August 27, 2024 • 19 mins
Two-time Emmy and three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Jasmine Young. You would never have guessed that such a powerful, nationwide-spanning voice for the African American community began in small-town Jackson, Alabama, but that is precisely where Jasmine Young got her start. She is the Founder & President of The Financial Literacy Institute, a CPA by trade, and Founder of the Southern Heritage Financial Group in Atlanta, GA. In addition, she is also the Producer of the Black Wall Street Black Business Expo, which aims to empower and uplift the African American community in both the 21st century and beyond—Are you interested in hearing about her mission? Want to know more about her event and what it all entails? Well, tune in to the Money Making Conversation Master Class today to learn more!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm Rashwan MacDonald, the host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass,
where we encourage people to stop reading other people's success
stories and.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Start planning their own.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Listen up as I interview entrepreneurs from around the country,
talk to celebrities and ask them how they are running
their companies, and speak with dog profits who are making
a difference in their local communities. Now, sit back and
listen as we unlock the secrets to their success on
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Next guest is full of information.
(00:37):
She's a found and president of the Financial Literacy Institute.
Please welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass. Jasmine Young. How
you doing Jasmine?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I'm doing well.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
How are you pretty good? First of all, were you based?
Just get that out the way.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Based out of Atlanta, Georgia?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Are you are you? Are you born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia?
Are you relocated?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Actually no, not in an Atlanta natives. I was born
in Jackson, Alabama and raised in Indian Ridge. It's about
an hour above Mobile, Alabama.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Now Jackson, Alabama. Now you know I'm from a big city, Okay,
So I have a different point of view versus what
your might be. So tell us about life in Jackson, Alabama.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Oh, it's very small. Everybody knows everybody. It's just a
very close knit community. We had we do have a Walmart.
That's one of the things that everybody has. We do
have Walmart. We do have traffic lights. But most most,
most of us grew up and lived on our own land,
(01:41):
dirt roads, had farms, you know, things of that native
very very country, very country.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Now now And how did you get out of Jackson?
Was it education? A broach odic Jackson, job opportunities? How
did you get out of Jackson? What motivated you get
out of Jackson?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
It was definitely educated, And I left. I left my
hometown on a full scholarship to Alabama and m University
in Huntsville, Alabama. And I knew that I was going
to leave and actually go to college and be a
CPA as early as the eleventh grade. So I knew
that I was getting out and I was gonna use
(02:20):
financial literacy as a way to do it. And that's
exactly what I did. So I left Jackson, Alabama, and
I haven't looked back. I love it.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
First of all, you still got that accent now you're
not getting rid of that accent. You're not going to
go to New York at act like you're in New
Yorker now with this accent.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Absolutely not. I am a country girl born and braided.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I love it. I love it.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Now.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
You went to the HBCU, you know, Alabama, and muh,
did that have an impact in your life? Tell us
about that black excellence that they're teaching academically and these HPC.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Youths absolutely in a world where we are the minority,
going to a place where we was a majority and
we were treated as such really helped, I would say,
my self esteem, and it also helped how I looked
at myself when it when it came to a professional
in this big world outside of an HBCU, it kind
(03:12):
of built it kind of built me for what was
to come. And especially with the teachers that were there,
they prepared us in a way that I feel like
I would not have been prepared had I not gone
to an HBCU. So there were things that were taught
for us, like survival skills that I don't think I
(03:33):
would have gotten had I went to a had I
chosen a different school. And when I say survival, survival skills.
I'm not just talking about, you know, how to provide
for yourself or things of that nature. No, they taught
us how to operate in a world where we aren't
the majority, where systemic racism still exists. They taught us
how to, you know, always be prepared to over deliver
(03:56):
an underpromise, so that you're always on the or better.
And it definitely shows. I came out in twenty thirteen
and to say, I'm proud of my classmates and even
those before me and after me have done some amazing
things coming from an HBCU. Whereas when I expressed that
(04:16):
I would be going to an HBCU, I was met
with comments such as, you're so much better than that,
Why would you go there? Why would you limit yourself?
When in actuality, going to an HBCU was the best
thing I ever did, and it didn't limit me. It
actually catapulted me into my career and where I am today,
and I wouldn't change the thing.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yuh, you are a motivator. I'm telling you. You know
they need to put you on tape. You know, they
need to put you like on the billboard right outside
of Alabama. A and M.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yes, sir, listen to Jasmine Young.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
She will teach you right because you know a lot
of people stereotypes, you know, will stop you from being
reaching great heights. Because always that's why I always talk about,
you know, where you came from, because a lot of
people say, you know, they put people a certain educational reach,
because it's the same thing small towns in inner city
(05:09):
because I came from in the city fifth Ward, that's
where I was born and raised, So people like me
weren't supposed to get out according to them, you know,
people like me, you know, and when I met people,
they go, oh, you're different. You know. I never knew
how to take that when they said that, oh you're different,
you know, because because you know, it was always like,
what do you mean different? You know, because my teachers
(05:30):
prepared me to be this way. They told me what
I could be in high school. Because if they didn't
tell me these things, like your teachers told you at
Alabama and m I'll tell you, I would not be
the person I am today. But they saw something in me,
jazz when it allowed me to be able to sit
on this microphone and talk to motivating people like you.
(05:51):
Because that's the story that you want to be able
to put out there. And what inspired me to do
this interview was that your drive about financial literacy spread
financial literacy around the world, one family at a time.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Talk to us about that absolutely. So I learned early
on that my passion for financial literacy was actually going
to was actually my purpose. And I'm blessed at both
my passion and my purpose aligned. Because I had a
knack for numbers growing up. I counted everything, even my
food particles, my steps. When I would repeat things to myself,
(06:26):
I had to say, I'm a certain amount of times,
just really really big on numbers. I didn't know that
I had a great uncle who was a math jenius,
and apparently it was it passed down to me, so
I knew Back in high school when I was met
with the comment that everybody wasn't fed with a silver
spoone like me, it infuriated me, but it infuriated me
(06:48):
to make a difference, because in all actuality, I don't
believe I was fed with the silver spoone. My mom
and dad they grew up poor. I mean, we're already
in the country, but my mom was one of eight.
My dad is the baby wood seventeen. They were poor
and they didn't have a lot growing up. But one
thing I one thing they did for my brother and
I is they worked very very hard.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
They came from eight, they came from eight and seventeen,
and they just had two kids.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Eight seventeen and you the baby continue to just throw.
I just had to stop that when you said eighteen
seventeen and then only just two of y'all and they
all on the farm.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Okay, but yeah, but we had a lot of cousins
and we grew up on our own land. And I'll
be honest, back then, I was ashamed of where I
came from because I lived on a dirt road. There
was no through traffic. Everybody knew everybody. It was farm
animals everywhere, trees, gullies, all types of things. And it
wasn't until I actually went to my HBCU and got
(07:52):
into my career that I realized that I really did.
I really did come from a rich heritage. Not only
not only the place that I lived it's called Indian Ridge,
but I'm an eighth Indian. I had no idea that
my grandparents were Cherokee Indians, had no ideas so we
(08:12):
lived on over seventy eight plus acres of our own land.
Back then, as a child, I didn't realize that that
was something to be proud of us. All of these roads.
We walked the roads and ate from eight from the
fruit of the trees, plums, mustardized apples, pears, pigs like
we farmed. We had animals, pigs, horses, chickens like we
(08:36):
had it. But from my standpoint, because I had never
left Jackson, Alabama before I went to college, was this
is country, Like, why can't we live in the city,
you know, a big house we don't have We don't
have cable like, we don't have a pool. You know,
our rolls are dirt roads. But I realized that what
my parents gave my brother and I was a basic
(08:59):
foundation of how to be a responsible financial adult. And
they surrounded themselves with people that had the financial education
that they wanted to have. And then they also held
each other accountable for the finances in the household, even
down to me and my brother. My dad would give
us two people. My dad was always gone before we
got up to go to school because he was already
(09:21):
at work, but he would leave two twenty dollars bills,
two twenty dollars bills on the table, and my brother
and I knew that outside of any school requirement, if
we wanted to buy anything, whether it was gas for
the car, to get the band, practice, basketball practice, softball practice,
whatever snacks, anything, we had to make that twenty dollars
(09:41):
work because we weren't getting.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
In this.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
And it was it was actually that budget that my
dad gave us. To this day, my parents have never
purchased a cell phone for me. Every minute I had
on my cell phone back then, and I'm dating myself
was a bit. But the minutes that I had on
my phone back then, I purchased them because my dad
taught me, hey, look, this is all you get. You
gotta figure out how to make it work. And it
was that example that allowed us to be able to
(10:08):
have the things that we wanted to have. And to
my peers, because they weren't getting it, it looked as
if I was privileged or if I was fed with
a silver respoon, when in actuality, my parents gave my
brother an example and that was it, and I realized
that I wanted to and that's that's actually when I
decided that I wasn't gonna gonna become a professional singer,
(10:29):
Mayor Michael Jackson. I was asked, it gonna be a CPA.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Can you sing those, Jasmine?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
You know I can hold the tunes.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
You know.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
All the others were say different. But you know, I've
been seeing since I was five years old. It's not
something that I do often anymore. I did sing a
lot in hunting You.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
You kid, they let you sing as you get older.
They tell you truth.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Okay, sung in I sung in college, and I also
sang on them at my church.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Oh, praise tea. Now praise t is a lot of
people now and there's a lot of energy.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Okay, yeah, but you know that's I come from a
musically in client famous Okay.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Cool, Okay, Now they got a musical ink class family
and then mathematically inclent family and you one eighth with
your one age Cherokee. Yes, sir, you're you're working it.
You're working it. First of all. First of all, Jasmine, y'all,
this is an incredible interview from an authentic tone. You know,
because of the fact that you were telling me who
(11:33):
you are. You're honestly breaking down with I think coming
folk talk, coming folks talk because that's all I was offered,
you know, And I would complain. I would complain about
the clothes I wear, I would complain about everything, not
realizing that my parents did not allow anybody in our
house to curse. We couldn't curse. I didn't. I tell
(11:55):
people today, I did not utter a curse word until
I was nineteen years old. Nineteen years old because my
parents raised me that way. But I thought, oh my god,
this is the worst. But in the process of raising
me that way, I had to speak correctly. I had
this no. I had to have a vernacular because I
always tell people you cursed, you use you like using
(12:18):
five words with a fireword, because it just shortcuts your
your intellect and shortcuts your ability to communicate. And so
when I hear your story, and I remember going, because
I'm from Houston, Texas, and we'd got to Bowisier and Shreeport, Louisiana,
and we see black people on the farm and they
had the little you know, the outhouses and the little
(12:38):
pain by the bed, and I would go, what the
heck is going on here? I can't get away from here.
But I realized now all my life I've been trying
to get back to that, Jasmine.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Absolutely, yes, yes, And it's like now when I go home,
I get the best sleep. It's so peaceful there. Wow,
it's so peaceful there.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashan McDonald.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
The e they called the annual Black Wall Street Black
Business Expo. Tell us what that is all about, Miss Jasmine.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Yok Absolutely so. The Black Wall Street Black Business Expo
is a twofold event. Of course, we want to honor
the excellence that existed in the Greenwood District commonly known
as Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma, back in the
nineteen hundred. Unfortunately, due to racism, that community was burned
(13:47):
down and in Black Wall Street. In the time of
Black Wall Street, that was actually a time where African
Americans exemplified exceptional amounts of wealth. However, since then, the
wealth gap has increased due to the demise of Black
Wall Street. So our event pays homage to our ancestors
(14:10):
who exemplify Black excellence through entrepreneurship, but it also is
a call to action for today's entrepreneurs to use that
spirit of Black Wall Street, one to recreate the generational
wealth that existed back then, but also to create social
change and use the black dollar to actually get legislators
(14:33):
to make bills and laws that will allow us the
equity and the social justice that we are. So it's
long overdue for us to receive. So we're using this event.
Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
No, why aren't you running for public office? I'm telling you,
I'm just hearing you. You're talking about social change, just
mentioned politics. You out here, you have a good sense,
you have a very very marketable personality. You have an
engaging tone of of how you are, your background, and
(15:11):
how you're gonna move the community for why aren't you
running for public office?
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Well, I'll be honest with you. Going through school, I
actually hated politics. I hated governments, which doesn't make sense
because I spent eleven and a half years of my
life as as a government employee. But I have come
to have a passion for social action and making a difference,
(15:37):
and I realized that for our community, the way for
us to make I guess you could say move the
needle in where we need to be economically is we
have to be civically engaged. The two are are synonymous.
You cannot have one without the other. And it just
(15:58):
goes back to the Black Wall Street store, which was
one of my inspirations. And you know, I'm actually toying
with the idea of actually going to law school. I've
ordered my Lsat book and I'm thinking that's the way
I want to go. But I would do not. I
don't want to fit for the bar because it's literally
like seeing for the CPA exam, of course without numbers.
(16:19):
But I do want to see us in a better
place than I believe as a community we can be
in a better place because we've done it before and
Black Wall Street is an example of it.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Now, when you thought of this idea, what motive did
you have? A did you pitch it to somebody and
they go, what are you talking about? What did you think?
Speaker 3 (16:38):
I did not. I'll tell you what what sparked this.
I actually wanted to do the event in twenty twenty
but COVID hit so I killed the idea. I tabled it,
and then the murder of George Floyd happened in twenty
twenty one. And what sparked it was, you know, corporations
start to state their claims they back the blue or
(17:00):
whether black lives matter, and for those that said they
backed the blue, our community said, okay, well, if you
back the blue, we're not going to support you. And
some of those corporations actually change their stans because we
decided that we weren't going to spend money with them.
Right now, if you're familiar with the financial industry and
the African American buying power, we are the largest group
(17:22):
of consumers in the world. So for a corporation to decide,
you know what, if this group of people are not
going to support us because we don't support what their
social justice, we got to change our stans. And it
was at that moment that I knew this is the
answer to all our social injustice issues is recirculating the
black dollar in our community and making those that want
(17:45):
our money play by our rules. And that's why I
started the Black Wall Street Black Business expos.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Congratulations Powerful, Powerful, our look, Powerful, Our look. Now tell
us how we can find out more information about and
I also get in touch with you, and I'm speaking
to Jasmine.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Young absolutely so you can go to Black Wall Street
Atlanta dot org and then of course. If you're just
interested in the Financial Literacy Institute and the programming that
we have, you can go to tf l I Inc
Dot org and you will see all of the programming
that we offer in order to spread financial literacy into
(18:23):
underserved and underprivileged communities.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Wow, you know, this is an amazing interview. I want
to tell you this. I'm a fan, just me, you know,
I am a friend. I am sold on your personality.
I'm serve on your vision, I am sold on I
am motivated to do more. And I'm telling you that
Rushan McDonald is in your life. Okay, and I'm in
(18:45):
your life for real because I can't. I cannot tell
you in words how inspiring you are as an individual
and anything I can do to help spread the word
like I'm doing today right now, I will continue and
I will continue to tell people. You are a blessing.
Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Thank you so much. I appreciate you. Looking forward to
connecting with you.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Oh, you will connect us. She's the beast. She a beast.
Let's go and put it out there and tell everybody correctly.
She is the truth and the truth need to be told. Everybody,
and thank you for coming on money Making Conversation master Class.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Okay, thank you.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
hosted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you o listening to
audience now. If you want to listen to any episode
I want to be a guest on the show, visit
Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money Making Conversation.
Join us next week and remember to always leave with
(19:42):
your gifts.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Keep winning.
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm Rashwan MacDonald, the host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass,
where we encourage people to stop reading other people's success
stories and.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Start planning their own.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Listen up as I interview entrepreneurs from around the country,
talk to celebrities and ask them how they are running
their companies, and speak with dog profits who are making
a difference in their local communities. Now, sit back and
listen as we unlock the secrets to their success on
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Next guest is full of information.
(00:37):
She's a found and president of the Financial Literacy Institute.
Please welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass. Jasmine Young. How
you doing Jasmine?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I'm doing well.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
How are you pretty good? First of all, were you based?
Just get that out the way.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Based out of Atlanta, Georgia?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Are you are you? Are you born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia?
Are you relocated?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Actually no, not in an Atlanta natives. I was born
in Jackson, Alabama and raised in Indian Ridge. It's about
an hour above Mobile, Alabama.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Now Jackson, Alabama. Now you know I'm from a big city, Okay,
So I have a different point of view versus what
your might be. So tell us about life in Jackson, Alabama.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Oh, it's very small. Everybody knows everybody. It's just a
very close knit community. We had we do have a Walmart.
That's one of the things that everybody has. We do
have Walmart. We do have traffic lights. But most most,
most of us grew up and lived on our own land,
(01:41):
dirt roads, had farms, you know, things of that native
very very country, very country.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Now now And how did you get out of Jackson?
Was it education? A broach odic Jackson, job opportunities? How
did you get out of Jackson? What motivated you get
out of Jackson?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
It was definitely educated, And I left. I left my
hometown on a full scholarship to Alabama and m University
in Huntsville, Alabama. And I knew that I was going
to leave and actually go to college and be a
CPA as early as the eleventh grade. So I knew
that I was getting out and I was gonna use
(02:20):
financial literacy as a way to do it. And that's
exactly what I did. So I left Jackson, Alabama, and
I haven't looked back. I love it.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
First of all, you still got that accent now you're
not getting rid of that accent. You're not going to
go to New York at act like you're in New
Yorker now with this accent.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Absolutely not. I am a country girl born and braided.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I love it. I love it.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Now.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
You went to the HBCU, you know, Alabama, and muh,
did that have an impact in your life? Tell us
about that black excellence that they're teaching academically and these HPC.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Youths absolutely in a world where we are the minority,
going to a place where we was a majority and
we were treated as such really helped, I would say,
my self esteem, and it also helped how I looked
at myself when it when it came to a professional
in this big world outside of an HBCU, it kind
(03:12):
of built it kind of built me for what was
to come. And especially with the teachers that were there,
they prepared us in a way that I feel like
I would not have been prepared had I not gone
to an HBCU. So there were things that were taught
for us, like survival skills that I don't think I
(03:33):
would have gotten had I went to a had I
chosen a different school. And when I say survival, survival skills.
I'm not just talking about, you know, how to provide
for yourself or things of that nature. No, they taught
us how to operate in a world where we aren't
the majority, where systemic racism still exists. They taught us
how to, you know, always be prepared to over deliver
(03:56):
an underpromise, so that you're always on the or better.
And it definitely shows. I came out in twenty thirteen
and to say, I'm proud of my classmates and even
those before me and after me have done some amazing
things coming from an HBCU. Whereas when I expressed that
(04:16):
I would be going to an HBCU, I was met
with comments such as, you're so much better than that,
Why would you go there? Why would you limit yourself?
When in actuality, going to an HBCU was the best
thing I ever did, and it didn't limit me. It
actually catapulted me into my career and where I am today,
and I wouldn't change the thing.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yuh, you are a motivator. I'm telling you. You know
they need to put you on tape. You know, they
need to put you like on the billboard right outside
of Alabama. A and M.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yes, sir, listen to Jasmine Young.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
She will teach you right because you know a lot
of people stereotypes, you know, will stop you from being
reaching great heights. Because always that's why I always talk about,
you know, where you came from, because a lot of
people say, you know, they put people a certain educational reach,
because it's the same thing small towns in inner city
(05:09):
because I came from in the city fifth Ward, that's
where I was born and raised, So people like me
weren't supposed to get out according to them, you know,
people like me, you know, and when I met people,
they go, oh, you're different. You know. I never knew
how to take that when they said that, oh you're different,
you know, because because you know, it was always like,
what do you mean different? You know, because my teachers
(05:30):
prepared me to be this way. They told me what
I could be in high school. Because if they didn't
tell me these things, like your teachers told you at
Alabama and m I'll tell you, I would not be
the person I am today. But they saw something in me,
jazz when it allowed me to be able to sit
on this microphone and talk to motivating people like you.
(05:51):
Because that's the story that you want to be able
to put out there. And what inspired me to do
this interview was that your drive about financial literacy spread
financial literacy around the world, one family at a time.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Talk to us about that absolutely. So I learned early
on that my passion for financial literacy was actually going
to was actually my purpose. And I'm blessed at both
my passion and my purpose aligned. Because I had a
knack for numbers growing up. I counted everything, even my
food particles, my steps. When I would repeat things to myself,
(06:26):
I had to say, I'm a certain amount of times,
just really really big on numbers. I didn't know that
I had a great uncle who was a math jenius,
and apparently it was it passed down to me, so
I knew Back in high school when I was met
with the comment that everybody wasn't fed with a silver
spoone like me, it infuriated me, but it infuriated me
(06:48):
to make a difference, because in all actuality, I don't
believe I was fed with the silver spoone. My mom
and dad they grew up poor. I mean, we're already
in the country, but my mom was one of eight.
My dad is the baby wood seventeen. They were poor
and they didn't have a lot growing up. But one
thing I one thing they did for my brother and
I is they worked very very hard.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
They came from eight, they came from eight and seventeen,
and they just had two kids.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Eight seventeen and you the baby continue to just throw.
I just had to stop that when you said eighteen
seventeen and then only just two of y'all and they
all on the farm.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Okay, but yeah, but we had a lot of cousins
and we grew up on our own land. And I'll
be honest, back then, I was ashamed of where I
came from because I lived on a dirt road. There
was no through traffic. Everybody knew everybody. It was farm
animals everywhere, trees, gullies, all types of things. And it
wasn't until I actually went to my HBCU and got
(07:52):
into my career that I realized that I really did.
I really did come from a rich heritage. Not only
not only the place that I lived it's called Indian Ridge,
but I'm an eighth Indian. I had no idea that
my grandparents were Cherokee Indians, had no ideas so we
(08:12):
lived on over seventy eight plus acres of our own land.
Back then, as a child, I didn't realize that that
was something to be proud of us. All of these roads.
We walked the roads and ate from eight from the
fruit of the trees, plums, mustardized apples, pears, pigs like
we farmed. We had animals, pigs, horses, chickens like we
(08:36):
had it. But from my standpoint, because I had never
left Jackson, Alabama before I went to college, was this
is country, Like, why can't we live in the city,
you know, a big house we don't have We don't
have cable like, we don't have a pool. You know,
our rolls are dirt roads. But I realized that what
my parents gave my brother and I was a basic
(08:59):
foundation of how to be a responsible financial adult. And
they surrounded themselves with people that had the financial education
that they wanted to have. And then they also held
each other accountable for the finances in the household, even
down to me and my brother. My dad would give
us two people. My dad was always gone before we
got up to go to school because he was already
(09:21):
at work, but he would leave two twenty dollars bills,
two twenty dollars bills on the table, and my brother
and I knew that outside of any school requirement, if
we wanted to buy anything, whether it was gas for
the car, to get the band, practice, basketball practice, softball practice,
whatever snacks, anything, we had to make that twenty dollars
(09:41):
work because we weren't getting.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
In this.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
And it was it was actually that budget that my
dad gave us. To this day, my parents have never
purchased a cell phone for me. Every minute I had
on my cell phone back then, and I'm dating myself
was a bit. But the minutes that I had on
my phone back then, I purchased them because my dad
taught me, hey, look, this is all you get. You
gotta figure out how to make it work. And it
was that example that allowed us to be able to
(10:08):
have the things that we wanted to have. And to
my peers, because they weren't getting it, it looked as
if I was privileged or if I was fed with
a silver respoon, when in actuality, my parents gave my
brother an example and that was it, and I realized
that I wanted to and that's that's actually when I
decided that I wasn't gonna gonna become a professional singer,
(10:29):
Mayor Michael Jackson. I was asked, it gonna be a CPA.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Can you sing those, Jasmine?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
You know I can hold the tunes.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
You know.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
All the others were say different. But you know, I've
been seeing since I was five years old. It's not
something that I do often anymore. I did sing a
lot in hunting You.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
You kid, they let you sing as you get older.
They tell you truth.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Okay, sung in I sung in college, and I also
sang on them at my church.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Oh, praise tea. Now praise t is a lot of
people now and there's a lot of energy.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Okay, yeah, but you know that's I come from a
musically in client famous Okay.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Cool, Okay, Now they got a musical ink class family
and then mathematically inclent family and you one eighth with
your one age Cherokee. Yes, sir, you're you're working it.
You're working it. First of all. First of all, Jasmine, y'all,
this is an incredible interview from an authentic tone. You know,
because of the fact that you were telling me who
(11:33):
you are. You're honestly breaking down with I think coming
folk talk, coming folks talk because that's all I was offered,
you know, And I would complain. I would complain about
the clothes I wear, I would complain about everything, not
realizing that my parents did not allow anybody in our
house to curse. We couldn't curse. I didn't. I tell
(11:55):
people today, I did not utter a curse word until
I was nineteen years old. Nineteen years old because my
parents raised me that way. But I thought, oh my god,
this is the worst. But in the process of raising
me that way, I had to speak correctly. I had
this no. I had to have a vernacular because I
always tell people you cursed, you use you like using
(12:18):
five words with a fireword, because it just shortcuts your
your intellect and shortcuts your ability to communicate. And so
when I hear your story, and I remember going, because
I'm from Houston, Texas, and we'd got to Bowisier and Shreeport, Louisiana,
and we see black people on the farm and they
had the little you know, the outhouses and the little
(12:38):
pain by the bed, and I would go, what the
heck is going on here? I can't get away from here.
But I realized now all my life I've been trying
to get back to that, Jasmine.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Absolutely, yes, yes, And it's like now when I go home,
I get the best sleep. It's so peaceful there. Wow,
it's so peaceful there.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashan McDonald.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
The e they called the annual Black Wall Street Black
Business Expo. Tell us what that is all about, Miss Jasmine.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Yok Absolutely so. The Black Wall Street Black Business Expo
is a twofold event. Of course, we want to honor
the excellence that existed in the Greenwood District commonly known
as Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma, back in the
nineteen hundred. Unfortunately, due to racism, that community was burned
(13:47):
down and in Black Wall Street. In the time of
Black Wall Street, that was actually a time where African
Americans exemplified exceptional amounts of wealth. However, since then, the
wealth gap has increased due to the demise of Black
Wall Street. So our event pays homage to our ancestors
(14:10):
who exemplify Black excellence through entrepreneurship, but it also is
a call to action for today's entrepreneurs to use that
spirit of Black Wall Street, one to recreate the generational
wealth that existed back then, but also to create social
change and use the black dollar to actually get legislators
(14:33):
to make bills and laws that will allow us the
equity and the social justice that we are. So it's
long overdue for us to receive. So we're using this event.
Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
No, why aren't you running for public office? I'm telling you,
I'm just hearing you. You're talking about social change, just
mentioned politics. You out here, you have a good sense,
you have a very very marketable personality. You have an
engaging tone of of how you are, your background, and
(15:11):
how you're gonna move the community for why aren't you
running for public office?
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Well, I'll be honest with you. Going through school, I
actually hated politics. I hated governments, which doesn't make sense
because I spent eleven and a half years of my
life as as a government employee. But I have come
to have a passion for social action and making a difference,
(15:37):
and I realized that for our community, the way for
us to make I guess you could say move the
needle in where we need to be economically is we
have to be civically engaged. The two are are synonymous.
You cannot have one without the other. And it just
(15:58):
goes back to the Black Wall Street store, which was
one of my inspirations. And you know, I'm actually toying
with the idea of actually going to law school. I've
ordered my Lsat book and I'm thinking that's the way
I want to go. But I would do not. I
don't want to fit for the bar because it's literally
like seeing for the CPA exam, of course without numbers.
(16:19):
But I do want to see us in a better
place than I believe as a community we can be
in a better place because we've done it before and
Black Wall Street is an example of it.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Now, when you thought of this idea, what motive did
you have? A did you pitch it to somebody and
they go, what are you talking about? What did you think?
Speaker 3 (16:38):
I did not. I'll tell you what what sparked this.
I actually wanted to do the event in twenty twenty
but COVID hit so I killed the idea. I tabled it,
and then the murder of George Floyd happened in twenty
twenty one. And what sparked it was, you know, corporations
start to state their claims they back the blue or
(17:00):
whether black lives matter, and for those that said they
backed the blue, our community said, okay, well, if you
back the blue, we're not going to support you. And
some of those corporations actually change their stans because we
decided that we weren't going to spend money with them.
Right now, if you're familiar with the financial industry and
the African American buying power, we are the largest group
(17:22):
of consumers in the world. So for a corporation to decide,
you know what, if this group of people are not
going to support us because we don't support what their
social justice, we got to change our stans. And it
was at that moment that I knew this is the
answer to all our social injustice issues is recirculating the
black dollar in our community and making those that want
(17:45):
our money play by our rules. And that's why I
started the Black Wall Street Black Business expos.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Congratulations Powerful, Powerful, our look, Powerful, Our look. Now tell
us how we can find out more information about and
I also get in touch with you, and I'm speaking
to Jasmine.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Young absolutely so you can go to Black Wall Street
Atlanta dot org and then of course. If you're just
interested in the Financial Literacy Institute and the programming that
we have, you can go to tf l I Inc
Dot org and you will see all of the programming
that we offer in order to spread financial literacy into
(18:23):
underserved and underprivileged communities.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Wow, you know, this is an amazing interview. I want
to tell you this. I'm a fan, just me, you know,
I am a friend. I am sold on your personality.
I'm serve on your vision, I am sold on I
am motivated to do more. And I'm telling you that
Rushan McDonald is in your life. Okay, and I'm in
(18:45):
your life for real because I can't. I cannot tell
you in words how inspiring you are as an individual
and anything I can do to help spread the word
like I'm doing today right now, I will continue and
I will continue to tell people. You are a blessing.
Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Thank you so much. I appreciate you. Looking forward to
connecting with you.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Oh, you will connect us. She's the beast. She a beast.
Let's go and put it out there and tell everybody correctly.
She is the truth and the truth need to be told. Everybody,
and thank you for coming on money Making Conversation master Class.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Okay, thank you.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
hosted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you o listening to
audience now. If you want to listen to any episode
I want to be a guest on the show, visit
Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money Making Conversation.
Join us next week and remember to always leave with
(19:42):
your gifts.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Keep winning.
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