Inspiring Dreams and Overcoming Challenges: A Journey in Technology and Beyond with Blaise Wabo

Welcome to the IT Connect podcast, where we bridge the diversity gap in technology by connecting minority and underrepresented students with IT professionals. In this episode, we dive into the incredible journey of Blaise Wabo, an Associate Director at Align, who specializes in cybersecurity and compliance.

Blaise shares his inspiring story of moving from Cameroon to the United States, overcoming significant challenges, and achieving remarkable success in his career. He emphasizes the importance of preparation, resilience, and networking, offering invaluable advice for aspiring IT professionals. Blaise also discusses his passion for real estate and financial literacy, providing insights into building wealth and managing assets.

Join us as we explore Blaise's journey, his strategies for success, and his dedication to lifting others as he climbs. This episode is packed with practical wisdom and motivation for anyone looking to make their mark in the world of technology and beyond. Enjoyed the Episode? Please Leave us A Review Let's Stay Connected!  Kazim --> https://www.linkedin.com/in/kazimabbot Kazim's Website --> https://www.kazimabbot.com/ Blaise --> https://www.linkedin.com/in/blaise-wabo-cpa-citp-cisa-ccp-cmmc-ccsk-ccsfp-b881331b/ Podcast Youtube Page: Click Here 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I would say it was the favor of God. Wow. Today, I have no idea how I got that internship.
I don't think I was qualified to set a list to intern at a top firm only a few
months after being in the United States.
The highest human act is to inspire.
Music.

(00:30):
Welcome to the IT Connect podcast, a movement to bridge the diversity gap in
technology by connecting minority and underrepresented students with IT professionals
to share their insights, their stories, and their wisdom.
Today we have a phenomenal episode in store for you. We have a young man who
has done quite a bit and I think is well on his way to achieving the American dream.

(00:52):
So before I officially introduce him, let me just say a little bit of something about him.
Blaise Wabo is an associate director at Align, focused on performing HITRUST
certifications, SOC 1 and SOC 2 examinations, and HIPAA assessments in various
industries such as healthcare, software and technology, insurance,
finance, and manufacturing.

(01:12):
Blaise is the subject matter expert for HITRUST at Align and served on the HITRUST
Accessor Council as well.
He has completed and managed over 300 HITRUST engagements and over 500 SOC examinations.
As a thought leader, Blaise is the Healthcare Practice Lead at Airline,
and some of his responsibilities include, but is not limited to,

(01:33):
leading a team of managers,
seniors and staffs so that the liaison between service delivery and business
development speaks at different conferences, writes security compliance-related
white papers and blogs, and manages the Airline Denver office.
Please welcome Blaise Wabo to the IT Connect Podcast. Cas, Blaise,

(01:53):
man, it is a pleasure to have you on here today.
Very good to have you, Casin. Thank you very much. Nice to meet everybody over
the conference line here today.
Awesome. Awesome. So Blaise, I
gave you a bio and I mean, nothing short of amazing from what I saw here.
So I just want you to first tell us, Blaise, tell us a little bit more about
yourself and then also get into a quote or mantra that you live by.

(02:17):
As it relates to what are my favorite quotes, I would say there are two of them.
The first one, let me pull up my notes here. The first one is by Nipsey Hussle.
He's an American rapper that he died a few months ago.
And the quote says, the highest human act is to inspire.

(02:40):
Okay. The highest human act is to inspire by Nipsey Hussle. I think that resonates
with me a lot because my actual personal mission statement in life is to inspire people.
So, you know, I couldn't agree with Nipsey Hussle more. I think the highest
human act that any human could portray is to inspire someone else.

(03:05):
And that could be done through our words, through our actions and things like that.
The second course that I like, Kazim knows this, I love real estate.
I love buying and selling and playing around with real estate.
It's by a real estate guru and the person's name is William Penn Adder.
William Penn Adder. And the quote is, find out where people are going and buy

(03:30):
the land before they get there.
Okay. Wow. So again, straightforward.
In order to make money in real estate, you get yours to buy cheap and sell,
you know, more expensive and make money.
And the best way to do that is to study where the demographic is moving in a
region and buy the land there or property there before the population gets to that area.

(03:54):
Man, that's powerful. Thank you so much for sharing that. I think I saw Dylan
had his hand up. You got a question for us, Dylan?
Oh, no, that was just me clapping. I love that quote. I love it. Yeah, that was amazing.
That's really good, Blazon. You could choose either one of them.
How have you applied one or both of these quotes if you want to?
Tell us a story of how you apply that in your life today. Any one of the quotes.

(04:18):
I would say I constantly inspire people, which is a privilege that I don't take lightly.
Coming from West Africa, the country of Cameroon, to the United States for college,
back in 2007, I have met several friends and people along my journey.

(04:39):
Both Americans and internationals as well, where I can share my story and be
an inspiration to them, An inspiration for them not to quit on their dreams,
an inspiration for them to be able
to do more for themselves and their families, right? By not giving up.
So I think that's how I've been able to inspire people along my journey so far.

(05:03):
As it relates to real estate, I lived in Dallas before moving to Denver.
I lived in Dallas for a very long time. And when I was buying properties in
Dallas, I tend to buy properties north of the city, closer to the Oklahoma border.
And the population of Dallas is migrating towards that way. It's migrating northwest.

(05:24):
So the value of the real estate of my properties there are continuously increasing
over time just because I bought before the population got there.
That is awesome, Blazer. I know we're talking a little bit more about real estate
as we go to the podcast, but I think I love the concept. If you could anticipate
the demand before the shift takes place, that puts you in a really good position.

(05:45):
So that's a powerful nugget right there.
So, Blaise, I read your bio, and I know there were several acronyms in there,
some of which I don't even know what they stand for.
So tell us about your current job, what you do today.
Sure. So I currently work in cybersecurity, and our firm, we focus on security compliance.
So we help our clients evaluate the risk of the data that they currently have

(06:10):
in their environment and help them implement controls to mitigate that risk.
And in the United States, there are several laws as it relates to the security
of data or the privacy of one's data, right?
Whether it's HIPAA, which is the Health Information Portable and Accountability Act,

(06:30):
it's the law in the United States for any medical record to be kept secure by
hospitals or third parties or anybody that might have interaction with that health information.
So we do HIPAA assessments to help our clients secure that data for health records.
That's a good example that you guys could maybe understand.

(06:50):
So essentially, that's what Affirm does. we help our client assess the risk
of the data that they have in the environment and provide them security controls
to mitigate that risk as well.
And would you say that, I know we had in the news, maybe over the last couple
of years, we had different companies that were in the news for having different breaches.
Explain to us the role you guys play in, I guess, working with those companies.

(07:13):
Are you guys more preventative or do they come to you after the fact? Walk us through that.
Sure. Yeah, so we come from a preventive measure where we help our clients implement
controls before a breach would happen.
So whether it's a hospital or it's a data center that stores the data of multiple
companies like Amazon Web Services, AWS, if you guys are familiar with those companies.

(07:37):
So we would help our clients implement some security controls before a breach would happen.
Once a breach happens, at that point in time, a client will still use us to
maintain those controls.
But at that point in time, if they want to remediate any risk that has happened

(07:58):
After a security breach,
they'll have to hire a security breach expert to do due diligence to determine
where did the breach happen,
where was the leak of information.
And then, you know, we will work hand in hand with them to help them implement
controls to prevent that breach from happening in the future.

(08:18):
Got it, man. That's good stuff. And what would you say are the typical skills or competencies?
And just also, I know you're a director in your department, cybersecurity,
and guys, I know that's a very powerful field to be into because based on big data and all that stuff.
So what does a typical day look like, Blaise? And also talk about the skills required for that role.

(08:39):
Sure. So my dad growing up was a CPA.
We were five kids or six kids, I should say. And in order for myself and my
older siblings to come to study
in the United States, my dad gave us an ultimatum. He said, it's easy.
Either study accounting or I don't send you abroad to study.

(08:59):
That was easy, right? We had no choice. Wow.
All of us, as our parents' kids, all six of us, we started accounting or finance-related field.
When I came to Grambling, I went to Grambling for undergraduate.
I loved accounting, but I've always loved systems, right, technology.
So I wanted to complement my accounting degree with something else.

(09:23):
So I double majored with computer information systems.
Some colleges call it management information systems or some different other variants of names.
But essentially it is the same thing. And with that degree, I have the required
hours to be able to sit for the CPA after college.
And I passed the CPA.

(09:45):
Some of the audits that we issue, for example, the SAC1 or SAC2 audits,
you have to be a CPA to sign off on those reports, right?
So that's how those two tie together, accounting and the computer information system realm.
As it relates to additional skills, over the years I've taken different information

(10:05):
security-related certifications, like CISA,
which is commonly known as Certified Information System Auditor,
and there are server orders that you can take, right? Right.
And I think, you know, beyond your undergraduate education or even a master's
degree, those certifications in the marketplace set you apart from everybody else.
Right. Once you have some letters behind your name that can basically validate

(10:30):
the knowledge that you know and the experience that you have,
you know, even without telling somebody,
it sets the precedence for you before you even talk to a client.
So a couple of acronyms I heard, Blaise, CPA and SOC. Could you just walk us
through what those stand for, for those who don't know?
Yeah, so CPA is Certified... Gosh, I forgot what it means.

(10:54):
Certified... What does it mean again?
Certified Public Accountant, right? Different countries call it different things.
I passed the exam months ago, so I'm sorry if I forgot.
In Canada, for example, or in the UK, I believe they'll call it chartered accountant.
You guys might be more familiar with that term.

(11:15):
My dad was a chartered accountant, for example, back in West Africa.
So that's the equivalent of a CPA.
SOC stands for Service Organization Controls. So essentially,
if you are a company that provides a service to another company that holds confidential
data in the United States, It might be required by a stakeholder to perform an SQC audit.

(11:41):
A good example would be, think about a software like, what's a good one?
What's the common software used to do your taxes? Is that called?
TurboTax. TurboTax, yeah. Think about a software like TurboTax, right?
Hundreds of people, individuals, and hundreds of companies use TurboTax to perform

(12:02):
their taxes at year end. whether it's individually or corporate tax, right?
Now, think about a company like, let's say, Google. If Google uses TurboTax to...
Produce their financial statements and their tax records at year end,
one of the stakeholders of Google, so let's say if Google is doing business with a US government.

(12:26):
They might be required to have TurboTax produce an IT audit report that shows
that all the records that come out to produce a financial statement from the
TurboTax software is not only secure,
the information is accurate, it's reliable, it keeps the data confidential,

(12:46):
and it's available all the time, right?
Availability basically means that the system cannot be down for a certain number of time, right?
So we have to test all those security, confidentiality, availability controls
to ensure that that system is producing the data as it should and maintaining
those records confidential as well.

(13:07):
Man, that's good stuff. And one thing I wanted to just emphasize that you said,
Blaise, is that having a CPA or being a certified public accountant was actually
a requirement for certain levels of cybersecurity roles.
So I think that's definitely something, you know, young people aspiring to get
into that field need to be aware of.
Because again, if that is the case, it does make sense to do a major just like you did.

(13:30):
That way you could have enough hours to take the CPA and then kind of set yourself
on the right path for achieving that. So yeah, thank you so much for sharing that.
So the other thing I wanted to get into, Blaise, It is you mentioned being from
West Africa. Tell us a little bit more about where you were,
exactly what country you're from.
And also, you know, how did you decide to choose Gremlin of all places to go to school?

(13:52):
Good, good. No, that's a good question. So yes, I am from a small city called
Douala in the country of Cameroon.
Cameroon is South of Nigeria, right on the Gulf coast. So if you draw, if you draw about a.
45 angle from Cameroon across the Atlantic Ocean, you hit Atlanta, essentially.

(14:15):
So that's where I'm from. I spent the first 17 years of my life there.
As I mentioned earlier, you know, we are six siblings.
Most of us are here in the United States and Canada.
The reason why I went to Grambling is because I had some friends that graduated
from my high school the year before I did that went to Grambling.

(14:36):
And I applied only at two colleges coming from, you know, Cameroon or Africa, I should say.
At least for me, I was not so concerned with what university I go to.
I just wanted to go to America, right? That's all I wanted to.
I applied to Grambling State because my friends were there the year before,

(14:56):
so I heard about the school.
And I also applied to Roswell University in Chicago, actually.
The reason I want to Grambling is because I responded to my application first
and believe it or not, until I landed in Grambling, the first day I got there,
I had no idea it was an all black school.
I had no idea it was in a little village with all these 6,000 people or whatever the number was.

(15:22):
So it was definitely a culture shock for me.
It's not what I expected, but I'm grateful for the education that I was able to benefit from there.
So interesting, dynamic in selecting Grambling over the one in Chicago.
So let's talk about the financial component, because we actually have two gentlemen
on the call today who are planning to pursue, you're both international,

(15:44):
like yourself, planning to pursue a degree in the U.S.
How did you approach the financial component of weighing the options? How did that factor in?
Well, that's a good question. So obviously, Grambling was cheaper than Rosberg
University. university, but my parents were okay with me applying.
I both, once grandma answered first and it was a cheaper.

(16:05):
So my daddy was, you know, he's like, you're going to that school.
And obviously I come from a big family, right?
So I have a lot of siblings and I am fortunate enough that my,
my dad was able to pay for all our colleges out of pocket.
Wow. In debt whatsoever.
So, you know, cost was a big factor for my dad as well.

(16:27):
But again, I didn't do a lot of research. I probably should have done a lot
of research on different colleges in the United States and location where I
wanted to be and things like that.
Unfortunately, I did not. Once I finished high school, my only idea in my mind
was I want to go to college. I want to go to the United States for college.
And I did not care what school I got in. So I do believe though that it It was

(16:49):
a divine connection by God for me to go through Grambling and meet great people
like Kazim and Dylan and, you know, the several other friends that we have today.
But yeah, I'm grateful for being,
you know, for having gone through Grambling and be where I am today.
Amen to that, man. Amen to that. So you mentioned a bit of the culture shock.

(17:09):
So my next question is, Blaise, what are some of the challenges you encountered
being an international student at Grambling State?
Sure. I would say one of the challenges already was the fact that coming from
an all-Black country like Cameroon, my expectation coming to the U.S.
Was to be among whites, you know, more really white culture, if you will, right?

(17:33):
As I mentioned earlier, I had no idea that Grambling was a Black college.
When I got there, I was surprised that almost everybody is Black,
right? But when you drive to a neighboring city, which is Ruston,
obviously there were more white people.
So it did not hit me until I got my very first internship in the summer of 2008,
about 18 months after I got to the U.S.

(17:55):
In Dallas, Texas, and I interned with Deloitte.
And I was one out of two Blacks of my internship class and maybe one out of
10 Blacks in the whole Dallas office. office and, you know, coming to the U.S.
Trying to adapt to the Black culture at Grambling and then 18 months later being
thrown in alliance then with almost all white people.

(18:17):
I mean, I can't tell you how much I was shocked, right? And I had to adapt as well.
Obviously, accent is always an issue whenever you come here to the U.S.
And, you know, progressing my career today, I realized that
people don't care much about your accent so far as you
speak and articulate your your words very well
right a lot of people even here in the u.s i

(18:39):
realized before the years have different accent you know
last to mention is in upstate new york the new
york accent is completely different than any other you know accent in the u.s
right once you go down deep south like in alabama or mississippi i mean i've
been in the u.s for over 14 years i can barely hear those people talk right
and you Working with international clients across the spectrum,

(19:03):
all the way from Europe to Asia.
Again, accent becomes a non-issue. The thing you should focus on,
at least for me, that was one of the biggest issues that I had when I came to the US.
I felt inferior because of my accent, but I quickly realized in my career that
so far as you articulate your words properly, people don't really care about your accent very much.

(19:28):
Thanks for that, Blizz. And you mentioned something I want to pull a thread
on. You mentioned your first internship 18 months after you arrived.
And that's something I definitely try to preach and encourage young people to
do while matriculating to college.
So could you tell us through, you know, what kind of just give you the insight to seek an internship?
But let's walk us through the process of going from idea to securing that internship.

(19:51):
I would say it was a favor of God. Wow. Today, I have no idea how I got that internship. Right.
I don't think I was qualified to set a list to intern at a top firm only a few
months after being in the United States.
But essentially, I think I'm always going to go get it, right?
I believe that if I prepare enough and the opportunity hits,

(20:14):
I could achieve some success.
So right when I got to Grambling, I was aggressive. And a statement I will make
really quick, I got two degrees in three years.
Just to show you how aggressive of a
personality i am that is over 150
credits in only six semesters

(20:35):
okay so every single semester i
was taking about 21 hours i was doing summer classes as well right when i joined
grambling i joined a professional organization called naba n-a-b-a and it stands
for national association of black accountants i joined that association The
very first semester that I got to Gremlin, I did not want to wait.

(20:58):
It's usually recommended that you get towards, you become a sophomore before you join.
You know, I wanted to get right into the professional world and give myself
more chances to be able to succeed.
After joining NABBA, in the fall of 2017, I came in the spring, January, that is.
In the fall of 2017, I went to my very first conference.

(21:18):
Okay. Again, I came in January and I joined NABBA maybe in the month of March.
In the month of October, 10 months in the U.S., that's when I went to my very first conference.
That was the Southwest Conference of NABUR in Houston.
I went to the conference. I dressed a professional like everybody else.

(21:39):
I prepared my resume, which was blank, essentially.
Back home, I had no job. I'd never worked before besides side hustles that I
do in the neighborhood when I was little. You know, things like I saw cold water
in the market or peanuts, you know, on a soccer stadium and things like that.
But I have no working experience, right? I was in the U.S. only for 10 months.

(22:02):
But it did not stop me from not only going to experience that conference,
which literally changed my life, but also applying for jobs for people that
were graduate students or juniors and seniors, right? that have lived in the U.S.
All their lives and they've had all sorts of experience and things like that.

(22:23):
But I will never forget, I had an interview with this gentleman from Deloitte
and for some reason he liked me.
I do not know why. For some reason he liked me and he gave me a chance.
So I had my first interview 10 months after being in the U.S.
And I secured an internship for the following summer.
And again, as I mentioned, I did my best to prepare as much as I could and I think I'll be the rest.

(22:49):
And that's so powerful. And I want to just unpack a few of the things you shared, Blaise.
So one thing, guys, especially for those who are going to transition to the
States in a few, hopefully next year, be aggressive.
Don't think because everyone says, oh, you have to be a senior to do this or
a sophomore that you have to wait. Be aggressive.
The worst that could happen is they'll tell you no. I mean, that's it,

(23:09):
right? The next thing is conferences.
By the way, shout out to NABBA, the National Association of Black Accountants.
And again, by the way, you don't have to be an accounting major to be part of NABBA.
Business majors and technology majors in the School of Business can also be part of it.
So anyone who's in that space, I highly, highly encourage people to connect
with NABBA and attend that conference.

(23:30):
Because Blaze is not the first one I've heard use those words.
That conference changed my life.
And that is what we want, guys. By doing that, you fast-track your professional
experience, which is what you really want to be doing. So, Blaise,
thank you so much for sharing that.
And one last thing I want to unpack.
You said the gentleman like you, right?

(23:52):
And the thing is, there's a quote that I like. It says, success is most likely
to occur when preparation meets opportunity.
You were prepared. You got your resume in order. You dressed the part.
And I always hammer this with my mentees and students.
When you go to those conferences, bring out your A game. You know,
I don't care if you have one suit.

(24:12):
Make that one suit look like five. if there are different events staggered over
a couple of days. You know, dress the part.
Aaron and I were actually talking about that a couple of days ago.
You want people to see, okay, if we hire this guy, we know he could blend in
and be the face of the organization if it gets to that point.
So that's why you want to dress well and put your best foot forward and leave
it there. And that's exactly what Blaise did because he got that internship

(24:34):
and, you know, he just killed it.
So, Blaise, thank you so much for sharing that. And how did that internship
set you up for future opportunities?
Sure, it's, it's funny enough you say that, uh, actually after the,
at the end of the internship, I did not get a full-time offer, you know?
How do you feel about that? You know, I feel like it was all planned in hindsight, right?

(24:56):
Obviously, at the time, I felt like, to be honest, I thought they were discriminating against me.
You know, as I mentioned, we were one out of two Blacks doing an internship
that whole summer at the Dallas office.
At the time, I thought we only had space for one Black. She was going to Prairie
View University, and they picked her.

(25:16):
Those are all the thoughts that were going through my mind, right? Right.
Fast forward all these years, you
know, I think it just, it was part of my learning journey, if you will.
I was terrorized when I did not get a full-time offer.
To be honest, I, you know, today when I look back, I think I did terrible during the internship.

(25:37):
I was nervous. I felt inferior all the time.
Whenever somebody would ask me to do something, I would literally tremble and
sweat my pants off. And, you know, I was, I was not very confident.
I did my best to look confident, but.
Again, I did not know what I did not know, right? I did my best.

(25:58):
It opened some doors for me as it relates to my resume.
After I graduated, I was able to get a job with TPMG, and I believe that on
my resume helped as well, right?
So I think that answered your question. One thing you mentioned,
Kazim, was regarding NABA.
I want to continue that conversation by saying this.
It's important also, you know, talking about influence, right,

(26:22):
back to the quote that I gave earlier. It's important that whenever you succeed,
you help those behind coming after you.
Okay. Very, very important. There is nothing more selfish than succeeding and
forgetting where you came from and not giving a hand to help somebody else.
And I think that ties really, really well with the logo, not the logo, the motto of Naba.

(26:45):
Their key term of their motto is lift as you climb. So basically,
the more you climb, the more you have to lift other people.
The reason I mention that is I continued being part of NAVA throughout my whole time at Grambling.
And even after graduation, I am still a professional member today.

(27:06):
I'm graduating from college over 10 years ago, and I've gone to almost every
conference, every annual conference after that.
Wow. I'm part of all chapters at the different cities where I live for NAVA.
And, you know, at different annual conferences, I try to recruit students as well at my firm, right?
So I continue LinkedIn as I climb by going back to the conferences,

(27:28):
giving back, connecting with students.
I've connected with students over the years as a professional at that conference.
And we're still, you know, friends today, right?
And I was able to influence and inspire them, essentially. So the one thing
I want to point out there is remember where you are today.
In a few years, you get a better position, but do not remember that you need

(27:49):
to extend a hand to help somebody else that comes after you.
Thanks so much for sharing that, Blaise. And I really want to kind of hammer
down the fact that sometimes you win some, you lose some.
Sometimes you don't get that job offer. And yes, it's normal.
It's natural to be angry and to think about why didn't I get it and all the
different reasons why you didn't get it.

(28:10):
But again, when you flash forward five, 10 years, you look back and say, you know what?
It will turn for my good, right? And that's why it's important,
guys, to really have a faith concept.
Because otherwise, I'm telling you, you want to pull your hair out and just kind of, ah, what do I do?
So I think it's really important just to say, okay, if you take a loss, just keep progressing.

(28:31):
A win is surely around the corner. I like the way John Maxwell puts it.
Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn, you know? So I never lose,
right? Doesn't matter. I never lose.
Even what the world calls a loss, some way, somehow I will benefit from it.
So I really appreciate you sharing that, Blaise. And yes, definitely, fellas.
So if you're in the computer to the science space, there are similar conferences

(28:54):
that you need to, again, plug in, get connected.
Blaise just said it. He goes to the conference to this day to recruit for his firm.
Recruiters go to places that the average student would not go,
which is those conferences.
Only the aggressive people actually make it a point and find a way to get to
those conferences. So definitely, I want you guys to take a hold of that.

(29:14):
So my favorite question in this segment, Blaise, tell us about What are the
different clubs and organizations you were part of outside of Napa while at Grambling State?
Not a whole lot. I would say the other club I was part of was Chi Alpha.
So Chi Alpha stands for Greek letters that stands for Christ's ambassadors,

(29:39):
of which Kazim and I believe Dylan as well were all part of.
And when everybody asked me, how was your college experience?
I told them college for me was like Bible school.
Coming from West Africa, and I'm sure for those that are from South Africa,
you can probably relate.
We use the British education system, right?

(30:02):
So we are well, we are well a lot advanced than the college system in the U.S.
To be honest, college, especially courses like math and some other,
you know, science related courses were, it was a repeat, was a high school repetition for me.
All those things I had already done at high school, right?
So college was somewhat easy for me. So I spent a lot of time at Chi Alpha.

(30:27):
I mean, we, we, we went to different annual conferences.
We traveled together and we did life together. I was involved with the church
as well, but I would say those are the only clubs that I limited myself to when I was in college.
And Blaise, you know, he just kind of glossed over it, but I'll go a bit further.
Man, Chi Alpha guys was life-changing. So for me personally,

(30:49):
I came in 2008 and because Blaise and the guys who had been there, they had the system.
Like he said, he likes systems. They had the system and the organization built up.
And because of those guys, I got to travel to a bunch of different cities, going to conferences.
And I mean, it was just a great, you know, a great college experience for me.
And, you know, I look back to me, it was life-changing. It really was something

(31:10):
that make up made a huge impact for myself.
And even Dylan, who would come a couple of years later. So I definitely want
to encourage you guys, you know, as you go to college, that sense of community
can be a game changer for you.
So thanks so much for that, Blaise. And to add to that, Kazim,
it also builds a lot of leadership skills, right?
Which is a student you need whenever you get in the marketplace, right?

(31:33):
When I was at NABUR, I got to a point where I was, I believe,
I can't remember, a vice president or something like that. Like,
as part of the student chapter, that is.
Same thing with Chi Alpha, right?
I think there was a point where I became the president of Chi Alpha.
We were leading different subgroups. Our campus pastors would hold us accountable
to put programs together, whether we're going to witness on campus or we're

(31:56):
going to witness on a different college campus or we're traveling.
We had to do things like rent buses, right? We had to do logistics of how many
people can fit in one bus. What is the budget? it.
So all those things help in the leadership skills, whether you realize it or
not, it helps prepare you for leadership skills for tomorrow.
So I think that's why it's critical to be part of an organization or organizations

(32:20):
while you go through college.
Pretty happy you added that, Blaise. And many times when I'm working with students,
they always say, I don't have much experience. So that's a great way to get experience.
And if you're in a job interview, these are great stories to tell on where I
was coordinating this event. You know, the X number of people showed up.
I had to have a budget. I had to plan logistics.
So these are the stories you want to tell during a job interview.

(32:42):
So Blaze, I appreciate that nugget right there.
Now we're going to transition, guys, to life after Grambling.
So you graduated from Grambling. You know, you were taking 21 credit hours.
By the way, guys, that's a lot. Don't try this at home.
That's a lot of credit hours. If you're not meant for it, I'm telling you.
You got some great hairs. So you finished Grambling State Blaze and did jobs

(33:05):
just come knocking at your door?
Were recruiters hounding you and texting you every day?
Walk us through that transition from Grambling ending to your first paid opportunity,
employment opportunity.
Sure. Actually, the answer is no.
I graduated in December of 2009 and I did not get my first job to February of 2010.

(33:27):
So I was unemployed for about a month and a half there, but.
When I graduated from college, you know, as I mentioned, I did not get a full-time
offer for my internship from Deloitte.
I did not get to start my job with KPMG right off the door. Okay.
I had to take, do my internship. I did more money than my first job actually.

(33:49):
What first was working at a credit union in Monroe, Louisiana.
Okay. And I was making little to nothing at the time, $25,000 a year to be honest.
I actually loved that job. I was a tenor at the credit union.
The credit union had a policy of standing all day. So I was standing all day for eight hours.

(34:12):
And I was at that job for about six months from February through September of 2010.
But as Kazim talked about, always hustling and never giving up,
not settling down for less.
Even while I was there, I was grateful and I was continuing to network with
other people for a better opportunity, right?

(34:33):
KPMG has an office in Shreveport, Louisiana. And through my network,
I was able to connect with the senior manager of the KPMG office in Shreveport.
And that's how I got a, actually, I got an internship with KPMG.
It was not even a full-time job.
So I had to make the decision, leave a full-time job at the credit union,

(34:54):
which is not what I wanted to do, even though I liked it doing $25,000 by the
way, I got married early by the time I was already married. Okay.
I had to put in that full-time job where they actually loved me. Okay.
To go to an internship at a company that I wanted to really work for, but making more.

(35:15):
So I was keeping, I was living in a secure position to go into something that I was unsure. sure.
So I accepted a position to go with KPMG, making $20,000 more right off the
bat. It was a three-month internship.
I did that from September through December. Guess what? At that point in December,
I felt like history was repeating itself.

(35:36):
They did not give me a full-time offer. They liked me, but they said,
Blaise, you're not performing to where we want you to perform.
Wow. What? We'll give you three more months of internship for you to continue
to prove that you You can actually, you know, get this full-time job.
So they extended my internship from December through April of 2011.

(35:58):
And guess what? At the end of April, history repeated itself again.
They did not give me a full-time offer. Okay.
Now, at the time, I was already married. I got married in May of 2010.
It had been about a year that I got married. My wife was pregnant. Yes.
We had just moved in a house, a more expensive house, in an exhibition of our

(36:22):
son, so that we can have more space.
At the time, rent was expensive for me. It was $1,200.
I moved from a, I believe, $800 rent apartment to a $1,200 rent house.
My mother-in-law was in town, getting ready for the baby. The KPMG let me go in April of 2011.

(36:43):
My son was born in May, so a month later. So a month before my son was born,
after being married, my wife was in college. I was paying her tuition.
My mother-in-law was in town to help with the baby. When the baby was here,
I did not get a full-time offer. Okay. Wow.
I was unemployed from April of 2011 through September of 2011.

(37:07):
Six months. With a baby, living with my mother-in-law, paying rent of $1,200
every month. and pay my wife's tuition in school.
Forget about the financial part. Think about just how I had to keep my mental sanity, right?
Life is a daily battle. You never fail until you quit.

(37:28):
I told my friends all the time, never use, and even my son as well,
never use the word failure. You never fail. You learn.
You never fail until you quit. The day you quit, that's when you fail.
And guess what? I did not quit.
I went from business to business, downtown, Boston, Louisiana,
telling people I can do your accounting, your bookkeeping, your taxes.

(37:50):
And I got a few clients. That's how I managed to pay rent during those six months. Wow.
I'll continue looking for full-time positions in the North Louisiana area.
Nothing came up. And remember, all this is with a, how do you call it, CPT, with a C2T status.
Once he graduated from college as an international student, because I did two

(38:12):
majors, I had 23 months of CPT.
I think it's called OPT, yeah.
Optional Practical Training, something like that.
So I was still working on OPT, right?
I had already burned 12, no, 14 months of that. So I only had about 10 months or nine months left.

(38:33):
But I did not give up. You know, I had the faith that something could happen. I continued hustling.
After five months not finding jobs in North Louisiana, I started looking for
jobs also outside of states.
I started looking for jobs. The closest metropolitan city was Dallas.
I started looking for jobs in Dallas. My wife had an uncle in Dallas at the

(38:56):
time, and that's how I got a job at a company in Dallas.
It was a full-time position, making less than what I was making at KPMG.
So I went from $25,000 at the credit union to $45,000 doing an internship.
After six months of unemployment, I went back to $35,000.

(39:17):
$35,000, right? And this is already after having 18 months experience.
I took a step back and I had to live in Dallas while my wife and son were in Louisiana.
My wife was still in college, so they had to stay in Louisiana.
And I was commuting back and forth between Dallas and Louisiana every other

(39:38):
weekend to visit my family for 18 months before my wife graduated from college, after I got that job.
Okay. So I share this story for you to picture this trouble that I've had to
go through after graduation.
But the key thing is I did not give up.
Man, that is so powerful, Blaise. And guys, I want to paint this picture and

(40:01):
really just tell it how it is. you know, as an international student,
definitely you have to be mindful and aware of these limitations because again, it's real.
I mean, you heard what he just said, you know, being unemployed,
you know, but what I think I like about what they shared is that goal,
get a spirit, that resolve that, you know what, I will not just rest on my laurels and defeat.

(40:23):
I will get up and look. He went to multiple businesses.
And found some side clients when that didn't work out or when
that was not enough he started looking for other cities and ultimately
made his way to dallas which again you know a
really a really a big city and you know something i would see blaze during those
times i had no idea all this was going on and i'll give you guys a phrase i've

(40:45):
heard some people say you know you know i don't look like what i've been through
so even though he was going through a lot when i would see him always had a smile on his face,
always inspiring someone, like he said in his quote earlier,
always being a light, despite the fact that, you know, I can't imagine what
it must have been like to go through all these things happening at the same
time and, you know, just trying to find a way.

(41:06):
So I think the nugget to take away is, you know, it is possible to win in spite
of what life throws at you.
Again, yes, you may have challenges more than the average person,
but if you're committed and if you hold on to your faith, definitely Blaze is a man of faith.
And I'm I'm sure he'll say that his faith is a key ingredient.
And you know what, Blaise, let's take that after this conversation.
You know, how did you maintain your faith during that season, man?

(41:31):
I think I had a good ecosystem, right? And I think it's important for everybody
to build a good ecosystem around you.
Not only my family was there to support me, my parents were back home.
They were supporting me over the phone.
My siblings as well. Then my wife too and my son. At that point,
I had a son I needed to take care of, be married. So I had a family to take care of.

(41:55):
So, and obviously I also had friends like Kazim, Dylan, other friends from Kai
Alpha, which I mentioned earlier.
So that whole ecosystem was there to hold me accountable, encourage me and tell
me, you know what, keep trying, you know, and I think if I was...

(42:15):
If I was an island, which I think no one should be an island,
but if I was an island on my own, I probably would have given up.
But this ecosystem was there to help me continue on the journey.
And you mentioned, thanks so much for that. You mentioned when you went to Dallas,
was that the company that you currently work with right now,
when you went to Dallas initially?

(42:36):
No, it's not actually. So once I got to Dallas, I worked at that company for two years.
So from September, actually about 18 months, from September,
2011 through June of 2013. Okay.
I got one raise when I was there for those 18 months and they gave me a $5,000

(42:58):
raise. I thought it was ridiculous.
Nice. I'll take that.
So, you know, at that point in time, if you, if you keep, if you're keeping
track with the timelines, my 24 months of OPT is almost expiring. Okay.
This is June of 2013. I graduated in December of 2019.

(43:21):
So this is already close to the 24 months expiring or whatever it was, 24, 29 months.
So, you know, continue with the hustle. So I knew that, you know,
when they gave me my first job at that company, I knew that it's not a company
that was able to take care of the financial needs of myself and my family. Right.
Plus there I was doing purely accounting work. I wanted to really integrate

(43:45):
my accounting and my IT background.
So I just started applying online at different companies like that.
And the company that I'm currently working for, Align, actually reached out
to me, you know, on the internet.
And I'd never applied at their company. believe they said they liked my background
because of my experience at
KPMG, interning at Deloitte and different things out of my resume as well.

(44:09):
So they took a chance on me in June of 2013. They took a chance on me.
I was an international student with my OPT who was expiring.
They were a new firm at the time. They started in 2010.
They were building their firm.
They were looking for people with experience like the one that I had.
So they gave me a chance. I don't know why till today. They gave me a chance.

(44:32):
And fast forward to today, seven years later, I still work at Align.
They've sponsored my they sponsored my h1b
visa at the time they sponsored me on green card
and i'm currently starting my the journey of my
citizenship next year right then you
know in all the seven years i can't tell you how god has blessed me financially

(44:52):
and also from a leadership standpoint and the firm is where i currently am man
that's amazing guys and and definitely when you hear stories like that you know
you just kind of have to tip your hat off to the leadership and the vision of a company like that,
again, because it takes a true leader to see potential, to recognize potential,
and then to act accordingly, so to develop and nurture that potential. So that has to align.

(45:18):
Blaise, you mentioned they reached out to you. Was that via LinkedIn, or how did they find you?
What made you stand out to them? Yeah, LinkedIn. Yeah, LinkedIn.
So obviously, we live in a world where everything is digital, right?
Matter of fact, when I got that job at Align, my interview was over the phone
and they had never met me in person, right?

(45:38):
My interview was over the phone and everything, they onboarded me.
I got my laptop shipped to me at my house.
I went to a client and I met, you know, one of the partners of the firm at the
client. That was the first time I've ever...
You know, so I think the takeaway there is make sure that you're visible on
social networks and that whoever you are on social network depicts who you truly

(46:03):
want to be in your professional career, right?
There are some things that you cannot
have in your social networks because recruiters look at those things.
So you want to make sure that you're maintaining a professional image consistently
across your social networks that reflect who you are and your resume as well.
I'm happy you called out the LinkedIn piece, Blaise. And I want to say to anyone
listening on this podcast, if you're in the technology field,

(46:28):
you better be on LinkedIn.
Get on LinkedIn, do some research, look for best practices for having a strong profile.
Because again, that could be a game changer. So I'm really happy you called that out.
So Blaise, just as we wrap up the career piece, what are some of your steps
for kind of climbing the corporate ladder, if you will, at that company?

(46:48):
I would say I did not have an agenda per se.
I was just, one thing I knew is being a minority, I had to not only be a minority,
but being a minority foreigner, I have to work twice as hard as anybody else, right?
Which I think most of us on this call can relate.
It's always been a story of my life. Since I got to the U.S.,

(47:09):
I had to work twice as hard as anybody else to get what I have.
And I think it's possible, right? Right.
Is that company perfect? No. There are some things that they could do better.
But, you know, tying back to the faith piece, like as you mentioned earlier,
if you have a resilient faith and you put in the work, then,
you know, you will succeed regardless of what environment you are.

(47:34):
So I did not have an agenda to get
where I am today. I think it was just a result of the work that I put in.
Some few things that I did on purpose was networking. working, right?
And then worked with the business leaders at the firm from day one.
You know, I knew the kids by name. I went out with them to have a happy hour of dinner.

(47:55):
I made it a point that whenever I'm in a city where there is a leader at the
firm, I connect with them.
Whenever they give me a task to do, I'll finish it earlier than the deadline they give to me.
Not only would I finish it earlier, but I would also provide a quality that
will be second to none, right?
And every time they give me a task to handle something that requires true leadership

(48:20):
skills, I will perform beyond their expectations.
My key mantra in the firm has always been whenever they give me a task,
I want to finish it without the client having to reach out to my partner or
my manager to ask me, to ask them a second question based on what they have provided to me, right?

(48:41):
So think If I'm working with a client, I want to be able to finish that particular
audit and satisfy the client without the client having to ever contact my partner.
So whatever the client needs, I want me to be their first point of contact.
That was my goal at the firm. I mentioned I didn't have an agenda,

(49:02):
but at least that's one goal that I had.
I wanted every client to come to me for everything they need.
And to be honest, over the last seven years, what that has done is positioned
me in a place where I can open my firm today.
Day because I have clients that come to me, even though I haven't talked to
them five years ago, I've been a manager or a director for the last five years.

(49:25):
I haven't done an audit in the last five years and I have clients that still
come to me for questions.
Wow. My friend asked me, Blaise, how do you sell work so much? I told him I get lucky.
It's not that I'm good at sales, at selling more work for clients,
it's that clients keep coming back to me whenever they have questions.
And it's important to build that, right? Whenever you guys start your professional

(49:46):
career, make it a point that you are the go-to person whenever a client needs
something. They should not go above you.
And by doing that, without you knowing, you're building your network and your book of business.
Because if I leave my firm today, I can steal half of their clients just by
the relationship I've built with them.
Man, that's really powerful, Blaise. And I just want to guys call out,

(50:08):
you know, relationships, man. Relationships are extremely important.
It's something they don't teach you in college. You know, we go through college
and we go through a bunch of classes. They don't teach you about relationships.
They don't teach you about the fact that you have to be a salesman.
Everybody's selling something. Just getting someone to hire you,
you're selling yourself.
So you have to understand sales, you know, at a high level, at least understand sales.

(50:31):
Understand that it's really about giving people what they want.
If you meet their needs, they will keep coming back to you so i definitely want
to make sure you guys latch onto that concept so please i'm going to start writing
things down here and when we talk about passing things on passing on the wisdom
to the next generation you know what would your advice be for minorities,

(50:51):
seeking a degree in technology i would say have a plan what excuse me what i
mean by having a plan One is start from somewhere in the end and backtrack to today, okay?
In technology, the field is very vast. What do you want to do in technology?

(51:12):
Do you want to be a program?
Do you want to be a systems engineer? Do you want to be a developer?
Do you want to be a project manager, which is a field that's picking up in technology
very much? Do you want to be in cybersecurity?
If you're in cybersecurity, what do you want to do? Do you want to deploy security
tools to track incidents? Do you want to be on the security compliance side like I am, right?

(51:34):
So try to have an idea of where you want to get.
Obviously, as you grow and start a career, things can change,
but having an idea of where you want to get helps you set the trend of how you're
going to get there, right?
The courses you will take in school, the organizations that you need to join,
the people you need to network with.
Another key thing with LinkedIn is make sure that you're connecting with as

(51:56):
many people as possible.
Believe it or not, whenever somebody reaches out to you, whether they're recording
you or they want to see how credible you are, they look at how many connections you have.
You know, if you've been on LinkedIn for five years, but you have 13 connections
or 300 connections, that's too little.
You need to get to a point where you have 500 plus connections,

(52:16):
right? The world is all global.
You can connect with people in different parts of the world,
even without ever meeting them, just based on things that they post, right?
Reach out to them, start following them, connect them. You never know.
The more advanced in my career, the one thing I tell people is the industry
is very small, very, very small. You will know somebody that knows somebody
that knows somebody that, I mean, it's so small, you won't even believe it, right?

(52:41):
So, Kazem, to answer your question, I would say have a plan,
have an idea of where you want to be.
Start taking courses that matches to where you want to be.
Get in groups of networks of people, network with people on social media,
in person, and things like that.
And, you know, be resilient at everything you do. You'll never give up.

(53:02):
Keep trying. Keep working hard. And it's going to pay off.
Yeah, that's some excellent advice, guys. I like the, you know,
begin with the end in mind. That's one of the habits of highly effective people.
You know, begin at the end in mind. Know what you want to do.
And again, it might change.
We could pivot, right? But have an idea and start reaching out or connecting
with people who are in that field and basically ask, you know, how did you get there?

(53:25):
And you'll be amazed, guys, how much people are willing to share their story
and their journey, just like Blaze is doing with us today.
I mean, you'd be amazed. I mean, people like to talk about themselves naturally.
So if you connect to folks on LinkedIn or in person and you ask about their
journey, they will tell you more than you even asked them to.
But in all that data, you get some nuggets that gives you now a blueprint to

(53:48):
chart your own course because your journey will be slightly different.
But again, if you know what the end is, then you know, okay,
if I meet this detour, I take a left turn because I know where I'm trying to go.
So definitely some really good advice here.
Blaise, knowing what you know
now, what would you have done differently in college if you could go back?
That's a good question, and it's funny because I thought about this more whenever

(54:12):
the whole social injustice things have been happening in the U.S.,
right, with the death of George Floyd.
George Floyd recently, a month ago or so.
But before then, I always thought if I was to redo college, I would probably
go to an all-white school, okay?
And I'll go to a school that is more known out there. Maybe like if I was to

(54:35):
go to a school in Louisiana, like LSU, right?
Or if I was to go to a school in a different state, I go to a state school that
is well-known, right? That's always been my thoughts.
But once the social interesting thing happened about a month ago,
I believe in my heart, I felt God actually wanted me to connect with African-Americans
in the U.S. so that I can empathize and feel what they've gone through.

(54:58):
You know, us internationals, you know, whether you're from the Caribbean or
from Africa, you grew up with blacks.
Right and blacks were the majority if you
had any whites in your community or your country they were actually a
minority right so coming in the in the u.s we had different mentality than african
americans that were here even though we have the same connection ancestors were

(55:20):
the same but i believe god strategically put me in an all-black school grappling
so i can connect with my roots from a slavery standpoint, right?
And fast forward 13 years today, at my job, since after the George Floyd incident
happened, I have worked with leadership to create a diversity and inclusion network group.

(55:43):
Wow. And we are putting together a bylaws on the program and we're starting
to recruit from Black colleges.
Wow. We've never done before. Wow.
We are a firm of our philology-affected people. I am maybe one out of 20 Blacks.
I'm sorry, one out of 20 minorities.
Unfortunately, not Blacks, but minorities. So...

(56:07):
You know, to answer your question, all these years, I thought I would do something
different if I were to go to college, go to a better school.
But in the last few months, I would say, I think if I could do it all over again
today, I would probably have gone back to Grambling.
Not only because I was able to connect with some good brothers like Kazim through
Chi Alpha, but it gave me a connection to the African-Americans here in the

(56:31):
U.S., which is a history that I did not have.
Yeah, that's really good, Blaise. And you're right. For most of us on this call,
actually, right now, we grew up being the majority.
So this definitely is a whole different experience. And to your point,
I do think going to an HBCU did help us, did help me also connect and empathize
because as those racial injustices came to the forefront,

(56:53):
you know, I have to be honest, it took me a while to realize that when you live
this your entire life versus maybe five or six years, it's a different experience.
And I'm really excited also to hear that you guys at Align are putting in this
network in place to really be effective in pushing change and driving change. That's awesome.

(57:14):
So just a couple of questions left for you, Blaise. What is a book you'd recommend
or useful resource or both that you recommend to this audience?
Sure. So I was thinking about actually some books before the session.
And I actually have four, if you don't mind.
Go ahead, man. But for those who were there earlier on the call,
I'm passionate about real estate.
I'm in technology as well, but my passion is real estate. I love buying properties

(57:38):
and renting them and things like that.
Three books that I read regarding real estate that I really,
really love. The first one is Tax-Free Wealth. Okay.
In the book, essentially what the author says, the author is Tom Wheelwright.
Tom Wheelwright is the author.
What he says in the book is the difference between the rich and the poor is how they manage taxes.

(58:04):
Okay. The tax code is over 10,000 pages.
Only maybe nine pages in the tax code shows you how to pay taxes.
The remainder of the tax code shows you how you can save on your taxes.
So there are actually loopholes.
So different strategies on how you can get money back from the government after

(58:24):
you pay taxes or how you can legally not pay taxes in the first place using businesses.
Okay. So I think that's it.
And again, that's what the rich do. The rich use loopholes in order to create more wealth.
Because you think about it, everybody's single biggest expense is taxes. It's not your mortgage.

(58:47):
It's taxes. And guess what? But the more money you make, the more you pay in taxes.
I'm almost in a 40% tax bracket, which means that I work from January through
May just to pay taxes to the government.
Five hours of my salary goes just for taxes, right?
So tax strategies and tax loopholes on how you can save money legally by not

(59:10):
paying a lot of taxes would help you. And by doing that, you create corporations, right?
Which is what I've done over the years.
The second book would be, it's titled More Important Than Money.
More Important Than Money. And this book is written by Robert Kiyosaki.
In the book, essentially, he shows different strategies of things that you need

(59:33):
to do that are more important than money in life to create wealth, essentially.
The third book is Why the Rich Are Getting Richer.
You know, what is the reason why the rich are getting richer?
In the United States, there are families in the United States that will never be poor.
It doesn't matter how many generations pass.

(59:53):
Think about the Rockefellers, J.P. Morgan Chase, the Ford family,
McDonald's, Jeff Bezos, Amazon.
These are families that will never be poor. Their generations 40 years from
now or 40 generations from now will never be poor.
Why? Because their parents were able to create wealth today.

(01:00:14):
That will never make your family poor again in the future. So essentially that
book, that's what it talks about. Why the rich are getting richer.
And it's by Robert Kiyosaki as well. The last book will be, it's on sales. I love sales.
I'm not the best person at sales, but I sell a lot.
As Kazem said, everything we do is sales. And the book is actually titled, Every Job is a Sales Job.

(01:00:38):
I forgot the author of that book, and I didn't have the chance to look it up.
It's actually at my office, on my desk, but the title is Every Job is a Sales Job.
Guys, that's some really good recommendations. I've read, I think,
I've listened to maybe one or two of them, and yeah, I need to get on the other
one. So that's some really good recommendations, guys.
And by the way, so folks, guys, if you have any questions, I'll give you guys

(01:01:00):
a second to ask those in a little while.
But I just want to say, Blaze started to touch on something that I wanted to
spend more time on, but Blaze, we're going to have to get you back on to specifically
talk about financial literacy, and just real estate and wealth,
wealth building, we'll have to get you back on in the future to kind of address those topics.
Because again, that will take us a minute to unpack.
So I'm going to ask you one more question, Blaise, and then I'll let you guys,

(01:01:22):
if you guys have any questions on the call, we'll get to that.
So Blaise, where can people connect with you?
It's pretty easy to find me. I'm on LinkedIn.
My first name and my last name, if you look at my picture there on the Zoom
call, you have my first name and my last name on the skeleton as well on twitter
on twitter my first name is blaise with a z so b-l-a-z-e,

(01:01:45):
and same last name as well i'm not very much on facebook i'm on facebook but
i'm not you know too active there same thing for instagram when i'm on instagram
but not too active as well,
my email is actually the email on the screen there so feel free to email me
but email and LinkedIn or Twitter would be the best way to reach out to me.

(01:02:06):
Awesome, man. We do have a question. Ajay, you want to go ahead and ask your question?
Yeah, it's just a simple question. I just wanted to find out if he was a part
of a PNC because I realized that guy, he writes a lot of books about financial
situations and stuff like that.
I just wanted to ask that. You got that, Blaze?

(01:02:30):
I think it's a question what do I think about Rami Kiyosaki yeah are you a fan
of are you a fan of Rami Kiyosaki yeah,
Am I a fan of him? Yeah. Yes, actually. I would say he's my mentor.
I've read almost all of his books, and he has almost eight books.
And I've read almost all of his books. I started my financial literacy journey in 2017.

(01:02:54):
And since then, my life has changed, right? I own properties today. I own corporations.
I use tax strategies to assure wealth. And I mean, almost everything I've learned
from a financial literacy standpoint is from him. And one of his greatest quotes
is, your greatest asset is financial literacy, what you know.
It's not money. It's not a job, right? Because a job, we can lose it any time.

(01:03:19):
Money, we can lose it any time. But once you have financial literacy,
regardless of what happens in the world, based on what you know,
you can adjust accordingly.
That's good, Blaze. That's good. I like that. Your greatest asset is financial intelligence.
Gents i i do want to do you guys
have any other questions i want to give one more if we have the time any

(01:03:39):
other questions guys um i just wanted
to know what's the name of the first book again the tax-free
life for the last what tax-free wealth
right one other thing i just wanted to know i realized once when you were talking
basically your network system sure it played You played a pretty big role in

(01:04:04):
helping you climb higher.
That's one of the things. I went to an all-boys school, but to be honest,
I wouldn't put it any other way because the boys I formed there,
I couldn't go any other place and get that from them.
And those SMT boys, like we put ourselves, they put themselves all across the

(01:04:29):
globe. And I know that that help system will bring me joy and you know,
it will help us all as we should go.
So, you know, just confirm that your network system is there to bring you joy.
Absolutely. Absolutely. That's definitely true. And you mentioned you went to
an all-boys boarding school. I went to a boarding school as well.

(01:04:50):
Actually, from middle school, I was 11. I went to a boarding school.
It was both boys and girls.
But yeah, I was in the background like you there. That's correct. Sorry. All boys. Yeah.
I was not boarding school. It was just all boys. Oh, okay. Not all boys.
Yeah. Okay. Got you. Yeah.
But that's a really good point you made, Dominic. And actually,

(01:05:12):
Dominic, I think that's something I hope I see in the future where we're going
to the same school, Blaise, where we have a network of Sumerians who maybe have
a LinkedIn group or something where we could just really support.
You know, that's a good idea. If you don't run with it, I will.
So I think it's a really good call out that you make.
That will be special, man, to really help and guide the next generation.

(01:05:33):
Blaise, the last thing I want you to leave us with before we close things out,
could you just explain the difference between an asset and a liability?
I think, again, guys, if you guys just get a glimpse of what Blaze is sharing
here, you know, that could put you light years ahead in life.
Because myself and Blaze, we did not learn these things until we were in college,
or I think, well, for me, it was after college, actually.

(01:05:55):
Blaze started teaching me some of those things, and it started to connect.
But it was years later, it really all came together. So just kind of give us
that asset liability difference definition, and maybe some examples, Blaze.
Absolutely. So I'm going to answer the question with the hat of an entrepreneur, okay?
With financial intelligence, again, since 2017.

(01:06:17):
The reason I say with the hat of an entrepreneur is because,
or an investor as well, is everything I learned in college and what I learned
through my CPA goes against what I'm going to share with you guys, okay?
Accounting and CPA courses teach you something totally different,
okay? In the financial literacy world and financial intelligence,

(01:06:40):
an asset is basically something that puts money in your pocket.
Okay? And a liability is something that takes money out of your pocket, period.
Just as easy as that, okay?
And when you think about an asset with a definition of something that puts money
in your pocket, that's something that somebody else is paying for.

(01:07:02):
That's something that you are paying for. If you pay for it,
it's taking money out of your pocket, right?
An example would be a house.
I bought my first house in which I was living in and I was paying the mortgage.
Accounting and CPA courses will tell you that that house that you're living
in, in which you pay, is an asset.

(01:07:23):
But the reality is that is not an asset. Why? Because that house is taking money out of your pockets.
Okay. Fast forward to after three years when I started my financial education,
I own few houses now. And all those houses, guess who pays for those assets? My tenants.

(01:07:44):
I don't pay for them. My tenants pay for them. Now, that same house is the same
building, same structure.
It moved from an asset and from a liability class, which was me putting money
and paying the bank every month, to an asset class just because I don't make
the payments on that house anymore, on those houses anymore.

(01:08:04):
My tenants paid those houses for me. so think about 10 years in the future and.
I will have more equity in those houses. I'll probably own the houses outright in 10, 15 years.
But I didn't pay a dime on those houses. Somebody else that was living in the
house was paying for the house for me. That is an asset.

(01:08:24):
So again, a quick recap is an asset is something that puts money in your pocket
that somebody else helps you pay for it.
And a liability is something that you pay for out of your own pockets.
And I love it. I love it. And guys, again, I encourage you, please do some more research on that.
Read about Robert Kiyosaki, get
his books. Of course, Rich Dad Poor Dad is probably his most famous book.

(01:08:47):
And I think that was a book that really helped me make a mindset shift or started
a process of making that mindset shift for me.
So I think this gives you guys a really good breakdown of an asset versus a liability.
And again, man, I'm telling you guys, we're both business investors.
It is powerful. It will change your life. you guys
are all in technology which means once you be

(01:09:09):
once you get jobs I would like to you there's some
serious learning potential if you're in technology and you're
good at what you do there's some really good learning potential but don't take
your money and buy you know the fanciest car and all that stuff focus on acquiring
assets as your assets build up you will have enough money where you could buy
you those fancy cars and it probably won't even miss that money because you

(01:09:30):
have other income streams other assets bring bringing in money for you.
So Blaise, man, phenomenal episode. Thank you so much for sharing with us.
Like I said, man, we have to get you back in the future to talk about money
and wealth, just to get deeper into that.
But I thought you really gave us some serious value, man, in sharing your journey,
your tribulations, and also your wisdom also.

(01:09:51):
So thank you very much. It was definitely a pleasure.
And I'm really looking forward to when we get you back in the future, man. Thank you so much.
I think Lawson has a question. Yeah, sure, sure. The question I want to ask,
right, how did you find the time to be learning a,

(01:10:13):
accounts, right? Doing IT and then got into like real estate.
Sure. That's a good question. So let me repeat the question.
I believe you asked, how did I get the time to do accounting,
IT and get into real estate? Is that correct? Yep. Sure.

(01:10:35):
So I think over time, as you progress in your career, in most cases,
not all cases, in most cases, you start doing less.
And if you are a good leader, okay, very, very important.
And I know leadership is dear to Kazim's heart as well.

(01:10:58):
You will find some people that whenever they progress in their career and they
grow, they actually start doing more because they want to be in control of everything.
But that's not what a leader is. When you become a leader, you delegate,
you empower other people to do things, right?
So to answer your question, Larson, it had to take me, you know,

(01:11:18):
10 years in my career now to start doing less and have more time to do things
that matter to me, right?
Because I have a great team at the firm, I am able to trust them and empower
them to do things that first make up to do all the things.
As a matter of fact, once you start doing that, you will find yourself doing

(01:11:39):
what is called compounding interest of your time.
So you find that your time is multiplying more and more.
Whenever you're trying to do everything, you can never get everything done because
you only have 24 hours in your time.
The best way to leverage and compound your time is by delegating to other people
and empowering them to do more

(01:12:00):
things so that you can leverage your time and do other things as well.
Excellent question, Lawson. That was a good question. I didn't learn.
Anyone else on the call has any final questions for Blaze? Again,
guys, you guys are blessed tonight.
You have, like I said, he's a director right now at his firm.
And I mean, director level, guys, is where you aspire to when you're in the

(01:12:21):
corporate world. That's definitely, you know, one of those really high positions.
And again, he's just a wealth of knowledge and experience. So any other questions
you guys have before we wind things up?
Going once, going twice. All right. So I think we're good. So Blaze,
man, thanks again, man. It was a pleasure, guys.
Blaze is a personal friend, a mentor, and a brother.

(01:12:41):
I consider him a brother. So we'll definitely, if you guys have any other questions
in the future, please connect with him on LinkedIn.
You know, ask him questions. As you could see, he loves to teach. He loves to share.
And yeah, we have that spirit of a teacher. That's one of the things we have in common.
So please connect with Blaze. And I'm sure any way he could help you guys out,
he will definitely try to be a blessing to you guys. but yeah it's been it's

(01:13:02):
been it's been fun guys so you guys take care and have a blessed one.
Music.