November 20, 2024 • 59 mins
The Black and Brown Opportunities for Profit (BBOP) Center is shaking up the small business world and transforming lives. Erin is joined by three powerhouse women driving this revolution: Cheryl Chesnut, Vice President of Operations; Jennifer Yturralde, Chief Innovation Officer; and Lakeisha Charles, BBOP client and owner of LDR Cleaning Services.
At its core, the BBOP Center is more than an economic hub—it’s a catalyst for innovation, empowerment, and action. By fueling bold ideas, nurturing entrepreneurship, and providing the tools to succeed, the BBOP Center is redefining financial opportunities for women of color. This groundbreaking initiative is not just about business—it’s about changing the economic landscape and creating an economy that truly works for them.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Erin Brinker - Making Hop (00:04):
Erin, welcome everyone. I'm Erin
Brinker, and this is the makinghope happen radio show. I love
this time of year. Fall is infull swing. The election season
is in the rear view, and thereis a joyful anticipation for the
holiday season. I loveThanksgiving and Christmas for
the five F's, food, fun, family,friends and football. There is
(00:31):
so much in this world that isworking hard to divide us this
holiday season. Give yourselfthe gift of love and community
by being intentional aboutconnecting even with those you
haven't seen in a while, talkingabout like even called your
parents or seen yourgrandparents, an old neighbor or
an old friend,be intentional. Reconnect.
They're if you're thinking aboutthem, they're probably thinking
(00:54):
about you.
I don't believe in coincidences,do you?
I don't think there areaccidents, really. There are
things that happen, and they canbe not good, or they could be
good in the long run.
Think about people in or on yourpath who drive you up a wall.
(01:18):
You know the extra Gracerequired people, and guess what?
You're probably that to themtoo. I'm just saying I know I
am.
Again, there's no accidents atlight in life. At least that is
my worldview. You're in eachother's space for a reason.
Perhaps there's a lesson to belearned. Perhaps it is humility
or patience. What if they haveto learn the same thing in the
(01:43):
12 step process? Yeah, I'mtalking about the one from AA.
I'm not a friend of Bill, butthere are tried and true tools
that anyone can use in the 12steps. The first one is the
recognition that there is apower higher than ourselves. The
second is that we areaccountable to ourselves and to
others. It's not just about you.
It's really not. It's not, it'snot. No one could get through
(02:06):
this life alone, and the priceyou pay for being on this earth
in a community is to fight theworst parts of your own nature.
And it's hard, because I have alot of worst parts. Worst parts.
Can you have more than one worstpart? I'm telling you you can
how grammatically incorrect thatis. I have lots of parts of
(02:27):
myself that I need to fight, andpopular culture tells us that
our nature is always right andthat should be nurtured above
all else. I'm going to do me, Ifeel like Dr Phil when I say,
How's that working for you?
Probably not very well. It's notjust about you. It's not just
(02:49):
about me. Judging by how theworld is working, it's not good
for anybody. I would say, Well,having said that, there are some
stellar examples of humanity atits best, those who roll up
their sleeves and help during adisaster. And there's tons of
stories from the Carolinas andeastern Tennessee and from
(03:10):
Florida of people doing exactlythat. I know there was a crew
from my church that that wentout with Samaritan's Purse and
were cleaning up properties. Acrew of men who went, they went
grab their gloves and their workboots, and they they took off
and were there for several dayshelping the cleanup right after
the hurricane. People who offertheir time and their treasure to
(03:32):
important nonprofit causes,they're pretty wonderful too,
too. So as Thanksgivingapproaches, I'm grateful for my
higher power. That's the God ofthe universe. I'm grateful for
my family battle for holiday,holiday tables, a roof over my
head, warm blankets andcommunity. And of course, I'm
(03:53):
very grateful for you. Allright, it's time to get started.
I have if you're anentrepreneur, or you've ever
wanted to be an entrepreneur,you're gonna love this show.
This is a story, stories, pluralof triumph and perseverance and
just how to get there from here,it's awesome. All right, let's
(04:13):
go well, I am always up for goodstories about people making
their dreams come true, andwe've had a lot of those on this
show, and we're going to bringyou a lot more. And today, I'm
absolutely thrilled to besitting down with Cheryl
chestnut, the VP of Operationsat the Bebop center, Jennifer
(04:34):
iteral day, and I'm sure you'regoing to correct me, because I
probably pronounced that correctincorrectly. Chief Innovation
Officer, Chief Innovation,Innovation Officer at the Bebop
center, and Lakeisha Charles,she's one of the Bebop
entrepreneurs. So we'll startwith you. Cheryl, first of all,
welcome to the show.
Multiple (04:53):
Thank you for having us.
Erin Brinker - Making Hope H (04:55):
So what is BBOP? We've had, we've
had Vanessa um. Perez on theshow when you all first opened,
what was that two years ago? Andmaybe a year and a half ago? And
but we haven't had an update.
We've got new listeners. So whatis the BBOP center? Yeah,
Cheryl Chesnut (05:10):
So the Bebop Center is an amazing place.
Bebop stands for black andbrown, opportunities for profit
center, and is anEntrepreneurial Center designed
specifically to help women ofcolor entrepreneurs build, grow
and scale profitable businesses.
It's a 10,000 square foot hightech building that is designed
(05:32):
to help empower the womenprovide us the tools the
community and the support neededto bring innovative ideas, so
that way women here can helpthrive and succeed and build
that community.
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (05:48):
Wow, that's that sounds amazing. So
what is that? What is that, whenyou say, build their careers, do
you have just to kind of set thetable? Do you have co working
space? Do you have services? CanI take classes? What can I
expect? So
Cheryl Chesnut (06:05):
I would actually like to defer to Miss Jennifer,
Chief innovative officer, totalk about what they can expect,
what the ladies can expect fromcoming here to the Bebop center,
definitely.
Jennifer Yturralde (06:14):
So here at the Bebop center, we have
different ways thatentrepreneurs can engage with
the center and with differenteducational programs. So we
have, we are we have a pillar ofour we have more pillars. So we
have, we're really focused onaccess to capital, access to
information, action, access totechnology and access to
(06:35):
networks, and with all of that,build that around our bee box
Center and the memberships thatwe have so people can access the
center here the 10,000 squarefoot facility, and here we have
network, networkingopportunities. We have
workshops, we have communitybuilding events and activities.
(06:56):
We have a beautiful space wherewe can have child care
facilities for women who arecoming in and need support, but
also need child child caresupport, you know? So we have
all these different things thattake away the barriers for
entrepreneurs to be able toaccess entrepreneurship as a as
(07:20):
a pathway. We also have anacademy where we help women go
through all the things that areneeded to start a business, to
grow their business, and thenalso to scale their businesses.
Well,
Erin Brinker - Making Ho (07:32):
that's excellent and and you know your
backgrounds are are diverse andrich, and Jennifer, your
background, you're anaccomplished leader with over a
decade of experience drivinginnovation and entrepreneurship
programs. You You are at UC SanDiego, and you manage pioneering
master of advanced studyprograms and spearheaded new
(07:55):
initiatives such as hacking fordefense. Who at the Institute
for Global, for the globalentrepreneur, and your
experience has fueled yourpassion for Empowering
Entrepreneurs to leveragetechnology for social good. What
led you to San Bernardino,
Jennifer Yturralde (08:12):
yeah, so throughout my career, I've been
able to work with differentkinds of entrepreneurs. So as
you mentioned, in San Diego, Iwas looking at supporting
entrepreneurs that were studentsand faculty, and then coming to
Finland empire, I was able towork with UC Riverside, where we
were able to really build outthe entrepreneurial ecosystem
(08:35):
and then be able to impact Thebroader community, so building
programs and and resources thatwould actually support, you
know, more than just the campus,but for the but the community as
well. And then I really wasinterested in going into
supporting socialentrepreneurship and people who
are really making an impact, andthen coming to the bee box
(08:58):
center, you know, being able toreally focus on using all of
that experience and that passionto really make a difference, to
support women of colorentrepreneurs, to to have all of
those connections to thenetworks and the resources that
have been built over the lastseven years throughout my
(09:19):
experience here. So reallyexcited to bring all of that
together so that we can reallydrive the wealth building here
in the region. So
Erin Brinker - Making Ho (09:32):
moving on to you, Cheryl, I read
Jennifer's background. Why don'tyou tell us what your background
is and what led you to SanBernardino and to the Bebop
center?
Yeah. So
Cheryl Chesnut (09:41):
I am Inland Empire, born and raised, and my
background is a bit buried. I,you know, education wise, I have
a Master's of Science in energymanagement, a Master's in Public
Administration. I'm currentlyalso working on my educational
doctrine of organizationalchange and administration. I
have worked in many. Differentsectors, from the energy sector
(10:03):
to owning a few smallbusinesses, like owning a small
restaurant and then also beingsilent partners with food truck
company. And then I've also hadexperience in local government,
and I would say all of myexperience is very unique. I
have, you know, my most recentexperience before coming to the
Bebop wouldn't have been I wasinvolved with a lot of community
(10:25):
engagement and outreach, and Ihave a heart to help make a
difference in the community,especially women of color. I
know what it's like, personally,to build from nothing and
rebuild, and to have that youknow, way to kind of show you
can always rebuild, you canalways come up with something
new, and you can make your ownpath. I find that it's very
(10:46):
important to help just inspireothers and also make a
difference and an impact in thecommunity, so that way the
community can keep on growing.
One thing that also led me tothe Bebop center is just, you
know, through, you know, peoplethat I've known even before. I
worked at the Bebop center. WhenI was in my community engagement
efforts, I would invite folkshere, say, Come on, check it out
(11:09):
and talk about how wonderful itwas through some of the
community partners I was workingwith. So that's, you know, then
I ended up, you know, cominghere, working here as the Vice
President of Operations, andreally just, you know, part of
me is also fascinated bypuzzles. So to me, it's just,
how do you put together a good,systematic framework to also
help make a difference, and puta good organizational framework
(11:31):
in place.
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (11:35):
Oh, that's fantastic. Well, we
haven't heard from LakeishaCharles yet. What is your story?
Tell us about yourself.
Lakeisha Charles (11:43):
So like you said, my name is Lakeisha
Charles, and I am the co ownerof LDR cleaning services. Before
I started LDR cleaning services,I worked corporate for about 17
years for a top water companythrough safety, health and
environmental and differentpositions there, I just learned
(12:05):
a lot about my environment andthings, but then when they
decided they might sell, I hadto pivot quickly, and I just
went back to what I knew, whichwas cleaning and just an
entrepreneur making it happen,basically, well,
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (12:19):
it's Fantastic. Now, when did you
first engage with the Bebopcenter?
Lakeisha Charles (12:24):
About I just hit my year mark in July, that
I've been a part of the Bebopcenter. So prior to that, I was
like I said, I had started beingan entrepreneur, and I had
already been an entrepreneurfull time, but my 17 year job to
become an entrepreneur with mycleaning company, and I found
(12:45):
myself stuck a little bit withsome ebbs and flows in my
business. And I guess through myprayer, I was asking God like, I
don't know where I'm going to gofrom here, and this place just
kind of illuminated. And I hadan opportunity to go in. And
once I found out about what thisplace was, I felt like, Oh, my
goodness, it was made just forme, center where I could just
(13:06):
rub up against otherentrepreneurs. I don't have a
background. My family doesn'tcome from entrepreneurs. They
are. You work a job until youget pinned, and then, you know,
you retire and you keep going.
So this center here was a placethat everyone in here look like
we women of color that wereentrepreneurs and trying to make
it happen for their family. So
Erin Brinker - Making Hope Ha (13:26):
I know that vision. So this, this
project, was born out of theTime for Change Foundation,
which I'm a huge fan of, say,help women turn their lives
around, get their kids back,start jobs, move into homes.
They're just a phenomenalorganization. And this bebop
center, it, you know, that wasborn out of a need to overcome
(13:46):
barriers, so that money forentrepreneurship can start
flowing and, and know how, andmanagement, and all of that
could start flowing to peoplewho had been largely locked out
of the system. Can you kind oftalk about, kind of the founding
and, and what are some of thebarriers that are faced by women
of color?
Lakeisha Charles (14:06):
This is Lakeisha again, at as an
entrepreneur. I believe that Iknew how to work, but I didn't
know how to run a business, andI knew how to use my resources,
which were my job or mycommunity, my savings, my
things, but access to capital orjust even understanding what
that looked like. Bebop has gaveus an opportunity to we've had
(14:31):
pitch competitions. We'velearned how to get our finances
together on paper, our taxes andthings, to where we can go into
banks and even be Loanable, youknow, like some so the things
that you don't know, as anentrepreneur, they have helped
break down so many barriers andjust put people in front of us
to give us access to capitalthat we wouldn't necessarily had
(14:52):
at any opportunity of meeting.
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (14:55):
So, and I have to think, and this is
really a comment for all of you,I have to think that to. So many
people they want to maybe theycan do a thing. Maybe they make
cookies or make cakes, and theydo it really well, and they take
their orders from friends andfamily over Christmas. But the
whole idea of of of creating anactual business, buying the
insurance, getting your gettingcertified or licensed, or
(15:17):
whatever it is they need to do,file the taxes correctly, it's
overwhelming, you know. And so,you know. So I'm and so this
question is for Cheryl, and Isay that I I am, I make. I am
the baker. I am the person whocan make these dynamite cakes,
cakes by Erin. And I walk in,but I don't know where to start,
so I walk into the Bebop center.
What can I expect?
Jennifer Yturralde (15:40):
You can expect to walk into a warm
welcome. We have very friendlystaff that help you, help meet
you where you're at, and alsowe're here to make this a safe
space for you to see how we canhelp offer the support and
provide you the access that youneed to be a successful lady,
(16:02):
boss or business owner, and youknow, help help you with
whatever we have, you know, lotsof trainings, lots of workshops,
and you will be provided with alot of that information. You
know, we want to make sureyou're comfortable and your
questions are answered. And youknow, fill with your level of
comfortability to try to see,how can we help support you? So
(16:26):
you probably also would expectan informational session, and
also just to see, you know, whatis the best way and what is the
best way for the services tohelp support you.
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (16:39):
Now we're talking, oh, sorry, go
ahead.
Cheryl Chesnut (16:41):
So just to jump in on that, you know, I think
that's where our BusinessAcademy really supports
entrepreneurs through thatprocess. Because, yeah, it's
really daunting to figure out,where do I start. And so our
build program really goesthrough all of those different
aspects of building, thefoundational basics of what you
need to do and how to evenapproach starting the business
(17:04):
to, you know, actually launchingthat business. So Lakeisha can
talk a little bit about goingthrough that program.
Lakeisha Charles (17:11):
So like I had said before, I had already been
in my business for a coupleyears, just as a side business.
When I decided to go full timeis when I experienced the ebbs
and flows the Bebop buildprogram. Even though I had
already had a business that wasable to navigate and make some
(17:32):
sort of income, I had found thatmy foundation was kind of off
center. So even though I couldhave came in right at the Grow
thinking that I know everythinggoing through the build program
helped me to stabilize myfoundation by just understanding
from the beginning of brandingand marketing and just what that
(17:52):
looks like, and your licenses,and knowing that you have
options, because if you do thetiktoks, or whatever the 32nd
video goes and everybody says,go get this and The LLC and you
can get those things are nottrue, but the v map helps you
navigate through some of theincredible staff and the
teachers that we have heresaying what that looks like for
you and your business.
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (18:11):
You need to tell me that tick tock
is not the well of all true.
Lakeisha Charles (18:15):
No, I heard it was not a proper resource.
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (18:19):
I'm shocked so and so. Let's talk
about as we as we can, kind ofgotten the nuts and bolts, an
overview of what's going on atthe Bebop center, and it sounds
fabulous. Let's talk about thewhat goes on inside the head of
an entrepreneur that what, whathas How do you overcome the
(18:40):
barriers that that you mightlike I, oh, I could never do
that. I'm not good at math. Ican't do accounting. Or I could
never do that. You know, i Howcould I possibly start a
business when I've got kids thattake care of or I could never do
that for fill in the blank. AndI'm sure that some of the women
who come in, they have thosestories, how do you overcome
(19:01):
that?
Lakeisha Charles (19:02):
Unfortunately, but fortunately, you're all the
things when you're anentrepreneur and starting up.
Well, most of us are, you know,here at the Bebop. So where are
marketing, where are accounting,where are all the things you
know? So what that looks like atthe Bebop, to help you navigate
through those things, is throughstrategic planning, strategic
planning, so just to breakthings down and compartmentalize
(19:27):
each one of them, where youthink about you carve out the
time and think about each one ofthem in their own aspect, and
how that all built one bigpuzzle for your
entrepreneurship, you know? Sowe think that, okay, I know how
to make these cookies per se, orI know how to build the best
room ever so but it doesn'tteach you the back office parts
of it, but be pop helps younavigate through that, just
(19:48):
through some of the buildprogram, through the Grow
program, and what steps you'rein through your foundation.
Like, if you don't have a solidfoundation, you
will see and I think also, youknow, just the opportunity. To
be in a community of otherpeople who have done that or are
going through it, you know,being able to go through it
together. You're learning fromeach other, you're bouncing
(20:11):
ideas off each other, you'reasking each other do, who did
you use to do this? Or how do Inavigate this area? You know?
And so being able to be part ofthat bigger community really
makes it from a lonelyentrepreneurial journey to
something that you know, eventhough you're pushing it
forward, you're not doing it byyourself. And so, I think, with
(20:33):
the Bebop center, and like thethe community that you get
alongside of, that you get theyou get the community of people,
and then you also get thementorship of experts, you know.
So if there's areas that you'reneeding support, or, you know,
you're like, oh, I need, I needto have connections to these
types of organizations, beingable to hook into the networks
(20:55):
that we have here, and theexperts and all of those things
are things that will help youmove forward quicker than if you
were trying to do it all byyourself and navigate the whole
journey on your own.
Yeah, absolutely I would. Iwould say for me, even when I
was afraid to even ask certainquestions or didn't even know I
(21:17):
should ask those questions,someone in our classroom space
asked the questions and we'reall in there nodding like I
didn't even know I needed that.
I did not even know that therewas a difference between what's
the difference between a soleproprietor and LLC somebody
asked the right questions. It's
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (21:34):
$800 in the state of California a
year.
Lakeisha Charles (21:39):
We know that now, which if you don't actually
know that it's going to takeyou, so you're just starting it
and you're going out, because,like we said before, other
streams are telling you, go getthis, but you're not
understanding California that isdue in 90 days. Yeah, people
don't know those things and butwhen you're in this classroom
and in this space, we're alreadybeen through it. So many of our
(22:00):
sisters have already mentored,and we're asking the same
questions, where you or we'rejust conversating about it,
you're going to learn so muchjust through our natural,
organic conversations aroundlunch, around the coffee pot. We
don't have that when you're anentrepreneur, you don't have the
water.
Cheryl Chesnut (22:14):
I wanted to add to one of the things you
made me think about Lakeisha waswhat the Bebop can offer the
entrepreneurs is savings andtime. So the time that you know
as something you brought up,entrepreneurs, you know, you're
spending a lot of time figuringit out. Well, you come to the
Bebop, we have it figured outfor you over work alongside with
(22:35):
you to figure it out, to giveyou some of your time back.
Which time is a valuableresource. Time is everything,
yeah, and then also the childcare. That's huge with the Bebop
membership, child care isincluded. So imagine some of
these, you know, moms that wantto work on their business, but
they're like, Okay, I don't havea child care. They have a place
here where we have a child care
Erin Brinker - Making Hop (22:58):
well.
You serious? I had no idea.
on site as
Cheryl Chesnut (23:02):
yeah, so there's that, and then we have a
beautiful cafeteria wherethere's a lot of refreshments.
So does waters all included forthe entrepreneur to gather
around? Yeah,
Lakeisha Charles (23:13):
our water cooler is fancy.
Erin Brinker - Making Hop (23:19):
Well, and it sounds like you have the
real and the figurative watercooler, because I know that,
because I've been, I've been anentrepreneur a couple of times
in my life, and my quote,unquote water cooler was
Facebook, right? But it's notthe same as standing there with
a human and having aconversation that you know that.
So especially if you're workingon something that is you really
(23:42):
takes a minute to wrap yourbrain around, and you have to
process, you talking aboutsystems, for example, to use up
my real my real life situation.
You're thinking about, Okay,well, what will that workflow
look like, and what will thesystem look like, and who do I
need to have be part of that?
And all of the things that gointo planning your business, you
know, sometimes you need to takea step away. And if it's just
you and your cat, you know it'snot necessarily what you need at
(24:06):
the moment. So it sounds likeyou all have other entrepreneurs
to talk to,
Lakeisha Charles (24:10):
right? So I have also been able to have
focus groups here. I tell myfriends all the time with my
friends, like, Oh, my be bought.
My sister's my friend. So all mybe my sisters. I say it doesn't
matter. Give us all the logosyou might have been thinking
about, and then we're going toall vote on you have a focus
group here, which a lot ofpeople don't even have, that you
can put on Facebook, andprobably have some people vote
on it. But it's not the same,
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (24:32):
no, and you don't know if it's
accurate or not. You know. Youknow it's different from sitting
across from somebody. You showthem a piece of marketing, and
the look on their face says, oh,no, don't do that,
sweetheart. I love you, but noso. So one of the things that
that this when you say, when yousay, you want to start a
(24:58):
business. People say, Okay, youalways got to put together a
business plan. And half thepeople say, I'm not going to
plan. I'm just going to do andthe other half, maybe not half,
another group of people will getanalysis paralysis and never get
out of the gate. You know, whatwas your experience, Lakeisha?
And if anybody else has anyother stories about people in
that phase, what did that looklike?
Lakeisha Charles (25:19):
So I do have a strong background in strategic
planning, but the execution, inpart, was not, was one of my
weakest points. But I had nevermade a business plan, so I would
make this gigantic list andstart checking it off, but where
was it actually all the waygoing? So to have a business
plan and think about what thatlooks like from a one year to a
(25:40):
five year perspective, and justwrite it completely out and
think it out that was big for meand to have other sisters to
come in and help alongside ofme, like, Okay, have you thought
about this part and to look overmy business plan before I'm
shopping it out to someone else?
Sometimes
Unknown (25:59):
it helped as well. Oh, I
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (26:00):
bet it forces you to think
everything through right
Lakeisha Charles (26:04):
elements of it, all you know. So we say we
have a business plan, but do youhave the marketing piece and
then your research? Miss? One ofour teachers here is really big
on, did you do the research?
Multiple (26:14):
And what does
Lakeisha Charles (26:17):
when we think about, what does the market look
like that research piece of it.
Then I didn't. So I can think inmy own head all day long, but
then with a proper businessplan, if you don't do the the
outside research of what yourmarket looks like, what your
niche is, and thinking of thingslike that, you get that type of
influence here at the Bebop Ithink also,
Cheryl Chesnut (26:38):
you know, this is something that, you know I
was talking with some of theentrepreneurs here was becoming
an accountability partner. Soit's like, you're talking about
analysis paralysis, or you justchecking things off. But it's
like, okay, being able to talkto each other and be like, Okay,
how are you moving forward? Areyou moving forward? What are you
needing to do to get to thatnext milestone? So that, you
(27:02):
know, you may think through allthe things that you need to do,
but, you know, it's a dauntinglist, you know, and so it's like
being able to have other peopleto be like, accountable to to
make sure that you're making theprogress that you need to make
in order to keep moving thebusiness forward. You know, I
think that's something that isreally valuable for
entrepreneurs to do to have, youknow, that extra boost and extra
(27:24):
support that and push to be ableto keep things going. Because,
you know, there's going to bedays where it's really
overwhelming and it's reallyhard to figure out, okay, what?
What do I need to focus on rightnow? But being able to have
other people, or, you know, Iknow, I'm an accountability
(27:45):
partner to, you know, some ofthe entrepreneurs here, being
able to check in and be like, sodo you need support? You know?
How are things going? What aresome obstacles? What are some
barriers that you're facing?
Then it's not something that isjust all on you to figure out,
like, how to be constantly soself motivated, because you have
to be but you know, it's alsonice to have other people to
(28:07):
help push you along.
Erin Brinker - Making Hop (28:11):
Well, I know I work better under
deadline, and I work even betterunder deadlines that I don't set
for myself, because I can alwayssay, Oh, I'll get it done
tomorrow afternoon or whatever,and especially if it's
particularly unpleasant, youknow, taxes, but, you know, but
those are things that need to bedone,
Jennifer Yturralde (28:30):
right? And then to add to that, going with
a quote from Benjamin Franklin,if you fail to plan, your plan
to fail. So just to kind ofanchor to that, you know,
planning is essential. You canbe full of these amazing ideas,
but you know, you need to have apath forward to be able to get
you there. And that's one of thethings that you know, definitely
(28:51):
we are here to help Well
Erin Brinker - Making H (28:54):
viewers realize that. So, you know, I
especially think if you want togo get any funding. I mean, if
you are self funded, then thenyou can be as motivated or not
as you want to be, because it'sonly your risk. But if you're
looking for somebody to fundyour organization, whether it's
a loan or whatever, or even asupplier or a vendor, they want
(29:15):
to know that they're going toget paid. So that planning
becomes important, because ittells them what you're planning
to do, what you intend to do.
You intend to do, right,
Lakeisha Charles (29:24):
right? So I also believe that they put it
all in the growth I keep, I keepgoing back to the build program.
Also that foundational piece, ittalked about what that looks
like for you to be able to befunded and down to getting your
DUNS and Bradstreet number. Itgave it to itemize each and
everything that you needed to doto even start being looked at as
(29:46):
fundable, like, don't use a cellphone and things like that.
Like, it told us where to go getthese things. So having someone
else look at your plans and giveyou the shortcuts
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (29:57):
are amazing. Oh, that's huge.
Jennifer Yturralde (30:00):
I also, I also Lakeisha, recently we had
you come as a guest for so capconference, right? So if you
want to talk about that, andwe're speaking about investors
and everything your experiencewith that,
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (30:11):
wow.
What is SoCap?
Lakeisha Charles (30:15):
So So cap is a very large conference in San
Francisco every year around justentrepreneurs and just the
impact to your environment andgiving where entrepreneur and
impact meets investments. Soeven though the Bebop has given
us opportunity to do pitchcompetitions and things like
(30:35):
that, this was more on a globalscale, like, how are we changing
the world? So we're watchingsome of the best pictures. And
so we're in here. And people, wemight be asking for maybe a
million dollars or 1000s ofdollars, you know, and help our
business. But these people weresaying, like, billion and
trillions. Wow,
Erin Brinker - Making Hop (30:55):
Elon.
Elon, trillion,
Lakeisha Charles (30:57):
you know, like, I didn't even know you
could ask people for that typeof money. So just being in like
minded people, it taught me,just even as a small
entrepreneur, to also thinkbigger than myself, you know,
like, okay, my community, butwe're talking about global
change and how I can impact myenvironment just by the small
things that are going to add upto the bigger things. So those
(31:19):
are the type of opportunitiesthat we get here at the Bebop as
they take us with them on ajourney, you know, like through
all of it, I, and I would havenever even thought about going
to a Spokane as just a loneentrepreneur. So my network is
even that much bigger
Erin Brinker - Making Hop (31:36):
well, and I gotta think, you know, if
you come from the Inland Empire,but especially San Bernardino,
you might, you might come from aplace of scarcity, right? So
there's not a whole lot of moneythat's going around that you're
not thinking about. You're notthinking big, big, that your own
vision can limit you. And I, andI understand that, because
that's the nature of where welive. But you go up to the Bay
(31:57):
Area, where money flows likewater, you know, and use all of
a sudden, yeah, all Yeah, all ofa sudden you're thinking totally
different. That must have been,that was, must have been eye
opening for all of you. Yeah,
Lakeisha Charles (32:12):
it was, it was eye opening. So we took a team
of three entrepreneurs, and thenour found one of our co
founders, and all of us weremoved in different ways, and how
we impacted our business indifferent ways, and how we came
back thinking differently, youknow. So we brought a fashion
designer and a lady that doesretreats, Dream cultivating
(32:34):
retreats, and then my cleaningcompany, we thought even we were
changed just by taking thatsmall fight that bebop allowed
us to take.
Erin Brinker - Making Hop (32:42):
Okay, so I went on one of those
retreats for that, that ourthree retreat from the dream
cultivator, holy cow, yeah. Holycow. It was amazing, absolutely
amazing. And, you know, judgingjust from from her, from
LaShawn, you guys, the thequality of your entrepreneurs is
stellar,
Lakeisha Charles (33:02):
yeah, yeah, yeah. She's, she's pretty
amazing. And just being able torub up against someone like her
as another entrepreneur, that'sa blessing, you know, you know,
just being able to come incontact with that type of
caliber of entrepreneur, that'sgoing to automatically make us
better. We're, we're as good aseach one of us. You know, our
(33:24):
brains are all working togetherfor the greater good of whatever
our businesses is. So I haveLaShawn brain with me. I have
Miss Rose's brain. You know, allof our tax preparation. We have
all the things here. So I'mtelling everyone I come from San
Bernardino, and I'm super big onI've been through the school
system, Erin, all that I don'twant to leave to be successful.
(33:46):
I believe we can be successfulhere through programs like the
Bebop, through programs and justhaving that entrepreneur spirit,
you can make it here. We don'thave to leave, because if we
take it somewhere else, thensomeone else is going to reap
the benefits. And that's why Ihave found that people from San
Bernardino and and the thesurrounding areas, do we take
all of our knowledge and as soonas we make it, we we beep and
(34:09):
then come right back here. Yes,quiet, right here, you know, and
change the narrative of whatpeople feel, and that's what the
Bebop is. And I felt so blessedthat this beautiful building was
put here for us to make it,
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (34:23):
and I said this at the retreat, and
I and I really think that, youknow, there's, there's a lot of
people in a lot of spaces in inSan Bernardino, who are working
towards a renaissance, but Ireally think that the Bebop is,
is is leading that charge inmany ways, Because of the
energy, exactly what you'retalking about, real
entrepreneurs wanting to do thework here, which is absolutely
(34:46):
phenomenal. So I've kind ofgotten a little bit of a bit of
an answer, certainly thecommunity spirit. But
individually, as anentrepreneur, you know, how do
you keep yourself motivated? Andwhat is your philosophy? About?
Philosophy? Philosophy aboutkeeping yourself motivated and
on track. Everyone has ups anddowns. How do you persist and
persevere?
Lakeisha Charles (35:08):
I know we need this. I know that my community,
my co partner, is my daughter,so she you know what I mean, so
my I have my family and mycommunity on on our back, you
know, for us an entrepreneur. Somy motivation is different. So I
could go back to corporate,which I did very well in, but I
(35:31):
also no longer had a say so ofwhat my objectives was and where
our dollars went. So being anentrepreneur allows me to do
that. That's my motivation, isto say, I say when, what, who
and how it's going to impact mycommunity. That's huge. So most
corporate are in Connecticut, ormost corporate buildings are
(35:52):
even not even in California.
They're not impacting us the waythat they should. You know,
besides giving us a paycheck
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (35:59):
well and international companies,
your dollars that that you'reearning for that company could
find their way to Switzerland orfind their way to Dubai or find
their way to wherever.
Lakeisha Charles (36:09):
So the water company I work for was not the
actual real building. Was nothere. It was overseas. We're
making their dollars spin beforewe even allowed here in America,
live in lonely California, noteven to mention in San
Erin Brinker - Makin (36:23):
Bernardino well, and there's something to
be said for that. You know, wein the era of Amazon and the big
box store, we forget about theimpact of the small
entrepreneur. When I say small,I mean under $100 million or
whatever, small to mid sizedbusinesses, because those
dollars are spent in this area.
When you shop at staterbrothers, for example, it's the
headquarters is here, and youryour all the corporate employees
(36:47):
and all the store levelemployees, they all live in the
Inland Empire, or wherever theirstores are. And so that's a
different and has a differentimpact than going to Aldi. And
nothing against Aldi. I do shopthere, but you know, their
headquarters is not here. So, sowhat's on the horizon for you
all? What is it that you are,that you are, what goal are you
(37:10):
shooting for now, both at theBebop center and then Lakeisha
with your business? And let'sstart with Cheryl. Well, you
know, we're
Cheryl Chesnut (37:21):
really trying.
We are working hard to grow theBebop center. And, you know,
welcome more entrepreneurs inhere, and then also building a
mentorship pipeline, and thenalso just making sure our
current entrepreneurs do havesuccess, uplifting them, seeing
how we can offer support, and,you know, just seeing what we
can do to help grow
Unknown (37:45):
the center. Yes.
Erin Brinker - Making (37:48):
Alright, so I'd asked Cheryl a question
about what, what is on thehorizon from her perspective.
Jennifer, I'm kicking it to you,yes. So
Jennifer Yturralde (37:56):
for me, you know, I really want to be
bringing the innovation, andways that we can continue to to
impact the community. So lookingat what that can look like with
technology, looking at what thefuture of work looks like. So
bringing in experts, bringing incommunity partners that will
(38:19):
support the growth and thedirection that entrepreneurship
is going. So, you know,technology is always changing
access to different kinds oftechnology, so like AI, that's
always changing from day to day,bringing out, bringing bringing
opportunities to learn moreabout how to infuse that into
business and other kinds oftechnology that will make
(38:43):
entrepreneurs more able tocompete with the market, you
know, so all of these thingsthat we're looking to for the
future, you know, making surethat we're staying on trend and
knowing what kind of things wecan share with entrepreneurs so
(39:06):
that they're ready for for thefuture as well.
Erin Brinker - Makin (39:08):
Excellent, excellent. And Lakeisha, what's
up? What's in the future foryou? So
Lakeisha Charles (39:13):
I honestly believe that my LDR cleaning
services will be one of the topcommercial cleaning services in
the IE, I've already seen thepathway to be able to do it, and
with the help of the Bebopcenter, I'm believing that I'm
going to be able to do that. Andwithin the next five years, I
want to be able to be franchisedso that I can bring more
autonomous jobs to the womanentrepreneur here. So I'm going
(39:37):
to build a way through standardsand stuff like that, so that it
doesn't matter which buildingare you're getting, and just
allowing women to be more therefor their children while making
Erin Brinker - Making Hope Ha (39:47):
a pretty good income. Ah, that
sounds amazing. That's That'sfantastic. I'm thinking about my
house and how it needs to becleaned, although you said
commercial, COVID.
Unknown (40:00):
Right out for you
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (40:01):
so.
So if you, and all three of you,if you could spend time with a
middle school aged girl full ofemotion and doubt, self doubt
and you know kind of trepidationabout how you know what's ahead
and what's in store for her,what would you want her to know
about her possible future. Whatwould you say to her? And maybe
(40:23):
it's yourself as a 14 year oldor a 12 year old middle school,
what would what would you say tothat little girl?
Cheryl Chesnut (40:31):
I would say your path will find your way. You may
have some hard times, but that'sgoing to make you a stronger
person. And use yourimagination, use your
creativity. And just, you know,don't be afraid. I know it can
be scary in trying to figurethat out, and that is a scary
age. But also know that you cando anything you put your mind to
(40:53):
and dream big. And just, youknow, there's so many amazing
things that you can accomplishin life. And you know you will
pick yourself up, you'll movethrough. And you know your path
may not be what you thought itis, but that's okay, because it
builds to something else and itfeels to something even greater.
You
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (41:13):
know I have to say that if, if I were
to describe young people postCOVID, is that they are
terrified of making mistakes, ofsaying the wrong thing, of doing
the wrong thing. They're they'reterrified and and if you to
(41:33):
truly be successful, everybodywho's been successful has failed
at least 20 times. I'm justmaking that number up, but they
failed a lot. I mean, Steve Jobswas fired from Apple, yeah, and,
and you have to, you know,learning how to pick yourself
up, pivot, make adjustments andmove forward. That's, that's
huge. It'll serve you in life,in every endeavor, like in your
(41:57):
marriage, in your business andall of it, yeah, you
Cheryl Chesnut (42:02):
just also made me think of the Meet the
Robinsons movie and the quotes,and they are the lessons from
there. And it's like, if youfail, you've done great, and
everyone's cheering on thefailures, because that's how
you're going to learn. But it'salso very inspirational. But I
think I would also show themovie
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (42:16):
Meet the Robinsons to have never seen
that movie. It's amazing,
Unknown (42:20):
the songs and the quotes and everything. It's
phenomenal.
Erin Brinker - Making (42:25):
Alright, now, something to do this
weekend. So, So Cheryl,Jennifer, you know, what would
you say? And we can go with you.
Jennifer, what would you say tothat 14 year old girl?
Jennifer Yturralde (42:38):
Yeah, so I would say, I would say, Be okay
with yourself, you know, so Ihad this conversation with
Lakeisha, actually earlier on,or maybe like a month ago, about
just how, how it was difficultto navigate a lot of things you
(43:04):
know, my identity and all ofthat, and so learning to have
confidence, and learning how tojust be willing to to stand
apart from other people youknow, so being willing to do
that made a huge difference inmy life and so, so building it,
(43:29):
being able to build on thatconfidence as a as a person,
learning how to How to grow andbe open to to all of that. I
think that's what I would havesaid me. You know, as a as a
middle schoolers, it's okay,it's okay to to be who you are,
(43:54):
and it's okay to stand on yourown, and you will find people
who will love you for the wayyou are, and if they don't, then
that's okay, too for me, youknow, just that journey, just
thinking about, you know, I waswanting to start a business when
I was in college, but I wasn'tconfident that I could make it
(44:18):
happen. I was like, who am I?
Like, why would I think that Icould do this? And I wish that I
had that confidence to be ableto say, okay, I can, I can try
it out and see if it this iswhat I can do. Or, you know,
even if I don't have backgroundin this, like, I can still
follow something that I ampassionate about. So I wish that
(44:40):
I was able to instill that moreof myself when I was a child or
middle schooler, to be able totruly build on on that for
Erin Brinker - Making H (44:54):
myself.
You know, you think about thatage, and that's an age when your
peers are probably the mostimportant to you. Like, what
other people think is soimportant and and that, that
fear of, again, fear of, whatare people going to think of me?
What if I fail? What if, youknow they're going to laugh at
me, they're going to nobodythinks I can do this. That can
be really hard at that age andand often older ages too.
Unknown (45:23):
Still a journey that we're working it is
Erin Brinker - Making (45:27):
alright.
So, Cheryl, your turn. Oh, I
Jennifer Yturralde (45:30):
already spoke my turn. Lakeisha, oh,
Lakeisha, I'm
Erin Brinker - Making Ho (45:33):
sorry.
It's you know, and forgive me.
We're all women, but sometimesit was hard to hear the that to
tell the voices. So, Lakeisha,Europe, thank you. So um,
Lakeisha Charles (45:44):
I would tell her, Well, unfortunately, I have
recently worked for 14 yearolds. Right
through the entrepreneurpartnerships that I have had, I
can go into the school, theentrepreneur High School, and
talk to some of them, right? Didfocus? I did focus on the girls
and I, they're ninth graders.
That's 14 year olds, you know.
So I told them, it's in uses,you know? I just kept
(46:09):
reiterating that. Then you're sounsure of yourself and you
shouldn't be the things thatwe're doing every single day
could be a path to
Unknown (46:18):
entrepreneurship
Lakeisha Charles (46:20):
and be kind just of who your your circle is.
It's okay to lean on your othersisters, be nice to each other,
love on each other, because atthe end of the day, we're going
to have to find, find asisterhood, you know? So if I
can say that to them, you know,I'm going to say it to every 14
year old. It's in you find asisterhood that believes in you
(46:42):
and you're not as weird as youthink you are.
Erin Brinker - Making Ho (46:48):
You're not any more or less weird than
everyone else, but it's hard.
You know, women can be reallyhard on each other. I'm just,
I'm just going to keep it realto use that phrase, we are
really hard on each other, youknow? And if we want to be
supportive, we support Ted, wehave to be supportive to others
and create that space. It has tobe intentional, yeah,
Lakeisha Charles (47:12):
and that's and that's hard at 14, because you
feel like, well, am I weird?
Because you don't know so many Ithink that thing that is for the
Internet and helped us to findour tribes, but find your tribe
and know that it's okay to beyourself. I think that this
generation is a lot moreaccepted of people being their
own person than they were maybein our generation, where we're,
(47:33):
you know, that was not okay, orwe thought that we were so
secluded, and we're just notanymore. You can literally type
in what you're into and findyour group, yeah, so that's just
not the same. But I want them toknow that they are not alone,
and that they can do all thethings girls can do, all all
kind of things that we neverknew. So when I go in there, the
(47:54):
first thing I ask them, if theyare even thinking about being an
entrepreneur, just because yougo to entrepreneur High School.
Mean is you're going to be anentrepreneur? And a lot of them
were like, No, I don't I don'thave anything I want to do. I
don't know anything. So I juststarted pointing out things. Who
did your makeup today? Who didyour hair today? Do you do your
chores? That is a business. Ihave a whole business. That's
(48:15):
true.
Erin Brinker - Making Ho (48:19):
That's true. You know, it's
Lakeisha Charles (48:20):
already there.
What are you good at drawing?
Graphic design is a huge thing.
Digital content is going forsome stuff so they know how to
do things. My granddaughterright now, she's only 11, and
she knows I do a lot of things.
She thinks she'll be a star.
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (48:35):
Yes, ma'am, unfortunately. I mean, go
for it. Do your thing.
Unfortunately, though, everybodythinks they're going to be a
Tiktok or YouTube star and, and,but, you know, they're having
fun while they're doing it andlearning how to, how to,
learning skills that can beused, you know, in their future
life or in a business, I morepower to them. Yeah. So, so what
are some of the, I mean, besidesthe, besides Lakeisha, what are
(49:01):
some of the Bebop successstories? You know, where have,
where have you guys really seenpeople soar?
Lakeisha Charles (49:15):
You said, besides Lakeisha,
Unknown (49:18):
well, we've heard
Erin Brinker - Making Hop (49:20):
yours success story every day.
Okay, so I I'm sorry I was likein addition to Lakeisha. But you
know what Lakeisha tell yoursuccess story?
Lakeisha Charles (49:30):
I wanted to say each of the be pop members
and be pop sisters are own. Aretheir own little success story.
Everyone has accomplishedsomething and growing and
learned, and we celebrate all ofthem. So, you know, each one is
their own success story in theirown way. Lakeisha, you know, is
there any like particular storythat we want to, you know, um,
(49:51):
Pitch Competition, successes ornot just the pitch conversation,
just the everyday
Unknown (49:56):
people, like,
Lakeisha Charles (49:57):
we have a solid lady here named Miss Rose.
That is. Day in and day out. Andwhen she came in here, she was
actually just doing churchplates. She has an entire
catering business now,seriously, her navigate through
that with websites. And we'resaying we're talking about a
lady that is well seasoned andis already in retirement from
(50:17):
the school system that haslaunched an entire entrepreneur,
new venture, a new lease on lifethat that she is able to
navigate through just by theBebop shorter, what that can
look like. So awesome,completely. Now she has an LLC.
She has menu choices. She'sdoing full time catering, and
(50:38):
Miss Rose is doing her thinking,right? So element of taste is,
is Sky marketed just throughher, your journey with me. And I
say that because we came andstarted on the same day. So the
watch her journey is, sheinspires me day to day to go and
who
Unknown (50:53):
she cooked with, like Juliet child Oh yeah, she's
Erin Brinker - Making (50:55):
studying with, like, Julia Childs and
what's, oh my gosh, yeah, yeah.
Lakeisha Charles (51:00):
So, I mean, she's well, but she was still
just doing it for her church,and bebop helped her become a
profitable business with an LDlike That was crazy. And just to
be able to take some of thoseshortcuts work for her, like,
and teach her how to get her LLCand walk through her iterate
keystrokes and go from paper tobeing able to run in a whole
back office. We're talking abouta seasoned lady that was already
(51:24):
into her retirement
Unknown (51:26):
age.
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (51:26):
Wow, that's so great. And you know
what? And I'm feeling thatbecause I said, besides
Lakeisha. But in my mind,Lakeisha, you've told us that
you're franchising. In my mind,you're already there, so already
Cheryl Chesnut (51:38):
you're talking about you know, your growth that
you've experienced since youstarted?
Lakeisha Charles (51:47):
Yeah, my my growth here, I have stabilized.
And I've already, the first yearfrom being here at the Bebop,
I've increased, no, 90 days, 40%and then this year, year to
date, I've already been overdoubled what I made last year.
Holy cow. Just by stabilizingand going back to the bill
program and my foundation, Ican't I cannot say enough, then
(52:08):
go back to your foundation.
People, if you listen to meplanning and found going back to
the basic steps, don't thinkthat we know everything. Then
there's no shortcuts. There'snone. Just do the work. Just
Erin Brinker - Making Hope H (52:19):
do the work. Let's do the work. All
right. So we have about aboutfive minutes left, and, you
know, I, you know, kind oftalked about, what, where you
want the you're thinking thatthe Bebop will go in the next
couple of years, or, you know,kind of where we're you're
going, where you'restrengthening. Do you have
desires to scale beyond SanBernardino, like put a bebop
(52:40):
center in, I don't know,Oceanside.
Cheryl Chesnut (52:45):
Yes, we are, you know, bebop is, you know, our
big vision is to go global. Andthe nice part is, the academy is
100% online. So online can goanywhere indeed it can. So,
yeah, definitely, we want tothink big and get big and go
there. And, you know, thestories that we hear coming
through, it's very amazing. Youknow, I don't know what place
(53:08):
you can go to, where you haveother entrepreneurs right by
you, cheering you on, thatsisterhood, you know, that's
something that you feel, thatsense of community, you know,
compared to the entrepreneurthat's just sitting there all
alone, not knowing where to go,and you have the lazy who have
access to everything, all in onespot. So that's you know,
something that you know has tobe said. But it is here, also
(53:31):
here to help San Bernardino andmake a difference.
Erin Brinker - Making Hope H (53:36):
So I'm thinking about all of the
artisan women in countries likeMali and Ghana and Tanzania and
Malaysia and other places wherewhere they know how to make a
thing but they don't have anybusiness knowledge. You talked
about social entrepreneurship.
Is that kind of work on yourradar? Reaching out to these
(53:56):
women?
Cheryl Chesnut (53:59):
Yeah, definitely. You know, meaning
what we're doing here. There's alot of social enterprises, a lot
of social entrepreneurs that arehere that are wanting to make an
impact, and so being able toexpand that out globally through
our online programs. But also,you know, partnering with local
organizations so that they haveaccess to these kinds of
(54:22):
resources as well, you know, sothat that impact can expand
globally as well. So I thinkthat, you know, it's really part
of our core of really wanting tomake that impact in our local
environment, but also in aglobal environment as well, by,
you know, working with the localcommunities so that that the
women are also able to have thatexperience of having that
(54:47):
community of people around them.
Because I really think thatthat's really important. A
really important piece iscreating an ecosystem that's
local, but also having accessto. To, you know, these kinds of
resources that we're buildinghere at the bottom, it's really
Erin Brinker - Making Hop (55:05):
about economies of scale at that point
then, I mean, you're then youhave an audience with much
bigger venture capitalopportunities, and you have an
audience with, you know, if youneed legal help, if you need
marketing help, you know, youcan take it, I would imagine,
take advantage of some economiesof scale, the larger that you
get. That's right. So alright,so we are right about the end.
(55:25):
Why don't you tell us how peoplecan learn more about the Bebop
Center, where they go to tolike, if they wanted to, to pop
in, what, where are you, and howdid you find? And how do they
find and follow you on socialmedia? So
Cheryl Chesnut (55:38):
go to bebop center, com online, there's
links to our social media. Wehave some of our events. We have
a few exciting events upcoming.
And I would go ahead and gothere, and then there's links to
the Instagram and the LinkedInand the Facebook from the
website as well. And then theycan always feel free to come on
by and give us a call, you know,and tour the facility. You know,
(56:01):
they can give us a call at909-530-2267. You know, I would
say that's probably the bestway. Is there anything else to
add, ladies,
Erin Brinker - Making Hope H (56:13):
it looks like you have a business
mixer on December 5. Yeah, we
Cheryl Chesnut (56:17):
have a business mixer on December 5, which is
very exciting. It's a joint withone of the one of the chambers
of commerce, the greaterRiverside Hispanic Chamber of
Commerce. We also have, youknow, some Saturday empowerment
workshops with some of theladies. We have the one on
November 30, which is coming upwith playlist curation for daily
(56:40):
positive empowerment using thepower of music. Is a tool for
non members. It is $20 to join.
And then we also have ourholiday celebration on December
17, and all that's on ourwebsite.
Erin Brinker - Makin (56:52):
Excellent, excellent, excellent. So, all
right, anything else, any finalwords you want people to you
want to leave with people whoare listening?
Lakeisha Charles (57:03):
Um, if I could say, come on down, sisters, if
you feel like you even have aninkling of an idea of that, you
want to start a business, comedown here and and get a hug,
come down here and take a breathwith us. Come down and if you
would like your house to clean,I'm
Unknown (57:25):
an LDR, Facebook and Instagram
Erin Brinker - Maki (57:28):
outstanding Well, Lakeisha Charles from LDR
cleaning services, and Cherylchestnut and Jennifer iteralde,
thank you. Thank you. Thank youfor joining me for the
incredible work that you'redoing. I want these women to
become kajillionaires and justrevitalize this entire region.
So thank you so much for joiningme today. Thank you.
Unknown (57:49):
Thank you, Erin for the time.
Erin Brinker - Making Hop (57:53):
Well, I loved that conversation. If
you want more information aboutthe Bebop center, please visit
www.bebopcenter.comwww.bebopcenter.com that's
www.bebopcenter.com so thispodcast, the making hope happen
podcast is from the making hopehappen Foundation, which is in
(58:14):
San Bernardino, California. Weare the foundation for the San
Bernardino City Unified SchoolDistrict. It is the ninth
largest in California. It is anurban school district, and if
you're not in California, it'sabout 60 miles east of Los
Angeles. So the making hopehappen foundation empowers and
engages the people of SanBernardino, California and
(58:34):
beyond every day. Our programsare designed to help people
realize their dreams how theydefine them from cradle to
career, we have Early ChildhoodMentor supported scholarships,
innovation and education, and weare the backbone for the uplift
San Bernardino collective impactinitiative, which is focused on
(58:55):
building a generation ofsuccessful adults committed to
growing roots in San Bernardino,Hope has the power to change
lives. Gratitude and hope,together can change the world.
Have a wonderful Thanksgivingeveryone or whatever is in the
future that is good for youthat's coming up. I know that
(59:16):
you may not be listening to thisexactly when it was posted. So
whether you're listening onradio, on the radio on X 95.7 or
kql H both in Inland SouthernCalifornia, or you're listening
on any one of the podcastplatforms, from Spotify and Buzz
sprout, Deezer and apple andetc, Amazon, all of them. Thank
(59:36):
you for listening. Have awonderful week, and we'll see
you next week, or at least talkto you. You.
Erin, welcome everyone. I'm Erin
Brinker, and this is the makinghope happen radio show. I love
this time of year. Fall is infull swing. The election season
is in the rear view, and thereis a joyful anticipation for the
holiday season. I loveThanksgiving and Christmas for
the five F's, food, fun, family,friends and football. There is
(00:31):
so much in this world that isworking hard to divide us this
holiday season. Give yourselfthe gift of love and community
by being intentional aboutconnecting even with those you
haven't seen in a while, talkingabout like even called your
parents or seen yourgrandparents, an old neighbor or
an old friend,be intentional. Reconnect.
They're if you're thinking aboutthem, they're probably thinking
(00:54):
about you.
I don't believe in coincidences,do you?
I don't think there areaccidents, really. There are
things that happen, and they canbe not good, or they could be
good in the long run.
Think about people in or on yourpath who drive you up a wall.
(01:18):
You know the extra Gracerequired people, and guess what?
You're probably that to themtoo. I'm just saying I know I
am.
Again, there's no accidents atlight in life. At least that is
my worldview. You're in eachother's space for a reason.
Perhaps there's a lesson to belearned. Perhaps it is humility
or patience. What if they haveto learn the same thing in the
(01:43):
12 step process? Yeah, I'mtalking about the one from AA.
I'm not a friend of Bill, butthere are tried and true tools
that anyone can use in the 12steps. The first one is the
recognition that there is apower higher than ourselves. The
second is that we areaccountable to ourselves and to
others. It's not just about you.
It's really not. It's not, it'snot. No one could get through
(02:06):
this life alone, and the priceyou pay for being on this earth
in a community is to fight theworst parts of your own nature.
And it's hard, because I have alot of worst parts. Worst parts.
Can you have more than one worstpart? I'm telling you you can
how grammatically incorrect thatis. I have lots of parts of
(02:27):
myself that I need to fight, andpopular culture tells us that
our nature is always right andthat should be nurtured above
all else. I'm going to do me, Ifeel like Dr Phil when I say,
How's that working for you?
Probably not very well. It's notjust about you. It's not just
(02:49):
about me. Judging by how theworld is working, it's not good
for anybody. I would say, Well,having said that, there are some
stellar examples of humanity atits best, those who roll up
their sleeves and help during adisaster. And there's tons of
stories from the Carolinas andeastern Tennessee and from
(03:10):
Florida of people doing exactlythat. I know there was a crew
from my church that that wentout with Samaritan's Purse and
were cleaning up properties. Acrew of men who went, they went
grab their gloves and their workboots, and they they took off
and were there for several dayshelping the cleanup right after
the hurricane. People who offertheir time and their treasure to
(03:32):
important nonprofit causes,they're pretty wonderful too,
too. So as Thanksgivingapproaches, I'm grateful for my
higher power. That's the God ofthe universe. I'm grateful for
my family battle for holiday,holiday tables, a roof over my
head, warm blankets andcommunity. And of course, I'm
(03:53):
very grateful for you. Allright, it's time to get started.
I have if you're anentrepreneur, or you've ever
wanted to be an entrepreneur,you're gonna love this show.
This is a story, stories, pluralof triumph and perseverance and
just how to get there from here,it's awesome. All right, let's
(04:13):
go well, I am always up for goodstories about people making
their dreams come true, andwe've had a lot of those on this
show, and we're going to bringyou a lot more. And today, I'm
absolutely thrilled to besitting down with Cheryl
chestnut, the VP of Operationsat the Bebop center, Jennifer
(04:34):
iteral day, and I'm sure you'regoing to correct me, because I
probably pronounced that correctincorrectly. Chief Innovation
Officer, Chief Innovation,Innovation Officer at the Bebop
center, and Lakeisha Charles,she's one of the Bebop
entrepreneurs. So we'll startwith you. Cheryl, first of all,
welcome to the show.
Multiple (04:53):
Thank you for having us.
Erin Brinker - Making Hope H (04:55):
So what is BBOP? We've had, we've
had Vanessa um. Perez on theshow when you all first opened,
what was that two years ago? Andmaybe a year and a half ago? And
but we haven't had an update.
We've got new listeners. So whatis the BBOP center? Yeah,
Cheryl Chesnut (05:10):
So the Bebop Center is an amazing place.
Bebop stands for black andbrown, opportunities for profit
center, and is anEntrepreneurial Center designed
specifically to help women ofcolor entrepreneurs build, grow
and scale profitable businesses.
It's a 10,000 square foot hightech building that is designed
(05:32):
to help empower the womenprovide us the tools the
community and the support neededto bring innovative ideas, so
that way women here can helpthrive and succeed and build
that community.
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (05:48):
Wow, that's that sounds amazing. So
what is that? What is that, whenyou say, build their careers, do
you have just to kind of set thetable? Do you have co working
space? Do you have services? CanI take classes? What can I
expect? So
Cheryl Chesnut (06:05):
I would actually like to defer to Miss Jennifer,
Chief innovative officer, totalk about what they can expect,
what the ladies can expect fromcoming here to the Bebop center,
definitely.
Jennifer Yturralde (06:14):
So here at the Bebop center, we have
different ways thatentrepreneurs can engage with
the center and with differenteducational programs. So we
have, we are we have a pillar ofour we have more pillars. So we
have, we're really focused onaccess to capital, access to
information, action, access totechnology and access to
(06:35):
networks, and with all of that,build that around our bee box
Center and the memberships thatwe have so people can access the
center here the 10,000 squarefoot facility, and here we have
network, networkingopportunities. We have
workshops, we have communitybuilding events and activities.
(06:56):
We have a beautiful space wherewe can have child care
facilities for women who arecoming in and need support, but
also need child child caresupport, you know? So we have
all these different things thattake away the barriers for
entrepreneurs to be able toaccess entrepreneurship as a as
(07:20):
a pathway. We also have anacademy where we help women go
through all the things that areneeded to start a business, to
grow their business, and thenalso to scale their businesses.
Well,
Erin Brinker - Making Ho (07:32):
that's excellent and and you know your
backgrounds are are diverse andrich, and Jennifer, your
background, you're anaccomplished leader with over a
decade of experience drivinginnovation and entrepreneurship
programs. You You are at UC SanDiego, and you manage pioneering
master of advanced studyprograms and spearheaded new
(07:55):
initiatives such as hacking fordefense. Who at the Institute
for Global, for the globalentrepreneur, and your
experience has fueled yourpassion for Empowering
Entrepreneurs to leveragetechnology for social good. What
led you to San Bernardino,
Jennifer Yturralde (08:12):
yeah, so throughout my career, I've been
able to work with differentkinds of entrepreneurs. So as
you mentioned, in San Diego, Iwas looking at supporting
entrepreneurs that were studentsand faculty, and then coming to
Finland empire, I was able towork with UC Riverside, where we
were able to really build outthe entrepreneurial ecosystem
(08:35):
and then be able to impact Thebroader community, so building
programs and and resources thatwould actually support, you
know, more than just the campus,but for the but the community as
well. And then I really wasinterested in going into
supporting socialentrepreneurship and people who
are really making an impact, andthen coming to the bee box
(08:58):
center, you know, being able toreally focus on using all of
that experience and that passionto really make a difference, to
support women of colorentrepreneurs, to to have all of
those connections to thenetworks and the resources that
have been built over the lastseven years throughout my
(09:19):
experience here. So reallyexcited to bring all of that
together so that we can reallydrive the wealth building here
in the region. So
Erin Brinker - Making Ho (09:32):
moving on to you, Cheryl, I read
Jennifer's background. Why don'tyou tell us what your background
is and what led you to SanBernardino and to the Bebop
center?
Yeah. So
Cheryl Chesnut (09:41):
I am Inland Empire, born and raised, and my
background is a bit buried. I,you know, education wise, I have
a Master's of Science in energymanagement, a Master's in Public
Administration. I'm currentlyalso working on my educational
doctrine of organizationalchange and administration. I
have worked in many. Differentsectors, from the energy sector
(10:03):
to owning a few smallbusinesses, like owning a small
restaurant and then also beingsilent partners with food truck
company. And then I've also hadexperience in local government,
and I would say all of myexperience is very unique. I
have, you know, my most recentexperience before coming to the
Bebop wouldn't have been I wasinvolved with a lot of community
(10:25):
engagement and outreach, and Ihave a heart to help make a
difference in the community,especially women of color. I
know what it's like, personally,to build from nothing and
rebuild, and to have that youknow, way to kind of show you
can always rebuild, you canalways come up with something
new, and you can make your ownpath. I find that it's very
(10:46):
important to help just inspireothers and also make a
difference and an impact in thecommunity, so that way the
community can keep on growing.
One thing that also led me tothe Bebop center is just, you
know, through, you know, peoplethat I've known even before. I
worked at the Bebop center. WhenI was in my community engagement
efforts, I would invite folkshere, say, Come on, check it out
(11:09):
and talk about how wonderful itwas through some of the
community partners I was workingwith. So that's, you know, then
I ended up, you know, cominghere, working here as the Vice
President of Operations, andreally just, you know, part of
me is also fascinated bypuzzles. So to me, it's just,
how do you put together a good,systematic framework to also
help make a difference, and puta good organizational framework
(11:31):
in place.
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (11:35):
Oh, that's fantastic. Well, we
haven't heard from LakeishaCharles yet. What is your story?
Tell us about yourself.
Lakeisha Charles (11:43):
So like you said, my name is Lakeisha
Charles, and I am the co ownerof LDR cleaning services. Before
I started LDR cleaning services,I worked corporate for about 17
years for a top water companythrough safety, health and
environmental and differentpositions there, I just learned
(12:05):
a lot about my environment andthings, but then when they
decided they might sell, I hadto pivot quickly, and I just
went back to what I knew, whichwas cleaning and just an
entrepreneur making it happen,basically, well,
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (12:19):
it's Fantastic. Now, when did you
first engage with the Bebopcenter?
Lakeisha Charles (12:24):
About I just hit my year mark in July, that
I've been a part of the Bebopcenter. So prior to that, I was
like I said, I had started beingan entrepreneur, and I had
already been an entrepreneurfull time, but my 17 year job to
become an entrepreneur with mycleaning company, and I found
(12:45):
myself stuck a little bit withsome ebbs and flows in my
business. And I guess through myprayer, I was asking God like, I
don't know where I'm going to gofrom here, and this place just
kind of illuminated. And I hadan opportunity to go in. And
once I found out about what thisplace was, I felt like, Oh, my
goodness, it was made just forme, center where I could just
(13:06):
rub up against otherentrepreneurs. I don't have a
background. My family doesn'tcome from entrepreneurs. They
are. You work a job until youget pinned, and then, you know,
you retire and you keep going.
So this center here was a placethat everyone in here look like
we women of color that wereentrepreneurs and trying to make
it happen for their family. So
Erin Brinker - Making Hope Ha (13:26):
I know that vision. So this, this
project, was born out of theTime for Change Foundation,
which I'm a huge fan of, say,help women turn their lives
around, get their kids back,start jobs, move into homes.
They're just a phenomenalorganization. And this bebop
center, it, you know, that wasborn out of a need to overcome
(13:46):
barriers, so that money forentrepreneurship can start
flowing and, and know how, andmanagement, and all of that
could start flowing to peoplewho had been largely locked out
of the system. Can you kind oftalk about, kind of the founding
and, and what are some of thebarriers that are faced by women
of color?
Lakeisha Charles (14:06):
This is Lakeisha again, at as an
entrepreneur. I believe that Iknew how to work, but I didn't
know how to run a business, andI knew how to use my resources,
which were my job or mycommunity, my savings, my
things, but access to capital orjust even understanding what
that looked like. Bebop has gaveus an opportunity to we've had
(14:31):
pitch competitions. We'velearned how to get our finances
together on paper, our taxes andthings, to where we can go into
banks and even be Loanable, youknow, like some so the things
that you don't know, as anentrepreneur, they have helped
break down so many barriers andjust put people in front of us
to give us access to capitalthat we wouldn't necessarily had
(14:52):
at any opportunity of meeting.
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (14:55):
So, and I have to think, and this is
really a comment for all of you,I have to think that to. So many
people they want to maybe theycan do a thing. Maybe they make
cookies or make cakes, and theydo it really well, and they take
their orders from friends andfamily over Christmas. But the
whole idea of of of creating anactual business, buying the
insurance, getting your gettingcertified or licensed, or
(15:17):
whatever it is they need to do,file the taxes correctly, it's
overwhelming, you know. And so,you know. So I'm and so this
question is for Cheryl, and Isay that I I am, I make. I am
the baker. I am the person whocan make these dynamite cakes,
cakes by Erin. And I walk in,but I don't know where to start,
so I walk into the Bebop center.
What can I expect?
Jennifer Yturralde (15:40):
You can expect to walk into a warm
welcome. We have very friendlystaff that help you, help meet
you where you're at, and alsowe're here to make this a safe
space for you to see how we canhelp offer the support and
provide you the access that youneed to be a successful lady,
(16:02):
boss or business owner, and youknow, help help you with
whatever we have, you know, lotsof trainings, lots of workshops,
and you will be provided with alot of that information. You
know, we want to make sureyou're comfortable and your
questions are answered. And youknow, fill with your level of
comfortability to try to see,how can we help support you? So
(16:26):
you probably also would expectan informational session, and
also just to see, you know, whatis the best way and what is the
best way for the services tohelp support you.
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (16:39):
Now we're talking, oh, sorry, go
ahead.
Cheryl Chesnut (16:41):
So just to jump in on that, you know, I think
that's where our BusinessAcademy really supports
entrepreneurs through thatprocess. Because, yeah, it's
really daunting to figure out,where do I start. And so our
build program really goesthrough all of those different
aspects of building, thefoundational basics of what you
need to do and how to evenapproach starting the business
(17:04):
to, you know, actually launchingthat business. So Lakeisha can
talk a little bit about goingthrough that program.
Lakeisha Charles (17:11):
So like I had said before, I had already been
in my business for a coupleyears, just as a side business.
When I decided to go full timeis when I experienced the ebbs
and flows the Bebop buildprogram. Even though I had
already had a business that wasable to navigate and make some
(17:32):
sort of income, I had found thatmy foundation was kind of off
center. So even though I couldhave came in right at the Grow
thinking that I know everythinggoing through the build program
helped me to stabilize myfoundation by just understanding
from the beginning of brandingand marketing and just what that
(17:52):
looks like, and your licenses,and knowing that you have
options, because if you do thetiktoks, or whatever the 32nd
video goes and everybody says,go get this and The LLC and you
can get those things are nottrue, but the v map helps you
navigate through some of theincredible staff and the
teachers that we have heresaying what that looks like for
you and your business.
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (18:11):
You need to tell me that tick tock
is not the well of all true.
Lakeisha Charles (18:15):
No, I heard it was not a proper resource.
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (18:19):
I'm shocked so and so. Let's talk
about as we as we can, kind ofgotten the nuts and bolts, an
overview of what's going on atthe Bebop center, and it sounds
fabulous. Let's talk about thewhat goes on inside the head of
an entrepreneur that what, whathas How do you overcome the
(18:40):
barriers that that you mightlike I, oh, I could never do
that. I'm not good at math. Ican't do accounting. Or I could
never do that. You know, i Howcould I possibly start a
business when I've got kids thattake care of or I could never do
that for fill in the blank. AndI'm sure that some of the women
who come in, they have thosestories, how do you overcome
(19:01):
that?
Lakeisha Charles (19:02):
Unfortunately, but fortunately, you're all the
things when you're anentrepreneur and starting up.
Well, most of us are, you know,here at the Bebop. So where are
marketing, where are accounting,where are all the things you
know? So what that looks like atthe Bebop, to help you navigate
through those things, is throughstrategic planning, strategic
planning, so just to breakthings down and compartmentalize
(19:27):
each one of them, where youthink about you carve out the
time and think about each one ofthem in their own aspect, and
how that all built one bigpuzzle for your
entrepreneurship, you know? Sowe think that, okay, I know how
to make these cookies per se, orI know how to build the best
room ever so but it doesn'tteach you the back office parts
of it, but be pop helps younavigate through that, just
(19:48):
through some of the buildprogram, through the Grow
program, and what steps you'rein through your foundation.
Like, if you don't have a solidfoundation, you
will see and I think also, youknow, just the opportunity. To
be in a community of otherpeople who have done that or are
going through it, you know,being able to go through it
together. You're learning fromeach other, you're bouncing
(20:11):
ideas off each other, you'reasking each other do, who did
you use to do this? Or how do Inavigate this area? You know?
And so being able to be part ofthat bigger community really
makes it from a lonelyentrepreneurial journey to
something that you know, eventhough you're pushing it
forward, you're not doing it byyourself. And so, I think, with
(20:33):
the Bebop center, and like thethe community that you get
alongside of, that you get theyou get the community of people,
and then you also get thementorship of experts, you know.
So if there's areas that you'reneeding support, or, you know,
you're like, oh, I need, I needto have connections to these
types of organizations, beingable to hook into the networks
(20:55):
that we have here, and theexperts and all of those things
are things that will help youmove forward quicker than if you
were trying to do it all byyourself and navigate the whole
journey on your own.
Yeah, absolutely I would. Iwould say for me, even when I
was afraid to even ask certainquestions or didn't even know I
(21:17):
should ask those questions,someone in our classroom space
asked the questions and we'reall in there nodding like I
didn't even know I needed that.
I did not even know that therewas a difference between what's
the difference between a soleproprietor and LLC somebody
asked the right questions. It's
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (21:34):
$800 in the state of California a
year.
Lakeisha Charles (21:39):
We know that now, which if you don't actually
know that it's going to takeyou, so you're just starting it
and you're going out, because,like we said before, other
streams are telling you, go getthis, but you're not
understanding California that isdue in 90 days. Yeah, people
don't know those things and butwhen you're in this classroom
and in this space, we're alreadybeen through it. So many of our
(22:00):
sisters have already mentored,and we're asking the same
questions, where you or we'rejust conversating about it,
you're going to learn so muchjust through our natural,
organic conversations aroundlunch, around the coffee pot. We
don't have that when you're anentrepreneur, you don't have the
water.
Cheryl Chesnut (22:14):
I wanted to add to one of the things you
made me think about Lakeisha waswhat the Bebop can offer the
entrepreneurs is savings andtime. So the time that you know
as something you brought up,entrepreneurs, you know, you're
spending a lot of time figuringit out. Well, you come to the
Bebop, we have it figured outfor you over work alongside with
(22:35):
you to figure it out, to giveyou some of your time back.
Which time is a valuableresource. Time is everything,
yeah, and then also the childcare. That's huge with the Bebop
membership, child care isincluded. So imagine some of
these, you know, moms that wantto work on their business, but
they're like, Okay, I don't havea child care. They have a place
here where we have a child care
Erin Brinker - Making Hop (22:58):
well.
You serious? I had no idea.
on site as
Cheryl Chesnut (23:02):
yeah, so there's that, and then we have a
beautiful cafeteria wherethere's a lot of refreshments.
So does waters all included forthe entrepreneur to gather
around? Yeah,
Lakeisha Charles (23:13):
our water cooler is fancy.
Erin Brinker - Making Hop (23:19):
Well, and it sounds like you have the
real and the figurative watercooler, because I know that,
because I've been, I've been anentrepreneur a couple of times
in my life, and my quote,unquote water cooler was
Facebook, right? But it's notthe same as standing there with
a human and having aconversation that you know that.
So especially if you're workingon something that is you really
(23:42):
takes a minute to wrap yourbrain around, and you have to
process, you talking aboutsystems, for example, to use up
my real my real life situation.
You're thinking about, Okay,well, what will that workflow
look like, and what will thesystem look like, and who do I
need to have be part of that?
And all of the things that gointo planning your business, you
know, sometimes you need to takea step away. And if it's just
you and your cat, you know it'snot necessarily what you need at
(24:06):
the moment. So it sounds likeyou all have other entrepreneurs
to talk to,
Lakeisha Charles (24:10):
right? So I have also been able to have
focus groups here. I tell myfriends all the time with my
friends, like, Oh, my be bought.
My sister's my friend. So all mybe my sisters. I say it doesn't
matter. Give us all the logosyou might have been thinking
about, and then we're going toall vote on you have a focus
group here, which a lot ofpeople don't even have, that you
can put on Facebook, andprobably have some people vote
on it. But it's not the same,
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (24:32):
no, and you don't know if it's
accurate or not. You know. Youknow it's different from sitting
across from somebody. You showthem a piece of marketing, and
the look on their face says, oh,no, don't do that,
sweetheart. I love you, but noso. So one of the things that
that this when you say, when yousay, you want to start a
(24:58):
business. People say, Okay, youalways got to put together a
business plan. And half thepeople say, I'm not going to
plan. I'm just going to do andthe other half, maybe not half,
another group of people will getanalysis paralysis and never get
out of the gate. You know, whatwas your experience, Lakeisha?
And if anybody else has anyother stories about people in
that phase, what did that looklike?
Lakeisha Charles (25:19):
So I do have a strong background in strategic
planning, but the execution, inpart, was not, was one of my
weakest points. But I had nevermade a business plan, so I would
make this gigantic list andstart checking it off, but where
was it actually all the waygoing? So to have a business
plan and think about what thatlooks like from a one year to a
(25:40):
five year perspective, and justwrite it completely out and
think it out that was big for meand to have other sisters to
come in and help alongside ofme, like, Okay, have you thought
about this part and to look overmy business plan before I'm
shopping it out to someone else?
Sometimes
Unknown (25:59):
it helped as well. Oh, I
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (26:00):
bet it forces you to think
everything through right
Lakeisha Charles (26:04):
elements of it, all you know. So we say we
have a business plan, but do youhave the marketing piece and
then your research? Miss? One ofour teachers here is really big
on, did you do the research?
Multiple (26:14):
And what does
Lakeisha Charles (26:17):
when we think about, what does the market look
like that research piece of it.
Then I didn't. So I can think inmy own head all day long, but
then with a proper businessplan, if you don't do the the
outside research of what yourmarket looks like, what your
niche is, and thinking of thingslike that, you get that type of
influence here at the Bebop Ithink also,
Cheryl Chesnut (26:38):
you know, this is something that, you know I
was talking with some of theentrepreneurs here was becoming
an accountability partner. Soit's like, you're talking about
analysis paralysis, or you justchecking things off. But it's
like, okay, being able to talkto each other and be like, Okay,
how are you moving forward? Areyou moving forward? What are you
needing to do to get to thatnext milestone? So that, you
(27:02):
know, you may think through allthe things that you need to do,
but, you know, it's a dauntinglist, you know, and so it's like
being able to have other peopleto be like, accountable to to
make sure that you're making theprogress that you need to make
in order to keep moving thebusiness forward. You know, I
think that's something that isreally valuable for
entrepreneurs to do to have, youknow, that extra boost and extra
(27:24):
support that and push to be ableto keep things going. Because,
you know, there's going to bedays where it's really
overwhelming and it's reallyhard to figure out, okay, what?
What do I need to focus on rightnow? But being able to have
other people, or, you know, Iknow, I'm an accountability
(27:45):
partner to, you know, some ofthe entrepreneurs here, being
able to check in and be like, sodo you need support? You know?
How are things going? What aresome obstacles? What are some
barriers that you're facing?
Then it's not something that isjust all on you to figure out,
like, how to be constantly soself motivated, because you have
to be but you know, it's alsonice to have other people to
(28:07):
help push you along.
Erin Brinker - Making Hop (28:11):
Well, I know I work better under
deadline, and I work even betterunder deadlines that I don't set
for myself, because I can alwayssay, Oh, I'll get it done
tomorrow afternoon or whatever,and especially if it's
particularly unpleasant, youknow, taxes, but, you know, but
those are things that need to bedone,
Jennifer Yturralde (28:30):
right? And then to add to that, going with
a quote from Benjamin Franklin,if you fail to plan, your plan
to fail. So just to kind ofanchor to that, you know,
planning is essential. You canbe full of these amazing ideas,
but you know, you need to have apath forward to be able to get
you there. And that's one of thethings that you know, definitely
(28:51):
we are here to help Well
Erin Brinker - Making H (28:54):
viewers realize that. So, you know, I
especially think if you want togo get any funding. I mean, if
you are self funded, then thenyou can be as motivated or not
as you want to be, because it'sonly your risk. But if you're
looking for somebody to fundyour organization, whether it's
a loan or whatever, or even asupplier or a vendor, they want
(29:15):
to know that they're going toget paid. So that planning
becomes important, because ittells them what you're planning
to do, what you intend to do.
You intend to do, right,
Lakeisha Charles (29:24):
right? So I also believe that they put it
all in the growth I keep, I keepgoing back to the build program.
Also that foundational piece, ittalked about what that looks
like for you to be able to befunded and down to getting your
DUNS and Bradstreet number. Itgave it to itemize each and
everything that you needed to doto even start being looked at as
(29:46):
fundable, like, don't use a cellphone and things like that.
Like, it told us where to go getthese things. So having someone
else look at your plans and giveyou the shortcuts
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (29:57):
are amazing. Oh, that's huge.
Jennifer Yturralde (30:00):
I also, I also Lakeisha, recently we had
you come as a guest for so capconference, right? So if you
want to talk about that, andwe're speaking about investors
and everything your experiencewith that,
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (30:11):
wow.
What is SoCap?
Lakeisha Charles (30:15):
So So cap is a very large conference in San
Francisco every year around justentrepreneurs and just the
impact to your environment andgiving where entrepreneur and
impact meets investments. Soeven though the Bebop has given
us opportunity to do pitchcompetitions and things like
(30:35):
that, this was more on a globalscale, like, how are we changing
the world? So we're watchingsome of the best pictures. And
so we're in here. And people, wemight be asking for maybe a
million dollars or 1000s ofdollars, you know, and help our
business. But these people weresaying, like, billion and
trillions. Wow,
Erin Brinker - Making Hop (30:55):
Elon.
Elon, trillion,
Lakeisha Charles (30:57):
you know, like, I didn't even know you
could ask people for that typeof money. So just being in like
minded people, it taught me,just even as a small
entrepreneur, to also thinkbigger than myself, you know,
like, okay, my community, butwe're talking about global
change and how I can impact myenvironment just by the small
things that are going to add upto the bigger things. So those
(31:19):
are the type of opportunitiesthat we get here at the Bebop as
they take us with them on ajourney, you know, like through
all of it, I, and I would havenever even thought about going
to a Spokane as just a loneentrepreneur. So my network is
even that much bigger
Erin Brinker - Making Hop (31:36):
well, and I gotta think, you know, if
you come from the Inland Empire,but especially San Bernardino,
you might, you might come from aplace of scarcity, right? So
there's not a whole lot of moneythat's going around that you're
not thinking about. You're notthinking big, big, that your own
vision can limit you. And I, andI understand that, because
that's the nature of where welive. But you go up to the Bay
(31:57):
Area, where money flows likewater, you know, and use all of
a sudden, yeah, all Yeah, all ofa sudden you're thinking totally
different. That must have been,that was, must have been eye
opening for all of you. Yeah,
Lakeisha Charles (32:12):
it was, it was eye opening. So we took a team
of three entrepreneurs, and thenour found one of our co
founders, and all of us weremoved in different ways, and how
we impacted our business indifferent ways, and how we came
back thinking differently, youknow. So we brought a fashion
designer and a lady that doesretreats, Dream cultivating
(32:34):
retreats, and then my cleaningcompany, we thought even we were
changed just by taking thatsmall fight that bebop allowed
us to take.
Erin Brinker - Making Hop (32:42):
Okay, so I went on one of those
retreats for that, that ourthree retreat from the dream
cultivator, holy cow, yeah. Holycow. It was amazing, absolutely
amazing. And, you know, judgingjust from from her, from
LaShawn, you guys, the thequality of your entrepreneurs is
stellar,
Lakeisha Charles (33:02):
yeah, yeah, yeah. She's, she's pretty
amazing. And just being able torub up against someone like her
as another entrepreneur, that'sa blessing, you know, you know,
just being able to come incontact with that type of
caliber of entrepreneur, that'sgoing to automatically make us
better. We're, we're as good aseach one of us. You know, our
(33:24):
brains are all working togetherfor the greater good of whatever
our businesses is. So I haveLaShawn brain with me. I have
Miss Rose's brain. You know, allof our tax preparation. We have
all the things here. So I'mtelling everyone I come from San
Bernardino, and I'm super big onI've been through the school
system, Erin, all that I don'twant to leave to be successful.
(33:46):
I believe we can be successfulhere through programs like the
Bebop, through programs and justhaving that entrepreneur spirit,
you can make it here. We don'thave to leave, because if we
take it somewhere else, thensomeone else is going to reap
the benefits. And that's why Ihave found that people from San
Bernardino and and the thesurrounding areas, do we take
all of our knowledge and as soonas we make it, we we beep and
(34:09):
then come right back here. Yes,quiet, right here, you know, and
change the narrative of whatpeople feel, and that's what the
Bebop is. And I felt so blessedthat this beautiful building was
put here for us to make it,
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (34:23):
and I said this at the retreat, and
I and I really think that, youknow, there's, there's a lot of
people in a lot of spaces in inSan Bernardino, who are working
towards a renaissance, but Ireally think that the Bebop is,
is is leading that charge inmany ways, Because of the
energy, exactly what you'retalking about, real
entrepreneurs wanting to do thework here, which is absolutely
(34:46):
phenomenal. So I've kind ofgotten a little bit of a bit of
an answer, certainly thecommunity spirit. But
individually, as anentrepreneur, you know, how do
you keep yourself motivated? Andwhat is your philosophy? About?
Philosophy? Philosophy aboutkeeping yourself motivated and
on track. Everyone has ups anddowns. How do you persist and
persevere?
Lakeisha Charles (35:08):
I know we need this. I know that my community,
my co partner, is my daughter,so she you know what I mean, so
my I have my family and mycommunity on on our back, you
know, for us an entrepreneur. Somy motivation is different. So I
could go back to corporate,which I did very well in, but I
(35:31):
also no longer had a say so ofwhat my objectives was and where
our dollars went. So being anentrepreneur allows me to do
that. That's my motivation, isto say, I say when, what, who
and how it's going to impact mycommunity. That's huge. So most
corporate are in Connecticut, ormost corporate buildings are
(35:52):
even not even in California.
They're not impacting us the waythat they should. You know,
besides giving us a paycheck
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (35:59):
well and international companies,
your dollars that that you'reearning for that company could
find their way to Switzerland orfind their way to Dubai or find
their way to wherever.
Lakeisha Charles (36:09):
So the water company I work for was not the
actual real building. Was nothere. It was overseas. We're
making their dollars spin beforewe even allowed here in America,
live in lonely California, noteven to mention in San
Erin Brinker - Makin (36:23):
Bernardino well, and there's something to
be said for that. You know, wein the era of Amazon and the big
box store, we forget about theimpact of the small
entrepreneur. When I say small,I mean under $100 million or
whatever, small to mid sizedbusinesses, because those
dollars are spent in this area.
When you shop at staterbrothers, for example, it's the
headquarters is here, and youryour all the corporate employees
(36:47):
and all the store levelemployees, they all live in the
Inland Empire, or wherever theirstores are. And so that's a
different and has a differentimpact than going to Aldi. And
nothing against Aldi. I do shopthere, but you know, their
headquarters is not here. So, sowhat's on the horizon for you
all? What is it that you are,that you are, what goal are you
(37:10):
shooting for now, both at theBebop center and then Lakeisha
with your business? And let'sstart with Cheryl. Well, you
know, we're
Cheryl Chesnut (37:21):
really trying.
We are working hard to grow theBebop center. And, you know,
welcome more entrepreneurs inhere, and then also building a
mentorship pipeline, and thenalso just making sure our
current entrepreneurs do havesuccess, uplifting them, seeing
how we can offer support, and,you know, just seeing what we
can do to help grow
Unknown (37:45):
the center. Yes.
Erin Brinker - Making (37:48):
Alright, so I'd asked Cheryl a question
about what, what is on thehorizon from her perspective.
Jennifer, I'm kicking it to you,yes. So
Jennifer Yturralde (37:56):
for me, you know, I really want to be
bringing the innovation, andways that we can continue to to
impact the community. So lookingat what that can look like with
technology, looking at what thefuture of work looks like. So
bringing in experts, bringing incommunity partners that will
(38:19):
support the growth and thedirection that entrepreneurship
is going. So, you know,technology is always changing
access to different kinds oftechnology, so like AI, that's
always changing from day to day,bringing out, bringing bringing
opportunities to learn moreabout how to infuse that into
business and other kinds oftechnology that will make
(38:43):
entrepreneurs more able tocompete with the market, you
know, so all of these thingsthat we're looking to for the
future, you know, making surethat we're staying on trend and
knowing what kind of things wecan share with entrepreneurs so
(39:06):
that they're ready for for thefuture as well.
Erin Brinker - Makin (39:08):
Excellent, excellent. And Lakeisha, what's
up? What's in the future foryou? So
Lakeisha Charles (39:13):
I honestly believe that my LDR cleaning
services will be one of the topcommercial cleaning services in
the IE, I've already seen thepathway to be able to do it, and
with the help of the Bebopcenter, I'm believing that I'm
going to be able to do that. Andwithin the next five years, I
want to be able to be franchisedso that I can bring more
autonomous jobs to the womanentrepreneur here. So I'm going
(39:37):
to build a way through standardsand stuff like that, so that it
doesn't matter which buildingare you're getting, and just
allowing women to be more therefor their children while making
Erin Brinker - Making Hope Ha (39:47):
a pretty good income. Ah, that
sounds amazing. That's That'sfantastic. I'm thinking about my
house and how it needs to becleaned, although you said
commercial, COVID.
Unknown (40:00):
Right out for you
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (40:01):
so.
So if you, and all three of you,if you could spend time with a
middle school aged girl full ofemotion and doubt, self doubt
and you know kind of trepidationabout how you know what's ahead
and what's in store for her,what would you want her to know
about her possible future. Whatwould you say to her? And maybe
(40:23):
it's yourself as a 14 year oldor a 12 year old middle school,
what would what would you say tothat little girl?
Cheryl Chesnut (40:31):
I would say your path will find your way. You may
have some hard times, but that'sgoing to make you a stronger
person. And use yourimagination, use your
creativity. And just, you know,don't be afraid. I know it can
be scary in trying to figurethat out, and that is a scary
age. But also know that you cando anything you put your mind to
(40:53):
and dream big. And just, youknow, there's so many amazing
things that you can accomplishin life. And you know you will
pick yourself up, you'll movethrough. And you know your path
may not be what you thought itis, but that's okay, because it
builds to something else and itfeels to something even greater.
You
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (41:13):
know I have to say that if, if I were
to describe young people postCOVID, is that they are
terrified of making mistakes, ofsaying the wrong thing, of doing
the wrong thing. They're they'reterrified and and if you to
(41:33):
truly be successful, everybodywho's been successful has failed
at least 20 times. I'm justmaking that number up, but they
failed a lot. I mean, Steve Jobswas fired from Apple, yeah, and,
and you have to, you know,learning how to pick yourself
up, pivot, make adjustments andmove forward. That's, that's
huge. It'll serve you in life,in every endeavor, like in your
(41:57):
marriage, in your business andall of it, yeah, you
Cheryl Chesnut (42:02):
just also made me think of the Meet the
Robinsons movie and the quotes,and they are the lessons from
there. And it's like, if youfail, you've done great, and
everyone's cheering on thefailures, because that's how
you're going to learn. But it'salso very inspirational. But I
think I would also show themovie
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (42:16):
Meet the Robinsons to have never seen
that movie. It's amazing,
Unknown (42:20):
the songs and the quotes and everything. It's
phenomenal.
Erin Brinker - Making (42:25):
Alright, now, something to do this
weekend. So, So Cheryl,Jennifer, you know, what would
you say? And we can go with you.
Jennifer, what would you say tothat 14 year old girl?
Jennifer Yturralde (42:38):
Yeah, so I would say, I would say, Be okay
with yourself, you know, so Ihad this conversation with
Lakeisha, actually earlier on,or maybe like a month ago, about
just how, how it was difficultto navigate a lot of things you
(43:04):
know, my identity and all ofthat, and so learning to have
confidence, and learning how tojust be willing to to stand
apart from other people youknow, so being willing to do
that made a huge difference inmy life and so, so building it,
(43:29):
being able to build on thatconfidence as a as a person,
learning how to How to grow andbe open to to all of that. I
think that's what I would havesaid me. You know, as a as a
middle schoolers, it's okay,it's okay to to be who you are,
(43:54):
and it's okay to stand on yourown, and you will find people
who will love you for the wayyou are, and if they don't, then
that's okay, too for me, youknow, just that journey, just
thinking about, you know, I waswanting to start a business when
I was in college, but I wasn'tconfident that I could make it
(44:18):
happen. I was like, who am I?
Like, why would I think that Icould do this? And I wish that I
had that confidence to be ableto say, okay, I can, I can try
it out and see if it this iswhat I can do. Or, you know,
even if I don't have backgroundin this, like, I can still
follow something that I ampassionate about. So I wish that
(44:40):
I was able to instill that moreof myself when I was a child or
middle schooler, to be able totruly build on on that for
Erin Brinker - Making H (44:54):
myself.
You know, you think about thatage, and that's an age when your
peers are probably the mostimportant to you. Like, what
other people think is soimportant and and that, that
fear of, again, fear of, whatare people going to think of me?
What if I fail? What if, youknow they're going to laugh at
me, they're going to nobodythinks I can do this. That can
be really hard at that age andand often older ages too.
Unknown (45:23):
Still a journey that we're working it is
Erin Brinker - Making (45:27):
alright.
So, Cheryl, your turn. Oh, I
Jennifer Yturralde (45:30):
already spoke my turn. Lakeisha, oh,
Lakeisha, I'm
Erin Brinker - Making Ho (45:33):
sorry.
It's you know, and forgive me.
We're all women, but sometimesit was hard to hear the that to
tell the voices. So, Lakeisha,Europe, thank you. So um,
Lakeisha Charles (45:44):
I would tell her, Well, unfortunately, I have
recently worked for 14 yearolds. Right
through the entrepreneurpartnerships that I have had, I
can go into the school, theentrepreneur High School, and
talk to some of them, right? Didfocus? I did focus on the girls
and I, they're ninth graders.
That's 14 year olds, you know.
So I told them, it's in uses,you know? I just kept
(46:09):
reiterating that. Then you're sounsure of yourself and you
shouldn't be the things thatwe're doing every single day
could be a path to
Unknown (46:18):
entrepreneurship
Lakeisha Charles (46:20):
and be kind just of who your your circle is.
It's okay to lean on your othersisters, be nice to each other,
love on each other, because atthe end of the day, we're going
to have to find, find asisterhood, you know? So if I
can say that to them, you know,I'm going to say it to every 14
year old. It's in you find asisterhood that believes in you
(46:42):
and you're not as weird as youthink you are.
Erin Brinker - Making Ho (46:48):
You're not any more or less weird than
everyone else, but it's hard.
You know, women can be reallyhard on each other. I'm just,
I'm just going to keep it realto use that phrase, we are
really hard on each other, youknow? And if we want to be
supportive, we support Ted, wehave to be supportive to others
and create that space. It has tobe intentional, yeah,
Lakeisha Charles (47:12):
and that's and that's hard at 14, because you
feel like, well, am I weird?
Because you don't know so many Ithink that thing that is for the
Internet and helped us to findour tribes, but find your tribe
and know that it's okay to beyourself. I think that this
generation is a lot moreaccepted of people being their
own person than they were maybein our generation, where we're,
(47:33):
you know, that was not okay, orwe thought that we were so
secluded, and we're just notanymore. You can literally type
in what you're into and findyour group, yeah, so that's just
not the same. But I want them toknow that they are not alone,
and that they can do all thethings girls can do, all all
kind of things that we neverknew. So when I go in there, the
(47:54):
first thing I ask them, if theyare even thinking about being an
entrepreneur, just because yougo to entrepreneur High School.
Mean is you're going to be anentrepreneur? And a lot of them
were like, No, I don't I don'thave anything I want to do. I
don't know anything. So I juststarted pointing out things. Who
did your makeup today? Who didyour hair today? Do you do your
chores? That is a business. Ihave a whole business. That's
(48:15):
true.
Erin Brinker - Making Ho (48:19):
That's true. You know, it's
Lakeisha Charles (48:20):
already there.
What are you good at drawing?
Graphic design is a huge thing.
Digital content is going forsome stuff so they know how to
do things. My granddaughterright now, she's only 11, and
she knows I do a lot of things.
She thinks she'll be a star.
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (48:35):
Yes, ma'am, unfortunately. I mean, go
for it. Do your thing.
Unfortunately, though, everybodythinks they're going to be a
Tiktok or YouTube star and, and,but, you know, they're having
fun while they're doing it andlearning how to, how to,
learning skills that can beused, you know, in their future
life or in a business, I morepower to them. Yeah. So, so what
are some of the, I mean, besidesthe, besides Lakeisha, what are
(49:01):
some of the Bebop successstories? You know, where have,
where have you guys really seenpeople soar?
Lakeisha Charles (49:15):
You said, besides Lakeisha,
Unknown (49:18):
well, we've heard
Erin Brinker - Making Hop (49:20):
yours success story every day.
Okay, so I I'm sorry I was likein addition to Lakeisha. But you
know what Lakeisha tell yoursuccess story?
Lakeisha Charles (49:30):
I wanted to say each of the be pop members
and be pop sisters are own. Aretheir own little success story.
Everyone has accomplishedsomething and growing and
learned, and we celebrate all ofthem. So, you know, each one is
their own success story in theirown way. Lakeisha, you know, is
there any like particular storythat we want to, you know, um,
(49:51):
Pitch Competition, successes ornot just the pitch conversation,
just the everyday
Unknown (49:56):
people, like,
Lakeisha Charles (49:57):
we have a solid lady here named Miss Rose.
That is. Day in and day out. Andwhen she came in here, she was
actually just doing churchplates. She has an entire
catering business now,seriously, her navigate through
that with websites. And we'resaying we're talking about a
lady that is well seasoned andis already in retirement from
(50:17):
the school system that haslaunched an entire entrepreneur,
new venture, a new lease on lifethat that she is able to
navigate through just by theBebop shorter, what that can
look like. So awesome,completely. Now she has an LLC.
She has menu choices. She'sdoing full time catering, and
(50:38):
Miss Rose is doing her thinking,right? So element of taste is,
is Sky marketed just throughher, your journey with me. And I
say that because we came andstarted on the same day. So the
watch her journey is, sheinspires me day to day to go and
who
Unknown (50:53):
she cooked with, like Juliet child Oh yeah, she's
Erin Brinker - Making (50:55):
studying with, like, Julia Childs and
what's, oh my gosh, yeah, yeah.
Lakeisha Charles (51:00):
So, I mean, she's well, but she was still
just doing it for her church,and bebop helped her become a
profitable business with an LDlike That was crazy. And just to
be able to take some of thoseshortcuts work for her, like,
and teach her how to get her LLCand walk through her iterate
keystrokes and go from paper tobeing able to run in a whole
back office. We're talking abouta seasoned lady that was already
(51:24):
into her retirement
Unknown (51:26):
age.
Erin Brinker - Making Hope (51:26):
Wow, that's so great. And you know
what? And I'm feeling thatbecause I said, besides
Lakeisha. But in my mind,Lakeisha, you've told us that
you're franchising. In my mind,you're already there, so already
Cheryl Chesnut (51:38):
you're talking about you know, your growth that
you've experienced since youstarted?
Lakeisha Charles (51:47):
Yeah, my my growth here, I have stabilized.
And I've already, the first yearfrom being here at the Bebop,
I've increased, no, 90 days, 40%and then this year, year to
date, I've already been overdoubled what I made last year.
Holy cow. Just by stabilizingand going back to the bill
program and my foundation, Ican't I cannot say enough, then
(52:08):
go back to your foundation.
People, if you listen to meplanning and found going back to
the basic steps, don't thinkthat we know everything. Then
there's no shortcuts. There'snone. Just do the work. Just
Erin Brinker - Making Hope H (52:19):
do the work. Let's do the work. All
right. So we have about aboutfive minutes left, and, you
know, I, you know, kind oftalked about, what, where you
want the you're thinking thatthe Bebop will go in the next
couple of years, or, you know,kind of where we're you're
going, where you'restrengthening. Do you have
desires to scale beyond SanBernardino, like put a bebop
(52:40):
center in, I don't know,Oceanside.
Cheryl Chesnut (52:45):
Yes, we are, you know, bebop is, you know, our
big vision is to go global. Andthe nice part is, the academy is
100% online. So online can goanywhere indeed it can. So,
yeah, definitely, we want tothink big and get big and go
there. And, you know, thestories that we hear coming
through, it's very amazing. Youknow, I don't know what place
(53:08):
you can go to, where you haveother entrepreneurs right by
you, cheering you on, thatsisterhood, you know, that's
something that you feel, thatsense of community, you know,
compared to the entrepreneurthat's just sitting there all
alone, not knowing where to go,and you have the lazy who have
access to everything, all in onespot. So that's you know,
something that you know has tobe said. But it is here, also
(53:31):
here to help San Bernardino andmake a difference.
Erin Brinker - Making Hope H (53:36):
So I'm thinking about all of the
artisan women in countries likeMali and Ghana and Tanzania and
Malaysia and other places wherewhere they know how to make a
thing but they don't have anybusiness knowledge. You talked
about social entrepreneurship.
Is that kind of work on yourradar? Reaching out to these
(53:56):
women?
Cheryl Chesnut (53:59):
Yeah, definitely. You know, meaning
what we're doing here. There's alot of social enterprises, a lot
of social entrepreneurs that arehere that are wanting to make an
impact, and so being able toexpand that out globally through
our online programs. But also,you know, partnering with local
organizations so that they haveaccess to these kinds of
(54:22):
resources as well, you know, sothat that impact can expand
globally as well. So I thinkthat, you know, it's really part
of our core of really wanting tomake that impact in our local
environment, but also in aglobal environment as well, by,
you know, working with the localcommunities so that that the
women are also able to have thatexperience of having that
(54:47):
community of people around them.
Because I really think thatthat's really important. A
really important piece iscreating an ecosystem that's
local, but also having accessto. To, you know, these kinds of
resources that we're buildinghere at the bottom, it's really
Erin Brinker - Making Hop (55:05):
about economies of scale at that point
then, I mean, you're then youhave an audience with much
bigger venture capitalopportunities, and you have an
audience with, you know, if youneed legal help, if you need
marketing help, you know, youcan take it, I would imagine,
take advantage of some economiesof scale, the larger that you
get. That's right. So alright,so we are right about the end.
(55:25):
Why don't you tell us how peoplecan learn more about the Bebop
Center, where they go to tolike, if they wanted to, to pop
in, what, where are you, and howdid you find? And how do they
find and follow you on socialmedia? So
Cheryl Chesnut (55:38):
go to bebop center, com online, there's
links to our social media. Wehave some of our events. We have
a few exciting events upcoming.
And I would go ahead and gothere, and then there's links to
the Instagram and the LinkedInand the Facebook from the
website as well. And then theycan always feel free to come on
by and give us a call, you know,and tour the facility. You know,
(56:01):
they can give us a call at909-530-2267. You know, I would
say that's probably the bestway. Is there anything else to
add, ladies,
Erin Brinker - Making Hope H (56:13):
it looks like you have a business
mixer on December 5. Yeah, we
Cheryl Chesnut (56:17):
have a business mixer on December 5, which is
very exciting. It's a joint withone of the one of the chambers
of commerce, the greaterRiverside Hispanic Chamber of
Commerce. We also have, youknow, some Saturday empowerment
workshops with some of theladies. We have the one on
November 30, which is coming upwith playlist curation for daily
(56:40):
positive empowerment using thepower of music. Is a tool for
non members. It is $20 to join.
And then we also have ourholiday celebration on December
17, and all that's on ourwebsite.
Erin Brinker - Makin (56:52):
Excellent, excellent, excellent. So, all
right, anything else, any finalwords you want people to you
want to leave with people whoare listening?
Lakeisha Charles (57:03):
Um, if I could say, come on down, sisters, if
you feel like you even have aninkling of an idea of that, you
want to start a business, comedown here and and get a hug,
come down here and take a breathwith us. Come down and if you
would like your house to clean,I'm
Unknown (57:25):
an LDR, Facebook and Instagram
Erin Brinker - Maki (57:28):
outstanding Well, Lakeisha Charles from LDR
cleaning services, and Cherylchestnut and Jennifer iteralde,
thank you. Thank you. Thank youfor joining me for the
incredible work that you'redoing. I want these women to
become kajillionaires and justrevitalize this entire region.
So thank you so much for joiningme today. Thank you.
Unknown (57:49):
Thank you, Erin for the time.
Erin Brinker - Making Hop (57:53):
Well, I loved that conversation. If
you want more information aboutthe Bebop center, please visit
www.bebopcenter.comwww.bebopcenter.com that's
www.bebopcenter.com so thispodcast, the making hope happen
podcast is from the making hopehappen Foundation, which is in
(58:14):
San Bernardino, California. Weare the foundation for the San
Bernardino City Unified SchoolDistrict. It is the ninth
largest in California. It is anurban school district, and if
you're not in California, it'sabout 60 miles east of Los
Angeles. So the making hopehappen foundation empowers and
engages the people of SanBernardino, California and
(58:34):
beyond every day. Our programsare designed to help people
realize their dreams how theydefine them from cradle to
career, we have Early ChildhoodMentor supported scholarships,
innovation and education, and weare the backbone for the uplift
San Bernardino collective impactinitiative, which is focused on
(58:55):
building a generation ofsuccessful adults committed to
growing roots in San Bernardino,Hope has the power to change
lives. Gratitude and hope,together can change the world.
Have a wonderful Thanksgivingeveryone or whatever is in the
future that is good for youthat's coming up. I know that
(59:16):
you may not be listening to thisexactly when it was posted. So
whether you're listening onradio, on the radio on X 95.7 or
kql H both in Inland SouthernCalifornia, or you're listening
on any one of the podcastplatforms, from Spotify and Buzz
sprout, Deezer and apple andetc, Amazon, all of them. Thank
(59:36):
you for listening. Have awonderful week, and we'll see
you next week, or at least talkto you. You.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Intentionally Disturbing
Join me on this podcast as I navigate the murky waters of human behavior, current events, and personal anecdotes through in-depth interviews with incredible people—all served with a generous helping of sarcasm and satire. After years as a forensic and clinical psychologist, I offer a unique interview style and a low tolerance for bullshit, quickly steering conversations toward depth and darkness. I honor the seriousness while also appreciating wit. I’m your guide through the twisted labyrinth of the human psyche, armed with dark humor and biting wit.