June 6, 2025 • 20 mins
BA Fam, Let’s Go! This week’s episode is all vibes and real talk.
Mandi is Beyoncé-bound, and she’s bringing the energy! As she preps for her London trip (yes, packing for a quick getaway is a whole production), she shares exciting updates from the Brown Ambition universe. We’re talking brand-new cover art, a book club (yes, you’re invited!), and deeper community engagement through Patreon.
But it’s not all glitter and passport stamps—we also get into the serious stuff. Mandi breaks down the latest in healthcare news and why it’s critical to raise your voice and contact your reps about upcoming legislation.
She wraps the episode with listener feedback (thank you for showing up, BA Fam!) and gratitude for the unwavering support from this amazing community.
What You’ll Hear in This Episode:
-
Mandi’s hype for Beyoncé in London
-
The struggle (and strategy) of packing light
-
Why our new cover art is a glow-up
-
Details on the BA Book Club—first pick: Sky Full of Stars by Sibo Campbell
-
How to join the book club (hint: Patreon not required)
-
Updates on healthcare policy you need to know about
-
Why your voice matters—call your reps!
-
BA Fam shoutouts and heartfelt appreciation
đź’ˇ BA Takeaway:
Big changes start with small steps—whether that’s joining a book club, calling your representative, or saying “yes” to joy (like a Beyoncé concert!). You don’t need permission to take up space. Just show up and bet on yourself.
LET’S STAY CONNECTED
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Website: [brownambitionpodcast.com](https://www.brownambitionpodcast.com)
Subscribe & leave us a review—because we love hearing from our BA fam!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Y'all pay attention. We have to wake up. There's still time.
Contact your senators, contact your local representatives. Like I know,
BA fam, like we we on the right side of history.
But if you are in a you know, if you
have an elected official who is on the fence or
isn't sure how they're going to be voting, or hasn't
indicated how they're going to be voting on this bill,
our voices have to matter. We have to believe the theyme.
(00:22):
So please reach out and contact your elected officials. Hey,
ba Fam, it's Mandy Money. I just want to say
Happy Friday. I'm trying to like get my breathing under
control because your girl has been hacking all day. Why
does it take so long to pack for just a
(00:42):
four day trip. I'll tell you why. Actually, as I'm
sitting here, I'm like, yeah, no shit, lady, you're going
to see Beyonce. I am on my way to London.
I'm going to see Beyonce. I'm breaking every rule they
tell you to follow when you're about to travel, and
you shouldn't tell people you're going to be leaving the country,
like someone might come and steal your whole life while
you're gone. Honestly, though, I dare you, I dare you
(01:06):
to find No, I don't dare you, but low key
I think it would be hilarious for someone to walk
into my life with my baby's kids and my husband
and my badass dog and walk promptly back out and
be like, you know what she can have? That, yes,
she really can have. I'm good. I'm good. Actually my
life was perfectly fine before. Honestly, what do I have
(01:27):
going on? I am gardening, I got this family, regular,
regular life. I'm leaving a sink full of dishes, my
bed isn't made. Type a's who are listening right now,
I just want to apologize. Actually I should have prefaced
this by saying trigger warning for my Type a's, but
it's been a hell of a week. It's been a
hell of a couple of weeks actually, and I just
(01:48):
wanted to do a solo episode and just say hey
and do a quick check in, make sure that y'all
are good, that I'm not trying to do too much
too fast, because I feel like in last I don't
know how long has it been six months of me
going solo, that I have really just been putting more energy,
more brain power, more everything into Brown Ambition, And I'm
(02:11):
as obsessed as ever with this show, with this community,
with the work that I'm doing, and y'all are the
reason why I get to do it. So I want
you to know what's kind of going on and why
it may feel like there's a lot of stuff happening
all of a sudden, I think because so much of
the changes recently have been weeks months in the planning,
and when everything was sort of like baked and it
(02:34):
was time to go, I was just like, you know what,
I'm sick of waiting. I just want to get shited
out there. I want to move on. So I am
really excited. The biggest change I'll probably notice is my
new logo or my new cover art, cover art and logo,
which was done by the brilliant Shirley Shirley Tea Designs.
If you are looking for a web designer, surely's basically like,
(02:56):
if you can think of any incredible woman of color
led podcast out there right now, it's likely that Shirley
did their website, did their branding. So think about Journey
to Launch with Jamila Suffrant, think about Janice Torres from
Jokio Dinero think about Nikayla Matthews from Side Hustle Pro,
Shirley Shirley, Shirley shre even Chris Browning from Popcorn Finance.
(03:20):
I believe he's worked with her before. So Shirley is
that girl, truly, and she's a mama just like me
of autumn kids, and yeah, she's struggling a lot, just
like me, and I love working with her. And she
was really great because I don't think I gave her
anything to go off of as far as what I
wanted for the new cover art, but I literally just
(03:41):
gave her all of my pictures, told her what I
liked and didn't like from the current brand, colors and
the vibe I was trying to evoke, and that was it.
And we, of course went through like a bunch of iterations,
and then the iHeart team got involved and things take
their time, But I'm really happy. Every time I I
see the podcast cover, I'm like, oh, I'm home. It
(04:03):
feels like I've been cycling through just placeholders for the
past half a year, even more than that, and I'm
just really proud of it. And I feel like it
is exactly the personality I wanted to get across we
don't have fun here that I am here for the
Brown Girls. Black Girls especially like that it's a fun show.
(04:24):
But we're going to like cover topics that are essential
to our everyday life. So very excited about that. Thank
you Shirley for making that happen. We also launched a Patreon,
and you may also be wondering, wait, also a book
club too. Yes, I know it's a lot and maybe
too much too soon, so I'll slow down so that
I can like catch all up on why and what
(04:46):
and how it all works. So book club and Patreon,
they're sort of interwoven. So first of all, the book club,
anybody can be in the book club. You don't necessarily
need to sign up for the Patreon to be in
the book club, but you do need to sign up
for the Patreon if you want to take advantage of
like the live author q and as and like book
club meetings that I want to have once a month.
(05:06):
So if you want all that, I highly suggest signing
up for the Patreon. There's a free version of the Patreon,
and so if you just want to sign up for that,
you should be good. But if you want to go
level up to the paid Patreon, which is five bucks.
Patreon sets a floor of at least three dollars four
different tiers, So five bucks is what I settled on,
(05:28):
and I wanted it to be something that's really affordable.
I know times are tough right now and things are
really uncertain, but at the same time, I'm packing it
with value. I'm trying to give y'all everything I could
possibly think of. So starting with one of my favorite
perks of the Patreon is that every week when we record,
or every time we record the Brown Table, you know
(05:49):
where I've got some pals, We get together, we chat
about the headlines and what's happening in our lives. I
can give an audience link to my patreons to be
a fan club, and y'all can click that link and
you can literally be in the audience while we're recording.
It's like having a backstage pass, so you can see
us working through the topics. You can basically hear an
(06:10):
entirely unedited version of the podcast. You can participate, so
if you want to ask a question, we will go
to that audience. Sometimes when there is an audience, I
don't know who's going to show up. I hope you
all show up. That would be cool, and y'all can
ask your questions live, you can comment as we're chatting,
and it'll just be fun. I almost kind of feel
like an old episode of like Living Single or Fresh
(06:32):
Prince of bel Air where you have like a live
studio audience. That's the That's what I'm hoping it'll it'll
be like. So if you want to get that benefit,
you can join the Patreon five bucks a month. Of course,
you're going to get bonus content, so I will anytime
I've got extra content that wasn't able to squeeze into
(06:53):
that week's episode, I'll be putting it up on Patreon.
I'm going to be in the Patreon and there's a
group chat there, chat with each other, you can chat
with me, you can ask questions there. Come join the chat.
You're gonna get, like I said, access to those virtual
book club meetings and author q and as you're gonna
get a virtual backstage pass to those live recordings behind
the scenes content. You can also help me pick show
(07:14):
topics every week. I want to make sure that I'm
covering things that y'all care about, so whether it's what
the heck is this big beautiful bill all about or
you know, live streaming live coverage of like what did
we think of all the looks from the BET Awards,
from the NAACP Image Awards, like whatever's happening in pop culture.
(07:35):
I want to be a part of that conversation with
y'all in community. So come on down to Patreon. I'm
gonna put a link in the show notes. But as
far as the book club, I'm gonna let y'all know
what the Oh wait, I didn't even tell you what
the pick is yet. I mean I told you if
you listened to the last episode, you know. But our
first inaugural book Club pick is c Bo Campbell's sky
(07:56):
Full of Elephants based on the feedback we've gotten just
on the clips I've shared on social so far, y'all
love this book, and I feel like y'all are just
like me. Like you've read the book, you loved it,
you've been dying to talk about it, and now you
have an excuse to talk about it. So let's get together, y'all.
If you want to learn more about sky Full of Elephants,
go back and listen to my interview with the author's Campbell.
What an incredible guy, such a cool story we get
(08:19):
into his career. Also the premise, we go through the
book and talk about sort of the plot and the
main characters, but there's so much we did not get
to dive into. So I'm excited to have Cibo come
back to join us for the Brown Ambition book Club's
first meeting, which will probably happen sometime in July, and
then I'll be announcing the next book club pick sometime
at the beginning of July as well. And if there's
(08:40):
something that y'all want to see in the book club, like,
if there's something that you're reading that you want to
tell me about, please do. It doesn't have to be
business or finance or career related. I love a novel,
I love historical fiction. I love books that make you
feel that help you escape, but then also have like
a really core message and heart to it. So if
(09:01):
that sounds like something that you are also into, I
would love you to join the Brown Ambition book Club.
All right, let me take a quick break and I'm
going to come right back with more of this solo
episode and I'll be right back. Bafam, hey ba fan,
welcome back. I'm just sitting here trying to figure out
how do people do solo episodes. I don't hate it, Actually,
(09:21):
it's kind of helping me unpack my thoughts. So so far,
we've covered the Patreon, We've covered the book club, We've
caught up on the new cover art and logo for
the show, and now I kind of want to talk
about things that are happening in the news right now,
because I, like y'all, feel like I'm drinking water from
a fire hose and I just want to do a
(09:42):
quick wu saw. Everyone, of course, is stressed out about
this big, beautiful bill that will set it. Y'all know
who I think Lovey Love is hilarious. Love called him
Mango Mussolini. So I'm going to steal that mankle Musolini's
new beautiful bill working its way. It is moving on
to the Senate now, and all I'm going to say is,
(10:05):
if you live in a state, or if you rely
on Medicaid, if you rely on a Obamacare plan or
a Medicaid plan, you need to be calling and contacting
your representatives on the Hill because this bill will gut
those programs and something like ten million Americans are going
to be dropped from that healthcare coverage over the next
ten years. If the bill has passed the way that
(10:27):
it is. I'm not gonna lie. There's some stuff in
the bill that I'm mad at at all, especially as
a homeowner. One of the changes or a couple other
things in the bill that pertain to homeowners. I mean,
my husband and I just got our annual letter from
our town saying that our house has been reassessed, and oh,
what do you know, We've gained sixty two thousand dollars
(10:48):
in property value in the last year, despite the fact
that we haven't done a single thing to this house
since twenty eighteen. So that makes no sense to me.
And our tax bill is going to be even crazier
than it already is. For my little three bedrooms, two
and a half bath house, y'all would just move the
property taxes twenty thousand dollars a year twenty thousand, and
(11:11):
in fact, I think we've finally reached a point where
our monthly property tax payment is more than the mortgage is,
so that's super fun. So the tax bill that is
working its way through Congress right now would actually increase
the salt deduction. So salt deduction stands for state and
local taxes. So basically right now, as a homeowner, I
(11:32):
think we're capped. At first of all, I'm not a CPA.
I'm definitely not your CPA. So I'm just giving you
my everyday Mandy money with a little bit of financial
knowledge and business journalism background. Take on the news. So
take it with a pinch of salt. Please do your
own research. But the salt deduction, it dictates how much
of our property taxes and the taxes we pay on
(11:55):
our home, how much of that we can deduct from
our taxable income, and that is going to be increased
from ten k to up to forty K. And there's
income limits. You know, you can only qualify for that
if you earn a certain amount. So that is also
something that's up in the air, but something that I'm
looking at. And what's you know, the biggest headline of
(12:17):
this whole bill is just how expensive it is because
as the Trump administration and Republicans get rid of all
these federal I mean, they've just been y'all know about Doge,
you know about Musk and how he has been gutting
these federal institutions, agencies and just laying off hundreds and
hundreds of employees with this bill. They are cutting through
(12:38):
these healthcare benefits. They are making it harder to qualify
for Medicaid, they are slashing funding for Obamacare in some ways.
There is a lot here that's going to cost America
so much money because they're cutting taxes. The corporate tax
rate right now thirty five percent, and you and I
(12:58):
both know is not like these corporations even pay that anyway,
because they have so many other tax breaks already. But
right now it's about thirty five percent. This would reduce
it to twenty one percent. Just about every tax bracket
income wise would be seeing a decrease in your tax
that you owe, your income tax that you would owe,
which may sound great. I mean, who doesn't love a
tax break. Like I said, I'm all for all increase
(13:21):
in the tax deduction because of how expensive my property
taxes are. That being said, when we cut taxes, that
revenue the US is like a business, right, I mean,
that's what Trump always talks about. It's a business. I'm
a businessman, Order the deal. Ooh, I'm a negotiator. The
reality is that one of the biggest revenue streams for
the United States government and our benefits are taxes that
(13:44):
we all pay, right, and when you cut a funding source,
being taxes, there has to be a way to generate
more money to pay for things that keep the lights
on in this country, pay the roads, pay for schools,
pay for public resources, our social safety programs. And unfortunately,
because of how deeply they are trying to cut taxes,
(14:06):
we are going to be adding trillions, not billion, trillions
of dollars to the federal deficit if this bill were
to pass exactly as it is right now. That's according
to the latest reports. There's a watchdog agency. Some people
call them bean counters, but these oversight agencies that will
try to predict or try to estimate, Okay, if this
bill were to pass, how much are we actually spending.
(14:27):
What's happening to the deficit. So, because they are cutting
taxes so much, they're going to have to cut other
programs because we will not be able to pay for them.
And so that's where the cuts to Medicaid and to
Obamacare come in. Oh and let's not forget if you're
a tipped worker. So if you work in service or
shift jobs, you may have a tax break on your
(14:49):
tips and your overtime pay, which I think people are
very excited about. Yay. All right, let me take a
quick break and I'm going to come right back with
more of this solo episode and I'll be right back.
Ba fam. This is hilarious considering Elon Musk being in
bed with the President. I don't care what they say.
I don't think any of us should forget how insane
(15:09):
Elon's impact has been on our country. And one of
the ironies of this big, beautiful tax bill is that
it's going to reduce incentives for Americans to purchase electric
vehicles yeay, and to make more energy efficient upgrades to
our homes and things like that. But don't worry. I'm
not worried for Elon at all, because he's got how
many different companies, and he has billions of dollars in
(15:30):
federal contracts. He is enriching himself by having been so
steeped and so interwoven into all the policies that are
happening in Washington and being literally at the table for
as long as he's been. And even though Homeboy apparently
allegedly is on all sorts of prescription drugs and unhinged,
which we already kind of knew that, and you know
(15:51):
is not a fan of this bill. I would not
be worried. I mean not that I don't think BA Fam.
We all were worried anyway. But he's going to be
just fine. If you a family on Snap benefits, which
I definitely do, they could eventually lead to this bill
could lead to four million fewer people getting those Snap benefits,
receiving food aid each month. That's neat, so neat. The
(16:14):
bill claims it wants to achieve the largest ever welfare
reform with broad reductions and mandatory spending programs. Mmm hmmm,
y'all pay attention. We have to wake up now. This
is on its way to the Senate right now. There's
still time. Contact your senators, contact your local representatives. Like
I know, BA FAM, like we we on the right
side of history. But if you are in a you know,
(16:36):
if you have an elected official who is on the
fence or isn't sure how they're going to be voting,
or hasn't indicated how they're going to be voting on
this bill, our voices have to matter. We have to
believe the theme. So please reach out and contact your
elected officials now. I want to hear from y'all. Ba fam,
Are you clued in to the big beautiful Bill? Do
you care what's going on? What are you worried about?
(16:57):
What are you excited about? Can you please drop me
a note. I'm at broad Ambition Podcast on ig also
broad Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com. Also send any
questions y'all have. But I'm I'm happy to hear from y'all.
I also, ooh, before I forget, I have to shout
out our listeners who have been leaving comments on Spotify.
Did you know on Spotify this is not an endorsement,
(17:18):
but on Spotify you can actually comment on podcast episodes
now and it's so fun. And we got a couple
of people who've commented that I took a screenshot of
and I'm gonna pull them up really fast. So if
you're on Spotify listening, let me know how you feel
about this episode other shows. On my episode from earlier
this week, I interviewed doctor U. J. Blackstock and doctor
(17:39):
Jessica M. Shepherd how to overcome healthcare bias in your thirties,
forties and beyond. So listener Q the Love says, this
is not a joke. At forty five, I've been putting
off my perimenopause testing and treatment until last Thursday. I
was sitting at my work desk and waiting for my
period to start, and I began to have cramps equivalent
to childbirth. And I've always had bad cramps, but I
(18:01):
hadn't felt this type of pain since I gave birth
sixteen years ago. I've been reading a lot of info
on perimenopause and joining online groups, but wasn't going in
to check on myself. I have an appointment coming up
this July. Yay, cue the love. Thank you for sharing that.
I'm so sorry that you're going through that, but I'm
really happy. I'm proud of you for getting the healthcare
that you need. Yes, all right. We had a comment
(18:22):
on my interview with Zarna Gard. Oh my god, Zarna
is just you know when I said comment Patreon on
my Instagram post comment Patreon and I'll send you the
link to join. Guess who was the first person to
say Patreon. Zarna Guard. She's a gem listener, a bunch
of numbers I won't read, says, this was a great conversation.
I never heard of Zarna before, but I'm definitely getting
her audiobook after this she dropped a lot of gems. Yes,
(18:45):
y'all need to go check out that episode. It was
so damn good. And now for my reviewers on Apple,
I love thinker Tinker says, great show, five stars. This
is a great show that offers a different perspective for
black and brown folks, not only from a financial perspective,
but from a social perspective as well. I've been listening
for a while now and this show has covered many
(19:07):
topics and there's something to learn from each episode. I
hope you enjoy as well. That's so sweet. Thank you
think your tinker the best. And then coach Ney says
grateful for this show. I truly enjoy the range of
topics with the brown girl twist. I love when I
ask my smart friends if they listen to BA and
they're like, of course, we appreciate what you do. Keep
them coming. Yes, thank y'all, BA fan so much. Okay,
(19:28):
I got to get to the airport. I'm going to
see Beyonce. I'm gonna get my entire life. Do I
have a cowgirl hot? Hell? Yes I do. Do I
have way too much packed into a suitcase for four days? Hell?
Yes I do. I really hope it's not over fifty pounds,
it very well might be. I had to go pick
up extra hair care products before I went to the airport. Y'all,
pray for your girl. Follow on IG. I'll be updating
(19:48):
from the show. And yes, I'm not even gonna say
I got great seats because I'm not sitting. I'm gonna
be in the honey buck and pit y'all on my
fever four hours. So the shoes I'm wearing, that's a
whole concern because I really don't want to be in pain.
I will keep y'all posted. I can't wait to get
my life and hang out with my friends and have
a damn good time. And as always, thank y'all be
(20:11):
a fan for supporting. I love y'all so much. Take care,
stay safe, see you next time. Bye.
Y'all pay attention. We have to wake up. There's still time.
Contact your senators, contact your local representatives. Like I know,
BA fam, like we we on the right side of history.
But if you are in a you know, if you
have an elected official who is on the fence or
isn't sure how they're going to be voting, or hasn't
indicated how they're going to be voting on this bill,
our voices have to matter. We have to believe the theyme.
(00:22):
So please reach out and contact your elected officials. Hey,
ba Fam, it's Mandy Money. I just want to say
Happy Friday. I'm trying to like get my breathing under
control because your girl has been hacking all day. Why
does it take so long to pack for just a
(00:42):
four day trip. I'll tell you why. Actually, as I'm
sitting here, I'm like, yeah, no shit, lady, you're going
to see Beyonce. I am on my way to London.
I'm going to see Beyonce. I'm breaking every rule they
tell you to follow when you're about to travel, and
you shouldn't tell people you're going to be leaving the country,
like someone might come and steal your whole life while
you're gone. Honestly, though, I dare you, I dare you
(01:06):
to find No, I don't dare you, but low key
I think it would be hilarious for someone to walk
into my life with my baby's kids and my husband
and my badass dog and walk promptly back out and
be like, you know what she can have? That, yes,
she really can have. I'm good. I'm good. Actually my
life was perfectly fine before. Honestly, what do I have
(01:27):
going on? I am gardening, I got this family, regular,
regular life. I'm leaving a sink full of dishes, my
bed isn't made. Type a's who are listening right now,
I just want to apologize. Actually I should have prefaced
this by saying trigger warning for my Type a's, but
it's been a hell of a week. It's been a
hell of a couple of weeks actually, and I just
(01:48):
wanted to do a solo episode and just say hey
and do a quick check in, make sure that y'all
are good, that I'm not trying to do too much
too fast, because I feel like in last I don't
know how long has it been six months of me
going solo, that I have really just been putting more energy,
more brain power, more everything into Brown Ambition, And I'm
(02:11):
as obsessed as ever with this show, with this community,
with the work that I'm doing, and y'all are the
reason why I get to do it. So I want
you to know what's kind of going on and why
it may feel like there's a lot of stuff happening
all of a sudden, I think because so much of
the changes recently have been weeks months in the planning,
and when everything was sort of like baked and it
(02:34):
was time to go, I was just like, you know what,
I'm sick of waiting. I just want to get shited
out there. I want to move on. So I am
really excited. The biggest change I'll probably notice is my
new logo or my new cover art, cover art and logo,
which was done by the brilliant Shirley Shirley Tea Designs.
If you are looking for a web designer, surely's basically like,
(02:56):
if you can think of any incredible woman of color
led podcast out there right now, it's likely that Shirley
did their website, did their branding. So think about Journey
to Launch with Jamila Suffrant, think about Janice Torres from
Jokio Dinero think about Nikayla Matthews from Side Hustle Pro,
Shirley Shirley, Shirley shre even Chris Browning from Popcorn Finance.
(03:20):
I believe he's worked with her before. So Shirley is
that girl, truly, and she's a mama just like me
of autumn kids, and yeah, she's struggling a lot, just
like me, and I love working with her. And she
was really great because I don't think I gave her
anything to go off of as far as what I
wanted for the new cover art, but I literally just
(03:41):
gave her all of my pictures, told her what I
liked and didn't like from the current brand, colors and
the vibe I was trying to evoke, and that was it.
And we, of course went through like a bunch of iterations,
and then the iHeart team got involved and things take
their time, But I'm really happy. Every time I I
see the podcast cover, I'm like, oh, I'm home. It
(04:03):
feels like I've been cycling through just placeholders for the
past half a year, even more than that, and I'm
just really proud of it. And I feel like it
is exactly the personality I wanted to get across we
don't have fun here that I am here for the
Brown Girls. Black Girls especially like that it's a fun show.
(04:24):
But we're going to like cover topics that are essential
to our everyday life. So very excited about that. Thank
you Shirley for making that happen. We also launched a Patreon,
and you may also be wondering, wait, also a book
club too. Yes, I know it's a lot and maybe
too much too soon, so I'll slow down so that
I can like catch all up on why and what
(04:46):
and how it all works. So book club and Patreon,
they're sort of interwoven. So first of all, the book club,
anybody can be in the book club. You don't necessarily
need to sign up for the Patreon to be in
the book club, but you do need to sign up
for the Patreon if you want to take advantage of
like the live author q and as and like book
club meetings that I want to have once a month.
(05:06):
So if you want all that, I highly suggest signing
up for the Patreon. There's a free version of the Patreon,
and so if you just want to sign up for that,
you should be good. But if you want to go
level up to the paid Patreon, which is five bucks.
Patreon sets a floor of at least three dollars four
different tiers, So five bucks is what I settled on,
(05:28):
and I wanted it to be something that's really affordable.
I know times are tough right now and things are
really uncertain, but at the same time, I'm packing it
with value. I'm trying to give y'all everything I could
possibly think of. So starting with one of my favorite
perks of the Patreon is that every week when we record,
or every time we record the Brown Table, you know
(05:49):
where I've got some pals, We get together, we chat
about the headlines and what's happening in our lives. I
can give an audience link to my patreons to be
a fan club, and y'all can click that link and
you can literally be in the audience while we're recording.
It's like having a backstage pass, so you can see
us working through the topics. You can basically hear an
(06:10):
entirely unedited version of the podcast. You can participate, so
if you want to ask a question, we will go
to that audience. Sometimes when there is an audience, I
don't know who's going to show up. I hope you
all show up. That would be cool, and y'all can
ask your questions live, you can comment as we're chatting,
and it'll just be fun. I almost kind of feel
like an old episode of like Living Single or Fresh
(06:32):
Prince of bel Air where you have like a live
studio audience. That's the That's what I'm hoping it'll it'll
be like. So if you want to get that benefit,
you can join the Patreon five bucks a month. Of course,
you're going to get bonus content, so I will anytime
I've got extra content that wasn't able to squeeze into
(06:53):
that week's episode, I'll be putting it up on Patreon.
I'm going to be in the Patreon and there's a
group chat there, chat with each other, you can chat
with me, you can ask questions there. Come join the chat.
You're gonna get, like I said, access to those virtual
book club meetings and author q and as you're gonna
get a virtual backstage pass to those live recordings behind
the scenes content. You can also help me pick show
(07:14):
topics every week. I want to make sure that I'm
covering things that y'all care about, so whether it's what
the heck is this big beautiful bill all about or
you know, live streaming live coverage of like what did
we think of all the looks from the BET Awards,
from the NAACP Image Awards, like whatever's happening in pop culture.
(07:35):
I want to be a part of that conversation with
y'all in community. So come on down to Patreon. I'm
gonna put a link in the show notes. But as
far as the book club, I'm gonna let y'all know
what the Oh wait, I didn't even tell you what
the pick is yet. I mean I told you if
you listened to the last episode, you know. But our
first inaugural book Club pick is c Bo Campbell's sky
(07:56):
Full of Elephants based on the feedback we've gotten just
on the clips I've shared on social so far, y'all
love this book, and I feel like y'all are just
like me. Like you've read the book, you loved it,
you've been dying to talk about it, and now you
have an excuse to talk about it. So let's get together, y'all.
If you want to learn more about sky Full of Elephants,
go back and listen to my interview with the author's Campbell.
What an incredible guy, such a cool story we get
(08:19):
into his career. Also the premise, we go through the
book and talk about sort of the plot and the
main characters, but there's so much we did not get
to dive into. So I'm excited to have Cibo come
back to join us for the Brown Ambition book Club's
first meeting, which will probably happen sometime in July, and
then I'll be announcing the next book club pick sometime
at the beginning of July as well. And if there's
(08:40):
something that y'all want to see in the book club, like,
if there's something that you're reading that you want to
tell me about, please do. It doesn't have to be
business or finance or career related. I love a novel,
I love historical fiction. I love books that make you
feel that help you escape, but then also have like
a really core message and heart to it. So if
(09:01):
that sounds like something that you are also into, I
would love you to join the Brown Ambition book Club.
All right, let me take a quick break and I'm
going to come right back with more of this solo
episode and I'll be right back. Bafam, hey ba fan,
welcome back. I'm just sitting here trying to figure out
how do people do solo episodes. I don't hate it, Actually,
(09:21):
it's kind of helping me unpack my thoughts. So so far,
we've covered the Patreon, We've covered the book club, We've
caught up on the new cover art and logo for
the show, and now I kind of want to talk
about things that are happening in the news right now,
because I, like y'all, feel like I'm drinking water from
a fire hose and I just want to do a
(09:42):
quick wu saw. Everyone, of course, is stressed out about
this big, beautiful bill that will set it. Y'all know
who I think Lovey Love is hilarious. Love called him
Mango Mussolini. So I'm going to steal that mankle Musolini's
new beautiful bill working its way. It is moving on
to the Senate now, and all I'm going to say is,
(10:05):
if you live in a state, or if you rely
on Medicaid, if you rely on a Obamacare plan or
a Medicaid plan, you need to be calling and contacting
your representatives on the Hill because this bill will gut
those programs and something like ten million Americans are going
to be dropped from that healthcare coverage over the next
ten years. If the bill has passed the way that
(10:27):
it is. I'm not gonna lie. There's some stuff in
the bill that I'm mad at at all, especially as
a homeowner. One of the changes or a couple other
things in the bill that pertain to homeowners. I mean,
my husband and I just got our annual letter from
our town saying that our house has been reassessed, and oh,
what do you know, We've gained sixty two thousand dollars
(10:48):
in property value in the last year, despite the fact
that we haven't done a single thing to this house
since twenty eighteen. So that makes no sense to me.
And our tax bill is going to be even crazier
than it already is. For my little three bedrooms, two
and a half bath house, y'all would just move the
property taxes twenty thousand dollars a year twenty thousand, and
(11:11):
in fact, I think we've finally reached a point where
our monthly property tax payment is more than the mortgage is,
so that's super fun. So the tax bill that is
working its way through Congress right now would actually increase
the salt deduction. So salt deduction stands for state and
local taxes. So basically right now, as a homeowner, I
(11:32):
think we're capped. At first of all, I'm not a CPA.
I'm definitely not your CPA. So I'm just giving you
my everyday Mandy money with a little bit of financial
knowledge and business journalism background. Take on the news. So
take it with a pinch of salt. Please do your
own research. But the salt deduction, it dictates how much
of our property taxes and the taxes we pay on
(11:55):
our home, how much of that we can deduct from
our taxable income, and that is going to be increased
from ten k to up to forty K. And there's
income limits. You know, you can only qualify for that
if you earn a certain amount. So that is also
something that's up in the air, but something that I'm
looking at. And what's you know, the biggest headline of
(12:17):
this whole bill is just how expensive it is because
as the Trump administration and Republicans get rid of all
these federal I mean, they've just been y'all know about Doge,
you know about Musk and how he has been gutting
these federal institutions, agencies and just laying off hundreds and
hundreds of employees with this bill. They are cutting through
(12:38):
these healthcare benefits. They are making it harder to qualify
for Medicaid, they are slashing funding for Obamacare in some ways.
There is a lot here that's going to cost America
so much money because they're cutting taxes. The corporate tax
rate right now thirty five percent, and you and I
(12:58):
both know is not like these corporations even pay that anyway,
because they have so many other tax breaks already. But
right now it's about thirty five percent. This would reduce
it to twenty one percent. Just about every tax bracket
income wise would be seeing a decrease in your tax
that you owe, your income tax that you would owe,
which may sound great. I mean, who doesn't love a
tax break. Like I said, I'm all for all increase
(13:21):
in the tax deduction because of how expensive my property
taxes are. That being said, when we cut taxes, that
revenue the US is like a business, right, I mean,
that's what Trump always talks about. It's a business. I'm
a businessman, Order the deal. Ooh, I'm a negotiator. The
reality is that one of the biggest revenue streams for
the United States government and our benefits are taxes that
(13:44):
we all pay, right, and when you cut a funding source,
being taxes, there has to be a way to generate
more money to pay for things that keep the lights
on in this country, pay the roads, pay for schools,
pay for public resources, our social safety programs. And unfortunately,
because of how deeply they are trying to cut taxes,
(14:06):
we are going to be adding trillions, not billion, trillions
of dollars to the federal deficit if this bill were
to pass exactly as it is right now. That's according
to the latest reports. There's a watchdog agency. Some people
call them bean counters, but these oversight agencies that will
try to predict or try to estimate, Okay, if this
bill were to pass, how much are we actually spending.
(14:27):
What's happening to the deficit. So, because they are cutting
taxes so much, they're going to have to cut other
programs because we will not be able to pay for them.
And so that's where the cuts to Medicaid and to
Obamacare come in. Oh and let's not forget if you're
a tipped worker. So if you work in service or
shift jobs, you may have a tax break on your
(14:49):
tips and your overtime pay, which I think people are
very excited about. Yay. All right, let me take a
quick break and I'm going to come right back with
more of this solo episode and I'll be right back.
Ba fam. This is hilarious considering Elon Musk being in
bed with the President. I don't care what they say.
I don't think any of us should forget how insane
(15:09):
Elon's impact has been on our country. And one of
the ironies of this big, beautiful tax bill is that
it's going to reduce incentives for Americans to purchase electric
vehicles yeay, and to make more energy efficient upgrades to
our homes and things like that. But don't worry. I'm
not worried for Elon at all, because he's got how
many different companies, and he has billions of dollars in
(15:30):
federal contracts. He is enriching himself by having been so
steeped and so interwoven into all the policies that are
happening in Washington and being literally at the table for
as long as he's been. And even though Homeboy apparently
allegedly is on all sorts of prescription drugs and unhinged,
which we already kind of knew that, and you know
(15:51):
is not a fan of this bill. I would not
be worried. I mean not that I don't think BA Fam.
We all were worried anyway. But he's going to be
just fine. If you a family on Snap benefits, which
I definitely do, they could eventually lead to this bill
could lead to four million fewer people getting those Snap benefits,
receiving food aid each month. That's neat, so neat. The
(16:14):
bill claims it wants to achieve the largest ever welfare
reform with broad reductions and mandatory spending programs. Mmm hmmm,
y'all pay attention. We have to wake up now. This
is on its way to the Senate right now. There's
still time. Contact your senators, contact your local representatives. Like
I know, BA FAM, like we we on the right
side of history. But if you are in a you know,
(16:36):
if you have an elected official who is on the
fence or isn't sure how they're going to be voting,
or hasn't indicated how they're going to be voting on
this bill, our voices have to matter. We have to
believe the theme. So please reach out and contact your
elected officials now. I want to hear from y'all. Ba fam,
Are you clued in to the big beautiful Bill? Do
you care what's going on? What are you worried about?
(16:57):
What are you excited about? Can you please drop me
a note. I'm at broad Ambition Podcast on ig also
broad Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com. Also send any
questions y'all have. But I'm I'm happy to hear from y'all.
I also, ooh, before I forget, I have to shout
out our listeners who have been leaving comments on Spotify.
Did you know on Spotify this is not an endorsement,
(17:18):
but on Spotify you can actually comment on podcast episodes
now and it's so fun. And we got a couple
of people who've commented that I took a screenshot of
and I'm gonna pull them up really fast. So if
you're on Spotify listening, let me know how you feel
about this episode other shows. On my episode from earlier
this week, I interviewed doctor U. J. Blackstock and doctor
(17:39):
Jessica M. Shepherd how to overcome healthcare bias in your thirties,
forties and beyond. So listener Q the Love says, this
is not a joke. At forty five, I've been putting
off my perimenopause testing and treatment until last Thursday. I
was sitting at my work desk and waiting for my
period to start, and I began to have cramps equivalent
to childbirth. And I've always had bad cramps, but I
(18:01):
hadn't felt this type of pain since I gave birth
sixteen years ago. I've been reading a lot of info
on perimenopause and joining online groups, but wasn't going in
to check on myself. I have an appointment coming up
this July. Yay, cue the love. Thank you for sharing that.
I'm so sorry that you're going through that, but I'm
really happy. I'm proud of you for getting the healthcare
that you need. Yes, all right. We had a comment
(18:22):
on my interview with Zarna Gard. Oh my god, Zarna
is just you know when I said comment Patreon on
my Instagram post comment Patreon and I'll send you the
link to join. Guess who was the first person to
say Patreon. Zarna Guard. She's a gem listener, a bunch
of numbers I won't read, says, this was a great conversation.
I never heard of Zarna before, but I'm definitely getting
her audiobook after this she dropped a lot of gems. Yes,
(18:45):
y'all need to go check out that episode. It was
so damn good. And now for my reviewers on Apple,
I love thinker Tinker says, great show, five stars. This
is a great show that offers a different perspective for
black and brown folks, not only from a financial perspective,
but from a social perspective as well. I've been listening
for a while now and this show has covered many
(19:07):
topics and there's something to learn from each episode. I
hope you enjoy as well. That's so sweet. Thank you
think your tinker the best. And then coach Ney says
grateful for this show. I truly enjoy the range of
topics with the brown girl twist. I love when I
ask my smart friends if they listen to BA and
they're like, of course, we appreciate what you do. Keep
them coming. Yes, thank y'all, BA fan so much. Okay,
(19:28):
I got to get to the airport. I'm going to
see Beyonce. I'm gonna get my entire life. Do I
have a cowgirl hot? Hell? Yes I do. Do I
have way too much packed into a suitcase for four days? Hell?
Yes I do. I really hope it's not over fifty pounds,
it very well might be. I had to go pick
up extra hair care products before I went to the airport. Y'all,
pray for your girl. Follow on IG. I'll be updating
(19:48):
from the show. And yes, I'm not even gonna say
I got great seats because I'm not sitting. I'm gonna
be in the honey buck and pit y'all on my
fever four hours. So the shoes I'm wearing, that's a
whole concern because I really don't want to be in pain.
I will keep y'all posted. I can't wait to get
my life and hang out with my friends and have
a damn good time. And as always, thank y'all be
(20:11):
a fan for supporting. I love y'all so much. Take care,
stay safe, see you next time. Bye.
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