March 25, 2024 • 20 mins
Nazeer Smith, owner of Fly Choice Community NFP, is no stranger to social work and the commitment to make a positive difference by giving others a second chance.
Nazeer shares his powerful story with Jasmine on the 68th episode of the Brilliantly Black podcast. Striving to make a lasting impact on his community with the youth and judicially involved individuals, this is a story you want to hear.
To get involved and find more information, visit flychoicecommunity.org!
Nazeer shares his powerful story with Jasmine on the 68th episode of the Brilliantly Black podcast. Striving to make a lasting impact on his community with the youth and judicially involved individuals, this is a story you want to hear.
To get involved and find more information, visit flychoicecommunity.org!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Putting the spotlight on chicago Lands growingblack businesses. iHeartMedia Chicago presents the Brilliantly
Black Podcast. Here's our host,Jasmine Bennett. Hey everyone, welcome back
today. I'm here with Nazier Smitha Fly Choice Community. How are you
today, I'm doing well. I'mdoing well. Good afternoon, Good afternoon.
Thank you, Thank you for beinghere. So can you tell me
(00:21):
just a little bit more about flyChoice and like what inspired you to even
start that? Okay, so whatinspired me to create Fly Choice Community was
Originally fly Choice was a catalog thatI created for those incostrated. So I
tried to bring like an e commercesituation to the to the prison. And
(00:43):
what it did was it offered individualsan opportunity to purchase gifts for their loved
ones, whether it be like birthday, Christmas, graduation for the sun daughter,
what have you. And in return, individuals would often right back to
meet and inquire about opportunities once released. So awareness was not I would say
(01:07):
prevalent inside the institutions in terms ofopportunities once released. So Fly Choice Community
is an org, is a nonprofitorganization where I provide those services once they're
released. So workforce development is theprimary focus. But what I'm trying to
develop is wrap around services that areall inclusive. So for individuals who return
(01:29):
home or individuals just with barriers toemployment, fly Choice community kind of provides
a additional resource for the community.Wow, that's great because you know a
lot of people they don't like givingpeople second chances, and the second chance
is sometimes just what we need to, you know, keep going and feel
like we can do anything in thisworld, no matter what happened in the
(01:51):
past. So I think that's agreat thing. And since you, you
know, y're more about the workforcedevelopment and things like that, tell me
a little bit more about I likethe mission statement of choice. So the
mission is to, for one,have visual examples that change is possible.
So like like I, like Istated, not many individuals are aware of
(02:13):
the resources or aware of opportunities oncereleased. I put myself in that for
an example. I put myself inthose shoes. So I was formerly incarcerated
as well. I spent twelve anda half years incarcerated and I was released
ten years early due to an executiveclinimency granted by the governor, and I
(02:35):
had rallied. I garnished a lotof support upon my release because the things
that I'm doing that I do nowin society and community, I was doing
as well while incarcerated, forming mentorgroup, spirit driven mentors, you know,
tutor and things of that nature.And so when I was released,
I was in search of resources.The only resource that I knew of that
(02:57):
was that was presented to me wasthat the Men's Warehouse would offer you a
free suit so you can go tojob interviews. Once released, I went
to the Men's Warehouse and they toldme we stopped doing that five years ago.
Oh wow. So it was like, you know, starting from where
and relating to who. So flyChoice is kind of like you know that
Grassroot organization. Well, you know, I am the I am the community
(03:23):
that I service. Mm mm hmmm. That's great. I really do love
that. So, like when youwere first starting with this, did you
have like any Oh, I know, I mean everything comes with challenges,
you know, being a business owner, having an organization, But like what
were some of like the main thingsthat you kind of went through and how
did you get past them? SoI would say my the biggest challenges was
(03:44):
being educated about entrepreneurship. So weyou know, most people want to kind
of like be their own boss andrun their own company, but not everyone
knows the details or the intricate partsor the you know, unforeseen barrier when
it comes to being established. Andyou know what they don't consider is that
being an entrepreneur is not a nineto five duty, right, Your success
(04:10):
is determined by your metrics. Thesame in social services, the same and
workforce development. We don't work nineto five. We work until completion.
So you know, you have tobe prepared mentally, and you have to
have the endurance to physically and mentally, you know, withstand those challenges.
So I would say that was mybiggest hurt of being educated on that aspect
(04:33):
of entrepreneurship. And where did youget inspiration from? Like mentors? Like
who mentored you? Because I knowyou mensor people now, so like who
gave that inspiration to you? Uhso? Quite frankly, the fact that
I didn't have clear mentors kind ofpushed me in the leadership role. So
(04:54):
it's almost like I inherited this roleby default. I mean to be honest,
I still don't feel comfortable in public, you know, doing public speaking
or just you know, every alot of these things are new to me
and just but doing what's right oror standing on what's right, it's never
been new to me, or leadingis always been quite natural to me.
(05:16):
So I would say, you know, the fact that I didn't have is
enough clear examples of what or cleardirection as to what this route would lead
me to it kind of pushed meto be that example for the next individual.
So you know, now, don'tget me wrong, I've had a
lot of mentors. You know,I've garnished a lot of information from wise
(05:38):
individuals, men and women alike,but you know, the lack of has
kind of like pushed me to,you know, step up and take on
this role and responsibility. Yea,as an example, and let me ask
about Fly Choice, Like how didyou come up with that name? Fly
Choice? So, like I said, originally the catalog Fly Choice. It
(06:00):
was, you know, the choicesthat you are able to select with,
you know, from the catalog flyand your choices. So I mean not
like it. It was kind ofa play on words, but it was
like unique in his way. Andthen you know Fly Choice Community, which
is the nonprofit, which is whatI'm you know what I what I kind
(06:23):
of like stand by today and whatI try to promote most, you know,
is a playoff fly Choice. Butthe community, you know, because
so many guys, so many womenyou know, support fly Choice and relate
to to fly Choice, and youknow, ask that fly Choice support them
as well. So it was likea no brainer. I had to turn
it into a nonprofit as well.Yeah, and you said you work in
(06:44):
social services, so like expand onthat a little bit. How those two
worlds kind of like intertwined. Okay, So I work in social services.
I consult for different organizations and workforcedevelopment, so I add a workforce armed
to these programs, whether it bethrough job readiness training, whether it be
through job placement, you know,so I bring additional employment resources and you
(07:10):
know, mentorship as well, Soit kind of inter twines in that way.
Excuse me, I'm rambled, andI kind of like forgot the question.
Oh no, that's okay. Weall ramble a little bit, you
know, it's a yapathon up inhere, but it's all good. We're
talking about fly Choice community, andI want to ask, like, do
(07:30):
you still do all of this onyour own or do you have a team.
So currently I'm a single handedly,you know, operating fly Choice community.
So I do have people who supportme and who you know, if
need be, if I need assistance. My sister she's she's big on the
help she provides, so she offersa lot of you know, I would
(07:55):
say back office type support. Yeah. Yeah, so she does that.
And then I have a I haveyou know, friends and family as well
who who support and you know,if need be, I can call them.
Can you make a couple of calls? Can you play some orders for
me through through the catalog? AndI also have a business partner as well
with fly Choice Catalog. Okay,okay, So how do you manage like
(08:20):
work life balance? I usually asklike everyone on here, and pretty much
everyone is like, well, stillworking on that. Uh so you know
that's it's kind of like a that'skind of like a hot topic for me
and my soul in my social circle. I mean, you know, to
be honest, uh this I feellike this is my life. You know,
(08:41):
you know what I do is isfulfilling and I'm passionate about it.
So, uh it works. Worklife balance works. If you know the
people I associate with or the thingsI associate with, we all kind of
like share the same vision or mission, you know. So you know,
I'm I'm always been a resourceful person, the middle man, and I'm here
(09:03):
to help. I'm always willing tohelp, you know. So it's like
what I do anyway, It's likehow I live. So yeah, uh,
not everybody understands it. Sometimes,you know, people look and say,
like, man, when do youstart working? When you start thinking
about work, but then you know, in retrospects, I'm not even working,
you know, I'm kind of likeliving and just living out my my
(09:26):
you know, my destiny. Yeah, I felt that. I felt that
because I feel the same. Sowhat do you like love the most about
Flight Choice Community? Uh? It'spotential, Uh, you know, so
I have a vision of it beingas stable for you know, examples of
(09:48):
transformation, you know when uh,you know, because it's a lot of
men that I've helped over the years, a lot of men, a lot
of women, you know, alot of youth Chicago youth. You know,
I've interacted within the past three yearswith over five hundred youth and individuals
who were formerly incarcerated. I gota lot of success stories my Choice community.
If ideally, if I were toyou know, garnish the right support,
(10:11):
I would showcase the transformation in detail, step by step, and it
would you know, I think itwould be very inspiring. Yeah, it
would be an eye and eye openerfor you know a lot of naysayers.
So what I envision is, youknow, just enough support to really like
kind of like tell the stories ofother individuals similar to mind. Yeah,
(10:33):
I mean I say that a loton here, but like everyone does have
a storyteller, and no matter howcliche it sounds, it is important that
it's told. It is it isI mean, I mean because stories,
I mean they're powerful, their youknow, their legacies, and it kind
of like, you know, peopledon't understand. I feel as though a
lot of people don't understand like howimportant it is to be supportive of populations
(10:58):
such as returning city citizens and youknow, disadvantage you because if not,
if they don't have support, ifthey don't have opportunities, I mean,
they're still citizens, there are stillyou know, people, there are still
children, and they still walk amongstus, live amongst us. So without
that support, I mean, doyou not think that it would affect society
(11:20):
and you know, in his entirety. So yeah, so yeah, that's
a great thing that you're doing.So I really do appreciate that on behalf
of the city, and I meanI think they need to be doing this
everywhere, Yeah, everywhere. Iagree. I agree, And I look
forward to the day that someone whohas enough influence or someone who kind of
(11:41):
like understands our plight will reach outto me and uh, you know,
probably get some opinions or just youknow, support what I'm doing my initiative
exactly. Yeah. And that's anotherthing about support in this city is like
ify it's sometiming, you know,because everybody sees something as like a competition,
but I always say, like,we would be so much stronger together
(12:03):
if we just work together, ifwe collaborate, Like everything doesn't have to
be a competition, Like we canall eat, there's plenty of room at
the table. But that's why yougo out and you make your own Yeah,
yeah, and just help others alongthe way like you're doing. So,
if you had any like advice forsomebody that wanted to like get into
something like this, like what's likeone of the first steps they should take.
(12:26):
Uh So, I would say,in my opinion, working in social
services or for a nonprofit was likea clear example of the detail. It
shows you the details of how tooperate a business. You know, checks
and balances, preparing for audits,customer service, budgeting, you know,
(12:48):
all those things. You know,nonprofit. If you were to have an
opportunity to work as a case managerof community outreach or just one of those
things, it would give you anunderstanding of how a big business should be
ran, if you know, upkept the right way. So I would
say for starters, don't just thinkyou have to start your own immediately.
(13:11):
You know, uh, you know, make some mistakes somewhere else. I
mean, you know, learn fromother people mistakes, get you know,
be around the motion of you know, or the operation of a successful company
or established company, and uh youknow, pick apart the things you notice
from there. Yeah, that's that'ssmart because you don't have to like make
(13:33):
all the mistakes with your own thing. You know, you can learn.
I always say, like, bea student forever, no matter how old
you are, how much you thinkyou know, Like, there's always more
to know, and it's always goingto be something that you don't know that
somebody else can teach you. Soyou have to be open to that,
So let's talk about the social mediathing for a little bit. So,
(13:54):
yeah, businesses is, like youwere telling me before we did this,
like it's necessary. It's becoming aset. And if you're like missing off
social media or you don't post enough, like the world is going to end,
or you know, your business isnot getting enough you know, views
and likes and comments and interaction engagement, So like how do you deal with
all that? Uh? So,I mean all right, so a love
(14:18):
backstory, like like I kind oflike stated I was incarcrated from the year
twenty two thousand and eight and releasedin November of twenty twenty. Prior to
that, I never held a smartphonein my hand. Yeah, I never
logged into social media or any ofthose things. You know, Instagram didn't
even exist, so to be youknow, reacclimated, and you know,
(14:43):
I see it. I noticed thatpeople see it. People use it as
in different ways. It's a tool, nonetheless, but people use it as
different ways, and people like youknow, kind of like gravitate towards it
in different ways. What I dosee the billion thing I do see about
social media is that it's a platformwhere you can reach many I mean Yeah,
even those who weren't even looking foryou, can you can get some
(15:07):
attention me personally. You know,I'm just getting used to, you know,
post and I don't post much.I don't, you know, search
social media much. And I thinkit's a lot of that is because I
don't have the time to. ButI do think it's necessary in today's age
(15:30):
because what we are trying to do, what is most important, is to
h garnish the attention of the youthright and you know they're all over TikTok
and Instagram and everything all day.So yeah, it is a necessity,
but a useful tool if you usethe right way. So one of my
last questions in my favorite what doesBrianley Black mean to you? Brilliantly Black
(15:56):
means to I would say living yourtruth. I think that we are all
ordained with a god given talent ability, you know, to identify with that
and live in your truth and kindof like just flourishing yourself and you know,
in your own way. I thinkthat's brilliant. You know about your
(16:21):
truth, I would say, beautifullysaid, I agree, I agree.
So if somebody wanted to get involvedwith fly Choice or just get some more
information from you, like tell uswhere we should go. Okay, so
I do have a website and it'sa fly Choice community dot org. And
what I do want to say isthat today's fly Choice is looking to partner
(16:45):
with employers that I background friendly,and partner with employers that are willing to
hire individuals with maybe gaps in theiremployment history or youth that have no employment
history. So that has been achallenge just to partner with employers so I
can provide more opportunities for men andwomen who are eager to take advantage of
(17:07):
those and to also you know,sponsorship, you know, one of the
things that I one of the challengesI face. I know this is a
lot of topics, but I dowant to say this, but one of
the challenges that I face in socialservices and workforce development is that we have
so many opportunities for free education,free training likes. And this is a
(17:30):
great thing. However, for anindividual, an adult mainly an adult individual
who has you know, whatever economicresponsibilities or ailments, it's difficult for them
to commit to a course that requiresthem to be there, you know,
doing work hours, you know,and for three four months at a time.
(17:53):
So it's like, how how doesthat person who employers won't give a
second chance to and they want toget the credentials as well, so the
credentials would definitely be beneficial. Howdo they support themselves while trying to improve
their credentials or resume or things thatexperienced the likes. So what I would
(18:17):
love to do with fly Choice communityis to sponsor individuals where I would you
know, introduce them to the opportunitiesthat you know, would enhance their credentials
or enhance their work experience, butmainly so that these men and women can
earn certifications, can earn you know, these things, take advantage of these
programs and not have to worry aboutyou know, living expenses or you know
(18:41):
the black cosmetics of food and thingslike that. And you know, Fly
Choice. You know, I've beenproving in this lone of work. You
know, I've successfully employed hundreds,you know, in the past years.
So I'm what I want to dois I want to not only you know,
get introduce people to the workforce intoemployment situations, but I want to
(19:02):
create more career opportunities and introduce thosethat walk introduced. It kind of like
that transformation from whatever situation to thatemployed career individual, skilled individual. If
I can get God, it's moresupport in that and maybe sponsorship that would
be ideal. That's amazing. Well, thank you for sharing your story with
(19:26):
me today. I really enjoy listeningto it and I'm sure somebody out there
will be inspired. So thank youso much. I appreciate it. Thank
you for having me anytime. Thanksfor listening to The Brilliantly Black Podcast.
Produced by Jasmine Bennett and Ryan LaExecutive produced by Echo Robinson and Derek Brown.
If you're a Black business and wouldlike to be featured, register your
(19:48):
business or service now at one Othree five kiss fm dot com slash Brilliant.
The Brilliantly Black Podcast is a productionof iHeartMedia, Chicago
Putting the spotlight on chicago Lands growingblack businesses. iHeartMedia Chicago presents the Brilliantly
Black Podcast. Here's our host,Jasmine Bennett. Hey everyone, welcome back
today. I'm here with Nazier Smitha Fly Choice Community. How are you
today, I'm doing well. I'mdoing well. Good afternoon, Good afternoon.
Thank you, Thank you for beinghere. So can you tell me
(00:21):
just a little bit more about flyChoice and like what inspired you to even
start that? Okay, so whatinspired me to create Fly Choice Community was
Originally fly Choice was a catalog thatI created for those incostrated. So I
tried to bring like an e commercesituation to the to the prison. And
(00:43):
what it did was it offered individualsan opportunity to purchase gifts for their loved
ones, whether it be like birthday, Christmas, graduation for the sun daughter,
what have you. And in return, individuals would often right back to
meet and inquire about opportunities once released. So awareness was not I would say
(01:07):
prevalent inside the institutions in terms ofopportunities once released. So Fly Choice Community
is an org, is a nonprofitorganization where I provide those services once they're
released. So workforce development is theprimary focus. But what I'm trying to
develop is wrap around services that areall inclusive. So for individuals who return
(01:29):
home or individuals just with barriers toemployment, fly Choice community kind of provides
a additional resource for the community.Wow, that's great because you know a
lot of people they don't like givingpeople second chances, and the second chance
is sometimes just what we need to, you know, keep going and feel
like we can do anything in thisworld, no matter what happened in the
(01:51):
past. So I think that's agreat thing. And since you, you
know, y're more about the workforcedevelopment and things like that, tell me
a little bit more about I likethe mission statement of choice. So the
mission is to, for one,have visual examples that change is possible.
So like like I, like Istated, not many individuals are aware of
(02:13):
the resources or aware of opportunities oncereleased. I put myself in that for
an example. I put myself inthose shoes. So I was formerly incarcerated
as well. I spent twelve anda half years incarcerated and I was released
ten years early due to an executiveclinimency granted by the governor, and I
(02:35):
had rallied. I garnished a lotof support upon my release because the things
that I'm doing that I do nowin society and community, I was doing
as well while incarcerated, forming mentorgroup, spirit driven mentors, you know,
tutor and things of that nature.And so when I was released,
I was in search of resources.The only resource that I knew of that
(02:57):
was that was presented to me wasthat the Men's Warehouse would offer you a
free suit so you can go tojob interviews. Once released, I went
to the Men's Warehouse and they toldme we stopped doing that five years ago.
Oh wow. So it was like, you know, starting from where
and relating to who. So flyChoice is kind of like you know that
Grassroot organization. Well, you know, I am the I am the community
(03:23):
that I service. Mm mm hmmm. That's great. I really do love
that. So, like when youwere first starting with this, did you
have like any Oh, I know, I mean everything comes with challenges,
you know, being a business owner, having an organization, But like what
were some of like the main thingsthat you kind of went through and how
did you get past them? SoI would say my the biggest challenges was
(03:44):
being educated about entrepreneurship. So weyou know, most people want to kind
of like be their own boss andrun their own company, but not everyone
knows the details or the intricate partsor the you know, unforeseen barrier when
it comes to being established. Andyou know what they don't consider is that
being an entrepreneur is not a nineto five duty, right, Your success
(04:10):
is determined by your metrics. Thesame in social services, the same and
workforce development. We don't work nineto five. We work until completion.
So you know, you have tobe prepared mentally, and you have to
have the endurance to physically and mentally, you know, withstand those challenges.
So I would say that was mybiggest hurt of being educated on that aspect
(04:33):
of entrepreneurship. And where did youget inspiration from? Like mentors? Like
who mentored you? Because I knowyou mensor people now, so like who
gave that inspiration to you? Uhso? Quite frankly, the fact that
I didn't have clear mentors kind ofpushed me in the leadership role. So
(04:54):
it's almost like I inherited this roleby default. I mean to be honest,
I still don't feel comfortable in public, you know, doing public speaking
or just you know, every alot of these things are new to me
and just but doing what's right oror standing on what's right, it's never
been new to me, or leadingis always been quite natural to me.
(05:16):
So I would say, you know, the fact that I didn't have is
enough clear examples of what or cleardirection as to what this route would lead
me to it kind of pushed meto be that example for the next individual.
So you know, now, don'tget me wrong, I've had a
lot of mentors. You know,I've garnished a lot of information from wise
(05:38):
individuals, men and women alike,but you know, the lack of has
kind of like pushed me to,you know, step up and take on
this role and responsibility. Yea,as an example, and let me ask
about Fly Choice, Like how didyou come up with that name? Fly
Choice? So, like I said, originally the catalog Fly Choice. It
(06:00):
was, you know, the choicesthat you are able to select with,
you know, from the catalog flyand your choices. So I mean not
like it. It was kind ofa play on words, but it was
like unique in his way. Andthen you know Fly Choice Community, which
is the nonprofit, which is whatI'm you know what I what I kind
(06:23):
of like stand by today and whatI try to promote most, you know,
is a playoff fly Choice. Butthe community, you know, because
so many guys, so many womenyou know, support fly Choice and relate
to to fly Choice, and youknow, ask that fly Choice support them
as well. So it was likea no brainer. I had to turn
it into a nonprofit as well.Yeah, and you said you work in
(06:44):
social services, so like expand onthat a little bit. How those two
worlds kind of like intertwined. Okay, So I work in social services.
I consult for different organizations and workforcedevelopment, so I add a workforce armed
to these programs, whether it bethrough job readiness training, whether it be
through job placement, you know,so I bring additional employment resources and you
(07:10):
know, mentorship as well, Soit kind of inter twines in that way.
Excuse me, I'm rambled, andI kind of like forgot the question.
Oh no, that's okay. Weall ramble a little bit, you
know, it's a yapathon up inhere, but it's all good. We're
talking about fly Choice community, andI want to ask, like, do
(07:30):
you still do all of this onyour own or do you have a team.
So currently I'm a single handedly,you know, operating fly Choice community.
So I do have people who supportme and who you know, if
need be, if I need assistance. My sister she's she's big on the
help she provides, so she offersa lot of you know, I would
(07:55):
say back office type support. Yeah. Yeah, so she does that.
And then I have a I haveyou know, friends and family as well
who who support and you know,if need be, I can call them.
Can you make a couple of calls? Can you play some orders for
me through through the catalog? AndI also have a business partner as well
with fly Choice Catalog. Okay,okay, So how do you manage like
(08:20):
work life balance? I usually asklike everyone on here, and pretty much
everyone is like, well, stillworking on that. Uh so you know
that's it's kind of like a that'skind of like a hot topic for me
and my soul in my social circle. I mean, you know, to
be honest, uh this I feellike this is my life. You know,
(08:41):
you know what I do is isfulfilling and I'm passionate about it.
So, uh it works. Worklife balance works. If you know the
people I associate with or the thingsI associate with, we all kind of
like share the same vision or mission, you know. So you know,
I'm I'm always been a resourceful person, the middle man, and I'm here
(09:03):
to help. I'm always willing tohelp, you know. So it's like
what I do anyway, It's likehow I live. So yeah, uh,
not everybody understands it. Sometimes,you know, people look and say,
like, man, when do youstart working? When you start thinking
about work, but then you know, in retrospects, I'm not even working,
you know, I'm kind of likeliving and just living out my my
(09:26):
you know, my destiny. Yeah, I felt that. I felt that
because I feel the same. Sowhat do you like love the most about
Flight Choice Community? Uh? It'spotential, Uh, you know, so
I have a vision of it beingas stable for you know, examples of
(09:48):
transformation, you know when uh,you know, because it's a lot of
men that I've helped over the years, a lot of men, a lot
of women, you know, alot of youth Chicago youth. You know,
I've interacted within the past three yearswith over five hundred youth and individuals
who were formerly incarcerated. I gota lot of success stories my Choice community.
If ideally, if I were toyou know, garnish the right support,
(10:11):
I would showcase the transformation in detail, step by step, and it
would you know, I think itwould be very inspiring. Yeah, it
would be an eye and eye openerfor you know a lot of naysayers.
So what I envision is, youknow, just enough support to really like
kind of like tell the stories ofother individuals similar to mind. Yeah,
(10:33):
I mean I say that a loton here, but like everyone does have
a storyteller, and no matter howcliche it sounds, it is important that
it's told. It is it isI mean, I mean because stories,
I mean they're powerful, their youknow, their legacies, and it kind
of like, you know, peopledon't understand. I feel as though a
lot of people don't understand like howimportant it is to be supportive of populations
(10:58):
such as returning city citizens and youknow, disadvantage you because if not,
if they don't have support, ifthey don't have opportunities, I mean,
they're still citizens, there are stillyou know, people, there are still
children, and they still walk amongstus, live amongst us. So without
that support, I mean, doyou not think that it would affect society
(11:20):
and you know, in his entirety. So yeah, so yeah, that's
a great thing that you're doing.So I really do appreciate that on behalf
of the city, and I meanI think they need to be doing this
everywhere, Yeah, everywhere. Iagree. I agree, And I look
forward to the day that someone whohas enough influence or someone who kind of
(11:41):
like understands our plight will reach outto me and uh, you know,
probably get some opinions or just youknow, support what I'm doing my initiative
exactly. Yeah. And that's anotherthing about support in this city is like
ify it's sometiming, you know,because everybody sees something as like a competition,
but I always say, like,we would be so much stronger together
(12:03):
if we just work together, ifwe collaborate, Like everything doesn't have to
be a competition, Like we canall eat, there's plenty of room at
the table. But that's why yougo out and you make your own Yeah,
yeah, and just help others alongthe way like you're doing. So,
if you had any like advice forsomebody that wanted to like get into
something like this, like what's likeone of the first steps they should take.
(12:26):
Uh So, I would say,in my opinion, working in social
services or for a nonprofit was likea clear example of the detail. It
shows you the details of how tooperate a business. You know, checks
and balances, preparing for audits,customer service, budgeting, you know,
(12:48):
all those things. You know,nonprofit. If you were to have an
opportunity to work as a case managerof community outreach or just one of those
things, it would give you anunderstanding of how a big business should be
ran, if you know, upkept the right way. So I would
say for starters, don't just thinkyou have to start your own immediately.
(13:11):
You know, uh, you know, make some mistakes somewhere else. I
mean, you know, learn fromother people mistakes, get you know,
be around the motion of you know, or the operation of a successful company
or established company, and uh youknow, pick apart the things you notice
from there. Yeah, that's that'ssmart because you don't have to like make
(13:33):
all the mistakes with your own thing. You know, you can learn.
I always say, like, bea student forever, no matter how old
you are, how much you thinkyou know, Like, there's always more
to know, and it's always goingto be something that you don't know that
somebody else can teach you. Soyou have to be open to that,
So let's talk about the social mediathing for a little bit. So,
(13:54):
yeah, businesses is, like youwere telling me before we did this,
like it's necessary. It's becoming aset. And if you're like missing off
social media or you don't post enough, like the world is going to end,
or you know, your business isnot getting enough you know, views
and likes and comments and interaction engagement, So like how do you deal with
all that? Uh? So,I mean all right, so a love
(14:18):
backstory, like like I kind oflike stated I was incarcrated from the year
twenty two thousand and eight and releasedin November of twenty twenty. Prior to
that, I never held a smartphonein my hand. Yeah, I never
logged into social media or any ofthose things. You know, Instagram didn't
even exist, so to be youknow, reacclimated, and you know,
(14:43):
I see it. I noticed thatpeople see it. People use it as
in different ways. It's a tool, nonetheless, but people use it as
different ways, and people like youknow, kind of like gravitate towards it
in different ways. What I dosee the billion thing I do see about
social media is that it's a platformwhere you can reach many I mean Yeah,
even those who weren't even looking foryou, can you can get some
(15:07):
attention me personally. You know,I'm just getting used to, you know,
post and I don't post much.I don't, you know, search
social media much. And I thinkit's a lot of that is because I
don't have the time to. ButI do think it's necessary in today's age
(15:30):
because what we are trying to do, what is most important, is to
h garnish the attention of the youthright and you know they're all over TikTok
and Instagram and everything all day.So yeah, it is a necessity,
but a useful tool if you usethe right way. So one of my
last questions in my favorite what doesBrianley Black mean to you? Brilliantly Black
(15:56):
means to I would say living yourtruth. I think that we are all
ordained with a god given talent ability, you know, to identify with that
and live in your truth and kindof like just flourishing yourself and you know,
in your own way. I thinkthat's brilliant. You know about your
(16:21):
truth, I would say, beautifullysaid, I agree, I agree.
So if somebody wanted to get involvedwith fly Choice or just get some more
information from you, like tell uswhere we should go. Okay, so
I do have a website and it'sa fly Choice community dot org. And
what I do want to say isthat today's fly Choice is looking to partner
(16:45):
with employers that I background friendly,and partner with employers that are willing to
hire individuals with maybe gaps in theiremployment history or youth that have no employment
history. So that has been achallenge just to partner with employers so I
can provide more opportunities for men andwomen who are eager to take advantage of
(17:07):
those and to also you know,sponsorship, you know, one of the
things that I one of the challengesI face. I know this is a
lot of topics, but I dowant to say this, but one of
the challenges that I face in socialservices and workforce development is that we have
so many opportunities for free education,free training likes. And this is a
(17:30):
great thing. However, for anindividual, an adult mainly an adult individual
who has you know, whatever economicresponsibilities or ailments, it's difficult for them
to commit to a course that requiresthem to be there, you know,
doing work hours, you know,and for three four months at a time.
(17:53):
So it's like, how how doesthat person who employers won't give a
second chance to and they want toget the credentials as well, so the
credentials would definitely be beneficial. Howdo they support themselves while trying to improve
their credentials or resume or things thatexperienced the likes. So what I would
(18:17):
love to do with fly Choice communityis to sponsor individuals where I would you
know, introduce them to the opportunitiesthat you know, would enhance their credentials
or enhance their work experience, butmainly so that these men and women can
earn certifications, can earn you know, these things, take advantage of these
programs and not have to worry aboutyou know, living expenses or you know
(18:41):
the black cosmetics of food and thingslike that. And you know, Fly
Choice. You know, I've beenproving in this lone of work. You
know, I've successfully employed hundreds,you know, in the past years.
So I'm what I want to dois I want to not only you know,
get introduce people to the workforce intoemployment situations, but I want to
(19:02):
create more career opportunities and introduce thosethat walk introduced. It kind of like
that transformation from whatever situation to thatemployed career individual, skilled individual. If
I can get God, it's moresupport in that and maybe sponsorship that would
be ideal. That's amazing. Well, thank you for sharing your story with
(19:26):
me today. I really enjoy listeningto it and I'm sure somebody out there
will be inspired. So thank youso much. I appreciate it. Thank
you for having me anytime. Thanksfor listening to The Brilliantly Black Podcast.
Produced by Jasmine Bennett and Ryan LaExecutive produced by Echo Robinson and Derek Brown.
If you're a Black business and wouldlike to be featured, register your
(19:48):
business or service now at one Othree five kiss fm dot com slash Brilliant.
The Brilliantly Black Podcast is a productionof iHeartMedia, Chicago
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.