Legacy of Mentorship: Paying It Forward

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Gratitude radiates throughout this season finale as we reflect on the unexpected journey that took a local grief and finances podcast to global impact. What began as a challenging undertaking has evolved into a meaningful platform connecting grieving individuals with resources and community they never knew existed.

The transformative power of mentorship takes center stage as I share the story of my own mentor Joe, who provided crucial guidance as a Black male in the financial industry. His wisdom continues through everyone he touched, including my work with clients in grief. This personal reflection connects beautifully with past guest Mike Jackson's mentorship philosophy, creating ripples that inspired others to become mentors themselves—a perfect example of how doing good returns multifold rewards.

We revisit the remarkable Coach Cindy, whose influence extends far beyond basketball courts. With every senior securing college scholarships and her team maintaining a 4.0 GPA average, Cindy demonstrates how dedicated mentorship shapes futures. Our spotlight helped fund a team trip to Washington DC, combining athletic competition with life-changing experiences.

The partnership with Modern Widows Club founder Carolyn Moore has transformed how I serve both widows and widowers, creating pathways for grief support before financial planning begins. Through one recent example, a military widow found the community guidance she desperately needed during acute grief.

From listeners who discovered they weren't alone to advisors enhancing their grief support skills, the podcast has created connections I never imagined possible. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for supporting this journey. 

Please note that this is a brief from a prior season and this is not the last podcast of the season.  

Pass this episode on to friends, family, or colleagues who might benefit, and please support the show so we can continue making a difference. What mentor has shaped your journey, and how are you paying it forward?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Real Talk with Life After Grief Chris,
where we talk about relevantissues as it relates to
individuals in grief as theynavigate finances and the
advisors who help them.
We help clients in griefnavigate financial matters.
We also teach advisors how toemotionally and financially work
with clients in grief throughan unparalleled process.

(00:20):
This week's podcast issponsored by Life After Grief
Financial Planning and LifeAfter Grief Consulting.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Hello and welcome back to another episode of Real
Talk with Life After Grief,chris.
This is going to be the finalepisode of the season and we
will come back in air during thesummer.
This episode is titledGratitude.
It's all good in theneighborhood, so I want to talk
about things that have happenedthrough these four seasons and

(00:56):
some good that we have bestowedand when I say we, I mean myself
and listeners and any guests.
So I want you to take a journeywith me.
During this episode, through theexperience of my own, coupled
with others, I've been able totouch a lot of folks, not only
here in the US but across theglobe.
That is mind-blowing to me.

(01:18):
I never would have thought, youknow, my podcast would have
reached really outside of theconfines of the Orlando area,
but it's a testament to do goodfor others, and rewards come
back to you.
Also.
I'm going to highlight a fewdistinct past episodes where
listeners really made someserious connections and were
able to help themselves as wellas others.

(01:40):
I don't remember.
If you recall, there was apodcast titled Mentoring with
Mike Jackson.
Mike had mentioned how hementors folks and how he has
made a huge difference in thelives of others and how he got
to where he is by mentorship,and Mike does a tremendous

(02:00):
amount of good for other peopleand he's brought a lot of other
people along with him through noobligation or anything other
than you know.
He's a really good dude and I'mgoing to take that a step
further.
I'm going to share my ownexperience with mentorship and
how it's brought me to thispoint.
I had a gentleman his name wasJoe and we met back right before

(02:26):
I graduated from college.
I was actually introduced to aseries of black folks at it was
called Nations Bank at the timeand Joe was someone I stuck with
and we just gelled and hebecame a lifelong mentor of mine
and up really until I went onmy own and one of the things

(02:52):
that he really did for me he wasa brilliant gentleman and he
was great in everything that hedid.
He specifically helped me inthe dynamics of being a black
male in this industry and it wasvery hard for me to see, touch
and feel someone else thatlooked like me and that I could

(03:15):
aspire to be like.
And you know, go to askquestions.
Joe was that for me and I wasvery fortunate that I met him
before I started my career and Iwas very fortunate that I met
him before I started my career.
He was arguably the best mentorI had ever known, next to my
father, and in the last year anda half I experienced the loss

(03:37):
of Joe, and he was, you know, atthe tender age of 50 and he
passed away.
That was a tremendous blow tomyself.
He gave me a lot of tools andhe gave me a lot of tools that I
have since passed on to a lotof other people, and for that
I'm very, very thankful for Joeand that's the power of

(03:59):
mentorship.
And, you know, taking this backto Mike, through our collective
experience Mike Jackson, who ismy guest on the podcast Mike and
I were able to influence a fewlike-minded brothers to take on
mentorship of their own andultimately extend great work,
you know, spurred on by thewisdom of others, and so that's
not something that I didindividually, that was something

(04:21):
, you know, brought on, you know, mike, and you know we are like
minded and that was bestowed onboth of us, so you know we feel
an obligation to pay it forward.
I'm going to move on to anotherconversation that I had about

(04:43):
how great of an influence Cindyis on young ladies, specifically
high school age ladies, and youknow we shined a light on Coach
Cindy and the great work thatshe does.
And by shining this great workthat she does, we were able to
help Coach Cindy raise somefunds to send her girls on a

(05:06):
trip to Washington DC, wherethey ultimately look to play
basketball.
But they gained some lifeexperience.
And I also mentioned that Cindyis very modest.
However, she managed to getevery one of her seniors a
college scholarship this yearand, taking that a step further,
she has gotten offers to threeof her juniors.

(05:29):
That's tremendous and that goesway beyond the confines of just
being a coach, not to mentionthat her team's grade point
average averaged a 4.0 for theseason.
Cindy is a tremendous resourceand she's a great lady.
So I like to highlight reallygood people Go coach Cindy.
I'm also proud to call her myfriend as well.

(05:51):
Moving to another episode, I hadthe pleasure and pleasure is an
understatement of beingintroduced to the Modern Widows
Club I'm going to say ModernWidows Club, modern Widows Club,
modern Widows Club.
And I was fortunate to meetCarolyn Moore, who is the
founder of the Modern WidowsClub and the outstanding work

(06:12):
she does Out of all the work shedoes and the exposure I've
received from her organization,I have personally been able to
transform the lives of severalother widows.
And to take it a step further,I picked up several resources to
help men, aka widowers in theirjourney after the death of a

(06:32):
spouse, and I want to say thankyou, carolyn.
I'm also going to give youanother example of how that
really kind of came to light.
Recently I had a widow thatreached out to me and she was in
tremendous grief and reallywasn't able and wasn't ready for
any financial process.

(06:54):
I had a conversation with herand I assessed what she was
going through and I quicklyintroduced her to the Modern
Widows Club and I said this isprobably your best resource
right now.
And her husband, who passedaway, was involved in the
military and there are somethings that this widow may or

(07:16):
may not have access to on herown, but through the mentorship
of other like-minded widowsthrough the Modern Widows Club,
I was sure that she was going toget the guidance that she
needed.
Club, I was sure that she wasgoing to get the guidance that
she needed.
So thank you again, carolyn, forallowing me to be exposed to

(07:37):
the great work that you do and,as I was strongly, strongly
encouraged to start this podcastand it was a huge undertaking
Now it's, you know, prettyseamless.
I love doing it and I couldnever imagine, you know from the
start, the serious impact itwould have on the lives of so
many, and for that I'm eternallythankful.

(07:58):
I have folks reaching out to meall the time, you know, saying
that I've touched them or theyhad no idea that someone you
know else was in their shoes, orsomeone had a similar
experience, or you know therewere other resources out there
available, you know, for themand again, for that I'm

(08:18):
eternally thankful, because Ilearn a tremendous amount from
other people and being involvedwith other people, and for you,
the listeners who support me andmy podcast, I'm eternally
thankful.
So thank you from the bottom ofmy heart.
I love what I do and willcontinue to operate the podcast
as God sees fit.
Be well and best wishes.
See you in season five, whichshould air sometime in the

(08:41):
summer of 2023.
Please feel free to pass thisepisode on to any friends,
family members or colleagues.
Please also remember to supportthe show so we can continue to
impact the lives of so many.
Be well and best wishes.
See you in season five Cheers.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
Thanks for listening to our podcast.
If you are a client and arelooking to work directly with
Chris and or our firm, head onover to Life After Grief FP.
That is Life After Grief FP.
The FP is for financialplanning.
If you are an advisor lookingto emotionally and financially
work with your client in grief,or if you are a client looking

(09:19):
to get your advisor's head inthe game, head on over to
lifeaftergriefconsultingcom.
That islifeaftergriefconsultingcom.
Any related informationreferenced in this week's
podcast will be located here inthe podcast section.