April 25, 2022 • 31 mins
Lawyer and Emmy Award winning poet, Suzen Baraka joins the podcast to discuss the journey of following her passions and the many job transitions she has experienced.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, Money Movers, Welcome back to Money Moves, the daily
podcast determined to give you the keys to the Kingdom
of financial stability, wealth and abundance. Today's guest is a lawyer,
an Emmy Award winning poet, a writer, actor, activists, and
(00:23):
is the partner in this chief administrative officer of Seed
at the Table, a mission driven equity crowdfunding platform committed
to connecting diverse entrepreneurs with non accredited investors looking to
obtain equity and or debt exposure at modest investment amounts.
Money Movers, please welcome Susan Baraka to the podcast. Hi, Susan,
(00:45):
how are you? I am great? How are you? I
am incredible? I'm so excited to have you here. Your
story is incredibly inspiring, and I in particular love stories
that involved transitions, career transitions and being able to sort
of follow your passions and help others on the way.
So really excited to have you on the podcast today.
I'm so excited to be here. Wow, let's dive in
(01:07):
and get started. So to those of you out there
in the Money Moves audience who are not familiar with
Susan and what she's done, I named a lot of
things as I introduced you, but I want to start
off by saying, I think you might be the first
Emmy Award winning poet to be on our podcast. So
tell us how that happened. Oh wow, So I back
(01:28):
in twenty I want to say it was I was
commissioned to write a piece. So I've been a poet
for sevent team plus years, UM touring, traveling all over
the country, UM, and I was commissioned to write a piece,
UH revolving around the subject of voting. And I remember
for several weeks, I kept asking myself, how am I
(01:50):
going to write a poem about voting? When Floyd is
going on and there's all this and I'm for background,
I'm half black, half Korean, so UM. I was also
dealing with UM feelings around what was going on in
UH the Asian American community, and so there was just
all of this tension, and I was like, how am
(02:12):
I supposed to write this? And that sort of became
the through line for the piece that I wrote, UM,
which is, how do I write a poem about voting
when you know Flint, Michigan still doesn't have clean water
when so many Yeah, but also like at the time,
like very timely, like we were I don't know about you,
(02:32):
but obviously commissioned to do this poem. But the you know,
we were calling people to almost arms, saying like come
out and vote. It's more important than ever. So I
could see how it would be just such a big task. Yeah, definitely.
But I wrote the poem and I shared it with
a few people, one being uh of my best friend
(02:53):
Johnny ram Barrant, who is a professor at Howard University
and also a film director in her own right, and um,
she offered to direct the video for me, and so
we did it um and it aired um in the
DC area and then shortly thereafter, because it's a p
s A, we were nominated for an Emmy and then
(03:17):
we wont okay, I have to pause right here. Where
can people find this video? I do have it on
my my I G page Susan Baraka that's s u
z e N Underscore b A R A k A.
But you know you can find it online if you
just search my name and vote. Um, it's it's available. Incredible, incredible, Okay.
(03:40):
So now as we unwrap the present that is you
in the gift that we have to have you on
on the podcast today. But you're also a lawyer. So
you went to school, you decided to be a lawyer.
Let's talk a little bit about your journey there and
then how you've transitioned to being an entrepreneur and supporting
other entrepreneurs. Yeah. So I think, like most immigrant children,
(04:04):
our parents have a plan for us. Uh. And from
a very young age, I was groomed to be a lawyer.
I had always said from probably from I think like
third grade that I was going to be a teacher
and actor and a lawyer. And my mom definitely honed
in on the lawyer part and pushed that narrative for
my entire life. And in some ways it still pushing
(04:27):
that narrative. But yeah, I I taught a taught poetry
for several years because I was writing and performing poetry.
But poetry was very much a second or a double
life for me. Because I knew I had to go
to law school. I knew I had to see this
this track, uh, And so I did. I went to
(04:48):
Cardoso Law School. Um. Actually, prior to that, I was
at undergrad at Seton Hall. Um. I was a terrible student. Um.
I actually didn't really intend to go to college if
I'm being completely honest, UM, and I almost failed out
my first semester, and then when I realized how serious
(05:08):
it was, I pulled yeah and I and I ended
up graduating with a double major in Africana Diaspora Studies
and English Honors UM. And I had very much intended
to go to school for creative writing and get my
master's for creative writing, but of course my parents were
against that. And I ended up at this dinner with
(05:31):
a bunch of really awesome, black, excellent people, and the
person sitting next to me was this attorney and I
told her, I said, yeah, my mom really wants me
to be an attorney. I guess I should start looking
into law school. And she was like, oh, send me
your resume and I was like, really, you'll take a
look at it, and she was like, yeah, sure, I'll
take a look at it, and unknownst to me, she
(05:53):
actually submitted it to Scatting Arts for a legal assistant position.
Ended up getting called in and interviewing and I was terrified.
Number one because this is one of the largest and
law firms in the world, um, but also just because
I didn't know what it meant and it was also
another it was a whole another league, like people who
(06:16):
go to scatting our you know, ivy league students and
top of the class. And so I just really I
didn't know what it all meant, and I didn't understand
the gravity of that opportunity. So when I was offered
of the position, all I could think was hours a
week am I signing up for this? Right? And I
(06:36):
remember that this woman, Veronica Um, she she called me,
she said, you better take that you better take that
job right right? Oh my god. There's so much to
unpack here that I love so much. Like I want
to touch on like having immigrant parents and their expectations
and just the power of when opportunity knocks taking a
seat on that spaceship, you know, and just you never know.
(06:58):
It's like you got this opportune because you're like, Okay,
I'm going to go to this dinner. You could have
not gone to that dinner. You sat beside this lady
and you actually like spoke out, you know, I think
I should go to law school. And she's like, all right,
let me help you. Like there's just what a beautiful story. Yeah, absolutely,
Like I'm so blessed. Um And I. Yeah, everything is serendipitous.
A lot of the opportunities I've had have come from dinners.
(07:19):
And I think that what gave me sort of a
leg up was that I was already involved in a
nonprofit organization called NJ Leap that UM takes students coming
out of eighth grade going into high school and puts
them into constitutional mock law debates and UM all types
of extracurricular programming. And there their New York counterpart, Legal Outreach,
(07:43):
has like a ninety nine eight percent success rate of
getting those students into college. So UM and and and
and j LEEP has a has actually a similar record.
And J LEAP, Yes, n J l E E P
And I was. I was actually one of the like
three people who was, you know, administratively involved in the
launch of n J Leap, even though I was still
(08:05):
in college. UM. But I loved volunteering, I loved teaching,
I loved helping those those students because I'm originally from Newark,
so it was UH and and the program was run
out of Seaton Hall Law School. So because I had
already had that experience, that sort of gave me a
leg up when I was applying to scatter arts and
um or when or when Veronica applied for me? Are
(08:32):
you still in touch with her now? Uh? Yeah, vaguely
she does. She doesn't live in the New York area anymore,
and she has children, beautiful children, so she's very busy
and uh but yeah, but yeah, we're still vaguely in
touch with absolutely. So now you're in law school. You've
made your parents proud, of course, and let's talk about
(08:52):
the rest of your journey. So you're you're in law school,
you're deciding what you want to practice. Where did you
go from there? So? Yeah, I'm at So I end
up at Cardozo Law School. Um when the two thousand
eight financial crash happens, Um, because I was working at
in corporate finance at Scadden so they needed to let
people go. And um, I'm really scary. No, it was great,
(09:14):
it was fantastic. I was excited to start law school.
I was like, you know what, perfect timing. I truly
believe everything happens for a reason. Um, So I ended
up a Cardozo. I knew for a fact I wanted
to study entertainment law, which is which is actually why
I chose cardos Awa. They have a great ip program.
I ended up helping UH spear a campaign to get
(09:35):
an independent film clinic started at Cardozo and had a
great time, you know, working with the other minority law
students to to sort of make that happen and sort
of build that out. And then after a law school
I ended up sort of an entrepreneur still, but just
you know, a lawyer like I ended up working for
a lawyer who I will not name names but was
(09:57):
incredibly abusive, UM a very well known like entertainment attorney,
and I left her and ended up unemployed for a
few months, and in that time at my my ex husband,
and from there just sort of use my connections because
I also enterned at Atlantic Records while I was in
(10:18):
law school, so I had a number of connections and
number of friends and use those connections to uh sort
of create or build a career in entertainment law and UH.
And so a lot of the work I did was
actually working for other attorneys who didn't have the bandwidth
to to cover all of the work that they did,
so they farm their workout to me. And that's sort
(10:42):
of how I built an expertise in doing all of
this work that they didn't have to so interesting, and
I mean I don't know enough, so this might be
a very novice question about the law industry. But typically
people go and work at one firm. But you sort
of were consulting, and I think it's really great way
to like sort of get experience and abroad probably base
(11:03):
of experience. You were like, let me take the jobs
that people don't have bandwidth for number one, you're putting
food on the table. Number two, like the breadth of
experience he must have had. Yeah, No, it was great.
I I actually I was able to get an office
space from John Jakielik, who's an incredible entertainment attorney, and
then he would farm out some of his work to me.
(11:23):
And then I had another attorney who was also my
mentor and still in many ways is. His name is
Frank Selzano. UM he's also a sports agent now UM
working out of Miami. And then UM Bernie Jackson was
also my other mentor and and my primary mentor of
all time is lind Gonzalez and she UM, she's just
sort of my mentor in life, but she's also UM
(11:45):
an attorney at Island def Jam. So they sort of
helped me figure out UM sort of how to like
patch this legal career together and like develop expertise and
also you know, make ends me in while I was
sort of building my career um. And then I got
a random phone call one day asking if I wanted
(12:08):
to make four dollars a day just doing some like
Microsoft word processing. And I was like, okay, why not,
because you know because with entertainment law too, you kind
of manage your own schedule, like oh it's just like
ten to five or nine to five, and you know,
it's it's really light work. And I was like okay, sure, yeah,
(12:32):
was like, as long as I can maintain my my
legal career, and they were like, yeah, it's fine, do
whatever you want. So um, so I did that. It
was for Barclay's Investment Bank, and I was attempt for
Barclay's Investment Bank. And while I was working there, uh,
one of the one of the executives said to me,
she said, I think you're too smart for this job,
(12:53):
because they were giving me word processing work. But I
was like, this doesn't look right to me, like I
you're like editing it, like actively substantively editing it. I
think you're too smart for this job. And I was like, yeah,
I'm like practice law on two states. I'm definitely too
smart for this job. So so she was like, would
(13:13):
you think would you consider a full time job here?
And I was like, I don't know, because I still
havent this entertainment law practice outside of this. I would
be I would have to be able to do both,
and they were totally open to it, and they I'm
the honest and assistant vice president in Recovery and resolution
Planning for the America's team, which basically means that if Barkley,
(13:36):
so Barclay's bought Lehman Brothers, and that's an a financial crisis.
So if Barclays went under, my job was basically to
figure out what the plan is to make sure that
we don't affect us financial stability. Oh wow, so we
came up with the So our job as a department
(13:57):
was to come up with the strategy for like how
we would unwind in a way that didn't impact the
greater US. That's huge, especially after the Yes, they're like,
we are contingency planning exactly, and and this and this department,
this group was very, very new because this only was
born out of that two financial crisis. So in a
(14:20):
lot of ways. We're still we're all learning together, us
and the regulators of how how do we do this,
how do we strategize around you know, the different possibilities.
And so I ended up being an a VP there
and then quickly got promoted to VP. And then my
boss ended up leaving and I loved her so much,
but she ended up leaving and going to a different
(14:41):
bank because of of course, corporate politics. Yeah, yeah, it's
hard to be a woman in in this in that industry.
And then I got a new boss another a different
white woman, but but she from the moment she's started,
had an issue with me. And I think that that,
(15:03):
you know, I think that a lot of black women
in corporate finance know exactly what I mean when I
said absolutely yeah. I just literally led a group yesterday
that was talking about the nuances of working in the
corporate world. Some sum said it got better with COVID
because they weren't in the office all the time. But
I mean, it's an ongoing battle that I think that
we struggle with. Interesting question for you, because I think
(15:26):
like one of the things that really surfaces is, like
you name all these mentors, you also name a lot
of you know, struggles that you've had as a black
woman in the corporate world. And I think a lot
of people in our office in our audience always ask
about mentorship. How do I find the right mentor how
do I find someone that can help me get to
the next level of my career. Can you talk about
(15:47):
how you've been successful in finding mentors. Yes, first and foremost,
I think it's hard work. I come from a family
where we don't assume that we're entitled to anything. Um.
It's actually one of my pet peeves about my family.
I sometimes wish I I was more entitled, because I think,
(16:09):
you know, there is some benefit to that. Um. But
an interesting statement in and of itself, like because you're
sort of like that, that like garish entitlement, you're oblivious
to so many things, and yeah, that's a whole another conversation.
I love that really. But but because I don't feel
entitled to anything, I am constantly out working and overworking
everyone else. I'm always you know, the first one and
(16:32):
the last one. Um. There. But I think that that
in and of itself and also just a pleasant disposition.
I you know, my favorite line is if I have
if I'm working for someone, no matter who that is.
My job is to figure out how do I make
that person's life easier and better. And I feel like
(16:54):
that's something very separate from just being excellent at doing
your job exactly right. Goes such a long way. Honestly,
it's likability and there's no shame in saying, like, I
go to work, and you know, people like me because
I'm helping to make their day better. I'm helping to
make them succeed. I'm helping to make their job easier. Yeah, exactly.
(17:16):
And also, you know, we're not robot robots, we're human beings.
And so it's also about like acknowledging the humanity of
a person, you know, and so you know, you can
tell when when someone is struggling or they need help.
And a lot of times, very very excellent people have
a difficult time asking for help. And so it's about
(17:39):
attention to detail. It's about anticipating people's needs. Um and
so I I you know, I pride myself in saying that,
like everything I have, I've definitely worked for and it's
because of it's because of those characteristics being able to
anticipate people's needs and pay attention to like the little details. Oh, Susan,
(18:00):
I love that because I think it's a question that
comes up all the time. People are like, well I
can't find a mentor, I can't this, and you know,
it goes back to the early early pieces of networking,
you know, making yourself valuable in a business or even
just going up to people and you know, giving them
a compliment to say, listen, I love your work in
this sector, you know, and I think it's a hard
thing for people to do, but you've given so much.
(18:23):
Like I was struck by how many examples you said,
this was a mentor, this was a life mentor, this
was this, and how important that is in you know,
being able to like work on success. Oh absolutely like
And I think particularly black women, um, we often feel
like we can do it all right, And I being
a black woman, I know for a fact that that's
(18:44):
not true. Um. And so like from a very like
my aunt is, um she's a judge, uh or she
was a judge in East Orange and she's also a
lawyer and I remember in college I would like come
to her law office just to sort of see her work.
She was actually my first experience with a black professional
(19:08):
because my parents are for all intentsive purposes, their blue
collar individuals. And I didn't grow up around anybody that
was like educated, like an educated professional. So she was
really my first experience. And I didn't really get to
know her until I was in college, and so hanging
out with her in her office, I quickly was like, oh,
I can help you with me. I want to do this. Yeah.
(19:31):
I was like, you know, my mom wanted me to
do this anyway, I might as well figure out how
to do it. So very quickly I was in her
office for like fourteen hours a day. I would come
after school and I would stay and I wouldn't leave
until she left for and and so, you know, having
that sense of stamina, I think also helped a lot,
(19:53):
you know, because even that stamina there helped me get
through scand ARBs, where again I was working a hundred
hours a week. There were there were days I would
start at nine am, leave at two am, and that
would happen from Sunday to Sunday for like three Okay,
so tell me a little bit because I want to
say some time to talk about seat at the table,
and then will come back. So now you've had this
(20:14):
illustrious law career, and you've transitioned now to entrepreneurship and
really helping more people of color my BIPOD community, entrepreneurs
build and get access to capital. So tell us a
little bit about seat at the table. Seat at the table.
I mean, it's such a special company because I think
that you know, it started with just a group of
(20:37):
people like myself, who all have our own personal reasons
for coming to this. I think for me again, seeing
all of the women in my community, including my mother,
my mother is an entrepreneur. So my mother owned a
nail salon when I was a kid. She owns an
Korean barbecue restaurant now. And and it's it's difficult for
(20:59):
women to access capital in a traditional way. And yet,
and in particular, Black women are the leading demographics starting
new businesses. But as far as venture capital, we only
receive like point three percent of venture capital funding. Yeah,
and that is a huge industry, you know, it's uh,
(21:20):
you know, tons of billions of dollars are in the
venture capital industry, and we know that especially for black
men in particular, the statistics are abysmal. However, we're creating
and generating so much revenue and a lot of these
businesses that you know, there's there's a real disparity there.
So this is why I'm super passionate about what you're
doing and seat at the table, and me personally like
(21:40):
I very much because I was raised in a household
where my mother was I was watching my mother be
her own boss. In many ways, I you know, I
shove for the same thing. I think it's important too
because even working in corporate finance. You know, I was
doing great in corporate finance, but as soon as my
new boss came into the picture, I realized very quickly,
(22:00):
this is not it. I'm not going to succeed in
this company. For a number of reasons. I had already
watched my previous manager leave because my company literally did
not want to introduce her into the C suite level
executive level, so she went to a whole different bank.
And then, feeling that you know exactly, we're like, Okay,
(22:21):
how hard do I have to bang to break through?
Can I even break through in this organization? Right? And
there's a huge drop off of black people in finance
after the VP level for this very reason. Um, it's
very hard to get to the E D level and above.
So coming from an entrepreneurial background, I knew there has
to be another way for me. So towards the end
(22:42):
of my career at Barclays, I actually bought a three
family house, which is where I'm at now, and I
rent out the first floor and the third floor because
that's what I know. Like, my mom owns her house,
but she also owns an investment property, and so I'm
familiar with that to some extent. But then the finance
actual crisis hits, COVID hits I'm seeing particularly Asian businesses
(23:05):
and black businesses closing their door all over New York City,
all over New Jersey. COVID nineteen I think hit small businesses,
but particularly small businesses owned by people of color the hardest.
And these same people are trying to including my mother,
including me. I you know, I do a lot of
work on behalf of my mother. So trying to get
(23:27):
loans from traditional banking institutions was it was like hitting
a brick wall. It was it was. It was such
a struggle, and it shouldn't have to be like that,
you know. I think, you know, if we even just
put the issues of like hey, do you have bankers
that you have a relationship with, But getting capital when
you have revenue and you've got a really strong business
(23:50):
should not have to be this hard. Absolutely absolutely. And
then on top of that, we you know, we forget
that a lot of times people of color have language
barrier issues getting traditional banking. On top of that, a
lot of black women and me included, we exhaust our
own finances in order to finance our dream right. So like,
(24:11):
ultimately me, I decided to transition into acting um, which
is actually why I bought the three family house because
I wanted to make sure that I had an investment
income coming in that could help support my dream. Right.
But when the when the pandemic hit, my first lord
tenant left, So that's the whole portion of income that's
not coming in UM. And I'm technically now a full
(24:34):
time artist, so um, how do I make up for that?
You know? And I realized very quickly, like we need
to be more financially aware. I think there's like a
huge financial literacy gap um in our community. It's because
it's because we just don't have that history, liken't. I
can't go to my mom and ask for advice, I'm
even though she's been an entrepreneur for years. She's she's
(24:55):
still learning new things every single day, and I think,
like the generate, I love bringing this up because I think,
especially for you know, black women, I'm the same, Like
I have immigrant parents that came here. They you know,
they're learning curve was so much different than what we're
experiencing now, and so they did the best they could
with what they knew to get by and survive and
(25:17):
provide for us, go to school, create businesses, etcetera. And
so no fault to them. But here we are and
we're just doing better with what we have. So we
have conversations like this. We're intentional about how we can
forge trails to find capital to grow our businesses. And
so this is why I really appreciate, especially Black women
in particular, like yourself, creating platforms like seat at the
(25:39):
Table so that we can bring capital into our communities
and build generational wealth. Like it's a big deal what
you're doing. I'm really proud and it's a necessity because
I mean a lot of times I think, particularly black women,
um Like, like I think about myself, I think about
all my friends. We either we either when we think
about investing, we go towards real estate or we just
(25:59):
you know, develop our professional credentials, right, So, like, I
am also a licensed real estate broker here in New
York City, so I practice I practice real estate in
that way. I like, like I said, I'm licensed practice
law on two states. But there are just not enough
hours in the day we make the money that I
need to make in order to build my legacy. Yes,
(26:21):
I cannot do it with just twenty four hours a day.
So I need to be able to put the money
that I have to work in different ways, in unique ways.
And that's why I think equity crowdfunding is so revolutionary
because it allows us to access not just you know,
and that's the other thing we can't you know, people
take for granted, Oh just reach out to your friends
and your family and ask them for money. My friends
(26:42):
and my family, well some of my friends do, but
some of my friends don't. And my family definitely don't
have the money to float my fund your you know,
a seat in past in a business. And I think,
like in our community, this is pretty normal that you know,
you can't go to uncle Jill or grandmother and be like, hey,
can I take money out of my trust fund? To
start this business, like, it's just not it's just not
(27:04):
the normal in our communities. So we have to seek
other other connections that can help us crowdfund or get
capital for these businesses. And so I love that you're
making these connection platforms, Susan, Like, what you're doing is
so incredible for our community. Can you, just as we
close out, tell us a little bit more about Seat
at the Table and what you've accomplished so far. And
I encourage all of our Money News audience to tune
(27:26):
back in for a deeper dive segment on Seat at
the Table and what Susan is doing there. Seat at
the Table is an equity crowdfunding platform that allows credited
and non accredited investors to invest in companies that are
founded by black and brown entrepreneurs. And what's great about
it is that the minimums are small, so you can
(27:46):
invest in a company for as little as one two thousand.
So if you have let's say ten thousand that you
want to invest, where typically you have to invest an
entire ten thousand into one uh startup, you and now
spread out that risk, which I think is great, particularly
for non accredited investors who don't necessarily have the financial
(28:07):
means to devote ten thousand dollars to one investment. Pet
all your eggs in one basket is pretty risky exactly
because if you lose it, you lose everything, Whereas you
can sort of spread out the risk in this way.
Since we launched in July twenty one, Yeah, it's been,
it's been. It's oh my god, it feels like so
much longer July one, we've raised close to one point
(28:31):
three million dollars. Wow, record just keep going wow, amongst
a thousand backers. And these are for companies that are
owned and operated by diverse founders and are also meant
to service the community and also highlight and empower black
and brown voices, which I think is so key because
(28:53):
it's like the gift that keeps, that keeps giving. I
like to what we're doing this is this is truly
impact investing, because if you're investing in these companies, you're
not just investing. You're you're investing to hopefully make a profit, definitely,
but you're also investing back into your community. You're investing
in entrepreneurs that look like you, that service your community,
(29:14):
and also that are doing work that is mission aligned
with with Seat at the Table in making the community
better and build, not to mention generating jobs and wealth
and helping other families grow and succeed. So, Susan, I
love what you were doing. Thank you so much for
coming on the Money Moves podcast. Can you tell our
audience where they can find you and Seed at the
(29:34):
Table on social media? So seed at the Table is uh,
it's at s E E D A T th g
T A b l E at Seat at the Table
across all of our social media platforms. Please follow us
like our posts online. You can find us at www
dot seed at the table dot com. We are you
(29:56):
know it's a play on words, not seed at the table,
but seed at the table because you're definitely planting something
that will grow. Oh, I love that. And make sure
you follow Susan as well on her own personal social
media because you are an activist and actor, a playwright,
a poet, So please tell us where they can find
you there as well. You can find me at at
s u z E N Susan Underscore baraka b A
(30:19):
R A k A on Instagram. Susan, thank you so
much for coming to the Money Moves podcast. All right,
Money Movers that's all that time we have for today,
but be sure to tune in and follow Susan on
all her social media platforms. If we've helped you make
your money move, please make sure to let us know
by sending us a like, sharing the knowledge, oh and
or leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. Make sure
(30:41):
to tune in Monday through Friday and subscribe to the
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Moves audience. If you want more or a recap of
this episode, please go to the bank Greenwood dot com
and check out the Money Moves podcast blog. Money Moves
(31:04):
is an I Heart Radio podcast powered by Greenwood Executive
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or wherever you get your podcasts from
Hey, Money Movers, Welcome back to Money Moves, the daily
podcast determined to give you the keys to the Kingdom
of financial stability, wealth and abundance. Today's guest is a lawyer,
an Emmy Award winning poet, a writer, actor, activists, and
(00:23):
is the partner in this chief administrative officer of Seed
at the Table, a mission driven equity crowdfunding platform committed
to connecting diverse entrepreneurs with non accredited investors looking to
obtain equity and or debt exposure at modest investment amounts.
Money Movers, please welcome Susan Baraka to the podcast. Hi, Susan,
(00:45):
how are you? I am great? How are you? I
am incredible? I'm so excited to have you here. Your
story is incredibly inspiring, and I in particular love stories
that involved transitions, career transitions and being able to sort
of follow your passions and help others on the way.
So really excited to have you on the podcast today.
I'm so excited to be here. Wow, let's dive in
(01:07):
and get started. So to those of you out there
in the Money Moves audience who are not familiar with
Susan and what she's done, I named a lot of
things as I introduced you, but I want to start
off by saying, I think you might be the first
Emmy Award winning poet to be on our podcast. So
tell us how that happened. Oh wow, So I back
(01:28):
in twenty I want to say it was I was
commissioned to write a piece. So I've been a poet
for sevent team plus years, UM touring, traveling all over
the country, UM, and I was commissioned to write a piece,
UH revolving around the subject of voting. And I remember
for several weeks, I kept asking myself, how am I
(01:50):
going to write a poem about voting? When Floyd is
going on and there's all this and I'm for background,
I'm half black, half Korean, so UM. I was also
dealing with UM feelings around what was going on in
UH the Asian American community, and so there was just
all of this tension, and I was like, how am
(02:12):
I supposed to write this? And that sort of became
the through line for the piece that I wrote, UM,
which is, how do I write a poem about voting
when you know Flint, Michigan still doesn't have clean water
when so many Yeah, but also like at the time,
like very timely, like we were I don't know about you,
(02:32):
but obviously commissioned to do this poem. But the you know,
we were calling people to almost arms, saying like come
out and vote. It's more important than ever. So I
could see how it would be just such a big task. Yeah, definitely.
But I wrote the poem and I shared it with
a few people, one being uh of my best friend
(02:53):
Johnny ram Barrant, who is a professor at Howard University
and also a film director in her own right, and um,
she offered to direct the video for me, and so
we did it um and it aired um in the
DC area and then shortly thereafter, because it's a p
s A, we were nominated for an Emmy and then
(03:17):
we wont okay, I have to pause right here. Where
can people find this video? I do have it on
my my I G page Susan Baraka that's s u
z e N Underscore b A R A k A.
But you know you can find it online if you
just search my name and vote. Um, it's it's available. Incredible, incredible, Okay.
(03:40):
So now as we unwrap the present that is you
in the gift that we have to have you on
on the podcast today. But you're also a lawyer. So
you went to school, you decided to be a lawyer.
Let's talk a little bit about your journey there and
then how you've transitioned to being an entrepreneur and supporting
other entrepreneurs. Yeah. So I think, like most immigrant children,
(04:04):
our parents have a plan for us. Uh. And from
a very young age, I was groomed to be a lawyer.
I had always said from probably from I think like
third grade that I was going to be a teacher
and actor and a lawyer. And my mom definitely honed
in on the lawyer part and pushed that narrative for
my entire life. And in some ways it still pushing
(04:27):
that narrative. But yeah, I I taught a taught poetry
for several years because I was writing and performing poetry.
But poetry was very much a second or a double
life for me. Because I knew I had to go
to law school. I knew I had to see this
this track, uh, And so I did. I went to
(04:48):
Cardoso Law School. Um. Actually, prior to that, I was
at undergrad at Seton Hall. Um. I was a terrible student. Um.
I actually didn't really intend to go to college if
I'm being completely honest, UM, and I almost failed out
my first semester, and then when I realized how serious
(05:08):
it was, I pulled yeah and I and I ended
up graduating with a double major in Africana Diaspora Studies
and English Honors UM. And I had very much intended
to go to school for creative writing and get my
master's for creative writing, but of course my parents were
against that. And I ended up at this dinner with
(05:31):
a bunch of really awesome, black, excellent people, and the
person sitting next to me was this attorney and I
told her, I said, yeah, my mom really wants me
to be an attorney. I guess I should start looking
into law school. And she was like, oh, send me
your resume and I was like, really, you'll take a
look at it, and she was like, yeah, sure, I'll
take a look at it, and unknownst to me, she
(05:53):
actually submitted it to Scatting Arts for a legal assistant position.
Ended up getting called in and interviewing and I was terrified.
Number one because this is one of the largest and
law firms in the world, um, but also just because
I didn't know what it meant and it was also
another it was a whole another league, like people who
(06:16):
go to scatting our you know, ivy league students and
top of the class. And so I just really I
didn't know what it all meant, and I didn't understand
the gravity of that opportunity. So when I was offered
of the position, all I could think was hours a
week am I signing up for this? Right? And I
(06:36):
remember that this woman, Veronica Um, she she called me,
she said, you better take that you better take that
job right right? Oh my god. There's so much to
unpack here that I love so much. Like I want
to touch on like having immigrant parents and their expectations
and just the power of when opportunity knocks taking a
seat on that spaceship, you know, and just you never know.
(06:58):
It's like you got this opportune because you're like, Okay,
I'm going to go to this dinner. You could have
not gone to that dinner. You sat beside this lady
and you actually like spoke out, you know, I think
I should go to law school. And she's like, all right,
let me help you. Like there's just what a beautiful story. Yeah, absolutely,
Like I'm so blessed. Um And I. Yeah, everything is serendipitous.
A lot of the opportunities I've had have come from dinners.
(07:19):
And I think that what gave me sort of a
leg up was that I was already involved in a
nonprofit organization called NJ Leap that UM takes students coming
out of eighth grade going into high school and puts
them into constitutional mock law debates and UM all types
of extracurricular programming. And there their New York counterpart, Legal Outreach,
(07:43):
has like a ninety nine eight percent success rate of
getting those students into college. So UM and and and
and j LEEP has a has actually a similar record.
And J LEAP, Yes, n J l E E P
And I was. I was actually one of the like
three people who was, you know, administratively involved in the
launch of n J Leap, even though I was still
(08:05):
in college. UM. But I loved volunteering, I loved teaching,
I loved helping those those students because I'm originally from Newark,
so it was UH and and the program was run
out of Seaton Hall Law School. So because I had
already had that experience, that sort of gave me a
leg up when I was applying to scatter arts and
um or when or when Veronica applied for me? Are
(08:32):
you still in touch with her now? Uh? Yeah, vaguely
she does. She doesn't live in the New York area anymore,
and she has children, beautiful children, so she's very busy
and uh but yeah, but yeah, we're still vaguely in
touch with absolutely. So now you're in law school. You've
made your parents proud, of course, and let's talk about
(08:52):
the rest of your journey. So you're you're in law school,
you're deciding what you want to practice. Where did you
go from there? So? Yeah, I'm at So I end
up at Cardozo Law School. Um when the two thousand
eight financial crash happens, Um, because I was working at
in corporate finance at Scadden so they needed to let
people go. And um, I'm really scary. No, it was great,
(09:14):
it was fantastic. I was excited to start law school.
I was like, you know what, perfect timing. I truly
believe everything happens for a reason. Um, So I ended
up a Cardozo. I knew for a fact I wanted
to study entertainment law, which is which is actually why
I chose cardos Awa. They have a great ip program.
I ended up helping UH spear a campaign to get
(09:35):
an independent film clinic started at Cardozo and had a
great time, you know, working with the other minority law
students to to sort of make that happen and sort
of build that out. And then after a law school
I ended up sort of an entrepreneur still, but just
you know, a lawyer like I ended up working for
a lawyer who I will not name names but was
(09:57):
incredibly abusive, UM a very well known like entertainment attorney,
and I left her and ended up unemployed for a
few months, and in that time at my my ex husband,
and from there just sort of use my connections because
I also enterned at Atlantic Records while I was in
(10:18):
law school, so I had a number of connections and
number of friends and use those connections to uh sort
of create or build a career in entertainment law and UH.
And so a lot of the work I did was
actually working for other attorneys who didn't have the bandwidth
to to cover all of the work that they did,
so they farm their workout to me. And that's sort
(10:42):
of how I built an expertise in doing all of
this work that they didn't have to so interesting, and
I mean I don't know enough, so this might be
a very novice question about the law industry. But typically
people go and work at one firm. But you sort
of were consulting, and I think it's really great way
to like sort of get experience and abroad probably base
(11:03):
of experience. You were like, let me take the jobs
that people don't have bandwidth for number one, you're putting
food on the table. Number two, like the breadth of
experience he must have had. Yeah, No, it was great.
I I actually I was able to get an office
space from John Jakielik, who's an incredible entertainment attorney, and
then he would farm out some of his work to me.
(11:23):
And then I had another attorney who was also my
mentor and still in many ways is. His name is
Frank Selzano. UM he's also a sports agent now UM
working out of Miami. And then UM Bernie Jackson was
also my other mentor and and my primary mentor of
all time is lind Gonzalez and she UM, she's just
sort of my mentor in life, but she's also UM
(11:45):
an attorney at Island def Jam. So they sort of
helped me figure out UM sort of how to like
patch this legal career together and like develop expertise and
also you know, make ends me in while I was
sort of building my career um. And then I got
a random phone call one day asking if I wanted
(12:08):
to make four dollars a day just doing some like
Microsoft word processing. And I was like, okay, why not,
because you know because with entertainment law too, you kind
of manage your own schedule, like oh it's just like
ten to five or nine to five, and you know,
it's it's really light work. And I was like okay, sure, yeah,
(12:32):
was like, as long as I can maintain my my
legal career, and they were like, yeah, it's fine, do
whatever you want. So um, so I did that. It
was for Barclay's Investment Bank, and I was attempt for
Barclay's Investment Bank. And while I was working there, uh,
one of the one of the executives said to me,
she said, I think you're too smart for this job,
(12:53):
because they were giving me word processing work. But I
was like, this doesn't look right to me, like I
you're like editing it, like actively substantively editing it. I
think you're too smart for this job. And I was like, yeah,
I'm like practice law on two states. I'm definitely too
smart for this job. So so she was like, would
(13:13):
you think would you consider a full time job here?
And I was like, I don't know, because I still
havent this entertainment law practice outside of this. I would
be I would have to be able to do both,
and they were totally open to it, and they I'm
the honest and assistant vice president in Recovery and resolution
Planning for the America's team, which basically means that if Barkley,
(13:36):
so Barclay's bought Lehman Brothers, and that's an a financial crisis.
So if Barclays went under, my job was basically to
figure out what the plan is to make sure that
we don't affect us financial stability. Oh wow, so we
came up with the So our job as a department
(13:57):
was to come up with the strategy for like how
we would unwind in a way that didn't impact the
greater US. That's huge, especially after the Yes, they're like,
we are contingency planning exactly, and and this and this department,
this group was very, very new because this only was
born out of that two financial crisis. So in a
(14:20):
lot of ways. We're still we're all learning together, us
and the regulators of how how do we do this,
how do we strategize around you know, the different possibilities.
And so I ended up being an a VP there
and then quickly got promoted to VP. And then my
boss ended up leaving and I loved her so much,
but she ended up leaving and going to a different
(14:41):
bank because of of course, corporate politics. Yeah, yeah, it's
hard to be a woman in in this in that industry.
And then I got a new boss another a different
white woman, but but she from the moment she's started,
had an issue with me. And I think that that,
(15:03):
you know, I think that a lot of black women
in corporate finance know exactly what I mean when I
said absolutely yeah. I just literally led a group yesterday
that was talking about the nuances of working in the
corporate world. Some sum said it got better with COVID
because they weren't in the office all the time. But
I mean, it's an ongoing battle that I think that
we struggle with. Interesting question for you, because I think
(15:26):
like one of the things that really surfaces is, like
you name all these mentors, you also name a lot
of you know, struggles that you've had as a black
woman in the corporate world. And I think a lot
of people in our office in our audience always ask
about mentorship. How do I find the right mentor how
do I find someone that can help me get to
the next level of my career. Can you talk about
(15:47):
how you've been successful in finding mentors. Yes, first and foremost,
I think it's hard work. I come from a family
where we don't assume that we're entitled to anything. Um.
It's actually one of my pet peeves about my family.
I sometimes wish I I was more entitled, because I think,
(16:09):
you know, there is some benefit to that. Um. But
an interesting statement in and of itself, like because you're
sort of like that, that like garish entitlement, you're oblivious
to so many things, and yeah, that's a whole another conversation.
I love that really. But but because I don't feel
entitled to anything, I am constantly out working and overworking
everyone else. I'm always you know, the first one and
(16:32):
the last one. Um. There. But I think that that
in and of itself and also just a pleasant disposition.
I you know, my favorite line is if I have
if I'm working for someone, no matter who that is.
My job is to figure out how do I make
that person's life easier and better. And I feel like
(16:54):
that's something very separate from just being excellent at doing
your job exactly right. Goes such a long way. Honestly,
it's likability and there's no shame in saying, like, I
go to work, and you know, people like me because
I'm helping to make their day better. I'm helping to
make them succeed. I'm helping to make their job easier. Yeah, exactly.
(17:16):
And also, you know, we're not robot robots, we're human beings.
And so it's also about like acknowledging the humanity of
a person, you know, and so you know, you can
tell when when someone is struggling or they need help.
And a lot of times, very very excellent people have
a difficult time asking for help. And so it's about
(17:39):
attention to detail. It's about anticipating people's needs. Um and
so I I you know, I pride myself in saying that,
like everything I have, I've definitely worked for and it's
because of it's because of those characteristics being able to
anticipate people's needs and pay attention to like the little details. Oh, Susan,
(18:00):
I love that because I think it's a question that
comes up all the time. People are like, well I
can't find a mentor, I can't this, and you know,
it goes back to the early early pieces of networking,
you know, making yourself valuable in a business or even
just going up to people and you know, giving them
a compliment to say, listen, I love your work in
this sector, you know, and I think it's a hard
thing for people to do, but you've given so much.
(18:23):
Like I was struck by how many examples you said,
this was a mentor, this was a life mentor, this
was this, and how important that is in you know,
being able to like work on success. Oh absolutely like
And I think particularly black women, um, we often feel
like we can do it all right, And I being
a black woman, I know for a fact that that's
(18:44):
not true. Um. And so like from a very like
my aunt is, um she's a judge, uh or she
was a judge in East Orange and she's also a
lawyer and I remember in college I would like come
to her law office just to sort of see her work.
She was actually my first experience with a black professional
(19:08):
because my parents are for all intentsive purposes, their blue
collar individuals. And I didn't grow up around anybody that
was like educated, like an educated professional. So she was
really my first experience. And I didn't really get to
know her until I was in college, and so hanging
out with her in her office, I quickly was like, oh,
I can help you with me. I want to do this. Yeah.
(19:31):
I was like, you know, my mom wanted me to
do this anyway, I might as well figure out how
to do it. So very quickly I was in her
office for like fourteen hours a day. I would come
after school and I would stay and I wouldn't leave
until she left for and and so, you know, having
that sense of stamina, I think also helped a lot,
(19:53):
you know, because even that stamina there helped me get
through scand ARBs, where again I was working a hundred
hours a week. There were there were days I would
start at nine am, leave at two am, and that
would happen from Sunday to Sunday for like three Okay,
so tell me a little bit because I want to
say some time to talk about seat at the table,
and then will come back. So now you've had this
(20:14):
illustrious law career, and you've transitioned now to entrepreneurship and
really helping more people of color my BIPOD community, entrepreneurs
build and get access to capital. So tell us a
little bit about seat at the table. Seat at the table.
I mean, it's such a special company because I think
that you know, it started with just a group of
(20:37):
people like myself, who all have our own personal reasons
for coming to this. I think for me again, seeing
all of the women in my community, including my mother,
my mother is an entrepreneur. So my mother owned a
nail salon when I was a kid. She owns an
Korean barbecue restaurant now. And and it's it's difficult for
(20:59):
women to access capital in a traditional way. And yet,
and in particular, Black women are the leading demographics starting
new businesses. But as far as venture capital, we only
receive like point three percent of venture capital funding. Yeah,
and that is a huge industry, you know, it's uh,
(21:20):
you know, tons of billions of dollars are in the
venture capital industry, and we know that especially for black
men in particular, the statistics are abysmal. However, we're creating
and generating so much revenue and a lot of these
businesses that you know, there's there's a real disparity there.
So this is why I'm super passionate about what you're
doing and seat at the table, and me personally like
(21:40):
I very much because I was raised in a household
where my mother was I was watching my mother be
her own boss. In many ways, I you know, I
shove for the same thing. I think it's important too
because even working in corporate finance. You know, I was
doing great in corporate finance, but as soon as my
new boss came into the picture, I realized very quickly,
(22:00):
this is not it. I'm not going to succeed in
this company. For a number of reasons. I had already
watched my previous manager leave because my company literally did
not want to introduce her into the C suite level
executive level, so she went to a whole different bank.
And then, feeling that you know exactly, we're like, Okay,
(22:21):
how hard do I have to bang to break through?
Can I even break through in this organization? Right? And
there's a huge drop off of black people in finance
after the VP level for this very reason. Um, it's
very hard to get to the E D level and above.
So coming from an entrepreneurial background, I knew there has
to be another way for me. So towards the end
(22:42):
of my career at Barclays, I actually bought a three
family house, which is where I'm at now, and I
rent out the first floor and the third floor because
that's what I know. Like, my mom owns her house,
but she also owns an investment property, and so I'm
familiar with that to some extent. But then the finance
actual crisis hits, COVID hits I'm seeing particularly Asian businesses
(23:05):
and black businesses closing their door all over New York City,
all over New Jersey. COVID nineteen I think hit small businesses,
but particularly small businesses owned by people of color the hardest.
And these same people are trying to including my mother,
including me. I you know, I do a lot of
work on behalf of my mother. So trying to get
(23:27):
loans from traditional banking institutions was it was like hitting
a brick wall. It was it was. It was such
a struggle, and it shouldn't have to be like that,
you know. I think, you know, if we even just
put the issues of like hey, do you have bankers
that you have a relationship with, But getting capital when
you have revenue and you've got a really strong business
(23:50):
should not have to be this hard. Absolutely absolutely. And
then on top of that, we you know, we forget
that a lot of times people of color have language
barrier issues getting traditional banking. On top of that, a
lot of black women and me included, we exhaust our
own finances in order to finance our dream right. So like,
(24:11):
ultimately me, I decided to transition into acting um, which
is actually why I bought the three family house because
I wanted to make sure that I had an investment
income coming in that could help support my dream. Right.
But when the when the pandemic hit, my first lord
tenant left, So that's the whole portion of income that's
not coming in UM. And I'm technically now a full
(24:34):
time artist, so um, how do I make up for that?
You know? And I realized very quickly, like we need
to be more financially aware. I think there's like a
huge financial literacy gap um in our community. It's because
it's because we just don't have that history, liken't. I
can't go to my mom and ask for advice, I'm
even though she's been an entrepreneur for years. She's she's
(24:55):
still learning new things every single day, and I think,
like the generate, I love bringing this up because I think,
especially for you know, black women, I'm the same, Like
I have immigrant parents that came here. They you know,
they're learning curve was so much different than what we're
experiencing now, and so they did the best they could
with what they knew to get by and survive and
(25:17):
provide for us, go to school, create businesses, etcetera. And
so no fault to them. But here we are and
we're just doing better with what we have. So we
have conversations like this. We're intentional about how we can
forge trails to find capital to grow our businesses. And
so this is why I really appreciate, especially Black women
in particular, like yourself, creating platforms like seat at the
(25:39):
Table so that we can bring capital into our communities
and build generational wealth. Like it's a big deal what
you're doing. I'm really proud and it's a necessity because
I mean a lot of times I think, particularly black women,
um Like, like I think about myself, I think about
all my friends. We either we either when we think
about investing, we go towards real estate or we just
(25:59):
you know, develop our professional credentials, right, So, like, I
am also a licensed real estate broker here in New
York City, so I practice I practice real estate in
that way. I like, like I said, I'm licensed practice
law on two states. But there are just not enough
hours in the day we make the money that I
need to make in order to build my legacy. Yes,
(26:21):
I cannot do it with just twenty four hours a day.
So I need to be able to put the money
that I have to work in different ways, in unique ways.
And that's why I think equity crowdfunding is so revolutionary
because it allows us to access not just you know,
and that's the other thing we can't you know, people
take for granted, Oh just reach out to your friends
and your family and ask them for money. My friends
(26:42):
and my family, well some of my friends do, but
some of my friends don't. And my family definitely don't
have the money to float my fund your you know,
a seat in past in a business. And I think,
like in our community, this is pretty normal that you know,
you can't go to uncle Jill or grandmother and be like, hey,
can I take money out of my trust fund? To
start this business, like, it's just not it's just not
(27:04):
the normal in our communities. So we have to seek
other other connections that can help us crowdfund or get
capital for these businesses. And so I love that you're
making these connection platforms, Susan, Like, what you're doing is
so incredible for our community. Can you, just as we
close out, tell us a little bit more about Seat
at the Table and what you've accomplished so far. And
I encourage all of our Money News audience to tune
(27:26):
back in for a deeper dive segment on Seat at
the Table and what Susan is doing there. Seat at
the Table is an equity crowdfunding platform that allows credited
and non accredited investors to invest in companies that are
founded by black and brown entrepreneurs. And what's great about
it is that the minimums are small, so you can
(27:46):
invest in a company for as little as one two thousand.
So if you have let's say ten thousand that you
want to invest, where typically you have to invest an
entire ten thousand into one uh startup, you and now
spread out that risk, which I think is great, particularly
for non accredited investors who don't necessarily have the financial
(28:07):
means to devote ten thousand dollars to one investment. Pet
all your eggs in one basket is pretty risky exactly
because if you lose it, you lose everything, Whereas you
can sort of spread out the risk in this way.
Since we launched in July twenty one, Yeah, it's been,
it's been. It's oh my god, it feels like so
much longer July one, we've raised close to one point
(28:31):
three million dollars. Wow, record just keep going wow, amongst
a thousand backers. And these are for companies that are
owned and operated by diverse founders and are also meant
to service the community and also highlight and empower black
and brown voices, which I think is so key because
(28:53):
it's like the gift that keeps, that keeps giving. I
like to what we're doing this is this is truly
impact investing, because if you're investing in these companies, you're
not just investing. You're you're investing to hopefully make a profit, definitely,
but you're also investing back into your community. You're investing
in entrepreneurs that look like you, that service your community,
(29:14):
and also that are doing work that is mission aligned
with with Seat at the Table in making the community
better and build, not to mention generating jobs and wealth
and helping other families grow and succeed. So, Susan, I
love what you were doing. Thank you so much for
coming on the Money Moves podcast. Can you tell our
audience where they can find you and Seed at the
(29:34):
Table on social media? So seed at the Table is uh,
it's at s E E D A T th g
T A b l E at Seat at the Table
across all of our social media platforms. Please follow us
like our posts online. You can find us at www
dot seed at the table dot com. We are you
(29:56):
know it's a play on words, not seed at the table,
but seed at the table because you're definitely planting something
that will grow. Oh, I love that. And make sure
you follow Susan as well on her own personal social
media because you are an activist and actor, a playwright,
a poet, So please tell us where they can find
you there as well. You can find me at at
s u z E N Susan Underscore baraka b A
(30:19):
R A k A on Instagram. Susan, thank you so
much for coming to the Money Moves podcast. All right,
Money Movers that's all that time we have for today,
but be sure to tune in and follow Susan on
all her social media platforms. If we've helped you make
your money move, please make sure to let us know
by sending us a like, sharing the knowledge, oh and
or leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. Make sure
(30:41):
to tune in Monday through Friday and subscribe to the
Money Moves podcast powered by Greenwood, so that you two
can have the keys to financial freedom that you so
rightly deserve. Thank you so much for tuning in Money
Moves audience. If you want more or a recap of
this episode, please go to the bank Greenwood dot com
and check out the Money Moves podcast blog. Money Moves
(31:04):
is an I Heart Radio podcast powered by Greenwood Executive
produced by Sunwise Media, Inc. For more podcasts on I
heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
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