July 30, 2025 • 38 mins
Hey BA Fam! Mandi is flying solo this week, and whew—she came with heart, and hard truths. She’s breaking down what’s really going on in today’s job market beyond the headlines, and what she’s learning from working 1:1 with high-achieving women who are stuck in the “I have the résumé, but why can’t I get the offer?” cycle. Spoiler: It’s not your résumé. It’s your network.
In this episode:
- Why her new 12-session VIP coaching model is shifting lives (and not just for her clients)
- Why LinkedIn visibility still matters (yes, even if you hate it)
- The power of internal referrals and how she leverages her own network to open doors
- What career growth has to do with gardening (yes, really—succession planting is the metaphor you didn’t know you needed)
- Why women in senior roles still need to sow new seeds and push past discomfort to make new career connections
- How to approach networking without being the “take-take-take” person
PLUS:
Mandi’s take on the U.S. fertility panic, RFK’s eugenics-adjacent policy ideas, the “Donate to Pay the National Debt” nonsense (yes, that’s real), and why even Fluffy and Fido are feeling the effects of inflation.
📚 And shoutout to the BA Book Club! She shares highlights from the first-ever live author chat with Cebo Campbell and gives us the scoop on our next read: The Ghost of Gwendolyn Montgomery by Clarence Haynes.
TAKEAWAY CHALLENGE:
What did you do this week to form a new connection in your career? Mandi’s got marching orders, BA fam — it’s time to stop relying on the old network and plant something new.
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):
But did Joe know that there is a little known
US Treasury Department program that allows any US citizen to
send money. Yes, US send money to the federal government
to cover its budgetary shortfalls. Now they allow you to
actually venmo the US government. Don't worry about you don't
have cash, you don't have a bank account. You know
(00:21):
you don't want to transfer money that way, You can venmo.
You can PayPal like use this form for contributions to
reduce the public debt.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
The page says, So.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Let's give tax cuts to the billionaires, Let's cut funding
for NPR itself and other public media. Let's cut medicaid
for potentially millions of Americans. But yeah, let's also have
a little handout for donations from the American people. Hey, hey,
(00:54):
va fam, Welcome to Brown Ambition. Welcome to the Brown Table.
You know what, it's just me today. I'm going solo.
There is so much to talk to y all about,
so much that impacts your wallet, that could impact your career,
and I thought it was time for me to do
a solo show.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
So welcome.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Whether you're watching on YouTube or you are listening wherever
you get your podcasts, Welcome to Brown ambition. This is
where your money, your career, and the culture intersect. I
am Mandy Money. I am your host, and whether you
are brand new to the show or you are OGBA
fan from ten almost ten years y'all, ten years now,
twenty fifteen, we launched Welcome. You are in the right place,
(01:34):
and I hope you find this insightful. I also want
y'all to let this be a reminder that as things
are happening in the world, there's always something that we
can be doing or changing it up personally to inoculate
ourselves and protect ourselves the best we can from the
shenanigans that are happening. And we know where the shenanigans
(01:56):
are happening, all right. I want to move on to
the job market, because is what I'm obsessed with. And
I could sit here and I could tell you unemployment statistics,
and I could tell you what everyone you know, all
the experts say, which is that this is a strong
job market.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Companies are still hiring. Blah blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Let's talk about the real, real Let's talk about a
couple of my Mandy money makers who I've been working
with one on one through my VIP coaching program. And
even before I start telling you a little bit about them,
I want to tell you why I have started to
focus on a smaller, much smaller VIP one on one
coaching program.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I don't even know if I like the word VIP.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
But it's just what. It's just the easiest thing. I
had already been using it before. But the reason I
have started to do fewer clients for longer periods of time.
So the one on one that I do now you
have to sign up with me for twelve weeks, and
I got you.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I got you this right where I want you.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
The reason I do twelve weeks is because you know what,
Like when I was doing one off sessions with women,
they were incredible. I have probably done coaching sessions with hundreds,
I mean over five hundred is that I think that's
probably not exaggerating, well over five hundred women from across
the country, even around the world, and it's been incredible.
(03:13):
But the thing is, with a forty five minute or
one hour coaching session, we can accomplish some stuff, but
I get really invested. I want follow ups. I want
to know once you get the thing that we talked about,
you wanting I want to know what's next after that,
and how can we start working toward that. I just
wanted like a longer and deeper relationship. And yes, through
(03:34):
the Mandy money Makers Program, which is my course in
my community, where you get access to all of my
on demand course which I teach you about negotiating a
professional branding, the power of entrepreneurship, how to build well
through nine to five, you get that full course. You
also get to join the community.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Through that community, we do.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Group coaching, so every other week we meet up either
on a Friday or Sunday. Sometimes those times change, but
we meet up as a group and it's really just
like what's going on, We'll catch up. It's in a
group setting, but it's not that one on one individual attention.
And I started to miss really feeling like I could
dive deep with certain clients and like really be side
(04:16):
by side, like your real financial bestie, your real career bestie,
and be in the trenches with you. So I started
to think, well, I don't have to keep offering these
one on one sessions, which are fine, but I wasn't
finding them particularly gratifying because I wanted to stay connected
and I wanted to stay in the mix with the
(04:36):
clients I was working with. I know I can have
a big impact the longer I am stuck in with somebody.
And I also could sense that there were women I
was missing with the Mandy money makers. There were women
who work who are high. You know, they're at high
levels in their career, They're in extremely competitive job environments.
They're also in the types of careers and jobs that
(04:57):
require some some pri I have to see some what's
the word, I'm looking for some.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Discretion?
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Right So, I've definitely I know that I'm missing working
with women out there who you feel like I do.
Have a lot of big goals and dreams and frustrations
with my career right now. I want to work with
someone like Mandy, but I don't want to do that
in a group setting where I have to share time
with other women. My problems are so big, my challenges
(05:29):
are so big and so meaty and juicy that I
know that I'm going to take up that entire hour,
all the other makers are going to.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Get tired of get tired of me.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
And also I want to talk about things for my
company or for the people I work for. People I
want to work for, and I have to divulge some
things that are not necessarily information that I want to
be doing in a group setting where we're going to
have the calls recorded and shared and replayed and among
the community and all that which I completely understand. And
so for me, the one on one program is really
(05:59):
my that so for twelve weeks, you get me twelve
sessions rather twelve sessions. It's not exactly twelve weeks. The
schedules be scheduling, but I am yours over those twelve
coaching sessions and it's just been incredible. So what I
am learning by being in the trenches with high achieving
extremely and I mean the kind of women that come
(06:20):
to me, y'all are incredible, extremely accomplished, creative, brilliant, hard working,
and without fault feeling under valued and feeling underutilized in
their work. Nonetheless, like what I'm seeing is that you
can have it all. You can have the bang and resume,
you can have incredible referral from former colleagues employers, you
(06:45):
can be doing incredible work, and you still can be
out here in this current job market submitting application after
application after application and not making any traction the women
I'm working with are frustrated because they may be the
get to the second, third, fourth round of an interview,
but for whatever reason, they're not able to close that
deal and get the job that they want. They're getting
(07:07):
interviews at big companies, you know, at the fank companies,
your you know, your Metas, your Googles, you know, and
now we'll throw the big AI juggernauts into that mix.
You're in videos and like they're getting a foot in
the door, but the door is not opening all the way.
And so there's a sense of frustration. At the same time,
(07:28):
they're in really demanding jobs and it's like, how I'm
opposed to do all this while I'm also doing the
demanding work day to day that zaps me of my
energy and you know, all these things. And so the
way that I have found that I or the through
these conversations with my coaching clients, what I'm really seeing
is a couple of things that I want to talk
(07:49):
to you all about that are making all the difference.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Y'all know, I'm not.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Your girl for editing and tweaking resumes. That's not what
I'm here for. I also don't think it's going to
serve any one necessarily to spend a lot of time
obsessing over their resume and having a strong resume. Like
I've said, the women I'm working with who are still
struggling to break these doors open to these new opportunities,
they've got to kill a resume. There's like ten out
(08:14):
of ten no notes. Often when it comes to the resume,
it's not that. What it is is the ability to
get an internal referral is huge. It's a huge way
to actually turn those nose into yeses, or at least
get you through the door in the first place, get
a little knock on the door in the first place.
So we work on leveraging networks, including my own, because
(08:38):
the one thing about being on this interesting career path
that I've had is that I've actually managed to form
lots of relationships with incredible people at different places. So
my network I've been putting to work in order to
help these mandy money makers get access to internal referrals
for roles that they may want. It's also a lot
(08:59):
of coach through creating new connections, and when you're at
a point in your career like these women are, you've
been doing this work for a decade, two decades plus,
you have the respect of your peers that know you.
You have accomplished a lot in your career path. It
can feel a bit stressful and like, I don't know,
(09:20):
I can sort of see the air. It feels like
they're becoming a bit deflated. When I start talking about
forming new connections and new relationships, it's like, who wants
to make new friends at this stage? Like it's exhausting.
You don't want to go to the new employee happy
hours and have to do all that stuff. You want
to do your job. You want to be respected, like
what I have to do this? But in this environment,
(09:42):
in the current job market, it's not enough to settle
for the current network that you formed in the first ten, fifteen,
twenty years of your career. It's always looking for ways
to start sowing new seeds. And because I'm constantly looking
for a reason to use a gardening metaphor, please humor
me for a mon ba fam because there's something in
(10:02):
gardening that I've learned. It's called succession planning. So I
planted a lot of seeds back in April. I got
a little excited. I planted a little too early for
the zone that I'm in because it's a cold and
rainy in New York. That being said, I planted tomatoes,
I planted carrots, I planted beats, I planted all types
of herbs. And what happened is some of those plants
(10:26):
started to fail. The carrots came out looking like little
scraggly rat.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Tose I don't want to talk about. It was disappointing.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Some kind of pest ate up my zucchini the first
times around. Like the cilantro that was thriving in the
cooler temperatures, it started to bolt as soon as we
hit those first heat waves of the summer. And next
thing you know, I got no more cilantro. The mint
is drying up and not going anywhere. My tomatoes or
some of the plants are doing okay, some are not
(10:54):
looking so great. And I realized, like, if I don't
do something, if I don't get in there. Yes, I've
sowed these seeds. Yes, I've invested time, I have been
adding my compost. I've been doing everything quote unquote right,
I've been watering daily. I have been making these investments
of time, energy, and yes money into these seeds that
(11:18):
I was hoping would bear fruit. And also some of
the ones that I planted may be healthy, but they
may not be bearing fruit for another couple months. Shit,
I'm still waiting for my dang heirloom tomatoes to turn
red like they're just taunting me. And I swear I'm
like I planted you back in April. Am I still waiting?
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (11:38):
In the meantime, I had to learn how to think
on my feet and start sowing seeds in between the
plants that I've already planted, so I can have a
succession plan, so I can start sowing new seeds for
new crops as these other seeds as a hedge against
the other seeds not working out, pest getting to them,
(12:01):
you know, bad weather. I had to I had to
additionally think about, Okay, if this doesn't work out, or
if this is not enough, let's plan on top of
what I've been doing. So I've learned how to plant
things in between the rows that I so carefully planned
back in April. I was so naive to think that
I could do a one stop gardening plan and just
(12:21):
have things perfectly plotted out in rows. No, You've got
to sneak and squeeze things into the nooks and crannies.
You know, my basil plant starts to bolt. I got
to plant new basil. I got to figure out where
it's going to fit in. So I want to take
this metaphor and just make y'all think about your network
the same way. Yes, there may be relationships that you
(12:42):
have had for a long time in your career and
maybe they bore fruit back in the day, but maybe
now they're not burying as much fruit. It could be
that those relationships those people in particular, they've changed career paths,
or they could just be a connection that isn't necessarily
able to give you more access two opportunities that you
had before. Maybe the person that you were connected to
(13:05):
doesn't have the same kind of network they had before,
or they don't have as much of a I don't
want to say high profile, but they don't have as
much as a presence and of renown in their industry
as they may have used to. And that could be
for you. Like my tomato plant that just kind of
or my zucchini plant rather that just stopped producing really
good zucchini.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
It was bearing.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
It was giving me those big bangers to start with.
I was eating I was eating them up. I was
doing roasted squash all the time, and then the plants
just kind of get tired and they get faded away.
Now we've got to start thinking, Okay, how do I
make new connections so I can keep my harvest going
year round. So there's a couple of ways to do that,
and they're not all comfortable, and in fact, uncomfortable is
(13:48):
what I specialize in. So the first thing is that
you need to regularly be talking to your audience, be
talking to your peers and your community so that they're
they're understanding what it is that you're doing and what
you're up to. Now that can be simply posting on LinkedIn.
And I've been doing this for five years now, and
it's still really hard to get y'all to post stuff
(14:10):
on LinkedIn. I've I've been trying, but it's important to
get on a platform and talk about the work that
you're doing. The second thing is you have to be
looking for opportunities to put yourself in the room and
in a community with other people in your industry and
your space whatever it may be, whether it's your industry
specific or your job itself specific. So if you're a developer,
(14:33):
going to conferences specifically for developers. If you're a UX designer,
making sure that you go to it's not in conferences
for UX designers. It's also about like the virtual communities
that you can join.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Now.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
The women that I'm working with, one of them is
in a discord community that is black women, specifically UX
designers that you know, local to her area where she lives.
We were just on a call earlier today and we
were talking about a that was coming up and how
they had an opportunity to submit your resume to be
on the list, you know, to be in their vault
(15:07):
of resumes that sponsors and you know, other professionals could
could siphon through. Maybe you'll get seen, maybe you'll get
plucked out. And I'm sitting here like, well, why aren't
you going to this thing? Like why aren't you going
to the conference? And I didn't quite get her to
book the flight and the ticket right there on the
phone call, but I know she will because I'm will
bother her because she has full access to me. And
(15:30):
the reason why I think it's so important to be
in the room. It's not about I mean, to a
certain extent, yes, it's about the sessions and learning and
all that, But it's about the ability to bump and
rub elbows with, to bump up against people who who
are who are like tied to the industry or the
work that you want to be doing, who you can
make a good impression with you actually get some face
(15:51):
time with the first thing that she and I did
and we have a lot of work still to do
in terms of like making an overall strategy for when
she visits this conference, but one of the first things is, like,
let's go to the list of session speakers or the
session the conference schedule to see what all the different
sessions are going to be and what experts, what thought leaders,
(16:13):
what you know career professionals are going to be there,
and who makes sense for you to try to have
a one on one with or try to meet up
with while you're there and introduce yourself and make sure
that you make time to make those connections. And it's
not just about meeting the people who are on the
list of speakers, it's also about, Okay, what's our strategy
(16:35):
on a day to day basis for making sure that
we are creating new connections with other women. I have
an introverts heart. I am a deeply, deeply introverted person
in my natural state. I've learned how to become an
ambrovert when it comes to big conferences and networking events
in a way that helps further my further my career,
(16:57):
and now it further's my business. I was just at
a conference in Miami. This was like maybe three hundred
women at this conference at this huge hotel, big rooms,
big stages, lots of people, And I had my own
strategy for creating opportunities for one on one conversations because
I'd much prefer to have a one on one or
(17:18):
maybe two, you know, two, three, like a small group
conversation versus you know, feeling like I'm having really short
one on one conversations or really short group conversations and
not really able to like get to know someone. So
we work on a strategy for that. And the second thing,
or the third thing rather is looking at all the
(17:39):
sponsors who are sponsoring the conference. They got money to
sponsor this conference, maybe they're hiring, maybe they have a budget,
you know, to send their recruiters, like those are the
that's the list of companies that I would focus my
attention on going to their job sites, their job boards,
seeing what's available. So you show up at that conference
(18:00):
to connect with someone from that company, and you already
know this is the role that I want to talk
to them about. So all of those things, and there's
probably a bunch more I could share, but creating opportunities
to network with others is really really essential in this
current job market. So I want to turn this on
Uba fan. What are you doing or what have you
done in the last week to form a new connection
(18:23):
in a professional capacity. Have you told someone new or
different about something that you're working on. Have you said
yes to an invitation to a networking lunch or have
you looked up a discord community for people in your
particular industry or your career path.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Have you reached out.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
To someone that maybe you've followed on LinkedIn or someone
who's work that you've enjoyed following throughout your career. Have
you reached out and just said hello, I really appreciate
what you've been doing. I just wanted to connect and
say keep up the good work. If you ever around,
you can take it here if you want to. Yeah,
I got to do all. You don't have to ask
them out for a virtual coffee date. That's fine, but
(19:01):
just say hello, okay. The other thing I will say is,
as you are sending out, when you're making these bids
for connection, as I have said, these little small bids
for connection, keep in mind the other side of things.
Keep in mind that it is a very tough job
market right now. A lot of working professionals who are
(19:22):
in either a hiring capacity or they are in a
visible position at companies that have a lot of interest
from applicants, they're probably getting inundated by requests for connections
on LinkedIn, for virtual coffee dates, for one on one's
all that stuff. So try to keep your request simple,
(19:42):
direct to the point, and don't ask for too much upfront.
I think the key to forming a good long term
professional relationship is not asking for anything upfront. It's offering.
It's saying I see that you've been doing this, I
see that you've been posting about this. I'm going to comment,
I'm going to share, I'm going to like, I see
that you're having this challenge. Well, I'm happy to offer
(20:04):
you the resources.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
That I have.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
There's always something that we can be offering and not
asking for right away, and that's why I think it's
important to go ahead and make that bid for connection,
but don't immediately make it about asking for something, especially
when you know this person is probably inundated by a
similar request.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Their cup is.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Being emptied and emptied and emptied, and they're trying to
pour back into it, and you're just if you feel
like you're one more person who's coming to take something
from their cup, like why not add something back into
it instead? Hey, ba fam, we got to take a
quick break, pay some bills, and we'll be right back.
All right, let's talk about some headlines that have me
(20:47):
literally scratching my head and also just wondering, like, what
is this life that we are living in?
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Nba fam.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
So I'm going to cover some headlines that impact your wallet.
Maybe they just tickle our humor or funny bone a
little bit. I want to start with this. I mean,
I'm finding this really shocking too. But Di Joe know
that there is a little known US Treasury Department program
that allows any US citizen to send money.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yes, US send money to the.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Federal government to cover its budgetary shortfalls. This is a program.
Shout out to NPR for uncovering this. This is a
program that's called quote unquote gifts to reduce the public debt?
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Like, are you out of your mind? Now?
Speaker 1 (21:29):
They allow you to actually venmo the US government, don't
worry about you don't have cash, you don't have a
bank account. You know, you don't want to transfer money
that way, you can venmo, you can PayPal, like use
this form for contributions to reduce the public debt. The
page says, So, let's give tax cuts to the billionaires.
Let's cut funding for NPR itself and other federal other
(21:54):
public media. Let's cut medicaid for potentially millions of Americans.
Do snap benefits for millions of Americans?
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Suore.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Let's give all these tax breaks for the uber wealthy
and for corporations. But yeah, let's also have a little
hand out for donations from the American people. Is that
not called taxes? Is that not like, I'm sorry, you're
not getting another red cent from me. Elise the taxes
that we pay already. But in twenty twenty two, NPR
(22:23):
says the US government received a million bucks this way.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Nah.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Nah, I don't know who's out here donating in this way,
but this is the most ridiculous thing I have heard
in a very long time. Next up, Oh my lord,
I was just listening to Stacy Abrams podcast. Have y'all
listened to Assembly Required? I am such a huge fan
Stacy girl. You give me so much calm and peace.
I'm so grateful that you are one of the ones
(22:50):
who has a microphone in an age where everyone has
a microphone, but you give me She just calms me down.
She makes me feel like there's a grown up in
the room to explain stuff to me and to be
with it and also find little moments of joy as well,
because Stacy can sit here and she can give me
all the details that you know as I want, on
(23:12):
what's happening in the Supreme Court right now. She can
talk about voter access and voter rights and what's happening
with voter rights right now. But she can also talk
about publishing romance novels and how she has her new
novel shout out to Coded Justice is out right now.
She is just that girl, and I feel like that
(23:33):
is so much of what I love to do. And
that's what I love about Brown Ambition is that we're
not just here to talk about how to make more money,
how to get more wealth, how to invest in the
stock market. We're here to also find moments of joy
and to bring some reality to a world that feels
often so disconnected from reality in a lot of ways.
But as I was listening to Assembly Required, she was
(23:56):
talking about.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
What was she talking about? Why am I blinking? Oh,
brain fog?
Speaker 1 (24:03):
She was talking about the birth rate, And she had
some experts on who were just basically explaining this. You
know this, the elon musks of the world and the
Christian Right, and the different methods and philosophies they have
and how to strategies they're trying to invoke to help
us produce more babies.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
But not all of us. Specific ones of us.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Okay, so the ones who maybe earn enough, the ones
who are the right shade, the ones who come from
the right types of backgrounds, the ones who have the
right genes. You know that Robert Kennedy right now, Yes,
Robert Kennedy, he is problematic on so many fronts. But
I did not realize he has suggested that we should
create a database of families and kids and parents who
(24:49):
have autism, which is macking a little bit close to
the idea of eugenics. Okay, the idea that we're actually
going to track the types of genes that are out
there so that we can what block people who have
those genes who are on that list from pro creating,
from being able to access resources healthcare. You know this
(25:10):
baby bonus that Trump has been, you know, talking about
giving mothers five thousand bucks to for having a baby,
but only if you meet certain income requirements. Like that's
just one step away from saying you could only qualify
for the baby bonus if you're not on this database
of potential carriers for the autism gene or other you know,
(25:31):
differently abled genetics. Like that to me is we should
be we should be eyes wide the open about that
kind of stuff. Okay, but yeah, the US birth rate
is super low, which is going to stress a lot
of I don't know why wealthy white people out, but yeah,
(25:52):
why do we care about the fertility rate? So the
news is that the new CDC data that was just
released shows that America's fertility rate has dropped to an
all time low of just under one point six children
per woman on average and twenty twenty four. So that
means I'm an anomaly. I got two kids, So why
(26:12):
do we care? So much about birth rate. Well, we
need workers to keep the economy going. As much as
we would love to say that AI and robots can
do a lot of the work, like, there's still a
lot that only humans can do. We also need people
to take care of our senior citizens. We need people
who can work and pay taxes into social safety net
(26:33):
programs like Social Security.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
That being said, you know, I'm a little.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Bit I don't know if it's like I'm older and
I'm just a bit more cynical, But there's a lot
of this like alarm bell ringing about social Security?
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Will it be? Will there be enough?
Speaker 1 (26:49):
There has been for I feel like my entire career
when I was starting out as a personal finance journalist,
and all I can say is like Congress is so dysfunctional.
The current administry is so dysfunctional. I just think they're
going to be like, never mind, we don't have Social
Security anymore, We're just going to start issuing checks to
senior citizens, like they'll find the money somewhere, because apparently
(27:12):
the national debt, the national budget doesn't really mean anything,
Like does anyone else feel like it doesn't mean anything?
That they have just passed this bill that's going to
add trillions of dollars to the national debt. That's happened before,
you know, and we spend like America has so much
of its unpaid debts right now, and still like things
are things are working out here, street lights are working,
(27:35):
teachers are getting paid, Federal employees you know, are getting
their paychecks. Like we're still getting access to some social
safety nets. Yes, they are getting rid of them as
you know, as we speak, getting rid of a lot
of Medicaid access for millions of Americans over the next decade.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
But at the same.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Time, like I don't want I don't buy this in
the in terms of the fear mongering of y'all need
to go out and make some more babies real fast,
Like hm nah, I don't think us going out there
creating bringing more life into this world that we have
no resources, no social safety nets, daycare, childcare, housing, food,
(28:21):
living in general is so expensive. We're sending babies to
schools where they can get shot up and their pe
classes like where mass shootings are happening all the time,
where childhood anxiety and depression are on the rise, where
social media is unhinged and almost damn near unregulated, and
we have to protect these children from the Internet. And
(28:43):
y'all want me to just put more children into this world.
I can now na, na na na. I think we
have to put our own life beests on first, everybody.
So I don't think anyone listening to Brown Ambition is
gonna let information like this determine your family planning. But
I'm ready, Like this is the kind of shit where
I think we need to show up on Capitol Hill
(29:03):
and be like, you can't tell us to create more
life when you are making this country so inhospitable to life.
It's like, how much closer can we get to a
far off distant planet where there's not enough water at
oxygen to sustain life? Like this is crazy, like the
state of this country and y'all are out here trying
(29:25):
to make us have more babies right like it makes
zero sense. But yeah, everyone's really stressed out about this number.
I I'm not by I mean facts are facts, and
shore one point six kids per woman right now is
on the lower side. Well okay, cool, Like I'm not
that pressed about it. I'm not that moved. We have
(29:50):
to keep an eye on that CDC that we have
to keep an eye on homeboy RFK. Is that his name,
RFK Robert Kennedy? Yes, OURFK junior, rather our FK junior.
We have to keep an eye on him. And to
anyone who's still working at the CDC, like shout outs
to y'all. I don't know what it's like over there
working for this man right now, but I just please, please, just.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
Keep an eye on stuff.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
And I hope that we have some whistleblowers in cases
up to no good trying to move us into the
land of to eugenics, and no, we just can't do that. Okay, Oh,
this is really sad, y'all. Like, as I'm sitting here,
I have a neglected dog over in her crate. Who's
that bills have caused me to look up all kinds
(30:38):
of home remedies for all of her different ailments. Sorry,
Molly moo, but it's not just me. According to the
American Pet Products Association, forty nine million households have a
cat and sixty eight million households have a dog, but
shelters across the country are reporting a surge in owner
surrenders as the cost of keeping pets goes up. Americans
(30:59):
are on track to drop one hundred and fifty seven
billion dollars on their pets. That's sixty two percent more
than they spent in twenty nineteen forty three percent, so
nearly half of that is going to people sustaining their
pets day to day with food and treats. My dog, oh,
Molly Moose. So she went through this situation a year
or two ago where she had some like back leg
(31:21):
pain and they were like, it could be inflammation, she
might have torn her acl You know, we could do surgery.
It'll be like twenty five hundred, twenty seven hundred dollars
per leg and you'll have to carry her and do
one leg at a time. I'll like, oh no, no, no, no,
We're gonna make her food from scratch. And so I
started to make her food from scratch, and I saw
her body come back. She lost weight, she started to
feel more lively. But that was so expensive, so I'm
(31:45):
not gonna lie.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
We started.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
I started to incorporate her salmon dog food back into
the mix. I get a big bag of it from BJYS,
and I have to get it from BJS because it
is so expensive to buy dog food right now.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
So food treats.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
I mean, I get it, and that's if your pet
is healthy, Like let your pet cough the wrong way,
let them get a little bit of a rash, you know,
feel like they're getting a little bit sick.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Even if you have pet.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Insurance, it feels like you walk into a vet and
the costs are like hundreds of dollars each time. It's
extremely expensive. But this was pretty heartbreaking.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
I know.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
When I was in Atlanta recently, there was a really
sweet woman who knocked on the door and she was
with the Atlanta ASPCA ASPCA Atlanta Humane Society. Is that
the right acronym, not sure, but Atlanta Humane Society. She
knocked on the door and she was looking for recurring
donations because she said surrender by owners were going up,
(32:42):
just like this report has shown. So it's pretty sad
to see that, you know, when it comes to the
list of household expenses, like we can hardly maintain our pets.
And by the way, this goes perfectly what I was
saying before.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
We can't even.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Afford Fidos dog food, and y'all want me to create
another hue in life where it's going to cost a
two hundred thousand dollars over the cost to raise a
child up to the age of eighteen, and that's before
college expenses. Hell to then naw, like Fluffy and Fido
are not getting it. Do you think we can really
afford to have more children.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
In this place? Like, come on, get out of here.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
That being said, if you do have a pet that
you are looking to surrender, go to your local animal shelter.
I think it's better that we surrender them to a
loving space and people who could really care for them
and hopefully rehome them. And then I do think it's
great to think consider donating to your local animal shelters
so that they can provide food, lodging, care for these
(33:38):
animals and hopefully rehome them and it doesn't sadly end
up in them being euthanized. But yeah, so sad ariba fam.
I'm going to take a quick break and come right
back with my brown boost or brown break for the week.
Be right back, alriba vam. I'm back and I want
to do a quick boost positive this week. I had
(34:02):
the best damn time at our first Brown Ambition book
club meeting. I want to give a huge shout out
to the one the only Cebo Campbell, the author of
sky Full of Elephants. Y'all, he showed up and showed
out for the BA book Club and he didn't have
to do all that, and I just think it's amazing
that he gave us our time. I was so happy
for our BA book Club members Tndra and Amy, who
(34:24):
got to ask Sebo questions one on one, even though
it meant Tondre, I'm so sorry, girl, I had to
put you on. I put you live in the guest
hosting seat accidentally because I was still figuring out my
live streaming. But it went so great. Sebo dropped so
many gems about the book itself. He also gave us
a scoop y'all exclusive about his book, sky Full of Elephants,
(34:46):
being turned into a movie produced by Laurence Fishburne, like
Morpheus is producing his movie. So if y'all want to
join the BA book Club, you got to go to
the Patreon. I also made the announcement during our book
club what our August slash September book Club pick is
going to be, and it is drum roll please, that's
the worst drum less, the worst drum roll.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
I only have one hand.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
I can't do it, but maybe we can get some
audio of some sonic audio clips to put in here.
But the pick for August September is going to be
The Ghost of Gwendolen Montgomery, a novel by the Clarence Haynes.
So Clarence, you're coming on Brown Ambition. You may not
know it yet, your publisher knows it, but now you do,
ba fam, go pick up this book. We are going
(35:32):
to be meeting at some point in September to talk
all about it. In the meantime, get into it. This
is a very fun, juicy novel. You may have noticed
my first two picks for the Brown Ambition Book Club
have been novels. Because it's summertime.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
I'm out here. I'm trying to find like little Beach Reads.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
I'm trying to find books that make me think, that
keep me turning those pages. And I would love y'all's
ideas if there's books that y'all think I should include
in my next book club pick, Like this book club
is four y'all buy, y'all. And I'm just here to
be a vessel of what you guys would like. So
I hope that you're loving them so far. I look
forward to doing some business and finance books, but I
(36:10):
want to keep mixing it up. I don't want it
to feel like this is the Brown Ambition Book Club.
Every month we have a new homework assignment of a
book to read. I want it to really feel like
we are reading books that are bringing us joy, making
us think, and enriching our lives and riching our.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Minds all of the above.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
And what I love most about Sky Full of Elephants
and Ghost of Gwendolen Montgomery is that they feature strong
female characters. You may not agree with everything they do,
you may have something to say about the way that
they act, but they're very fascinating, full bodied, well rounded,
three hundred and sixty degree characters, and we don't often
(36:49):
get that for women of color. So shout out to Clarence.
I'm very excited about us picking your book, or me
picking your book for the Brown Ambition Book Club. I
cannot wait be a fan for y'all to read it,
to die to let me know how y'all think. If
you were at the Brown Ambition Book Club meeting last
week with Cebo, you were I had selected to be
(37:09):
a fan members book club members to get a free
copy of the book, so those will be coming toward
y'all so that you don't have to pay for the
books like yay, and I'm just really excited. So there's
still time to join the book club if you want.
You can also go to the Patreon. Well, go to
the Patreon become a free member. That's how you get
enrolled in the book club. Then you'll see the full
(37:30):
hour long book Club replay with Cebos. You can get
all the tea from Sky Full of Elephants and his
new film that he's making. You can also get all
the updates on how to join us at future.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Book Club events.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
If you become a paid Patreon member, you actually get
access to be here live in the audience. Will me
record the Brown Table each week. You get a little
linky link so check that out as well, and all
the other parks and benefits that come with being a
member of the Patreon community. Iv A Fam, Until Bill
next time. Thank you so much for listening. Take care okay,
(38:05):
va fam, 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 Lauda Escalante and
Cameron McNair for helping me put the show together. It
is not a one person project, as much as I
(38:27):
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 tenth year anniversary
(38:49):
celebrations to come, and until next time, talk to you
soon via Buy
But did Joe know that there is a little known
US Treasury Department program that allows any US citizen to
send money. Yes, US send money to the federal government
to cover its budgetary shortfalls. Now they allow you to
actually venmo the US government. Don't worry about you don't
have cash, you don't have a bank account. You know
(00:21):
you don't want to transfer money that way, You can venmo.
You can PayPal like use this form for contributions to
reduce the public debt.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
The page says, So.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Let's give tax cuts to the billionaires, Let's cut funding
for NPR itself and other public media. Let's cut medicaid
for potentially millions of Americans. But yeah, let's also have
a little handout for donations from the American people. Hey, hey,
(00:54):
va fam, Welcome to Brown Ambition. Welcome to the Brown Table.
You know what, it's just me today. I'm going solo.
There is so much to talk to y all about,
so much that impacts your wallet, that could impact your career,
and I thought it was time for me to do
a solo show.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
So welcome.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Whether you're watching on YouTube or you are listening wherever
you get your podcasts, Welcome to Brown ambition. This is
where your money, your career, and the culture intersect. I
am Mandy Money. I am your host, and whether you
are brand new to the show or you are OGBA
fan from ten almost ten years y'all, ten years now,
twenty fifteen, we launched Welcome. You are in the right place,
(01:34):
and I hope you find this insightful. I also want
y'all to let this be a reminder that as things
are happening in the world, there's always something that we
can be doing or changing it up personally to inoculate
ourselves and protect ourselves the best we can from the
shenanigans that are happening. And we know where the shenanigans
(01:56):
are happening, all right. I want to move on to
the job market, because is what I'm obsessed with. And
I could sit here and I could tell you unemployment statistics,
and I could tell you what everyone you know, all
the experts say, which is that this is a strong
job market.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Companies are still hiring. Blah blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Let's talk about the real, real Let's talk about a
couple of my Mandy money makers who I've been working
with one on one through my VIP coaching program. And
even before I start telling you a little bit about them,
I want to tell you why I have started to
focus on a smaller, much smaller VIP one on one
coaching program.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I don't even know if I like the word VIP.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
But it's just what. It's just the easiest thing. I
had already been using it before. But the reason I
have started to do fewer clients for longer periods of time.
So the one on one that I do now you
have to sign up with me for twelve weeks, and
I got you.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I got you this right where I want you.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
The reason I do twelve weeks is because you know what,
Like when I was doing one off sessions with women,
they were incredible. I have probably done coaching sessions with hundreds,
I mean over five hundred is that I think that's
probably not exaggerating, well over five hundred women from across
the country, even around the world, and it's been incredible.
(03:13):
But the thing is, with a forty five minute or
one hour coaching session, we can accomplish some stuff, but
I get really invested. I want follow ups. I want
to know once you get the thing that we talked about,
you wanting I want to know what's next after that,
and how can we start working toward that. I just
wanted like a longer and deeper relationship. And yes, through
(03:34):
the Mandy money Makers Program, which is my course in
my community, where you get access to all of my
on demand course which I teach you about negotiating a
professional branding, the power of entrepreneurship, how to build well
through nine to five, you get that full course. You
also get to join the community.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Through that community, we do.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Group coaching, so every other week we meet up either
on a Friday or Sunday. Sometimes those times change, but
we meet up as a group and it's really just
like what's going on, We'll catch up. It's in a
group setting, but it's not that one on one individual attention.
And I started to miss really feeling like I could
dive deep with certain clients and like really be side
(04:16):
by side, like your real financial bestie, your real career bestie,
and be in the trenches with you. So I started
to think, well, I don't have to keep offering these
one on one sessions, which are fine, but I wasn't
finding them particularly gratifying because I wanted to stay connected
and I wanted to stay in the mix with the
(04:36):
clients I was working with. I know I can have
a big impact the longer I am stuck in with somebody.
And I also could sense that there were women I
was missing with the Mandy money makers. There were women
who work who are high. You know, they're at high
levels in their career, They're in extremely competitive job environments.
They're also in the types of careers and jobs that
(04:57):
require some some pri I have to see some what's
the word, I'm looking for some.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Discretion?
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Right So, I've definitely I know that I'm missing working
with women out there who you feel like I do.
Have a lot of big goals and dreams and frustrations
with my career right now. I want to work with
someone like Mandy, but I don't want to do that
in a group setting where I have to share time
with other women. My problems are so big, my challenges
(05:29):
are so big and so meaty and juicy that I
know that I'm going to take up that entire hour,
all the other makers are going to.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Get tired of get tired of me.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
And also I want to talk about things for my
company or for the people I work for. People I
want to work for, and I have to divulge some
things that are not necessarily information that I want to
be doing in a group setting where we're going to
have the calls recorded and shared and replayed and among
the community and all that which I completely understand. And
so for me, the one on one program is really
(05:59):
my that so for twelve weeks, you get me twelve
sessions rather twelve sessions. It's not exactly twelve weeks. The
schedules be scheduling, but I am yours over those twelve
coaching sessions and it's just been incredible. So what I
am learning by being in the trenches with high achieving
extremely and I mean the kind of women that come
(06:20):
to me, y'all are incredible, extremely accomplished, creative, brilliant, hard working,
and without fault feeling under valued and feeling underutilized in
their work. Nonetheless, like what I'm seeing is that you
can have it all. You can have the bang and resume,
you can have incredible referral from former colleagues employers, you
(06:45):
can be doing incredible work, and you still can be
out here in this current job market submitting application after
application after application and not making any traction the women
I'm working with are frustrated because they may be the
get to the second, third, fourth round of an interview,
but for whatever reason, they're not able to close that
deal and get the job that they want. They're getting
(07:07):
interviews at big companies, you know, at the fank companies,
your you know, your Metas, your Googles, you know, and
now we'll throw the big AI juggernauts into that mix.
You're in videos and like they're getting a foot in
the door, but the door is not opening all the way.
And so there's a sense of frustration. At the same time,
(07:28):
they're in really demanding jobs and it's like, how I'm
opposed to do all this while I'm also doing the
demanding work day to day that zaps me of my
energy and you know, all these things. And so the
way that I have found that I or the through
these conversations with my coaching clients, what I'm really seeing
is a couple of things that I want to talk
(07:49):
to you all about that are making all the difference.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Y'all know, I'm not.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Your girl for editing and tweaking resumes. That's not what
I'm here for. I also don't think it's going to
serve any one necessarily to spend a lot of time
obsessing over their resume and having a strong resume. Like
I've said, the women I'm working with who are still
struggling to break these doors open to these new opportunities,
they've got to kill a resume. There's like ten out
(08:14):
of ten no notes. Often when it comes to the resume,
it's not that. What it is is the ability to
get an internal referral is huge. It's a huge way
to actually turn those nose into yeses, or at least
get you through the door in the first place, get
a little knock on the door in the first place.
So we work on leveraging networks, including my own, because
(08:38):
the one thing about being on this interesting career path
that I've had is that I've actually managed to form
lots of relationships with incredible people at different places. So
my network I've been putting to work in order to
help these mandy money makers get access to internal referrals
for roles that they may want. It's also a lot
(08:59):
of coach through creating new connections, and when you're at
a point in your career like these women are, you've
been doing this work for a decade, two decades plus,
you have the respect of your peers that know you.
You have accomplished a lot in your career path. It
can feel a bit stressful and like, I don't know,
(09:20):
I can sort of see the air. It feels like
they're becoming a bit deflated. When I start talking about
forming new connections and new relationships, it's like, who wants
to make new friends at this stage? Like it's exhausting.
You don't want to go to the new employee happy
hours and have to do all that stuff. You want
to do your job. You want to be respected, like
what I have to do this? But in this environment,
(09:42):
in the current job market, it's not enough to settle
for the current network that you formed in the first ten, fifteen,
twenty years of your career. It's always looking for ways
to start sowing new seeds. And because I'm constantly looking
for a reason to use a gardening metaphor, please humor
me for a mon ba fam because there's something in
(10:02):
gardening that I've learned. It's called succession planning. So I
planted a lot of seeds back in April. I got
a little excited. I planted a little too early for
the zone that I'm in because it's a cold and
rainy in New York. That being said, I planted tomatoes,
I planted carrots, I planted beats, I planted all types
of herbs. And what happened is some of those plants
(10:26):
started to fail. The carrots came out looking like little
scraggly rat.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Tose I don't want to talk about. It was disappointing.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Some kind of pest ate up my zucchini the first
times around. Like the cilantro that was thriving in the
cooler temperatures, it started to bolt as soon as we
hit those first heat waves of the summer. And next
thing you know, I got no more cilantro. The mint
is drying up and not going anywhere. My tomatoes or
some of the plants are doing okay, some are not
(10:54):
looking so great. And I realized, like, if I don't
do something, if I don't get in there. Yes, I've
sowed these seeds. Yes, I've invested time, I have been
adding my compost. I've been doing everything quote unquote right,
I've been watering daily. I have been making these investments
of time, energy, and yes money into these seeds that
(11:18):
I was hoping would bear fruit. And also some of
the ones that I planted may be healthy, but they
may not be bearing fruit for another couple months. Shit,
I'm still waiting for my dang heirloom tomatoes to turn
red like they're just taunting me. And I swear I'm
like I planted you back in April. Am I still waiting?
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (11:38):
In the meantime, I had to learn how to think
on my feet and start sowing seeds in between the
plants that I've already planted, so I can have a
succession plan, so I can start sowing new seeds for
new crops as these other seeds as a hedge against
the other seeds not working out, pest getting to them,
(12:01):
you know, bad weather. I had to I had to
additionally think about, Okay, if this doesn't work out, or
if this is not enough, let's plan on top of
what I've been doing. So I've learned how to plant
things in between the rows that I so carefully planned
back in April. I was so naive to think that
I could do a one stop gardening plan and just
(12:21):
have things perfectly plotted out in rows. No, You've got
to sneak and squeeze things into the nooks and crannies.
You know, my basil plant starts to bolt. I got
to plant new basil. I got to figure out where
it's going to fit in. So I want to take
this metaphor and just make y'all think about your network
the same way. Yes, there may be relationships that you
(12:42):
have had for a long time in your career and
maybe they bore fruit back in the day, but maybe
now they're not burying as much fruit. It could be
that those relationships those people in particular, they've changed career paths,
or they could just be a connection that isn't necessarily
able to give you more access two opportunities that you
had before. Maybe the person that you were connected to
(13:05):
doesn't have the same kind of network they had before,
or they don't have as much of a I don't
want to say high profile, but they don't have as
much as a presence and of renown in their industry
as they may have used to. And that could be
for you. Like my tomato plant that just kind of
or my zucchini plant rather that just stopped producing really
good zucchini.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
It was bearing.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
It was giving me those big bangers to start with.
I was eating I was eating them up. I was
doing roasted squash all the time, and then the plants
just kind of get tired and they get faded away.
Now we've got to start thinking, Okay, how do I
make new connections so I can keep my harvest going
year round. So there's a couple of ways to do that,
and they're not all comfortable, and in fact, uncomfortable is
(13:48):
what I specialize in. So the first thing is that
you need to regularly be talking to your audience, be
talking to your peers and your community so that they're
they're understanding what it is that you're doing and what
you're up to. Now that can be simply posting on LinkedIn.
And I've been doing this for five years now, and
it's still really hard to get y'all to post stuff
(14:10):
on LinkedIn. I've I've been trying, but it's important to
get on a platform and talk about the work that
you're doing. The second thing is you have to be
looking for opportunities to put yourself in the room and
in a community with other people in your industry and
your space whatever it may be, whether it's your industry
specific or your job itself specific. So if you're a developer,
(14:33):
going to conferences specifically for developers. If you're a UX designer,
making sure that you go to it's not in conferences
for UX designers. It's also about like the virtual communities
that you can join.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Now.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
The women that I'm working with, one of them is
in a discord community that is black women, specifically UX
designers that you know, local to her area where she lives.
We were just on a call earlier today and we
were talking about a that was coming up and how
they had an opportunity to submit your resume to be
on the list, you know, to be in their vault
(15:07):
of resumes that sponsors and you know, other professionals could
could siphon through. Maybe you'll get seen, maybe you'll get
plucked out. And I'm sitting here like, well, why aren't
you going to this thing? Like why aren't you going
to the conference? And I didn't quite get her to
book the flight and the ticket right there on the
phone call, but I know she will because I'm will
bother her because she has full access to me. And
(15:30):
the reason why I think it's so important to be
in the room. It's not about I mean, to a
certain extent, yes, it's about the sessions and learning and
all that, But it's about the ability to bump and
rub elbows with, to bump up against people who who
are who are like tied to the industry or the
work that you want to be doing, who you can
make a good impression with you actually get some face
(15:51):
time with the first thing that she and I did
and we have a lot of work still to do
in terms of like making an overall strategy for when
she visits this conference, but one of the first things is, like,
let's go to the list of session speakers or the
session the conference schedule to see what all the different
sessions are going to be and what experts, what thought leaders,
(16:13):
what you know career professionals are going to be there,
and who makes sense for you to try to have
a one on one with or try to meet up
with while you're there and introduce yourself and make sure
that you make time to make those connections. And it's
not just about meeting the people who are on the
list of speakers, it's also about, Okay, what's our strategy
(16:35):
on a day to day basis for making sure that
we are creating new connections with other women. I have
an introverts heart. I am a deeply, deeply introverted person
in my natural state. I've learned how to become an
ambrovert when it comes to big conferences and networking events
in a way that helps further my further my career,
(16:57):
and now it further's my business. I was just at
a conference in Miami. This was like maybe three hundred
women at this conference at this huge hotel, big rooms,
big stages, lots of people, And I had my own
strategy for creating opportunities for one on one conversations because
I'd much prefer to have a one on one or
(17:18):
maybe two, you know, two, three, like a small group
conversation versus you know, feeling like I'm having really short
one on one conversations or really short group conversations and
not really able to like get to know someone. So
we work on a strategy for that. And the second thing,
or the third thing rather is looking at all the
(17:39):
sponsors who are sponsoring the conference. They got money to
sponsor this conference, maybe they're hiring, maybe they have a budget,
you know, to send their recruiters, like those are the
that's the list of companies that I would focus my
attention on going to their job sites, their job boards,
seeing what's available. So you show up at that conference
(18:00):
to connect with someone from that company, and you already
know this is the role that I want to talk
to them about. So all of those things, and there's
probably a bunch more I could share, but creating opportunities
to network with others is really really essential in this
current job market. So I want to turn this on
Uba fan. What are you doing or what have you
done in the last week to form a new connection
(18:23):
in a professional capacity. Have you told someone new or
different about something that you're working on. Have you said
yes to an invitation to a networking lunch or have
you looked up a discord community for people in your
particular industry or your career path.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Have you reached out.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
To someone that maybe you've followed on LinkedIn or someone
who's work that you've enjoyed following throughout your career. Have
you reached out and just said hello, I really appreciate
what you've been doing. I just wanted to connect and
say keep up the good work. If you ever around,
you can take it here if you want to. Yeah,
I got to do all. You don't have to ask
them out for a virtual coffee date. That's fine, but
(19:01):
just say hello, okay. The other thing I will say is,
as you are sending out, when you're making these bids
for connection, as I have said, these little small bids
for connection, keep in mind the other side of things.
Keep in mind that it is a very tough job
market right now. A lot of working professionals who are
(19:22):
in either a hiring capacity or they are in a
visible position at companies that have a lot of interest
from applicants, they're probably getting inundated by requests for connections
on LinkedIn, for virtual coffee dates, for one on one's
all that stuff. So try to keep your request simple,
(19:42):
direct to the point, and don't ask for too much upfront.
I think the key to forming a good long term
professional relationship is not asking for anything upfront. It's offering.
It's saying I see that you've been doing this, I
see that you've been posting about this. I'm going to comment,
I'm going to share, I'm going to like, I see
that you're having this challenge. Well, I'm happy to offer
(20:04):
you the resources.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
That I have.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
There's always something that we can be offering and not
asking for right away, and that's why I think it's
important to go ahead and make that bid for connection,
but don't immediately make it about asking for something, especially
when you know this person is probably inundated by a
similar request.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Their cup is.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Being emptied and emptied and emptied, and they're trying to
pour back into it, and you're just if you feel
like you're one more person who's coming to take something
from their cup, like why not add something back into
it instead? Hey, ba fam, we got to take a
quick break, pay some bills, and we'll be right back.
All right, let's talk about some headlines that have me
(20:47):
literally scratching my head and also just wondering, like, what
is this life that we are living in?
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Nba fam.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
So I'm going to cover some headlines that impact your wallet.
Maybe they just tickle our humor or funny bone a
little bit. I want to start with this. I mean,
I'm finding this really shocking too. But Di Joe know
that there is a little known US Treasury Department program
that allows any US citizen to send money.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yes, US send money to the.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Federal government to cover its budgetary shortfalls. This is a program.
Shout out to NPR for uncovering this. This is a
program that's called quote unquote gifts to reduce the public debt?
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Like, are you out of your mind? Now?
Speaker 1 (21:29):
They allow you to actually venmo the US government, don't
worry about you don't have cash, you don't have a
bank account. You know, you don't want to transfer money
that way, you can venmo, you can PayPal, like use
this form for contributions to reduce the public debt. The
page says, So, let's give tax cuts to the billionaires.
Let's cut funding for NPR itself and other federal other
(21:54):
public media. Let's cut medicaid for potentially millions of Americans.
Do snap benefits for millions of Americans?
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Suore.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Let's give all these tax breaks for the uber wealthy
and for corporations. But yeah, let's also have a little
hand out for donations from the American people. Is that
not called taxes? Is that not like, I'm sorry, you're
not getting another red cent from me. Elise the taxes
that we pay already. But in twenty twenty two, NPR
(22:23):
says the US government received a million bucks this way.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Nah.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Nah, I don't know who's out here donating in this way,
but this is the most ridiculous thing I have heard
in a very long time. Next up, Oh my lord,
I was just listening to Stacy Abrams podcast. Have y'all
listened to Assembly Required? I am such a huge fan
Stacy girl. You give me so much calm and peace.
I'm so grateful that you are one of the ones
(22:50):
who has a microphone in an age where everyone has
a microphone, but you give me She just calms me down.
She makes me feel like there's a grown up in
the room to explain stuff to me and to be
with it and also find little moments of joy as well,
because Stacy can sit here and she can give me
all the details that you know as I want, on
(23:12):
what's happening in the Supreme Court right now. She can
talk about voter access and voter rights and what's happening
with voter rights right now. But she can also talk
about publishing romance novels and how she has her new
novel shout out to Coded Justice is out right now.
She is just that girl, and I feel like that
(23:33):
is so much of what I love to do. And
that's what I love about Brown Ambition is that we're
not just here to talk about how to make more money,
how to get more wealth, how to invest in the
stock market. We're here to also find moments of joy
and to bring some reality to a world that feels
often so disconnected from reality in a lot of ways.
But as I was listening to Assembly Required, she was
(23:56):
talking about.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
What was she talking about? Why am I blinking? Oh,
brain fog?
Speaker 1 (24:03):
She was talking about the birth rate, And she had
some experts on who were just basically explaining this. You
know this, the elon musks of the world and the
Christian Right, and the different methods and philosophies they have
and how to strategies they're trying to invoke to help
us produce more babies.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
But not all of us. Specific ones of us.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Okay, so the ones who maybe earn enough, the ones
who are the right shade, the ones who come from
the right types of backgrounds, the ones who have the
right genes. You know that Robert Kennedy right now, Yes,
Robert Kennedy, he is problematic on so many fronts. But
I did not realize he has suggested that we should
create a database of families and kids and parents who
(24:49):
have autism, which is macking a little bit close to
the idea of eugenics. Okay, the idea that we're actually
going to track the types of genes that are out
there so that we can what block people who have
those genes who are on that list from pro creating,
from being able to access resources healthcare. You know this
(25:10):
baby bonus that Trump has been, you know, talking about
giving mothers five thousand bucks to for having a baby,
but only if you meet certain income requirements. Like that's
just one step away from saying you could only qualify
for the baby bonus if you're not on this database
of potential carriers for the autism gene or other you know,
(25:31):
differently abled genetics. Like that to me is we should
be we should be eyes wide the open about that
kind of stuff. Okay, but yeah, the US birth rate
is super low, which is going to stress a lot
of I don't know why wealthy white people out, but yeah,
(25:52):
why do we care about the fertility rate? So the
news is that the new CDC data that was just
released shows that America's fertility rate has dropped to an
all time low of just under one point six children
per woman on average and twenty twenty four. So that
means I'm an anomaly. I got two kids, So why
(26:12):
do we care? So much about birth rate. Well, we
need workers to keep the economy going. As much as
we would love to say that AI and robots can
do a lot of the work, like, there's still a
lot that only humans can do. We also need people
to take care of our senior citizens. We need people
who can work and pay taxes into social safety net
(26:33):
programs like Social Security.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
That being said, you know, I'm a little.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Bit I don't know if it's like I'm older and
I'm just a bit more cynical, But there's a lot
of this like alarm bell ringing about social Security?
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Will it be? Will there be enough?
Speaker 1 (26:49):
There has been for I feel like my entire career
when I was starting out as a personal finance journalist,
and all I can say is like Congress is so dysfunctional.
The current administry is so dysfunctional. I just think they're
going to be like, never mind, we don't have Social
Security anymore, We're just going to start issuing checks to
senior citizens, like they'll find the money somewhere, because apparently
(27:12):
the national debt, the national budget doesn't really mean anything,
Like does anyone else feel like it doesn't mean anything?
That they have just passed this bill that's going to
add trillions of dollars to the national debt. That's happened before,
you know, and we spend like America has so much
of its unpaid debts right now, and still like things
are things are working out here, street lights are working,
(27:35):
teachers are getting paid, Federal employees you know, are getting
their paychecks. Like we're still getting access to some social
safety nets. Yes, they are getting rid of them as
you know, as we speak, getting rid of a lot
of Medicaid access for millions of Americans over the next decade.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
But at the same.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Time, like I don't want I don't buy this in
the in terms of the fear mongering of y'all need
to go out and make some more babies real fast,
Like hm nah, I don't think us going out there
creating bringing more life into this world that we have
no resources, no social safety nets, daycare, childcare, housing, food,
(28:21):
living in general is so expensive. We're sending babies to
schools where they can get shot up and their pe
classes like where mass shootings are happening all the time,
where childhood anxiety and depression are on the rise, where
social media is unhinged and almost damn near unregulated, and
we have to protect these children from the Internet. And
(28:43):
y'all want me to just put more children into this world.
I can now na, na na na. I think we
have to put our own life beests on first, everybody.
So I don't think anyone listening to Brown Ambition is
gonna let information like this determine your family planning. But
I'm ready, Like this is the kind of shit where
I think we need to show up on Capitol Hill
(29:03):
and be like, you can't tell us to create more
life when you are making this country so inhospitable to life.
It's like, how much closer can we get to a
far off distant planet where there's not enough water at
oxygen to sustain life? Like this is crazy, like the
state of this country and y'all are out here trying
(29:25):
to make us have more babies right like it makes
zero sense. But yeah, everyone's really stressed out about this number.
I I'm not by I mean facts are facts, and
shore one point six kids per woman right now is
on the lower side. Well okay, cool, Like I'm not
that pressed about it. I'm not that moved. We have
(29:50):
to keep an eye on that CDC that we have
to keep an eye on homeboy RFK. Is that his name,
RFK Robert Kennedy? Yes, OURFK junior, rather our FK junior.
We have to keep an eye on him. And to
anyone who's still working at the CDC, like shout outs
to y'all. I don't know what it's like over there
working for this man right now, but I just please, please, just.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
Keep an eye on stuff.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
And I hope that we have some whistleblowers in cases
up to no good trying to move us into the
land of to eugenics, and no, we just can't do that. Okay, Oh,
this is really sad, y'all. Like, as I'm sitting here,
I have a neglected dog over in her crate. Who's
that bills have caused me to look up all kinds
(30:38):
of home remedies for all of her different ailments. Sorry,
Molly moo, but it's not just me. According to the
American Pet Products Association, forty nine million households have a
cat and sixty eight million households have a dog, but
shelters across the country are reporting a surge in owner
surrenders as the cost of keeping pets goes up. Americans
(30:59):
are on track to drop one hundred and fifty seven
billion dollars on their pets. That's sixty two percent more
than they spent in twenty nineteen forty three percent, so
nearly half of that is going to people sustaining their
pets day to day with food and treats. My dog, oh,
Molly Moose. So she went through this situation a year
or two ago where she had some like back leg
(31:21):
pain and they were like, it could be inflammation, she
might have torn her acl You know, we could do surgery.
It'll be like twenty five hundred, twenty seven hundred dollars
per leg and you'll have to carry her and do
one leg at a time. I'll like, oh no, no, no, no,
We're gonna make her food from scratch. And so I
started to make her food from scratch, and I saw
her body come back. She lost weight, she started to
feel more lively. But that was so expensive, so I'm
(31:45):
not gonna lie.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
We started.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
I started to incorporate her salmon dog food back into
the mix. I get a big bag of it from BJYS,
and I have to get it from BJS because it
is so expensive to buy dog food right now.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
So food treats.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
I mean, I get it, and that's if your pet
is healthy, Like let your pet cough the wrong way,
let them get a little bit of a rash, you know,
feel like they're getting a little bit sick.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Even if you have pet.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Insurance, it feels like you walk into a vet and
the costs are like hundreds of dollars each time. It's
extremely expensive. But this was pretty heartbreaking.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
I know.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
When I was in Atlanta recently, there was a really
sweet woman who knocked on the door and she was
with the Atlanta ASPCA ASPCA Atlanta Humane Society. Is that
the right acronym, not sure, but Atlanta Humane Society. She
knocked on the door and she was looking for recurring
donations because she said surrender by owners were going up,
(32:42):
just like this report has shown. So it's pretty sad
to see that, you know, when it comes to the
list of household expenses, like we can hardly maintain our pets.
And by the way, this goes perfectly what I was
saying before.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
We can't even.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Afford Fidos dog food, and y'all want me to create
another hue in life where it's going to cost a
two hundred thousand dollars over the cost to raise a
child up to the age of eighteen, and that's before
college expenses. Hell to then naw, like Fluffy and Fido
are not getting it. Do you think we can really
afford to have more children.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
In this place? Like, come on, get out of here.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
That being said, if you do have a pet that
you are looking to surrender, go to your local animal shelter.
I think it's better that we surrender them to a
loving space and people who could really care for them
and hopefully rehome them. And then I do think it's
great to think consider donating to your local animal shelters
so that they can provide food, lodging, care for these
(33:38):
animals and hopefully rehome them and it doesn't sadly end
up in them being euthanized. But yeah, so sad ariba fam.
I'm going to take a quick break and come right
back with my brown boost or brown break for the week.
Be right back, alriba vam. I'm back and I want
to do a quick boost positive this week. I had
(34:02):
the best damn time at our first Brown Ambition book
club meeting. I want to give a huge shout out
to the one the only Cebo Campbell, the author of
sky Full of Elephants. Y'all, he showed up and showed
out for the BA book Club and he didn't have
to do all that, and I just think it's amazing
that he gave us our time. I was so happy
for our BA book Club members Tndra and Amy, who
(34:24):
got to ask Sebo questions one on one, even though
it meant Tondre, I'm so sorry, girl, I had to
put you on. I put you live in the guest
hosting seat accidentally because I was still figuring out my
live streaming. But it went so great. Sebo dropped so
many gems about the book itself. He also gave us
a scoop y'all exclusive about his book, sky Full of Elephants,
(34:46):
being turned into a movie produced by Laurence Fishburne, like
Morpheus is producing his movie. So if y'all want to
join the BA book Club, you got to go to
the Patreon. I also made the announcement during our book
club what our August slash September book Club pick is
going to be, and it is drum roll please, that's
the worst drum less, the worst drum roll.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
I only have one hand.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
I can't do it, but maybe we can get some
audio of some sonic audio clips to put in here.
But the pick for August September is going to be
The Ghost of Gwendolen Montgomery, a novel by the Clarence Haynes.
So Clarence, you're coming on Brown Ambition. You may not
know it yet, your publisher knows it, but now you do,
ba fam, go pick up this book. We are going
(35:32):
to be meeting at some point in September to talk
all about it. In the meantime, get into it. This
is a very fun, juicy novel. You may have noticed
my first two picks for the Brown Ambition Book Club
have been novels. Because it's summertime.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
I'm out here. I'm trying to find like little Beach Reads.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
I'm trying to find books that make me think, that
keep me turning those pages. And I would love y'all's
ideas if there's books that y'all think I should include
in my next book club pick, Like this book club
is four y'all buy, y'all. And I'm just here to
be a vessel of what you guys would like. So
I hope that you're loving them so far. I look
forward to doing some business and finance books, but I
(36:10):
want to keep mixing it up. I don't want it
to feel like this is the Brown Ambition Book Club.
Every month we have a new homework assignment of a
book to read. I want it to really feel like
we are reading books that are bringing us joy, making
us think, and enriching our lives and riching our.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Minds all of the above.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
And what I love most about Sky Full of Elephants
and Ghost of Gwendolen Montgomery is that they feature strong
female characters. You may not agree with everything they do,
you may have something to say about the way that
they act, but they're very fascinating, full bodied, well rounded,
three hundred and sixty degree characters, and we don't often
(36:49):
get that for women of color. So shout out to Clarence.
I'm very excited about us picking your book, or me
picking your book for the Brown Ambition Book Club. I
cannot wait be a fan for y'all to read it,
to die to let me know how y'all think. If
you were at the Brown Ambition Book Club meeting last
week with Cebo, you were I had selected to be
(37:09):
a fan members book club members to get a free
copy of the book, so those will be coming toward
y'all so that you don't have to pay for the
books like yay, and I'm just really excited. So there's
still time to join the book club if you want.
You can also go to the Patreon. Well, go to
the Patreon become a free member. That's how you get
enrolled in the book club. Then you'll see the full
(37:30):
hour long book Club replay with Cebos. You can get
all the tea from Sky Full of Elephants and his
new film that he's making. You can also get all
the updates on how to join us at future.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Book Club events.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
If you become a paid Patreon member, you actually get
access to be here live in the audience. Will me
record the Brown Table each week. You get a little
linky link so check that out as well, and all
the other parks and benefits that come with being a
member of the Patreon community. Iv A Fam, Until Bill
next time. Thank you so much for listening. Take care okay,
(38:05):
va fam, 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 Lauda Escalante and
Cameron McNair for helping me put the show together. It
is not a one person project, as much as I
(38:27):
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 tenth year anniversary
(38:49):
celebrations to come, and until next time, talk to you
soon via Buy
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