the execution of it. Be somebody that is not only the one who has great ideas but would create phenomenal implementation and execution of a concept from start to finish.

What is one good lesson life has taught you?

I have so many.

Give me one.

I’m going to give you one because this is the thing I tell people the most. It is to be patient with your process. I’m the queen of being impatient. I remember my dad told me when I was younger that I was impatient. I didn’t understand that. As I have gotten older, even as I talked about my sabbatical over the end of 2019 and going into 2020, people would say, “What are you going to do next? What is about to happen?” I’m like, “I’m just waiting for my marching orders,” because I have learned by now in my mid-40s to sit tight.

When we are going through things or our storms, we are impatient with ourselves and don’t show ourselves even enough grace, understanding, and love. Our self-talk is not healthy and healing. We should say, “I’m going through this. There are lessons to be learned because I’m being reshaped for my purpose. I have to go through this storm.” If I ever write a book, it will be about being patient with the process.

One of my friends used to say, “I’m in love with the process because the journey is where it is at.”

I had a young woman that was in my graduate school cohort who was younger than me. She was like, “It is like you always say,” and I was thinking, “What do I always say?” She was like, “It is like you always say. Be patient with the process.” I don’t even recall ever saying that, but she said that I said it all the time. Once she said it back to me, I was like, “That is my mantra because it is very true.”

I have been through so many trials and tribulations that I rarely talk about, not because I want to, but because I just have it, and maybe, that is the book, but those are the very things that have shaped me. When I look at everything that has happened in life, instead of having a spirit of bitterness or regret, I thank Clear Channel, my ex-husband, my haters, and people who have tried to knock me off of my trajectory in different ways because what they didn’t realize is they were knocking me to the right trajectory. Thank you.

I agree. You got 2 or 3 books in you, just so you know. Let’s say I’m at my dead-end job and I’m inspired by this. I noticed it was not the thing for me or I got let go. COVID has had an impact on me, and now, it has forced me to sit that I’m not living in my purpose. I’m inspired by this episode. I hear you and I want to start a career in your industry because it is something that I have always been thinking about. What is some advice you would give to that person?

My industry is industry agnostic because entrepreneurship is in every aspect of what we do. The advice that I would give is, and this even goes back to the other question that you gave about what I’d tell young people, pay attention to what you physically lean into. If there is a conversation or a topic and you are sitting back in your chair with your friends in a non-active posture, but then, there are certain things that come up, and you physically get into it as you lean in and your passion starts to come out in your language and your tone. Pay attention to that because that is what you need to be involved in. As a researcher, we learn that because you get so steeped in a particular topic that you got to really love.

It is the same thing with entrepreneurship. You got to love it and you got to be a subject matter expert at whatever it is. How deep do you want to go into something? If it is something that you can go down rabbit holes with and still bring yourself back up, be interested in all the competitors, understand that whole concept and it doesn’t bore you, then that is what you need to be doing. What I would say right now to those, particularly those who have been negatively impacted by what is happening in our world, is that there is still hope.

Every day is a new day to start and continue toward your purpose. Look around you and see what those lessons are that you are gleaning from this and use it as an opportunity to say, “Maybe I can use my unemployment to give me the space to think about an idea.” One of the things that COVID has afforded as the positive side is it made us take a step back because some of our demands of sitting at home by ourselves and getting to know ourselves better has forced us to pay attention to our self-care, be alone with our thoughts, read some books that we have not read, watch some things, listen to some podcasts, and given us some common space because we are not commuting the same way to explore and be curious.

Every time that I had had that when I was laid off, I was so busy worrying about survival that I missed the opportunity that life was affording me at that moment to take a pause. They have talked that this has been the great pause in the world. Use this great pause to look inward, be introspective, and reflect on what really moves you, what makes you passionate, what mark do you want to leave on the world, and what gifts do you have to give to the world.

I remember calling my mom when I lost that job at Clear Channel and crying. I was in my early 30s. I said, “I don’t know what is next for me because I don’t know what I’m good at. I was good at selling and this, but I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing with my life. I don’t know what’s next.” My mom said to me, “The thing about you, Erin, is that you remind me of this book about the Prince of Wales.” She is into Sci-Fi. I still have yet to read this book. I need to figure out what book it is because this has been many years later. She says, “In that book, the prince realizes that his gift is helping others identify their gifts.” I thought, “That is exactly what I’m good at.”

I used to think I was not a singer or an artist, but what I have learned from that moment of that pause in my life is that my gift was helping and is helping other people identify those gifts. More importantly, what I have learned since then helped them monetize those gifts and turn them into a business. The language that we talked about in the beginning is that a lot of people don’t even see themselves as entrepreneurs. They might see themselves as side hustlers or as somebody who is really good at a thing, but they have not figured out how to connect those dots. Identify what your gifts are and then more importantly, figure out the value of them and how you can use that to your benefit.

What do you think the future has in store for particularly women of color in business, small business, startups, or entrepreneurship? What does that look like?

All of you have not seen anything yet. This whole world is about to be rocked by this major movement that is getting ready to come, and it is already happening because now, the flood gates have opened in a way. I love our younger people and the level of empowerment that they have where they don’t mind giving the finger to traditional structures of, “Do I need to go to college and assume all of that debt? I can create a whole business by being a content creator.”

I feel like all of the creative energy that is in our world right now that is being encouraged and released is something that if I had had these tools when I was younger, Lord knows what I would have possibly done. That is okay because, again, I realize that my purpose is to help empower those individuals to see that in themselves. We are going to see some amazing products, services, and businesses come out of women of color entrepreneurs in the future.

To give a plug to WomenVenture and the whole reason I stepped into this role is it is an opportunity. We are not just a women’s business center and entrepreneurship center, but we are also a CDFI and Wefund . I want us to lean more into our name and get more into venture capital, tapping into different niche communities within even our female community that have not been empowered to be entrepreneurs or think of themselves as entrepreneurs in the same way, whether that is in the technology space or as creatives because a lot of people don’t see creatives as entrepreneurs, and they are when given the skills to do that. We are going to start seeing some amazing trends happen that will blow our minds. I can’t wait.

I can’t wait too. I know you are supporting the women and you guys are doing this together. If there is anything that I can be an ally and support, I’m down.

Thank you, and vice versa. It is about rebuilding our communities together. That is the chunk I’m taking off and trying to work on in particular because we can’t do everything all at the same time. We need as many soldiers, allies, and partners as possible to lift us all up.

You and I could probably talk for hours, but we have got to end it somewhere. I want people to get in their 45- or 50-minute drive time some good knowledge. Let’s leave the people with this. What projects are you working on and where can people find you?

I accepted the role of CEO of WomenVenture, which is a venture capital women’s entrepreneurship center and economic development firm in the Twin Cities that is preparing to scale nationally. We are about to do some amazing things. You can find me at WomenVenture.org . I’m also the Founder of Black Female Founders. You can find me at BlackFemaleFounders.org and all of the socials related to those. Also on my own socials, I’m very active on LinkedIn . Most of my socials are @ErinHMcKinney . I’m always doing some hotness.

The other hotness that I am doing right now that I forgot to mention is connecting all of that because I still have my entrepreneurial endeavors. I’m also the Managing Partner of a real estate firm called Minnesota Impact Partners. That helped with the redevelopment and economic development efforts in communities of color in Minnesota post-George Floyd’s murder.

I was looking at a personal quote that you have here. You said, “I strongly believe that our survival instincts are what sparks innovation. Be unapologetic about your testimony and your path. We must be patient with our personal journey and process because one’s purpose is often shaped by the trials of life and what will ultimately define you.” What does that quote mean to you when you hear me say it back to you?

One is that it is wrong, and I need to work on making that more succinct, but the other thing is that at the end of the day, true innovation comes out of survival. When people are met with life’s trials, they innovate because they are forced to or they have to. That goes back to what I have talked a lot about in this episode, which is about embracing those storms in your life because some miracle is about to happen, or there is some lesson that you are about to learn from, whether it is a failure or a trial, and it is going to allow you to innovate in your life in a way.

Again, innovation is not about technology necessarily. It is about doing something better, something more amazing, and finding a way to get over an obstacle that is in your way. Think about the feeling you have when you achieve something that was so difficult. You can look back at yourself or look in the mirror and be like, “You did that. Here is a gold star for you.”

It doesn’t matter what everybody else says or thinks. A lot of people won’t even know the trials that you have been through, but when I look in the mirror and where I have innovated and pivoted in my life, I’m proud of myself for that. People need to be proud of themselves for what they have gone through. Be authentic and embrace that in all of the intersectionality in their identities that get them to the point that makes them who they are. When you own your truth, that is some powerful stuff right there, so own it. Be it. Be you. Don’t be anybody else.

Own your truth. Stand within your power. It has been an honor and pleasure to have you on the show. You are a true conduit to the Black community. You are who our ancestors have prayed for. Thank you so much for dropping so much knowledge and wisdom with us in this episode. I appreciate you.

Thank you for having me. Thank you for all that you do.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that has been another episode of the show. I will be staying in touch with this young lady because I do not want to miss out on everything she is doing. Thank you for tuning in. We will see you in another episode.

Gian Saunders | Fierce Female Financier | Financial Olivia Pope| Money Dr.

Mon, 10 May 2021 06:15:56 GMT

Sticking to the norm isn’t what many successful people envision. Gian Saunders, one of today’s fierce female financiers, owes her decision to start her business to the conflicts in her personal relationships. At a young age, Gian realized that her family had limited beliefs and had many opinions that were taught as facts. This pushed her to decide that she wanted a different life than the typical, go to school, get a degree, and get a job system that her family lived by. Today, she is able to live the life of abundance by choosing entrepreneurship. Join us in this episode as Gian shares her views with Taryell Simmons on generational wealth and why it should be emphasized more in this day and age.

Connect With Gian:

Website: elevatefinancialsd.com

Email: g.saunders.wfg@gmail.com

Twitter: FierceFinancier

Facebook: Gian Leia Williams-Saunders

Instagram: Fierce_Female

Pinterest: Fierce_Female_Financier

Clubhouse: Fierce_female

LinkedIn: Gian Saunders

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Listen to the podcast here:

Gian Saunders | Fierce Female Financier | Financial Olivia Pope| Money Dr.

This next guest that I have in the building is simply phenomenal. I believe this is another lovely connection from Xtina. I'm going to have to do some special for Xtina because she has sent me some amazing guests. Gian Saunders was born in Mesa, Arizona and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska. She had an intriguing story when I first got to meet her. She's passionate about financial literacy, but she's also an artist. You will know a little bit about how her transition into the financial industry came to be. She's dedicated to growing our knowledge, especially within our community of finance, so we can live a better tomorrow. Generational wealth is her thing and it's not talked about enough.

I remember her telling me one of her favorite quotes was from Harriet Tubman when she said, "I would have freed more slaves if they had only known they were slaves." That holds true to her. She would have helped more people achieve financial literacy and generational wealth if only they knew that they needed this information to build wealth. I hope I can help and assist wherever I can in that journey. Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, I give you Gian Saunders.

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How did we get connected?

It's through Christina Geri or Xtina. It's this young woman. We connected over Zoom. I love her energy so much and that was the first thing I saw about her. Me and my fiancé were like, “Who is this girl?” I'm like, “I love her.” We connected and she was the first person that I talked to and still the only person I talked to on Zoom on a personal note for over 1 hour and 30 minutes.

That's Xtina. We were in the same RISE Leadership Program. She wasn't even my cohort, but I connected with her at an event and that's when our conversations started. It's like yours. I was like, “I like her.”

It's so true. It's all these little simple things that I've learned like, “Real recognizes real.” That's a real statement. You can see and feel other people's energy, especially when you're more in tune with yourself. When you see and feel those individuals, that's not by happenstance. That's a connection. That's rare. I came up with this quote years ago and I'm going to put it on my tombstone, “Realize your greatness and understand your uniqueness.” I believe truly that when we all realize how amazing and great we are and how unique each of us individually, that's our superpower.

We're unstoppable at that moment. You also had said something else I love. You said, “There's enough at the top for everyone. There's enough room for everyone.” That's something that I preach too. People come from a place of scarcity so much that they feel like me or think about themselves and can't think about its abundance. There's so much in this world that we can all have enough and more than enough to go around.

I see why she introduced us. It's because of that mindset of abundance. That's what I preach to the people. When you get out of a mindset of scarcity, you realize that there are enough resources on this God-given Earth for everybody to succeed and be successful. There's no such thing as scarcity.

God says there's enough. He watches the feathers on the heads of the birds. He feeds them every single day. We're more important than the birds.

This is going to be a good episode. I can see it already.

I'm excited.

Welcome to this episode of the show. I got my girl Gian here. She was introduced to me by Xtina. You heard me talk about Xtina on the show plenty of times. She's a gem. Gian, welcome. How are you?

Thank you. I'm feeling great. There are no complaints here. I woke up ready to meet you and I'm so blessed to be on your show. Thank you. I'm feeling fantastic.

How did you get connected with me? I know it was through Xtina, but how did you meet Xtina? Tell me that story.

I love to network. Let me start by saying that. I love to meet people. I don't know where we lost that ability to meet new individuals and bring new people into our lives. I love to network and because of my business, I'm more so forced to, but I love it. I was searching around for different Zooms and meetings. I've been connected with Roosevelt Williams for a long time of Young Black & N' Business out here in San Diego, California.

I love Roosevelt. His energy is contagious. I remember the first time I met him. He was talking about, “I saved your soul.” I was like, “What is he talking about? Are you talking about the shoes? Are you talking about me?”

He is funny. I love it when I can see what people are going to look like when they're older. He's going to be hilarious when he's an older man. I've been connected with him for a long time. There was a Zoom meeting for the magazine and that's when I met Christina on the Zoom call. I had personally messaged her because her energy was so infectious. One thing I noticed about her is not only did she have a beautiful shaved head on the side, but she also looks like a boss. When you see someone that has that persona or energy, she looks like, “You can come to tell me however you feel, but I also don't care. I'm going to respectively tell you I don't care in the nicest and kindest way.”

That's the type of woman she looks like. She was on a chair, but she was sitting with her legs crossed up. You don't hop on Zoom calls and see that often. I'm like, “This woman knows who she is. I have to meet her.” We connected and talked on a Zoom call for 1 hour and 45 minutes about everything. Since meeting her, we did a meditation day together. I invited her out. She came over to my girlfriend's house. We did this thing called the RASHA . I don't know if anybody has ever heard of it. It helps you amplify your meditation.

What is that? I heard of Reiki, but I haven't heard of RASHA.

I don't want to say it's complicated and I'm going to try not to complicate it. It's through sound waves. You can cure or heal things through sound waves. It's the same thing. It's vibrational energy, but it's on a scalar device. There are crystals and scalar energy being radiated on a higher level through sound waves. That's the best way for me to explain it. It's like meditation.

I have to tell Xtina. She hasn’t to educate me on this one. She knows I love all this stuff.

We have crystals. We did a whole meditation and it felt so amazing. It's being able to share that type of level of love and going on an inner journey with self together with someone like that. We're already best friends. I love this woman and I've known her for a month and a half.

It feels like you've known her for life. That's what I told her. She's my kindred sister. We don't even talk about surface-level stuff. We talk about some deep stuff. We go from 0 to 60 real quick.

I love those conversations. They're rare. You can't have those conversations with everyone, unfortunately.

Tell me, who is Gian? We will get into the business, but who are you? Tell the people about who you are.

Let me start with where I'm from originally. I'm from Nebraska. There are Black people out there. Everybody always asks me, “Are there Black people out there?” Yes, there are. Omaha is mainly where the majority of our color is, but I'm from Lincoln, Nebraska. I was raised in a large family. My grandmother had ten children. I grew up around my cousins, who were all boys. I grew up a tomboy. I loved being rough and playing in the dirt. I hated the color pink. As you grow, you change a little bit.

Tying some pieces into the business, I heard a lot of things growing up that a lot of us heard growing up too like, “Money isn't everything. Money is the root of all evil. Money can't buy you happiness. Money doesn't grow on trees.” Also, I grew up in the church and it almost seemed as though wealthy people were bad. Nobody said that outwardly but it was like, “If you have a lot, you're greedy.” That's the connotation that I picked up on.

Growing up in a large family, all of them had small mindsets and maybe it was the state I was in. I realized that myself. Maybe it wasn't the state I was in. It was the mental state I was in where I wasn't feeling abundant. I didn't feel like I could grow. I lived in Nebraska up until my divorce. I was overworked and underpaid at my job and in my relationships, so I quit. That was one of the hardest things for me to do because that was my best friend.

You had to change that state.

When you don't know who you are and you don't love yourself, there is no possible way you could love someone else. For both of us, my ex-husband and I, he's a wonderful man, so there are no bad feelings or anything. When you both don't love and know who you are, you cannot love someone else. I wasn't putting God first. In my life, I realized now that personally, you have to. I wasn't putting God first. I was putting so many other things before, including my husband. That's also why none of those lasted. After working for the business for five years, I worked for the National Gallup Poll. They gave me a raise of $0.75 and I was disgusted. I worked my butt off for five years with that organization.

I brought them a lot of individuals and I worked hard for them. I didn't see my life there. I looked at some of the older individuals and I realized that's not where I want to be. A lot of people need to take that time to locate. Right now, where I'm at, if I look at who has this lifestyle, is that where I want to be in the next few years? That was not it for me. I packed up, left my job, and moved. I packed up and drove all the way out to Florida because I thought it was going to be hot, sunny and beaches. I realized it was monsoons and lizards. I'm like, “Florida isn't it.” I packed up and drove clear across from Florida all the way to California.

I don't even know how my little Chevy Malibu did that, but I drove and picked up my mom on the way because I was about to pass. I did it. God is good. I moved out here with no goals or a plan whatsoever. Do you know what's crazy? I had a lot of family members and friends get so scared for me that they got upset with me. They projected so much of their fears trying to protect me that they got angry. I had people get mad at me. They're like, “That was so stupid. That's the dumbest decision.” I'm like, “This is what I'm choosing to do with my life.” I wanted more. I wanted a challenge. I want sun. I hate cold weather. I cannot do cold weather. I want change.

I'm a tropical person too.

I remember coming outside one day and the wind chill was negative 15 and it was negative 32 already. The wind slapped me in the face and I got to trudge to my car. I was done. That was not it for me. After I moved out to California, I realized very quickly how important money was. You need money to survive. My rent in Nebraska was $480 for a place that was about the size of a home. You can't come to California, get a parking space or a Harry Potter closet for $480. After my divorce, I'm 26. I moved out here.

I realized the price of living is so expensive, but I've been lying to myself since I've been here that it's not expensive. When people say, “It's so expensive.” I'm like, “Just make more.” I've been lying to myself as well because I don't want to believe that it's expensive. I moved my mom out here and that was a difficult decision for me. It put me in financial hardship because I was not ready to retire my mom but I was passionately ready to retire my mom and I made it work.

Since then, things have been rocking and rolling. Who am I now? I'm engaged and I'm loving my man. This man is so fantastic. I've met my best friend. I know it's weird, but I feel like we're twins. He's so like me that we connect so well. I've been living out in San Diego and working with my business. I run Elevate Financial with my fiancé. We are backed by an organization called Transamerica Financial Advisors . I love what I do. I'm so passionate about it. I never thought I was going to get involved in finance because I am an artist.

I did special effects, makeup and body paint when I moved out here. That was the company I ran. Coming from the wild world, I talked to Xtina and we were talking about if we could frolic in the woods with fairy wings, glitter and bubbles all around. That's what we would do. We have to work hard until we can get to that point. As an artist, I'm a free spirit. Coming into a business like finances was a big mental change for me. There's a lot that had to change. My biggest thing is, “How much value can I bring to the world? How much love can I give to the world? How can I be a better person every single day?”

You brought a ton of value already from that story.

Thank you.

When she said changing her state, there's something that I resonated with you and your story. Not only did I change my state too, I grew up in the hood of Washington, DC, but I also changed my mental state. I changed both physical and mental locations to get to the person I'm at now. There's a lot of value that she put in there when she said that because once you get around folks that think differently from you, you start to see the world differently from where you were, which creates growth no matter what it looks like.

Hopefully, you get positive growth, but it creates growth either way. One thing that I'm capturing is the change from being an artist to going into the finance world. That's another growth transaction right there. How does an artist begin to work in a financial world and still be whole and use her gifts so that she does not feel boxed, enclosed in or has to be a different person?

I knew who I was before this business, but we're always changing, growing and evolving. When you know who you are, you love what you do and you're passionate about it already, it's difficult to change and be passionate about something else. As an artist, finances and money are important. It came to me where there's a question almost every day, “Do you put food on the table or do you put gas in your car?” There are times of struggle. It comes to a point where you hit ground zero or the floor. You can't fall off the floor. That's the best part. You have to realize, “I could keep pursuing what I love to do, which is my art.” I did my tattoo. Even in the financial industry, tattoos are something. That's a little elephant. I'm a big elephant.

What does it represent?

That goes into a whole story. It has a meaning. I love tattoos, drawing and painting on bodies. I'm painting on naked women or men. That was a big change mentally for me and I don't think a lot of people realize that. You said it perfectly, boxed. I almost did feel boxed, but I had to shift, adjust and change so that the financial industry works for me and I didn't work for it. The company I work with is so diverse and it's a new type of financial firm. I am a minority woman. At the time I started, I was 26 years old. I was a Black woman with no financial education. I did not graduate with a college degree and a financial degree.

I did not have any financial background or education prior to this business. Me being a “regular” person, getting this extraordinary opportunity is a blessing in itself. God is so good that he allowed me to go through everything I did in my life and then somehow found this business or it found me. Was I planning on getting in finances? Absolutely not. The woman who tried to get me in the business went after me for six months. I told her no for six months until she said something that stuck with me. I will never forget what she said because it hurt, but it was real.

What did she say?

She said, “You're too busy being broke to start being wealthy.” She was a good friend of mine. That's another great thing. Good friends don't hold back on things that they need to say to you. Good people in your life don't hold back on things that need to be said at the right time and the right moment. I'm glad she said it. Did it feel like the right time for me? No. Did it feel right moment for me? No, but it was what I needed to hear.

I'm so blessed because that made me get that shift of, “You are 26 years old. You don't even have $100 to your name. You're struggling to save money. You're living paycheck to paycheck.” How would any of you feel at 26 years old with not even $100 to your name? If some of you are in that situation, that's the time to change it. None of us should have less than $100 to our name, especially if we're over the age of 25.

I'm being real, especially if we're in California and have children, a family, people who rely on us, mortgage or bills. What the heck are we doing? It smacked me across the face and helped me realize, “You need to get your stuff together.” That's where the change happened. Me not feeling boxed in happened with me being creative. I'm a creative mind. I'm a winner. I'm going to figure this out regardless. I do DIY stuff around the house. I painted a fan black and gold. I do stuff around the house, and also this piece of artwork.

It looks like a piece of art.

That was me. I did that. It's this rug, my door and my house. We do things that help the creators. I can't be boxed in. I won't allow it. I bought roller skates. I keep pushing myself out of my comfort zone, so I don't feel like I'm doing the same thing every single day. Thank God my business again allows me to be in front of people and it changes every day. I'm in the financial industry. It's the most stuck-up industry and I work a lot. How do I have time to have fun and enjoy life? I have a blog about that. My fiancé and I released our blog on Valentine's Day about how two people that work all the time still have fun. How are they still artists? How are they still creative? How did they not kill each other? That's what our blog is about. I'm glad you asked that question and I'm sorry I went long-winded into it.

I love the story.

I'm a storyteller. It's about merging your creative self with the person you have to be to get where you need to go in life.

Another gift that you have that you didn't mention is your ability to tell stories. If you haven't figured that out already, but I'm pretty sure you have, it's going to make you great at your job no matter what job you go to. That's what has helped you elevate your career and life. It's that ability to communicate, tell stories and take people on a journey wherever they're at and meet them where they are to get them to where they need to be. I love that about you.

I truly appreciate that compliment. That makes my heart smile. Thank you.

I picked up on that early. I was like, “Whatever she's doing in life, she's going to be amazing at it if she continues this piece of her art.”

It's crazy. My ex-husband used to hate how I elaborated every story. I get it. Sometimes you just want a straight answer.

You're not going to be for everybody but be there for the people you need to be there for. I want to jump back real quick. One thing I used to get when I talk to people about changing their mindset, career shift and a lot of the things that can pop up with people in their limiting beliefs is that, “It's too late for me to start. I'm too young.” They don't know where to start. One question that I used to ask guests to help people realize it's not where you start, but it's where you go. I ask people, “What was your first job?” So they could see a relation to where this person started from, “What lessons did you learn from that first job as to where you know you're at now?” What was your first job? What are some lessons that you learned from that first job?

My first job was as a swimming instructor. I worked for a place called Larson Lifestyle Center. I was a teacher. Growing up, I always loved children. My mom was an educator as well. It was so amazing being able to be with these little babies. I worked with ages from 3 up to about 7 or 8. Sometimes I worked with older children. We will teach them swimming lessons. We do the little backstrokes and the dunking.

This is where that dark side of me comes out, but I've learned we should accept that dark side too and use it in a good way because it's part of us. There's always some little kid that you're like, “I can't wait.” There was a diving board. We always got permission at the beginning of the class like, “Your child, even if they freak out, is that okay?” We have to get them in the water and they're like, “That's perfectly fine.” We get to stand up on top of this diving board. If you can imagine having this kid and you want to smack them around. You get to throw them off the diving board and it's okay. They freak out and that is the best part. It sounds so terrible, but it was the best part of the business.

What I learned from that business is patience. In working with children, you have to be a patient person. Working with children in the water is different. They're more blunt and they could do more, so you got to watch them. It's being patient and diligent. Also, our manager always had us doing this crazy face. We didn't understand them as young adults, but the kids are teaching patients. When you work with children, they push you to your limit. Especially as a teacher, sometimes they don't want to listen. They teach you patience. Another thing that I didn't realize I was being taught was doing things without understanding why you have to do them and doing them with a glad heart.

Our manager would always have us do stuff that we didn't understand at the time. I started working at fifteen. She tells me to wipe down those little buoyant things that make the lanes in the water. She had us take scrubs and wipe those down. We were like, “Are you kidding me?” First off, we were wiping off people's body fat, which was disgusting. You have to scrape that off. She would ask us to wipe down the walls. It's like wax on wax off. I'm learning patience this entire time. Also, I learned how to do something and have a good time doing it no matter what. It's like how Mary Poppins taught us or is it to whistle while you work?

You have to have fun while you're doing stuff. Make things a game. That's what I got from Mary Poppins growing up, “In every job that must be done, there's a lesson to be won.” You learn things while you do things if you look for that silver lining. It's not necessarily being, “I'm happy all the time.” It's being in a state of happiness, even when you have to do tedious things. There are going to be things we have to do in life and they're going to take time. How are you going to be able to handle and do that? It taught me how to be a hard worker at a young age and how to respect my money too.

That's important. It hits different or you show up differently when you're in a state of gratitude versus if you're in that state of like, “I got to do this.” If you change the verbiage like saying instead of, “I have to do this,” that, “I get to do this. I choose to do this.” It's a state of empowerment and you get to feel more empowered, which is important.

If we're talking about changing the language in the conversation, especially around finances, there's a set belief that we've had in our community around finances that they're evil or that we have to do this to get the dough or the bread or chasing money and paychecks. I always tell people this line that I use, “Do what you love. Love what you do. Don't chase the money. Let the money chase you.” What I mean by that is that when you show up and say, “I get to do this. I choose to do this,” and you do it with love and compassion, you start to attract money in a different way than chasing money.

Here's one thing I learned and I didn't get this when I first heard it. They had a study where they took light particles and human DNA. The human DNA combines when placed inside the container with the light particles. We are supposed to attract energy and good things, but when you're coming from an attitude of scarcity or are not for abundance and other people and you go for yourself, you're repelling all good things, energy and light away from you. It's a state of mind. There's this quote that said, “If you do not get your mindset right and get positive about things, you're blocking your runway.” Your blessings cannot land if your mind is blocked.

I know you had somebody who was chasing you for six months. He jolted you and helped you elevate in your career, life, business and finance. Let's say there's somebody that's reading this that wants to elevate their life, career and business. They're interested in going down this finance route. Maybe they might be an artist, too or not. They are looking at your story. They feel inspired by it and they're trying to figure it out. How do they get into this field? What would you say?

Reach out to me.

That's step number one. Give them the blueprint. Let's say they're over somewhere in Africa because we got some readers in Africa and the UK. You might not be able to guide them from there. What steps would you tell yourself that you took to get into this career or would you tell somebody to take to get into this career and industry?

It's your environment. We have heard this many times, but your environment and who you hang around are going to attract or not attract your blessings. Getting into the financial industry is a mindset. It's a change in my lifestyle and my life. I wouldn’t have been able to do this business if it wasn't for the people around me. My vision was stretched being around new people and being uncomfortable. Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. Many people don't step out of their comfort zone and environments.

If you keep staying around and being around the same individuals, your lifestyle will be the same life. Oftentimes, we find these big revelations in the simplest things. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. It might be with a different person, but generally speaking, it's the same situation. If you keep doing the same thing, you're not going to get a different result. The environment is huge. Mentorship is another thing that goes hand in hand with your environment. If you have somebody that has done it before you and has been successful in it, wouldn't that make sense?

Jim Rohn said something so beautiful. He was saying, “You and I are on an airplane and you're the pilot. Why would I not listen to you?” You have been piloting for 45 years and you're teaching me to pilot. You say, “Press that little red button.” I'm like, “I don't think so. I'm going to not listen to you.” That's ignorant. Also, it's choosing to be stupid because ignorance and stupidity are different. You are now making the sound decision to choose to be ignorant and not listen to someone. Mentorship is so important.

That's why we have parents. Maybe some people don't have the best parents and structure, but you can look at it from the opposite way too, “I don't want this. I don't want to be like this. I can do this to change that.” It's mentorship and environment. Start reading and getting more knowledge everywhere. It is BS when people say, “I can't. I don't know.” Do you know how much I've learned on TikTok? I learned some stuff I should have known a long time ago from my dances. They're like, “Did you know this?” I'm like, “I did know that.” There's so much to YouTube university and books.

TikTok is getting financial literacy too. I've been seeing a couple of TikToks where people are doing, “Start your LLC or a family office.” I've seen those TikToks and I'm like, “TikTok is getting educational and deep too.”

I need to work with somebody to help me stay up on the latest TikTok trends. I want to be a part because I can do a little diddle. I'll do that and say, “Save your money.”

At that point, it's like, “Start your LLC here. Get your finances straight here.”

I started on Instagram. Every platform, especially if it's free, is a great way to get your information out there. What are we doing if we're not using platforms for our business? I'm trying to use not only Instagram but also TikTok as well as Twitter. I just got a Twitter, which is crazy. Going back to the question, there's information and gems in books. Somebody had said, “If you don't want a Black individual or person to know something, put it in a book.”

I had never heard that, but I'm going to open it up. If you don't want people to know anything, put it in a book. How many people do you know read? There's knowledge and wisdom inside the pages of books. If somebody has lived a whole life, 46 to 50 years of their life, and they put it in a book that you can read in 2 hours or 1 week, that's a mentorship lesson right there. It's the environment, mentorship and knowledge. Seek knowledge, be around good people and always come from an attitude of gratitude.

I believe that if you understand, you have willpower and a why. Focus on that. Money for me isn't everything, but I need money to buy everything. I need money to be able to hit my goals and dreams. Therefore, I need to make my own money and understand money. I want to control it, so it doesn't control me. That's why I got into finances. I saw my family doing the broke mindset and lifestyle. No offense to any of my family members. You're not living it the way I want to live it.

I'm not saying you are broke, but that's not my life. If you're making less than $300,000, that's not my life. I'm looking at $5 million. I'm looking at my net worth. This is what I wake up for and tell myself, “My net worth is $480 billion.” I bring $480 billion of value to this world. It's my vision, goals and also affirmations. Do you have your affirmations and goals written down? These are all things that go into the mindset of you getting to that next level.

You put so many gems in there. Let's start with the key thing that I want readers to pay attention to because they will hear money and know the negative relationship we sometimes have with money. She said something very important and that was she knew her why. When you start to know your why, the reason why you get up every day, whether it be for your family to provide a better life for you and your kids, leave a legacy or whatever it is.

When you change your relationship with money, it takes money to do some of those things at the end of the day. What you want to do is use money as a tool instead of having you be the tool. Use money, not people, but a lot of times, people use people and that money. It runs you to the ground and messes up your relationships, all for the love of money or your relationship with money.

A big thing is your money relationship. How good of a relationship do you have with money? I'm doing a summit coming up in March 2022 in the UK and the topic I'm speaking on is money relationships. Think about it. It's a relationship. I'm going to break this down. Every relationship, like your relationship with God, do you spend time with it? Do you give to it? Are you having that quality time? Your relationship with your spouse, do you give to it? Do you love that person? It's a relationship with knowledge. These are all relationships. How much are you giving to that relationship? When it comes to finances, most of us don't even have a relationship with our money. We don't even think and care about it. We don't talk about it. It's still taboo.

I hope I ruffle some feathers with this. When you are scared to talk about your money, you're still talking from a scarcity mindset, “I can't talk about how much I make annually?” Who cares? What are we going to do with that information? People feel like it's taboo because you're talking with people who are broke most of the time. Wealthy people talk about their money all the time. They will let you know what their last deposit is and what their net worth is. Also, sometimes it depends on who they're talking to. They're not going to go explain like, “I have all this stuff,” because they're not bragging. When you're having a conversation about money and it's a business talk, it's not, “I can't.”

Money is the cheat code. We've talked about money, finding your why, knowing yourself and elevate. I don't just mean the business but also your life and career. We got to see some transitions that you went through in life. You've done a lot of transitioning and went through a lot of different things in life that taught you some lessons. What's one good lesson life has taught you?

Keep it simple. That's the biggest thing I've learned. Look for the simplest things and everything is so much easier. Life is not meant to be hard. Someone had said, “Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream.” That's a simple statement right there. You're supposed to be rowing your boat gently down the stream, not rowing against the current, going up the hill and exhausting yourself trying to force things to happen. Work hard. Don't be lazy, but nothing is supposed to be that hard where you're mentally drained. There's a different type of work and work hard. People get those confused.

When you have to work hard for your business, hustle and be ambitious for your family and yourself, that's different. When something is not working and you're still constantly trying to make it work, that's you going against life and not allowing God to do his work and that beautiful thing that we already naturally have inside us to let everything fall into place. If we’ve noticed everything that we had an issue with, a struggle or a problem with in the past, we got over it and we're here now. We have always got over it.

When we couldn't get our rent, “We're about to get kicked out.” I've been there. “I don't have any food. I'm overweight. I'm not going to make the cut.” You do or you don't. It's one or the other, but you're still here. You're alive. It is your attitude of gratitude that's going to keep you getting to that next level. The biggest thing is keeping it simple, learning and listening. We have 2 ears and 1 mouth. We should listen twice as much as we speak. That's something I'm working on. I love to talk, but I want to learn more.

What is some advice you would give to an artist who's reading this and saying, “My artistry is not doing what it needs to be? It's not where I would like it to be, but I love everything that Gian is saying. I want to pivot and bring something else that allows me to be successful financially so that I can be the artist that I want to be in this life." What advice would you give to someone who would like to start a career in another industry that is an artist at heart, whether it be the financial industry or any industry?

Your passion isn't always going to be what gives you the income that you need. Your passion will not always be able to pay your bills, so you're going to have to make some sacrifices. There's a great song by Big Sean. It's called Sacrifices. You have to make sacrifices. Don't you think I want to be rollerblading, eating food, running out the beach, laughing with babies and running around with dogs all day? Absolutely. Do I want to paint bodies, hang out with my fiancé and spend time with my mom and family? Absolutely but I'm making sacrifices now for a greater future tomorrow.

I'm so goofy. I used to love Snapchat when it first came out. I used to make videos because I didn't care about views. I wanted to make videos for myself and my friends. I would be in the forest making a The Blair Witch Project reenactment. I'm like, “Let's jump off his trampoline and into the pool.” That's me. I love that. I never lose being a child. I've also learned why would we? We should always be excited and creative. That's where a lot of people come from anger and resentment because they don't allow themselves to still have that energy. Be excited, be creative and be the creative person you are.

Utilize your skills and make a sacrifice for a little while for the next 5 to 10 years and something that I don't want to see you hate. Don't do something you hate. Find something that can work with your passion. I never thought finance could work was my passion. I love helping people and the underserved community. Harriet Tubman has this quote, “I would have freed more slaves if they had only known they were slaves.” I'm the Harriet Tubman for our people. When I say our people, I don't mean my color. That's not what I mean. It's not that I don't see color. I hate when people say that.

I see color, but I see the person more so. I'm looking for people who think and act like me. My community is the people who want to get better. My community is the people who want to excel the levels of their lifestyle to another level for themselves and the future generation. Those are the people I'm talking about when I say, “My community and culture.” I want that to be clear. I'm going to have to start elaborating that a lot more because when I say, “My community,” people automatically think I mean the Black community, which I do, but I mean every other community as well.

We're all people and we all need help financially. Most of us are struggling financially too. We, as a community, need to build and grow together. Find something that works well for you and work in that. Find a passive source of income. If only I could shake the computer and slap people around through my way. Find a way to make an income for yourself where you don't rely on somebody else. Having your business or something where you make your own income is a necessity now. It's not a want. We need to get on making passive income. We should not be working so hard. Our money should be working hard for us.

That's why I got into finance, to be honest. If I could jump into any industry and work hard in it for ten years and then get wealthy, I would be there. There's no other business that I know of where there's a system in place. I got my license. I went to school for this business and I have a license in over nine states. This business has allowed an ordinary individual like myself to be in this extraordinary opportunity so I can excel in my future and life. Do I want to be in this business forever? I do because my life has changed. I love this business, what it stands for and my industry. It's fantastic.

If you have never heard of World Financial Group , that's the platform I used to have my business. I'm 1099. I'm contracted. I work with Transamerica Financial Advisors, but I'm also not limited. We work with only eight-plus providers, but I also have my own. It's my and my fiancé’s business. It's our business. I'm not WFG, Transamerica, or anybody except us. I'm Elevate Financial and I'm here to help the people. This business has allowed me to do that. I tried to run my own company. In getting your company, there's overhead. You have to pay your people and get your products.

If anybody has heard of Robert Kiyosaki's book, Cashflow Quadrant , most people will stay stuck as an employee and self-employed their entire lives. When you're self-employed, you bought yourself a job. That's what it is. We're trying to get to the business owner and investor side. I'm on the business owner's side. I will soon be on the investor side because I will not be working as hard in this industry or business. I would still be here and hustling, but it will be on my time and schedule. This business will work around my life. I hope I ruffle some feathers. You are still working to build other people's dreams and goals.

I was good at bringing other people money and helping other people get wealthy. I realized, “Screw that. I want to make money for myself and my family, not for somebody else.” I had to get something on my own and I tried to do it without someone else, but now there's mentorship and leadership. I'm not by myself. I have a strong support system and people that see my goals and dreams and push me. That's why it's so important to have that environment. Please, fight me on this. There is no other business as good as my business. I don't care what you say or do.

There's no other business that gives back to the people and does everything right to these people. We don't sell hair care products, makeup or glasses. We give concepts and financial education and literacy to the people that need it and deserve it. That's what I do. That's why I'm so passionate about it. It's because I was one of those people who would never get this knowledge or would never have gotten it if it wasn't for this business. If my mom and dad didn't know, where would I learn if the school systems, my job or college didn't teach me? It's through the school of hard knock life. That school is expensive.

You’re not teaching financial literacy anywhere in our communities. You would have to go pick up a book. There's Robert Kiyosaki. I love Rich Dad Poor Dad , a couple of other books he has written, and some authors he speaks with or hangs out with, like the Tony Robbins of the world. There's a lot of knowledge in that. I love what you alluded to with building wealth for yourself.

I often tell people, “If you could get to a point where you're not trading time for money, that's when you know you've made it. It's when you've become not only a wealth builder for yourself but also other people.” You're investing in other people's time and talents. What do you think the future has in store for your industry? I see elevation coming out, but what do you think?

We changed our name 40 times. It's like, “I heard you dropped Elevate a couple of times.” I'm like, “Yes.” Shout-out to Drake. There's a song called Elevate. I'm like, “I'm going to ask him to work together on that.” First of all, the future of finance is email. Let me shout out all the women and ladies out there. I'm not a feminist, but maybe I am. I'm letting all the women know that this is our time in the financial industry. If you're a woman, you're like, “I don't know.” A lot of women and men have gone through this. When you get separated from somebody and you don't understand your finances, you start over all over again. It's nice to be able to know these things for yourself.

For my industry, I do know that we have had a lot of conferences about how the future of finance is female. There has been so much change going on in this world. COVID came. This is all due respect to everyone who's having a struggle with this. I'm not happy for the people that have had some losses in their families. I know that this time has not been easy for some individuals. I get that. This is me saying this respectfully. For me, 2020 was the best year of my life. Our business exploded. More people are knocking on our doors because we have been preaching and teaching financial education, financial literacy, wealth, health, happiness and joy. They all go together hand in hand.

This is another big nugget I've realized. Until there's a crisis, most people don't move. It's until there's a big slap in the face or they're like, “My whole car got repoed. My house was taken away and my kids.” Why do we have to wait for something to happen like that for us to be like, “We need savings?” You have needed savings for a long time and needed life insurance this whole time. I don't know if people even fully know what I do. The financial industry is a broad subject. I'm an educator and a financial broker. I'm able to work with over 150 product providers and services. The main products I do, though, are long-term care, retirement, and life insurance because we're going to die. This is the circle of life. It's The Lion King.

Everybody is going to try to retire before they die. If you are not saving for your retirement, you are behind. If you didn't start saving years ago, technically, you're behind. We need an estimated $2.1 million in San Diego, California, to retire at age 65 and $1.6 million in North America. People think that you will be okay with $200,000, $400,000 or $500,000. You can't live with $200,000 in California. What makes you think with inflation and taxes in the next fifteen years that you're going to be able to retire? These are things that people don't get. It's these little simple concepts. There's retirement. Everyone is going to try to retire. There's long-term care. People typically get sick before they die.

I've worked with a lot of individuals who say, “I'll work until I die.” When you're 68, 69 or 72, first off, you don't know your health. If you keep eating Ho Hos and not working out, your health will be garbage. If you keep smoking those little eCigs, you will not be able to be the greeter at Walmart or work in your construction business. Your body is getting older. If we don't take care of our health now, how are we going to be working in our 70s and 80s? Also, do you want to work now? In the next 15 to 20 years, do you want to be doing the same thing you're doing now? I call everyone on their BS when they say, “I'll keep working.”

Here's a story. I came out to San Diego, California and I was a promoter for almost three years. I was promoted in Vegas, Miami, and out in San Diego. I was going home and I stopped at my friend's house. It was super early in the morning. It was 3:40. She has a gate before the gate to get in her place. She's very wealthy. At the first gate, there's this little old man. He's in his 90s. I asked him, “What are you doing working?” He looked at me with tears in his eyes. This little Black guy was like, “Every single day I wake up, I feel like I'm a burden to my daughter's life. She's married. She has three children and I cannot live on my own. My pension gives me $600 a month.” I'm like, “That's insane.”

Some of us are going to be working in our 70s, 80s and 90s because we have to and not because we want to. I know for a fact that's not going to be me. That story scares the crap out of me. I hope it scares some people to start saving and investing for themselves. It's the power of compound interest. If we do it young, we have more time. If we start when we're in our 35s and 40s, unfortunately, unless we have $1,000 to $2,000 to put away, we're not going to be making a dent. To be honest, being broke and not having scared me so I wanted to make sure. The future of our business is bright.

People are now realizing that they need to start doing these things that they should have been doing a long time ago. Also, since it's a trend now, everybody's like, “There's cryptocurrency and Bitcoin.” Everybody's trying to get stocks and stuff. You cannot sustain a family on that type of income. To the people that trade stocks and day trade, I'm so proud of you. What we do is much different. We work with guaranteed investments. I have a license to do what I do. I'm a financial professional. It's a different concept. Don't get tricked into saying, “I'm going into stocks,” thinking that you're doing finances. That's like me going up against LeBron James on the basketball court. I am not good at basketball. I'll get destroyed.

There are a lot of gems thrown there. The key one that I want to focus on is the different avenues in the finance industry. There's not only one route that you can go down. In our community, a lot of our folks don't realize the value of life insurance. I've lost too many loved ones in 2020 due to COVID, even some of the people that were educated and were around people like me. In my circle of friends, we all had life insurance policies.

It was surprising when I found out a friend of mine who passed away left his family and his mama all these financial bills because he didn't have any life insurance. We had to do a fish fry and GoFundMe to bury this man. I had a lot of emotions. We were like, “Why didn’t he have a life insurance policy? All of us got one. He's doing well. He graduated from a good school. He's around success and he didn't have this.” If you are reading this and you do not have a life insurance policy and have not even begun that talk, go and see somebody in the finance industry and start there.

Life insurance is not just about you when you die. It's also about starting up a piece of legacy for your family after you're gone. If you choose to, there are life insurance policies that you can use as annuities too to help you while you're living. That's a whole another education lesson. I'm not going to get into it because that's your lane. I don't want to take from that. I want them to call you and let you educate them on that. What projects are you working on? Where can people find you?

A massive project I’m working on is, “How many families can I help?” By help, I mean to educate. I'm so glad that you put that in there. Before I fully answer that, I did want to touch on exactly what Taryell said. If you have not talked to somebody about that, please do. Life insurance is so important. You hit the nail on the head. In 2020 alone, $330 million was saved on GoFundMe, specifically for funerals. Do you want your family doing a fish fry, cookout, bake sale, GoFundMe or carwash for you after you pass? When we pass, two things are going to happen. It's one or the other. Your family will be in a better or worse financial situation. There is no in-between. You don't break even. It's better or worse.

It's the most selfless thing you can do for your loved ones and yourself. Please contact me. The biggest thing that we're working on is getting our name out there, not for our gain. That's where a big switch came. I used to do a lot of things for myself. I'm a single child. I'm selfish sometimes. I don't mind saying that. It's now more, “How many people can I help and reach so that I can be around more individuals that I can serve?” I want to be a servant to everyone. This is going to be my callout. To anybody that needs help on anything financially, I can help you. Me and my fiancé are here for you, whether it be knowledge or sitting down. We sit down with people for free.

I don't know if you realize, but most financial educators or financial advisors charge you yearly or every time you visit them. I do not charge you to sit down with me, take time out of my schedule and teach you. I do not charge for that because that is what we're here for. If I can't bring you value, then there's no way I can help. If I can bring you value, we can help each other. That's the biggest project for me. Please come follow me on Instagram. Me and my fiancé have a lot of fun times on our Instagram,. We post information, little tidbits, financial knowledge, strategies and tips. We do little videos. I’m doing some of the little IGTV channel. I’m learning new dance moves. I realized I can't dance.

We will have to get you a TikTok account going to replace that Snapchat you lost.

I have no videos on there. My Instagram name is @Fierce_Female_Financier . My Twitter is @FierceFinancier . I am on Clubhouse as well.

We got to get you in here to have conversations on Clubhouse.

I would love to. I want to get more involved in speaking, opening my own room as well, talking to people and bringing guests on. It's time management. I'm working that out. I'm on Facebook. My Facebook name is Gian Williams-Saunders . Brett's Instagram name is @PipkinBrett . For the males or some females that like having that conversation with a male, both of us are open books. We love people. We invite you to come to ask us questions and we're not shy about answering. Be ready for our open, honest and upfront answers. I ask permission every single time I'm sitting with someone because I'm a little more straightforward. I'm going to tell you how it is. I'm not going to beat around the bush.

If you like your coffee straight up with no sugar and cream, this is the lady you need on your team. To close out, one thing that you had said is about how females seem to be taking off in the finance world. Female finance seems to be the new empowerment movement. We had this conversation on a radio show where we were looking at the stats of entrepreneurs in business growth for people of color.

It looks like women of color are leading the pack and entrepreneurs starting businesses not just in the finance industry but all over seem to be outpacing men, especially men of color. What is your take on that? Why do you think females, especially females of color, are outpacing men in starting businesses and being entrepreneurial?

Right off the top of my head, I can only speak from my experience. It goes back to you can't fall off the floor. You're at the bottom. Women have been suppressed for a long time, especially women of color. They have had some issues with that as well. It's at a point where we're like, “We're sick of this. We are tired. Let's rise up and conquer.” Beyoncé said a great line, “We can have a baby and then get back to business.” We are hard-working. Think about this. Women are very tough.

We have stomachaches, headaches, constant migraines, cramps or emotions going on all the time. Somehow we're still able by the blessing of God not to kill somebody throughout the day and still be patient, wipe your kid's mouth and take care of your sick spouse. Not to be sexist, but it goes both ways. I'm generally speaking, but it's coming from a place of, “We're fed up. We're tired of taking a back seat or back stance.” This goes for anybody who is tired of taking a back seat. It's time to rise up. This is the best time to do so.

This is something crazy. Forty percent of the US money was printed in 2020. This is the largest wealth transfer. If you're ever going to start a business, figure out something with partnership, do what your big dream is, and start saving and investing. This is the best time to do it. This is an opportunity in 2021. These months have taught us. Also, look at the way our economy is going. This is the best time to get your foot into anything. We're taking an opportunity.

I got a lot of questions now about the wealth of the dollar.

Inflation and taxes have been going up. We think that inflation and taxes all of a sudden will start going down. It's going to go up. I'm assuming, but it's a pretty smart assumption. We have to keep that in mind. For everybody saving, you have to remember that you have to outpace inflation and taxes. If you're saving in a 401(k), what you're saving now, you start to pay taxes on tomorrow. The money that's in there, remember that you still have to pay taxes on it. That's another thing with life insurance. If you don't know a way to accumulate wealth inside life insurance plans, please call me.

Tax is no joke. Don't think that just because you saved $1 million, that $1 million is all yours. There are certain things you could do to use everything that she's saying to help you. It's not about how much money you save. It's how much money you keep. You have to have a lot of shelters set in place so that you can keep most of the money. If you're in real estate, 1040 exchanges help you keep that money. There are different policies and life insurance that help you keep some of that money so that you can successfully transfer the wealth not from generation to generation and for you to use it and have access to it as well. Get your education on, ladies and gentlemen.

Life insurance is the best way to transfer wealth to your children. Most people don't realize that things get taxed and caught up in probate. We have to remember that. It's the best and most efficient way to transfer wealth to your children, family, estate and trust.

Are there any positive affirmations you want to send the people off with before we close our session?

I have one that I say every day, “I love money and money loves me.”

Say that to yourself at least 3 or 4 times in the mirror, affirm, believe it and then manifest it. Gian, thank you so much for coming and blessing us with these gems and knowledge. That has been another episode of the show. Thank you for reading.

Important Links:

Porshe Taylor - Founder Of FTIO (From The Inside Out)

Mon, 03 May 2021 09:46:51 GMT

Self-improvement starts from the inside out. On the fast track of reaching her highest potential, Porshe Taylor has utilized her resources and willpower to overcome the obstacles in her life. At one point she felt chained down by her dependence on alcohol coupled with a 15-year cigarette habit. Porshe turned to God and broke free from the unyielding grasp of her addiction; her response was to fight and get free. When God removed the taste of alcohol from her tongue and relieved her craving for tobacco, Porshe finally found peace within. She completed therapy which helped to remove the veil of addiction from her eyes. This allowed Porshe to receive a message from God while she slept and as a result of that night’s encounter, she gave birth to FTIO (From The Inside Out) Starting with just a website. Porshe followed God's Instruction and began building her organization. Prison From The Inside Out Inc. now serves seven California prisons with rehabilitative self-help programs and are growing every day. Porshe Taylor is now the first African American woman to create a nonprofit organization that supplies correctional institutions with innovative and rehabilitative curriculums that have been approved and funded by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).

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Connect with Porshe:

Website: PrisonFtio.org

Email: PTaylor@from-theinside-out.com

Instagram: @PorsheTiara @prisonftio_inc

Facebook: @PorsheTiara

Mary Mac Transitional Homes: MaryMacHomes.com

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Listen to the podcast here:

Porshe Taylor - Founder Of FTIO (From The Inside Out)

We’ve got Porshe Taylor. She's the Founder of FTIO , which is From The Inside Out. Her story is incredible because she's on the fast track to reaching her highest potential and overcoming some of the obstacles that came into her life due to alcohol and cigarette habit. She was able to find healing in therapy and started to do this work with herself first, and then go into the prison system because her husband was a product of what happens in America when you get introduced to the prison system. It becomes an unhealthy cycle when it comes to families and the things that people have to overcome when getting out of the system.

She's one of the first African American women to create a nonprofit organization that supplies the correctional institutions with innovative and rehabilitated circumstances because we know the prison system in the US is not a rehabilitative type of system. She's doing her best to create those spaces to do that. Without further ado, let's get into the episode. Porshe Taylor from FTIO, From The Inside Out.

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I have given our guest a brief update on my journey before we get into her journey. I love the walk home, Porshe . I’ve got to speak with her. Give us the backstory. How did you and I get introduced? Refresh the memory for the people who are reading.

The beautiful Xtina is the bomb and a mutual friend of ours. She is an amazing young woman who graciously intertwined us because she knew the amazing things that we could do if we conjoined, and here we are.

As Xtina says, “We’ve got to get all these lightworkers in together at some space at any point in time.” How did you meet Xtina?

The organization that I founded goes into prisons, and we are volunteer-based in regards to our facilitators who go into the prisons and run the programs for us. Xtina is one of our volunteers.

I might have come to do a session one of these days. As I gave you an intro, I wanted to do this episode to show all the amazing and brilliant people, specifically Black and African. I grew up in Washington, DC, when it was Chocolate City. In my neighborhood, there were Blacks, Africans, Jamaicans, and Dominicans, all of Black origin or descent.

I was raised by a Nigerian Black man. The interesting thing is I grew up in Nigerian and Black culture at the same time. Depending on how I showed up in different spaces is how people relate to me. I can say sometimes my Black American culture wasn't too kind when they thought I was Nigerian. It's like, “Get out of here. My booties scratch it.” My Nigerian culture is like, “I'm not Black enough to be part of that culture.” I don't know they are struggling.

It’s that in-between that all mixed children go through. You are not enough for either culture but you are both.

You go into school systems where they treat Black kids like you are not enough, and then not being enough all the way until I hit my mid-30s and 40s. I resonated with your story when you were talking about it on the radio show. I felt some of that journey, and I appreciated every single word you said, so I wanted to create this show. As I said before, to tell our stories, the ups and downs, the woes but mostly from a career and self-discovery journey because I feel like they are both intertwined. Do you feel the same way?

I 100% do.

I must start with a framework because what I used to tell the youth is it's not where you start but it's where you are going. They used to always have this negative connotation with their first job. I was like, “Your first job could teach you a lot of things if you are willing to learn from it that you could take to your career. What was your first job?

Looking back, my first job was in a little company called Teen Leaders of America. It was a job at the school. They would pick you up and drop you off to go door to door to sell garbage.

What is this selling garbage thing?

That's what I'm calling it but it was knickknacks that probably have very little value. We will go up to these doors but they had no rules. They gave you a little script but at the end of the result, the driver of the van, which was also your supervisor and was generally a young male. They made their money off of the money that we made. We were paid in cash daily. This job did have the potential to bring in a lot of money, and it did. I was making $200 to $300 a day as a thirteen-year-old. That was my first job.

What are some of the lessons that you learned from your first job that you took with you as you grew in your career in business?

I learned that I was a very good salesperson. I learned to be aware of pyramid schemes and to appreciate the value of self because that job taught me to embody my talents. What I contributed to that business was a trickle effect. That business is still active, so I don't want to down it because it's a good business for kids but the way that it was run at the time, I don't think it was super beneficial to kids. It did have a lot of good lessons, and I'm sure they cleaned up some of those areas now.

That's what happens when you put young people in the leadership of other young people. You need to have more adult mentorship in those types of rooms. Fast-forward, I don't know how many businesses you own. Tell other people a little bit about what you do now and some of the things that you do in your current career or business.

I work full-time still. I work for the county that I live in. I have done so for several years but I am a multi-business owner. I own a successful commercial cleaning company. I am the Founder of a very successful nonprofit, and I opened a new business. It's a transitional home that runs in conjunction with the nonprofit that I have.

If you haven't learned anything from what she said is, 2021, you’ve got to have multiple streams of income. You can't be playing around in the streets. Take me through the process because you have the full-time and the business. How would you define your career at this point?

It’s just the beginning. That's how I define it.

From the business standpoint and going into the entrepreneurial side, what are some steps that you took to get into business to get your businesses up and running?

Going back, I will start with the cleaning company because it was first. On my own, I'm one of those, “Get out there and go kind of people.” When I want something, I am extremely driven. My husband is formerly incarcerated. He was back and forth using young adults before his incarceration term started. I had my own issues but once I became a parent, that was out the door for me.

It's hard for people who are formerly incarcerated to gain healthy employment that's going to last and pay well. I was like, “We’ve got to create our own.” If that's going to be the case, we can't rely on working for others. It is not going to sustain the lifestyle that we want to live. We created the cleaning business. I did my research.

There are priced companies that could help me because there are companies out there that if you are lacking the knowledge of what steps you need to take for yourself or your state for incorporating your business, insurance or whatever it is that you need. I researched a couple of companies. For the first business, I probably paid for a little bit of a higher package because I wasn't familiar with the documents and things like that. It's about jumping out there. To keep it short, don't be scared. Take the leap.

Sometimes you have to go out and take a leap of faith. Hopefully, that leap of faith will take you to the next step. Sometimes we spend so much time pondering the idea that we never get the idea.

I have talked to quite a few people who asked me, “How to get started or what to do?” I am one of those people that believe in pouring out blessings onto others. If I know, I'm an open book. I feel like God gives it to you so you can share it. You can tell people so much and then the next week is there. You know they are still there. I tell people all the time, “Stop thinking about it so much. Plan it, outline it, draft whatever it is you need to do, and then jump off that cliff.” Once you jump, there's no turning back.

Are you a big fan of getting out there, asking people or seeking mentorship if you don't know it? Is that your style?

I don't know because I'm also a very closing person. I know that mentorship is needed. Mentorship is necessary but I'm not a person who goes out and seeks a lot of mentorships, even though I should.

From hearing your testimony on the interview that we did, I believe that you have been a mentor to others, and people may have been mentored by you, not in the sense that they came to you to seek advice. They have followed your journey and your moves, your steps or read the show we did. They pick mentorship up from you that way. I do think you have it both ways but not in the way that you think. Did you sometimes find yourself looking at others’ journeys and picking up little things here and there from their journey and using that as inspiration and motivation?

I noticed very early at the beginning of my entrepreneurial career that it was definitely something that I did a lot, and that's because it's normal human nature to see someone in a position that you aspire to be in and be inspired by them. In the field that I'm in, I walked in as a person that is first and foremost impacted by incarceration. I had never been on the working side of it.

I had no knowledge of nonprofit room. I pretty much walked into this business blind led by God and knew I was blindfolded. To see other young people of color, Brown people, was inspiring. I look at their success as markers at certain points or when I first started. I plan to continue to find people that I can help.

I want to dive into that story a little bit more for people who don't know the story and who didn't see our interview on GODRadio1 . In regards to the business of starting your nonprofit and the prison system, tell me the journey that got you there. What was the journey that you went on before you’ve got to the point of reflection and starting that business?

We talked about these on the other ones. I will drop some extra info that I didn't share there. My husband and I met as very young adults. We are 18, 19 years old. We were inseparable from day one. I was already in trouble, and he wasn't. He was a good person. He had some juvenile stuff. He got a fight at school being in the record. I was probably headed on a bad path and he was not.

We ended up having our first baby at 20 and 21 years old, and we were doing good. We have got our first place together. We had three cars, both were working. We went out to a club one night, and we’ve got back to San Francisco. We’ve got back to our home where we live and go to sit at one of my cousin's houses.

Somewhere between the night, my husband and my cousin decided to leave and go get a Swisher from the store. On that route, they crashed, and my husband was driving intoxicated. He was held responsible for the death of my cousin that started his prison career, as it's called on my side of the working group. He’s sentenced to ten years. He ended up doing six of the years. That was his first-ever adult interaction with the criminal justice system.

That was a very traumatizing situation. It was very hard for my family and any adult. In general, my cousin and my husband were extremely close. Life was taken. It was lost. That was the longest at the beginning of my relationship with prison and the prison environment. My daughter, in my world, is known as the prison child. She was only ten months old. My husband has been incarcerated longer than he has been out here with us. He did that term. He got out. He made it off parole around 2013 or '14. He ended up catching another case, being on probation, doing smaller terms.

Somehow, we had to jump into this cycle of statistics of being prison life, prison child, repeat offender, a young Black woman, and single parent. It’s all of these statistics that come along with prison and being Black. This last journey that we had taken in 2018, 2019 was around the New Year. He had what's called a joint suspension.

At the time when he took the joint suspension, I don't think either one of us was aware of what it was but when you are about to go to jail, do six years and they say, “You can do 6 months instead of 6 years,” you take it in and run. Joint suspension is a very strict probation term the violation is 30, 60 or 90 days, where if you mess up at all, you get that term of six years or whatever they were holding above your head initially. It was a last chance thing.

My husband clearly wrecked his last chance. It was around the New Year of 2019. He went to jail, and in between there, we had a second child. She was young like the first one was. I was distraught. I was over the entire face and severely sucking into alcoholism. I was gone and a completely different person than I am now. I am a full-blown alcoholic.

Thank God I am in a different place. My birthday was at the end of January. I had already had a Mexico trip preplanned. I ended up going to Mexico. Prior to that, I had been praying because when you are that far gone with alcoholism, you don't even want to drink. You drink out of necessity because you have felt like you are going to die if you don’t.

I had planned this Mexico trip. I was going through all kinds of phases like depression. I know I was about to be single-parenting again for another six years. My one child was going to be a teenager. All the things you think about when incarceration happens. I went on the trip, and it was fun. It was a great trip, minus the fact that I was gone. I might as well not have been there.

I came back and was done. My body, mind, and soul were done. I don't think I could have gone on any longer. My soul was tired. I decided right there that I was going to check myself into rehab as soon as I’ve got back. Four days later, I was in rehab. That rehab changed my life. It was very informative. It wasn't the rehab that's like, “Stop drinking. We are here to provide pills or whatever you need, so you don't have withdrawals.” It was educational.

They had all kinds of holistic practices. We learned meditation and grounding techniques. It was dope.

It’s a very intense rehab but not fully living in rehab, and that's because I still had to take care of my two children. I went through the Kaiser Program , and it was super dope. I loved it. It was very attentive for a program that you had that you could go home at the end of the day. Meaning you still could get intoxicated very easily if you chose to.

They implemented many things to help you along the journey, and the things that were most important for me were the educational pieces that taught me why I was going through addictive things, what my brain was going through or why it had a lack of emotion towards things? All the chemical imbalances that the addiction has caused you.

That, for me, was probably lasted the longest out of the things that I learned besides the holistic practices like grounding, meditation, and artistic therapy. They had a host of things that we did while we were there. I would recommend their program to anybody who's struggling and serious because it is a choice. You have to make a choice and be ready.

Once I was midway through my journey of rehab, I started reading the Bible daily. I dove into my relationship with God and built it. I feel like I was in such a bad place that that's all I had to grab on to. I was fully in. When I was not doing something to stop myself from drinking that they had taught me, I was in the Bible, and that was my days for a couple of months.

With that, I was doing the decision, reading the Bible. It was me and God, and God and me. I did a reflection and meditation. I went to sleep and dreamed. I had a dream about what is now my very successful nonprofit. That dream gave me the push to build a business. I felt like it was a way for God to communicate with me and show me vision because it was something that was stamped into my brain, and ever since, my life has been different.

This gives me good context to the name of your nonprofit, From The Inside Out, because you went through therapy, reflection, meditation, and relationship with God from the inside out. Every time I hear you tell that story, I get goosebumps. It was supposed to originally be a website in your dream. How did it go from website to what it is now?

Something that came up in the last interview that we did, it's popped up in my mind a couple of times. This question leads directly to it. One of the questions that were asked was, “How do you fully submit yourself?” I gave a shell of the answer. One of the other cohosts, the one that was impacted by incarceration, gave such a wonderful in-depth answer about submission to God.

Something it brought up for me while he was explaining his version of submission, which was a wonderful light effect. It was being willing to face God in the moments where you get comfortable with what you are doing and the repetitive stages of submission, getting up, praying, and doing what you do. There's a stage where I believe you are comfortable and have to be willing to go outside of the box that you have been in to find God to search for your stronger relationship. That is something that I was practicing.

I felt like I was in such a close place with God and with the Holy Spirit. My sister helped me do everything. I sat down and said, “I want to write to everybody on death row.” This was not only in California. I meant across the United States. We sat down and Wikipedia everybody on death row. I had to search out their name and department of correction numbers, which is their name for prison and addresses.

We drive mailed hundreds of people on death row. I wrote a letter, telling them my story, the dream, and that I wanted for them to share their story to bridge the gap. That was how we first started, and through doing that, I ended up meeting a young man named E’drick Brown . If you check out my website, his story is there written and on video. He’s an amazing young man, extremely talented, and unfortunately, very unfairly sentenced. He is serving a life sentence in the California Department of Corrections now. He is up for commutation.

I ended up meeting him and doing some heavy praying. I had been for a couple of days, I watched a lot of sermons online and preCOVID-19, I would watch sermons throughout the day to stay healthy. The first week prior to me meeting him, I kept on getting a sermon over about God putting a vision in front of you, and you do everything he says. He changes the vision, and you are like, “That's not what you said the first time.” It kept coming up. When I met the young man, automatically, I knew that he was the reason. I knew that I had to change my plan. What I thought that God had told me was a website into this next phase of it, which was for us, to offer rehabilitative self-help programs. E’drick Brown wrote the majority of FTI programs.

For everybody who's reading, who she's referring to in that question is Michael Dunn from Let's Talk About It on GODRadio1. He had a similar journey in recovery from alcohol. I helped to get him on an interview one of these days as well, too. That story speaks to you in a nutshell. Sometimes you’ve got to trust a journey and process, believe in God's plan, submit yourself too, and then he will remove all the barriers for you. He takes you to the next place where you need to be. What's one good life lesson or one good lesson life has taught you?

To always be a student. We should strive to learn every day to remain as humble as possible, especially as a person of influence, to jump in the backseat. You don't have to be the driver.

What's some advice you would give to someone who would like to start a career doing what you do in this industry, whether it's being a mentor, building a program, giving therapy to something around mental health and wellness. I feel like the work that you are doing encompasses all of that. What advice would you want to give to someone who would like to start a career in your industry doing some of the same work you are doing?

First and foremost, consult God, pray over your business, and give it to God. I always say, “This is not my business. I work for him. He tells me what to do.” After you get the green light in the criminal justice industry, it's very important to consult the people who are incarcerated first. We tend to walk in. If we are not a person that has been NSL or closely impacted, we want to inflict our opinions and thoughts on what's best for people who are going to be returning citizens.

We generally don't incorporate what they feel. If you are going to go and come into this business, talk to people who are impacted first and incorporate that with your ideas. As I said earlier, “Do your research, draw your outline and go take the leap of faith.” It's okay to mess up. If you fall, you know what not to do the next time. Get back up and do it again.

I resonate with all that, too. I do think we need to change the lens of how we look at our rehabilitative services because the rehabilitative service you went to is transformational, and that's what rehabilitation should be. I do not think our jail systems and so forth are set up to do that. If you look at what's going on in Norway and what they have been able to do, that's rehabilitative right there. Our system is not set up that way.

When I think about our communities and how they are impacted, if you see somebody that gets a DUI in a predominantly White wealthy community, they have true rehabilitation. They send them to therapy and these tranquil places to get the help and things they need. In our communities, we don't have that. You go do some jail time or they may send you over to this place but it's not rehabilitative or transforming.

We need to change the way we see that. I see a lot of movement also going in the news and that government of how they are trying to move the jail industry from being a private industry and so forth. When you look at the correctional industry and then the services you provide, what do you think the future has in store?

I am very involved in the political side, especially in the State of California and what goes on with the criminal justice system nationally or Federally. I wish we were more involved, and I plan on us being more involved. By saying Federal prisons, we do run programs outside of California. In regards to Federal prison-like private prisons, for instance, that is not a California being per se. California a few years ago, Gavin Newsom ended contracts with private prisons.

We had incarcerated people in Arizona all over the place because they had contracted prisons, and he pulled everybody back. All of our incarcerated population is on California soil. What they did do, however, is create a contract with that same company GEO and now they own all the transitional houses. I just found that out because I'm getting into the transitional housing business. I'm kicking down other doors because it's not impacted people that own these houses that are trying to help them. It's people that are profiting off of it.

With that being said, back to your question, for my particular industry, which is widespread at this point, I don't see prisons going anywhere fully closing down. I do see a large reduction coming, and that’s because reformists and advocates like myself, we are not going to let up. What we have going on in the United States as our prison industry doesn't work. It's a business at this point, and you have to call it out as such. We allow for far too long for people to create laws that they could benefit from. They created laws that caged people for profit.

Now, we are slowly but surely chipping and tearing down those laws that were created, which are allowing for more people to be released. On my end, I am trying to develop things like transitional housing. I'm trying to develop resources outside because we can't be trying to pull people from the cage and not help them reacclimate into society. I don't plan on us going anywhere. What we do is needed. What I do plan on is being actively sourced, funded, and as far away from possible as CDCR. It's very hard to work and do things to want to help the people and be against the company that you are working directly with.

I understand the bureaucracy. You don't have to say anymore. What projects are you working on, and where can people find you?

We opened the transitional house. We are trying to stabilize there but my next goal, because I'm a next-next kind of girl, is to bring the programs outside. To have regular community members, be able to sign up, take our programs and enjoy the fruits of what we have to offer. That's something that we are building the skeleton of and looking at how it could work. We are looking at working with Xtina on that and bringing some of her healing practices in. I’m super excited about that.

I love all the work Xtina is doing. I wish I could bring on a show but this is not her platform but I brought her on GODRadio1.

My organization can be found on all platforms under @PrisonFTIO_Inc . I can be found on IG and Facebook under @PorsheTiara .

Any other things that you want to give to the people before we sign off?

Everybody, stay blessed, safe, and COVID-19 free.

Ms. Taylor, it has been an honor and a pleasure to be in your presence, your company, and your story. I appreciate you so much. You truly are an inspiration and a gift to our community. I wish you nothing but success. I can't wait to see what this grows into. Keep doing, pushing, and whenever you need anything, you’ve always got a brother in me. Thank you.

Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, this has been another episode. If you are not following and supporting this woman, don't make me jump through to shake you up. I will see you on the other side.

About Porshe Taylor

On the fast track of reaching her highest potential, Porshe Taylor has utilized her resources and willpower to overcome the obstacles in her life. At one point she felt chained down by her dependence on alcohol coupled with a 15-year cigarette habit. Porshe turned to God and broke free from the unyielding grasp of her addiction; her response was to fight and get free. When God removed the taste of alcohol from her tongue and relieved her craving for tobacco, Porshe finally found peace within. She completed therapy which helped to remove the veil of addiction from her eyes. This allowed Porshe to receive a message from God while she slept and as a result of that night’s encounter, she gave birth to FTIO. Starting with just a website, Porshe followed God's Instruction and began building her organization.

Porshe Taylor is now the first African American woman to create a nonprofit organization that supplies correctional institutions with innovative and rehabilitative curriculums that have been approved and funded by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).

Johann Balbuena - Author | Entrepreneur | Cannabis Advocate | US Navy Vet

Mon, 26 Apr 2021 10:54:50 GMT

As the cannabis industry sees further legalization across the country, it continues to find hiccups in social equity. For Johann Balbuena , there’s a lot of work needed to be done for the Black community in this regard. In this episode, she talks about her advocacy as the Founder of Synergy, a cannabis consultancy and full service media production, distribution, product integration, and content marketing organization. Johann explains how she personally experienced the healing benefits of cannabis after suffering a concussion, and why it must be a driving force in rebuilding communities. She also looks back on her past jobs, emphasizing the hard work needed to achieve a fulfilling success and a strong leadership mindset.

http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=ON_VODqpc104&ver=short

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Listen to the podcast here:

Johann Balbuena - Author | Entrepreneur | Cannabis Advocate | US Navy Vet

In this interview, the person that I’m going to introduce you to is Johann. The funny thing about this story, when I first started doing interviews, I was on a prep call and it started getting good. I was like, “Let me record some of this. Maybe I can insert some of it into the interview.” This is the first time I got to see her in person.

I have been on a phone call with her in a meeting and I didn’t know that I had been on that meeting phone call until halfway through the interview. It was so embarrassing not realizing, “This person seems familiar. I’m not sure if I have met them before,” or what the case was but I ended up figuring it out as we got further along in that conversation.

Johann is the Founder and CEO of Synergy , commercial cannabis licensing, acquisition, and compliance agency. She is an expert in that space. She is the bestselling author of The Successful Canna-preneur book. She is a US Navy veteran, a cannabis advocate, and an entrepreneur. She has a testimony to this. Cannabis has helped her life tremendously. She wanted to educate and I got a good education lesson from her.

From hearing her story and other people who are in the cannabis space, I often think of being an entrepreneur in that space. I give a shout-out to them because it takes amazing grit and creativity to be successful in that space. You always have to be evolving. It is a great conversation with her. I can’t wait for you guys to dive in and read about some of her journeys, tips, practices, and theories to life. Also, get this education lesson on cannabis and the great, many attributes that it could have to our world and society, without further ado, Johann.

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I want people to see more of us doing and creating dope things.

Creating more than music, playing basketball, or handling a ball.

That’s what this is all about and highlighting different people who are entrepreneurs, creators in different spaces and community leaders. We are sharing your story, career journey, how you define success for you, and anything that you have to offer the community. I’m trying to connect the Black community and African community in the diaspora because there is a lot of disconnects there. What Sola introduced me to is there is a whole slew of rich Nigerians who would be willing to invest in Black entrepreneurship. Why can’t we get these two worlds together and stretch the Black dollar outside of the US, make it international and create our own thing?

We create our own table and invite ourselves to come to sit at it as opposed to barking to have a place at a table that is already saturated, number one, and doesn’t cater to our communities. Even if they were not as impactful as it would be coming from within, from us, and creating that solid foundation for all of us to step on and keep building from there.

It is a beautiful thing to know that that energy is out there and people like yourself, myself, and Sola are a whole movement right now. It is overdue and super inspiring. This is the spark that we needed to push forward, break those generational curses, things that have been holding us back, and honestly, do things differently.

I’m not trying to say that we are doing the wrong things but for instance, we can’t continue to march, ask and request. We need to do a different approach from building ourselves. Let’s start building and see what we attract in the process of building to help build as opposed to asking for somebody’s sympathy, understand why they should not say certain things, and why your company should induce. We need to start building our own companies and modeling, “How we are doing it here, this is how you should be doing it.”

That creates a more groundbreaking situation that eliminates having to ask. It is like, “No. This is how you do it. Here is the blueprint either follow it or get out my way.” That is what’s happening now. We are tired of asking and it is a generational thing. Now we are like, “If we can do something with a stick and some mud here, then we are starting there.” That is what has gotten our people inspired to like, “That person is doing it. I can do it.” If your daughter behind you sees what you are doing, imagine what she is going to do. Can you imagine?

She is going to be a trailblazer. I’m letting her know. We are watching inaugurations and that young lady that stepped on the podium and gave that poem had me crying. I was like, “You could be anything. Do you see that? Don’t let these White men or whoever tell you that you can’t be anything. You could be anything. Don’t let him do it to you.”

Let her know, “They are not doing it to you. If you are allowing that narrative to become the reality, that is what stops us.” Nobody is here telling you and me what to do or don’t do. We listen and we have seen all these images that come in our heads that we consume. That is what we see like, “I don’t see anybody in the Science lab, TV, the newspaper, or in the history books that look like me. That is not something that I can do now. I see the janitor, so maybe that is all I can do.”

That is not necessarily a reality. It is something that you accept because you are not seeing it in real life. It is a beautiful thing that now our children are able to see it on their screens, which is, unfortunately, where they usually have most of their eyes. That is where we need to plug ourselves in that channel. Here we are. We are Black, beautiful, smart, and geniuses.

We are a lot of things. I got to all these different countries like the US to get out of this mindset that the Black culture is a monolith. Just because we see one aspect of it, that is the whole group. That is them. No. We are a lot of different things.

What a time to be alive. That is what I like to say.

Sola never told me about you as a businesswoman and what you created. Tell me more about this thing.

Wasn’t it you that we were on the phone where we were talking about the political aspect of cannabis?

Yeah. The structure of your business, what is it?

My business has two parts. One is the licensing, acquisition, and compliance management for companies that are operating in the regulated space. The other one is a media production and content marketing. We create content for the cannabis space. It is my own content that I pretty much film and direct. We have the brands that give us content to put through the channels that we have.

I started in this space in 2014. I got out of the military, and I was dealing with PTSD and all of that. Somebody introduced me to cannabis as medicine which I had no idea was a thing until I felt the immediate benefits when I did it for the first time. I was like, “Why is this illegal?” The stuff that the VA is trying to do with me in a year solved in twenty minutes. I went down that rabbit hole.

What problem did it help solve for you?

When I was in the military, I was in an accident. I had a concussion from that. I was blown by a jet blast while I was working on the flight of an aircraft carrier. That created issues for me like trouble sleeping. I slept in intervals of 45 minutes for three years. You can imagine the level of tension that I had. My body pretty much forgot to eat. I didn’t eat. I had to set alarms to eat because that was not a thing that was being processed.

Now that you know I’m Dominican. On the day of the accident, I lost the English language for almost half an hour. I could not process the English language. If you were talking to me and telling me what to do, I could understand it but I could not speak it. You can only imagine the fog that I was in at that moment besides the pain. That happened in my second year in the military.

For two years, I was dealing with a lack of sleep. I was drinking NyQuil to fall asleep. I was downing NyQuil. A lot of people drink alcohol. I hate alcohol. It tastes like crap. NyQuil tastes like crap, too, but I figured it was better for my liver. These are the things that I’m selling myself trying to deal with the situation. When I got out, I no longer had that fast-paced military life. Things slowed all the way down. I went on a downward spiral with depression, anxiety, and the stance type of living situation.

One day, another veteran came and was like, “You should smoke this joint with me.” I’m like, “No. I don’t do drugs.” He was like, “Please, come. You need to. I sense your energy. It is super tense. Let’s smoke this joint together.” Within ten minutes of smoking, for the first time in three years, I felt like myself. Essentially, I was like, “That is it.” I’m in my mind, I’m like, “That is me right here. I feel well right now.” I didn’t feel that tension in my neck. I was waiting to exhale and I got that breath.

From that moment, I asked him, “What is in this?” I had no idea. I was completely ignorant to the fact that it was the plant that people could grow and all of that. I started educating myself. Within that journey, when I started reading about the medical benefits, I had been living in California for years and I didn’t even know that it was legal for medical purposes at that point. I went to a dispensary for the first time and my mind was blown.

At that point, I already understood the medical benefits. I experienced it in my own skin. I wrote a book about this. I realized that when I went to the dispensary, all the people that were there, the diversity, White people, Mexican people, and Black people. For me, I always associated it with being a lazy person. It is the narrative, or whatever the case, that your brain cells would die and all that other BS that is not real.

When I’m there at the dispensary, I’m thinking, “Not only does this help people. There is a high demand for it.” I was like, “I’m going to look into how to get into this industry.” I kid you not, from that day, maybe three months later, I randomly met somebody who was transitioning into the legal space. I asked them, “Can I quit my job to work for you? I don’t care if you can pay me. Pay me when you can.” He said, “Okay,” and the rest is history.

That is how you broke into the industry.

That is how it happened. Essentially, I helped that guy get the first Black-owned cultivation license here in San Diego County. At that point, it was ban to grow in San Diego. This guy that I was working with is super smart. He was like, “How can we do this legally and claim that we are the only ones doing it?” He went and pitched it to a tribe here in Santa Ysabel, in the Julian area. They were like, “Let’s do it.” We grew some beautiful flowers over there back in 2016 when they had banned it here in San Diego. We did it legally and we were able to claim that. It is Black-owned, and most people don’t even know that.

It is no social equity or no social equity application. It is nothing. It is us getting our brains together, talking to the right people and getting the right systems in place to get it done. It is also thinking creatively outside of the box because everybody was, “We can’t grow legal,” so everybody gave up. We stayed looking because he was so fixated on making sure it was a legal situation because he wanted to raise capital and even take the company public at some point. That is how you sit there, try to think outside of the box and make magic happen sometimes.

That is the beauty of our people. We find a way to make things happen. We get creative even in the direst situations. We are the only people I know that could turn Top Ramen into a gourmet dish.

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My project was at first to bring career professional development to the Black and Brown community to elevate us and it is evolved ever since then and now. This show is an evolution of that.

I’m thankful to be here. Thanks for inviting me.

Welcome to another episode. We started our session on a previous day but when you got to get a session going. You don’t stop.

You keep it going.

We are going to get back into this conversation that we started. I want to double back a little bit to talk about your career journey because you have been in the military and out of the military. Usually, people have a hard time transitioning out of the military. Tell me how your career journey was for the readers.

I graduated college and joined the military. They paid for my student loans so that was one of the reasons why I wanted to join. Essentially, if I’m completely transparent, I have always wanted to join the Navy since I was a kid. It was on my bucket list. When I was a kid, I still have pictures of this little sailor suit that my mom bought me. I always used to say, “I’m going to be a sailor.” This is when I lived in the Dominican Republic because I was born over there. I was always intrigued by that so I did join.

They pay my student loans. While I was there, I had an accident from which I had a concussion and it created a whole bunch of problems. Mentally, I was forgetting to eat, not sleeping, and had a horrible sleeping pattern. I never slept for more than 45 minutes. Every 45 minutes, I kept waking up and being up for an hour until I fell asleep again. It was a horrible situation. I did two deployments. When I got out was when I realized that there was a problem. When the Navy lifestyle completely slowed down, that is when I realized, “Am I going to live this the rest of my life?”

That is when I got out of the Navy and I started working for the Navy as a civilian while I met an individual randomly after I had already tried cannabis for medical purposes. A friend brought it to my house one time and said, “Smoke this joint. You look a little tense.” It was a game-changer. Essentially, I was like, “Why is this illegal?”

I have smoked weed a few times in college but the weed made me sleepy. You know how when you are at a party, you smoke a little, and you are like, “I’m leaving.” I was never into it. I might have always wondered, “Why don’t people smoke this at parties? Do you want to fall asleep?” It was different and that was in Pennsylvania because I went to school at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania. Once I tried it, I became so intrigued by it. You started using it as a patient. Back in 2014, in California, it was medical only, which they had been since 1996 and I had no clue because I was in the military.

I did not know that.

It was passed for medical purposes in 1996. Essentially, 2018 was when it became legal for adult use.

Correct me if I’m wrong, at the Federal level, it is still illegal.

This is a Schedule 1 substance at the Federal level. In almost every state right now, there are 44 states that have legalized it for medical purposes only, and now fourteen have legalized it for adult use.

It is about time that we had the Federal level catch up.

That is in the works. I was reading an article that said that we have the Democratic Party as the majority in our government right now. I don’t know if you know this, but the VP Kamala Harris is championing what is called the MORE Act, the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act. She is championing legalization for cannabis at a Federal level, including social equity aspects in there and expungement of records for people. Personally, we have never been this close to legalization as we are now. It is a great time to be a part of the industry right now.

That is a game-changer right there. Could you imagine all of our people who have been locked up because of possession or usage of Marijuana coming back up?

Over 80% of the people that are incarcerated for cannabis are not for illicit commercial situations for cannabis. It is not for selling.

Is it for recreation?

It is for consumption, having possession of a certain amount or consuming in public or something like that.

I thought it was a bit more of those people who were holding mass amounts and distributing.

There are people in jail for one joint. Mostly, they look like you and me, in towns where the majority of the people there who are arrested for cannabis are probably considered troublemakers or something like that for the use of cannabis. Essentially, once I tried cannabis and did my research, I realized that it was a huge industry in the making.

When I went to the dispensary the first time, I was in there for twenty minutes, there were over twenty people that I counted from when I got there in the parking lot. It is people who were in line getting checked in because at that point, if you have a medical card, you have got checked in and they take your information, verify your card, or whatever the case may be.

I see people coming in and out, and I’m like, “I didn’t realize how much people are into this.” In Jersey, it is taboo, but in California, because they had been medically accepted since 1996, it is a normal thing. I took the first opportunity when I met somebody that was in the industry. The one thing that he kept mentioning was he was in the legal space. I’m like, “I need to know what the difference is.”

I started looking into that and I asked him, “Can I work for you? I am super interested. This plant has healed me.” I want to bring this message because most of the people that are criminalized for being a consumer look like me. I was like, “I want to make sure that Black and Brown people are educated about not only the benefits of using it for medical situations but also do not miss out on getting into this new industry that has so much potential. It is a multibillion-dollar industry at a global level and there are only five with Mexico and countries that have legalized it.”

I didn’t know Mexico legalized it.

They had decriminalized it back in 2008. Don’t quote me on how much you could have but you were able to have a personal amount on yourself. I don’t remember if it was an ounce or something like that. They fully legalized it.

That means that Mexico’s economy might start booming if they started growing this.

That is if they get into the industrial hemp aspect of it, where it is not for consumption, it is for industrial products like paper, plastic, textiles, and biofuels. You can do so much with the fiber of the hemp plant, which is pretty much the sister of the cannabis plant, except that it is grown for fiber and not for consumption.

Don’t quote me. I might be wrong. A lot of people in the 1800s back in the heyday, the US government relied on this hemp plant for all the usage of its papers, textiles, and to create the rope for the military that had the strongest durability. A lot of things that the military used came from hemp. They decided to ban it because it was too close to marijuana for whatever reasons.

They were so confused as to what the difference was. Back in the day, it was not that distinguishable because they looked so similar so they piled it up in one, which is stupid because it was a racial situation. Cannabis prohibition started because the Mexicans, Japanese, and Blacks were the ones using it. They started a campaign saying that these people smoke marijuana and rape our women or think they are better than us or something like that.

I remember that. That is around the Reagan era, the War on Drugs.

In the 1930s, they started criminalizing it. Instead of criminalizing, they required that you report that you grew it. Essentially, that is where the racial aspect was because, at that point, it was mostly Mexicans and people of color growing cannabis that has the high THC that you would use for adult use or whatever.

What they did was implement these laws that you have to put yourself on the list that you were doing that or growing that. Pretty much, it was incriminating yourself. They thought that there was a lawsuit against the Constitution to criminalize yourself, so they created later on the Schedule 1 substance situation.

Here we are. People are making so much money out of it. There are still people in jail, which will always be the elephant in the room for the world because it is not just America. America started that and the whole world followed except China. China did not follow including hemp in that whole situation. This whole time where cannabis has been illegal worldwide, in China, hemp is a useful product. China has been supplying hemp to the whole world while the whole world decided to shut it down completely.

China will be running the whole world, I swear. The US government does such a good job at stigmatizing this product that this plant is so good for us. There are so many benefits even from the sister plant, hemp. If you were the plant and soil, it enriches the soil. It also helps clean out the ozone layer. You could rotate your crops with that. Take the hemp plant out and put some new crops in there.

How can you stop that? It doesn’t make any sense.

What is the biggest thing we need to do to educate the general public to destigmatize how we look at this plant, all the good benefits and usage?

That is why I started my company, Synergy . I started helping cannabis operators that were looking to get into the legal space get their license here in the State of California. That is where I noticed that there is so much stigma not only in the consumption aspect but even in doing business in places that are legal. I realized education and people seeing these images are so important, especially for people of color representation.

Me having this conversation with somebody that has been in the space since 2014, I went through the legal-only market in San Diego. I have worked on ordinances creations in tribal land and now working in the adult-use market. In having this conversation with you to see all that knowledge that you have about hemp, from my company Synergy, then started a media production aspect branch where that is what we do. We create content for the space showing the truth about it.

That is a good way to put it. I worked in my high school. I was good at Math. I was a Math tutor in high school so this was my first job. I didn’t see it as a job because I was usually helping my classmates with the same homework we had. I worked outside of that setting, which was not necessarily a real employment type of situation. My first job was working at Hollywood Video at a video rental. Kids will never know.

I remember Hollywood Video. It is around the same time as Blockbuster.

I had one two blocks away from my house. That was a summer job. It was my junior year in high school and I was in AP classes so I had a hardcore schedule at home, but I liked making money. Because my parents are both entrepreneurs, I have never seen my parents working for someone else but I didn’t see how I could do that besides selling fruits in the streets. In America, that would not have been acceptable for a child.

They would be like, “Who’s kid is this?”

In any case, the first time that I came home, past midnight from my job, my mom was like, “You cannot do that. You have to be in bed by at least 10:30 and be in class.” I had to quit, not because I wanted to. I thought I could do it but my parents did not allow it.

My dad was the same way. He was a stickler about education before anything else. That is usually how immigrant parents are. They would see education as the way out for the kids, even if they didn’t take that.

My dad graduated fifth grade. He started working construction when he was 11 or 12 in the Dominican Republic. From there, he ultimately ended up owning a construction business. My mom graduated high school, but she started working at a beauty salon at sixteen. By the time she graduated high school, she had bought it herself. She still owns the property to this day.

That is the type of environment that I saw growing. That is why once I graduated college and entered the workforce, it didn’t resonate with me. Every time I woke up, I had to convince myself to go to work. I hated it. I was like, “I would rather be in the military. At least I wanted to do that.” When I found out that they would pay for your student loans, it was a no-brainer, so I joined.

I could see that in you because he has that entrepreneurial spirit. A 9:00 to 5:00 would not be best suited for your gifts and talents. What lessons would you say that you carry on to this day that you have learned from your first jobs and entrepreneurial journeys?

Let me tell you how that started. I was in school and I would see this one friend of mine who would sell stickers. Her parents would buy her stickers and whoever wanted one from her, she would sell it. I’m like, “Can we make money like that?” I was at home thinking about what I could sell. I’m thinking about toys, but I’m like, “I like them. I’m not selling those. People sell fruit. Let me go fruit picking.”

Essentially, what I learned from there was creativity is key. You can get creative to solve any problem you can get. If you are stuck, you have to think outside the box. In 2016, San Diego had put out an ordinance so people could apply for a cultivation license and a retail license. When the city council switched in the county, those people did away with those ordinances and the licenses that were already in place. Only the retail licenses were allowed to continue.

Cultivation was banned and the individuals that I was working with were like, “How can we do this?” We started brainstorming to see how we could do it and we are like, “Where do they have no jurisdiction but it is still here?” Tribal lands. I went in, pitched it, and it worked. We had a cultivation site and were able to feed the retail that was approved, which for that retail, they have put a moratorium, which means that they only allowed us to work for five years. I want to send a quick shout-out to San Diego County because they did away with that. They voted to open up non-unincorporated areas in San Diego that are looking to create ordinances and implement cannabis programs. That is going to be a thing now. I’m super excited for the future.

I see that creativity and thinking outside the box. Indian lands are unincorporated. They are part of this jurisdiction and we can plant here. I like how your mind works.

I was talking to them, having the conversation. Usually, that is all you have to do, “This is what I’m thinking here. This is how this can help you and us at the same time.” We help them create their ordinance. We are not there anymore but to this day, they still have people cultivating in greenhouses and indoors in the Santa Ysabel tribal land.

What would you say were the steps that you took into your career, industry, and field? Yours was a journey but let’s say somebody is reading this and they are all inspired by it. They are like, “CBD cannabis has helped me too in my life. I want to get into this business.” What would you say were the steps that you took to get into this business?

I did write a book about my journey, my train of thought, the mindset that I had in getting involved in this space, and how to be successful, which involves a lot of getting creative in a space that is so dynamic where laws change like this. We went through that whole San Diego ban and cultivation but we still cultivate it legally, without having to get in trouble.

My book is called The Successful Canna-preneur . I depict it before I joined the Navy up until the Coronavirus struck. I’m talking about how we pivot for certain things and the mindset that we had in order to not allow such circumstances that perhaps could have ended the business. Also, take us under and rise above that by thinking creatively in all aspects financially, strategically, and executing. My book is The Successful Canna-preneur. It is available on Amazon .

You are already an entrepreneur so you already know how to sell it. I appreciate you. What is one good lesson life has taught you in this journey?

I have learned so many lessons. 2020 was lesson after lesson, but the one lesson I would say that always stands out is never giving up. You have to be relentless in your pursuit, particularly in the cannabis space where things can be here and gone away tomorrow because of the law. The powers may have decided something. Using your intellect creatively and being persistent, consistent, and relentless in your pursuit is the key.

That is a gem right there.

Be consistent and relentless in your pursuit of what you want to accomplish. Number one, you have to know. You have to be specific with your goal and your objective. What do you want to do? I talk about this in the book because my book is not necessarily so much about giving you information about the cannabis space.

I have a whole chapter for the mindset aspect of it. This is what I talk about. You have to learn how to follow your instincts. You have to be specific in your approach. Where are you going? You can’t say, “I’m going to go somewhere,” because clearly, there won’t be a path that you would be carving. You would be all over the place.

Being consistent, persistent, and relentless in your pursuit of that particular goal which ultimately should be the wholehearted fulfillment of your purpose and pursuing that. Every time somebody tells you no, everybody is against it, or whatever the case may be, that is a sign for you to question, not question because they are saying but it is an opportunity for you to understand even more. Either more things that you should do more of or things that you should do less of in order to get you places.

There is a quote by somebody, and I can never remember who said it but they say that life is a bunch of experiments. You learn to do more of what works that pushes you forward and less of the things that keep you either stuck or put you steps back. The key is identifying when you are stuck because you keep doing the same thing. Essentially, once you change something in that equation, you are either going to know what was wrong there, stop doing it, and do whatever is going to push you forward or whatever it was that is keeping you back. It is a bunch of experiments.

Looking at it from that perspective and not seeing it as, “My life sucks. I’m stuck.” That is the opportunity for you to identify what it is that you have been doing wrong there. It is an experiment and there is an experiment where you keep putting ingredients there that keeps you stuck. Change the formula and you will see something else is going to happen and take you somewhere further.

I love that you like to use food analogies like me. I love food, too. Two key things that you mentioned in there that are on par with some of the things I like to teach. Setting SMART goals where we got to be specific about what that is. We also talked a little bit about mindset. You tapped into that a little bit. It was using every no or hurdle as the opportunity to seek, whether it be the truth or our answer to something. It is an opportunity to find what is hindering that person from moving forward.

That advice is crucially needed for somebody who is going to enter the space and the cannabis industry because of how everything is always evolving and changing. As far as speaking to the mindset and the reflectiveness before somebody jumps into this career space, what is some advice you would give someone who would like to start a career in your industry? What do they need to mentally prepare for?

They are excited. They see all the glitz and glam because everybody sees some people making money but not everybody makes it down the road. Some people quit at an early stage or gracefully bow out for whatever reasons. What is something that helps them reflect and get them in the mindset to say, “I need to reflect on this to see if this is the industry for me?”

The key is your why, the purpose of what you are doing. This is going to be the hardest thing you have ever done. Even in my book, the person that I asked, “Can I quit my job to work for you?” He said, “You can.” As he is sparking up his blunt, he tells me. “Yes, but this is the hardest thing you will ever do. I’m telling you right now.” I’m like, “I was in the military. I worked on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier, did two deployments, had a concussion, and went back to work until I realized I could not speak English from the concussion. I’m probably the strongest person you have ever met.” He was not lying.

I remember two years into it, especially back then running a business with your hands tied to the bag. How do you even do that? It is getting creative but my why is that I want to educate people of color on this subject matter and not just about consumption but about the opportunities in the space that can help us as a community create a new economy, where we can be completely independent.

We can do this without social equity situations because honestly, the way that I see that is putting us in another line, “Don’t go to this line. Go to this one.” That line only has 5 spots but there are 20 people ahead of you. In the license that I was able to get here in San Diego, since licensing became a thing back in 2016, none of them had anything to do with social equity or anything like that. The process was way faster because you go through the process with everyone else.

Is social equity super important? One hundred percent. That needs to be emphasized not in the application process. It needs to be emphasized in the ordinance in the implementation of the cannabis program from within the system. I even talked about it in the book is like the government created this program and this disparity. We are expecting them to create the solution. It is a little bit counterproductive, in my opinion, because clearly, they can’t even get a right. They created the problem and haven’t ever thought they would have to solve it, so they are scrambling.

As businesses and operators, it is going to take us to incorporate that in the culture and doing business in cannabis. That is the way that I approach it in this space but your why needs to be that strong. It is bigger than me. I’m not doing this to get financial gain, and I am. It is a business but if that was the sole reason, I would have been in another industry a long time ago.

You could make money anywhere, honestly, especially if you grew up in a family full of entrepreneurs. I tell people that all the time. Your why and what you do has to be so strong that you will do whatever it takes.

I need this like oxygen. If your why is not strong when things get tough, you are going to throw your hands up and quit, fold, or you want to do something else. In cannabis, you have to make it a point to educate yourself and be informed. In this space, you have to be an entrepreneur because you have to advocate for the plan and the people that have been affected mostly by cannabis prohibition on the War on Drugs.

You have to educate individuals about the history and the fact that this is not a gentle plan. Nobody is going to die from this. People will get benefits. We have an endocannabinoid system that is meant to process the cannabinoids in the cannabis plant. You have to educate, advocate and know your business aspect of it. That is my recommendation. Get my book so you can learn it in a little more detail.

What do you think the future has in store for this industry?

The future will seem a little bit further prior to 2020. Because of the pandemic and COVID, the cannabis industry is pretty much stuck out. People consume even more when this happens and it is only natural. Usually, people consume cannabis to tone down the anxiety, mental health issues, relax, take the edge off, and things of that nature.

You hear people when they indulge in that. Besides people with cancer and people with other things like children and autism where they use CBD, the consumption of cannabis went through the roof at least in the first three months of the pandemic. Cannabis proved to be a pandemic-proof and recession-proof industry that can keep some of these cities that had the industries. We are keeping those cities afloat and completely eradicated. The cities that had cannabis ordinances are here in California and even in other legal states were able to latch on to that stream of income, which was brand new.

If they had not approved cannabis the year before or years before that, that would have been money that they would not have access to. That happened a lot. That is why in the election, the real winner was cannabis. Every single initiative that was on the ballots passed. The future is bright. Mexico legalized. Canada has been illegal since 2018, so now we have America in the middle of this.

Put your hands up, “How come everybody around us is making money off this except for us?”

Until America does not do right by the people and the prohibition is affected until there are people in jail for cannabis, the industry will not be legitimized as it should. There are steps and levels to this, and one of them is to create situations that would mend or heal those cannabis prohibition costs.

We are on the horizon. America has a hard time looking at its true history, coming to terms with it, and righting the wrongs that have been done.

Righting the wrongs means admitting that you did something wrong. If we look at the circumstances, because this is with cannabis and I talk about this in the book, you would think that people went to jail for selling drugs or things like that. No. Families were destroyed. Do you know how many kids grew up in a family where a parent went to jail for an ounce of pot? Right now, it is normal to carry that in the person.

It is not for a few months or not probation. That is a Federal crime so somebody did time for that. Somebody is still doing time for them. The social equity aspect to me goes beyond handing licenses to people. Let me explain it a little bit in detail. The licenses are limited. Here in Chula Vista, there are 8 licenses for retail and 8 licenses for manufacturing.

Let’s say you have a total of 40 licenses. That means only 40. Maybe people are partners or 80 people will have access to have the licenses. If you count the amount of people that were affected and arrested by the situation, that would be social equity cannabis, and it is going to be way more than 80. How are you going to mend something with something that costs so much turmoil with 1 or 2 licenses that you dedicate for social equity? That is where my concern goes.

That number needs to rise.

Essentially, you can’t have a dispensary in every corner. That is not going to happen because the zoning restricts the number of locations that you can get. That is how it is for businesses. There are liquor stores everywhere, and perhaps we can have a dispensary. As it stands right now, they want you to be X amount of feet away from schools, churches, this, and that. In those circumstances, you create a limited amount of licenses that you can hand out. You take 3% of those and that is what you dedicate to social equity.

There is another component that we probably may be missing here too. It is how the lottery system gives a certain percentage of money back to the schools in different districts. Maybe in the cannabis space, certain taxes, and a percentage of that goes back to the revitalization and rebuilding of those communities destroyed by this.

I talked about that in the book. That is where the government’s direction should be. That is what they should be doing. In California alone, the operator pays 40% in taxes, sometimes more. With all that money, the taxation should go back into these communities, with specific programs that are created and you can account. Do you know how they track the cannabis from seed to sale? They need to track that money after the sale from inception at the locations, whether the dispensaries or the manufacturers and track it until it helps the community. It is like, “This money went from here to here and this is how we are undoing all these situations of the prohibition costs.”

We can say, “That money that you make from there, you can’t put it into other pots for all of society.” This particular pot is strictly for these communities that were affected by it. We have got puns all in here. It has been a powerful interview. We could go on for hours. Let’s wrap it up with this. What projects are you working on and where can people find you?

Please visit our website, SynergyUniverse.io . We are working on pretty much what we talked about, like creating cannabis content that reels people into understanding, not just the plant from a scientific aspect but from the business aspect and the potential for the medical. It is gathering a library of content that is educational.

The intention is for people to identify opportunities in the space, see how they can contribute to that, and make it a more open market for people to come in based on what they are into, their purpose, the things that perhaps cannabis has helped them with, and how they can take it further, also, from people that look like them, normal people. It is inclusive for everybody because there are so many people of color all over America doing so much work to push this agenda forward for the criminalization, advocacy, and science aspect of it. We have to be at the forefront.

That is the only way that they believe social equity would take place. If we take the initiative to claim a stake in the space, we have a voice in that and that is what we are doing with Synergy Universe. We are collecting thought leaders who are looking to create content based on their knowledge and getting that production done. Also, I do have a studio here in Chula Vista. Hit me up if you need constant creation services. We provide that through Synergy Studios . Check out our lifestyle brand, Boycott Shitty Weed .

Let me talk a little bit about that before I go. On Instagram, it is @BoycottShittyWeed . Boycott Shitty Weed is a movement that we have started that focuses on the fact that high quality and cannabis are important. It is an understanding of where the plant comes from. It can be contaminated because it has to be tested. When using pesticides, those kinds of things can affect your body not in a good way a lot of the time, so it is important to keep quality in mind in your consumption aspect.

Also, the fact that if there are cannabis companies out there that don’t do anything to pursue social equity and inclusion or social justice, to me, that is shitty weed as well. It is not just about consumption and quality. That is important but also understanding what you are consuming if it is not supporting your community and why you are even doing that. That is what Boycott Shitty Weed is about, so please check us out.

I love every aspect of that. I’m glad you came up with this lifestyle brand. Make sure you boycott your shitty weed. It is a lifestyle and a movement. I didn’t even know you could get it. What you told me is that you could get organic weed.

This came from a bad experience that I had. Before I started working in this space, a friend of mine brought something that he bought. I don’t know where he got it from. Essentially, the thing ended up being contaminated with pesticides and the experience was we almost hallucinated. Honestly, with cannabis, there is no hallucination. That is not a side effect of cannabis. I wish I had recorded that because it has so many pesticides in it that I was like, “I was smoking pesticides.” In regulated space, testing is extreme. They tested almost at every level.

That is the one thing I would say in the regulated space. You can track. If you have an edible and that edible causes you to feel some type of way, in the regulated space, they can track it all the way to the plant that it came from. That is a good thing. In the regulated space. They are still working out a lot of kinks but that is one thing that is important, especially for people that are starting out.

One more thing before we wrap up, I realized that we didn’t talk about edibles. What does this industry look like? You can give me your two-minute riff.

In that industry, there are so many chefs cooking with cannabis. It is a beautiful thing in the sense that a lot of people are entering the industry in that manner. You are now using cannabis oils and cannabis-derived extracts or the leaves and incorporate it because the importance of the consumption is that you don’t have to smoke it.

To me, the fact that there is an edibles market, it is a point of education because a lot of people are like, “Smoking is bad for you. It doesn’t matter.” This is the thing that you don’t have to smoke. You can consume it in a patch or like gum, mint, or gummies. I have had medicated Doritos. They have everything. I had an entire medicated turkey burger.

You can even make it into butter. You can make it into an oil that you use in your dips and things like that. It is so versatile. I’m glad you brought that up because that is usually a point of education. The edibles market is huge for the people that don’t like smoking which is a lot of people. In the edibles market, the gummies are one of the number one selling items in cannabis. People don’t have to smoke. You can consume it.

You are telling us to boycott shitty weed. Is your company going to ever give us a list of companies we should be supporting as far as edibles and so forth?

We are working on that. We are going to create a listing and rank companies as far as their inclusion of diversity, their initiatives of social equity, and social justice, specifically for locations like Los Angeles where they are the epicenter of cannabis prohibition criminalization. Because there are already laws in place and a lot of cannabis companies are involved and up and running, then we expect you, as a business, to take it upon yourself to mend that community. Not only are we going to be ranking the organizations, but we are also going to be ranking the cities and their initiatives because it starts there. They are setting up these businesses for failure. We can’t. It starts with the regulation. If the regulation is crappy, what do you think is going to happen thereafter?

I get the progress you are looking for. When you compile that list, I want to put it on our site and I want to invite you back for a conversation so we can educate the public.

Those are the initiatives we have going on. Taryell, I want to thank you so much for having me. I told you that I’m not a morning person but this was so pleasant. I’m super appreciative.

It was. Johann, I appreciate you. I’m not a morning person either but this is as good as my cup of coffee. That has been another episode. We will come back for another educational episode after we break these companies, these cities, and see who is about this life.

Thank you so much.

You are welcome.

Nate Howard - Tell Your Story Before They Do

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 09:47:00 GMT

Nate Howard is a professional speaker, poet, educator, and social entrepreneur. In May 2013, Nate made the front page of the LA Times for sparking a movement against racial profiling after 79 LAPD officers shut down his event at USC. Realizing someone was attempting to tell his story, he founded Movement BE, a non-profit organization that helps young people discover their stories. With the motto of “tell your story before they do,” Movement BE has directly impacted thousands of students across the country and even the world. Nate was selected on the inaugural NBCBLK28 list as one of the top 28 black leaders in the nation under 28 years old. He was later featured on the Today Show as one of the "Best and Brightest: Game Changers Making History."

Most recently, Nate was honored in his hometown of San Diego as the " Young Entrepreneur of the Year." Nate’s belief is that we should focus our activism on education, empowering youth to create change so that the movement is proactive and sustainable. Seeing poetry as a means of self-expression, he challenges school systems to see its use as vital for the development of youth, giving them the courage to find their story to challenge the status quo. Nate has recorded his poetry on songs with artists Ty Dolla Sign, Kendrick Lamar, and Dr. Cornel West. Nate is a graduate of the University of Southern California. His biggest inspirations are Martin Luther King Jr. and Maya Angelou.

Connect with Nate:

Movement BE: www.movementbe.com

Website: www.natehowardspeaks.com

Twitter/Instagram: @natehowardbe

Amazon Book Link: Tell Your Story Before They Do: A guide to winning the battle of you versus you

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Listen to the podcast here:

Nate Howard - Tell Your Story Before They Do

We are in for a special treat. My dear brother, Mr. Nate Howard, is joining us. He dropped a book called Tell Your Story Before They Do: A Guide to Winning the Battle of You Versus You . I remember way back in the day when this was a vision. We go back like bibs and pacifiers. Some people inspire you and this is one of the people that inspire me each and every day to become a better version of myself.

Nate is a professional speaker, poet, educator, and social entrepreneur. He is the Founder and Executive Director of Movement B E. He has taught poetry seminars and self-empowerment over hundreds of schools and performed at over 60 events, including TEDx, SDSU, and the Michelle Obama college signing day at the University of California, Riverside.

He has done mul tiple types of things, even in his own app that inspires educational learning through this application and social-emotional literacy. I have done several workshops with him as well. It is a pleasure for me to reconnect with him on this show, dive into his book, and talk about life. Without further ado, here is Nate Howard.

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Nate , it has been a long time coming. Losing DMX was one thing. You re-energized my soul seeing Nate Dogg. I love the cover, too. People don’t know how special this is. We have been through some battles together. We talked about this way before people had even seen it. I’m excited about this. How did you come up with the cover?

I had an original cover without my face on it. It was before I was going to do the tats. I ended up doing a photoshoot to promote the book. I was like, “That photo. There is something about it. Let me try that out with a cover.” I headed out to my guy and I was like, “That is it.” Weeks before the book was supposed to be released, I was like, “We got to change the cover.” That worked.

It reminds me of Young Nick. You are prolific like him. I hope you don’t mind that comparison.

I’m channeling him. Energy is not created or destroyed. I’m Young Nick out here.

That is what I’m talking about. For the readers, welcome to RISEpreneurs. I didn’t do the regular intro because I don’t have a regular guy with me. This is my brother, my confidant, and the creator of energy and flow. There are many words I could use to describe this. I got Nate Howard, the Founder and CEO of Movement BE . We will talk about the book, Tell Your Story Before They Do: A Guide to Winning the Battle of You Versus You . How did you come up with the title? Tell people the backstory for those who have not had the pleasure to know Nate Howard. I’m going to ask you a deep question. You can take this as far as wide as you want. Who is Nate Howard?

Entrepreneur, poet, creative, the Founder and CEO Movement BE. Tell your story before they do has always been my motto. I have been consistent with it. That is what I have been preaching and advocating to inspire people to tell their stories before someone else does. When people read the book, they will read that now is the battle. Don’t look on the outside and be upset at anybody on the outside. Look within and realize you are the author.

When did you first come up with the concept of Tell Your Story Before They Do? Give me the exact moment. What were you doing and what was that like?

I was on a TED Talk at San Diego State in January 2014 and it just came out. My backstory is I had an incident at USC with 79 LAPD officers. I was talking about in this TED Talk of know your history. Know what your father has taught you. Tell your story before they do and that is where it came out. I was like, “That is it.” Since then, I was like, “I got to hold on to this. This is it. This is the key.”

I have seen you do that in so many different spaces. You are an entrepreneur, a founder, a CEO, and an author. You have created a software platform. You have done poetry. Career-wise, how would you define yourself? I don’t know how to define you anymore.

I’m blessed and thankful. That is what describes an entrepreneur. You can’t put them in a box. They got a purpose. I’m going to attack that purpose however I can, if it is music, poetry, books, film, fashion, or wherever it is. Wherever I can tell my story, I’m going to use whatever medium that can reach the people to do that. I’m an entrepreneur all around.

In this show, I like to tell the origin story. I like to take people through the journey of people’s careers, not just know what they do but their mindset into how they got to where they got to. As you and I know from working together for a brief moment, mindset is everything when it comes to young people, our people, and Africans out in the diaspora.

It is changing that mindset to a m indset of abundance, owning your story, becoming fully you and where to do that. It is a big part of what is pretty much holding us back. There are some other tangibles to it, but I see that as one of the biggest things. I don’t know if you will agree with that. What do you think holds most people back? Let me not put my words in your mouth.

It is you versus you battle. There is an analogy of a horse tied to a plastic chair. This is a big old horse. You are not tied to this chair. You can move. That is the analogy for life. People are tied to these beliefs that don’t serve them. Nobody cares but you. I’m talking to Taryell. Taryell could think whatever he wanted about me but this is not his story. It is my story. If I sat around thinking about what Taryell thought about me all day, I wouldn’t be succeeding. That is how I live my life. People can think anything of you but they are not the author of your story.

Speak on that now because, in the social media age, people get intertwined with what people think about them that they forget to look deeply and think about themselves.

People try to define things as you did earlier. In reality, you are this or that. How do I describe you? That is what people try to do. “I need to make sense of this. I don’t understand you as a person to define. I haven’t seen this before.” We are all unique. The issue is people try to define themselves based on what other people are saying. Those people don’t even fully understand what they are doing.

I can’t even fully self-define because my story is continuing to grow. It will be limiting to box me in and say, “This is what I am. This is what I’m doing.” I then have to subscribe to that, which is not fully my potential. When people look at social media, they are comparing themselves to something that one entrepreneur or a couple of entrepreneurs created on this social media platform. Your talent has to be limited to a picture with a filter that has to be validated or it has to be limited to 150 characters, adventurer thoughts, or whatever it may be. Step out of the box and think of something bigger.

What soci al media is doing to us is trying to figure out how do we fit ourselves into the norms that these platforms have created? If you do something outside the norm, they will be like, “Don’t do a throwback. This is not Thursday.” You can take that for example. Whatever these social norms are for social media and how things are supposed to be presented, people subscribe to them, and it allows for everybody else to easily define it for themselves and to simplify for themselves. If you don’t understand me, that is not my issue. It is my story and I’m going to try to create opportunities to share that.

I love that you used that analogy of me doing it right here in real-time. I don’t know how to define you, Nate. For the people reading, I should not have to define you. You define you. Be you. As the shirt says, “Just be.”

Telling Your Story: The analogy of life is a horse tied to a plastic chair. You're not tied to this chair. You can move. Most people are tied to beliefs that don't serve them.

Think of an art. Think of something like a mosaic or very poetic. You will see all of these different colors like a painting. It is beautiful. It has all of these different pieces to it. The problem is we look at that piece of art and say, “What category does this fit in?” They look at me and you, and they are like, “I know how I can identify them. They are both Black men.” That is simple and it becomes obvious. It is so much deeper than that.

To say that because we are Black, we are the same is idiotic. It is like blackness and Black men are so monolith, and Taryell and Nate are the same people. There is something unique about each of us. When you look at society and politics, even the politics of racial identity and the pandering of things, it is starting to go on more and more. That is what I want to challenge us. I would go deeper into that but it simplifies things to make it easier for media consumption for us to say, “I get that. That is a Black man. This is a stereotype and I understand the stereotypes of Black men. I’m going to leave it at that.”

Let’s take it back for a second because the journey to where you are at now has been a journey, to say the least. I always like to ask this question because I like to give people context that sometimes you got to start. It doesn’t matter where you start as long as you start. Everybody’s starting position is different. The end goal should be whatever that vision you have for yourself to somehow get there and take what you have learned along the way to get there. The first question is, what was your first job?

We were staying out of college. That is where I met you. My first job lasted for two months.

What lesson did you learn in that first job?

I’m an entrepreneur. That is the lesson.

I learned a lot from you too in your first job. I learned that I need to become an entrepreneur to be the best version of myself. I’m still on the journey to win in the battle of me versus me. I don’t want to get too much in the book because I want people to go out and read it. Give me one little nugget. What is something that you learned is the biggest hurdle for people to jump over in the battle of them versus them?

My favorite is when I wrote the book with my dad. Shout out to my dad. It is part of me listening to his advice but also taking my own. Growing up, he always said, “Don’t eat steak on a hamburger budget,” which makes sense. That is financial literacy. As I was talking about sustainability and finances, I said, “Why would I have a hamburger budget if I want steak?” There is a different look at it. That is a big nugget I want people to understand. It takes as much work to make $1 million as it is to make $100,000. It depends on what you are putting your focus on.

What I challenge people in this you versus you battle is being comfortable with success and with finances. It is your ability to be the best version of yourself. I say this in the book, “Be the best version of yourself.” That doesn’t mean 50%. To be the best version of yourself, you have to first see it. I like steak. That is okay. If I decided I wanted to have a steak dinner, I better put my mindset of what it means to have a steak dinner. At the end of the day, I understand people who say, “I want a hamburger budget.” That is fine for you. I have grown up and my dad will tell you, “I have lived a great life.” It is what he was able to provide for me.

I love that advice. Let’s say somebody is reading this, and they are like, “I have been limiting myself. I want this steak. I can’t do it in a corporate world so I’m going to do what Nate did.” What were the steps that you took to get into entrepreneurship and build your career in business?

Google. You have shared a lot of resources with me. I was looking at what you shared about starting a YouTube channel. I see all these YouTubers here. This is not rocket science. Decide on something that you are passionate about. You are not going to do it unless you are passionate about it. I do this because I love it. I’m like, “I get paid to do this and tell people to tell their stories and to share my poetry. It is fun. I don’t work a day in my life.” Do something you love.

We have th e whole worldwide internet out here. People act like you have to be famous or you have to have millions of subscribers. Think about your budget. If you need a couple of thousands a month, you probably only need maybe a couple of hundreds or maybe people that believe in you. They can support you. It is all relative.

I would tell people to think, how much do you want to make a month? Work backward and realize, “If I want to make $2,000 a month extra income, maybe I can get 100 people to support me at $20 a month. To get 100 people, I need to reach out to 5,000 people. Out of 5,000 people, maybe 100 will say yes.” I keep being persistent. Over time, it has to work because that is the Law of the Universe. What you preach is what you get out. People don’t give up.

Where focus goes, energy flows. You got to be mindful of that. You spoke to a little bit of my motto, which is, “Do what you love and love what you do. Don’t chase the money and let the money chase you.” What I mean by that is shortly after me and Nate worked together for that brief two months. I started putting more energy into the things that I love to do and this show is being one of them. This show has grown to be what it is now. All the way from the UK to Africa, we got readers and over 1,000 downloads. It has been a beautiful journey. The YouTube channel is covered. That is why I sit on the resource because that is the next stage of this thing.

They will make money out there.

What’s one good lesson life has taught you? He is like, “Life has taught me so many. What am I going to use now?”

This is a good one for entrepreneurs because people don’t understand it. Everything is about sales and negotiable. A quote that Ice Cube told me was, “If you listen more than you speak, you can get anything from anybody.” That stuck with me because I was like, “I do talk a lot. I have a lot to say.” That is important. Other times, I also understand where to listen. That is the important part of business in negotiation. If I come out with my prices or I come out with everything, there is no leverage. If I can have an understanding of what they want, how I can provide, and what their budget is, I can negotiate. Maybe I will charge less or I can be charging more.

Even with Lil Wayne, “All G’s move in silenc e like lasagna.” If everybody knows what is going and you are speaking and sharing, it is easy to attack your business. If you have enemies, it is easy to undermine you. I think of it as chess. Everything is strategic. You would be two steps ahead. You see the other person’s moves or what they are doing but don’t show all your cards. Be strategic about what you are doing. Not everybody has the best intentions.

What is some advice you would give to someone who would like to start a career in your industry, whether they want to be an author, poet, or follow any of the moves that you have made?

Think of businesses that are going to be around forever. I got friends in real estate. It makes sense. Everybody always needs a place to live. Real estate is a business that is not going anywhere. I’m in education. I don’t think people are going to stop going to school. I will be in business as long as I’m doing right forever. That is important. There are trends that have been here for some time and there are industries that are useful forever.

Telling Your Story: As an entrepreneur, decide on something that you're passionate about. With the internet, everything you want is out there.

I’m in the education industry. I work with schools, with you, and people are always going to have kids. They are going to grow up and need support. People in my industry, and I say, “Be good with kids. Be good with young people.” If you have little cousins or brothers, learn how to start teaching them and supporting them. Visit your local YMCA or reach out to any youth. What’s interesting is there is a need. How many people are waking up in the morning saying, “I want to go help as many youths as possible.” Maybe there are a few people who do that. If they are, there are still more youth that needs to be helped. There will never be enough.

It always surprises me that people think money can’t be made in this industry and prosperity can’t be made in the space of education. You may be looking at it as one way because they told you, “You have to go to school and become a teacher, and teachers don’t make money.” If that is the path you want to go, great, do that.

For educational entrepreneurs, the sky is the limit. For those who go the traditional route as teachers, what other job do you have 2 to 3 months off? If I know I’m working 9 to 10 months of the year, I better have a summer business. I may have something else on the side that is building on that. For everybody who wants to get into education and work with youth, there are so many opportunities.

Both me and you are a living testament to that because after I broke away from the company that we both worked at, I started getting contracts left and right to come and do workshops for our youth around career development. You do the socio-emotional literacy. You have added some financial literacy in that and a lot of different things that helped you. What I like about the way your thing is set up with Movement BE is that the same youth that has been part of your programs, you have been able to hire, go out, and help youth in other schools. That is a beautiful thing. Was that always the plan in your head?

That has always been the plan. I went to USC. The reality is a lot of students who have come from certain backgrounds can go to college, they graduate. If they don’t have a job after graduation, they can go work for their parents because their parents have this big business. It is like, “You didn’t get a job. Come work for me.” I’m hoping that Movement BE can be the same for a lot of youth. We got a lot of youth that we work within the foster care system. They may not have a parent that they can do that with.

If you went to Movement BE and we have an opportunity, you are going to be the first to get that opportunity because you went through this program. That is how everybody else does it. Does this work? I don’t know what else to say about that. It is the reality of it. The people who have gone through the program understand it better. I can go higher and try to get everybody else, “We have a chapter.” Of course, that is part of what I have to do. I’m required to do that.

At the end of the day, I’m going to give preference to the youth who have been to the program. I’m hoping that they pay it forward and keep it building. That is how we do this work. We are working in juvenile halls and those youth who get out were like, “I was part of Movement BE. I now have the opportunity to work with Movement BE.” It also gives incentives for people to say, “Let me take the training. Let me get involved in the program and hopefully build from there.”

What do you think the future has for the entrepreneur space, especially for people of color in this space? What does it look like when you see it or when you vision it?

There is going to be a bridge at this point. What we realized from 2020 is there were two things that happened, we are seeing George Floyd and then we had this whole pandemic. It was like a race. Technology became huge. At that point, you had Zoom sessions of racial injustice from everywhere. What is going to be interesting is looking at how schools begin to adapt to this hybrid model that now exists.

Schools are going to open back up but it is not going to be the same. The kids are going to have the option, and part of that option is going to have to deal with. As a student, do I feel like I belong? How funny is it that students probably felt more of belonging at their school at home than the actual campus? In the same sense, we are going to have other issues of students who had tough home lives and were at home during this pandemic when they needed to be at school to escape from their homelives.

There is a mix of things that are probably going to happen in the education system. People in this space will have to realize how to play both ends. How do you educate in person and how do you educate online? In regards to Black people and people of color, who are educating those youth to do that? What will happen is the opportunist will say, “I know technology. I know how to create a platform for Black students or students of color. Let me lead this initiative because I have the funding for it.”

They create more of a problem and create probably online racism, more issues of campaigns, hashtags that are temporary, don’t have the sustainability of the money going to the community itself, and a mix of other things. Go to MovementBe.com and sign up. If you want to be part of this movement, I got work for you. We could do some education entrepreneurs together and we can make it happen.

Let’s talk about the education system for a second. There have been a considerable amount of times where teachers in the school system or administrators are like, “You should think about teaching. Why don’t you come and teach?” I’m pretty sure you have got it. Every time I think about that, I was like, “I couldn’t be a teacher in this system. This system isn’t built for me.” Do you think there needs to be an overhaul of the education system? If so, what changes would you like to see in the school system?

I’m talking to a principal out in Milwaukee, and she is great. She started at a school. All her kids got to go through a coding class, and that is great. I bought domains a while ago that I’m hoping to use called Durag and Code. Hopefully, that is for boys to be in their durag and start coding. I want to be realistic about some of these things. College is not for everybody.

Specifically, in the modern-day, you need college for certain jobs if you want to be a doctor or a lawyer. The digital age has changed so much that you need just a certificate. If you went through a coding program and you know how to work for a company to develop their website or social media, I don’t understand how four years of college will help that for certain people.

I’m also an advocate for college because I had a great experience. It helped me network. I met a lot of different people, but it was for me. A lot of schools are trying to make everybody go that route. The trajectory is you go to high school, you go to a four-year university or even a two-year, and you transfer. That is what success looks like. I would like our education system to have more of a personality test for students and match them to courses and careers.

“I’m Taryell. I’m an ENFJ. Based on my personality, I’m charismatic. I can speak well and I can network. I took my English classes. I took the other requirements or whatever that we still have to do. I had these elective courses that were on this career path. That made me realize that I would be great at having my own podcast and build it from there.” “I’m in high school now. Can I start a podcast?” “Yeah, you can because you know how to use the internet. It is probably great for you to apply the skill that you are learning in school to an actual project.”

“I’m fourteen. I started my podcast in my freshman year. In my senior year, I got 500 subscribers and they are paying me monthly.” At that point, I can decide what route do I want to go. Do I want to maybe go to college? Now that I go to college, I have all of this network of people, I can build my podcast more, and I can learn more. Maybe I have a different career path.

Telling Your Story: People in education are going to have to realize how to play both ends. How do you educate in-person and online? And in regard to people of color, it's important who's educating those youth.

I could go on this tangent but my challenge to schools at this point of why kids are dropping out or getting disconnected is because it is the same rubric that you are trying to compare everybody to. If you are trying to teach a fish how to climb a tree, it is better in water. There is a different animal who can climb a tree better.

If you are trying to take all of these s tudents and make them all the same, that is idiotic. We are not giving them the room to create a better world. We are making everybody factory workers in the same type of system and then wonder why everybody thinks the same. They could go to a meeting and everybody was like, “I agree.” “Do you guys all agree with this?” “Yes, sir.” It is okay to be a rebel. Be a rebel a little bit.

Think for yourself a little bit. You are pretty close. I’m not an ENFJ. I’m an ENFP. I don’t know if you took that randomly or if you guessed. Was that random?

That is random but that was pretty close.

What are you? Are you ENFJ?

I’m one of those. I have to take it again. You know that and now you have a full understanding of your characteristics. It tells you the careers for those types of people. Teachers, counselors, and school helped me with these careers based on my personality.

I like using a little bit of the personality and the skillset because there might be some things that fit my personality that does not fit in my skillset or things that I may not want to do that don’t mirror both of them. If I could get something that mirrors my personality, the things, and the skillsets that I have, that would be a perfect marriage.

I agree with you on a lot of things. You know the government and the No Child Left Behind, which put us towards this model of college for everybody. Less on kids behind because what it did is we started dialing back from the apprenticeships and all those other things that were in schools to give you different career, pathway, and trajectories.

We are paying for it now because of things like the welding industry and so forth. I have been called in to help those programs because those apprenticeships got out of the schools and there is a need for them now. These are great-paying jobs. These people make $80,000 to $100,000 a year after doing an apprenticeship. They are getting paid to learn, pension plans, and travel the world on the company’s budget. I’m like, “A lot of people would probably want to go this route if they knew it was available to them.” It is the same thing as you talked about with the tech.

I love that you are bringing that into focus for us. When you look at the future of what you have been able to do and some of the things that you are talking about that could be done in a school system, what is the best way for schools to start partnering with programs like Movement BE to get them in their school system? We can at least start training in that way because a lot of the people think, “It is so hard to do. I don’t know how to connect with the Movement BE. How do I do it and get Movement BE programming to my school system?”

That has been an interesting approach. Part of it is we may have to go to a policy. That is the strategic route. It is almost saying, “This is a curriculum on racism. Would you like to have it?” A school is saying, “No. We are fine and we are not racist at all.” It was like, “You need this curriculum.” All the teachers who are trying to say, “Taryell, you need to become a teacher because they need training.” They don’t know how to deal with a young Black man.

I’m making an assumption but typically, those people who are saying that you need to become a teacher, it is because they don’t have the skillsets that you have to reach the students. That is the reality. “I have a young Black man in my class. I’m not Taryell. I don’t know how to educate him. I’m a White woman trying to connect with this young Black man.” Young Black men just see other Black men. It is the truth of it and representation matters. It is the importance of fatherhood and positive role models.

What I’m saying is there aren’t enough Black male educators. At the end of the day, I do a lot of staff development and professional development. I’m going to go into those schools and look at those teachers and say, “This is what needs to be done. This is the reality. You are working with a young Black man and we had another case.” There are too many hashtags to name at this point. “You are going to go in with curriculum trying to teach these kids what you think or assume that they should be learning about this. That is not how it is going to work. This is not optional.”

What we are moving to at this point is looking through the State of California how to social-emotional learning specifically transformed to social-emotional learning, dealing with students of color, and dealing with these issues of equity. How is this implemented into the schools across the state? Based on that model, why don’t we scale that so that this is implemented in schools nationwide?

Of course, there are going to have ways of ho w to partner but the how is always worked out, Taryell. It is not like, “That is paperwork.” It doesn’t matter how. The goal is, “This is what’s happening. This is what we are doing. It is going to look different at all these different schools and may fit in an after-school program here. It may fit in an English class here. It may fit somewhere else, but this is what is going to happen.”

I support that movement wholeheartedly. We have done a lot of great work together in the classroom. I hope that we continue to do this movement and I’m hoping that we get this Opportunity Youth Summit back up. Can we get another Movement BE in the Opportunity Youth Summit? Can I speak that into existence?

Only if you got a poem, Taryell, because you still need to return home from several years ago, that is natural, too. I have been waiting for it. I’m thinking of making the podcast a little better. You just have the intro.

I’m going to deliver that poem to you.

You said that a few years ago. I’m not hearing it. I need to see you at one of these open mics in San Diego.

I got to keep it real with you. I was thinking about that, too, before we got on to this episode. I was like, “It would have been dope if I had the poem ready and I busted out with it on this episode.”

All readers, hold him accountable.

He challenged me years ago to write a poem and I said I would, so I still owe him the poem to this day. Hold me accountable. He came out with his book before I came out with my poem.

I don’t want to come up with a second book before your poem.

We could talk forever, but let’s end it on this, though. What projects are you working on? Where can people find you?

NateHowardSpeaks.com is where my speeches and everything are. MovementBE.com is where I’m trying to build. Reach out to me at Nate@MovementBE.org . If you work in a school in any capacity, teacher, counselor, or a champion for school, that is what I’m trying to connect with. What we are trying to do is we are gamifying the platform. We will have avatars. You will be able to play word games. We are trying to look at this education platform as an opportunity to have fun. When you are having fun, you enjoy your work more.

That is the biggest disconnect for our young people of color. We like to be entertained and educated. We are great at both of those things.

Think about memorizing songs. It is like, “Why is it hard to memorize stuff for school?” Put it in a song. That is easier to memorize. That is our goal. Taryell, I’m hoping that we can still work together because you are a charismatic, fun person. I want people to see Movement BE like, “I can recreate school for a day. I went through Movement BE and I laughed, cried, and fell down on the playground, but I got up and I was still determined. At the end of the day, I understood my personality, found my purpose, and achieved my greatest career goal.” That is what I want people to see us and that is what we are building.

I’m going to put this into existence, too, that we are going to have the opportunity to work together again. I was in a high school one time and this high school dad called me to do some diversity inclusion training that the students wanted. They had a training session before that on stocks. They were learning stocks in high school. I was like, “What high school was this?” Did you learn stocks at high school? I didn’t learn stocks.

Tell Your Story Before They Do: A Guide To Winning The Battle Of You Versus You

That was interesting. I took one class in high school and it was my Economics teacher. He was the only teacher who introduced us to it, but I forgot about it until I had maybe a little cash to play around with anymore.

These kids are full-blown learning how to play the stock market and what was the entry point that they could put. It was a little $25 and now they are living in Belltown. They come out of college and they have a couple of thousand. They were learning that, and I was like, “I didn’t have this in high school.” We will work together again and I can’t wait for that day to come. Is this new Movement BE? Do I need to get the upgrade?

No. This is what I found on Facebook. Do you know those ads that pop up?

Yeah.

They work. I was like, “I like that hoodie.” You see those Facebook and Instagram ads, scroll, and then you are like, “I like that.” I don’t know who this is. I have just seen it on Facebook and I bought it. I’m also hearing stuff, so I got you.

Nate, are there any last words do you want to leave the people with anything?

Get the book on Amazon, Tell Your Story Before They Do, and read it. I’m hoping people get inspired by this book. It is one of those things where it is a reminder for myself and all of us the power of your mind. Don’t think about the outside. Shape who you are from the inside. It is almost like you are writing your book. Think of your greatest version, write it, and then begin to believe it. People have to accept it because it is your book. I still got the approved copy. I still got to get the original copy. Taryell, thank you.

I’m definitely going to read it, Tell Your Story Before They Do: A Guide to Winning the Battle of You Versus You. Nate Howard, it has been a pleasure. Have you grabbed the book? If you are in the education space, connect with Nate to the Movement BE platform and see what he has got going on. Let’s work together. Let’s start the build and shape the future.

I do music. I have been on staff with Ty Dolla $ign and Kendrick. I love music, but literacy matters. I’m challenging the hip-hop community and the Black community. There is a reason why they hid books away from us. Wake up and read. I want to get on that movement. If you want to get on that movement, which I know you are, Taryell, let’s get more people to read. It is okay to read.

Take a book, read a book, and start with this one.

I did have a friend reach out to me like, “I don’t read but I got your book.” I was like, “You got to read it.” He is like, “Audiobook will come out soon. I’m waiting.” You can listen, too, but literacy is in play.

There is something that you pick up differently from hearing audio versus the visual of reading it. Some certain points stick better than others, and then you could take that and transcribe that to create your own vision. Nate Howard, thanks for being here with us. I appreciate you as always. I can’t wait to reconnect again.

Important Links:

About Nate Howard

Nate Howard is a professional speaker, poet, educator, and social entrepreneur. In May 2013, Nate made the front page of the LA Times for sparking a movement against racial profiling after 79 LAPD officers shut down his event at USC. Realizing someone was attempting to tell his story, he founded Movement BE, a non-profit organization that helps young people discover their story. With the motto of “tell your story before they do,” Movement BE has directly impacted thousands of students. Nate was selected on the inaugural NBCBLK28 list as on of the top 28 black leaders in the nation under 28 years old. He was later featured on the Today Show as one of the "Best and Brightest: Game Changers Making History."

Nate’s belief is that we should focus our activism on education, empowering youth to create change so that the movement is proactive and sustainable. Seeing poetry as a means of self-expression, he challenges school systems to see its use as vital for the development of youth, giving them the courage to find their story to challenge the status quo.

Nate has recorded his poetry on songs with artists Ty Dolla Sign, Kendrick Lamar and Dr. Cornel West. In October 2021, Nate appeared on Netflix’s “Song Exploder” for his contributions on Ty Dolla Sign’s song “LA.”

Nate is a graduate of the University of Southern California. His biggest inspirations are Martin Luther King Jr. and Maya Angelou.

Shophar Aubrey Graves - Qi Gong | Sensual Energy | Holistic Health

Mon, 12 Apr 2021 09:47:05 GMT

Shophar Aubrey Graves began studying Qi Gong in 2002 and Energy Body Work in 2007. Shophar learned from systems of Tantra, TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) Acupuncture and Chinese herbs, Hebrew Kabbalah, African Spirituality (Egyptian Tree of Life and IFA), and he uses knowledge from each modality within this unique work. He is also the author of S.O.L, Sacred Orgasmic Living, which focuses on helping people understand how to have more Intimacy in life so that they experience more Peace and Pleasure. Join your host Taryell Simmons as he goes one on one with Shophar Aubrey Graves on what it means to live in full expression.

Connect with Shophar:

Website: foshoenergywork.com

Instagram: @fo_sho_energy_work

Book: S.O.L. Sacred Orgasmic Living

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fo-sho-holistic-health/

YouTube: Fò Shō Holistic Health

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Listen to the podcast here:

Shophar Aubrey Graves - Qi Gong | Sensual Energy | Holistic Health

I got a special guest. In this episode, we talk to Shophar . I was introduced to him by a good friend of mine, Xtina . Shout out to Xtina. Thank you for connecting me with this brother. Xtina is my RISE sister from RISE San Diego Urban Leadership . Little did I know that Shophar was part of the RISE cohort. He graduated from RISE San Diego Urban Leadership this last session. I want to say Gen 6 if I’m not mistaken. Hopefully, I got that right.

I’m a firm believer in energy. I believe we can tap into energy and use it at the best of our ability to make decisions and put ourselves in a good mood, good zone, whatever you want to call it, in life. He is the author of S.O.L. Sacred Orgasmic Living . He goes above and beyond going through breathwork, sensual energy, and traditional Chinese medicine.

He is a practitioner who uses different things like podcast, group couples, and individual healing sessions to help support others to heal and explore their sensuality. He has a unique take on this. I hate using the word unique because I don’t feel like it does enough justice to his enlightenment on energy and sensual healing.

He has a whole bunch of acronyms that he uses, which you will learn in this episode. It made me want to explore deeper to learn more from a level of curiosity of wanting to know how this energy work or this light work that healers in the space often speak of. I have tapped into it on the surface but I haven’t had the opportunity to dive this deep until I had the conversation with him in this episode. Sometimes, I may explore a little bit when I talk to my girl, Xtina. Without further ado, I want to dive into the episode. Here is my brother, Shophar.

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I got my guy, Shophar , in the building. Where are you joining us, Shophar?

I’m in San Diego, California.

You threw me off that beautiful background. You guys can’t see this. Shophar, can you break down the background because there are so many different elements that have taken me to a faraway land? Explain the background to the people, all these little textiles you got behind you so that the people reading can feel like they are here with us.

We are going to take a journey through India because my lady is from India. What we have in the background here is a bunch of different various sarees. We got yellow, pink, blue, green, and orange ones. On either side of me, left and right-hand side, we have two heads of the Buddha. We definitely want an international fight.

I thought you were in the faraway land for a second. Shophar, we got connected through a mutual friend of ours. Who is that mutual friend? Let’s jump into that.

Christina . I know we both have RISE in common. This is something that we do for a community action plan or project. That was from Christina as well.

Christina is my soul sister. I love her to death. She was on one of my earlier episodes. I met her through a startup weekend. Do you know how you met somebody and you got this kindred like, “This is fun right here,” when you first meet up? That is how me and her connected. How did you and Christina connect?

It was the same way. My lady and her brother were holding a workshop and Christina was at the workshop. That is where we met and everything. On Instagram, we connected there, and then she told me about RISE. When she found out what my lady and me do, she was like, “You both need to become RISE fellows.” My lady didn’t have time or anything for it, but I looked into it and I was like, “This looks like it would be a good fit.” I put in my application and everything, and I was accepted.

Which gen are you with RISE?

I get mixed up on a number. I think we are Generation 6 but we were 2020, so whatever generation 2020 was.

That is a tough year to be at RISE because everything probably went online for you. I was in Gen 3. I’m also in another leadership program called Rockwood , which I’m doing online. It is two different experiences. Both are great experiences, but that in-person experience takes it to a deeper level. I’m not trying to water down your experience but there is something about it for me doing both of these programs.

I agree with you, Taryell, because we had two experiences where we were in-person and we have still maintained it, but it is not the same.

We know the leadership program is how we met. What do you do?

Even when I say what I do, a lot of times, people still have no concept of what I do. Trust me. I have tried to break it down to the elevator pitch or simplify it. If you still, at the end of it, don’t get it because it is different, ask me to explain it more. I feel like your understanding is also important for the readers. In a nutshell, what I try to say is that I work with sensual energy, so it is with people’s sensuality. I’ve come up with an acronym called SEX, Sensual Emotional eXchange. In SEX, we have a physical component, which is essential. That is the physical, and then we have an emotional component, and then understanding the exchange of the two.

Are you a sex therapist?

No, I’m not a licensed sex therapist or anything. There are about three different things that we do. Number one is my lady and me is working with couples, showing couples how to connect deeper. She works with just women to help them heal or have different things. The same thing, I work with just the father sometimes to help them learn different things about their sensuality and everything. All of these things come together.

Deeper than the sex is more of actual energy exchange, social and emotional literacy, and all those components put into one.

Sensual Energy: The Chinese explained that the yin and yang with the feminine and masculine energy are inseparable. When they are separated, that's when you have what is called death.

For me, this approach to our sensuality and emotionality can heal the world. A lot of the problems that we see in society is because we all come from sex. When we have fundamental misunderstandings or false beliefs around sensuality and do not understand how we work energetically in that way, it is going to throw off other aspects of our life, how we get our money, or our outlook on life and everything. In other words, if people were having good toe-curling, healthy sex that could change and heal the world.

If your energy is right, a lot of things come into alignment. You are able to tell when somebody’s energy is off when they are around you. You are able to reach and connect into that, whether you want to call your third eye, spirit, or that gut instinct that you get when you are trying to make a decision on something to move things forward. You can listen to that internal and work through it instead of letting it control you in how you react and how you show up.

Here is my thing when we talk about men and women. This is more of a question that I’m curious about. Men were able to have two chromosomes, the feminine and the masculine. Females have the masculine chromosomes so we can go between both worlds. How do you find in the work that you do, you get men to tap more into their sensuality, their feminine chromosome, when they grow up in a world that focuses on a masculine chromosome?

We work with men and women, but I would like to honor too that there are all these different expressions of sensuality or sexuality that we work with. We work with bi or non-binary couples as well. They show up in different ways, so there are different expressions. We may be in a masculine body but have a feminine expression like you were saying. My experience is that the feminine has a strong masculine component as well.

What I would like to say is when we get into the theory of yin and yang and Chinese medicine, the way that the Chinese explained the yin and yang or the feminine-masculine energy is they are inseparable. When we separate them, that is when we have what we call death. That is when we expire in this consciousness and we go on to another.

What I mean is right now, as we are breathing, this is a yin and yang, male and feminine aspect. As we exhale, inhale, or it is a heartbeat, sending blood out into the arteries and then taking blood back in from the veins. That is feminine and masculine, so we can’t escape. All beings have feminine masculine energy.

Where we fall on that scale, we all have unique expressions of it. In one situation, we may show up a little bit more feminine and more receptive. In another one, we may be more dynamic and taking charge. The thing that has happened in our patriarchal society, though, is that it is asking for almost all beings to show up in a masculine way. Whether we are feminine or masculine, it is asking us to have certain dominant traits and not be a place of receptiveness.

In a patriarchal society in general, most of us are taught that the feminine is weak. The underlying message is that feminine energy is weak and there is something wrong with taking time to rest like, “I got to be on the grind. I got to get this money. I got to make it happen. I got to do 100 calls today and grind. That is where the success is.” There is power in that, but there is also a power in wrestling and allowing things to come to us. The egg doesn’t go to the sperm. The egg just sits where it is, ovulates, and opens. The flower doesn’t go anywhere. The flower just sits there and opens and the masculine comes to it.

That is power in itself right there. It is interesting that you talk about that because I have been sitting with the term power and what is power. Being able to tap into the feminine could be a powerful thing. Sensuality could be the thing that could heal and move this world forward. I get it now after you explained how we got too much testosterone walking around here. We need the feminine touch around here.

As my mind looks at it, if I look at every great achievement or movement within our society, I feel it had a feminine touch to move us forward. Specifically, I look at the Black women’s role from slavery holding down to households, White and Black. The young lady that gave that beautiful poem at the inauguration to specifically Black and Brown women who are stepping up nowadays as entrepreneurs, building things for community, uplifting community, and their entrepreneurial spirits, I do like where you are going with that. I’m curious. How did you get on this career path because this is not a normal career path? How would you get down this road to where you are now?

I do want to speak to one thing about Black women. One of the major problems in America is that it has not honored the Black woman. When we talk about America has not honored the feminine in general, White women, Black women, and men, but definitely the womb of the Black woman has been misused in this country and continues to be not acknowledged. Until America gets that right, it is going to deal with certain problems. I wanted to make space for that. There is healing that is specific to Black women that need to be addressed.

To your other question of how did I get into this is interesting. I had some dynamic managers and staff. I worked in a call center for Bank of America, they walk past, and you can hear their ovaries sizzling. Poor women are up in these situations. I was working in Bank of America. This is back in 2002. I met a gentleman who was into this. We affectionately called him Master Yao, but Yao Morris. He is a brother and he was into this. He did a book signing.

At this book sign, he was promoting one of his books and I went to that joint. I brought his book and started reading it and I could not put it down. It was on a Saturday. I kept reading through it because I’m like, “This stuff is deep. I don’t know what the brother is talking about, but it is intriguing.” He was talking about all the sacred sensuality and sexuality, men and women, yin and yang, and stuff, and it intrigued me.

Who would have thought you would get an education on sensuality in the most masculine type of environment? It is funny how life works. I like to also ask questions like, “What was your first job?” One thing I noticed to a young person or older person reading this show when I talk out into different communities, people are like, “This first job that I’m going to get, does it have anything to do with my career? I need to be out of this job.” I always tell people like, “In your first job, there are things that you can learn and still use from that job to grow into your experience now, so don’t knock the first job.” What was your first job?

I had just turned sixteen and my very first job was I scooped ice cream at a place on the East Coast. You are from DC. In the DMV, they had Friendly’s ice cream shop. I worked at Friendly’s because I grew up in Virginia.

We learned so much about each other on this show. We are connected in so many ways, Christina, RISE, and the DMV. I love it. What good lesson did you learn from your first job that you would say you still use now?

With Friendly’s, that was my beginning of at least being able to have some social skills. Scooping ice cream and working with customers, I had to at least talk to people. In junior high, I was so shy and I didn’t talk to a lot of people. When I worked at Friendly’s, I worked at the cash register, too, so I had to start interacting with people, which was helpful.

To any of my young people that are reading, that is where you get to practice in at these first jobs. You learn your social skills. If this is an office environment, you learn different acumen, so don’t knock your first job. You don’t have to get right out the gate from 0 to 60, so sometimes you need that transition phase. Through this journey that you have been on since Bank of America to now, what would you say is the best lesson life has taught you from where you are at now going on this journey?

One of the best life lessons that I have learned is I have an acronym for it called LIFE. Let’s go with that one because it will help the readers, too. LIFE, Living In Full Expression or Loving In Full Expression. In other words, what I’m saying is that one of life’s greatest lessons is to live in full expression and love in full expression. Let’s be our fullest self.

A lot of times in life, we are taught to be a smaller version of ourselves or to limit our expression. What we want to do is begin to always look to ourselves and see if there is some better version of ourselves, and usually, there is. There are some dreams or something that I could go to the forefront and push a little bit more. There is some aspect of myself that maybe doesn’t make me step into my fullness and be real about that.

Sensual Energy: To live in full expression is to love people unconditionally, regardless of where their beliefs fall.

Loving is like, “In what ways can I give more and more unconditional love, first for myself and then for others?” It is what the Greeks called agape. We live in a polarized world right now whether a person puts a mask on or doesn’t, you believe that the virus is real or not, Republican or Democrat, and all of these things. At the end of the day, can we have a conversation with people and learn to love them unconditionally regardless of where they fall with their belief systems and everything? That is what I mean by Loving In Full Expression or Living In Full Expression.

do think you have to start with yourself. How does one start to live with oneself and love oneself in full expression so that they can take that agape out into the world?

The method that I like to do is a thing called VIBE. It is an acronym that me and my lady in our workshops use. VIBE is Voice, Introspection, Breath, and Embodiment. In order to Live In Full Expression, am I being as vocal as I need to be? In other words, am I expressing myself? In life in general or with love, are you letting someone know that you love them? Are you speaking up? Are you speaking your truth?

In a situation at work where they have asked you to do more things for the same amount of money, if you love yourself, you are going to speak up. It is like, “If you want me to do more work, you need to pay me more.” That is loving yourself. In certain situations, we are not being vocal about what it is that we are feeling.

The first letter in VIBE, if we want to change the vibe and we want to have a vibe about self-love, speak up. I in VIBE is introspection, to look inward. In order to even know that you need to speak up, you might need to introspect, look inward, to see what is going on inwardly. You see behind me two pictures of the Buddha. He was known for looking inward. Jesus was a person who looked inward. Great leaders look inward to see what is going on with themselves.

The B in VIBE is for Breath. We can go without eating and go without drinking for a little bit, but we can’t go long without breathing unless we have asthma or you get Corona. Most people take their breath for granted. There are different patterns of breathing. There are different things that we can do with our breath. Breath is medicinal. The last thing, the E, is for Embodiment.

Let’s go back to the breath again. Bring that down for us. For somebody who is now knowing about VIBE, they are loving it, and they want to get more attuned to it, what does it mean breath is medicinal?

It means that a lot of what we call disease starts either on the emotional plane. Remember, we got Sensual Emotional eXchange, SEX. The sensual starts in the physical level, where maybe we are not breathing from my diaphragm. We are breathing more from our chest, which is a shallow breath. We need to have a more stomach breath down the diaphragm in the stomach, where we’re allowing our lungs to take in more oxygen.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, TCM, they tell us that when we take a deeper full of breath from the stomach and the diaphragm, we also allow breath and energy to go down into the kidneys even. We don’t just want to breathe enough from the lungs and the heart. We want to even be breathing deep enough so that our kidneys get some of that.

That is what I mean on a sensual or physical level, and then on the emotional level, when we have different emotions that are coming up, we can tune into our breathing. If we are angry or sad, those are all different physical organs. There are different types of breathing that we can do to address different emotions that are going on. That is why it is medicinal.

I have always taught this aspect that you are talking about in a different way, mostly a little bit from the science background. Say, for example, when a person gets nervous and already highly stressed. Let’s take the job interview. What usually happens, especially if you have a fear of public speaking in your environment, you start to breathe from your chest. In turn, it means that when you are breathing from your chest, the flow of oxygen changes so that flow of oxygen that usually goes up to your brain is less now.

Another thing that is happening is that little lizard brain of yours is supposed to save you from attacking tigers, lions, and bears. That gets triggered. You are not coming from the frontal cortex. You are coming from that fear-based brain that is meant to protect us that thousands of years old. Now, you are making decisions from the back of the brain and you are not getting enough oxygen because you got that shallow breathing.

From a scientific standpoint, there is a lot of things going on there. That is why sometimes people make the mistake of saying things that they didn’t mean to say or not thoughtful phrases, or they forget entirely what they said because they zoned out. They are in this zoned-out protection mode phase.

When they are in that phase, how do they start to change the pattern of behavior to breathe from a diaphragm so that they can access their frontal mind, start to get into this VIBE that allows them to use their voice, and then look at things from the right introspects, have the right breath going on, and embody that moment?

It comes down to that embodiment. I love what you were saying, the scientific breakdown. The embodiment is that last piece and that is the foundation because in order to know what is going on with our breath or what is going on with ourselves, we have to be present and be embodied. We have to be in this moment to know like, “Right now, I’m triggered. I’m seeing this on Instagram. Someone is calling me just now. My boss has said something to me, I’m in a fight or flight.”

As you were saying, the reptilian brain is kicking in. To be embodied with that means us drawing our awareness into the moment. A lot of times, if we are paying attention, it is on autopilot. We are moving through life and we are not in the moment a lot of times. We might be in one place, but we are thinking about another thing. We call in our energy back in to be embodied and be in this moment. That is when we start to be able to play with our breath and stuff more and be able to understand what is going on in this moment. It takes consistent practice to keep bringing us back to the moment.

I started doing more meditation after being triggered in an interesting society of things of events. Too much of that negative energy is coming, whether it be through your phone or the household. I’m still learning. Let’s say somebody is reading, they love everything you are saying, and they want to start this practice, be more at the moment, be in alignment with the VIBE, and they are like, “What is the first step I need to take the start to ground myself in these principles and practices? What should I start doing? I’m having a hard time. I’m struggling with it. I’m reactionary?”

I will give one step for each one of them. Start with introspection because it all starts by looking inward. Take a moment to close your eyes and look inward, see what you are feeling, see if there are any patterns that keep coming up, see if there is anything that you keep getting into a certain argument or you keep having a certain feeling. Is there something that is coming up? Maybe that is life trying to tell us something, so be honest about that. “I feel insecurity when or I feel angry when.”

From that point, is it something that I need to be vocal about? Is it something that I need to have a conversation with someone else? From there, bringing ourselves back to our breath, bringing our attention to the navel area and breathing from there, I want to make myself a potbelly. I noticed that society tells me that we are not supposed to have stomach fat, especially to the ladies out there, shout out. If you have any little bit of fat around your stomach, go get a tummy tuck.

Breathe from your navel, stick out a little bit, Santa Claus joint, and then breathe back in, but keep your stomach out. That is called water breathing. You keep your stomach fat out as fat as you can, breathe in, and then breathe out but keep it extended. This is just one patent of breath. There are so many different ways to do different patterns of breath.

At certain points, after you have come to like, “I have certain patterns where I keep repeating. I keep having the same conversation in my head over and over again or the same conversation with my mother or my lover.” Get up and move your body in a different way. Do something different with your body. This is where dance and movement can be healing.

Sensual Energy: When you move your body in different ways, you're allowing energy to go through different neural pathways. These pathways are not called the nervous system; it's called the awareness system.

Believe it or not, if we want to get again into the science of it, when we move our body in a different way that we never have before, we are allowing different neural pathways. We are allowing for the energy to go through. I don’t call it the nervous system because that is the trick. I call it the awareness system. That is one of my push. Because of the work that I do and everything, I want to have that talk with neuroscientists and stuff. One of my career goals is to have it changed from the nervous system to the awareness system. We should not be calling it the nervous system. It is the awareness system.

I get nervous just hearing the word nervous. It is a trigger like, “What is going on?” It is more of a stress trigger.

That fight or flight, norepinephrine, adrenaline, and cortisol, all of that is the nervous system, but I call it the awareness system.

It hits differently. When I say, “What are you saying?” We are like, “Let me be more alert and take it in.” What is happening? What is going on? How do I feel? I check in with the VIBE introspection. Make sure my breath is well, what am I embodying at this moment, and then let’s voice it. I almost feel like with VIBE, sometimes you have to start at I and then the voice becomes the last thing. I’m not sure if the acronym was written in order, but for me, as a leader, sometimes I do I, B, E, and then V. Is that correct?

It is always correct. I love what you said there. It is a good point for us to bring up for the readers. They are the god or the master. That is just a tool for them to use. I like to use acronyms because it helps me remember, but it doesn’t necessarily have to go in order. The last time we did that, we started with the I. The voice thing, because that is the thing we are going outward, that might be the last process for a lot of people. We need to breathe and embody some stuff before we go saying something out of our mouths.

A lot of people need to do that. I have been in alignment with that. This is a different type of journey. This is the first time I have ever spoken to somebody in your field and in your practice. What is some advice you would give to someone who is reading this who would like to start a career in your industry doing similar things to what you do or going on a similar journey?

Start your inner journey with the VIBE and always know that ultimately, you may find different people that you might want to learn from but never fall into guru mode. Never put people up on a pedestal. Sometimes, when we are dealing with meditation and these deep spiritual things, there is a tendency for some personalities for us to want to put that master or the sifu that we learned from up on a pedestal. They are just a person, too. If you learn from me, I’m just another human being like yourself.

Learn from people humbly but also have enough confidence that you already are that. There is a sweet spot. You don’t want to be pride and doubt. In the middle is where we want to be. We don’t want to be too prideful and we don’t want to be doubtful either. We want to find that sweet spot in the middle where there is humble confidence.

Find people who have a certain potency. With the different practices that people give you, you should be able to get something from them quickly. If it is real stuff, you should be to get something from it quickly. It impacts your life and you start to be able to quantify. This should not just be something in theory. You should be able to have quantified results in the real world that you are starting to have breakthroughs.

You could tell when you are in conversation with somebody whether it is real or it is something that is going to be a good lesson for you or something for you. I also tell people, “You are the master of yourself. Nobody can’t tell you how to be you, but you can still learn from others on how to improve yourself.” It is a give and a take. There is some synergy in that as well. What do you see in the industry? I know you want to talk to the neuroscientists and so forth. What do you think the future looks like for the work that you do? Is it building out a lab with these neuroscientists? What does the future look like? I feel like it is so vast and bright. What do you see it as?

I believe in the Sensual Emotional eXchange. We started meeting in the bedroom and we realized that we can relate in a way that is more expansive than the porn industry, more expansive than, “I put my penis in you and then move back and forth. That is all that sex is.” There is nothing wrong with that, but that is way more expensive than that and it can affect our consciousness.

What I see it as is that we fast forward years into the future, that Sensual Emotional eXchange, human beings being able to relate in a way that is more expansive in the bedroom or wherever we meet up in, we are going to find it. This will become a regular way of living. You won’t come to just someone like me. There will be some new benchmark for us to be striving for because every day, people will know that when we go into the bedroom, we are a more expansive being. That will take some time because we have a lot of things that are locked in our consciousness into a certain way of thinking of sex.

On my website, my mission statement says, “To help evolve and expand how people think and feel about sex.” I don’t say change because I don’t want to say that there is anything wrong with how we are already relating. When people start having more expansive sex, they are not going to get up and make bombs and make the world that we make now.

You will be in love with both. I love that that does that. Do we see it as expansive as I could go to a coffee shop and outside of my partner, I can have a sensual exchange with a friend or neighbor at the coffee shop? Do we see it like that or a one-on-one type of thing with a partner? Is it vastly like, “I have sensual exchanges with a lot of different individuals in the world,” and transform how we feel and relate to each other on a different level without the sex part, of course?

I think that it is both. Whatever resonates with us from moment to moment. I like to tell people, “If we think about getting back into the Science, we are made of hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen, amongst other things. They all get together in different ways. They create different molecules.” Two hydrogens and one oxygen, we have H2O.

I say all that to say that if we are made of things that get together in that way, we will start to be expansive. It doesn’t mean that we have to do something with our genitals. You are at the coffee shop and you may exchange essential moments with something. We are all sharing the same breath in the coffee shop, so we are able to have a heart connection conversation at that moment with someone, and that might be it. You might not even see the person again, but it still is something that may impact you and then allow you to go back to your home or to your lover and have an even more expansive conversation.

If we are doing the VIBE thing when we are at the grocery store, and we ask the clerk, “How do you feel?” Maybe in the future, it won’t even be a question. It is attuning into the person so deep that we feel how the person is feeling. We take a moment to breathe together and then we go on. We might not even exchange any words because words don’t mean anything.

What does beauty tell us? If I have never seen an ocean before and you tell me, “The ocean is beautiful,” you haven’t told me anything about what the ocean is. Beautiful doesn’t tell me anything. If I asked the clerk, “How are you doing?” A lot of times, most of us don’t feel safe enough to be honest, like, “I’m having a bad day.” You say, “I’m good.” What does either of those answers tells us? We need to be able to feel each other. As we start having more Sensual Emotional eXchange in society, we are going to be able to start feeling each other on a whole nother level.

It is definitely needed in this day and age and time. If people are intentional about it, it will create a lot of healing for folks as well so that we can get to that level. I love what you’re doing. What projects are you working on and where can people find you?

The practice that I’m working on is on February 12 ^th , 2022, so Valentine’s Day weekend. My lady and me have a workshop called Evolve Love. That is a Valentine’s Day weekend workshop for couples. It can be same-sex or two single friends who want to learn together. We are doing that online. Also, on February 27 ^th , 2022, I have a beginning of a series called Wisedome. Wisedome is at Freshly Faded Barber + Shop.

That one is going to be for the fellas but we are going to be going into breaking down some different things, spinning some conscious game and everything together. It is going to be dope. One of the things that we are going to be talking about in Wisedome is my book, S.O.L. Sacred Orgasmic Living. Other than that, also regularly, my lady and me also do Full Moon and New Moon get-togethers. The Full Moon is on Zoom, so that is a virtual experience, and then we do the New Moon in person.

Sensual Energy: When you start your inner journey, you may find people that you might want to learn from. That's fine but never fall into guru mode. Never put those people up on a pedestal. They are people just like you.

What is the website where they can check you out at? Is there any social media that you want to share?

I will give you three things. First off, the website is FoShoEnergyWork.com . My email is Info@FoShoEnergyWork.com . If you want to check out my Instagram, I’m not on there anymore. I have taken a step back because of some Instagram and Facebook policies. In my opinion, they are tripping. I took a step back off of my own personal thing or whatever, but I do still have the page up. I just took the app off of my phone, all Facebook products, including WhatsApp. With that being said, my Facebook and my Instagram are still there, so people can still go up there and see stuff. It’s @Fo_Show_Energy_Work .

Email is the best way to get ahold of this man. Go to the website and you can see all the past stuff. If you want to get in with this energy, this wave, and catch this vibe, you got to email the man. Shophar, thank you so much for coming on. This has been an absolute pleasure to be with my RISE brother. Now that I know that you are my RISE brother and my kindred soul brother, we will have to stay in touch do some more things. I’m looking forward to checking out your website and what you have coming out. I got to get that book, too. Where can I get the book?

You can get it on Lulu.com . If you missed that, there is a link on my website.

Thank you for being here. Any last words of advice or wisdom to send us off with?

First off, I appreciate you for making the space, clearing the space, and for having this platform as part of your RISE thing to empower others and make sure that our voice is heard. Shout out to Christina, too, for opening up the door for me on this. That is all I want to say. I feel like we had a great session. It is a journey.

If any of these things that I said resonated with you a little bit, reach out to me. If I’m not the person to help you explore it more, I can point you in a direction. It doesn’t have to be me. If anything resonated with you, be inquisitive and have curiosity about it. The last thing I will say is the energy work. We start becoming orgasmic without even having to be touched. That is powerful stuff. We have been taught that this world works in a different way, but there is way more to it, so explore.

The first settlers of this land, the Indian tribes, had a right that was in tune with all this stuff. We are out of tune right now so it is going to take some work to get us back in tune. Shophar, it has been a pleasure. Thank you. I can’t wait to see what other works that we would get into because I have a feeling we are going to get into some.

I feel it, too. Thank you.

Meri Birhane - Entrepreneur | Tech Sales & LinkedIn Expert | Empowering Diverse Founders & Business Leaders

Fri, 09 Apr 2021 09:50:29 GMT

How do you empower diverse business leaders? Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. To be able to lead a multitude of people, one has to be open to learn and relearn things. Today, Meri Birhane, Bill Gates Millennium Scholar and finalist for the 2021 Black Owned Business of the Year Award, sits with Taryell Simmons to talk about how she empowers business leaders to best utilize their skills and resources. Ms. Birhane has been successful at building and leading organizations such as the National Society of Black Engineers and founding the Empowerment Mastermind. She founded the Meri Consulting Services, a woman led firm, that helps tech companies and sales reps book more meetings and have more engagements. Ms. Birhane is a rising star in her field and has received recognition for her leadership in sales and is frequently requested to coach and mentor sales teams. Listen in as Meri discusses the leadership strategies she uses to empower diverse founders and leaders in the business.

To learn more visit Meri Consulting Services and follow @mericonsultingservices @empowermentmastermind on social media.

Email: meri@mericonsultingservices.com

Website: www.mericonsultingservices.com

Social media: @mericonsultingservices

Linktre.e: https://linktr.ee/MeriConsultingServices

Empowerment Mastermind (meet every 3rd Wednesday at 6pm PST via zoom.

https://linktr.ee/empowermentmastermind

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Listen to the podcast here:

Meri Birhane - Entrepreneur | Tech Sales & LinkedIn Expert | Empowering Diverse Founders & Business Leaders

Welcome to another episode of the show. This next guess is quite intriguing. I've never met anybody so vibrant, humble and full of joy. Her journey into entrepreneurship is a fantastic story and testament to hard work and humble beginnings. Meri is a Bill Gates Millennium Scholar. She has already won several tech competitions in San Diego, everything from the ZIP Launchpad Startup Pitch Competition. She won that.

She placed third in the Lavin VentureStart Competition. She won one with Union Bank and even got the Audience's Choice Award for that. She has been featured on a couple of different news channels and articles out here in San Diego. She's making a wave and a name for herself. I'm happy to be an acquaintance with her. Without further ado, I'll give you Meri.

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Welcome to another episode of the show. I got a special guest. Meri , how are you doing?

I'm doing great. Thank you so much for the opportunity. I love talking to you. I feel like we have a lot in common.

We will take it wherever it goes. For the people who don't know you, I'm going to ask you a deep question. You could go how deep you want to go or keep us served. I'm going to let you decide. Who is Meri?

I'm a sister. I have two older sisters. I'm a daughter, child of God, and entrepreneur. I'm persistent. I'm a survivor. That's who I am. I also have a silly, goofy and playful side, but when it comes to handling things, I could be type-A. On hanging out and if I want to have a good time, I could let loose.

I had an a-ha moment. I was like, “She looks so familiar. I know she knows Sola, but I feel like I know her from somewhere.” I realized we have been at some of the same spaces, although we have never met like Connect All. My boyfriend, Greg, told me about you because you did an article in the San Diego Business Journal.

I was nominated for the 2021 Black-Owned Business in San Diego. I was a finalist.

Congratulations. How did that come about?

I have no idea. It's so crazy. In December 2020, I won the Connect All @ the Jacobs Center Cohort 3 Startup Pitch Competition that Union Bank and Connect All were hosting. At that time, I was grinding so hard right before that. I remember some personal issues that happened where it was difficult to continue. I'll talk about that later. Luckily, through the support of the Jacobs Center and the friends in my life, I was like, "I got to do this pitch competition." I somehow got it done. It's all a blur. I won Audience's Choice for my pitch. It's the pitch that I was struggling to even record at the time. I won that.

I got 700 votes and 2,100 views on YouTube for my pitch. I won second place in the competition. I got a $5,000 grant and I thought that was done. I was like, "We ended 2020 right." With all the craziness and shenanigans that were happening in 2020, I was like, "I'm done." Miraculously, in January and February, I got all this media interest in the fact that me, Jasmine, and Anahi from Worthy Picks. I want to represent Jasmine, too, because she's the CEO of the STEAM Collaborative. We won this award and I won it for Meri Consulting Services, my consulting company.

We got so many interviews from KUSI, CBS 8, and Union-Tribune. I was in articles and the San Diego Magazine. It kept going. It was a story of when you want to give up, don't give up and push through. If I gave up in November of 2020, then I wouldn't have been here and got all of this recognition and having a feature in the San Diego Business Journal for a company that I launched full-time in March 2020. That was my story of like, "Don't give up." I don't know how it happened. It might have been from the hard work before November 2020 because I was exhausted at that point in November.

Let's say the ancestors were looking out for you. It's like, “You've been who we're waiting for. We got to push you through this door, even if you're going to go kicking and screaming.”

That's how I met Adesola. I was the Vice President of NSBE Entrepreneurship for about a year. All of 2020, I was hosting those virtual events. We were using my Zoom account and I was doing the breakout rooms. I don't know if you remember me, but I was the host going, “Hold on. Let me figure out this breakout room situation.” That's pretty much it. We were doing in-person meetings all through 2019. 2020 happened and then we had to move to a virtual platform.

By September 2020, I spun off and created my mastermind group. We have 160 members on LinkedIn who joined the Empowerment Mastermind. You can find that at @EmpowermentMastermind . It has been a journey. I host CEO panelists and similar to what you're doing, I get to hear these stories from diverse founders who break down the secrets, whether it's marketing tips or their entrepreneurship journey. It has been pretty cool. I had a nice opportunity because I was in the corporate world for about five years in the IT world.

I had a lot of relationships, so I never ran out of executives to reach out to. There was always someone willing to volunteer their time to share the gems of running a business and negotiating salary. We had top companies and organizations like the CEO of the Asian Business Association and Crow Holdings, a multibillion-dollar real estate firm. The CIO or Chief Information Officer came to our session and then broke down some things for us. That was pretty exciting.

What I love most about your press run is that in the San Diego Business Journal, they told a little bit about your backstory and your journey here. Could you share a little bit of that with us?

That's so crazy because that was the first time I ever stated about my journey and the hardships that I went through. I came to San Diego as an immigrant and struggled. We were poor, but my parents did a good job or I didn't know we were poor. We didn't have food some of the days, so we ate rice or whatever we were doing. My dad was always an entrepreneur. He was always fixing cars outside. He was a mechanic in Sudan. He was successful in Sudan and pretty wealthy there, but we had to flee from the war in Eritrea against Ethiopia, and there were issues in Sudan.

We came to the US as refugees. We stayed at a refugee camp and everything. I came to the US and went to Roosevelt San Diego High. These are inner-city schools. Half the students were failing in that high school, but my mom instilled education. I ended up getting a full scholarship to UCLA for undergrad and then grad school. It was an all-encompassing scholarship. There's another moment of, "Thank God I did that," because I didn't even know it was going to set me up years later. I remember my dad telling me like, "We can't afford college. You better get good grades or you're not going to college."

I remember that junior year I was freaking out and working hard. My dad gave me some money, but I saved money for prom and senior pictures. It felt like we were always struggling. I also grew up in a single-parent household. It was my two sisters and me. It was survival mode, pretty much. I don't know if you've experienced this, but African moms put a lot of pressure on you. It was always like, “You're the reason we came to this country. You better do well and help us.”

It was ingrained in me to one day be able to buy my mom a house. My sisters and I had the opportunity to do that in 2018. We got her the house she had been telling us about. That was a great experience. I moved into a new condo. This is where I'm at. That also happened in 2021. There were a lot of rough times and eventually, that rough time pays off as long as you're diligent. I have my faith, too, so I'm always praying to God. There are fun times, too, in between those stories.

The tough times only make you stronger. When you get to that breaking point for the next time and you have all these deadlines for the pitch competitions, press runs, getting a funding venture together, or whatever the next future thing is, it builds, preps and primes you for that. I appreciate the tough times. I love the backstory because sometimes, what I come across is people become victims of their circumstances.

I was one of those people. I see it happening in the communities that I go back and try to help and that's why I like giving the backstory. They say, “This person didn't come from a silver spoon like you may think when you see them where they're at without knowing the backstory.” There was a beginning somewhere and it's not always about where you start. It's about the journey and where you end up. You had a lot of different jobs and this is a long setup to the question.

You did everything from sales development representative to account executive to CEO. What I want to know is what was your first job. Here's the reason for that because a lot of people think that, "I can't take a job that's going to mess up my career. I'm not going to learn anything from that." There's something that you can learn from your first job that you can take away. What was your first job? What was one thing that you learned from it?

I had a job with my dad, but I'm not going to count that because that was him trying to get me to earn the money he was paying me. I had to go to his shop every Saturday. I wasn't doing anything, but he wanted to make me feel like I was earning money. My first job was in the UCLA Hospital. This is a good story. You reminded me. This was 2008 during the recession. I graduated from UCLA for undergrad. This is the dream my mom has been telling me, "Go to college. Get your Bachelor's degree. You're going to make a lot of money allegedly."

In 2008, it didn't matter who you were. There were no jobs. What I did was I got a two-week temporal at UCLA Hospital through Manpower. Every day I was going to this Manpower lady, giving her muffins and telling her, "Please call me if there's a job," because there was no job. At that time, it was between staying in LA or coming to San Diego because I had no job. I had a boyfriend at the time and he was like, "If you move, we're over." He wouldn't have done it now, but in hindsight, he wouldn't have done it. I was like, "If I move, I'm not going to be with this guy. Let me figure this out."

Empower Diverse Business Leaders: It's usually the people who couldn't do it or haven't done it who are telling you that can't do something.

I ended up getting a two-week temp job at UCLA Hospital. They loved me so much that he extended it to two months. I got a full-time job right after that and found a department that was open. That job is the reason why I went to grad school because the job was so rough. No knock to UCLA Medical Center, but we had to answer 100 patient calls per day. We were doing lab results and they were always angry. It wasn't an emergency room. It was internal medicine, but the patients were always angry and I would always try to go above and beyond for them.

That taught me customer service and I ended up getting into grad school. I was an assistant to three doctors. It was three doctors and it was a call center. I remember I had this hard-ass doctor, Dr. Greenberg. Dr. Greenberg was so tough because he didn't like it if you messed up. Everyone would tell me about him, but I liked his style. He knew what he wanted, so I got it done. I remember for Christmas, he got me a scarf. One of my friends was like, “He never does that.” When I ended up telling him I was going to go to grad school and leave, he was sad about it.

He wrote me a letter of recommendation for the Public Health school. That was my first job. It was a lot. I remember they had a cowbell and they would be like, "Get on the phone." They called it the queue and they would say, "You are on the queue too much." You have to register them real quick and do all their health insurance. It was a lot of pressure. Do you know how sometimes in offices, people don't like each other? We tried to help each other because we knew this job was hard. There was never an office drama because we were all focused on work.

You had a great call center job because I've been in a couple of call center jobs and I don't remember all the employees banding together. It was every man for himself.

In that job, we banded together because there was no time to start trouble.

Shout-out to Dr. Greenberg. You made Meri a better consultant and gave her a lifetime lesson that traveled with her.

He's cool. Everyone was cool. All the doctors were cool. When I was in the degree mindset, that mindset changes later in life, but at the time, I was like, “Maybe I should go to grad school because my boss had a Master's in Public Health.” He oversaw multiple departments in that hospital. I was like, “Let me see how I could get to that position.” I know he had an MPH, so that led to that. At the time, I had deferred that scholarship, so I had one year to decide, “You either go to grad school or you lose the scholarship.” At the time, because I was only 21 or 22, I figured, “It's not going to hurt. Let me do it.”

One year into the MPH program, that's when I realized, "This is not for me." I applied to the MBA program at San Diego State. Once my MPH program was over, I started that summer my MBA degree at San Diego State. That experience was super crucial for me because that's when I joined my first business accelerator program called the ZIP Launchpad. That's where I got to meet all these entrepreneurs and pitch. This was before I had my Connect All experience. That experience helped me because I also won second place in their competition. It was $5,000 or $2,500.

You're the second-place queen. In every competition, you're in second place.

I'm like, "Why am I in the second place?" I also got Best Video. They always liked my pitch or concepts. I won third place at the VentureStart Competition. I remember I was so nervous. This was before I won second place. The third place taught me to speak up and be confident. I did a whole bunch of things outside of my comfort zone. I did all these things because it was my second Master's degree.

I was like, "At this point, who cares? Network and do all the things you want to do." I told myself this mantra every day, "Whenever I would get anxiety, I would go think about what President Barack Obama is dealing with right now." I told myself that I would go into business school every day because it was intimidating. It was weird because I went to UCLA for grad school, but in San Diego State, maybe because of its semester system, these classes were long.

You had to do a whole bunch of things I didn't do at UCLA, like take quizzes and all this stuff. I would get nervous going to class. The second year was super easy, but the first year was a little challenging. On top of that, I was doing a lot. I was the marketing person for the Graduate Student Association. We would host these mixers. I tried to network and meet as many people as I could.

Here you are. I would have never guessed that you get nervous public speaking or around people, because you seem like such a natural at it every time I've seen you and now in this scape. Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

I'm an extrovert. In my MBA program, we do presentations and I remember I would purposely take off my glasses so I wouldn't see the audience and do my presentations like that. I'm an extrovert, but it takes a lot of energy. You have to pump yourself up. That's a lot of energy. I don't care how much I love talking to people. Even in the KUSI interview and the CBS 8 interview, I was so nervous, not necessarily when it got recorded, but after, I was like, "How am I going to look in this?"

“The whole world is about to see me.”

I'm going to tell you one of my weaknesses. I say, “um,” a lot. I remember I felt bad about that. I would try to change it and it would take a lot longer than I wanted to change saying it. I watch CNBC. Do you know the guy that does Mad Money? That guy says um 24/7. Every word is an um. I'm not perfect, but I'm going to get out there and try and get my message out. That's the best I could do. I could improve and I should work on my public speaking more.

You can always improve. I say um a lot too. I remember listening to my first couple of episodes. I was like, “I say um a lot. I need to figure out how to change that.”

If you have a script, you could change that. It's just not going to be as natural.

I don't want a script. I want a natural conversation like we're in the flow because I want them to feel like this is a real conversation. It wasn't scripted.

That's what I realized. If you watch those YouTubers, they're reading something. That's why it sounds all good. It has been edited.

We do some editing but not too much where it sounds stale and cold. You've had a vibrant career in life. What would you say is one good life lesson that life has taught you?

Empower Diverse Business Leaders: What is meant for you is meant only for you and the vision is only going to be sent to you. So, you have to act on the vision because you’re the only one who can.

I'm going to read a quote on this one. I'm not sure if you're familiar with Lisa Nichols, but she said, “Don't share your million-dollar dreams with dollar thinkers.” It pretty much means in your life, you're going to try to share your ideas with people and they might persuade you otherwise. I have a whole bunch of stories of this. I was talking about this. I was studying Psychology at UCLA. I had a professor.

Believe it or not, he was Afro-Panamanian, so I felt comfortable with him. I'm like, “That's cool.” He's the first Black professor I've seen in a while. I went to his class and I would do office hours with him. I knew this other graduate student. She was Black and super cool. She was like, “Meri, you could get your Master's in Psychology.” This is in undergrad, not grad school.

I go to the Panamanian professor and tell him, “I was talking to her. I love that lady. I want to be like her.” He was like, “What's your GPA?” He crushed my dreams and was like, “You can't be her. She's amazing.” I was like, “I've never heard that before.” He was like, “She's amazing. Don't you know who she is? That's not going to be you.” I had that experience before, but it was a while. It's like when you don't experience something in a while and it throws you off. I pretty much didn't pursue Psychology for my Master's because of what he said.

It was pretty crazy because I got into the public health program, which is top ten in the country, and I got into UCLA for that program. I could have done whatever I wanted to. When someone tells you it can't be done. Sometimes it makes you not want to put in the effort. From that point on, whenever I had a goal or want to do something, I always ignore the naysayers. Everyone's going to tell you it can't be done because either they're lazy to do it or they don't believe in you. It could be done. When I got into UCLA for undergrad, they were going through some stuff.

It was 2004 when I got into that program. The people were on waitlists. It was the lowest admittance rate. There was a lot going on. There was 0.1% African-Americans accepted to UCLA or Black people, not people of color because there are a lot of other minorities at UCLA. I could have taken those stats and went, “I'm not going to get into UCLA.” My classmates also told me, “You can't get in.” I've also had counselors in high school tell me I couldn't get in. Something happened in college because I felt like an imposter in college. Anytime I heard something negative, I went with it.

I feel so weird in college because I was in inner-city schools and then you threw me in Westwood in LA. Everyone's driving Beamers and Range Rovers. There are so many White people. It threw me off. Everyone spoke so eloquently, so I was intimidated in a discussion. To talk about public speaking, I did not want to talk. I purposely picked classes where there was no discussion. If there is a discussion, I'm not in that class. One day, I started looking at my classmates and going, "English is their first language in their home. Their parents debated with them and talked to them, whereas you're not debating in my household. You're talking."

It's like, “Be quiet and do your classwork.” Once I realized they were good speakers and their grades didn't reflect how well they were BSing pretty much, that's when my life shifted. I realized there are a lot of people in the world that are going to talk the talk. There are only a few people who are going to grind and make it happen. Fortunately or unfortunately, I've always been the grinder or hard worker. One way or another, I'm going to go up. That's my lesson. I'm thinking of Will Smith's line, “If you have a dream, you got to protect it.”

I realize why you're friends with Sola. You’ve got that same mindset like, “I'm not about talking. Let's do action.”

I love action. I can't sit there with people talking. I'm not a fantasy girl. I'm more of a, “Let's do it.”

Another thing that resonated with me is that you mentioned that sometimes when your naysayers tell you that you can't do something, they say they can't do it. I remember a clip from one of the Jay-Z bio docs where he's talking about when he first sold his first 100,000 records. His uncle was talking to him and he's like, "You think you're big-time now because you sold 100,000 records, but you will never sell one million records." He goes, "I sold 1 million records 1,000 times."

It's usually the people who couldn't do it or haven't done it who are telling you that you can't do something. That's a quote from Will Smith, “You got to protect your dreams.” You can't listen to the naysayers because what is meant for you is meant only for you. The vision is only going to be sent to you, so you have to act on the vision.

Whatever their vision is and what it was meant for them is meant for them and they have to act. It's hard for you to ask somebody else for career advice or advice about what you should do with your life because they don't have your vision and can't see it from your vision. You have to create the vision yourself and get the tools that can help you create it.

In that same line, he was referring to when you look at people and go, “Should I do X, Y and Z?” Those people are not even qualified to even help you with that. Not to knock my parents sometimes, but they're telling me about wealth, but they haven't acquired wealth at that time. All they're doing is the best that they can. All you have to do is search within, get good mentors who are a couple of steps ahead of you or more, and then follow that path. Everything you need is in you.

What I've been doing during this quarantine is finding out who I am and what I like to do now that all the distractions are shut off. There are no bars, friends, restaurants, happy hours, and the things that we leaned on in the past. I'm a social person, so I would take out clients. Sometimes my clients are my friends because I was working so much in sales. I would go meet with my clients and feel great because not only did I help my client, but I got a sale.

There was always external stuff making me feel good, like going to the gym. There were things that I did. With the quarantine, that's when it was like, “Crap,” especially if you're an extrovert. That's freaking torture what we're going through for an extrovert. I've talked to other people and they're depressed. I had dark days, too, but it wasn't because of the quarantine. It was other stuff. Everyone is struggling. I try to take it to the basics and what I like to do.

I like to play basketball. I'll make time to play basketball. I like beach volleyball. I'll make time to play beach volleyball. Take it way back. It has been an interesting experience and being okay with being alone. Introverts won't get that because they're already alone and in their rooms a lot or doing stuff solo. I grew up in a household with sisters in the same room. I didn't have my own room until I went to college. Even in college, we had to share.

I didn't have my own room until I left undergrad. It was a lot later. I was 23 or 24 when I had my own room. Going from always being around people to people who could get you sick is pretty crazy. There's a lot of us that are like, "I'm going to bite the bullet and expose myself because we want that connection so bad." I feel like even the most introvert risk-taker is like, "Everyone is sick. I'm not even going to risk it," which they shouldn't, to begin with.

They doubled down on that like, “I'm living in this bubble.”

I'm more of an introvert because I'm not talking to as many people as I used to.

I have a feeling you found new ways to talk to people through these masterminds. You're talking to people, but it's a different type of communication.

The mastermind is every third Wednesday. I'm always prepping for that and I have volunteers that help with that. Shout-out to Nathan Dean, Chris Mavry, Veronica Jones, and Betswan Birhane. Those are the people that help with the mastermind. It has been great connecting with people on that level. I created a loophole for myself.

I love the fact that you love basketball because I do too. We might have to do a pickup game when we ever get back to people congregating again.

I'm pretty good with my shot. I got to work on my layup. That's why we say no layups when you play against me.

We will have you over the quarter like Steph Curry.

I love playing at the courts by the beach. That's my favorite.

I haven't played over there in a while, but I love that too. We could get pickup basketball over there.

Empower Diverse Business Leaders: It's hard for you to ask for career advice or advice about what you should do with your life from somebody else, because they don't have your vision and they can't see it from your vision.

There are a lot of people. There is this influencer. Do you know The Professor on YouTube?

I remember The Professor. Is he out there?

He was there and I was like, “That's crazy.” Everyone was recording him. I didn't know who he was until after. People were recording him doing something.

He was from the AND1 tournaments. He's still popular.

He has an interesting journey too. He had it rough, then he found God, and YouTube helped him with his career. He was broke for a long time, based on the documentary that I watched. I was like, "Who is this guy?" I watched that.

I didn't know that, but I'm about to watch the documentary. I remember him from the AND1 tournaments. They used to pick on him a lot in the beginning. He was showing people up. I was like, “Look at this little White boy.”

He was obsessed with basketball in high school and he didn't get into college for basketball. He was crushed because he would spend so many hours. He went to community college and didn't get anything out of it. He discovered this AND1 thing at age eighteen. He killed it and they had him on tour. There were more stories about him, but he was an underdog. I love those stories and hearing about people who don't give up.

They keep fighting for their dreams. Let's talk about some more strategic steps to how you got to where you're at. Somebody is reading this and they're inspired by, "I want to know how do I get into the tech space and consulting? I like some of what she has done in her career." It's what, when, how, where and all that good stuff. What's some advice you would give to someone who would like to start a career in your industry?

I got into sales first. My mentor told me that you could do anything if you conquer sales and master sales. That was my mentality. I worked at a couple of sales jobs. One was super hard, but that sales role helped open up the doors for me for other jobs because they trained me so much. If you could, find a company that could train you and put that pressure on you because that's what happened. I had to make 75 dials and book 10 or 11 meetings a week. It was challenging and I won't lie.

I lasted at that job for about eight months before I quit. The turnover rate was three months. It was a hard job. I pretty much would come home sad. I feel like there were nights where I was crying. I remember my sisters would be like, "Why are you doing this job?" I was working until 10:00 to 11:00 PM and trying to get a sale. If you could find an in-between job like that, maybe not too extreme where you're getting beat up every day.

A lot of people would hang up and I didn't realize all my coworkers would call the same people. I didn't get that. It would be frustrating. You're calling people that ten other people have already called at your company. That was the company's model. It was to dial as many times as you could until something stuck. There's a place for that, but I wasn't into that. I got hung up on. It was difficult. That's when I discovered LinkedIn. LinkedIn helped me avoid the calls. At the time, my bosses would be mad because I would be on LinkedIn instead of making my calls. It was one of those open floor plans. There were 80 employees and you could hear everybody's conversations.

For me on LinkedIn, it was obvious. We all had headsets. It was like a call center of outbound calls. They would tell me, "Meri, get off of LinkedIn. Make your dials." I was booking eleven meetings a week and I would win. They would give us jerseys if you won that week and I would get most meetings because I would book it all through LinkedIn. I got into the LinkedIn training space because of my experience doing that. I would recommend picking a job where they're going to train you on the foundation and basis but don't be hard on yourself. What I did was after that difficult job, I worked for a company with 70 employees right after.

That was my fit. I figured out I don't like to be the small fish in a big pond. I like to be the big fish in a small pond. It's a smaller firm and in that firm, every time I booked a meeting, they were so excited like, "Thank you, Meri, for this meeting." I'm like, "We're at that place." With one meeting a week, you would be a loser because it was one of those cultures. They would put your rankings on who had the most meetings and calls. You go to the kitchen and because it was a big company, you're on page 30 at the bottom. It didn't make you feel good. With this company, anything I did, they were excited, and with 10 to 13 meetings a week, they loved it.

Once I discovered I'm good at booking meetings, I got a promotion and then became an account executive, which means you do the full sales cycle. You're not just booking meetings. You're meeting with clients, doing presentations, helping create the proposal, talking to legal, doing red lines, closing the deal, and onboarding the client. I got a chance to learn the full sales cycle. I did that for a year, got promoted to it, and went to another company. They paid me way more money than that because now I have the reputation of, “I've generated X amount of revenue.” It's all on LinkedIn. You could see how much money I've generated.

Once you go to a company and go, "This is my success," then it's a lot easier to negotiate your salary and terms. Early on in my sales job, I wasn't getting commission because they told me, "If you're new, you don't get a commission." That's not true. If you're getting into sales, read and understand the contract and then apply to other jobs and read their contracts to determine the industry standard. I recommend that, especially being a person of color and you have to negotiate your salary. It's pretty tough and nerve-racking, especially if you need the job. It's hard sometimes to be like, "I don't want this job."

For those of you wondering, she has generated over $3 million in products and services in sales. She is the truth. What would you say to that one person, "I'm sitting at my cubicle? I've been in sales for a while now and I'm ready to make the jump and transition. I've made a name for myself as you did. How do I go from the sales job to an account manager job and start my consulting services?"

I always recommend that if you can, do it while you still are employed. In 2017, I launched my company, but I only had two client gigs. I generated revenue quickly, but at the time, I didn't process what I was doing I could get paid for because my trajectory at the time was I wanted to be a VP of Sales at a company. I was trying to work hard to be this VP of Sales that I always seemed elusive. You know how management is. They have their reasons. I also come off younger than I am sometimes or young-looking. I forget that I am. I feel like there are barriers there. I didn't get a lot of opportunities.

One day in March 2020 was the day I decided to go full-time doing my own thing. I was able to generate $9,000 to $10,000 a month during COVID. I was like, “If I could make sales during a pandemic, I could do it.” I wouldn't have known and had everything together if I hadn't planned a couple of years and got my business entity done. I had all the templates I needed and all the emails. Pretty much, I had the structure ready. I sell sales playbooks and I had the bones of what this playbook would look like. When I would meet with a client, all I had to do was customize it. It was a lot less work.

I would highly recommend getting ready, preparing yourself, talking to clients or whatever you're selling, and learning a skill. When you think, "I could monetize this," and you're getting good feedback from those customers, then you should pull the trigger and go full-time. That's what I recommend because I don't recommend jumping into something when you're not ready and prepared. There are two schools of thought. That's my personal school of thought. You could do it any way that you want.

It's because of my experience of people telling me it can't be done that when someone comes to me and has an idea, I usually try to figure out how it could be done and I would talk to them based on that. If anybody's interested in talking with me, you can email me at Meri@MeriConsultingServices.com . I could give some tips based on that. I do recommend doing the side hustle thing and seeing if you're generating revenue. If you're generating revenue, that's an indicator that this is going to work. That's what I would do.

What do you think the future has in store for your industry when it comes to service business consulting, especially when you have this nice little niche of helping sales reps book more meetings, sell, process, and audit recommendations?

There's going to be and there already is a lot of automation. I teach clients how to properly message LinkedIn and connect with prospects. I walk them through a nine-week course of doing that. There's a lot of automation. LinkedIn has plugins where you can purchase software and it will automate the messaging scripts. You will get the messaging script from me or create it yourself, plug it into the software, and automatically send customers the messaging. It's similar to HubSpot but LinkedIn-specific. When the customer does an action like a reply, then you could reply to it as a person.

There's more automation and a lot of these chatbots and B2B lead generation software that I talked about. I know analytics is something people are always talking about. I could see that happening. For consultants in my space, there's a lot of training videos. Instead of doing one-on-one, you could scale it a little bit more. I'm working on moving from one-on-one consults to automating my consultation for my business. That's what I'm working on. That will free up so much time too.

The biggest thing you could do in business is getting more time back and automate it. That's the way to streamline your business and make your business more successful. I'm going to have you come back to do part two because we didn't get to talk about a lot of stuff. For now, what projects are you working on? Where can people find you?

I'm training a VP of Client Relations at a real estate firm. We're going through a LinkedIn training course. It's the one that I mentioned. We're at week eight. I'm also working with a bank and helping them with their LinkedIn training. I'm moving towards staff training and teaching folks how to utilize LinkedIn to optimize their profile and get more leads.

Those are pretty much the projects I'm working on. I also work with IT companies and create them a sales playbook. We're in talks. That should close soon. With the company in San Diego, it's an IT provider. If you're interested in any of those services or connecting with me, you can email me at Meri@MeriConsultingServices.com or follow me on social media @MeriConsultingServices .

Empower Diverse Business Leaders: Everything you need is really in you. All you have to do is search within, get good mentors who are a couple of steps ahead of you, and then just follow that path.

The Empowerment Mastermind is @EmpowermentMastermind . You can also find that on MeriConsultingServices.com/empowerment . That's the group you should attack. If you want to learn anything, it's free. There's a whole bunch of executives. Every third Wednesday at 6:00 PM Pacific time, join a mastermind session. There's always a guest speaker. We do breakout sessions. On our next one, we talked about work-life balance. If you want to network and have a cool atmosphere to talk about that, the session will not be recorded because we want this to be more of a laid-back topic.

You need to bring one of those onto Clubhouse. Are you on Clubhouse yet?

I was personally on Clubhouse. I was spending three hours a day on Clubhouse, so I had to stop by the first week of doing it. We have to connect on social media, but I was like, "Follow me on Clubhouse." I was so pumped about Clubhouse. I realized I was in that room for three hours because I like to listen, but I like to moderate. People would come into the room a little bit late into the session, so you have to start all over again. For someone like me who likes to talk, that was draining. It's not like, "Let's talk about movies." That's not what we're doing. We're talking about business and how to launch their company. People were asking for advice and it was three hours a day.

You can build some great business relationships and contacts there. It's the new LinkedIn to booking.

It is. I did notice a lot of people followed because I linked to my company's Instagram. I got so many followers. In that first week, I got 20 to 30 followers and it's hard to get followers as much. My company Instagram is going up based on the content and talking. We're toying with that. In the Empowerment Mastermind, we're going to have an impromptu one before we officially submit a Clubhouse because I don't want to submit a Clubhouse and then there's no one there to man it. I think the Empowerment Mastermind is a great way and Clubhouse is another platform, but you wish you could see the people.

I do wish I could see the people, but I'll leave it there for that. If you got so many different faces on a screen, I don't know how you would break that up. It would be overwhelming.

It's pretty much Zoom at that point. That's why people like it. They want to listen in, but I want to see who I'm talking to because I'm a social person. If it's a podcast, I don't mind when it's the experts. You got to wait three hours. I did that once. I waited 3 or 2 hours to raise my hand. I was so bummed because I wanted to talk to Grant Cardone. Right after I asked my question, Grant Cardone came into the room and I was like, “Dang it.” You get to see some cool people. I felt like I got it. It's trying to get you closer to those inaccessible people, but it's time-consuming.

There's no set formula to how you do it yet. It's one of these necessary evils.

I'm going too much into Clubhouse, but my target customer is tech companies. When you search tech companies, there isn't a category for that. I don't know if you've noticed. If you put cybersecurity in Clubhouse, they're not open yet. Once it becomes more relevant to what I do, then I could go in there.

Maybe you could be the person that launches it.

I did think of that too. It's going to take so much. We're going to go to Clubhouse. Maybe it will re-energize me again because I remember that week was crazy.

If you do, invite me to the space.

What's your Clubhouse handle? Mine is @MeriBirhane .

Meri, it has been a pleasure. I love hearing your story and all the great tips, advice, and inspiration you've given our readers. I would love to have you back again if that's okay with you.

This was fun and relaxing. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, that's it for our session. There's no big sendoff. Join Clubhouse if you want to keep connected. Have a great rest of your day.

About Meri Birhane

Meri Birhane is a Gates Millennium Scholar, holds two master's degrees and has a wealth of sales experience working in IT Managed Services, Cyber Security and Cloud Services. Ms. Birhane has been successful at building strong partnerships, providing sales and startup consulting services to businesses, and leading organizations. Her passion for sales and empowering minority owned businesses has driven her to give back to her community by providing free business resources.

Robert H. Johnson, Jr. - Diversity & Inclusion Strategist | Coach | Speaker

Mon, 05 Apr 2021 09:46:56 GMT

Business experiences can vary from person to person, but great leadership can help direct those experiences into one cohesive goal. In this episode, Robert H. Johnson, Jr. , the founder of RHJ Consulting Group , talks to our host, Taryell Simmons, about how he transformed businesses with the help of diversity and inclusion strategies. Robert is a proven transformational and motivational problem solver, consultant, coach and speaker with over two decades of experience leading business and culture transformation for major brands. His practice specializes in helping organizations and individuals design practical yet transformative diversity & inclusion, employee resource group, leadership and business strategies. Join us as Robert talks about his struggles as a Black male in the business world and how managed to climb up the corporate ladder.

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Listen to the podcast here:

Robert H. Johnson, Jr. - Diversity & Inclusion Strategist | Coach | Speaker

When I first met Mr. Robert H. Johnson Jr., I happened to be going to the Black Central Chamber of Congress in San Diego in an event. Do you know how when somebody speaks and it speaks to your soul and it's on point with your journey in the world? That's how it was for me when I heard this brother. I had to ask a couple of questions that helped us transcend the audience into another wave level of thinking about what success is and what success looks like for each individual, especially in our Black community.

As he was communicating with them, he had this hoodie that he wears called the Corporate Dropout . I remember when he was telling a story about dropping out of the corporate rat race and what life looked like for him and what he's been able to build. Also, the inspiration that he received being raised by a single mother and wanting to uplift Black women was profound. It was everything that I was on par with and I wanted to make strides in the next level of my career.

Robert is an amazing, all-around person. He's a diversity inclusion strategist, a coach, a speaker. He's a proven transformational and motivational problem solver, consulting coach, and speaker. He has over two decades of experience leading business and culture transformation for major brands from Owens Corning, Sam's Club, Bank of America, Capital One Bank.

If you've ever been in those environments, especially at the time he graduated, which was around the ‘90s, and navigating that space and then climbing up the corporate ladder, which is a majority of White space as a Black male or for any Black person, that is not an easy feat. He's been able to do it. He's a native Floridian. He's a graduate of the Florida Memorial University, where he earned a Bachelor's Degree in Science Business Administration. In 2018, he completed a certificate in a leadership program at Southern Methodist University.

In 2007, he decided to jump out and start his RHJ Consulting Group . He does a lot of similar things that I do with helping organizations design practically transformative diversity, inclusion, employee resource groups, leadership, and business strategies. When we aligned, we were speaking each other's language. You'll learn more about that in the episode. Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, here is Robert H. Johnson Jr.

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As human beings, we typically don't change and our body is wired that way, our brain is wired that way. Fight or flight. Until we experience some pain or some uncontrollable occurrence in our life, we will not change a pattern. Changing a pattern is a conscious decision because the alternative is no longer variable, Particularly when it comes to bias, racism, sexism, xenophobia, etc. You will not change your behavior until you see internally what you're projecting and how that is returning to you.

It’s like, “If I'm doing something good and it's been working, I'm going to keep doing that. If in my social circles, bias and racism are the norms, until I change my social circle, I'm not going to believe in a new norm.” It’s the same thing with predominantly White organizations in the senior leadership levels, which is the majority of most Fortune 500 companies, big organizations, and small.

Until they recognized that we had limited our potential by only recruiting and promoting people who look like us, there was a hit for the wallet. In many cases, a lawsuit and an ethics complaint that is consequential, businesses will not change their pattern because they believe, “We have core values and we live our core values.” Not everyone bought in the company for the core value. That’s the work that we're doing.

We have been doing the work in my organization for over nine years and it's been mostly training. Now they've got to this point when George Floyd hit where all of the people of color were talking about it, “I don't want any training anymore. I want to see some action. This whole makeup of leadership that's all-White up here, we need some melanin up in there with these new policies, with these procedures. Enough of this training. It's all about belonging, togetherness, and change. I want to see some change.” Some of the less woke people were like, “We did all this. What do you mean there's no change?”

Training does not always equate to change. Training is an initiative, not necessarily action. Here's my three Es. I may have mentioned this in one of our previous conversations. In order to change, grow, be promoted, and build something different, you have to have an education. I'm not just talking about formal education. I'm saying that whatever the thing is, you have to learn it, study it, and get some exposure to the new thing.

You then have experience. I have to apply what I've learned. Give me opportunities to apply what I've learned. Thirdly, exposure. Give me the opportunity then to be exposed to the right people to the organization to demonstrate I have not only learned something new, but I know how to apply it and I'm applying it in such a way that it is delivering the change, the organizational change, the individual change.

The funny thing is when I first met you, I was multitasking. I was joining the call because I was like, “I've been busy lately with setting up DNI.” Keep in mind, 17,000 employees, the whole county, there's a whole bunch of DNI initiatives, and I'm supposed to be the core center that helps executive leadership and everything and infuse it through the entire county.

One of the things I was working on was recruiting and connecting with the Black or Brown community. I was like, “I need to get on this call. Hopefully, I could connect with somebody.” You start rebuilding a relationship. The last thing is you get on and you start talking about stuff. I was like, “This brother is special.” I’m like, “He’s talking my language right here. I know this journey. I've been through this journey before.”

You know your tribe. Thousands of tribes around the world each spoke a unique dialect or even the same language but a unique dialect of that language. That's the thing we're in pursuit of in life. It's finding the people who speak the same language but the dialect in which I speak it. When you see or hear that voice, you're drawn to it. You get closer and closer to it because I felt we were a tribe. These are my kinfolk. There are my tribesmen.

For some of the people, I was like, “Some of the stuff he's saying is going way over their heads.” They’re not catching these nuggets right here. I'm going to need him to repeat some of this. Me and him could engage in the dialect to allow them to see the greatness in themselves and pick these nuggets that they’re missing a little bit.”

I was like, “You wanted to host the call.” You began to facilitate or act as a conduit translating my message through you. Even in your work, with 17,000 people, you are the conduit that gets to translate that into comprehensible, executable, tangible information that people can understand. I recognized that on the call and I appreciate that. I was like, “Look at Taryell.”

This show has been a journey of mine for a while. I do a lot of public speaking like you. I've done it for over four years between community colleges and institutions. First, they tried to get me to become an educator. It was like, “We don't have enough Black educators.” I was like, “You couldn’t pay me enough to be a teacher in this system.”

They won't pay you enough.

People started saying, “You should start a podcast.” After hearing that a million times, I finally started the podcast.

It makes sense. In our conversations, you have an amazing and diverse perspective that is expansive and it is not narrow. The other thing is that it is okay to be single-minded. I was listening to a TED Talk. I forgot the woman’s name, but she was awesome. The topic of her TED Talk was the power of single-mindedness. Her message was about the power of focusing on one thing relentlessly and her one thing is diversity and inclusion.

How it connects to this is you know your one thing. You know this is the mission that you're called to. You’ll do it early in the morning. You’ll do it late at night. You'll do it for 24 hours straight. That is the beauty of purpose. I want everybody to have that experience. You remember before that's like, “I don't know my purpose.” It's heartbreaking, but it's also an opportunity. Does that make sense?

That totally makes sense. That's the whole reason why I started this show because some of the youth and even adults, I see some lost souls at work and have been there for 40 years. They’re living for retirement because they think that's their purpose.

They have to work and then stop working one day. It's not sad because it's people's reality. It’s much less than the life that we're meant to live. We're not meant to go to a job and give the best of ourselves to the job and give the rest of ourselves to our family. It’s the other way around. You put the best of yourself into your family and then you give the rest to your family, to your purpose, to your community.

You then give the rest of yourself to the 9:00 to 5:00. Many people don't have the opportunity or haven't found the opportunity to blend the two when you are living your purpose or when you are working in a field that aligns with your purpose, your passion, and that you earn provision for them. You earn a paycheck for them.

That's the beauty. I don't know if you heard me say, “Do what you love and love what you do. Don't chase the money. Let the money chase you.” I realized that after fulfilling that purpose of what my parents wanted, what society wanted, that education, I got out of the hood, I got my Master's degree, I'm fulfilled. I’m miserable. I said, “I can't live like this.” I went through these phases, “Am I a failure because I quit this and try to do something different that pays less?” It was when I found my purpose.

What I see so many times in our youth that are going through it now, even if they're in college and so forth, these lost souls, as I like to call them, they're chasing someone else's dream or purpose for them. It's not their purpose or their unique talent or their unique skill. We have these limiting beliefs of what we can do and what we can be based on, whether society, our parents, or our community has ingrained in us.

What I hope to do with this podcast is highlight all the brilliance with the Black community and African community. The African community has a special place in my heart because my stepdad is of Nigerian descent. I grew up in a Nigerian house and culture. There's a disconnect between our heritage and our Black community from Black s in the diaspora that grew up here in America to Africans and Black s from the motherland and the continent and how we treat each other and see each other.

Growing up in the hood of DC, if I showed up in my Nigerian gear at the time, it wasn't cool or sexy. It was, “Look at this Nigerian, this African booty scratcher. Go back to where you came from.” I was like, “You do know your roots.” If I showed up in my Nigerian community, they’re like, “You’re Black enough. You haven’t been through what we’ve been through.

It goes back to the point that we all want people to be exactly like we are. The real challenge with inclusion is if you're different from me, I automatically exclude you. That's a learned behavior. Even being Black and Brown within the Black community in and of itself, we range on the spectrum of color from 99% appearance of White to the darkest of the most beautiful dark. Even within our own spectrum, we have that colorism. It makes sense that, on the one hand, you weren't Nigerian enough. On the other hand, you weren't Black enough. That's a confusing and difficult place and space to be in.

I grew up in Miami and it was diverse. You had Black , minimal White but still some White exposure, Hispanic, Dominican, and all forms and members of the Hispanic community from the Caribbean and South America. Miami is an extremely international and diverse city that was important to my experience growing up, being able to embrace different backgrounds and cultures without or with less judgment. We have our automatic bias based on the patterns that our brain establishes.

I find that people like us who do this work around diversity and inclusion have some unique life experiences and learning experiences around different cultures and upbringing that allow us to tap into different perspectives and lenses based on how we grew up. I grew up in a Black culture. I grew up in DC when it was a Chocolate City. There were all these Black cultures. There were Jamaicans, Trinidadians, Haitians. There was minimal White.

My mentor was a Jewish guy. He got me out here to California and that's when I started to run into Filipinos, Latinos, every type of Asian Pacific Islander out here. I remember at first, I couldn't tell the difference between some of the different Asians. My wife is Chinese. I've grown accustomed now to being able to recognize based on the convo, look, or whatever is happening what type of Asian am I talking to, Southeastern Asia, Filipino, Guamanian, Samoan. If we want to go deep, some Asians consider themselves Pacific Islanders versus Asian. That's a whole other debate. I became more cultured.

More culturally aware. I spoke to one of my clients and talked about experience shapes perspective. Ironically, I, too, had an amazing mentor who happened to be Jewish. He took me under his wing. It was when I was in the financial services industry earlier in my career. He took me under his wing and he taught me so much.

He gave me that experience, that education, and that exposure that I talked about earlier. It's education, experience, and exposure. He coached and developed me. He held me accountable. He was a leader too. He was my direct leader. We ultimately became great friends. For me, I value and appreciate people that will be honest enough with me to see my greatness and then hold me accountable to living and walking within that greatness.

Coming from where I come from, my mom raised me as a single parent. That in and of itself was a unique position. In my experience, being raised by a single parent, you can be resistant to male influence, direction, or accountability because you haven't necessarily had it in your life. I'm speaking from my experience and what I've seen and other young men who may have grown up in a single-parent household.

Going back to Dave, he helped me to learn more about his culture, being friends with him, being led by him. He helped me to want to learn more about his culture, his community, what it meant to be Jewish, the Jewish holidays, the things that mattered. I have to give him kudos because if not for that relationship, if not for that mentorship, if not for friendship, I may be limited in my beliefs. I may be closed off to learning more about cultures.

As you illustrated, you're able to differentiate and distinguish clearly between East Asians and different cultures. You would not have gotten that had you not had that experience with someone who helps you recognize it. Differences are real. It's important to know who people are. Don't assume everyone is the same. That’s the total opposite of diversity and inclusion. It's assuming that everyone is the same and those people deserve to be there or Black people are only great at sports and entertainment.

Even we have this belief within ourselves. I'm trying to break that boat. When I go and speak to kids and they see people like us speaking, they’re like, “What do you do?” I’m like, “I do this?” They’re like, “They got a Black person that does that? You must be an anomaly. That can't be right. Do you own your own business? That can't be right. You got lucky. Was your daddy an athlete?”

You can't be multifaceted. That's because of limiting beliefs that have been placed on those youth. It starts at home. Love enables youth and adults to begin to believe in the possibilities. We weren't even middle class when I grew up. My mom worked and we lived paycheck to paycheck. She got paid on Friday and there wasn't anything left on Saturday after the bills and whatever was left to try to enjoy that Friday. It was gone by Saturday. She persisted. She had great discipline. She encouraged me to dream bigger, to believe better, to always have faith too. That was the other cornerstone. Love and faith go hand in hand. When both of those, you're unstoppable.

One thing I did recognize, too, is both me and you had Jewish mentors.

We’re unicorns. Look at the irony. We both had Jewish mentors. We're both now in diversity and inclusion. We both recognized and learned that expansive view of the world and got different experiences from those mentors. It's led us to work that will inspire, equip, enable, and empower people to have not only the best experience within the organization.

The experience in the organization overflows into my life. If I'm happy at work, feel like I belong, have equity, and have a seat at the table. When I go home, I am not just satisfied with the job, but there's less stress, there's less tension. I give my best for the job and then I go home and give my best to my family. Many people are giving their best to a job to prove their worth, hold on to the job, and be enough. That's another thing.

My goal is to help people recognize you were born enough. You don't have to prove to someone you're enough. Prove to yourself by getting the development, by finding your purpose, by building the relationship that you need to build a life that you’ve been called to build, to live the purpose that you’ve been called to live. You're the only person you have to prove that to. That goes back to your point of belief. It's a belief. When I leave this world and I've inspired millions of people to believe bigger in themselves, it would have been a life fulfilled for me.

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I got Robert Johnson, Jr. Let me put some respect on that. I’m sure that Sr. was great too. We got Jr. in the house who's dropping so much knowledge right now. Before we go into the further half of this interview, I'll let you tell the story of how we first met. Tell the people how we first met.

Crazily enough, we just met.

We’re over here talking like we became brothers for a long time.

When you meet your people, it feels natural. We met at the San Diego Black Chamber event where I facilitated a discussion on having a vision and clarity for your business in 2021, vision and clarity for your own life. You have to have vision and clarity for yourself before you can have it for a business or for a goal. We met on that call. You jumped in and connected to the message. It's almost as if we were having our own conversation on the broader call. It was relevant. It was engaging. You did a great job of bringing people in and along the journey with us.

We met then and then we had a conversation the next day. We were both sending notes in the chat and committed to following up and connecting. We did it the next day. It's amazing how when you meet people that are aligned with your purpose, with your vision, with your values and beliefs, how the relationship and connection are instant.

A big reason for this podcast is to highlight all the different individuals in the Black community who are doing great things, talking about their journey, how they got to where they're at. I want these episodes for whether it's a young person trying to figure out their purpose or an older person who’s been stuck in that 9:00 to 5:00 who needs to pivot and is looking for anything. They’re trying to find a way to hear these stories and hopefully see something within the individuals that they're hearing about and get inspired.

There's also a thing that I do when I talk to young people. I used to do a program where I used to help young people get their first job. Some of them might have this vision of what they want to be and they’re like, “Why should I be concerned about this first job? It's not going to help me with anything.”

I want to show the process of evolution. There are still things that you can get from that first job that can help teach you or help grow you. What was your first job?

I had a couple of first jobs. I’m from Miami.

That’s the Miami hustler right there.

Hustle and flow. The first job that I can remember was going door to door and asking people if they wanted their car washed. It's always sunny in Miami. People always want their car washed. That was my first time earning money. After that, when I was about fifteen, my first government job was a summer program. You worked for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. You went with them on the trucks to address maintenance issues for, as we would like to call them, urban developments, the projects.

I was changing toilets and going to all types of maintenance requests, which was one of the most amazing experiences I could have had at fifteen. I had to get up early in the morning. I didn't have a car, so I went out to catch the bus or my mom would drop me off. It was 100 streets. In Miami, it's a grid. You have streets. You go from 1st street all the way up to 217th Street. We were living at about 130-something at the time. I had to go on the bus early in the morning to get to Liberty City, as it's known to my job. I loved it. I was grateful for it.

It taught me responsibility. It taught me how to manage the little paycheck that I was getting. I got my first paycheck. It wasn't a little paycheck. They were paying us $7 an hour, which at that time was like $1 million for me. That was my first job and I'm grateful for it. It also taught me humility because you're going into people's homes. I wasn't living in the projects. We lived in the projects, but we eventually were able to get out of the projects. It reminded me to be humble, grateful, and remember where I came from.

I like to always remind people that if you pay attention, there are some lessons that you could take with you in that first job. Even if it wasn't a great job or a job to enjoy, that would help set you up for success in the next venture that you're going to. There's always a lesson to be learned. Tell the people what you do and what you are working on. I still need to get myself one of those hoodies. He has a Corporate Dropout hoodie. It’s something that I aspire to own one day. I'm on my purpose and mission right now. I have to stay in the corporate world a little bit to create some change.

I'll tell you a little about my journey and then we'll come back to Corporate Dropout. Being from Miami, I was the first person in my family to graduate high school and the first person in my family to graduate college. I went to Florida Memorial University, an amazing historically Black college. That was one of the first experiences for me of people wrapping their arms around me, seeing my potential, seeing my talent, equipping me, empowering me, coaching me, and holding me accountable to living my best.

Athena Jackson was the career placement and planning advisor. It's one of those interactions, those relationships. We're still connected to this day. If it were not for her, I might not have gotten my first real internship that led to my first real career or Corporate America job with Owens Corning. I graduated from college.

I left Miami and moved to Chicago to work for Owens Corning, a building materials company. They do everything from shingles to asphalt. Anything for residential and commercial buildings, they provided. I got there and learned a lot. It was also the first time I felt isolated because this Black kid from Miami went to Maumee, Ohio for three months to train before I moved to Chicago. I'm a Black kid. I'm a Black face in a sea of what feels like White faces. We’re talking about Toledo, Ohio. It’s not extremely diverse. In the corporate structure, you're talking about 1999. I had never been in Corporate America. I didn't know what I didn't know.

There are so many layers to that. We don’t have time to unpack it. Those who know, know.

I took that challenge. I maximized the opportunity. Eventually, I moved to Atlanta with the company. The job was downsized, which speaks to the power of knowing where you're supposed to be. I knew I wasn’t meant to leave Chicago and move to Atlanta. Six months later, the job was eliminated. For those who are reading, always know that when God has a plan for you, He always has provision prepared on the other end of it. Be willing to say yes to opportunities that scare you, that you don't know if you can fully, efficiently, or effectively do because you will get what you need to get it done. You’ve got to make the commitment to get it, but you will get it and get it done.

The job was eliminated, which led to an opportunity to work for Sam's Club, which I did for four years. It’s hard and challenging. One of the best developmental experiences for me in my career was when I was an inventory manager. I pretty much had to be to work at 3:00 AM and I didn't leave until it was done. I would leave at 4:00 or 5:00 the following day. You're stuck at a 12, 14-hour shift. I was committed to it.

I always recognize that the way I leave something is a reflection of me. The way that we leave something is a reflection on us. Even if we found it in a poor state, it's up to us to leave it in a better state than we found it because the person is always going to remember, “Taryell was the last person here. Taryell was the last to see this or touch this and he left it like?” “Taryell was the last person here. This is amazing. He did a wonderful job.” Even at 22, 23, 24 years of age, I was aware that I was leaving a mark and some will say a brand. Now, we will call it a brand.

Eventually, I knew it was time to transition. I left into banking only because a friend of mine needed a job. She was in accounting. Bank of America was having a job fair. I said, “Bank of America's having a job fair. You should go. I'll go with you.” I wasn't looking for a job even per se. She didn't want to go. I said, “I'm still going to go. I’ll take your resumé.” I took our resumés and dropped them off. At the time, they wanted you to drop off your resume. Write the job that you wanted and keep it moving.

Long story short, they offered me a job as a branch manager. I did that for several years. I worked with some amazing people. I worked with some amazing clients. I know the value and the importance of $5 in your account as much as the person who values $5 million in their account. Both have the same intent. It is to maximize the return on what they have in their account. It also taught me about the different biases that exist between the wealthy and not wealthy, the haves and the have nots.

I saw a disparity. The predominant number of customers that had large balances were not Black. They were not Brown. They were not minorities. It wasn't a diverse community that had this money. When I say community, I'm talking about wealth because that is a community. I said, “I want to change that.” I began to bring those lessons back to my family, church, and community.

Big Sean has a verse in one of his songs that says, “I want to teach to the whole hood corporate.” I want people to know that you can save money. Start small. You can make more money. Think big. You can grow. Go take a course. We can achieve these goals, but we first have to believe in our minds. Everything starts in this beautiful brain that we have that leads to the manifestation of the thing. It’s not overnight. If you believe you can do it, meditate on that belief enough, “What do I need to do to do it?” Does that make sense?

I want people to understand that when we talk about wealth on this show or when we talk about wealth, we're not talking about the money Shaq made. Shaq is rich. We’re talking about the man that gives Shaq a check. That's wealth. That's what we’re talking about and that's what we aspire to do here.

You can see that the definition of wealth is bigger than the deposits in your bank account. It is the mindset. If you have a wealthy mindset, you will get and have a wealthy bank account. You will have wealthy and healthy relationships. It starts with believing, “If I can make five figures, six is only one digit away. If I can make six figures, seven is only one digit away.” At the end of the day, you have to make money to live the standard life that you want. You decide a standard and then you pursue purpose. As you're pursuing a purpose, you never have to worry about the paycheck. The paycheck will come.

There are some other things I like to throw in there, too, since we brought in the scope of this definition. When I'm looking at it for the Black community, another thing I'm looking at when we talk about wealth is I'm talking about the abundance mindset. I'm also talking about health because health is wealth. If health stops, everything stops.

No matter how much money you ’ve got, if the health isn’t right, you’re not right. Everything else isn’t right. When we talk about wealth, we talk about health. We talk about financial health, physical health, mental health, spiritual health. All these things in the Black community have to be in alignment to achieve true wealth. That's my take on it. I don't know if you feel the same way.

Here's the thing, you can be wealthy today and not wealthy tomorrow. Let's say you have your money in the stock market, which a lot of wealthy people do. They have investments and they have a diversified portfolio. The thing is, the real wealthy person says, “I lost $10 million or $100 million, but I can make it again.” The wealthy mindset is, “I need to start with believing in myself and taking care of my vessel and my body. If I have this thing called a healthy body and I lose the money, I can work and do what I need to earn the wealth back. If I don't have a healthy body, but I have money in the bank, what is the point?”

What is the point of having whatever finances you have in the bank that you consider wealth or riches if you don't have the health, vitality, and endurance? I want to be that person at 80-plus years old that's reflecting on not the dollars saved in my account but on the number of lives that I've affected. That's a whole other definition of wealth. When you're like, “I helped 1 million people to become productive citizens in society.”

Recidivism is real when you think about even our brothers and sisters in the prison system. They will repeat when people don't have a path to becoming productive citizens post-prison. They will become repeat offenders and go back into the system. Imagine being able to say, “I help people that were in prison. I help people that are youth. I help people that were in college. I help people that were lost.” To me, that’s the goal of life. If you have a specific passion for one or the other, it’s still okay. For me, one of my core demographics is Black women. Black women are significantly under-leveled. They are underpaid, yet they are highly educated, in many cases more educated than candidates when we look at job applicants and things like that. In Corporate America, they don't receive. They just do.

If you've gone to get the education and have the proven experience and people can vouch and validate what you've done, which is the exposure, why would I not be offered an opportunity to do work that I'm highly capable of doing? For me, that's the big part of the work that I do. I’m bringing it full circle. I left financial services after working with some amazingly talented people building some amazing businesses within businesses.

I recognize that Black and Brown talent, underrepresented talent, needed the coaching, the mentorship, the equipping, the empowering, and the tools that I had to offer. I would rather step out, as we may call it leading to Corporate Dropout and affect that many more people's lives. I'd rather say that than say I built a career that was amazing and abundantly fruitful for me, but I'm not making it amazingly and abundantly fruitful for others.

Are you on Clubhouse by chance?

Yes.

I need to introduce you to Dr. Teagle. She invited me to her stage to speak. She runs a thing called Her Club. She and another career coach who likes to empower Black women. You need to be on the stage at one of her things. Remind me to do that. I’m going back to a statement that you were talking about when we’re talking about saving money and so forth, which is a big thing that we need to learn how to do in the Black community. Also, how to make money work for you. It's not just saving and hoarding that money there and stockpiling it up, but how to make money work for you?

You said something when we were interviewing on the radio show about circulation, and I loved it. I wonder if you can recite some of that if you remember it about circulation so that people can understand that money is a tool that helps people build the dream or whatever it is that you want to do. Repeat that segment for me or give me your best take on it. I can't repeat it because you said it eloquently. I want to somehow infuse it here.

I'm glad it resonated with you. As a speaker, I will never say the same thing twice or the one thing in the same way twice. Here's my belief around money. Money is a tool. Money is something that should be distributed. If you think about it, money is called currency. A current flows. Money is meant to flow and to circulate not just in your life but in the lives of the people around you, in the community in which you serve, and throughout the country and the world.

Oftentimes, we are holding our hands close on the money that we have. It's all about the mindset. I have a scarcity mindset, so I have to hold on to what I have. When was the last time you poured water into your hand, squeezed it and the water stayed? It does not. You cannot hold on to water tightly. Water is not meant to be held permanently in our hands. It is meant to flow. It’s the same thing with finances and money.

For our readers out there, it's not a revolutionary thought. It's a fundamental belief about money. I will attract that which I believe I deserve in abundance. I also have a responsibility to release that which I believe I deserve in abundance. If you keep that mentality, finances and opportunities will flow to you. If someone gave you a stack of $100 bills, that's not going to probably last because it's finite. It's right there. If you think about money in a bigger context in terms of an opportunity, money is a currency that I get the opportunity to be a part of its flow.

You will recognize opportunities to invest. You will recognize opportunities to sow seeds. By the way, sowing and reaping are real things. Sowing into someone's life. If you have a friend and they're putting their child in college and that child needs something that they can't financially afford, you’re giving to that friend, even strangers. When you don't know the person that you're financially blessing, that is a bigger representation of your belief about money. You're saying, “I don't even know you, but I want you to be well.” For me, money is currency. Money is meant to flow. It will come and it will go like the tide. The tide comes in and the tide goes out, but it never stops. Embrace a thought process of abundance.

Remember the stock market? The housing crash of 2008, 2009, and 2010? People lost lots of money. At the same time, people became millionaires during that time. During the pandemic, people lost jobs. Unfortunately, people lost lives and we pray for all the souls that were lost at home here in America and abroad. People also built businesses during that time. You have to be willing to see the opportunity even in sometimes the darkest moments because during those dark moments, we have to be innovative and be our most creative.

Think about it, when you're riding high and everything is good, you're not even thinking about creativity. Most people are riding the wave. Remember, every wave has to come to an end and you’ve got to be ready. It was Paul who said, “I know how to face it. I know how to balance.” You have to know how to deal with a little and you also have to know how to deal with much. I said it a little bit differently.

The message still resonated. I knew you were going to take it away. I was trying to figure out, “How could I set him up perfectly so he could do his thing?” I want to take it back to the journey. I loved how you went on the journey where you went into the ebbs and flows of currency and money and how you can make it work for you.

Let‘s go back into the journey and your career journey. I'm curious about you because I've done it and still do it. What steps did you take to get from your career to your business? Some readers may be in their career phase that might need to transition into business and start their own thing up. I know we spoke about the transitions of career. How was your transition? What steps would you say that you took to transition from creative business, from being the corporate person to the Corporate Dropout?

To be honest with you, it's probably in my twenties when I was at Sam's Club. Let's talk about Corporate Dropout a little bit. It is a mindset and a belief system that I own my talents. If we use a sports analogy, I choose to play for the team for the duration of my contract that I negotiate, by the way. Whether I'm playing for this team for 1 year, 10 years, or 2 years, I ultimately own my talent. No one owns me. Corporate Dropout is releasing the belief that I am an indentured servant to a company for the duration of my career or my business.

You are no one's indentured servant. You are the owner and the CEO of you. Taryell has talents, gifts, and abilities that are unique to him that make him an amazingly valuable commodity. That's the reality. Our talents are our commodities and assets. We have to understand that. We can't go into, “I lost the desire to make a manager or a company happy about me as a person.” We closely associate our value as a person to our profession.

I was listening to Bishop Dale Bronner’s service. He’s season amazing pastor bishop in Atlanta. He said, “A career is what you're paid for. A calling is what you're made for.” I had that epiphany when I was about 23 or 24 working at Sam's Club, getting up at 2:00 AM to be at work at 3:00 AM. I said, “I don't want to put myself in a financial position to be handcuffed to a job.”

I kept that mentality for over twenty years of my life. It governs how I manage my finances. It governs the decisions I make with whom and where I decide to work. It governs my relationships. You can have relationships in your life that cause you to pick up habits that are not organically and/or instinctive habits. You're spending more because you have friends that like to go out and brunch. In our environment, people should be saving a lot of money. Especially in California and Atlanta, there are still brunches. It’s the mark that was initiated there as I grew and moved into Corporate America. I look at Sam's Club, that's retail. I had corporate responsibilities.

Once I got into the financial services industry, that's where I got into the corporate machine. I'm a commodity. People use me as a pawn in the positions and roles they want and feel are most valuable versus asking me, “Where do you feel you could contribute the most value to your organization?” “Thank you for asking.” The Corporate Dropout mindset is understanding that you are empowered to do work that brings you joy and also brings value to the company. There is a sweet spot for that. You have to do the work to find it.

I was at Capital One, an amazing opportunity. Also, I look at my career as continued education. I have a Bachelor's degree from Florida Memorial University. In my mind, the way I look at experience, I have a Master's degree from my eight years at Bank of America. I have a Doctorate in strategy and people, the way I look at my career, from my time and Capital One.

They challenged me to think bigger. They challenged me to build something. They challenged me to be a diversity and inclusion leader even without having the title but having the responsibility. I will be forever grateful for them because they empowered me even more to recognize my skills and my talent are greater than I recognize. I want to do it for as many companies as I can in my lifetime. I don't believe I want to work for one company for the rest of my life. I will contract. I will consult. I may be employed by companies. That's my choice.

People have to understand the other thing is don't be fooled into believing that full-time business and entrepreneurship is the route for you. That's not the route for everyone. The Corporate Dropout mindset is, “I can work in Corporate America and grow a thriving business if so I choose.” I like to think of it as corporate-preneurship. I operate in Corporate America as a CEO and an owner. If I'm an entrepreneur, I operate leveraging the skills and experiences that I learned in Corporate America. Don't forsake the opportunity that you can glean for growth in Corporate America. Learn on someone else's dime. Maximize your education on someone else's time.

Another limiting belief that we have is that you can either do one or the other when in actuality, you could do both. If you can add value to another space and you have the time, resources, education, and knowledge, why can't you? It’s something I've been able to do successfully in my career and people are still going to shout, “How do you have this 9:00 to 5:00 and have business at the same time? How's that possible?” I don't know what to tell you, but it is.

I'm doing what I love. You can have a 9:00 to 5:00 that is connected to your purpose or the work you love to do. You then get off the 9:00 to 5:00 and then you're working 5:00 to 12:00. When you love it, you will have the energy.

I still get energized at the end of the day. I love what I do in my day job and my side hustle.

If you own something, that's a business. You may employ people or not. You are also okay with going to a job doing something that you know your purpose. You're helping other people. We can be selfish. Entrepreneurship, in many ways, is about a product or an idea that you have that isn't your purpose. It can be perceived as a selfish venture. It's me, myself, and I.

It’s like, “I'm out here hustling. I’m out here grinding.” Do you have to do that? You know that there are multiple ways to get to the same end and you don't have to kill yourself to prove that you're an entrepreneur or to prove that corporate America sucks. We have these extremes. You and I have a similar philosophy. We want people to understand balance. Balance your mental health, physical health, spiritual well-being, finances, and your professional and entrepreneur life.

Anytime I reach a point where it does not suit or fit me or I cannot add value to it, that's when I have to remove myself from the situation and go seek that next thing. I love everything that you said. I foresee you had many different lessons in life. What was one of the greatest lessons that life has taught you?

One of the greatest life and leadership lessons that I've learned is when I was leading mortgage operations for a bank. Ultimately, they decided to shut down my sites. I ran two sites with about 200 people or so. I remember the night my manager came into town and she said, “We're going to go out to dinner.” I was like, “Okay.” When she walked in, she walked in with her manager. When they came in together, I knew they were about to give you some news.

The real lesson was having to take that message and personally convey it to these 200-plus employees to say, “Unfortunately, our sites are closing and we will be displaced. It’s not you, it’s we. I'm a part of this. None of us will have jobs in 3 to 6 months.” That was the hardest thing to tell people that you know depends on these paychecks week after week, month after month, year after year to take care of their family. You know their stories.

It was the hardest message to deliver, but it was the most rewarding experience because we went through it together. I wasn't able to say, “They will be okay.” I had to say, “We will be okay.” I wasn't able to point the finger at them and make it about they're going to have to find jobs. We're going to have to find jobs. We're going to have to get through this and we will get through this. For me, that's one of my biggest leadership and life lessons.

I met with every person that wanted to meet one on one. You have people that break down, “What am I going to do? I'm afraid.” You're able to be there for them on a personal level. You're able to refer them for opportunities. You're able to help them create a strategy. Hopefully, that will get them to their next opportunity. You're there to be a shoulder to lean on. It's one or all of the above. That changes you.

It further reminds you of the value and importance of humility. At any given time, we're all subject to a company's decision to say, “Our services are no longer necessary.” That's one of my biggest lessons. It taught me that I'm no better than anyone and no one is any better than me. We're all in this thing together.

That's a valuable lesson. That needs to be re-heard, especially in the state of our country as we move forward to get healing and build a sense of belonging and togetherness and everybody at one in unity. What is some advice that you would give to someone who would like to start a career similar to yours and maybe do it in the industries you've done it in?

First and foremost, be clear about who you are and what you bring to the table. When you're clear about who you are, you will be clear about what you bring to the table. If you don't know it today, it's okay. Start doing the work to figure it out. I'm a man of faith. The second thing I would recommend is to believe that you're capable of whatever the thing is that you're looking to achieve. Believe that you're worth more. You may have achieved some great things thus far in your life, but that doesn't mean that you've plateaued out. It's time to dream and believe bigger.

The first is to know who you are and know what you're great at. Two is you have to have faith. Whatever you believe in, you're going to have to hold on to that. You're going to have to meditate on that. You're going to have to speak because no one does anything without faith. Whatever you call it for you, it’s up to you. Know that your faith is going to have to be a cornerstone in achieving a great life and building a great life.

The third thing is building a great career is like building a great relationship. It requires identifying the one that you want and having someone interested enough to invest time in learning and to invest the time and being curious about. There has to be a great amount of curiosity leading to communication in your career and business. When you're curious, you ask questions. You also share. You're willing to be vulnerable. You're willing to make mistakes intentionally or unintentionally.

You have to be willing to acknowledge when you get it right and/or acknowledge when you don't and own it. You have to own your decisions, the rewards, and the consequences that come with those decisions. Ultimately, you're the driver. You're the designer. You get to paint the most amazing life that includes purpose and profession that will ultimately provide you with the provision to live that life. Don't settle for anything less.

One thing that I want to go back to that you alluded to is vulnerability. The big lesson that I learned and has been my greatest asset to leadership is the willingness to be vulnerable and do so at times when it's required of you as a leader and how people respect that and gravitate towards that. You can build relationships and bridges through that.

I don't think enough leaders do that. A lot of leaders try to lean into strengths, but vulnerability is the greatest strength of all. It’s to say, “I don't know. I don't have it all. I'm scared too. I have these feelings too. That's caused me to have these emotions too.” There's a time to show strength. If leaders would not make that their default in all situations and lead to vulnerability at times, we can move the needle a lot quicker. Especially with things around DNI, that takes a lot of vulnerability at times.

I couldn't agree with you more. Going back to one of my biggest lessons, I had to be vulnerable with my team because I could have tried to play, “I'm the leader and I want to carry this.” I broke down crying when I was delivering this message to them. A grown man who's the leader broke down crying and it was because it was hurtful and disappointing.

I knew the impact that this was going to have on people. I couldn't stand up there. Some people say, “As a leader, you have to look strong.” That's not true. Ultimately, people want to see your humanity. If you're pretending to be what the corporate spiel or the corporate leader is telling you that you need to be versus your authentic self, you're failing yourself and you're failing the people that lead you.

Vulnerability, humility, and humanity are essential components of empathy. When we can demonstrate empathy, we’re saying, “Taryell, I may not have gone through that exact thing, but I can only imagine the pain that you must be experiencing and the disappointment.” “Taryell, I'm excited for you. I matched or exceeded your energy.” That's what empathy is. It's aligning, matching, and/or exceeding someone's energy or posture in a unique situation as I define it.

If we think about diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging, that's what needs to happen. We need to match the posture, the position of every and any employee in the organization. Meet them where they are. That will give you more credibility. That will help you gain more trust. That will help you gain followership. That will help you even gain more confidence in yourself when you meet people where they are and be willing to be vulnerable. One thing that this reminds me of and I've been thinking a lot is to assume positive intent. Have you heard this before?

Yes, I've heard that plenty of times.

I've heard it too and I didn't like it when I heard it. I'm encouraging people to stop telling people to assume positive intent. Here's the thing, when you're asking someone to assume positive intent, you're asking that person to be a mind reader that the other person meant this or intends that or to project their behavior. None of us are mind readers, at least not me. I don't have that psychic ability. I do have intuition. I do have guts that guide me and lead me.

Typically, it’s the employee that's being asked to assume positive intent, excuse behavior, excuse overlooked, “Assume positive intent. I know that he didn't mean to not have a meeting or to not show up at the meeting.” Why not tell me, “Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to make the meeting.” When you have leaders who believe because they are leaders, they can disrespect your time. I can’t assume positive intent, especially if it's repeated behavior.

Here's what I want to encourage people to act with positive intent. People won't have to assume positive intent. Do what you say you're going to do or let people know that you can't do it or we need to change or come to a different agreement. Stop asking people to assume positive intent. That is not demonstrating vulnerability. That is not demonstrating humility.

Ask the person who committed the offense or committed the mistake or failure or however you call it. Remind that person to always act with intent. If we act with intent, 9 times out of 10, we will achieve the desired result. It’s a long way of saying that vulnerability, humility, humanity and empathy are important. In the corporate world, we tend to make excuses for leaders that don't have those qualities. That's not helping the diversity and inclusion journey at all.

“Assume they have great intentions,” to me, it’s a worn-out, tired statement. One thing that I‘d like you to give education around this that we use in a DNI space a lot is that graphic of the iceberg. What we see on top is what we know about individuals. You then got all the stuff on the bottom, like notions of time and all that stuff. I like to tell people, especially in the corporate world, we're all icebergs floating around.

Sometimes when you meet somebody, you have those bubbly feelings. It’s like, “I don't know what it is about this person, but he’s my tribe. He and I are going along.” Sometimes you have that opposite reaction, “I don't know what it is about this person over here, but I know we're not going to get along.” With these icebergs floating around, sometimes that's where the clash happens, down below. When you look at those things that are down below, whether it be notions of time, different notions like how we communicate, maybe religious beliefs, whatever it is, those are the underlying things that cause us to clash or have those misunderstandings.

We won't get to those core things of knowing that unless we engage in dialogue and get to a level of understanding. That doesn't mean that I will necessarily automatically once I know that I'm going to agree with that person. Now I have a better understanding of why they behave or the decisions they make, which will allow me to have more humility, empathy, humanity, whatever it is that you want to seek to better understand that individual and move accordingly, right?

Here's the thing, the goal is not to agree. The goal is to understand. I don't have to agree with Taryell, but I need to understand his rationale, his thought process. In order for me to understand that, I need to know his experience, which is all the stuff beneath the surface. What most people take is what they see. They see a Black man and they have their perceptions of who Robert is as a Black man or who Taryell is a Black man. They have no clue of my experiences and/or my mindset until we have a conversation, which goes back to being curious. We don't have to do anything.

This is where we are now, diversity is organic for many companies. There are companies that have minimal diversity and they have to have a strategy on diversity. In the environment nowadays, companies like JPMorgan Chase or the Orange County of San Diego tends to have more organic diversity where we're working on inclusion and creating belonging. Your point is spot on. It's just that we have to be curious about the iceberg and not assume that you're a block of ice floating on water. We're all much more than the human eye can do, but we have to be curious.

If you were curious enough about me and I was curious enough about you, we would not be having this conversation. Curiosity and the willingness to be vulnerable and then take action. You can't just be curious. You can't just be vulnerable. You have to take that third leg of the stool, which is action, asking questions, doing something as simple as asking someone to lunch that you've never gone to lunch with or would not in your personal life have an opportunity to go to lunch with.

It's expanding in circles that you normally have in your life. When I go in to speak to some of the companies or so forth, we talk about diversity inclusion. It's like, “We got all this diversity.” Let me break it down for you. I'm a foodie. I like to use food analogies. Have you ever had gumbo?

Yeah.

What goes into the gumbo?

You got rice and whatever meat you like. You’ve got veggies, seasonings and a lot of different ingredients.

Especially when you go down to Louisiana, everybody’s claiming they got the best gumbo. They put different things in it. Some people say it’s the food, the kitchen sink, their mama, and everything. I tell them, “When you do diversity and inclusion, you might have all these ingredients. When you make gumbo, you don't throw everything in the pot and say, ‘We got it.’” It’s about how you include these ingredients in there. There's a time that you put this in there. You have to let this marinate for a little bit and then you bring this in. It's about making that good pot of gumbo. You’ve got to know how to make it.

That's a great analogy. It's one not just for the workplace but for life. We're all different ingredients that bring a different level of flavor to the conversation, to the tribe, to the community, to whatever it is that we are a part of. Here's the key, you have to appreciate the flavor to be a part of your dish.

There you go. You’re speaking my words.

Some people like bland food. I don't.

Everybody likes their gumbo differently. We can have three different flavors of gumbo and it all tastes good. It's all about how you create this gumbo.

It is about how you create it, what you throw in, and when you throw it in. Here's the other thing, have you ever met someone who's never had a dish and said they don't like it? You've never had it. How can you be single-minded or turned off about something that you've never had? “It looks this way. It smells this way. Someone told me.” We do the same thing with people. We don't like people because of what we've seen on TV or what our mama, uncle, or our neighbor said. We never even interacted with the person.

When I go into work with organizations, one of the first questions I ask is, “How do you live with diversity and inclusion in your personal life?” I wouldn't be here if you didn't need it here in the workplace. Tell me how you live it in your personal life. If you're not living and you don't have a diverse community in your personal life, are you willing to do it? I don't want to assume because you don't want to do it. Are you uncomfortable doing it? Maybe you need a bridge. Maybe you want to take what you learn at work to then be able to apply it to your personal life. I can accept all of those answers. What will not work for me is if you're saying you want more diversity and inclusion, but you don't represent what you say you value outside our walls. It's disingenuous, inauthentic, and it's not going to work inside if you don't take this work outside.

What do you think the future has in store for this industry? I want you to speak to both lenses. I want you to speak to the industry when we talk about equity, diversity, and inclusion, this work that we do. I also want you to speak to us as Black. I want you to speak to the Black women as you teach and help them grow to be intrapreneurs, corporate dropouts, entrepreneurs. What does the future have in store for both of these different entities as you see it?

I can take an hour to answer both. You're going to have to keep me honest here. I'm going to start with Black women because I was raised by a single Black mother. At the end of the day, I want better for her. I want better for any other Black and Brown woman. I want to be clear, any woman that wants it. I can only speak to my experience and what made me the man I am and who made me the man I am.

For Black women, it’s because of what they have, the power to do, and what has been proven. 2020 was the year that Black women were able to not only demonstrate their power but use their power to transform our country, which will transform our world. For every Black woman or Black girl that's out there reading, the first thing I would encourage you to do is stop asking for permission. You didn't ask the permission of your parents to be born. You don't have to ask for permission from the world to live and be the most amazing person and spirit and live the most purposeful life that you can. You don't have to ask for permission. You were born with permission. That's first and foremost.

The second, when it comes to career and or entrepreneurship, be clear about who you are and what you want. You go in there and you ask for it. Go into these corporate environments. Go into your business conversations or business opportunities clear about who you are, what you bring to the table, and your value. At the end of the day, we all know that women are typically undervalued. You’ve got to go in there being powerful. Here's the third thing, be confident. The best way to be confident is to be clear about the other two things, knowing that you deserve it and knowing your worth.

Women show up in many different ways. Some women love to wear heels. Some women hate heels. Some women wear makeup. Some women hate makeup. Some women have natural hair. Some women prefer straight hair. Whatever your thing is, own it. If you love wearing heels, who cares what people say about you and your heels? You walk in there powerful and strong. If you're rocking your natural hair, be confident in who you are with your natural hair. You walk in there confident and strong. Know how beautiful you are inside and out if you wear makeup or you don't.

The reality about the business is that business is a partnership and a collaboration. It's almost like a play or a production. Every person has their part in the production. If you're talking about being in a career or a corporate environment, every person has their part and they have a role to play. Know your role and you play the hell out of that role. When you get handed the baton, you run as fast as you can because you're waiting. You're waiting for that baton to be handed to you by the person that's running up if you think about the relay. I saw this relay video.

I saw it too.

She is the representative of what every woman and every Black woman has the capability and potential to do. Be a lot behind and still catch up. She was confident. She didn't look back. She ran the race to the best of her ability. That's the thing, run your race to the best of your ability, ladies.

Speaking on that same note, I want to give another Black woman her flowers, Amanda Gorman. Talk about speaking your truth and being confident. When she got up there and told us the hill that we cut, that woman had me in tears. I was like, “Oh my God, this woman right here.” I had a conversation with another person. I was like, “If this doesn't show America how truly strong, gifted, educated, and everything that embodies the beauty of a Black woman. A Black woman is taking this country, holding us, helping us heal, showing us who we are, and trying to provide the medicine to help us to get through this.”

It’s a Black woman taking the mantle, standing in the position of power, and owning that position of power and the responsibility that came. She could have said a poem about a million things, but she chose to speak truth to power. She chose to speak to the potential and the possibility of who we could be and how we have to come together to achieve that.

She’s bold in her yellow jacket and red beret on her head and the natural braids that she had. She’s a beautiful young woman, more than her beauty, her poise, her ability to recite and speak her truth in spite of natural limitations. She has a speech impediment. She got into this space to overcome an impediment. Her gift has made room for her. It’s a national platform. She’s your fellow Californian. She’s from LA. Amazing and beautiful representation.

True to your testament, raised by a single woman.

It’s the power of a Black woman, especially when put in a corner and not given the support she needs. A Black woman is always going to come out strong. She’s always going to demonstrate her ability to not just survive but thrive. Being the product of a single mother, you can look at me and tell I never missed a meal. More importantly, I never felt unloved. Amanda Gorman, we honor you and salute you. Every woman, Kamala Harris, Michelle Obama, is the epitome of real and royalty if we ever had it in our country. Amanda reminded me of Maya Angelou.

Maya Angelou was flowing through her and embodied this young woman.

I know there's more to come from Amanda. She found her truth in pursuit of healing, of her speech impediment. In pursuit of trying to be a better speaker, she found her gift. Her gift has given her an international platform. That's what I want for every Black woman, every Brown woman, every woman, every man, every Black man, every Brown man, and everyone following this show. Be clear. Taryell and I advocate strongly for Black women. We can also advocate for anyone that wants it. It doesn't have to be an either/or. We're here to help the underrepresented. I like to think of it as the invisible becoming visible. Our job, even outside of DNI, is to help the invisible become visible.

We're going to wrap it up because I don't think we could get any better than that. What projects are you working on? Where can people find you before we head out?

Thank you. First, this has been an amazing conversation, which I expected and nothing less. I'm honored to consider you a brother and a friend. I’m always here to support you on your journey.

I appreciate that.

For me, I'm on a mission. My vision is to transform the lives of millions of Black and Brown people by providing them with a belief system that will enable them to build an amazing life. For me, I'm constantly pursuing opportunities to do that work. I have my executive coaching business. I’m providing the tools, resources, and language.

A big part and opportunity that we have as Black and Brown people are not knowing Corporate America's language. We communicate, but we're not communicating effectively because we weren't given the advantage of being taught the language. I’m teaching people that language and then consulting when I go into businesses and organizations, nonprofits to Fortune 500, and helping them along with their cultural transformation and leadership journey.

What I'm most excited about is a group coaching program that I launched called the CorpoPreneur Leadership Academy . It's amazing. I'm in Cohort III. It was an idea. It was something that God gave me that I knew I needed to do something with. It was something that also afforded me the opportunity to reach more people and make it accessible. The average person can't afford a one on one coach. Through group coaching, people have access to that personal and professional development. I'm super excited about that. I did our first promo video for it.

If you're someone out there that anything's resonated with you that Taryell and I said, please feel free to reach out. You can find me on LinkedIn, Robert H. Johnson, Jr . On Instagram, @IAmTheCorporateDropout . I have Linktr.ee there. If you're interested in talking, you can click on my bio and set up some time and I'm happy to talk with anyone that believes better is possible or maybe they're hopeless. I don't and haven't seen better be a possibility, but I want to find out how. I’m happy to help anyone that's on that journey.

Robert Johnson Jr., it's been a pleasure. I am happy that the good Lord has aligned our path to connect with each other. I'm going to connect with you offline. Ladies and gentlemen, my tribe, I'm going to connect with this man to see if I can do a partnership with him to offer that group coaching for everybody reading. Stay tuned. I'm putting him on the spot. We had no previous conversation about this, but we're going to make it work.

It’s done. Sometimes life is all about asking for what you want and so shall it be. We're going to make it happen.

Thank you. We probably have to do part two. We could riff days. Have a blessed and wonderful weekend. Thank you for being on the RISEpreneurs Podcast.

Thank you. Be well, everyone.

Important Links:

Corporate Dropout
RHJ Consulting Group
TED Talk – How to get serious about diversity and inclusion in the workplace
CorpoPreneur Leadership Academy
Robert H. Johnson, Jr. - LinkedIn
@IAmTheCorporateDropout - Instagram
Linktr.ee

About Robert H. Johnson, Jr.

My mission and life’s work is to make the invisible visible and to include those who have been excluded.

I am a disruptor; committed to creating space, increasing representation and empowering those who have been historically and presently underrepresented.

I champion, design and deliver immersive diversity, equity and inclusion solutions. I’ve led and facilitated culture transformation strategies for Fortune 500 brands including: American Airlines, Toyota, Bank of America, Boise Cascade Company and Capital One Bank.

Jeremy McQueen - Artistic Director | Choreographer

Mon, 29 Mar 2021 09:51:23 GMT

You don’t have to be perfect to reach your goals and pursue a passion. You just have to expose yourself out there and keep going. As an artist, Jeremy McQueen believes that by embracing who you really are, you are more authentic and your work becomes more meaningful. Jeremy is an award-winning choreographer, dedicated to story-telling rooted in experience and social engagement. His work aims to create spaces of comfort, solace, and connection through reflection—a sharing of observations of what is going on around him. At the age of eight McQueen saw a production of The Phantom of the Opera and was immediately drawn to the arts. Tune into this episode as he shares how you could take a leap of faith in pursuing what you really want in your life.

Connect with our Jeremy:

Watch “WILD: Act 1”: www.blackirisproject.org/wild

Website: www.blackirisproject.org

Instagram: @blackirisproject

Facebook: Facebook.com/blackirisproject

Twitter: @blkirisproject

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Listen to the podcast here:

Jeremy McQueen - Artistic Director | ChoreographerJeremy McQueen - Artistic Director | Choreographer

This next guest was connected to me by the wonderful Xtina. A big shout out to Xtina. She is always sending me great guests. Jeremy McQueen is from San Diego all the way to New York now. He is doing big things out in New York. I can’t wait for his plays to start hitting Broadway, but this was a delight right here. This is when art and entrepreneurship warm my heart and see him doing great things, doing the things that he loves, loving what he does, and hopefully, in the company of the people that he loves. Without further ado, let’s get into this episode as we learn about Mr. Jeremy McQueen.

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We are getting to know each other. How did we get connected?

Christina Jogoleff .

I call her Xtina because that is her name out on the streets. How did you meet Xtina?

We grew up together. We started going to school together in the second grade at Oak Park Elementary School in Oak Park. She lived right down the street from me for years and then we went to middle school and high school together.

You used to be out here in San Diego, right?

Yeah, I did. I moved to New York for college when I graduated from high school.

It sounds like you are never coming back with the life you live in.

There are a number of different opportunities that exist out here versus out in California. California is focused more on television and film, but for me, it was always my dream to be on Broadway and to be able to tour the world and Broadway shows. In order to do that, Broadway is in New York so you got to live here.

You got to live there. I haven’t watched a full film yet but I was reading The New York Times article. I hope that you get to record something in the juvenile or in the jail because that would be an amazing piece if you are able to do that. I was thinking about the choreography and the sonography that you could do in jail. I once saw a video. It was in the Philippines where they had all the people from jail doing this dance routine. I was like, “If he brings his love of the arts, ballet and beauty to jail and they do that, it is going to be life-changing for everybody.”

Unfortunately, the pandemic has presented a number of challenges to be able to do anything like that but I think this is a long-term project for me. Even though now I am focused on these first four iterations, I’m open to ways that this can expand, not only in New York but across the country.

Talk to us about the film. I read it but for those people who didn’t read it, how did this brainchild come together?

It was a series of a number of events that transpired independently of each other over the course of about a year. One of the initial moments was the Nashville Ballet . It had commissioned me to develop a new work for them. They had paired me with a composer that I didn’t know. I had not met him before but they were like, “I think you two would work well together.”

His name is Morgan. He is a singer-songwriter from Nashville that lives in LA. They gave us free reins to think about the type of ballet we would want to create for their institution. They gave us no limitations. Morgan and I put our heads together and he said, “What is a story that you have always wanted to tell through dance?” I said, “Where the wild things are.” Where the Wild Things Are was a book that I loved reading so much as a kid, particularly because it was full of imagination.

He was like, “Let’s try it. Let’s see what we can do with Where the Wild Things Are.” It wasn’t necessarily meant to be. It is not an actual depiction of the film or an adaptation of the book but we used it as inspiration to think about what it is like to be navigating through the world since we are both queer males. Before the pandemic, I went to the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, where my family is from. I fell in love with this incredibly haunting photograph by a photographer named Richard Ross . It is this young twelve-year-old boy from Mississippi that is staring at these walls in his jail cell in this detention center. The walls are filled with etchings, drawings, all words of affirmation, and reflections.

It inspired me in so many ways to think about the number of men that could have lived in that cell before him, the number of men throughout history that are continually impacted by the justice system, and the challenges of the juvenile justice system. At that moment, I was like, “I think that this is our story.” I started doing an even deeper dive into understanding more about the juvenile justice system, the school-to-prison pipeline, and how, in many ways, our public schools are not necessarily setting particularly Black and Brown children up to succeed.

That was a huge source of inspiration to me as well. It was wanting to figure out a way not to necessarily educate particularly White audiences about the Black experience or these systemic challenges but more so to provide these young men and women an opportunity to see their lives as something beautiful and valued. Something worthy of being shown on an artistic stage and giving them the opportunity to hopefully inspire them to dream bigger and continue fighting to turn their dreams into realities.

I resonated with so much of what you said because I remember me growing up as a young man in DC when it was the murder capital. I somehow escaped the claws of the prison pipeline system. It goes all the way back to being labeled as a child with ADD. I will give you one example. One time I got into a fight with a White boy when you make your mama jokes and you are snapping on each other. I outwitted him.

He thought it was cool to put his hands on me. Growing up in a Black household, what did your mom would tell you? If anybody puts their hands on you, you make sure that is the last time they put their hands on you. I did but me and this young man were treated very differently. I was expelled and sent home. He got to stay in school. That is how it happened. I’m like, “He started it. I may have said some things but I didn’t put my hands on him. He came at me.” From there, once you get that label and reputation, it doesn’t leave you at school. That is how they treat you from there on going forward.

That is the development of a record. Once you start to get these expulsions or these suspensions, they essentially go into your high school record, which makes it difficult for you to apply for a college scholarship or apply to go to college. There are a number of different factors that will put you in the system. What I specifically noticed living here in New York City and teaching in a number of different schools, these kids walk through metal detectors.

In the morning, they are padded down almost as if the system is in place to protect the teachers but it should be protecting the students. Their minds are still developing and growing, but they are being treated like these criminals from the moment that they walk in the door every day, assuming that they are going to bring something in that is going to harm either the teacher or someone else.

Seeing the presence of police officers every morning in a public school system is so traumatizing. Chrisy and I didn’t grow up with that but we had security. At least to our knowledge, no one was walking around with a gun. In New York City, these schools are somewhat modeled to often feel like a prison. You are held captive and there are all these bars over the windows. It is such a bizarre thing. I wanted to explore in this artistic dance film and the mental psyche of what that physical limitation does to early childhood development and growth of being able to think of how you look at life.

Even getting expelled for truancy or after a certain number of times of truancy, they can arrest you. I’m not sure what the rules are. My brain is a little foggy with all the things that be going on but I’m pretty sure you can get arrested for truancy and that establishes a criminal record outside of the school. It is a non-violent record but still, it is something and it is incredibly sad.

Pursue A Passion: Recognizing the opportunity to see your life as something beautiful, valued, and worthy so you could dream bigger and soar higher.

I resonate with that, too, because in DC, we had the metal detectors. There was a brief period a year when you had to get clear backpacks so they could see through the backpacks. You could not have any more cloth backpacks. It was a brief period of time because of the amount of violence and they beefed up security and police and so forth. It was normal to me back then but now that I think about it, that is not normal. When I came out to San Diego and I started working in schools, none of this was going on. I was like, “This is not normal?”

It is a whole new world out here on the East Coast.

I will say every area has its own thing because in San Diego, what the police do is they have this gang profile system where if you are seen hanging around gangs, they can tag you as gang-affiliated. You can be out on the corner and it would be your cousin, but because you are in the presence of your cousin, who may be gang-affiliated, you now become gang-affiliated. There was a big uproar about that because that is one step putting you into the system and how you start labeling somebody as gang-affiliated or ties a gang when you don’t know that person only because they are hanging out on the corner with that person.

I want to dial it back a little bit and talk about the beginning of your journey way back into time. Although your films inspire people, I like to get to know people before they get into their careers because that is inspiring too. There is going to be some young person who may be in a daily 9:00 to 5:00 who is going to read this who is like, “I have always wanted to do the film and arts.”

I think you are an inspiration to connect people to the arts with what you are doing. I have always been into the arts but I have never drifted towards the ballet and the work that you are doing until now. There is a story that speaks to me that I see somebody like me in that story and it makes me want to engage with it. How did you get into the world of art? What was the early journey? Were you in high school, and somebody came and talked to you like, “This is what I want to do?” How did this come to be?

I feel like I was always surrounded by artistic expression, and that comes from my parents. My parents grew up in Montgomery, Alabama. They grew up very poor in a large family. They did not necessarily have exposure to arts and theater because their families could not afford it. At the end of the day, it was Montgomery, Alabama. There were not a whole lot of Broadway shows coming to Montgomery. My mom used to tell me stories as a kid of her growing up watching the Sound of Music on TV, the movie musicals, how that inspired her, and whatnot.

My parents met in college. They got married and moved to California. They decided they wanted to try something different, take a leap of faith and explore a world outside of the one that they knew. My parents vowed that when they had a child, they would expose their child to all the things that they didn’t have an opportunity to experience. At a very young age, I was exposed to music, dance, and theater.

I started playing the violin around the age of five not because I wanted to but because my dad was like, “You should try this. You might like it.” I did like it. I loved everything that they pretty much exposed me to, specifically in the arts. It was when I was about eight years old that my mom took me to see the National Tour of the Broadway Musical, the Phantom of the Opera, when it came to San Diego. We sat on the last row of the balcony in this huge 3,000-seat theater so high up that we could rent binoculars.

We rented binoculars. I kept them glued to my face the whole time. I hogged them because I loved everything about that experience. It gave me chills in a way that I had never experienced before. Being able to sit in a theater with these plush red seats, see the set design, the orchestra, the orchestra pit, the costumes, and the lighting. Everything about it spoke to me in ways that I was like, “I want to recreate this feeling.” My parents were like, “We will put him in some dance and theater classes and see where those go. If he wants to try this, we will try it.”

I had no idea that I could make a living as an artist. I knew that I loved it so much so that I would lock myself in my bedroom, I would put on my CDs, dance around the room, and create my own ideas of shows that I would produce if I could. I’m dreaming of the days that I would live in New York, dancing on Broadway stages and all stuff. I let my imagination run wild and my parents continued to support and fuel that every step of the way.

I love that your parents were so supportive in saying, “Let’s try it.” At some point, if you have a dream out there, you have to try it. Just jump and you will fly.

I don’t think my parents ever thought that my interest in the performing arts would soar in the ways in which it has. There are a lot of studies that say studying music makes you better at Math, Science, and all these different things. I think they saw it as wanting to make me well-rounded but I don’t think they ever were like, “Maybe he will do this professionally.” That started to shift when I started to turn around 12 or 13 and that was when I started to know that people could have careers in it. I started talking about it a lot more. They were still very supportive along the way but it was more so of like, “We want to expose him.” They never pressured me.

The only thing that they did was they would get on me about not practicing my piano or my violin but they let me take the wheel and drive the car either as fast or as slow as I wanted. I started working professionally at fifteen in San Diego. That was pretty cool to be a fifteen-year-old. I performed in a number of regional theater shows in San Diego with a theater that doesn’t exist anymore. It was so great to be able to be exposed to professionals from New York and local professionals from Southern California, getting to learn from them, seeing that this is possible to have a career, and it is possible to see your dreams become a reality.

Is that job at fifteen your first job?

I believe so because I didn’t have a muggle job until I was in college. My parents didn’t want me to do it. It was my freshman year of college. I was studying at the Boston Conservatory at that time in Boston, Massachusetts. I loved Abercrombie & Fitch. I wanted that sense of responsibility of knowing what it was like to go into a regular job and all that stuff. My first job was in the theater at fifteen and I had my first muggle job at eighteen.

You are probably an anomaly in my interview sessions because usually, when I ask what your first job was, people give me McDonald’s because I like to show the youth that it is not where you start. It is where you end. You can always learn a lesson from that first job but you are the first person I know that first job was in the professional field that they want it to be in.

I feel so blessed and fortunate. Once I realized that I could make a little money doing dance and theater, it was what I wanted to do during the summer. I’m like, “This was my job,” and it was cool. I’m grateful that I have been planted the seed and the vision of being able to see life in the career but I know that in so many other young Black men and women, they don’t always have those opportunities. It always has been at the forefront of my mission to try to expose and share the beauty of the arts with as many people as I can to get them at least interested in it at a young age.

Let’s go through the blueprint, the steps of how you got into dance and theater. We know your parents were a big inspiration in inspiring you and supporting you but let’s look at it from the standpoint of if I’m a young person or somebody graduating high school or college. I’m interested in dance and theater. I have wanted to make a pivot towards this. Using your blueprint, what were you say were the steps you took to get into dance and theater?

The first thing was training. My mom put me in this children’s youth theater conservatory called San Diego Junior Theatre . I would go there. We would register me for different types of classes. I would go there at least three days a week after school. A lot of that training that I got in that program was carried over into the homework that I would do myself. Anytime I speak to someone about wanting to pursue a career in the arts, discipline is the first thing that I talk about because you can go and take all the classes. You can go to all the workshops but it boils down to how much you are willing to put into it. It can’t be a clock-in, clock-out situation.

I spent a lot of time in my bedroom doing research, watching whatever Broadway shows that came on TV or on the computer doing research, studying your lines, and learning new monologues. It takes a deep level of personal investigation and discipline in order to have a career in the arts. That was something that naturally came easy for me. I believe that when you are passionate about something and when you love it, it doesn’t feel like work.

Pursue A Passion: Wanting to pursue a career in the arts discipline really boils down to how much you're willing to put into it. It can't just be a clock-in clock-out situation.

I’m always encouraging people to keep striving or keep looking for that thing that sets their hearts on fire. That gives you a little bit of push to be like, “I’m going to stay up and I’m going to do this,” because it is hard. It is a challenging career to have as a performing artist, especially as a dancer. It is very competitive. A lot of days, you rely on your strength to pick yourself up, keep yourself going, and keep yourself motivated.

I moved out here pretty much by myself from high school. I took that leap of faith and I was prepared to say, “I want to try something different.” That is another huge thing that I would stress to a young person. That is like, “I want to do this. My family maybe doesn’t support me,” but you have to try. Believe in yourself, in the power of your dreams and try. It is easier to try when you are younger than it is when you are older.

I can feel it in my spirit. As I get older, I’m more stubborn to want to do certain things. I’m more apprehensive to try certain things. My partner and I went rock climbing. As a kid, I used to go rock climbing. I thought nothing of it. It was fine. I was fearless. This time, I was mortified. I was like, “I have done this before. Why do I feel like this?” As you get older, you experience more of life and you see more about the world or the world around you, you become a little bit aware. There is a greater sense of awareness. I always try to continue to find and foster that young, spontaneous child in my spirit.

That is what I miss about our youth. We were so fearless and we didn’t know what we didn’t know. The world, once you get older, you have a way of knowing things that make you apprehensive about doing things. Sometimes, it is not even your own beliefs. It is the beliefs of others that have been stowed upon you and now you have inherited them. That is why I love telling these stories because we, as a Black community, have limiting beliefs. There are many limiting beliefs about what we can do and what we can be.

When I go back and talk to these youth about what has been installed in them, I’m like, “No, that is not true. Who told you that? Don’t listen to it.” You can do whatever it is that you want to do but it has to start here first. You have to believe in yourself. Don’t listen to all these people that are projecting these things upon you.

Let’s look at how we can get you to where you need to be. I realized that our stories are not told enough. That is what encouraged me to create this platform where I could tell our stories in the way they should be told so people could start to see more of themselves. Hopefully, at some point, we can reverse psychology this thing. Now that I have seen more of us doing this, I’m like, “What do I want to do now?”

That is mentioned a little bit in The New York Times article but even in the process of creating the first version of WILD or the first adaptation of WILD versus the second iteration, I constantly found myself in my head filtering what I could say based on a white lens. I constantly had to stop myself and say, “No.” I had to give myself permission to say, “No, you can do this and you need to show this because this is what is authentic to our stories and our community. Black and Brown people are not a monolith whatsoever.”

It is important to remember why we are doing what we do or why we are sharing that. For me, I’m doing this because I want Black people to see themselves, see a portion of maybe their experiences or someone else’s experience that they know, and be able to create a greater sense of community around that celebration of honoring who we are and the unique and specific challenges that we go through.

I was having a conversation with somebody about this and I was like, “Black people are so amazing. We are so artistic that we create culture.” Think about that. That is how amazing we are. After we create culture, our culture is mimicked, stolen, and reproduced. Think about that. That is how amazing we are. We are not a monolith but there are so many different things that we can do.

Many stories and artists need to be brought to light to recreate this community of ours to reengage and reunite it. You are doing that with the work you are doing. What is some advice you would give to someone who would like to start a career in your industry? I know you said for you, stand on top of it and make sure that you are being disciplined. Outside of the discipline, what is some advice you would give?

The biggest thing that is resonating in my mind now is to start where you are. It is important to understand that you can start right where you are. A lot of times, people think like, “When I have money or one day, I’m going to do this.” I’m like, “No, start where you are, even if with what you have. If that is your bedroom and say you love to draw, you are starting with your bedroom and the crayons that you have right there and allowing your imagination to develop new ways or new techniques. Start where you are.”

A lot of times, people try to work until it is ideal but I have learned over the years that it is generally never a good time to start something. There will always be challenges, self-doubt, and things that will make you feel like, “Maybe I shouldn’t.” I always encourage people to start, even if it is starting small. After you have finished your 9:00 to 5:00 job and you want to dedicate one hour a day to do that artistic thing that you love, not even for money but learning more about it or practicing whatever it is. Just start and get going.

What is a trick that you do to get out of your head? I know you mentioned the rock climbing story. What is a ritual or technique that helps you refocus that energy or help you get started when you are in your head and you are thinking of all the reasons why you should not do it?

As I alluded to you, it is hard being an artist, especially in New York City because people are coming from all around the globe to do what you do. Many of them look like you with so few opportunities for people that look like us. I have battled for many years with depression and countless discouragement but one thing that my parents led me to at a young age was spirituality and keeping me grounded. For me, it is various affirmations. I love affirmations. Prayer is meditation for me. I was being able to have some private time to pray and to affirm my future, the things that I believe, and the things that I want in my life as well as taking time for you. I love chocolate. All of it is like chocolate people, candy, or whatever.

I’m glad you said that. That is where my mind went as soon as you said that. I love chocolate, too.

I grew up in San Diego, growing up loving See’s Candies . You can’t get See’s out here in New York but now you can. There is a store but when I was first in college out here in New York, you couldn’t find it anywhere. There was a Godiva chocolate store that was right by my university. On Fridays before my last academic class, I would stop in the Godiva chocolate store and I would get a few truffles regardless of how much money I had. Godiva was expensive. Two truffles are going to cost you about $5 but I would save my $5 during the week so that I could go and get my couple of truffles. I would take those truffles and I would either go to Central Park or walk around the city.

Pursue A Passion: It’s important to create a greater sense of community around just that celebration of honoring who we are and the unique and specific challenges that we go through.

I would turn off my phone and maybe listen to my iPod, listen to music, gives thanks, and refuel myself with motivation. I realize that even though I haven’t achieved the ultimate goals of what I hope to achieve, even being in New York was a blessing and it was a huge step. It was important to honor and recognize all of the small steps that we take towards the bigger goals that we have. Regardless of the discouragement and the challenges that I faced that week, it was one thing that I did for myself every week. It was my own private time to do something that I love and to enjoy being right where I am. I ended up calling it Godiva Friday. It has become a weekly ritual for me.

It doesn’t always happen on Friday. Sometimes, it will happen on a Monday or Tuesday. Sometimes, it will happen twice a week, depending on how I’m feeling that week. If I need that extra encouragement, it will come. It doesn’t always come in the form of chocolate. Sometimes, it will be going to see a show or popping a bottle of Prosecco. It is whatever refuels my spirit positively that helps me celebrate who I am and where I am now. I feel like we don’t do that enough as Black people.

We don’t. Self-care is something that I think we, as a Black community, need to do a lot better on. We need to work through it. I was talking to somebody because I wasn’t feeling too well but I was still trying to push through because I had things to do at work and I made these deadlines more important than my health.

The more I tried to push through, the sicker I got until I needed to lay it down. She was like, “Why do you do that to yourself?” I was like, “I don’t know.” She was like, “No, think about it. Why do you do it to you?” We started having this conversation and I started thinking. I was like, “I hate to get super deep with it, but if I had to go deep, as you are telling me to go, it has something to do with 400 years that maybe I feel like I can’t take a break.”

Generational trauma is real. Trying to find ways to dismantle those traumatic symptoms or traumatic structures within our own minds, psyches, and bodies is a process. I know as a child, my dad used to tell me like, “You have to work even harder than the normal person because of the color of your skin. We can’t be on time. We have to be early. We have to come correct. We have to be 110% on top of our game because people are going to judge us purely from what we look like.”

A lot of that is passed down from all of those years of trauma and that being ingrained and beaten into them. Being an adult and trying to define for me what excellence is, giving myself grace, understanding that we do make mistakes and that is okay, not sitting with that guilt and understanding that taking the time or taking a break is not giving up. It does not mean that we are a failure. All of those things are things that I have had to continue to reaffirm myself because that is not what we are taught.

We are always taught to keep going, keep working harder and prove ourselves but we are supposed to show that we are okay throughout the whole process. It has been transformative for me to be able to embrace the beauty of imperfection. My work as an artist and me embracing that idea, I feel like it is so much more authentic and meaningful because I can show people and people can connect with that idea of working through challenges and not having to be Instagram-perfect.

I’m in the season of trying to unlearn what has been passed down and taught to me and redefine what it is for myself. I’m trying to do more of what you do, like that self-care portion. I’m still a work in progress. One of the things that I often teach in leadership development that I got to know and love is, for example, we go on an airplane. The stewardess comes on and, in the unlikely event of an emergency, flight attendants tell us that at the start of every flight. “When the mask appears in front of you, place yours firmly over your nose and mouth and breathe normally. If you are traveling with a child and someone who requires assistance, secure your mask first, then assist the other person.”

At first glance, saving yourself might seem like an act of selfishness but the truth is though, if we pass out from lack of oxygen, we are unable to help those around us. This principle also applies to life in general. People have to remember, especially our people, self-care is not a matter of selfishness or ego. Taking care of your own needs on a consistent basis leads to better mental health, greater productivity, richer relationships with family, friends, and your professional colleagues.

You got to take care of yourself first in order to be able to take care of those around you. We need to do a better job at doing that so we can understand that. What happens is if we keep going and we are hurt, people hurt people. Whether you intentionally mean to do it or not, it will happen. To know what self-care is or what love is, you need to embrace that fully and start to work in that lens. What is one good lesson life has taught you? I gave you one of mine.

I could say so many. Believing in yourself is crucial. It is key to everything. This ties in with what you asked me about what keeps me going when things get hard or challenging. Aside from taking time for myself, it is also understanding that I bet on myself every day and that if I don’t do it, it is not going to get done or at least it is not going to get done here. Someone else is going to do it. Why not get up and try again another day? You got to bet, believe in yourself, and be willing to try and try again.

As the late great Aaliyah was saying, “If at first, you don’t succeed, you can dust it off and try again.” What do you think the future has in store for your industry?

Now, we are in a period of reform in so many ways because the civil unrest has brought a heightened sense of awareness of the inequities and inequalities that exist historically within the performing arts, specifically affecting Black and Brown people. While so many theaters are closed around the country, these organizations have time to sit and deal with these systemic challenges. They are now being held accountable as to how are you going to change that moving forward?

Performative solidarity is great. Thank you so much for your dream team shout-outs. However, now we need to start to see these structures being dismantled and rebuilt. In terms of where we go moving forward, now Broadway, as I said, is closed but when it comes back, I look forward to doing it and being even more diverse and equitable than it ever was before.

In dance, in the ballet world, we are having the same conversations. I look forward to more growth and innovation, especially in technology and how we are able to reach and compel audiences or engage with audiences in a different way. Perhaps before the pandemic, a lot of institutions were not thinking that way but the internet is such an incredible tool.

We only have to use it wisely, smartly, and creatively. It is so beautiful how technology can connect us. Even you and me from 3,000 miles away are able to have this conversation and share it with the rest of San Diego, which is beautiful. A lot of our industry in the performing arts is going to start to move, grow and progress with this idea of technology being an even greater connecting force between people.

I agree with that. This show was birthed not so long ago when we had all the civil unrest. People always tell me like, “You should start a podcast.” COVID happened and I’m like, “How am I going to do that now?” I found this platform which was what I was able to do it. The interesting thing about it is that I started with only San Diego in mind but the world has something different for me because I started looking at podcasts as the numbers. I started getting people from the UK, Nigeria, France, Spain, and Japan. I was like, “We got Black people out in Japan?”

Yes, we do. That is beautiful. Your spirit guides are leading you to think bigger, and it is beautiful. You planted the seed, you started where you were, and you put it off. You stopped putting of starting it and looked at what it is doing. I always loved those moments when we have that like, “This thing that I thought I couldn’t do, I’m able to do and reach even more people than I initially imagined.”

Pursue A Passion: It's important to understand that you can start right where you are and allow your mind to imagine and develop new ways or new techniques.

It blows your mind because I know when this article comes out, you are going to reach a whole ton of people across the globe. I know that. I see it and I feel it. You put that energy out there. It is one of those surreal moments. You know it is happening but it is happening. You are like, “Is this happening? This is happening.”

That is why when I woke up, I rushed out to get the newspaper because I think seeing it online didn’t hit me. It was more like, “This is happening,” but seeing it on paper, having something tactile that I can hold on to, is an entirely different experience of realization like, “This is real.” I told you I ran out to buy the paper. I had to go to three stores to find it. I haven’t even looked at it yet but as I’m sitting here, I’m watching my email blow up. I’m like, “What is going on?” It is real but at the end of the day, it is these little glimmers of hope that propel me with inspiration to keep going.

I’m so thankful when I started to get down on myself because I have been so frustrated. It is a lot to put together a film during a pandemic. The responsibility that comes with wanting to tell our stories accurately with sensitivity keeps me up at night. This past month I could say I have hardly slept and I have cried a lot. I have been questioning like, “Can I do this? Should I do this? Am I doing the right thing?” It is these little glimmers of like, “We are going to feature you here and talk about this.” It propels me with so much more motivation to keep going. It makes me grateful, thankful, humble, and it reminds me to keep going and pushing.

I resonate with that, too, because when I’m putting together the show and I hear people’s stories. I may resonate with a lot of things in certain people’s stories and I’m also thinking about the audience because there are different audiences out there. There are some Black people that may disagree with certain things that may be put out. There are some of them that may not be as versed in their surroundings or the lessons they received in life to be as knowledgeable about certain things so they may reject certain premises. It is what keeps me up at night. I was like, “I hope they can see past this and get the message,” because there are some real good depths in there. If they can get past this, there is something there for everybody.

That is something too, those challenges and moments when you are in the mud. I can’t tell you how many times I cried out of pure frustration with everything I’m trying to do. This is so hard. There is so much discouragement, especially when it comes to creating work to amplify our voices and empower Black people. I’m starting to learn more that it is in those dark moments and once you get so dark, you have to go into the light.

Figure out the patience, the tenacity, and the strength to continue pushing through those dark moments believing that it is not going to be like this always. That is so hard to do because I faced this a number of times throughout my X amount of years’ career. It is mind-blowing what can happen when we make the decision to keep going a little bit more.

It is not only that. Your trauma is real and it is like you have a scab. The scab is not fully healed and somebody peels that suck off. You have to make a conscious effort to like, “Lord, let me go through this and I will stay in but go through it.” I feel that is where we are at in the world now. What you see happening in the world of arts when we look at all these injustices, the systemic racism, and the things that are going on in the arts is a microcosm of what is going on in the world. What happened since George Floyd, and it is happening everywhere.

We are forced to pause, look at ourselves, peel these layers of scab back so we can fully tend to the wounds that caused here in America and around the world the injustices. There are some people coming out of this that did some time to reflect and some people who have not taken the time to reflect. Something new is about to get created and it is exciting to see.

It is our time to be able to see the TV shows that are happening. The ways in which we are able to share our voices, our experiences, and our challenges. The things that I talk about now in terms of lack of representation, equity, and injustices that I faced or other people in my industry have faced, people were not as receptive to hearing us. It took us having to lose another Black life and another Black life for people to finally start to get it but I’m glad that we are on a path towards healing, honoring, and loving Blackness.

I love it and that is what my work has been called to do. It looks like you are on that path. Jeremy McQueen, I think you and I could sit and talk for hours but I try to keep this drive town, if we ever get back to driving, the length of a show. Let’s close it out like this. What projects are you working on? Tell us all about WILD, any other stuff you are working on, and where can people find you?

You can find me on my website, BlackIrisProject.org . We are also on Instagram, Facebook , and Twitter . Our Instagram is @BlackIrisProject but I’m working on WILD now. That is a year-long project. This is the second iteration or the second portion of a four-part film that will be coming out soon. The third portion comes out in May 2022 and is going to be a live performance in the Bronx here in New York. We have got some dreams of Netflix and some other things for this.

Put it out there. If somebody from Netflix is reading, give my guy a call.

WILD is the forefront of my focus of what I’m working on artistically now. I love to stay engaged with people, especially the San Diego community that I hold so dear in my heart. Please feel free to follow us. If you are able to support us, we run purely off of the generosity of our community and our supporters. All donations are tax-deductible and they can be made on our website at BlackIrisProject.org .

Jeremy McQueen, it has been an absolute pleasure to have this conversation with you. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Hopefully, you enjoyed your time here too. When act three or four comes out, let’s do this again.

It sounds great. Thank you so much.

That has been another episode of the show, ladies and gentlemen. Make sure you tune in and click on those links to stay in touch with Jeremy.

Important Links:

About Jeremy McQueen

Jeremy Mcqueen is an award-winning choreographer, dedicated to story-telling rooted in experience and social engagement. His work aims to create spaces of comfort, solace, and connection through reflection—a sharing of observations of what is going on around him.

Born and raised in San Diego, California, McQueen is a graduate of The Ailey School/Fordham University, B.F.A. in dance program. At the age of eight McQueen saw a production of The Phantom of the Opera and was immediately drawn to the arts. That same year he began studying music and theater. At the age of 11 he started his training in dance at the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts. McQueen has also trained as a scholarship recipient in the schools of American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, and Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet.

McQueen is a 2019 recipient of the Bronx Council on the Arts’ BRIO (Bronx Recognizes It’s Own) Award for Excellence in Choreography, a 2013 recipient of the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago’s Choreographers of Color Award [Winning Works], and a two-time finalist of the Capezio Award for Choreographic Excellence. The film adaptation of McQueen’s ballet A Mother’s Rite recently received a 2020 Emmy® Award nomination from The New York Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. A Mother’s Rite has been nominated for Outstanding Arts: Program/Special, for excellence in a program or special that focuses on the arts – fine arts, literature, philosophy, and the performing arts.

McQueen’s choreographic works have appeared at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Hall, SummerStage in Central Park, Jacob’s Pillow Dance’s Inside/Out series, Dancers Responding to AIDS’ Fire Island Dance Festival, and has been commissioned to create works for organizations including American Ballet Theatre’s Jacquline Kennedy Onassis School, the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts, and The Ailey School, amongst others. In 2014, McQueen choreographed Skylight Music Theatre’s critically acclaimed production of the Grammy Award-winning musical HAIR, and in 2019 he choreographed the world premiere of Harrison David Rivers’ Relentless Award-winning play The Bandaged Place

As a performer, McQueen made his professional debut at the age of 15 performing in regional theater productions in his hometown, and has also appeared in the Broadway national tours of Wicked and The Color Purple in addition to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall. McQueen has also danced as a guest artist with the California Ballet Company and Dominic Walsh Dance Theatre, in addition to The Metropolitan Opera’s productions of Die Fledermaus, Aida, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and Don Giovanni.

McQueen cites two influential instructors as a source for his work and creative energy, Donald Robinson and Kazuko Hirabayashi. From Mr. Robinson, McQueen learned his guiding principle of discipline, doing what you know you’re supposed to do even when no one is there to make sure you do it. At a time when McQueen was in a struggle trying to make his way as a dancer, Ms. Hirabayashi told him to choreograph about it. It is in the craft of story- telling and making a way for yourself through discipline and focus that McQueen was led to start The Black Iris Project, a creation of space for other like-minded artists to reflect their experiences.

Annifred Granville - Educator | Entrepreneur

Mon, 22 Mar 2021 09:47:10 GMT

You can never undermine the influence of people in any journey. Annifred Granville is a young entrepreneur who never undermines the effect of networking on your way up the "entrepreneurship ladder". In this episode, she talks about meeting Adesola and becoming part of the RISEpreneurs team. Annifred hopes to inspire, motivate, young and skillful black entrepreneurs helping them fuel their passion as global solution providers. RISEpreneurs creates an avenue for me to do all this as it gives me an opportunity to virtually globe-trot, meet with and convince business owners who have paved paths as well as marked territories in their industries to share their stories via the RISEpreneurs podcast.I am the lady to speak with if your business journey will inspire someone to achieve a greater feat.

Connect with Anne:

Website: https://flutterwave.com/store/annecessories

Instagram: @annecessories_inc

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Listen to the podcast here:

Annifred Granville - Educator | Entrepreneur

In this episode, I’ll introduce you to the one and only Annifred Granville . She's on our RISEpreneur Team. I met her through Sola. She is another one of Sola's many individuals that she knows and introduced me to. She joined our team to help out with a lot of the foundation and some of the products and services that we'll be coming out with in the future and helping out with the operations.

She owns her own jewelry business. She's a young entrepreneur who never undermines the effect of networking on your way up to the top of the entrepreneurship ladder. She's been able to do that throughout her lifetime. She hopes to inspire, motivate young and skillful Black entrepreneurs and help them fuel their passion as a global solutions provider. She's been able to help me do that and my business and also Sola do that within her business and the many different ventures they have collaborated on.

I was excited and enthusiastic to have her a part of the team and help us in so many different ways as she helps the RISEpreneurs create an avenue, not only for me but everybody who's involved as we start to connect with Blacks and Africans around the diaspora. I want to introduce you to this young lady and have you tune into her business journey. Hopefully, her story gets to inspire some young woman out there who's looking at taking that leap of faith as well.

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Welcome to another episode. We've got a special guest in the building, Annifred . She is my boss. She's in charge of product services. Sometimes, she helps out with marketing too. I'm glad to have her as part of my tribe and team. I wanted to get her on to talk about her journey. I was introduced to you by Sola. I remember when I first started this journey when Sola came on as a business partner. I was like, "Sola, I have no work capacity. I need help." She said, "I got the perfect person for you." That's how I met you, but I never got to hear the story. How did you and Sola meet?

I've known Sola for years. It was interesting. I got to know her through somebody too. I was referred to her like, "I need somebody who's going to listen to my thoughts and get them down." Here I am. I was referred to her and I'm like, "Don't worry. I'm going to learn the job." It's been an amazing decade with her, fun and very educative. She has grown to become a boss, mentor, sister and all of that.

It's hard not to do that when you meet Sola because she's full of life and energy. Boss is a word that comes to mind. I was doing another interview with another guest that's known Sola too. He's like, "She's the boss." She likes to talk when you give the word in.

She likes to talk and her thoughts are amazing. She thinks 1,000 words in a second. I'm sure that's what it is with Sola.

I like your story because your story is amazing, what you do with youth, you have two kids yourself and you got your own business with the accessories. There's probably more to you that I don't know, but I do know those things from that. I'm curious and I like to ask this question because what I find is when I go out and do presentations to youth, other young people or even adults, I'm always amazed by their journey, like what's the first job they had into where they are.

The reason why I asked that too is that there's a lot of things that you learn from your first job that helps you grow or lessons that you learn that help you grow in your career. Also, to show the young people, it's not where you start, it's where you finish. Everybody has a starting point in life, but those starting points could be good lessons to the great beginnings of bigger and better things. What was your first job?

Interestingly, my first job was my job with Sola. I'm sure she was even wondering like, "This person is still young. Is she going to be able to keep up?" I'm glad it was because Sola is many things. She's gifted, business-driven and very ambitious. Your first job will tell how far you go. I can't say I am where I want to be, but I'm grateful for the person that is Sola that nurtured me to where I am and where I'm still headed. I'm grateful for the gifts with Sola and my first job experience was with her because it wasn't cutting corners for me at all. It was the real deal. I'm with Sola. It's either you were there or you were not.

Was this job that you did with her, her first business? What did she have you doing?

I was her assistant.

She's fast-paced too. To be an executive assistant is quite challenging. People don't know how tough, hard, very detail-oriented and everything you have to be an assistant to an executive assistant. It's a high-demand job sometimes.

Especially with someone like Sola. Sola always thinks best ideas. It's interesting and one of the best and remarkable journeys that I have been on in my life.

With your side hustle/entrepreneurship journey because you are in accessories, when and how did that start? What was the idea? I like the play on the name too. How did you come up with that name?

I used to have a very good friend at a time who helped me out with the name Annecessories. It was birthed from a place of I like jewelry. There are almost five women who will pass you. You hadn't found anyone without a piece of an earring, finger ring or something. There was this thing about women and jewelry. I enjoy picking them out for people. I'd have my friends at the time say, "I'm attending the function. What do you think I should pair with my dress?"

I'd have somebody say, "Someone's getting married. She wants me to help her pick out her jewelry. Can you help?" It was fun doing that and I figured, “Why can't I turn this into something other than loving it? I could earn from this as well and have fun still earning.” That was how Annecessories birthed. I started to find out where I could source jewelry and what kind of jewelry stones. I had to read all I could about jewelry and that's how we got to where we are.

Networking: Never undermine the power or the influence of networking, knowing people, talking to people that will drive you in the right direction. And of course you don't just stand up and become an island.

Say if a little girl is reading this and she's like, "I love jewelry too. I always wanted to get into that world, but I don't know how," what were the steps you took to get into the jewelry or accessories business that you can give that young little girl looking at your career pathway?

I will never undermine the power or influence of networking, knowing and talking to people that mattered. You can talk to anybody and then nothing will still happen but talking to people that matter can drive you in the right direction. You don't just stand up and become an island. I already had done my job. I had moved on to a couple of the jobs as well. I had a little bit of experience, not in that field I wanted, but I already knew what it would be to manage or build something from scratch and make it your own.

I started to find out that knowledge is important. I had to gain knowledge about what I wanted to do. It wasn't enough for me to be picking out jewelry. I had to know about jewelry, a little bit about fashion and follow trends. Knowledge is an ongoing process. You never get enough knowledge. Knowledge is important. If you want to follow a passion, you have to know about it. You never stop learning about something except if you want to do it on a very platonic level.

If you want to keep expanding or growing something, you have to keep knowing about it. I had to gain more knowledge. I also had to talk to people. I had asked people, "You have bought this thing before. Where did you buy it from?" Social media wasn't exactly where it was when I started the business. It was Facebook. I'll tell a friend or colleague like, "I have this. Do you know somebody who needs this?"

I talk to people. You can never undermine the influence of people in any journey. Especially if you want to do business, you never undermined the influence of networking. You have to build the right relationship with people as regards what it is that you do. You have to be the brand. I had to wear and look the brand. This might sound like a flock, but if you barely wear a pair of earrings, how do you want them to trust what it is that you say you're doing? I wasn't very big on fashion, but for the sake of the business, I have to start doing it.

I can see you even accessorize. You got the earrings, necklace, a bracelet over there, so you have become the brand. You're a walking and talking billboard. "You want this? I got another one for you. Let me show you."

The truth is I have sometimes sold jewelry of me. "This is nice. Where did you get it?" "I sell it." "Can I get this one?" "Yes. I'll get another." I've had and done that before.

I love that you said networking because networking is something that I always tell folks, "Your network is your net worth. You got to get out there and network. It's not just about what you know all the time. Sometimes you need to connect with the right people that can get you into different places and spaces and allow you to connect." What was one good lesson you feel that life has taught you during this journey of yours?

One thing I had to learn is how to be deliberate. Most times, we're passionate about what we want to do as entrepreneurs, but we let the passion get the best of us, so we're not deliberate. We go ahead and go with the flow. Passion is not enough for entrepreneurs anymore. One lesson thing I learned was that if you want those things to work, you have to be intentional about your business and the decisions that you're taking concerning the business. You have to watch, grow and learn.

For you to watch, you have to be looking out for certain things in particular as regards your business and brand. I want those brands in here at this time and I have to do this about it. Starting my jewelry business was a passion. I enjoyed picking out jewelry, but it wasn't enough one year down the line. I wasn't the only person doing jewelry. What sets you apart from these other people is carving out the niche, so you have to be deliberate. The lesson that I have learned and I'm still learning as Annecessories and an individual is being deliberate.

To all my tribe reading, be deliberate. Sometimes that takes you sitting down with a mentor, an expert or somebody who's done it before and getting the inside scoop, the 411 of how to make your brand or business successful. If you don't have that, set out a business plan of how you're going to launch. Even when we're talking about branding, I caught what you're saying too is that branding is very important. Sometimes defining what your brand is, your brand's voice, personality and market will help you be deliberate when you're game planning if you want to go to market.

What's some advice you would give to someone who wants to start a career in your industry? You're not the only person in the jewelry industry. I'm pretty sure it's grown and expanded. It looks different than it did many years ago. What is some good advice for somebody wanting to start a career in this industry? What does that look like?

First things first, I'm big on solution providing. Are you providing a solution in your business? That has always been a thing for me. In the journey of the brand Annecessories, I've had days when I'm tired. Nobody's asking me, "What are you selling?" I've had times when I'm like, "People are doing these things bigger and better than I am. What am I exactly still doing here?"

One thing is that on days like that, the thing that keeps me going is the fact that someone bought something from me before. They call me and says, "I need this thing." It means to me that I had at the time provided a solution to the person's problem in the past. There's this saying that was funny to me at the time I heard it, but it applies every time. “There's room enough for all the birds and not one bird is trying to outfly the other.”

There's room for everybody. Make sure that you are providing a solution. It never goes out of style. People will keep coming back to that thing that met their needs. They have a need. You meet it. They will keep coming back. If they find somebody else who has that same need, go to this person. Are you a solution provider or a side hustler?

That's so important because that's what keeps you in business for a long time when you're a solution provider. If you're either fixing a problem or providing a solution, 1 of these 2 things will keep you in business. I love what you said about there being enough room in the sky for all the birds to fly, which means you have to have a mindset of abundance. That's so important to have that mindset of abundance.

A lot of us hustlers, go-getters and entrepreneurs, sometimes when you switch to this mindset that there's not enough room for everybody, you start to make decisions based on scarcity, the scarcity mindset. That's not a healthy way to run your business or live life. I love that abundance mindset that you bring to the table with that quote. What do you think the future has in store for your industry and entrepreneurs, not just in Nigeria but across the world?

The future is about to get more interesting because there's something new every day that can make you bigger and better. No thanks to COVID, but every business is global. Everybody can see and hear from your business everywhere, regardless of where you are. I feel like the world has even become a level playing field for everybody.

You first need to know where you want to be and then make sure that you are exhausting all the opportunities and avenues to get to that place where you are going. I feel like it's about to get even better. The business world is growing and so are the opportunities and resources. The people who know how to maximize will be making the headway. The future looks interesting.

I am optimistic about the future. Many thanks to people like Sola because they never get tired of charting new courses. "These people need this." That's what we were saying about fixing a problem and finding solutions. Someone like Sola will be like, "I haven't been able to do this. I found out that this number of people are trying to do this."

Networking: You never get enough knowledge. It's an ongoing process. Knowledge is important and you never stop learning about something if you want to keep expanding or growing.

That's one thing that I picked up from her. I picked up that whole solution-provider fixing a problem from Sola. If something bothers her today, she'll find ways to make it work tomorrow. For entrepreneurs everywhere, there's no limit to your business. Find the resources. Push it, follow it and make sure that you have everything covered. You're going to get to where you want to go in one day. It's a process. If you're steady, consistent and intentional, there's no limiting you.

This conversation right here proves that COVID has made the world a lot smaller because people are intentionally working in a global capacity. You came aboard the RISEpreneurs show. You're all the way over in Nigeria. We're working and in business together. I have a sense that a lot of people are doing that.

I was having a conversation on the other radio show that I hosted. One of my cohosts, Mike, The Money Guy, he and I had decided to jump into Clubhouse before we went on air. We were talking about the state of Black America and entrepreneurship. An interesting dialogue came up in that room where we talked about some data showing that Black women and African women are the new entrepreneurs. There's a high number of them, especially in the US. Is it the same over in Nigeria? What do you think is driving more women to become entrepreneurs and have that entrepreneurial spirit that's outpacing men at a great rate? What are your thoughts on that?

It's pretty much the same thing over here in Nigeria. I don't know why but it keeps dragging me back to providing solutions and fixing a problem. Women are supposedly homemakers, the ones who nurture both children, build a home and all of that. The world as it is is making the role of the woman having more things to do than they used to have because, in the past, women will be homemakers, especially in Africa, way back before technology and all of that.

There were only very few but the need to have multiple sources of income, make sure that the home is comfortable and your children have the best life, women are announcing, "You can't be the only one bringing stuff to the table. If my children are going to be this uncomfortable, I have to bring things to the table as well."

To make the home as comfortable as possible, especially finance-wise, women have found out that they have to get somebody to help them with this. The entrepreneurial spirit rises when they go out looking for that service and don't get it. “I'm looking for this and I don't have somebody to do it.” It means five other people out there are looking for this service. I'll give you an example. There's somebody on Instagram. I found her out. She's called The Pepper Woman .

The Pepper Woman is somebody who goes to the market, buys tomatoes and pepper in bulk, blends them into a paste and puts them in bowls ready to pop into your pot. That woman is on one end. There's another woman called the Royalty Farm Fresh . What she does is she has a meat place with whatever protein you're looking for. She has fish and meat all chopped up into ready to go into your pot, cleaned out. All you need to do is wash the bowl and pop it in your pot.

A working woman doesn't have to bother about, "I have to do market runs after I'm done from work." That is providing a solution. I'm sure there were women, at some point, who was working and needed to make the home as well and found out that nobody was doing like, "Here you go." That's what's driving the women over here. There's the need to balance, building a career and running your home or making sure that your children, your husband or the home front don't suffer so much for the career that you want to build.

I noticed that you said and this came up in our Clubhouse too, how women are not only finding solutions but leaning into each other for solutions, asking questions and getting help. That's one thing I see to be uniquely different from men in business, where I feel that sometimes men, when we get stuck in business, the macho side of us is like, "We will figure it out," instead of asking for help. Do you think it's the same way over in Nigeria and the culture of why women are maybe a little bit more successful in growing and creating a business at a higher rate than the men? Do you suspect other things may be involved? If so, what are those things?

I'll go back to the same illustration I gave. You see The Pepper Woman and The Royalty Farm Fresh as different people. During Christmas, people would be cooking a lot because they would have guests and family over. They came and did great things together. That's what it is. It's responsible for that. A man's way is, “Everybody looks up to me. They expect that I should be able to figure this out as a man," but women understand.

It's not just Nigerian men but African men. The African culture is a male-dominated society here in Africa. That's how it has been. It's not something that just even started. It has been like that. Besides that, a woman's place also. When I go 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 steps, I sit back and think how the six steps have affected the other things around me. That's why female businesses are thriving. It's not decision-making and they're flying. No.

There are times when women sit back like, "Should I give up?" In that place of giving up, she's looking and considering how her business or decision so far has affected her. In that place of thinking through, checking and balancing, you'll be amazed at how much growth comes out of it. That's another thing that's helping businesses. Women like the community a lot. They might not be the best of friends, but you see that communal thing, especially here in Africa. It's like a sisterhood. It helps a lot.

Networking: There's no limit to your business right now, find the resources, push it, follow it, and make sure that you have everything covered. You’re definitely going to get to where you want to go. If you're steady, you're consistent. If you're intentional, there's no limiting you.

If you go on Instagram, you find a lot of them, especially in Africa. "I do makeup. You do this. Let's collaborate. I do this. You do that. Let's meet." There are female network events that they do. She leads Africa. You have women coming together like that. We don’t necessarily have to be friends, but we’re speaking about moving in the same direction. To an extent, we’ll hold hands and get to a point. If it was not working at that point, everybody goes their separate way, but we have moved from point A to point B. At point B, we eventually will find different partners or helpers and then we're moving. That's what it is that's helping the women if you ask me.

I've had some great women around me that I've always sat and thought about, which made me want to create this platform RISEpreneurs so that we can create a tribe and community between Blacks and Africans in the diaspora. From my upbringing, I see there need to be more spaces like this that allows us to build community globally, internationally so that we can rise through all the different challenges that we see both here in the States, in Africa or any other Blacks out there from the UK and so forth.

We all seem to have a common bond of a certain type of struggle when it comes to our status in the world and moving up that ladder to achieve success, whatever success looks like for you. I do believe that us coming together, showing that 1) it can be done, and then 2) growing it is going to take us to that next level. I love those examples that give a vivid explanation of what a community could look and how it can help you grow.

We don't always have to agree, but it could get us to that next step, allowing us to elevate and raise each other in our different spaces as a collective and as a whole. You're a woman of many different talents, skills, and things between Annecessories, RISEpreneurs and helping Sola. When you look at everything, this life and business you're creating, whether it'd be Annecessories, what are your hopes and dreams for the future? What do you want to see and do?

I am a part of the RISEpreneurs team, for starters, and I'm looking forward to what that community will grow into. I am fired up. The thing about a community is that it goes beyond one person and the startup team. I'm looking forward to what that community will become across the world. You're hearing somebody in South Africa, Asia, the US and the UK saying one thing, "I'm a Black entrepreneur and RISEpreneurs moved me to this point." It's one project that is dear to my heart. I know what the power of community is firsthand. I'm looking forward to what this one will do.

Secondly, I'm grateful for Sola because you can't think small with her. I'm looking forward to all the knowledge that I've gained over time, especially because of this pandemic, the ways that I can do things. The whole global pathway has been opened. I'm looking forward to working on all the skills that I have acquired over time, what they can do for me and help me. I'm also an educator, a school teacher.

I have a soft spot for children who have special needs. In the future, especially with hearing-impaired children, you'll be hearing Annifred Granville working with children and making life a lot easier for them, especially here in Africa. Annecessories is growing by the day. You never know what's in the works with that as well.

My sister's also in the education space. COVID has brought new innovative ways to do education. It has its challenges, too, in education and staying connected. How have you been able to stay connected, evolve and adapt through teaching the youth and making sure that they feel they're connected during this time?

The thing is, it's not exactly very easy for the kids. Children used to hug you in the morning when you walk into the school compound and all of that. Now, all they can do is sit by themselves in the sitting room and watch you over their screens. One thing I have held dear in my practice as an educator, a classroom teacher, is an outpouring of love towards your pupils.

If these young ones feel that beyond you just teaching them, doing your time and earning a salary, if they feel some form of connection to them personally, they will even do more for you than your methods. Children feel the need to please people they love and people they feel genuinely care about them.

There's no better time to express that love than now. You're not faking it for them to feel it or see it. Children are magical beings because they feel those things beyond an adult. You fake it with an adult and get away with it. With kids, the barest tones are important to them. The slightest of tones means a lot to a child. The dos, don'ts and “come here” go a long way. What teachers have been able to do is genuinely express their love and care for the children. Even the screen cannot withhold that. If you do not love the subject genuinely, you won't pick up these new skills.

Since this pandemic struck, some people have resigned from their jobs as teachers. It's not for the faint-hearted. The people who genuinely love the children will say, "Why don't I pick up the skill? My class is struggling." After the Zoom class, we are calling the parent. "How did this child feel? What can I do to help?" That's what's standing the test of time. It's genuine love and care for growth.

I consider myself an educator. I'm not a licensed classroom teacher, but I do teach in the classroom from time to time to teach mostly high school and college kids how to find or build a career that they love using different things that helped me get to where I'm at. I had to find new ways to engage and get this message out to them through Zoom and technology.

Teachers call me, "We're doing Zoom. You used to do this excellent presentation in the classroom and these hands-on activities but is there a way you can put that into Zoom so that they can still get that same feeling?" It's been a reward too because I'm able to reach more people. It encouraged me to start this show and so forth. I love everything that you're doing. Ann, this has been an absolute pleasure. What projects are you working on? Where can people find you?

I'm working on RISEpreneurs. Please feel free to follow RISEpreneurs on Instagram. That's our community. I'm a part of the team. All of the work you've seen on RISEpreneurs, we are doing it together. Feel free to also follow Annecessories. One of the unique things that I do with Annecessories is the fact that I curate jewelry gift boxes and ship them anywhere in the world. If you are outside of Africa and Nigeria and you'd like a Nigerian feel, you are gifting, I'm sure I'm your go-to girl. I could curate gift boxes for men, women and children as well. Find me on Instagram at @Annecessories_ INC .

Thank you so much for everything you do, not only for RISEpreneurs and the team but also for what you do at home with the kids and youth. It's truly inspiring everything that you do. I'm so appreciative that we have somebody like you in the world to pour love into the youth and help that next generation rise to their next occasion. I hope you enjoyed this episode.

Important Links:

Christiana Russell - Entrepreneur | Web-Series & Podcast Host | Early Stage Startup Consultant | Grant Strategist | Business Coach

Mon, 08 Mar 2021 05:57:52 GMT

Encourage yourself to strive for growth. Do you dwell on frustrations in your life or have you learned to trust the process? Do you know when to pivot during major life transitions? Christiana Russell, M.Ed is the owner of Mendedwing Consulting, LLC an agency that focuses on strategic planning and process management for small business owners and entrepreneurs. She believes in creating a safe environment that fosters support and empowerment is key. Tune into this episode to hear deep insights about different aspects in life such as self-esteem, self-worth, entrepreneurship, and growth.

Connect with Christiana!

Website : https://www.wethaplug.com

Email : mendedwingconsulting@gmail.com or christiana@wethaplug.com

Twitter : we tha plug 1

Facebook : W E tha plug

Instagram : @Iamchristiana1 , @the-cafecito-series, @_wethaplug

Clubhouse : Christiana Russell (@christianar)

LinkedIn : linkedin.com/in/christianarussell & we-tha-plug (business page)

YouTube : We Tha Plug (subscribe)

http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=ON_VODqpc104&ver=short

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Listen to the podcast here:

Christiana Russell - Entrepreneur | Web-Series & Podcast Host | Early Stage Startup Consultant | Grant Strategist | Business Coach

It gives me great pleasure to introduce the next guest on this episode. Every time I meet up with her, I want to sing. The one song that comes to mind now with Bilal is You Must Be My Soul Sista because she is truly my kindred soul sister. It was a blessing to have met her. We have aligned on a lot of different things. Ms. Christiana Russell is the Owner of Mended Wing Consulting, LLC , an agency that focuses on strategic planning and process management for small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Christiana's early years began in South Central LA but she was later moved by her parents to Tucson, Arizona, where she earned her Bachelor's and Master's in Education at the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University. She spent the next ten years working in the mental health and prevention education industry, operating as an advocate and servant leader with the mission to combat social justice issues. She has found herself in the tech and innovation space.

She partnered with a good dear friend and brother of mine that we have had on the show, Luis Martinez , at We Tha Plug , to build a strong ecosystem that assures Pan-African and Latinx entrepreneurs and startups leverage every opportunity to advance from ideation, pre-seed, Series A funding, and so on. She believes in creating a safe environment that fosters support and empowerment is the key to sustaining present and future founders. Without further ado, let's tap into some knowledge with Christiana Russell.

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Welcome to another episode of the show. I’ve got a special guest in the building for you. My girl, Christiana Russell, COO, We Tha Plug , and Cafecito. You’ve got so many titles. How are you, Christiana? Thank you for being on the show. I appreciate you so much. I know we had our brief dialogue. First, let's do the backstory. How did we first meet?

We met at Startup Week in 2018. That's where we met.

We did but we didn't have an in-depth conversation.

We carried it over to February of 2019, the confrontation from 2018.

It was at Balboa Park where we had the second conversation. We had a whole, long dialogue.

You were holding me accountable. We didn't know each other. I had met you but you rolled up on me like you were my cousin, and you hadn't seen me in five years. It was good. The last time we talked, I was like, “This person is going to be in my life forever. The end. Thank you.”

Everybody was like, “She said something about this book.” I remember I was looking forward to that. I will put you on blast now. What was the book?

This book is so didactic because it is based on my life. You know what I did. Journey of the Broken Sparrows is the title of the book that is yet to be produced. It was already written. It's just this sucker is personal, so it's a journey. I put out my eBook and course called Rabbit Hole Academy. Rabbit Hole is all about the transition in life.

I'm going a little bit off-script real quick but I want to make this point. One thing that is not communicated across the board is that there are outliers who get this from parents or leaders in their community. However, that was not hyper-focused for me. Throughout life, you are going to transition to different stages in your life. When that happens, you need to be prepared. The only way you can be prepared is by being open to it.

There's not too much you can do unless you are like the ant and you prepared for winter by storing up financially and spiritually. Some of the stuff we are going to be talking about is how do you store up to be prepared for when that transition happens? You can title that transition by anything. The storm takes on different forms, a death or job loss. There are certain things you can put in place to help prevent that cliff fall for you. For the most part, you have to be open and trust the process.

I'm in love with the process, as Luis would say. Throughout the years, we have learned to trust the process, go with the flow, and pivot when need to. We will talk about that a little bit as we go on a process. Who is Christiana? I'm going to leave it there and see where we go with that.

I credit who I am, not only my parents and my ancestors who have passed on. Some passed on before I was even born, after I was born, and after I was in my teen years. I credit these individuals for helping me understand early on in life about two things. There is something called self-esteem and self-worth. Self-esteem is something that is created by man. It's a word that's created to help build up. You can define it by helping to build up a person's confidence. There are things you can do in life to help build up your confidence.

When you think about self-esteem, it comes from doing something. For instance, it's 8:00 in the morning in San Diego. My self-esteem exists. The self-esteem part is me, getting the confidence to be on this show with you and having these conversations. When I'm operating out of self-esteem, I'm looking to you, Taryell, to affirm me. Tell me I'm doing good. I want you to nod. I want you to go, “Yes.” Build me up. The more I perform, the more you celebrate me.

In life, that's how self-esteem works. You go out, do good, get all these skillsets, build these internal attributes up, and then put them out to the world. They esteem you, and because they can esteem you, what else can they do? They can take that away from you. They give it to you, and they can take it away. My parents, ancestors, and these great leaders in my life always taught me that self-esteem is something that is developed and exists. What must co-exist and rise higher is your self-worth. Your self-worth is something that no man can give you.

It's something that comes from this intrinsic work that you are doing connected to your spiritual understanding, not religion but it is rooted because you have to have some type of faith-based understanding. Oftentimes, that's rooted in religion. As you progress, move, and grow, you can dissect it a little bit and go, “Why am I here? Who am I?” You start asking yourself these questions and start exploring. I am here on purpose. I am here by divine right.

I come from a higher source that has the ultimate ability to create whatever is needed for me to succeed in life. If I go back to, “Why am I here? What is my assignment?” that changes my answer to you, which would be, “I am an advocate and a servant leader.” Who is Christiana? She’s an advocate and a servant leader.

No matter where she goes in life and what relationships she's in, intimate, platonic, business or personal, she's going to show up as an advocate and a servant leader. That's who I know. Out of that is evolving human beings. I'm forever evolving because being a servant leader doesn't mean that I show up in this perfect way every time. I show up in different modalities. I use different modalities when I'm showing up but that is forever evolving because I'm working on myself.

You have touched on so many great things in there. I want to touch on that self-worth piece and belief system. It’s something that eludes a little bit of the conversation we had before we’ve even got on the show about limiting beliefs that we have in our communities, people and society. You and I have both done work from high school students down to adults. I'm going to get them on the show. I promise you, folks, at some point, but who are you?

Identifying that early with our youth and even adults is they need to do that self-worth routine and understand who they are so they can go out and make the change they want to see in the world from whatever mindset or however they see themselves and choose to show up. I don't want to get too specific on the career and job portions of it. I want to know because now you do Cafecito, We Tha Plug, and your consulting business. You are also writing books and programs. Before you transition to all these different things, here's what I want to know, what was your first job?

People may be so surprised by this but I came of age in the ‘90s. I was a kid in the ‘90s coming of age, and there was a whole different world that was happening back then. One thing that was not changing was how my parents chose to raise me. Does anyone who had Black parents have heard this saying before like, “I'm your mom. I'm your daddy. I'm not your friend?" They were tied to us, loving and friendly towards us but they were very intentional about how they raised us.

One of the things that were important for them was to raise us with work ethics. We always had some job at home before we were paid outside the home. My parents had a pay system in the home. The earliest I can remember was being four years old. We had chores in the household, and we would get paid based on that. My parents had this whole rubric system. It’s entertaining. My brother, Russell, which I like to call him, did not play.

To have a child set up the LLC, look at you.

My baby is going to get paid. My first real paid job outside of the home was working for my dad's construction company. Both my parents are serial entrepreneurs. I come from a long line of serial entrepreneurs that found a lot of success. However, there were challenges financially for them that they struggled to overcome. He had won a contract for remodeling a series of duplexes. I was twelve years old.

One of the things that my parents taught me was work ethic. The owner was this 75-year-old Jewish lady named Rachel Zane. Her last name was Zane but I know her name was Rachel because my sister's name is Rachel. I don't even think she quite hit 5’0” but she asked my dad if he knew of anyone who would be willing because the remodel was done, and we had helped out with the remodel thing.

She asked, “Did you know of anyone that could come in and help get the place together?” My dad was like, “What's the work?” She was like, “Organizing things and cleaning.” My dad was like, “You can hire one of my daughters.” I was like, “I will help out.” I love interior design, painting, and all that. She was like, “Good.” She had a strong accent. I was missing some things because her accent was strong. I was half-listening, and I was twelve anyway. I showed up for my first official day. I had already been getting paid in my dad's company but this was somebody else. He was subcontracting me out.

I showed up on my first day, and I'm looking cute. She said, “You are not dressed quite properly for the job. Let me give you some older clothes that I have.” She came back out. I switched and changed into this older T-shirt that she had given me. She kneels down to the floor and gives me a brush. There's a box of spick and span and a water bucket. She gets down beside me. She's looking up at me like, “Come on.” I'm like, “What are you doing?” She said, “We are going to scrub the floor.”

I'm looking at this one like, “You want me? I haven't said anything yet.” She's looking at me and goes, “Let me show you one.” She says, “You get a little spick and span and a little water.” I'm like, “What’s a spick and span?” She looks up at me and goes, “What are you doing?” I said, “You want me to get on my hands and knees, and clean the floor?” She goes, “I’m sorry. Is this job too beneath you?” I’ve got a little embarrassed. She goes, “It’s because it's not beneath me.”

She goes on to explain how she owns these apartment complexes but there is not one job that she would not ask someone else to do that she would not be willing to do it herself. She proceeds to go on to explain to me the importance of hard work. That hard work doesn't come from pushing papers or answering phones. She was from an older generation, so she had the mindset of one, where a woman had a certain role but she broke out of that.

She owned all these apartment duplex spaces. She broke down to me what work ethic is and how it would carry me throughout life. At any point in my life, I will never forget that woman and what she taught me about never being too good to touch any type of work and never asking anyone to do something that you yourself aren't willing to do.

That was a good lesson. How do you feel that the lesson transitioned with you? It stuck with you but how has it served you and transitioned with you throughout your career?

It's one of those things to the point I made, I will never ask anyone to do something I'm not willing to do myself. Nothing is beneath me. Now that I'm in this startup entrepreneur space, there are things you have to do that you don't want to do. I come from a nonprofit and transitioned into a corporate background. I had assistance. I was a C-level suite in some of my position.

I had opportunities to delegate to people. You have to be willing to come up and down that ladder at any given time because you don't know where you are going to be in life, where you need to be back at the bottom. You never will start back all the way down at the beginning. You will have to step down to hit that reset again because you are learning skillsets. That's how it has transitioned throughout the course of my career.

That's the other thing I love about you. You have transitioned through a lot of different types of workspaces from the nonprofit sector to the corporate sector and entrepreneur startup sector now with the work that you are doing with We Tha Plug. A young girl or somebody that was sitting there 9:00 to 5:00 reading this now, and they were like, “I read Christiana's bio, and I love everything she said. That's what I want to do.”

What would you say were the steps you took to get into your career or start up from your consulting business to be a part of We Tha Plug? I know it's hard to put in steps because I know it was like this but what type of advice would you give to somebody that was trying to get where you have gone or where you are at?

The first thing I always say is you must be present in your journey, and there are times where you will be in a fog. You will wake up and go, “How did I end up here? I don't quite know it.” There are some pieces missing but I'm just here, and it happened. I endeavor to be able to tell you exactly how I’ve got here like I remember being twelve and doing that type of work.

What I tell people first and foremost is you need to have a plan. Under Mended Wing, the work I do is I'm a grant strategist. I help people understand how to go about applying for grants. Before they do that, they have to understand why they want to apply for it. We go through a series of questions. I also help people apply strategy to their transition, whether it's personal or professional. I have people I work with that are transitioning from one career. I have people that are coming from blue-collar going into white-collar.

I have people want from white-collar corporate coming into the startup space and needing to know how to transition. The first thing I tell people is to have a plan. The way you have a plan is you sit down and ask yourself questions. You should talk to yourself all the time. You should have conversations with yourself. This is someone coming from a mental health background. I know that may sound a little off but it's not. You should always have conversations with yourself and ask yourself, “What is it that I want? Why do I want it?”

Write it down. That's what is going to help and is a part of the ingredients for what you are baking. The purpose is already there but the whole part of this journey is manifesting it. That requires work like that. The next part is once you have written something down, you are going to open yourself up for mentors. You need people who are in that space.

When you were in college looking for an internship, in high school or middle school, in my middle school, they had a career day. People would come in and talk about their plans like, “I want to do that.” You want to have mentors. Social media is so vast. You must understand that a mentor is not necessarily someone you know directly and talk to every day. We have YouTube , Instagram , and all these different things. We’ve got Clubhouse . Anybody who's over eighteen get on Clubhouse. The Clubhouse is a 24/7 days a week seminar. You can go into any room and learn a lot.

Get mentors or people in your life who are doing work at a high level. I don't mean corporate jobs. I have mentors who are mechanics and are multi-millionaires. I have stay-at-home moms who are my mentors. Never see a mentor as someone that has a lot of money or has a high position. It goes back to their knowledge and how they have applied that knowledge to find success. You must be open to what your mentor looks like.

If you are starting a business, you want to have someone that has already started a business and has found great success or has run a business very successfully, and you are able to extract. Write the plan down and connect with a mentor. From there, you will start to formulate. It will start to come together. You will mix in the ingredients. When you do land that first job or prior to that, you need to have interview questions for the job you are applying to or the career path you want to go down. It's a business venture for yourself.

Once you are in that space, advocate for yourself. No one should out-advocate you for you. That means show up for yourself. Every day, you should be thinking about, “How am I going to be my best self?” Whenever you are approached about a project, think about, “How is this going to advance me as well as everything should be reciprocity? How is this going to help me as well as the individual or company I am working for?” When you come out from that perspective, you are more likely to see success. For me, I sought success everywhere I went because I went in with that approach.

When I went into a company, I looked for my advocates and allies. I went to them and said, “This is why I'm here, and this is what I'm doing. This is the direction I want to go in. Can you help me?” Some people would say, “I can't but yes, we can.” You have to be willing to put yourself out there. This is something that I'm speaking directly to my people of color. There's this language that has taught us that it is understood that you need to be better than and twice as good as to even show up. We know this is true because there are many reasons why you see this truth.

I love my Gen Z-ers. I don't focus on that whole age and all that. What do I appreciate about my Gen Z-ers is they are saying, “Why are we doing that because that's the way it has always been? We are not doing it that way. We are doing it this way.” I love that because they are challenging it and pushing back, which then causes the rest of us to go, “Why is it we are doing it that way? We don't have to do it that way.” Show up for yourself and be willing to be vulnerable. You might get taken advantage of but hopefully, it's not for very long, and you are able to pivot and go, “This person is not here for me. Let me go another direction.”

There's some strength and vulnerability. I love that you mentioned challenging the status quo of how we normally do things. I don't know how many times we hear in government, nonprofit, and so forth like, “We have been doing it this way.” Why have we been doing it that way? Could you explain it to me? They were like, “It’s because that's the way we do things.” Could we possibly do it another way?

I’m like, “If it’s not broke, don't fix it.” You can always improve on something. No news is good news. That’s not good news. That's no news. We need to find out what the news is. There were lots of things happening out there rushing in my head, and I was like, “Challenge that.”

What's some advice you would give for someone who's trying to start their own consulting business or build a startup? Keep in mind that my audience is all Black and African. We are people of color. Don’t give me the White answer. Give me the right answer.

I didn't see myself in the startup space. I didn't see myself as an entrepreneur but I was open to transition, purpose, and my assignment. I knew it was going to take on different modes. It was going to be in different vehicles. Anyone who is looking and reading to this, and they are like, “This was a fun interview. There were a couple of things that resonated with me. I'm a business owner. I want to be a business owner. I'm 12, 55 or 95 years old,” there is always a place for you if you feel drawn to it.

I get nervous just hearing the word nervous. It is a trigger like, “What is going on?” It is more of a stress trigger.

That fight or flight, norepinephrine, adrenaline, and cortisol, all of that is the nervous system, but I call it the awareness system.

First, I will break it down with the two different industries. In the nonprofit industry, I have been saying this since 2013, and there were experts that had the foresight that was saying it a little bit before that. For nonprofits to survive, they need to be looking at social impact and social enterprise type of partnering, creating that within the organization, and understanding that you are a nonprofit but you should be making a profit.

You should have income in large amounts coming in, not just from these grants. You can see what happened these last couple of years how funding changed. Every time there's new leadership that comes in, it changes. For nonprofits, you need to have a strategy that includes social enterprise and social impact work that is connected to opportunities where you can partner with large corporations, especially in the tech space.

You need to be looking at that and ways where you can draw down revenue, not just from grants. You need to diversify. This is where I talked to my nonprofit clients. This is someone coming from the nonprofit industry. That's first and foremost. You all don't know this but my boy, T, here, and my business partner, Luis, are working on something that's going to revolutionize the way nonprofits access funding. I will leave it like that because it's top secret.

When we are looking at the tech industry, this is the next revolution that we are moving into. This is why it's so important that you, T, and many of us in this space are doing this work because it's not just one area. When we think of techs, that means we all need to code. I don't code. I'm not interested in coding. I would hate it. I would be the worst coder ever only because I know that's not my gift. You need to understand where you fit in. Please know that the industry is going to grow because customer service is needed.

Everything that you do regularly is going to be needed in the tech space. You have to be forward-thinking about how it's going to manifest. It's going to grow. Also, we are shrinking. Before COVID, people would think, “Overseas? It's so far.” What happened with COVID is, it brought everything right into our house and bedrooms. I see that everything is going to grow but you need to understand where you fit in, how you can show up as your best self, and find success in that space.

I resonate with all that so much because even what you said that last bit on how COVID brought the world together and made it that much smaller. My whole team helps operate and put together this show from social media. It’s national. I’ve got somebody in Nigeria and UK, all Black.

You are a perfect example of that. We went from having events in-person to no events in-person. Everything was virtual, and we exploded. All of a sudden, people over in Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Sweden is knowing who we are. These are Africans in all these different areas.

That's a beautiful thing how technology could do that and shrink the world. I know you mentioned a couple of them but give me all the projects you are working on and where people can find you.

I am a partner and COO at We Tha Plug. You can find us on WeThaPlug.com . It's a double entendre because it means two things. You need to plug into us, but also, We Tha Plug and you, the plug. We need that. We are what we are searching for, Black people. We are what we need. We need to plug in. Also, there's no competition. We cannot look at each other as competition, “You are doing a podcast? That means I can.” Once you tap into, We Tha Plug, you will also see other projects. I'm going to the two, which is the Cafecito series, a web series where I interview founders, early stage, mid-grade, and business professionals. It's people of color but also allies in the community.

The whole tagline is everyday people doing extraordinary things. T was on there and did a fantastic job. You can find them on YouTube under We Tha Plug , and you will find the Cafecito series. Mended Wing Consulting is my own LLC that I started up in 2018, where I do strategic planning and process management with anyone looking to transition from their current job or no job at all.

Maybe they are stay at home and are wanting to get into the workforce in a more impactful way. I also do strategic grant writing under that LLC as well because I'm a grant writer. I have been for ten years and have secured some grants during COVID, which is always exciting. Those are the main things. You can find me under my name, Christiana Russell, or @IAmChristiana1 on Instagram.

There’s one question I forgot to ask. This is going to be a good mic drop and a nugget for everybody to end off our episode. What was one good lesson life has taught you that you want to share with people?

Snoop Dogg said something a couple of years ago when he was on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and got his star, “I want to, first and foremost, thank God, and I want to thank myself.” People started laughing because they thought he was being funny. I was like, “That's it.” COVID served me up with some darkness but also had light. I'm always going to bet on me. I'm always going to show up for me in the midst of any challenge, no matter what it is.

I don't care what job you are doing. Show up not for others but yourself first. Be there for yourself. Invest in you for you. It will make you a better partner. If you are an employee, it will make you a better employee. It will make you a better business owner and human being. Show up for you as your best self. From there, you are able to build out. Show up for you. When you do, you will be like Snoop and be like, “I thank myself every day.”

I know it wasn't going into the episode without singing. Every time we get on each other, we start singing somewhere in the show. Ladies and gentlemen, this has been a delight treasure treat. Christiana, we want to have part two of this because this was extreme. I want to keep it a good link for the drive. There you have it. Invest in yourself. Bet on you. Christiana Russell, it has been a pleasure. Thank you again, ladies and gentlemen, that’s another episode.

Ronald Preston Clark - Writer | Educator | Consultant | Edupreneur | Mentor

Mon, 01 Mar 2021 08:29:48 GMT

Mental and emotional health are just as important as intellect and intelligence in the academe. Edupreneur, Ronald Preston Clark, joins Taryell Simmons today to discuss how he fights for safe spaces for Black men - young and old - to improve their emotional and mental health.

Ronald, born and raised in San Diego and a graduate of Hampton University, currently serves as a High School Humanities teacher at Urban Prep Charter Academy for Young Men in Chicago. He spent his 20s defining masculinity for himself in the same misogynistic environment in which many of our men grow up. Learn more as Ronald talks about flaws, transparency, and accountability and how growth through his own mistakes has charged him to lead others through literacy

Website: rprestonclark.com

Email: rprestonclark@gmail.com

Twitter: rprestonclark

Facebook: Preston Clark

Instagram: rprestonclark

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Listen to the podcast here:

Ronald Preston Clark - Writer | Educator | Consultant | Edupreneur | Mentor

Welcome everybody to another episode of the show. In this episode is a San Diego native and also my RISE San Diego Urban Leadership brother. He's on his journey out there in Chicago. I truly enjoyed this because not only do we do the same leadership program at RISE San Diego but we also had done several projects together from Brothers with Ties and book club. We do a lot of different things in the same spaces. I got to see him transform and go on his journey.

Ronald Preston Clark is a Hampton University graduate, University of San Diego Master's degree graduate and a student of RISE San Diego Leadership Fellowship Program. He was born and raised in San Diego. He fights for healthy spaces for Black men, young and old, to express themselves emotionally. They witnessed the variances of cisgender, male and female relationships among friends and family. He has spent his twenties defining masculinity for himself in the same misogynistic environment in which many of our men grow up.

His experience has changed him to lead others through literacy education and self-consciousness. He's quite the educator himself. He's also written the book Vinnie: A Love Letter . If you have read the book, it's a very powerful piece. I found myself doing a lot of reflection in his work of what he's written. We've often do reflection from the time of time where we speak and get our group of brothers together to discuss life things, celebrate each other and so forth. Let's get into this lovely discussion with Ronald Preston.

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Ronald , it’s a pleasure. How did we first meet? Let's start from there because I'm fuzzy about this story. Could you take me down memory lane?

If I remember, I heard about you through Brothers with Ties. We started landing in the same circles. Iron sharpens iron and real recognize real. We started checking in with each other. The first time we officially worked together was when I invited you to Morris to speak to my kids.

I remember seeing you before brothers with ties. We hadn’t officially met, but it was at Queen Bee’s for a poetry thing. I don't know how I got to that poetry thing. I'm not sure if it was Nate or somebody else, but that's how I first saw you. I was like, “I like this brother a lot and what he's doing.”

It's funny how San Diego works with the Black community because if you're doing something, you're eventually going to run into each other. Several people are active in various forms. Whether you meet immediately or down the road, you're going to meet simply because you're active. It was destiny for it to go down.

That is no lie because there was a couple of times your name came up when I was doing connected careers back when I was at San Diego Workforce Partnership. I was putting some youth programs together. Two people told me, “You need to connect with Ronald with what you're doing.” They didn't have your direct line, so I was like, “Who's Ronald? How do I get ahold of him?”

That's happened with Jordan, Jelani and Eric. It's funny how all of us who associate with each other at the highest level ended up finding out about each other. With Jordan, for those who don't know him, I’m referring to Jordan Jerome Harrison, who is probably the greatest man in the history of San Diego. The first time I ever saw Jordan was he introduced Matthew Gordon at a Blue Heart breakfast. I don't know if Matthew was speaking, getting an award or something, but Jordan spoke. I was like, “This brother just introduced me to somebody and he’s dynamic.” That was the first time I saw him. I ran into him again at a Reality Changers Fundraiser. That was the first time we talked.

He was getting ready and preparing to go to Harvard. He introduced Matthew, so I thought he was in politics. I didn't know he was in education. Once I did Reality Changers, I found out he was an educator. I was like, “Him and I have got to rock.” Ever since then, we’ve been involved in the friendship and that’s my brother. It’s funny how those connections happen.

The reality is it was more float down, but I didn’t start rocking or hanging out and connected with Jordan after I left Workforce Partnership because he wasn’t there yet. If he was in some capacity but not like he is now. I have a hard time pinning you down in one job or career because even though you’re an educator, you’re in a couple of different lanes of spaces. How would you describe your career as we speak?

I refer to myself as a writer who teaches, not a teacher who writes. I’m a writer at my heart and soul, but the best form of giving back to the community is teaching. To be all-encompassing and still work with words, youth and education, teaching provide that platform. I wanted to make sure that I was always in a space where I was giving back. I never wanted to be in a job that took me away from that because I’m at my best when I’m in those settings. I consider myself as a teacher/writer more so an educator/writer because teaching is a job. Education is a way of life.

You can be an educator in various spaces and not teaching. Mentorship, nonprofit community, whatever it is that you’re working within, you can be educating others in that space. Financial advisors and mental health professionals, all those people are educators. The name is different, but they’re all under that educator model.

I take it very seriously. I’ll be in class with my kids and we might not do anything from the actual lesson plan that day. They might learn more in that class than they would on a lesson plan because we’re having life lesson conversations. They’re picking my brain and I’m asking them questions. We’re having dialogue that enhances their ability to think critically.

To me, sometimes that’s more important and there are even times where my kids will take advantage of that. I’ll never forget, I was at Gompers Prep in San Diego in an eighth-grade science class as a sub. I had a plan for the day and one of my kids asked me a question. I was like, “You want to know that?” He was like, “Yes, Mr. Clark. Can you talk about that?” I was like, “Sure.”

45 to 50 minutes passed, we are still talking about it. I’m like, “I guess we’re not going to get to the lesson, but that was a good conversation.” I look at him and he smiles. I was like, “You planned that.” He said, “If I don’t do any work, Mr. Clark and if I asked you a question, you would start talking.” They knew how it was. They do know I love the life lesson day. I was like, “You know your teacher very well that if you asked me a good enough question, I’d start answering it.” That’s the beauty of working with the youth.

I remember being invited to speak at the educator’s panel and it was all traditional educators in Pre-K, college and middle school. I was in this person who was holding the panel who wasn’t educated by the tray. I was like, “I’m not sure how the other people are going to feel because I’m not a traditional educator. Should I consider you an educator because of everything you’ve done in these spaces, what you’re doing with these kids and even what you’ve done for some teachers?”

In the literal academic world, I'm not viewed as an educator. I love that you put out in the universe the difference between teaching and education. Thank you for that. What was your first job? I always ask people that question. I like for people to see that. One, it's not where you start. It’s where you finished. Also, you probably learned lessons from your first job that carried you through life, and then we can talk about how you got it together.

My first paid job was in Foot Locker. When you talk about lessons, I got it because I volunteered through DECA, which was an organization when I was a part of my high school. We volunteered with the Foot Locker portion at the NFL experience when the Super Bowl was there. I had that volunteer experience and sold well while I was there, so I ended up getting the spot in Chula Vista. I got Chula Vista and he put me on schedule maybe 4 days in 3 months.

I don't know why. I don't know what his issue was with me or what the situation was, but he wasn't giving me hours. I wasn't even in the system. I was still writing down my hours. One of the things I learned was to make sure you're in the actual system. Time moved on and he wasn't giving me any hours. I got another job at KB Toys in Mission Valley. I started working there. I was working during Christmas break. They gave me a ton of hours during that time. I ended up meeting the Lady Foot Locker manager in Mission Valley because my best friend worked there. I was in the system in Chula Vista so I could work at Lady Foot Locker.

She started giving me hours over there and I started slinging, but I'm only going over there when other people don't need to work. I started working over at Lady Foot Locker whenever they asked me. My best friend would tell me in high school, “Somebody is missing. Can you come in?” I’m like, “Bet.” I had to catch the trolley and stuff. I didn't have a cell phone.

One day, he comes up to me and he's like, “Why didn’t you go to work yesterday?” I was like, “You didn't tell me I had to go.” He was like, “You're on a schedule.” I was like, “What?” They hired me based on the few days I had been there. The manager goes to Chula Vista to pick up my paperwork and the dude is like, “How's he doing?” It was a Black woman who took me under and she was like, “He's in the top ten of part-timers in the county in selling.”

I hadn't gotten paid for Chula Vista yet. My older sister walks into the store and goes, “Where's Carlos? I need to see Carlos. You need to pay my brother.” What's funny was I was on the floor at the time when she walked in, but my sister got me paid, though. The lesson from that was simply to make sure you are in the system and you speak up for yourself. “We need to be doing this properly and me not working for free.” Also, the learning process was when you do good work, good people will find you.

The woman at Lady Foot Locker only let me work simply because she got to know me through my best friend. She gave me a couple of trial runs. I went in there and did what I did. I was slinging. I ended up working there and it became my part-time job. In a 3 to 4 months span, I went from Chula Vista Foot Locker to KB Toys to Lady Foot Locker and Lady Foot Locker ended up being my high school job.

How did you get into writing? When did that start to take place?

I've always been a big reader and I tell writers all the time, “If you don't read, you're not going to be able to write.” Some people do write and do write fairly well who don't read a lot, but there's a plateau that you end up hitting because you're not analyzing and looking at other people's work. I've been reading my whole life and I started writing early, maybe in first grade. It was something that I loved to do. I played around with it.

My senior year in high school was the moment where I truly told people this was when I began writing. I was in my English class with one of my favorite teachers, Ms. Madden. She gave us an assignment where we had to write the first few lines before at the beginning of a book, but we had to get right into it. It wasn't like the slow beginning that you normally would have in a book.

I wrote my 2 or 3 lines about a girl losing her virginity and I read it in class. I read it with my head down and when I pulled my head up, it's nothing but jaws dropped all over the room. I was like, “Was it good?” She was like, “Yes. Can you make that longer?” She wanted to see where I would take it. I was like, “Yeah.” “I'll give you extra credit if you finish that and bring it to class.” I was like, “Bet.” I'm writing this one-page short story called Our Eyes Met. It was the day leading up to the virginity loss.

It's funny when I look at it. I can see what I was trying to do as a writer but I didn't know how to do as a writer yet. I wrote that. She loves it and I ended up writing 3 or 4 little short stories like that for her class for extra credit. When I leave high school to go to college, I get part of this group called Spark One, which is all the poets on campus. I was the curveball because I had short stories. I'm writing these short stories and all my poet friends kept going, “If you strip the language of your short stories, you're writing narrative poems.”

I started to dive and work the poetry. That's why I became a narrative poet because I came from short stories and I turned those stories into poems while still telling stories. I started writing my poems and my junior year in college at Hampton was the first time I memorized a poem. My favorite line I've ever written in a poem is from that poem. It goes, “As our words intertwined and our hearts crisscrossed, Christ and our combination is the second coming of Adam and Eve.” There is so much alliteration in there. This is the rhythm. I love that line, so I memorized that. A lot is going on in that line.

What's crazy is that I wrote that poem for an HIV event we had on campus. The poem itself is about a young man who sleeps with a woman, not realizing that that woman had received HIV from someone else. As a form of payback, she gave it to somebody else. It's this whole cycle. I wrote it for that. In senior year, I became part of this group called the Left Side Poets. It was about 8 or 9 of us we ended up publishing a book in 2011. That one is called The Left Side Poets Present Strange Fruit , which is a collective poetry book. We won a National Underground Spoken Word Poetry Award for poetry books. That happened in 2011.

My degree is in Journalism. I was headed to ESPN. That was my original route. One of my best friends works for the SEC Network. I was doing all the journalism stuff. I was in three nationally recognized programs in college. I had three internships. I wrote for MLB.com . I was doing big things. After college, I moved to New Jersey and worked for a newspaper out there for three years, but while I was there, I fell out of love with journalism. I didn't like the day-to-day grind and the nitty-gritty stuff. It took away a lot of my creativity.

In the midst of that, I started falling in love with screenwriting. I wrote 3 or 4 scripts while I was in New Jersey. I moved back to California in 2011, not to teach and poetry but for screenwriting. I ended up going to the UCLA Professional Program in Screenwriting for a year. My screenplays are being read by Michael B. Jordan, Ava DuVernay, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Regina King, Jurnee Smollett and lots of other pretty heavy names assessing my stuff. One of my screenplays was supposed to be produced by Isaiah White before he walked them off. I can’t rock with him now because of him being a Trump supporter.

I was on the 2013 elevated slam team that finished fourth in the country. I hosted my open mic, Lyrical Exchange , for four years. I was always in this creative and writing space, but nothing had popped off at the level that I thought I could pop off at. I had chances and things that were working out or getting close but not getting over that hump. It wasn't until I wrote Vinnie: A Love Letter that I truly found myself exactly where I was supposed to be as a writer.

It’s a great story and testimony. I'm glad to read those words. There are a lot of people that I’ve run into that read your book and said how much it had impacted their life. Sometimes, I see a little bit of Vinnie in myself and my relationship with my pops growing up. There are little pieces in there that speak to me like, “I felt that one.”

The thing that I want to tell young people is that journalism, screenwriting and poetry, all three of them feed into each other to help me write my prose. Every experience that you have as a professional, a creative and a person feeds into future experiences. That's why they call it an experience. I could not have written Vinny at 25.

I hadn't gone through what I needed to go through yet. I hadn't developed and matured yet. My growth hadn't occurred at the rate that it needed to at 25, but at the age that I wrote it, that last 64% of that book, I was in pain. I had a relationship that ended and was mourning a miscarriage. I needed something to do, somewhere to put that energy.

The pathway that you took is very unique to your writing career. Somebody's looking at it like, “I got to become a writer. I don't want them to feel that way.” What advice would you give to someone who would like to start a career as a writer or in your industry? What advice would you give them that you've been in several different spaces?

Reading with the intent to learn is my first thing. Most of the time, when we pick up a book, a magazine, screenplay or whatever it is, we're reading for information or entertainment. Those are usually the two reasons why we're reading. When you're reading for craft and to study, it’s a different kind of reading. When I'm reading James Baldwin, I'm paying attention to his syntactical structure, diction, use of punctuation, and dialogue. I'm analyzing his craftsmanship.

If you're a basketball player and you're watching a basketball game, some people are going to watch it simply for the score and the dunks, but if you're a hooper, you're like, “That backdoor cut was nasty. His in and out was nasty.” You're paying attention to, “They're open at the elbow. They ran a triangle. They ran motion offense.” You're paying attention to the nuances of the craft. You're looking at the game within the game.

As a writer, you have to read for the craft. Read bad writing and read good writing because you need to know apart those two things. When you're writing badly, you're able to recognize it. One of the reasons why I'm not a fan of Tyler Perry is because he said out of his mouth that he doesn't take criticism. There were criticisms from Spike Lee, Robert Townsend and different people to who he should have been listening to.

I can tell from him saying that that he doesn't read or look at other people's work because if he did, he'd recognize his was bad. You have to read bad and good writing to recognize what those things are. You need to know what it looks like to craft sentences, tell stories, put together structured stories and write dialogue. You have to do those things. James Baldwin is the GOAT. He is the greatest writer that ever walked.

People don't even fully grasp what they’re reading at times and understand what it took to put that body of work together.

You find your favorite writers. My Mount Rushmore is James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Junot Diaz and Tim O'Brien. Colson Whitehead is looking to take a spot because he's the best novelist in the country to me. Ta-Nehisi Coates is amazing. If somebody reads my writing and then tells me that they see one of them in my writing, that's one of the best compliments I can get. That happened to me. I've had people say they saw Morrison, Baldwin and Diaz in my style, but it's still my style. If it wasn't for me reading from those greats, from those who've mastered their craft, I wouldn't be the writer I am because the best writers steal from the best writers.

Let's take it simpler. One thing that you've done that I love and admire is that you've been able to take your pain and put it into purpose by practicing this beautiful story. That’s something I hope to do in my lifetime. I'm not looking to be a world-renowned writer, but I've had some pain and traumas in my life. Some of it I overcome and some of it I'm still in the midst of overcoming.

At some point, I want to put that into some literature or writing and give the lesson to the people. How do you begin to even do that and unpack that? I feel like that's an emotional process. To pin that down and then do it in a structural way to let people in so they get that feeling and the lesson from it too, how do you do that?

It honestly comes back to self-reflection, transparency and accountability. To write from pain, you have to acknowledge that you're in pain. A lot of people don't even do the acknowledgment process. “I'm okay, good, fine.” I was not good, okay and fine. My friends and family knew that. They also understood that me writing my book was my therapy. It was very cathartic for me. Going through that process and channeling that type of energy into that one project was necessary.

I often tell people, “I was scared to write my second book because I was worried that I was going to be Mary J. Blige.” They were like, “What do you mean?” I said, “Mary’s best music was when she was in pain.” I don't like happy Mary. I don't like her music when she's happy. She's not the same artist. With no more drama, I’m like, “I want more drama. I need you to be in a terrible situation.”

I wrote Vinnie when I was in pain and now I'm happy. I’m in this great emotional and mental space. I love who I am. I was worried. I'm like, “I'm not going to be able to create at the level that I did with this last book if I'm not in the same mental space.” With the second book, I have to focus on the craft itself and not the emotion. The first book was very raw. This one's going to be much more strategic in what I plan on doing.

One of our dear friends in the community in San Diego, Brisa Lauren, dropped her first solo music project called In Her Stillness and The Lyric Book . You talk about digging deep and telling stories. The beauty of writing from pain is that because we're humans, somebody is going to fill it. There is no such thing as singular pain. No one person is the only person to go through what they've gone through.

When you’re writing, even though you're writing for yourself, someone somewhere is going to find something in it. Brisa got dudes over there with their feelings because they're still feeling what she's writing and she's writing it from a woman's perspective. My sister loves her songs because she’s speaking to her and that was Brisa’s way of getting through what she was going through.

I roast Capricorns in Vinnie. Why? It’s because the person who caused my pain at that time was a Capricorn. I went off on Capricorns. I don't know, but I have to do it. It was therapy for me because instead of me causing others pain to heal because people hurt people, for me not to hurt others, I had to put all that hurt and pain into a safe space, which was my book.

By doing so, I ended up with a book that placed into the 28th Annual Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards where 1,800 books were submitted into the competition in 9 categories and I'm one of the ones that were selected. It was clear that that pain was for a reason. Now I'm able to continue with my career without even having to write in that pain anymore but knowing what I’m capable of because of the pain. That's why I'm okay with the pain.

You don't have to connect with the whole girl because that's on my radar.

You can see her stuff on YouTube and Spotify . She got her stuff on there and I keep her in rotation. She’s a beautiful, awesome and intelligent woman who works in the community in San Diego. Real vibrant, with lots of energy, amazing on stage. She's the lead singer for Lyrical Groove as well. I'm so proud of her for this project. As somebody who writes from pain, I could feel hers. I was like, “I see where you went with.”

You're heavy in the writing industry, working on Vinnie too. What do you think the future has in store for the writing industry? What does this space look like in the future as we start to connect with more Black writers and get to hear their stories? What do you see?

What's interesting is the pandemic and our agent I was speaking to told me this. She said, “During this pandemic, the one group of published writers that are benefiting from the pandemic are writers of color.” Why? It’s because more of us are sitting down in our homes and looking for things to do. Without having the access to a lot of the things we previously did, we're getting back to reading.

This is a great time to be a Black writer and be a writer of color. Due to the many fights that our creators have had behind the scenes in the film and TV industry, you're getting more of our images on the screen. The only person who has a blank page is the writer. Producers, directors, actors, everybody gets a finished script. The only person that has a blank page is the writer. As time has progressed, writers are getting more respect.

When we had the writer strike a few years ago, actors and actresses were almost in tears, “Can you please take care of this because we need our writers?” You don't work without the writers. We’re the backbone of the industry. I don't care what anybody says. You can't direct words. Writing is always going to be here. It's always been here. You have different ways in which it shows up.

The little TikTok videos and stuff take writing. This web series on YouTube is through writing. I tell my kids who play video games all the time that the little mini-movies they have at the beginning of these RPGs and stuff, somebody wrote the script for that. Somebody writes everything. Everything we enjoy when it comes to entertainment, literature, whatever, somebody had to write.

All you have to do is decide if you want to enter the industry, which part of it you want to enter. Find mentors or these people to look up to from afar that are in those industries and then you listen. I got mentors in journalism, poetry, screenwriting and prose. With the first three, I got heavy hitters on my list like monsters in the game and people were like, “You talk to Kobe.” Jemele Hill was my big sister, but that was the whole world. That was one of the big supporters of my career. I've written for Jim Rohn or attempted to.

Chris and I started having lunch. Mark Spears has gotten me into a club. I was headed to ESPN. When I left that industry, some of them stayed with me and some of them didn't. I always found a way to get myself in front of people. I opened my mouth. If you close your mouth, you don't get fed. I had issues with some people because some people thought I talked too much, but I was like, “Nobody's going to know me if I don't speak. I'm not going to get the information that I need if I don't speak.”

At the time, I was 25 and nobody wanted to talk to me. I was telling somebody like, “I'm at 5 or 6 books for you and I've been called intimidating by people.” It's not because of my stature or how I'm physically in the room. It's my presence, voice, intellect and sense of humor in that room. I had to use my voice to fill up space because my stature didn't fill up the space for me. I wasn’t going to have anybody approaching me or want to talk to me if that wasn’t the case.

I had to take some losses because of that. I'm very aware and understanding of those losses I had to take, but I had to do what I needed to do to get myself in front of certain people. Now, I have a national network that I can tap into at any point in time because I spoke up in every environment that I was in. If I was in a program and it was four days, everybody in that program over those four days was going to at least talk to me once. You are going to remember me.

I don't see it as a loss and if it was a loss, it wasn't a loss on your part. Everybody plays a role and that's the role they were meant to play in your life, whether it’d be an inspiration, admiration, bystander, hate or whatever role they play. Let them play their role so that you can play your role. What projects are you working on? Where can people find you?

I’m working on book number two, technically the sequel to Vinnie. It's more of a standalone, but it has the Vinnie story in it. It's called I Love You, Walter. It originally was going to drop in 2021, but I signed with a literary agent. The thing that can be supported is in February 2022, I'm hoping, but COVID is going to determine that, but I'm going to be dropping the second edition of Vinnie: A Love Letter. I have a new cover and acknowledgments. Some people are taking it out and some people were added. It'll also have the judge’s comments from the contest.

Tell the people the awards you won. Stop being modest.

I was able to place in the honorable mention category for the 28th Annual Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards. It was 1,800 books submitted. I was selected amongst the top in the mainstream literary fiction category. That was a major event for me. It gave me a lot of vindication and understanding that it wasn't just people who knew me who were supportive of the book but also people who had no emotional connection to me who still rocked with it.

The primary reason for the rerelease of the book is that they gave me one of those little award seals that you can put on the front of a book. It would say, “It's 2020 Self-Published Book Awards honorable mention.” It's going to be on the front. It’s cool because people always talk about, “I got the first edition of this book.” We passed 815 copies in two years.

People who have the first book also have the “First Edition” of Vinnie: A Love Letter. Some people want to buy the second one, even if they have the first one, which is awesome. We're going to drop that hopefully in mid-February 2022, as well as we're going to be dropping the audiobook of Vinnie: A Love Letter, which a lot of people have been asking for. I'm not reading it. My dear friend, Mr. Aman Ra, who is a celebrated poet in San Diego who lives in North Carolina because that's where he's from, is the one who is reading the book.

I wanted a different and poetic voice I could trust. Ra is doing that for me. In February 2022, the audiobook should drop. The second edition of Vinnie should drop. Feel free to support that at RPrestonclark.com . Feel free to check that out. I also still have the limited edition hoodies. It’s still available. It's a hoodie that has artwork from pages 180 and 181 of Vinnie: A love Letter. A wonderful artist in Chicago was able to bring to life that section of the book. We put it on the front of the hoodie, so that's out as well. I'm still living off of Vinnie in a lot of ways.

The creation of that character has completely changed my life in many ways. A lot of people don't know that Vinnie was a character in a previously written screenplay of mine. It was a screenplay called Play Clothes that I wrote in that program at UCLA. He was a secondary character in that screenplay, but he was my favorite character and so I always wanted to do something with him on his own. I originally thought it was going to be another screenplay, but when I got the opportunity to write from a friend's website, I took him out of that screenplay, fleshed out his story and the rest is history.

Ronald Preston Clark, it's been a pleasure. We could do this all day. I want you to end off with this. What books have you read? What do you marinate with? Give that to the people.

I'm reading SOL Affirmations: A Tool Kit for Reflection and Manifesting The Light Within by Karega Bailey. It’s a book of affirmations. That's my small thing. This is why I say diversity is key. I'm reading those affirmations. I'm reading two magazines on Kobe. One of them was right after he retired. They did a whole issue on him and then the one where he passed away. I love eating off of Kobe's words and Michael Jordan's words. They were determined at the highest of levels. I'm reading Defining Moments in Black History by Dick Gregory. It serves as my pseudo textbook for my class. My Baldwin is If Beale Street Could Talk . That's the literature that I’m into.

Kids don't realize that if you're reading magazines, even if it's a car magazine, fashion magazine, whatever it is that you're interested in, you're still reading. Don't make it seem as if just because it's not a book, that you're not reading. As educators, mentors, parents and counselors, we need to start letting our kids know more often that you still are consuming words and literature, even if it's not in a traditional way.

Ronald Preston Clark, thank you again for coming through. This has been another episode of the show. Go check out my brother’s second book coming soon.

Important Links:

Oluwatoyin Adewumi - Entrepreneur | Chef | Author | Blogger | Health Advocate

Sun, 17 Jan 2021 16:14:55 GMT

Throughout the challenges that Toyin has encountered in her life journey, she has been helped. That is why she seeks to spend her life paying it forward and helping those she is in a position to help. Oluwatoyin Adewumi is an entrepreneur and health advocate with decades of experience in hospitality, strategy, workforce development, and health IT. Toyin is the Executive Chef of TamBo's Kitchen, an African themed restaurant based on the South Shore area of Massachusetts. She is also the Executive Director of TamBo Foundation, a non-profit organization that seeks to help strip the ethno-religious conceptions that are pervasive in African communities. Join in and listen to Toyin’s powerful story that is filed with so many different testaments about faith, friendship, health, affliction and love.

Toyin’s Blog:

https://toyin-oema.org/

TamBo’s Kitchen:

https://tamboskitchen.com/

http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=ON_VODqpc104&ver=short

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Listen to the podcast here:

Oluwatoyin Adewumi - Entrepreneur | Chef | Author | Blogger | Health Advocate

This next young lady I’m about to interview and speak to in this episode that you're about to read is truly an inspiration. First, let me tell you a little bit about Toyin. She started a restaurant called TamBo’s Kitchen . It’s an African-themed restaurant based on the South Shore of Massachusetts. As always, she will introduce me to her.

I didn’t even know there were any West Africans or Nigerians in Massachusetts, to begin with. Apparently, we are out there too but if you are ever in that area, stop by the kitchen, it’s a wonderful place to dine in and eat at. I believe they're still doing take-out during this COVID-19 period. Support your Black-local businesses over there in Massachusetts if you're out there.

Toyin was inspirational to me, not because of her entrepreneurship journey but mostly her life journey. In 2017, it was a turning point in her life because she was not only actualizing one of her dreams of building this restaurant. On the other hand, she was also diagnosed with stage three, triple-positive breast cancer. That's a mouthful.

What do you do when you're in that position? If you're in the middle of building your lifelong dream of a restaurant and you have breast cancer that you have to attempt to, what do you do? You got all your life savings in debt into this baby of reality and you feel like death is staring in your face. Did you question it? Would you give up? T decides to move on and continue to go through the journey. Her story is one filled with so many different testaments about faith, friendship, health, affliction and love. I enjoyed hearing her story and having a conversation with her offline as well. Without further ado, I give you Toyin, ladies and gentlemen.

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I got a special guest in the building of the day. I want you to meet this lovely person that I've been introduced to, Toyin .

How are you?

I'm doing good. First, let's go into how did we meet? Let's tell the readers how we met.

We meet to assist a friend of mine. I called her sister-friend and she's also an entrepreneur. I'd love to hang around people who inspire, are goal-driven, who will push you, who want to bring the best out of you and also appreciate the best being brought out of themselves. It’s Adesola.

How did you and Sola meet, just out of curiosity?

We've met on a private social network. It was on Love Nation. It was a social media network. There was an opportunity for people to come out. She has this section called a Friday Business Promo. People get on there and you advertise yourself and sell yourself what you do. I saw her profile that she was into VC and helping entrepreneurs take their business from either concept to reality or whatever stage of the business chain you are.

She's set up to help with that. That was like, “How was that for me?” I did have some projects that I had worked on in the past that I had been looking to pick up but for lack of funds, I had not been able to get it off the ground or the technical support services that I needed. That was where my first foray into entrepreneurship. I was looking for ways to present our culture to our children, especially here in the Diaspora, in ways that can compete with the Nickelodeons and Disney. High-quality type but from the Afrocentric perspective because I looked around and I didn't see much. I had dabbled and I had a little episode series that I still have in the pilot stage.

I met with Sola and the rest is history. Now we're working together to see how we can kick it off of the ground because she is interested in the media space. I'm interested in the media space, especially media that is Afrocentric targeted towards our people, anyone who's willing and would like to learn about the continent, culture and its people.

That’s how me and Sola connected too and this podcast started to form because, like you, I grew up here in the US in Washington, DC but my stepdad is Nigerian so I grew up in the Nigerian culture. As I started to grow, when I got into workforce development and HR and so forth, what I found, especially within the Black and African communities that there is a disconnect. There's also a disconnect in how we see each other, how we see ourselves and how we could compete in the marketplace. Some of us don't even see ourselves as entrepreneurs. Every African I know got some hustling in them.

Ask any African, especially Nigerians. They probably grew up in a household where somebody had a side hustle. For me, I came from a family of entrepreneurs. When I look at the generation before my dad, my grandparents, they were the bootstrap hustle type, not even hustle but entrepreneurs with having to do with payroll and people.

My mom's dad, my grandfather blooded memory, migrated to Northern Nigeria and started a bakery in the North. Apparently, it was a very successful one. If you were able to build a twelve-room, Victorian-style apartment in your own town, you're good. He was a baker. My grandmother ran a bistro, they migrated to the South and he still continued his bakery. After a while, he stopped and became a rice miller. Those who harvested in the area will come and have a process because he was one of the few people that had the machines in the area. That was on my mom's side.

On my dad's side, his dad was a cocoa farmer. He had a cocoa beans plantation and my grandmother was a palm oil merchant. That's all they did. Now for my family, my dad was a businessman growing up. He had his own engineering company. He had worked in corporate nature for a while but after a while, I remember him saying to me one day that when he went for his interview, I believe at SCA Motors. He asked them, “What's it going to take for me to get up the corporate ladder?”

This was what the French man told him. He said, “Look around here. We're all French.” That was enough for my dad to say, “If I can rise, I better strike of this my own.” He struggled early. He built his own engineering business and focused on supplying Earthmoving equipment to state and local governments. He provided technical assistance in that space. Entrepreneurship has always been around.

That's why I named this RISEpreneurs because I think the rise for African and the Black community is through entrepreneurship taking those skills and talents. We have some of the most creative problem-solvers out there. If we use those skills to get the right knowledge in front of us and the right connections, I think we could build and create anything we want, including generational wealth for ourselves. A lot of people may know you do a TamBo’s Kitchen and some of the other things you do with your philanthropy but before we get into that, who is Toyin? How would you describe yourself to the people?

I'm an open book. Pretty much what you see is what you get. I wake up every day and my goal is whoever life brings your way to help, just help. Pay it forward because you've been helped yourself. That's been my modus operandi. I remember when I migrated to the US in 2000 to come to college, I was blessed to have a sister and we are still friends until now.

She came to pick me out from the airport because I was late. I didn't start orientation with all the other international students but she came to Logan to pick me up to make sure that I was settled. My story has been a story of someone helped in life's journey. I believe that to whom much is given, much more is required. That's me. I love to help people and put a smile on people's faces as much as I can. I love challenges. I don't shy away from challenges. I think that's why the tapestry of my life is what it is. It comes, you deal with it, you keep it moving and I love music.

What's the music that you like?

I’m into everything. Anything that has rhythm and makes me calm, I'll do it, from a normal African genre like Juju. I listen to King Sunny Ade and His African Beats.

That's the legend right there. For those who don't know, get introduced to Nigerian music King Sunny Ade Adegeye. He's a legend.

A little bit of alacrity when you want to get into the zone, I could go on that side and a little bit of jazz. I love classical music and some hymns. My parents were Episcopalian because my dad was a quiet boy so we always had the King's college album, blaring and every morning or Saturday and Sunday in the house. Somehow it was going to filter down and when I need to be in my quiet space and meditate, I put that on.

Let’s talk a little bit about your entrepreneurship journey. Out of curiosity, where do you go to school for?

The plan according to Nigerian parents sometimes they'd like to dictate what you want to be. It’s either doctor, a lawyer, engineer or an accountant and then everything else is a disappointment. My dad foresaw it. I don't know-how. He’s like, “The technology is going to be ruling everything in the future. You should want to do Computer Science.” It wasn't something that I wanted to do but daddy said so I went to Smith College and had my first degree in Computer Science. Am I using it now? No.

The Liberal Arts education opens your mind and helps you to think critically. I love the skillset that I was able to do a lot from that. As I mentioned earlier, after I had my son, I was looking for tools to help showcase African arts and culture to my children using digital arts, digital media and technology. I didn't see much so I thought, “Let's go grab a Master's in Educational Media and Technology.” I went to Harvard and I got my degree. I’m MED with a Concentration in Technology, Innovation and Education.

This is the transition right here, Technology Degree and now you're in a whole different space.

That's where life comes in. It's like, “Life gives you lemons. You make lemonade.” Prior to that, while I was at Harvard, I had been creating little things here and there that I posted on my YouTube channel and I needed the funds. I didn't get them. I didn't know where to look. I was a non-resident alien, so it wasn't like I could go to a bank and say, “This is my idea.” There were no rich uncles or unties right there that could do a lot of money and say, “Here is the venture fund for your startup.” I looked downward and thought, “What can I do? What can be my cash cow that I can use to fund this?” Because I cook, I began to do it little by little on the side and this was supposed to be something small.

I remember the first time I started, the first year, I made $100 but by the third year, people started to know who I was. I began to cater from the comfort of my home and I will use the money to take care of things. After I graduated from Harvard, I had a setback in my immigration papers so I couldn't work. I was out of status for a little while. How do you go search for a job if no one has been hiring you? I turned to cater and posting.

In the process, I had employees. I grew the business and by the time my husband was able to regularize my status so he had become a citizen and I became a green cardholder. I had built enough of a custom base, goodwill and everything that I needed that I moved the business out of the home. I thought, “Why not?” I looked around. I’m living in Brockton, which is at the sanctuary of Massachusetts.

There were a couple of African restaurants in the greater Boston area. You had the Senegalese, Pio Pio Peruvian restaurants and a Nigeria restaurant. I thought, “I'm not going to go crowd. Let's come to the South Shore. There are quite a number of Africans and people who might be interested in shaking their pallets a little bit and not focusing on Italian and Chinese. Let's see how we can present our food to them.” We did.

In March of 2017, TamBo’s Kitchen opened and we've been there since. The first curve was immigration overcome that hurdle and the same day that I was going to get my occupancy permit, my OB-GYN called me and said, “I'm sorry to tell you that you've been diagnosed with stage three breast cancer.” Now, I'm alive. Several years later, cancer-free.

The business is still here despite the pandemic. We haven't shut down yet. My hope and prayer are that we will not shut down because 2020 was going to be the year are where when you plan and you think this is what you're going to do. This is how you're going to do your strategy. It felt like life came with another unknown curveball again.

This time around, I sat back took a breather and said to myself, “This feels familiar. This feels like another little curveball. What did I do then that made me survive from 2017? Can I still use those two sets to wade the storm of the COVID pandemic while we wait for our government to come up with solutions and ensure that we all continue to stay afloat? That's pretty much what I've been doing.

There are so many different layers in that story to unpack. I love it because it shows your ability to pivot and get creative with how you had to overcome all those different things. I hope that our readers take a key to that. Sometimes as entrepreneurs, you get these problems that are presented to you, you get stuck and you have to try to find a way. What would you say were the biggest things or the things that you would tell entrepreneurs that helped you overcome to get through or survive the storm?

The first thing I would tell any entrepreneur is never to be afraid to ask and receive help. It's one thing to ask for help. It's another thing to receive the help that is given to you. Never be afraid to ask for and receive help.

That's a big thing in our community too.

The shame factor. I need to share this story. It was at the restaurant and one of my line cook is younger and he was trying to do something. I knew he could not do it by himself and he was struggling. He was trying to carry almost 50 pounds of cooked beef that was hot all by himself. I'm sitting there and I'm looking. I have to tell him, “Why aren't you asking someone to help you?” He struggled for fifteen minutes on how to ensure that the broth did not spill and all kinds of stuff.

I'm like, “What are your reasons why?” “I don't want anybody to call me stupid.” That, for me, was deep because I wonder how many people walk around in our community thinking and asking for help means you're stupid, weak and not capable. We need to get past that mentality that asking for help is a sign of weakness.

One of the ways that I chose to ask for help was never to walk alone. At the height of my active treatment, I brought partners into the business. I call them my sisters but they have profits with an equity stake in the business and we're all working on it together. I could take a step back and seek help when I needed it.

It was also good for me because now I don't have to be at the restaurant all the time and be there 24/7 because also I need to be easy on myself and my health. I have to look for other ways within the business structure, look for ways that I can add value, be closer to the money because I'm probably better off being the strategy to think they're looking for businesses and opportunities while they handle the operation.

It's been a blessing in a way hindsight because now I don't have to feel that I have to be there for the business to ran. It ran with or without me regardless. that was a huge lesson that I learned in the process. Never be afraid to ask for help and also, it is not for you as a business owner to say, “I'll take help from here but I won't take help from here. I don't want to be rejected so I don't want to go for help.” Help can come from anywhere through anyone at any time.

You have to be open and willing to receive it.

Now we were in 2020, the hospitality business has taken such a very big and terrible hit but we're still here and we hope to still be here. It took me to submit myself. I'm a member of a Network Delivery Truck Academy through Tiffany Aliche. When the stimulus package was on Vail, she had a one-hour tutorial. She said, ”Everybody come up here. You need to listen. This is how the funds are going to be distributed.” I could have chosen not to listen. It was helpful.

I sat down with my notes and wrote an ad at the application. When would the applications come out? What are the things that I need to do so I can get the funds to make sure that my employees still have a job, get paid, we're all alive and well? Asking and receiving for help is critical through networks whether your own circle of influence or even wider professional networks. That is very key.

The other thing too is there are some things that you cannot control. Whatever you cannot control, surrender, let it go and have the courage to let it go. Whatever you can, do what you can and let it go. Last but not least, you've got to be living something with an answer, at least for me. I pray. Every day I practice gratitude and I appreciate that for how far because I, unfortunately, know other entrepreneurs who we all started together, who are businesses have gone under or people who've lost their lives in the journey.

It doesn't mean I'm any special or anything extra about me. I have to take time off to appreciate God that I'm still here, that the business is still here and that the business is still thriving. One of the ways that I also express gratitude is through the foundation, helping to raise awareness and trying to help lift the veil and unveil or the stigmas, especially the ethnic or religious stigmas in our community about the different forms of cancer that affect us, like breast, prostate, ovarian or lung cancer, just for people to know that early detection saves lives. Go ahead and go get your checkup. There's nothing wrong with going to see your PCP and whatever happens, take it one day at a time. Fight, there is hope and therapies. Do it the right way and your survival rates will be greater.

What's the name of your foundation?

It's called TamBo Foundation .

Make sure you guys, one, to go check out the foundation and two, if you're in the Massachusetts area, support TamBo’s Kitchen. Let's keep the money growing, flowing and support your small businesses in the area. I'm glad you brought this to my attention because I believe health is wealth. Once the health goes, everything goes. That's something we need to do a better job in our Black and African community.

I was on the video web conference and they talked about how Black women and health care, how the relationship in Western medicine and how it's not a very healthy one. They're often not listened to and don't know how to advocate for themselves. I can only imagine that you might have went through some of this during your diagnosis. What did you learn along the way? What are some other things that you're doing to educate women and help women? From your experience, what are some lessons you learned? How we can move forward?

I'm glad that you touched on the whole advocacy thing because you rightly said, “The stats don't speak too well when it comes to patient-doctor relationships, especially with African-American women. They look at you and they think you're more likely to tolerate more pain. If you went to the doctor and you said you were in pain, they might be quick to give your other non-Black counterparts narcotics but give you Tylenol.

Look at Serena. She had to advocate for herself. Otherwise, she would have lost her life or tried to have a child. It cuts across classes within the community. It doesn't matter if you're a millionaire or you're below the poverty level. I always tell women whenever someone is brought to me for encouragement, when we're advocating that or they've been diagnosed with breast cancer, one of the things that I tell them is, “You need to advocate for yourself.”

2016 was the year when I began to feel symptoms. I was asymptomatic. You couldn't tell. No doctor would think it's breast cancer. I knew something was off in my body. I was having terrible heartburns that wouldn't go away after all the Tums and whatnot, it wouldn't go. I went to go see my PCP, who had been my PCP for many years. He kept saying, “It was okay. You're fine.” He did the blood work. He found out that my thyroid was a little bit over-reactive.

What I did not like was the way he handled my concern. I would call, ask for information and I wasn't getting the information that I needed. It almost seemed I was becoming a bother. At that point, I walked away from the relationship. People, if your doctor doesn't serve you, there is nothing wrong with going somewhere else. You're not joined to the hip.

I switched doctors immediately and found a brother. The first time I saw him, I said, “I fired my fifteen-year PCP. I would not be hesitant to fire you if you do not advocate for me or listen to me.” He just smiled. He said, “It's okay. I'm here to hear what you have to say. What's up?” He tried to calm me down but they couldn't find anything.

Here's the funny thing, I had gone to my OB-GYN five months earlier to the diagnosis, the same OB-GYN and gone through my yearly physical, the pap smears and breast exams. Another thing, women, please learn how your breasts feel. Don't leave it in the hand of your OB-GYN because that was the mistake I made. She said I was okay. October 2016, I was okay. Valentine's Day 2017, stage three breast cancer, metastatic to the lymph nodes. How do you correlate that? All she could say was, “I'm so sorry.”

I'm like, “Are you kidding me?” I was here several months ago but now I look back and look at those. I smile and I'm saying, “Thank you, Lord. I'm still here and the business is still here.” For that, all I can say is I'm grateful to God and I hope my story encourages people not to give up. It might not be a health scare but the thing about entrepreneurship is anything can happen at any time.

I listened to this podcast, How I Built This . One of the things about entrepreneurship is that it will test you. It will test your resilience, resolve, how desperately you want the business to grow and if you're ready to give up or not. You have to say to yourself, “I'm in this for the long haul.” It might look like the ground is about to fall off from under you, which will happen sometimes because it is what it is. Cashflow issues, payroll issues, you never know what's going to come slamming you.

The key thing that you said there is resilience. That's been the theme of your life, resilience and a lot of prayers.

There's this denomination in Nigeria, the CAC. They constantly say, “Pray so you do not become prey.” You go to fill yourself up because when the days of adversity come, you need something to hang on to and that has pretty much been my life's journey and I'm grateful for where I am now. I'm hopeful for what 2021 will bring. That this too shall pass. We will put that behind us and we can start building again and building it fresh.

One thing that I like about your story that inspires me too because I know you do a little bit of workforce development as well or you've done some. When I had done workforce development in my community, I often saw different people of color. They have this limiting belief of what success looks like for them. It's mostly based on, “Whatever my parents told me or what I see in media. My parents said the only way I'm going to be successful is as I become a doctor, lawyer and engineer. I have to go to school for this. That's the only way I'm going to be successful,” or they see, “I'm going to be either a rapper, basketball player, football player or something of this nature. That's the only way I'm going to be able to be successful.”

One of the reasons why I started this show is because I wanted people to see different versions of what success could look like for them and write their own version of success. Now, one thing I used to ask people that I used to interview and I'm going to ask of you. What was your first job? What did you learn from that first job that you took with you as a learning lesson and helps you be successful in who you are now?

Back home in Nigeria, my mom had a little mini-mart. Is chocolate jobs considered first jobs? I’m sitting there and helping her. I’m learning customer service, helping to run the register, those sorts of things that I did but also my dad, once in a while, would wake us up. He wanted me to be in Corporate America but he would wake me up very early in the morning to help him go through his proposals and RFPs to check for errors.

That work ethic I took it with me when I came to the US, getting up, hitting the ground, running and doing what you need to do, learning to plan for the day. Those are skills that were important at a very young age. When I came to the US, I worked in my house kitchen. I’m a freshman year at Smith College, the first year, I was helping in the kitchen. I was the kitchen staff.

My work started at 12:00. I had to be there by 11:50, make sure everything was set and ready for lunchtime and the kitchen was clean. Those skills of being reliable, being on time, smiling, nad serving are the things that I picked up and it took me all the way. I joined YMCA Training Inc. in Boston. It's a workforce development training and profit organization. I was first immigrant in the Greater Boston Area and the people who were trying to live transitional assistance and I look to find a way to get a fresh start into the corporate setting in healthcare and in the business area so we can get closer to the soft skills that they need.

In that capacity, I had the opportunity to serve a community that we’re looking for, not just a handout but the how to be successful. You take those skills with you, service, hospitality, punctuality, reliability and they go with you. They found the bedrock and that helped me when I started to cater from the comfort of my home. When a client says they want this much, want to cater, food delivered at this time will be at that time, it will be delivered at that time.

If there's anything that I'm grateful for that people say about my brand is if you tell Toyin to be somewhere at 2:00, you better not be the one waiting for you. My clientele know. We need you to be here at this time, at this place. It will happen. I'm grateful for that skillset of stuff, continue to stick and for those who continue to keep us in business.

Sometimes, as entrepreneurs or even in their career and looking at your career, they get so stuck on the bigger things like the degree and all these other things.

Those things that you think are insignificant.

That's what sets you apart from your competition and you adding value to a company organization or your manager. Let's get more into that blueprint that you were talking about of success. We talked about the soft skills and those things that you learned from your first job. Let's say I'm a young woman who's inspired now by your journey and I want to go down the same path that you've gone down, what would be three tips or three things of advice you would give to a young woman that's going down the same path? I just finished college or I'm a woman who has been in there at her dead-end job for some time now. Now, I'm inspired by hearing your journey and I know like, “This is my calling. The Lord wants me to do this.” What are three steps you would give to somebody who is in any of these positions?

I can only advise on what I know, start small. Microsoft or Amazon didn't get to where they were overnight. It's a journey. Entrepreneurship is a journey. It's not even a marathon. It's a long patient walk. It's not a sprint. I don't consider it a marathon. It's a faith walk. You have to be willing to take that step-by-step because, in the process, you will also get to know yourself, market space and why are you doing this. You get to fine-tune your product and service. I always tell people it's not money you need first. That's making sure that you are in a good place to bring your concept to life bit by bit.

Explain a little bit what do you mean by when you're talking about making sure you're going to get a space. Is it mentally, financially or spiritually? What do you mean?

You're in the space physically, mentally, spiritually. For example, you want to start this product. Maybe you've seen somebody do it. Don't go into business because other people are doing it, do it because you see a need and you want to fulfill it. That brings me to my second one. You don't do a business because other people are doing it. You're doing it to fulfill the need.

I remember the catering was supposed to be a cash cow towards getting my media business off the ground but for the longest time, I had issues with two things, no disrespect to foodpreneurs that I'd gone ahead of me. There was a foodpreneur who wanted to cater for my wedding and the way that she came off was condescending, left so much to be desired.

For me, I wanted to get into the service because I wanted people to know that you can have a wonderful experience while trying African food. It can be done professionally and presented in a way that you would love to come back again. When the chips are down, when the whole world is going hullabaloo, you go back to why? Why did I do this? Why am I in this? There will be days when you don't want to wake up, don't want to do it and be tired.

When you remember that the reason why I got into this business in the first place is because I want to fulfill a need, I see a gap and I want to make needs then it will be worth sustaining and the money will come. That's my number two. Number one, you start small. Number two, know why you want to do it in the first place because entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. It is not for everybody.

I always tell people there's a difference between a side hustle and a business. A side hustle is just you. You're having fun. When it's a business, I'm talking about you got employees and you need to deal with payroll. They don't care that you didn't make sales. They need their paycheck. You need to pay rent, do with your insurance and handle all that. Now you got a business so you rent it.

Those things would test your resource so you have to ask yourself, “Why am I doing this?” Lastly, don't walk alone. The Bible says two are better than one. I see all the businesses that are profitable and even businesses that are Fortune 500. If you read the stories of the faces of the company, you will find out that they didn't stop the concept. They might have been the ones who incubated the concept but they brought people to help them in the process. Never walk alone as a business. Even if you have an idea, share it with someone, not for somebody that shares that vision with you and works through it together.

Those are all great words of wisdom. Make sure you read those words of wisdom. I don't even know where we should go from here to wrap up. You gave us all such great gems and jewels. Where can people connect with you whether it be TamBo’s Kitchen or your foundation?

I look forward to people coming over to come to get some food. That will be nice. People who are like-minded and would love to support us, one of the things that we're trying to do on the foundational side right now is patient education. We’re using African languages. We're trying to create little educational materials that we can disseminate in African languages and also share with foundations on the continent who are doing something similar.

We're trying to collaborate and not compete. We provide them for free to those foundations to use as part of their tools and their skillsets. If you would like to support us, that will be a great opportunity right there. To help with funding or to help us see how we can bring this out to more people, we need volunteers and languages to help with that.

If you have the will and your able to volunteer, support in whatever way you can, I want to end off with your quote because I love it. I want to know what it means to you. You gave me your favorite quote. It’s, “Life is too short to be stressed.”

It was during my dark days where my battle with breast cancer because cancer will make you rethink life in a whole different way and hold a whole different meaning. For me, I live every day with gratitude and not stressing myself out about everything. Whatever I can do, I can do. Whatever I can’t do, I just can't do it rather than walking about fully worked up over nothing. Life is too short to be stressed. We can't do this. Let's keep it moving.

Some people stress themselves out to death and that's where your health deteriorates. As an entrepreneur, if you are overly stressed about things that you can control or even if you can't control it, it leaves you in a different mindset and skillset. You have to connect and create with people.

Finally, please make room to take care of yourself. As an entrepreneur itself, care is key because it's so easy to get all worked into the business. It's like a baby for all of us. You're trying to nurture it and all that. If you're not nourishing yourself as an entrepreneur, you can't nurture your business. Nourish yourself mentally and physically. Take time to rest, step back and then you can give your all to your business.

Toyin, it has been a pleasure to have you on this show. I know we could talk and go forever.

Thank you for having me.

Thank you for coming. I look forward to the day when I go out to Boston and have some of that great food that you got out there. If you were in the Massachusetts area south Shore of Massachusetts, check it out. Get you a to-go plate. Until next time. Thank you for joining us.

Important Links:

About Oluwatoyin Adewumi

Toyin is an entrepreneur and health advocate with decades of experience in hospitality, strategy, workforce development, and health IT. She is the Executive Chef of TamBo's Kitchen, an African themed restaurant based on the South Shore area of Massachusetts. She is also the Executive Director of TamBo Foundation, a non-profit organization that seeks to help strip the ethno-religious conceptions that are pervasive in African communities. A mother of 2, Toyin loves to travel, read, and help anyone looking to jumpstart an idea. She also blogs about her life experiences.

Adesola Akindele - Author | Entrepreneur | Startup Coach | Equity Builder

Mon, 11 Jan 2021 09:39:33 GMT

Entrepreneurship is the key to economic prosperity, especially for underestimated and under-represented economic groups. That’s what Adesola Akindele believes in and strives to achieve as a startup coach and equity builder. Adesola Akindele is a 20-year international serial entrepreneur and novice angel investor who is on a mission to help Black & African founders learn how to face their internal and external struggles to overcome the emotional plus socio-economic barriers that hinder economic success, equity, and ownership. Adesola is keen on Pan-African collaboration to foster an exchange of skills, ideas, and solutions. These collaborations are opportunities for startups and investors to learn first-hand from mistakes, processes, and resolutions to better products and services that help communities RISE to any challenge and thrive in any environment.

Connect with Adesola:

http://www.adesolaakindele.com/connect

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Listen to the podcast here:

Adesola Akindele - Author | Entrepreneur | Startup Coach | Equity Builder

I can't believe it, we’re finally here in 2021. I don't know what to expect out of this year. 2020 took us for a roller coaster ride. I'm ready for the journey. I'm not sure what it will bring us but hopefully, you get some sense of connection throughout this year. This is the first episode. In this episode, you get to meet somebody who's a dear friend and business partner of mine, Adesola . She's amazing. I first met her when I was at a startup weekend a few years ago through another good friend of mine, Luis Martinez, from We Tha Plug . I had an instant kinfolk connection with her. Several months later, we got the chance to do some work together.

Adesola Akindele is an international serial entrepreneur and novice Angel investor who believes that entrepreneurship is the key to economic prosperity, especially for those underestimated and underrepresented economic groups. As an economist, she was never shy of looking ahead at the bigger picture, examining the key metrics that differentiate success and failure in business ownership and leadership.

This woman is on a mission to help Black and African founders learn how to face their internal and external struggles to overcome the emotional plus social-economic barriers that hinder economic success, equity, and ownership. She is also keen on Pan-African collaboration to foster the exchange of skills, ideas, and solutions. These collaborations are an opportunity for startups and investors to learn firsthand from mistakes, processes, and resolutions to better products and services that help communities rise to any challenge and thrive in any environment.

In this episode, we talk a little bit about the journey of our meeting and some of the things that she's been working on including those tools and resources that help entrepreneurs and come in face-to-face with her own journey as well as being of Nigerian descent and being here in the States. Also, spending some time over in the UK, London, and so forth. I hope you enjoy this episode because I enjoy talking to her. Also, she is going to be joining me on several episodes as a co-host from time to time now that we are in business together. This won't be the first or last time you hear from her. Without further ado, Adesola.

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We got a special guest in the building. I call her Sola. Is it okay if we call you Sola? We could give them the whole name, Adesola Akindele .

How you pronounce it is fine by me but I'm sure your family will not be happy.

Don't call us late for dinner. I'm up here thinking the first time I met you or I got introduced to you. It was Luis that introduced you to me. Is that correct? Where did we first meet?

It was Christiana. We've had been chatting via email with regards to speaking engagements. You were guiding me and you connected me to Tanya Hertz, a lovely lady. SDSU and San Diego Miramar. We first met months after we had connected and that was at The Blue Heart Foundation pitch event with young boys. I met Jasmine again because I'd met her before at the We Tha Plug event.

You were teasing me about my speaking setup.

I wasn't teasing. I was impressed because I was like, “He’s prepared.” Remember, I told you we only turned up with our flash drive and I was like, “Are we missing something? This guy has everything all together.” You're like, “I'm a professional.” I'm like, “I like that.” You’re wearing a dashiki, which struck me as well. I finally got to know that you’re connected to Nigeria and everything. You're brought up by Nigerians. You’re already cool. That moment, you became my brother immediately.

I appreciate that. One thing that I'm always impressed with about you is your ability to diversify your portfolios, your hustle, everything that you got going on. For the people who are now getting acquainted, tell us a little bit about who you are, what you're doing, and what you working on. Who is Sola?

She’s this quirky nerd. I'm an advocate for entrepreneurship. When you met me, I was looking at venturing into teaching or being a guest lecturer or speaker at universities. I had a book and I wanted to make sure I was able to activate it properly, make it required reading in some educational institutions. Besides that, I'm also an economist. Whenever you see that I have this whole macro way of thinking, it’s because that's my academic training. I'm a mom. I'm a Nigerian. I'm a British girl as well. There's a lot of size to me. I'm relaxed and mellow. I’m a hermit as well.

There’s a little bit of all that going on. She's a true economist because she’d be watching US news, British news, Nigeria news. There’s a video that we're going to talk about in the segment that we're going to break down because I have a feeling that's your economic standpoint. We’re breaking down that video you had sent to me earlier that I watched. Here's something I want to dive into quickly. A big reason why I do this and why we do this is because we want to give back.

One thing I noticed when I used to go around speaking to students is the identity of self, self-worth, and limiting beliefs that we have as Black people, at least for me, growing up with Nigerian culture in American society and learning about the two worlds and being in the middle of those two worlds. Also, learning how we perceive ourselves. We don't think that we can do certain things because of what is presented to us or we think there's only one path to do certain things. It’s like, “You're going to go be a doctor and that's how you are going to make money for the family.” I don't like blood. How am I going to be a doctor if I don't like blood?

I was supposed to be a lawyer just so you know. I tried doing law at GCSE, which is an exam that you take at high school in England. It was the first time in my life that I got a D. I'm like, “What is this? I know what I was writing.” We got feedback and I wasn't quoting the cases. I said, “What do you mean by that?” The woman said, “Sola, you got to know at least 100 cases per exam.” I love reading but not to that extent. How am I going to do this?

My mother is a lawyer. I said, “Mom, this is what this lady told me. This is what is going to be like. I don't want to struggle in any exam or any career.” She said, “Yes.” I said, “My memory is not like that.” I can study for an exam but studying 100 cases per example, per question, I said, “No. I can't read that many books. I know the way law books are.”

They’re boring. If you want to go to sleep, read a good law book.

I said, “I can skip from here to becoming a lawyer to the end. Let's start looking for another career.” I didn't tell my mother because I was trying to figure out how. It took me years. Fortunately, I stumbled on economics during my A-Levels and that changed the game for me. I read every economic book in my school's library. I was 100% in my examinations. It was a life-changing thing for me to see things in a different picture. My goal was to figure out what was wrong with Nigeria. I'm like, “How can we be the richest country in terms of resources and our people are still struggling? It didn't make any sense. Let's understand the mathematics behind an economy and running a country.” That's why I studied economics.

That goes back to the point I was trying to get to. First and foremost, shout out to your mom for pushing you in this direction. I didn't realize that she was a lawyer. I have to start reaching out to her and reviewing all my contracts now.

She taught me how to write them so I can review them for you. That's something she gave me. In fact, I'm writing a licensee agreement and she's behind me making sure I cross all the T's and dot all the I's. Any structured contract or anything, my mother is behind me. She always told me, “Get a lawyer. Make sure you have one to protect you. Make sure you have a lawyer review this.” It's part of my schtick anyway.

Equity Builder: People of color in general are constantly at the lower part of the totem pole when it comes to building a wealth.

The reason why our economies and the Black economy or people of color in general, we're constantly at the lower part of the totem pole when it comes to building wealth. I'm talking about that generational wealth that we often talk about. It’s because of that mindset that has kept us from growing and then also access to resources and capital and so forth.

When I tried to go to the schools, one thing I always skipped out on is I always forget to tell them, “I'm like you. I came from that.” I speak from this level now because it's where I am in life. Sometimes I have to go back. One question I want to make sure that I ask all my guests and share back to the young people that read this is, what was your first job growing up?

My first job was taking care of my young ones. As the oldest, that's your task. That's number one. I got pocket money so I said, “Being a good girl, I’ll make sure I get my full pocket money.” My brothers were not getting their entire pocket money. They will get half. One time, nada if they misbehave. I started my business before I started working. My mom used to own a salon. I watched how they did hair, how they did nails, and all that stuff. To make extra money, I used to do people's hair. This was probably maybe 15 or 16 years old.

At that time, I had started living in England. When I found out I was a British citizen, I was like, “Sayonara, people.” I finished my secondary education in England. I started my education, a part of it, in Nigeria. At sixteen, I went to a boarding house. During the two years there, people used to pay me to do their hair because we're Black students in the boarding house. It was Ken College in the heart of the garden country as they call it, Garden State of England.

My first paid job was in Paris. In England, you're encouraged to take a gap year after your A-Level. A-Level is two years after high school. You can do A-Levels, BTEC, the different forms of qualifications you can get. I went to a foundation, which is one year that leads you straight to university. I did two years of A-Level.

They say that A-Level is as hard as universities. It’s prepping you for that thing. Because I did A-Level economics, the first-year economics was relevant to me. It was the same stuff. That's how tough it is. I went to Paris to learn French. My first job was in Hill-Rom. Hill-Rom is a company that makes all these hospital beds and hospital equipment that has been used. My mom works in the hospital and I saw the Hill-Rom, I'm like, “I work for that company.” It’s my first job. Look at that. Thank you for asking that.

I like to tell people there are no mistakes in life, there are lessons learned. What are some things that you carry with you now that you learned from that first job or creating that first business? You could give a little bit of both. Start with the lessons you learned from creating your first business and then give me the lessons you learned from the jobs because you gave us two examples.

You can make money with your brain. I was in the heart of my educational years. I was studying so that I could be able to make money. I was like, “I'm already doing it now. What’s the big deal about stuff?” I never lost sight of finishing college or university. The first job I had, I wish I had absorbed the lesson of that. There are a lot of things that I've gone through or mistakes I've made. You got to pay the bills. A brainless job will cover the bills. It covers what you need to do so you can do what you want to do. I didn’t take that lesson with me.

There were moving offices. The whole time where I was living, the woman notice that I wasn't doing much. I said, “Because I didn't have that much cash with me, I always made sure that I only stayed around the school that I was in, in terms of the activities because that was paid for. My mother had paid for that.” They take an excursion and stuff. She’s like, “No, you need to have your own cash and stuff like that.” She got me a job in her workplace. I was packing their stuff so they could move. I helped them pack their office to move.

It was quite a lot of money. I used to get €1,000-something a month for that. It was a brainless job and it didn't require me to use my mind or think or anything. I was doing my stuff away from everybody. I got paid and I was able to do a lot of stuff with that. I was able to do more fun stuff in Paris. I’d hang out with my friends more and things like that. I wish I took that lesson with me but I didn't. I'm not going to say I regretted it because I learned the hard way but I still learned. Now I can teach people. Yes, I know you want to start a business but who's going to be covering your bills in between? You need a good six months to one year. Once a company can afford to pay you a salary, you can shuffle.

You use that mindset now in all of the ventures that you have. Tell me a little bit about the business pitches you have because I know you got a lot going on. Sometimes I can't even keep up with you.

I have a creative mind. My brain needs to keep working all the time. I don't mind devil’s workshop. For me, I've found a way of handling myself to manage my products and companies, keeping with the business's time management, and finding the right people to work with. Before, I would be doing different things and it would be me heading and leaving everything. It doesn't work that way anymore.

Let me start by telling you the businesses I'm in and then I'll tell you my positions in all of them. Chocolate & Cinnamon is a beauty company. That's a family business. It’s like how people have a farm or they have some property or something. During my millionaire journey, it occurred to me that I have to have a for-profit brand company and that was it. It’s something where I could sell eCommerce online. I looked for what I felt like everyone in my family was into and it was in beauty. It was anything we talked about that was a common point, it was either food or beauty.

I'm not going to start cooking anything. There are too many regulations there. We're going to go into beauty because I wanted something that we could all do together. That's how that company was formed. It was also a gift to my mom to retire. It's hard to get someone who's worked all their life to retire. I wanted her to have something that she could sink her teeth into and have fun. People always comment on our skin. People always comment on how young we look. I still get carded when I go buy alcohol. Can you believe that?

There’s a saying that they have in the US, “Black don't crack.”

With our youthful exuberance and everything, let's create a line based on what our grandma used to do. My grandma was big on natural beauty. She used to make our own body creams, hair creams, and face scrubs. We took some of the knowledge, looked for a manufacturer that was as close as possible to the formulas that we had, and then we started the brand called Chocolate & Cinnamon. We got nominated for a couple of awards. We're a finalist for one, The Black Beauty and Fashion Awards in England, which is awesome.

You go, girl.

That got me going. I was like, “I'm going to get into Boots now. I'm going to get into Superdrug.” It started simple but it's now moving along. That’s what you want for any company, it’ll organically grow and become successful. Everything I've learned is infused there. When I started that business, it took me three months to build it but I built it on the process and all. I made sure that everything was perfect, clockwork, the packaging, the fulfillment centers, all that kind of stuff.

This award we got was during COVID. We launched the brand with the CBD range during COVID. Our returns are 4 to 6 weeks because of COVID. You can imagine how frustrating it was for us where we went from selling every month to no sales at all. Fortunately, because cannabis was an essential product, everybody was looking for CBD stuff. Ours was a CBD luxury brand.

I want to tell people, don't let anything stop you. COVID is a moment for people to pause and re-strategize on their next move and plan the life that they want. Existing isn't enough. COVID is a break. I don't know when you're going to get the time where you're at home with your families or home to think, “Is this how I want my life to go? Does this company care about me? What do I want to do next? How do I want to serve others?” These are questions to ask at this time.

Equity Builder: COVID is a moment for people to pause and re-strategize on their next moves and actually plan the life that they really want.

I love all of that.

The other one is More Media Tech . More Media Tech started in Italy as More in Nigeria. My ex was a graphic designer and he taught me how to design. Since that moment, that has been my bread and butter, designing brands, creating brands, helping people with their graphic design needs. It's evolved from More in Nigeria and More in UK. It then became More Media and then More Media Technology. This one, I own with somebody else. I have a partner and he's a Pakistani. I've known him for over ten years. He is an excellent designer. The two of us work well together. I bring in the fish and then he cooks the fish and then I deliver the meal.

That's a good game plan. I like that.

We have a team that works with us as well. We've scaled down a little bit now. Because of Fiverr and Upwork, there's a limit to what we can do now and charge the rates that we used to. For me, there are excellent designers on all these platforms. We even tell clients when they come to us, “Have you tried Etsy? Have you tried Fiverr for your logo?” The time it takes us to do that is not worth the money we can pay knowing that they know they can get it for less. It’s not only because we're in a country that requires high bills.

We decided to focus on what we're best at, which was startups. I combed my experience with entrepreneurs and said, “Startups need our help. They have a smaller budget. What can we do for them in essence?” We looked at different things. We did a package, which has your logo, website, and all of that but it was still wasn't working. We now decided to adapt and say, “What is it that an entrepreneur needs the most? Their pitch. They need a good-looking pitch and brand to show when they want to get investment from investors and want to raise capital.”

Fortunately, for me, at that time, I saw a gap. I was starting a VC firm, a private equity firm, with two other partners. I thought, “We need to have some collateral to make our founders look great.” We started with this magazine called The Hunt. We started with this pitch that was animated and things like that. It looked beautiful. They can watch it in two minutes and they're like, “I want to know more about this brand.” We call that product Vitch, Video Pitch. We've got a lot of requests for jobs for Vitch. We can pitch that to venture capitalists who are founders that they need to get investment for.

I love that because I was able to find a niche somewhere else, something new and can pass our skills. We deal with Software as service Products. We create people's apps, which is always fun. We stuck to the UI and UX side of it. We’re like, “Anybody who starts an app needs a team to continue maintaining it. It's best they built that team themselves. How it's going to look, we can help you get there.” That's what we did.

We stuck to the UI and UX for people's applications and then we stuck to Vitch. We had to scale our team for what it was before. We had the team up before. We scaled down to a smaller team of four. We re-strategize to make it small. There was a purpose for that. Me and my partner are going to be C-level executives in my new venture, which is Hygear. This is the first time I'm talking about Hygear publicly. Hygear is a hygiene tech company and we're creating products for third-world countries. This has been the best thing I've ever done because this was done with every I dotted and T crossed.

We're assembling a team of random Black people, engineers. We're able to attract an amazing advisor who used to work for Apple. She sold her company. She asked if we wanted her to put us on LinkedIn as a client. I'm like, “Absolutely. If people see that we’re connected to you, they would be more interested in our brand.” It’s pretty awesome. Here I am trying to get my team to be like, “Send me your buyers. I need to send this thing to Forbes Africa.” Every step of the way for this company has been a positive learning curve. I wish I could tell you the story of Hygear but I will another time.

We’re going to save that for another episode. That’s a whole other podcast in itself.

I would love that because it's a pathway home. I wanted to show that Africans and African Americans can work together. This is what we can create when we unite. We can do great things for Africa.

We are already living proof that Africans and African Americans work together because we've been doing it. Although I'm not your typical African American because I was raised by a Nigerian. I'm more Nigerian than I am African American but that's neither here nor there.

You're like a poster boy. I wish I'd known you earlier because you had some stories about how you were not accepted by either side. I'm not that person. I'm like a chameleon. I’m like, “You have a Nigerian name. I'm going to be your best friend.” In my years of being back and forth in the US, it's something I've noticed that we need to do. More people like you coming out are the people that we need.

I'm honored to know you. I get happy when I talk to you because you know both sides and you can show me, “This is what's going on on this side.” You know exactly how I react so you'll be like, “You already know how to package something for me to not freak out.” You take consideration of both cultures. People don't understand that.

That's the whole thing about diversity, you're getting two sides, you're getting two points of view to make something better. Two heads are better than one. There are so many sayings about things like that. The problem is there and the problem is solved. I'm like, “Why are people not seen that?” The reason why you're stuck is that you're not learning something from somebody else. Why are ethnic people, ethnic communities doing better in relation to those that are not? It’s because they have a system in place that they work as a unit, as a community. That's why they succeed more than others.

Before I jump to something else, I need to let everybody know about this last company, Sheba Venture Partners . We started wanting to be a VC firm. After tons of pitching and realizing that more or less people were probably laughing at us when we closed the door, we decided to switch to what we call a venture studio model. A venture studio model means we are founding investors. We co-run the company. You can start with the founder for about two years. We’re a co-CEO kind of thing. This allows the founder to gain confidence while working beside us.

It’s like an apprenticeship system. It also allows them to feel they have support, which a lot of founders do not have. Especially founders of color, they need that. Already, their family is always saying, “Go get a job.” Once you know that there are people who believe in your vision, know that you're not crazy, support you, fight for you, and advocate for you, that's what we're offering because that's what our community needs. That's all of it in a nutshell.

That's not enough. I love everything that you're doing. People don't realize there's an economic focus to it as it's building up the economy. The Black and Brown economy, that's been either overlooked, undervalued, underappreciated, or however you want to slice and dice it. Even with that, you’re diversity-focused because you're bringing a diversity of thought to the table. There's a diversity of different Black and Brown cultures. You’ve seen the world from your travels. Also, us working together, we've had plenty of conversations about that.

Diversity is key because I've seen it myself when Google reached out to me to do Startup Weekend and help promote it in our Black and Brown communities. Me and my team, that one Startup Weekend, we're a diverse group of individuals. We challenged each other. It was challenging. At the end of the day, we learned some valuable lessons. One is that everything that we argued about, we came to a solution with. It’s the same thing that these VC folks were grilling us on, “Did you think about this?” Yes, we did. We argued over it. There's the solution to that. I saw in real life how diversity helps.

What I want to jump into now is seeing the difference in different cultures and then coming here to America. It’s something that you gave me a video on. I want to touch on that topic briefly here. It’s something that's both dear to our hearts. There was a video you sent me highlighting the most educated groups here in America, the high-earning groups, and how there's a policy in play. I'm not sure if this is with Trump. The powers to keep certain individuals out of the US or from these high-earning classes. One of them was a Nigerian. Why do you think that Nigerians are IN that class of people, high-earners, that are also being discriminated against FOR trying to be kept Out of certain spaces and places?

Equity Builder: Revenge is not our way. Nigerians don't do things like that. Africans don't do things like that.

The easiest way I can put this is to give you a brief scenario of my upbringing. In Nigeria, when you're in school around friends, it's a competitive spirit like no other. It’s not like someone who's into sports because that's usually what people hope to build in you. When they put you into sports, you're competitive. By being competitive you're always aiming for the best. That's it. Life from day one is that. Everyone is aiming for that A in your class. Everybody is aiming to be at the top of the class. Everybody is aiming to be at the first of the line when we're doing into house sports. Everybody's aiming to be the teacher's pet. Everybody's aiming for the highest point. This is from the moment we start school.

I finished elementary school at the age of 8 turning 9 that year. My birthday is in June, which is close to the end of the year. I was 8 and I turned 9 right as I finished elementary. I had to stay home for a few months because no school would take me. I skipped school for seven years because I was smart. That is the standard. That is normal to be the best that you can possibly be.

You're not going to go home and tell your friends you got a C. They ask you, “The person who got an A, do they have two brains?” You’re like, “No.” “Do they have 100 hands?” “No.” “They look like you. What is wrong with you?” They challenge you. Your parents challenge you. Your family challenges you to ask yourself, “Why didn't you get that A at an early stage, from day one?” They still allow you to be a child. You're still allowed in parents’ circles or something. Good luck to you trying to talk when parents or adults are talking.

I would not, “You are talking while I'm talking.”

This is with the culture, with everything, the food, and where we are. Nigeria is a unique country. We grew up with different religions working hand in hand. There are certain things that when I travel to the west and see it bothers people, I'm like, “I grew up with that. There's nothing wrong there.” That means that individual has an issue. It's not everybody in the group. Knowing that and having that spirit, it's not even about a choice, it's a natural thing to be the best person wherever you are. That’s how it is.

It's engraved in you.

We have this saying, “Naija no dey carry last.” We don't even know what that space looks like. At the top is A, A-, A-star, and A whatever. All you're hearing is the distinction and that's it. We talk about it within ourselves. Imagine having friends as teenagers. Yes, we talk about, “We’re going to this party.” People are like, “We have to read together.” We hang out to study. That's typical, standard Nigerian behavior. We’re joining study groups online or things like that.

Even though I watch my ex with the design, I taught myself how to learn other programs. I didn't have to go to a class. I had a system, “This is what I need to study.” Talk to people, find a mentor, and move on, that's the system. You can imagine coming from a country that supposedly we don't have much and has seen tons of opportunities to get to the top. Of course, you're going to take it. Of course, you're going to run that line. What we do is look at the top universities in that country, that's what we're aiming for. The way we see it, once you have the best education, every door is open to you.

Speaking of that, I remember in the study that they were saying that there's a high percentage of Nigerians graduating from Harvard. 25% of the black folks that graduated from Harvard are Nigerians. I was like, “How did that happen?” The Nigerians, out of the people of color, are the highest earners in the US. That's in the US. We’re not even talking about the wealth that is probably in Nigeria and Africa. We haven't had a chance to break that down. I'm pretty sure you got the numbers on that as well. It's that drive and that mentality that's ingrained in us.

It's a beautiful thing. When you're living it, it's not when you can't even get a seat. You get it now. You have to be the best. When everyone in the room is talking nonsense and then you open your mouth and say one thing and it crushes the room, why don't you want that power? To me, that is something. Have common sense. Sometimes it has to be ingrained and beaten to you. That's what we grew up with.

Taryell, with you, the reason why you and I get along so well is that you understand the way we are. You understand why we want to do things the right way, the best way. Giving back is part of our culture. We're generous people. Somebody's asking me, “What is it like to be Nigerian?” I said, “Are you trying to ask me how it’s like to be Black? To me, we’re forgiving.”

Were the most forgiving people. The light people better be lucky because we’re forgiving. If we wanted revenge, we'll be seeing something different in America right now.

Revenge is not our way. Nigerians don't do things like that. Africans don't do things like that. That's not our thing. If we get to that point, it means you've pushed us to the wall, to the brink of, “Enough is enough.” We would warn. Like our parents, when you're doing something, they will warn you at least five times.

Your parents warned you five times? I didn't get that many warnings. I got maybe 3 most before the belt or the shoe came at me.

It’s five for me. With my daughter, I’m trying to be nice to her.

With my parents, there's zero tolerance. If there’s one thing that you could do, you’ll get no warning. For me, they’d knock me on the head or slap. I remember my little brother threw a bat at my mom. She chased him down that hall so fast. We’re all like, “His life is over. Wait until dad gets home because dad wasn’t at home yet.” I felt for his life that day.

In an African household, you’re not worried about the person that's dealing with you at the moment. You're worried about the one that comes back from wherever the gun to and then that person reports. You don't have a voice there. The brother the person can add the salt, sugar, solution, pepper to make it sound so dire that you're going to get a double whooping. Being in an African house, you don't try something.

Innately, the reason why you notice that a lot of Africans follow the law is that there's no point. The person who brought you to this work can take you out. You've already seen that. Naturally, doing stupid things is going to lead you down the wrong path. Not all kids are like that. There are kids that didn’t even get to have a firm hand when they were growing up. Someone slacked along the way raising them. There are some parents who try and some kids are challenging.

Being raised African is why one is like this. One bad side is it leaves a little room for error. It leaves a little room for you to fail. When Africans fail at something, they don't know how to process it or handle it because they're not even allowed to experience that. That's one thing I've learned as an entrepreneur. Being an entrepreneur gave me that side of the experience that I needed to be where I am today. I needed to experience failure. Once I experienced the worst thing that could possibly happen, I'm not afraid of much anymore.

I wish I had this earlier because there are some mistakes I've made in my past. It’s because I didn't know what it would be like to be on the ground. Once I was on the ground, the only way was up. I had to beat myself out of staying down. That's another thing about upbringing. They tell you, “Shake it off.” The same thing you learn as an entrepreneur is to be quick on bouncing back from failure. We have that in our culture but they don't even allow you to get there to practice.

Equity Builder: Anywhere when you have a situation where the younger ones are not even having a good quality of life as their grandparents did, then you know something is wrong.

Failure is necessary and sometimes key, especially when you’re talking about entrepreneurship, business, and life in general. I tell people to fail faster, fail sooner so that they get to the lesson. The key is from every failure or mistake, you want to get the lesson out of it or try to figure out where the lesson is in it. Some lessons are harder to learn than others but that's why you want to get to it.

I can't have an economist on and not ask something about the economy. In the state that you see Nigeria in today or for Blacks in general, Africans living in the US, Africans living over in Africa, when you look at the economy, what do we need to do? Everybody is surviving right now. What do we need to do to thrive in this new economy?

This problem is something that's going on across all fronts, globally. We have a generation that is not passing the baton and that is a massive problem anywhere. When you have a situation where the younger ones are not even having a good quality of life as your grandparents did, then you know something is wrong and you know that your mindset hasn't evolved. It's not the mindset of the people that have an opportunity, the strength, the innovative mind, and the ideas to move a country forward or an economy forward. It's the people who still don't want to let it go. That is the biggest problem we have.

When I studied economics, one thing that we could not put a number on was the Black economy and corruption. You can't put a coefficient or anything on it. You can't calculate anything properly. The way it works in the federal state, especially Nigeria, once a new regime comes in, whatever the old regime did, they can wipe it off and start again. You can start making momentum over four years and if a new president comes in, you start again.

The way I see it is that there's a space you can operate that does not evolve the government, it does not evolve politics or any of those mannerisms that be. It’s the technology, which is why I'm a massive advocate for it. During COVID, what if we didn't have Zoom or Skype? How would we be operating? All the things that certain age groups did not like in the first place to even interact with, they are forced to do so now. For me, the way forward for your economy if it's struggling is to look at how tech can help it out of it.

Another thing is that, globally, we are all bowing down to one currency. It’s a situation where what you spend is supposedly controlled. If people don't understand money, what you spend is controlled. Their access to the global currency is controlled. They can trace everywhere it goes and where it's been spent, including your resources. For me, the biggest point is the fact that Nigeria is rich in resources and we still have people living below the global poverty line.

Another thing is $1 in Nigeria is worth a lot. You have to strike some balance. We have enough within the confines of our country to survive on our own. If we decided we don't want to import, we don't have to. Where are these talents that are supposed to build that industry? They're all abroad. They’re in the diaspora. That is another thing. If your country keeps on losing talent, you as a government need to ask yourself. You could be richer if you empower your own people.

I’ll give you a good picture. The head of the African Development Bank posted a video celebrating the 100 years or something. What he said struck a note for me. He said that we earn 43 billion from oil revenue, crude oil. I can’t remember for US dollars and Naira. Do you know how much Nigerians in the diaspora push back into Nigeria? Half of that, 22 billion. That is the economic power of us outside that country. That is just Nigerians. Can you imagine if our brothers and sisters that were taken from us hundreds of years ago decided to go back to Africa?

That's deep right there. We're not even going to talk about the money that they probably can't count, all the Susu, and all the other things that got those individuals over here to lift and build them up. That was pretty deep. I want to leave something tangible for the readers. Let's say I'm reading this podcast. I'm in Nigeria or I'm in my car in the US. I'm a person of color and I'm trying to figure things out. I'm at my dead-end job. I don't like it but I need to rebuild. I'm about to graduate high school. I don't know what I'm about to do in my life or I'm in college but I know this is not the right thing for me. I want to build something for myself. I want that something to be something meaningful. What would be the biggest words of advice to them and the next steps?

I have three things. My book centers on self-awareness and emotional intelligence for entrepreneurs. You need to know who you are. You need to know yourself. You need to become self-aware. If you're not self-aware, you can't succeed. You can never identify your purpose and then you can never figure out how to achieve it no matter what happens to you. Some people give up. I'm not one of those people.

I didn't give up and that's why I ended up on the ground because I refused to accept that my business was failing and I kept on going despite that and then I ended up on the ground. That was it. I had to get to the ground to say, “Stop.” Most people will not touch entrepreneurship again after what I went through. I did that. I'm now anchored in 3 to 4 businesses. Become self-aware, that's the first thing you must do.

Another thing to do that I've learned has to do with self-forgiveness. You need to learn how to forgive and stop blaming others for where you are at in life no matter who you feel responsible for. That becomes a crutch that you're relying on and you’re using it to say, “The reason why you're not doing something is that somebody did something to you or because something happened to you.”

I suffered from depression from age seven. You wouldn't know it when you meet me because I decided to beat it. I decided to ask myself and go deep within myself and say, “Why is this thing happening? What is the trauma that led to this starting?” I faked it. It wasn't easy but I did. I realized that I'd been making this an excuse for so long. The thing that’s supposedly called my depression is busy out there living their life and doing what they want to do. Do you see what I'm saying?

You need to forgive not just the person. Forgiveness is for the person that was oppressed. It has nothing to do with your oppressor, which is why people like myself, my community around the world succeed today because we decide to forgive. We have no choice. If we let that anger, hatred, or pain eat us up, we will be nothing. This is why love can Pan-Africans because that's all we do. Every day, every moment, every time you experience something, some hatred, you automatically let it go right there. If you let it eat you up, you become what you hate. Forgiveness is important and forgiving yourself.

The mistake I made was when I failed, I didn't forgive myself, and when I made errors that I shouldn't have. I remember there was something that happened in our family where I made a poor judgment on an investment and we lost a lot of money. I didn't forgive myself for a long time. It carried on but I remembered it was over three years ago that I finally did. I said, “If I keep on looking back at that moment, I cannot move forward.” That's what happens when you hold on to trauma, you can't move forward. Even when you do something, that will lead you back to that moment again. You need to work hard at things like that.

Trauma is real. Look for help, seek help. I had to find help and compassion, spiritual, mental, psychological, emotional. I found that in the life coach I got over three years ago. She helped me let things go. Let go. If something is holding you back, it's you. It's nobody else. You have to make that decision for yourself. You will see that the moment you do, everyone, everything, opportunities start opening towards that path. The reason you can't see that direction that you want to go is because you're stopping yourself and that's something I realized.

I had a conversation with my brother. I said, “You need to stop blaming the government for stuff. What do you mean? What does the government got to do with what you're eating right now? Nothing.” If you know you want to drive a Tesla, I go and say, “A Tesla costs this much money. What am I going to do with my skillset that I want to earn the money to get me that Tesla?” That's the way I think, “This is what I need to do,” and I work backward, solution-lead. If you keep on blaming everyone, that's your mountain of bricks. Are you building your own wall? I don’t understand that.

Sometimes people focus so much on the problem that they don't look for the solution. It's okay to recognize the problem but don't let that be your focus. Energy flows where energy goes.

I love that you said that. Wherever you focus on, wherever you direct your energy is what you're going to become. I started the millionaire journey years ago. I gave myself five years to become a millionaire. I started The #HTMAM podcast to do that. I documented everything that I’m doing. I was supposed to share financial peace and what people thought that was. I couldn't find many people to interview for that. The George Floyd boy thing happened. I realized that what I needed to share is equity, ownership, legacy.

The reason where we are at is that we do not have succession plans. We do not even think of succession planning when it comes to our families. It's all about now, this moment, the present. How can many of us be successful entertainers and sportsmen and women and nothing to show for it after a while? We're learning now that equity is key. The message I will give to anyone who’s at high school or anything is the moment you turn to the legal age to be able to acquire credit or land, that's what you should be looking at. Get your first plot.

I've been telling people to buy back the block. Why let everybody gentrify your hood when you could gentrify it yourself? That's a whole other conversation.

Build syndicates. That was something that Obama did. You don't have to be an accredited investor to invest in anything. Come together as a group. Look for people who have like minds and plan something. I have been this way since I was a kid. If you look at all my report cards, it’s the same thing my teacher said, it’s tenacious, ambitious. I knew I had to be this person but I didn't have a goal to direct myself to. Now I have goals. I'm not kidding. I have a financial goal for my millionaire journey. What I want is to build assets to pay me the salary I want to earn. That's what I'm doing. On another day, we can do that I'm writing a book and it's called How I Built My Portfolio with Zero Dollars.

That's going to be a best-seller right there. I can't wait to pick that one up.

Black people need to realize that they are assets. You are an asset, you the person. How are you going to milk yourself so that you can start making money and seeing the money?

Especially in this new age. Even you're working for an employer, you are an asset, you are a brand. That employer is choosing to hire your brand to be a part of their brand so that they can benefit from your asset and your brand. Keep that in mind. Anything that you do, make sure that it aligns with your brand. Make sure you're building your brand.

I want to leave with one thing, my biggest lesson as an entrepreneur. What I should’ve done in my twenties is I should have planned well for ten years to work so I could do what I wanted to do in my 30s. That is possible. They pick accountants, people in finance, right from school because that's when your brain is fresh.

Give yourself ten years because a 9:00 to 5:00 can't unless you get to a C-level position, an executive position. The fastest way to do that is in your own company. Give yourself ten years. Choose a career that's going to get you to a monetary place in ten years. Set up everything, your 401(k), your retirement plan from the moment you start working. Imagine if I had done that at the point of making money? Do all of that in that first ten years, hard grinding, rise to the top.

If you see that someone is still blocking your way, that is a moment to create a company or a space. Take advantage of the market so that you lead from that moment on. I always tell people that once you own a company, nobody's checking what degrees you have. All they see is the CEO. When you work, you learn the processes. That's a mistake I made. I didn't do that. I made a lot of errors in my business because of the lack of knowledge of the process and how things work in a company, the operations.

Now, I'm anal about any company I have in ensuring that there's a process in place. It’s like, “This is what we're doing to get to here. This is the sales plan. This is a sales goal. This is what marketing has to do to help us achieve this.” You need to learn that in an organization that already exists. Bury your head and do that. I became an entrepreneur right from the get-go. It made me the mentor I am today because I made a lot of mistakes. I can see when one is coming and I say, “We need to pull back and do this X, Y, Z.” I'm good at fixing things.

For the next generation, you can skip all my twenty years of errors by working somewhere for ten years. Get to the highest point you can and then start your own thing. Buy plots in between because that's what the job does, it gives you the credit to do things. That's something I didn't have. You can imagine the credit I had to build as a business to be able to do all the things I'm doing now. That's easy when you're working. When they see that the salary is coming in, you don't have to worry about money or putting food on the table. It’s important. If you can get that done, the world would change, the way we do things would change. Stop working until you die.

Equity Builder: Black people need to realize that they are assets. You are an asset. You, the person, how you milk yourself so that you can start making money.

That's not living life. That's not thriving. I love every single one of them. I'm sad that this is coming to an end because I'm pretty sure we could go on for hours. We got to stop somewhere. You gave us a lot to chew on. Where can they find you? Where can they find your journey, your podcast, connect with you business-wise? Give them all that information.

Everything about me, you can find on www.AdesolaAkindele.com/connect . You can find me on LinkedIn, look for Adesola Akindele . Reach out to me. Tell me that you heard me on this podcast and I'll know what direction you're coming from. I’m on Twitter as well. You can follow me. I could do better on Twitter if you follow me. You can usually see my thoughts if I reshare something or what direction I'm going. I tend to stick to where I'm at when it comes to what I post on social media but you can get a lot of motivational, inspirational stuff from me on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram as well.

Don't worry. This is not going to be your last time learning from her. We're going to be doing some collaborations with her because she has some good content on entrepreneurship. We’re going to bring her back so we can get you that BIABOOK . That’s a teaser right there. We won't tell you what that is but it's coming.

Thank you so much, Taryell. It was a pleasure spending time with you.

Thank you for being with us. That's another episode of RISEpreneurs. Stay tuned. We’ll give you more information about how to connect with us on all the different platforms. I’m Taryell Simmons. Welcome to RISEpreneurs.

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About Adesola Akindele

Make the most of the season by following these simple guidelines

sites@tailorbrands.com — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 15:29:32 GMT

The new season is a great reason to make and keep resolutions. Whether it’s eating right or cleaning out the garage, here are some tips for making and keeping resolutions.

Make a list

Lists are great ways to stay on track. Write down some big things you want to accomplish and some smaller things, too.

Check the list regularly

Don’t forget to check in and see how you’re doing. Just because you don’t achieve the big goals right away doesn’t mean you’re not making progress.

Reward yourself

When you succeed in achieving a goal, be it a big one or a small one, make sure to pat yourself on the back.

Think positively

Positive thinking is a major factor in success. So instead of mulling over things that didn’t go quite right, remind yourself of things that did.

Keep in touch with site visitors and boost loyalty

sites@tailorbrands.com — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 15:29:32 GMT

There are so many good reasons to communicate with site visitors. Tell them about sales and new products or update them with tips and information.

Here are some reasons to make blogging part of your regular routine.

Blogging is an easy way to engage with site visitors

Writing a blog post is easy once you get the hang of it. Posts don’t need to be long or complicated. Just write about what you know, and do your best to write well.

Show customers your personality

When you write a blog post, you can really let your personality shine through. This can be a great tool for showing your distinct personality.

Blogging is a terrific form of communication

Blogs are a great communication tool. They tend to be longer than social media posts, which gives you plenty of space for sharing insights, handy tips and more.

It’s a great way to support and boost SEO

Search engines like sites that regularly post fresh content, and a blog is a great way of doing this. With relevant metadata for every post so search engines can find your content.

Drive traffic to your site

Every time you add a new post, people who have subscribed to it will have a reason to come back to your site. If the post is a good read, they’ll share it with others, bringing even more traffic!

Blogging is free

Maintaining a blog on your site is absolutely free. You can hire bloggers if you like or assign regularly blogging tasks to everyone in your company.

A natural way to build your brand

A blog is a wonderful way to build your brand’s distinct voice. Write about issues that are related to your industry and your customers.

Tips for writing great posts that increase your site traffic

sites@tailorbrands.com — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 15:29:31 GMT

Write about something you know. If you don’t know much about a specific topic that will interest your readers, invite an expert to write about it.

Speak to your audience

You know your audience better than anyone else, so keep them in mind as you write your blog posts. Write about things they care about. If you have a company Facebook page, look here to find topics to write about

Take a few moments to plan your post

Once you have a great idea for a post, write the first draft. Some people like to start with the title and then work on the paragraphs. Other people like to start with subtitles and go from there. Choose the method that works for you.

Don’t forget to add images

Be sure to include a few high-quality images in your blog. Images break up the text and make it more readable. They can also convey emotions or ideas that are hard to put into words.

Edit carefully before posting

Once you’re happy with the text, put it aside for a day or two, and then re-read it. You’ll probably find a few things you want to add, and a couple more that you want to remove. Have a friend or colleague look it over to make sure there are no mistakes. When your post is error-free, set it up in your blog and publish.