Michelle Anthony & John Templeton On Black Billionaires, Gov’t Contracts, Building Wealth + More
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
What's f's way up at Angela Yee And it is
Wealth Wednesday time. You know, we love that time of
the week. And my partner, my co host, Stacy Tisdale
is here.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Happy Wealth Wednesdays, everybody, This is big. Wealth Wednesdays is
very thrilled to be shining a light on Black Business
Month August. And not only are we shining a light
on Black Business Month, but we are going to have
a guest co host for the remainder of the month,
John Templeton, who was the founder and creator of Black
(00:34):
Business Month. He also in two thousand and four he
created the State of Black Business Report, which you'll learn
about that really changed the way things happen for black businesses.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Very excited to talk about that.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
And we have joining us for this first celebration of
Black Business Month, the one and only Michelle Anthony. Hey,
and you're going to learn so much about this woman
who has founder See of Anthony and Associates. She knows
the government contracting space like you would not believe and
has a tremendous story. So Wealth Wednesday getting on it
(01:10):
for Black.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Business and we are talking about Wealth today for real,
all right, John William Timbleton let's start with you and
National Black Business Month and the creation of that. Can
you just give us some insight into what made you
decide to do this? What National Black Business Month is.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Well, the last speech that Martin Luther King gave, he said,
I may not get there with you, but we as
a people are going to get to the promised Land.
So what we've done for the last twenty one years
through our State of Black Business Report, is actually defined
what it is. Because if you don't know where we're going,
we're never going to get there, right right. So ten
(01:49):
years ago we created our ten Plan, the African American
Economic Strategy. So it's ten very simple things that actually
solve most of the problems that we have. So we
want to increase the number of African American businesses that
have employees to ten percent of the black businesses, so
(02:09):
that would be from one hundred and sixty thousand to
four hundred thousand. We want to make sure that ten
percent of African American income is capital at African American banks.
There are seven hundred thousand business loans made every year
according to the Fair Reserve, only ten thousand of them
are made to black businesses and sixty percent of those
(02:31):
are by black banks. So it's real simple. The more
money black banks have, the.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
More money that goes into our community. So our black businesses.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Yes, and so it's our money, so we can decide
where it goes. So it's very simple to direct it
to the places that support us. And we also share
a goal with the National Association of Real Estate Brokers
to have two million new Black homeowners. So Stacey joined
us in Brooklyn, and I know a place that you
(03:01):
know and love. So I'm chairman of the Central Bookly
Economic Development Corporation.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
My fault, she wasn't there. I didn't give her the address.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
Oh we know where to find her, right, So I've
been chairman there for five years and we are using
it as a template for how to create prosperous black
neighborhoods for the people who live there. So Brownsville is
the densest concentration of public housing in the world, but
(03:33):
we've had for the last three years, had the steepest
decline in violent crime in New York City. And so
we announced Brownsville Advanced Manufacturing Center, where we're going to
have companies come in and make AI maintenance drones for
offshore wind and have companies come in and do cybersecurity.
(03:54):
And we're redeveloping the Belmont Corridor and bringing in the
movie theaters, restaurants, that sort of thing, so that the
one point five billion dollars just in Brownsville stays in Brownsville,
and that's going to be the template for what we're
doing around the country. So we're opening advanced manufacturing centers
(04:14):
in La to do AI chips in Oakland, do a
sound stage for a movie theater in San Francisco where
I live. We're opening the Sergeant Johnson National Museum of
African American Art.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Wow. So just to give everybody a sense this whole
mission and the reason that we're focused on this for
Wealth Wednesdays is we focus so much on entrepreneurship. There's
so many entrepreneurs out there, and we have a very
strong small business mindset that we're proud of. But we
have to get out of a small business mindset and
we have to think create industries. We have to think
(04:49):
create communities. And just gonna blow your mind with this woman,
Michelle in just a moment, but John, just to talk
about the way you put things in action. You help entrepreneurs.
You helped get sixteen billion dollars to nine hundred thousand
African American entrepreneurs in twenty twenty one. So we're talking
(05:09):
about big scale people and entrepreneurs out there should be
listening because we got ways for you to get part
of that money too. Talk about that.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Yeah, we changed the rules on the PPP loans. In
the first year the PPP, only ten thousand African American
businesses got loans about five hundred million dollars, which we
think that's a lot of money, right, But they gave
out seven hundred big right, So.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
It was so hard for certain companies to be able
to get that money.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Because, yeah, intersting bank relationship and we didn't. So we
changed the rules. So you go directly to the SBA,
and we're from ten thousand to nine hundred and ninety thousand.
So this year there's another program called the State Small
Business Credit Initiative, and the Treasury is sent all this
money to the States to loan the small businesses. No
(05:57):
small businesses know about it money, it's just sitting there.
And so during August, we want to make sure that
a million African American businesses apply to the State Small
Business Credit and you go to our site black money
dot Com and to each state.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
For each.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Everybody, we have the contact person for the state Small
Business Credit Initiative and also for the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Program.
The government will show you everything you need to know
to go into manufacturing because manufacturing is what stabilizes the community.
Once again, people don't know that right. The other thing
(06:38):
that we have on each state is the USDA Rule
Development Agency. The USDA is the only agency that can
build a city from scratch, right, so everything you need
to build a city, USDA can do. Once again, we
don't know about it. So those three things we want
to make sure everybody is engaged in that because Michelle
will mention to you the last quarter of their federal
(07:00):
fiscal year is when federal agencies are just trying to
get rid of all the money left and we need
to be in the mix. Make sure we have our
sam codes so do we actually know what's going on?
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Absolutely, And we have just to make it easy for everybody.
If you follow Wealth Wednesdays on Instagram, we have the
link in our bio. You go, it's blackmoney dot Com
slash thirty one ways thirty one days. And you know
it's impossible almost to get in the rooms where the
actual deals are made. But every night during the month
(07:32):
of August you are going to be invited into those
rooms for live deal making sessions. So again that's black
Money dot Com thirty one ways and thirty one days.
We want to help you scale.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Okay, speaking of scaling, this person has done. You are
the youngest of seven, grew up in Montgomery, Alabama during
the nineteen seventies, and at fourteen years old, developed found
out that you loved courts stenography. I'm going to just
(08:04):
shut up now, Michelle.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
Yes, I'm all the way from Montgomery, Alabama, born and
raised and grew up pretty poor, you know, typical grew
up in the hood, you know. But what was different
back then, though still dealing with like governor former Governor
Wallace and then the mayor was Emory Farmer, and they
(08:28):
still had a system going on in my government at
the time that you know, even though segregation and the
science had come off the walls, but it was still
being implemented day to day. So growing up, you knew
your place, and you knew your side of town, and
there was their side of town. So at the age
of actually I was thirteen going on fourteen. There's a
program under President Carter at the time called the Sita Program,
(08:52):
and it was a program wherein the government would give
one child and a family a job, and surprisingly I
was chosen. And my sister was two years older than me.
She was fifteen and I was thirteen. I have no
idea about child labor laws. I don't know any of
that other than I think that that was the beginning
of God's favor shifting my life in this direction. So
(09:15):
at thirteen, I was placed in the Montgomery County Courthouse.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Went to the.
Speaker 5 (09:19):
Courthouse and for the first time I was able to
sit in the back of a courtroom and just watch
the court cases all day long. As I was sitting there,
there was a lady at the front of the courthouse.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
And she would just be I would just see her.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
Fingers moving and her head would go from side to side,
but she was never speaking, and I was so you know,
children are so impressionable. I was like, what is she doing?
So I finally got the courage one day and she
happened to be white. So I had never interacted with
a white person before because I lived on the black
side of town, so we didn't go over there. And
(09:51):
so when I saw her, I was, you know, finally
got the courage to go up and ask her. And
she told me what it was, and that you had
to be able to type two hundred and twenty five
words a minute and you take down and everything that's
said and then you you know, And she pulled out
the little tape out of her machine, showing me the shorthand.
And from that day I was sold. I had never
seen anything, and I fell in love with the law.
(10:11):
And I say that as my background because the law
has been very, very very important in my ability to
scale and grow because I love the law. Also, you know,
you have to be willing to read the law. You
have to be able to try and comprehend what's being said.
So as a court reporter, I spent about fifteen years
in courtrooms, taking all types of cases, everything from capital
(10:34):
murder you know, as best as you know accidents. So
what it did was it was building a very well
rounded atmosphere for me to see expert witnesses, the best attorneys,
the worst attorneys, best judges. Why why people got away
with stuff.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
While you were working for yourself.
Speaker 5 (10:52):
I was working for myself and I did, and so
we would produce the record, which was an official document.
And because these records contained the verbatim.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Word of what was spoken.
Speaker 5 (11:06):
If someone had a capital murder case, my transcripts had
to be correct. So that's how I've applied that to
government contracting the documents I produced. I have that same
mindset the level of importance of what I produced. So
after I left home and went into the military, I
went into the military. After going into the military, I
had some issues in the military that caused me to
(11:29):
exit early. And those issues a lot of times, well
back then, there were no rules in place to protect
women in the military.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
We were just put.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
Alongside the male soldiers or what have you, and there
was just literally at that time.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
It wasn't sexual harassmental way.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
It hadn't even been defined in the dictionary.
Speaker 5 (11:46):
Anita Hill had not even taken Clarence Thomas on the Hill,
so none of those rules applied. So there were a
lot of issues that were going on and women were
suffering in the military, but they had no voice. So
I eventually got out, went in to the Court Reporting
Academy and was just on top of my game top
and class did everything. I was so excited because I
was getting ready to live my dream and my dad
(12:09):
bought all of my equipment.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
You know, he had me all ready to go, you
know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
A proud dad, and got out was the person that
was next in line for my internships and all that.
Every court reporting agency that I went to in the
Hampton Roads, Virginia area.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Were owned by white firm owners and so they had
it on lock.
Speaker 5 (12:28):
And it was what was going on was they had
verbal agreements dating back to the seventies and the eighties
that they wouldn't compete against each other, and so that
you know, so the firm that had Norfolk Circuit Court,
they wouldn't compete against the firm that had the one
in Virginia Beach. So what happened was if you were
not a part of the clique or one of the
people that they accepted, you would just have to go
(12:49):
back to whatever you were doing beforehand, because they wouldn't
even let you when you were locked out.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Were there other black women or black people doing this way, as.
Speaker 5 (12:57):
There were, but the majority of them had opted to
go back to what they used to do before because
they couldn't get a job, and I thought that was ridiculous.
And I was fresh out of the army, and I
was determined, you know, I want to be a court reporter.
I'm gonna court report in somebody's court room. So it
was this determination that I've always had, no matter what
the obstacle has been, no matter whether it's discrimination, whatever
(13:18):
it was, I've always had this mindset that I was
going to do whatever I felt I wanted to do,
and I wasn't going to be stopped.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
So you started your own comfort.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
So yes, So what happened was my dad had bought
all my equipment, I had passed everything, I was ready
to go.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
It was just because of the color of my skin.
Speaker 5 (13:35):
So I decided and I prayed, and I was led
to reach out to Christian attorneys and black attorneys, and
they invited me to the Black Bar Association meeting and
I explained to them. And as I was there talking
to them, they realized that they hadn't been seeing any
black court reporters out of Norfolk, Virginia, Beach, Chesapeake, Hampton, Portsmouth,
Newport News, all of those cities. So when I said it,
(13:58):
it was like the light bulb came on. They all
started giving me their business. I started taking their depositions
and all this other stuff. So that's how the business
was formed, was because I couldn't get a job. And
so once I did that, I decided to challenge the
powers that be. Well when I challenged them, of course
I got black ball because I was trying to get
(14:19):
a written contract at that time, and they told me.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
One of the judges told me one of these.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
Firm owners would have to die, retire, or sell their
business before we'll.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Give you a contract. Wow, he literally did. So guess
what I did.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
I did my due diligence, my research, and I realized
that his career goal was he wanted to be on
the State Supreme Court. So I decided to put a
package together because I knew how to put evidence together.
I put a package together and I sent it to
the State of Virginia Supreme Court and I turned him
in and so so they eventually.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Decided for the City of Norfolk.
Speaker 5 (14:52):
They put it out to bid, and guess what I bid,
And I was the lowest bidder, and they still wouldn't
give it to me.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
So they went through.
Speaker 5 (14:58):
The motion, went through the motion and I was getting
death threats at that time because I was messing with
people's money, and so I ended up talking with another attorney,
mister Bill Robinson, bless his heart and bless his soul.
He was a Virginia General Assembly representative. So he put
forth legislation on the floor to make that mandatory that
(15:19):
they because those were state dollars. Any person that's convicted
of a felony, their cases, every piece of any piece
of their litigation, anything regarding their case, has to have
a record, has to have an official record. And so
what happened was, mister Robinson, they put it forth. So
it passed in the House overwhelmingly, and it lost in
the Senate by four votes. And I was told some
(15:40):
of the judges called in some favors from some of
their old buddy boyfriends and they killed it in the Senate.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
No problem, I'm still determined. I'm going to do this.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Wow, most people would have given up.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Oh no, not me.
Speaker 5 (15:52):
So then I prayed again, and all of a sudden,
it was right around the time that Anita Hill took
Clarence Thomas on the Hill, and all of a sudden,
there was this big burst of federal claims of sexual harassment,
workplace discrimination. All of that was birth then, and all
of a sudden they needed court reporters all around the country.
(16:13):
And here was I and there were people who looked
like me who wanted to give me a chance. So
that's how the first case I took was for the
Army Corps of Engineers out of Norfolk, Virginia, and her
name was Rosemary Whitehurst.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Bless her heart and bless her soul.
Speaker 5 (16:27):
She gave me my first federal case, and I began
to take that model, and I grew it, and I
grew it, and then I went back and I hired
those black girls that had gone to school with me
that didn't get a job.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
I went back and hired as many of them as
I could.
Speaker 5 (16:42):
In nineteen ninety seven, I started the first black court
reporting firm in Hampton Roads, and I do have the
newspaper articles and things like that from it.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
But we made history.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
And there a couple of things that are notable is
that she signed out the help of Black Trade associations,
and what we do each day during thirty one Raysed
thirty one days is let people know what the Black
trade associations are for each industry, because we have this
limited idea of what black businesses are, so we don't
(17:14):
think about black court reporters, We don't think about black
folks doing cybersecurity or AI chips or anything like that.
But there are associations of black people in each of
those fields, and so by identifying associations, then people don't
have to feel like they're fighting these battles alone.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
That's really helpful.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
So you.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Did all that, and then you moved to Atlanta and
created Anthony and associates, and then you moved to Atlanta
to really scale it. Yes, and that's when the world
of government contracting.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
We have to hear about this because we hear about
government contracts all the time and how important that is
for people to be able to scale their businesses. And
I feel like so many people like government contacting government contracting,
but as you can attest to, not a lot of
black businesses actually get these government contracts.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
And Michelle has gotten millions and millions of dollars, millions
of millions of dollars and government contracting. So dare we
say a billion? I'm just gonna shut up now, and Okay,
so tell us how government contracting helped you scale and
develop a AI into what it is now.
Speaker 5 (18:32):
So once I moved to Atlanta, that's when all of
a sudden, I started understanding that there were more things
I could offer the federal government. And so as I
began to research and understand better how to utilize the
systems and the tools that were available. You know, that
was very very critical doing my due diligence, doing my research,
(18:54):
because what I had done is I have been performing
extremely well, and I had one client with to its
military Sealift Command, and they had given me their work
from like nineteen ninety eight all the way to like
two thousand and eight, two thousand and nine or something,
maybe even longer than that. So I was exposed to
the federal government, but I was still doing the court reporting. Now,
(19:15):
mind you, I had the small business mindset at that time.
I never dreamed that I could make a million dollars.
I never dreamed of that. I just you know, the
truth of the matter was I just wanted a job
and they wouldn't give me a job. So they made
me mad. And so when they made me upset, I
really started thinking outside of the box.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Right your backwards against the wall. A lot of times,
that's when you make those critical moves.
Speaker 5 (19:39):
And I have four children, so I was like, you know,
and I'm thinking, like the mind of that the female
line is, you know, hey, the cubs got to eat.
So in my mind, I always keep that in mind.
So as I got to Atlanta and I started networking
and meeting other people because down in Hampton Roads, you're
not in the mecca.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Washington, d C. Is the mecca. That's where all of
the major wheeling and dealing and.
Speaker 5 (20:03):
All that other stuff is going on. So if you're
outside of that space, I learned quickly you need to
build relationships. So I started building key relationships. I started
attending different conferences and different things to get information. Then
I started realizing that's really not producing the results I'm
looking for. So I was like, Okay, so you're going
you're paying all this money and you're not really getting it.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Okay, where is it? How do I do it?
Speaker 5 (20:27):
So then I started understanding the value of relationships teaming,
and then I started remembering the value of the experts
that would give their testimony in the different areas that
the attorneys were not familiar with, but they would always
bring in an expert. So I started combining all these things.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
In my mind.
Speaker 5 (20:46):
The government does something that they call market research, so
I needed to do market research. So I started researching
my competitors, researching what else I could do. And I
also had been I had been awarded the eight A
EIGHTAC certification, So when I was in Hampton Rose, I
didn't know what I had. But by the time I
got to Atlanta and started you know, Atlanta is another
(21:07):
business mecca, but it's not as focused on the federal
government as other areas.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
But I had a lot of people telling me, oh,
you know.
Speaker 5 (21:13):
What, you know, you have that aight A And I
was like, yeah, what is that? The aight A certification
is another social economic certification that the SBA will give minorities. Basically,
they'll give it to anyone that now they've changed the
rule because of the attack on DEI and affirmative action,
so you have to write a letter now explaining how
(21:33):
you've been disadvantaged. But prior to you didn't have to
do that and writing a letter. I can tell anybody
how to write the letter you need to write. But anyway,
so the aight A program is a program where they
will set aside soul source contracts up to four million
dollars in value if you have an eight A certification,
and so you have to apply and be approved for
(21:53):
the eight A and that gives small businesses an opportunity
to get their foot in the door, right, But there's
a there's a catch to that. It's a nine year program.
Most people get hooked on the soul source and they
don't want to do the work to learn how to compete. See,
if you're gonna do government contracting, you can't live off
(22:14):
soul sources. You need to be able to compete against
your competitors. And when and once you start building up
that pedigree and you have that capability, you're unstoppable. So
for me, in the A day program, I received multiple
That's where I got my first million dollar And what
was it? I got my first million dollar contract two
months after I moved to to Atlanta.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
To do what court reporting.
Speaker 5 (22:38):
I was doing court report nationwide, court reporting all fifty states,
all the rural areas. Because back in the day when
they were building the atomic bombs, there were nuclear plants
that a lot of people were working in and now
these people were developing cancers, and so the government was
holding these hearings to take the testimony of the family
(23:00):
members who were trying to say, hey, this is what
I've seen and what have you. So I was awarded
a contract for the Mind Safety and Health Administration and
it was a one point nine million dollar contract, and
I was like.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
This is important because a lot of people when like
I know, when I first started hearing about government contracts,
I'm thinking of this is some service that has to
be related to government. But the government contracts they need
everything they do. They need absolutely everything. So you might
not even think that your business is applicable, but there's
something out there for.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
You, like some coffee.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
They might need food, and they pay well they do.
Speaker 5 (23:37):
They have events, so the people who do event planning.
The government does contracts for event planning all the time.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Let me ask you this when you talked about bids
and how previously you had the lowest bid but you
still didn't get the contract when you were in Montgomery.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
No, No, in Norfolk.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Oh that was Enoughfolk.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Okay, how do you know what to like what your
bid should be, because you also don't want to price
it too low.
Speaker 5 (23:58):
That's a part of your research. Those are strategies that
I'm going to start teaching now. And that's called your
pricing strategy. And you have to do and you do
your research and you're able to understand, Okay, what does
the market what will the market bear? Because what you're
saying is you don't want to be priced out and
because if you're too high, then you're not going to win,
(24:19):
and if you're too low, sometimes you are a risk.
One of the things everybody needs to understand. The government
is risk averse. They want to mitigate risk at all
costs because if you don't understand how important your performance
is your record. You have to have a performance record
that the government can trust. And a lot of times
(24:39):
what happens is small businesses because they have lack of
access to financial resources, things of that nature, the government
will kind of be a little leary. You know that
they can do the work. So but when you understand
how to leverage that, how to team and how to
partner and put together a package that checks all the
checks all the for.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Them, you you eliminate.
Speaker 5 (25:02):
What you're doing is is I'm eliminating your reason to
your ability to say no.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
And those are strategy. So a lot of.
Speaker 5 (25:08):
Times when I'm looking at opportunities and what we do,
and the more we grow. While the government is doing
what they're doing, or my opponent is doing they're doing
they're playing checkers. I'm always playing chess, So I'm always
gonna make a chess move and I'm always gonna outsmart
you because I understand that we should be playing chess.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Not checkers.
Speaker 5 (25:27):
Because we play checkers, you're gonna end up, you know,
with with with everybody else, Chess is gonna get you
at the top.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Right, How do we there's so much here? So one,
there's so much money out there for black businesses through
government contracts. It sounds just so complicated, and there's so
many people out there who you know, are teaching it,
but people are still having hard time getting contracts.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
If I could step on you for a second, A
big part of what we're doing during August is that
there are thousands of people like Michelle who have the
lived experience of having to do it. They know where
the barriers are, and so our strategy is for our
(26:15):
various African American companies that are already in the game
to team together. So, for instance, the typical model that
we've been taught for the last fifty years is you
have to be a subcontractor to some big white front, right,
that doesn't get us anywhere. He's become a permanent subcontractor.
(26:35):
So look at construction. One of our successes over the
last five years. We've gone from a low of two nine,
only two point nine percent of construction workers of black
five years ago. We've been able to increase se to
seven point one. But because of all the attacks on
affirmative action over the last twenty five years or so
(26:57):
that myself and my partner Fred Jordan has been fighting,
the size of African American construction companies hasn't grown. So
it's very rare to find a black company that can
actually finish your whole building. Right. But if you take
an architecture firm from Memphis and a construction company from Chicago,
(27:20):
and a general contractor from Atlanta and another company from
Los Angeles, all of a sudden, you have a joint
venture that can compete for prime contracts. So our model
is to take our local and regional level companies, combine
them so that they're national companies. But also more importantly,
(27:45):
we have our seventy Cities Initiative, So there's seventy cities
in Africa and the Caribbean that have more than median population.
They're doing light rail, they're doing dams, they're doing airports,
all that sort of thing. So by taking these teams,
we can then take these teams overseas and get the
(28:08):
larger experience doing bigger projects so that then we can
compete for the government contracts. And the great thing about
it is the government will pay for us to do
work overseas.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
You want to get on one of these teams, that's
why we're partnering with them. Go to blackmoney dot com
Slash thirty one ways thirty one days each night in August.
There's a different industry that they're going to be building
the teams and they're looking for people to put on
the teams. It's not just a mentoring session, it's actual
deal making. You want to definitely be a part of that.
(28:42):
I'm not done talking to you so getting educated about
government contracts and I know that's something that you're passionate about. Yes,
And honestly, I have seen you call the nine hundred
million dollar woman. As I've gotten to know John Templeton
and on the Black Business Month, there are so many
(29:03):
black near billionaires out there that have really moved from
that mindset of being a small business owner and created
industries and you can't help. But notice they kind of hide.
We don't even know that they exist. We don't have
them for role modeling. They're very quiet. Why are these
(29:23):
ultra successful black business owners or industry creators silent? And
I'm going to start by asking you.
Speaker 5 (29:34):
We're silent because we understand you can't go around waving
a big flag because if you do, they're bad actors
that are going to do all they can to try
and stop you from growing and you know, getting even
more success. So it kind of it's sad, but most
(29:56):
of us don't have our pictures on our website.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Most of us, you know, like me.
Speaker 5 (30:00):
This whole thing I'm doing here, this is so not me,
you know, But it's time for me to come out
of obscurity, John, And I'm doing it because at this
point in time, I've made my mind up that regardless
of what is attempted to try and block and stop,
(30:21):
what God has purposed for me is not going to work.
And I'm willing to come out and teach and share
so that more people that look like me can understand
you can do the same thing.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
You just have to do it the right way.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
And you know when you spoke about DEI being under attack,
that's why this is really important right now too. Yes,
just because there's a lot of things that are more
obstacles for people to be able to level out that
playing field. People who deserve the opportunity, who are quite capable.
But because there's like how you were locked out of
being able to work in the courtroom, that same thing
(30:55):
is happening now even though you could graduate top of
your class, have all the skills, hiring as favors or
for people who look like them.
Speaker 5 (31:03):
Yeah, but the blessing is my life. The blessing on
my life is this everything that has been attempted to
stop or block me. God has taken that as like
a stepping stone and a footstool, and I have exceeded
everything because of them.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
So if I wanted a job, he gave me a business.
You see what I'm saying. So I started a business
thirty years.
Speaker 5 (31:27):
Ago, and now I'm able to employ people around the country.
Now I've been able to sustain and build an entire infrastructure,
all because a person.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Wanted a job.
Speaker 5 (31:37):
So all negativity that comes that you is not bad.
It is because when you learn how to overcome it,
and when you learn how to see the positive and
speak the positive and manifest in your mind what you
want your outcome to be, you will change whatever the
situation is. And that's what I've done. So every obstacle,
everything that you would think would have stopped me, I
(31:58):
have found the positive in it, and I've taken that
and I've grown it. And that's what I would say
to our people. Every one of us experience it at
some level. Because we look like each other. We just do,
and we wake up with that this paint job that
we have, we can't change it. So all we can
do is take it and use it and make it
work because it can, and we can overcome whatever the
(32:21):
obstacles are. You just have to be willing to do
the work. This listen, government contracting, let me help you out.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
It's not a hustle get rid of the hustle mindset,
because it's legitimate.
Speaker 5 (32:33):
It is one of those situations where you do this wrong,
you're going to either face a healthy fine or jail
time because this is a federal government, so you can't
pull any of that stuff on them. You gotta come correct,
and if you're willing to come correct, understand that you
need someone to teach you, what laws to pay attention to,
what do you need to make sure you do and
don't do in order to get you in trouble, because
(32:55):
at the end of the day, it's not worth it.
What is it if you can't maintain and so what
you've gained. And I want everybody listening to me as
as black people, we need to understand and learn how
to whatever we gain, we must maintain it, sustain it
so that whatever we gain it can outlive us.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
That's success. And the other thing that is success that
I've learned is not so much the money. It's the knowledge.
Speaker 5 (33:22):
The more that I can train and educate and pass
on even to my children that I used to think,
you know what, I'm going to do all this.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
So my children won't have to struggle in whateverever.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
And I had an AHA moment with God and he
helped me to understand if you give them the knowledge,
they can take what you've done and make it even greater.
But if you only give them the money and they
didn't go through what you went through to get it,
they're not going to understand it, appreciate it, nor be
able to sustain it. So you have to put that
all together and understand that is what I'm doing with
(33:54):
my four children right now, creating generational wealth, exposing them
to revenue, exposing them to government contracting, corporate corporate contracts,
business in general. I don't care what business there is.
If you introduce me to it, I can run it.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
M hmm.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
And then the last thing I need to touch on
with you. So Michelle's really good at manifesting what she wants.
So we're all really happy that she's decided that she
wants to fix climate change.
Speaker 5 (34:23):
Oh yeah, yes, that's another area. I don't have grandchildren,
but I'm planning. So about three years ago, I was
offered an opportunity to work with a gentleman that had
created a smart battery technology made out of graphene. And
for most of us, we haven't heard of graphene. Most
of us are familiar with our lithium batteries in our
(34:44):
cell phones, in our laptops and things of that nature.
Lithium is highly explosive and very unfriendly to the to
the environment. Graphene is another substance that has been developed.
It's a new material and it's like it's a single
layer sheet and it's just it's a single layer of
carbon atoms. And with this it is the hardest, it
(35:07):
is the thinnest, and it is the best most electrically
and thermal conducive nanomterial in the world. So it can
when I say that, basically the graphene can capture ninety
five percent of the Sun's energy. So what we've done
is I've created an energy company named after my son
(35:30):
and dwell A Energy, and I've created also a power
company and dwell A Power and all four of my
children are co founders of this organization and we're beginning
to tackle climate change and we want to be known
as the Black Family of Energy.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
And when we.
Speaker 5 (35:44):
Get involved with this climate change, it is because our
children can be at the bus stop at the school.
All of those buses are running diesel fuel. And we
wondered why COVID so many children had issues breathing and
the respiratory problems. It was because the daily things that
we do and we are emitting into our environment, no
one is paying attention of the damage that it's doing.
(36:07):
So what we want to do with this is partner
and become a leader in energy and explain and also
create a partnership when we provide power back from graphene
and clean up the energy and the environment. We want
to share a part of the wealth back with the
people who purchase the power. So see, we want to
(36:28):
flip it. Typically Georgia Power, They're just going to send
you a bill. We want to create a system and
a process where if we can help incentivize you to
pay attention to what you're doing and instead of using
lithium which is explosive and harming the atmosphere, or these
fossil fuels, if we can incentivize people that, hey, we
will make you a part of this and you can
(36:49):
get a check.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
See I love checks, So if you.
Speaker 5 (36:52):
Can give me a check for doing something good, I
think I would want to be a part of that.
So we're working through that piece right now. But we're
working on pros in Africa. We have a project in
the US that we we've gotten a contract or letter
of intent from the state of Hawaii. We're in the
Great Pacific Garbage Patch. If you haven't heard of it,
(37:14):
look it up. That is the largest compilation of plastics
that have accumulated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean,
and that if we don't get a hold of that,
eventually it could cause what they call an ELLE, which
is an extinction life event. And so if you look
up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, that's one of the
(37:37):
contracts for plastics and the garbage that we're going to
take that garbage and convert it to graphene energy. And
once we converted to graphene, we'll be able to we'll
be able to produce electricity as well as biofuels, green fuels,
so the jet fuel, diesel fuel, all of this technology
we already have is been patented and we're getting ready
(37:58):
to launch it right now.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
This is amazing.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
This is we are bringing it Wealth Wednesdays is bringing
it Black Business Month. And we're so honored to have
this partnership with the creator of Black National Black Business Month,
John Templeton and everybody. Again, their goal is to create
one billion black businesses over the next year. They do
that with their eyes closed, and they're looking for partners
(38:25):
and and have opportunities for black entrepreneurs. And they're having
nightly deal making sessions every night. In August thirty one
ways and thirty one days. You can get that blackmoney
dot Com slash thirty one ways thirty one days. We
made it easy follow Wealth Wednesdays on Instagram and it's
in the link. And John just briefly touch on some
(38:46):
of the industries that you're going to be making deals in.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
Well.
Speaker 4 (38:49):
For instance, we're looking at sports, the name, image and likeness.
Now every athlete is a business person. We're looking at
food security. We have a gentleman and if you thought
that was amazing, we have a gentleman on from Ghana
on August first, who will be talking about soilist.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
Plants and you have like beauty, I know there's also.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
Plants, right, So.
Speaker 4 (39:18):
But on Marcus Garvey Day, we're going to have the
Director of Public Private Partnerships for the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
So all of the businesses that are being created in Nigeria.
Nigeria's two million people, So we took Nigeria, Ethiopia, and
South Africa. It's the same size as the United States,
(39:40):
and so those countries are are pleading for entrepreneurs to
come and be part of their development. And we're creating
those relationships with the people who are making the decisions
on it, so everybody should definitely be part of thirty
one race thirty one days.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
This is global, it's.
Speaker 2 (39:59):
Not this is global everybody. We totally brought it this
month and it's in all sorts of industries you can imagine. Again,
go to black money dot com Slash thirty one ways
thirty one days and thank you both.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
Yeah, looking forward to this whole entire month with you
guys and for everybody to be able to participate, because
of course we have a special way up code for you.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
So absolutely well we've done. When you go to that
particular website black money dot com Slash thirty one ways
thirty one days, there is a way up discount built
into this for fifty percent off. It usually costs. You
can't get into those rooms, but those of you out
there way up can get in for the entire month
for two hundred and fifty dollars.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
And can I let them know where they can reach
me out? Oh yes please? Okay if they right now?
Speaker 5 (40:47):
Because I typically have been under the radar, but my
team has put together in all the social media platforms,
I think you can find me under Michelle Fagan's anthony
and that's Fagan's well Michelle my c H E L
L E F E A G I N S.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
You're going to be tagged on all that. I don't
even have to worry.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
Okay, because people can't pronounce my maiden name.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
So Michelle Fagin's and yeah, we're going.
Speaker 2 (41:11):
To be posting all the Michelle's stuff, tagging you. And
we're really looking forward to doing a big educational program
with Michelle in twenty twenty five to get everybody they're
right footing and government contracting.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
And you'll be in these thirty one ways in thirty
one days, right, you'll be in.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
The room yees, not most of them A part of that.
Speaker 5 (41:30):
Part of then I'll tell you why. Let me give
you the last tip. This is the fourth quarter for
the federal government on that year, and so Michelle got
to get back to making that money. So that's where
I'll be, but I'll check in with my partner.
Speaker 4 (41:44):
Yeah, And one big part of it is our annual report.
So this year the title is Vote Black Business. So literally,
as Angela just said, the survival of Black businesses is
on the ballot in November. So she's from Montgomery. If
(42:08):
you've gone to the lynching memorial down there, as I've
walked through four thousand names, the most common characteristic of
those people they were in business.
Speaker 3 (42:22):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 4 (42:23):
And so we have two and a half million African
Americans that have graduate degrees, but only one hundred and
sixty thousand confirms that have employees. So we have to
make it safe for black people to be in business.
We talk about, you know, police brutality and all that
sort of thing, we have commercial brutality that we got
(42:45):
to stop. And the only way to fight a bully
is punch him in the face. And so the best
way for us to do that is to do exactly
what African American businesses did in eighteen sixty eight when
they said we need to be able to sign contracts
(43:05):
and enforce them. So it was black businesses that insisted
on the fourteenth Amendment, and the black folks who ran
all the docs said if we don't get fourteenth Amendment,
we're going to shut down all the docks. So we
need to be in the same spirit as those black
folks like Isaac Myers at Port of Baltimore back in
(43:26):
eighteen sixty eight who went from working on the docks
to purchasing the shipyard and so. But we give you
the tools so that you don't have to go through
all the battles that Michelle went through, but we give
you the armor to be able to fight effectively. So
(43:47):
please join us at black money dot com backslash thirty
one way thirty one days.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
All right, well, thank you. And in case you couldn't tell,
John Templeton is a wealth of information as well. First
black journalists, first journalists about Black History Month.
Speaker 3 (44:02):
And it's a historian.
Speaker 1 (44:03):
You can tail that back in nineteen seventy six and
he created the State of Black Business Report, which is
literally used to create government policy.
Speaker 2 (44:11):
So, like I said, we're bringing it this month people.
Happy wrth Wednesday, Happy weth Wednesday.
Speaker 3 (44:18):
Well,
What's f's way up at Angela Yee And it is
Wealth Wednesday time. You know, we love that time of
the week. And my partner, my co host, Stacy Tisdale
is here.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Happy Wealth Wednesdays, everybody, This is big. Wealth Wednesdays is
very thrilled to be shining a light on Black Business
Month August. And not only are we shining a light
on Black Business Month, but we are going to have
a guest co host for the remainder of the month,
John Templeton, who was the founder and creator of Black
(00:34):
Business Month. He also in two thousand and four he
created the State of Black Business Report, which you'll learn
about that really changed the way things happen for black businesses.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Very excited to talk about that.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
And we have joining us for this first celebration of
Black Business Month, the one and only Michelle Anthony. Hey,
and you're going to learn so much about this woman
who has founder See of Anthony and Associates. She knows
the government contracting space like you would not believe and
has a tremendous story. So Wealth Wednesday getting on it
(01:10):
for Black.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Business and we are talking about Wealth today for real,
all right, John William Timbleton let's start with you and
National Black Business Month and the creation of that. Can
you just give us some insight into what made you
decide to do this? What National Black Business Month is.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Well, the last speech that Martin Luther King gave, he said,
I may not get there with you, but we as
a people are going to get to the promised Land.
So what we've done for the last twenty one years
through our State of Black Business Report, is actually defined
what it is. Because if you don't know where we're going,
we're never going to get there, right right. So ten
(01:49):
years ago we created our ten Plan, the African American
Economic Strategy. So it's ten very simple things that actually
solve most of the problems that we have. So we
want to increase the number of African American businesses that
have employees to ten percent of the black businesses, so
(02:09):
that would be from one hundred and sixty thousand to
four hundred thousand. We want to make sure that ten
percent of African American income is capital at African American banks.
There are seven hundred thousand business loans made every year
according to the Fair Reserve, only ten thousand of them
are made to black businesses and sixty percent of those
(02:31):
are by black banks. So it's real simple. The more
money black banks have, the.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
More money that goes into our community. So our black businesses.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Yes, and so it's our money, so we can decide
where it goes. So it's very simple to direct it
to the places that support us. And we also share
a goal with the National Association of Real Estate Brokers
to have two million new Black homeowners. So Stacey joined
us in Brooklyn, and I know a place that you
(03:01):
know and love. So I'm chairman of the Central Bookly
Economic Development Corporation.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
My fault, she wasn't there. I didn't give her the address.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
Oh we know where to find her, right, So I've
been chairman there for five years and we are using
it as a template for how to create prosperous black
neighborhoods for the people who live there. So Brownsville is
the densest concentration of public housing in the world, but
(03:33):
we've had for the last three years, had the steepest
decline in violent crime in New York City. And so
we announced Brownsville Advanced Manufacturing Center, where we're going to
have companies come in and make AI maintenance drones for
offshore wind and have companies come in and do cybersecurity.
(03:54):
And we're redeveloping the Belmont Corridor and bringing in the
movie theaters, restaurants, that sort of thing, so that the
one point five billion dollars just in Brownsville stays in Brownsville,
and that's going to be the template for what we're
doing around the country. So we're opening advanced manufacturing centers
(04:14):
in La to do AI chips in Oakland, do a
sound stage for a movie theater in San Francisco where
I live. We're opening the Sergeant Johnson National Museum of
African American Art.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Wow. So just to give everybody a sense this whole
mission and the reason that we're focused on this for
Wealth Wednesdays is we focus so much on entrepreneurship. There's
so many entrepreneurs out there, and we have a very
strong small business mindset that we're proud of. But we
have to get out of a small business mindset and
we have to think create industries. We have to think
(04:49):
create communities. And just gonna blow your mind with this woman,
Michelle in just a moment, but John, just to talk
about the way you put things in action. You help entrepreneurs.
You helped get sixteen billion dollars to nine hundred thousand
African American entrepreneurs in twenty twenty one. So we're talking
(05:09):
about big scale people and entrepreneurs out there should be
listening because we got ways for you to get part
of that money too. Talk about that.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Yeah, we changed the rules on the PPP loans. In
the first year the PPP, only ten thousand African American
businesses got loans about five hundred million dollars, which we
think that's a lot of money, right, But they gave
out seven hundred big right, So.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
It was so hard for certain companies to be able
to get that money.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Because, yeah, intersting bank relationship and we didn't. So we
changed the rules. So you go directly to the SBA,
and we're from ten thousand to nine hundred and ninety thousand.
So this year there's another program called the State Small
Business Credit Initiative, and the Treasury is sent all this
money to the States to loan the small businesses. No
(05:57):
small businesses know about it money, it's just sitting there.
And so during August, we want to make sure that
a million African American businesses apply to the State Small
Business Credit and you go to our site black money
dot Com and to each state.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
For each.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Everybody, we have the contact person for the state Small
Business Credit Initiative and also for the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Program.
The government will show you everything you need to know
to go into manufacturing because manufacturing is what stabilizes the community.
Once again, people don't know that right. The other thing
(06:38):
that we have on each state is the USDA Rule
Development Agency. The USDA is the only agency that can
build a city from scratch, right, so everything you need
to build a city, USDA can do. Once again, we
don't know about it. So those three things we want
to make sure everybody is engaged in that because Michelle
will mention to you the last quarter of their federal
(07:00):
fiscal year is when federal agencies are just trying to
get rid of all the money left and we need
to be in the mix. Make sure we have our
sam codes so do we actually know what's going on?
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Absolutely, And we have just to make it easy for everybody.
If you follow Wealth Wednesdays on Instagram, we have the
link in our bio. You go, it's blackmoney dot Com
slash thirty one ways thirty one days. And you know
it's impossible almost to get in the rooms where the
actual deals are made. But every night during the month
(07:32):
of August you are going to be invited into those
rooms for live deal making sessions. So again that's black
Money dot Com thirty one ways and thirty one days.
We want to help you scale.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Okay, speaking of scaling, this person has done. You are
the youngest of seven, grew up in Montgomery, Alabama during
the nineteen seventies, and at fourteen years old, developed found
out that you loved courts stenography. I'm going to just
(08:04):
shut up now, Michelle.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
Yes, I'm all the way from Montgomery, Alabama, born and
raised and grew up pretty poor, you know, typical grew
up in the hood, you know. But what was different
back then, though still dealing with like governor former Governor
Wallace and then the mayor was Emory Farmer, and they
(08:28):
still had a system going on in my government at
the time that you know, even though segregation and the
science had come off the walls, but it was still
being implemented day to day. So growing up, you knew
your place, and you knew your side of town, and
there was their side of town. So at the age
of actually I was thirteen going on fourteen. There's a
program under President Carter at the time called the Sita Program,
(08:52):
and it was a program wherein the government would give
one child and a family a job, and surprisingly I
was chosen. And my sister was two years older than me.
She was fifteen and I was thirteen. I have no
idea about child labor laws. I don't know any of
that other than I think that that was the beginning
of God's favor shifting my life in this direction. So
(09:15):
at thirteen, I was placed in the Montgomery County Courthouse.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Went to the.
Speaker 5 (09:19):
Courthouse and for the first time I was able to
sit in the back of a courtroom and just watch
the court cases all day long. As I was sitting there,
there was a lady at the front of the courthouse.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
And she would just be I would just see her.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
Fingers moving and her head would go from side to side,
but she was never speaking, and I was so you know,
children are so impressionable. I was like, what is she doing?
So I finally got the courage one day and she
happened to be white. So I had never interacted with
a white person before because I lived on the black
side of town, so we didn't go over there. And
(09:51):
so when I saw her, I was, you know, finally
got the courage to go up and ask her. And
she told me what it was, and that you had
to be able to type two hundred and twenty five
words a minute and you take down and everything that's
said and then you you know, And she pulled out
the little tape out of her machine, showing me the shorthand.
And from that day I was sold. I had never
seen anything, and I fell in love with the law.
(10:11):
And I say that as my background because the law
has been very, very very important in my ability to
scale and grow because I love the law. Also, you know,
you have to be willing to read the law. You
have to be able to try and comprehend what's being said.
So as a court reporter, I spent about fifteen years
in courtrooms, taking all types of cases, everything from capital
(10:34):
murder you know, as best as you know accidents. So
what it did was it was building a very well
rounded atmosphere for me to see expert witnesses, the best attorneys,
the worst attorneys, best judges. Why why people got away
with stuff.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
While you were working for yourself.
Speaker 5 (10:52):
I was working for myself and I did, and so
we would produce the record, which was an official document.
And because these records contained the verbatim.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Word of what was spoken.
Speaker 5 (11:06):
If someone had a capital murder case, my transcripts had
to be correct. So that's how I've applied that to
government contracting the documents I produced. I have that same
mindset the level of importance of what I produced. So
after I left home and went into the military, I
went into the military. After going into the military, I
had some issues in the military that caused me to
(11:29):
exit early. And those issues a lot of times, well
back then, there were no rules in place to protect
women in the military.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
We were just put.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
Alongside the male soldiers or what have you, and there
was just literally at that time.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
It wasn't sexual harassmental way.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
It hadn't even been defined in the dictionary.
Speaker 5 (11:46):
Anita Hill had not even taken Clarence Thomas on the Hill,
so none of those rules applied. So there were a
lot of issues that were going on and women were
suffering in the military, but they had no voice. So
I eventually got out, went in to the Court Reporting
Academy and was just on top of my game top
and class did everything. I was so excited because I
was getting ready to live my dream and my dad
(12:09):
bought all of my equipment.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
You know, he had me all ready to go, you
know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
A proud dad, and got out was the person that
was next in line for my internships and all that.
Every court reporting agency that I went to in the
Hampton Roads, Virginia area.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Were owned by white firm owners and so they had
it on lock.
Speaker 5 (12:28):
And it was what was going on was they had
verbal agreements dating back to the seventies and the eighties
that they wouldn't compete against each other, and so that
you know, so the firm that had Norfolk Circuit Court,
they wouldn't compete against the firm that had the one
in Virginia Beach. So what happened was if you were
not a part of the clique or one of the
people that they accepted, you would just have to go
(12:49):
back to whatever you were doing beforehand, because they wouldn't
even let you when you were locked out.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Were there other black women or black people doing this way, as.
Speaker 5 (12:57):
There were, but the majority of them had opted to
go back to what they used to do before because
they couldn't get a job, and I thought that was ridiculous.
And I was fresh out of the army, and I
was determined, you know, I want to be a court reporter.
I'm gonna court report in somebody's court room. So it
was this determination that I've always had, no matter what
the obstacle has been, no matter whether it's discrimination, whatever
(13:18):
it was, I've always had this mindset that I was
going to do whatever I felt I wanted to do,
and I wasn't going to be stopped.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
So you started your own comfort.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
So yes, So what happened was my dad had bought
all my equipment, I had passed everything, I was ready
to go.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
It was just because of the color of my skin.
Speaker 5 (13:35):
So I decided and I prayed, and I was led
to reach out to Christian attorneys and black attorneys, and
they invited me to the Black Bar Association meeting and
I explained to them. And as I was there talking
to them, they realized that they hadn't been seeing any
black court reporters out of Norfolk, Virginia, Beach, Chesapeake, Hampton, Portsmouth,
Newport News, all of those cities. So when I said it,
(13:58):
it was like the light bulb came on. They all
started giving me their business. I started taking their depositions
and all this other stuff. So that's how the business
was formed, was because I couldn't get a job. And
so once I did that, I decided to challenge the
powers that be. Well when I challenged them, of course
I got black ball because I was trying to get
(14:19):
a written contract at that time, and they told me.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
One of the judges told me one of these.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
Firm owners would have to die, retire, or sell their
business before we'll.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Give you a contract. Wow, he literally did. So guess
what I did.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
I did my due diligence, my research, and I realized
that his career goal was he wanted to be on
the State Supreme Court. So I decided to put a
package together because I knew how to put evidence together.
I put a package together and I sent it to
the State of Virginia Supreme Court and I turned him
in and so so they eventually.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Decided for the City of Norfolk.
Speaker 5 (14:52):
They put it out to bid, and guess what I bid,
And I was the lowest bidder, and they still wouldn't
give it to me.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
So they went through.
Speaker 5 (14:58):
The motion, went through the motion and I was getting
death threats at that time because I was messing with
people's money, and so I ended up talking with another attorney,
mister Bill Robinson, bless his heart and bless his soul.
He was a Virginia General Assembly representative. So he put
forth legislation on the floor to make that mandatory that
(15:19):
they because those were state dollars. Any person that's convicted
of a felony, their cases, every piece of any piece
of their litigation, anything regarding their case, has to have
a record, has to have an official record. And so
what happened was, mister Robinson, they put it forth. So
it passed in the House overwhelmingly, and it lost in
the Senate by four votes. And I was told some
(15:40):
of the judges called in some favors from some of
their old buddy boyfriends and they killed it in the Senate.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
No problem, I'm still determined. I'm going to do this.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Wow, most people would have given up.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Oh no, not me.
Speaker 5 (15:52):
So then I prayed again, and all of a sudden,
it was right around the time that Anita Hill took
Clarence Thomas on the Hill, and all of a sudden,
there was this big burst of federal claims of sexual harassment,
workplace discrimination. All of that was birth then, and all
of a sudden they needed court reporters all around the country.
(16:13):
And here was I and there were people who looked
like me who wanted to give me a chance. So
that's how the first case I took was for the
Army Corps of Engineers out of Norfolk, Virginia, and her
name was Rosemary Whitehurst.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Bless her heart and bless her soul.
Speaker 5 (16:27):
She gave me my first federal case, and I began
to take that model, and I grew it, and I
grew it, and then I went back and I hired
those black girls that had gone to school with me
that didn't get a job.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
I went back and hired as many of them as
I could.
Speaker 5 (16:42):
In nineteen ninety seven, I started the first black court
reporting firm in Hampton Roads, and I do have the
newspaper articles and things like that from it.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
But we made history.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
And there a couple of things that are notable is
that she signed out the help of Black Trade associations,
and what we do each day during thirty one Raysed
thirty one days is let people know what the Black
trade associations are for each industry, because we have this
limited idea of what black businesses are, so we don't
(17:14):
think about black court reporters, We don't think about black
folks doing cybersecurity or AI chips or anything like that.
But there are associations of black people in each of
those fields, and so by identifying associations, then people don't
have to feel like they're fighting these battles alone.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
That's really helpful.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
So you.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Did all that, and then you moved to Atlanta and
created Anthony and associates, and then you moved to Atlanta
to really scale it. Yes, and that's when the world
of government contracting.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
We have to hear about this because we hear about
government contracts all the time and how important that is
for people to be able to scale their businesses. And
I feel like so many people like government contacting government contracting,
but as you can attest to, not a lot of
black businesses actually get these government contracts.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
And Michelle has gotten millions and millions of dollars, millions
of millions of dollars and government contracting. So dare we
say a billion? I'm just gonna shut up now, and Okay,
so tell us how government contracting helped you scale and
develop a AI into what it is now.
Speaker 5 (18:32):
So once I moved to Atlanta, that's when all of
a sudden, I started understanding that there were more things
I could offer the federal government. And so as I
began to research and understand better how to utilize the
systems and the tools that were available. You know, that
was very very critical doing my due diligence, doing my research,
(18:54):
because what I had done is I have been performing
extremely well, and I had one client with to its
military Sealift Command, and they had given me their work
from like nineteen ninety eight all the way to like
two thousand and eight, two thousand and nine or something,
maybe even longer than that. So I was exposed to
the federal government, but I was still doing the court reporting. Now,
(19:15):
mind you, I had the small business mindset at that time.
I never dreamed that I could make a million dollars.
I never dreamed of that. I just you know, the
truth of the matter was I just wanted a job
and they wouldn't give me a job. So they made
me mad. And so when they made me upset, I
really started thinking outside of the box.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Right your backwards against the wall. A lot of times,
that's when you make those critical moves.
Speaker 5 (19:39):
And I have four children, so I was like, you know,
and I'm thinking, like the mind of that the female
line is, you know, hey, the cubs got to eat.
So in my mind, I always keep that in mind.
So as I got to Atlanta and I started networking
and meeting other people because down in Hampton Roads, you're
not in the mecca.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Washington, d C. Is the mecca. That's where all of
the major wheeling and dealing and.
Speaker 5 (20:03):
All that other stuff is going on. So if you're
outside of that space, I learned quickly you need to
build relationships. So I started building key relationships. I started
attending different conferences and different things to get information. Then
I started realizing that's really not producing the results I'm
looking for. So I was like, Okay, so you're going
you're paying all this money and you're not really getting it.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Okay, where is it? How do I do it?
Speaker 5 (20:27):
So then I started understanding the value of relationships teaming,
and then I started remembering the value of the experts
that would give their testimony in the different areas that
the attorneys were not familiar with, but they would always
bring in an expert. So I started combining all these things.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
In my mind.
Speaker 5 (20:46):
The government does something that they call market research, so
I needed to do market research. So I started researching
my competitors, researching what else I could do. And I
also had been I had been awarded the eight A
EIGHTAC certification, So when I was in Hampton Rose, I
didn't know what I had. But by the time I
got to Atlanta and started you know, Atlanta is another
(21:07):
business mecca, but it's not as focused on the federal
government as other areas.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
But I had a lot of people telling me, oh,
you know.
Speaker 5 (21:13):
What, you know, you have that aight A And I
was like, yeah, what is that? The aight A certification
is another social economic certification that the SBA will give minorities. Basically,
they'll give it to anyone that now they've changed the
rule because of the attack on DEI and affirmative action,
so you have to write a letter now explaining how
(21:33):
you've been disadvantaged. But prior to you didn't have to
do that and writing a letter. I can tell anybody
how to write the letter you need to write. But anyway,
so the aight A program is a program where they
will set aside soul source contracts up to four million
dollars in value if you have an eight A certification,
and so you have to apply and be approved for
(21:53):
the eight A and that gives small businesses an opportunity
to get their foot in the door, right, But there's
a there's a catch to that. It's a nine year program.
Most people get hooked on the soul source and they
don't want to do the work to learn how to compete. See,
if you're gonna do government contracting, you can't live off
(22:14):
soul sources. You need to be able to compete against
your competitors. And when and once you start building up
that pedigree and you have that capability, you're unstoppable. So
for me, in the A day program, I received multiple
That's where I got my first million dollar And what
was it? I got my first million dollar contract two
months after I moved to to Atlanta.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
To do what court reporting.
Speaker 5 (22:38):
I was doing court report nationwide, court reporting all fifty states,
all the rural areas. Because back in the day when
they were building the atomic bombs, there were nuclear plants
that a lot of people were working in and now
these people were developing cancers, and so the government was
holding these hearings to take the testimony of the family
(23:00):
members who were trying to say, hey, this is what
I've seen and what have you. So I was awarded
a contract for the Mind Safety and Health Administration and
it was a one point nine million dollar contract, and
I was like.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
This is important because a lot of people when like
I know, when I first started hearing about government contracts,
I'm thinking of this is some service that has to
be related to government. But the government contracts they need
everything they do. They need absolutely everything. So you might
not even think that your business is applicable, but there's
something out there for.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
You, like some coffee.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
They might need food, and they pay well they do.
Speaker 5 (23:37):
They have events, so the people who do event planning.
The government does contracts for event planning all the time.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Let me ask you this when you talked about bids
and how previously you had the lowest bid but you
still didn't get the contract when you were in Montgomery.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
No, No, in Norfolk.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Oh that was Enoughfolk.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Okay, how do you know what to like what your
bid should be, because you also don't want to price
it too low.
Speaker 5 (23:58):
That's a part of your research. Those are strategies that
I'm going to start teaching now. And that's called your
pricing strategy. And you have to do and you do
your research and you're able to understand, Okay, what does
the market what will the market bear? Because what you're
saying is you don't want to be priced out and
because if you're too high, then you're not going to win,
(24:19):
and if you're too low, sometimes you are a risk.
One of the things everybody needs to understand. The government
is risk averse. They want to mitigate risk at all
costs because if you don't understand how important your performance
is your record. You have to have a performance record
that the government can trust. And a lot of times
(24:39):
what happens is small businesses because they have lack of
access to financial resources, things of that nature, the government
will kind of be a little leary. You know that
they can do the work. So but when you understand
how to leverage that, how to team and how to
partner and put together a package that checks all the
checks all the for.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Them, you you eliminate.
Speaker 5 (25:02):
What you're doing is is I'm eliminating your reason to
your ability to say no.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
And those are strategy. So a lot of.
Speaker 5 (25:08):
Times when I'm looking at opportunities and what we do,
and the more we grow. While the government is doing
what they're doing, or my opponent is doing they're doing
they're playing checkers. I'm always playing chess, So I'm always
gonna make a chess move and I'm always gonna outsmart
you because I understand that we should be playing chess.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Not checkers.
Speaker 5 (25:27):
Because we play checkers, you're gonna end up, you know,
with with with everybody else, Chess is gonna get you
at the top.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Right, How do we there's so much here? So one,
there's so much money out there for black businesses through
government contracts. It sounds just so complicated, and there's so
many people out there who you know, are teaching it,
but people are still having hard time getting contracts.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
If I could step on you for a second, A
big part of what we're doing during August is that
there are thousands of people like Michelle who have the
lived experience of having to do it. They know where
the barriers are, and so our strategy is for our
(26:15):
various African American companies that are already in the game
to team together. So, for instance, the typical model that
we've been taught for the last fifty years is you
have to be a subcontractor to some big white front, right,
that doesn't get us anywhere. He's become a permanent subcontractor.
(26:35):
So look at construction. One of our successes over the
last five years. We've gone from a low of two nine,
only two point nine percent of construction workers of black
five years ago. We've been able to increase se to
seven point one. But because of all the attacks on
affirmative action over the last twenty five years or so
(26:57):
that myself and my partner Fred Jordan has been fighting,
the size of African American construction companies hasn't grown. So
it's very rare to find a black company that can
actually finish your whole building. Right. But if you take
an architecture firm from Memphis and a construction company from Chicago,
(27:20):
and a general contractor from Atlanta and another company from
Los Angeles, all of a sudden, you have a joint
venture that can compete for prime contracts. So our model
is to take our local and regional level companies, combine
them so that they're national companies. But also more importantly,
(27:45):
we have our seventy Cities Initiative, So there's seventy cities
in Africa and the Caribbean that have more than median population.
They're doing light rail, they're doing dams, they're doing airports,
all that sort of thing. So by taking these teams,
we can then take these teams overseas and get the
(28:08):
larger experience doing bigger projects so that then we can
compete for the government contracts. And the great thing about
it is the government will pay for us to do
work overseas.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
You want to get on one of these teams, that's
why we're partnering with them. Go to blackmoney dot com
Slash thirty one ways thirty one days each night in August.
There's a different industry that they're going to be building
the teams and they're looking for people to put on
the teams. It's not just a mentoring session, it's actual
deal making. You want to definitely be a part of that.
(28:42):
I'm not done talking to you so getting educated about
government contracts and I know that's something that you're passionate about. Yes,
And honestly, I have seen you call the nine hundred
million dollar woman. As I've gotten to know John Templeton
and on the Black Business Month, there are so many
(29:03):
black near billionaires out there that have really moved from
that mindset of being a small business owner and created
industries and you can't help. But notice they kind of hide.
We don't even know that they exist. We don't have
them for role modeling. They're very quiet. Why are these
(29:23):
ultra successful black business owners or industry creators silent? And
I'm going to start by asking you.
Speaker 5 (29:34):
We're silent because we understand you can't go around waving
a big flag because if you do, they're bad actors
that are going to do all they can to try
and stop you from growing and you know, getting even
more success. So it kind of it's sad, but most
(29:56):
of us don't have our pictures on our website.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Most of us, you know, like me.
Speaker 5 (30:00):
This whole thing I'm doing here, this is so not me,
you know, But it's time for me to come out
of obscurity, John, And I'm doing it because at this
point in time, I've made my mind up that regardless
of what is attempted to try and block and stop,
(30:21):
what God has purposed for me is not going to work.
And I'm willing to come out and teach and share
so that more people that look like me can understand
you can do the same thing.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
You just have to do it the right way.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
And you know when you spoke about DEI being under attack,
that's why this is really important right now too. Yes,
just because there's a lot of things that are more
obstacles for people to be able to level out that
playing field. People who deserve the opportunity, who are quite capable.
But because there's like how you were locked out of
being able to work in the courtroom, that same thing
(30:55):
is happening now even though you could graduate top of
your class, have all the skills, hiring as favors or
for people who look like them.
Speaker 5 (31:03):
Yeah, but the blessing is my life. The blessing on
my life is this everything that has been attempted to
stop or block me. God has taken that as like
a stepping stone and a footstool, and I have exceeded
everything because of them.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
So if I wanted a job, he gave me a business.
You see what I'm saying. So I started a business
thirty years.
Speaker 5 (31:27):
Ago, and now I'm able to employ people around the country.
Now I've been able to sustain and build an entire infrastructure,
all because a person.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Wanted a job.
Speaker 5 (31:37):
So all negativity that comes that you is not bad.
It is because when you learn how to overcome it,
and when you learn how to see the positive and
speak the positive and manifest in your mind what you
want your outcome to be, you will change whatever the
situation is. And that's what I've done. So every obstacle,
everything that you would think would have stopped me, I
(31:58):
have found the positive in it, and I've taken that
and I've grown it. And that's what I would say
to our people. Every one of us experience it at
some level. Because we look like each other. We just do,
and we wake up with that this paint job that
we have, we can't change it. So all we can
do is take it and use it and make it
work because it can, and we can overcome whatever the
(32:21):
obstacles are. You just have to be willing to do
the work. This listen, government contracting, let me help you out.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
It's not a hustle get rid of the hustle mindset,
because it's legitimate.
Speaker 5 (32:33):
It is one of those situations where you do this wrong,
you're going to either face a healthy fine or jail
time because this is a federal government, so you can't
pull any of that stuff on them. You gotta come correct,
and if you're willing to come correct, understand that you
need someone to teach you, what laws to pay attention to,
what do you need to make sure you do and
don't do in order to get you in trouble, because
(32:55):
at the end of the day, it's not worth it.
What is it if you can't maintain and so what
you've gained. And I want everybody listening to me as
as black people, we need to understand and learn how
to whatever we gain, we must maintain it, sustain it
so that whatever we gain it can outlive us.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
That's success. And the other thing that is success that
I've learned is not so much the money. It's the knowledge.
Speaker 5 (33:22):
The more that I can train and educate and pass
on even to my children that I used to think,
you know what, I'm going to do all this.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
So my children won't have to struggle in whateverever.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
And I had an AHA moment with God and he
helped me to understand if you give them the knowledge,
they can take what you've done and make it even greater.
But if you only give them the money and they
didn't go through what you went through to get it,
they're not going to understand it, appreciate it, nor be
able to sustain it. So you have to put that
all together and understand that is what I'm doing with
(33:54):
my four children right now, creating generational wealth, exposing them
to revenue, exposing them to government contracting, corporate corporate contracts,
business in general. I don't care what business there is.
If you introduce me to it, I can run it.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
M hmm.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
And then the last thing I need to touch on
with you. So Michelle's really good at manifesting what she wants.
So we're all really happy that she's decided that she
wants to fix climate change.
Speaker 5 (34:23):
Oh yeah, yes, that's another area. I don't have grandchildren,
but I'm planning. So about three years ago, I was
offered an opportunity to work with a gentleman that had
created a smart battery technology made out of graphene. And
for most of us, we haven't heard of graphene. Most
of us are familiar with our lithium batteries in our
(34:44):
cell phones, in our laptops and things of that nature.
Lithium is highly explosive and very unfriendly to the to
the environment. Graphene is another substance that has been developed.
It's a new material and it's like it's a single
layer sheet and it's just it's a single layer of
carbon atoms. And with this it is the hardest, it
(35:07):
is the thinnest, and it is the best most electrically
and thermal conducive nanomterial in the world. So it can
when I say that, basically the graphene can capture ninety
five percent of the Sun's energy. So what we've done
is I've created an energy company named after my son
(35:30):
and dwell A Energy, and I've created also a power
company and dwell A Power and all four of my
children are co founders of this organization and we're beginning
to tackle climate change and we want to be known
as the Black Family of Energy.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
And when we.
Speaker 5 (35:44):
Get involved with this climate change, it is because our
children can be at the bus stop at the school.
All of those buses are running diesel fuel. And we
wondered why COVID so many children had issues breathing and
the respiratory problems. It was because the daily things that
we do and we are emitting into our environment, no
one is paying attention of the damage that it's doing.
(36:07):
So what we want to do with this is partner
and become a leader in energy and explain and also
create a partnership when we provide power back from graphene
and clean up the energy and the environment. We want
to share a part of the wealth back with the
people who purchase the power. So see, we want to
(36:28):
flip it. Typically Georgia Power, They're just going to send
you a bill. We want to create a system and
a process where if we can help incentivize you to
pay attention to what you're doing and instead of using
lithium which is explosive and harming the atmosphere, or these
fossil fuels, if we can incentivize people that, hey, we
will make you a part of this and you can
(36:49):
get a check.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
See I love checks, So if you.
Speaker 5 (36:52):
Can give me a check for doing something good, I
think I would want to be a part of that.
So we're working through that piece right now. But we're
working on pros in Africa. We have a project in
the US that we we've gotten a contract or letter
of intent from the state of Hawaii. We're in the
Great Pacific Garbage Patch. If you haven't heard of it,
(37:14):
look it up. That is the largest compilation of plastics
that have accumulated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean,
and that if we don't get a hold of that,
eventually it could cause what they call an ELLE, which
is an extinction life event. And so if you look
up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, that's one of the
(37:37):
contracts for plastics and the garbage that we're going to
take that garbage and convert it to graphene energy. And
once we converted to graphene, we'll be able to we'll
be able to produce electricity as well as biofuels, green fuels,
so the jet fuel, diesel fuel, all of this technology
we already have is been patented and we're getting ready
(37:58):
to launch it right now.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
This is amazing.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
This is we are bringing it Wealth Wednesdays is bringing
it Black Business Month. And we're so honored to have
this partnership with the creator of Black National Black Business Month,
John Templeton and everybody. Again, their goal is to create
one billion black businesses over the next year. They do
that with their eyes closed, and they're looking for partners
(38:25):
and and have opportunities for black entrepreneurs. And they're having
nightly deal making sessions every night. In August thirty one
ways and thirty one days. You can get that blackmoney
dot Com slash thirty one ways thirty one days. We
made it easy follow Wealth Wednesdays on Instagram and it's
in the link. And John just briefly touch on some
(38:46):
of the industries that you're going to be making deals in.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
Well.
Speaker 4 (38:49):
For instance, we're looking at sports, the name, image and likeness.
Now every athlete is a business person. We're looking at
food security. We have a gentleman and if you thought
that was amazing, we have a gentleman on from Ghana
on August first, who will be talking about soilist.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
Plants and you have like beauty, I know there's also.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
Plants, right, So.
Speaker 4 (39:18):
But on Marcus Garvey Day, we're going to have the
Director of Public Private Partnerships for the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
So all of the businesses that are being created in Nigeria.
Nigeria's two million people, So we took Nigeria, Ethiopia, and
South Africa. It's the same size as the United States,
(39:40):
and so those countries are are pleading for entrepreneurs to
come and be part of their development. And we're creating
those relationships with the people who are making the decisions
on it, so everybody should definitely be part of thirty
one race thirty one days.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
This is global, it's.
Speaker 2 (39:59):
Not this is global everybody. We totally brought it this
month and it's in all sorts of industries you can imagine. Again,
go to black money dot com Slash thirty one ways
thirty one days and thank you both.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
Yeah, looking forward to this whole entire month with you
guys and for everybody to be able to participate, because
of course we have a special way up code for you.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
So absolutely well we've done. When you go to that
particular website black money dot com Slash thirty one ways
thirty one days, there is a way up discount built
into this for fifty percent off. It usually costs. You
can't get into those rooms, but those of you out
there way up can get in for the entire month
for two hundred and fifty dollars.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
And can I let them know where they can reach
me out? Oh yes please? Okay if they right now?
Speaker 5 (40:47):
Because I typically have been under the radar, but my
team has put together in all the social media platforms,
I think you can find me under Michelle Fagan's anthony
and that's Fagan's well Michelle my c H E L
L E F E A G I N S.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
You're going to be tagged on all that. I don't
even have to worry.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
Okay, because people can't pronounce my maiden name.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
So Michelle Fagin's and yeah, we're going.
Speaker 2 (41:11):
To be posting all the Michelle's stuff, tagging you. And
we're really looking forward to doing a big educational program
with Michelle in twenty twenty five to get everybody they're
right footing and government contracting.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
And you'll be in these thirty one ways in thirty
one days, right, you'll be in.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
The room yees, not most of them A part of that.
Speaker 5 (41:30):
Part of then I'll tell you why. Let me give
you the last tip. This is the fourth quarter for
the federal government on that year, and so Michelle got
to get back to making that money. So that's where
I'll be, but I'll check in with my partner.
Speaker 4 (41:44):
Yeah, And one big part of it is our annual report.
So this year the title is Vote Black Business. So literally,
as Angela just said, the survival of Black businesses is
on the ballot in November. So she's from Montgomery. If
(42:08):
you've gone to the lynching memorial down there, as I've
walked through four thousand names, the most common characteristic of
those people they were in business.
Speaker 3 (42:22):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 4 (42:23):
And so we have two and a half million African
Americans that have graduate degrees, but only one hundred and
sixty thousand confirms that have employees. So we have to
make it safe for black people to be in business.
We talk about, you know, police brutality and all that
sort of thing, we have commercial brutality that we got
(42:45):
to stop. And the only way to fight a bully
is punch him in the face. And so the best
way for us to do that is to do exactly
what African American businesses did in eighteen sixty eight when
they said we need to be able to sign contracts
(43:05):
and enforce them. So it was black businesses that insisted
on the fourteenth Amendment, and the black folks who ran
all the docs said if we don't get fourteenth Amendment,
we're going to shut down all the docks. So we
need to be in the same spirit as those black
folks like Isaac Myers at Port of Baltimore back in
(43:26):
eighteen sixty eight who went from working on the docks
to purchasing the shipyard and so. But we give you
the tools so that you don't have to go through
all the battles that Michelle went through, but we give
you the armor to be able to fight effectively. So
(43:47):
please join us at black money dot com backslash thirty
one way thirty one days.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
All right, well, thank you. And in case you couldn't tell,
John Templeton is a wealth of information as well. First
black journalists, first journalists about Black History Month.
Speaker 3 (44:02):
And it's a historian.
Speaker 1 (44:03):
You can tail that back in nineteen seventy six and
he created the State of Black Business Report, which is
literally used to create government policy.
Speaker 2 (44:11):
So, like I said, we're bringing it this month people.
Happy wrth Wednesday, Happy weth Wednesday.
Speaker 3 (44:18):
Well,
Way Up With Angela Yee News
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Angela Yee
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