Black Perspective: June 25, 2023

This week on The Black Perspective, we close out Black Music Month with one of the Founders of Roc-A-Fella Records, Damon Dash. We also chat with author Angela Coleman about her new book “The Art of Chilling Out for Women”; take a trip to New Orleans to see how Direct Relief is helping the community, and Idrees Johnson returns to bust financial myths!

That’s not all — Zonnique joins us to discuss her new music and motherhood.

Listen now!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's June twenty fifth, and todaywe talked to music mogul Dame dash An
author tells black women it's time totake a break. The daughter of Ti
and Tiny is making a name forherself and we are breaking financial myths.
Those stories am more on The BlackPerspective. I'm your host, Mike Islan.
Welcome to the Black Perspective, aweekly community affairs program on the Black

(00:22):
Information Network featuring interviews and discussions onissues important to the black community. It's
the final Sunday of Black Music Monthand the Black Information Networks. Mimi Brown
had an opportunity to speak to oneof the founders of Rockefella Music, Dame
dash I Memi Brown with the BlackInformation Network, and I am talking to
the legendary, the one and onlyDame dash a trailblazer in the world of

(00:45):
music and entrepreneurship, a true iconin the industry. Dame how are you.
I'm good. I love that intro. Thank you. Oh you're welcome.
You're welcome. Thank you for beinghere. It's Black Music Month,
so we're celebrating black music and you, of course have left your mark on
the music landscape to co founding Rockefellerrecords, a signing, amazing talent like

(01:06):
Kanye and others. What do youthink black artists have brought to the table
in terms of shaping and influencing theworld of music. Well, it's funny
this thing when they say we celebrateblack music one month out the year,
it's not how I actually move.I celebrate black music every single day because
Black music is the root of allmusic. So I don't know other music
maybe opera, but I can bewrong, other than like opera that doesn't

(01:30):
come with them from is not inspiredby some form of Black music, African
rhythm. The DNA of music isblack. You're right, all roots all
music really take roots in black theblack experienced Black music. Absolutely. You
know, it's clear that entrepreneurship hasplayed a crucial role in shaping your career

(01:52):
from your experience, how do youhow do you see it helping other artists
take control of their art and theircareer. The freedom you know somebody else
is paying for your art, it'snot your art. The only way to
do exactly what you want to do, the way you want to do it,
when you want to do it,how you want to do it is
if you pay for it or isif you own it. But being dependent

(02:13):
on somebody is not an art youknow. To me, that's a fault.
So you know, if you reallytruly want to be an artist and
you want to make it a professionaland not a hobby, at times you
have to do things that you don'tgenerally like to do because artists generally just
like to create, like myself.So that's why you would always see my
frustration as an executive because I couldn'treally relate to another executive who didn't care

(02:38):
about the art taking advantage of anartist, and my conflict would always be
with the other executives. Very rarelywas it was an artist because I was
protecting the artist. I was protectingthe art. So that's what I've always
tried to do is give them theirfreedom anything that says master in it.
Like you're in the music business.If someone owns your man master, that

(03:00):
means they are your master. Soyou can't give away or sell anything that
says master unless you're giving up thefreedom of that. You talked about owning
your own stuff and some of thechanges that you try to make as you
were coming through the music industry.From your perspective, what changes need to

(03:21):
be made in the industry now,especially when it comes to black artists,
I think would be good or better, it's the people that were actually putting
out the music were from the culturebecause or at least are artists. Yeah,
the culture of being an artist,so that they can understand the things
that an artist has to go through. But I just don't like the fact
that people that have nothing to dowith our only money are the ones that

(03:44):
control art. And that's the problem, you know, Immi Brown, and
I'm in conversation with visionary and livinglegend Dame dash We're talking about Black Music
Month, entrepreneurship and changes we'd liketo see in the music industry. So,
Dame, being one of the cofounders of Rockefeller Records, I'm sure
you've learned valuable lessons along the way. Can you talk about some of those

(04:06):
lessons that you've learned and maybe giveany advice to new and aspiring artists.
You have to pay attention to thethings you don't like, or you get
robbed. What I notice is thereis no honor in the corporate world at
all. The only honors get thebag. And again, well, to
me, isn't the physical man Maadedollar. It's making up. It's making

(04:29):
something that people are inspired by andyou know, making people happy. So
again, when you start to becomeor you start making money with corporate or
they start making money, or ifyou start to have corporate concerns, so
there's things that you didn't care aboutat all when you're just happy making music.
That because you know you're now judgedand you know people have to make

(04:51):
their money back, you have topay attention to things like you know,
back in the day it was BDSor whatever. You know, whatever problems
it don't deal with the art butonly the money. Just stay focusing on
the art. But you have torealize that if you make yourself a franchise,
you don't want to just be dependenton the music. If you want
to make up a vertical so youcan leverage the celebrity to sell products.

(05:14):
And that's what I taught everybody atRockefeller is that if we're going to be
celebrities instead of making other people productsdope, if you really believe you fly,
go make a flyer product, putit on it, sell it,
and leverage a celebrity for your ownproducts. And that's why most of the
artists or not most but the artiststhat came let's just say the ones that

(05:36):
are perceived as the wealthiest comes fromRockefeller, you know. And a lot
of things have changed since the beginningof Rockefeller. I mean, we're living
in an age now where we're doingdigital numbers, streaming numbers. It's drastically
transformed the music landscape. What areyour thoughts on that? Positive and negatively?

(05:57):
I think it's a better way.It's way more freedom, you know,
and it's made way more reeks.You have to go through a middleman
to be seen, so I thinkif you leverage it properly and look at
it on a business level. Youknow, people buy music from TikTok.
Now that's that's the place they getmost of their music from it as opposed
to apples, you know, sooh, I can buy it from all,

(06:19):
but you know, that's where peopledigest it and they get that information
and you no longer even need tohear a whole song or sell a song.
You need steen seconds of the nicestsong or the dance and you can
go platinum, and then you cando your own shows, and then you
know, you don't have to leavethe house to actually talk to people.
It's actually been everything for me.As soon as I saw digital or at

(06:43):
least the internet, and social mediareally was the Internet. I was a
little late for social media because Iwas looking at it. They call it
social media, so you only lookat it as social as opposed to looking
at it as distribution. But that'sthe social media. It's nothing to distribute
some direct connection to your consumer withouta middleman, you know, So yeah,

(07:04):
free them. Things had to change. Put it like this. The
people that were the biggest slave tome, owners on the plantation, or
the ones that we're robbing us themost, like you know, like a
Steve Stout, they had to completelychange their business plan. And I'm saying
Steve Stout because he's one of thoseguys within the music business that is from

(07:26):
our culture that would actually go outas his way to have other people stopped
me from evolving on a corporate level. So I also find that the people
from our culture are the ones youhave to watch the most as well.
And you know, I'm saying namesbecause I'm hearing about it. I'm seeing

(07:46):
other people saying, you know,I know you've been working, you know,
just on a lot of projects withyourself and and hiring and and creating
in wyoming and movies. Can youtalk a little bit about that? So
you know, it's crazy because theonly way corporate will empower us to make
a movie or back at it,if it's watching our culture being abused or

(08:09):
abusing each other. And you know, again, I had to take manage
into their own hand and find storiesthat show visuals of us having lineage and
making money other than in sports orentertainment. And I got with my man
Tommy Duncan, whose family has generationalwealth from healthcare, and I made a

(08:31):
movie about that. And when Iwas given it to traditional agents to look
at, they were like, wedon't know what to do with this.
There's no violence, and we knowyou for violence, and like, really,
there's no algorithm for a positive visualof a family that has wealthy lineage.
No, they were real honest aboutit. So I had to go
get the theatrical deal myself at AMCand it comes out June twenty third,

(08:54):
and then I'm going to premiere iton my network, American New Augusta,
The Prince of the Trade. Andthis is the showcase that number one,
an independent level, you could makea movie a good movie. We won
like full five festivals, and youcould also get a theatrical on your own.
You don't have to wait to betold what to do. You have

(09:16):
your hand and so many things.We could talk for hours. You have
truly continued to reinvent yourself, andyou yourself our business model for other people
to follow. I just want tosay thank you for sharing your wisdom,
your experiences, your vision with us. It was an honor to speak with
you today. Oh towards a pleasure. Thanks for aftering me these great questions.
Always thanks Mimi. In the past, it was taught that black women

(09:39):
and men had to show strength nomatter what, but that philosophy has changed
over the years where women of colorare encouraged to cherish self care and that
is okay to give yourself a break. In this next edition of The Color
Between the Lines, Esther Dillard takesa look at a book that gives black
women a list of tips on MasterDillard on the Black Information Network, chatting

(10:01):
with writers and authors who offer anadded perspective for our listeners. This is
the Color between the Lines. Inthis edition of The Color Between the Lines,
we're talking chilling out ladies strategies andhere to talk about those strategies is

(10:22):
Angela D. Coleman. She's aholistic health expert and the founder and president
of Sisterhood Agenda and now also theauthor of a new book called the Art
of Chilling Out for Women, onehundred plus Ways to replace worry and stress
with spiritual healing, self care,and self love. Thank you so much,

(10:43):
Angelae D Coleman for joining us onthe bi N Thank you so much
for having me. I really welcomethe opportunity to speak with you all.
It's fun. We all need tipsabout chilling out because we all have major
issues when it comes to work lifebalance. I'm wondering did your own struggle

(11:03):
with work life balance serve as inspirationfor this? Oh? Absolutely yes,
sure. I mean I think thatwe all had that struggle, and especially
at the pandemic, if we didn'thave it before, that really amplified things
and created some change and adaptation requirementsthat maybe we didn't have before. But

(11:24):
also working with women and girls foralmost thirty years now with my nonprofit organization's
Sisterhood Agenda, I'm very familiar withissues that our constituents and women are facing,
and this is definitely one of them. We've been facing this for a
long time. That superwoman complex isreal and it has lasting impacts, especially
for our health. I totally agree. You wrote in the introduction of your

(11:48):
book that this is a non medicalprescription of sorts for women who may be
challenged by chilling out. I'm wondering, what do you think Black women are
challenged or why do you think blackthem and are challenged a lot by this?
Well, I think that there's wehave a history of being strong.
We do it all women. Wewere holding up the world. We're holding

(12:11):
up. They were holding up everything, our families, our workplaces, our
government systems. Can you imagine ifwe just stop doing what we do and
stop doing any kind of work quoteunquote what would happen with the world would
collect? The marketplaces would collapse,our homes, our systems, our communities

(12:33):
would be endangered. And so recognizingI think most of us do have a
recognition of the important role that weplay, the legacies that we have and
also our history. We want tomake our ancestors proud. At the same
time, we know that they've sufferedso that we could have the opportunities that

(12:54):
we have today. And I thinkthat we struggle with the idea of taking
time for ourselves, the idea ofchilling out as if we're unproductive or lazy
or hurting someone or doing something bad. And that's unfortunate because chilling out is

(13:15):
the natural rhythm of life. Havingfun gives you balance. We can't all
be serious, you know. Alight bulb can't be on twenty four hours
a day, seven days a weekand burn for decades and decades and expect
to be at full capacity and expectto be okay. At some point it
will burn out. And that's wherethe phrase comes from. That's why a

(13:37):
lot of us are having difficulties maintaining. But I don't know about you know,
I'd much rather be around people whoare not stressed out. We're chilled
out who are not bound and tightand very rigid. You know. In
some ways, I'm thinking we're blockingor blessings and we're creating restrictions, and

(14:01):
the process of chilling out is theopposite. It opens everything up. It's
expansive, it's about growth, it'sabout opportunity. It's about getting those lessons,
and there are multigenerational lessons to learnfrom this. Each generation has their
gifts Each generation also has their uniquechallenges and we can really learn from each.

(14:24):
But one thing that stays consistent,you know, younger generations are like,
yeah, no, I'm not aboutthat life, you know, which
is funny because it's interesting, Itteaches us, and it is related to
our sense of self worth. Itis related to being able to prioritize and
say, yeah, I deserve tobe in this space. I don't have
to feel guilty about not meeting yourvery unreasonable expectations. I think you asked

(14:52):
me answered part of what my otherquestions was about unique challenges for black women,
you know, and you did.You hit upon on all those points
in terms of, you know,some of the things that we have this
thing in our mind that you know, if we don't, if we do
take a time for ourselves, thatwe're actually being lazy about about things.
And I think you really hit uponsomething that a lot of black women probably

(15:16):
do struggle with. I like thatyou broke this book up into sections that
can be kind of used on anad needed basis. It's each chapter doesn't
have to be read in order youkind of have it. You can pick
and choose, and it's kind ofhas step by step instruction on how to
move forward with starting a call startingwith a call to action? Can you

(15:37):
explain more about how you kind ofstructured this? Sure? Absolutely, And
in this particular book, I feltlike an introduction with how to use this
book that was a section was valuablebecause it is broken down into mind by
spirit. But even when you readthe different body, minded, spirit sections,
you'll see that they're still integrated.Because I mentioned, you know,

(16:00):
mind and the spirit section or bodyand the mind section, etc. I
wanted the reader to be able touse it as a tool, you know,
to really concretely be able to integratesome of these practices into their everyday
lives easily, you know, withouthaving to go and hit something without saying,

(16:21):
well, how am I going tomake time for that, you know,
to be able to use what's accessiblelow costs or no cost and also
something that I think is just justmakes sense. So each section and I
offer over one hundred, one hundredand one different sections on mind, body,

(16:42):
Spirit, holistic health healing. Eachsection is divided into what I call
a holistic prescription and also includes anaffirmation, so you have over one hundred
a affirmation to have over one hundredholistic prescriptions, and each holistic prescription includes

(17:03):
called action Mother Nature, use ofherbs and natural remedies, and a section
on gemstones and functual And so we'reusing ancient, tried and true, traditional
cultural practices that have been used andpractice and passed down for generations for centuries,

(17:27):
kind of going forward and going back, to go forward and to be
progressive and to incorporate things that workfor us, practices that made sense.
And we're all about energy, youknow, recognizing the energy that we come
in with and the energy around us, and the energy that's abundant in nature,

(17:51):
and being able to create healthy environmentsfor ourselves, healthy lifestyles for ourselves,
and heal ourselves with nature. Andthat's all part of the art of
chilling out. So I might usejoking kind of like, oh yeah,
we're chilling out, but you know, by doing nothing, you're actually doing

(18:11):
something very valuable, very important,and very necessary that increases your health and
emotional well being. Tell you it'sreally interesting for those of you who are
just joining us. I'm Aster Dillardon the Black Information Network, and we're
talking about the art of chilling Outfor women. It's a book written by

(18:32):
author Angela D. Coleman, who'sjoining us talking us, talking to us
all about what she wrote about inthis book. I saw in your subtitle
that you know one hundred ways,and I thought, wow, after fifty
I thought I would have a reallychallenge to find different issues and solutions for
them. But was it difficult writingand addressing stress management in so many different

(18:56):
ways or was it difficult cutting itdown? Well, it wasn't difficult at
all doing one hundred plus days ofthe art of chilling out. And because
there are more than a hundred andone wave in which we are stressed,

(19:17):
in which we are stressing ourselves out, creating distress or prolonging our distress.
So these remedies were not that difficult. I just had to put it down.
And this is a book that comesfrom my heart, and so it's
coming from a loving space. It'scoming from very positive and healing energy and

(19:45):
really encourage in that feminine space,you know, that yen, you know,
and being able to draw upon thingsthat we may know about or may
not know about, but we doknow how we you know, how we
feel a certain environment and how wefeel every day, and to really look

(20:06):
inward and be honest with ourselves ofhow we show up in our own space,
but in our workspaces and our homesand with other people, interacting with
other people. And so when youare working and finding that inner piece,
you're finding that balance, you're findingthat health also how you can protect it,
how you can keep it because weneed to maintain it, and that

(20:30):
you're always going to have different forces, are different environments that are not about
your best interests, that are notabout you being healthy, So you're going
to have to in some ways havesome forms of resistance against that. And
that's where this foundation comes from ofhealth. And it's amazing how stress can

(20:53):
hurt you, how stress can't killyou, and also how stress can really
do increase your quality. Thank youWing. What's your overall message? I
guess for readers, before you knowwe close the sound, what do you
hope that you know? Because there'sso much that you can pull from this,
I mean, there's so many differentthings that you offer to your readers,

(21:15):
what do you hope that that thatoverarching message might be. The overall
message is that taking time for yourselfis good and healthy and necessary and important,
and to not feel bad or guiltyabout doing it, and that it's
not about time. It's not abouttime, it's not doesn't take any time

(21:36):
away from something else when you prioritizeyourself because you are then by making yourself
a priority, able to actually bemore productive, not less productive. You
don't want to medical event or amental illness to cause you to have to
check out, to cause you tohave to lie in or be in a
bed or be bed reading, toforce your body to rest and recouper reading,

(22:00):
restore. When you can choose todo that, you can choose to
do that, and you can docreate a visualization and prayer and meditation and
visioning and rest and restore yourself andrest. If you choose it, you
won't have to worry about those typesof out And that's what I'm hoping we
change conversation around taking that time,taking that space. I tell you,

(22:26):
I'm enjoyed this conversation. One thingthat I didn't want readers to know,
so you can remember her name.Her name is Angela d Coleman. That
D stands for Davis, and shesaid her mom and dad named her that
for a specific reason. Maybe youcould share that quickly. I'm sure,
Well, Angela, my mom likedit as a beautiful name. My father

(22:47):
wanted me to be named after AngelaDavis, so I do have the middle
initial D. But my middle nameis not Davis. So I'm not literally
Angela Davis Coleman or Angela Denise Coleman. But I honor homage to Angela Davis,
who's an awesome, awesome woman,activist, educator, extraordinair, feminist,

(23:08):
womanist and all of that, soI honor her also with my D.
Plus Honestly, there are a lotof Angela Coleman surprisingly better out there,
so Angela d does differentiate me,but also I honor those who come
before me. Awesome. Well,thank you Angela d. Coleman for joining

(23:29):
us on the bi N. Thankyou so much, ESSU for having me.
I appreciate the opportunity. You know. That's it for this edition of
The Color Between the Lines. Thebook is the Art of Chilling Out for
Women one hundred plus ways to replaceworry and stress with spiritual healing, self
care and self love. I'm EsterDillard on the Black Information Network and the

(23:56):
Black Perspective will return in thirty seconds. Join the Rainbow Push Coalition, Citizenship
Education Fund, and Push Xcel forits annual International Convention July fifteenth through the
nineteenth. This year's theme is thePerilous Journey from Freedom to Equality. The
convention features many distinguished session speakers ontopics of educational equity and shaping public policy

(24:21):
at the state and federal levels ofgovernment. Register at Rainbow Push dot org.
That's Rainbow Push dot org. Welcomeback to The Black Perspective. I'm
your host Mike Island. She isthe daughter of Hip Hop Royalty and she
is now creating her own lane withher solo music career while also balancing motherhood.
The Black Information Networks on Ed Gordonhad an opportunity to talk to the

(24:44):
young artist Zanique. It's the BlackInformation Network, the Black Perspective. I
am a met Gordon. Thank youMike for the introduction and with us today
is hip Hop and R and byRoyalty daughta of t I a tiny ZnI.
How you doing there, I'm good. How are you? I'm doing
excellent. I am so glad tohave you in here because we talked earlier

(25:07):
and I was telling you that,you know, when it comes to watching
reality TV, watching people kind ofgrow up in front of us, we
act like we know them, weact like we know your story. And
the cool thing about having this platformis to be able to talk to you
just about who you really are andwhat's it like being kind of raised in

(25:32):
front of everybody. So, firstof all, you're here because you have
a new single out, a newEP out, yes, called the Breakup.
Yes, let's talk about that realquick. Let's talk about why is
it called the Breakup? Okay?So my EP is called the Breakup because
it's basically me being very vulnerable aboutmy relationship and things that I've been going

(25:53):
through since I've become a mom andyou know, just just my status and
me going through relationship and pretty muchit breaking apart in a sense. So
when you when you make these albums, when you get very personal, when
you make these personal albums or andthese EPs and these songs that that kind
of tell your story, you know, what is your expectation of it?

(26:15):
Do you talk to to the manfirst, this is what we're doing,
you know what I'm saying. Oryou're like, surprise, here you go,
right, It's honestly more of asurprise. But I think it works
a lot for my situation because myum as father is a rapper as well,
so he understands music and you know, the art of it. So

(26:36):
he's never like, you know,he's always very supportive of whatever I want
to do, whether it's talking abouthim or you know, whatever the case
is. But I feel like withmy music, um, it's a place
where I can really be myself andtell my story in a way where I'm
actually comfortable. You know what youknow you said, I'm people have been
able to watch me on a realityTV show, So I feel like because

(26:57):
of that, I'm in a wayvery proud it. So I like to
express myself through my music. Youare Ti and Tinese Daughter. That's how
we're kind of introduced to you,and that whenever you know, I introduced
you like you know, Ti TineseDaughter, Um, and then you're part
of the OMG Girls, and thenyou're like and then you're part of you
know, the reality show about yourfamily. And now again you're always breaking

(27:19):
away, but now you have anew title. You're a mom, right,
you know what I'm saying. Soso think about you know, talking
about the titles and breaking away andcreating new ways for yourself. I enjoy
being able to do it because beingable to make different um names for myself
being able. Really the best partof it is having a fan base that's
growing with me and is able tosee all the change that I'm going through.

(27:41):
So you know, it's never likeI'm too afraid that oh, like,
well they like me this way becauseI feel like, you know,
they've seen me from when I wastwelve or however, whenever Tiny and Toy
started, they got to really bea part of my journey. So I
feel like they get to enjoy,you know, the to see me involved
and really just growing in everything thatI want to explore. Being a young

(28:04):
mom yeah, um and trying toget your career going. You know what,
what has the support of your familybeen like for you? What?
What has you know, your yourvillage been like when it comes to helping
you raise your child. You knowwhat my village is like medium strong,

(28:25):
strong, medium strong. I'm goingto be very honest, um, because
all of my family members have,i mean, you know, their own
lives. Everyone has their own lives. But all of my family members are
like working people, like you know, even my dad. I feel like
my dad is the one who's like, you know, he'll try to make
away either way. But he worksa lot, like he's he gets up

(28:45):
like real, real nine to five, like six in the morning, So
I don't know. Everybody's schedules areall over the place, like so it
can be hard. But I lovethis. I love this because I wasn't
expecting that. But then when you'retalking about it's real life stuff. Yeah,
because you know, it's like forme, I got you know,
I got a seven year old,and it's like, you know, my
village, I was, I havea pretty good village because they're older,

(29:07):
you know what I'm saying. Sothey're like, you know, my aunt's
favorite line is I ain't going nowhere, I go ahead, drop them off,
that kind of thing. But there'sa lot of people, especially young
um parents whose parents got live yes, and it's like yeah, no,
no, no, no, thisisn't the old grandparents right, No,
no, drop the baby off allday all weekend. No, I got
it, that's not your parents,Like, no, I got a tour

(29:30):
this weekend, I can't. Iwould love to, but this weekend I
hear that I would love to.But yeah, that's funny to me.
So talk to me about because peoplewere thinking, well, you're rich,
you got and baby cities. It'slike, no, we don't just be
dropping off our baby. Yeah yeah, no exactly. Yeah, I mean
I would, honestly, I wouldlove to get a babysitter, but I

(29:52):
you know, I would have tofind somebody that I'm extremely comfortable with.
I always feel like families just theway to go, Like I would just
really rather one of my family membersbe able to watch my kids, my
kid, not kids, but umyeah this one. Let's be specific.
Also, like you know, peoplewill try to I feel like with me
and my siblings give off like,oh you're rich, and honestly, like

(30:17):
the parents are the rich ones.You know, we don't just get take
taken care of out the family.We just live this great. I take
care of myself. Now I havea kid, so it's given. I'm
going to manage my money like ababysitter will be great, But I got
a lot of other things to worryabout, so I have to depend on
my family, who all have liveswith their own. You know what,
that's a good that's a good segwatto this, you know, because again

(30:38):
we all just think that you know, when you come from a family that
has you know that automatically. Youdon't have to do anything. You just
live off your your parents and youthat what they think. That's what they
think. So what is that dynamic? Like what your parents talk to you
about money? What what did theysay like, Okay, we got you
in this, but don't think thisLike what like what are those talks like

(31:02):
when you have when your parents youknow what, I don't think that It's
never really well for me. Inever really had that talk with my parents.
I would feel like maybe like aking would probably have this common day.
I'm sure they may have had thisconversation with him, right because him
growing up, he kind of gotin his head like, oh, you
know, I'm always be straight.But when he, you know, got

(31:22):
to the age eighteen is really likethe age of my house. When you
have to start taking your care ofyourself, that's you know, it's really
kind of what does it look likelike? What is that? What is
that? What does that look like? What's what's the take care? What
does you know, take care ofyourself look like? At eighteen? What's
the expectations for you? Now?It depends on if you move out or
not. And I'm not gonna likemy parents have never really been like,
oh, rush on moving out now, I'm not gonna lie. I was

(31:47):
slick almost rushed out the house whenI was eighteen, but that's another story
for another day. But I didn'thave to go anywhere. It was just
kind of like a talk like,you know, just like mature, like
you about to be tom do youor do you want to lead a house?
Like what are your type? Thing? But you know, I stay.
I still stayed there for a goodlittle minute. But um, just
really paying your own bills. It'skind of like I'll buy you this car,

(32:07):
but you gotta pay the car.No gotcha type thing. So it's
like you either got it or youdon't, Like you got to really keep
up with your lifestyle. Got it. So when it comes to the music
and impacting musically, what a successfullike for you? I would say in
the music for you know, mymusic career, I would like to be
a Grammy or winner or Grammy nominated. I feel like growing up always no

(32:29):
no no winner, yeah yeah winner, just manifest that yeah Grammy Award winner.
Um. I would like to reallyI would love to like perform on
a lot of big stages at awardshows. I want to go to the
mad galatle. I just want todo, like you know, I want
to be invited to everything. Iwant to do the super Bowl at one
at one, you know, whenI get there, I want to do

(32:50):
all the big stuff. I wantto do all the stuff that was like
growing up, you knew if youdid that, like you did something you're
you're in your career is where it'ssupposed to be exactly family wise, family
wise for you, what does successlook like? Because you talk about you
know, the EPs called the breakup? What does love look like? Man?
For ze? What does that looklike? What does this a successful
relationship look like? For you?Right now? A successful relationship for me

(33:14):
looks like um um, a familythat works through things and can make it
to marriage. It's hard for meto say now because everybody knows, like
I'm like so against marriage at thisage, at the age I am right
now, but you know, somedaymake it to marriage, grow together on

(33:34):
a farm, nice land right now? Right with your parents relationship, how
did their relationship affect you just growingup? You know what? Um,
they make me want to get married, like I always say, they're like
the real you know, real marriage, Like I don't really see them ever
breaking apart, like it's real love. Like you can tell these people do

(33:57):
not want to be without each other, Like that's what I love about them.
Well, I'm just glad to addthe optunity to meet you and talk
to you and kind of get toknow you a little bit better. So
thank you so much. See again. How can everybody reach you and get
your EP right now? Well,you can go get my EP on all
streaming platforms and you can reach meon my Instagram Zi Nique jay Lee hit

(34:19):
me up. Thanks mad. TheDirect Reliefs Fund for Health Equity was created
to increase access to healthcare and improvehealth outcomes for marginalized communities. The Black
Information That Works Me Me Brown isback with an organization that talked about how
direct Relief has benefited their community.I am excited to have with me today,
Shanika valcour ladup. She is adirector at New Orleans Women's Wellness,

(34:44):
which is an amazing nonprofit organization basedin the heart of New Orleans. Thank
you for taking the time to speakwith us today here at the Black Information
Network. We are so excited aboutthe work that you are doing. How
are you today? Hi? Thankyou, Me Me I am doing well.
Thank you for having me happen tobe here and share little information with
everyone. Absolutely, so let's diveright in. Talk to me about the

(35:07):
organization, the history, the missionof NOW, and how it's evolved over
time. Yes, so New OrleansWomen's Wellness was actually founded in twenty twenty,
so we're rather new, but ourmission is longgoing. So we are
here to provide high quality health andwellness services to women and their families in
New Orleans and surrounding areas. Wedo like to focus on underserved, underrepresented

(35:30):
areas to make sure that people whomay not necessarily have access to high quality
services can we have that access.How does NOW reach out to the women
in the community to ensure that theyknow that those services are available to them.
So we participate in lots of healthcommunity health events like health fares,
community baby showers because we do tryto get a lot of services toward women,

(35:52):
infants, and children, and sowe also work with different community partners
in the New Orleans area. Soanything we can do to kind of get
the word out there and get peoplein ticket people the services they need is
what we're trying to do. Whatare some of the biggest challenges that now
faces in providing affordable healthcare services towomen in the community, and how do
you address those challenges. One ofthe biggest challenges we face is honestly getting

(36:16):
people to see the importance of healthand wellness. I think it is a
notion and just historically it's just whatwe do as a community. We go
to see someone when something's wrong.So we typically go to the emergency room
or to an urgent care when wehave a problem, but there's generally no
primary care follow up like that.At least once a year or you know,

(36:39):
maybe even more frequently, depending onif you have a health condition.
People generally just don't go get checkedout for no reason. That's one of
our ongoing battles is getting the communityto see the importance of at least having
one wellness visit a year. Ifwe can see you when you're healthy,
we can hopefully prevent you from gettingto the point where something's wrong in their

(37:00):
treatment that's needed or not a lotof options. And how has the direct
Relief grant impacted your organization and yourcommunity that you're serving. Oh, my
goodness, So the Direct Relief Granthas been amazing. It has allowing us
to expand our services, so weare able to serve people in the community
who have state insurance plans as wellas commercial insurance plans. But we also

(37:25):
do see uninsured and underinsured patients,and so the grant has allowed us to
expand and be able to not haveto turn anyone away for financial reasons.
Another thing, the Direct Relief Granthas allowed us to extend completely free,
high high quality therapy services to ourpatients, So people who are dealing with

(37:46):
things like generalized anxiety disorder, depression, even post part of anxiety disorders,
post traumatic stress, all those things. So what we've seen over the past
few years is actually, with stateinsurance plans are under ensured communities, the
resources for mental and emotional health whoare very scarce, and when we could

(38:08):
get them in, it's either awaiting list that's far too long, or
when they get there, we getconcerns from the patients about the quality of
the services they receive. And sothe Direct Relief grant has actually allowed us
to hire an amazing therapist who's reallyreally making a positive impact on the emotional

(38:30):
and mental health of our patients.And I think that's a huge huge component
that we all need in the community. Absolutely, mental health is super important.
What would you say would be thelong term impact of the grant on
the organization? The long term impactthat I'm hoping on is sustainability, helping

(38:51):
to get health and wellness not onlyservices, but education. It's a big
part of what we do. Sowe never want to treat patients as numbers
or see you and give you acare plan or give you a medication and
have you not thoroughly understand your healthgoals or where your wellness is at that
point. And so hopefully it's goingto help us to change the culture and

(39:13):
the community to focus more on awellness and a proactive standpoint of health.
I Mimi Brown with a Black InformationNetwork, and I am in conversation right
now with Shanika valcourt Ladu. Sheis the director at New Orleans Women's Wellness
and we're talking about all the amazingwork the organization is doing there in the
community of New Orleans. Shanika,I wanted to know if there are any

(39:36):
success stories or women who have benefitedfrom the programming services and how have those
resources improved their lives. Oh mygoodness, So yes, we get lots
of heartwarming success stories, mostly fromthe therapy services. I just think is
it's so assounding that we're able toprovide that to women who really needed and
who haven't had positive experiences with mentalhealth services prior. We also have women

(40:04):
who come in and this is somethingthat's really heartwrenching for me because I am
a family nurse practitioner, so Iactually do see the patients when they come
in. But I've taken care ofwomen in New Orleans who are old enough
to be my mother, who havehealth conditions, who have medications that they're
not really necessarily following through with becausethey don't understand it. And so of

(40:25):
course we do our education. Wego through everything. I make sure they
know not only what they need tobe taking, but why and how to
take it correctly, and what thegoals are, and really help the patients
feel like they're an active participant.And it never thesis to amaze me when
I have a patient tell me,especially one who's old enough to be my
mom. So I know you've seenproviders before that there's never been a healthcare

(40:50):
provider to talk to you about healthyliving. You get prescriptions, but you
don't take them, because you haveno idea what they are. And so
when I see these patients and theycome and they're actually improving the conditions they
have, or they're really planning anactive role in their healthcare management because now
they understand, so now they're goingto follow through with the plan that we
have in place. So those arereally just the ongoing success stories, and

(41:15):
I'm looking forward to seeing and hearingmore of those. And why is it
so important, would you say tohave these types of services in black and
brown communities. It's important to havethese types of services in black and brown
communities because I feel we need toreceive this information from someone who we trust,

(41:36):
and most times the people we trust, the people who look like us,
also people who treat you with loveand respect. We should never,
in any standpoint talk down to someoneor feel like we won't give them information
because we think they won't understand it. That's just not the way to properly
care for people. And so Ithink it's really important to not look at,

(41:58):
especially black and brown communities that areserved as less deserving of high quality.
I feel like they deserve the samequality that anyone else in the world,
regardless of their socioeconomic status will receiveand so that's really what we strive
to do, high quality all acrossthe board. And how can members of
the community get involved with the organizationsupport its mission to promote health and wellness

(42:22):
to the women of New Orleans.Yes, so tell everyone about us.
We can serve anyone in the communitywho needs an appointment. You can make
those appointments online. We have awebsite Www. Now Health that's in thowwhealth
dot com. You can also callus on five or four eight seven,

(42:44):
seven, five nine zero one,and then we also can be contacted via
email and our email addresses info atnow health and owwhealth dot com. Is
there anything else, Shanika, youwould like to say about the organization,
anything that we did not touch onthat you would want our listeners to know.
Yes, I would like the listenersto know. Something else that's being

(43:07):
supported by the Direct Relief Fund,and that is our Pink Product Pantry.
We know that financially things can bestraining on people or sometimes we just we
have a lot of needs that wewant to help women meet, and so
our Pink Product Pantry allows us tostore and to supply people in the community
with feminine hygiene goods and also goodsthat are needed to take care of babies,

(43:30):
so like diapers, wives, ifmoms, or breastfeeding, anything they
need. So we keep these thingsand you can make a request. You
can call us and just say hey, I need size three diapers or whatever
you need, and we provide it. And so I think it's really amazing
to be able to take that formof stress away from the community. Absolutely

(43:52):
it is. Shanika. Thank youso much for taking the time to speak
with us today here at the BlackInformation Network. We are so excited about
the work that you are doing inyour community. Thank you for taking the
time to fill in our listeners.Thank you, and the Black Perspective will
return in thirty seconds. Join theRainbow Push Coalition, Citizenship Education Fund,

(44:14):
and Push XL for its annual internationalConvention July fifteenth through the nineteenth. This
year's theme is the Perilous Journey fromFreedom to Equality. The convention features many
distinguished session speakers on topics of educationalequity and shaping public policy at the state
and federal levels of government. Registerat Rainbow Push dot org. That's Rainbow

(44:37):
Push dot org. Welcome back tothe Black perspective. I'm your host,
Mike Island. Doug Davis is backwith his monthly series entitled Financial Literacy one
oh one. Real estate investor andfinancial coach I Dreche Johnson is back.
He spoke on the myths about becomingsuccessful in business. Today we talk solutions,
Doug. Thanks Mike, this isDoug Davison. We're back with another

(44:59):
euro business and our monthly series FinancialLiteracy one on one continues. Over the
past several months, a real estateinvestor and financial coach and Rue Johnson has
given his opinion regarding the myths aboutmoney, business and success. And today
we'll talk to mister Johnson about thesolutions needed for a Black America to move
forward with obtaining wealth today and forour future generations. A Ruse Johnson.

(45:22):
Welcome back to the Black Information Network, Chiefs and blessings. Doug. I'm
happy to be here. Likewise,man, we're so happy to have you
here. As we wrap up thispart of our series, let's start with
this. In your opinion, sharewith us about how Black Americans can achieve
success through money and business. Ifyou want to be successful, there are
certain things that are foundational that youhave to really really key in on setting

(45:46):
specific, immeasurable but achievable and relevantand time bound goal helps provide direction and
focus for you to be successful.If you can go more into details about
the importance of time, remember allbusinesses have windowed, things evolved over time.
Technology, for instance, has changedour lives more in the last twenty

(46:09):
years than the previous three hundred yearsin the United States. You have to
be persistent persevering. Success rarely comeswithout obstacles and setbacks. Persistence is the
ability to stay committed and motivated evenin the face of challenging It involves the
willingness to work hard, overcome yourfailures and mistakes, and keep pushing forward

(46:32):
despite the obstacle. You were talkingabout a recent study that kind of quantifies
what it would take for someone tobecome a millionaire when it comes to time.
Can you talk about that a littlebit. They have done studies in
order to reach millionaire level, consideringyou have a good product or service and
you're good at what you do,it will require an average of seventy to

(46:55):
seventy five hours of work a weekthree years and you will be able to
reach a millionaire level. You cannotapply an average workweek time in your business
and think that you will blow tothe point of great success. It just
won't happen. Let's talk about settinggoals on a timeline. You know a
lot of times when we find failurein obtaining or reaching some of these goals,

(47:19):
and sometimes time after time again,you know, it's easy for us
to give up. What kind ofencouraging thoughts can you provide our listeners with,
maybe an experience that you've had whereyou just had to toil and toil
and just you know, never acceptedno as the ultimate answer. So to
answer your question in this way,in my own personal example, in my

(47:42):
industry, in real estate, businessbecame very competitive. We had increasingly more
and more people coming out competing.All you needed was cash. So if
you had cash, you were ableto be out and compete with us,
you know, start to make someway and make things very pretty much very

(48:04):
difficult for the guys that have beendoing the business for a very long time.
Me included. So what I neededto do is I needed to do
more volume. And so in orderfor me to do more volumes, just
like anything else, to law ofaverage, if I'm able to do more,
I can Actually I came more sobefore we had the technology of a

(48:27):
mapping system where you can actually identifywhere the properties you're actually going to go.
We were actually utilizing the map,so the map would highlight your zone,
district and JIB code, and thenwe would go from home to home.
Not quite an efficient system, butthat was the best that It was

(48:47):
the best we can do at thetime. Once they came out with CDs
that allowed you to put in andupdating them online where you can put in
one hundred addresses and they will mapit out from one address to the next
that were closest to you and bringyou back home. That allowed us to

(49:07):
go from maximum twenty houses, thetwenty five houses a day to being able
to view sixty to seventy incredible,So you're essentially you've more than doubled what
you're actually able to see. Inthis case, technology made the difference.
So you have to be able topivot from doing things an older way to

(49:31):
make an adjustment to a way thatis more efficient. So let's get back
to what you were saying about thestudy. As I was saying, you
cannot apply an average work week timein your business and think that you're actually
going to blow. And this ison average. We're looking at a willingness,
a commitment of six days a week, twelve hours a day, no

(49:54):
question. And then after you're successful. The funny thing is, after all
the blood and sweat and tears,your friends and family will say you're lucky,
but they have no idea what yousacrifice to get there. In order
to be successful, you have tohave a continuous commitment to learning, a
growth mindset. Stressful people have athirst for knowledge in a commitment to a

(50:19):
lifetime of learning. They embrace agrowth mindset, believing that their abilities can
be developed through effort, learning andexperience, hard work, an effort.
It's absolutely necessary because nothing is handeddown to you easily. If you're just

(50:42):
joining us, my name is DougDavis and you're listening to You're a Black
business on the Black Perspective. We'retalking to real estate investor and financial coach
Adres Johnson, and the monthly seriesis called Financial Literacy one oh one.
Let's talk about the importance of discipline. I'm glad you asked that, because
what I was about to say wassuccess requires discipline and self control. Right.

(51:06):
You have to prioritize your task,manage your time effectively, avoid distractions,
and today, in twenty twenty three, we have more distractions than ever
before. It involves making choices thatare aligned with your long term goals and
your short term goals as well.Short term gratification can be tempting parties and

(51:31):
trips with your friends, going outevery Friday night, creating a situation where
you suffer the next day because youdidn't get quality rest. You need to
be productive, So denying yourself ofthese desires sometimes will be necessary. So
prioritization is important. But I meansome of us, particularly those that maybe

(51:55):
middle age over forty, I mean, we got kids, man, we
got we got a wife, wegot a family. You know, they
want to do things, you know, while you may be trying, you
know, wife or a husband,you know, trying to build upon this
new empire. And so you know, you're dealing with a lot of outside
pressures. How can someone satisfy theirsignificant other as well as other important family

(52:20):
things while again chasing this dream.That's a very good question. And you
have to create time for them,and you have to be very specific.
You have to create time specifically forthem. Just a schedule that incorporates doing
things with your children, doing thingswith your partner to keep that relationship going.

(52:43):
It is important that you invest inthe relationship, but it's also important
that you invest a prioritize creating alegacy for your family. If you were
to do this on the level thatI'm describing, I think in the short
term your family will not understand orappreciate it in many instances, especially your

(53:05):
children, but in the long termthey will. So if your goal is
to reach millionaire level, that willprobably be sufficient for you and your family.
And then you taper back. You'vebeen getting the process of delegating to
people that you're hiring or some ofyour current staff to take on more responsibility,
allowing you to have more time withyour family. Right, Ultimately,

(53:29):
you know, you got to giveup something. You've got to give up
something. You can't have everything.You can't be a millionaire, you can't
be the best husband, the bestfather, the best son, the best
brother, the best friend. It'sgoing to have to be what are you
willing to sacrifice? And again,short term, we're not talking about decades.

(53:51):
Short term people have to sacrifice sometimesin order to go to school and
continued education and get their master's degreeor their doctorate. They have to sacrifice
something, their relationship in that instance, while they're in medical school, their
relationship suffers. It's just part ofit. It's part of it. And
we have to learn to be okaywith that. And if you have a

(54:14):
partner that shares your vision and understandthat and believes in you, they have
to learn to be patient so youcan be able to reach that goal together.
Yeah, that's really good. Anotherquick question. They say most millionaires,
or I should say new millionaires,are over fifty, so they say

(54:35):
the probability of someone becoming a millionairereally starts to escalate pass the age of
fifty. Have you heard that before. Well, that they may not really
apply now, but I have heardthat probably and I believe that to be
a fact up until probably ten yearsago. Now, I think millionaires are

(54:55):
rapidly growing much younger now than everbefore because of technology. The older you
are, if you're in fifty,over fifty or forty five years of age,
you're not as technologically as stupe right, so and technology is changing that.
Through TikTok, Facebook, YouTube onlyfans. Girls that were working in

(55:20):
a club for many years breaking herback. Now she's able to reach millions
of people globally by just using acamera. I think now we have a
new age. However, when Ido believe that really applied, because I
know many that are millionaires in multipleareas of business, I think it takes

(55:42):
you to get older to really learnand have a lot of the wisdom that
sacrifice is necessary. You've made alot of mistakes, you felt. In
fact, if you know the storyof Ray Kroc, the developer of the
concept of what we know McDonald's tobe, he was a on again,
off again businessman prior to buying theMcDonald's brand from the McDonald's brothers, and

(56:09):
he had a vision that they couldnot see. But he was in his
fifty when he did this. Ibelieve he was fifty three years of age.
And by the way, McDonald's isa proud founding partner of the Black
Information Network. So absolutely, bythe time you reach an older age in
life, you're wiser, you're moredisciplined, you have less distractions that you're

(56:32):
concerned about. Probably your children area lot older than our babies anymore.
All of those things play a rolein allowing you to go to another level.
You're not going to have the sameenergy, which you definitely have a
greater degree of wisdom for sure.I'll tell you what our time is really
really growing short. Any final questionswon't have to bring you back again next

(56:58):
month to continue this last part ofour series, well, this part of
it that I would like to justadd a few more points so we can
wrap up at least a part ofregarding what is foundational in order for you
to be successful, networking and buildingrelationships, building and maintaining strong relationships.

(57:19):
The audience, the people that arewithin the range of my voice, need
to understand everything is about relationships.The saying that it's who you know,
that's not really true. It's whoknows you. It's who recognize you,
and I know you know your spirit. They are connected with you. That
makes a difference. So maintaining strongrelationships is crucial for your success. Networking

(57:45):
allows you to exchange ideas, collaborating, creating and building opportunities for both parties
involved. Successful individuals value those connectionsand invest time in nurturing their relationships.
Nurture your relationships. You cannot besuccessful solo. It doesn't happen. Learn

(58:07):
to take calculated risks you most cultivatethe capacity to become less risk averse.
Success often involved stepping out of yourcompany zone and taking calculated risks. Emotional
intelligence last, but not least,and interpersonal skills. Success oftentimes depends on

(58:30):
your ability to navigate relationships, communicatingeffectively, developing an emotional intelligence, empathy
strong interpersonal skills can greatly contribute toyour success and the Drees. How can
people reach you? The best wayto reach me is Financially Free Academy at
hotmail dot com or Financially Free Networkat hotmail dot com. Real estate investor

(58:53):
and financial coach and Dres Johnson.Thank you so much for sharing all of
your strong opinions and facts you knowabout what it will take for you to
become successful in business and in life. We look forward to having you back
again next month. This is DougDavis. You're listening to your Black Business

(59:14):
on the Black Information Network. ThanksDoug for more on these stories. Listen
to the Black Information Network on theiHeartRadio app or log onto bi Nnews dot
com where you can hear this programin its entirety on demand. Also follow
us on social media at Black InformationNetwork and on Twitter at black Infonet.
We thank you for joining us onthe Black perspective and look forward to continuing

(59:37):
to have needed conversations for the blackcommunity next week. Mike Island on the
Black Information Network