November 14, 2025 • 24 mins
Vanessa Tyler speaks with Dr. Deloris Thomas, president of the Joseph Business School in Chigago as well as alumni about entrepreneurship and creating generational wealth within the Black community.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Remember the show Good Times.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Hello, aren't you glad you let your fingers duty walk in?
Because you got kids in Dinah?
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Mate?
Speaker 1 (00:10):
You talking well? Then you know the times weren't always good.
The fictional Evans family lived in a housing project in Chicago,
similar to the infamous Cabrini Greenhouses, where children took their
lives in their hands by just walking to school. This
ten year old tells a news reporter in this nineteen
ninety two interview all the people who had been shot
(00:32):
where he lives.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
I gotta like, well, delly, the long way started walking
a short way because you never know it like if
somebody to shoot you little brilli, oh and a bully,
don't get out. I know this will who got shot?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Who went to Jenny?
Speaker 5 (00:51):
Two more boys?
Speaker 4 (00:52):
I think Anthony Felton and Roosevelt. I don't know his
last name, but the quinn E was shot. It's like,
well the yeah for the walcome school and complet degree.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
The housing project has since been demolished. Out of those
who made it out of law, a few are likely
millionaires today, especially a teenage mother with two children.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
I had two children by the time I was eighteen,
and I remember I called this a freeze frame. I
was walking from my mom's building. I had got my
own apartment at eighteen and one of the other buildings
down the way, and I was walking from my mom's
building going to my apartment with my baby son and
(01:39):
a stroller and my daughter walking, and it was tragedy
and just so many different things going on. And I
remember walking and just crying and what I had in
my heart was and I just said, just an innocent lord.
There has to be more to life than just this.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
And for Patricia Grant, there was much more. She and
her children made it through. She's a millionaire and so
is her son. Hear their story next on Blackland and
now as a Brown person, you just feel so invisible
where we're from. Brothers and sisters. I welcome you to
(02:20):
this joyful day.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
And we celebrate freedom.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Where we are, I know someone heard something and where
we're going.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
We the people means all the people.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
The Black Information Network presents Blackland with your host Vanessa Tyler.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
The news out of Chicago is often tragic for us.
We know of the multiple shootings on a daily basis,
but out of the heart of the notorious Kabrini Greenhousing
Project comes two millionaires with a story that you can
do it too. Patricia Grant and her son Michael Reid.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Welcome, thank you, Hello, hello, thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Everyone wants to know what you did and how you
did it.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Patricia, would you like to start, you know what, I'll
start with the desire for something different, and I'll just
share my story, you know what. Growing up in the
Kabrini Greenhousing Project. One of my inspirations was the six
twenty four division building that we lived in, was right
(03:23):
across from the Gold Coast John Hancock's Sears Tower, all
the big buildings, and I would sit sometime on the
porch and I would just sit and kind of look over,
and it would be like, Lord, how do people get there?
How do people live like that? In other words, these
(03:43):
are high rises, but it's so much different over here
than what it is over there. So I think, Vanessa,
that's one of the things that sparked my heart to
want something different and then to fast forward. I ended up.
I had two children by the time I was eighteen,
(04:04):
and I remember I called this a freeze frame. I
was walking from my mom's building. I had got my
own apartment at eighteen, and one of the other buildings
down the way, and I was walking from my mom's
building going to my apartment with my baby son and
a stroller and my daughter walking and it was tragedy
(04:25):
and just so many different things going on, and I
remember walking and just crying, and what I had in
my heart was and I just said, just an innocent Lord,
there has to be more to life than just this.
And what I mean by that the killing and the
drugs and the just everything that again goes on in
(04:48):
the project areas. And that was almost a seed in
me where I knew, even though this is my situation now,
but uh, it has to be more to life than
just this. So that's one of the things that sparked
the motivation. And because of being a teenage mom, I
didn't do the traditional high school. I didn't get a
(05:10):
chance to graduate high school. I went to ninth grade
and found out I was pregnant. So one of the
things when I got to I'm fast forwarding now to
Living Word, one of the desires that I always had
is that I wanted to graduate. I wanted to graduate
high school, you know what, and see myself in a
(05:32):
cap and gown and walking across a stage in a
traditional way. And I did go to a program that
they had available to get my ged, but again that
was you go through the class, you get a certificate,
and you're done. I wanted a cap and gown. So
when I started at Living Word, they would do the
graduation sometime doing the service the Joseph Business School, and
(05:55):
I would sit there and just kind of watch the
graduation ceremonies and it sparked in me. So I said, Lord,
I want to graduate. I want to do that. And
after just kind of sitting through maybe a couple years
of watching what was going on, I thought, you know what,
hearing faith, I can do this, and I ended up
(06:16):
registering for the Joseph Business School.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Patricia Grant says the school was like no other. It
changed her, lit a fire to her faith and ignited
her business.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
You're looking at the word of God that applies to success, finances, education,
that he's interested in all of those things. And that
was amazing to me.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
And watching her her children, including her son Michael. Just
listening to your mom. She's such an inspiration. But what
did she instill in you that you knew your life
would be different?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (06:50):
So I didn't grow up in Cabrindy Green. I was
born there and my mom likes, you know, always hearing
the story, just knowing that it was some more to
life and her surroundings in her environment and to you know,
for her to make the faith move to get us
from that environment and to grow up in the home
(07:12):
and be a part of ownership, you know, growing up.
It just inspired me to let me know that pretty much, man,
this is in us and we could do it. And
just watching my mother man work hard her whole life
and just just man her being, I would say, man,
(07:32):
so different than you know where she came from. And
just seeing the results that came out of you know,
her faith and you know, the hard work that she
put in. It just was inspiring my whole life.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
His mother was making a way out of no way,
buying one house, leveraging that to get another right before
the eyes of her children. She was building and winning.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
I just was man like burning on the inside to man,
just one day be a part of that seeing it
go on. So it inspired me to you know, work
hard and just line up to you know, be able
to get my foot in the door to make investments
as well. And that's what I did. In two thousand
and nine, at the age of twenty nine. My goal
(08:16):
was to on my first investment property before I turned thirty.
So I actually closed on my first two unit property,
I would say, about six days before my thirtieth birthday.
And know what, that was so inspiring to me that
I met that goal and it just kept me, you know,
motivated to move further and further. So that's what I did.
(08:39):
So one unit turned into two, two churched into three,
and just on and on. It just been building and
managing and maintaining and motivating man ever since then, and
today I'm up to forty seven units, almost fifteen years later.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Patricia.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
That must make you so proud because every journey begins
with a single step, and I know that's the message
you're telling us right now.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Yes, and the fact that he can do anything with anybody.
And I think the biggest thing out of this for
me is to express that, regardless to what's happening on
the outside of us, our background, our upbringings, our cultures,
(09:26):
our income status, what people say we are, what they
think we are, that we have the ability inside to
do anything, and that's that's what winds me up.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
There also was some land in the family on her
father's side. She eventually became a good steward of that too.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I kind of got inspired. No, what I remember with
my mom, it took the class and how you know,
a sided she was to go back to school and
then definitely finishing the school. And I remember how just
locked in she was. Just man, I was feeling like, man, well,
what's going on? You were a little short these days,
but know what it was so intense for and she
(10:07):
was so locked in and determined to finish the class.
I definitely understood. And then once I got into class, oh,
I said, I really understood. You know what she was
going through at that time.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
So oh. He also went to the Joseph Business School.
The school is on a mission to make black millionaires.
Doctor Dolores Thomas is heading that mission.
Speaker 5 (10:28):
Thank you, it's so great to be here, Vanessa.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Let's get to the bottom line.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
By getting to the bottom line, you want to teach
your students how to make money.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
Absolutely, but more than that, you knows how to create
the change in transformation that will last for generations to come.
Doctor Bill Winston, who's a pastor of Living or a
Christian center and a former IBM executive and distinguished Flying
cross and top gun fighter pilot within the US Air Force.
(10:57):
Knew my husband several years ago when they worked at
IBM together, and so once we got married, we joined
his church and he reached out to my husband and
asked him if he can help him with this vision
that God gave him to start a business school where
he was preaching the word of God as to how
God says you're supposed to be the head, not the tale,
above only and not beneath, but people weren't necessarily doing it,
(11:20):
and that the word of God wasn't just to be preached,
but it also needed to be manifested in the natural,
and so he asked us to put together the Joseph
Business School, which was founded on Isaiah forty eight seventeen
on the Lord, Thy God, I Redeemer, the Holy One
of Israel, that teacheth THEE to profit pr o f
T and lead it THEE by the way that thou
(11:40):
shouldest go. And that word prophet pr fit really changed
his view as to God being in business and wanting
us to profit, and so that resulted in us establishing
a school. We told him it would take him take
two years to get started. He said, let me go
pray about it. He prayed about it, came back and
(12:02):
told my husband and I should take two months. And
back then, a lot of people thought you couldn't really
train people how to be entrepreneurs that were either born
that way, but you couldn't make them into entrepreneurs. But way,
and all throughout biblical times, you saw when God was
releasing the people from being in bondage, it was through entrepreneurship.
(12:26):
He's you know that that led them to where he
wanted them to create something for themselves that would be
transformational and generational. And so we came up with this
concept of the business school, and twenty five years later,
we're fully accredited institution. We're in five continents around the
(12:48):
world and have planted over thirty schools across the globe.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
And now there's a campaign to make millionaires, which is
always a great headline.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
Yes, so we are blessed to say that over the
last twenty five years we've actually launched over fifty million
dollar enterprises, and some of those that have become millionaires
in multimillionaires, they started out where they were in great poverty.
(13:20):
And so now what we've done over the years is
that we have really fine tuned how to make this
possible for so many others. And so we've launched this
campaign to have one hundred entrepreneurs to achieve a million
dollars in revenue within five years, creating a billion dollar
(13:42):
economy that when you look at the GDP of that
level of contribution and the eradication of poverty, we believe
that we're about to make a huge impact in black
and brown communities.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Doctor Thomas reminds us faith and work or what God
are an ancestors through, Like in Telsa's Black Wall Street
before racist whites murdered and destroyed.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
One of Martin Luther King's dream was not only for
us to you know, be socially integrated, but he wanted
economic justice. And a part of that economic justice that
we're after is to recognize that if the slaves could
be free and start a Black Wall Street, how much
(14:29):
more can we do with the opportunities that we have today.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
So the mission for millionaires. Black owned businesses are growing.
Problem is they're surviving, not thriving. Some lucky to clear
fifty thousand dollars a year.
Speaker 5 (14:43):
When we talk about generational success. It's what we do
within the school. We help them to understand that in
the world's traditional system, it's about maximizing. You know, how
much can I get? Right, there's this impulsive sense of
greed in some regards where it's how much can I
get for me? But in this instance, it's how much
(15:06):
can we get not just for me, but for my
community for generations to come. And so within the Joseph
Business School, we help our entrepreneurs to understand that the
mission is bigger than a mission of one, and it's
bigger than just for this generation. It's multi generational. And
what we do is we really help them to see
(15:28):
that God has big plans and can implant big vision
in them. And the school is an example of that
where it started with just one vision and through my
husband and I assisting doctor Winston, now it's all over
the world and have trained thousands of entrepreneurs to become
(15:48):
successful businesses and now we're ready to do one hundred
thousand more in the next five years.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
So we're quite excited about that.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
So when they graduate, do they get like an MBA
or a certificate?
Speaker 3 (16:00):
What do you leave the business?
Speaker 6 (16:02):
Yea?
Speaker 5 (16:02):
Many, yeah, many many of our students will say, oh,
this is like a.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Mini NBA or was better than my MBA.
Speaker 5 (16:08):
But it's a certificate program. It's four months, and it's
a four month intensive And the best way I could
say it is that we always hear the saying where
I'm busy working in my business, that I can't work
on my business. That four months is a time period
where we get our entrepreneurs to work on the business
(16:30):
and so once they complete, they get a certificate of completion.
And the goal there is for them to set aside
quality time to figure out what's the right pricing strategy,
how do I acquire more customers, how do I effectively
market my business? What's going on with these ratios and
the financials, Why is it that I have more month
(16:51):
than I have money? And how do we help them
to become much more fiscally knowledgeable and scalable. So so
how do they get their business systems in order so
that they can get big contracts. We partner with APEX,
which is one of the entities that is part of
our ecosystem. So we have partnership with the Small Business
(17:13):
Development Center, International Trade Center and APEX, which is the
government contracting area, and what we find is people might
be running their businesses fine, but they don't have a
million dollar contract or a two million dollar contract, and
they've heard it's good to do business with the government,
but they don't know how. So we work with our
entrepreneurs to get the proper certifications for them to have
(17:34):
the proper registry in the system, for them to know
how to source opportunities and how to take advantage of them.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Who are your students? Must you have a business in
order to join or no.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
You don't have to have a business. So there are
multiple categories and we have several different programs. Our flagship
is the four month program, but we also have something
called an Executive Accelerated Program, which is a six week
program for those who are much more mature in business
and have seen that they are producing revenues and really
(18:05):
do need to just scale their business. But we have
students who simply have an idea, So we could take
you from idea. Or you might have been running your
business for ten years and it's just flattened out and
you need something else. You know, there's something else that
you're missing, and we help you to get on stock
right or you're at a place where you're like, no,
(18:26):
I want to know how to do business God's way.
And I tell you that is really a part of
our unique sauce in the sense that we have seen
how spirituality can change how someone views themselves and view opportunities.
Particularly in the black and brown community, there's always the
(18:48):
sense that, oh, you know, I'm a victim. You know,
things aren't fair, things aren't balanced. But what we say is,
if God is for you, then nobody could be against you.
Or you're supposed to be the head, not a tale
above only not beneath that. With God, things are possible
that might be impossible with man, and that favor surrounds
you like a shield. So we're able to give them
(19:10):
that inner strength coupled with the practical knowledge, coupled with
really being innovative and creative and exploratory about big opportunities.
And so as a result of that, we're able to
have that unique coupling of theory, practice, and access to network,
(19:33):
whether that is mentors, advisors, access to capital, whether that's
traditional or non traditional capital, and access to knowledge.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Knowledge is power. Doctor Thomas says it's time for our
communities to step up and level up. If someone wants
a chance for success, what should they do?
Speaker 5 (19:53):
They should definitely call us and write us and visit
us at ww dot JBS dot edu. And whether it's
English or Spanish, oubles faniol. We also have a Spanish program,
or they could call us at seven zero eight six
nine seven six two zero zero.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
The tuition is thirty five hundred dollars, but there are
scholarships and the fundraiser to help cover the tuition of
those who need assistance.
Speaker 6 (20:19):
It is really time for us to be serious about
eradicating poverty and changing our community, removing violence, and really
focusing on having that gifting and that purpose be realized
through entrepreneurship.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
I should add not only did Patricia Grant graduate in
her cap and gown years ago, but just a few
weeks ago, her son Michael graduated from the Business school too.
Their visions are being spoken into existence.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
One thing I learned, he is man. There's power in
the tongue. There's power in the tongue, and you know,
man our words. So that was going over over and
over in the JBS, and they helped me and being
also man, taking God's and bringing it back to him.
You know, these are your promises, God, that you promised
to us. So, Man, I'm expecting you to come through
(21:07):
this what you told me. This is what you got
for us.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Now you have the legacy to move on. Where do
you see the empire going from here?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
So I would like to see more of my family
involved in the business, especially my children, and just want
them to grow up, you know, a part of this,
just like you know my mother's story with my grandfather,
you know, as a young kid seeing what was you know,
available and seeing what have been accomplished. I just wanted
(21:37):
to do the same thing and you know, show them
what's available and have that around them, you know, put
them in that mindset that you know, Man.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
God put this here for us. It is normal.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
We're supposed to be living like this. We supposed to
take part of this, were supposed to you know, have
a different aura on us. So when we talk to people,
when people see us, they see.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Some different All her children are doing well spiritually and financial,
a proof even out of a place as notorious as
Cabrini Green, we can make it. And Patricia, any words
of encouragement to all the mothers out there raising black
sons in today's acide.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
I want them to know a scripture that the Lord
gave me that I want to continue to live out.
My dad that I was talking about that didn't live
with me. Finally the last seven years of his life
needed someone to take care of him. And I said, Lord,
if you show me how to do this, I'll do it.
(22:37):
The last seven years of my life, my dad came
and lived in my home. That's how the inheritance transferred.
But I remember one day I had taken care of
Dad downstairs in the basement. I was on my way
up the stairs with the plate in my hand to
go and start taking care of my family. And the
(22:58):
scripture that the Lord downloaded to me with Saint John
ten ten and this was the tone. The thief cometh
not but for to still to kill and to destroy.
But I am come that you might have life, and
that you might have it more bundantly. And one version says,
(23:21):
to the fall until it overflows. And my goal in
life is to live it, enjoy it, drive it, share it,
wear it, give it, be a blessing, and make things
comfortable for people. That is my goal. And I'll wrap
(23:43):
it up with this, he said. A good man leaves
an inheritance to his children's children, and I let them know, Look,
each one of us are responsible for at least two generations.
And by instilling that, let them know, ain't no time
to be playing. You got things to do. And then
(24:05):
I look at my grandchildren and great grands and say
to them, naw, hey, you what you gonna do? So
expect of them, give them something to work with, and
expect of them. That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Look, I knew I was gonna get in an interview.
I didn't know I was gonna get a sermon. You
both are amazing, Patricia Grant, Michael Reid, keep building.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Thank you, appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
I'm Vanessa Tyler. Join me next time on Blackland Like
and subscribe. A new episode drops every Friday.
Remember the show Good Times.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Hello, aren't you glad you let your fingers duty walk in?
Because you got kids in Dinah?
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Mate?
Speaker 1 (00:10):
You talking well? Then you know the times weren't always good.
The fictional Evans family lived in a housing project in Chicago,
similar to the infamous Cabrini Greenhouses, where children took their
lives in their hands by just walking to school. This
ten year old tells a news reporter in this nineteen
ninety two interview all the people who had been shot
(00:32):
where he lives.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
I gotta like, well, delly, the long way started walking
a short way because you never know it like if
somebody to shoot you little brilli, oh and a bully,
don't get out. I know this will who got shot?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Who went to Jenny?
Speaker 5 (00:51):
Two more boys?
Speaker 4 (00:52):
I think Anthony Felton and Roosevelt. I don't know his
last name, but the quinn E was shot. It's like,
well the yeah for the walcome school and complet degree.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
The housing project has since been demolished. Out of those
who made it out of law, a few are likely
millionaires today, especially a teenage mother with two children.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
I had two children by the time I was eighteen,
and I remember I called this a freeze frame. I
was walking from my mom's building. I had got my
own apartment at eighteen and one of the other buildings
down the way, and I was walking from my mom's
building going to my apartment with my baby son and
(01:39):
a stroller and my daughter walking, and it was tragedy
and just so many different things going on. And I
remember walking and just crying and what I had in
my heart was and I just said, just an innocent lord.
There has to be more to life than just this.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
And for Patricia Grant, there was much more. She and
her children made it through. She's a millionaire and so
is her son. Hear their story next on Blackland and
now as a Brown person, you just feel so invisible
where we're from. Brothers and sisters. I welcome you to
(02:20):
this joyful day.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
And we celebrate freedom.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Where we are, I know someone heard something and where
we're going.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
We the people means all the people.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
The Black Information Network presents Blackland with your host Vanessa Tyler.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
The news out of Chicago is often tragic for us.
We know of the multiple shootings on a daily basis,
but out of the heart of the notorious Kabrini Greenhousing
Project comes two millionaires with a story that you can
do it too. Patricia Grant and her son Michael Reid.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Welcome, thank you, Hello, hello, thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Everyone wants to know what you did and how you
did it.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Patricia, would you like to start, you know what, I'll
start with the desire for something different, and I'll just
share my story, you know what. Growing up in the
Kabrini Greenhousing Project. One of my inspirations was the six
twenty four division building that we lived in, was right
(03:23):
across from the Gold Coast John Hancock's Sears Tower, all
the big buildings, and I would sit sometime on the
porch and I would just sit and kind of look over,
and it would be like, Lord, how do people get there?
How do people live like that? In other words, these
(03:43):
are high rises, but it's so much different over here
than what it is over there. So I think, Vanessa,
that's one of the things that sparked my heart to
want something different and then to fast forward. I ended up.
I had two children by the time I was eighteen,
(04:04):
and I remember I called this a freeze frame. I
was walking from my mom's building. I had got my
own apartment at eighteen, and one of the other buildings
down the way, and I was walking from my mom's
building going to my apartment with my baby son and
a stroller and my daughter walking and it was tragedy
(04:25):
and just so many different things going on, and I
remember walking and just crying, and what I had in
my heart was and I just said, just an innocent Lord,
there has to be more to life than just this.
And what I mean by that the killing and the
drugs and the just everything that again goes on in
(04:48):
the project areas. And that was almost a seed in
me where I knew, even though this is my situation now,
but uh, it has to be more to life than
just this. So that's one of the things that sparked
the motivation. And because of being a teenage mom, I
didn't do the traditional high school. I didn't get a
(05:10):
chance to graduate high school. I went to ninth grade
and found out I was pregnant. So one of the
things when I got to I'm fast forwarding now to
Living Word, one of the desires that I always had
is that I wanted to graduate. I wanted to graduate
high school, you know what, and see myself in a
(05:32):
cap and gown and walking across a stage in a
traditional way. And I did go to a program that
they had available to get my ged, but again that
was you go through the class, you get a certificate,
and you're done. I wanted a cap and gown. So
when I started at Living Word, they would do the
graduation sometime doing the service the Joseph Business School, and
(05:55):
I would sit there and just kind of watch the
graduation ceremonies and it sparked in me. So I said, Lord,
I want to graduate. I want to do that. And
after just kind of sitting through maybe a couple years
of watching what was going on, I thought, you know what,
hearing faith, I can do this, and I ended up
(06:16):
registering for the Joseph Business School.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Patricia Grant says the school was like no other. It
changed her, lit a fire to her faith and ignited
her business.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
You're looking at the word of God that applies to success, finances, education,
that he's interested in all of those things. And that
was amazing to me.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
And watching her her children, including her son Michael. Just
listening to your mom. She's such an inspiration. But what
did she instill in you that you knew your life
would be different?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (06:50):
So I didn't grow up in Cabrindy Green. I was
born there and my mom likes, you know, always hearing
the story, just knowing that it was some more to
life and her surroundings in her environment and to you know,
for her to make the faith move to get us
from that environment and to grow up in the home
(07:12):
and be a part of ownership, you know, growing up.
It just inspired me to let me know that pretty much, man,
this is in us and we could do it. And
just watching my mother man work hard her whole life
and just just man her being, I would say, man,
(07:32):
so different than you know where she came from. And
just seeing the results that came out of you know,
her faith and you know, the hard work that she
put in. It just was inspiring my whole life.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
His mother was making a way out of no way,
buying one house, leveraging that to get another right before
the eyes of her children. She was building and winning.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
I just was man like burning on the inside to man,
just one day be a part of that seeing it
go on. So it inspired me to you know, work
hard and just line up to you know, be able
to get my foot in the door to make investments
as well. And that's what I did. In two thousand
and nine, at the age of twenty nine. My goal
(08:16):
was to on my first investment property before I turned thirty.
So I actually closed on my first two unit property,
I would say, about six days before my thirtieth birthday.
And know what, that was so inspiring to me that
I met that goal and it just kept me, you know,
motivated to move further and further. So that's what I did.
(08:39):
So one unit turned into two, two churched into three,
and just on and on. It just been building and
managing and maintaining and motivating man ever since then, and
today I'm up to forty seven units, almost fifteen years later.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Patricia.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
That must make you so proud because every journey begins
with a single step, and I know that's the message
you're telling us right now.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Yes, and the fact that he can do anything with anybody.
And I think the biggest thing out of this for
me is to express that, regardless to what's happening on
the outside of us, our background, our upbringings, our cultures,
(09:26):
our income status, what people say we are, what they
think we are, that we have the ability inside to
do anything, and that's that's what winds me up.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
There also was some land in the family on her
father's side. She eventually became a good steward of that too.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I kind of got inspired. No, what I remember with
my mom, it took the class and how you know,
a sided she was to go back to school and
then definitely finishing the school. And I remember how just
locked in she was. Just man, I was feeling like, man, well,
what's going on? You were a little short these days,
but know what it was so intense for and she
(10:07):
was so locked in and determined to finish the class.
I definitely understood. And then once I got into class, oh,
I said, I really understood. You know what she was
going through at that time.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
So oh. He also went to the Joseph Business School.
The school is on a mission to make black millionaires.
Doctor Dolores Thomas is heading that mission.
Speaker 5 (10:28):
Thank you, it's so great to be here, Vanessa.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Let's get to the bottom line.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
By getting to the bottom line, you want to teach
your students how to make money.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
Absolutely, but more than that, you knows how to create
the change in transformation that will last for generations to come.
Doctor Bill Winston, who's a pastor of Living or a
Christian center and a former IBM executive and distinguished Flying
cross and top gun fighter pilot within the US Air Force.
(10:57):
Knew my husband several years ago when they worked at
IBM together, and so once we got married, we joined
his church and he reached out to my husband and
asked him if he can help him with this vision
that God gave him to start a business school where
he was preaching the word of God as to how
God says you're supposed to be the head, not the tale,
above only and not beneath, but people weren't necessarily doing it,
(11:20):
and that the word of God wasn't just to be preached,
but it also needed to be manifested in the natural,
and so he asked us to put together the Joseph
Business School, which was founded on Isaiah forty eight seventeen
on the Lord, Thy God, I Redeemer, the Holy One
of Israel, that teacheth THEE to profit pr o f
T and lead it THEE by the way that thou
(11:40):
shouldest go. And that word prophet pr fit really changed
his view as to God being in business and wanting
us to profit, and so that resulted in us establishing
a school. We told him it would take him take
two years to get started. He said, let me go
pray about it. He prayed about it, came back and
(12:02):
told my husband and I should take two months. And
back then, a lot of people thought you couldn't really
train people how to be entrepreneurs that were either born
that way, but you couldn't make them into entrepreneurs. But way,
and all throughout biblical times, you saw when God was
releasing the people from being in bondage, it was through entrepreneurship.
(12:26):
He's you know that that led them to where he
wanted them to create something for themselves that would be
transformational and generational. And so we came up with this
concept of the business school, and twenty five years later,
we're fully accredited institution. We're in five continents around the
(12:48):
world and have planted over thirty schools across the globe.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
And now there's a campaign to make millionaires, which is
always a great headline.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
Yes, so we are blessed to say that over the
last twenty five years we've actually launched over fifty million
dollar enterprises, and some of those that have become millionaires
in multimillionaires, they started out where they were in great poverty.
(13:20):
And so now what we've done over the years is
that we have really fine tuned how to make this
possible for so many others. And so we've launched this
campaign to have one hundred entrepreneurs to achieve a million
dollars in revenue within five years, creating a billion dollar
(13:42):
economy that when you look at the GDP of that
level of contribution and the eradication of poverty, we believe
that we're about to make a huge impact in black
and brown communities.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Doctor Thomas reminds us faith and work or what God
are an ancestors through, Like in Telsa's Black Wall Street
before racist whites murdered and destroyed.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
One of Martin Luther King's dream was not only for
us to you know, be socially integrated, but he wanted
economic justice. And a part of that economic justice that
we're after is to recognize that if the slaves could
be free and start a Black Wall Street, how much
(14:29):
more can we do with the opportunities that we have today.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
So the mission for millionaires. Black owned businesses are growing.
Problem is they're surviving, not thriving. Some lucky to clear
fifty thousand dollars a year.
Speaker 5 (14:43):
When we talk about generational success. It's what we do
within the school. We help them to understand that in
the world's traditional system, it's about maximizing. You know, how
much can I get? Right, there's this impulsive sense of
greed in some regards where it's how much can I
get for me? But in this instance, it's how much
(15:06):
can we get not just for me, but for my
community for generations to come. And so within the Joseph
Business School, we help our entrepreneurs to understand that the
mission is bigger than a mission of one, and it's
bigger than just for this generation. It's multi generational. And
what we do is we really help them to see
(15:28):
that God has big plans and can implant big vision
in them. And the school is an example of that
where it started with just one vision and through my
husband and I assisting doctor Winston, now it's all over
the world and have trained thousands of entrepreneurs to become
(15:48):
successful businesses and now we're ready to do one hundred
thousand more in the next five years.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
So we're quite excited about that.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
So when they graduate, do they get like an MBA
or a certificate?
Speaker 3 (16:00):
What do you leave the business?
Speaker 6 (16:02):
Yea?
Speaker 5 (16:02):
Many, yeah, many many of our students will say, oh,
this is like a.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Mini NBA or was better than my MBA.
Speaker 5 (16:08):
But it's a certificate program. It's four months, and it's
a four month intensive And the best way I could
say it is that we always hear the saying where
I'm busy working in my business, that I can't work
on my business. That four months is a time period
where we get our entrepreneurs to work on the business
(16:30):
and so once they complete, they get a certificate of completion.
And the goal there is for them to set aside
quality time to figure out what's the right pricing strategy,
how do I acquire more customers, how do I effectively
market my business? What's going on with these ratios and
the financials, Why is it that I have more month
(16:51):
than I have money? And how do we help them
to become much more fiscally knowledgeable and scalable. So so
how do they get their business systems in order so
that they can get big contracts. We partner with APEX,
which is one of the entities that is part of
our ecosystem. So we have partnership with the Small Business
(17:13):
Development Center, International Trade Center and APEX, which is the
government contracting area, and what we find is people might
be running their businesses fine, but they don't have a
million dollar contract or a two million dollar contract, and
they've heard it's good to do business with the government,
but they don't know how. So we work with our
entrepreneurs to get the proper certifications for them to have
(17:34):
the proper registry in the system, for them to know
how to source opportunities and how to take advantage of them.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Who are your students? Must you have a business in
order to join or no.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
You don't have to have a business. So there are
multiple categories and we have several different programs. Our flagship
is the four month program, but we also have something
called an Executive Accelerated Program, which is a six week
program for those who are much more mature in business
and have seen that they are producing revenues and really
(18:05):
do need to just scale their business. But we have
students who simply have an idea, So we could take
you from idea. Or you might have been running your
business for ten years and it's just flattened out and
you need something else. You know, there's something else that
you're missing, and we help you to get on stock
right or you're at a place where you're like, no,
(18:26):
I want to know how to do business God's way.
And I tell you that is really a part of
our unique sauce in the sense that we have seen
how spirituality can change how someone views themselves and view opportunities.
Particularly in the black and brown community, there's always the
(18:48):
sense that, oh, you know, I'm a victim. You know,
things aren't fair, things aren't balanced. But what we say is,
if God is for you, then nobody could be against you.
Or you're supposed to be the head, not a tale
above only not beneath that. With God, things are possible
that might be impossible with man, and that favor surrounds
you like a shield. So we're able to give them
(19:10):
that inner strength coupled with the practical knowledge, coupled with
really being innovative and creative and exploratory about big opportunities.
And so as a result of that, we're able to
have that unique coupling of theory, practice, and access to network,
(19:33):
whether that is mentors, advisors, access to capital, whether that's
traditional or non traditional capital, and access to knowledge.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Knowledge is power. Doctor Thomas says it's time for our
communities to step up and level up. If someone wants
a chance for success, what should they do?
Speaker 5 (19:53):
They should definitely call us and write us and visit
us at ww dot JBS dot edu. And whether it's
English or Spanish, oubles faniol. We also have a Spanish program,
or they could call us at seven zero eight six
nine seven six two zero zero.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
The tuition is thirty five hundred dollars, but there are
scholarships and the fundraiser to help cover the tuition of
those who need assistance.
Speaker 6 (20:19):
It is really time for us to be serious about
eradicating poverty and changing our community, removing violence, and really
focusing on having that gifting and that purpose be realized
through entrepreneurship.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
I should add not only did Patricia Grant graduate in
her cap and gown years ago, but just a few
weeks ago, her son Michael graduated from the Business school too.
Their visions are being spoken into existence.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
One thing I learned, he is man. There's power in
the tongue. There's power in the tongue, and you know,
man our words. So that was going over over and
over in the JBS, and they helped me and being
also man, taking God's and bringing it back to him.
You know, these are your promises, God, that you promised
to us. So, Man, I'm expecting you to come through
(21:07):
this what you told me. This is what you got
for us.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Now you have the legacy to move on. Where do
you see the empire going from here?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
So I would like to see more of my family
involved in the business, especially my children, and just want
them to grow up, you know, a part of this,
just like you know my mother's story with my grandfather,
you know, as a young kid seeing what was you know,
available and seeing what have been accomplished. I just wanted
(21:37):
to do the same thing and you know, show them
what's available and have that around them, you know, put
them in that mindset that you know, Man.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
God put this here for us. It is normal.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
We're supposed to be living like this. We supposed to
take part of this, were supposed to you know, have
a different aura on us. So when we talk to people,
when people see us, they see.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Some different All her children are doing well spiritually and financial,
a proof even out of a place as notorious as
Cabrini Green, we can make it. And Patricia, any words
of encouragement to all the mothers out there raising black
sons in today's acide.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
I want them to know a scripture that the Lord
gave me that I want to continue to live out.
My dad that I was talking about that didn't live
with me. Finally the last seven years of his life
needed someone to take care of him. And I said, Lord,
if you show me how to do this, I'll do it.
(22:37):
The last seven years of my life, my dad came
and lived in my home. That's how the inheritance transferred.
But I remember one day I had taken care of
Dad downstairs in the basement. I was on my way
up the stairs with the plate in my hand to
go and start taking care of my family. And the
(22:58):
scripture that the Lord downloaded to me with Saint John
ten ten and this was the tone. The thief cometh
not but for to still to kill and to destroy.
But I am come that you might have life, and
that you might have it more bundantly. And one version says,
(23:21):
to the fall until it overflows. And my goal in
life is to live it, enjoy it, drive it, share it,
wear it, give it, be a blessing, and make things
comfortable for people. That is my goal. And I'll wrap
(23:43):
it up with this, he said. A good man leaves
an inheritance to his children's children, and I let them know, Look,
each one of us are responsible for at least two generations.
And by instilling that, let them know, ain't no time
to be playing. You got things to do. And then
(24:05):
I look at my grandchildren and great grands and say
to them, naw, hey, you what you gonna do? So
expect of them, give them something to work with, and
expect of them. That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Look, I knew I was gonna get in an interview.
I didn't know I was gonna get a sermon. You
both are amazing, Patricia Grant, Michael Reid, keep building.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Thank you, appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
I'm Vanessa Tyler. Join me next time on Blackland Like
and subscribe. A new episode drops every Friday.
Host
Vanessa Tyler
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