Mwale and Chantel Henry

Welcome and Introduction

Taryell Simmons: Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to another episode of Rise Urban Nation. We have a special treat in the building today: Mwale and Chantel Henry, founders of League of Experts and the Best Sellers Academy. How are you both doing this fine morning?

Mwale and Chantel Henry: We are fantastic! Really happy to be here with you, Taryell, and with your community. We are excited to bring our energy to the room.

Taryell Simmons: We are thrilled to have you. Looking at your background, you specialize in writing, publishing, intellectual property, business strategy, and balancing marriage with business. Before we dive into that, tell our audience: who are Mwale and Chantel Henry?

Mwale Henry: In a nutshell, our core mission as a couple and as co-CEOs running the League of Experts is to live a life of significance, not just success. Early in my career, I was the youngest management consultant at the Franklin Covey Institute, training and leading corporations across Latin America and the Caribbean. That was an exciting time, but I realized life is not just about personal accolades; it is about making a lasting impact in the lives of people who need to be seen. Our mission is lifting up the voice of the voiceless and helping people with great potential access real opportunities. In addition to being from Trinidad, loving spicy food, and enjoying life, our focus is living fully while creating maximum impact.

Chantel Henry: Together, we build deep, genuine relationships with the people we work with. As parents, we are tough as nails when necessary, but soft as pillows when our children need comfort. At the end of the day, we are genuine people who love connecting with other genuine people.

The Concept of Living Life Undivided

Taryell Simmons: You integrate family deeply into your organization. How do you maintain that balance between marriage, parenting, and business?

Mwale Henry: On a practical level, it is challenging, especially running a business from a home office with a five-year-old and a three-year-old. The boundary between work and home is literally one doorway. What we have discovered together is a concept we encourage all our clients to embrace: living life undivided. Once you discover your unique calling and how you want to serve, you no longer have to compartmentalize your life into work and play. Work becomes play. It becomes something you do naturally at a cellular level that energizes you. We have also learned to delegate and empower others to handle tasks outside our areas of expertise.

Chantel Henry: Our children understand our rhythm and flow. They sit on the floor during coaching sessions and remind their dad to grab his headset before a meeting. They are part of the process because we are building a legacy for them. When you discover your unique serving proposition, it is no longer about balancing work and life; it is all part of an integrated life that you enjoy.

Taryell Simmons: I love that perspective. It moves from work-life balance to work-life flow, where everything integrates harmoniously.

Building the Intellectual Property Machine

Taryell Simmons: How did League of Experts come to be? Did you start during the pandemic?

Chantel Henry: We have been in the intellectual property business for well over fifteen years. We started with one core service: helping individuals go from no book to a bestselling book. Getting ideas from your head and heart onto paper is foundational. Despite social media and the digital revolution, the power of the written word has never changed. We started by respecting literature as a medium that never dies, helping people translate their lived experiences into lasting assets.

Mwale Henry: To scale our impact to where we are today—having helped over 1,375 people write books, many of which became bestsellers—we had to put systems behind the machine. We worked with our own coaches to develop structured business planning. From book writing, we expanded into developing digital courses, booking podcast appearances, and packaging expertise so coaches and experts stop being the best-kept secret.

Chantel Henry: Many coaches struggle because they become comfortable with a few clients and lose momentum on their mission. It is not that they lack value; people simply do not know about them. We created a vehicle to package lived experience—like going from a solopreneur to a seven-figure earner—into books and digital courses that can be shared globally.

Taryell Simmons: That resonates completely. Many entrepreneurs never document their knowledge in written form. Before we started recording, Chantel was already asking me strategic questions about packaging my intellectual property!

Chantel Henry: People often assume writing a book takes years. With a step-by-step system in place, you can write a book in a weekend or a single quarter. Having systems saves you time, effort, and money, and you do not have to be an expert in every technical asset to create massive impact.

How Mwale and Chantel Met

Taryell Simmons: How did the two of you meet?

Mwale Henry: It was over ten years ago during my first visit to America. I was passing through for three days attending a conference in Las Vegas with 20,000 people before traveling to Canada for PhD research. In that massive crowd, I saw a friend of mine from Trinidad talking to this beautiful woman. As an assertive man, I stepped in, introduced myself, and we started talking.

Chantel Henry: When I looked up at him, it felt like a scene from a movie. While running my PR firm in Atlanta, I had dated high-profile athletes and appeared successful externally, but internally I felt unfulfilled. I wanted a true life partner. One night, I prayed for guidance. Over the next ninety days, I followed specific spiritual instructions: I cut my long hair, stopped dating, and focused completely on personal alignment. On my flight to Las Vegas, I wrote down nine specific qualities I wanted in a husband. Less than forty-eight hours later, I met Mwale in that registration line, and he matched everything on my list.

Cultural Synergy and Expanding Global Perspectives

Taryell Simmons: That is a beautiful story. Coming from a Nigerian father and an African American mother, I appreciate the power of blending distinct cultural identities. What are your perspectives on the synergy between African American and Caribbean cultures?

Mwale Henry: It allows us to leverage diverse lived experiences and operate with an expanded view of what is possible. People who migrate or travel frequently learn to leverage systems and ask deeper questions because of their broad context. We encourage all entrepreneurs to travel—to the Caribbean, to Africa, and across the globe. Experiencing life outside your home country helps you appreciate different cultures, recognize true economic opportunities, and realize that the world is full of untapped potential. In League of Experts, we serve clients globally, from the UK and Syria to South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Expanding your cadence allows you to see greater possibilities and run your business boldly.

Taryell Simmons: Absolutely. Breaking down silos across the diaspora creates incredible synergy, whether connecting investors between Atlanta and Trinidad or turning local intellectual property into international bestsellers.

Why Every Business Needs Intellectual Property

Taryell Simmons: Let us talk about intellectual property. Why is it essential for every business owner?

Mwale Henry: Your intellectual property assets become 24/7 brand ambassadors for your business. As founders, our time is limited. You must create assets that do not require your continuous physical presence. Every business owner needs a published book. Long after you leave a stage, board meeting, or room, your book continues doing the talking, establishing authority, and generating qualified leads.

Chantel Henry: Leaders are readers. Decision-makers who write substantial checks want to read about your track record and mission before hiring you. When you package your accomplishments as a bestselling author with high-ticket coaching programs, you signal authority. Moving from exhausting hustle to sustainable profitability requires packaging your intellectual property at the right price point with repeatable systems.

Mwale Henry: If you cannot leave your business for three months while it continues operating profitably, you do not own a business; you own a job. Genius must be organized into predictable, repeatable systems. That is where sustainable wealth is created.

Chantel Henry: What gets documented gets done. If you fail to document the process that took you from zero to seven figures, no one else can duplicate it. Without core assets—a book, digital courses, and signature talks—there is no transferable impact.

The Three-Phase Roadmap: Mastery, Monetization, and Momentum

Taryell Simmons: What are the primary steps for businesses wanting to implement this framework?

Mwale Henry: It begins with our three-phase roadmap: Mastery, Monetization, and Momentum.

Mwale Henry: Phase one is Mastery: mastering your core message. Your message consists of the problem you solve, the desire you create, and the solution you provide. When you achieve clarity on your message and audience, your marketing naturally attracts ideal clients who have the resources to invest in premium offerings.

Mwale Henry: Phase two is Monetization: turning your mastered message into revenue through direct sales systems, strategic partnerships, and high-ticket offers priced upwards of thirty thousand dollars.

Mwale Henry: Phase three is Momentum: ensuring your brand achieves long-term visibility rather than remaining the best-kept secret. This involves securing podcast appearances, major press features, and scaling with paid advertising.

Selling High-Ticket Outcomes and Building Community

Taryell Simmons: When dealing with thirty-thousand-dollar high-ticket clients, who are they and how do you attract them?

Mwale Henry: Traditional advice claims people only do business with those they know, like, and trust. We flip that premise: people buy based on results. When you visit your favorite restaurant, you do not need to meet the chef or inspect the kitchen; you purchase because you know the result will be great. High-ticket buyers invest strictly in outcomes, not emotional affinity or technical processes. If you clearly communicate the problem you solve and have a proven track record, clients will eagerly invest.

Mwale Henry: Furthermore, sustainability relies on building an ecosystem or community model, similar to Apple. Apple customers move seamlessly from iPhones to iPads, MacBooks, Apple TV, and AirPods. When you build an integrated community, clients remain with you long-term, eliminating the feast-or-famine revenue cycle.

The Power of Leverage and True Teamwork

Taryell Simmons: What is the most important lesson you have learned throughout your entrepreneurial journey?

Chantel Henry: Success is not a matter of time; it is truly a matter of team. Growing a business alone is limiting. Having a team and community that holds you accountable with love and constructive confrontation accelerates your growth significantly.

Mwale Henry: For me, the most vital lesson is leverage. Leverage is the most underutilized concept in business. Instead of trying to figure everything out through trial and error, leverage existing expertise, networks, and systems to quantum leap toward your strategic goals. In our community, we integrate content creation, sales systems, and PR under one roof so members can scale rapidly.

Debunking Myths: Documentation Beats Conversation

Taryell Simmons: What bad recommendations or myths do you frequently encounter in your industry?

Chantel Henry: One myth is that you should wait until you are in your nineties to write a book as a legacy piece. In reality, a book should be the framework for every core message and offer you bring to market. Whenever politicians run for office, the first thing they do is publish a book and launch a media tour because a book signals serious credibility.

Mwale Henry: Another myth is that developing intellectual property takes away from your core business. In truth, writing a book creates the syllabus for your digital courses, workshops, and speaking engagements. One unit of energy spent creating a book powers all your subsequent intellectual property assets. Documentation beats conversation every day. Documentation is the door to every major opportunity.

Advice for College Graduates and Career Pivoters

Taryell Simmons: What advice would you give to fresh graduates entering the market and professionals looking to transition from traditional jobs into entrepreneurship?

Mwale Henry: To recent graduates, develop a clear, systematic plan and work that plan until it produces results. Many young entrepreneurs abandon their ideas just inches away from their breakthrough. Having a clear metric allows you to assess progress objectively rather than emotionally.

Chantel Henry: For professionals in traditional careers contemplating a pivot, treat your current employer as your initial angel investor. Maintain your job to fund your business ideas until your enterprise revenue reliably replaces your salary. During the pandemic, while many blindly pivoted, we focused on disciplined perseverance and grew our business by 300 percent because we maintained solid operational and financial foundations.

Working On the Business vs. In the Business

Taryell Simmons: How do founders ensure essential work gets completed without burning out?

Chantel Henry: Build the muscle of delegation. Trying to do everything yourself leads to fatigue and dropped balls. Surround yourself with talented people who excel in areas where you have gaps.

Mwale Henry: Continuously evaluate whether you are working in the business or on the business. If more than two-thirds of your week is consumed by operational tasks, you must hire support. At least two-thirds of an owner's time should be spent working on strategic business growth, partnerships, and high-level delivery where your natural genius shines.

Embracing Geo-Arbitrage and Entrepreneurial Roots

Taryell Simmons: If you could do anything differently, what would it be?

Mwale Henry: We would have embraced geographic arbitrage even sooner. Geo-arbitrage allows you to live in desirable locations, such as the Caribbean or Latin America, while conducting high-value commerce internationally. It provides incredible lifestyle freedom while maintaining massive productivity.

Chantel Henry: Entrepreneurship was ingrained in me by my mother, who raised five children as a Baltimore city bus driver. Watching her navigate the stress of rigid employment inspired me to build enterprises where I controlled my destiny. That mindset continues to drive our business today.

Final Words of Wisdom and Closing

Taryell Simmons: Where can our listeners connect with you and learn more about your work?

Mwale Henry: You can connect with us at League of Experts by visiting https://joinloe.com. That is where we help leaders build bestselling ideas and thriving businesses.

Taryell Simmons: What final words of wisdom would you like to leave with our audience?

Chantel Henry: Trust your instincts. The knowledge and value you possess can transform lives. Once you put systems and structure behind your natural gifts, you will succeed.

Mwale Henry: Pay attention to the things that come so naturally to you that you undervalue them. To someone else, that knowledge is a vital lifeline. Package and monetize that expertise.

Taryell Simmons: Why do it for free when you can do it for a fee? Connect with League of Experts today at https://joinloe.com. Thank you, Mwale and Chantel, for joining us on Rise Urban Nation!