He Became the Storm - Dorian Cockrell-VP at JPMorgan Chase

At 38 years old he was the youngest person and first black man to manage a $400,000,000 budget, spanning 13 counties, 7 million people, and over 12 thousand miles of territory for the Houston-Galveston Area Council in the gulf coast region. Now, at 40, he’s the Vice President and Central Program Officer in Global Philanthropy with JPMorgan Chase.

Mr. Dorian Cockrell, Vice President and Central Program Officer in Global Philanthropy with JPMorgan Chase. He sets the strategic direction and oversees Chase's philanthropic investments in Houston, Central Texas, and Oklahoma markets. At 40 years old he’s embodies the phrase: young, gifted, and black! Listen to his intriguing story of how he went from the hood with no vision for his life to being Vice President at a Blue-Chip Corporation. Attention to detail, patience, and earning the respect of his peers is part of the recipe. EMAIL: [e-mail] to have Dorian Cockrell speak to your audience OR for more information on how JPMorgan can help your small business. We’ll give you a direct connect to this rising national leader.

Dorian is a prestigious Houston Business Journal 40 Under 40 Honoree, and an American Leadership Forum, Senior Fellow / 55. Dorian sets the strategic direction and oversees Chase’s philanthropic investments in specific regions. Prior to joining JPMC, he was the Workforce Operations Manager for Houston-Galveston Area Council. As operations manager, Dorian was responsible for providing strategic planning and direction for the workforce investment board that serves the 13-County Houston-Galveston region. He also worked at United Way of Greater Houston as Senior Manager for Workforce Development.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Welcome to Team Leadership Radio. That's t E E M. Train, equip,
empower and Mobilize leadership. I'm your host, doctor Cecilia Martin,
and joining me tonight is mister Dorian Cockrew. Dorian is
a vice president and Central Program Officer in global philanthropy

(00:52):
with JP Morgan Chase. He sets the strategic direction and
oversees chases philanthropic investments in Houston, Central Texas, and Oklahoma markets.
Before joining JP Morgan, he was the Workforce Operations Manager
for the Houston Galveston Area Council, providing strategic planning for

(01:12):
the thirteen county region. He also worked at United Way
up Greater Houston as Senior Manager for Workforce Development. During
his time at United Way, he led united ways Thrive
program to help hardworking families improve their incomes, build savings,
and acquire assets to secure a better future. Dorian serves

(01:35):
on several statewide education and workforce advisory councils in Texas
and he's always advancing workforce and racial equity. Hey Dorian, welcome.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Hey glad to be here. Thank you, Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yes, I am so glad that you took the time.
I know you're a very busy man. Thank you for
taking the time to join us on Team Leadership Radio.
I want you know, I'm going to get into some
of your accomplishments because you have certainly done a lot
at such a young age, relatively young age. You're over
forty now, right, I just crossed.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
That finish line.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
Yeah, okay, all right, yeah, because a few years back
you were part of the prestigious Houston Business Journal forty
under forty honor read and honored by the American Leadership Forum.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
What was that like for you?

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Oh, it was fantastic to one be able to set
the bar for my peers in that time period and
just really give them an understand that, man, we could
do it. You know, we could do it, just like
everybody else. It's not about age. It's not about who
says you're too young to be one of the best

(02:52):
professionals in your city. For me, it was about having
that tanaci to say, Okay, I am one of the
top leaders in the city. I'm able to accomplish some
things at a young age that I think we always
try to strive for and get. So that's that's my thought.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Absolutely. So is it safe to say that you were
born and raised in Houston, Texas, or were you born
and raised in a different part of Texas.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
No, born and raised Houston, Texas. Born and raised on
the south side of Houston, ironically, born in Jefferson Davis Hospital,
which would tell you a little bit about and Houston
and the transformation that we have actually made, uh here
in the city. And so I've lived in several parts

(03:44):
of Houston on the south side, many of the you know,
underserved areas in Houston. So that's where really a lot
of my passion comes from.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
I guess for listeners, the south side of Houston is
like saying you're raised on the south side of Chicago.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
Exactly south side of Chicago, south side of any uh any, right, anything, whatever?
You know. You know, I was raised right off of
Morntin Luther King, you know, on the south side. So
I'm completely aware of, you know, the opportunities that have
been taken away from our community as well as you know,

(04:23):
the ones that we need to get back to succeed.
Get that pro spirit.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
Sure, absolutely, So what was life like growing up as
a child? Were you very studious? Were you the one
designated most likely to succeed? You know, it's a It's
a rough area to grow up in. So what were
you like as a child?

Speaker 2 (04:44):
Man? I wasn't likely to succeed nothing, you know, it
was it was just a matter of having fun, you know.
When I was a kid, you know, I wanted to
hang out with my older cousins. I wanted to run
around in the streets. I wanted to you know, be
like cats that I saw. And so there's a true

(05:08):
sentiment behind, you know, just you have to see your opportunities,
you know, and you can go only as far as
your exposure you know allows you at some points. And
so I think that in my mind, you know, I
just wanted to be like a local kid, stay around
here in Houston, just hanging around the block, chill, you know.

(05:29):
Give me a good, you know, stable job, stay at it,
you know, thirty years and retired and call it a day. So,
I mean, there was no ambition to be highly successful.
I wasn't walking around thinking to myself, Hey, I want
to be you know, this corporate leader in a you know,

(05:49):
blue chip you know, organization, or achieve any of the
accomplishments that I've been blessed to accomplish. It was really
just about you know, kicking it, not getting in too
much trouble, really just you know, for real and really
just kind of just keep my nose clean.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
So I was, well, I got to know then, what
inspired you to go to college? I mean, you have
two degrees. You did your I think your master's in
public administration at uh in Texas as well the University
of University of Texas Arlington, UT. Oh my, is that

(06:33):
where Matthew is?

Speaker 2 (06:35):
No, he's a long horn, but you know I give
him a little slack go maths.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
Well, so what inspired you to actually go to college
and get on this pathway that you really hadn't predicted
or foreseen as a child or inspired necessarily? What finally
motivated you or was maybe the deciding factor in your
life to go to college and get on this path?

Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah? It was honestly sports. You know, I ran track
in high school. And I saw a lot of my buddies,
you know, looking like they was going to school. And
I was like, damn, you know everybody you know talking
about going to school, and let me figure out, you know,
if I can even go myself, you know, you know.

(07:24):
And so I actually, you know, wrote some you know, universities,
wrote some coaches. I wouldn't like the highly recruited kid
come out of high school. You know. I actually had
the right coaches and let them know, hey, I'll be
a great, you know, athlete, and just really pushed myself
out there, you know, past my you know, own comfort level,

(07:49):
because you know, I was just watching everybody was going
to school and everybody was talking about, hey, we're leaving
you know town, and I honestly, I was like, I
don't want to, you know, get left here in the
hood because you know, I know, but you know, hood
things happening and so and so. That was that was
really my motivation. I'd like to tell people, you know,

(08:11):
I ran my way out the hood, you know. But
then once I got to college and said the diversity
is University of Texas at Arlington and the students and
just met lifelong friends, you know, from my very first
day of being there and even to toll Now, it

(08:32):
just really changed my whole trajectory.

Speaker 1 (08:35):
You know, I think this is going to be inspiring
for so many young men like yourself, who you know
didn't see it at first. They definitely wasn't trying for it,
but there was something in you that clicked and you're
being really modest right now. I love hearing the backdrop
of the story. It never gets old for me. Where

(08:58):
you were raised that you ran track and as you said,
you had to write colleges to see if you could
get in. You know, much like me, I graduated from
high school. I think it was a one point nine
if you rounded it up, because you know, I was horrible,
horrible harbor and high school. And people see individuals like

(09:18):
us today, but they have no idea, you know, of
the real backdrop of the story. And you know you're
being modest because I know at some point you even
worked in DC. You went on to do some inspiring things.
What would you say was the key crux as you say,
that sort of springboarded you into this arena of leadership

(09:44):
if you can think about it.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yeah, it was grad school. I was able to complete
my master's program with a four point on GPA, which
opened up doors was for me to become an Archer
Graduate Fellow with the University of Texas System Archer program,

(10:08):
And so I went to Washington, d C. And I
did my Archer Graduate Fellowship with the Association of publican
Land Grant Universities, where I actually at that time had
to write hand right and dictate you know, testimonies and
three things and really what happened on the hill and

(10:31):
send it out to our member universities you know, across
the country. And so that was a role that positioned
me to really understand, you know, how government worked. You know,
I was able to see the inner workings of you know,
how policy is made, really be around Congress members, you know,

(10:53):
regardless of party. I was able to still you know,
learn and see how you know go moves and operates,
and the leaders that go to Washington, d C. And
the people that actually change the rules, you know, for
for the better. And so being in that environment allowed

(11:17):
me to you know, look at my own leadership skills
and say, hey, you know what type of you know,
Texas leader. You know, do I want to become what
type of event you know, national or you know, world stage?
No leader? Leader? Could I could I be? And I was,
you know, fortunately at that time. It was in twenty
thirteen selected by one of the professors at the University

(11:42):
of Texas System Untie Graduate program to give Doctor King's
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom fiftieth anniversary speech
at Lincoln Memora. I'm down on the grounds of Resurrection City,
you know where it happened. And so, you know, that
was another significant moment for my life personally because I

(12:05):
was able to not only you know, be selected from
amongst my peers to give that you know talk, but
also again to look at myself as a leader amongst leaders,
to say, hey, you know, you can be from you know,
the South side of Houston, literally single parent household, raised

(12:26):
by my grandma, you know, my mama, my aunties, my neighbors,
you know, my coaches. It gets to that point where
you know, you realize, in a position where life says
you're not supposed to be, you're still have So it

(12:46):
really tells me that the odds are false, you know,
that they put against you. And I don't buy into
the rhetoric of you know, just because where you came from,
you know, that's just where you have to stay. So
those are just a couple of moments in my life
that really put me in a position to see myself differently,

(13:06):
regardless of you know, the circumstance I was in exactly.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
I mean, you know, when you're in it, especially as
a young person, it's definitely hard to see the forest
for the trees, you know, but because you're in it.
But I want so many people to know that it
doesn't matter where you come from, It doesn't matter who
your parents are. You know, at some point, you really

(13:33):
can make the decision that you want better, you want
to do better, and that you can achieve better. I mean,
you just have to kind of you have to at
some point make the decision to.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
Do I got mad. I got mad enough at my situation.
I got mad enough at my circumstance and was like,
I'm through, right, I'm tired not you know, having money
in the bank for me to you know, bout what
I want from the store. I'm not talking about like

(14:07):
shoes and you know, clothes. I'm talking like, you know,
I want that tee bone steak that cost twenty seven bucks,
you know, right, yes, said if I do, if I
don't grind, you know what I'm saying, I can't get it.
You know what I'm saying. I got to get the
ground beef that cost fortinety nine, you know what I'm saying.
So it got, you know, to me, I was like, man,

(14:29):
look I'm through with this. And so I got mad,
and it wasn't anything in my mind that was going
to stop me. Because I wasn't worried about the storm.
I became the storm. So after that it was you know,
you know, I'm about to rain now, you know what
I'm saying. So you know, it's just you know, a

(14:52):
boldness about the approach of everything that I take, you know,
being in and now, so.

Speaker 1 (14:59):
Oh my goodnes and I'm sory I'm writing this down.
I wasn't worried about the storm. I was the storm.
That's quotable. All right, I'm gonna definitely give you credit
for it. I love it, you know. And it's so
funny you talk about going from so you've gone from

(15:20):
like you said, I'm mad, I want to be able
to just have a decent quality of life, you know,
affording just a stake if I wanted, you know, And
so you go from there to now vice president and
Central program Officer in Global Philanthropy for JP Morgan Chase.
My goodness, my goodness, tell us more about what you

(15:43):
do in that role, because it sounds so massive.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
I'm part of a fantastic corporate responsibility team, and within
that corporate responsibility team lives global philanthropy where I'm part
of the region of fantastic leaders in various cities with
a fantastic leader in Dallas and Chicago. And my responsibility

(16:11):
is to lead our philanthropic investments here in Houston, Central
Texas and Oklahoma to set the strategic direction for those investments,
looking at or four pillars of impact that we invest
in workforce development, small business, financial, health, and housing, and

(16:35):
how we look into neighborhoods that have been underestimated, underserved,
really forgotten that a wealth of talent lies in these
neighborhoods and investing in nonprofit organizations that's going into these

(16:55):
communities's doing real work. And so we also take race
equity lens to make sure that we are lifting up
leaders of color to do this work and scale this
work so they are able to not only create jobs,
you know, within their own organizations, but also help individuals

(17:19):
in the community have better futures and live better lives.
And so I'm honored and I'm privileged to be able
to say I'm at the best financial institution in the
world in my opinion, regardless of what anybody says, and
I lead some of the best projects, and you know,

(17:40):
the US market in my opinion. I have Tulsa, so
I have our Wood project and reviving Black Wall Street
project and looking at how you know it's going to
my own business in that area. I have Oklahoma City
and supporting you know, northeast Oklahoma City. Know deep deuce,

(18:01):
you know, looking at how you know that area you
know is growing now from you know what happened in
the sixties. But you know folks, you know making promises
that didn't come through and reviving you know, those communities.
And so I have real projects that are helping people,

(18:25):
you know, to to close the racial wealth cap and
close the income captain. So again I'm proud to be
at you know, Jacob Morgan Chase and leading this effort
in my markets. And also you know, being part of
a fantastic team you know, doing the same thing.

Speaker 1 (18:43):
Well, when you talk about particularly so I understand the
four pillars of work for small business, I think you
said health and.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
Housing, financial health and housing.

Speaker 1 (18:55):
Financial health. Okay, financial health and housing. How does closing
the racial wealth gap differ from gingrification, particularly when we're
talking about housing and rebuilding communities, because you are dealing
with some historically black areas, like you said, those that
have been underserved or the community has been disintegrated to

(19:18):
some degree for one reason or another. How does this
how does the projects that Chase supports differ from gentrification.

Speaker 2 (19:29):
Well, you know, gentrification is you know, you have all
these businesses coming in and establishing tax rates that individuals
that have you know, lower incomes can't afford, and you know,
ultimately they're pushed out. And so our programs go in
to help those individuals that have those incomes receive the

(19:51):
skills to either manage their finances, start a business, to
gain capital, or you know, provided them a skill to
get a career that has a good wage, that has
career mobility so they can continue to you know, make
more money. So the justification does happen. Individuals don't have

(20:15):
to move out. They can actually afford to pay those
you know, tax increase and have money for the future
as well. And so you know, the strategy is also
you know, not just a racial wealth gap, but more approximate,
just an income gap. And so our processes don't start

(20:38):
all the way, you know, trying to boil the ocean.
You know, at some things we just have to just
you know, start with one, you know, step in the
in the in the water. And so you know, for
me and you know, my local market here in Houston,
I can speak to. You know, we're focusing on supporting
our complete community neighborhoods here, which are communities that have

(21:03):
been established through the migration and I say survival of
slaves stemming from Juneteenth. You know, I want people to
remember that Juneteenth happened eighteen sixty five in Galveston, Texas,

(21:23):
only thirty minutes away from Houston, Texas, and those freed
slaves came up from Galveston all the way up to
Houston and established the South side of Houston Freedom's Town,
fourth Ward, Sunnyside ASME's Gods in Reguards. And so these
are communities where African Americans predominant Rezard currently that have

(21:47):
a rich history of understanding how their legacy land was established,
started and created. So JP Morgan Chase is investing here
in Houston place based strategy for these communities to support
individual still residing in some of these neighborhoods that were started,

(22:12):
you know as early as the first free slaves from
Jalveston into Freedom Town. So that is what you know,
I'm talking about as far as our investments and making
powerful change and impact to combat gentrification that has been
happening so far too long.

Speaker 1 (22:30):
Do you find that the owners in that community or
the citizens that are there, do you find that they
are ready for this type of rebuilding, ready for this
type of engagement, particularly around financial health. And the reason
why I'm asking is because I had a guest so on,
a former NFL player, and he was talking about how

(22:53):
he had put all of this these investments into a
community rebuilt it with the same vision that Chase has
is of course chases larger in scale, but he found
that the folks who lived there were not quite ready
to handle such a shift, even though it was it

(23:16):
was a slow shift because of their financial health. Do
you find that that folks in these areas, whether it's
in Houston or Central Texas or in Oklahoma, are ready
for this or not?

Speaker 2 (23:30):
Oh, they are definitely ready. And you know, we take
a systems level approach and so it's not transactional with
one organization, you know, tackling these issues. So we work
at you know, the highest levels, whether it's a workforce
or City of Houston or county level. Our you know,

(23:51):
larger you know, nonprofit organizations to really have community conversations,
learn and hear from the people about the needs that
they have as we go through development programming for them.
So it's not prescribed coming from you know us to say, hey,

(24:12):
this is what you need for you to be wealthy,
but we hear from them regarding you know, the transportation
issues because you know, they may need assistance in that area,
or they may need other income supports to maintain consistency

(24:34):
and going through training, or you know, whatever the case
may be to you know, learn that financial skill to
learn how to uh gain wide spending habits and have
a coach to go to you know kind of call
before you you know quit, you know type of model.

(24:55):
And so you know, it's a system of organization that
is doing this work and also making the community aware.
So you know, I can say yes, the people are
ready because the organizations have gone out in the community
and spoken to the people, and the people have informed

(25:18):
those nonprofit organizations that are right there in those communities
what they need, and those nonprofit organizations do a fantastic
job in advocating for the community and applying for funding
through application process, whether it's through private, public or philanthropic

(25:38):
dollars for those individuals.

Speaker 1 (25:42):
So they have multiple streams of support and it sounds
like you're burning the candidate both ends. It's not a
top down it is very much an integrated collaborative approach.
So can you explain to me what does race equity
mean in the business world, particularly among entrepreneurs. What does
that look like for entrepreneurs nationwide? Because that's that's a struggle.

Speaker 2 (26:07):
Yeah, it is getting a fair shot accessing capital that
normally only white men have had access to. I mean,
you know, it's it's really opening up those doors women
included to have access, white women included to have access

(26:33):
to resources and funding white men have traditionally had to
start that small business. And so from that equity lens
is you know, providing business consulting, getting you know, individual
entrepreneurs connected to accelerated programs, pre accelerated programs maybe you know,

(26:56):
programs supported our community colleges to really understand the ins
and outs on you know, capital, campaign, fundraising, procurement, the
things that are you know, shared maybe at a golf
tournament or.

Speaker 1 (27:17):
The connections they ask the relationships, right, Yeah, it's kind
of it's kind of taking those conversations that people would
never be part of because they're not you know, at
the birthday party.

Speaker 2 (27:31):
And bringing them into the nonprofit organization for everybody to
have access to learn to get those same opportunities.

Speaker 1 (27:38):
Yeah, I think it's it's really it's so hard for entrepreneurs,
and like you said, those of color women, particularly even veterans,
and I've heard a lot of business owners and entrepreneurs
they all they are always lamenting, you know, they don't
know where to have, where the resources are, they don't
know where to start. They find it very hard to

(28:01):
get a business loan. I mean, is it really that
hard or I personally haven't had a business loan for
my business, and I hope I never will have to
have one. But I'm finding that at some point it's
smart to have one, right, Yeah, at some point. Yeah, So,
I mean it depends, you know.

Speaker 2 (28:22):
So there are stages and steps to gain the capital.
You can have your you know, old fashioned family and friends.
You know, So get a group of individuals and say
we're gonna put some money together, y'all, and we're gonna
start this business, and you can you know, do that
old fashioned you know, capital raising way for individuals that

(28:47):
still works. You know, might I add you to make
sure your network with the right people, surround yourself with
the right city. Goes back to surrounding yourself with the
right people. You're not surrounding yourself with people that can
invest in the business. Need to make sure, you know,
you find your friends that can't. You know, And I'm
not trying to preach to get on nobody's soap vox,
but it matters who you surround yourself by, you know.

(29:12):
And if I have, you know, white home boys that
have white home boys and they can call them and
be like, yo, I'm starting this business and you know,
blah blah blah, YadA, YadA, YadA, And so it is
very effective to have a network of family and friends

(29:38):
that you can call to invest in your idea and
your vision. So I just want to put that out
there for any listeners. It really does matter who you
hang around, like real it does. But you know, outside
of that piece, then you can, you know, get involved

(29:58):
with some accelerator programs that have pre accelerator programs where
you have an idea you can go to like an
incubator so to speak, where you have you know, business
planning sessions or how to create a business plan, how
to apply for grant dollars, you know, how to you know,

(30:20):
start your website, how to you know, get your quality
and internal controls in place. And so you have nonprofit
programs that offer these entrepreneurship and business programs for free
in a lot of cases that individuals can actually learn
the ins and outs of, you know, if you need

(30:40):
your LLC or whatever the case may be, to get
started in Oftentimes, if individuals have the assistance and successfully
complete these accelerated programs, there is a next step or
referral actually into a grant program where I've seen nonprofit

(31:05):
organizations provide a twenty five thousand and fifty thousand dollars
grant for individuals to start the business, so they don't
start their business in debt with the loan and actually
start your business with fifty thousand dollars in capital per
se to actually get your business going. And so those

(31:26):
are nonprofit accelerator programs. Pre accelerator programs, you know, I
would occurage folks to just you know, look those up
online and see in their respective you know markets where
those community assets you know lie. And then you have
community development financial institutions such as people fund or a

(31:50):
local initiative support corporation where you can go to them
and go through a program and they may be able
to provide you a small dollar loan to get your
program started and launch. From an entrepreneurial perspective, and so
I think those are the three things that I would

(32:12):
recommend for an entrepreneur entrepreneur to do. I personally would
take those steps if I had to, you know, make
you know, any recommendation to anyone in my family. You know, hey,
how do I start a business? Everything that I just
said would be the best way to do it. I
would go to a bank after I have my business going.

Speaker 4 (32:36):
After after I have my business going, after I have
some revenue coming in, after I'm feeling secure and stable about,
you know, my business, and you know, I want to
take it to that next level.

Speaker 2 (32:50):
I want to take it to scale. I want to say, hey,
I want to open up a new shop, or I
want to move from my food truck and you know,
open me a brick and mortar or you know, you
just really want to take it to a higher level.
But you've been you've been in business, you know, like
you haven't been in business nine months, you know, you've
been in business maybe three years. You then went through

(33:11):
your first year to get it going second year to
figure that thing out there you're like, Okay, I think
I know what I'm doing right now. Commun again and
let me see if I go to the bank, you know,
and get out a loan, whether it's a lot in
the credit or you know, actual I.

Speaker 1 (33:31):
Think that's the biggest misconception. I think a lot of
entrepreneurs they have an idea, they may even develop a
really good plan, and then they think that they should
then walk into a bank and chase and say, hey,
here's my plan, here's my idea. Fund me.

Speaker 2 (33:48):
No, you don't want to do that. You don't want
to do that. I mean, I mean if you, if you,
if you don't have your business going and and you
aren't bringing in any revenue for your business, and you're
coming in to ask the bank for a loan, then
how are you going to afford your loan payments a

(34:10):
month if you haven't even gotten your business started or
any revenue coming in. And so unless you have personal
capital to cover those fees, and you know those dudes,
you're not gonna want to do that. In my opinion,
I'm not giving any financial advice. I'm not, as you know,

(34:31):
the statements of my own and my own opinion how
to take your Morgan Chase very clear. You know this
is Dorri and Cockro speaking representing taping Morgan Chase from
my financial perspective, own advice that I'm giving.

Speaker 1 (34:46):
No think no, I think what you're saying really makes sense.
It resonates because, like I said, I've never had to
take out a loan. I have actually done what you
talked about it first, which is I've had really good
family and friends to invest I mean, I mean friends
that have invested thousands into my vision. I mean that is,

(35:08):
you know, it's just amazing to have that type of support.
And like you said, but though I think a lot
of people if you don't have, like you said, the
personal assets to put up as collateral. I remember my grandfather,
and of course this was years ago. He was going

(35:32):
to open a Hamburger stand, and he said he went
to the bank and they approved him for fifty thousand dollars,
and at that time that was a lot of money.
He said it scared him that they would offer him
that much money, so he didn't take the loan. He
never opened up the Hamburger place. And I think, but

(35:53):
then my grandfather was a really stable man with you know,
a few assets, and so you know, he had things
that he could leverage as collateral. But even I think
what I hear you saying is even today, even if
you have personal collateral, this is just Sicilian Dorian talking
right that it is, And maybe people don't know that

(36:17):
that's why they're being denied of these loans. It is
so much better for you to be in business, get
your footing. It doesn't matter how much revenue you make. It.
It doesn't matter if you're making millions or if you're
making thousands, as long as is it's steady revenue. After
a couple of years, when you've worked out the kinks,
then come to the bank with your business plan, show

(36:39):
them your track record, and you really would be surprised
at what you get.

Speaker 2 (36:44):
Yeah, and in that track record, you know you want
to make sure that it's not a major risk for
the bank to make this investment. I mean, you want
to be able to make a case where you can
tell the bank, hey, you know this is a safe
investment and low risk. You know you want to you
want to make sure that you present a case where

(37:06):
you are at a load to medium risk level. But
you can't do that if you don't have any capital,
any equity. You're just starting all, you know, I think,
in my opinion on a personal note, I believe, you know,

(37:27):
we run too things that we believe we've heard other
people do that are successful, and it doesn't always translate
to the full story of that individual. So, yeah, you
heard somebody go to the bank. Bank gave them it's loan,
you know, and they got their business going and it's great.

(37:48):
And then you go to the bank and then you
get denied. You're trying to figure out why, Well you
don't know the whole story to what that other person
went through, like like you know, and oftentimes the other
person really didn't tell you every single thing. Yes, they're
living to get that money, you know, and so and
then times have changed as well, you know, and so

(38:09):
you know, we have you know, organizations that are like
div inc here in Houston that are fantastic with taking
women entrepreneurs and founders through programs to assist them with
getting grants to get their business going, to support them

(38:31):
with small dot loans to help them scale and grow,
and so you know, it just goes back to again
knowing the small business development supports in your market and
going online and researching small business development supports, you know,

(38:57):
accelerated programs, free accelerate rate of programs, entrepreneur programs, because
community college is off of break entrepreneur programs as well,
and so it's taking the due diligence of those things
versus man, I got a great idea, you know, let
me go to the bank. Ain't gonna give me some money?

(39:20):
You know, the bank don't give you no money. And
then you're like, oh, man, the bank can't give me
no money. And then you're looking like, well, I ain't
I guess I ain't gonna do nothing, man, And it's
like what what? What?

Speaker 1 (39:34):
Right? And then it's the flip side too. What if
the bank says, yes, we'll give you three hundred thousand
dollars and you, like my grandfather, You'm like, wait a minute,
what am I gonna do with with all of that?
So you still have to have, like you said, a
good plan, and it's good to have your your feet wet.

(39:54):
I love that you said that because not a lot
of people are giving that advice that you you really
need to have been in business for a couple of years,
work out the kings. Then take your plan and go
to the bank and they can see gauge your financial
health and what you are capable of handling so that

(40:15):
you don't run your business into more debt trying to
pay back the line of credit.

Speaker 2 (40:19):
That's that's perfect. I mean, would you you know if
you got your baby and you know you got a
babysitter that come up to you and you know, babysitter,
you know, fifteen years old and you know the first
time ever watched a child in life that you're not

(40:41):
related to this person either. You know, are you really
gonna be like, you know what, I'm going to give
you my child, my new boy experience. You can't tell me,
you know what's gonna happen, what's going on? Like, you know,
it's just kind of like take it. You know that
that personal you know, like your business should be your baby,

(41:04):
you know what I'm saying. And you want to grow
you know, your baby, you want to grow your business
so you can get them prepared for that next level.
And so you know, looking at small business and creating
that well through entrepreneurship. You know, you got to grow it,
you know, and you got to figure out, you know,
where you can go get the essentials at every stage,

(41:25):
whether it's you know, infant, toddler, child, teenage, you know,
young adult. You know what I'm saying in the full
grown a dot you know, because it's some folks out
there got full brona dog businesses they come back. I'm
not trying to be funny. I'm just saying they got
full grown you know, coming to the baby, not coming
to the bank with no infant business. You know, grown

(41:49):
up talk when they come through that dough. You know
what I'm saying. And so I think people should you know,
looked at it in phases when they're looking at entrepreneurship,
you know, growing up to the next level till you
get to a middle market of you know, high level.

Speaker 1 (42:09):
That's great advice. That's great advice. Now I want to
shift a little bit into some more of your sort
of personal development. When you were workforce Operations manager for
the Houston Galveston Area Council, it serves and covers a
thirteen county region. That's that's a massive role at any age,

(42:32):
and few people can handle that at any age. What
particular skills, because I'm not even sure you were forty then,
but you were not yet. No, I was thirty eight,
thirty eight, that'sn't I can't even okay, thirty eight years
old operations manager for this massive, massive system. What particular

(42:59):
skills did you say was essential to your ability to
lead at that age?

Speaker 2 (43:08):
Knowing that the little things are more important than the
big stuffs, the little things could bring down your whole
entire system. If somebody not getting a childcare payment on time,
if somebody can't get that training dollars they could start school.
If you know, parents are walking around talking about you know, hey,

(43:29):
I need my you know, income supports, and you're not
coordinating the right processes or looking at the details of
really what you could do to improve a person's life,
then you're gonna miss the bigger picture, right And so

(43:52):
I think my approach was always and it just stems
from my grandmother. She used to say, it's the little things, baby,
you know, it's alwayte a little things, you know what
I'm saying, you know, and so and taking that philosophy,
taking that philosophy and applying it to comprehensive thinking. So

(44:15):
you know, when I'm in my comprehensive thinking mode, you know,
I get down into the details. And so for me
being thirty eight years old, a black man in this role,
youngest you know in this role, first black man in

(44:36):
this role, to oversee a thirteen kind of golf coast
region over seven million people, you know, more than you
twelve thousand you know, square miles, almost a four hundred
million dollar budget. You know. I did it during the pandemic,
and so you know, I was the operations manager to

(44:57):
be the voice of our system to help individuals within
the system network, you know, facing losses you know, in
their own families. We face you know, losses you know,
with our colleagues and co workers. And then on top
of that, we had the pressure of the entire region

(45:21):
filing for unimportant insurance, you know, and other supports and
benefits at the same time. And so I'm trying to
be a positive voice at the same time coordinating different
services to get people what they needed. It took a

(45:43):
lot of attention to detail. Again, you know, it just
goes back to I think when you are older, you
can see how important the little things are in life.
If you get that early when you're younger, your leadership

(46:03):
will be far more ahead than what your peers would
be if you can get that at a younger age.
So I was blessed to be able to get that
at a younger age. And so I was fortunate to
you know, building surround myself with a great team so
we can get through the pandemic and the murder George

(46:25):
Floyd and everything else. That. Yeah, so that's out twenty.

Speaker 1 (46:29):
Twenty mm hmm, Yeah, twenty twenty was one for the books,
I can tell you that much. So I hear you
saying as a leader of whether a massive system and
what and no matter what capacity or details matter. But
I also hear you talking about Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

(46:49):
I guess it never changes where you take care of
a person's personal needs before you or at least address them,
like you said, make sure they have the resources to
meet their person before you make other types of demands.
Is that correct?

Speaker 2 (47:03):
Yeah? Yeah, and you know that is absolutely correct. In
patience in leadership, I think we always rushing to you know,
get to the conclusion, to get to the outcome, and
how can we get this done? And you know, what
do we need to do? And I've seen a lot
of leaders come in and it's just like you know,
a firing squad, like boom boom, boom, boom boom. And

(47:28):
when you're leading something large, you have to have patients,
like this thing will flow. Big ships turn slow, So
you cannot be a leader of a massive ship and
think it's just gonna turn quickly. So you have to

(47:49):
have the patience to go through all the processes. You
have the patients to make sure that you know people
all lied. You got to make sure all systems are going.
And again, these are something things that you don't have
at you know, a mid thirty late thirty year old age,
right because you usually just like I'm go and get it.

(48:10):
I'm running and I'm moving. I'm shaken for some reason.
I don't know why. No, I was real slow. Yeah,
I was just I was just real slow. I was
just very thoughtful about you know, an intentional in intentional

(48:35):
about it and having the patience to be able to
see it through. I think a lot of people quit
something because they don't have the patience to go through
those moments where they have to grow. So I just
had the patience to just grow through and grow into
the position.

Speaker 1 (48:53):
Well, let me ask you. You know, you're a VP
now of a blue chip or corporation. You have had
massive leadership roles again all before forty. You just crossing
a finish line of forty. Do you find that you
have the respect of your constituents? Does it come naturally

(49:13):
or do you do you find at times you have
to kind of demand it.

Speaker 2 (49:18):
You gotta earn it. Yeah, respect us earned. And I
think because of you know, I had a woman years
ago tell me, you know, she was like, baby, it's
because of your maturity level. You know that you're getting
all this favor And I really didn't understand that at

(49:39):
the time, but now I do. You know, I was
at least acting maturit at work, you know. Now, when
I got home, I was me, But when I got
to work, I put my maturity game on, you know
what I'm saying, Like, And I think that gives people

(50:02):
the desire to respect you. Sure, and when you hold
yourself in maturity, you respect them and you go about
your business and they see you serious going about your business.
But that also comes with maturity. And so I think
if any listener, you know, young that's trying to come

(50:25):
up and saying, hey, you know what do I need
to do so people can see me. I would say
to them, look at your maturity level, you know in
professional places, you know, are you keeping it classic? Like
I'm a classic cat, you know what I'm saying. I like,
I keep it classic. So I wear my shirt, I

(50:46):
well my tie. You know. You know, I'm for real.
I keep my facial hell, you know, groom. You know,
I keep myself, you know, just in a position to
where when I walk in the room, I'm confident, right,
I'm confident, you know. And so I think that has

(51:12):
to do with, you know, the maturity of me saying
to myself, you know, hey, this is the the demand
that I want to represent. This is the black man
that I am. And I hope, you know, other people
see it and respect it. And I believe my coworkers
do at all levels.

Speaker 1 (51:33):
I'm my company. I know for certain you're you're very
well respected in the Houston area. I mean, you already
have a reputation that precedes you no matter where you go.
And I want to know though I've been trying to
avoid asking this question, but it's just really burning inside

(51:53):
of me because I hear you talking about your mom,
your aunt, your grandmother. What about your father? If you
don't mind me asking. I know that's a shift, but
I just I'm so curious because you know, you know,
I have a I don't, I don't. I don't want
to say I have daddy issues. Thank God for my
heavenly father who has filled every void. But you know,

(52:20):
part of my story with my father, and I'm just
curious how much heart it is for an African American man.
Uh to who were your mentors? Because I don't hear
you other than those wonderful, stellar women in your life.

Speaker 2 (52:35):
No, I tell you, Uh, black women can raise a
strong black man. And you know, yes, you know my mom.
You know I saw her work two jobs. You know,
I had to stay with my grandma Toms. You know,
I had still Miami at times. I stayed with neighbors
and friends. Like I said earlier, I had coaches that

(52:58):
I respected highly. My mother is old school in the
sense where she dropped me off at the barber shop
so I could just be around grown black men all day,
you know, regardless of the conversations we was having, you know,
but but it was it was still the essence of

(53:20):
being a black man. Like like, yeah, I know I'm
dropping you off the barber shop, and ain't no telling
what they're saying up in here. But the essence, for me,
it was the essence of seeing style, seeing black man stop,
seeing brothers come through getting their hair cut, seeing brothers
fly in, conversations about you know, what businesses they are running,

(53:45):
you know, what things that they are doing. You know,
brothers that's owning their own barber shops. You know, just
really understanding that you know, as black men do, you know,
set a certain standard. You know when you know, into
a room, there is a certain expectation you know for
you when you walk into a room, you know, understand

(54:08):
how to deal with you know, law enforcement. I learned
those you know, skills of conversations in barber shops.

Speaker 1 (54:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (54:16):
And so you know, my family was able to surround
me at a young age with you know, brothers that
had good intentions, yeah me. And then honestly, as I
got older, a lot of white men mentored me, and

(54:40):
I was able to get both sides of the coin,
you know, that white God. And I know I'm getting
a little person right now, but you know, he asked
me a question about the young lady I was, you know,
dating at the time, and she he asked me, h,
how was her relationship with her father? I was like,

(55:02):
I ain't. Never in my life have anybody asked me
about that, like how it was her relationship with a
fault And so, you know, there were certain lessons.

Speaker 1 (55:14):
On it's a different.

Speaker 2 (55:17):
You know, that really helped me round out the type
of man that I wanted to be.

Speaker 1 (55:28):
Yeah, I'm telling you, you've had a spice of life.
That's what I hear. You've had the spice of life.
And that's a good thing too. And like you said,
when it comes to mentoring, when it comes to having
those voices of wisdom, the color doesn't matter, because Lord knows,
when I was younger, Roy Knight, if any of my

(55:49):
older folks are listening from back in the day, this
man was my hero. And he was a white guy
who worked at my school and every turn, every time
I go out in trouble, he was there, Sergeant Roy Knight,
and he was a surrogate in many ways. And I found,
you know, in hindsight, there's been many surrogates along the

(56:11):
way again part of the village people. So that's amazing,
and that's that's good to know. So let me ask you,
where do you see yourself in five ten years. You
think you'll ever run for office you're certainly poised to
do so, or do you think that you will stay
in Texas? Do you think you'll be in a different state?

Speaker 2 (56:34):
You know, I definitely don't believe I could run for
office because I probably get kicked out, was they you know,
because and I jokingly, you know, say that because I
like to change the rules, you know, and I like
to change the rules with intention to help people. My

(56:56):
special interests are the people, and so you know, for me,
being a politician would be something that would be challenging.
I don't know how many statesmen you know or left
or you could even be one in this political climate.

Speaker 1 (57:14):
So for me that you making the change are supposed
to be for the people.

Speaker 2 (57:22):
Yeah, somebody would cancel me though, because I would I
wouldn't say anything anything at all, offensive, derogatory, or demeaning.
It would be all, you know.

Speaker 1 (57:37):
For.

Speaker 2 (57:39):
Encouragement. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it would be for encouraged, which
which ironically I say these things and I'm really telling
you I would be saying something for encouragement and it
will be for the people. But then we look at
today's politics, and I'm not going to go there, but
it is not in any way civil as far as

(57:59):
having a conversation about you know, ideas anymore. And so
since those days are gone and I don't really deal
with the you know you this, you that conversation, I
don't think that would be a path that I would
go on. What I am thinking about, as far as
you know, next steps, you know, for me, is how
can I improve opportunities to you know, share what I've learned,

(58:22):
uh to other black men, other people like white, Hispanic
like they know, you know, Asian, to help them understand
that again, just because you come from a hard working family,
you know, with humble beginnings and it doesn't look like

(58:43):
at all you know you're going to get to, you know,
a place of prosperity. You can't get that, you know,
And I think that'll be the message that I would
want to share for everybody. You know, I'm a kid,
you know, single parent, you know, household, raised by the village,
struggle through high school, you know all kind of you know,

(59:06):
engine outs with no alcohol, you know, dipping and dabbing
in different recreations. And you know, I wasn't supposed to
even close, you know, to be where I am today
and to see where I am today. For me, I'm like, oh, shoot,

(59:29):
if I can make it, if I made it here,
you know what I'm saying. So I'm like, yeah, let
me see what the next ten you know, gonna be,
and let me see you know, it's going to bring
in And so I was just hoping to inspire people
to remain faithful and what they want to accomplish.

Speaker 1 (59:53):
Absolutely, I'm telling you you're the one to watch and
we are going to be keeping a close on you.
I want to follow. I'm gonna be following your career
path because, like you said, if you're here at forty,
my gosh, I can't imagine where you're gonna be in
really three years, I'm saying three, But oh man, we're

(01:00:16):
gonna have to follow your path and your story, and
you should consider at any opportunity that you can. And
if anybody wants to get in touch with you to
speak to more young men, I'll make sure that they
get connected because they need to hear your story.

Speaker 2 (01:00:33):
Men and women, men and women.

Speaker 1 (01:00:35):
Men and women. That's correct, that's correct. He's single. Ladies,
so hey.

Speaker 2 (01:00:41):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
Are you taking applications.

Speaker 2 (01:00:48):
I am I have one application going right now. Okay,
you know, but you know, you never know, you never all.

Speaker 1 (01:00:58):
Right, we're gonna we're gonna wish her luck. We hope
she gets the job. We hope she gets the job.
But thank you again Dorian, so very much, and we
really do want to have you back just to really talk,
you know, if you just want to have a heart
to heart and maybe some call in so that young
men and women who are not where they want to

(01:01:20):
be in life and don't see their future very well
if they can know your story. And like you said,
if you are here from where you've come from, it
doesn't matter. You just have to have the will and
the desire you can do it.

Speaker 2 (01:01:34):
So the only thing I would say is, you know,
be the storm.

Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
Be the storm, the storm, be the storm.

Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
Don't worry about the storm. You know, beat the storm.

Speaker 1 (01:01:44):
I know. That's right. I love it.

Speaker 2 (01:01:46):
Well.

Speaker 1 (01:01:46):
Thank you guys for tuning in tonight. Thank you again
Dorian for joining me, and always thank you guys for
being a teen player.

Speaker 2 (01:02:04):
To etect intend to

Speaker 4 (01:02:17):
But the doct