A Woman defies the odds to build a Multi-Million Dollar Sales Tax Company!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This podcast is not a substitute for our relationship with
your mental health professional. Hey hey, hey, family, welcome back
to another episode of the Mental Health Is a lifestyle
podcast with your girl, Andrea wise Brown and Today Family,

(00:27):
I have.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Another power hitter here for you. Family. You know, this
is Woman's History Month. And when I tell you, oh,
it's so juicy women, I'm just giving it to you.
I'm giving it to you.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
So we have a powerhouse here and I'm gonna introduce
her in sixty seconds. But first I have to say,
if you have not joined the family already, please do so.
It's free and it's easy. All you have to do
is click that little button, the subscribe button, subscribe to
the podcast, like the podcast, and then share the podcast.

(01:09):
Share the podcast and let me let me, let me
say this to you.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
If you feel froggy, then jump because what I want
you to do is make some comments.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
So tell me did you like this information that you
learned today? Are there some questions that you want to
ask our expert? And then maybe the expert will chime
in and answer the questions or I'll get back to
you after I ask them, Like come on, talk to me,
talk to me, let me know how you're feeling and
what you're thinking.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
Okay, So here we go, family, all right, So here
today we have Chanelle Christophe Davis. She is the founder
and CEO of Davis, Davis and Harmon LLC. They are
sales tax experts. It's the large black and woman owned

(02:03):
sales tax advisory firm in the United States. With over
twenty four years of entrepreneurial expertise, Chanelle has built ddH
into a trusted advisor to Fortune one hundred companies, overseeing
multi million dollar transactions and driving growth for clients through

(02:26):
strategic sales tax solutions. Chanelle is a committed mentor and
advocate to women entrepreneurs. Chanell's exceptional leadership has been widely recognized,
including her recent d CEO Financial Executive Award, which underscores

(02:47):
her influence and innovation in the financial sector. ddH was
also named one of i n C five thousand's fastest
Growing Private Companies in America, and this was in twenty
twenty four and awarded three times Supplier of the Year,

(03:10):
further demonstrating the firm's impact and industry respect. Chanelle is
a native of New Orleans. She's a graduate of the
University of New Orleans and a proud member of Delta
Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated and a Goldman Sachs ten thousand

(03:34):
Small business alumni. Chanelle is a powerhouse family and I'm
excited for you to meet her.

Speaker 4 (03:46):
Hey, Chanelle, oh boy, so I am so excited that
you came to talk to me today.

Speaker 5 (03:58):
Yes, you're a women's history on the tail in History month.
Come on now right in there?

Speaker 1 (04:04):
Yes, okation, Now, so you have, oh my gosh, all
of your accolades amazing, amazing, amazing. Okay, good, good, good,
and they are to be celebrated. And the good thing
is is that they are often celebrated, right, Like I'm saying,
all these awards that you get right in this magazine.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yes, I mean, I'm obsessed. I love it.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
Right now, you are the owner of, huh, this multi
million dollar company. Let me just ask you, as a
black woman. Yeah, what are some of the challenges that
you experience trying to build this business?

Speaker 2 (04:50):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yes, so just to take you back to my beginning.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yes, first of all, thank you for having me. This
is a long time overdue.

Speaker 5 (04:59):
We've been wanting to do this for I'm glad we're
doing it now, but to take you back to the beginning.
I come from New Orleans, Louisiana. I am the baby
of a family of all girls, and we come from
a very low income neighborhood. So one thing I do

(05:19):
value about the way I was raised though, and the
way I was brought up, was my whole background.

Speaker 3 (05:25):
My whole entire environment was super sorry, super black.

Speaker 5 (05:31):
Like all of my teachers were black, my principal was black,
my doctor nurses, the hospital we went to, everyone was
African American, pastor was back. Even the stores in my neighborhood,
like we had a black hair care you know, Beauty
Supply was owned by mister Joe. The neighborhood barbers and

(05:54):
candy shop, all that was black people.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
So I think that informs.

Speaker 5 (05:58):
A lot of what I I guess was instilled, what
was instilled into me. I also was a very studious child,
was always the top of my class from the beginning,
straight a student, and so my family also poured into
me that, you know, I was going to go to college.

(06:20):
You know, you're going to be my first college educated kid.
My mom would tell me that all the time, and
she garnered a lot of self esteem from my academic accomplishments.

Speaker 3 (06:34):
Right, So for.

Speaker 5 (06:35):
Her, the more I did it lit her up, and
to see her so proud of me, it kind of
encouraged me to repeat that cycle. So I'm saying all
that to say that I was pushed at an early
age to be you know, very studious, academically focused. That
was my role in the family. Oh, you know, everybody

(06:57):
has a role in the family. My role was to
be the nerd.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
I was. You was a smart one.

Speaker 5 (07:02):
I was called a nerd, but okay, I was a
small one and the numbers girl. I was always really
really you know, good and mad. So when I went
to college, I knew I was going to study some
sort of business. But I, you know, didn't have college
educated parents, right, so I didn't have a foundation in
college education. Although I went to a college preparatory high

(07:24):
school or historically black college preparatory high school.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
MCDOWND thirty five.

Speaker 5 (07:30):
It's the first high school for African Americans in the
entire state of Louisiana. So most of our you know,
civil rights leaders went to my high school. So, but
the whole purpose of the high school was to send
us to college, right, So I knew I was going
to college. I just didn't know I was going to study.
I didn't know what, you know, what it was. I

(07:50):
knew I wasn't one to be in business, and I
kind of found a fell into the accounting you know spectrum.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
So starting off in a.

Speaker 3 (08:00):
Again, I did extremely well. I was a top a
counting student.

Speaker 5 (08:03):
You know, I went to a p W I so
all of my you know, competition was was white people.

Speaker 3 (08:09):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (08:09):
Yeah, so I was the only black black one that
was the top person in my in my school.

Speaker 3 (08:15):
So I was.

Speaker 5 (08:15):
I was heavily recruited out of college and ended up
coming to dollars.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
So let me ask you this. Let me just go
back a little bit.

Speaker 5 (08:22):
Okay, So I love I love that you are aware
that you were influenced.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
By the people around you, right even outside of your household.
I love the way that you say I saw black
entrepreneurs everywhere. Yes, right, so I knew that that wasn't
route that I could take.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
That's right. That's so good. Yeah, that's so good. Yeah,
that's good.

Speaker 5 (08:48):
And we were we were taught that every day in school,
even through elementary school. You know, we learned black history
every month. It wasn't just one month, but they were
always instilling into us that we could be whatever we
wanted to be. That don't let anybody tell y'all that
y'all are not the best. You're the best, you're the rightest.

Speaker 3 (09:06):
So it was kind of always infused in us, even
though we were.

Speaker 5 (09:09):
In a low income area. They didn't want us to
feel like we had limitations on us.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
Oh that's so good. Oh that's good. Yeah, that's real good.

Speaker 1 (09:22):
So and before and I love that you say that
you you knew that you were kind of like the
top of your class. You knew that you were smart.
You were the smart kid. And I will say this,
your mother you are till this day.

Speaker 5 (09:36):
She will make sure she points out I love your
mother like I love your mother.

Speaker 2 (09:41):
I'm upset.

Speaker 1 (09:42):
So she made sure that she let me know and
everybody else that was coming. Yeah, you know Sheanell was
the smartest. Yeah you know, she she did good. But
you know now like Chanelle, you know now Sheanell was,
oh yeah, she don't play. So no, I get that.
That's so good.

Speaker 5 (09:58):
And I think too for my mom. I lost my
dad really really young. I was four when he passed
away from colon cancer. Really, So she was widowed, very young,
with three young daughters in the inner city.

Speaker 3 (10:10):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (10:11):
She comes from a rural, very very small town. So
it was just shocked. Like the whole situation was a shocker.
So we had a lot of judgment and eyes on
us just from our family.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
Did you really, Oh my god, when you say eyes
on you in what regard?

Speaker 5 (10:27):
Well, I think a lot of people were skeptical that
we were gonna make it.

Speaker 3 (10:33):
You know, they were like, you know, what is she.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
Going to do with those girls? You know, she's lost,
you know, her husband.

Speaker 5 (10:40):
Back in the seventies and eighties, women weren't supposed to
be independent thinkers. It weren't supposed to be leading households
to success. So we had a lot of negative feedback
about our home life. So I think for my mom
reinforcing in me that, you know, that was a point

(11:02):
of pride, like, oh, honey, for holidays, she would let
him have it. They come to our house and every
certificate metal ribbon was on display.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
Oh yeah, it's the top.

Speaker 5 (11:13):
I hope y'all understand that this this one right here, Yeah,
I can't. So she got a lot of So what
I'm saying that hurt going a lot of self esteem
for her. That got you, that made her feel proud. Yeh,
she came from me. Yeah she did.

Speaker 2 (11:30):
This is it's because of me, absolutely.

Speaker 5 (11:32):
Oh and I got so much from my mom. My
mom did not go to college. But you know, we
had apartments behind our home, you know. So she made
sure that my dad was getting sick that she bought
a house while he was still alive veterans businefits. She said,
I did not want to trace my daughters all up
and through the New Orleans like I want them to
be stable in the home. So she made sure before

(11:55):
he passed that he put us in the home. And
she also made sure that our behind us we had
two little apartments. Okay, so we can have income, right,
So all of that. Oh okay, I see what you're saying.
I'm thinking you were talking about the neighborhood. No no, no,
no no.

Speaker 3 (12:12):
So she had your space and then she owned Yeah,
we do apartments, all right. Yes, so we might have
been somers but that's not the point. The point. She's
a business woman, Okay, don't worry about the conditions.

Speaker 5 (12:27):
So yeah, we had like double little creole cottages behind
us too. And so I would go with her. And
now it was a big gap between me and my sisters,
so I spent a lot of time just me and
my mom. So I would go with her and we
would go and you know, pick out fixtures for the
to fix the house up.

Speaker 3 (12:44):
Girls.

Speaker 2 (12:47):
Everybody survived, that's all that matters.

Speaker 3 (12:49):
And we would you know, she would negotiate with vendors
to come and make repairs on the home. And I
would hear her.

Speaker 2 (12:57):
She would take me with her.

Speaker 5 (12:58):
To follow her income tax returns and say, okay, this
is this is a deduction, honey, So you got to
save your receipts. About the end of the year, you
bring all this to the tax man and the deductions
off of your income.

Speaker 3 (13:10):
This I'm soaking it all in. She didn't realize what she.

Speaker 2 (13:13):
Was doing, but maybe she did.

Speaker 3 (13:16):
Maybe she did.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
Maybe she did.

Speaker 3 (13:18):
She did, so I was just a sponge.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
Oh that is so good.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
And you know what, this goes against the myth of
you know, people from New Orleans they're not smart. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
so we definitely have you heard that in life before.

Speaker 2 (13:37):
It's smart as you are.

Speaker 3 (13:39):
It's so funny.

Speaker 5 (13:41):
I get a lot of I've no one's ever said
it to my face until recently, and that's a separate story.
But you know, you just get the vibe when you
hear people speak about New Orleans. They is very disparaging
that we're you know, clownish performers. We're you know, musicians,
dance sirs and you know, have funny accents and things

(14:04):
of that. So I've heard that that is a perception
of my hometown and it couldn't be further.

Speaker 2 (14:10):
From the truth.

Speaker 3 (14:11):
Absolute such a horrible stereotype. Yes, but.

Speaker 5 (14:17):
Yeah, my presence dispels all myths and all stereotypes that
you never can you know, judge a book cover. No,
you're gonna miss every time. And really it's kind of
one of my superpowers.

Speaker 3 (14:29):
You know, if you can, the more people discount me, underestimating,
that's the best position. That's the best. Okay, telling women
why why I'm not a threat? Watch out?

Speaker 2 (14:49):
That's so good.

Speaker 5 (14:50):
So it's really a position of power for me because
I'm negotiating with you, but you're not really taking me seriously.

Speaker 3 (14:56):
Then when the deal is done, you're like.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
You done went home?

Speaker 1 (15:00):
Oops, upside the head. Yes, that's so good, that's so good. Okay,
that's good. Okay, all right, Chanel.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
So now from there, Oh, I love that. I love that.

Speaker 1 (15:14):
So you're learning from mom, and you know your you're
being fed, your self esteem, your sense of self worth
is being fed. She gets to see everybody seeing. Your
superpower is your town. You're smart, your intelligence. So now
you get to go to a school. But when you
go to.

Speaker 2 (15:32):
I'm talking about now, it's college college.

Speaker 5 (15:34):
When you go to there, you go when you go
to the university, Now you're at a pw I and
that's a predominantly white institution, right, a culture shot in
New Orleans. Yes, I stayed at home for college. I
went to the University of New Orleans. But it still
is a culture shop. Because my whole life was black people, Like,
my neighborhood was black. Oh, my entire environment was black.

(15:55):
So to leave my cocoon and go to a predominantly
white and institution was a complete cultural shock. I mean
it might have took me like fifteen minutes to drive
over there, but still just you know, it's just a
school that a lot of black people didn't attend, you know,
again underestimating my talent, yes, and end up winning all

(16:17):
the awards for counting all the offers came to me first,
and other people had to wait till I turned down
the job offer before they can get their initial offer.
In fact, I was told by my college professor, won't
you just, you know, give up some of these, you know,
turn down some of these offers so some of the
other kids can get some not thinking about them, They're
gonna wait until I make a decision, Okay, And I

(16:38):
ended up leaving New Orleans and coming to Dallas.

Speaker 3 (16:40):
But you don't wait, this is my offer. So I
actually had a conversation with a college professor that told
me that really, you need to turn down some of these.
You're getting all the offers. Hey, I don't hate to
play hit the game.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
Oh that's so good.

Speaker 3 (17:00):
But they've never seen anything like me, you know.

Speaker 5 (17:02):
I mean, I've been in situations where my maiden name
is Christoph Chanelle Christoph. I've been to interviews in New
Orleans for internships and jobs. I show up and they're like, Kristall,
that ain't who we think.

Speaker 3 (17:21):
We ain't think you who.

Speaker 5 (17:22):
They pushed the interview question to the side, so tell
me about like they're confused, that's not who they thought
was coming to Dawn. Based on the resume, you know,
being alpha, saida counting fraternity top of a class four
point on.

Speaker 3 (17:36):
What tell me about your life and how you how
you got here?

Speaker 1 (17:42):
It's so good, okay, Chanel, So all these accolades people
not even understanding how what?

Speaker 3 (17:49):
Who is she?

Speaker 2 (17:50):
Right?

Speaker 1 (17:50):
So let's take us back a little bit before you
hit it big. What was your first job?

Speaker 5 (17:57):
So my first job out of college was and at
the time, it was Big Six. So it's the Big
six accounting firms. Oh there were the top six accounting
firms in the world. Really now they're down to four
due to consolidation and some other things. I was recruited
to Dallas for one of the Big Six, and my

(18:19):
goal coming to Dallas was absolutely to be the first
African American partner in a Dallas office at this firm.

Speaker 3 (18:28):
That was my goal.

Speaker 2 (18:29):
Really, if it's gonna be a first, gotta be me,
Like why not?

Speaker 3 (18:32):
So that was my goal.

Speaker 5 (18:33):
That didn't work out, you know, well, but I'm still
a partner of a firm.

Speaker 3 (18:39):
It worked out better today.

Speaker 5 (18:41):
But of your firm, of my own, of your own firm.
Oh but I love that the power of a dream. Yeah,
I was like, I'm not gonna be down with the
gem pop people for law, Like right, They're gonna realize
my talent and I'm gonna I mean, I just really
coming from a smaller pond to a big pine. I
was top of the heap and came to Dallas, and

(19:03):
I was the bottom of the heap pretty much because
I didn't go to a Texas school. I didn't go
to A and M or UT or any of the
top schools that they recruit from. Although I was a
great student, it still was not a Texas school, got you.
So that instantly put me down to the lower ranks
in my star class. And I think my start class

(19:24):
of twenty three people, two black people, two African Americans,
the rest were white.

Speaker 3 (19:30):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (19:31):
So yeah, I was one of twenty three to one
of two black people to be recruited in this class
in Dallas. And yeah, so I don't know what.

Speaker 3 (19:41):
Their intentions were for me.

Speaker 5 (19:43):
My intention was absolutely to be at the top and
to be a partner like hello. So but yeah, that
was a great experience. I will say it was like
getting a master's degree. I was there for three years,
I became a senior in accounting, and I left and
went to at the time, it was GTE, and then

(20:05):
it turned into Verizon. Worked at Verizon for two years,
and then I left Verizon to start my firm. So
I only worked outside of my firm for five years
out of college. Really, really majority of my professional career
has been as an entrepreneur business owner. Really only worked

(20:27):
for five years. Isn't that insane? I was a baby
when I started my firm.

Speaker 2 (20:31):
You were a baby.

Speaker 1 (20:32):
But it's so interesting because I can't identify with that
because me too.

Speaker 3 (20:37):
I don't.

Speaker 2 (20:37):
I haven't me My first job was McDonald's.

Speaker 3 (20:42):
But you were instantly a business owner. I was.

Speaker 2 (20:44):
That's just who you know, I was.

Speaker 1 (20:46):
Some people are entrepreneurs and some people are not. And
that's just what it is.

Speaker 3 (20:51):
What it is.

Speaker 2 (20:51):
It's not good or bad. It is just how we
are wired.

Speaker 3 (20:55):
It's just the way I was wired.

Speaker 5 (20:57):
And I was doing entrepreneurs stuff that they did never
asked me to do at the first firm, do all
kind of stuff that they were like, girl, sit down.

Speaker 2 (21:06):
You know, like what are you talking about?

Speaker 5 (21:08):
I mean, I started an Infinity group for African Americans,
did you Yeah, that's before they even had such a thing.
That didn't even exist back then. But I was like,
you know, we need to have our own group.

Speaker 3 (21:21):
I brought the National Association of Black Accountants the organization
to the firm.

Speaker 5 (21:26):
Okay, and we need to be active in this organization
for black accountants. I started a suit drive and started
collecting suits, going around the office and collecting suits from
all the partners for address and success.

Speaker 3 (21:38):
Nobody's asked me to.

Speaker 2 (21:39):
Do any of this, but just see what I'm saying
with busybody.

Speaker 5 (21:44):
But I thought, you know, y'all should do more in
the community. You should be more active. Why do we
only have two black people in the start class.

Speaker 3 (21:52):
You need to be active in National Association of Black
Accountants NABA.

Speaker 2 (21:57):
Yeah, you guys, you could do more. That's so so good.

Speaker 3 (22:02):
This has been me my entire your entire life, right,
advocating for others, advocating for others, but also thinking outside
the boxes.

Speaker 5 (22:12):
Yeah, and believing whatever it is that you're thinking of
outside the box, you can help to create.

Speaker 3 (22:19):
And like my first year at this firm, there's a
National Association of Black Accountants national conference. The first year
I was in the firm, they didn't know what NAVA
was really.

Speaker 5 (22:30):
I think they kind of knew, but they weren't really
super active. The first year I was at the firm,
the first conference was in Miami, and I was like,
I gotta be there, and I'm gonna need them to
pay for it. So I did a proposal, did you
got put together a deck, went to a partner's office
and said, I need you guys to pay to send
me to Miami, you know, because I need to be

(22:52):
with my people, you know, and I need this professional
development and I.

Speaker 2 (22:59):
Need to go to Miami okay.

Speaker 5 (23:01):
And they were like, okay, what you're gonna say.

Speaker 3 (23:08):
I'm like the only black person at the Primati two
maybe five of us. They sent me to Miami.

Speaker 5 (23:15):
Everybody thought it was banana tows. It was like, how
are you getting the phone to send you to Miami
for a week?

Speaker 3 (23:19):
Like what is happening?

Speaker 2 (23:20):
Oh god, so good?

Speaker 3 (23:22):
That was me?

Speaker 2 (23:24):
That was you?

Speaker 1 (23:25):
Oh wow, I'm just wondering because there I'm stuck. So
did you have to come back and then present what
you learned or not?

Speaker 3 (23:32):
Really?

Speaker 2 (23:32):
Not so much. Just go this girl wants to go.
She's smart, she earned it. Just go, oh that's so good. Okay.
So now at what point and I get it?

Speaker 1 (23:43):
You said I want to be partner, and I get
being in that realm and realizing, Okay, they ain't trying
to see me. Yeah, they ain't trying to see me. Yeah,
So when did you decide that I need to work
for myself? Like, I gotta figure this out.

Speaker 3 (24:01):
I knew pretty early on that they already picked who
was on a partner track. That was. They made them
very obvious.

Speaker 5 (24:06):
They weren't really shy about it, okay, and I realized
I was not on a partner track.

Speaker 3 (24:10):
So I was like, okay, I can't stay here. This
takes the place for me.

Speaker 5 (24:15):
So again, I left there, went to the Verizon, worked
there for two years and for my husband and I.
You know, we met in college. He's the one who
convinced me to change my major to accounting.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
And I listened, well, so what was your major before accounting? Girl?

Speaker 5 (24:32):
That's that's a funny story. I was just in the
college of life. I don't even know what the hell
I was doing. I was just hanging out.

Speaker 3 (24:39):
I had a full scholarship, so I could have gone
to college for ten.

Speaker 2 (24:43):
Years there to pay for it.

Speaker 3 (24:45):
So I was just hanging out, you know.

Speaker 5 (24:47):
Taking intro to this intro to that I met my
husband then, of course my boyfriend at the time, and
he's like, so, what's your major.

Speaker 3 (24:54):
I was like, I don't know, job, I don't know.
I'm about to go to a conference, going to a congress.
I'm going to the clerk.

Speaker 5 (25:05):
Because he was, you know, he was returning to school.
He was you know, I been to the military. Okay,
So he was serious when I met him. I'm older serious,
and he was like, girl, like, you don't have no major.

Speaker 2 (25:20):
What are you doing with your life?

Speaker 3 (25:21):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (25:21):
That's good.

Speaker 3 (25:22):
I think you need to take this intro to accounting
class with me.

Speaker 5 (25:25):
And I was like, okay, shure, I ain't do nothing else, right,
So I take the class with him, okay, and every
test I make a hundred and blow the curve out
the gate. Like everyone else in the class they're making
fifties and they're struggling, and I'm making a hundred on
every test.

Speaker 3 (25:44):
So Charrell's looking at me like what's up? Like He's like,
what is happening here? First of all, it was my idea, right,
and you mess it up with me? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (25:55):
Because he wasn't hitting it out there. Yeah, my brother respectfully, right,
I mean, he lived up too. He was like this
is incredible.

Speaker 3 (26:05):
Love it.

Speaker 5 (26:06):
The counting professor was like, what's your major? And I said, wow,
I really have a major, and he said, well, you
really should think about it accounting.

Speaker 3 (26:14):
I think you should really strongly consider accounting.

Speaker 5 (26:17):
And so I changed my major to accounting and the
rest is history.

Speaker 3 (26:21):
I mean, I just I just killed it, really out
the gate, just killed it. And I know it was
easy for you, but did you like it? I liked
the attention. I like, you know, everyone throwing daggers at
me because.

Speaker 2 (26:38):
I literally could not understand why they were failing.

Speaker 5 (26:43):
I'm like, the man just told you what was gonna
be on the test, and he just showed you what.

Speaker 3 (26:48):
I could not get it. But it's really, I guess
a left brain, right.

Speaker 1 (26:52):
Brain, absolutely, because I would have failed all everything if.

Speaker 3 (26:56):
Math people could not get the concepts.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
Just not my thing. Not people are my thing.

Speaker 1 (27:04):
Yes, into personal skills, even though you have great interpersonal skills,
but like that's my thing, emotional intelligence, that's my thing.
For all my math classes, I had to have a tutor, Desmond,
if you're.

Speaker 2 (27:17):
Still around, Oh.

Speaker 3 (27:23):
No, girl.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
It looked like I was looking literally at like.

Speaker 1 (27:28):
Chinese, like anytime I see numbers on a piece of paper. Now,
of course, as a business owner, I had to learn,
and I had to learn in a different way. That's right,
that's right.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
However, back then that wasn't your gift.

Speaker 3 (27:42):
Yeah, So I mean I couldn't. I couldn't look a
gift hearts in the mouth. Okay.

Speaker 5 (27:48):
It was like this career fell in my lap. I
was like, really, really good at it. I looked up
the salary potential and I was like, well, hell, you know,
that's better than hanging out in the College of Life.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
It was literally called the College of Life.

Speaker 3 (28:00):
I'm not even making that part up. Oh, I thought,
you that's where all the I don't want to say
went to hang out figure out all life.

Speaker 2 (28:09):
So yeah, I was like, I got this major. It's
working for me.

Speaker 3 (28:12):
I was really good at it, you know. And like,
I was so good at it that I can look
at the book like we had textbooks back in the day,
and I can look at the book and photographically remember
a page like I could. I don't have that skill
anymore anymore, but I could photo remember a page and

(28:34):
recall it in the test and knock it out the park.

Speaker 5 (28:38):
So I could not well would change my major. I
was like sailing through, sailing through.

Speaker 1 (28:43):
Yeah, So you know who else has a photographic memory
is my daughter Ayana.

Speaker 2 (28:47):
It's a blessing, I'm telling you.

Speaker 3 (28:50):
She would tell me how.

Speaker 1 (28:51):
She would tell me how when she was younger, she
would go to like have interview, to go for an
interview or something like in school, killing all the awards.
She was the top of the class and like and stuff.
And so let's say if someone was.

Speaker 5 (29:02):
Interviewing her so and she didn't know what they were
going to ask her, but while they were asking her
whatever question it was, she said she would already because
it be upside down. She said, my I could even
read upside down, so she would know everything that they
were going to ask Aule. That's a very fast brain.
But yes, and she could remember, you know, in law school.

(29:23):
When she was going through law school, she would tell
me how there was certain she could just remember just pages.
And she said when she takes a test that I
had that and I could recall like studying with people
and they wanted to focus on X, Y Z, and
I'm like, that ain't gonna be on the test.

Speaker 3 (29:42):
I don't even know how I knew.

Speaker 5 (29:44):
I'm like, we're gonna study this this and trust me,
this is going to be on the test, and we
go to the test, knock it off the park.

Speaker 2 (29:52):
Wow, I just I couldn't.

Speaker 3 (29:53):
Change her major.

Speaker 2 (29:54):
No.

Speaker 5 (29:55):
And one time I took a creative writing course English course,
and I did really well in it.

Speaker 3 (30:02):
I was like, very crazy you are.

Speaker 5 (30:04):
Yeah, like I'm the odd person that is really good
in art and creative stuff as well as counting.

Speaker 3 (30:12):
It's just a very rare mix.

Speaker 5 (30:16):
And the professor was like, you need to change your
major to journalism, like you're really amazing writer. My mom
was like, okay, well, let me come to school and
meet her and talk to her about the career. Pa
I said, okay, mom, you know, so, mom, come to
class and meet The teacher said, stop putting crazy stuff
in my daughter's head.

Speaker 3 (30:32):
That's what she told.

Speaker 5 (30:35):
She's going to be a county major. All right, So
but no, she's no, this is a gift. She would
use that in the county. Don't talk to my daughter
about journalism.

Speaker 3 (30:47):
Okay, mom, I'm in college. But whatever. But so my
destiny was said, oh that's so so so good.

Speaker 1 (30:57):
Okay, so now you're off, so that that's your major.
You're doing well. We can step in here real quick
because I just want to know.

Speaker 2 (31:07):
So at the.

Speaker 5 (31:07):
Same time, right, so this is your major, you're doing well,
but you are also an artist, like literally an artist,
like she actually has art that she sells.

Speaker 3 (31:17):
It is amazing. Yes, yes, And so when did you
know that you were an artist? Like was this the
same time or did that come to you later? So, I,
as a kid, I did a lot. I drew a lot,
a lot.

Speaker 5 (31:31):
My mom wouldn't let me have paint because she said
that I would mess up her walls.

Speaker 2 (31:37):
So fun, Yeah, well she was frank. I could have
been like.

Speaker 3 (31:42):
She kind of messed me up, but that's okay.

Speaker 5 (31:45):
So she actually calls that to this day. She's like,
you know this, this painting thing you're doing, you've been
this has been you from the day one. She said,
I couldn't keep crayons and art papers out of your hand,
Like this was really a thing.

Speaker 3 (31:58):
You should say. You were a reader and you were
a drawer, like you drew like people. I look at
somebody and draw them.

Speaker 5 (32:05):
So really, yeah, it just was Again, I wanted to
be an art major in college. My mama shut that
down too, But anyway, mothers, So when I bought my
first home as an adult in my thirties, I wanted
to put paintings on the wall, you know, and I
didn't want a print. I didn't want like a print

(32:27):
of it. I wanted the actual original art. I couldn't
afford that, so I would just try to paint things myself.
I would look at books, art books, you try to
recreate it. And that's how I got started painting on
campus as an adult. Like I didn't even know I
could do it. But and I would you remember painting

(32:47):
with a twist.

Speaker 3 (32:48):
Yes.

Speaker 5 (32:49):
I would go to painting with a twist with my friends. Yes,
and we all paint together, you know, drink house whole.
And then when I turned mine around, they would be like, like.

Speaker 3 (32:58):
What get yours that perfect? It's better than a teacher,
you know, like detail. Like I was like, okay, this
is a thing, like I didn't even know. I literally
forgot that part of my childhood. We forgot about it.
I was intent, Okay, it's professional. Okay, So I have

(33:19):
forgot about art. You know, it just came back into
my life.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
Ooh that's so good. Okay, I love that.

Speaker 1 (33:27):
So in your first house okay, all right, so now
you got your job so after the job, you decide, Okay,
you said you went back to terrail. Your husband, how
he was the one that kind of got you into accounting.
So now that you're five years into into corporate America, Yeah,
so what made you decide all right, I'm jumping, I'm

(33:49):
going to create this business. So one thing I realized
early on in college is that I had an entrepreneurial spirit.
Like we started the student chapter of the National Association
of Black Accountants on campus. Like whenever we my husband
and I specifically.

Speaker 5 (34:05):
Okay, never we saw a challenge, we would bring the
action to fix it or to address it. And students
at black students at you and know, they weren't getting internships,
they weren't getting accounting jobs after graduation.

Speaker 3 (34:20):
And so we were like, that's insane. We need to
do something to address this.

Speaker 5 (34:23):
So we started National Association of Black Accountants on campus.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
And we just were just that type.

Speaker 5 (34:30):
We're just that couple, Like we were just like the
couple that was always trying to do something. So once
we graduated and moved to Texas, he moved to Texas,
he moved to Houston. And when we got engaged and
he moved to Dallas to be with me. We started
just brainstorming. We're like, listen, Corporate America is not for us,
Like we're gonna die. Okay, we stay here, but this

(34:52):
is gonna kill us. It just wasn't a good fit
for us.

Speaker 3 (34:56):
And so we.

Speaker 5 (34:57):
Would come home every night and dream, like we would
just right down, like what could we do? You know,
It's like, maybe we could start dakery shops in Dallas
right before we had Daktory shops here. But we didn't
want to have like a whole like restaurant because you
have to hire.

Speaker 3 (35:11):
Staff and we're like, we ain't doing that.

Speaker 5 (35:13):
That's too much, right, And you couldn't do a drive
through doctor shop at the time like we had won, right,
you know. We wanted like a little drive through something something.
We couldn't do that, so we put that on the side.
We thought about putting my husband's red beans.

Speaker 2 (35:26):
In the can oh because are they good?

Speaker 3 (35:29):
Oh, so you're like, we could carry your red beans.
Then we thought about, Okay, we don't have enough to
start up money to do that. How are we gonna
get the money to get a cole packer and a
processor and the formulator and okay, we can't do that.
So we put that on the side.

Speaker 5 (35:42):
And then one day someone called my husband because he
was you know, he had left. He worked for the state,
the Texas State Controller's Office. Okay, as a sales tax auditor.
Sales tax into the picture. Okay, I never heard about
sales tax in college, never was taught about sales tax.

Speaker 2 (35:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (35:59):
So he started his career as a sales text auditor
for the State of Texas. And when he left, someone
called him and asked him if they can use his
resume to bid on the contract with the State of Texas.
And my husband was like, well, what's the what's the
RFP number, what's the big number?

Speaker 3 (36:13):
And I'll look it up and I'll get back to
you and let you know. So he looked up the RFP,
the request for proposals, and he said, we could do this,
like we could put together our own bid package, and
we could do this, and we put in our own bid.

(36:34):
We literally put in our own bed, wrote it together,
took it to the SBA and asked them to look
over it and see if they would change anything or
add They were like, we would give you the contract.

Speaker 2 (36:45):
This is really damn good, Like.

Speaker 3 (36:47):
Submit this right and we submitted the proposal, won the contract.

Speaker 2 (36:53):
Quit our jobs, and never looked back, and never never
looked back.

Speaker 1 (36:58):
Wow, I had no idea. I had no idea. And
the reason why.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
I don't know. I just lit up because you.

Speaker 1 (37:08):
Know, recently, I've been hearing so much about government contracts,
government contracts, right, but I've been hearing about how to
be the middle man, right, the middle person where you
get the contract, but then you get the subcontract to
work on. Yeah, okay, and albums say I'm looking into
doing that.

Speaker 3 (37:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:29):
So what I'm wondering is, Okay, you said you did that.
We did that for eight years.

Speaker 5 (37:34):
Okay, so good, So tell me because I was thinking
you were saying y'all provided the serve.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
You became the subtract.

Speaker 5 (37:41):
We had a contract, and it was a pretty lucrative
contract and allowed us to hire subcontractors to work under us.
So we worked the contract ourselves, like I would get
in the car with my husband every day with our
computer bags and we would go out and art companies
on the State's behalf together. So you were a contract
the contractors, okay, And then we also hired our friends

(38:04):
to be worn us because it was a huge contract,
huge contract, which is crazy for our first opportunity as entrepreneurs.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
It was crazy.

Speaker 5 (38:14):
And we also bid on the project for the City
of New Orleans to do the same thing. So we
will audit companies based in Texas that had some type
of sales tax responsibility in the city. So think about
Sally Beauty or Popeye's franchises, Pizza Hut, those things that's
based in Texas. Yes, but they have storefronts in New Orleans.

(38:35):
We will audit the corporate headquarters in Texas and send
the money back to the city.

Speaker 3 (38:40):
So we did that as well. So we did.

Speaker 5 (38:41):
Government gov con for eight years until I said I
had had enough. Okay, I was done with gov con okay,
and I wanted to do a complete pivot and only
do corporate contracts B to B. I don't want to
do anything government contract. Can you tell me why? Yes,
as I'm about to look into this whole thing. For us,
our experience was and we did state and local. State

(39:05):
was the state of Texas. Local was the City of
New Orleans. It was they didn't want to pay us
market so there's a market rate for what we do.
They wanted to pay us. I would say a fifth
of the market rate. They wanted a steep discount, and
they also wanted to control how we hired and fired,
so you know, we couldn't just switch out contractors they wanted.

Speaker 2 (39:26):
It was a whole process.

Speaker 3 (39:27):
It was.

Speaker 2 (39:27):
It was insane.

Speaker 5 (39:28):
So they wanted to control what we did, and they
didn't want to pay us our market rate.

Speaker 3 (39:33):
When we first started, we did.

Speaker 5 (39:34):
We work at market, but then over time it just
got worse and worse and worse. They kept cutting our
package and making it less profitable. So at the end
of the year, I'm like, we're working backwards. Yes, our
profit margin is horrible. We're having to take a loan
to pay our taxes. Like what are we doing?

Speaker 3 (39:53):
Like this is insane.

Speaker 5 (39:54):
Yeah, it looks good on paper, but where's the money?

Speaker 2 (39:59):
I got it money?

Speaker 3 (40:01):
So we had to slowly pull back.

Speaker 5 (40:04):
Like the first day we did was we stopped doing
the city of New Orleans and then we took smaller
packages from the state until we just didn't do them anymore,
and we just.

Speaker 3 (40:16):
Moved out of our home. We worked from home and
went fully into looking for corporate opportunities.

Speaker 2 (40:24):
Wow, and so how did you do?

Speaker 1 (40:27):
Okay, just tell us, like, how'd you get your first
tell us. So when we were working in guv CON
for the state of Texas, this is the type of
things that turned me off of government contracting. We would
do an annual proposal process, okay every year, and we

(40:49):
had to submit this big package and mail it to
Texas the headquarters in Austin every year. Well, one year
after they released the initial RFP, they released like an affidavit,
an addendum that we didn't know anything about.

Speaker 5 (41:06):
So we submitted our package as we normally would. We
didn't know that the addendum existed. They didn't email us
to tell us, Hey, go back into the portal, we
have another paper we need you to sign.

Speaker 3 (41:16):
Submit that with nothing.

Speaker 5 (41:17):
It was no So we lost the contract for like
six months.

Speaker 2 (41:22):
And we were like, what are we going to do?

Speaker 3 (41:25):
Do you?

Speaker 5 (41:26):
And my husband, one of our good friends, asked him
to come and sub under him for a corporate entity,
and so he went because we.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
Needed the money. I was subbing as well.

Speaker 5 (41:41):
I went to another firm and subbed, but on this
opportunity he worked with this other larger firm. The firm
doesn't exist anymore, and he knocked it out the park
like he killed it. He got them back millions and
millions of dollars and refund dollars. I mean like millions,
so much so that when the other firm went away,

(42:03):
they remembered him and they were like that Davids guy,
where's that David's God we gotta find.

Speaker 3 (42:09):
Come on now, that's a god thing. Come on, now,
you need to find him. They found us, brought us back.
They were our first corporate client. We've been with them
fifteen years. Wow, fifteen years and there are Forbes one hundred,
top global corporation and we are their soul Seales Tax group.

Speaker 5 (42:31):
Come on, God, whatever he has for you, no one
can take it away. And I'm sure when you guys
started subcontracting, so when you say subbing, when you always work,
that's why I'm just trying to let you know.

Speaker 2 (42:46):
The family know if they're not familiar.

Speaker 3 (42:48):
Yeah, so you start working for other firms because you
had you saw that we gotta do what we gotta do.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
That's right, you hustling. But then then doing that because.

Speaker 3 (42:56):
Heartbroken, we were like, I'm sure we lost this contract.
What are we gonna do? We had a new baby.

Speaker 5 (43:03):
We have to pay this market, you know, So we
thought it was the worst thing ever. But it was
God working on God was working on our behalf a
lot of time introducing us to this company and having
us work for this company and getting them to see,
you know.

Speaker 2 (43:19):
Huh, the small firm that's working from their home.

Speaker 3 (43:23):
They're very smart.

Speaker 2 (43:25):
Oh that's so good.

Speaker 3 (43:26):
We need them.

Speaker 2 (43:27):
It's so good.

Speaker 3 (43:28):
Yeah, because a lot of times, you know what we
feel like sometimes.

Speaker 2 (43:31):
When we lose a job or we lose something.

Speaker 5 (43:34):
We feel like, yeah, but we feel like it's a
step back, like we've lost it.

Speaker 2 (43:38):
But sometimes we have.

Speaker 1 (43:39):
To step back to step up even higher. Oh that's
so good, okay.

Speaker 5 (43:45):
And you were our very first corporate engagement, okay, and
we've just built on that very first win, like we
use that story to talk to the next company, all right,
and then we use that story to talk to the
next company now. And we just one by one just
added to our portfolio of clients. And we've done such

(44:07):
an amazing job for that first client. They have actually
hosted on their corporate headquarters, global corporate headquarters. They've had
their customers come in to meet us and to tell them,
y'all need to use them.

Speaker 3 (44:21):
Wow, they're amazing. Wow, y'all need to find something for
them to do, want to help them grow.

Speaker 1 (44:28):
I love that. Yes, that's amazing, absolutely amazing. But it's
in divine order, right because y'all didn't see that coming.
You were just being humble, right and just doing what
you need to do, just staying true to it and
always operating in excellence.

Speaker 5 (44:45):
Now, if he would have which is that's got you,
but go ahead, you know, phone it in, give the best.
He went in, you know, feeling some type of way
about being a sub that's but he went in and
killed it. Like we don't know anything else that's right
but to deliver excellence. And when it was time for

(45:08):
them to make a change, they remembered us. They were like,
we need to find them, find them, okay, yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:14):
Wow, okay, all right. And so this is so many
years later, Yes, you said fifteen.

Speaker 3 (45:20):
You know with them, fifteen years with them?

Speaker 5 (45:22):
How long is so your business has been open now
twenty four years.

Speaker 2 (45:26):
We've been in business twenty four years.

Speaker 3 (45:29):
Yeah. So we did gov con for eight years, so we.

Speaker 5 (45:32):
Only did government contracting only for the government for eight years.
Pivoted got rid of like literally started another business kind
of right, because we had to go from gov Con
to corporate how do we sell ourselves? Yes, corporate world
and landed our first corporate contract and just built from there.

Speaker 2 (45:51):
Wow wow wow. And now y'all service all fifty states.
Even we've done global projects.

Speaker 5 (46:01):
We've done work in Japan, Africa, Colombia, Senegal, Kenya, the Gambia.

Speaker 2 (46:14):
Oh that's so good. That's so good. Okay, So I
have a question before my next one.

Speaker 1 (46:21):
But please, but tell people because a lot of people
when I met you, I didn't even know.

Speaker 2 (46:28):
I'm like, sales tax. What a sales tax from recouping money?
Like what is that? And you explained it to me,
So tell a family what is sales tax?

Speaker 5 (46:39):
So sales and use tax is a transaction tax when
you when you buy something, at the bottom of your receipt,
you will see that you're paying some type of sales tax,
like on every transaction around the world. And the Europe
is BAT tax, in Asia is back tax, Africa is
bat tax.

Speaker 2 (46:56):
But here in the States it's sales and youth tax.

Speaker 5 (46:59):
So we help companies with that one line item on
your receipt, like manage that reported to the different states
where they are operating.

Speaker 3 (47:08):
You know, if they're being audited by a state.

Speaker 5 (47:10):
But that one line, we're representing them making sure that
they're being putting their best foot forward protecting their interests.
We do end to end from compliance to refunds to
audits all around sales and use sex. A lot of
people are familiar with sales sex because of Amazon, and
Amazon started to have sued the state of South Carolina

(47:36):
South Dakota. Excuse me, they sued South Dakota because they
didn't want to report internet based transaction celles sex. They
were like, we shouldn't have to, you know, report anything
that occurs online because we don't have a location in
South Dakota.

Speaker 3 (47:51):
So because they lost that case.

Speaker 2 (47:54):
Amazon lost the case because they said, no, you still
have to.

Speaker 5 (47:57):
Report the sales report, the sales tax collected and reported.
Now we have to pay sales tax online as well.
It used to be not the case.

Speaker 2 (48:06):
The lost that case in twenty nineteen.

Speaker 1 (48:10):
Okay, I get it, okay, okay, okay, yeah wow. And
so auditing, So why would a person that we know
how you know, you can get audited with your income taxes,
but why would a company have to get audited with
sales tax?

Speaker 5 (48:25):
Because when you have a corporation and operating in any
state in the Union, you're signing an agreement like a
business agreement to operate in that state. So a part
of that is you're agreeing to collect that state sales tax.
So in Texas is eight and a quarter. Most places
it could differ, but generally it's eight and a quarter.

(48:49):
So when you collect that sales tax, you are also
required to open the books and let them come audit
you to see that you're whatever you're collecting, you're indeed
sending it into that You can't keep it. You have
to send it to a state. So when you sign
that agreement to be able to collect sales tax, yes,
you also sign an agreement saying that you have to

(49:10):
open your books whenever they want to come and examine them.

Speaker 1 (49:12):
Oh, I got you right. Because they want their money.
They want their money, they want their money, and you're
you're a middle person.

Speaker 5 (49:20):
You're a middle person to So whatever it is that
you're selling, you must charge sales tax.

Speaker 2 (49:27):
And then that sales tax ain't yours.

Speaker 1 (49:29):
You have to send it to whether it's what is
it local or it's a state state they got.

Speaker 5 (49:34):
It, the Department of Revenue got it Georgia. It could
be you know, California state. You know utilization in California.

Speaker 2 (49:43):
Got it.

Speaker 5 (49:43):
Your Department of Revenue Texas is the controller. Yeah, you
have to send that money in.

Speaker 2 (49:48):
Got it, got it? Got it. Oh, that's so good.
That's so good. Niche. It is a niche. Yes, that's what.

Speaker 5 (49:58):
Yes, in the country, but but it does keep us
very very busy, in in demand because there aren't a
lot of people that do.

Speaker 1 (50:05):
What we do, right, And and this is the really
fantastic part is not only is there not a lot
of people who do what you do, but they don't
look like you.

Speaker 2 (50:15):
Look no, no, right, no, Yes, it's very rare.

Speaker 3 (50:20):
Yeah. So in the country.

Speaker 5 (50:22):
In the United States, less than six percent of accountants
are black, and less than one percent specialized in a
tax practice or a specialized tax area.

Speaker 3 (50:35):
So we're very very rare. We're you in the cars.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
Wow. Oh that's so good. That's so good.

Speaker 1 (50:42):
And now running y'all a multi million dollar company?

Speaker 2 (50:46):
Yes, and that's their company.

Speaker 3 (50:49):
That is so freaking dope. This is this smart girl
from New.

Speaker 5 (50:55):
Orleans, the little old girl blut income area. Come on
now estimated, Yes, who went to the School of life
and just st.

Speaker 2 (51:11):
And stumbled, but.

Speaker 5 (51:12):
Not really because it's already absolutely exactly.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
Yes, okay, and I love that. I think that you
are amazing. So let me ask you this. And I
know we're ending now, but I want to ask you
this because I think you should be celebrated and people
should know your story.

Speaker 3 (51:33):
So you did.

Speaker 2 (51:34):
Talk about some challenges but just being and I think.

Speaker 1 (51:39):
I kind of started off by asking you this, so
I'm gonna bring it back again.

Speaker 2 (51:43):
So, as a woman owned.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
Business and as a double minority, are there any challenges
that you have faced? Because some family members out here
are entrepreneurs and they have businesses, and we know I'm
an entrepre and knowing there's an EBB and flow to business, right,
so speaking to you like has there been because you

(52:08):
just don't become this multi million dollar company and then
everything's just so good and so because you know, that's
what TikTok makes people think.

Speaker 2 (52:16):
And Instagram and all that, right, So if.

Speaker 5 (52:18):
You could share like a challenge that y'all overcame, that
you overcame, you know, that would be helpful. I think
the biggest challenge to being an entrepreneurial business owner, yes,
is really in your own mind. I think that you
know you're gonna get a lot of naysayers and people

(52:42):
who try to discount what you can do. I mean,
I was literally told this is a crazy story, okay,
but a part of my process of growing our business
in corporate because remember I told you we started in
gup con. Yes, I became certified minority owned business, all right,
and the woman owned business.

Speaker 2 (53:02):
Yes.

Speaker 5 (53:02):
So when I first went to that organization, one of
the organizations and spoke to the president about what we were,
what we were doing, not trying to do, we were doing.

Speaker 3 (53:13):
We were on the way.

Speaker 5 (53:14):
We had already decided to stop doing government contracts, and
we were already starting to look for corporate opportunities. She said,
to my face, to me and my husband's face, okay,
that they'll never you know, companies are never going to
hire you to handle their taxes. They're never going to
hire a black person. No, you should do something else. No,

(53:35):
they're gonna only hire Big four. Remember I remember I
talked about Big four.

Speaker 3 (53:38):
Yes, you did.

Speaker 5 (53:39):
You're only going to hire a Big four. They're never
going to hire you. They're never going to hire a
black person to touch their money. No, to my face,
was this another black woman? Yes, yes, look at that
right up in my mug self hatred.

Speaker 1 (53:56):
Self hatred because that's how people see them. Said okay,
come on, now, come on.

Speaker 5 (54:04):
Because the message she was trying to penetrate me with, yes,
come on, Her intention was to that, you know, put
you down.

Speaker 2 (54:12):
Oh yeah, absolutely, you know. Look, girl.

Speaker 3 (54:18):
Really put a battery in my back. I was like,
I'm gonna show you better than I can tell you. Oh,
that's so good watching. Oh that's so the same person.

Speaker 5 (54:28):
A't big enough to see me, honey, when she sees me,
it is all flowers.

Speaker 3 (54:34):
She is just enamored wow with me? Did she don't
even remember? I'm sure what she said.

Speaker 2 (54:40):
She you think, oh that you know I'm an dual
health expert. She knows, she said, she knows. That's why
you're getting all them damn flowers. Yeah, she knows. People know.
In the audience, she's hoping. She's hoping you forgot.

Speaker 1 (54:55):
She's hoping you don't know, but she knows, and she's
eating crow every time she see you winning, baby, because
you be.

Speaker 5 (55:03):
Winning often in the audience. Often she said, oh that's
so good.

Speaker 2 (55:11):
Family. So don't you.

Speaker 1 (55:12):
Ever let no one else, anyone step on your dreams,
because they can't see it. They can't see it because
it wasn't for them. If it's something that you can see.

Speaker 2 (55:25):
And that you believe in, you keep going.

Speaker 5 (55:29):
And we had already proven our value proposition. We were
already making money, right, We were just trying to pivot,
of course, So who are you gonna tell me what
I can and can't do?

Speaker 2 (55:40):
What couch?

Speaker 3 (55:42):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (55:42):
Oh, I love it, I love it.

Speaker 3 (55:45):
I love it.

Speaker 5 (55:45):
Oh, we have many dejectors. One of the things I
am grateful though. My mother and our siblings on both sides,
they probably were clutching their pearls when we announced that
we were both gonna quit our jobs at the same
time with a brand new baby.

Speaker 3 (56:00):
Okay, yeah, they probably were, like but they never said anything.
They kept them mouth shut.

Speaker 5 (56:06):
They never said are you sure maybe one of you
guys should quit and the other one continued to work?

Speaker 2 (56:12):
Do you have to both quit your jobs?

Speaker 3 (56:15):
I don't know about that.

Speaker 5 (56:16):
Now after the fact, now that they see what we've
been able to accomplish, what they.

Speaker 3 (56:20):
Say, they're like, we were scared. We were scared, but
I couldn't. I couldn't say nothing else.

Speaker 2 (56:26):
Like they're young, you know, let them dream, Let them dream.
That's so good dreams why.

Speaker 5 (56:34):
Yes, so yeah, I'm very very thankful that my family
has always been supported.

Speaker 3 (56:39):
My mom was just, you know, how are you doing?

Speaker 2 (56:44):
Okay?

Speaker 3 (56:45):
I love and I get a little card with one
hundred dollars pulling in I love her, like get your
nails done. She was so worried.

Speaker 2 (56:57):
Oh that's so good.

Speaker 3 (56:59):
That's not.

Speaker 2 (57:03):
Do not know it And that's how it should be, right,
that's how it should be. Ooh okay, friends, that was
so good.

Speaker 1 (57:11):
Okay, So now everybody knows you are super successful.

Speaker 2 (57:16):
Absolutely yes, amazing.

Speaker 1 (57:19):
Coming from humble beginnings and that does not stop you.
Right when you are tenacious, You're driven, you believe in yourself,
and you had the support right, the people, your mama,
the community that also said you could do it, even
it was just them having their own businesses, which I

(57:40):
think is amazing. Going to doctors and your doctors are black. Yeah,
why can't I be a doctor? Absolutely? Oh that's so good.

Speaker 2 (57:48):
That is so good. Okay, So now and we have
to mention we're ending.

Speaker 1 (57:55):
But you told me about the DOW groups you in
the minority women on groups, right, and I usually come
with you to they events?

Speaker 2 (58:09):
No, I love.

Speaker 5 (58:13):
I love those events. No, because we're gonna clarify because
I love those events and I.

Speaker 3 (58:17):
Love you know.

Speaker 2 (58:18):
I love a good dinner, you know. I love a
good dinner. I love a good gala, honey.

Speaker 5 (58:23):
And I love supporting you like I love supporting my friends.

Speaker 2 (58:28):
I want to yell loud, I want to record you.

Speaker 3 (58:31):
I do.

Speaker 2 (58:32):
It makes me so so so happy.

Speaker 5 (58:35):
The part that I have issue with that I'm getting
better at and you be on me is networking.

Speaker 1 (58:42):
So that's the thing. But if I just come just
to and oh that's me all day, I love it.

Speaker 2 (58:51):
I love it.

Speaker 1 (58:52):
Well, you don't have negative vibes around, you know, And
that's so good. Yeahs environment, Yes, I love it, love it.

Speaker 2 (59:01):
Yeah, and so you you. Oh no, So this is
what I wanted to bring up, the.

Speaker 5 (59:07):
Fact that you are a part of what made you
before we end join the sorority in college.

Speaker 3 (59:16):
Now this is the truth.

Speaker 2 (59:18):
Okay, yeah, tell us the truth. No, don't start lying now, now,
don't start lying now.

Speaker 5 (59:23):
I was the first in my family, Okay, on both
sides that I'm aware of.

Speaker 3 (59:29):
I had an aunt who was a nurse, an RN.
My aunt Marie, she was an r N.

Speaker 5 (59:36):
My other unc was a cosmetologist, and on my mother's side,
I don't think I had any aunts and uncles that
went to college.

Speaker 3 (59:45):
They were all laborers or worked in the refinery. You know,
good hardworking people come from hard working people.

Speaker 5 (59:53):
Yes, But I was the first, really other than my
aunt Marie, to go to college. And I knew I
wasn't gonna stay in New Orleans. I knew that New
Orleans was not my final destination. In my mind, I
thought I need.

Speaker 3 (01:00:07):
A network, Like, how am I going to leave home
and leave my roots in my entire community. I tell you,
I had an amazing community and relocate.

Speaker 5 (01:00:17):
Didn't know where I was going to go, but I
knew I wasn't going to be in New Orleans, and
I thought that I needed a network of women that
I can tap into wherever I landed.

Speaker 2 (01:00:30):
You know, and.

Speaker 3 (01:00:34):
That it served me well.

Speaker 2 (01:00:36):
You know, it has served me well.

Speaker 5 (01:00:37):
It has been a great icebreaker, you know, when you
try to find women who have common commonalities with me.
I'm a sorority type of girl. I'm a girlfriend type
of girl. Yeah, yeah, you do, you do, so it
was a good fit for me. My daughter is like
absolutely not. Yeah, So I respect that and I.

Speaker 3 (01:01:01):
Never never. I respect that, you know.

Speaker 5 (01:01:05):
I get that, right, Then she has listen, she has
a different setup in life.

Speaker 3 (01:01:10):
Yes, she has two parents, yes, what college education.

Speaker 5 (01:01:13):
Yes right, yes, absolutely, environment yes, where she's surrounded by
college educated women, yes, and absolutely.

Speaker 3 (01:01:20):
Yes, Like I didn't have that, that's right. So I'm like, when.

Speaker 5 (01:01:24):
Push comes to shove, who do I call, like, you know,
to fight somebody in the corporate world.

Speaker 3 (01:01:30):
Who do I call?

Speaker 2 (01:01:31):
That's good?

Speaker 5 (01:01:32):
You know, okay, right, because I know I was gonna
be heading into the fire the lions. Then, yeah, she
your daughter gonna be like me, She's gonna have friends.

Speaker 2 (01:01:46):
I'm having this problem with this cooperation.

Speaker 5 (01:01:49):
I think that's so beautiful though, that based on what
my husband and I have been able to accomplish, that
she feels so strong and herself so confident in herself.

Speaker 3 (01:02:04):
That she's like, I don't need a group. It is
not a blessing. Yeah, and one generation. Yeah, I've changed,
I've changed the trajectory of my future.

Speaker 2 (01:02:16):
That's a legacy. That's a legacy. Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (01:02:19):
So I'm very thankful for that.

Speaker 1 (01:02:21):
Yeah, very blessed and so so so so good. Yeah, okay,
so that was why you joined And is there any
specific reason as to which group you joined.

Speaker 5 (01:02:33):
And it's a sorority. What what's the name of the
Delta Data Sorority Incorporated? Yeah, because in Louisiana, uh huh.
And every state is different. In New Orleans specifically, no, Louisiana.
The Delta's running Louisiana, like absolutely, Okay. My counselor in
high school I went to. Like I said, historically Black
High School was a delta.

Speaker 2 (01:02:55):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (01:02:56):
She was my counselor that got me into college and
got meolarships and got me all the things.

Speaker 2 (01:03:02):
She was a delta.

Speaker 5 (01:03:02):
I mean just state legislature build with deltas got you,
Supreme Court.

Speaker 2 (01:03:07):
Delta got you.

Speaker 5 (01:03:09):
Just it's all. I knew that they were the ones
that got stuff done. I got it. Those are protests
something going down the city hall Delta Delta.

Speaker 3 (01:03:18):
Okay, I love it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:19):
No, I get it.

Speaker 5 (01:03:20):
It makes sense. Okay, that's what I saw. So I
was like, Okay, these sisters, it's not a fight. Oh
that's good.

Speaker 1 (01:03:28):
That's what that's what you Okay, Okay, makes sense. So
this is so so good. And I will say, as
this powerhouse, we must mention, like you just said, your beautiful, amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:03:42):
Daughter she's amazing. Yes. How old is she?

Speaker 3 (01:03:45):
She is twenty one years old. She's about to graduate
from college.

Speaker 2 (01:03:50):
Yes she is.

Speaker 5 (01:03:51):
I remember when you first took her the very first
shit that Oh it does it?

Speaker 3 (01:03:57):
Does? It does? Yes?

Speaker 2 (01:03:59):
I love it, I love it.

Speaker 3 (01:04:00):
I love it.

Speaker 5 (01:04:00):
So yeah, just watch her become a young woman, such
a I'm so grateful.

Speaker 3 (01:04:06):
I'm so thankful to God. I'm so blessed.

Speaker 2 (01:04:08):
Yes, yeah, you are so good.

Speaker 1 (01:04:12):
Okay, Well, I love it, so I want you to
is the one last thing that you would just want.

Speaker 3 (01:04:21):
Women out there to know? Remember, Yes, you are creating
your legacy. You are freaking amazing. You are killing the game.
And I don't know if there's some women out.

Speaker 5 (01:04:32):
There that may be confused about where they are and
what they should do or how they should move forward,
or you know, maybe just maybe in the school of
life right now, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (01:04:48):
I don't know. Is there one thing, one thing that
you would just tell.

Speaker 3 (01:04:54):
Other women.

Speaker 5 (01:04:55):
I would say, stay tapped into your power source. I'm
a believer in Jesus Price. I prayed the prayer Jbaz
many a day throughout my entrepreneurship journey that he would
expand my territory and that if he would give me
the desires of my heart, that I would see his praises.

Speaker 3 (01:05:17):
You know.

Speaker 5 (01:05:18):
So I would absolutely say stay tapped into your power source.
And one thing that was extremely scary for me, but
that I started to do. And once I start to,
I guess achieve success, you know, visible outward success.

Speaker 2 (01:05:38):
That's why people could see it.

Speaker 5 (01:05:39):
Yes, I started to prayer, pray and ask God for discernment.

Speaker 2 (01:05:44):
Be careful when you pray that prayer because you'll see it.

Speaker 5 (01:05:48):
WHOA like I'm scared sometimes to ask God to give
me discernments, show me, show me what I can't see.
You know who's who's for me and who's not for me?
My eyes God, you kind of feel. We have great
instincts as women. Yes, so you can feel when something
is all.

Speaker 3 (01:06:08):
Be careful when you stop.

Speaker 2 (01:06:10):
Get ready. No, don't be careful.

Speaker 5 (01:06:12):
Get ready when you pray that prayer because it's not
gonna take long. God's gonna show you immediately. That's what
needs to happen. And you know you have to be
obedient and move.

Speaker 3 (01:06:21):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (01:06:22):
Oh that's so so so good. Thank you, my friend.

Speaker 1 (01:06:26):
And tell everybody where they can find you, how they
can follow you so they can stay inspired by you.

Speaker 5 (01:06:36):
So all the women out there who are interested in
topics about business, travel, my art, lifestyle. I just launched
my YouTube channel. It is Chanelle Christophe Davis Art. You
have to put art at the end. And I'm awesome

(01:06:58):
bringing back my podcast, which this lovely woman's.

Speaker 2 (01:07:01):
On my podcast.

Speaker 5 (01:07:03):
My number one podcast episode is the episode about mental
Help with Missus Andrew wise Brown.

Speaker 3 (01:07:10):
It's still to this day, still number one, still number one.

Speaker 5 (01:07:13):
Come on, Jesus, you know five years of podcasting, your
your episode is still bring number one. Thank you, jem
I'm bringing my podcast back, Follow the Leader podcast show
on all podcasting platforms tap in because we're bringing the
show back in twenty twenty five and Instagram. I have
a lot of fun on Instagram again, Chanelle Christophe Davis Art.

Speaker 2 (01:07:35):
I love it. Thank you, my friend, Thank you. I
love you so much.

Speaker 3 (01:07:41):
I love you too.

Speaker 2 (01:07:42):
And yeah, I'm just gonna say thank you, thank you.
I'm so happy to know you.

Speaker 3 (01:07:50):
Yeah, y'all put us together. Time timing was impeccable.

Speaker 1 (01:07:56):
Right, I love you like, I'm so great that you're
in my life.

Speaker 3 (01:08:03):
I can't tell you how bless.

Speaker 2 (01:08:05):
You, bless my mind.

Speaker 3 (01:08:07):
You're gonna keep you bless. You need that friend that
is gonna, you know, tell you the truth. Yes, and
I'm gonna need it there, tell.

Speaker 1 (01:08:24):
You the truth, and I'm always gonna be that friend. Yeah,
and I'm all but I'm also gonna bop.

Speaker 5 (01:08:29):
Your floor if you need to pick up the groceries,
pick up the kids.

Speaker 3 (01:08:33):
Take you right.

Speaker 5 (01:08:33):
I'm gonna tell you the truth of the sat and
empower you and tell you and push you how you
can go be bigger. And because I believe, I love
you for doing this.

Speaker 3 (01:08:53):
Well. Family.

Speaker 1 (01:08:55):
That is another episode of the Mental Health is a
lifestyle podcast with your girl Andrea Wise Brown and family.
Don't be jealous because I love you too, and I
will see you next week on the next episode.

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