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What happens when life's unexpected detours reveal your true purpose? Dr. Naeem Turner-Bendelli's path from pursuing professional soccer in Brazil to becoming an energy innovator showcases how witnessing inequality firsthand can spark a lifelong mission.
During his time at a Brazilian soccer academy, Naeem observed troubling patterns—some days the academy had power while surrounding communities went without, or vice versa. These experiences opened his eyes to critical issues around energy access, affordability, and the stark disparities that exist globally. This awakening sparked what would become his life's work: empowering people with independent, safe, and affordable energy solutions through his company, Latimer Enterprises.
Naeem's very name—meaning "benevolent king, born away from home"—serves as a constant reminder of his purpose. "Whenever I am lost or doubting myself, it's something I can always remind myself—you have a duty to others beyond yourself," he shares. This sense of responsibility permeates everything from his professional work to his children's books that inspire STEM education and community problem-solving.
The conversation explores how personal drive, community responsibility, and professional expertise combine to create meaningful impact. Naeem reflects on balancing ambition with self-care, finding inspiration in historical figures like Lewis Howard Latimer, and his belief that true purpose cannot exist without serving others. His journey demonstrates how observing problems can reveal opportunities to use our unique skills for positive change.
Ready to discover your own purpose and build something meaningful? Join our Becoming a Person Universe community launching July 4th, where you'll connect with others on similar journeys and access resources to help you become who you were designed to be. Visit thepodcastingchallenge.com to learn more about creating your own platform for sharing your voice and message
Dr. Naeem Turner-, an engineer, entrepreneur, and author, sharing his journey from chasing pro soccer dreams in Brazil to founding Latimer Enterprises. Hear how his upbringing, faith, and drive to empower communities shape his mission. Gain inspiration to pursue your purpose and serve others.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I wanted to go play professional soccer.
I wanted to pursue that dreamand so I went off to live in
Brazil.
That's been part of my life'smission to empower people with
energy and ensure that it'sindependent, safe and affordable
.
I don't see my name as a burden, and whenever I am lost or
doubting myself, it's somethingthat I can always remind myself
(00:23):
like hey, you are supposed to bethis benevolent king, born from
home, you have a duty to othersbeyond yourself.
When I see marvels ofengineering or see marvels of
the world and think like, howdid people come up with those
things?
Well, you know, they gotinspiration, in part, from the
world around them, which wasbuilt by a creator.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
All right, welcome to another edition, just another
fantastic edition of the Journeyto Freedom podcast.
And I am just so excited.
I'm DrB and I'm your host todayand just you know, I think I
say this every single time but Iget so excited when I get to
have this conversation with thedifferent guests that come on
and finding out who's doing whatacross the entire country.
(01:25):
And you know, I don't know ifyou know this, naheem, but I you
know, I started this about ayear and a half, almost two
years ago now, a year and a halfago now and the goal was is you
know, how do we, how do we takethis journey to freedom and
make sure that we are helping inthis case, black men be able to
(01:46):
see what other people are doing.
Sometimes we feel stuck orsometimes we feel like we can't
do it or whatever the identity,things that we have in there,
and so to be able to highlightand showcase and show other
black from all walks of lifedoing stuff.
I think it just creates thisexcitement in people that hey,
(02:08):
if Nahim can do it, then I cando it.
And so last winter, in lastJanuary, I was able to take 18
Black men down to the South.
I don't know how much time hespent in the South, but he went
to Alabama.
He went to Birmingham, selmaand Montgomery.
We went to the Bryan StevensonMuseum there in Montgomery.
(02:30):
Oh my gosh, what atransformational trip that was.
And so my goal in 2024 was thatI would interview 100 Black men
and we got to 105, and we'regoing to surpass that this year.
I'm already at like 70something this year and we're
only at half the year.
So, yeah, so we're going to hitwe're going to hit the 200 mark
(02:54):
and I don't want to stop.
This has been.
You know, I get to say that I'mthe luckiest person on the
planet because I get to learnfrom you, and so, like all the
other guests in the home, I'dlove for you to kind of share
your story.
I will start there and thenwe'll move into our pillars.
But, yeah, if you're able tojust tell us you know, maybe a
(03:14):
little bit about your past, Ithink people love to hear so
much more about who people arebefore you kind of get that
relationship and that trustbefore they know what they do,
and so we'd love for you toshare.
The floor is yours and thenwe'll chop it up with our other
stuff right afterwards, and sothank you for being on today.
It's such a pleasure to haveyou with us, and I can't wait to
(03:35):
have this conversation.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Well, thank you so much.
I'm glad to be here, dr B, andjust to introduce myself first
and foremost.
My name is Dr NaeemTurner-Bendelli.
I am the son of two greatparents, one of whom was a guest
on your show a few months ago,nathaniel Turner.
I'm a friend to many and amentor to others.
I'm also an engineer,researcher and entrepreneur.
I run an energy researchconsulting firm called Latimer
(03:59):
Enterprises Enterprises, and mywork with Latimer Enterprises,
which is named after LewisHoward Latimer, focuses on
helping individuals, businessesand communities take back
control of how they power theirlives, especially in places
where energy has been unreliable, unaffordable or just
complicated to manage.
I have a PhD in electrical andcomputer engineering and an MBA,
but I think what's most shapedwhere I am today was a journey
(04:23):
that I took over 10 years ago.
I wanted to go playprofessional soccer, wanted to
pursue that dream, and so I wentoff to live in Brazil, and
while living in Brazil I was atan academy there, and at that
academy I noticed just howunreliable electricity and
energy could be at times.
So there would be some dayswhere the academy I was at would
(04:43):
have power and the surroundingcommunity would not, or the
community would have power andmy academy wouldn't, because it
ran on a generator, and thatreally drew my attention to
issues related to energy access,affordability and disparities
in energy.
So from then on, that's beenpart of my life's mission to
empower people with energy andensure that it's independent,
(05:04):
safe and affordable.
I'm also the author of twochildren's books that inspire
early interest in STEM andhelped found some nonprofits as
well, so that's a little bitabout me as we get into it.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Oh my gosh.
Well, because I did get to talkto your dad and your dad told
all about your upbringing andall the things that he had in
mind for you.
So I've been so excited abouthaving this conversation because
, you know, it's one perspectiveto say this is what my son is
going to be or this is what yourparents your mom and dad said.
(05:40):
Ok, so we know he's going to goto an Ivy League school, so we
know we're going to make surethat he's so well-rounded and
he's got all these things.
But then sometimes for a child,you know, there's obviously
doing what mom and dad say to doand all the things they do.
But at the same time you'relooking at other kids that
(06:02):
probably don't have the same, Iguess, future that is being
placed upon them and it mightseem I don't know, and you're
going to tell us right here.
It might seem like, well, howcome I don't get to just go play
and hang out and how come I gotto do all this other stuff?
What was it like growing up inthe Turner household?
Speaker 1 (06:28):
up in the Turner household.
Growing up in the Turnerhousehold was great and I'm not
just saying that because I'msure both my parents will listen
to this, but no, in all honesty, it was great.
I had a lot of freedom to decidewhat I wanted to do and how I'd
like to go about doing things,especially as it related to what
would be my professionalpursuits, my academic pursuits.
I think that my dad outlinedthe framework pretty clearly,
(06:50):
but certainly within thatframework, I shaped my own
decisions.
I think if you were to ask bothmy parents and you ask them,
hey, would you have expectedyour son to be an engineer and
to start his own company?
I don't think either one ofthem would have said yes, and
that was explicitly part oftheir plan.
But I certainly think that theygave me the freedom to learn,
(07:11):
grow and develop, but alsoprovided structure in which I
could succeed, provided atemplate for me to succeed and,
I think, just as importantly,they made sure I was aware of
all of the opportunitiesavailable in front of me and the
people who come before me, whoachieved as much, if not more,
than me and endured much harderstruggles than I had, and which
also helped inspire me andpropel me forward.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Gotcha what you know.
As you're thinking through that, what are some of your favorite
memories of things andexperiences that you got to do?
Memories of things andexperiences that you got to do,
I guess maybe some that you'd beable to brag about that say you
know I got to do this and youdidn't get to do it, or you know
things that you just rememberthat you were able to do or
(07:56):
being exposed to.
That continues to help youtoday.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
I would say there are a number of things.
So when I was in high school, Istarted a foundation called the
Social Justice League and myparents helped me start that
nonprofit, and it was initiallyspurred about because a friend
of mine was experiencinghomelessness.
A soccer teammate of mine wasexperiencing homelessness.
(08:22):
A soccer teammate of mine wasexperiencing homelessness, and
so having the opportunity tostart that foundation was
something that was unique andthat my parents supported me
throughout, and it taught me alot about how to run your own
business, how to tackle issuesthat are important, how to
ensure that you care aboutothers and do well by others.
(08:45):
I think some other things Ithink back on that are part of
my childhood would also be thefact that I got to go to Brazil,
like I mentioned in theintroduction, that I got to have
that opportunity to say, hey, Iwill have this dream of playing
professional soccer.
How do I do it?
Well, you know, my parentshelped me figure that out.
(09:05):
My dad was the one who hired avirtual assistant to help him
because he knew nothing aboutyou know, international soccer.
So he helped virtual assistant,helped him figure out where are
the places I can send my son.
How can I do that?
So those are certainlyopportunities that I had.
That, I think, definitelyinformed who I am today and had
(09:25):
a sizable impact.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
When I think about, like world football or you know
football, or you know what wecall soccer, you know, brazil
always seems to be some of thebest athletes soccer players,
football players in the entireworld.
What was it like to be able toplay at that level with those
(09:51):
types of athletes?
And maybe it was the same as inthe us, I don't know.
Uh, no, no, it was not, not thesame, not the same at all.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Uh, it was completely and entirely different.
It's just, it's another levelof quality, certainly the
players, but I think somethingyou also come to understand is
there's another level of driveand ambition, because for many
of the people that I played with, this was their way out of
(10:20):
poverty, out of very difficultsituations, poverty out of very
difficult situations.
So this was their way offinding success.
And so when you play in anenvironment like that, the
competitiveness goes up anadditional level and you find
yourself having to proveyourself, because these people
are seeing you, coming here,thinking you have no idea, you
know our struggle, you have noappreciation for what this game
(10:41):
really means to us, and so youhave to be humble, and so our
our struggle.
You have no appreciation forwhat this game really means to
us, and so you have to have tobe to be humble.
And so there's a huge, hugedifference when you go there, um
, both culturally and in termsof the quality of the play.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Oh my gosh.
Well, you know, as I thinkabout, you know, just the, even
the, the stardom or the, um, buteven the stardom or the, I
don't want to say, as peoplelove, love their sport of soccer
, like here in America.
I mean, I guess football is,you know, american football is
(11:15):
this sport that everybody kindof relates to.
But then the other sports,maybe baseball, kind of just
kind of take second seatsbecause we have so many
different choices.
And I remember when I was, whenI was able to travel to Europe
as a track athlete is, you know,there might be you know, 20, 30
, 40,000 people in the stands.
There might be a thousandpeople that are standing up just
(11:37):
to watch the events, you know,and so I know that's like that
in Brazil, where when you showup to play, it's not like you
know here, where you know youmight fill half of a stadium or
you know people got other stuffto do, a lot of no-shows, empty
seats.
What was that like as anathlete and the change from what
(11:58):
you experienced here comparedto like your identity and your
mindset, because you have thisidentity of.
You know, I'm achieving allthese things and athletics is
one of them, and now I'm playingat the highest level you know
in athletics in a foreigncountry.
How did you deal with what thatmeant?
Speaker 1 (12:19):
It was definitely.
It was difficult.
It took me, I did months ofpreparation before I left.
So, to give your listeners morecontext, I left for Brazil, for
Sao Paulo, brazil, to go playthere in August of 2012.
Doing visualization, doing workon my soccer skills, my
(12:45):
football skills, but when I gotthere it was an entirely
different experience to have toadapt, like I said earlier, to
those cultural differences, tohaving to reach an even higher
level.
So certainly, hey, it's.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Dr B, and let me ask you something just here real
quick.
Are you tired of doing the samething over and over and not
getting the results you want?
Are you serious about makingsome changes this year that will
impact you in a huge way?
Maybe you're putting outcontent right now and it's not
turning into customers.
Or maybe you're uploadingvideos but you're not sure why
or how it's even going to help.
You know, I've seen a lot ofpeople that are making a whole
(13:24):
bunch of cold calls to the wrongpeople and no one's answering.
No one wants to talk to you.
It might just be that you'rejust doing what you've been
doing and crossing your fingers,hoping it finally works this
year, but let me tell you what.
That is not a strategy and itwill continue not to work.
That's why I created thepodcasting challenge and it's
coming up fast.
(13:44):
In just a few days, I'm goingto walk you through the mindset,
the tool set and the skill setyou need to create a powerful
podcast.
That's right, a podcast.
You won't believe what apodcast can do, one that builds
real value and creates newclients.
And if you grab a vip ticket,you'll get to join me for a
daily zoom q a sessions whereI'll personally answer your
(14:05):
questions and help you tailoreverything to your goals.
This is your moment.
This is your year.
Go to thepodcastingchallengecomright now and save your seat.
The link is in the show notesand the description.
Thank you for watching thesepodcasts.
Now let's get back to theconversation.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
I had to, I had to adapt and I think the ways in
which I adapted were learningfrom the people I was around and
trying to integrate myself asmuch in in their culture and
realizing that, um, the only wayI was going to reach that next
level was by, um, being a littlebit less like me and taking a
little bit less from what Ilearned in America and taking a
(14:43):
little bit more what I couldlearn from them.
Yeah, I certainly think that wasone of the ways in which I
adapted.
I think it, in terms of how itimpacted my sense of identity, I
would say that it reinforcedthat entire experience,
reinforced who I am and helpedadd different layers and nuances
to who I am.
(15:03):
I mentioned kind of earlierthat one of the experiences I
got to have earlier in my lifewas to start a foundation.
So that certainly meant that Ihad awareness of causes and was
aware of history and importance.
But I think being away fromfrom family, from community,
reinforces your, helps toreinforce your sense of identity
in a, especially in a placelike like Brazil and places that
(15:27):
I was at.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
I'd love to ask you when we start talking about
identity and talking about thefamily you grew up in, because
your parents obviously had anidentity that they had for you.
Now I know you had, you know,some freedom of choice to the
things that you wanted to do,but they still had an identity
(15:54):
that they kind of expected thatyou would have At what point in
your I guess you know overall,you know timeline, did you?
Did your identity become solelyyours?
Maybe it never has, but youknow where it became more yours
(16:14):
than it was theirs.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
I would venture to say pretty early on in my life,
because there are certain habitsthat I had as a child that they
just didn't have even as adults.
I mean, I think some of thethings I remember are my dad
wanting to go just hang out andplay and do things outside.
And I said, dad, I havehomework to do.
(16:37):
And I'm like seven or eightyears old, I have homework to do
.
I need to get my work donefirst before I do anything else.
That was never something.
You know.
They I mean they certainlyinstilled the value importance
of getting work done, but I meanno one's ever telling me to do
that, shaping my identity inthat way.
That came intrinsically from me, I would say pretty early on.
Those things started to emergeas early as like seven or eight
(16:59):
years old and was onlyreinforced over time as I had,
you know, my own experiences.
Um, and I think fundamentallyit was, it was I was fully in my
own by the time I left to go toBrazil.
So that's 16, 17 yeah, oh mygosh.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
So there's a drive to achieve that you have.
I mean, you don't play at thehighest level of soccer, you
don't get a PhD, you don't starta foundation, you don't know
when.
Do you think that comes from,that drive to just be more?
You know when I think of be, do, have and trying to become the
person you need to be.
Talk to me a little bit aboutyour drive, yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
I think part of that certainly comes from my parents
and who they are as people.
I mean they're both very highachieving people who have come
from very difficult environmentsand overcome a lot in order to
achieve.
So I think just knowing them andknowing, being aware of their
history and who they arecertainly had an impact on that
(18:03):
drive.
But I would say another part ofit for me comes from having a
broader understanding of historyand culture, having an
understanding of people likeLewis Howard Latimer, who I've
named my company after, who areinspirations to me, and knowing
that if these people did thesereally difficult things and I
certainly can too, and and Ihave so many more tools
(18:23):
available to me that there's noreason I shouldn't get them done
, there's no reason I shouldn'taim for more.
And then I would say the lastpiece for me that shapes that
drive is knowing that there areso many challenges in the world
and that I'm so blessed to havethe education and the skill set
and the tools that I have that Ihave no other choice but to
(18:44):
give back to my community and toempower others and to do more.
So I would say those aredefinitely the three drivers.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Oh my gosh, when I think of you know the
environment and the experiencesthat you had.
And then I think of the youknow the associations that
you've been able to be a part of.
How do you think thoseexperiences and those
associations have helped youlike in the person that you are
(19:16):
today?
I mean, were there certainpeople that you know you were
able to meet that that just, ohman, I can't you know.
Or the you know being able totravel and do some of the things
that you were, you know,younger in life be able to do?
How has that shaped how you seethe world?
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Yeah, sure, I would say that how I see the world is
shaped as much by theexperiences as, if not more, by
the people that have been in mylife, that have been a part of
my village, like Dr WillieUnderwood, who I think you've
also had on as a guest.
Man, that dude's no joke.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
So you can understand how that might also.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
He might also shape me as well.
His ideology of kick-ass dickgames is certainly part of me.
His ideology of kick-ass dickgames is certainly part of me.
People like Dr Bernudi, mygodmother, also been influential
in shaping my life.
I think that professors I'vehad over the years, once I got
(20:19):
to college and beyond, certainlyhad an impact.
And then I would say, anotherorganization that has had a huge
impact on my life is theNational Society of Black
Engineers, which I got to be inthe regional and national
leadership board, to sit on anational board for the first
time in my life.
So that was a fantasticexperience that certainly shaped
my identity as well.
All of those people who pouredinto me in both as individuals
(20:43):
or through organizations.
But you know, organizations aremade up of people, individuals.
So all of those people pouringinto me certainly helped shape
me.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Wow, and just you know, I'm thinking about you
know that identity and I'mthinking about those experience
and the people that you'rearound, um, and then I think
about trust.
You know, and, and howimportant trust is, to be able
to trust that you're going to beable to do the things or you'll
(21:14):
be able to walk in the placesthat you need to walk in.
And you know, like you go tobrazil, it's this country, like
you said, you had to do somepre-stuff so that you would know
how to navigate yourself.
You and you got a virtualassistant.
Um, how big of uh, the wordtrust, or being able to trust to
be able to move forward, hasthat played in your life?
(21:34):
Or do you just go intosituations and you trust
everybody first and they don'thave to prove themselves later,
or they have to kind of provethemselves?
Speaker 1 (21:43):
No, not, not at all.
I think if you asked any frienda friend of mine I'm certainly
someone who likes to have trust,but I verify, and I verify
pretty rigorously, you know, tobe able to go into the spaces
I've gone into, yeah, absolutely, I think at a first level you
(22:04):
have to have some, some trust,otherwise, if you're not opening
yourself up to part of theexperience, then you're never
going to get anything out of it.
I had to trust that at the baselevel, that the, for example,
the people in Brazil that I wasgoing to play with, that, who
were coaching me, um, had mybest interest in some level.
And then, you know, over time,I let them, I had my own
(22:26):
internal metrics and I let themprove it to me if they they did
or did not actually.
And so I think that, yeah,trust is an essential part of
what I do.
Verifying, importantly, is mostessential.
People's actions, not justwords.
Their actions have to show methat there should be that trust.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Oh my gosh.
So when you say verify, it justreminds me of an engineer
person and you can tell I'm notthat, I'm just this outgoing,
just there's hardly anythingthat's super methodical.
I mean, I get stuff done, butI'm imagining are you you're not
married yet, right?
No, okay, yeah so.
(23:07):
So I'm thinking of, like, theperson that you date and the
list of things that they have tobe in order for them to go out.
Does that list exist?
And then, what are some ofthose things that?
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Yeah, one.
That list does not exist.
I'm pretty focused on my goalsat the moment, so you, know,
there's no list at the moment,but I can tell you when that day
comes.
Yes, the list will probably beextensive.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
I can see.
I can just see like aapplications that are out there
that you have to have.
Okay, yeah, we can do this,because to have somebody so
driven and kind of know what youknow, what their future is and
what their life, what are someof the things that you believe
(24:07):
that you're?
Maybe I should ask you thisfirst, is you know the meaning
of your name is?
Do you have a specific meaningof your name that you're, that
you know?
Your parents decided this isthe name because they seem to be
kind of very.
Your parents decided this isthe name because they seem to be
kind of very, you know,methodical as well in these
things, and they don't do things.
From my perspective, I don'tsee them just doing things
(24:28):
haphazardly.
They think about just abouteverything they do before they
do it.
So I'm assuming your name hassome meaning and then fulfilling
whatever that is.
And then the future for you.
Kind of.
Just walk me through what thatkind of looks like.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Absolutely so.
My name, full name, naeemKahari Turner Bondelli.
So Naeem means benevolentKahari means kingly and Bondelli
means born away from home.
So put it all togetherbenevolent king, born away from
home.
And that absolutely is part ofmy identity.
It is a driver.
(25:04):
It does shape me in the sensethat it is a constant reminder
of who I am and who I'm supposedto be.
I don't see my name as a burdenor anything in that nature.
It's always a challenge, areminder of who I am supposed to
be, and whenever I am lost ordoubting myself, it's something
(25:28):
that I can always remind myself.
Like you are supposed to be,this benevolent king Born from
home, you have a duty to othersbeyond yourself.
That is all part of it and itdefinitely shapes where I'm
going.
Next, it shapes the work I'mdoing with the company I started
.
It's why the mission of thecompany is to empower people
(25:50):
with energy solutions.
It's not empower.
The mission doesn't say empowerbusinesses or empower objects
or infrastructure with energysolutions.
It's about people.
So all of that is tied to myname as well.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Born away from home.
Yes, talk to me about that.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Yeah, born away from home.
So Bondeli and I learned morerecently how to say it correctly
, because it's actually Nigerian.
I learned that from one of mybest friend's dad who's Nigerian
and taught me that it's aboutstaying connected to.
For me, actually, it's twoparts.
(26:29):
It's about staying connected tomy history, so being a
descendant of slaves, beingdescendant of people from the
African continent, it's aboutstaying connected to that, but
it's also about, um, stayingconnected to a much larger
legacy of of success, ofgreatness, people who were all
(26:50):
born away from home.
Just like, just like I was,people in black people in this
country who were born away fromhome and ended up going on to do
amazing things and becominginventors, designers, artists,
leaders, historians, you name it.
So it's both, I would say.
At the core, it's about legacy,but it's also about that larger
(27:14):
history of enslavement what?
Speaker 2 (27:26):
what do you feel?
Your responsibility as a blackman that is, you know, part of
the american culture is withinthat, you know, born away from
home but then still hasresponsibilities to achieve some
of the greatest things that manhas seen.
That, how do you feel?
How do I talk?
Speaker 1 (27:41):
about the responsible yeah responsibility yeah, um,
it feels uh good to me.
It feels empowering to knowthat I have I have a
responsibility to other people.
Um, I think that it it's adriver, it's.
It certainly forms part of myown, my own personal mission.
It makes me excited to get upevery day to know I have
(28:05):
something to do, responsibilityto someone else beyond myself.
It's a motivator.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
We talk so much about culture and Black culture or
culture of folks of color,culture from people who are
white, or you know culture offolks of color, you know culture
from people who are right.
When you think, how was your Iguess identity inside of this
(28:32):
culture formed that although yousee, or you, I mean, you cannot
not see what's happening inAmerica and continue to see all
the things that are happeninghere and then know you know the
history and I'm sure you'velearned the history and your
parents talked to you about thehistory and then like I guess
it's like where we fit in andthen saying, man, do you feel
like you know?
I guess I don't know if it'sjust a responsibility to help
(28:54):
other folks of color or to justhelp everybody, or is it just
like there's this proudness thatI'm, I'm here and I'm doing
what needs to be done?
I mean, I just want to kind ofkind of find your space that's
in the inside of the culturesure I speak to the
responsibility piece first.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
I would say that there's certain I I feel
responsible both to people wholook like me black and brown
people but I also feelresponsibility to the wider
groups of people who don't havesame access or opportunities
that I got to grow up with,because I think that Hello, this
is Dr B and I want to ask youone simple question what if you
(29:35):
died, having never become youNow?
Speaker 2 (29:36):
I don't mean the version of you that worked the
job, raised the kids or chasedsecurity.
I mean the person God actuallydesigned you to be, the real you
, because there's a version ofyour life that's already been
written and it's full of peace,it's full of boldness, it's full
of purpose and, of course, it'sfull of power.
But most people, many people,they miss it.
They live distracted, doubting,disconnected and deep down,
(30:00):
they wonder is this really allthere is?
But not you, and not today.
That's why we created theBecoming a Person universe.
It's a living, breathingcommunity of people saying I
want to be who God called me tobe, not someday, but right now.
So inside, we'll walk youthrough three levels of
transformation.
Level one is all about identity, where you finally see yourself
(30:21):
clearly and know exactly whoyou are and who you need to
become.
Level two is about mastery,where we develop the disciplines
to grow.
And then, finally, level threeis legacy, where your life
begins to matter beyond you.
And hear me, I want you to hearme clear here this is not a
place to passively belong.
This is a place to grow, leadand thrive.
We even have ways want you tohear me clear here.
(30:41):
This is not a place topassively belong.
This is a place to grow, leadand thrive.
We even have ways for you toshare in the revenue as we grow,
because we believe in buildinglegacy together.
And I want you to know, thefounders and I are praying for
you.
We have been praying for me.
You have been on our hearts.
Yes, you have been on ourhearts.
You're not watching this byaccident, and I want to
(31:02):
personally invite you to thenext info meeting where we will
go over all this community hasto offer.
All you do is just click thelink before you know what to do.
But now it's your turn.
I want to ask you to askyourself what if this is the
moment everything changes?
Is the moment everythingchanges?
(31:25):
What if this is the reasonyou've been searching?
What if all God has beenwaiting for is for you to say
yes, there's a seat for you here, whether you're rediscovering
yourself or finally ready toleave a legacy and are ready to
contribute Either way and areready to contribute Either way.
This is the becoming the personuniverse, and once you're in
your life will never be the same.
(31:47):
So I can't wait to meet you.
I can't wait to spend time withyou.
I can't wait to see you on theother side.
So let's go live in thatpurpose and let's do it together
.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
In order for the American society to move forward
, we need to be able to empowerall people, of all races and
creeds and all socioeconomicstatuses in order to move
forward as a society.
So I certainly feelresponsibility, first and
foremost to my people, but Ialso feel responsibility to that
wider human community, becausethat's both.
That's in part how I was raised.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Yeah yeah, well, you know, for me it's hard to tell,
because I think of the socialeconomic divide that you just
kind of talked about.
And when I see, you know, folksthat you know educationally
maybe been disadvantaged or justhaven't had the opportunities
or don't have haven't been ableto see or know how to take
(32:45):
advantage of the opportunitiesthat are afforded to us, the
folks that kind of still live inimpoverished but don't have
goals and ambitions of likehomeownership or you know better
jobs that you know, it's likethis is all I can be.
And then they, you know, that'swhy we're having a show, right,
so they can see other folksthat are doing things.
(33:06):
And then, but you know, theoverall is, yeah, I mean by
being that or by doing all thethings that you're doing, you're
kind of an inspiration, right.
You're somebody who says, man,if only I could.
And then it's like, well, whatif I mess that up?
(33:27):
You know, I think of somebodyand I don't know, like PDD's
situation, right, I see all thenonsense that is on there and I
see all the fake stuff thatshows up.
But I look at, you know, he'sdone so much.
But then I look at, well, man,if he was really doing all those
things he was doing.
He was hurting some folks right, hurting a whole lot of people
(33:51):
in a whole lot of ways andtaking advantage of a whole lot
of people in a whole lot of ways.
And you know, was that for thelove of money or was that for?
And you know, was that for thelove of money or was that for?
And then I think about OK, howdo we circumvent that, that fame
or that, that spotlight that somany of well, I don't know so
many of us, but what we normallysee in our culture is, you know
(34:13):
, these athletes or these actorsor these entertainers that
become our role models, butthey're still human and they're
still flawed.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
So maybe talk to me a little bit about the dichotomy
there.
I think that, first off, Ithink we historically are
looking at some of the wrongrole models and I would say,
especially in our modern culture, we don't look enough to, to
our, to our much, our, muchbetter inspirations, uh like,
like again, I've mentioned lewislatimer a few times now.
(34:49):
But like lewis latimer, who wasuh, who, whose parents were uh
enslaved and escaped slavery,who went on to uh have multiple
engineering patents to be thefoundation of things like part
of establishing things like thelight bulb and the telephone,
who's also an art, an artist aswell, a musician.
So I think that that's a partof the problem.
And when we look to and wethink about role models like
(35:12):
that, those were not, you know,the people who were interested
in the fame and fortune, fortuneand the success they were
empowered by, about doing betterfor their communities.
I mean, mr Latimer was part ofthe civil rights, the early
civil rights movement.
So I think those are the typesof role models we have to look
(35:33):
to in terms of balancing thatdichotomy, you know, achieving
success and then also notessentially not losing yourself
along the way, if we're tobelieve that you know PW did all
of those awful things, maybelost himself along the way.
I think that the way in whichwe do that one involves knowing
(35:54):
our own history.
Two, remembering that we havewe've talked a lot about
responsibility, remembering thatwe have a responsibility to
more than just ourselves.
And it's much harder to loseyourself when you believe that
the person you're responsible tois not just you and you
actually realize that it's amuch larger community, that it
(36:14):
is the black community, it isthe larger community of humanity
.
So I think those are ways youavoid entering into that trap,
how you balance that dichotomy.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Yeah, yeah, that's so good because it's you know it
is.
It's finding where you fit inand then trying to increase our
level of, I guess, awareness ofpossibilities.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Sure, when you talk about faith.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
Talk to me a little bit about your belief system,
and does that drive you in anyway or?
Speaker 1 (36:54):
I would say this I was raised as a Christian and
that certainly informs how I dobelieve in God, certainly
informs how I think about whatis possible with me and when I
might have times of doubt, Icertainly do go to God, think
about God.
I think about God as well interms of how you know the
(37:16):
creation of the universe.
I think about God when I'mdoing, when I see marvels of
engineering or see marvels ofthe world and think like, how
did people come up with thosethings?
Well, they got inspiration inpart from the world around them
which was built by a creator.
So certainly it plays I wouldsay it plays a role in my life.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Oh good, I mean, it's just sometimes, when you have
somebody who is so intellectualas you is, they struggle to, you
know, find that space and thatyou know, is there a creator?
Is there not a creator?
And to see that that issomething that you have as part
of who you are, to me is neatthat we get to see that.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Yeah, I think we have space for things that simply
can't be explained and certainlyare just marvels of our world,
and I know some people havedifferent ways of going about
how they'd like to explain those.
That's one of the ways I thinkabout it.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
Yeah, Well then, like Michelangelo, just say just as
you're looking at, my hand tellsme that there's a God, and when
I start thinking of, like ahorse can only be a horse and a
dog can only be a horse, but Godcreated man to be, to create
our creativity, that that partof Him was put into all of us,
(38:41):
and then we have to takewhatever that he gave us, and
then that goes to living inpurpose.
And when you think about, youknow, is it possible?
and I can tell by your life forthis answer, but I'll let you
answer it is it possible to livein God's purpose or in purpose
period without serving otherslive in God's purpose or in
(39:05):
purpose period without servingothers?
Speaker 1 (39:07):
I don't think so.
I don't know how you do thatwithout serving others.
You know I attended Jesuitinstitutions for most of my
academic career.
My undergraduate degree is froma university called Santa Clara
University, jesuit institutionand mission is about serving
others and do that to help allof God's people.
So I don't think it is possible.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
When I think about and thank you for that, because
it is when I think aboutpersonal development and working
on ourselves compared to thedistractions that can happen in
life, and when I think ofdistractions to me.
Some of the distractions thatyou know may not be for others
would be some of theentertainment stuff that I could
(39:54):
spend my time on.
I mean, I could come home everyday, I could turn on the
television and I could be superdistracted.
Every day I could turn on thetelevision and I could be super
distracted.
I could.
When I think of like knowingmore about an NFL player or a
baseball player than I knowabout my own kids.
You know, I think that could bea distraction and I know people
(40:14):
are like that.
You know, I think of some ofthe, just the ways that we hang
out.
How, how do we?
I guess my question is is howdo we Get away from those, some
of those distractions, and thenhow much of our time should be
spent on working on us so thatwe can have the ability to serve
(40:35):
others?
Speaker 1 (40:37):
That's a tough question how do we get away from
the distractions?
I'll start there first.
I think that one of the ways toget away from them is to start
by choosing better distractions.
So we're humans, we all needdowntime, away time, things to
occupy our time and attention.
(40:57):
So I think for me what thatlooks like is I watch a lot of
movies, but I don't spendnecessarily all of my time on
things that won't necessarilyinform me.
I like to watch things that Ithink might challenge me, that
might do something artistically,that might make me think
differently about the work thatI do or the work that other
(41:18):
people do.
So that's certainly one of thethings I think we can do
generally just choose, try tochoose better distractions,
things that might be I won't sayproductive, but things that
might allow us more space tothink about ourselves and how we
grow and develop.
And then remember the secondpart of your question.
I want to make sure I get to it.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
Personal development.
So how much time in working onus should we spend?
Maybe even before we take onsome of the distractions, maybe
we should spend time developingourselves, and then yeah, I
think that, um, we certainlyhave to make that a part of your
life.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
I think, at least least weekly.
For me, what that looks like is, um, they, I listen, try to
listen to, uh, podcasts oraudiobooks or read things that
might help me, you know, becomea better person, and one of the
things I've had to really learnover the years, for example, is
how to relax a bit more.
(42:16):
We've talked a lot about myambition and drive, but that
certainly comes.
There's another part of thatwhere I can stress myself out
and I don't relax well.
So one of the ways in whichI've tried to do better,
personally improve, is read andlisten to a book called Don't
Swat Small Stuff Do that prettymuch daily, and reading and
(42:37):
listening to that audio bookhelps remind me of different
practices I can take, whetherit's related to breathing or
meditation, anything like thatthat I can know I can still.
I can still be better.
I can find ways to overcome anydifficulties I may be having.
I mean going back to mychildhood as well.
(42:58):
A big thing that I used to doand I would say I still do, at
least on a regular basis isvisualization.
I like to visualize where mylife could be and where it could
go.
I like to make vision boards,so I think you have to find time
to incorporate those types ofactivities into your life, at
least weekly.
(43:19):
You can start small.
You can start by reading achapter of a very short book
like Don't Sweat the Small Stuff.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
Or it can be much larger and grander, like making
a vision board yeah, that's sogood and I don't want to take
away and tell people youshouldn't be entertained, or you
know, no, no, I think of youknow there's so many to see the
greatness and what a man orhumankind when I say man, men
(43:46):
and are capable of doing.
And whether it's going to aconcert you know I went to a
Sting concert a few weeks ago orI went to you know, of course
I'm going to go to that stuff.
I'm going to go to a footballgame, I'm going to go to a
basketball game, I'm going to,you know, just marvel in man,
(44:06):
the athletic ability and what itmust have taken, the tens and
thousands of hours that it tookthat individual.
Or if I go to a museum and Isee art, that's just like
incredible and that kind ofstuff and I want to celebrate
that.
And so when I say these things,I hope that the folks that are
listening don't think well, Igot to take all that out of my
life?
Absolutely not.
(44:27):
But I think there's a where, ifyou're not working on you, then
you kind of said these otherthings are more important, or
take the precedence over me,trying to be what God intended
me to be or to take that purposethat he put into my life.
If I get so much into it, youknow I can't imagine and I know
(44:51):
people do it to sit at a sportsbar in Vegas and you know watch
19 different sports everyafternoon, all day long.
You know, trying to bet andlosing a whole bunch of money.
Well, I don't know that, God.
You know, maybe the casinowould be mad at me, but I don't
think God intended us to sit atsports bars all day long, every
day.
(45:15):
Somehow, you know, or theentertainment of the
possibilities of being able to,you know, make stuff happen in
that way.
Just a quick question that Ihave, I mean, as I guess all of
these are quick questions and Idon't know what are some of the
(45:35):
things that you actually do forfun, that are, you know, not the
things that are driving you tomove forward, but some of the
ways that you take your downtimeand then you experience life to
its fullest.
What are some of those things?
Speaker 1 (45:51):
Absolutely.
I mean, I think you've alreadymentioned a few of them.
So right now I live in NewJersey, live in Jersey City, but
for those who know, that'sright across the Hudson from New
York City, from Manhattan.
So I spend quite a bit of timein Manhattan in my downtime.
These days I love to go visitmuseums, I love to go look at
art, learn about history, learnabout culture.
(46:12):
That's one of the big ways Ilike to spend my time.
Another huge part of my downtimeis going to see at least one
movie every week, something thatI can, in particular, seeing a
movie by myself.
Usually I like to just havethat space yes, usually like to
have that space just for me toexperience what's in front of me
(46:33):
, to watch someone who's donesomething incredibly creative
and experience what, what theydesigned for their creation,
whether that's a bombasticblockbuster and indie art house
film.
So those are two of the thingsI like to do with with my free
time.
And the last thing I like to doquite a bit is is exercise.
(46:53):
So go for runs, work out in thegym.
That's great way for me to torelax and just enjoy myself
that's cool, I saw.
Speaker 2 (47:03):
I saw a movie last night.
It was called straw oh my goshit's yeah, it was.
It's one of those movies whereyou have no idea that the ending
is going to happen the way thatit does.
It's one that draws you inemotionally and I think I watch
movies differently now becausethere's a formula that Hollywood
uses Right there's theprotagonist and there's the.
(47:26):
You know, it's just that personhas to have bad things happen
in their life and then theyspend the whole movie figuring
it out and then at the end yourejoice, uh.
But sometimes you have moviesthat are just you just go.
Oh my gosh, whoever wrote thisjust had one of those minds.
But but it does.
It dug deep into our.
You know the culture that, um,I see when somebody's struggling
(47:50):
, like the young lady who is inthere is a single mom who's
trying to raise a child thatdoesn't have enough income, and
she goes to work and the boss isscreaming with her and then the
school's calling her and thensomebody runs into her.
I mean, everything that canhappen in a day happens in a day
.
Somebody runs into her.
I mean everything that canhappen in a day, you know,
(48:10):
happens in a day, but but it'sjust one of those that you go,
ok, this was, this was worth thetime that I spent watching this
movie and, like you said, itgoes back to the culture part of
this.
Yeah, I would love to do that.
(48:34):
I got some, a little bit oftime with you because you're,
like, one of the smartest peoplethat I know and so I'm
designing and this is just metotally being 100% selfish while
we're on this call Okay, allright, so I am starting a
community because I thinkrelationship is so important,
(48:56):
and so I'm going to launch it onJuly 4th and kind of
independent and it's going to becalled Become the Person.
Universe is what I'm callingthis community, because I want
people to be able to come insideand become and there's some
things that I I want to makesure that happens.
I want people to be able toteach some classes that are
(49:16):
you're part of the community andyou get to learn.
Maybe it's about taxes or youknow some of the you know, uh,
you know how to draw, how to do.
You know some of the thingsthat sometimes we don't get on
YouTube.
I mean, I know YouTube's, allthese how-to things, but more
about how do I become like Iwant to have like a book clubs.
I want to have prayer time Iwant to have, you know, exercise
clubs.
I want to do a, you know, Iguess it's like airtime thing,
(49:37):
where you know people can gettogether and just create a
community that talks aboutthings that are going on in life
that they're excited about, andyou know that'll have like a
speed, almost like a speeddating type five minutes here,
then go into a room that youknow it comes from that.
I want to have otherentrepreneurs and other people
who have businesses and you know, maybe talk about energy and
(49:58):
what it means and that kind ofstuff.
You know, and I guess myquestion to you, as we do this
and helping people become theperson that they've been
designed to be, what would besome of maybe two or three
things that you want to makesure that my community has that
you believe that not only wouldattract folks to come there, but
(50:19):
then would help them in theirjourney?
Speaker 1 (50:22):
Okay, two or three things that would attract folks
and help them with their journey.
I would say there has to be away to you mentioned courses.
There has to be a way to learnalong with the instructor in a
way that's interactive.
I think a lot of times invirtual learning environments it
(50:45):
becomes much more of a lectureand less of an interactive style
classroom.
So I think you have to findways to keep things interactive,
whether that's through havingpolls or having ways for people
to, let's say, if I'm drawingsomething on the board, if I'm
(51:05):
asking somebody to solve somesort of problem, that they also
have a way to show me whatthey've come up with before I
give the answer or I give thesolution.
So that interactivity piecewould be big for me.
And the second thing I thinkabout when it comes to community
(51:26):
is there has to be a good wayto to net, to really network
with people.
I know we have linkedin andother things these days, but I
don't ever really feel like Iget to know people through
linkedin.
It's always like the best waysI actually get to know them is
like just through a, through aconversation or an in-person
interaction.
So maybe if there are ways youcan and incentivize people who
(51:49):
are live near one another to beable to get out into the real
world and interact with oneanother or, like you mentioned
earlier, to be able to havethose short five-minute chats.
I think that would be great aswell.
Speaker 2 (52:00):
Yeah, the air meets are super important.
Part Connection is one of thewhole sections that I want
people to be able to have, thoseconversations.
I want you to say it's a Fridaynight and we have these little
quick.
You know we'll go.
It's a 90 minute deal and wehave, you know, a half hour of
it or just five minuteinteractions with people, but
then really have some roomsaround a discussion topic.
(52:22):
You know, let's say it's energyand get to know people, or we
just say it's just aroundgetting to know each other.
Where it's like you just takeit, there's, there's no thing.
Another thing that I want tohave in there is is ask an
expert.
You know I want to.
I want to bring experts inwhere, whatever the topic is,
that people will be able tocommunicate, maybe for an hour
(52:44):
with that, you know, with anexpert, where there's maybe it's
10 minute, you know questionsand answers back and forth and
move on to another person, butto really be able to ask
somebody who's been doing it fora long time.
Like if I want to ask an expertabout what is it like to play
soccer in Brazil at that levelthat you would be a person that
would be able to come on thereand say this is my experience,
(53:06):
because it's more of the youknow, talking about the
experience, and this is justlike you said, the, the interact
.
You know, hey, I'm just atalking head and I'm going to
tell you, and then you took thisclass and you walk away and go
OK, great, I still don't know.
You know, because when we talkabout becoming, it's like
there's got to be a whole bunchof wise in there, there's got to
be a whole bunch of.
This changed my life becausetype things, you know.
(53:31):
You know some of the books thatwe all want to have book clubs.
You know some of the best book.
I'd love to have children'sbooks as part of it.
You know that's a cheaper tohave it.
So thank you for thank you forthat feedback.
Like I said, that was justtotally me being selfish and
wanting to make probably thebest, the best platform that I
possibly can for people toconnect and become.
Speaker 1 (53:55):
Amazing.
Well, I look forward to seeingthis platform brought to life.
Speaker 2 (53:59):
Absolutely.
Let's talk about the children'sbook a little bit.
So what made you?
You don't have children.
You know you've been a child.
So what made you?
You don't have children?
You know you've been a child,you know, but you know when you
(54:20):
when.
Usually, when you see peoplewho write children's books,
right, it's usually fromexperiences that they've had,
you know, either as a child orbecause they watch their kids
and all the things that yourkids do.
What inspired you to start withchildren's books?
And you know, not anengineering book?
Speaker 1 (54:34):
Yeah, so I would say that every book has come from me
hearing about or seeing aproblem in the world and
thinking about what are the waysin which I could tackle it and
convey it and, I think, mostimportantly, convey it to the
next generation of people whocan hopefully be better than me,
better than you, better thanall who came before them.
(54:56):
And so the three books the veryfirst was called what Are we
Going to Do Today, and that cameout in 2015.
And I started working on thatin 2013.
And that emerged from at thetime there was a study about a
literacy word gap, a word gaprelated to young children, and
that they essentially didn'tknow as many words as other
(55:20):
children by a certain age.
I think there's been some partof that study has been debunked,
but I think the core messagestill matters.
It was about this gap inchildren's literacy, and the
important things that we knowcontribute to improving literacy
are being active and engagedwith your child.
So what are we going to dotoday?
Had something for a parent anda child to do together.
(55:41):
One thing for each week in theyear, split up by seasons, and
so it was a way for say, hey, ifyou're a parent, these were.
They're all low cost or no costthings that you can go do
together that can have an impacton your child's life, improve
their literacy, but also, just,we've talked a lot about
possibilities, but open updifferent possibilities to them,
(56:02):
so that was where what Are weGoing to Do Today came from.
Then, the Amazing World of STEMseries first originated, really,
with my dad.
He had this idea for acharacter called STEM, based on
my life, and I wouldn't say he'dbeen trying to get me to work
on it with him for his goingback to at least 2018.
(56:23):
It might have been earlier thanthat, though.
That, though, and so, but itwasn't really until the pandemic
uh emerged and I was at homethat the, the issues in which
stem as a character, would bereally even more relevant.
We saw in 2020 we I mean, sawevery issue under the sun and we
saw just a better, a need torecognize that the importance of
(56:47):
community and the importance ofbeing able to solve problems
using some of the nextgeneration things that are
coming for us like those, allinvolve knowing, science,
technology, engineering and math, and so, with the amazing
Rostem, we set out to convey theimportance of community, convey
the importance of having adiverse community, not just in
(57:10):
terms of race, but in terms ofviewpoints and ideologies, and
being able to have children wholived in that community.
You know, the centralcharacters in the Amazing World
of STEM series are children whogo about solving different
global challenges using STEM,but also using the awareness
(57:31):
that they have of theircommunity, being empowered by
their community.
So that was where all each ofthose books came from.
Speaker 2 (57:38):
Well, thank you for that.
I mean that's and just writingthose and being aware of the
books are solving a problem.
They're not just entertaining,which is really cool they can
entertain, but solving a problemat the same time.
Solving a problem, they're notjust entertaining, which is
which is really cool, they canentertain, but solving a problem
at the same time is just isreally cool.
Man, this is.
This conversation has gone sowell, so quickly, but I want to
(58:01):
know what didn't we talk about?
I was selfish and asked myquestions, but I want you to be
able to tell everybody that hasbeen watching the things that
are on your heart, the thingsthat you truly believe in or
whatever you know, things thatyou would want us to know about
it.
Speaker 1 (58:16):
Well, this was such a wide ranging conversation
probably more wide ranging thanI expected that I'm not sure
what else I could expect.
I mean, when I came in, did Iexpect to be asked about the
meaning of my name?
No, no, I don't.
I don't think I did so.
I feel like we had a awide-ranging conversation that
(58:37):
brought up, I think, everythingum about me and who I am, about
my upbringing, what I'm doingnow.
I guess I would just believethe audience was saying, um,
that this was all how I gotwhere I am was all intentional.
It was, again the result of notjust my own drive, but about
people who poured into me andmade sure that, um, that my life
(59:02):
mattered, that they believe mylife mattered and continue to
believe my life matters, uh, andthat I'm willing to do the same
for somebody else who reachesout to me, because I believe
it's that important for me tocontinue to give back to my
community and ensure that thenext generation does better than
me.
Speaker 2 (59:22):
Wow, that is so cool.
And when I think that they canget your books on.
Amazon correct.
They can go to Amazon and getthem, and they're there.
And STEM seems to be, you know,one of, at least the one your
dad was telling me about that.
I can't wait to get that oneand read that one.
But also, you know, what I wouldlike to say is, well, I'd love
(59:45):
to have you come back, but whatI would even more like you know
that we'll have the community is, maybe have you come back to
the community and you know, as aguest speaker, as a, you know,
as ask an expert or you know, sothere's that interactive piece,
or just you know, have you comein and just you know, show us
some things that we couldbenefit from or we could learn
(01:00:05):
from, and so I hope that you'llbe willing to do that someday
and do that.
Perfect, and then.
So this has been your firstepisode of this that you've
watched.
Not only am I going to ask younot to just even watch this one
back, but to go watch Nahim'sdad's interview, Nate Turner's
(01:00:26):
interview, because that was itwas so good as well, and then I
can't wait to have your mom on,because I think I'm going to get
to your mom, so that's going tobe super fun to do.
I she hadn't said yes yet, Ihaven't asked her yet, but
you'll have to put in a littlebit of word for me.
Hey, you got to go on this, Ican't wait to do the family
(01:00:47):
affair on this one.
But again, thank you.
You know, subscribe, hitnotifications.
I promise you there is somebodyin one of these episodes that
absolutely can make your life,at least make you think about
your life, and, if not, make itbetter as a result of the things
you do, because you want tobecome a better person, and this
(01:01:11):
is one of those, and I justthank you so much for being on.
I know I asked you a whole widerange of stuff that you know
you probably weren't expecting,but I promise all my guests I'm
never going to ask you aquestion that you don't know the
answer to, because pretty muchall the questions are like their
opinions on stuff.
And so even if you know, evenif they told us about their life
(01:01:33):
and they made it up, there's noway I would know.
Then their family would startsaying well you did it, but it
has been such a pleasure.
This is an awesome show.
I'm so glad.
Like the day that your dadstarted talking about you, I was
like I can't wait to have himon this show.
I don't know how long it's goingto be how long it's going to
(01:01:54):
take to get him on.
Now that I had you on itfulfilled all of the thought
process that I had that it would, and it was so good and so
wonderful.
So thank you again for being on.
What I want to tell you guys isdon't forget that you're God's
greatest gift.
He loves you.
If you allow him to, I want tosay you can do this, let's go.
(01:02:15):
I want to say let's grow, let'sbecome all of those wonderful
things.
You're about to have a greatday in every way.
Do you have one last closingthought, nahim, that you would
just love to end with?
Speaker 1 (01:02:28):
Yeah, I'm just going to say have a great day and
thank you again so much forhaving me All right, we'll talk
to you guys soon.
Speaker 2 (01:02:35):
You guys have, like I said, an amazing, incredible,
awesome day, and we will see youin the community starting on
July 4th, so look out for thingsthat will show you all about it
.
Talk to you guys soon.
I wanted to go play professional soccer.
I wanted to pursue that dreamand so I went off to live in
Brazil.
That's been part of my life'smission to empower people with
energy and ensure that it'sindependent, safe and affordable
.
I don't see my name as a burden, and whenever I am lost or
doubting myself, it's somethingthat I can always remind myself
(00:23):
like hey, you are supposed to bethis benevolent king, born from
home, you have a duty to othersbeyond yourself.
When I see marvels ofengineering or see marvels of
the world and think like, howdid people come up with those
things?
Well, you know, they gotinspiration, in part, from the
world around them, which wasbuilt by a creator.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
All right, welcome to another edition, just another
fantastic edition of the Journeyto Freedom podcast.
And I am just so excited.
I'm DrB and I'm your host todayand just you know, I think I
say this every single time but Iget so excited when I get to
have this conversation with thedifferent guests that come on
and finding out who's doing whatacross the entire country.
(01:25):
And you know, I don't know ifyou know this, naheem, but I you
know, I started this about ayear and a half, almost two
years ago now, a year and a halfago now and the goal was is you
know, how do we, how do we takethis journey to freedom and
make sure that we are helping inthis case, black men be able to
(01:46):
see what other people are doing.
Sometimes we feel stuck orsometimes we feel like we can't
do it or whatever the identity,things that we have in there,
and so to be able to highlightand showcase and show other
black from all walks of lifedoing stuff.
I think it just creates thisexcitement in people that hey,
(02:08):
if Nahim can do it, then I cando it.
And so last winter, in lastJanuary, I was able to take 18
Black men down to the South.
I don't know how much time hespent in the South, but he went
to Alabama.
He went to Birmingham, selmaand Montgomery.
We went to the Bryan StevensonMuseum there in Montgomery.
(02:30):
Oh my gosh, what atransformational trip that was.
And so my goal in 2024 was thatI would interview 100 Black men
and we got to 105, and we'regoing to surpass that this year.
I'm already at like 70something this year and we're
only at half the year.
So, yeah, so we're going to hitwe're going to hit the 200 mark
(02:54):
and I don't want to stop.
This has been.
You know, I get to say that I'mthe luckiest person on the
planet because I get to learnfrom you, and so, like all the
other guests in the home, I'dlove for you to kind of share
your story.
I will start there and thenwe'll move into our pillars.
But, yeah, if you're able tojust tell us you know, maybe a
(03:14):
little bit about your past, Ithink people love to hear so
much more about who people arebefore you kind of get that
relationship and that trustbefore they know what they do,
and so we'd love for you toshare.
The floor is yours and thenwe'll chop it up with our other
stuff right afterwards, and sothank you for being on today.
It's such a pleasure to haveyou with us, and I can't wait to
(03:35):
have this conversation.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Well, thank you so much.
I'm glad to be here, dr B, andjust to introduce myself first
and foremost.
My name is Dr NaeemTurner-Bendelli.
I am the son of two greatparents, one of whom was a guest
on your show a few months ago,nathaniel Turner.
I'm a friend to many and amentor to others.
I'm also an engineer,researcher and entrepreneur.
I run an energy researchconsulting firm called Latimer
(03:59):
Enterprises Enterprises, and mywork with Latimer Enterprises,
which is named after LewisHoward Latimer, focuses on
helping individuals, businessesand communities take back
control of how they power theirlives, especially in places
where energy has been unreliable, unaffordable or just
complicated to manage.
I have a PhD in electrical andcomputer engineering and an MBA,
but I think what's most shapedwhere I am today was a journey
(04:23):
that I took over 10 years ago.
I wanted to go playprofessional soccer, wanted to
pursue that dream, and so I wentoff to live in Brazil, and
while living in Brazil I was atan academy there, and at that
academy I noticed just howunreliable electricity and
energy could be at times.
So there would be some dayswhere the academy I was at would
(04:43):
have power and the surroundingcommunity would not, or the
community would have power andmy academy wouldn't, because it
ran on a generator, and thatreally drew my attention to
issues related to energy access,affordability and disparities
in energy.
So from then on, that's beenpart of my life's mission to
empower people with energy andensure that it's independent,
(05:04):
safe and affordable.
I'm also the author of twochildren's books that inspire
early interest in STEM andhelped found some nonprofits as
well, so that's a little bitabout me as we get into it.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Oh my gosh.
Well, because I did get to talkto your dad and your dad told
all about your upbringing andall the things that he had in
mind for you.
So I've been so excited abouthaving this conversation because
, you know, it's one perspectiveto say this is what my son is
going to be or this is what yourparents your mom and dad said.
(05:40):
Ok, so we know he's going to goto an Ivy League school, so we
know we're going to make surethat he's so well-rounded and
he's got all these things.
But then sometimes for a child,you know, there's obviously
doing what mom and dad say to doand all the things they do.
But at the same time you'relooking at other kids that
(06:02):
probably don't have the same, Iguess, future that is being
placed upon them and it mightseem I don't know, and you're
going to tell us right here.
It might seem like, well, howcome I don't get to just go play
and hang out and how come I gotto do all this other stuff?
What was it like growing up inthe Turner household?
Speaker 1 (06:28):
up in the Turner household.
Growing up in the Turnerhousehold was great and I'm not
just saying that because I'msure both my parents will listen
to this, but no, in all honesty, it was great.
I had a lot of freedom to decidewhat I wanted to do and how I'd
like to go about doing things,especially as it related to what
would be my professionalpursuits, my academic pursuits.
I think that my dad outlinedthe framework pretty clearly,
(06:50):
but certainly within thatframework, I shaped my own
decisions.
I think if you were to ask bothmy parents and you ask them,
hey, would you have expectedyour son to be an engineer and
to start his own company?
I don't think either one ofthem would have said yes, and
that was explicitly part oftheir plan.
But I certainly think that theygave me the freedom to learn,
(07:11):
grow and develop, but alsoprovided structure in which I
could succeed, provided atemplate for me to succeed and,
I think, just as importantly,they made sure I was aware of
all of the opportunitiesavailable in front of me and the
people who come before me, whoachieved as much, if not more,
than me and endured much harderstruggles than I had, and which
also helped inspire me andpropel me forward.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Gotcha what you know.
As you're thinking through that, what are some of your favorite
memories of things andexperiences that you got to do?
Memories of things andexperiences that you got to do,
I guess maybe some that you'd beable to brag about that say you
know I got to do this and youdidn't get to do it, or you know
things that you just rememberthat you were able to do or
(07:56):
being exposed to.
That continues to help youtoday.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
I would say there are a number of things.
So when I was in high school, Istarted a foundation called the
Social Justice League and myparents helped me start that
nonprofit, and it was initiallyspurred about because a friend
of mine was experiencinghomelessness.
A soccer teammate of mine wasexperiencing homelessness.
(08:22):
A soccer teammate of mine wasexperiencing homelessness, and
so having the opportunity tostart that foundation was
something that was unique andthat my parents supported me
throughout, and it taught me alot about how to run your own
business, how to tackle issuesthat are important, how to
ensure that you care aboutothers and do well by others.
(08:45):
I think some other things Ithink back on that are part of
my childhood would also be thefact that I got to go to Brazil,
like I mentioned in theintroduction, that I got to have
that opportunity to say, hey, Iwill have this dream of playing
professional soccer.
How do I do it?
Well, you know, my parentshelped me figure that out.
(09:05):
My dad was the one who hired avirtual assistant to help him
because he knew nothing aboutyou know, international soccer.
So he helped virtual assistant,helped him figure out where are
the places I can send my son.
How can I do that?
So those are certainlyopportunities that I had.
That, I think, definitelyinformed who I am today and had
(09:25):
a sizable impact.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
When I think about, like world football or you know
football, or you know what wecall soccer, you know, brazil
always seems to be some of thebest athletes soccer players,
football players in the entireworld.
What was it like to be able toplay at that level with those
(09:51):
types of athletes?
And maybe it was the same as inthe us, I don't know.
Uh, no, no, it was not, not thesame, not the same at all.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Uh, it was completely and entirely different.
It's just, it's another levelof quality, certainly the
players, but I think somethingyou also come to understand is
there's another level of driveand ambition, because for many
of the people that I played with, this was their way out of
(10:20):
poverty, out of very difficultsituations, poverty out of very
difficult situations.
So this was their way offinding success.
And so when you play in anenvironment like that, the
competitiveness goes up anadditional level and you find
yourself having to proveyourself, because these people
are seeing you, coming here,thinking you have no idea, you
know our struggle, you have noappreciation for what this game
(10:41):
really means to us, and so youhave to be humble, and so our
our struggle.
You have no appreciation forwhat this game really means to
us, and so you have to have tobe to be humble.
And so there's a huge, hugedifference when you go there, um
, both culturally and in termsof the quality of the play.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Oh my gosh.
Well, you know, as I thinkabout, you know, just the, even
the, the stardom or the, um, buteven the stardom or the, I
don't want to say, as peoplelove, love their sport of soccer
, like here in America.
I mean, I guess football is,you know, american football is
(11:15):
this sport that everybody kindof relates to.
But then the other sports,maybe baseball, kind of just
kind of take second seatsbecause we have so many
different choices.
And I remember when I was, whenI was able to travel to Europe
as a track athlete is, you know,there might be you know, 20, 30
, 40,000 people in the stands.
There might be a thousandpeople that are standing up just
(11:37):
to watch the events, you know,and so I know that's like that
in Brazil, where when you showup to play, it's not like you
know here, where you know youmight fill half of a stadium or
you know people got other stuffto do, a lot of no-shows, empty
seats.
What was that like as anathlete and the change from what
(11:58):
you experienced here comparedto like your identity and your
mindset, because you have thisidentity of.
You know, I'm achieving allthese things and athletics is
one of them, and now I'm playingat the highest level you know
in athletics in a foreigncountry.
How did you deal with what thatmeant?
Speaker 1 (12:19):
It was definitely.
It was difficult.
It took me, I did months ofpreparation before I left.
So, to give your listeners morecontext, I left for Brazil, for
Sao Paulo, brazil, to go playthere in August of 2012.
Doing visualization, doing workon my soccer skills, my
(12:45):
football skills, but when I gotthere it was an entirely
different experience to have toadapt, like I said earlier, to
those cultural differences, tohaving to reach an even higher
level.
So certainly, hey, it's.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Dr B, and let me ask you something just here real
quick.
Are you tired of doing the samething over and over and not
getting the results you want?
Are you serious about makingsome changes this year that will
impact you in a huge way?
Maybe you're putting outcontent right now and it's not
turning into customers.
Or maybe you're uploadingvideos but you're not sure why
or how it's even going to help.
You know, I've seen a lot ofpeople that are making a whole
(13:24):
bunch of cold calls to the wrongpeople and no one's answering.
No one wants to talk to you.
It might just be that you'rejust doing what you've been
doing and crossing your fingers,hoping it finally works this
year, but let me tell you what.
That is not a strategy and itwill continue not to work.
That's why I created thepodcasting challenge and it's
coming up fast.
(13:44):
In just a few days, I'm goingto walk you through the mindset,
the tool set and the skill setyou need to create a powerful
podcast.
That's right, a podcast.
You won't believe what apodcast can do, one that builds
real value and creates newclients.
And if you grab a vip ticket,you'll get to join me for a
daily zoom q a sessions whereI'll personally answer your
(14:05):
questions and help you tailoreverything to your goals.
This is your moment.
This is your year.
Go to thepodcastingchallengecomright now and save your seat.
The link is in the show notesand the description.
Thank you for watching thesepodcasts.
Now let's get back to theconversation.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
I had to, I had to adapt and I think the ways in
which I adapted were learningfrom the people I was around and
trying to integrate myself asmuch in in their culture and
realizing that, um, the only wayI was going to reach that next
level was by, um, being a littlebit less like me and taking a
little bit less from what Ilearned in America and taking a
(14:43):
little bit more what I couldlearn from them.
Yeah, I certainly think that wasone of the ways in which I
adapted.
I think it, in terms of how itimpacted my sense of identity, I
would say that it reinforcedthat entire experience,
reinforced who I am and helpedadd different layers and nuances
to who I am.
(15:03):
I mentioned kind of earlierthat one of the experiences I
got to have earlier in my lifewas to start a foundation.
So that certainly meant that Ihad awareness of causes and was
aware of history and importance.
But I think being away fromfrom family, from community,
reinforces your, helps toreinforce your sense of identity
in a, especially in a placelike like Brazil and places that
(15:27):
I was at.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
I'd love to ask you when we start talking about
identity and talking about thefamily you grew up in, because
your parents obviously had anidentity that they had for you.
Now I know you had, you know,some freedom of choice to the
things that you wanted to do,but they still had an identity
(15:54):
that they kind of expected thatyou would have At what point in
your I guess you know overall,you know timeline, did you?
Did your identity become solelyyours?
Maybe it never has, but youknow where it became more yours
(16:14):
than it was theirs.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
I would venture to say pretty early on in my life,
because there are certain habitsthat I had as a child that they
just didn't have even as adults.
I mean, I think some of thethings I remember are my dad
wanting to go just hang out andplay and do things outside.
And I said, dad, I havehomework to do.
(16:37):
And I'm like seven or eightyears old, I have homework to do
.
I need to get my work donefirst before I do anything else.
That was never something.
You know.
They I mean they certainlyinstilled the value importance
of getting work done, but I meanno one's ever telling me to do
that, shaping my identity inthat way.
That came intrinsically from me, I would say pretty early on.
Those things started to emergeas early as like seven or eight
(16:59):
years old and was onlyreinforced over time as I had,
you know, my own experiences.
Um, and I think fundamentallyit was, it was I was fully in my
own by the time I left to go toBrazil.
So that's 16, 17 yeah, oh mygosh.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
So there's a drive to achieve that you have.
I mean, you don't play at thehighest level of soccer, you
don't get a PhD, you don't starta foundation, you don't know
when.
Do you think that comes from,that drive to just be more?
You know when I think of be, do, have and trying to become the
person you need to be.
Talk to me a little bit aboutyour drive, yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
I think part of that certainly comes from my parents
and who they are as people.
I mean they're both very highachieving people who have come
from very difficult environmentsand overcome a lot in order to
achieve.
So I think just knowing them andknowing, being aware of their
history and who they arecertainly had an impact on that
(18:03):
drive.
But I would say another part ofit for me comes from having a
broader understanding of historyand culture, having an
understanding of people likeLewis Howard Latimer, who I've
named my company after, who areinspirations to me, and knowing
that if these people did thesereally difficult things and I
certainly can too, and and Ihave so many more tools
(18:23):
available to me that there's noreason I shouldn't get them done
, there's no reason I shouldn'taim for more.
And then I would say the lastpiece for me that shapes that
drive is knowing that there areso many challenges in the world
and that I'm so blessed to havethe education and the skill set
and the tools that I have that Ihave no other choice but to
(18:44):
give back to my community and toempower others and to do more.
So I would say those aredefinitely the three drivers.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Oh my gosh, when I think of you know the
environment and the experiencesthat you had.
And then I think of the youknow the associations that
you've been able to be a part of.
How do you think thoseexperiences and those
associations have helped youlike in the person that you are
(19:16):
today?
I mean, were there certainpeople that you know you were
able to meet that that just, ohman, I can't you know.
Or the you know being able totravel and do some of the things
that you were, you know,younger in life be able to do?
How has that shaped how you seethe world?
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Yeah, sure, I would say that how I see the world is
shaped as much by theexperiences as, if not more, by
the people that have been in mylife, that have been a part of
my village, like Dr WillieUnderwood, who I think you've
also had on as a guest.
Man, that dude's no joke.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
So you can understand how that might also.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
He might also shape me as well.
His ideology of kick-ass dickgames is certainly part of me.
His ideology of kick-ass dickgames is certainly part of me.
People like Dr Bernudi, mygodmother, also been influential
in shaping my life.
I think that professors I'vehad over the years, once I got
(20:19):
to college and beyond, certainlyhad an impact.
And then I would say, anotherorganization that has had a huge
impact on my life is theNational Society of Black
Engineers, which I got to be inthe regional and national
leadership board, to sit on anational board for the first
time in my life.
So that was a fantasticexperience that certainly shaped
my identity as well.
All of those people who pouredinto me in both as individuals
(20:43):
or through organizations.
But you know, organizations aremade up of people, individuals.
So all of those people pouringinto me certainly helped shape
me.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Wow, and just you know, I'm thinking about you
know that identity and I'mthinking about those experience
and the people that you'rearound, um, and then I think
about trust.
You know, and, and howimportant trust is, to be able
to trust that you're going to beable to do the things or you'll
(21:14):
be able to walk in the placesthat you need to walk in.
And you know, like you go tobrazil, it's this country, like
you said, you had to do somepre-stuff so that you would know
how to navigate yourself.
You and you got a virtualassistant.
Um, how big of uh, the wordtrust, or being able to trust to
be able to move forward, hasthat played in your life?
(21:34):
Or do you just go intosituations and you trust
everybody first and they don'thave to prove themselves later,
or they have to kind of provethemselves?
Speaker 1 (21:43):
No, not, not at all.
I think if you asked any frienda friend of mine I'm certainly
someone who likes to have trust,but I verify, and I verify
pretty rigorously, you know, tobe able to go into the spaces
I've gone into, yeah, absolutely, I think at a first level you
(22:04):
have to have some, some trust,otherwise, if you're not opening
yourself up to part of theexperience, then you're never
going to get anything out of it.
I had to trust that at the baselevel, that the, for example,
the people in Brazil that I wasgoing to play with, that, who
were coaching me, um, had mybest interest in some level.
And then, you know, over time,I let them, I had my own
(22:26):
internal metrics and I let themprove it to me if they they did
or did not actually.
And so I think that, yeah,trust is an essential part of
what I do.
Verifying, importantly, is mostessential.
People's actions, not justwords.
Their actions have to show methat there should be that trust.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Oh my gosh.
So when you say verify, it justreminds me of an engineer
person and you can tell I'm notthat, I'm just this outgoing,
just there's hardly anythingthat's super methodical.
I mean, I get stuff done, butI'm imagining are you you're not
married yet, right?
No, okay, yeah so.
(23:07):
So I'm thinking of, like, theperson that you date and the
list of things that they have tobe in order for them to go out.
Does that list exist?
And then, what are some ofthose things that?
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Yeah, one.
That list does not exist.
I'm pretty focused on my goalsat the moment, so you, know,
there's no list at the moment,but I can tell you when that day
comes.
Yes, the list will probably beextensive.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
I can see.
I can just see like aapplications that are out there
that you have to have.
Okay, yeah, we can do this,because to have somebody so
driven and kind of know what youknow, what their future is and
what their life, what are someof the things that you believe
(24:07):
that you're?
Maybe I should ask you thisfirst, is you know the meaning
of your name is?
Do you have a specific meaningof your name that you're, that
you know?
Your parents decided this isthe name because they seem to be
kind of very.
Your parents decided this isthe name because they seem to be
kind of very, you know,methodical as well in these
things, and they don't do things.
From my perspective, I don'tsee them just doing things
(24:28):
haphazardly.
They think about just abouteverything they do before they
do it.
So I'm assuming your name hassome meaning and then fulfilling
whatever that is.
And then the future for you.
Kind of.
Just walk me through what thatkind of looks like.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Absolutely so.
My name, full name, naeemKahari Turner Bondelli.
So Naeem means benevolentKahari means kingly and Bondelli
means born away from home.
So put it all togetherbenevolent king, born away from
home.
And that absolutely is part ofmy identity.
It is a driver.
(25:04):
It does shape me in the sensethat it is a constant reminder
of who I am and who I'm supposedto be.
I don't see my name as a burdenor anything in that nature.
It's always a challenge, areminder of who I am supposed to
be, and whenever I am lost ordoubting myself, it's something
(25:28):
that I can always remind myself.
Like you are supposed to be,this benevolent king Born from
home, you have a duty to othersbeyond yourself.
That is all part of it and itdefinitely shapes where I'm
going.
Next, it shapes the work I'mdoing with the company I started
.
It's why the mission of thecompany is to empower people
(25:50):
with energy solutions.
It's not empower.
The mission doesn't say empowerbusinesses or empower objects
or infrastructure with energysolutions.
It's about people.
So all of that is tied to myname as well.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Born away from home.
Yes, talk to me about that.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Yeah, born away from home.
So Bondeli and I learned morerecently how to say it correctly
, because it's actually Nigerian.
I learned that from one of mybest friend's dad who's Nigerian
and taught me that it's aboutstaying connected to.
For me, actually, it's twoparts.
(26:29):
It's about staying connected tomy history, so being a
descendant of slaves, beingdescendant of people from the
African continent, it's aboutstaying connected to that, but
it's also about, um, stayingconnected to a much larger
legacy of of success, ofgreatness, people who were all
(26:50):
born away from home.
Just like, just like I was,people in black people in this
country who were born away fromhome and ended up going on to do
amazing things and becominginventors, designers, artists,
leaders, historians, you name it.
So it's both, I would say.
At the core, it's about legacy,but it's also about that larger
(27:14):
history of enslavement what?
Speaker 2 (27:26):
what do you feel?
Your responsibility as a blackman that is, you know, part of
the american culture is withinthat, you know, born away from
home but then still hasresponsibilities to achieve some
of the greatest things that manhas seen.
That, how do you feel?
How do I talk?
Speaker 1 (27:41):
about the responsible yeah responsibility yeah, um,
it feels uh good to me.
It feels empowering to knowthat I have I have a
responsibility to other people.
Um, I think that it it's adriver, it's.
It certainly forms part of myown, my own personal mission.
It makes me excited to get upevery day to know I have
(28:05):
something to do, responsibilityto someone else beyond myself.
It's a motivator.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
We talk so much about culture and Black culture or
culture of folks of color,culture from people who are
white, or you know culture offolks of color, you know culture
from people who are right.
When you think, how was your Iguess identity inside of this
(28:32):
culture formed that although yousee, or you, I mean, you cannot
not see what's happening inAmerica and continue to see all
the things that are happeninghere and then know you know the
history and I'm sure you'velearned the history and your
parents talked to you about thehistory and then like I guess
it's like where we fit in andthen saying, man, do you feel
like you know?
I guess I don't know if it'sjust a responsibility to help
(28:54):
other folks of color or to justhelp everybody, or is it just
like there's this proudness thatI'm, I'm here and I'm doing
what needs to be done?
I mean, I just want to kind ofkind of find your space that's
in the inside of the culturesure I speak to the
responsibility piece first.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
I would say that there's certain I I feel
responsible both to people wholook like me black and brown
people but I also feelresponsibility to the wider
groups of people who don't havesame access or opportunities
that I got to grow up with,because I think that Hello, this
is Dr B and I want to ask youone simple question what if you
(29:35):
died, having never become youNow?
Speaker 2 (29:36):
I don't mean the version of you that worked the
job, raised the kids or chasedsecurity.
I mean the person God actuallydesigned you to be, the real you
, because there's a version ofyour life that's already been
written and it's full of peace,it's full of boldness, it's full
of purpose and, of course, it'sfull of power.
But most people, many people,they miss it.
They live distracted, doubting,disconnected and deep down,
(30:00):
they wonder is this really allthere is?
But not you, and not today.
That's why we created theBecoming a Person universe.
It's a living, breathingcommunity of people saying I
want to be who God called me tobe, not someday, but right now.
So inside, we'll walk youthrough three levels of
transformation.
Level one is all about identity, where you finally see yourself
(30:21):
clearly and know exactly whoyou are and who you need to
become.
Level two is about mastery,where we develop the disciplines
to grow.
And then, finally, level threeis legacy, where your life
begins to matter beyond you.
And hear me, I want you to hearme clear here this is not a
place to passively belong.
This is a place to grow, leadand thrive.
We even have ways want you tohear me clear here.
(30:41):
This is not a place topassively belong.
This is a place to grow, leadand thrive.
We even have ways for you toshare in the revenue as we grow,
because we believe in buildinglegacy together.
And I want you to know, thefounders and I are praying for
you.
We have been praying for me.
You have been on our hearts.
Yes, you have been on ourhearts.
You're not watching this byaccident, and I want to
(31:02):
personally invite you to thenext info meeting where we will
go over all this community hasto offer.
All you do is just click thelink before you know what to do.
But now it's your turn.
I want to ask you to askyourself what if this is the
moment everything changes?
Is the moment everythingchanges?
(31:25):
What if this is the reasonyou've been searching?
What if all God has beenwaiting for is for you to say
yes, there's a seat for you here, whether you're rediscovering
yourself or finally ready toleave a legacy and are ready to
contribute Either way and areready to contribute Either way.
This is the becoming the personuniverse, and once you're in
your life will never be the same.
(31:47):
So I can't wait to meet you.
I can't wait to spend time withyou.
I can't wait to see you on theother side.
So let's go live in thatpurpose and let's do it together
.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
In order for the American society to move forward
, we need to be able to empowerall people, of all races and
creeds and all socioeconomicstatuses in order to move
forward as a society.
So I certainly feelresponsibility, first and
foremost to my people, but Ialso feel responsibility to that
wider human community, becausethat's both.
That's in part how I was raised.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Yeah yeah, well, you know, for me it's hard to tell,
because I think of the socialeconomic divide that you just
kind of talked about.
And when I see, you know, folksthat you know educationally
maybe been disadvantaged or justhaven't had the opportunities
or don't have haven't been ableto see or know how to take
(32:45):
advantage of the opportunitiesthat are afforded to us, the
folks that kind of still live inimpoverished but don't have
goals and ambitions of likehomeownership or you know better
jobs that you know, it's likethis is all I can be.
And then they, you know, that'swhy we're having a show, right,
so they can see other folksthat are doing things.
(33:06):
And then, but you know, theoverall is, yeah, I mean by
being that or by doing all thethings that you're doing, you're
kind of an inspiration, right.
You're somebody who says, man,if only I could.
And then it's like, well, whatif I mess that up?
(33:27):
You know, I think of somebodyand I don't know, like PDD's
situation, right, I see all thenonsense that is on there and I
see all the fake stuff thatshows up.
But I look at, you know, he'sdone so much.
But then I look at, well, man,if he was really doing all those
things he was doing.
He was hurting some folks right, hurting a whole lot of people
(33:51):
in a whole lot of ways andtaking advantage of a whole lot
of people in a whole lot of ways.
And you know, was that for thelove of money or was that for?
And you know, was that for thelove of money or was that for?
And then I think about OK, howdo we circumvent that, that fame
or that, that spotlight that somany of well, I don't know so
many of us, but what we normallysee in our culture is, you know
(34:13):
, these athletes or these actorsor these entertainers that
become our role models, butthey're still human and they're
still flawed.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
So maybe talk to me a little bit about the dichotomy
there.
I think that, first off, Ithink we historically are
looking at some of the wrongrole models and I would say,
especially in our modern culture, we don't look enough to, to
our, to our much, our, muchbetter inspirations, uh like,
like again, I've mentioned lewislatimer a few times now.
(34:49):
But like lewis latimer, who wasuh, who, whose parents were uh
enslaved and escaped slavery,who went on to uh have multiple
engineering patents to be thefoundation of things like part
of establishing things like thelight bulb and the telephone,
who's also an art, an artist aswell, a musician.
So I think that that's a partof the problem.
And when we look to and wethink about role models like
(35:12):
that, those were not, you know,the people who were interested
in the fame and fortune, fortuneand the success they were
empowered by, about doing betterfor their communities.
I mean, mr Latimer was part ofthe civil rights, the early
civil rights movement.
So I think those are the typesof role models we have to look
(35:33):
to in terms of balancing thatdichotomy, you know, achieving
success and then also notessentially not losing yourself
along the way, if we're tobelieve that you know PW did all
of those awful things, maybelost himself along the way.
I think that the way in whichwe do that one involves knowing
(35:54):
our own history.
Two, remembering that we havewe've talked a lot about
responsibility, remembering thatwe have a responsibility to
more than just ourselves.
And it's much harder to loseyourself when you believe that
the person you're responsible tois not just you and you
actually realize that it's amuch larger community, that it
(36:14):
is the black community, it isthe larger community of humanity
.
So I think those are ways youavoid entering into that trap,
how you balance that dichotomy.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Yeah, yeah, that's so good because it's you know it
is.
It's finding where you fit inand then trying to increase our
level of, I guess, awareness ofpossibilities.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Sure, when you talk about faith.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
Talk to me a little bit about your belief system,
and does that drive you in anyway or?
Speaker 1 (36:54):
I would say this I was raised as a Christian and
that certainly informs how I dobelieve in God, certainly
informs how I think about whatis possible with me and when I
might have times of doubt, Icertainly do go to God, think
about God.
I think about God as well interms of how you know the
(37:16):
creation of the universe.
I think about God when I'mdoing, when I see marvels of
engineering or see marvels ofthe world and think like, how
did people come up with thosethings?
Well, they got inspiration inpart from the world around them
which was built by a creator.
So certainly it plays I wouldsay it plays a role in my life.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Oh good, I mean, it's just sometimes, when you have
somebody who is so intellectualas you is, they struggle to, you
know, find that space and thatyou know, is there a creator?
Is there not a creator?
And to see that that issomething that you have as part
of who you are, to me is neatthat we get to see that.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Yeah, I think we have space for things that simply
can't be explained and certainlyare just marvels of our world,
and I know some people havedifferent ways of going about
how they'd like to explain those.
That's one of the ways I thinkabout it.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
Yeah, Well then, like Michelangelo, just say just as
you're looking at, my hand tellsme that there's a God, and when
I start thinking of, like ahorse can only be a horse and a
dog can only be a horse, but Godcreated man to be, to create
our creativity, that that partof Him was put into all of us,
(38:41):
and then we have to takewhatever that he gave us, and
then that goes to living inpurpose.
And when you think about, youknow, is it possible?
and I can tell by your life forthis answer, but I'll let you
answer it is it possible to livein God's purpose or in purpose
period without serving otherslive in God's purpose or in
(39:05):
purpose period without servingothers?
Speaker 1 (39:07):
I don't think so.
I don't know how you do thatwithout serving others.
You know I attended Jesuitinstitutions for most of my
academic career.
My undergraduate degree is froma university called Santa Clara
University, jesuit institutionand mission is about serving
others and do that to help allof God's people.
So I don't think it is possible.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
When I think about and thank you for that, because
it is when I think aboutpersonal development and working
on ourselves compared to thedistractions that can happen in
life, and when I think ofdistractions to me.
Some of the distractions thatyou know may not be for others
would be some of theentertainment stuff that I could
(39:54):
spend my time on.
I mean, I could come home everyday, I could turn on the
television and I could be superdistracted.
Every day I could turn on thetelevision and I could be super
distracted.
I could.
When I think of like knowingmore about an NFL player or a
baseball player than I knowabout my own kids.
You know, I think that could bea distraction and I know people
(40:14):
are like that.
You know, I think of some ofthe, just the ways that we hang
out.
How, how do we?
I guess my question is is howdo we Get away from those, some
of those distractions, and thenhow much of our time should be
spent on working on us so thatwe can have the ability to serve
(40:35):
others?
Speaker 1 (40:37):
That's a tough question how do we get away from
the distractions?
I'll start there first.
I think that one of the ways toget away from them is to start
by choosing better distractions.
So we're humans, we all needdowntime, away time, things to
occupy our time and attention.
(40:57):
So I think for me what thatlooks like is I watch a lot of
movies, but I don't spendnecessarily all of my time on
things that won't necessarilyinform me.
I like to watch things that Ithink might challenge me, that
might do something artistically,that might make me think
differently about the work thatI do or the work that other
(41:18):
people do.
So that's certainly one of thethings I think we can do
generally just choose, try tochoose better distractions,
things that might be I won't sayproductive, but things that
might allow us more space tothink about ourselves and how we
grow and develop.
And then remember the secondpart of your question.
I want to make sure I get to it.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
Personal development.
So how much time in working onus should we spend?
Maybe even before we take onsome of the distractions, maybe
we should spend time developingourselves, and then yeah, I
think that, um, we certainlyhave to make that a part of your
life.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
I think, at least least weekly.
For me, what that looks like is, um, they, I listen, try to
listen to, uh, podcasts oraudiobooks or read things that
might help me, you know, becomea better person, and one of the
things I've had to really learnover the years, for example, is
how to relax a bit more.
(42:16):
We've talked a lot about myambition and drive, but that
certainly comes.
There's another part of thatwhere I can stress myself out
and I don't relax well.
So one of the ways in whichI've tried to do better,
personally improve, is read andlisten to a book called Don't
Swat Small Stuff Do that prettymuch daily, and reading and
(42:37):
listening to that audio bookhelps remind me of different
practices I can take, whetherit's related to breathing or
meditation, anything like thatthat I can know I can still.
I can still be better.
I can find ways to overcome anydifficulties I may be having.
I mean going back to mychildhood as well.
(42:58):
A big thing that I used to doand I would say I still do, at
least on a regular basis isvisualization.
I like to visualize where mylife could be and where it could
go.
I like to make vision boards,so I think you have to find time
to incorporate those types ofactivities into your life, at
least weekly.
(43:19):
You can start small.
You can start by reading achapter of a very short book
like Don't Sweat the Small Stuff.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
Or it can be much larger and grander, like making
a vision board yeah, that's sogood and I don't want to take
away and tell people youshouldn't be entertained, or you
know, no, no, I think of youknow there's so many to see the
greatness and what a man orhumankind when I say man, men
(43:46):
and are capable of doing.
And whether it's going to aconcert you know I went to a
Sting concert a few weeks ago orI went to you know, of course
I'm going to go to that stuff.
I'm going to go to a footballgame, I'm going to go to a
basketball game, I'm going to,you know, just marvel in man,
(44:06):
the athletic ability and what itmust have taken, the tens and
thousands of hours that it tookthat individual.
Or if I go to a museum and Isee art, that's just like
incredible and that kind ofstuff and I want to celebrate
that.
And so when I say these things,I hope that the folks that are
listening don't think well, Igot to take all that out of my
life?
Absolutely not.
(44:27):
But I think there's a where, ifyou're not working on you, then
you kind of said these otherthings are more important, or
take the precedence over me,trying to be what God intended
me to be or to take that purposethat he put into my life.
If I get so much into it, youknow I can't imagine and I know
(44:51):
people do it to sit at a sportsbar in Vegas and you know watch
19 different sports everyafternoon, all day long.
You know, trying to bet andlosing a whole bunch of money.
Well, I don't know that, God.
You know, maybe the casinowould be mad at me, but I don't
think God intended us to sit atsports bars all day long, every
day.
(45:15):
Somehow, you know, or theentertainment of the
possibilities of being able to,you know, make stuff happen in
that way.
Just a quick question that Ihave, I mean, as I guess all of
these are quick questions and Idon't know what are some of the
(45:35):
things that you actually do forfun, that are, you know, not the
things that are driving you tomove forward, but some of the
ways that you take your downtimeand then you experience life to
its fullest.
What are some of those things?
Speaker 1 (45:51):
Absolutely.
I mean, I think you've alreadymentioned a few of them.
So right now I live in NewJersey, live in Jersey City, but
for those who know, that'sright across the Hudson from New
York City, from Manhattan.
So I spend quite a bit of timein Manhattan in my downtime.
These days I love to go visitmuseums, I love to go look at
art, learn about history, learnabout culture.
(46:12):
That's one of the big ways Ilike to spend my time.
Another huge part of my downtimeis going to see at least one
movie every week, something thatI can, in particular, seeing a
movie by myself.
Usually I like to just havethat space yes, usually like to
have that space just for me toexperience what's in front of me
(46:33):
, to watch someone who's donesomething incredibly creative
and experience what, what theydesigned for their creation,
whether that's a bombasticblockbuster and indie art house
film.
So those are two of the thingsI like to do with with my free
time.
And the last thing I like to doquite a bit is is exercise.
(46:53):
So go for runs, work out in thegym.
That's great way for me to torelax and just enjoy myself
that's cool, I saw.
Speaker 2 (47:03):
I saw a movie last night.
It was called straw oh my goshit's yeah, it was.
It's one of those movies whereyou have no idea that the ending
is going to happen the way thatit does.
It's one that draws you inemotionally and I think I watch
movies differently now becausethere's a formula that Hollywood
uses Right there's theprotagonist and there's the.
(47:26):
You know, it's just that personhas to have bad things happen
in their life and then theyspend the whole movie figuring
it out and then at the end yourejoice, uh.
But sometimes you have moviesthat are just you just go.
Oh my gosh, whoever wrote thisjust had one of those minds.
But but it does.
It dug deep into our.
You know the culture that, um,I see when somebody's struggling
(47:50):
, like the young lady who is inthere is a single mom who's
trying to raise a child thatdoesn't have enough income, and
she goes to work and the boss isscreaming with her and then the
school's calling her and thensomebody runs into her.
I mean, everything that canhappen in a day happens in a day
.
Somebody runs into her.
I mean everything that canhappen in a day, you know,
(48:10):
happens in a day, but but it'sjust one of those that you go,
ok, this was, this was worth thetime that I spent watching this
movie and, like you said, itgoes back to the culture part of
this.
Yeah, I would love to do that.
(48:34):
I got some, a little bit oftime with you because you're,
like, one of the smartest peoplethat I know and so I'm
designing and this is just metotally being 100% selfish while
we're on this call Okay, allright, so I am starting a
community because I thinkrelationship is so important,
(48:56):
and so I'm going to launch it onJuly 4th and kind of
independent and it's going to becalled Become the Person.
Universe is what I'm callingthis community, because I want
people to be able to come insideand become and there's some
things that I I want to makesure that happens.
I want people to be able toteach some classes that are
(49:16):
you're part of the community andyou get to learn.
Maybe it's about taxes or youknow some of the you know, uh,
you know how to draw, how to do.
You know some of the thingsthat sometimes we don't get on
YouTube.
I mean, I know YouTube's, allthese how-to things, but more
about how do I become like Iwant to have like a book clubs.
I want to have prayer time Iwant to have, you know, exercise
clubs.
I want to do a, you know, Iguess it's like airtime thing,
(49:37):
where you know people can gettogether and just create a
community that talks aboutthings that are going on in life
that they're excited about, andyou know that'll have like a
speed, almost like a speeddating type five minutes here,
then go into a room that youknow it comes from that.
I want to have otherentrepreneurs and other people
who have businesses and you know, maybe talk about energy and
(49:58):
what it means and that kind ofstuff.
You know, and I guess myquestion to you, as we do this
and helping people become theperson that they've been
designed to be, what would besome of maybe two or three
things that you want to makesure that my community has that
you believe that not only wouldattract folks to come there, but
(50:19):
then would help them in theirjourney?
Speaker 1 (50:22):
Okay, two or three things that would attract folks
and help them with their journey.
I would say there has to be away to you mentioned courses.
There has to be a way to learnalong with the instructor in a
way that's interactive.
I think a lot of times invirtual learning environments it
(50:45):
becomes much more of a lectureand less of an interactive style
classroom.
So I think you have to findways to keep things interactive,
whether that's through havingpolls or having ways for people
to, let's say, if I'm drawingsomething on the board, if I'm
(51:05):
asking somebody to solve somesort of problem, that they also
have a way to show me whatthey've come up with before I
give the answer or I give thesolution.
So that interactivity piecewould be big for me.
And the second thing I thinkabout when it comes to community
(51:26):
is there has to be a good wayto to net, to really network
with people.
I know we have linkedin andother things these days, but I
don't ever really feel like Iget to know people through
linkedin.
It's always like the best waysI actually get to know them is
like just through a, through aconversation or an in-person
interaction.
So maybe if there are ways youcan and incentivize people who
(51:49):
are live near one another to beable to get out into the real
world and interact with oneanother or, like you mentioned
earlier, to be able to havethose short five-minute chats.
I think that would be great aswell.
Speaker 2 (52:00):
Yeah, the air meets are super important.
Part Connection is one of thewhole sections that I want
people to be able to have, thoseconversations.
I want you to say it's a Fridaynight and we have these little
quick.
You know we'll go.
It's a 90 minute deal and wehave, you know, a half hour of
it or just five minuteinteractions with people, but
then really have some roomsaround a discussion topic.
(52:22):
You know, let's say it's energyand get to know people, or we
just say it's just aroundgetting to know each other.
Where it's like you just takeit, there's, there's no thing.
Another thing that I want tohave in there is is ask an
expert.
You know I want to.
I want to bring experts inwhere, whatever the topic is,
that people will be able tocommunicate, maybe for an hour
(52:44):
with that, you know, with anexpert, where there's maybe it's
10 minute, you know questionsand answers back and forth and
move on to another person, butto really be able to ask
somebody who's been doing it fora long time.
Like if I want to ask an expertabout what is it like to play
soccer in Brazil at that levelthat you would be a person that
would be able to come on thereand say this is my experience,
(53:06):
because it's more of the youknow, talking about the
experience, and this is justlike you said, the, the interact
.
You know, hey, I'm just atalking head and I'm going to
tell you, and then you took thisclass and you walk away and go
OK, great, I still don't know.
You know, because when we talkabout becoming, it's like
there's got to be a whole bunchof wise in there, there's got to
be a whole bunch of.
This changed my life becausetype things, you know.
(53:31):
You know some of the books thatwe all want to have book clubs.
You know some of the best book.
I'd love to have children'sbooks as part of it.
You know that's a cheaper tohave it.
So thank you for thank you forthat feedback.
Like I said, that was justtotally me being selfish and
wanting to make probably thebest, the best platform that I
possibly can for people toconnect and become.
Speaker 1 (53:55):
Amazing.
Well, I look forward to seeingthis platform brought to life.
Speaker 2 (53:59):
Absolutely.
Let's talk about the children'sbook a little bit.
So what made you?
You don't have children.
You know you've been a child.
So what made you?
You don't have children?
You know you've been a child,you know, but you know when you
(54:20):
when.
Usually, when you see peoplewho write children's books,
right, it's usually fromexperiences that they've had,
you know, either as a child orbecause they watch their kids
and all the things that yourkids do.
What inspired you to start withchildren's books?
And you know, not anengineering book?
Speaker 1 (54:34):
Yeah, so I would say that every book has come from me
hearing about or seeing aproblem in the world and
thinking about what are the waysin which I could tackle it and
convey it and, I think, mostimportantly, convey it to the
next generation of people whocan hopefully be better than me,
better than you, better thanall who came before them.
(54:56):
And so the three books the veryfirst was called what Are we
Going to Do Today, and that cameout in 2015.
And I started working on thatin 2013.
And that emerged from at thetime there was a study about a
literacy word gap, a word gaprelated to young children, and
that they essentially didn'tknow as many words as other
(55:20):
children by a certain age.
I think there's been some partof that study has been debunked,
but I think the core messagestill matters.
It was about this gap inchildren's literacy, and the
important things that we knowcontribute to improving literacy
are being active and engagedwith your child.
So what are we going to dotoday?
Had something for a parent anda child to do together.
(55:41):
One thing for each week in theyear, split up by seasons, and
so it was a way for say, hey, ifyou're a parent, these were.
They're all low cost or no costthings that you can go do
together that can have an impacton your child's life, improve
their literacy, but also, just,we've talked a lot about
possibilities, but open updifferent possibilities to them,
(56:02):
so that was where what Are weGoing to Do Today came from.
Then, the Amazing World of STEMseries first originated, really,
with my dad.
He had this idea for acharacter called STEM, based on
my life, and I wouldn't say he'dbeen trying to get me to work
on it with him for his goingback to at least 2018.
(56:23):
It might have been earlier thanthat, though.
That, though, and so, but itwasn't really until the pandemic
uh emerged and I was at homethat the, the issues in which
stem as a character, would bereally even more relevant.
We saw in 2020 we I mean, sawevery issue under the sun and we
saw just a better, a need torecognize that the importance of
(56:47):
community and the importance ofbeing able to solve problems
using some of the nextgeneration things that are
coming for us like those, allinvolve knowing, science,
technology, engineering and math, and so, with the amazing
Rostem, we set out to convey theimportance of community, convey
the importance of having adiverse community, not just in
(57:10):
terms of race, but in terms ofviewpoints and ideologies, and
being able to have children wholived in that community.
You know, the centralcharacters in the Amazing World
of STEM series are children whogo about solving different
global challenges using STEM,but also using the awareness
(57:31):
that they have of theircommunity, being empowered by
their community.
So that was where all each ofthose books came from.
Speaker 2 (57:38):
Well, thank you for that.
I mean that's and just writingthose and being aware of the
books are solving a problem.
They're not just entertaining,which is really cool they can
entertain, but solving a problemat the same time.
Solving a problem, they're notjust entertaining, which is
which is really cool, they canentertain, but solving a problem
at the same time is just isreally cool.
Man, this is.
This conversation has gone sowell, so quickly, but I want to
(58:01):
know what didn't we talk about?
I was selfish and asked myquestions, but I want you to be
able to tell everybody that hasbeen watching the things that
are on your heart, the thingsthat you truly believe in or
whatever you know, things thatyou would want us to know about
it.
Speaker 1 (58:16):
Well, this was such a wide ranging conversation
probably more wide ranging thanI expected that I'm not sure
what else I could expect.
I mean, when I came in, did Iexpect to be asked about the
meaning of my name?
No, no, I don't.
I don't think I did so.
I feel like we had a awide-ranging conversation that
(58:37):
brought up, I think, everythingum about me and who I am, about
my upbringing, what I'm doingnow.
I guess I would just believethe audience was saying, um,
that this was all how I gotwhere I am was all intentional.
It was, again the result of notjust my own drive, but about
people who poured into me andmade sure that, um, that my life
(59:02):
mattered, that they believe mylife mattered and continue to
believe my life matters, uh, andthat I'm willing to do the same
for somebody else who reachesout to me, because I believe
it's that important for me tocontinue to give back to my
community and ensure that thenext generation does better than
me.
Speaker 2 (59:22):
Wow, that is so cool.
And when I think that they canget your books on.
Amazon correct.
They can go to Amazon and getthem, and they're there.
And STEM seems to be, you know,one of, at least the one your
dad was telling me about that.
I can't wait to get that oneand read that one.
But also, you know, what I wouldlike to say is, well, I'd love
(59:45):
to have you come back, but whatI would even more like you know
that we'll have the community is, maybe have you come back to
the community and you know, as aguest speaker, as a, you know,
as ask an expert or you know, sothere's that interactive piece,
or just you know, have you comein and just you know, show us
some things that we couldbenefit from or we could learn
(01:00:05):
from, and so I hope that you'llbe willing to do that someday
and do that.
Perfect, and then.
So this has been your firstepisode of this that you've
watched.
Not only am I going to ask younot to just even watch this one
back, but to go watch Nahim'sdad's interview, Nate Turner's
(01:00:26):
interview, because that was itwas so good as well, and then I
can't wait to have your mom on,because I think I'm going to get
to your mom, so that's going tobe super fun to do.
I she hadn't said yes yet, Ihaven't asked her yet, but
you'll have to put in a littlebit of word for me.
Hey, you got to go on this, Ican't wait to do the family
(01:00:47):
affair on this one.
But again, thank you.
You know, subscribe, hitnotifications.
I promise you there is somebodyin one of these episodes that
absolutely can make your life,at least make you think about
your life, and, if not, make itbetter as a result of the things
you do, because you want tobecome a better person, and this
(01:01:11):
is one of those, and I justthank you so much for being on.
I know I asked you a whole widerange of stuff that you know
you probably weren't expecting,but I promise all my guests I'm
never going to ask you aquestion that you don't know the
answer to, because pretty muchall the questions are like their
opinions on stuff.
And so even if you know, evenif they told us about their life
(01:01:33):
and they made it up, there's noway I would know.
Then their family would startsaying well you did it, but it
has been such a pleasure.
This is an awesome show.
I'm so glad.
Like the day that your dadstarted talking about you, I was
like I can't wait to have himon this show.
I don't know how long it's goingto be how long it's going to
(01:01:54):
take to get him on.
Now that I had you on itfulfilled all of the thought
process that I had that it would, and it was so good and so
wonderful.
So thank you again for being on.
What I want to tell you guys isdon't forget that you're God's
greatest gift.
He loves you.
If you allow him to, I want tosay you can do this, let's go.
(01:02:15):
I want to say let's grow, let'sbecome all of those wonderful
things.
You're about to have a greatday in every way.
Do you have one last closingthought, nahim, that you would
just love to end with?
Speaker 1 (01:02:28):
Yeah, I'm just going to say have a great day and
thank you again so much forhaving me All right, we'll talk
to you guys soon.
Speaker 2 (01:02:35):
You guys have, like I said, an amazing, incredible,
awesome day, and we will see youin the community starting on
July 4th, so look out for thingsthat will show you all about it
.
Talk to you guys soon.
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