Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Jasmine Young
President of the Financial Institute, shares her inspiring journey from small-town Jackson, Alabama, to leading a major financial organization. She reflects on the challenges and lessons she learned along the way, emphasizing the importance of financial literacy in building generational wealth. Jasmine also explores the historical impact of the destruction of Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and its lasting effects on Black economic empowerment. Throughout the conversation, she provides valuable insights on navigating financial success and uplifting communities through education and financial planning. Her story is a testament to perseverance, knowledge, and the power of financial independence.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
I am Rashan McDonald, a host the weekly Money Making
Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that the show
provides are for everyone. It's time to stop reading other
people's success stories and start living your own. If you
want to be a guest on my show, please visit
our website, Moneymakingconversations dot com and click the be a
Guest button. Chris submit and information will come directly to me. Now,
(00:24):
let's get this show started. It's kind of like, you know,
motivation has to have a core point. Once you develop
that core point, then you can spread. They call it love.
I call it information. My guest next guest is full
of information. She's a founder and president of the Financial
Literacy Institute, and she will be discussing the anniversary of
(00:46):
the Tulsa massacre and the destruction of the Black Wall
Street and Oklahoma. Plus you'll be telling us how we
can participate. Please welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass. Jasmine Young.
How you doing, Jasmine?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
I'm doing well?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
How are you pretty good? First of all, where you based?
Just get that out the way.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Based out of Atlanta, Georgia?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Are you are you? Are you born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia.
Are you relocated?
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Actually, no, I'm not in an Atlanta Natives. I was
born in Jackson, Alabama and raised in Indian Ridge. It's
about an hour above Mobile, Alabama.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Now Jackson, Alabama. Now you know, I'm from a big city. Okay,
So I have a different point of view versus what
yours might be. So tell us about life in Jackson, Alabama.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Oh, it's very small. Everybody knows everybody. It's just a
very close knit community. We had we do have a Walmart.
That's one of the things that everybody has. We do
have a walmart. We do have traffic lights. But most most,
most of us grew up and lived on our own land,
(01:54):
dirt roads, had farms, you know, things of that native
very very country country.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Now now, and how did you get out of Jackson?
Was it education? A broachraic Jackson, job opportunities? How did
you get out of Jackson? What motivated you get out
of Jackson?
Speaker 1 (02:11):
It was definitely education. I left. I left my hometown
on a full scholarship to Alabama and m University in Huntsville, Alabama.
And I knew that I was going to leave and
actually go to college and be a CTA as early
as the eleventh grade. So I knew that I was
getting out and I was gonna use financial literacy as
(02:34):
a way to do it. And that's exactly what I did.
So I left Jackson, Alabama, and I haven't looked back.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
I love it for all. You still got that accent.
Now you're not getting rid of that accent. Now you're
not going to go to New York and act like
you're in New Yorker now with this accent, po litely not.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
I am a country girl born and braided.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
I love it. I love it.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Now.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
You went to the HBCU, you know, Alabama and m
did that have an impact in your life? Tell us
about that black excellence that they're teaching academically and.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
The h absolutely in a world where we are the minority,
going to a place where we were the majority and
we were treated as such really helped, I would say,
my self esteem. And it also helped how I looked
at myself when it when it came to a professional
in this big world outside of an HBCU, it kind
(03:25):
of built it kind of built me for what was
to come, and especially with the teachers that were there,
they prepared us in a way that I feel like
I would not have been prepared had I not gone
to an HBCU. So there were things that were taught
to us, like survival skills that I don't think I
(03:46):
would have gotten had I went to a had I
chosen a different school. And when I say survival survival skills,
I'm not just talking about, you know, how to provide
for yourself for things of that nature. No, they taught
us how to operate in a world where we aren't
the majority, where systemic racism still exists. They taught us
how to, you know, always be prepared to over deliver
(04:09):
an underpromise, so that you're always on the mark or better.
And it definitely shows. I came out in twenty thirteen
and to say, I'm proud of my classmates and even
those before me and after me have done some amazing
things coming from an HBCU. Whereas when I expressed that
(04:29):
I would be going to an HBCU, I was met
with comments such as, you're so much better than that,
Why would you go there? Why would you limit yourself?
When in actuality, going to an HBCU was the best
thing I ever did, and it didn't limit me It
actually catapulted me into my career and where I am today,
and I wouldn't change the thing.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Sure, you are a motivator, I'm telling you. You know, they
need to put your on tape. You know, they need
to put you like on the billboard right outside of
Alabama A and M.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Yes, sir as, when young.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Shen teach you right, because you know a lot of
people stereotypes, you know, will stop you from being reaching
great heights. Because always that's why I always talk about,
you know, where you came from, because a lot of
people say, you know, they put people a certain educational
reach because it's the same thing small towns in inner city.
(05:22):
Because I came from in the city fifth Ward. That's
why I was born and raised. So people like me
weren't supposed to get out according to them, you know,
people like me, you know, And when I met people,
they go, oh you're different. You know. I never knew
how to take that when they said that, oh you're different,
you know, because because you know, it was always like,
what do you mean different? You know, because my teachers
(05:43):
prepared me to be this way, they told me or
what I could be in high school because if they
didn't tell me these things like your teachers told you
at Alabama and m I'll tell you, I would not
be the person I am today. But they saw something
in me, jazs Whine that allowed me to be to
sit on this microphone and talk to motivating people like you,
(06:03):
because that's the story that you want to be able
to put out that And what inspired me to do
this interview was that your drive about financial literacy spread
financial literacy around the world, one family at a time.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Talk to us about that absolutely. So I learned early
on that my passion for financial literacy was actually going
was actually my purpose. And I'm blessed that both my
passion and my purpose aligned because I had a knack
for numbers going up. I counted everything, even my food particles,
my steps. When I would repeat things to myself, I
(06:39):
had to say on a certain amount of times, just
really really big on numbers. I didn't know that I
had a great uncle who was a math genius, and
apparently it passed down to me, so I knew Back
in high school when I was met with the comment
that everybody wasn't fit with the silverspone like me. It
infuriated me, but infuriated me to make a difference, because
(07:03):
in our actuality, I don't believe I was fit with
the silver sponge. My mom and dad they grew up poor.
I mean, we're already in the country, but my mom
was one of eight. My dad is the baby boy
of seventeen. They were poor, and they didn't have a
lot growing up. But one thing I one thing they
did for my brother and I is they worked very,
very hard.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
They came from eight, they came from eight and seventeen,
and they just had two cats.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
That's it, eight seventeen.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
And you, the baby continue to just throw I just
had to stop that when you said eighteen seventeen and
then only just two of y'all and they all on
the farm.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Okay, but yeah, but we had a lot of cousins
and we grew up on our own land. And I'll
be honest, back then, I was ashamed of where I
came from because I lived on a dirt road. There
was no through traffic. Everybody knew everybody. It was farm,
animals everywhere, trees, bullies, all types of things. And it
wasn't until I actually went to my HBCU and got
(08:05):
it to my career that I realized that I really did,
I really did come from rich heritage, not only the
place that I lived. It's called Indian Ridge, but I'm
an eighth Indian. I had no idea that my grandparents
were Cherokee Indians, had no idea. So we lived on
(08:25):
over seventy eight plus acres of our own land. Back
then as a child, I didn't realize that that was
something to be proud of us. All of these roads.
We walked the roads and ate from eight from the
fruit of the trees, plums, mustardized apples, pears, pigs like
we farmed. We had animals, pigs, horses, chickens like we
(08:49):
had it. But from my standpoint, because I had never
left Jackson, Alabama before I went to college, was this
is country, Like, why can't we live in the city,
you know, a big house we don't have we don't
have cable like, we don't have a pool. You know,
our rolls are dirt roads. But I realized that what
my parents gave my brother and I was a basic
(09:12):
foundation of how to be a responsible financial adult. And
they surrounded themselves with people that had the financial education
that they wanted to have. And then they also held
each other accountable for the finances in the household, even
down to me and my brother. My dad would give
us two people. My dad was always gone before we
got up to go to school because people already at work,
(09:34):
but he would leave two twenty dollars bills two twenty
dollars bills on the table, and my brother and I
knew that outside of any school requirement, if we wanted
to buy anything, whether it was gas for the car,
to get the band, practice, basketball practice, softball practice, whatever snacks, anything,
we had to make that twenty dollars work because we
(09:55):
weren't getting in this and it was it was actually
that budget that my dad gave us. To this day,
my parents have never purchased a cell phone for me.
Every minute I had on my cell phone back then,
and I'm dave myself a little bit, but the minutes
that I had on my phone back then, I purchased
them because my dad taught me, hey, look this is
all you need. You got to figure out how to
(10:16):
make it work. And it was that example that allowed
us to be able to have the things that we
wanted to have, and to my peers, because they weren't
getting it, it looked as if I was privileged or
if I was fed with a still response.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass, hosted by Rashaan McDonald's money Making Conversations Masterclass
continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making
(10:54):
Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
When in actuality, my parents gave my brother an example,
and that was it, and I realized that I wanted
to That's that's actually when I decided that I wasn't
gonna gonna become a professional singer. Mayor Michael Jackson. I
was asked, it gonna be a CPA.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Okay, can you sing? Though? Can you sing those Jasmine?
Speaker 1 (11:17):
You know I can hold the tunes.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
You know.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
All those others will say different, but you know, I've
been singing since I was five years old. It's not
something that I do often anymore. I did sing a
lot in Hunt of you. Well, you know, when.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
You're a kid, they let you sing. As you get older,
they'll tell you. The truth, okay, you.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Is that I sung, and I sung in college, and
I also sang on the praise team at my church.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Praise team. Now praise t is a lot of people now,
and there's a lot of energy.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Okay, yeah, but you know that's when I decided. And
I come from a musically inclent family.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Okay, okay, now they got the musical in clent family
and then mathematically in clent family, and you one eighth
with your one age Cherokee. Yes, you're working at it.
You're working it, first of all. First of all, Jasmine, Yo,
this is an incredible interview from an authentic tone, you know,
because of the fact that you were telling me who
(12:13):
you are. You're honestly breaking down with I think coming
folk talk, coming folk talk, because that's all I was offered,
you know. And I would complain. I would complain about
the clothes I wear. I would complain about everything, not
realizing that my parents did not allow anybody in our
house to curse. We couldn't curse. I didn't, I tell
(12:35):
people today, I did not utter a curse word till
I was nineteen years old. Nineteen years old because my
parents raised me that way. But I thought, oh my god,
this is the worst. But in the process of raising
me that way. I had to speak correctly. I had
this No, I had to have a vernacular because I
always tell people you curse, you use you like using
(12:58):
five words with a fire word, because it just shortcuts
your your intellect and shortcuts your ability to communicate. And
so when I hear your story, and I remember going
because I'm from Houston, Texas, and we'd go at to
Bowizier and Shreeport, Louisia, and we see black people on
the farm and they had little you know, the outhouses
and the little pain by the bed, and I would go,
(13:20):
what the heck is going on here? I can't get
away from here. But I realize now all my life,
I've been trying to get back to that Jasmine.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Absolutely, yes, yes, And it's like now when I go home,
I get the best sleep. Is so peaceful there.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
She knew in the eleventh grade she was gonna be
a CPA. She just knew numbers talk, numbers, talk to
the numbers game. And I always admire that because when
I came out of high school, all I wanted to
be was a truck driver, was a forklift driver. That's
what I wanted to be. I didn't have any aspiration
to be nothing more than a forklift driver. Well, she's
taking that financial literacy to the next level. Then they
(13:59):
call these black Wall Street Black Business Expo. Tell us
what that is all about, Miss.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Jasmin Yak Absolutely so, the Black Wall Street Black Business
Expo is a twofold event. Of course, we want to
honor the excellence that existed in the Greenwood District commonly
known as Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma, back in
the nineteen hundred. Unfortunately, due to racism, that community was
(14:28):
burned down and in Black Wall Street. In the time
of Black Wall Street, that was actually a time where
African Americans exemplified exceptional amounts of wealth. However, since then,
the wealth gap has increased due to the demise of
Black Wall Street. So our event pays homage to our
(14:50):
ancestors who exemplify black excellence through entrepreneurship, but it also
is a call to action for today's entrepreneurs to use
that spirit of Black Wall Street, one to recreate the
generational wealth that existed back then, but also to create
social change and use the black dollar to actually get
(15:14):
legislators to make bills and laws that will allow us
the equity and the social justice that we are, so
it's long overdue for us to receive. So we're using
this event. Go ahead.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Now, why aren't you running for public office? I'm telling you,
I'm just hearing you. You're talking about social change. Ninja
just mentioned politics.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
You out here.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
You have a good sense, you have a very very
marketable personality. You have an engaging tone of of how
you are, your background, and how you're gonna move the
community forward. Why aren't you running for public office?
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Well, I'll be honest with you. Going to school, I
actually hated politics. I hated government, which doesn't make sense
because I spent eleven and a half years of my
life as as a government employee. But I have come
to have a passion for social action, making a difference,
(16:18):
and I realized that for our community, the way for
us to make I guess you could say move the
needle in where we need to be economically is we
have to be civically engaged. The two are are synonymous.
You cannot have one without the other. And it just
(16:40):
goes back to the Black Wall Street store, which was
one of my inspirations. And you know, I'm actually toying
with the idea of actually going to law school I've
ordered my ls At book and I'm thinking that's the
way I want to go, But I would do not.
I don't want to sit for the bar because it's
literally like seeing for the CPA exam, of course without numbers.
(17:01):
But I do want to see us in a better
place than I believe as a community we can be
in a better place because we've done it before, and
Black Wall Street and is an example of it.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Now, when you thought of this idea, what motive did
you have? A did you pitch it to somebody and
they go, what are you talking about?
Speaker 1 (17:17):
What did you think?
Speaker 3 (17:20):
I did not.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
I'll tell you what sparked this. I actually wanted to
do the event in twenty twenty, but COVID hit so
I killed the idea. I tabled it, and then the
murder of George Floyd happened in twenty twenty one, and
I remember it like it was yesterday, because this is
what sparked me wanting to do this event again. And
(17:42):
what sparked it was, you know, corporations start to state
their claims whether they back the blue or whether Black
lives matter. And for those that said they backed the blue,
our community said, okay, well if you back the blue,
we're not going to support you. And some of those
corporations actually changed their stance because we decided that we
weren't going to spend money with them. Right now. If
(18:03):
you're familiar with the financial industry and the African American
buying power, we are the largest group of consumers in
the world, so far corporation to decide, you know what,
if this group of people are not going to support
us because we don't support what their social justice, we
got to change our stance. And it was at that
moment that I knew this is the answer to all
(18:25):
our social injustice issues is recirculating the black dollar in
our community and making those that want our money play
by our rules. And that's why I started the Black
Wall Street Black Business expost.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Congratulations, powerful, powerful our look, powerful our look. Wow. You
know this is an amazing interview. I want to tell
you this. I'm a fan, just be I am the try.
I am sold on your personality, I'm serve on your vision,
I am sold on I am motivated to do or.
(19:00):
The person you're talking to is a person who speaks
walks what he says, he does, and I'm telling you
that Rushan McDonald is in your life okay, and I'm
in your life for real because I can't. I cannot
tell you in words how inspiring you are as an
individual and anything I can do to help spread the
word like I'm doing today right now, I will continue
(19:23):
and I will continue to tell people you are a blessing.
Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversation master Class.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Thank you so much. I appreciate you. Looking forward to
connecting with you.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Oh, you will connects. She's the beast. She a beast.
Let's go and put it out there and tell everybody correctly.
She is the truth and the truth needs to be
told everybody. And thank you for coming on Money Making
Conversation master Class.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Okay, thank you.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation master
Class hosted by me Rashawn McDonald. Thank you to our
guests on the show today, and thank you. I'll listening
to audience now. If you want to listen to any
episode I want to be a guest on the show,
Visit money Making Conversations dot com. Our social media handle
is money Making Conversation. Join us next week and remember
(20:06):
to always leave with your gifts. Keep winning.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
H
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
I am Rashan McDonald, a host the weekly Money Making
Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that the show
provides are for everyone. It's time to stop reading other
people's success stories and start living your own. If you
want to be a guest on my show, please visit
our website, Moneymakingconversations dot com and click the be a
Guest button. Chris submit and information will come directly to me. Now,
(00:24):
let's get this show started. It's kind of like, you know,
motivation has to have a core point. Once you develop
that core point, then you can spread. They call it love.
I call it information. My guest next guest is full
of information. She's a founder and president of the Financial
Literacy Institute, and she will be discussing the anniversary of
(00:46):
the Tulsa massacre and the destruction of the Black Wall
Street and Oklahoma. Plus you'll be telling us how we
can participate. Please welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass. Jasmine Young.
How you doing, Jasmine?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
I'm doing well?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
How are you pretty good? First of all, where you based?
Just get that out the way.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Based out of Atlanta, Georgia?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Are you are you? Are you born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia.
Are you relocated?
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Actually, no, I'm not in an Atlanta Natives. I was
born in Jackson, Alabama and raised in Indian Ridge. It's
about an hour above Mobile, Alabama.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Now Jackson, Alabama. Now you know, I'm from a big city. Okay,
So I have a different point of view versus what
yours might be. So tell us about life in Jackson, Alabama.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Oh, it's very small. Everybody knows everybody. It's just a
very close knit community. We had we do have a Walmart.
That's one of the things that everybody has. We do
have a walmart. We do have traffic lights. But most most,
most of us grew up and lived on our own land,
(01:54):
dirt roads, had farms, you know, things of that native
very very country country.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Now now, and how did you get out of Jackson?
Was it education? A broachraic Jackson, job opportunities? How did
you get out of Jackson? What motivated you get out
of Jackson?
Speaker 1 (02:11):
It was definitely education. I left. I left my hometown
on a full scholarship to Alabama and m University in Huntsville, Alabama.
And I knew that I was going to leave and
actually go to college and be a CTA as early
as the eleventh grade. So I knew that I was
getting out and I was gonna use financial literacy as
(02:34):
a way to do it. And that's exactly what I did.
So I left Jackson, Alabama, and I haven't looked back.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
I love it for all. You still got that accent.
Now you're not getting rid of that accent. Now you're
not going to go to New York and act like
you're in New Yorker now with this accent, po litely not.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
I am a country girl born and braided.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
I love it. I love it.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Now.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
You went to the HBCU, you know, Alabama and m
did that have an impact in your life? Tell us
about that black excellence that they're teaching academically and.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
The h absolutely in a world where we are the minority,
going to a place where we were the majority and
we were treated as such really helped, I would say,
my self esteem. And it also helped how I looked
at myself when it when it came to a professional
in this big world outside of an HBCU, it kind
(03:25):
of built it kind of built me for what was
to come, and especially with the teachers that were there,
they prepared us in a way that I feel like
I would not have been prepared had I not gone
to an HBCU. So there were things that were taught
to us, like survival skills that I don't think I
(03:46):
would have gotten had I went to a had I
chosen a different school. And when I say survival survival skills,
I'm not just talking about, you know, how to provide
for yourself for things of that nature. No, they taught
us how to operate in a world where we aren't
the majority, where systemic racism still exists. They taught us
how to, you know, always be prepared to over deliver
(04:09):
an underpromise, so that you're always on the mark or better.
And it definitely shows. I came out in twenty thirteen
and to say, I'm proud of my classmates and even
those before me and after me have done some amazing
things coming from an HBCU. Whereas when I expressed that
(04:29):
I would be going to an HBCU, I was met
with comments such as, you're so much better than that,
Why would you go there? Why would you limit yourself?
When in actuality, going to an HBCU was the best
thing I ever did, and it didn't limit me It
actually catapulted me into my career and where I am today,
and I wouldn't change the thing.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Sure, you are a motivator, I'm telling you. You know, they
need to put your on tape. You know, they need
to put you like on the billboard right outside of
Alabama A and M.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Yes, sir as, when young.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Shen teach you right, because you know a lot of
people stereotypes, you know, will stop you from being reaching
great heights. Because always that's why I always talk about,
you know, where you came from, because a lot of
people say, you know, they put people a certain educational
reach because it's the same thing small towns in inner city.
(05:22):
Because I came from in the city fifth Ward. That's
why I was born and raised. So people like me
weren't supposed to get out according to them, you know,
people like me, you know, And when I met people,
they go, oh you're different. You know. I never knew
how to take that when they said that, oh you're different,
you know, because because you know, it was always like,
what do you mean different? You know, because my teachers
(05:43):
prepared me to be this way, they told me or
what I could be in high school because if they
didn't tell me these things like your teachers told you
at Alabama and m I'll tell you, I would not
be the person I am today. But they saw something
in me, jazs Whine that allowed me to be to
sit on this microphone and talk to motivating people like you,
(06:03):
because that's the story that you want to be able
to put out that And what inspired me to do
this interview was that your drive about financial literacy spread
financial literacy around the world, one family at a time.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Talk to us about that absolutely. So I learned early
on that my passion for financial literacy was actually going
was actually my purpose. And I'm blessed that both my
passion and my purpose aligned because I had a knack
for numbers going up. I counted everything, even my food particles,
my steps. When I would repeat things to myself, I
(06:39):
had to say on a certain amount of times, just
really really big on numbers. I didn't know that I
had a great uncle who was a math genius, and
apparently it passed down to me, so I knew Back
in high school when I was met with the comment
that everybody wasn't fit with the silverspone like me. It
infuriated me, but infuriated me to make a difference, because
(07:03):
in our actuality, I don't believe I was fit with
the silver sponge. My mom and dad they grew up poor.
I mean, we're already in the country, but my mom
was one of eight. My dad is the baby boy
of seventeen. They were poor, and they didn't have a
lot growing up. But one thing I one thing they
did for my brother and I is they worked very,
very hard.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
They came from eight, they came from eight and seventeen,
and they just had two cats.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
That's it, eight seventeen.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
And you, the baby continue to just throw I just
had to stop that when you said eighteen seventeen and
then only just two of y'all and they all on
the farm.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Okay, but yeah, but we had a lot of cousins
and we grew up on our own land. And I'll
be honest, back then, I was ashamed of where I
came from because I lived on a dirt road. There
was no through traffic. Everybody knew everybody. It was farm,
animals everywhere, trees, bullies, all types of things. And it
wasn't until I actually went to my HBCU and got
(08:05):
it to my career that I realized that I really did,
I really did come from rich heritage, not only the
place that I lived. It's called Indian Ridge, but I'm
an eighth Indian. I had no idea that my grandparents
were Cherokee Indians, had no idea. So we lived on
(08:25):
over seventy eight plus acres of our own land. Back
then as a child, I didn't realize that that was
something to be proud of us. All of these roads.
We walked the roads and ate from eight from the
fruit of the trees, plums, mustardized apples, pears, pigs like
we farmed. We had animals, pigs, horses, chickens like we
(08:49):
had it. But from my standpoint, because I had never
left Jackson, Alabama before I went to college, was this
is country, Like, why can't we live in the city,
you know, a big house we don't have we don't
have cable like, we don't have a pool. You know,
our rolls are dirt roads. But I realized that what
my parents gave my brother and I was a basic
(09:12):
foundation of how to be a responsible financial adult. And
they surrounded themselves with people that had the financial education
that they wanted to have. And then they also held
each other accountable for the finances in the household, even
down to me and my brother. My dad would give
us two people. My dad was always gone before we
got up to go to school because people already at work,
(09:34):
but he would leave two twenty dollars bills two twenty
dollars bills on the table, and my brother and I
knew that outside of any school requirement, if we wanted
to buy anything, whether it was gas for the car,
to get the band, practice, basketball practice, softball practice, whatever snacks, anything,
we had to make that twenty dollars work because we
(09:55):
weren't getting in this and it was it was actually
that budget that my dad gave us. To this day,
my parents have never purchased a cell phone for me.
Every minute I had on my cell phone back then,
and I'm dave myself a little bit, but the minutes
that I had on my phone back then, I purchased
them because my dad taught me, hey, look this is
all you need. You got to figure out how to
(10:16):
make it work. And it was that example that allowed
us to be able to have the things that we
wanted to have, and to my peers, because they weren't
getting it, it looked as if I was privileged or
if I was fed with a still response.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass, hosted by Rashaan McDonald's money Making Conversations Masterclass
continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making
(10:54):
Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
When in actuality, my parents gave my brother an example,
and that was it, and I realized that I wanted
to That's that's actually when I decided that I wasn't
gonna gonna become a professional singer. Mayor Michael Jackson. I
was asked, it gonna be a CPA.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Okay, can you sing? Though? Can you sing those Jasmine?
Speaker 1 (11:17):
You know I can hold the tunes.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
You know.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
All those others will say different, but you know, I've
been singing since I was five years old. It's not
something that I do often anymore. I did sing a
lot in Hunt of you. Well, you know, when.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
You're a kid, they let you sing. As you get older,
they'll tell you. The truth, okay, you.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Is that I sung, and I sung in college, and
I also sang on the praise team at my church.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Praise team. Now praise t is a lot of people now,
and there's a lot of energy.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Okay, yeah, but you know that's when I decided. And
I come from a musically inclent family.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Okay, okay, now they got the musical in clent family
and then mathematically in clent family, and you one eighth
with your one age Cherokee. Yes, you're working at it.
You're working it, first of all. First of all, Jasmine, Yo,
this is an incredible interview from an authentic tone, you know,
because of the fact that you were telling me who
(12:13):
you are. You're honestly breaking down with I think coming
folk talk, coming folk talk, because that's all I was offered,
you know. And I would complain. I would complain about
the clothes I wear. I would complain about everything, not
realizing that my parents did not allow anybody in our
house to curse. We couldn't curse. I didn't, I tell
(12:35):
people today, I did not utter a curse word till
I was nineteen years old. Nineteen years old because my
parents raised me that way. But I thought, oh my god,
this is the worst. But in the process of raising
me that way. I had to speak correctly. I had
this No, I had to have a vernacular because I
always tell people you curse, you use you like using
(12:58):
five words with a fire word, because it just shortcuts
your your intellect and shortcuts your ability to communicate. And
so when I hear your story, and I remember going
because I'm from Houston, Texas, and we'd go at to
Bowizier and Shreeport, Louisia, and we see black people on
the farm and they had little you know, the outhouses
and the little pain by the bed, and I would go,
(13:20):
what the heck is going on here? I can't get
away from here. But I realize now all my life,
I've been trying to get back to that Jasmine.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Absolutely, yes, yes, And it's like now when I go home,
I get the best sleep. Is so peaceful there.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
She knew in the eleventh grade she was gonna be
a CPA. She just knew numbers talk, numbers, talk to
the numbers game. And I always admire that because when
I came out of high school, all I wanted to
be was a truck driver, was a forklift driver. That's
what I wanted to be. I didn't have any aspiration
to be nothing more than a forklift driver. Well, she's
taking that financial literacy to the next level. Then they
(13:59):
call these black Wall Street Black Business Expo. Tell us
what that is all about, Miss.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Jasmin Yak Absolutely so, the Black Wall Street Black Business
Expo is a twofold event. Of course, we want to
honor the excellence that existed in the Greenwood District commonly
known as Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma, back in
the nineteen hundred. Unfortunately, due to racism, that community was
(14:28):
burned down and in Black Wall Street. In the time
of Black Wall Street, that was actually a time where
African Americans exemplified exceptional amounts of wealth. However, since then,
the wealth gap has increased due to the demise of
Black Wall Street. So our event pays homage to our
(14:50):
ancestors who exemplify black excellence through entrepreneurship, but it also
is a call to action for today's entrepreneurs to use
that spirit of Black Wall Street, one to recreate the
generational wealth that existed back then, but also to create
social change and use the black dollar to actually get
(15:14):
legislators to make bills and laws that will allow us
the equity and the social justice that we are, so
it's long overdue for us to receive. So we're using
this event. Go ahead.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Now, why aren't you running for public office? I'm telling you,
I'm just hearing you. You're talking about social change. Ninja
just mentioned politics.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
You out here.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
You have a good sense, you have a very very
marketable personality. You have an engaging tone of of how
you are, your background, and how you're gonna move the
community forward. Why aren't you running for public office?
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Well, I'll be honest with you. Going to school, I
actually hated politics. I hated government, which doesn't make sense
because I spent eleven and a half years of my
life as as a government employee. But I have come
to have a passion for social action, making a difference,
(16:18):
and I realized that for our community, the way for
us to make I guess you could say move the
needle in where we need to be economically is we
have to be civically engaged. The two are are synonymous.
You cannot have one without the other. And it just
(16:40):
goes back to the Black Wall Street store, which was
one of my inspirations. And you know, I'm actually toying
with the idea of actually going to law school I've
ordered my ls At book and I'm thinking that's the
way I want to go, But I would do not.
I don't want to sit for the bar because it's
literally like seeing for the CPA exam, of course without numbers.
(17:01):
But I do want to see us in a better
place than I believe as a community we can be
in a better place because we've done it before, and
Black Wall Street and is an example of it.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Now, when you thought of this idea, what motive did
you have? A did you pitch it to somebody and
they go, what are you talking about?
Speaker 1 (17:17):
What did you think?
Speaker 3 (17:20):
I did not.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
I'll tell you what sparked this. I actually wanted to
do the event in twenty twenty, but COVID hit so
I killed the idea. I tabled it, and then the
murder of George Floyd happened in twenty twenty one, and
I remember it like it was yesterday, because this is
what sparked me wanting to do this event again. And
(17:42):
what sparked it was, you know, corporations start to state
their claims whether they back the blue or whether Black
lives matter. And for those that said they backed the blue,
our community said, okay, well if you back the blue,
we're not going to support you. And some of those
corporations actually changed their stance because we decided that we
weren't going to spend money with them. Right now. If
(18:03):
you're familiar with the financial industry and the African American
buying power, we are the largest group of consumers in
the world, so far corporation to decide, you know what,
if this group of people are not going to support
us because we don't support what their social justice, we
got to change our stance. And it was at that
moment that I knew this is the answer to all
(18:25):
our social injustice issues is recirculating the black dollar in
our community and making those that want our money play
by our rules. And that's why I started the Black
Wall Street Black Business expost.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Congratulations, powerful, powerful our look, powerful our look. Wow. You
know this is an amazing interview. I want to tell
you this. I'm a fan, just be I am the try.
I am sold on your personality, I'm serve on your vision,
I am sold on I am motivated to do or.
(19:00):
The person you're talking to is a person who speaks
walks what he says, he does, and I'm telling you
that Rushan McDonald is in your life okay, and I'm
in your life for real because I can't. I cannot
tell you in words how inspiring you are as an
individual and anything I can do to help spread the
word like I'm doing today right now, I will continue
(19:23):
and I will continue to tell people you are a blessing.
Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversation master Class.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Thank you so much. I appreciate you. Looking forward to
connecting with you.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Oh, you will connects. She's the beast. She a beast.
Let's go and put it out there and tell everybody correctly.
She is the truth and the truth needs to be
told everybody. And thank you for coming on Money Making
Conversation master Class.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Okay, thank you.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation master
Class hosted by me Rashawn McDonald. Thank you to our
guests on the show today, and thank you. I'll listening
to audience now. If you want to listen to any
episode I want to be a guest on the show,
Visit money Making Conversations dot com. Our social media handle
is money Making Conversation. Join us next week and remember
(20:06):
to always leave with your gifts. Keep winning.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
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