Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Lawrence Phillips.
Purpose of the Interview
Key Takeaways
-
Background & Career Shift
- Phillips studied Electrical Engineering at Georgia Tech and worked at Accenture in IT consulting for nearly a decade.
- Despite career success, he felt unfulfilled and decided to pursue his passion for travel, leading to the creation of Green Book Global.
-
Travel Experience
- Traveled to 30+ countries across all seven continents, including Antarctica, in less than a year.
- Realized the need for a platform addressing “traveling while Black” concerns—safety, cultural acceptance, and inclusivity.
-
Green Book Global
- Inspired by the historical Green Book (1936–1966), which guided Black travelers during segregation.
- Offers city-level Black-friendly scores, road trip planners, and Black-owned restaurant recommendations.
- Over 150,000 app downloads in 2025; partnered with Expedia; strong social media presence.
-
Black Ambition Program
- Program provided funding opportunities and a transformative Evoke Wellness experience.
- His personal “why” statement:
“I’m a protective and innovative steward of Black restoration and healing.”
-
Impact & Vision
- Advocates systemic change by partnering with destinations to improve inclusivity.
- Highlights the economic power of Black travelers (over $140 billion annually).
- Encourages Black travelers to explore global opportunities beyond U.S. racial constraints.
Notable Quotes
- “You can be successful and still not be happy.” — On leaving a lucrative career for passion.
- “I’m a protective and innovative steward of Black restoration and healing.” — His guiding principle.
- “There’s riches in niches.” — On unapologetically focusing on Black travelers.
- “Just because somebody said no doesn’t mean they said no to you—they said no at that time.” — On persistence in entrepreneurship.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi. Rashan McDonald host this weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass show.
The interviews and information that this show provides off for everyone.
It's time to stop reading other people's success stories and
start living your own now. If you want to be
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(00:20):
a guest button. If you're a small business owner, entrepreneur,
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Speaker 2 (00:27):
Let's get started. My guess is the.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Founder of green book Global, the first and only travel
review website and mobile app that enables black travel to
plan trips with confidence and less anxiety. Provided they will
user generated travel insights from the black perspective. Please welcome
to Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Lawrence Phillips. How you doing, Lawrence? Hey?
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Everyone a just happy to be here, so thank you,
Thank you so much for the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
A black travel perspective. Insights you know, give you a little
black ground about me. I cruised a lot lady cruise ships.
You know, I'm older than you. So black people are
here by family union. Black people love to travel in
the summertime. I know that for a fact for sure.
You know why black travel app Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Why?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
So it all started back in twenty fifteen. I was
working at Accenture doing it consulting, got promoted, super excited.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Like, yeah, I got mooted.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
It was your career guy, Yes, yeah, forty hour week sixty.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
So I was actually flying back doing travel between Atlanta
and San Diego. Okay, I'm going back and forth for
about two years, so amazing project, learned a lot, but
I got burnt out, and so that's where I was like,
you know what, guys, thanks for promoting me. But I
quit and so I travel the world for about a year.
I did thirty plus countries and all seven continents, including
an Arctica. So I was hanging out with them penguins.
(01:52):
But as a black traveler, like it became very clear
to me, I was nervous going to some places. I
was like, like black people over there, like right, happened
over and over again. Yeah, and so it's like I
want to make sure I'm traveled, I have a good time.
And so I was like, I really wish there's a
platform that can provide insights on like what the travel
well black experience could be like just to give me
like a little bit more comfort, increase my confidence a
(02:13):
little bit for going.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
To the destination.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
And so that's kind of where the idea came from,
that around the world trip. And I always tell this
one story. I met a young lady at a hostel
and she told me we're talking about chocolate because I
just love chocolate.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
I just you know, I just talk chocolate. I just
leve me some chocolate.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Starting the conversation at the hostel and she's like, oh, well,
we're in Paris and she's like, well, you should go
to Brussels in Belgium. And I was like, well, I
don't know what the Brustols in Belgium is, Like what
does that mean?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Right?
Speaker 3 (02:38):
And then she's playing on what's the city, like it's
not too far from from France from Paris. So I
was like okay, but like is it cool if I
go there? Like like am I cool? Because she was
a black woman and I'm like like, oh, you'll be fine, right,
And so within twenty four hours I was in Brussels.
But I needed that head nod to be like, oh no,
that's good, you'd be straight and I get that additional
confidence just to kind of move forward. That's what the
idea of the platform is, to give you that additional
(02:59):
confident that's to help you feel more comfortable.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Well, you know, let's before we get in further with
the conversation.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
The Green Book.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
The name Green Book has a certain degree of history.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
There's associated with.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Black travel in the United States and racism and talk
about the history of the Green Book.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Yeah, So when I first learned about the Green Book,
I was like, why is it not called the Black Book,
like and it's for black people called the Black Book.
But Victor Hugo Green, he actually was a postman back
in the nineteen thirties that actually started the Green Book.
So it was called the Negro Motorists Green Book, and
essentially it was the Black tribal Bible during Jim Crown segregation,
so told black people with restaurants that could go to hotels,
(03:37):
gas stations, they you know, towns to avoid called like
sundown towns. So it really was just a tool that
would provide safety and comfort and also dignity for black travelers.
And so that's why we are continuing the legacy and
calling get the Green Book because we're doing it with
an app, right, but we allow black people to review
cities on how black friendly they are. So that's why
(03:58):
it's all about black friendliness and user generated scores, because
black people go to different cities all across the world,
not in us, say we travel, but now we can
leave reviews about our experience. So if I'm nervous going someplace,
or if i had a great time going someplace, either
way you can contribute to the community. Because traveling is
part of our mental health regime. Right, It's a way
to take a break to unwind, and so if we
(04:19):
have that fear, then we're not going to be able
to unwind like.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Other groups are.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
So it's a way to hopefully have us be able
to kind of enjoy that travel like other groups.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Yeah, before we're getting in more detailed by great book Globe,
we'll talk about you a little bit, Moore. Background on you,
your education, give us some history.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Yeah, so I am from Boston, Patriots fan all day.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Yes, we're doing it right now.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
I live in Atlanta currently, but I went to Georgia
Tech electrical engineering degree after high school in Boston. Then
I worked at Accenture for about almost ten years to
that around the world trip and then lived in New
York actually for a while as well. And kind of
a connection between The Green Book and me living in
New York is so Victor Huge Green used to live
in Harlem when he created The Green Book, and I
was maybe, like maybe in my second apartment, I was
(05:07):
probably like five bucks away from where he lived. But
the more interesting part is that him and his wife
got married on September eighth, and me and my wife
got married on September eighth. Congratulators, And I was like, oh,
I might be doing the right thing if this is
all happening at this point. So those are kind of
like those head nods that you know, I think I'm
in the right place. And then we eventually moved back
down to Atlanta. I've been down here for the last
(05:27):
few years. So Georgia Tech Grad were also doing pretty
good a football too.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
So all this self hype, yeah, but you, but you
when you talk about your career moves. And that's what
we talked about on the show Money Making Conversations Master Class,
because a lot people make decisions, a lot of people
have work spaces, they're not happy. A lot of people
ideas that people have told them your fool if you
try that. You said, yeah, that it is a successful job,
(05:55):
got a promotion and you said I'm out and you
went on vacation. Basically, what did your friends, family, a
loved one say when you were making that decision process
and when you made the decision process to change for
your life to make you happy.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Yeah, disclaimer, I'm not telling you when to go quit
their job. I don't say you listen to podcast, I'm
quitting my job. No being saying I'm telling them too,
I'm telling you.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
I would tell people that, you know, fear drives a
lot of bad decisions, and you had to overcome fear.
And that's what this question is about. Better on myself.
You bet on yourself. But fears, tears creep in, creeps in, right,
and then they sayers creep in and a lot of
the name shares can be people. Did you consider the
mentors or loved ones?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Coworkers, yeah, yeah, so my coores like, wait, what are
you doing? It's like where you're going, it's like it's
not compute, it's not compute. And then family, of course,
well I would say family. They got eustony traveling. They're
like yeah, he's just be jetsoning wherever he be going.
So there was obviously was still very nervous. And also
my girlfriend at the time, who I did marry, so
(07:06):
it is my wife just me to bring that full
circle back.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
She was like, yeah, what are you doing right?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
And so she actually was in business school and so
I made the parallel where you know, I did Georgia Tech,
got my degree. Don't really need me find myself going
back to like school again. But I said, like, this
travel experience to me was school, right, So that's what
I was using as my kind of next tier of
investing in me was like one not only is a
mental health break, but too I talked to God and
I was like, yeah, I feel like something's gonna happen
(07:32):
on this trip. And that's kind of what I mean
by betting on myself. I said, I don't know what's
going to happen on this trip, but I feel like
I'm gonna get some idea, I'm gonna I'm gonna feel something,
think something from this trip, and eventually that ended up
being green Book Global. So I think it's important to
And also I had like I didn't just like do
this on a whim. So that's why I'm also saying
no picture job. Necessarily, I saved money, So I've been
(07:55):
saving up for a time because I when I did
the travel, and I used to meet a lot of
Europeans that did this gap year where they would travel
around the world, but they did it like after college,
and I was like, well, I ain't got money after college,
so I ain't doing that. So that gave me, right, yeah,
back the way I want to go.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
So I was like, okay, well I can't do it now,
but maybe I can do it when I'm older, So
I started saving. I also had a lot of frequent
flyer miles from doing all the traveling with eccenture, right,
and so Delta actually had an around the world ticket
that allowed me to go around the world for I
think it was like eighty thousand miles or something like that,
for one hundred and twenty thousand miles.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
They got rid of that program. Really, yeah, it's not
do anymore.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Some of the other ones, I think, like American Airlines
might have it still, like it's the one air program.
But I used that to help offset the costs, right,
and then I also rented out my spot too. So
I found different ways to try to like subsidize the cost,
so it was somewhat responsible, but it was still really
like me betting on myself and just saying I need
this for me. This is for me and for nobody else.
(08:52):
This is me being selfish.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
This is for me.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
And so when you're hearing this conversation about betting on yourself,
you didn't like jump out on faith. It was a
planned executed money saved, but basically a change of a
change of space for you.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Personally, right, Yeah, absolutely, I remember. Also I felt comfortable
doing it because I felt like I hit a moustone, sir,
Because on that project, I got to go on a
private jet, so I had to wake up really early
though it was like an eighth person private jet.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I had to go meet the client. I was like,
you know what, brother, this dude from Dorchester and Boston.
Hey you all right? You good?
Speaker 3 (09:27):
So I felt like a sense of accomplishment there. Also
after you're getting promoted as well. So I think it's
a very personal decision, right, And I think it's just
important even if you want to do it for a
month or for a week, right, Like it's just planned
for it, right, because I think you will feel better
and kind of feel refreshed.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Cool. I was speaking to.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
The founder of the green Book Global, the first and
only travel review website and mobile after that enables black
travelers like himself to plan trips with confidence and less anxiety,
providing user generated travel insights from the black perspective. Talk
about their experience, Talk about the website, Talk about that app. Yeah,
you mentioned twenty fifteen twenty seventeen, which was actually founded.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Correct, twenty fifteen is when that first piece of code
started being written. But I had to go through developer
after developer, and then it took to about twenty eighteen
type of stable website because it crashed multiple times, had
to be redone multiple times. And then twenty twenty we
kind of did a rebrand and then twenty twenty, twenty
twenty two, twenty twenty three, we got into the Expedy
(10:25):
Accelerator program. And so that was really great for us
because it helped us really lean in our value proposition
because I'll be honest, right, like, being unapologetically black in
America is like, oh should I do it? Like I
don't know what people are going to say, And so
Expedia actually helped us lean into It's like, no, that's
your value prop like lean into that and don't don't
go back on it. And then also because we were
called the Green Book, that also gave us like more authority.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
I will if you will.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Because initially we were just marketing to like young professionals.
Then it's like, well, you know, I talk black, I
speak like I'm black, So it's like black professionals were going,
they're black young professionals. Then it just started being black professionals.
They started just being black people, and I was like
marking the black people. You got a little travel about
black school on here and just kind of got all
the way in and so then it kind of evolved
into like so it's really.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Important that people understand that, you know, if you're selling something,
to make sure who you're selling it too.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
You at first had a narrow cell and you expanded it.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
When did that black bulb pop out pop up above
your head?
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Just like my audience. So it just resonated with that audience.
So I just did young professionals everybody, but especially like
on social media's where I started with Instagram, and I
would just be reposting like people, but it's like mostly
black people, most black people are in the comments, and
I'm like, well, I prefer to talk about this anyway
from a black perspective, and so I gave myself the
grace to change, right, And so eventually, like we were
(11:45):
young professionals, we kind of like did like a little loop,
like we went, we went kind of narrow, then we
kind of opened it back up, but in a very
specific segment of just black people in particular in the USA.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Nevertin on Lawrence, Now, I want to hear clearly, like
you said with Shine, I don't know if I wanted
to to talk black. You know, publicly, I'm a black man,
proud black person, but how does that translate to how
people were.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Going to react to be trolled?
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Might be called a racist because I am pro black,
I'm trying. I'm trying to get information on people who
want pro black information, things like that what got you
over the hall?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Yeah, that definitely made me me nervous.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
But also like, and there have been some comments that
I have gotten, not a lot, but I have got
some comments to people I'm like, really like, is it
really that? And so I think it was just time, right,
I think being time in the space. And also like
the conviction of like, well, this is actually making a difference.
I get emails and text message were not texting emails
from people say like hey, like this has really helped
or hey like I want to use this to help
(12:45):
me play my next trip, And so getting those it
is like, oh, this is actually making a difference. And
so that kind of gave me the tenacity and the
determination to continue doing it. And then it's just also
us basic Black travelers spend a lot of money. This
is about one hundred and forty billion dollar black travel market.
So one thing is that we wanted, like I wanted
to talk to black people, and then there's a lot
of data that says, oh you should because there's a
(13:06):
lot of money, and.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
I'm like, oh that's great. Perfect. So it kind of
like tied in really well.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
But I think it just took me time, and it
took me people that saw the traction, saw the vision
that I was kind of conveying and say like no,
like lean into that. So it took a community to
really help me feel comfortable and also took time for
helping me feel comfortable.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Please don't go anywhere.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
We'd be right back with more money making Conversations Master Class.
Welcome back to Money Making Conversation Mastered Class with me
Rashaun McDonald. Well, you know it's Money Making Conversations Master Class. Now,
how do you make money doing what you do?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah? Absolutely so?
Speaker 3 (13:43):
On green Book, what makes this unique is that we
allow black people to review cities and how what it's
like travel while black. Right, So every city on the
app is usually generated. It comes from black people that
travel all around the world, and they actually give a
score out of five stars of like what the experience
was travel while black. But then there's also like an
adventure score, an affordability score, a local food score, relaxation score, right,
(14:06):
and so with that, we want to give you the
insights that you typically can't get anywhere else. Once you
get those insights, now you can book a trip. So
we have brands like Expedia and Priceline and Marriott on
it that you can book a trip with and that
gives us a commission.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Right right, right, right, So you're working with the top
tier travel booking services for hotels. Yes, for when you
get into those platforms, they give your car rental options
and all those things. So that allows anybody to come
on to your site to know that you're working with
the best. But it all started with Expediors Accelerated Program
(14:42):
and like you said, that's why it was important that
they wanted you a pis is because you were unapologetically black.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Correct.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Yeah, So the accelebrated program that they had actually was
focused with the documendum for we're about underserved markets. So
it was like LGBTQ startups in the travel space, women's startups,
accessibility startup, So like that was the entire cohort. I
was the only one focused on black travel. And so
I think it's media has like a line of sight
of saying like, hey, you know these things actually work,
(15:10):
then this will be maybe a good acquisition down the line.
So Bookings is definitely something that we do. We also
have a and we give cash back to our users
as well, and that also leads us into our nonprofit program,
which we can talk about in a minute as well.
But we also have a premium subscription. Right so because
it's Black Friday and the holiday season, re actually launching
like gifting the Green Book, which gives you all the
(15:30):
premium features on the app. Right, So we have like
a road trip planner that's really bringing it back to
the original Green Book of like driving while Black, So
it really has pin scores that says, hey, green means
great for that city, yell it means average, right means
not so good or a sundown town. And so it's
all user generators. If you look on the map, you
won't see a lot of red in the USA. But
what you can do with that feature is you actually
(15:51):
can figure out what your route, what tis you are
going through.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
You can't an avoid button and avoid certain cities.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
You also can add black on restaurants onto your writer
as well, so we get.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Like he did, like Frank did many many years right right.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
And so we actually partner with another company called the
Okra to get those restaurants because I'm not about bringing
a tech ecosystem and not trying to do everything on
my own. But from the premium subscription standpoint, you basically
get a certain amount of free routes per month and
then you could upgrade cool.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
I'm traveling coming up here with my family or we're
going to Charleston, South Carolina. So so my whole thought
process is that I go, I download your app.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
I can download ther app. Correct, Yes you can. It's
in the app Store right now today green Book Global.
Give us five stars.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Type in green Book Global, downloaded, put it in, and
then what do I do?
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Now?
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Do I have to register password? Use your name and passwords?
Speaker 3 (16:42):
So there'll be a couple of onboarding questions where we
got to make sure like you're a legit person because
we don't want bots on there. So I'm actually like, well,
we'll actually like, you know how many times you travel air?
What are your favorite brands, you know, with your travel style,
things like that to get an idea because we have
groups on the app, and so it's a way for
us to kind of understand like what are community actually wants.
And then once you get into the app, there's a
(17:02):
search button type of Charleston, South Carolina, and then you
will see reviews and scores for black people that have
been to Charleston, South Carolina.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Ok, what about places to stay in restaurants? Will that
be under there as well? So how does that work?
So we do that with AI? So you know, got talking.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
About AI, right, Everyone got to have some AI. I'm
a tech company, you gotta have AI. So we actually
have AI and this is on the app right now.
So there's an AI button you click AI, it actually
will look at those reviews and then build you not
itinerating in about thirty seconds, either a one day.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Or three day I itenerate you see. You know, now
I'm excited, but I'm also confused. Okay, okay, okay, Now,
so I've downloaded APP. I'm ready, got my family, we're rolling. Okay,
So Charles, South Carolina. Now what confused me was when
you went to AI real click real quick, and then
you say that builds you, not itinerary. That sounds very simple,
(17:53):
but I don't know what you're asking.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Me to do. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
So when you go into it, you'll see Charleston, South Carolina.
You'll see the scores that I talked about, my black
Score just score. You'll scroll down a little bit and
you'll see like booking options right because we talked about
with Marriott Expedia. Scroll down a little bit more, you'll
see reviews. You'll see like comments that people have left,
you'll see pictures that they have taxed. And so with
this AI there, So there's an AI button like right
there in the corner. And what that does is instead
(18:17):
of reading all the reviews, it actually will read the
reviews for you and make an itinerary for you just
the click of a button. So it's literally like two
clicks and it'll give it about thirty seconds and it
will build out day by day what it recommends that
you should do. Okay, it happens, yeah, very fast. So
it's a way to kind of optimize your time to
be able to kind of reduce your planning time and
(18:37):
have a more enjoy even travel more than like doing
the planning part.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Now you know this.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
First of all, thank you for building this app, green
Book Global. What's the name of the app. I'm talking
to Lawrence Phillips. The great thing about entrepreneurship in general oils.
What's the bigger what's the bigger picture? It feels like
it's a bigger picture.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
When I'm talking about you see now you got me
fixed myself talking about the bigger picture. Yeah, so it's
a couple of things, right, So ultimately systemic change that.
So if you think about US based black travelers, they
spend one hundred and forty five billion dollars on travel, right,
And so I think people may or may not want
to do the good thing, the right thing, but if
money is behind it, then they will do whatever that
(19:17):
money would push them to do so if we're able
to get some of that one hundred and forty five
billion dollars flowing through the app. From a booking standpoint, right,
we work with brands and we work with destinations. So
on a destination level, I can say, hey, we got
billions of dollars of bookings coming through our app, so
we would love to highlight your destination through our community.
But what are you doing for the community, right, Because
here's here's use case. It's a case that we've done
(19:38):
with other cities and look how much impact has had.
We would love to do something with your community. But
what are you doing? And if you're not doing anything yet,
how can we help you do that so we can
actually make this connection happen. The money's talking from that perspective.
The other thing is with our So our goal is
safety and empowerment. So we talk about empowerment, we'll also
want to work on nonprofits. And so we were thinking like, hey,
(19:59):
we got to be the one to empower everyone, Like, nah,
that's too much work. Be amazing nonprofits in the black
community that are doing great things. And so I think
what twenty twenty five has taught us is that we
might have built our house at a straw after Civil
Rights because everything came tumbling down with one quick blow
as far as funding goes. So the government has kind
of pulled back with funding when you can even say
the word black right corporations have pulled back, and so
(20:21):
I think it's an opportunity for us to realize how
can we depend on each other to help us raise
So the whole idea of that billion dollars coming through
the app now, right, if you're a part of it,
like let's say at Urban League or some other nonprofit right,
and you have members, if they travel through the app,
what we did is we started a program that said
when your members travel, is that that commission going back
to you as the user, They go back to your nonprofit.
So now you can go to bor or Bor, you
(20:42):
can go to Charleston, South Carolina, you're booking on the app,
and your favorite nonprofit is getting funded. So those are
some of the ways that we are we are. And
then the last thing is like with the brands, right,
so now we can say hey, ex speeding, you're you know,
we're doing great here, but maybe booking dot com, hey,
we can come together. So it kind of allowows them
to have visibility on the impact of our dollars and
(21:02):
then say, well, give us a high percentage so we
get back to our community. Right, So it makes money
talk money making moves right. So that's kind of the
idea systemically is by allowing that money to flow to
help us kind of bring about systemic change.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Let's talk about because I'm I love to travel, you know,
like I said, I was a performing comedian on cruise
ships and traveled this country. And I believe me, I
understand when you say there's certain areas of the country. Well, mischie,
if I go to Mississippi, even today Alabama, there is
a thought in the back and lind whether it's real
(21:36):
or not, whether I am safe, whether I should be
worried about the speed limit or work cock polls over.
You know, is he pulling me over because I'm or
should I get out of line? So so so people
can hear this interview and go, oh, what is he
talking about? Yes, there's a reality that we have to
deal with because of the color of our skin. Now
(21:57):
you talk about when I when I think about you know,
they have so many different things out They have family
re union spots, family spots, single places for single couples.
Do you offer those type of options on your app
or that's something you're looking to build.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
So we actually have a travel style, So if you
go to Charleston, South Carolina, you can actually filter by
the people that have left reviews.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Okay, so you can say, hey, I love.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Adventure, I want to see what all the adventure seekers
are saying about Okay, I want to see what all
the family travelers are saying about it, right, So you
can actually filter out those reviews. So the more reviews
we get, you know, the more data that we have
to pull from. So we're close to almost ten thousand
reviews across all seven contidents.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
But so yeah, that's the way.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
And so kind of to your point about kind of
that fear piece, right, so are our models information to safety? Right,
that's kind of the idea. So we don't really encourage
or discourage you to go anywhere. Right, If you want to.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Go to a sundowntown, be my guest. I do not.
I am not going, especially with my family. You can
pull up if you want to.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
But now you have insights to people that have been
to this city to give you the in from for
you to pull up or for you to hit that
button and do avoid and go around.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Right.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
But that's the whole idea of information and safety. Give
you some information you can't get so you can have
a safer, more enjoyable travel experience.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Right now.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
You know, when I when I look at the filtering process,
that excites me. And that's why I think that it's
important that we as travelers want to go out there,
get to our destination, and come back with the experience
that we can share with everybody. Now, man, I went
down there, was scared to death the whole time. I
never go back, And that's what that's what this is
not about. This also is also maybe to to in
(23:35):
some stereotypes. There's certain areas that have been landmarked as
untravelable locations for black people really have been just benchmarked incorrectly.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Are the It's changed.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
It's changed, like Miami was a sundown town when you
think about Miami and now I'm not. I mean, I'm
sure there's still systemic things that are in place that
are there, but you're not thinking about being afraid of
Miami if you're trying to go out in Miami as
free opposite, right.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Oh, definitely in Miami. You're trying to get.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Things change, and that's kind of the idea like this,
So we want to do some historical data, but the
main value proposition is recent travels to these places.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
So let's talk about the popularity of there's app you
know to launch, like say, yeah, reach out about twenty twenty.
You know, were rolling and crash a little bit everybody.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
You know, I'm an electric engineer, new little coding.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
You got some more colders in and we'll we'll full
flight operation. What are downloads and with your app? And
how do you track that? You talk just throughout the
word ten thousand reviews. Let's talk about that because in
any dream, you know, you want.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
It to happen overnight.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
But then when it feels like it's a reality, when
did it really feel like?
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Man, I got something here? I didn't.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
I didn't see it being this big, but I can
see it being even bigger.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Talk about it.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Yeah, I feel like the reality is still settling again
because I feel like we've gotten I feel like I've
gotten something years ago. But you still want to see
more of an impact because those emails that I get
are like, oh, man, like you're using it. I know
people are using it, so we get over like one
hundred and fifty thousand downloads just this year in twenty
twenty five for probably closer like one to seventy five,
now ranked top thirty in the app store and for travel,
(25:13):
and again we've partnered with Expedia and other brands as well,
So like those things hundred fifty yeah, twenty twenty five,
not not counting all the other ones, just twenty twenty five.
And that is just the word about so social media. Yeah,
so funny enough word of mouth. I go to sometimes
events I forgot. I went to something at Georgia Tech
and I talked to people about green Book and it's like, waity,
(25:34):
I know that app, and that's like, yo, my mom
told me to download this app. That happened like twice
to me. Whereas like people are saying, like, download the
app because it's really about you know, feeling safer and
having that those insights. Actually, someone actually reached out today
about having a I didn't talk about this. We have
different groups on the app too. So first of all,
we focus unapologetically on black right, but we know there's
lyric toy, you right, family, travel, accessibility, you know, and
(25:58):
so we actually had someone reach out and say, can
you make a Muslim group on the app? Like they're
black travelers, but you know, some of those same concerns
being Muslim. So I was like, oh, that's great idea, right,
and so we're working on just adding that group to
the app. So we want to make sure unapologetically focused
on black, but then try to take care of those
other layers as well, because we want to bring the whole.
We want to make sure the whole you can come
onto the app right, right, And.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
The bottom line is just safety and also feeling comfortable. Yeah,
and when you when you when you go about traveling yourself,
you know, I told you and I was spoken about
because I didn't know when I came out of high school.
When I finally went to Paris, France, you know, it
changed my life because if i'd known about Paris, because
(26:40):
you know, when you're in high school, you have no
option to learn Spanish. And I went French, I would
never use French, French French and realized that by going
there I went, I was. I was so comfortable, I
was the culture was so inviting, and I saw a
lot of people like me in France. I was like okay, wow,
and so but that's what the whole purpose, that's what
(27:02):
I love so much. That's where you're sitting on this
show on Money Making Conversations master Class. Because we spend
our money sometimes domestically because we're afraid of the experience
international and we might run over to Jamaica because they
look like us and slide down to Mexico a little
landage bermmuta, let's go go to the But what I'm
(27:26):
saying that we'll stay in a certain area because we're comfortable,
and that we're comfortable because I'm gonna use the word,
we're ignorant, dude, reality that's really out there that we
should travel to talk to.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Like I said, it's the lack of information, right, and
so because you might see information on other travel platforms,
we're like, but what about us? Like I said in
that hostel, people might love going to Brussels to get
some chocolate, but what about us?
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Right right right right, right right right. We might love
going to Paris, but what about us?
Speaker 3 (27:53):
And so once you figure out like, oh, we are
actually out there, we actually have communities out there, businesses
out there.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
It's like, oh, oh snap, let me go out there.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Then right, and so that's kind of the whole idea.
It's just like what about us? That's that's what green
Book Global is for. It's to very specifically focused on
black people feeling the more comfortable because the world is
our easter too.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Right. You know what I love about your Lawrence is
that you're doing what you love. You You're highly educating.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
You went to college, came down from Boston, went to
are very difficult academically trained school at Georgia Tech, got
a degree that most people were like envy, and but
you would like, my degree is in mathematics, my mind
is in sociology. Were for IBM, and I decided to
lead to be a stand up comedian.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
People will figure what you will. But I wasn't noting.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
I wasn't happy, I wasn't satisfied, and I was looking
around and I would tell you it was a lot
of people did more complaining about what they were doing
than waiting to go on vacation and calling in sick.
And I'm going, that's not the lifestyle.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
I want.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
I wake up, Lawrence, and I want to come to work.
In fact, I'm mad that I have to go to
sleep to wake up. And so that is what's driving
you right now. You're really a happy person, right.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Yeah, I'm generally speaking like a positive individual. So I
think that's also the culture that I want green Book
Global to to have, right, It's like it does make
me extremely happy because I mean, I'm kind of a deek,
like I like, I like, I don't cold, but I'm like, wen,
go ahead and test this new feature. What else can
I think about here?
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Right?
Speaker 3 (29:22):
I like doing social media too, but I like being
behind the scenes talking about developers, like I literally get
joy out of like new features, and so like you said,
like it's I'm enjoying what I'm doing, right, And and
the idea of us being like a tech company that
does black travel, I think it's what was to make
a stand apart because I'm really big about like technology,
how to implement that and how to try to present
the best product for our community for us to just
(29:43):
you know, be able to feel more comfortable to explore.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
My other question would be to you would be and
thank you for doing my show? Is cause you say
you have filters on there. It almost feels like that
the next step is like you might be doing it
on your app, on your website, if people want want
to travel with a group, I want to what people
want to do, specialty vacations and things like that. Is
(30:07):
that something that that's part of your experience that you're offering,
or that might be a next step, because me, as
a single person, I wouldn't know where to go if
I was a single person to meet people who are
single or age group people.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
You know, people who are as a.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Certain age group want to travel with a certain age group.
Are these ideas that I'm saying being considered are already
in place on green book Global?
Speaker 3 (30:31):
Partially, you never want Lawrence Phillips to organize a trip
for you. It would be a terrible trip. I would
get terrible reviews. You're like, I hate this Guy's terrible.
So I'm probably never going to organize a trip, although
that might seem like the next evolution, but we are like,
right now, we're really focused on B two C, so
we want to make sure we knock that out the park, right.
There's though so many things from a consumer standpoint, want
(30:53):
to make sure we get really really good. But from
a BDB standpoint or I got in the back of
my mind, if people are organizing trips and we're view platform, Right,
why not have businesses on there that do trips, got
are reviewed, that are automatically kind of ingest into our community, right,
And so like that's something that I've already kind of
designed out, but I gotta put on the back burner
because I want to make sure from a customer standpoint,
(31:14):
there's still so much I gotta do to make sure
our team has to do, to make sure like we're
fulfilling our mission to be able to kind of really
reduce that anxiety, increase that confidence. And so yes, but
just be clear, ain't planning no trips. You ain't gonna
liket no planning a trip?
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Well, no, no problem, no problem, no problem.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
But I got to ask you got all this travel data,
can you tell me the hot spots that that people
talk about on green book Global that they rave about
that from a standpoint of you gotta go great experience,
great food, great great great food.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Great pricing. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
So, I mean I think there's some normal ones, Like
New Orleans is out there a lot because it's just
the food. I mean, it's just like going to like
another country. Bali is also a big one as well.
Dubai is a big one.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
I'm gonna go so much Bai big one, right, Well,
I think people want to go by.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
I mean there's a lot that you can do in Dubai.
It's not super expensive, but you got like sand dunes,
you got kind of wealth that's there. There's like a
lot of adventure, a lot of fashion. Like you kind
of can do everything in Dubai. Set me like drink lot.
So like I think that's the appeal with Ubai. So
I've been there, it's just really really hot, and I'm like,
i mean, I'm thinking for Barbados, but that's like does
it heat? So that's a little different for me. But
(32:28):
one thing I'll call out is like we partnering with
actually Portland, Maine, so that one I like to bring
up one Portland Maine.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
Portland or black Man's sitting in front of me talking
about Portland Maine, listen, and so that is exactly my
my thought processing.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
So we started working with Portland, Maine for the last
couple of years. And I'm from Boston originally, right, I
don't remember.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Ever going to Maine. I'm like, I've.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Been there for like twenty years and I ain't really
stepped put it, mate, I don't know so may that.
You know, when we went and it's kind of either
why is the America or one of the whitest states
in America? Right, So I'm like, well, what is the
travel well black experience in Maine? And so that's actually
we partnered with them to do. It's like we went
there for like you know, four or five days and
highlighted made in that itinerary. We kind of did some research,
(33:12):
they did some research for us, kind of collaboratively came
up with an itinerary, and we had an absolutely amazing time.
And so they have like their own like Black History Tour,
they have their own black owned businesses that are out there.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
They have amazing food, like a lobster role.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
You know, they got a lobster flight, a lobster flight.
I hain't never seen a lobster flight in my life
until I went. I've been in Martha's Minion, I like
Mother's vineyard, right, but they don't got flights of lobster
rolls made boss to have and it's like multiple plays.
It's not like just this one shot, right, So it's
like this stay in Portland, Maine.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Portland, Maine. It's the standard. They have lobster flights. Okay,
we're talking about something here.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
So it was very unassuming, and so that's one of
the things we also want to do, right, like, just
because we don't have that information. I'm not going to
the whitest state in America, right, but Portland's almost like
ten percent black, right, and they had a large immigrant
population there as well. So there's all these different things
that are happening, but you just may not be privy to.
Also with the North Georgia Mountains, you know, a couple
of months ago, do I really I'm.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
A black man in the woods. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
I think, but I think camping and outdoors is super
critical for our mental health. But you know, not great
things that happened to black people in the woods in
the past. So there's that fear that there's anxiety. Went
to North Georgia, now this particular part of North Georgia Mountains,
but so multiple black people hiking and I was like, wait,
wait are here They had church?
Speaker 2 (34:27):
They had a whole back church out there. Hold on,
am I tripping? Like? No one gave me the memo?
Speaker 3 (34:34):
And then at the top was like this black mamble
was painting a self portrait of himself in the mountains.
That was like, I'm sleeping on the Gorgia Mountains, that
part of the Georgia Mountains. So I think it's like
it's important to have people expose that, and that's what
social media does. But we try to make it like
once you see that, what's the next step, how do
you verify that?
Speaker 2 (34:53):
How do you book that? Right?
Speaker 3 (34:54):
And so we want to make sure we give you
that full scope from start to end to have that experience.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Tell you he's giving me experience. He loves what he does.
He walked away from corporate fairy sixful corporate opportunity to
pursue and build. It came from the original green Book,
but now it's called green Book Global. The founder CEO
and as he say, he hides behind the coders just
to see what they're doing. Mister Lawrence Pharlops, graduate of
(35:20):
Georgia Tech by Way, Boston six or seven go.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversation. Thank you
so much, man, it's been a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
This has been Money Making Conversation Masterclass with me Rashaun McDonald.
Thanks to our guest and our audience, visit Moneymaking Conversation
dot com to listen, are registered to be a guest
on my show. Keep leading with your gifts, keep winning
Hi. Rashan McDonald host this weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass show.
The interviews and information that this show provides off for everyone.
It's time to stop reading other people's success stories and
start living your own now. If you want to be
a guest on my show, Money Making Conversations Masterclass, please
visit our website, Moneymakingconversations dot com and click to be
(00:20):
a guest button. If you're a small business owner, entrepreneur,
motivational speaker, influencer, a nonprofit, I want you on my show.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Let's get started. My guess is the.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Founder of green book Global, the first and only travel
review website and mobile app that enables black travel to
plan trips with confidence and less anxiety. Provided they will
user generated travel insights from the black perspective. Please welcome
to Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Lawrence Phillips. How you doing, Lawrence? Hey?
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Everyone a just happy to be here, so thank you,
Thank you so much for the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
A black travel perspective. Insights you know, give you a little
black ground about me. I cruised a lot lady cruise ships.
You know, I'm older than you. So black people are
here by family union. Black people love to travel in
the summertime. I know that for a fact for sure.
You know why black travel app Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Why?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
So it all started back in twenty fifteen. I was
working at Accenture doing it consulting, got promoted, super excited.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Like, yeah, I got mooted.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
It was your career guy, Yes, yeah, forty hour week sixty.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
So I was actually flying back doing travel between Atlanta
and San Diego. Okay, I'm going back and forth for
about two years, so amazing project, learned a lot, but
I got burnt out, and so that's where I was like,
you know what, guys, thanks for promoting me. But I
quit and so I travel the world for about a year.
I did thirty plus countries and all seven continents, including
an Arctica. So I was hanging out with them penguins.
(01:52):
But as a black traveler, like it became very clear
to me, I was nervous going to some places. I
was like, like black people over there, like right, happened
over and over again. Yeah, and so it's like I
want to make sure I'm traveled, I have a good time.
And so I was like, I really wish there's a
platform that can provide insights on like what the travel
well black experience could be like just to give me
like a little bit more comfort, increase my confidence a
(02:13):
little bit for going.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
To the destination.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
And so that's kind of where the idea came from,
that around the world trip. And I always tell this
one story. I met a young lady at a hostel
and she told me we're talking about chocolate because I
just love chocolate.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
I just you know, I just talk chocolate. I just
leve me some chocolate.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Starting the conversation at the hostel and she's like, oh, well,
we're in Paris and she's like, well, you should go
to Brussels in Belgium. And I was like, well, I
don't know what the Brustols in Belgium is, Like what
does that mean?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Right?
Speaker 3 (02:38):
And then she's playing on what's the city, like it's
not too far from from France from Paris. So I
was like okay, but like is it cool if I
go there? Like like am I cool? Because she was
a black woman and I'm like like, oh, you'll be fine, right,
And so within twenty four hours I was in Brussels.
But I needed that head nod to be like, oh no,
that's good, you'd be straight and I get that additional
confidence just to kind of move forward. That's what the
idea of the platform is, to give you that additional
(02:59):
confident that's to help you feel more comfortable.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Well, you know, let's before we get in further with
the conversation.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
The Green Book.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
The name Green Book has a certain degree of history.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
There's associated with.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Black travel in the United States and racism and talk
about the history of the Green Book.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Yeah, So when I first learned about the Green Book,
I was like, why is it not called the Black Book,
like and it's for black people called the Black Book.
But Victor Hugo Green, he actually was a postman back
in the nineteen thirties that actually started the Green Book.
So it was called the Negro Motorists Green Book, and
essentially it was the Black tribal Bible during Jim Crown segregation,
so told black people with restaurants that could go to hotels,
(03:37):
gas stations, they you know, towns to avoid called like
sundown towns. So it really was just a tool that
would provide safety and comfort and also dignity for black travelers.
And so that's why we are continuing the legacy and
calling get the Green Book because we're doing it with
an app, right, but we allow black people to review
cities on how black friendly they are. So that's why
(03:58):
it's all about black friendliness and user generated scores, because
black people go to different cities all across the world,
not in us, say we travel, but now we can
leave reviews about our experience. So if I'm nervous going someplace,
or if i had a great time going someplace, either
way you can contribute to the community. Because traveling is
part of our mental health regime. Right, It's a way
to take a break to unwind, and so if we
(04:19):
have that fear, then we're not going to be able
to unwind like.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Other groups are.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
So it's a way to hopefully have us be able
to kind of enjoy that travel like other groups.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Yeah, before we're getting in more detailed by great book Globe,
we'll talk about you a little bit, Moore. Background on you,
your education, give us some history.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Yeah, so I am from Boston, Patriots fan all day.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Yes, we're doing it right now.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
I live in Atlanta currently, but I went to Georgia
Tech electrical engineering degree after high school in Boston. Then
I worked at Accenture for about almost ten years to
that around the world trip and then lived in New
York actually for a while as well. And kind of
a connection between The Green Book and me living in
New York is so Victor Huge Green used to live
in Harlem when he created The Green Book, and I
was maybe, like maybe in my second apartment, I was
(05:07):
probably like five bucks away from where he lived. But
the more interesting part is that him and his wife
got married on September eighth, and me and my wife
got married on September eighth. Congratulators, And I was like, oh,
I might be doing the right thing if this is
all happening at this point. So those are kind of
like those head nods that you know, I think I'm
in the right place. And then we eventually moved back
down to Atlanta. I've been down here for the last
(05:27):
few years. So Georgia Tech Grad were also doing pretty
good a football too.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
So all this self hype, yeah, but you, but you
when you talk about your career moves. And that's what
we talked about on the show Money Making Conversations Master Class,
because a lot people make decisions, a lot of people
have work spaces, they're not happy. A lot of people
ideas that people have told them your fool if you
try that. You said, yeah, that it is a successful job,
(05:55):
got a promotion and you said I'm out and you
went on vacation. Basically, what did your friends, family, a
loved one say when you were making that decision process
and when you made the decision process to change for
your life to make you happy.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Yeah, disclaimer, I'm not telling you when to go quit
their job. I don't say you listen to podcast, I'm
quitting my job. No being saying I'm telling them too,
I'm telling you.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
I would tell people that, you know, fear drives a
lot of bad decisions, and you had to overcome fear.
And that's what this question is about. Better on myself.
You bet on yourself. But fears, tears creep in, creeps in, right,
and then they sayers creep in and a lot of
the name shares can be people. Did you consider the
mentors or loved ones?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Coworkers, yeah, yeah, so my coores like, wait, what are
you doing? It's like where you're going, it's like it's
not compute, it's not compute. And then family, of course,
well I would say family. They got eustony traveling. They're
like yeah, he's just be jetsoning wherever he be going.
So there was obviously was still very nervous. And also
my girlfriend at the time, who I did marry, so
(07:06):
it is my wife just me to bring that full
circle back.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
She was like, yeah, what are you doing right?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
And so she actually was in business school and so
I made the parallel where you know, I did Georgia Tech,
got my degree. Don't really need me find myself going
back to like school again. But I said, like, this
travel experience to me was school, right, So that's what
I was using as my kind of next tier of
investing in me was like one not only is a
mental health break, but too I talked to God and
I was like, yeah, I feel like something's gonna happen
(07:32):
on this trip. And that's kind of what I mean
by betting on myself. I said, I don't know what's
going to happen on this trip, but I feel like
I'm gonna get some idea, I'm gonna I'm gonna feel something,
think something from this trip, and eventually that ended up
being green Book Global. So I think it's important to
And also I had like I didn't just like do
this on a whim. So that's why I'm also saying
no picture job. Necessarily, I saved money, So I've been
(07:55):
saving up for a time because I when I did
the travel, and I used to meet a lot of
Europeans that did this gap year where they would travel
around the world, but they did it like after college,
and I was like, well, I ain't got money after college,
so I ain't doing that. So that gave me, right, yeah,
back the way I want to go.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
So I was like, okay, well I can't do it now,
but maybe I can do it when I'm older, So
I started saving. I also had a lot of frequent
flyer miles from doing all the traveling with eccenture, right,
and so Delta actually had an around the world ticket
that allowed me to go around the world for I
think it was like eighty thousand miles or something like that,
for one hundred and twenty thousand miles.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
They got rid of that program. Really, yeah, it's not
do anymore.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Some of the other ones, I think, like American Airlines
might have it still, like it's the one air program.
But I used that to help offset the costs, right,
and then I also rented out my spot too. So
I found different ways to try to like subsidize the cost,
so it was somewhat responsible, but it was still really
like me betting on myself and just saying I need
this for me. This is for me and for nobody else.
(08:52):
This is me being selfish.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
This is for me.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
And so when you're hearing this conversation about betting on yourself,
you didn't like jump out on faith. It was a
planned executed money saved, but basically a change of a
change of space for you.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Personally, right, Yeah, absolutely, I remember. Also I felt comfortable
doing it because I felt like I hit a moustone, sir,
Because on that project, I got to go on a
private jet, so I had to wake up really early
though it was like an eighth person private jet.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I had to go meet the client. I was like,
you know what, brother, this dude from Dorchester and Boston.
Hey you all right? You good?
Speaker 3 (09:27):
So I felt like a sense of accomplishment there. Also
after you're getting promoted as well. So I think it's
a very personal decision, right, And I think it's just
important even if you want to do it for a
month or for a week, right, Like it's just planned
for it, right, because I think you will feel better
and kind of feel refreshed.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Cool. I was speaking to.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
The founder of the green Book Global, the first and
only travel review website and mobile after that enables black
travelers like himself to plan trips with confidence and less anxiety,
providing user generated travel insights from the black perspective. Talk
about their experience, Talk about the website, Talk about that app. Yeah,
you mentioned twenty fifteen twenty seventeen, which was actually founded.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Correct, twenty fifteen is when that first piece of code
started being written. But I had to go through developer
after developer, and then it took to about twenty eighteen
type of stable website because it crashed multiple times, had
to be redone multiple times. And then twenty twenty we
kind of did a rebrand and then twenty twenty, twenty
twenty two, twenty twenty three, we got into the Expedy
(10:25):
Accelerator program. And so that was really great for us
because it helped us really lean in our value proposition
because I'll be honest, right, like, being unapologetically black in
America is like, oh should I do it? Like I
don't know what people are going to say, And so
Expedia actually helped us lean into It's like, no, that's
your value prop like lean into that and don't don't
go back on it. And then also because we were
called the Green Book, that also gave us like more authority.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
I will if you will.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Because initially we were just marketing to like young professionals.
Then it's like, well, you know, I talk black, I
speak like I'm black, So it's like black professionals were going,
they're black young professionals. Then it just started being black professionals.
They started just being black people, and I was like
marking the black people. You got a little travel about
black school on here and just kind of got all
the way in and so then it kind of evolved
into like so it's really.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Important that people understand that, you know, if you're selling something,
to make sure who you're selling it too.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
You at first had a narrow cell and you expanded it.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
When did that black bulb pop out pop up above
your head?
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Just like my audience. So it just resonated with that audience.
So I just did young professionals everybody, but especially like
on social media's where I started with Instagram, and I
would just be reposting like people, but it's like mostly
black people, most black people are in the comments, and
I'm like, well, I prefer to talk about this anyway
from a black perspective, and so I gave myself the
grace to change, right, And so eventually, like we were
(11:45):
young professionals, we kind of like did like a little loop,
like we went, we went kind of narrow, then we
kind of opened it back up, but in a very
specific segment of just black people in particular in the USA.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Nevertin on Lawrence, Now, I want to hear clearly, like
you said with Shine, I don't know if I wanted
to to talk black. You know, publicly, I'm a black man,
proud black person, but how does that translate to how
people were.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Going to react to be trolled?
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Might be called a racist because I am pro black,
I'm trying. I'm trying to get information on people who
want pro black information, things like that what got you
over the hall?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Yeah, that definitely made me me nervous.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
But also like, and there have been some comments that
I have gotten, not a lot, but I have got
some comments to people I'm like, really like, is it
really that? And so I think it was just time, right,
I think being time in the space. And also like
the conviction of like, well, this is actually making a difference.
I get emails and text message were not texting emails
from people say like hey, like this has really helped
or hey like I want to use this to help
(12:45):
me play my next trip, And so getting those it
is like, oh, this is actually making a difference. And
so that kind of gave me the tenacity and the
determination to continue doing it. And then it's just also
us basic Black travelers spend a lot of money. This
is about one hundred and forty billion dollar black travel market.
So one thing is that we wanted, like I wanted
to talk to black people, and then there's a lot
of data that says, oh you should because there's a
(13:06):
lot of money, and.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
I'm like, oh that's great. Perfect. So it kind of
like tied in really well.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
But I think it just took me time, and it
took me people that saw the traction, saw the vision
that I was kind of conveying and say like no,
like lean into that. So it took a community to
really help me feel comfortable and also took time for
helping me feel comfortable.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Please don't go anywhere.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
We'd be right back with more money making Conversations Master Class.
Welcome back to Money Making Conversation Mastered Class with me
Rashaun McDonald. Well, you know it's Money Making Conversations Master Class. Now,
how do you make money doing what you do?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah? Absolutely so?
Speaker 3 (13:43):
On green Book, what makes this unique is that we
allow black people to review cities and how what it's
like travel while black. Right, So every city on the
app is usually generated. It comes from black people that
travel all around the world, and they actually give a
score out of five stars of like what the experience
was travel while black. But then there's also like an
adventure score, an affordability score, a local food score, relaxation score, right,
(14:06):
and so with that, we want to give you the
insights that you typically can't get anywhere else. Once you
get those insights, now you can book a trip. So
we have brands like Expedia and Priceline and Marriott on
it that you can book a trip with and that
gives us a commission.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Right right, right, right, So you're working with the top
tier travel booking services for hotels. Yes, for when you
get into those platforms, they give your car rental options
and all those things. So that allows anybody to come
on to your site to know that you're working with
the best. But it all started with Expediors Accelerated Program
(14:42):
and like you said, that's why it was important that
they wanted you a pis is because you were unapologetically black.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Correct.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Yeah, So the accelebrated program that they had actually was
focused with the documendum for we're about underserved markets. So
it was like LGBTQ startups in the travel space, women's startups,
accessibility startup, So like that was the entire cohort. I
was the only one focused on black travel. And so
I think it's media has like a line of sight
of saying like, hey, you know these things actually work,
(15:10):
then this will be maybe a good acquisition down the line.
So Bookings is definitely something that we do. We also
have a and we give cash back to our users
as well, and that also leads us into our nonprofit program,
which we can talk about in a minute as well.
But we also have a premium subscription. Right so because
it's Black Friday and the holiday season, re actually launching
like gifting the Green Book, which gives you all the
(15:30):
premium features on the app. Right, So we have like
a road trip planner that's really bringing it back to
the original Green Book of like driving while Black, So
it really has pin scores that says, hey, green means
great for that city, yell it means average, right means
not so good or a sundown town. And so it's
all user generators. If you look on the map, you
won't see a lot of red in the USA. But
what you can do with that feature is you actually
(15:51):
can figure out what your route, what tis you are
going through.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
You can't an avoid button and avoid certain cities.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
You also can add black on restaurants onto your writer
as well, so we get.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Like he did, like Frank did many many years right right.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
And so we actually partner with another company called the
Okra to get those restaurants because I'm not about bringing
a tech ecosystem and not trying to do everything on
my own. But from the premium subscription standpoint, you basically
get a certain amount of free routes per month and
then you could upgrade cool.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
I'm traveling coming up here with my family or we're
going to Charleston, South Carolina. So so my whole thought
process is that I go, I download your app.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
I can download ther app. Correct, Yes you can. It's
in the app Store right now today green Book Global.
Give us five stars.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Type in green Book Global, downloaded, put it in, and
then what do I do?
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Now?
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Do I have to register password? Use your name and passwords?
Speaker 3 (16:42):
So there'll be a couple of onboarding questions where we
got to make sure like you're a legit person because
we don't want bots on there. So I'm actually like, well,
we'll actually like, you know how many times you travel air?
What are your favorite brands, you know, with your travel style,
things like that to get an idea because we have
groups on the app, and so it's a way for
us to kind of understand like what are community actually wants.
And then once you get into the app, there's a
(17:02):
search button type of Charleston, South Carolina, and then you
will see reviews and scores for black people that have
been to Charleston, South Carolina.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Ok, what about places to stay in restaurants? Will that
be under there as well? So how does that work?
So we do that with AI? So you know, got talking.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
About AI, right, Everyone got to have some AI. I'm
a tech company, you gotta have AI. So we actually
have AI and this is on the app right now.
So there's an AI button you click AI, it actually
will look at those reviews and then build you not
itinerating in about thirty seconds, either a one day.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Or three day I itenerate you see. You know, now
I'm excited, but I'm also confused. Okay, okay, okay, Now,
so I've downloaded APP. I'm ready, got my family, we're rolling. Okay,
So Charles, South Carolina. Now what confused me was when
you went to AI real click real quick, and then
you say that builds you, not itinerary. That sounds very simple,
(17:53):
but I don't know what you're asking.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Me to do. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
So when you go into it, you'll see Charleston, South Carolina.
You'll see the scores that I talked about, my black
Score just score. You'll scroll down a little bit and
you'll see like booking options right because we talked about
with Marriott Expedia. Scroll down a little bit more, you'll
see reviews. You'll see like comments that people have left,
you'll see pictures that they have taxed. And so with
this AI there, So there's an AI button like right
there in the corner. And what that does is instead
(18:17):
of reading all the reviews, it actually will read the
reviews for you and make an itinerary for you just
the click of a button. So it's literally like two
clicks and it'll give it about thirty seconds and it
will build out day by day what it recommends that
you should do. Okay, it happens, yeah, very fast. So
it's a way to kind of optimize your time to
be able to kind of reduce your planning time and
(18:37):
have a more enjoy even travel more than like doing
the planning part.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Now you know this.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
First of all, thank you for building this app, green
Book Global. What's the name of the app. I'm talking
to Lawrence Phillips. The great thing about entrepreneurship in general oils.
What's the bigger what's the bigger picture? It feels like
it's a bigger picture.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
When I'm talking about you see now you got me
fixed myself talking about the bigger picture. Yeah, so it's
a couple of things, right, So ultimately systemic change that.
So if you think about US based black travelers, they
spend one hundred and forty five billion dollars on travel, right,
And so I think people may or may not want
to do the good thing, the right thing, but if
money is behind it, then they will do whatever that
(19:17):
money would push them to do so if we're able
to get some of that one hundred and forty five
billion dollars flowing through the app. From a booking standpoint, right,
we work with brands and we work with destinations. So
on a destination level, I can say, hey, we got
billions of dollars of bookings coming through our app, so
we would love to highlight your destination through our community.
But what are you doing for the community, right, Because
here's here's use case. It's a case that we've done
(19:38):
with other cities and look how much impact has had.
We would love to do something with your community. But
what are you doing? And if you're not doing anything yet,
how can we help you do that so we can
actually make this connection happen. The money's talking from that perspective.
The other thing is with our So our goal is
safety and empowerment. So we talk about empowerment, we'll also
want to work on nonprofits. And so we were thinking like, hey,
(19:59):
we got to be the one to empower everyone, Like, nah,
that's too much work. Be amazing nonprofits in the black
community that are doing great things. And so I think
what twenty twenty five has taught us is that we
might have built our house at a straw after Civil
Rights because everything came tumbling down with one quick blow
as far as funding goes. So the government has kind
of pulled back with funding when you can even say
the word black right corporations have pulled back, and so
(20:21):
I think it's an opportunity for us to realize how
can we depend on each other to help us raise
So the whole idea of that billion dollars coming through
the app now, right, if you're a part of it,
like let's say at Urban League or some other nonprofit right,
and you have members, if they travel through the app,
what we did is we started a program that said
when your members travel, is that that commission going back
to you as the user, They go back to your nonprofit.
So now you can go to bor or Bor, you
(20:42):
can go to Charleston, South Carolina, you're booking on the app,
and your favorite nonprofit is getting funded. So those are
some of the ways that we are we are. And
then the last thing is like with the brands, right,
so now we can say hey, ex speeding, you're you know,
we're doing great here, but maybe booking dot com, hey,
we can come together. So it kind of allowows them
to have visibility on the impact of our dollars and
(21:02):
then say, well, give us a high percentage so we
get back to our community. Right, So it makes money
talk money making moves right. So that's kind of the
idea systemically is by allowing that money to flow to
help us kind of bring about systemic change.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Let's talk about because I'm I love to travel, you know,
like I said, I was a performing comedian on cruise
ships and traveled this country. And I believe me, I
understand when you say there's certain areas of the country. Well, mischie,
if I go to Mississippi, even today Alabama, there is
a thought in the back and lind whether it's real
(21:36):
or not, whether I am safe, whether I should be
worried about the speed limit or work cock polls over.
You know, is he pulling me over because I'm or
should I get out of line? So so so people
can hear this interview and go, oh, what is he
talking about? Yes, there's a reality that we have to
deal with because of the color of our skin. Now
(21:57):
you talk about when I when I think about you know,
they have so many different things out They have family
re union spots, family spots, single places for single couples.
Do you offer those type of options on your app
or that's something you're looking to build.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
So we actually have a travel style, So if you
go to Charleston, South Carolina, you can actually filter by
the people that have left reviews.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Okay, so you can say, hey, I love.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Adventure, I want to see what all the adventure seekers
are saying about Okay, I want to see what all
the family travelers are saying about it, right, So you
can actually filter out those reviews. So the more reviews
we get, you know, the more data that we have
to pull from. So we're close to almost ten thousand
reviews across all seven contidents.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
But so yeah, that's the way.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
And so kind of to your point about kind of
that fear piece, right, so are our models information to safety? Right,
that's kind of the idea. So we don't really encourage
or discourage you to go anywhere. Right, If you want to.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Go to a sundowntown, be my guest. I do not.
I am not going, especially with my family. You can
pull up if you want to.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
But now you have insights to people that have been
to this city to give you the in from for
you to pull up or for you to hit that
button and do avoid and go around.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Right.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
But that's the whole idea of information and safety. Give
you some information you can't get so you can have
a safer, more enjoyable travel experience.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Right now.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
You know, when I when I look at the filtering process,
that excites me. And that's why I think that it's
important that we as travelers want to go out there,
get to our destination, and come back with the experience
that we can share with everybody. Now, man, I went
down there, was scared to death the whole time. I
never go back, And that's what that's what this is
not about. This also is also maybe to to in
(23:35):
some stereotypes. There's certain areas that have been landmarked as
untravelable locations for black people really have been just benchmarked incorrectly.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Are the It's changed.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
It's changed, like Miami was a sundown town when you
think about Miami and now I'm not. I mean, I'm
sure there's still systemic things that are in place that
are there, but you're not thinking about being afraid of
Miami if you're trying to go out in Miami as
free opposite, right.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Oh, definitely in Miami. You're trying to get.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Things change, and that's kind of the idea like this,
So we want to do some historical data, but the
main value proposition is recent travels to these places.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
So let's talk about the popularity of there's app you
know to launch, like say, yeah, reach out about twenty twenty.
You know, were rolling and crash a little bit everybody.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
You know, I'm an electric engineer, new little coding.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
You got some more colders in and we'll we'll full
flight operation. What are downloads and with your app? And
how do you track that? You talk just throughout the
word ten thousand reviews. Let's talk about that because in
any dream, you know, you want.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
It to happen overnight.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
But then when it feels like it's a reality, when
did it really feel like?
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Man, I got something here? I didn't.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
I didn't see it being this big, but I can
see it being even bigger.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Talk about it.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Yeah, I feel like the reality is still settling again
because I feel like we've gotten I feel like I've
gotten something years ago. But you still want to see
more of an impact because those emails that I get
are like, oh, man, like you're using it. I know
people are using it, so we get over like one
hundred and fifty thousand downloads just this year in twenty
twenty five for probably closer like one to seventy five,
now ranked top thirty in the app store and for travel,
(25:13):
and again we've partnered with Expedia and other brands as well,
So like those things hundred fifty yeah, twenty twenty five,
not not counting all the other ones, just twenty twenty five.
And that is just the word about so social media. Yeah,
so funny enough word of mouth. I go to sometimes
events I forgot. I went to something at Georgia Tech
and I talked to people about green Book and it's like, waity,
(25:34):
I know that app, and that's like, yo, my mom
told me to download this app. That happened like twice
to me. Whereas like people are saying, like, download the
app because it's really about you know, feeling safer and
having that those insights. Actually, someone actually reached out today
about having a I didn't talk about this. We have
different groups on the app too. So first of all,
we focus unapologetically on black right, but we know there's
lyric toy, you right, family, travel, accessibility, you know, and
(25:58):
so we actually had someone reach out and say, can
you make a Muslim group on the app? Like they're
black travelers, but you know, some of those same concerns
being Muslim. So I was like, oh, that's great idea, right,
and so we're working on just adding that group to
the app. So we want to make sure unapologetically focused
on black, but then try to take care of those
other layers as well, because we want to bring the whole.
We want to make sure the whole you can come
onto the app right, right, And.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
The bottom line is just safety and also feeling comfortable. Yeah,
and when you when you when you go about traveling yourself,
you know, I told you and I was spoken about
because I didn't know when I came out of high school.
When I finally went to Paris, France, you know, it
changed my life because if i'd known about Paris, because
(26:40):
you know, when you're in high school, you have no
option to learn Spanish. And I went French, I would
never use French, French French and realized that by going
there I went, I was. I was so comfortable, I
was the culture was so inviting, and I saw a
lot of people like me in France. I was like okay, wow,
and so but that's what the whole purpose, that's what
(27:02):
I love so much. That's where you're sitting on this
show on Money Making Conversations master Class. Because we spend
our money sometimes domestically because we're afraid of the experience
international and we might run over to Jamaica because they
look like us and slide down to Mexico a little
landage bermmuta, let's go go to the But what I'm
(27:26):
saying that we'll stay in a certain area because we're comfortable,
and that we're comfortable because I'm gonna use the word,
we're ignorant, dude, reality that's really out there that we
should travel to talk to.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Like I said, it's the lack of information, right, and
so because you might see information on other travel platforms,
we're like, but what about us? Like I said in
that hostel, people might love going to Brussels to get
some chocolate, but what about us?
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Right right right right, right right right. We might love
going to Paris, but what about us?
Speaker 3 (27:53):
And so once you figure out like, oh, we are
actually out there, we actually have communities out there, businesses
out there.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
It's like, oh, oh snap, let me go out there.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Then right, and so that's kind of the whole idea.
It's just like what about us? That's that's what green
Book Global is for. It's to very specifically focused on
black people feeling the more comfortable because the world is
our easter too.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Right. You know what I love about your Lawrence is
that you're doing what you love. You You're highly educating.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
You went to college, came down from Boston, went to
are very difficult academically trained school at Georgia Tech, got
a degree that most people were like envy, and but
you would like, my degree is in mathematics, my mind
is in sociology. Were for IBM, and I decided to
lead to be a stand up comedian.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
People will figure what you will. But I wasn't noting.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
I wasn't happy, I wasn't satisfied, and I was looking
around and I would tell you it was a lot
of people did more complaining about what they were doing
than waiting to go on vacation and calling in sick.
And I'm going, that's not the lifestyle.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
I want.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
I wake up, Lawrence, and I want to come to work.
In fact, I'm mad that I have to go to
sleep to wake up. And so that is what's driving
you right now. You're really a happy person, right.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Yeah, I'm generally speaking like a positive individual. So I
think that's also the culture that I want green Book
Global to to have, right, It's like it does make
me extremely happy because I mean, I'm kind of a deek,
like I like, I like, I don't cold, but I'm like, wen,
go ahead and test this new feature. What else can
I think about here?
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Right?
Speaker 3 (29:22):
I like doing social media too, but I like being
behind the scenes talking about developers, like I literally get
joy out of like new features, and so like you said,
like it's I'm enjoying what I'm doing, right, And and
the idea of us being like a tech company that
does black travel, I think it's what was to make
a stand apart because I'm really big about like technology,
how to implement that and how to try to present
the best product for our community for us to just
(29:43):
you know, be able to feel more comfortable to explore.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
My other question would be to you would be and
thank you for doing my show? Is cause you say
you have filters on there. It almost feels like that
the next step is like you might be doing it
on your app, on your website, if people want want
to travel with a group, I want to what people
want to do, specialty vacations and things like that. Is
(30:07):
that something that that's part of your experience that you're offering,
or that might be a next step, because me, as
a single person, I wouldn't know where to go if
I was a single person to meet people who are
single or age group people.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
You know, people who are as a.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Certain age group want to travel with a certain age group.
Are these ideas that I'm saying being considered are already
in place on green book Global?
Speaker 3 (30:31):
Partially, you never want Lawrence Phillips to organize a trip
for you. It would be a terrible trip. I would
get terrible reviews. You're like, I hate this Guy's terrible.
So I'm probably never going to organize a trip, although
that might seem like the next evolution, but we are like,
right now, we're really focused on B two C, so
we want to make sure we knock that out the park, right.
There's though so many things from a consumer standpoint, want
(30:53):
to make sure we get really really good. But from
a BDB standpoint or I got in the back of
my mind, if people are organizing trips and we're view platform, Right,
why not have businesses on there that do trips, got
are reviewed, that are automatically kind of ingest into our community, right,
And so like that's something that I've already kind of
designed out, but I gotta put on the back burner
because I want to make sure from a customer standpoint,
(31:14):
there's still so much I gotta do to make sure
our team has to do, to make sure like we're
fulfilling our mission to be able to kind of really
reduce that anxiety, increase that confidence. And so yes, but
just be clear, ain't planning no trips. You ain't gonna
liket no planning a trip?
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Well, no, no problem, no problem, no problem.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
But I got to ask you got all this travel data,
can you tell me the hot spots that that people
talk about on green book Global that they rave about
that from a standpoint of you gotta go great experience,
great food, great great great food.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Great pricing. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
So, I mean I think there's some normal ones, Like
New Orleans is out there a lot because it's just
the food. I mean, it's just like going to like
another country. Bali is also a big one as well.
Dubai is a big one.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
I'm gonna go so much Bai big one, right, Well,
I think people want to go by.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
I mean there's a lot that you can do in Dubai.
It's not super expensive, but you got like sand dunes,
you got kind of wealth that's there. There's like a
lot of adventure, a lot of fashion. Like you kind
of can do everything in Dubai. Set me like drink lot.
So like I think that's the appeal with Ubai. So
I've been there, it's just really really hot, and I'm like,
i mean, I'm thinking for Barbados, but that's like does
it heat? So that's a little different for me. But
(32:28):
one thing I'll call out is like we partnering with
actually Portland, Maine, so that one I like to bring
up one Portland Maine.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
Portland or black Man's sitting in front of me talking
about Portland Maine, listen, and so that is exactly my
my thought processing.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
So we started working with Portland, Maine for the last
couple of years. And I'm from Boston originally, right, I
don't remember.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Ever going to Maine. I'm like, I've.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Been there for like twenty years and I ain't really
stepped put it, mate, I don't know so may that.
You know, when we went and it's kind of either
why is the America or one of the whitest states
in America? Right, So I'm like, well, what is the
travel well black experience in Maine? And so that's actually
we partnered with them to do. It's like we went
there for like you know, four or five days and
highlighted made in that itinerary. We kind of did some research,
(33:12):
they did some research for us, kind of collaboratively came
up with an itinerary, and we had an absolutely amazing time.
And so they have like their own like Black History Tour,
they have their own black owned businesses that are out there.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
They have amazing food, like a lobster role.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
You know, they got a lobster flight, a lobster flight.
I hain't never seen a lobster flight in my life
until I went. I've been in Martha's Minion, I like
Mother's vineyard, right, but they don't got flights of lobster
rolls made boss to have and it's like multiple plays.
It's not like just this one shot, right, So it's
like this stay in Portland, Maine.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Portland, Maine. It's the standard. They have lobster flights. Okay,
we're talking about something here.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
So it was very unassuming, and so that's one of
the things we also want to do, right, like, just
because we don't have that information. I'm not going to
the whitest state in America, right, but Portland's almost like
ten percent black, right, and they had a large immigrant
population there as well. So there's all these different things
that are happening, but you just may not be privy to.
Also with the North Georgia Mountains, you know, a couple
of months ago, do I really I'm.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
A black man in the woods. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
I think, but I think camping and outdoors is super
critical for our mental health. But you know, not great
things that happened to black people in the woods in
the past. So there's that fear that there's anxiety. Went
to North Georgia, now this particular part of North Georgia Mountains,
but so multiple black people hiking and I was like, wait,
wait are here They had church?
Speaker 2 (34:27):
They had a whole back church out there. Hold on,
am I tripping? Like? No one gave me the memo?
Speaker 3 (34:34):
And then at the top was like this black mamble
was painting a self portrait of himself in the mountains.
That was like, I'm sleeping on the Gorgia Mountains, that
part of the Georgia Mountains. So I think it's like
it's important to have people expose that, and that's what
social media does. But we try to make it like
once you see that, what's the next step, how do
you verify that?
Speaker 2 (34:53):
How do you book that? Right?
Speaker 3 (34:54):
And so we want to make sure we give you
that full scope from start to end to have that experience.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Tell you he's giving me experience. He loves what he does.
He walked away from corporate fairy sixful corporate opportunity to
pursue and build. It came from the original green Book,
but now it's called green Book Global. The founder CEO
and as he say, he hides behind the coders just
to see what they're doing. Mister Lawrence Pharlops, graduate of
(35:20):
Georgia Tech by Way, Boston six or seven go.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversation. Thank you
so much, man, it's been a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
This has been Money Making Conversation Masterclass with me Rashaun McDonald.
Thanks to our guest and our audience, visit Moneymaking Conversation
dot com to listen, are registered to be a guest
on my show. Keep leading with your gifts, keep winning
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