Building Wealth in Our Communities: Insights from Troy Millings and Rashad Bilal

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:45):
Welcome to the Mahogany Bookspodcast network, your gateway to
the world of African American literature.
We're proud to present acollection of podcasts dedicated
to exploring the depth andrichness of African American literature.
Immerse yourself in podcastslike black Books matter, the podcast
where we learn about the booksand major life moments that influence

(01:05):
today's top writers.
Or tune in to real ballersread, where brothers Jan and Miles
invite amazing people to talkabout the meaningful books in their
lives.
So whether you're a literatureenthusiast, enthusiast, an advocate
for social justice, or simplycurious about the untold stories
that shape our world,subscribe to the Mahogany books podcast
network on your favoriteplatform and let African American

(01:27):
literature ignite your passion.
My name is Ramonda Young, andI have the pleasure of being Ms.
Tejo.
I was like, I just leave it there.
But my husband and I ownMahogany Books, and we are.

(01:51):
I appreciate it.
We've been in business 17years, making space for black authors,
black books all day, every day.
And even when people aresaying, we're banning books or you
can't read this, we arestanding in that gap.
He's saying, hell, no.
This is our stories.
All right.
To be able to read and learnabout our history.
Right.

(02:12):
And so for my husband and theI, it has been that priority for
us for 17 years.
And we thought we would notleave that responsibility up to somebody
else to determine what we getto read and.
What we cannot read.
And so that's kind of howMahogany Brooks was born.
I'm from Tulsa, Oklahoma, andgrew up maybe about two, I think.
One.
Tula.
I heard somebody's nothing.
Thank you.

(02:32):
I grew up two miles from blackwall street, and I never knew black
wall street existed because itwas never.
Taught in my schools.
Who.
And it is a part of history.
It is the most dramatic placeof where black entrepreneurship,
innovation, and thoughtleadership occur.
Two miles from our house,there was a whole epicenter of black
cleaners and movie theatersand hospitals.

(02:53):
And so to not learn about thatas part of your history, not just
Oklahoma history, but Americanhistory, is a travesty.
So, again, this is whymahogany books exist.
This is why many blackbookstores across the nation exist.
We wanted to make our booksaccessible no matter who you are
or where you live.
So grab it up the bat, please.

(03:14):
I don't preach because I'll bepassing a cash app offering around.
So I'm not a preacher, butlike I said, we've been a business
17 years.
My husband is the gentleman atthe front when you came in.
But we've been married 22 years.
Yes, yes.
Very proud of that.
So that's a whole bookprobably in itself, but I just want

(03:34):
to give a quick shout out tothe Arc, this amazing venue that's
over here in Southeast.
It is a important for us tobring programming here to Southeast
dc.
My husband is born and raisedin dc, proud to be from Southeast,
and so give it up for the Arcfor allowing space to be here.
So before it gets out, just acouple of quick housekeeping items.

(03:56):
Your phone will migrate.
You can take photos, butplease put it on migrate.
Make sure your.
Your flash is off.
Also, please be sure to followus online at Instagram, at Mahogany
Books.
We have a lot of dopeprogramming lined up for this year
all over the city.
So let's get into it.
You're not going to see me, but.
Let'S get into this.
So tonight, our firstconversation host is none other than

(04:19):
David Shand.
He is a dynamic force in theworld of entrepreneurship, boasting
a multifaceted portfolio as anauthor, coach, and speaker with his
acclaimed books Dreams arebuilt Overnight and networking no
nos, David has become atrusted guy for individuals transitioning
from nine to five jobs topursuing their entrepreneurial aspirations

(04:41):
as the influential host of theSocial Proof podcast.
How many people show up here?
Okay, David Shan.
People are in the building.
Okay.
Davis Social podcast.

(05:05):
Wait a minute.
I've been practicing this.
I'm just.
No, no.
So I'm going to turn it overto you.
So thank you for being here as well.
I appreciate it.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Make some noise.
Do I deserve to be rich?
You deserve to be rich.
I do.
Make some noise if you deserveto be rich.
Make some noise if you deserveto be rich.

(05:30):
All right, now, if I was ableto follow you for the last two weeks
of 2025, would I say youdeserve to be rich?
Anything else in that of here?
So come on, come on, let's dothis up.
Let's do it.
Come on.
Come here, come here.
So I said, if I followed youfor the last two weeks of 2025, would

(05:52):
you say you deserve to be rich?
And yes, like, of course.
So explain to us why youdeserve to be rich.
Well, I'm trying to start outjust as they say, no find Mangella
playing my debt up.
You deserve to be rich becauseyou're trying to start something
up.
I'm not born to be workingwith somebody.
I need to be in my office andpower my own people.

(06:20):
Y'all want to clap for that?
Okay, okay, hold on, hold on.
Hold on.
I believe, like my kids, youdidn't deserve toys.
Jesus.
Holy hell.
You didn't deserve toys justto make my kids.
Typically, you do something todeserve something.
Yes.
Okay, so I want to know.
We want to know what you'vedone in the last two weeks of 2025.

(06:44):
I don't know.
You've been watching EarlyLeisure about three years.
Three years.
Okay, we're gonna go back tothree years.
What have you done with theinformation in the last three years
that says you deserve to be rich?
What do I expect?
Hold on, hold on.
I know we have community here,but hold on.
We got clapping for everything tonight.

(07:04):
What are you.
Yeah, okay.
What have you executed on.
I started my own stock account.
I own my children.
Build legacy, my stocks.
Chasing advice that's new notby being.
Fresh, but actually own the assets.
And that's when.
All right, we.
More time.
Thank you, thank you, thankyou, thank you.

(07:26):
I want you to raise some money.
Watching at your leisure.
Make some noise if you madesome money.
Man.
I'm going to jump into thisconversation, man, but I think when
Martin was doing all thethings that Martin Luther King were
doing, probably had rooms like this.
And, you know, on Sundayservice, as he was preaching, the

(07:48):
people in the crowd wereprobably thinking, wow, that was
a good sermon, man.
He's doing something really,really good.
But I don't think they thoughtin the moment that he had streets
named after him or schoolsnamed after him.
It just seemed like he's doinga good thing.
At parties, they talk abouthim, right?
At the barbershop, they talkabout Martian again.

(08:10):
But I don't think they saw itthat far.
And I think people look at EarLeisure as two guys have a podcast
or two guys that wrote a book.
But I'm telling you, they arerewriting history for our people.
So I need you to stand to yourfeet right now.
Stand to your feet.
Stand to.
Stand to your feet.
Start putting your hands together.

(08:31):
Put your hands together.
Right now.
Right now.
Right now.
Joy.
Michelle.
No one can do better than that.
No one can do better than that.
Dc, what's up?

(08:55):
Hold on.
Y'all gotta talk to y'all people.
They came here for y'all.
Hey, put your hands together.
Try it.
Rashada.
You forgot that you was in.
The room for the murder.
So you said, what did they dowith the information?
I heard the answer.
Who executed who was that?
My man.
Appreciate that, Mason.

(09:16):
Love you guys so much.
You know what?
DC's like a second home.
I used to live in Maryland.
So.
I was in DC H2O era.
So we always got love forChocolate City, man.
You guys always show us love.
So first and foremost, thankyou for championing us from day one,
man.
We wouldn't be here without you.
Absolutely.

(09:37):
And now we.
Unique audience, right?
The first night we did it, the.
Book hadn't come out yet.
Yesterday we did a show andthe book had just dropped.
Y'all had it for a day.
Anybody start reading that youdeserve to be rich?
Okay, okay, so we going to have.
A good conversation tonight.
We going to have some fun, man.
But take your seat, take yourseat, get comfortable.
Let's do this.
The title, let's just startwith the first bit.

(10:00):
You deserve to be rich.
Now, I'm not 100% sureeverybody deserves to be rich or
y'all or whatever, name it,Everybody deserves to be rich.
But I want to know who is theyou here that you're talking about?
Who are the people thatdeserve to get rich?
Everybody in this audience.
Everybody in this audience,you know, for sure, you know, coming

(10:20):
from like working classenvironments, poor environments,
whatever you want to say,like, you know, middle class, some
had, some had it better than others.
But we all really have too much.
So, you know, a lot of timeswe have mental barriers that you
put on yourself because that'swhat society tells you is realistic.
And you start to think thatthings are out of the realm of possibility.

(10:42):
And it's like, you know, youstart to think like being rich, being
wealthy, being a millionaire,that's so far from your reality that
you just kind of block it out.
It's like, it's like a dream.
Like, you know, you don't evenreally think about.
You might think about it whenyou're young boy, as you get older,
you know, life happens, youhave children, you got work, you
got, you know, differentthings, you got to take care of your

(11:02):
parents and you just, you kindof put that off, right?
It's just like I decided outof mind.
So of course, in the book andjust our platform in general, we
always gonna tell youactionable items as far as how to
invest in real estate andstocks and all these different stuff,
credit.
But if you don't believe it,if you don't really, really truly
believe that A, it'sattainable and B, that you actually

(11:24):
are worthy of it, that youdeserve it, then it's not gonna happen.
You know, you're just going toself sabotage, you're going to find
excuses, you're going to findways to put things off and delay
things so the first, the firstthing is actually getting people,
getting our people tounderstand that like Ash says, like,
abundance is your birthplace.

(11:44):
And I mean, like, that's,that's, that's where we come from.
So that's what we have toreally, really, really, you know,
rethink the way that we thinkas a whole and like raise our expectations
in life.
Yeah, we were very intentionalabout that.
In fact, going into the titleof the book, I originally wanted
it to be Users are wealthy.

(12:05):
Right.
Because I'm thinking, likelong term, we need to get to a point
where then we don't have toworry about money.
Our children don't have toworry about money.
Their children's childrendon't have to worry about money.
And shy was like, no, it hasto be the word rich.
And the reason that's the wordrich is because before they can get
wealthy, somebody has to get rich.
And so we need to give themthe building advice.

(12:27):
You have, the stepping stones.
We need to give them actualitems, number one mindset standpoint.
But they need to reallyrealize it just takes one person.
Like one person becomes a CEOof your family.
Now you have the information.
There is no excuse that justspoke really about.
There's no excuse, like, youreally deserve it.
Here's how you do it.
And once we do it, how we makeit so it's to stand more.

(12:48):
Right.
We've seen this.
Especially when you talk aboutthe people who left wealth first
generation.
Right.
Like, how do we change that?
So when you talk about theseguys are making history.
Yes, that's the goal is tomake sure that not only that we become
rich, but like their kidsbecome rich, CSM becomes rich.
And so like the economy of ourcommunity changes forever.

(13:08):
That's the real golden world.
Subtitle says master the innergame and claim your future.
So I think people think thatwealth is a outer game, meaning what
do I do?
These are the steps.
If you tell me what to do,I'll do it.
But it's interesting that youput Master the inner Game, the one

(13:30):
Explain that.
Yeah, I mean, you know, yougotta really look at the things from
inside.
Like it's like a doctor, right?
Like you could be sick.
He can look at you and seethat, okay, your eyes might be a
little yellow and your skinmight be pale, something's wrong
with you.
But gotta do internal tests toactually find out what's really going
on.

(13:50):
So that's always been ourthing is like, you know, wealth is
usually seen from the outside perspective.
As far as, you know, you Got anice watch?
Or you have the trappings ofsuccess, but very few people actually
want to peel back the layersto see what success actually means.
So that's what.

(14:10):
That's what we.
We've done for the last sixyears, and that's what we do in the
book as far as.
Let's go inside of it, right?
Like, and in the book isdifferent people's journeys that
we follow.
So it could be a single mom.
It could be somebody justgraduated from college.
It could be somebody that, youknow, is married with two kids, and
they're all trying to figureit out.
One person might have badcredit, one person trying to refinance

(14:31):
the house, one person'sinvested in stocks.
So really looking at it from,like, a scientific standpoint, as
far as the flash and all thatis good as far as it catches your
attention.
But we want to be morerational people as opposed to emotional
people, and we want to beattracted to information, not the
limelight.

(14:51):
Like, so, you know, the innergame of wealth.
Once you start to understandhow money really works, you realize
that how we think money worksis not how it actually operates,
Right?
Like, money is not meant tojust be spent.
It's meant to invest, actuallygrow more money.
Like, you put more money out there.
That's how you actually getback, you know?

(15:12):
Or we think, like, you hoardmoney like hoarders.
And that's not.
That's a scarcity mindset.
That's not an abundantmindset, right?
So it's like just a lot ofdifferent things that you wouldn't
really know if you wasn'texposed to certain things.
So us having the success thatwe've been able to have, the relationships
that we've been able tocultivate, you know, we've been able

(15:34):
to actually see things andfrom a different perspective, from
a different lens.
You talk to billionaires andstuff like that.
Like, changes your perspectiveon that.
So definitely want to kind ofhave the autopsy and.
And really, really lookinternally and see, like, you know,
what's really going on.
Yeah, it's kind of like adouble entire.
Right?
Like the end of game.
Whoa.
But like we did inside thesecircles, we were saying this yesterday

(15:55):
to Bendy.
We get into some of theserooms that people talk about, and
she's in the room with us, andwe always like, yo, you into that?
All right, all right.
So we know we're in the rightspace, but kind of what's been synonymous
with us, like you said, isthat when we get into these spaces,
we don't get Keith.
Designation.
Right?
Like, we go back and say, howare we going to decipher this to

(16:15):
tell the masses?
I mean, we've hadconversations like that.
I'm like, hey, before you dothis, here's what you should know,
because we've been in thespace of enough to say, all right,
here's the experience.
Here's how they're looking atwealth, and here are the studies
that they're doing, right?
Here's how they're employingtheir tax their employees.
Here's how they're using tax strategies.
Stuff that the common folkwould never know and we're never
supposed to know.

(16:36):
You now get to code the Matrixand give us a beat.
Everybody got their book, right?
Yeah.
No.
Okay, we're gonna read them all.
Okay, I want you to go to thesecond chapter first.
Truly.
Page 59.

(16:56):
Okay.
First off, the chapter,chapter two is called dealing with
Financial Trauma.
And I never thought about financial.
I never thought aboutfinancial trauma like this.
But page 59, where it saysspending excessively.
How many y'all triggered, itsays, at the other end of the spectrum,

(17:17):
spending like there's notomorrow is also rooted in financial
trauma.
Like the belief that sincethere will be.
Since there will never beenough anyway, I might as well live
now.
Shalat added to the bonds.
That is massive.
We gotta.
We gotta get deep in the mic.
Trying to sabotage.

(17:38):
That was a lie.
Check, check.
You good?
Okay.
There we go.
All right, y'all, on thepassage, right?
At the other end of thespectrum, spending like there's no
tomorrow is also rooted infinancial trauma.
It reflects the belief thatsince there will be, there will never

(18:00):
be enough anyway, I might aswell live now.
The nonchalant attitude behindthis attitude masks a sadder reality.
It suggests that you've givenup on any possibility that your financial
future can be any differentfrom your current experiences.
Where do we get this?
And why do we feel like it'sso important for this year?
I've never even thought aboutconnecting, like, my financial future

(18:25):
to financial trauma.
Yeah, it's life trauma, really.
Like, you know, we come fromculture, like, blow money fast.
You know what I'm saying?
Like, the idea, when you thinkabout that, you don't really think
that you have a future.
So it's like, I rather justlive in this moment because in this
moment is guaranteed 10 years,15 years, 20 years, 30 years down

(18:47):
the line.
That's not even.
That's not even in my thought process.
Like, but, you know, I knowhow to actually blow money in this
moment.
It's Going to make me feelgood in this moment.
I'll worry about therepercussions later on if I worry
about it at all.
So that's, that's adetrimental mindset because that,

(19:08):
that's something that, youknow, you're not thinking about 10
years down the line.
You're not thinking about yourfamily, you're not thinking about
your grandkids, right?
So that, that's because youdon't really think a lot about yourself,
really.
Like, you know, I mean, like,if you really think about it because
you really valued yourself ata high level, then you would want

(19:29):
to think about the future, right?
You would want to actuallypreserve, you will want to actually
make sure that your children,grandchildren actually have a better
situation than you do.
So this book kind of goesthrough a lot of that.
A side, B side, it's a hip hop reference.
The A side is the mentalaspect of it because like I said,
we gotta kind of really tacklethat before we do anything.

(19:51):
Then the B side is theimplementation from the financial
aspect of it, but thepsychological effects that we're
still dealing with in theUnited States of America.
But everything that we wentthrough in America is something that
has to be addressed.
Because when you do things,you don't realize why you're doing
it.
And that gets passed on fromgeneration to generation.

(20:12):
And if you never address that,then it's going to be a cycle of
destruction.
So that's something thatmindset is something that we definitely,
I think it's starting tochange now, but we have to really
eradicate it if we really wantto be successful.
It's one of these things, man,and I'm sure everybody always has
experienced it.
When we don't know what to dowith money, we do what we know.

(20:35):
And that's blow it, right?
We've seen it amongst commonfolk, we see it amongst our heroes,
entertainment and celebrity.
It never stops, right?
And so what happens is peopletry to get rich as quick as possible,
right?
As soon as we get to thatpoint, let me show everybody how
far I've come, right?

(20:56):
So we know in span we get tostart a kid, right?
We got to give the chain two.
Chains and we got to get thenext chain.
Then we got to get the rolling.
And at the end of it you're.
Like, wait, you get aroundpeople who have actually accumulated
the wealth you wanted toattain, and they have none of those

(21:18):
things, right?
They have the role, it's our support.
You know, it's a fine line.
I'm glad you brought up the Role.
Because it's a fine line.

(21:39):
Not serious.
It is a fine line because.
And I've learned this ineducation, right?
The reason that kids saw me asa person that they could model themselves
after was because ofrelatability, right?
And so, yeah, we might have toget the Rolex.
Why?
Because people look at that asa sign of, oh, they must be wealthy.
If he knows something I don't,how do we get that?

(22:00):
Or we might have to have thenice car.
Because it's like if I drovePinto and yonder.
Y'all old enough to wear aPinto trip.
Yeah.
Or who bride.
It's like, there's no way youcan be wealthy, right?
And so there's a thin line.
And I think what we've done onour platform was to say, all right,
if we're going to tread thatthin line, let's give the education
behind it.

(22:20):
So if we're going to have aluxury car, how we make it attached,
Right?
Now, if we're going to buy aluxury watch, let's make sure that
we talk about the appreciationof that asset, whether it's a gold,
Making sure that those factory.
The diamonds are factory,making sure that those watches are
rare and they appreciate allthe time.
Let's be responsible about theeducation if we're going to make
those type of lifestyleexpenses, because it does make it

(22:41):
believable.
So when I see Deschan'swalking down the street with two
chains on, I'm like, you doing mine?
All right, my next question.
So I was going to wait untillater, but chapter 10, the title
is what to do with your first million.
Y'all are going to have yourfirst million, right?
This million, isn't it this year?
This year?
Next year?

(23:04):
This year, yeah.
20, 27.
Are y'all the only ones withgoals in here?
When are we gonna make ourfirst million?
Shut it up.
When are you gonna make yourfirst million?
Yes, she is.
Okay, chapter 10 says, whatdid you.
Do with your first.
What you do with your first million?
My question is, what did you do.
With your first million?

(23:24):
And y'all can't tell me y'allain't made some new money in the
States.
Okay.
I mean, when you first get themoney, like, how many watches do
you really need?
One.
I mean, do I have more than one?
It's interesting.
We started to live by those principles.

(23:45):
So, you know, as we starttalking to more people, I think that's
the beautiful thing aboutcreating a podcast, that you get
to get real, actual Items thatyou're being implemented in your
real life.
And so as was.
I was approaching seven figures.
I was like, I'm gonna make abig investment.
And I did just that.
It was well documented.
I told my wife, look, I'mgonna put this amount of money in

(24:06):
a couple of like, shares ofthe company.
And I'm actually gonna do some actions.
So anybody making money inoptions right now, come to ey.
And I actually turned thatseven bunny into another seven figure
something money.
We'll leave the numbers anonymous.

(24:26):
But what I learned, and it wasfrom episode 21, a gentleman was
on there, Fernando.
And he was telling us abouthow he looked at money as soldiers.
If he has to go out and workfor his soldiers, that they gotta
go out with him.
And I was like, that's it.
So every dollar, he gottreated like a soldier.

(24:47):
You can't have it sitting inthe bank doing nothing.
And it has to go out and bringmore soldiers back.
And so if you bring it down,so you gotta.
If you got the army, then letthe treasure chest, right?
You can go out, fight battles,you can go out and take more risks
because you can go copy other things.
And that mindset, we said thaton the episode, I was like, all right,
this is how I'm to approach money.
And I think that's theblueprint of we work so hard for

(25:08):
it.
We got to make it work hardfor us.
And it's the adage of, youknow, saying, you know, if we don't
make money while we sleep,we're gonna work till we die.
That mindset always stuck with me.
So when we got the firstmillion, how do I get bored?
So that's a two part question, right?
Like, one is what you do withyour first million.

(25:30):
The other one is likefinancial mistakes.
So what I did with my first, Ididn't really do like just everything
with $1 million.
But the first thing I did whenI did get a million dollars, I.
Liquid, huh?
Never know.
Well documented.
I did.
I threw a watch for sure.

(25:50):
That was the first thing I didbecause that was like, you know,
I felt like I heard that.
You know what I mean?
That meant something to me.
So treat yourself.
That's important, you know.
You know, you have to worktowards things and then when you
actually do reach it, it's nota wrong way actually, you know, taking
care of yourself, like, youknow, you gotta reward yourself.

(26:12):
But as far as the financialmistake, this is important financial
lesson.
A lot of times, like, youknow, we think we're doing something
good and it's actuallysomething that could potentially
hurt us.
So one of the biggest, thebiggest financial mistake that I
made, most people think afinancial mistake would be buying
chains or buying a car or evena relationship could be a financial
mistake.

(26:34):
Anybody triggering, right?
Not anybody state that for somebody.
But now the biggest, thebiggest financial mistake was buying
a home, actually.
Yeah, so, so that was aprocess that I'm still going through
to this day.

(26:54):
And you know, it's one ofthese things is a, you, you have
to really, really, reallythink about everything that you do.
Because sometimes doingsomething that you think could be
good actually is moreheadaches gonna cost you more money,
right?
So it's like, you know, buyinga home.
I purchased a plot of land andbuild a home and the guy that I brought

(27:17):
it from, he was a hokan artist.
So it was a whole thing as faras the land had to basing on the
land and long story short,cost me a lot of money in that time.
If I would have just held thatmoney, I could have just rented an
apartment and just investedthe money in the marketing, I would

(27:37):
have been better off.
Right?
But this is like lots ofmoney, right?
And a lot of stress.
So that's important to fullyunderstand because you know, one
of the things that actuallycauses people to go broke a lot of
times is bad investments orbad real estate deals or bad business

(27:59):
partnerships.
These are all things you thinkyou're doing, right?
Then like you go intobusiness, you open up a barbershop,
you open up a restaurant,you're not thinking that you're doing
something irresponsible withyour money.
You're thinking, I'm gonna dosomething and I'm gonna make more
money, I'm gonna start abusiness or I'm gonna invest this
money into, you know, forex orwhatever, or I'm gonna do this.
And so sometimes even withgood intentions, you can actually

(28:23):
make financial mistakes.
That, that's important peopleto fully understand as well.
It's not always bad intentionsand irresponsible decisions that
can cause you to have badfinancial outcomes.
So everything is a learningexperience for sure.
Definitely.
I learned a lot in thisprocess, but it's something to consider

(28:44):
for sure because you know,that's something that not a lot of
people talk about a lot of times.
And we could talk about theobvious mistakes, but it gets a little
tricky when the mistakes areso clear cut.
I, I, and I think I'm soimpressed by in this book is you
have so many stories of peoplein different situations, like real

(29:06):
life stories you'll see peoplein their situation or what they did.
So some people, even as theystarted talking about your first
million, maybe they don'tbelieve it just yet, and they're
dealing with the financial trauma.
So I want to talk to that person.
30 or 40,000, maybe have kids,and they're doing what they can to
survive.
I think you put a lot ofpractical steps in here, but I just

(29:28):
want you to put both of youput yourself in that person's shoes.
And they're saying, they'rereading the chapters like, yo, you're
telling me to save.
You're talking to the best,but I don't have anything.
So where does your mind go?
Yeah, I mean, I was that person.
Like, in 2012, I was making $65,000.

(29:49):
And I was like, all right, great.
Those same principles thatwe're talking about, I have read
how do I do it?
How I do it?
What you got to realize isthat it doesn't take much to start.
The most important thing is start.
So it didn't cost me anything.
When I was.
In 2005, I opened a brokerage account.
It cost me to open it.
When I was trying to Tradestocks in 2007, it cost me to trade.
It caused me to sell.
Every time I'm like, damn,this is this expensive.

(30:11):
Those barriers are going.
So open a brokerage account issomething that should be durable
and clean.
Do it with $50, right?
It used to be a thousand,$3,000 entry.
Those things have gone.
So the cost of the entry tostart, to begin that wealth plan
is there, right?
The next thing is like, create the.
What is your plan to get tothe bend before that?
How do we get to a hundred thousand?

(30:31):
I was like, I think we saidthis before.
It's like, the first hundredthousand is like the.
That that market, I can getthat if I can save it, if I can attain
it, it's doable.
So it wasn't like the millionthat was like, hey, I did.
It was like, I got a hundredthousand in my bank account.
Now what?
Right?
So making smaller goals, making.
Making it so intangible.
Just like, all right, if I cando this, if I can get 10,000, I can

(30:53):
get to 20.
If I get 20, I know I can getto 50.
Like 50, I get 200.
Now, if I got that and I'vemade a plan, right?
Done a couple of things.
Want to talk about planning?
I decrease my spending, right?
I increase my income.
How can I do that?
Doing overtime, right?
Creating a business,partnering with somebody, making
some strategic Investments.

(31:14):
If I can do those thingsinside of my plan, then I have a
pathway to get to that one, right?
It may not be enough.
Might be, hey, let's do that.
How fast can I get there?
Or how, like, I don't wantthese word back.
How strategically could I get there?
Because now it's a replication.
I can get to 100.
All right, check it all.

(31:35):
What's the next goal?
So we, you know, I know helikes to reference the 12, 8 here.
It's a real thing, right?
Make this the goal smoked.
Because if you do, you'llstart to see efficiency, right?
If I say I'm making million, Idon't get this.
Let's go, right?
But if I'm trying to save 500,if I'm trying to save a thousand,
and I've done this, like, allright, it's a certain feeling, there's

(31:57):
a certain motion, and it tieswith that.
So creating that plan as aboard, even if you make 50,000, if
you made 45,000, start there.
So, Rashad, I'd love to hearyour perspective, too.
There's somebody making 40, 50,000.
They don't have enough toinvest in their mind, Right.
If you're in that situation,how do you approach it?
I mean, so there's a fewthings that you got to do.

(32:19):
But I can only speak from whatwe did.
Like, you know, as far asentrepreneurship is something that's
vitally important.
So I don't really know how toscale being an employee.
I can't give that advice, butI can't give advice on how to scale
being an entrepreneur.
So, you know, we started abusiness and we always talk about

(32:41):
multiple streams of income.
That's important.
And I feel like, you know, thebusiness that you start today, you
have to have.
You have to put yourself insuccess, in a position to be successful.
So, okay, a lot of businesses fail.
Why?
Well, most businesses failbecause in business, the cash flow

(33:02):
goes up and down, but youroverhead stay the same.
So if you have a restaurant,your overhead might be $10,000 a
month with rent, food costs,employees, cable, lights, chef, all
that stuff, right?
The problem is that one monthyou might make 20, then one month

(33:23):
you might be 5, then one monthyou might be 7, then one month you
might be 15.
Now that's a recipe for disaster.
Because what's going to end uphappening is that most of the time
when you start a business, youstart a business and you put all
your money into it, you cashout your 401k, whatever, so you don't
really have too much reserves.
So even one bad month is goingto drain you.

(33:44):
Two bad months is going to putyou underwater.
Your credit card, you're goingto max that out eventually.
Then you're going to go intoyour friends and family.
You want to try to scramblesome money from that, but that's
not going to go too far.
So now you're in a positionwhere your back is against the wall,
right?
And you can't figure it out.
So what happens?
The business is over.

(34:04):
You get discouraged.
And you're saying like, this,this isn't for.
This isn't for me.
So the first thing you want todo is I don't encourage people to
start breaking more ofbusinesses out the gate, right?
You start with the mvp mostbuying the fight.
So in that scenario, as far asa restaurant, because that's a very

(34:25):
common theme that people wantto start.
Restaurants, right?
If I was a restaurant or Iwouldn't start with a brick and mortar,
I would start with a ghostkitchen, right?
Because now if you have, ifyou know what a ghost kitchen is,
you can actually rent space inindustrial kitchens, right?
Like, and you can have arestaurant on UberEat.

(34:48):
When you order UberEats,unless you actually know the restaurant
that you're ordering from, youdon't actually know where the food
is coming from.
I just want Thai.
I haven't been to this restaurant.
It looks official.
They have good pictures.
I'm gonna give it a try.
So Uber comes to your kitchen,they do an inspection.

(35:09):
This is clean and it's a go.
The reason why I would startthis, because there's a very low
cost of entry, right?
So now you can actually startto sell food.
You can get your, your socialmedia going, right?
You get a buzz and then fromthere, maybe you still don't even
touch cool brick and mortar.

(35:30):
Maybe you go to a food truck.
Because now, now I'm actuallyable to move around.
If one area is not popping,then I might be able to go to another
area, right?
I might be able to go toanother state.
But the brick and mortar islast, not first, right?
And then it's like the seven streams.
You have to find a way to getseven streams of income from one

(35:51):
business.
Not different seven streams,like seven different businesses.
So like that restaurant owner,we talked about this when we did
the episode.
But that's important to figureout how you can actually get seven
streams of income because onestreet might dry up.
So if you have a restaurant,of course, the obvious way to get
paid is customers coming inand ordering Food, that's one stream

(36:12):
of income.
But now you have Ubereats,that's another stream of income,
right?
But you can also cater forweddings and large parties.
That's another stream ofincome, right?
And then once you becomesuccessful as a restaurant, because
it's hard, you're an authorityin the space.
So now you can solve becauseyou can actually help other people

(36:33):
get through the hurdles thatyou went through, right?
At a higher price.
People will pay you $10,000 arestaurant tour because you don't
go to school for this.
There's no school to figureout how to be an entrepreneur for
the most part, right?
So now that's four streams of income.
But you can also make content, right?
You can have a YouTube show.
A lot of people don't know howto cook.
So you can teach people on YouTube.

(36:54):
That makes it more scalablebecause people can see you all over,
right?
And then as YouTube, you know,you notice you get paid from YouTube
after a while.
And you can put that contenton audio as well.
You can verbally, withoutpeople looking at you.
But you can also have an inperson experience as well, where
you can actually, maybe on aday where your restaurant's not open,
you can have cooking classes, right?

(37:16):
So that's extremes of income.
On YouTube, you got to wear something.
So if you have an apron, thenyou can start to sell merch.
But then a lot of restaurants,they actually have a specialty that
they actually make.
So that might be seasoning,that might be sauce.
This is something that you canactually bottle up and package it
and sell.

(37:37):
That also makes it scalable.
You can have it in grocerystores after a while.
So this is something that youhave to kind of put yourself in line
to be successful.
There's no guarantees inbusiness, but you want to try to
make your business assuccessful as possible.
It's also beneficial to workwith partners, not to put all the
burden on yourself.
Find people that's beneficialand helpful things that you can't

(38:00):
do.
So if I was, that's what Iwould do, right?
As far as I would map out mybusiness standpoint, how can I start
a business?
Who can I, who can I identify?
Somebody can help me with my business?
How do I start with an MVPright now?
How do I grow that my socialmedia following, how do I roadmap
for 77 streams of income onestream at a time, not all seven?

(38:25):
And then as I'm getting money,how can I invest that money, right?
Like this is a pathway tosuccess, but this is, this is dc
and every Stop that.
We go to.
We're gonna bring differentguests on to actually.
Hold on, hold on.
Y'all not gonna clap for that, though.

(38:45):
That's true.
Because people are like, well,that's only true for entrepreneurs.
And it's not.
Right?
So, like, I'm a 9 to 5 guy.
So I always talk about the 9to 5 person because that's true for
education.
I would challenge anybody tolook at what they're doing currently
and see how you can createdifferent streams for what you're
doing.
I was sitting in a room like,my co workers will attest to it,

(39:07):
recording ads for heranesthesia while I was on my lunch
break.
And I'm telling them, like,y'all gotta create more streams.
They're like, Detroit Howell.
I said, look, you guys areteachers, right?
Could you do that from 9 to 3?
Can you tutor after school?
Yes.
You have an after school program.
Yes.
Right.
You advocate for children all day.
Could you actually write thisdown and free the book?

(39:27):
Yes.
Right.
Could you become a coach?
Right.
Most times you work with school.
They're looking for employeesto coach the athletics.
Can you coach?
Yes.
There's another stream, Right.
Can you write lesson plans?
Yeah.
You do it every day.
You think people don't want topurchase less plans?
I used to do it.
I'm like, I don't got time today.
Right.
That's five strings right there.
From your nine to ten, three.

(39:47):
Without being an entrepreneur,but having the mindset to say, wait,
what I'm doing now is scalable.
Right?
So that's the, that's the thing.
Like, how do we look at whatwe're doing now?
How do we scale it evenwithout being that entrepreneur but
having that mindset.
Yeah, that's true.
I'm glad he said that becausea lot of times if you, if you work

(40:11):
a job more than, I would sayfive years, but definitely 10 years,
you have more knowledge than99 of the people in the world in
that SEC field.
So you're an expert.
A lot of times we don't lookat ourselves as experts because it's
like, well, I'm just workingthis job.
No, you're not just working a job.
You're an expert.
As an expert, like you said,you're qualified to teach other people.

(40:33):
You're qualified to write abook, you're qualified to do a variety
of different things.
So, yeah, even if you justhave a job, you can still be an entrepreneur.
Entrepreneur as well.
And that teaching is a perfectexample because, yeah, teachers can
definitely tutor and have awhole even A tutor business, right?
Like, you can tutor, butthat's gonna.
There's only so much.
You're trading your time for money.
But now if I can establish atutor business, right, with five

(40:55):
other teachers, right, andjust take a little bit of what they're
getting now, that.
That makes my time freer.
Right.
Definitely can write a book that.
The summer camp program, allthat stuff.
So.
So thinking outside the boxof, like, you can't have one stream
of income.
That's the bottom line.
One stream is too close to none.
There's no job security.
Even if you work for thegovernment, there's no job security.

(41:17):
They say artificialintelligence is going to take 200
million jobs in the next 10 years.
So if you think that you'rejust going to work one job and that's
going to be a pathway tobecome a millionaire, unless you.
That job that you're workingis playing for the Cavaliers or something,
like, you know what I'm saying?
Like, I don't think it's gonna happen.
That might that much.
Put your hands together realquick, y'all.

(41:38):
You know, everything we do just.
We try to do, like, different.
You know, we don't just.
We don't.
The regular book thing is youjust come, you sign books, and obviously
we have a conversation.
We want to make it every daylike an event.
So every stop that we go to,we like having different guests that
come on that can add valuelocal to the area.

(42:01):
So D.C.
being obviously politicalcapital of America, we wanted to
bring some of our politicalfriends to add some education when
it comes to politics, becauseobviously that's an important part
of business as well.
So without further ado, we'regoing to bring Congresswoman Lauren
Underwood on State Hall.

(42:29):
Hey, everybody, we got a cool friend.
So do you know who LaurenUnderwood is?
Yes.
Okay.
Okay.
Lauren is congresswoman fromthe great State of Illinois, 14th
District.
That's right.
Two people there, likeIllinois herself.

(42:50):
So, first of all, thank youfor joining us.
Appreciate it.
Thank you for having me.
It's good to see you all.
And if you.
And life is about relationships.
So if you saw.
I had the privilege of goingto the State of the Union, and I
met Nancy Pelosi and AOC andall that, and then a bunch of other
people.

(43:11):
And then we actually went.
Myself, Troy, Ian, we went tothe Treasury Department and saw where
they actually print money.
And we interviewed the secondin command of the Treasury Department.
We had a lot of politicalstuff that's happened this year,

(43:31):
and it's all because part so.
I've never seen two.
One, being such $70 million inone place to that day, it's changed
my life forever.
You cannot see, cannot see it.
So we have some political talkwithout some political.

(43:54):
All right, just be honest.
Who in this crowd voted forDonald Trump?
Get him.
I knew it.
No, no.
But regardless of who youvoted for, that's a lot.

(44:19):
We always win one game.
And regardless of who youvoted for, you need to know how the
political process works.
So you are on.
So there's two very powerfulcommittees in Congress.
There's one, the Ways andMeans Committee, which is in charge
of taxation, right?
That's right.
And then you're on theappropriation committee.

(44:40):
That's right.
Two, how much money?
So the federal budget's about$6 trillion a year.
We're in charge of a third ofthat 2 trillion.
That's discretionary, meaningwe can choose where that $2 trillion
goes every year to keep thegovernment open and functioning.
The remaining 4 trillion iswhat they call mandatory spending.

(45:00):
So things like your SocialSecurity, if your grandparent goes
to the doctor paying them Medicare.
Right.
That's not decided.
How much every year, that's mandatory.
So your, your, your, yourcrew, how many people's on that commission?
And 60 of us.
So 60 people are.
Is in charging $2 million.
Trillion.
Trillion with a T.

(45:21):
60 people charging.
That's right.
So where's the, where's this$2 trillion going?
Where's it going?
Well, it's going to yourneighborhood and yours and mine and
here in Southeast D.C.
it's going to make sure wehave clean air, clean water.
It's going to make sure thatwe have safe communities.
It's going to make sure thatwe have, you know, the health care
we need.
It's going to make sure thatwe have nice parks.

(45:43):
It's going to make sure thatwe have border patrol and safety
along our borders.
It's going to make sure thatour friends in the military have,
that they need to keep ourcountry safe.
I mean, it's going to supportthe functions of the federal government.
So one of those things thatyou brought up was Social Security.
I remember being in schoolwhen I was a little bit younger than
I now, and they were alwayssomething about, don't worry about

(46:06):
Social Security.
It won't be there when you get older.
I know some people in here arefar from the age of Social Security
because of the young crowd,but what, what are your thoughts
about Social Security?
That maybe potentially notbeing there when we get to six to
seven years old?
Seven and a half.
So at the end of last year, wepassed a bill to make a small change

(46:26):
to Social Security for theteachers, educators in the room and
for police officersenvironment who had spent their career
paying into Social Securitybut weren't getting any benefits
in retirement.
Right.
We've corrected that error.
And so while that's great forpeople who have worked in those public
service fields of that needfor, there's a little bit less money

(46:47):
left over for folks who willbe retiring in the future.
So this is a very valid question.
At the end of the day, there'ssomething called a trust fund, a
Social Security trust fund.
And it's a promise.
Right?
Because the money you pay inas an employee, you're talking about
being an employee.
The money you pay in right nowsupports the current retirees.
That money's not sitting in asavings account waiting for you.

(47:10):
So that means that we need tohave a robust workforce in this country
so that by the time all of usretire, we'll be able to draw down
our fair share of Social Security.
Will that happen?
Well, we're not having babiesthe same rate that other people did
in the past.
Right.
We're not having the samelevel of immigration that we've had

(47:31):
in the past.
And so our workforce isprojected to shrink and not corrupt.
Right.
And so this is a fair concern,but how do you solve for that?
I don't think you cut benefits.
I don't think you raised theage so that people have to work longer,
maybe while they're disabledor impaired or into old age.

(47:54):
That's not fair.
That's not part of the agreement.
So these are the tough thingsthat we battle on in the Congress
that we have to discuss andthat we have to make tough decisions.
A bill that I support issomething called Social Security
2100.
And it requires the wealthiestAmericans, the wealthiest, the billionaires
and higher.
Okay?
We're not talking aboutupwardly mobile, upper middle class

(48:16):
people who are striving forgenerational wealth.
I'm not talking about y'all.
We're talking about people whoalready got it and their cup runneth
over.
Right?
They're the ones that need tobe paying their fair share into Social
Security so this program canbe around for millennials and Gen
Z and these little, what theycall Gen Alpha babies or whatever
that are being born.
Right?
It needs to be around for allof us.

(48:37):
And the only way to do that isto make these wealthy people like
Bezos, all these people paytheir full share of their salary,
not worth their salary intoSocial Security that enough is enough
to protect Social Security.
And they fight it so hardbecause right now they're only paying

(49:01):
on the first like clear 65,000or so of their annual salary.
Okay.
So you may make let's say95,000 a year, 125,000 a year.
You're paying on your fullsalary into Social Security.
And these guys on salary arecoming in heavy, cheap and not the

(49:22):
tricking.
And so you were having aconversation about what to do.
You know, how can somebody get ahead.
Right.
You were asking them about the30,000 or 40,000 or 60,000 worker.
And that's part of the challenge.
You gotta be saving for retirement.
Social Security on its own isnot enough.
Right.
So let's be max.
If you are an employee, let'sbe contributing so you get your match.

(49:45):
You know, we're in D.C.
this is a city that hascreated so many black millionaires
by working for the federal government.
This is, that's part of howthis city has become so special.
We have a true black middleclass who own their homes.
They're able to buy a home andraise a family and pass that home
down.
And then if you want to cashout to some developer, great.

(50:08):
We can call that an American dream.
That's or not.
But my point is that requiresdiscipline, that requires patience,
that requires long termhorizon and not counting only on
Social Security.
Yeah.
I want so a part of that 2trillion that you manage.

(50:29):
How can I have some?
That's a real question.
Yeah.
Okay, so this audience, right,Y'all know about being a federal
contractor and becoming afederal lender, like vending a contract.
It's a real thing.
And while they talk aboutending DEI, so many of these Fortune
500 companies have talkedabout how they are no longer going

(50:51):
to to be tracking.
They're not going to be survey.
McDonald's said they're notgoing to be surveying, they're not
going to be looking at theirsupply chain and how to diversify
and all this nonsense.
Right.
Federal government has itwritten into law that you have to
do business with women anddisadvantaged owned companies.
Right.
So if you want a piece ofthat, if you want a piece of that

(51:11):
defense budget, let's find outwhat kind of business you can do
with the federal government.
You know, we talked aboutentrepreneurship and starting small
businesses, but you can sellto the government and make a lot
of money.
Well, I'm glad you said that because.
All right, this is an interesting.
All right.
From a business standpoint,Don peoples, he's from D.C.

(51:32):
anybody know who Don Peoples is?
So he's.
He's a good friend of ours and he.
The billionaire real estate developer.
We get it.
Does anybody know who hecredits his success to?
Him.
Yes.
So.
Sorry, lose the answer.
Mayor Marionberry.

(51:52):
So he said it was vitallyimportant for me and Marion Barry
to empower black entrepreneursbecause he had political clout.
So he gave Don Peoples hisstart in real estate when nobody
else would.
He also helped Bob Johnson getBET off the ground.
So he's actually was BobPeters of 2 billion, two black billionaires.

(52:12):
But that's.
That's political.
So what you're saying.
Me and Roland Martin had aconversation yesterday that was pretty
insightful.
So he was saying, like, as faras dei, right, shout out to Roland.
Because I know he's watching.
He's gonna be watching me smile.
That was a genuine smile.
Rolling.
So he was saying, everybody'slooking at DEI from the standpoint

(52:35):
of, like, job.
They're taking jobs away.
He's like, with the realconcern, which you really should
be scared about this DIsituation, is that they're rolling
back the supply chain.
They're rolling backcontractors, they're rolling back
doing business with black business.
That's more hurtful than uppermanagement trying to get two employees

(52:57):
to figure out how they can get20% workforce.
Right.
But nobody's talking about that.
So.
So how is.
How can that.
How can we get electedofficials to pay more attention to
that?
Well, the Congressional BlackCaucus, of which I am a proud member,

(53:17):
has had a focus on this DEIrollback for the last two years,
for sure.
You are a great politician anda great person.
Thank you.
All of your colleagues are notgreat people, obviously.
So are they.
Really?
Is the Congressional BlackCaucus really holding these corporations
feet to the fire?
Yes.

(53:38):
And I think that the companiesare willing to be honest with us
about what it is that they'redoing and what they are not doing.
Every company is not doing thesame thing.
Every company does not have aincentive to be candid outside of
their shareholder report aboutwhat it is that they're doing.

(54:00):
But when we ask, they willtell us we're not there tweeting
and calling out and blowing up.
Some of this is just a surveyto find out where these companies
are going.
But I think that theopportunity in that dialogue is making
sure that they understand thatwe're paying attention and we're
watching.

(54:20):
Right.
There's force and counterforce.
Right.
There's pressure that's applied.
There's pressure being appliedby maga.
Right now.
And they're trying to distractus by saying maga that, you know,
this company is concernedabout they.
Them, Right?
And so we're going to cancelthat company unless they roll back

(54:43):
whatever kind of trans agendathat they have.
Right?
And we're like, oh, no, I'mnot with they.
Them.
We've had this conversation.
I know we have.
Because people have had them, okay?
And so when they have thoseconversations, trying to make something
about trans or make it aboutthe illegals or make it about someone

(55:05):
else, they're taking moneyaway from us, okay?
And some of the other groupsdo not have the power in the Congress
of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Congressional Black caucus is63 members, 58 in the House Democrats.
Okay?
The Republicans, they are notin the Congressional Black Caucus.

(55:26):
But right now, I think there'sthree or four black Republicans on
their side of the House in the Senate.
In the Senate, there's fourblack senators, including two black
women for the first time everin history, and one black man.
So when you think about theseunderrepresented minorities, people
of color, we are the biggest.

(55:48):
We also have tremendousspending power, and we have something
called seniority, which meanswe have power, and we have power
to do what some of the othergroups cannot.
And so we are leading thisconversation around this DEI rollback
on behalf of us and everybodyelse because it impacts and it harms
our ability to buildgenerational wealth, and it counteracts

(56:11):
all the advanced that we'vemade as civil rights, counteracts
all the advances that we'vemade in public safety when they do
things like this, you know,this idea of corporate.
Sorry, I need to bringsomebody in that's, like, more qualified
in this conversation.
A real journalist, okay?
A real journalist has real questions.
So you've been doing good?
I'm doing all right.

(56:31):
I need y'all to put your handstogether for Tiffany Cross.
Tiffany.
Tiffany.
What's going on?
How you doing?
Oh, excellent.
I was back there chomping at the.

(56:52):
Fence about this conversation.
You take.
This is your warehouse.
So you.
Okay, you were talking about dei.
And this is the thing thatreally pisses me off.
Hey, everybody.
Hi.
Too.
All right.
This is the thing that reallypisses me off.
That makes what we should allbe angry about.
So dei, when they talk aboutthese positions, companies have proactively

(57:14):
rolled back their DEI policiesjust to appease the incoming administration.
Now, do you all know that 76%of DEI positions are occupied by
white people?
3% of black people are chiefdiversity officers.

(57:34):
But who did they make the Faceof the attacks for dei, black women,
the least protected group.
So they expect us to not be soimpenetrable that we cannot be attacked
like this.
Then the second part, White men.
You're talking about how many people?
The members of theCongressional Black Caucus and Democrats.
And I'm not a spokesperson fora Democratic Party.

(57:55):
I'm a member of black People party.
So that's what my top priority is.
But when you think about whois making these laws and policies,
a lot of these policiesbubbles up from state legislatures,
which comes to the federal government.
White men represent 33% of society.
They represent 55% of electedofficials all across the country.

(58:17):
So that means they practiceminority rule over the federal government,
over the state government, andover the local government.
It's a very small percentageof black women and black people in
those positions.
So when you look at that, youwonder why on God's green earth,
every time you turn on thetelevision, they are censoring a
shrinking demographic bysummarily ignoring the rising majority

(58:40):
of us because they had avested interest in keeping us ignorant.
It's the age of innocence for some.
It's the age of ignorance fora lot.
So we gotta start paying a lotmore attention and start sharing
responsibly when it comes tothe information that's coming across
our screens.
The age of ignorance.

(59:00):
Has gotten some.
People very far in life.
Congratulations, by the way,on this book.
Oh, I'm so excited about it.
I want to push this to both ofyou because messaging is important.
And I know you said you sit onthe appropriation board, which means
that we're okaying and sayinggas funds can go there.
We had the privilege ofsitting in during the luncheon for

(59:23):
the Congressional Black Caucus.
And as we were sitting there,I'm like, I wish people knew that
these funds were available.
So there's a messaging issue there.
And then, Tiffany, from yourstandpoint, November 6th was an emotional
day.
And the way that story wascovered is well documented.
And the way it's not beingcovered from what you're saying now

(59:43):
is well documented as well.
How do we change November 6thand January 6th election?
That's a no.
Hold on.
They're gonna change that tome as well.
But I want to talk about that too.
Like the narrative of howjournalism is now being looked at,
under attack since that day.
And I.

(01:00:03):
What now?
Right?
What now?
We're all waiting to figurethat out.
What now?
When you look at thejournalism landscape again, they
center the average cable newsviewer, just so you guys know, is
a White man between the age of63 and 67.
Now if you're in business, youguys are business people.
I would think that you wouldrecognize well those people aren't

(01:00:24):
immortal.
So we had better start payingattention to the people coming behind
them.
But they haven't because mediahas become so disaggregated and when
social media came along anddemocratized, who was able to have
a voice?
We got a lot of good thingsout of that.
Like these gentlemen I sharedthe stage with.
There was also a lot ofchallenges out of that.
It became an avenue formisinformation and disinformation.

(01:00:47):
It became an avenue forhostile nations to meddle in our
elections.
And so now we stand in a placewhere we can't even agree on basic
facts.
People are gatheringinformation from look, somebody who
would enough money to buy amicrophone and get in front of their
iPhone to get a YouTubeaccount is not a journalist made.

(01:01:08):
And some people are elevatingto status as shock shocks and not
necessarily people who are hadvested interest in informing us.
And so we can't even agree on logic.
We saw the danger thathappened in Altadena with how quickly
misinformation was spreadingand how they Again, the face of the
attack was Mayor Karen Baggs,who's the mayor of la, not LA county.

(01:01:31):
And the misinformation aboutoh basically by the time it made
it through the telephone lineshe was responsible with a blowtorch
going around set be.
So it's quite scary.
I think we have to startidentifying reputable voices because
even on when you look at someof the mainstream media outlets,
they were chiefly responsiblefor losing our faith interest.

(01:01:55):
Particularly in 2016 at theonly time you saw outrage about a
12 year old child getting shotby a police officer was from a meme.
And the only time you sawappropriate tears and anger about
a teenage boy getting shot ina hoodie was on Facebook.
Then you were going to starttuning out the people who were ignoring
you.
So I think in thisdisaggregated space we have to identify

(01:02:18):
reliable voices that sometimesdon't always center our perspective,
but at least the informationis filtered and knows the difference
between opinion analysis,reporters and anchors because they
all have different roles.
So getting back to the basicunderstanding of what this all means

(01:02:41):
and how it all works, I thinkit's a good start.
So I think that business andpolitics is directly tied to each
other.
Elon Musk didn't put $200million into a campaign because he
just likes Donald Trump.
Right?
He became $200 billion richerand is the number one buyer of his
product, SpaceX and Tesla.
So, Jeff Bezos, you name it.

(01:03:04):
So, okay, politics is directlyrelated to business.
So this is a business conversation.
So I want to look at it fromthe standpoint of how do we black
people have more say in politics?
So a lot of people saying,like, voting doesn't matter, and
some people are mad at thesepeople for saying that, but I understand

(01:03:24):
why they're saying that,because in my opinion, there's two
parts of the political process.
We're pushed on one part,which is voting.
But voting within itself isnot really beneficial.
Jamal Bowman, ex Congressman,he said something that was extremely
insightful to me.
He said when he.
From the time that he got intoCongress to.

(01:03:45):
At that time, he was inCongress for two years, he said he
got a call from a lobbyistevery single day who were talking
the gun lobby, Jewish lobby,LGBTQ lobby, Asian lobby.
Every single.
He got a call from a lobbyistevery single day for two years.

(01:04:05):
He said he had gotten a callfrom a black lobbyist.
Funny.
For black people.
He had never gotten a callfrom that.
So we're taught to vote.
We get people in office, butwe don't have any financial backing
to hold them accountable to do anything.
They use our vote, then theyjust forget about us, and they come

(01:04:27):
back in over four years.
So how do we play the moneygame when it comes to lobbying and
holding politiciansaccountable and funding campaigns?
And how do we really start toplay that game?
Okay, can I just say a couplethings, because you said a few.
Number one, you all know, Ithink you know this intuitively.
Naacp, the National UrbanLeague, Our civil rights organizations

(01:04:52):
are not lobbying entities.
You know that.
Yes.
And they are civil rights groups.
They don't necessarily coverthe range of issues that confront
black America.
We know that, too.
Right.
And so we.
We as a community do notnecessarily have lobbyists that work

(01:05:15):
on behalf of our community.
That's the first problem.
Well, it just is.
If you call it a problem, I'llgo with that.
But he called it a problem.
Nothing.
Okay?
Now, what we have are representatives.
So the community that I represent.
Mean, the people that electedme are not majority black.
My district is less than 10% black.

(01:05:37):
Okay.
And that is where the growth.
That is where the growth inthe Congressional Black Caucus have
Trump.
Right.
You're an anomaly.
I am.
But you look at people likeAngela, also Brooks, who does not
represent.
You look at Lisa GlennRochester, another senator.
The senators don't representall black people.

(01:05:59):
Right.
That's Steve Klein.
No, I'm glad you said this,because this is an important fact.
You don't have to representall black people to have black people's
interests.
Because.
That's right.
The Jewish lobby is notlobbying states, but it's just Jewish
people.
They're lobbying states wherethere's no Jewish people.
Well, it's a pro Israel lobby.
Okay?

(01:06:19):
Pro Israel lobby is lobbyingstates where there's no.
That's right.
Jewish people.
My only point is just that wedon't have a lobbyist.
We don't have a lobbying firm.
We don't have an entity firmfor black America.
That does not exist in our framework.
What we have arerepresentatives who happen to be
black, whether or not werepresent black people.
And then Tiffany's right,there are some white representatives

(01:06:43):
that represent tremendousnumbers of black people, majority
black people.
Steve Cohen represents Lipkins.
There's no one black out ofthe state of Michigan.
Not one for all of the tree.
Or Mississippi.
And then we have the south,where there's a bunch of states that
only have one black person,like Mississippi.

(01:07:03):
Arkansas has nuns in the House.
South Carolina has one.
That gets to be a problem.
Alabama just got two.
Two weeks ago.
Okay, so this idea ofrepresentation versus lobbyists,
those are different.
They're functionally different.
But you can argue that we need both.
I think that's really important.
Now, let's talk about money.

(01:07:25):
Why do elected officials need money?
Elected officials need moneyin order to run their campaigns.
Well, why do you need money torun a campaign?
Because you have to hirepeople and you have to do ads.
To run my campaigns outside ofChicago, I come from a competitive
area.

(01:07:45):
Sling district.
Y'all familiar with that phrase?
Okay, Where I live, to go ontelevision, it's a million dollars
a week.
Yeah, we're gonna light somemoney on fire.
Go on television, Put yourface all on the screen.
See how good it makes you feelto be recognized and then realize
how much you just spent.
Okay?
And so to run in my races, myfirst race is five and a half.

(01:08:06):
Second race, $8 million.
They came at me, and it wasthe toughest race in the country.
$8 million of hard money thatI raised myself.
We're not the ones giving.
And if we give, you might give$5, $10, $25.
We're not typically maxing out.

(01:08:29):
Maxing out is $6,600.
Who's maxing out?
The wealthy, the businessinterests, the lobbyists.
And so when you have peoplelike Jamal saying that he's getting
a call From a lobbyist every day.
Well, he's trying to raisemoney every day.
We have to do it every day,ask people for money every day.
Would I rather spend money,spend my time in rooms like this

(01:08:50):
and talk about these issuesthat are so important every day?
Absolutely.
But we don't have publicfinancing for federal elections.
Doesn't exist.
There's no matching dollarslike you all have here in D.C.
or like they have in New York.
Doesn't exist at the federal level.
So that's why people arespending time.
So if you want to change thatsystem, we have to have something

(01:09:10):
called campaign finance reform.
We have to get what they callbig money out of politics.
It's dark money, people.
Billionaires put as much moneyas they want in a way so that their
voice is louder than yours asthe voter.
That's so messed up.
No wonder people don't believein our democracy.
No wonder people don't vote.
They feel like they don't havevoice because their voice is being
drowned out by these hugesuper money interests.

(01:09:32):
And then structurally, on theback end, after the election, we
don't even have professionalsas black people who their whole job
is to go lobby the Hill tomake our lives better.
It's tough, but can we change it?
Yes, but who's gonna pay forthat lobbyist?
And so, you know, I'm takingthis someplace that you might not

(01:09:54):
want to go.
But our black elite also don't participate.
No, I told.
I had a con.
We had a conversation with people.
Yeah, they don't.
That's true.
All your all or friends.
Everybody who comes on the show.
I'm a man.
I listened to the show.
And then I reached out and Iinvited them to the State of the

(01:10:15):
Union.
That's what happened.
Okay, but all there, all thesepeople who come in and they have
these great stories, they don't.
They don't participate.
They don't give.
They don't build relationshipswith us.
They don't host fundraisers.
They don't come and try tomeet with us on Capitol Hill on anything.
Our basketball players, ourathletes, our entertainers, they

(01:10:36):
do not participate in this side.
The governing side.
We had this conversation with.
It doesn't exist.
We did.
And they're not following ourlead because we have come, but you
all have.
I want, I, I want to pitch.
Something to you becausestrategically, and this maybe for
both of you, looking at howthe money is spent, right?
If we're spending a milliondollars on TV and we just know statistics,

(01:10:58):
right?
Many of us are not evenwatching linear TV.
Right.
People are, especially about kids.
It's YouTube, it's social media.
You look at how the campaignwas won from the other side, Right?
Not to say which side isbetter, but social media played a
huge impact.
And so is it timestrategically to make that shift
from the old model of let meput an ad on tv?

(01:11:21):
Because I'm be honest withyou, when people watch it and my
mom's a die hard Democrat, shecan't stand ads.
It's redundant.
It's the same thing.
It feels very attack, attack driven.
Is that.
Is it time for a strategic change?
You got to do both.
Okay, here's why.
Because who's most likely tovote in an election?
65.
An older white person.

(01:11:43):
Okay.
In terms of numbers of voters,but in terms of the highest percentage
per demographic, Black women.
Right, Black women.
For the percentage of blackpeople we come out vote.
But in terms of raw numbers inthe electorate, if you're looking
at how you're going to win,then watching TV, that's 65 and older
white person is watching TV.

(01:12:04):
Which is why we have to spendmoney on television because we know
that they are going to voteand we need them to check their box
for us.
Now how do you win?
You got to spend money online.
You have to pay and text people.
You have to do your YouTube ads.
You have to go out and talk topeople in person as well.
You have to be able to do everything.
And the people that don't arethe ones that are falling dead to

(01:12:24):
defeat.
I want to talk about thislobby thing for a second because
I don't want you all to thinkthat there are not black people on
Capitol Hill lobbying forblack issue lobbyists.
Right, exactly.
But there are also blacklobbyists lobbying for issues that
directly impact black peopleon behalf of black.
I think we have to look at thestructure like the MBPA has a lobbyist.

(01:12:45):
You know, the NFLPA has a lobbyist.
United Healthcare had alobbyist, but let's use that.
United healthcare, it's great.
UnitedHealthcare hiring black lobbyists.
Okay?
They need to, because we areHealthcare United.
They need to employ peoplethat look like us.
Now do we really thinkUnitedHealthcare is looking out for

(01:13:06):
the health and well being?
No, I don't think that.
But I think that is where youhave to support the people who, some,
some people who are lobbyingwithin some of these companies.
They look at their job like Iwill get paid to go out and keep
the black folks under control.
Other people look at their joblike I'm going here and keep these
white folks under control andengage in harm reduction on behalf

(01:13:27):
of the community.
So there are people, Ipersonally know, people who are on
Capitol Hill doing the right thing.
Lobbies is not always a bad word.
Nurses have lobbyists,teachers have lobbyists.
So there are people doing the right.
What's the black lobbyistgroup that focuses on black issues?
What's that?
Well, there is somethingcalled the Black Pack, but.
But again, it's hard to sayblack issues because we're not a

(01:13:47):
homogenous group of people.
And so there are certainthings that we care about that, that.
Well, we are.
We're divided especially.
I think we saw a lot of thatcome out this election.
There are some solid thingsthat we care about, but when you
get into the minutia politics,quite frankly, we're not.
About school choice, I thinkis a great example of that.
Not all black people areexcited about school choice.
There are some people thinkthat's damaging.
So I don't know how we wouldcreate this black task.

(01:14:09):
But it's not true to say thatthere are not black people on Capitol
Hill lobbying on behalf ofissues that impact black folks.
You can't control what youdon't own.
You can't sell what you don't own.
If you work for a company,you're an employee of that company.
So you can be a black personthat wants to help black people,
but ultimately you still haveto answer to somebody who's not black.

(01:14:30):
Yeah, I agree.
All I would say is there is anunofficial, pervasive lobby to advance
white supremacy.
I think we can all acknowledgethat there is not the opposite.
Exactly.
You get no argument from me.
I would also argue though, wecan focus on the lobbyists, which

(01:14:53):
I guess is a challenge, but itdoesn't matter.
Let's just say you had theking of Wakanda lobbying on behalf
of black people on Capitol Hill.
In this administration, you'renot going to get very far.
Republicans control the House,they control the Senate.
And then you have to look at.
Also we're talking at thefederal level.
A lot of these issues arestate issues.
A lot of these issues arelocal issues.
Anything that impacts theclassroom is more than likely something

(01:15:16):
that bubbled up from theschool board.
Something that impacts howoften your trash can pick up a bunch
of neighborhoods.
Looks like more than likelybubbled up from city council council.
So we can't put everything atthe foot of the federal government.
I just want to quickly talkabout this idea of non voting, because
I hear you.
I think that's it's one of thethings that I find to be very disrespectful
to black people.
When you hear folks say, well,if you don't vote, you don't count,

(01:15:37):
or you get both, you don'thave a right to complain when we
count because we're a child of God.
First of all, we're notcommodities to participate in this
political system.
Now, for the people out therewho feel like I just talked to two
young men earlier today, Ithink there is an understandable
feeling that we are asking youto believe in this system that has
harmed you.
And so a lot of people outthere say, you want me to put my

(01:15:59):
trust in this system that haskept my family in the redline community
for decades, that keep mychildren in dilapidated schools for
decades, that imprison mybrother, that poison my mother, and
you're telling me to believein the system is going to change
my life.
What we have to get back to,if they captured our imagination.
We're not asking you tobelieve in the system.
We ask them to believe in you.
Brother, what does democracylook like if it's a blank slate?

(01:16:22):
We're asking you to imaginewhat if we say, you're in charge
of these next 20 blocks andyou got to decide what the school
system look like.
You got to decide what theneighborhood functions like.
You're in charge.
Give people something tobelieve in.
So I think when we treat us,our community, like we're only relevant
when it's time to ask for avote, that has been the biggest challenge

(01:16:44):
and why people don't have alot of faith in the system because
it really hasn't served us.
It's just been harm reduction.
So what does this governmentlook like?
If by the people of the peopleand for the people included us, then
you have it.
Wow.
You know, thank you guys,hopefully, for.
Coming on this conversation.
We love politics, so we liketo try new politics conversation.

(01:17:07):
But more importantly, it's important.
Like I said, I mean, you know,business and politics directly.
It's a direct correlation.
So, you know, we talk aboutfinancial literacy.
We also need to have civicliteracy as well.
Right.
Political literacy.
I understand how to believeassets works.
So not only so we can makemoney, but we can actually impact
real change.

(01:17:27):
So thank both of you forcoming, taking time out of your schedule
to educate us, delight in us.
So make some noise.

(01:17:49):
I think we got a couple more minutes.
Can we do.
Can we do Q and A?
Yes.
Can you put your book down?
You put your book down?
Yeah.
All right, let's Just go on tosome Q A.
Y'all want line up right here.
If you have a question.

(01:18:11):
Right here.
Check, check.
We're good.
Okay.
Mic is hot.
We in the hot seat.
Do I have permission?
All right, so first, I want to.
Say congratulations on the book.
So my name is Kyle Carter, recently.
Graduated from North Carolina.

(01:18:32):
A and T.
So I just have a question.
So in reference to when you were.
Growing up, everyone has adifferent meaning.
Of the word success.
So when you were 20, 25 yearsold, how did you define the word
success?
And do you feel as if you.
Lived up to or surpass the metric.
Of what you set for yourself?

(01:18:54):
My definition, probably.
It's probably been the samemost of my life.
It was being able to providefor myself and my family.
So at 25, I was a single man,and that was true.
At 43, that still holds true.
Not to say that there wasn'tups and downs and bumps in the roads.

(01:19:15):
I don't want people to getthat perception of us.
It's like, well, we've alwaysmade the right decisions, and we
got to this point because wewere so financially stout.
No.
A lot of the things that,especially for me, that I've implemented,
I've had to learn the tough way.
I've had good friends who hadfinancial ideas that I had to implement
in myself.
But success was being able totake care of myself.

(01:19:37):
Because if I know if I couldtake care of myself, then I could
take care of everybody else.
And I've been through, Godwilling and blessed to be there.
All right, next question.
Hello, I'm Arian from Chicago.
I flew in today.
Thank you so much foreverything that you all are doing
for the culture.
Thank you.
I have a long list.

(01:20:01):
I'm going to be respectful of everybody.
But I'm going to pass the listto you all.
If you all can just take a.
Look at it when you all have time.
Dave, Shan's got it.
Okay.
Do you want to pick one?
I guess I'll comment onsomething I heard today instead.
I used to be an alderman'sassistant in Chicago brief while.

(01:20:23):
And I do want to say that as ablack people in certain communities,
we worry about very, very,very minor things.
When I talked to the whitealdermans that was in another precinct
or whatever ward, they weresaying they don't get as many phone
calls as my boss at that time.
And when I say they're like,my water is.

(01:20:45):
My mop.
Bucket is falling over.
You ain't doing nothing over here.
And it's like, if ourrepresentatives are so focused on
minute things.
How can they really get to thework and the nitty gritty of what's
really needed in our communities?
So I'll leave that there.
So.
Oh, you want me to take theother one to give the other.
Is that the question one?
No.
She had a list of questions.
Then ask.
I like those.

(01:21:06):
That was a good point.
I see the.
Did you come to invest this year?
2022 and 2023.
And also I met a lot of goodpeople there.
Like somebody who might behere today.
I met him 2022.
He got me invested in SRP.
Got 3,000.

(01:21:28):
Should be Erica.
She might be here for the.
Podcast.
And you said stop losing.
We.
We always go to Chicago.
We've been market Mondays at Chicago.
We did an event in Chicagothis summer.
So Chicago, one of ourfavorite cities.
So we definitely.

(01:21:50):
They like, you didn't play thebook there in Chicago.
Maybe we not shout out to Chicago.
Let's get it.
What's going on, guys?
I don't know if you guysremember me.
I met you like two years agorandomly on Howard's campus.
Y'all were outside.
So shout out to y'all.
I mean, my name is Chimo Swagu.
I'm a graduate of Hampton University.

(01:22:12):
Local Washingtonian.
The real H.
I ain't gonna get into it.
They gave me money.
That's where I had to go.
I'm a political study,political science.
I'm trader, writer, musician.
I just came from work in the studio.
It's crazy.
But my question for y'all iseverybody focuses on corporate tax.
And I read like, for mystudies in school, I read the Prison

(01:22:34):
papers by Antonio Gramsci.
It's a real good deep 600 page book.
So everyone talks aboutcorporate tax, slash.
But with the oncominginformation and web3 and I mean,
just everybody starting small businesses.
What do y'all think?
What are y'all thoughts aboutpossible working class tax cut, like
Social Security and thingslike that, like fico?

(01:22:57):
Like, is that possible?
Is that like, is thatsomething that people that have the
1% that y'all have met aretalking about?
Is that like, do youunderstand my question?
What about working class tax?
Everybody talks aboutcorporate taxes.
What about.
About working class tax?
I feel like that'll change America.
Working class tax cut, yes,that would be a question for Lauren,

(01:23:19):
but I think.
I think they did that.
I think they.
They lowered taxes.
I think Biden's administrationlowered taxes for working class people.
I think.
I'm not sure though.
Did they?
Not really.
Especially with the Student debt.
Stuff like getting out ofstudent debt.
They really.
They really targeted the people.
The top 80%, I believe, ofstudent debt.

(01:23:39):
So even me, mine was slashed a.
Little bit, but I pay.
I'm a political dude.
So how do y'all feel about.
Is that a possibility?
Do you think American.
The.
The.
The upcoming American youthare smart enough where it can't be
federally yet, but statewide,we'll have, like, more pushes for
working class tax cuts.
I.
I'll tell you the best.

(01:24:00):
Some of the best advice for Shot.
Ever gave you a lot of advicewhen I was working as a teacher,
and he told me the Americansystem was never designed for the
employee.
It was designed for entrepreneurs.
And it makes more sense nowthat I bought it.
She understands where I'mgoing with this.

(01:24:22):
Some things we have no say in, right?
Like, we get paid.
That W2 is coming out.
We got no say in that.
On the flip side, when you'reon the other end of it and create
the business and you're anentrepreneur, you realize that you
can use some of that revenueand the tax cuts and benefits to
your favorite, right, by using deductions.

(01:24:45):
So I always encourage people,start a business, right, create an
LLC.
I know some LLCs.
I don't have to rule S Corp.
C Corp.
Circumstances, but it'simportant because you can use taxes
to your benefit.
Whereas a W2.
I remember trying to, youknow, saying, like, hey, I'm.
I'm buying the materials formy school.
And they're like, who cares?

(01:25:05):
I'm like, I can't write that off.
I got to a point, I was.
Like, yo, you know, I'm a physed teacher, so these sneakers I'm
buying.
But it really isn't designedfor the employee.
So not the greatest news, butit is encouraging because the second
part of your question was, areyoung people realizing it?
And I think, yes, becauseyou're here right now in this room,

(01:25:28):
so you're.
It's already on your mind at ayoung age.
This system ain't really madefor me.
I had to work in that systemfor 13 years.
And to be like, this isn'treally going the way I thought.
I had the opportunity tocreate business.
So I think the younger peoplegonna get it.
It's kind of reason why theygo to Brooklyn.
There were no answers.
There were no resources.
Who's supposed to tell us?

(01:25:49):
Here's this concise body ofwork that can help guide you in that.
Appreciate you guys.
How y'all doing?
I'm Lorenzo from Virginia, andI have.
One Question for the both of you.
So if you don't mind, we'llrecord the answer.
So first question is for you, Troy.

(01:26:10):
For someone looking to getinto trading, what do you prefer?
Why do you prefer tradingoptions over, like, stocks or futures
or whatever?
Like, how'd you come in on just.
Doing, like, the options?
That's the question.
Yes.
All right.
No, I don't.
It's not that I prefer to do options.
I would prefer if somebody'sstarting to trade equities.

(01:26:30):
Right.
I want you to have ownershipin companies, ETFs, index funds.
Right.
Those are the things that are safe.
That's first.
Right.
As you become more advancedand you have more seasoned experience
inside of trading, then, yeah,options is something that I would
recommend because it's aderivative that can appreciate very
fast.
And so as the asset, let's saya company like Nvidia, right.

(01:26:56):
That company has gone over thepast three years.
It's appreciated by probably400%, right.
As an equity, right.
Meaning that the companyitself was trading at this amount,
and now it's here, on theoption side, that appreciation goes
even faster because you have the.
Not the obligation, but theright to have 100 shares, right?
So that's what a contract is.

(01:27:16):
This is where you see peopleputting those percentages of a thousand,
two thousand, three thousand percent.
They're not trading the actualcompany, they're trading the option
contract.
And so it's a faster way, wayto expedite growth.
All right?
So I always teach people that,because a lot of people, like, number
one, they see people makingmoney and they're like, how do I
do it?
How do I do it?

(01:27:37):
So my thing is, like, let'stake them by step, by step process
to get, number one, have indexfunds, has ETFs, build that stable
table.
But if you want to becomeseasoned and see appreciation at
a different level, here's whatyou can do.
Options is one way.
I know my brother Ian teaches futures.
This is another one.
So you prefer the optionsbecause it.
Grows faster than, like,trading regular stocks or futures?

(01:28:00):
Absolutely.
Good.
And one more question.
We just don't have time.
Right.
I'll just shout out to.
All right.
Hey, y'all.

(01:28:20):
My name is Daryl Anthony.
I'm a graduate at theUniversity of Merlin Eastern Shore.
Who's that guy behind you?
Say that again.
Who's this guy right here?
Oh, he's recording.
He's just recording me.
Who you think he was?
I messed up the whole recording.
Nah, start it over.
Start it over.

(01:28:41):
Sorry.
My name is.
My Name is Darrell Anthony.
I'm a graduate from theUniversity of Murley Sunshore.
I graduated with a wholeengineering degree, but I actually
ended up being a barber.
It's something that I fellinto a passion for during COVID and
I just ended up doing itbecause something that I love more

(01:29:02):
than engineering.
So that's what I found to bewhat I wanted to do.
I'm also a clothing brandowner called start nav2 as my.
So yeah, so I wanted to asky'all about.
Y'all get a lot of people ony'all show that have different businesses.
Y'all get different picturesfrom different.
A lot of people.

(01:29:22):
How do y'all kind of like,venture out, like, the different
ideas and like, thinking aboutwhat y'all want to do in regards
to y'all own business?
Because it's like a lot ofdifferent businesses that you can
actually do, but choosing thatone that you're going to do with
what.
What advice do you have forsomebody that is thinking about so
many different things?

(01:29:42):
Yeah, I mean, I think it.
It comes down to what youthink you have the best success in.
Right.
So it's like, for us, we heara lot of different businesses.
The vending machine thing,that just seemed practical.
We were familiar with vendingmachines seemed like a relatively

(01:30:03):
easy business to run without alot of headaches and hassles.
So it was like, all right,let's get the vending machine.
The trucking thing, that was alittle bit more complicated than
we originally thought, but onthe surface, it seemed like a good
idea.
So we just went with thatbecause we felt that trucking is

(01:30:26):
an industry that's alwaysgoing to be here.
It's needed.
It could be, you know, prettystable if you have it done correctly.
So just kind of in our brain,it was like, okay, like, this is
something that we could.
We could do.
So for us, there's really noset science on, like, what businesses
we try.

(01:30:46):
Most businesses that we tryare related to our business.
We don't really try a lot ofexotic stuff.
Those two examples I gave you,you are stuff that we.
We learned from people thatcame on our show.
We just gave it a go.
But most of the time, we starta business that's directly related
to something that we currently doing.
So it's like, we got the show.
We're gonna do merch.
That makes sense.
Or we're gonna do invest fest.
That makes sense.
So we're gonna start a newshow, like market Mondays.

(01:31:09):
That makes sense.
So that's kind of our formulalike we, we kind of, we don't really
move too far away from thenucleus of what we have because that's
what we know.
So I think that's important.
Go what you know, go with whatyou like, what you're passionate
about, what you haverelationships in.
I think when you try to do toomany exotic ideas, it can kind of
go left for you because youkind of like swimming in the deep

(01:31:33):
end.
So for us, it's more so kindof staying grounded in what we have
and just having differentbranches off that tree.
And earmarking your book page192 too, cuz it's in there.
They wrote like, theyliterally wrote a whole section on
that question.
So what page did I say?
192.
All right.

(01:31:54):
Trust me, you ain't write it down.
Good question.
It's recorded.
D.
All right, thank you.
How y'all doing?
I'm Jordan, just a regularfrom dc.
My question is so number one,like it's like a two part question.

(01:32:16):
So I do want to be rich, butmy question is how can we keep the
wealth in our community?
So how can we start buildingup our community?
Because I definitely want tobe rich, but it takes more than just
me to keep the wealth.
Because in America, we blacks,we have a lot of money, but it don't
stay in it.
The data don't circulate inour community, don't stay in our
community.
So how number one can we keepthat and then number two, like, how

(01:32:36):
can we get to the number topof the food chain?
So when I'm listening to youguys, I kind of remind me of like,
what do I sit at the table?
How can we build our own tableinstead of the top of that table?
I mean, I think the answer to,well, the first part of the question
I think is one of the bestways is not to move out of your neighborhood.

(01:32:57):
Because gentrification is justthe revitalization of a neighborhood.
It doesn't necessarily meanthat it has to be done by somebody
that doesn't look like you.
So it's like the doctor, thelawyer, the pharmacist, they can
rechange that neighborhood asopposed to moving out of that neighborhood
too.
But when you move out of thatneighborhood and then somebody else

(01:33:17):
moves in your neighborhood,then your neighborhood is no longer
your neighborhood.
So that's something to thinkabout for sure.
Because when you talk aboutlike real group economics, there's
no group economics.
If you're the only blackperson living in a white neighborhood,
where's the economics at?
You're not circulating dollars.
There's no community for youto circulate your dollars in.

(01:33:39):
So I think that that'ssomething to really think about.
As far as, like, actual community.
What does community really mean?
We gotta really get back tothat essence of community and think
about that, right?
Like, make our schools betterby having more tax dollars, by having
more successful people in theneighborhood that actually care about

(01:34:00):
the neighborhood.
They can open businesses inthe neighborhood that can patronize
the businesses in theneighborhood, and then that can start
with the dollars that way.
So, I mean, there's a lot ofdifferent answers to that question,
but that's one thing that justcomes at the.
Top of my mind.
This is not like theoreticaltheory, right?
Like you say you bought a house.
That house is in theneighborhood that we grew up in.
You know, who was up thestreet from the house being.

(01:34:22):
No, this is real.
It's not the jokes.
It's real life.
So you think about that, right?
We never.
People always say, like, yo,you know, can you ever go back home?
Like, we can't go back becausewe never left, right?
Because it's important thatour community see success.
It's important that when webuild a home, we build it in a community.
Number one.
We're going to be the numberone taxpayers.
But that helps the school.

(01:34:42):
So now our kids go to that school.
People see success coming fromthe neighborhood.
It's inspirational for them.
Oh, they did it.
They came from here.
They went to this high school.
That's the community centerthey went to.
We can do it, too, right?
So, like, we're not justsaying these things in theory.
We actually are practicingthese things, and we've done it for
our own lives.

(01:35:10):
Well, the good thing.
The good thing about, like Isaid, I used to live in Maryland.
So Maryland has a lot of black suburbs.
Like, they have niceneighborhoods in Maryland, for sure.
Maryland or Baltimore.
No, that's a good shout out tomy brother.
P.G.
P.G.
County.
Yeah, sure.

(01:35:32):
Montgomery.
Montgomery County.
Like, you know, this veryaffluent black people.
And Maryland's actually agreat state.
And D.C.
is a great city, too, because D.C.
is actually a city where, likeI said, dark peoples.
There's a lot of blacksuccessful people that have come
from D.C.
and have moved into D.C.

(01:35:53):
as well.
Like, it's like Atlanta kindof, but just without the hookah and
all the silliness.
No shame.
We love Atlanta.
But Dave.
Dave lives in Atlanta, so I got.
It gets a little tricky outthere sometimes.

(01:36:19):
All right, My name isLafayette Barnes from Washington,
D.C.
my family has a newspaper herecalled the Washington Informer.
So you talk about the impactof media, questions about media,
but just wanted.
To put that on your radar.
Check out the Washingtonformat they have in the lobby.
Take one with you.
We'd love to talk more about what.
You guys are doing.
My question is, is Wall streettwo, two part question one, is Wall
street basically like apyramid scheme to make.

(01:36:41):
The rich more rich?
Because as we invest incompanies and we invest in, you know,
ETFs, different equities, arewe just adding money to people who
have money to make more money?
So, you know, and then withthat being said, how do we, you know,
get out of the consumer class?
So, you know, should blackpeople be black people's business

(01:37:02):
consumers or should we look toother communities as our consumers?
Like for instance, ourByteDance owns TikTok and we are,
you know, maybe 25% of theirrevenue in the United States.
It would be better.
Yes, extremely exciting.
The second part is actually.
All right, you can answer thesecond part because that was both

(01:37:22):
of those questions.
First part of the question isno, it's not a pyramid scheme, but
in the sense of there's twoparts of investing as a stock.
You're an investor and thenyou have ownership of the company
that's actually listed intothe stock market, but you are the
investor.
But long story short, yes, ofcourse if you're in that situation,
like as you invested in Teslaand Tesla stock goes up, you're going

(01:37:46):
to make money, but Elon Muskwill make more money.
Right, but okay, so, but that,I don't think that that should discourage
you from investing into thestock market because what is the
other alternative?
But what I do think that weneed is more black founded publicly
traded companies.
So there's 5,000 companies onthe stock market and seven are black
founded.

(01:38:07):
That's a problem.
That's a real problem.
Because when we scale abusiness, we're not thinking about
scaling to multi billiondollar levels, but that's how you
get to a multi billion dollarvaluation is once you go public.
And as we have those kind ofcompanies going public now, you can
actually have more politicalpower, you can hire more people.
Now we can have more black billionaires.

(01:38:29):
That's going to help the situation.
So you got to crawl before you walk.
You can't, you know, if youtry to feed a baby steak, going to
hurt it.
Right?
So we just, we, we, we'reactually just coming out of, you
know, a coma.
If you look at it from thatstandpoint, like we've been in a
coma For a very long period of time.
As far as our wealth inAmerica, we're starting to make upward

(01:38:52):
trajectory, but now we have tostart to think it, think things a
little differently.
So now we just starting to getpeople to really understand the power
of investing.
That's important, but that'snot where it ends.
Now the next level is privateequity, venture capital, and then
having scalable companies,specifically technology companies
that can actually go publicand having more black companies that's

(01:39:16):
on the stock market.
That's how you really start tochange the situation.
But, you know, you build thepyramid one brick at a time.
The second part of it is, youknow, time to scale businesses that
have global reach, right?
So obviously we black, wecan't hide that.
You look at us, you know, weblack, right?
But we're not saying, well,this is a black brand.

(01:39:38):
It's obvious we're black people.
We talk to black people.
That is our audience.
And so our reach, number oneis to get them to have the information.
But it's really for everybody.
You see what I'm saying?
And so a lot of times when youget labeled as a black brand, right,
Then you've been marched marginalized.
And we never want to bemarginalized, right?
We've been marginalized for so long.
So you can look at the titlesof the things that we've done, investments,

(01:40:02):
right?
We're not saying it's thenumber one black wealth building
category in the world.
No, it's the number one wealthbuilding category in the world, right?
Because it's for everybody whogoes there.
The people who need it themost, who relate to us, who see us
as inspiration, say, this ishow they do, right?
So always, that's one thingsby you.
Never limit yourself.
Never try to be marginalized,make it global and scalable at the

(01:40:24):
same time.
But it's an interestingdynamic because if you're black,
they automatically don't putyou in a black bucket already, no
matter what.
That's why sometimes likeCalendar, that app that you use,
like this CEO is, is black andhe's a billionaire and you've never
seen him before.
Well, that's for a reason.

(01:40:45):
Because if he was forwardfirst, then a lot of people would
not download that app, right?
Because they think, oh, that'sa black company.
So that's something that youreally got to be mindful of.
Because no other group ofpeople have to deal with that.
Not even like you could be Indian.
You don't have to.
People will still do businesswith you.
A lot of white people are notgoing to do business with you just

(01:41:07):
because you're black.
And that's just a harshreality of life.
And black people too.
I'm like, say.
For that.
Like, we.
Don'T want to see them get ahead.
Right.
Even though I know she like,oh, he's that A lot of we know that

(01:41:28):
in our communities, it's like,like unfortunately, it's the crab
in the barrel mentality.
Right.
But we, we would never meantto be put in the barrel.
Right.
So we got to get out of that mentality.
Right.
Perhaps don't belong in the power.
Right.
So people don't want you to succeed.
This is why you have to thinkglobally and you have to have something
that's scalable.
The product is so good thatyou go and use it.
And then like I said, thinkabout that though.

(01:41:49):
Because once you go public,you can't go back.
So if you start a business,sometimes you don't need to be forward
facing.
You don't need to be the faceof it because you have to deal with
the consequences.
Once they know that you're black.
Yes.
That's, that's just thereality that we live in.
Yeah, it's like, you know, theCEO of Target, you know the CEO of

(01:42:10):
Red Lobster is not the blackguy, right?
Exactly.
But, yeah, but the black guy,see, Red Lobster, he didn't start
Red Lobster.
Right.
That's a little different situation.
But when you're starting acompany that is something like I've
heard people like to likepeople are hearing your voice and

(01:42:32):
won't do business with youbecause from your voice they know
you're black.
So you have to hire somebodyelse to take the phone call to act
like it's their company sothey feel more comfortable doing
business with you.
That's, that's just real talk.
Like that's something that isnot talked about.
But it's a, it's a reality forblack entrepreneurs because it's

(01:42:52):
like.
And there is some level offalse narrative that black people
don't support black people.
Because if that were the case,then we wouldn't be aware of that.
Right.
Like, I feel likeoverwhelmingly most black businesses
have majority of their supportfrom black people.
So black people definitelysupport black people.
Could we do a better job?
Of course.
But let's not focus on negatives.

(01:43:12):
Let's focus on positives.
But you can only scale so farwith just a black audience.
That's the hard part becausewe still lower numbers.
I don't like the word minoritybecause it's a defeating word.
But we still have lowernumbers in America compared to everybody
else.
So if your only business isjust dealing with black people, it

(01:43:33):
is limited.
Robert Smith cannot becomeRobert Smith.
If he only dealt with blackbusiness, that wouldn't be able to
happen.
He's an anomaly.
But this is something that wereally gotta critically think about,
right?
Like, you might just becomfortable just scaling to a certain
level just by black business,but just know that you're not going

(01:43:55):
to be at the highest levelpossible if only your consumer base
is just black American.
And key word American.
Which is why I said globally, right?
Because.
And this is true, like evenfor our curriculum cut, for example,
right?
New York City has 800 publicschool students.

(01:44:16):
And it's great.
If we can get that at everyschool in New York City, that'd be
great.
But if we go global with itand take it to a place like Nigeria
where it's 240 million people,210 million of those people are black.
What if we just got 1% ofthat, right?
So that's why I'm saying,like, you start that global relationship,
it's like, wait, I don't needthat we school.
If I can get just 1% of acountry, it changes the landscape

(01:44:39):
going to.
Right.
So always gotta take a little like.
You start a barbershop.
Hold on, I want to checkbecause we don't got much time.
Give a round of applause.
That was a good question.
What's up, fam?
What's up?
Hold on.
So I got a suggestion and a question.

(01:45:01):
Let's hear it.
Okay.
He's more tailored to Troy,but you.
Can still put your amulet inshot closely.
So basically my suggestion isI'm on.
A eyo, I'm an earner, and I.
Was thinking about, what doyou think.
About one day looking at thetimeline and grading option plays?
You know, you the teacher.
Teachers got a great owner.

(01:45:22):
See what the earth is doing if.
They head in the right direction.
That's the suggestion.
My question is, right now,there's uncertainty in the market,
you know, and uncertaintycreates opportunity.
Let's say you only understanda company about 65% and there's an
opportunity in the market.
Would you take advantage ofthat investment.
Even though you only have the understanding.

(01:45:44):
Of 65% or you potentially miss the.
Pullback, the equity becomeshigher, but you wait till you understand
the company.
What's the company?
Tell me the company Pan W.
It's pnw.
Yeah.
P A N W.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All right.
So yeah, you're not gonna know100 of the company.

(01:46:05):
Right.
But do you have a, afundamental understanding of certain
things?
Right.
Number one, right.
I always talk about that list.
Right.
It's a company problem.
What's the profit margin?
Right.
Does it have a cash flow?
What is the reserves look like?
Then it must look at thetechnicals, how it performing.
Right.
When you're talking aboutvolatility in the market, we're talking

(01:46:27):
about this week, what is this week?
Three of this year.
Right.
And we always have a long term view.
And so based on that it's likethis ain't really volatility.
Right.
This is just a small glimpse.
But yeah, I never know 100%.
I just try to make as much ofan educated decision as I can.
Get as much information as possible.
Obviously if you inside eylu,you're seeing people giving tons

(01:46:50):
of information.
Use all that you want to useas many tools as possible before
you make a decision.
Right.
Either if you invest inequity, but definitely if you invest
in options.
Which is why I was termed asa, as one of those metrics that said,
all right, well this is goingto grant me at least a year and a
half before I have to say, allright, maybe this is not a position

(01:47:13):
I want to be in it.
So yeah, you're never going tohave 100%.
But make sure you have afundamental base of why you're doing
you always.
Yeah, of course we can get one.
More question, give a round of applause.
It's good to see all youfellas again.
I met each and every one ofyou at a different occasion.

(01:47:33):
Best Fest at the Summit acouple months ago here in D.C.
derek and Lloyd, uh, Brad ofNorth Carolina, a state university
as well as I currently serveas the business development coordinator
for the Ellison Group, aprogram in project management Federal
government contractor, blackowned company.
Here in the DMV area.

(01:47:57):
I appreciate that.
My question is, I think we,everybody that's here is going to
be rich because they hear, youknow what I'm saying?
So the money is important butyou know, my journey has been one
of purpose, right.
And so I left a Fortune 500company in Granger to go work for
a black company to follow theapprenticeship model and learn that

(01:48:17):
I knew it was going to be moreto it than the money.
So I need to learn from theblack people that was, you know,
in position already here atthe dmv.
So my question is on you all'sjourney, this question, all three
of you, what role has purposeplayed in that journey?
And can you all talk a Little.
Bit about the journey andgetting to this point, because the
money gonna come, but it's alot more to it than that.

(01:48:43):
Whatever.
Say what's all.
He was like, stop chasingcrimes into the fighting skates.
Got a good quote, so I'll be good.
All right.
But, yeah, long story short, Ithink a lot of times we don't.
We don't achieve in lifebecause we're only focused on the
wrong things and we focus onjust making a profit.
And we're not focused on a purpose.

(01:49:05):
We're not focused on helping people.
We're not focused on actually,you know, falling in love with the
process.
And that's important.
Like, you know, might sound alittle cliche, but it is vitally
important.
Like, you have a passion forhelping people, right?
We have a passion foreducating people.
Like, you gotta find whatyou're passionate about.

(01:49:25):
Everybody's passion is different.
But I just feel like even.
Because even when you get alot of money and get money, if you're
doing something that you'renot passionate about, it's going
to be an empty feeling.
And it's not even going tomean anything to you because you
have money, but you're notfulfilled as far as having a purpose

(01:49:46):
and a passion, really, youknow, throwing something that's beneficial
for society.
So when you, when you getmoney, that's important.
But as you're on the journeyto get money, always think about
how you can actually help theworld, how you can actually do something
bigger, how you can actuallyleave the mark, how your name can

(01:50:06):
be remembered.
I mean, like, stuff like that,like, is important, I think, you
know, to keep things in perspective.
Because if you're just in arat race to get money, a, it'll never
be enough money because alwayssomebody always have more money than
you, and there's alwayssomething that you can't buy.
So now it's an ongoing processto just get more money to fulfill

(01:50:29):
something that can't be fulfilled.
Right.
That's why family is important.
That's why you gotta have alevel of discipline too.
Like, you know, all thesethings are vitally important when
you start to really get in.
Because, you know, once you godown that pathway, you realize that,
you know, it's a tunnel withno ending.
And then also, if you don'thave purpose, passion, moral compass,

(01:50:55):
then you'll do anything for money.
And that's dangerous as well,because once you start to fall in
that pathway, you're actuallydetrimental to society and you're
detrimental to yourself.
You're gonna end up, self destructed.
We've seen it happen with verypowerful people, right?
Like you can't do anything for money.

(01:51:18):
You can't value money morethan purpose.
The people, the principles,those all got to come first.
Money comes later.
Like, you know, like Mace hasa good lie.
I don't chase money, moneychase me.
That's like, that's our way.
Feel like, you know, you dothings, money's gonna come.

(01:51:38):
Yeah, no, I'm with you.
And it's interesting, man,when, when you think of the word
purpose.
And I always feel like we'reon a purpose driven mission, right?
To, to liberate people from,you know, the constraints of what
they know from a financial standpoint.
But the word purpose, I alwayslooked at it as God given ability.
Imagine giving, right?

(01:51:59):
So I, 15 years ago I was an educator.
15 years, I'm still an educator.
I've changed the discipline ofwhat I've been educating.
About 15 years ago as afinancial advisor, he still is educated
about finance.
We've always been on that purpose.
The platform and what we'vedone with it has changed.
And so it's important.

(01:52:20):
In fact yesterday when theyasked Pete what some thought about
the title, you deserve to be rich.
And she said she never thoughtabout money.
She's thought about beingemotionally rich, being spiritually
rich.
Because money is the byproductof you serving your purpose.
You see what I'm saying?
And so like when we startedthe journey of her, it was never,

(01:52:41):
yo, we're gonna prick thismulti million dollar brand.
It was like, yo, we can helpsome people.
I was teaching, he was stilldoing his business for the first
year.
We didn't take any money fromthe business.
We made a little bit of money,but we didn't take it.
It was just like, all right,well we're just going to keep doing
what we're doing because thevision after we've seen it, like,
oh wait, this is actually your business.

(01:53:02):
We can turn this intosomething because we were in the
purpose of helping people.
Not just helping people, buthelping entrepreneurs.
We watched them, we saw someof them grow to great success.
And it was like, wow, that'sthe gift this to get.
Watching the everyday personnow turn into a superstar from what
they do.
There's value in what you do.

(01:53:23):
It's like that resume that youjust did with your intro, it resonated
with them because there'svalue in you.
Now.
I don't know if five or tenyears ago if there would have been
applause if you gave thatintro right but today, it's not just
the superstar basketballplayer or the celebrity musician
that gets that type of recognition.
It's you.
Because everybody can sit herebecause you found your purpose, and

(01:53:45):
it adds value to your community.
More so than watching somebodysaying, yo, he's great and he's top
five.
You could change somebody's life.
It's a Good deal, man.
$30.
You got a book, you gotSipping in Congress, people talking.
We added a lot of stuff.

(01:54:06):
I think this is what worth it.
So.
Oh, she is a.
Answer the question.
Oh, D.
Aggressive up here.
You a.
Answer the question, bro.
I.
I love it.
I think sometimes we can letyou know our passion or, you know,

(01:54:28):
our purpose.
Give us an excuse to not go.
Get the money, though.
So for a period of time, I wasgoing to get the money.
I'm just selling T shirts.
I'm trying to figure out how Ican get some money because I wanted
to retire my mom really bad.
So Sundays, I felt I fell outof love with the process of selling

(01:54:50):
T shirts.
And I think the problemsometimes with entrepreneurs, you
start something because youhave this idea, and when it doesn't
make money, you said, well,I'm not passionate about it.
I realize I need to spend moretime with my family or I need to
get closer to God or, like.
And sometimes.
Sometimes we default to thatbecause we didn't make any money
in the business.

(01:55:10):
But my.
I believe my purpose was tohelp a lot of people.
And to help a lot of people, Igot to get some money.
I got some money.
So it wasn't always me feelinglike, oh, fulfilling my purpose.
Purpose and my passion.
I'm like, I gotta get somemoney, get myself out of the situation.
Teach my brother how to gethimself out of situation.
Teach my friends how to getthemselves out of the situation.

(01:55:33):
And one day, I read thisquote, and with this, it was the
firest quote I ever.
He said, I'm gonna spend thefirst half of my life acquiring wealth
and spend the second halfgiving it all away.
That stuck with me.
I said, I got it.
I'm gonna spend the first halfgoing after it, second half giving

(01:55:53):
all the way.
So if everybody can stand upand hold their book up, we're gonna
do something before we leave.
Thank you.
So on the count of three.
The count of three, everybodyto say, I deserve to be raised.

(01:56:14):
Oh, dear.
You ready?
One, two, three.
I deserve to be rich.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
That's how we sing it down.
That was light.
Come on.
That was light.
We.

(01:56:34):
We could do that again.
We could do that again.
Shoot a second.
Let's try it again.
Y'all ready?
Y'all got the lines?
You got your lines.
So we said, I deserve.
What you deserve.
I deserve.
Okay, let's try it out real quick.
One, two, three.
I deserve to be brave.
Hey, that was practice.
That was good, though.
That was good.
Okay, set it up again.
All right, this is the last song.

(01:56:55):
1, 2, 3.
I love to be br.
Dc we love you guys.
Oh, taking a pic.
Taking a pic.
Selfie.
And support black business, too.
Now, that's important becauseI want y.
I want y'all to know that every.
City that we've gone to, we'vepartnered with a black bookstore

(01:57:18):
in that city.
That hasn't changed,obviously, here in D.C.
but we're making sure thatwe're intentional when we talking
about supporting thecommunity, how we keep money in the
community.
Bookstores are important libraries.
Important.
Literature is important, whichis why we put it in.
So this is the owner of Mahogany.
Yes, Books.
Yes, yes, yes, for them, please.

(01:57:38):
So they're a bookstore thatonly sells black books.
You tell them the location.
We are in National Harbor.
We are also at NationalAirport, being.
Concourse D, inside of the good.
So, yes, but online.
Amen.
All your.
All your books came from our bookstore.

(01:57:59):
Discover a world where wordsignite change.
Tune in to Black Books Matter,the podcast where we celebrate the
profound impact of AfricanAmerican literature.
Join us as we delve intoiconic works and hidden gems discussing
their power to shape minds andtransform societies.
Get ready for thoughtprovoking discussions, author interviews,

(01:58:20):
and insights that matter.
Don't miss out.
Subscribe to Black BooksMatter, the podcast on your favorite
podcast platform, and let thevoices of African American authors
resonate with.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Building Wealth in Our Communities: Insights from Troy Millings and Rashad Bilal

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

All Episodes

Building Wealth in Our Communities: Insights from Troy Millings and Rashad Bilal

Stuff You Should Know