August 8, 2025 • 42 mins
Hey BA Fam! This week I’m coming to you from Cleveland, where I’m soaking up all the love (and ALL the nostalgia) at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention. It’s been a full-circle moment walking back into this space, not as a reporter for a big outlet, but as Mandi Woodruff-Santos, aka Mandi Money, host of Brown Ambition!
We’re talking about:
- Why it’s okay to come back to spaces you’ve outgrown—just show up as your new self.
- How journalism and content marketing are more connected than you think.
- Setting BIG end-of-year money goals (even while paying down debt).
- My real talk convo with
Alexa Claire from The Financial Diet about saving goals for the life you want.
And yes—we’re also going there. I’m opening up about why I’ve been so vocal about Gaza and Sudan, how I navigate the fear of backlash, and why I believe using your voice for what matters is worth the risk. It gets emotional, BA Fam, but y’all know I’m here to keep it 100.
Links & Resources to learn more about the wars in Gaza and Sudan:
Sudan
Gaza
- @thepcrf
- @savethechildren
- Boycott lists & resources – [https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ethicalcampaigns/boycotts]
- Find/Contact your elected officials – [https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials]
Let’s Connect:
IG: @brownambitionpodcast | @mandimoney
Email: brownambitionpodcast@gmail.com
We launched a Patreon! 🎉
🎥 Get early access to ad-free video recordings, join our BA book club, and even score a seat live in the studio during tapings. 👉 patreon.com/brownambition
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm starting to think about starting a savings challenge for
myself in September. There's just so little space in my
budget for savings these days.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
How do I do this intelligently and not have to
like sacrifice my current lifestyle?
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Ain't that some shit? It's so hard because while you
want to save for your trip to Australia, a mean
person would say you better stay your ass home and
not go to Australia. I will never tell you to
do that. You are too young, your skin is tight,
everything is popping.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Girl. You better get your ass to Australia.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Better go petticate a koala that in your life.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Hey, aba, fam, what's up? It's your girl, Mandy Money.
I am. I was about to say I am reporting live.
I'm not. I'm I'm recording yesterday, but I am not
at home. If you're on YouTube, you can see I
have a lovely lounge situation background right now because this
(00:58):
room that I'm in is not giving esthetic. It's not
even giving. We have ever heard of podcasts and appreciate
a nice background. It is giving sad conference room. But
for a good reason. I'm actually in Cleveland right now
because I am attending the National Association of Black Journalists
convention in Cleveland, Ohio. I am an OG journalist curly.
(01:23):
I don't know if BA fan, if you've been in OG,
you remember when I started Brand Ambition, I was actually
a personal finance writer and correspondent for Yahoo Finance. And
before that I was at Business Insider, and before that,
you go back of it, I was in journalism school.
I always thought I was going to end up being
a writer, a full time journalist, writing for you know,
(01:45):
the big newspapers of the day. That Atlanta Journal Constitution
was my everything growing up in Atlanta, So my journalism
roots go pretty damn deep. I was really involved in
the NABJ in and NABJ was extremely It was one
of the first times I really felt I understood the
importance of not just networking, but having a safe space
(02:09):
professionally where you could go to be with other journalists
of color. Because I went to a PWI, I had
a great education, No, I give it a good I
had a pretty good education at my alma mater. But
without NABJ. NABJ made me into the journalist that I became,
and in so many ways they were, you know, the
(02:30):
chapter in Atlanta you know, they were so supportive of
our little chapter at the University of Georgia. I kind
of drifted away from NABJ though, as my career shifted
and I left what I considered like traditional journalism. At
the time, I kind of didn't feel like I belonged
as much anymore at NABJ. I transitioned after Yahoo Finance.
(02:50):
I had launched Brown Ambition while I was at Yahoo Finance.
So this has always been my independent venture. It's always
how I've been able to maintain my creativity, my creative outlet,
give myself a platform, morman a voice outside of my
nine to five and I pivoted into content marketing. So
I ran a huge content team, and I ran them
like a newsroom. Really. We had writers and copy editors
(03:13):
and fact checkers and managing editors. And by the time
I left that company, I had managed a team of
thirty full time staff editors, writers and fact checkers, and
then a roster over one hundred freelancers freelance writers and editors.
And I was so so proud of the work that
I did there. But again, it was content marketing. Now today,
(03:36):
everybody and their mama, including the big traditional journalism brands
like New York Times, Forbes, CNN, they all have come
up with their own content marketing platforms. So New York
Times purchased the Wirecutter. And when I say content marketing,
what I mean is we create educational, well researched, fact checked,
(03:57):
journalistically sound reporting and coverage about financial topics. But the
purpose of the content is to drive eyeballs to the
products or the marketplace that is hosted on the website.
So Wirecutter, for example, is one of the og examples
of content marketing. Where what do you go to Wirecutter for?
You go there to read reviews. You go there to
(04:19):
find out which refrigerator should I get, which washer dryer
is the best? Which humidifier should I get from my infant?
And they have extremely detailed, well researched reporting on that,
and they'll give you all the info, but all those
links on their page, like if you go and purchase
any of the products they mentioned, they get a kickback
(04:39):
from the website that sells a product from the manufacturer itself.
That is the main revenue stream for a wirecutter. Now,
the New York Times is smart, and I was a
victim of the changing tides of journalism myself. Advertiser dollars
started to dwindle during the Great Recession, and traditional media
companies have been looking for ways to diversify their revenue
streams to help fund the long form, but not as
(05:04):
lucrative reporting, the investigative reports, the whole me too investigative report.
I mean, there's just incredible Nicole Hannah Jones doing her
work with the New York Times. I was at a
table with a bunch of brilliant New York Times reporters.
Shout out to Doda, Shout out to Mike Caine, Shout
out to Jordan who I sat with at dinner last night,
who work on the metro desk of the New York Times,
(05:26):
in the business desk. And these ladies are doing incredible
journalism and their jobs and their work that they're doing
is actually supplemented by a wirecutter, because wirecutter is driving
revenue in a whole different way. So what's really fun
and full circle is that I had sort of seen
myself as pivoting away from journalism by going the content
marketing route, but really we were all in the same
(05:49):
kind of wortex together, and everything was sort of coming
full circle. And those content marketing platforms are much more
I think, appreciated now for what they are and are
seen for what they are, which is a way to
still practice journalism, but with an eye toward profit, with
an eye toward revenue. So that's a long way of saying,
(06:11):
I'm back, bitches. I am here reclaiming my tie, reclaiming
my reclaiming my place at NABJ. In a way, I'm
here completely independently for the first time ever. The last
time I was here, I was a Yahoo Finance reporter.
Today I introduced myself as Mandy Witch of Santo's aka
Mandy Money, the host of the brad Ambition podcast, and
(06:32):
I am really damn proud of that, and everyone has
been so welcoming. I hope if you're listening to this
and you have a similar path like me, like maybe
you've sort of gone a maybe non traditional direction, whether
it's in your career path or you know, the work
that you're doing day to day in your life choices,
and you've been avoiding going back to, you know, maybe
(06:53):
some social circles or some environments that are not completely
like as a different version of yourself. I encourage you
if it's something that you're interested in. I encourage you
to be brave and show up in those spaces again,
but show up as your new self and reintroduce yourself.
And I really feel like I'm getting a chance to
let me reintroduce myself here at NABJ. And what's amazing
(07:17):
is that there's so much love. There's ANYVJ y'all been,
y'all have been supporting Brown ambition. I did not know.
I mean, I could have guessed, but I walking through
the conventional hall here and just running into so many
BA fam has been really heartwarming. And the fact that
it's my birthday too, and I'm not home with my babies.
(07:38):
I'm out here at NABJ. It's just felt like coming
home in the best way possible. And I want to
give a really special shout out to my aunt and A.
She's my aunt be Ina, even though everybody knows she's
everybody's ant and A. Anthonay has been taking such good
care of me, and she is one of the reasons
I felt like I could come home to NABJ because
(07:59):
I knew she'd be here to sort of hold my
hand as she did. I don't think she realized how
much I needed her presence and support, you know, with
me re entering the space. But I love her. And
if you have, if you're fortunate to have a person
who sort of represents a safe space for you, as
if you're re entering a space or a group or
(08:19):
an organization that you have spent some time away from,
y'all are the best you truly, truly are. Okay, what
can I say? I'm here to do, Baqa, It's Friday.
We gotta get y'all's questions first. I'm going to kick
off with a conversation I had with Brown Table guest
Alexa Brooks Major, who was on the Brown Table this week.
(08:40):
So if you haven't listened, go back and listen to
the Brown Table from Wednesday. Alexa was on the Brown
Table with me earlier this week with our mutual friend
Mia Brabham Nolan from Shondaland alexis Froock Major. She's with
the Financial Diet. Alexa, we got into it. We were
talking about the fact that it's midway through the year,
summer is winding down. I personally want to start challenging
(09:03):
myself to set some financial goals and set some savings goals,
particularly through the end of the year for twenty twenty six,
and I want to invite you ba fan to join
me and setting some financial goals for the end of
this year that we can start saving toward. I'm not
talking about saving for holiday shopping. I'm talking about saving
for a family vacation for winter break. Next year, I'm
(09:25):
going to be going on a book tour. I got
a budget for that. There's goals that I have so
and I'm sure there's goals that y'all have to at
the same time. Like so many of y'all, I'm also
saving while I'm tackling some credit card debt. I've been
very transparent about having to take on some credit card debt. Yes,
I was able to leverage some zero percent APR credit
(09:45):
card offers, so it's you know, it's not expensive credit
card debt, but it could be. So I have to
make a plan and get back to paying that down.
I want to be completely credit card debt free by
the end of twenty twenty five, manifest it. So Alexa
and I talked a little bit about that. Hey, ba fam,
we got to take a quick break, pay some bills,
(10:07):
and we'll be right back. Now it's summertime. Obviously we're
in the middle of summer. I don't care what y'all say.
This is the middle. It's not over yet, Okay, we
still have like four weeks left. I'm starting to think
about September. This is usually a time of year when
we start to kind of button up, like we've all
been outside this summer. Money has been flowing. I took
my ass ce Beyonce two times and them bills is due.
(10:30):
And I'm starting to think about starting like a savings
challenge for myself in September, like a real savings because
my problem has been making just enough, like eaking by
and not really setting aside. There's just so little space
in my budget for savings these days, between me trying
to have a life, the kids, you know, the business,
(10:53):
Like it just feels like there's like we are eating
all the meat off the bone. Like at the end
of the month, it's like here's your here's your little
your little bone. Good luck, like you know what I mean.
And I'm gonna try to do something I haven't done
for a while, which is automate some savings out of
as hard as a business owner because I don't have
(11:14):
a payroll department to automate stuff for me, but I'm
going to set some reminders for myself. I have to
manually do. It's kind of annoying, but automatically shift money
into a savings pot in September for family vacation twenty
twenty six. Be a fan in Alexa too. I want
to know from y'all, what if anything, are you wanting
(11:35):
to save for and what would you like for me
from brown ambition to help y'all hit those savings goals.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Oh this is good, this is good, really good time
to do this.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Okay, to do this? So a couple things, actually two
major things. I will three major things I will say, okay, okay.
Number one, I have been promising, promising, promising my dear
friend that I would see her in Australia come November.
Now it is happening. I did get my tickets already
and all of that. But I need to save for
(12:08):
spending money while I'm there. I need to save for that.
I cannot. I refuse to just overboard on my credit card,
like I really want to save money, stick to a
budget while I'm there.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
That's one. Two.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
I am moving to New York full time come January,
lis is.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Signed, I'm so excited. Yeah, I didn't know this congratulating show.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
I'm so it literally just happened this week. I'm so
happy about it. So I'm starting in January and I'm
just so hyped. But I have to start saving for
moving cloth And I don't know if our listeners remember,
but my last time on this on the podcast, I
had shared about the fact that we would be getting
like a buy out situation all of that, but we
(12:50):
don't know when any of that's going to hit our accounts,
So I have to act as though that money doesn't exist,
since it doesn't yet. If it ever will, we don't know.
So I have to save up money for moving costs,
but also to live in New York.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Because it is so expensive car.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
I'm coming in from DC, so I'm actually going to
be in Manhattan Valley, like right below morning Side Heights,
Upper West Side.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
I have never heard of Manhattan Valley.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
What in the yeah, So it's like, so, Harles, I've
never heard of Manhattan Valley.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
When did that become a thing? Manhattan Valley is right?
Think of? Like like I would say, like maybe one
what street would I say?
Speaker 2 (13:32):
I tell like one ten Cathedral Park is like one
ten hunder tent Street down to like maybe.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Ninety six ninety Street, No.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
West sidey, So so between Hell's Kitchen and Upper west Side.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Now we're having rtton Valley.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Well yeah, because think of it, there's Morning Side Heights,
Harlem and anyway whatever, that's where I'm going to be.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I'm just giving you so funny. So yeah, I gotta
save up for that, and then I have a credit
card I got to pay off.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
So figuring out how to funnel to those three things,
figuring out how to prioritize, and figure out whether I
do it buy like a snowball efat or do I
do like a fixed rate? Do I do a percentage
of my paycheck? How do I do this intelligently and
not have to like sacrifice my current lifestyle?
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Ain't that some shit? It's so hard because while you
want to save for your trip to all Australia, you
have a credit card that you're trying to pay down.
And I think a mean person would say you better
stay your ass home and not go to Australia. I
will never tell you to do that. You are too young.
Your skin is tight, everything is popping girl, you better
get your.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Ass to Australia.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Better go petticate a Koala in your life.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
The credit card, you know, that's that's something though. I mean,
I wonder, have you looked into a balance transfer to
buy you some time?
Speaker 2 (14:54):
So I have, I have, I've already, I've I've like,
I've looked into that.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
I'm not against it.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
I'm still just looking for the right card to do
that with because I want it to be a car
that actually want to have after the balance transfer, so
I need to I just need to do some research
there for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Yeah, I've definitely done some ballance transfers. I can tell
you all the pros and cons.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
There's probably know them speak on a thing. No, tell me.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
The biggest con is the balance transfer fee. It feels
like it's hard to find a balance transfer offer that
does not charge a fee upfront because they're giving you
zero interest for eighteen months however long it is. But
that's them being like, oh, we're gonna we're going to
give you free access to or we're going to give
you this let you hold this debt for free for
(15:39):
a while. But banks got to get their money at
the end of the day, so there's usually a three
to five percent fee, which is annoying because like, let's
say you have to transfer five thousand dollars, you get
a balanced transfer offer that's I don't know, that's five
thousand dollars, but you can't actually transfer the full five thousand.
You have to leave space for a three percent fee.
(16:00):
You may only be able to transfer like four thousand,
four hundred and forty five or whatever it is. So
that's a bit of an annoying thing. The other thing is
you just got to remember to set that calendar alert
for like a month before the balance transfer ends, because
you know about the deferred interest trying too.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
That I has heard about, but tell our audience, tell them.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
To You're so right, I'm like girl, every month, every
we're so blessed to have new listeners all the time.
All right, But yeah, so deferred interest basically is a
credit card company saying that was cute. We gave you
zero percent APR for eighteen months. You still have a
balance with us, so oops, you really did your big one.
We're actually gonna charge you interest beginning today, but we're
(16:42):
actually going to apply that interest going back to the beginning.
So it's gonna be as if you never had a
zero percent offer. It's going to be as if you've
just been accruing interest this whole time. So that's really
neat and it's hard to undo that. You would need
a very very very very generous, empathetic customer support anchor
to help you get that undone. My dad got himself
(17:04):
into a pickle. I'm always put my dad's business out
there because i know he didn't listen.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
It's a long time.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
It was protect and provide hundred credits for now, but
buzz was way before.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
My dad have bad, bad decisions. But anyway, so that
that can really suck, and you need to you just
need to make sure to set that calendar alert. And
the hardest part of a balance transfer is it makes
you feel like that debt doesn't exist, but it still does.
And if you don't make a plan to chip away
from chip away at it while the interest free period
is going on, it's gonna be waiting for you eighteen
(17:41):
months later and you're gonna end up having to transfer
it to another balance transfer option if you can find one,
and then you'll be paying another three to five percent
transfer fee on top of that. So it's a great option.
I mean, there's no I mean, honestly, that five percent
is a lot less than what your APR is going
to charge you over the course of eighteen months. But
it's one of the biggest cons out there.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Yeah. No, that's good to know, thank you.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
So then my final question then is I have three
major things I'm saving towards and like just need to
figure out how I'm going to prioritize saving towards them
because having the funnels to three different pots, WHILESO trying
to live a life, how do I do it?
Speaker 3 (18:19):
And in New York? Well half time in DC, but
yeah York.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Come on, So, Mandy, how would you suggest that I
set up like a mindset, Like what's the mindset I
should I should have? Like what filters should I be
toggling on when I'm considering which saving process I should
go for, whether it's like a fixed rate each month
or a percentage of my paycheck or which one to go?
(18:46):
And also which which bucket to fill first, like Australia
spending credit card and moving to New York, Like how
to prioritize and like timing for that, Like what should
I be considering or maybe what do not enough people
consider when it comes to saving in that way, I think.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
The most uncomfortable thing to do in that situation is
to sit down and actually try to predict the cost,
like plan out what will it actually take to move,
because because you're in DC now, you've been living in
New York part time, so like what what will you need?
You can even call and get some quotes from movers
in advance. You don't have to actually use their services,
but calling to get a real, live human quote. They're
(19:27):
all so different. If you're going to use movers, you
may decide to rent a car or rent a U
haul and just drive it at your damn self. And honestly,
if I was, you know, didn't have a whole bunch
of stuff, I probably would do that because I've had
terrible experiences with movers and it's very annoying. But that's
one thing that you could do just to get a
(19:47):
sense of what are your actual you need to put
a name on the goal in a dollar amount, So
how much do you need to say? For Australia how much?
And like what's the what kind of budget do you
want to stick to in Australia, Like how many days
to Like you can even ask your friend who you're visiting, Like,
now there's your budget for your friend, maybe different than
your vacation budget, because you know on vacation we'd be
(20:08):
enabling all kinds of behavior. It's always like get a second, third,
fourth drink that maybe you wouldn't have happened in our
day to day. But think about that and if you're
maybe you're going to be staying with your friends, so
that helps with your housing expenses. I know that could
be a huge savings. But and pre plan excursions and
pre plan like things that you want to do because
(20:29):
when you're traveling, I don't know when the busy season
is under been to Australia, but I know if you
wait until you get there, sometimes like you may realize
that like, oh I didn't expect this, I got to
buy that, I got I needed this kind of thing
for this event or this excursion, so I need to
buy this. And maybe pre planning you can get some
deals or find some discounts on things.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
But the biggest thing is like you.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Got to have a number for how much your savings
and then depending on your bank account. This really worked
for me was having multiple savings accounts set up, and
even like I used to on my bank, I have
multiple savings account and they actually have a routing number
or an account number tied to them. So I could
actually have my payroll like automatically deposit a percentage of
(21:14):
my paycheck into those specific accounts like your payroll. The
department may be able to do that. It may say
we can only do it for two or three accounts whatever,
but either way, some way of automating it so that
you're funneling into those accounts.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Is yeah, I can definitely do that. We have that
capability of being able to. I think we turn put
it off into like five or six different ones like
oh nice, Yeah, it's pretty it's pretty good.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Yeah, And then think about what this is going to mean,
like pre tell yourself what you're gonna have to say
no to. This may mean no traveling home for the holidays.
This may mean I mean, that's that's what I'm thinking of.
That's what my mind goes to oof, you know, because
I have to go home to Georgia for that, Like,
so I'd be like, sorry, you're not going to see me.
I'm prioritizing Australia or my move. You know it may
(21:57):
mean different things for you, but going ahead to tell yourself,
here's what I'm going to say no to, so that
you can let people know, including yourself, and not feel
any kind of guilt about it, because you're not saying
You're not just saying no to something. You're also saying
yes to some experiences that for now are the priority.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
And this is why she does, but she does. Thank you.
This is actually really helpful.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Okayva Fam. Hope you enjoyed that conversation with Alexa Alexi.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
I love you girl. Come back anytime.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
I'm going to take a quick little breather and we'll
be right back with more of your questions for the Baqa. Okay,
ba Fam, I'm back and I've got a I've got
an interesting question. It's not necessarily a personal finance question,
but I do believe it's a business question. And I
don't know if y'all have noticed, but I have been
sharing a lot more on my I think maybe I
(22:53):
brand ambition too, but especially on my Mandy Money Instagram page,
a pretty continuous stream of news about Gaza and what's
happening in Palestine and the genocide that's going on, and
it's pretty clear what my stances on that, and I
have been posting all kinds of stuff. I mean, I'll
post one of the most heartbreaking things, and the hardest
(23:16):
for me is, like I think anyone else is seeing
the images and the videos of starving children, also seeing
young children and families fighting just to get a bag
of flower and even people losing their lives lining up
to try to get food because they are starving. Because
there are troops, Israeli troops out there who are actually
(23:37):
murdering people in the streets while they are simply trying
to get food and if they're not murdering them with
their weapons, they're murdering them by blocking necessary aid, food
aid and other supplies from getting to these poor human beings.
So it's truly truly heartbreaking. And I've been sharing a
lot more lately, not because anything is particularly shifted. I've
(24:00):
followed the conflict myself. It's actually been one of the
hardest things about this past year is sort of holding
space for the devastation that's happening in Gaza while y'all know,
trying to live a life and be a mom and
protect my mental health, but still feel like I'm engaged
and understanding what's happening, and it's a lot. But I
(24:22):
got a question from a brand Ambition listener who This
was in response to a story that I put up
on Instagram that actually called out Trader Joe's. I had
not known this, but Trader Joe's has a lot in
their flowers there. You know, when you walk into Trader
Joe's and you'll see all the flowers on display. And
I used to make bouquets of my like you know,
you kind of like buy a bouquet or two where
(24:42):
you can make your own, and they're really affordable. Well,
this post spotlighted the fact that also a sidebar, What
the hell is this location sings on Instagram? This is
so unsafe. Please go into your settings on ig and
make sure you turn your locations off because that is creepy.
Af Nobody should have your location on Instagram. Why do
your followers need to know where you are? Okay, follow
(25:03):
me on the internet. This is where I said you
can follow me, not literally follow me through these streets.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
If you want people to share your location, they need
to be you know you can. You can share your
your iPhone location. That's insane. So what I've learned is
there's companies that actually own the genetics of certain plants
and flowers that turn into cut flowers in our supermarkets.
And so this video I'll post a link in the
show notes just so you can start educating yourself. Pointed
(25:27):
out several types of flowers that were found in Trader
Joe's bouquets, which actually have Israeli companies that own the
genetics to those flowers and that operate and occupied Palestine,
so they are profiting. You know, they're actually using Palestinian
land to grow these plants and then selling them to
US companies, and so we are in a way funding
(25:49):
the Israeli economy in that way. So it's just a
it's food for thought. Like I'm not necessarily one of
these people who's gonna who is going to tell you
it is going to tell you that you need to
research every single thing going into your home and that
you're paying for and make sure that it is considered safe.
I mean to a certain extent, I think any major
(26:09):
country that is producing some sort of some sort of
export that we are purchasing here, it's very likely that
they have done things, whether in they're like their policies
to their you know, in their countries or in other
countries that we may not agree with. It's damn near
impossible to be a perfect quote unquote consumer. But as
(26:32):
I learn new information, I will one hundred percent factor
that into my shopping habits, because once you know something,
it's really hard to unknow it. For me, that's why
your girl has only been to Target one time in
the past how many months? Eight months now? Yes, I
went to I broke my Target fast when I was
in Atlanta for Cowboy Carter because I woke up the
day of the show and realized that my bra broke,
(26:54):
so I needed a braw really quickly, so I went
to Target. It was really early anyway. Still, that's why
I try not to patronize Starbucks as much. Outside of
my kids screaming for happy meals, I don't try to
go to McDonald's as much. So these are some companies,
but I've tried. I've tried to find a list of
all the companies we should avoid if we are, you know,
(27:16):
if we are trying to vote with our dollars. As
far as what's happening in Gaza, it's overwhilled meing. I
mean my goodness. We have. Obviously Amazon and Google. I
stopped my Amazon Prime service earlier this year for a
couple of reasons. One was the the fact that they
provide cloud technology to the Israeli government, along with Google
(27:39):
and Microsoft Intel, so a lot of the tech companies
that we love are actually helping the Israeli government. Also,
Coca Cola operates in Israel and is also cited by
activists for having long standing investments in in Israel. Pepsi coo,
so it's like coke and Pepsi both out. Starbucks, you know,
(28:01):
also included in the Israeli boycott because it has former
executives who are very pro Israeli. So there's a lot.
And I've done what I've done what I've done out
of like I said, once I know better, it's hard
to not do better. So where I can I try
to avoid these these retailers. I went on this very
long tangent here because I got a question in response
(28:24):
to this Instagram story in particular from a listener called Fasa,
and Faza said, I'm curious, have you been getting backlash
for these kinds of posts? And this is where it
pays to not be like I mean, I would love
to have millions and millions of followers, but I think
I'm like still considered like a micro influencer. I have
less than forty thousand followers on my Instagram account, and no,
(28:47):
the answer I gave FASA is no, I haven't been
ginning any backlash, and not even in the content that
I have said in the podcast. Like y'all have heard
me talk about, you know, my feelings about palisine on here.
We've had a Palestinian guest on the show too this
time last year, talking about everything that's happening, and no,
ba fam, y'all have been hands down, extremely understanding and
(29:11):
I think encouraging me to share more. And even if
you haven't been, even if my posts have made y'll
feel uncomfortable, like, there hasn't been necessarily a backlash in
the way that I would. I think some creators are
worried about a backlash. I haven't noticed a huge reduction
in followers. I mean, I'm constantly losing followers, but I'm
always gaining followers too, so things tend to even out.
(29:33):
So I'm down for that. Like I've said before, if
I create content and it makes you unfollow me, well,
then you were never my You're never my target audience.
And so I think it's okay and healthy to continue
creating the content that speaks to me so that I
can attract the right audience. And I think because I
have stayed so authentically myself and stayed true to my morals,
(29:54):
my values, my ethics, my beliefs. You know, since I
started the podcast ten years ago and since I built
this place, I think y'all are used to this by now.
I don't think it's shocking anybody, And unfortunately for a
lot of creators. You know, poor miss Rachel is really
holding up this campaign to spotlight the children of Gaza
(30:14):
in such a beautiful way. Miss Rachel, like my endless
love for you. You are a brave, brave, courageous woman. You
have such a huge heart. You love kids and you
mean that shit. You don't mean some kids, you mean
all kids. And she's been extraordinary, and she's also been
like very alone. We have not seen I ain't seen
(30:35):
Blippy in these streets talk about pro gods. I haven't
seen Blippy talking about the kids. I haven't seen a
Pap Patrol episode where they go to Palestine, like you know,
we haven't been seeing that. So, you know, miss Rachel's
really stepping up, and I think cementing herself in the
Hall of Fame of children's educators and creators because she
(30:58):
cares that deeply, and she said braiding you know the kids,
some of the kids who have been injured in Gaza
and survived. She has incorporated them into her content, She's
brought them onto her social media platform. But she's been
so alone. And I'm actually genuinely surprised by the lack
of like high recognition celebrities, influencers who have spoken out
(31:21):
about what's happening in Gaza, especially as we've sort of
reached a fever pitch this past month or two in
the acknowledgment of what's happening in Gaza and in the
media coverage of Gaza, and at times like this, you
would think there'd be more safety in numbers and some
you know, prominent people would be able to speak out,
but there is a lot of fear among celebrities and
(31:43):
creators that it could hurt their business. I personally have
not felt any impact yet. You know, I think if
my yes, I sell ads on the podcast, So if
it were to happen that a sponsor was not happy
with what I was saying about Gaza, maybe they would
pull their do but I'm not going to stop to
prevent that. I would rather do first and ask permission later.
(32:07):
This is kind of how I operate, and I don't
really work with a lot of commercial brands, so I
don't have to worry so much about you know, it's
a good problem and a bad problem. It'd be nice
to make some you know, commercial brand money. But yeah,
I don't have to worry so much about using my
voice in that way, and I'm really happy to do it.
I also wanted to take this time to acknowledge that
Gaza is not the only place where human beings are
(32:29):
being killed in cold blood, where they are being starved.
We'd be remiss. I'd be remiss if I didn't talk
about the Sudan and the ongoing humanitarian crisis there as well.
So my heart goes to the people of Sudan. They
have been in the throes of a civil war between
the Sudanese Armed Forces and another organization called the Rapid
(32:52):
Support Forces that has been going on for two years now.
One hundred and fifty thousand people. According to the BBC
been killed during this conflict and twelve million have been displaced,
which has made it the largest humanitarian crisis in the
world right now, even outstripping what's happening in Gaza, and
as a result, they are also enduring widespread famine. And
(33:15):
famine is I'm getting chills thinking about it. Famine is
not we go to bed hungry, we only have like
bread to eat. Famine is you are so starved of nutrition.
Babies can't thrive. They are skeletons, they are like withering away.
And you're so sick and you're so malnourished that even
if you were to be introduced to food, you wouldn't
be able to just start eating normally again. You'd have
(33:36):
to be fed under medical care and followed and kept
up on. And it's it's sorry, I don't know. This
is just like it makes me appreciate the work that
(33:57):
the journalists, traditional journalists do every day. Like if you
have to go on air on TV and talk about
these stories and not have a reaction to it, I
don't know how. I don't know how these journalists do it.
And it's so important the work that they're doing and
spotlighting it, so I while I'm here at APJ, I've
just been I'm just thinking about how how you know,
(34:23):
I can choose to come on and talk about this
for a little while, but I don't have to talk
about it every day if I don't want to. And
I can barely get through twenty minute talk about what's happening.
It's truly, truly devastating. I ran into a therapist in
the convention earlier. She's here with her mom. I might
(34:44):
have to go find her and just be like So
I cried on Brown Ambition today. Oh my god, God damn.
It's so hard to to coexist with such brutality and
such evil. And I just I promise that as long
(35:06):
as I have the platform that y'all have given me,
there's a level of trust that y'all have with me,
especially those of y'all who have stayed with Brown Ambition
over the past like eight months since I've been doing
the show solo. And I don't take that trust for granted.
I'm just trying to do right by y'all. But this
stuff is so hard to just talk about. So I'm
(35:27):
going to stop crying now and I'm just gonna say
go to the show. Notes because I want to put
some resources there to some I'm not saying that you
have to like there's nothing that I don't think that
any one person can do, But I do think contacting
your elected officials matters. I'm not sure if y'all saw,
(35:50):
but there was the same man, Chris Malls, who unionized
Amazon warehouse workers, created the first Amazon warehouse workers union,
detained by Israeli military forces when he was on a
humanitarian mission. And I do believe he was released, I
don't know a few days later, even, And I think
(36:10):
part of that was because how the media, how creators,
how everybody just rallied around and got the word out
about him. How we called our elected officials and wrote letters.
And I think that that shit matters, and I think
we need to bring that energy. We have to bring
that energy and keep keep pressuring. I live in New York,
(36:33):
my elected officials. I got Chuck Schumer in the Senate
Christian Gillibrand, and they both voted to send more American
made weapons to Israel to aid in the war effort.
And I found that to be extremely unsettling and pissed
me right on off. And so you can find templates
that you can copy paste and send to your elected
(36:54):
officials through whatever channels, calling up and leaving voicemails. I've
even heard, you know. I was on a call with
a Palestinian organization a pc PCRF. I want to say,
I was on a zoom call last week and they
were just showing the impact of what even phone calls
(37:14):
can do and just encouraging. There were nine hundred people
on that zoom call, which is just amazing. There's people
in the streets. Somebody went through New York City and
actually set up a really chilling display of all the
lives that have been lost, as including children in Gaza.
And it matters. And I am not here to tell
(37:36):
you to let this consume you. But just because it's painful,
and it is very painful, doesn't mean that we can't
cope with that pain and push through it to shine
a light on in humanity and evil that's happening in
(37:57):
the world. And so I'm just challenging y'all to be
brave to cry with me. I'm just challenging y'all and
challenging myself to keep looking and to look even when
it feels like you can't, even when it feels like
you're going to be sick to your stomach. Some things
are worth enduring pain for. And I think looking away
(38:20):
is an evil is evil in his own way. And
I'm not saying that I haven't scrolled past really challenging
images because I didn't feel strong in that moment. But
we have to try. We have to try not to
look away. We have to not make excuses that enable
us to look away. And I believe in mental health,
(38:44):
I believe in protecting our peace. I believe in all
of that. I also believe that we're more capable of
facing evil than we may believe right now that we
may feel. And I think we have to do it,
not by ourselves, but together. So together, I hope BA Fam,
we can continue educating ourselves, reach out to our looted officials,
(39:06):
send letters, let them know that we want more humanities.
We want to we want the US to send aid
to these places that need it. You know, even if
it feels hopeless, because we have an administration that has
completely dismantled one of the largest humanitarian US aid organizations
(39:30):
in the in the in the world, and you know,
all those people lost their jobs and their work has
been more important than ever, but there's other smaller things
that we can still do. So that is my answer
the Asia. Thank you for your question. No, I haven't
seen a lot of backlash because of the posts that
(39:50):
I have made regarding Palestine and the genocide and Gaza
right now. We'll see, we'll see, but I think any
backlash that I get, it can't be worse. I'm still safe,
My babies still have food to eat, we still have
a roof over our heads. We are so damn privileged anyway,
(40:13):
So maybe I could endure a little bit of pain
just to do my small part. Okay, va, fam, I
know that was a lot. Let's go touch some grass,
Let's go smell some flowers, Let's go for a walk,
Let's find a new coping mechanism, something to soothe ourselves
after a tough time like this. I think I'm gonna
go get me a hug from any just whoever I
(40:34):
run into out there in the convention. I just need
a hug. But yeah, I'm sending so much love to y'all.
Thank you again for helping me build this platform. I
couldn't do it without y'all. I really really appreciate it.
Love y'all so much. Until next time, tune in this Sunday.
I have a really great interview for y'all for wash
Day Woosa. I'm going to be talking to Christine Manchini.
(40:57):
She is the CEO of Black Girls Who Code and
I just love this conversation. She's extremely inspiring and I
think y'all are going to enjoy it too. So definitely
tune in on this Sunday, and please let me know.
Have y'all been liking the wash Day wou saws on Sunday.
How do you like the new format of the show,
the Sunday, the Wednesday, the Friday episodes. I'm dying to
(41:18):
hear from y'all. Any feedback is always welcome. Email me
Brandimission Podcast at gmail dot com. You can leave comments
if you're listening on Spotify. I check those comments. I
love to see them. I love to respond to them.
Of course, you can DM me on IG at Branna
Vision Podcast or at Mandy Money Mandy with An I
But thank you so much and y'all take care be well. Okay,
(41:41):
va fan, thank you so much for listening to this
week's show. I want to shout out to our production team, Courtney,
our editor Carla, our fearless leader for Idea to launch productions.
I want to shout out my assistant Alauda Escalante and
Cameron McNair for helping me put the show together. It
is not a one person project, as much as I
(42:04):
have tried to make it so these past ten years,
I need help, y'all, and thank goodness I've been able
to put this team around me to support me on
this journey and to y'all bea fam I love you
so so so so much. Please rate, review, subscribe, make
sure you sign up to the newsletter to get all
the latest updates on upcoming episodes, our ten year anniversary
(42:25):
celebrations to come, and until next time, talk to you
soon via buy
I'm starting to think about starting a savings challenge for
myself in September. There's just so little space in my
budget for savings these days.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
How do I do this intelligently and not have to
like sacrifice my current lifestyle?
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Ain't that some shit? It's so hard because while you
want to save for your trip to Australia, a mean
person would say you better stay your ass home and
not go to Australia. I will never tell you to
do that. You are too young, your skin is tight,
everything is popping.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Girl. You better get your ass to Australia.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Better go petticate a koala that in your life.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Hey, aba, fam, what's up? It's your girl, Mandy Money.
I am. I was about to say I am reporting live.
I'm not. I'm I'm recording yesterday, but I am not
at home. If you're on YouTube, you can see I
have a lovely lounge situation background right now because this
(00:58):
room that I'm in is not giving esthetic. It's not
even giving. We have ever heard of podcasts and appreciate
a nice background. It is giving sad conference room. But
for a good reason. I'm actually in Cleveland right now
because I am attending the National Association of Black Journalists
convention in Cleveland, Ohio. I am an OG journalist curly.
(01:23):
I don't know if BA fan, if you've been in OG,
you remember when I started Brand Ambition, I was actually
a personal finance writer and correspondent for Yahoo Finance. And
before that I was at Business Insider, and before that,
you go back of it, I was in journalism school.
I always thought I was going to end up being
a writer, a full time journalist, writing for you know,
(01:45):
the big newspapers of the day. That Atlanta Journal Constitution
was my everything growing up in Atlanta, So my journalism
roots go pretty damn deep. I was really involved in
the NABJ in and NABJ was extremely It was one
of the first times I really felt I understood the
importance of not just networking, but having a safe space
(02:09):
professionally where you could go to be with other journalists
of color. Because I went to a PWI, I had
a great education, No, I give it a good I
had a pretty good education at my alma mater. But
without NABJ. NABJ made me into the journalist that I became,
and in so many ways they were, you know, the
(02:30):
chapter in Atlanta you know, they were so supportive of
our little chapter at the University of Georgia. I kind
of drifted away from NABJ though, as my career shifted
and I left what I considered like traditional journalism. At
the time, I kind of didn't feel like I belonged
as much anymore at NABJ. I transitioned after Yahoo Finance.
(02:50):
I had launched Brown Ambition while I was at Yahoo Finance.
So this has always been my independent venture. It's always
how I've been able to maintain my creativity, my creative outlet,
give myself a platform, morman a voice outside of my
nine to five and I pivoted into content marketing. So
I ran a huge content team, and I ran them
like a newsroom. Really. We had writers and copy editors
(03:13):
and fact checkers and managing editors. And by the time
I left that company, I had managed a team of
thirty full time staff editors, writers and fact checkers, and
then a roster over one hundred freelancers freelance writers and editors.
And I was so so proud of the work that
I did there. But again, it was content marketing. Now today,
(03:36):
everybody and their mama, including the big traditional journalism brands
like New York Times, Forbes, CNN, they all have come
up with their own content marketing platforms. So New York
Times purchased the Wirecutter. And when I say content marketing,
what I mean is we create educational, well researched, fact checked,
(03:57):
journalistically sound reporting and coverage about financial topics. But the
purpose of the content is to drive eyeballs to the
products or the marketplace that is hosted on the website.
So Wirecutter, for example, is one of the og examples
of content marketing. Where what do you go to Wirecutter for?
You go there to read reviews. You go there to
(04:19):
find out which refrigerator should I get, which washer dryer
is the best? Which humidifier should I get from my infant?
And they have extremely detailed, well researched reporting on that,
and they'll give you all the info, but all those
links on their page, like if you go and purchase
any of the products they mentioned, they get a kickback
(04:39):
from the website that sells a product from the manufacturer itself.
That is the main revenue stream for a wirecutter. Now,
the New York Times is smart, and I was a
victim of the changing tides of journalism myself. Advertiser dollars
started to dwindle during the Great Recession, and traditional media
companies have been looking for ways to diversify their revenue
streams to help fund the long form, but not as
(05:04):
lucrative reporting, the investigative reports, the whole me too investigative report.
I mean, there's just incredible Nicole Hannah Jones doing her
work with the New York Times. I was at a
table with a bunch of brilliant New York Times reporters.
Shout out to Doda, Shout out to Mike Caine, Shout
out to Jordan who I sat with at dinner last night,
who work on the metro desk of the New York Times,
(05:26):
in the business desk. And these ladies are doing incredible
journalism and their jobs and their work that they're doing
is actually supplemented by a wirecutter, because wirecutter is driving
revenue in a whole different way. So what's really fun
and full circle is that I had sort of seen
myself as pivoting away from journalism by going the content
marketing route, but really we were all in the same
(05:49):
kind of wortex together, and everything was sort of coming
full circle. And those content marketing platforms are much more
I think, appreciated now for what they are and are
seen for what they are, which is a way to
still practice journalism, but with an eye toward profit, with
an eye toward revenue. So that's a long way of saying,
(06:11):
I'm back, bitches. I am here reclaiming my tie, reclaiming
my reclaiming my place at NABJ. In a way, I'm
here completely independently for the first time ever. The last
time I was here, I was a Yahoo Finance reporter.
Today I introduced myself as Mandy Witch of Santo's aka
Mandy Money, the host of the brad Ambition podcast, and
(06:32):
I am really damn proud of that, and everyone has
been so welcoming. I hope if you're listening to this
and you have a similar path like me, like maybe
you've sort of gone a maybe non traditional direction, whether
it's in your career path or you know, the work
that you're doing day to day in your life choices,
and you've been avoiding going back to, you know, maybe
(06:53):
some social circles or some environments that are not completely
like as a different version of yourself. I encourage you
if it's something that you're interested in. I encourage you
to be brave and show up in those spaces again,
but show up as your new self and reintroduce yourself.
And I really feel like I'm getting a chance to
let me reintroduce myself here at NABJ. And what's amazing
(07:17):
is that there's so much love. There's ANYVJ y'all been,
y'all have been supporting Brown ambition. I did not know.
I mean, I could have guessed, but I walking through
the conventional hall here and just running into so many
BA fam has been really heartwarming. And the fact that
it's my birthday too, and I'm not home with my babies.
(07:38):
I'm out here at NABJ. It's just felt like coming
home in the best way possible. And I want to
give a really special shout out to my aunt and A.
She's my aunt be Ina, even though everybody knows she's
everybody's ant and A. Anthonay has been taking such good
care of me, and she is one of the reasons
I felt like I could come home to NABJ because
(07:59):
I knew she'd be here to sort of hold my
hand as she did. I don't think she realized how
much I needed her presence and support, you know, with
me re entering the space. But I love her. And
if you have, if you're fortunate to have a person
who sort of represents a safe space for you, as
if you're re entering a space or a group or
(08:19):
an organization that you have spent some time away from,
y'all are the best you truly, truly are. Okay, what
can I say? I'm here to do, Baqa, It's Friday.
We gotta get y'all's questions first. I'm going to kick
off with a conversation I had with Brown Table guest
Alexa Brooks Major, who was on the Brown Table this week.
(08:40):
So if you haven't listened, go back and listen to
the Brown Table from Wednesday. Alexa was on the Brown
Table with me earlier this week with our mutual friend
Mia Brabham Nolan from Shondaland alexis Froock Major. She's with
the Financial Diet. Alexa, we got into it. We were
talking about the fact that it's midway through the year,
summer is winding down. I personally want to start challenging
(09:03):
myself to set some financial goals and set some savings goals,
particularly through the end of the year for twenty twenty six,
and I want to invite you ba fan to join
me and setting some financial goals for the end of
this year that we can start saving toward. I'm not
talking about saving for holiday shopping. I'm talking about saving
for a family vacation for winter break. Next year, I'm
(09:25):
going to be going on a book tour. I got
a budget for that. There's goals that I have so
and I'm sure there's goals that y'all have to at
the same time. Like so many of y'all, I'm also
saving while I'm tackling some credit card debt. I've been
very transparent about having to take on some credit card debt. Yes,
I was able to leverage some zero percent APR credit
(09:45):
card offers, so it's you know, it's not expensive credit
card debt, but it could be. So I have to
make a plan and get back to paying that down.
I want to be completely credit card debt free by
the end of twenty twenty five, manifest it. So Alexa
and I talked a little bit about that. Hey, ba fam,
we got to take a quick break, pay some bills,
(10:07):
and we'll be right back. Now it's summertime. Obviously we're
in the middle of summer. I don't care what y'all say.
This is the middle. It's not over yet, Okay, we
still have like four weeks left. I'm starting to think
about September. This is usually a time of year when
we start to kind of button up, like we've all
been outside this summer. Money has been flowing. I took
my ass ce Beyonce two times and them bills is due.
(10:30):
And I'm starting to think about starting like a savings
challenge for myself in September, like a real savings because
my problem has been making just enough, like eaking by
and not really setting aside. There's just so little space
in my budget for savings these days, between me trying
to have a life, the kids, you know, the business,
(10:53):
Like it just feels like there's like we are eating
all the meat off the bone. Like at the end
of the month, it's like here's your here's your little
your little bone. Good luck, like you know what I mean.
And I'm gonna try to do something I haven't done
for a while, which is automate some savings out of
as hard as a business owner because I don't have
(11:14):
a payroll department to automate stuff for me, but I'm
going to set some reminders for myself. I have to
manually do. It's kind of annoying, but automatically shift money
into a savings pot in September for family vacation twenty
twenty six. Be a fan in Alexa too. I want
to know from y'all, what if anything, are you wanting
(11:35):
to save for and what would you like for me
from brown ambition to help y'all hit those savings goals.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Oh this is good, this is good, really good time
to do this.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Okay, to do this? So a couple things, actually two
major things. I will three major things I will say, okay, okay.
Number one, I have been promising, promising, promising my dear
friend that I would see her in Australia come November.
Now it is happening. I did get my tickets already
and all of that. But I need to save for
(12:08):
spending money while I'm there. I need to save for that.
I cannot. I refuse to just overboard on my credit card,
like I really want to save money, stick to a
budget while I'm there.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
That's one. Two.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
I am moving to New York full time come January,
lis is.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Signed, I'm so excited. Yeah, I didn't know this congratulating show.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
I'm so it literally just happened this week. I'm so
happy about it. So I'm starting in January and I'm
just so hyped. But I have to start saving for
moving cloth And I don't know if our listeners remember,
but my last time on this on the podcast, I
had shared about the fact that we would be getting
like a buy out situation all of that, but we
(12:50):
don't know when any of that's going to hit our accounts,
So I have to act as though that money doesn't exist,
since it doesn't yet. If it ever will, we don't know.
So I have to save up money for moving costs,
but also to live in New York.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Because it is so expensive car.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
I'm coming in from DC, so I'm actually going to
be in Manhattan Valley, like right below morning Side Heights,
Upper West Side.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
I have never heard of Manhattan Valley.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
What in the yeah, So it's like, so, Harles, I've
never heard of Manhattan Valley.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
When did that become a thing? Manhattan Valley is right?
Think of? Like like I would say, like maybe one
what street would I say?
Speaker 2 (13:32):
I tell like one ten Cathedral Park is like one
ten hunder tent Street down to like maybe.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Ninety six ninety Street, No.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
West sidey, So so between Hell's Kitchen and Upper west Side.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Now we're having rtton Valley.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Well yeah, because think of it, there's Morning Side Heights,
Harlem and anyway whatever, that's where I'm going to be.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I'm just giving you so funny. So yeah, I gotta
save up for that, and then I have a credit
card I got to pay off.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
So figuring out how to funnel to those three things,
figuring out how to prioritize, and figure out whether I
do it buy like a snowball efat or do I
do like a fixed rate? Do I do a percentage
of my paycheck? How do I do this intelligently and
not have to like sacrifice my current lifestyle?
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Ain't that some shit? It's so hard because while you
want to save for your trip to all Australia, you
have a credit card that you're trying to pay down.
And I think a mean person would say you better
stay your ass home and not go to Australia. I
will never tell you to do that. You are too young.
Your skin is tight, everything is popping girl, you better
get your.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Ass to Australia.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Better go petticate a Koala in your life.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
The credit card, you know, that's that's something though. I mean,
I wonder, have you looked into a balance transfer to
buy you some time?
Speaker 2 (14:54):
So I have, I have, I've already, I've I've like,
I've looked into that.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
I'm not against it.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
I'm still just looking for the right card to do
that with because I want it to be a car
that actually want to have after the balance transfer, so
I need to I just need to do some research
there for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Yeah, I've definitely done some ballance transfers. I can tell
you all the pros and cons.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
There's probably know them speak on a thing. No, tell me.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
The biggest con is the balance transfer fee. It feels
like it's hard to find a balance transfer offer that
does not charge a fee upfront because they're giving you
zero interest for eighteen months however long it is. But
that's them being like, oh, we're gonna we're going to
give you free access to or we're going to give
you this let you hold this debt for free for
(15:39):
a while. But banks got to get their money at
the end of the day, so there's usually a three
to five percent fee, which is annoying because like, let's
say you have to transfer five thousand dollars, you get
a balanced transfer offer that's I don't know, that's five
thousand dollars, but you can't actually transfer the full five thousand.
You have to leave space for a three percent fee.
(16:00):
You may only be able to transfer like four thousand,
four hundred and forty five or whatever it is. So
that's a bit of an annoying thing. The other thing is
you just got to remember to set that calendar alert
for like a month before the balance transfer ends, because
you know about the deferred interest trying too.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
That I has heard about, but tell our audience, tell them.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
To You're so right, I'm like girl, every month, every
we're so blessed to have new listeners all the time.
All right, But yeah, so deferred interest basically is a
credit card company saying that was cute. We gave you
zero percent APR for eighteen months. You still have a
balance with us, so oops, you really did your big one.
We're actually gonna charge you interest beginning today, but we're
(16:42):
actually going to apply that interest going back to the beginning.
So it's gonna be as if you never had a
zero percent offer. It's going to be as if you've
just been accruing interest this whole time. So that's really
neat and it's hard to undo that. You would need
a very very very very generous, empathetic customer support anchor
to help you get that undone. My dad got himself
(17:04):
into a pickle. I'm always put my dad's business out
there because i know he didn't listen.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
It's a long time.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
It was protect and provide hundred credits for now, but
buzz was way before.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
My dad have bad, bad decisions. But anyway, so that
that can really suck, and you need to you just
need to make sure to set that calendar alert. And
the hardest part of a balance transfer is it makes
you feel like that debt doesn't exist, but it still does.
And if you don't make a plan to chip away
from chip away at it while the interest free period
is going on, it's gonna be waiting for you eighteen
(17:41):
months later and you're gonna end up having to transfer
it to another balance transfer option if you can find one,
and then you'll be paying another three to five percent
transfer fee on top of that. So it's a great option.
I mean, there's no I mean, honestly, that five percent
is a lot less than what your APR is going
to charge you over the course of eighteen months. But
it's one of the biggest cons out there.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Yeah. No, that's good to know, thank you.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
So then my final question then is I have three
major things I'm saving towards and like just need to
figure out how I'm going to prioritize saving towards them
because having the funnels to three different pots, WHILESO trying
to live a life, how do I do it?
Speaker 3 (18:19):
And in New York? Well half time in DC, but
yeah York.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Come on, So, Mandy, how would you suggest that I
set up like a mindset, Like what's the mindset I
should I should have? Like what filters should I be
toggling on when I'm considering which saving process I should
go for, whether it's like a fixed rate each month
or a percentage of my paycheck or which one to go?
(18:46):
And also which which bucket to fill first, like Australia
spending credit card and moving to New York, Like how
to prioritize and like timing for that, Like what should
I be considering or maybe what do not enough people
consider when it comes to saving in that way, I think.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
The most uncomfortable thing to do in that situation is
to sit down and actually try to predict the cost,
like plan out what will it actually take to move,
because because you're in DC now, you've been living in
New York part time, so like what what will you need?
You can even call and get some quotes from movers
in advance. You don't have to actually use their services,
but calling to get a real, live human quote. They're
(19:27):
all so different. If you're going to use movers, you
may decide to rent a car or rent a U
haul and just drive it at your damn self. And honestly,
if I was, you know, didn't have a whole bunch
of stuff, I probably would do that because I've had
terrible experiences with movers and it's very annoying. But that's
one thing that you could do just to get a
(19:47):
sense of what are your actual you need to put
a name on the goal in a dollar amount, So
how much do you need to say? For Australia how much?
And like what's the what kind of budget do you
want to stick to in Australia, Like how many days
to Like you can even ask your friend who you're visiting, Like,
now there's your budget for your friend, maybe different than
your vacation budget, because you know on vacation we'd be
(20:08):
enabling all kinds of behavior. It's always like get a second, third,
fourth drink that maybe you wouldn't have happened in our
day to day. But think about that and if you're
maybe you're going to be staying with your friends, so
that helps with your housing expenses. I know that could
be a huge savings. But and pre plan excursions and
pre plan like things that you want to do because
(20:29):
when you're traveling, I don't know when the busy season
is under been to Australia, but I know if you
wait until you get there, sometimes like you may realize
that like, oh I didn't expect this, I got to
buy that, I got I needed this kind of thing
for this event or this excursion, so I need to
buy this. And maybe pre planning you can get some
deals or find some discounts on things.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
But the biggest thing is like you.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Got to have a number for how much your savings
and then depending on your bank account. This really worked
for me was having multiple savings accounts set up, and
even like I used to on my bank, I have
multiple savings account and they actually have a routing number
or an account number tied to them. So I could
actually have my payroll like automatically deposit a percentage of
(21:14):
my paycheck into those specific accounts like your payroll. The
department may be able to do that. It may say
we can only do it for two or three accounts whatever,
but either way, some way of automating it so that
you're funneling into those accounts.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Is yeah, I can definitely do that. We have that
capability of being able to. I think we turn put
it off into like five or six different ones like
oh nice, Yeah, it's pretty it's pretty good.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Yeah, And then think about what this is going to mean,
like pre tell yourself what you're gonna have to say
no to. This may mean no traveling home for the holidays.
This may mean I mean, that's that's what I'm thinking of.
That's what my mind goes to oof, you know, because
I have to go home to Georgia for that, Like,
so I'd be like, sorry, you're not going to see me.
I'm prioritizing Australia or my move. You know it may
(21:57):
mean different things for you, but going ahead to tell yourself,
here's what I'm going to say no to, so that
you can let people know, including yourself, and not feel
any kind of guilt about it, because you're not saying
You're not just saying no to something. You're also saying
yes to some experiences that for now are the priority.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
And this is why she does, but she does. Thank you.
This is actually really helpful.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Okayva Fam. Hope you enjoyed that conversation with Alexa Alexi.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
I love you girl. Come back anytime.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
I'm going to take a quick little breather and we'll
be right back with more of your questions for the Baqa. Okay,
ba Fam, I'm back and I've got a I've got
an interesting question. It's not necessarily a personal finance question,
but I do believe it's a business question. And I
don't know if y'all have noticed, but I have been
sharing a lot more on my I think maybe I
(22:53):
brand ambition too, but especially on my Mandy Money Instagram page,
a pretty continuous stream of news about Gaza and what's
happening in Palestine and the genocide that's going on, and
it's pretty clear what my stances on that, and I
have been posting all kinds of stuff. I mean, I'll
post one of the most heartbreaking things, and the hardest
(23:16):
for me is, like I think anyone else is seeing
the images and the videos of starving children, also seeing
young children and families fighting just to get a bag
of flower and even people losing their lives lining up
to try to get food because they are starving. Because
there are troops, Israeli troops out there who are actually
(23:37):
murdering people in the streets while they are simply trying
to get food and if they're not murdering them with
their weapons, they're murdering them by blocking necessary aid, food
aid and other supplies from getting to these poor human beings.
So it's truly truly heartbreaking. And I've been sharing a
lot more lately, not because anything is particularly shifted. I've
(24:00):
followed the conflict myself. It's actually been one of the
hardest things about this past year is sort of holding
space for the devastation that's happening in Gaza while y'all know,
trying to live a life and be a mom and
protect my mental health, but still feel like I'm engaged
and understanding what's happening, and it's a lot. But I
(24:22):
got a question from a brand Ambition listener who This
was in response to a story that I put up
on Instagram that actually called out Trader Joe's. I had
not known this, but Trader Joe's has a lot in
their flowers there. You know, when you walk into Trader
Joe's and you'll see all the flowers on display. And
I used to make bouquets of my like you know,
you kind of like buy a bouquet or two where
(24:42):
you can make your own, and they're really affordable. Well,
this post spotlighted the fact that also a sidebar, What
the hell is this location sings on Instagram? This is
so unsafe. Please go into your settings on ig and
make sure you turn your locations off because that is creepy.
Af Nobody should have your location on Instagram. Why do
your followers need to know where you are? Okay, follow
(25:03):
me on the internet. This is where I said you
can follow me, not literally follow me through these streets.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
If you want people to share your location, they need
to be you know you can. You can share your
your iPhone location. That's insane. So what I've learned is
there's companies that actually own the genetics of certain plants
and flowers that turn into cut flowers in our supermarkets.
And so this video I'll post a link in the
show notes just so you can start educating yourself. Pointed
(25:27):
out several types of flowers that were found in Trader
Joe's bouquets, which actually have Israeli companies that own the
genetics to those flowers and that operate and occupied Palestine,
so they are profiting. You know, they're actually using Palestinian
land to grow these plants and then selling them to
US companies, and so we are in a way funding
(25:49):
the Israeli economy in that way. So it's just a
it's food for thought. Like I'm not necessarily one of
these people who's gonna who is going to tell you
it is going to tell you that you need to
research every single thing going into your home and that
you're paying for and make sure that it is considered safe.
I mean to a certain extent, I think any major
(26:09):
country that is producing some sort of some sort of
export that we are purchasing here, it's very likely that
they have done things, whether in they're like their policies
to their you know, in their countries or in other
countries that we may not agree with. It's damn near
impossible to be a perfect quote unquote consumer. But as
(26:32):
I learn new information, I will one hundred percent factor
that into my shopping habits, because once you know something,
it's really hard to unknow it. For me, that's why
your girl has only been to Target one time in
the past how many months? Eight months now? Yes, I
went to I broke my Target fast when I was
in Atlanta for Cowboy Carter because I woke up the
day of the show and realized that my bra broke,
(26:54):
so I needed a braw really quickly, so I went
to Target. It was really early anyway. Still, that's why
I try not to patronize Starbucks as much. Outside of
my kids screaming for happy meals, I don't try to
go to McDonald's as much. So these are some companies,
but I've tried. I've tried to find a list of
all the companies we should avoid if we are, you know,
(27:16):
if we are trying to vote with our dollars. As
far as what's happening in Gaza, it's overwhilled meing. I
mean my goodness. We have. Obviously Amazon and Google. I
stopped my Amazon Prime service earlier this year for a
couple of reasons. One was the the fact that they
provide cloud technology to the Israeli government, along with Google
(27:39):
and Microsoft Intel, so a lot of the tech companies
that we love are actually helping the Israeli government. Also,
Coca Cola operates in Israel and is also cited by
activists for having long standing investments in in Israel. Pepsi coo,
so it's like coke and Pepsi both out. Starbucks, you know,
(28:01):
also included in the Israeli boycott because it has former
executives who are very pro Israeli. So there's a lot.
And I've done what I've done what I've done out
of like I said, once I know better, it's hard
to not do better. So where I can I try
to avoid these these retailers. I went on this very
long tangent here because I got a question in response
(28:24):
to this Instagram story in particular from a listener called Fasa,
and Faza said, I'm curious, have you been getting backlash
for these kinds of posts? And this is where it
pays to not be like I mean, I would love
to have millions and millions of followers, but I think
I'm like still considered like a micro influencer. I have
less than forty thousand followers on my Instagram account, and no,
(28:47):
the answer I gave FASA is no, I haven't been
ginning any backlash, and not even in the content that
I have said in the podcast. Like y'all have heard
me talk about, you know, my feelings about palisine on here.
We've had a Palestinian guest on the show too this
time last year, talking about everything that's happening, and no,
ba fam, y'all have been hands down, extremely understanding and
(29:11):
I think encouraging me to share more. And even if
you haven't been, even if my posts have made y'll
feel uncomfortable, like, there hasn't been necessarily a backlash in
the way that I would. I think some creators are
worried about a backlash. I haven't noticed a huge reduction
in followers. I mean, I'm constantly losing followers, but I'm
always gaining followers too, so things tend to even out.
(29:33):
So I'm down for that. Like I've said before, if
I create content and it makes you unfollow me, well,
then you were never my You're never my target audience.
And so I think it's okay and healthy to continue
creating the content that speaks to me so that I
can attract the right audience. And I think because I
have stayed so authentically myself and stayed true to my morals,
(29:54):
my values, my ethics, my beliefs. You know, since I
started the podcast ten years ago and since I built
this place, I think y'all are used to this by now.
I don't think it's shocking anybody, And unfortunately for a
lot of creators. You know, poor miss Rachel is really
holding up this campaign to spotlight the children of Gaza
(30:14):
in such a beautiful way. Miss Rachel, like my endless
love for you. You are a brave, brave, courageous woman. You
have such a huge heart. You love kids and you
mean that shit. You don't mean some kids, you mean
all kids. And she's been extraordinary, and she's also been
like very alone. We have not seen I ain't seen
(30:35):
Blippy in these streets talk about pro gods. I haven't
seen Blippy talking about the kids. I haven't seen a
Pap Patrol episode where they go to Palestine, like you know,
we haven't been seeing that. So, you know, miss Rachel's
really stepping up, and I think cementing herself in the
Hall of Fame of children's educators and creators because she
(30:58):
cares that deeply, and she said braiding you know the kids,
some of the kids who have been injured in Gaza
and survived. She has incorporated them into her content, She's
brought them onto her social media platform. But she's been
so alone. And I'm actually genuinely surprised by the lack
of like high recognition celebrities, influencers who have spoken out
(31:21):
about what's happening in Gaza, especially as we've sort of
reached a fever pitch this past month or two in
the acknowledgment of what's happening in Gaza and in the
media coverage of Gaza, and at times like this, you
would think there'd be more safety in numbers and some
you know, prominent people would be able to speak out,
but there is a lot of fear among celebrities and
(31:43):
creators that it could hurt their business. I personally have
not felt any impact yet. You know, I think if
my yes, I sell ads on the podcast, So if
it were to happen that a sponsor was not happy
with what I was saying about Gaza, maybe they would
pull their do but I'm not going to stop to
prevent that. I would rather do first and ask permission later.
(32:07):
This is kind of how I operate, and I don't
really work with a lot of commercial brands, so I
don't have to worry so much about you know, it's
a good problem and a bad problem. It'd be nice
to make some you know, commercial brand money. But yeah,
I don't have to worry so much about using my
voice in that way, and I'm really happy to do it.
I also wanted to take this time to acknowledge that
Gaza is not the only place where human beings are
(32:29):
being killed in cold blood, where they are being starved.
We'd be remiss. I'd be remiss if I didn't talk
about the Sudan and the ongoing humanitarian crisis there as well.
So my heart goes to the people of Sudan. They
have been in the throes of a civil war between
the Sudanese Armed Forces and another organization called the Rapid
(32:52):
Support Forces that has been going on for two years now.
One hundred and fifty thousand people. According to the BBC
been killed during this conflict and twelve million have been displaced,
which has made it the largest humanitarian crisis in the
world right now, even outstripping what's happening in Gaza, and
as a result, they are also enduring widespread famine. And
(33:15):
famine is I'm getting chills thinking about it. Famine is
not we go to bed hungry, we only have like
bread to eat. Famine is you are so starved of nutrition.
Babies can't thrive. They are skeletons, they are like withering away.
And you're so sick and you're so malnourished that even
if you were to be introduced to food, you wouldn't
be able to just start eating normally again. You'd have
(33:36):
to be fed under medical care and followed and kept
up on. And it's it's sorry, I don't know. This
is just like it makes me appreciate the work that
(33:57):
the journalists, traditional journalists do every day. Like if you
have to go on air on TV and talk about
these stories and not have a reaction to it, I
don't know how. I don't know how these journalists do it.
And it's so important the work that they're doing and
spotlighting it, so I while I'm here at APJ, I've
just been I'm just thinking about how how you know,
(34:23):
I can choose to come on and talk about this
for a little while, but I don't have to talk
about it every day if I don't want to. And
I can barely get through twenty minute talk about what's happening.
It's truly, truly devastating. I ran into a therapist in
the convention earlier. She's here with her mom. I might
(34:44):
have to go find her and just be like So
I cried on Brown Ambition today. Oh my god, God damn.
It's so hard to to coexist with such brutality and
such evil. And I just I promise that as long
(35:06):
as I have the platform that y'all have given me,
there's a level of trust that y'all have with me,
especially those of y'all who have stayed with Brown Ambition
over the past like eight months since I've been doing
the show solo. And I don't take that trust for granted.
I'm just trying to do right by y'all. But this
stuff is so hard to just talk about. So I'm
(35:27):
going to stop crying now and I'm just gonna say
go to the show. Notes because I want to put
some resources there to some I'm not saying that you
have to like there's nothing that I don't think that
any one person can do, But I do think contacting
your elected officials matters. I'm not sure if y'all saw,
(35:50):
but there was the same man, Chris Malls, who unionized
Amazon warehouse workers, created the first Amazon warehouse workers union,
detained by Israeli military forces when he was on a
humanitarian mission. And I do believe he was released, I
don't know a few days later, even, And I think
(36:10):
part of that was because how the media, how creators,
how everybody just rallied around and got the word out
about him. How we called our elected officials and wrote letters.
And I think that that shit matters, and I think
we need to bring that energy. We have to bring
that energy and keep keep pressuring. I live in New York,
(36:33):
my elected officials. I got Chuck Schumer in the Senate
Christian Gillibrand, and they both voted to send more American
made weapons to Israel to aid in the war effort.
And I found that to be extremely unsettling and pissed
me right on off. And so you can find templates
that you can copy paste and send to your elected
(36:54):
officials through whatever channels, calling up and leaving voicemails. I've
even heard, you know. I was on a call with
a Palestinian organization a pc PCRF. I want to say,
I was on a zoom call last week and they
were just showing the impact of what even phone calls
(37:14):
can do and just encouraging. There were nine hundred people
on that zoom call, which is just amazing. There's people
in the streets. Somebody went through New York City and
actually set up a really chilling display of all the
lives that have been lost, as including children in Gaza.
And it matters. And I am not here to tell
(37:36):
you to let this consume you. But just because it's painful,
and it is very painful, doesn't mean that we can't
cope with that pain and push through it to shine
a light on in humanity and evil that's happening in
(37:57):
the world. And so I'm just challenging y'all to be
brave to cry with me. I'm just challenging y'all and
challenging myself to keep looking and to look even when
it feels like you can't, even when it feels like
you're going to be sick to your stomach. Some things
are worth enduring pain for. And I think looking away
(38:20):
is an evil is evil in his own way. And
I'm not saying that I haven't scrolled past really challenging
images because I didn't feel strong in that moment. But
we have to try. We have to try not to
look away. We have to not make excuses that enable
us to look away. And I believe in mental health,
(38:44):
I believe in protecting our peace. I believe in all
of that. I also believe that we're more capable of
facing evil than we may believe right now that we
may feel. And I think we have to do it,
not by ourselves, but together. So together, I hope BA Fam,
we can continue educating ourselves, reach out to our looted officials,
(39:06):
send letters, let them know that we want more humanities.
We want to we want the US to send aid
to these places that need it. You know, even if
it feels hopeless, because we have an administration that has
completely dismantled one of the largest humanitarian US aid organizations
(39:30):
in the in the in the world, and you know,
all those people lost their jobs and their work has
been more important than ever, but there's other smaller things
that we can still do. So that is my answer
the Asia. Thank you for your question. No, I haven't
seen a lot of backlash because of the posts that
(39:50):
I have made regarding Palestine and the genocide and Gaza
right now. We'll see, we'll see, but I think any
backlash that I get, it can't be worse. I'm still safe,
My babies still have food to eat, we still have
a roof over our heads. We are so damn privileged anyway,
(40:13):
So maybe I could endure a little bit of pain
just to do my small part. Okay, va, fam, I
know that was a lot. Let's go touch some grass,
Let's go smell some flowers, Let's go for a walk,
Let's find a new coping mechanism, something to soothe ourselves
after a tough time like this. I think I'm gonna
go get me a hug from any just whoever I
(40:34):
run into out there in the convention. I just need
a hug. But yeah, I'm sending so much love to y'all.
Thank you again for helping me build this platform. I
couldn't do it without y'all. I really really appreciate it.
Love y'all so much. Until next time, tune in this Sunday.
I have a really great interview for y'all for wash
Day Woosa. I'm going to be talking to Christine Manchini.
(40:57):
She is the CEO of Black Girls Who Code and
I just love this conversation. She's extremely inspiring and I
think y'all are going to enjoy it too. So definitely
tune in on this Sunday, and please let me know.
Have y'all been liking the wash Day wou saws on Sunday.
How do you like the new format of the show,
the Sunday, the Wednesday, the Friday episodes. I'm dying to
(41:18):
hear from y'all. Any feedback is always welcome. Email me
Brandimission Podcast at gmail dot com. You can leave comments
if you're listening on Spotify. I check those comments. I
love to see them. I love to respond to them.
Of course, you can DM me on IG at Branna
Vision Podcast or at Mandy Money Mandy with An I
But thank you so much and y'all take care be well. Okay,
(41:41):
va fan, thank you so much for listening to this
week's show. I want to shout out to our production team, Courtney,
our editor Carla, our fearless leader for Idea to launch productions.
I want to shout out my assistant Alauda Escalante and
Cameron McNair for helping me put the show together. It
is not a one person project, as much as I
(42:04):
have tried to make it so these past ten years,
I need help, y'all, and thank goodness I've been able
to put this team around me to support me on
this journey and to y'all bea fam I love you
so so so so much. Please rate, review, subscribe, make
sure you sign up to the newsletter to get all
the latest updates on upcoming episodes, our ten year anniversary
(42:25):
celebrations to come, and until next time, talk to you
soon via buy
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