Black Bridge Mindset

Empowering Change through Real Estate with Ronita Coleman

• Black Bridge Mindset • Season 1 • Episode 1

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In this inaugural episode of the Blackbridge Mindset Podcast, hosts Mike, CJ, and Ken introduce their vision and bring on their first guest, Ronita Coleman. 

Ronita, a mechanical engineer by training, turned her career towards real estate development and community impact. She shares her journey from buying her grandparents' house to establishing a thriving career in Detroit's commercial real estate sector. The conversation covers her significant achievements, such as rehabilitating the historic Casa del Rey into affordable housing, the importance of community engagement, and the challenges and rewards of being an entrepreneur. They also delve into the role of resilience, the crucial partnership with her husband, and her approach to managing work-life balance. 

The episode concludes with a Q&A lightning round and a unique 'Wakanda Peace Pause' tradition.

Be ready to take notes as Black Bridge Mindset's journey begins. 

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Hosts:

CJ:

Hello, and welcome to the Blackbridge Mindset Podcast, where culture, entrepreneurship, and business intersect to fuel inspiration. This podcast celebrates the power of diverse voices shaping the future of business. So whether you're building a business, breaking barriers, or just looking for some serious inspiration, you're in the right place. The Blackbridge Mindset, where culture and entrepreneurship collide.

Mike:

So we're started. yeah, this is Mike. This is Black Bridge Mindsets our very first episode, so it's gonna be a little rough, but it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be great. We're gonna look back on this in a year and be like, damn, y'all done came a long way. I am so excited to have two of my best friends here hosting this show with me. I have Chris Johnson and Ken Peak. Do you wanna be Chris Johnson or do you want to be cj? Either Works Cookie. I'm not gonna call him Cookie. I may ask. No, we won't be doing that.

Ken:

CJ is perfectly fine. You need to prepare yourself because we may accidentally call you Cookie.

Mike:

But yeah, I'm

CJ:

here with two. I'm wear a cookie Monster shirt one day.

Mike:

I'll do it. Please. I'm wearing my Capricorn shirt today, but you can't even see it because I have my camera set up all wrong, but I'll fix that for next time. But like I said, I'm super excited to have two of my best friends here with me. Two. Cj, where are you coming in from and introduce yourself a little bit.

CJ:

Yeah, I am actually coming to you all the way from Columbus, Ohio, home of the Ohio State University, Buckeyes, your NCAA football champs for 2024. 2025. Little bit about me. My background is engineering. I am a fire protection engineer by trade. I design fire systems, but in my free time, people that know me know I'm big into music. Just regular things that regular people do. And for every now and then, I'm known to sit at the bar and have a nice salty margarita.

Mike:

Nice. Oh,

CJ:

hi, o.

Mike:

And then of course, one of my other best friends all the way from the A TL Ken Peak. How are you doing? Introduce yourself. Let the people know who you are.

Ken:

Hey everybody, my name's Ken. I am checking in from Atlanta, Georgia. I'm doing well. I'm excited about today. It's gonna be a great day. Excited about the guest, excited about doing this with the two of you. This is gonna be a great venture. As background, my background is in finance, asset management, securities, brokerage, all that fun stuff. So let's have a good time.

Mike:

Yeah, no, I'm by. Yeah, thank you. And, my name is Mike Lovett. I am in Chicago, born in Cleveland. Lived in Columbus for 15 years, and now in Chicago, Illinois, doing my thing. And, what is my background? I'm engineering site acquisition entrepreneur, and, all the things rolled up in one, but I'm loving it. And through my journey so far, I've met these two guys and the guest who's coming on here in a little bit. She's one of my favorite people. And we, we, if the campus could talk at ou as they would say, they would have some crazy stories to tell about the both of us, but we'll get into that later. So with that said, what's going on y'all? What's been happening this week? What's going on with you? Ken? What's going on with you? Cj, anything fun? Anything crazy?

Ken:

You mean out trying outside of trying to survive? What's happening?

Mike:

Say that again.

Ken:

Yeah. No, things are good, right? Be careful like, spring has sprung here in Atlanta. Looking forward to that. Some good weather's definitely on its way. Otherwise, not too much crazy el not too much else was crazy going on. Did get some tickets for r and b only here in Atlanta for next weekend, so I'm definitely excited for that. I know round two, I know round two, you guys will definitely be missed, but, you

CJ:

didn't invite us this time.

Ken:

Good. Listen, I just decided to do it and you're always welcome and actually, the following day, Jojo's gonna be here in concert too, so I think I might get a ticket to go see her as well.

Mike:

Okay. I can see you at a jojo concert.

Yeah,

Ken:

jojo. First of all, don't do that.

Mike:

What about you, cj? Anything going on? Anything crazy this week?

CJ:

Yeah, there's some pressure situations right now, but I can't discuss yet, and I think you all know what'em may be talking about outside of that. Things are good. Just finished the, season of volleyball. Took first place in the regular season, third in the tournament. Not too happy with the tournament finish, but I'm okay with that. Good stuff. Yeah. NCAA tournament's about to start just, warm weather, get to, to, soak that in and set out on a patio and watch some basketball and just be free for once it's get outta the house ready for it.

Mike:

Yeah, no, I hear you. The weather's been nice here in Chicago for the last couple of days, so unfortunately I have not been able to go out and enjoy it, but it's all good. I'm with Ken. Life is just life in. I looked at my stock and my portfolio and all that craziness the last couple of days. I'm telling y'all it is March 11th. Don't look, it's a sad day. I've lost so much money over the last couple of days. Pump some extra

CJ:

money into some stocks now.

Mike:

Now is a good time, right? Because everything's low. Talking business, talking money. Do it now. There you go. But anyway, so yeah, so thanks for catching up for the week. But I am super excited about today's show. Not only is it our very first show as the Black Bridge Mindset Podcast, but we have our very first guest who is one of my very favorite people. And I'm gonna, I have to read this,'cause if I don't read it, I'm just gonna fumble all over the place. So bear with me. Those who are watching this on YouTube, you're gonna see me look at a screen, but those who are listening, just listen up because today we are diving into the inspiring story of Ranita Coleman, a trailblazer in real estate development and community impact with a mechanical engineering degree from Ohio University and an MBA in business. Ranita has built a dynamic career formerly as a GM executive for over 24 years, and now as a powerhouse entrepreneur, mother and real estate developer. As co-founder of Coleman Allen, LLC, she's leading the charge to revolutionize Casa del Rey, a century old historic building in Pontiac, Michigan, turning it into 50 affordable housing units. But her impact doesn't stop there. Ranita is also a key player in women and empowered to build. A program designed to uplift and equipped women in real estate development. In this episode, we'll explore her journey from engineering to executive leadership to real estate, the challenges of revitalizing communities and how she's paving the way for future women leaders in the industry. Get ready for an inspiring conversation on turning vision into reality. Without further ado, one of my favorite people, Ranita Coleman. Awesome. How are you? Doing

Ronita:

well, thank you. Thank you all for having me. Good evening, Mike, Ken, and cj. I am excited to be here. I'm inspired by what you all are doing. So keep up the good work to continue to inspire others, in this space of entrepreneurship.

CJ:

Thank you for giving us your time.

Mike:

Yeah. Thank you. No problem. Yeah, I don't know if you understand, how excited I am that you're our first guest. Like we were thinking about who should our first guest be? Should it be somebody we don't know? Should it be somebody we know? And I was like, we definitely should do somebody we know because one, we're new and we didn't wanna do anything crazy with some stranger. And they were like, who are these knuckleheads? But two, I just want it to be a special moment. So to me, having you on as our first guest is very special and I appreciate you taking the time to do that.

Ronita:

Thank you. Thank you for thinking about little old me.

CJ:

I can't tell the accolades behind your name.

Mike:

I was about to say we've, I've seen you in the papers. I've seen you all over the place. But with that said, tell us a little bit about you tell us. How did you get started in your entrepreneurialship? Let's try that word again. How did you get started as an entrepreneur?

Ronita:

I like to say that I always had an entrepreneur spirit. I had people around me. I, I know in our communities, and in my family there are a lot of people that hustle. You have a job, but you hustle on the side. I recall my mom, she, worked for the UAW at General Motors when I was growing up, but on the weekends she was doing hair or nails or something to make some extra money on the side. My brother, he did a little, a lot of different things on the side, and so did my dad. So I guess it was always in my blood to be an entrepreneur.

Mike:

Yeah.

Ronita:

And as far as the space of real estate, I think the first book that kicked me off into real estate was Rich Dad, poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. Good book. And, I, my first real investment was actually my grandparents' house. They got older, they couldn't live there anymore, they moved in with my mother. Somehow or another, the house got sold off. A few years later I found it, in a foreclosed, a foreclosure, listing. And, I was like, my grandparents were staples in the community. It was like an heirloom to me, and I didn't want to see it just go to anyone. So that was my first investment and oh, that was 20 years ago, plus. And, today, that house, I still own it. And it's a group home for reentry, substance abusers, things of that nature. So it, it stands and represents, a community to support community, just like my grandparents.

Mike:

That's awesome. Very nice. Yeah, I love that. And as some of y'all don't know, Ranita and I went to Ohio University and we were both in engineering getting our mechanical engineering degrees, and I thought that just going to school and getting our engineering degree was a lot of work. She was also on the women's basketball team. So if you can imagine being an engineering and having the schedule of a basketball player in college. Tell us a little bit about that and how that sort of helped you in your day-to-day nowadays.

Ronita:

It drove a lot of discipline. You have to maximize your time when you have two jobs, right? So being a full-time student as well as a full-time athlete, we had to travel a lot. The demands were hard, but you, in order to be successful at both, you had to stay disciplined. So I think that's one of the life lessons that taught me throughout that time.

CJ:

Nice. And it shows, it looks like it's, it was very productive for you.

Ronita:

Yeah. It was challenging. It's challenging. If every road was easy, it'd be a lot more people down this road. You got

Mike:

that right? A hundred percent. Yeah. I just remember you calling me your schedule sometime and I'd be like, man, I was still in bed. Rolling over. Hitting snooze for two more hours and you're already up working out, having, doing your homework, getting like it, it was just crazy. It was just crazy. So I applaud you on that. Thank you. Yeah, so what's, do you have a specific moment or turning point where you decided to take the leap into entrepreneurialship? Was it the purchase of your grandma's home?

Ronita:

Yes, but that was, at that time, that was my side job, my side hustle, if you will. I can share that. So after that purchase, I started my journey, my career with General Motors, and so I was relocated a few different times. So every time I relocated, so I'm from Indianapolis, Indiana. And, GM moved me to Missouri. And so when I went to Missouri, I found a foreclosed home, right? And I, while I lived there, I improved it. So I sold it in 2008. You know what that looked like?

Yeah, that's right.

Ronita:

The market was down. It was horrible. But when I moved, I was relocated to Michigan. I take that back. I bought a home in Indianapolis, then to Missouri. But each time, no matter what the market was, I never lost money because I bought so much below the market price that when it was time to sell after the improvements, I still made money, or at least broke even. I.

Mike:

That's awesome.

Ronita:

Yeah, and then I came to Michigan. I was relocated to Michigan. From Missouri. I bought another foreclosure. I flipped it. At the time I met my husband to be, and he was on board with continuing the journey of fixing and flipping. and we got to a point, we got married, we had a child, and I was, I can recall we were at a fix and flip. I had a six month old. I'm trying to feed the baby in the car and, then I have to go back to work. And it was just too much. And I said, if we keep fixing and flipping, we'll always have to keep fixing and flipping. And the journey was getting a little rough for me. So I said, I think we need to change our strategy. So we just changed it from, fix and flip to buy and hold. So we started purchasing rental properties in the city of Detroit. And we have 10 doors there. And I was like, it's, we can continue to scale, but it's easier if you, if we go into commercial, so fix and flip. Buy and hold residential to duplexes and fourplexes, and now we have a 50 unit apartment building.

Mike:

Congratulations. That's awesome. Congrats. That's awesome. That's fantastic.

Ronita:

Thank you. Thank you.

Mike:

Yeah. I love that you like, went through your journey in saying this is what we started with. And then as life changed, you pivoted. You didn't say let's give up. You said, this is something I still love. We have some changes to make. Let's pivot and do something else and still stay within that same, within real estate, but just tweak a few things so that we can continue with our dream and our journey. I love that.

Ronita:

Yeah. And right. As having a family, that's part of my passion, my faith, my family, and our future, right? Our future generations. So that's the passion that continues to drive me and our entrepreneurship, right? Because we do have a future ahead of us.

CJ:

Yeah. How did, sorry, Mike, I No, go ahead. Go ahead. I was just gonna say, I just had a question. I'm curious with you pivoting from residential to commercial. Can you describe, the differences in your, funding for those investments compared to residential? Is there a big difference? Is there, is it difficult to get funding for commercial? What are the stipulations?

Ronita:

Very good question, cj. It's total different. It's totally different world. So if you can go, we can go buy a residential home, we get a mortgage as long as, you got some stability of financing as an individual. But when you get into commercial real estate, it's a different ball game. There's so many different facets of like soft cost. When you buy a residential home, you don't worry about a soft cost. What is a soft cost, right? So when you're talking about, environmental, making sure that you're approved by different municipalities, there are a lot of different factors, going into commercial real estate. And the type of real estate that we have, conquered, should I say, at this point has been, commercial real estate that has been vacant. Because, as part of our mission is to transform and revitalize vibrant neighborhoods and communities across metro Detroit. And so when you think about, a vacant property that's been vacant, I don't know, 20 plus years, it's more, it costs you more money than to build from the ground up that same building. So financing is crucial. And you think about the capital stack on, the 50 unit apartment complex that, we currently have that total development costs us$15.5 million. So how you gonna get that money? It's, I'm terrified.

Mike:

Just think about it. It's

Ronita:

gotta be effort. It's gotta be a collaborative effort. And that's, that's how we were successful building those relationships and collaboration across cities, counties and state funding. But that was a good question, cj.

Ken:

So with what you just said about the diverse and the vibrant, communities, and with the$15.5 million stack, what was the thought process that you went through to make the determination that you wanted, Casa del Rey to be affordable housing? Because right now in this current state of real estate, right? Everything's luxury. People want to charge you more money. What was it that made you say, Hey, we're not gonna do that. We want to build this, affordable housing for people in the community.

Ronita:

Yes. Market rate seems to be the, make the most money, right? But I think the key thing for us was community engagement. So there's, this building is not only, a registered as a national landmark. But it's also, in a historic district. And so that community or that district comes together, to under, we were able to meet with them to understand what the needs were. A lot of people tried to come in at low income. Affordable is like that, that middle, not low income. And it's not your market rate, tenants, but it's that what they call the missing middle. And, that's how we determine what the need was. People, a lot of people go into different communities not understanding what the needs are and what the people want. Even though the property had been vacant for a couple of decades, they knew they still didn't want low income housing. Because as a historic district, they have to keep up a certain. Standard in the historic district. So we wanted to make sure that we aligned with community.'cause the community can make or break your project. They have a deep influence in where they live.

Mike:

Can you touch on that a little bit more? So for people who may be interested in getting into commercial real estate, when you say the community, has a say in, can sway a project, because some people may just think oh, I want to go put up a 50 unit building, let me just go buy the land and do it. But what do you mean by the community can sway whether or not a project goes forward or not?

Ronita:

Okay. I can give you a couple examples. Good question. The couple examples. The first example is the building is in a historic district. There is a historic committee. That works for the city that the building is in, and you have to get their approval to put certain windows, whatever you wanna put on the exterior of this building. And they have to say they, it was six of them. And, I thank God there was all yays to our proposal. But not only that, there's another layer, when you're going to get approval to, for the site, to get approved for your plans. Like we, we needed, parking, we had to get parking approved for that building. Or a variance if you didn't have enough parking spaces around the building or a parking lot to support it. But you need the city to support you. And if they don't approve it, you can't do anything with the building. So you need the city district or counsel to support what you're doing.

Mike:

And when you go to the city and say, Hey, I want to do this, can Joe Smith who lives in the area, can he come to that meeting and say, Hey, I know Ranita Coleman wants to put up this building, but I don't like it. I don't want this building put up.

Ronita:

Yes, you are. You are absolutely right. There are, there is what you call,

Mike:

public hearing,

Ronita:

public comment. And so you can have a line of people standing up, they know what's on the agenda for the night and they don't agree with it. You can have a line of people telling you how they don't want you or they don't feel that your plan is sufficient. I can recall, we had public comment at one of the historic meetings and this lady. You could tell by her attitude. She just didn't like it. Didn't, let me see what you're proposing. Like she really wanted to understand,'cause she lives in the community and she has the right to say what she feels and it does matter to a community, the hearts of the people that live there. But we were able to talk to her and share with her and prove our case, sufficient enough where she actually is now an advocate for us. Okay. But you do have, the public commentary is public, it's live streamed. So they have a say so in their community, not just the council. And to your point, Mike. Anyone In that city could come up and share that they approve or disapprove and they can be as blatant as they want to be during their public comment for two minutes.

Mike:

Exactly.

Ken:

So I think two things, right? First piggyback off of what you said, in the current environment, ranita around what's happening with the government and DEI, has your approach changed to your deal making to how you appropriate funding? Has your approach change to how you engage with the community based on the things that are currently happening and the overall, geopolitical, socioeconomic environment?

Ronita:

Oh, good question, Ken. I would say no about changing my approach about how I engage with the community. Community because your community is, can make you or break you at the lowest level. The story that I shared about the, the lady that had public comment, and that wasn't happy because there had been many proposals before us. Now she's actually on the historic district board so she can make or break a decision, to influence her peers. If there was something else that I came up to the committee to try to get past. So the best way to deal with the community is just to be honest, open, genuine, and try to understand what the needs are. As for, the current climate of, our leadership of this country, right now we have to understand how his impacts or his decisions on funding, government funding will impact projects such as, moving forward for us. What does that mean? I had a conversation with someone today as to. Some of the programs that they have for affordable housing, and right now they're just at a halt. They don't know what's gonna be available. He said you can put an application in now, but just know that the funding might come or might not come. We are pivoting, trying to understand what that looks like. It might look like, RFPs, going after different contracts versus just applying for funding. It may shift that direction, I'm not sure. But we're fluid right now with the current climate.

CJ:

I may,

Ken:

this, lemme just ask one more question, cj, do you think that based on your funding sources. That you're gonna have any type of a negative impact, to, your either real estate or your commercial development business going forward. Is that kind of still in flux as well at the moment?

Ronita:

Our current active projects, no. Okay. The future projects possibly, depending on what decisions are made. Yeah.

CJ:

I just wanted to add on to that, with the way that, the current climate is going and is in this current state, I know a lot of times people, will submit for funding, for grant funding, through the state, through the government. Federally there are organizations out there that fund, historic projects, especially, minority historical projects. I was going to share this information with you off Air Ranita, but a friend of mine is the actual president of, the National Trust in Washington DC. And his organization actually, helps historical sites, minority owned historical stites be more, more specific, with transitioning in, building up their, their, facilities, their buildings. I know those grants are not tied to government funding, I'll share that information with you a after the show. And then there's also, I'm sure there are definitely other organizations and these organizations are funded by, generous people around the world that just wanna help the community in one way or another.

Ronita:

I appreciate that contact. That'll be awesome.

CJ:

Shout out to Brent Legs, Kadu, Kentucky.

Mike:

I, you may need to shout'em out again. I don't think we heard you. I just, oh, I just said that

Ronita:

might be one of our, oh, say it again, cj.

CJ:

Oh, no, I was just giving my, best friend I grew up with Brent Legs a shout out. That's the gentleman that I'll be getting you in contact with.

Ronita:

Awesome.

Mike:

Nice. All right. One question for you. What does a typical day look like for you as a business owner? Are you, and on top of that, are you solo or does it take a team for you to make all of this happen?

Ronita:

Yeah, a good question. I'm not solo. I do have a, my partner who is also my husband, he is in it to win it with me. A also keeping in mind, he has still has a full-time job. I am now a full-time developer.

Mike:

Let's go.

Ronita:

And we have a 6-year-old. A typical day for me, and let me add to that before I shift to my typical day. But, we have a team of, we have a consultant, depending on what, tax benefits we're going after, we may have some one help us with that. You always need a general contractor, and a good architect. So yes, we have, we surround our pe ourselves with people, that have their specialties, right? And the better they are, the better you can be. So that's a, that's an awesome question. And then as far as a typical day for me, we start off getting ready for, there is not a consistent day. I'm sure this week is very busy and so is the next, but I had some downtime, every now and again, but a typical day would, start off with getting my 6-year-old ready for school, getting breakfast made, getting her, walking her to school partially. And then I might have a few different meetings, with some, maybe some partnerships that might be lined up or, some conferences, that deal with real estate and the trajectory of commercial real estate. I'm a part of different groups, women's groups, minority groups. Majority groups. So you wanna be involved and in the know, with what's going on, in your business and right. And so that's what I try to do and continue to build relationships because, relationships can make or break you.

Mike:

Yeah, for sure. And you talking about, building a team earlier, that's where I am with in my real estate journey. Like you're way ahead of where I am, but in any business, not just in real estate, I'm starting to learn that a lot of CEOs and people in your position, they don't necessarily have their hand in everything. They're not an expert in everything. So just like you mentioned, you have your architect, you're not an architect. You're not an architect, excuse me. But you're the head of this moving machine and company. And when people see you and you build this big thing, they're like, oh, Nita's an architect. Oh, she was able to do the civil stuff. But in all actuality, people don't understand, like it takes a team in order to move a company in a certain direction. And I'm starting to learn that.'cause a lot of people think, oh, it's just me. I need to make the cold calls, I need to do the bills, I need to do the, I need to be a transaction coordinator. I need to be blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But you don't, you just need to get the right people in place, right?

Ronita:

Yes. But keep in mind, my fellow mechanical engineer, I'm not an architect, but I can read a print,

Mike:

Listen,

Ronita:

you know

Mike:

you, that again,

Ronita:

You hire the professionals, right? But you also know the basics of what they're doing. You understand what they're doing. So they don't take advantage of you. Not to say that people will, but not to say that people won't, people

Mike:

will,

Ronita:

Just understand, the basics of what they're doing for you to help you become successful.

Mike:

A hundred percent couldn't have said it better myself. You know what just popped in my head. What my worst class in college? Electrical engineering and Aaliyah. Dust yourself off and try again.

Ronita:

Yes, I remember that. Can I share what you used to say? Go ahead.

Mike:

Do it. Say it.

Ronita:

You all know the song. If at first you don't succeed, dust yourself off the track. Mike changed the course to that song. He said, if you, if at first you don't succeed, you dust yourself off and register for the class again. Register for,

Mike:

yep. Wait. Electrical Engineering and Chemical Engineering, I had to register for the class again a couple of times. It's all good. Listen,

CJ:

I felt that way about fluids.

Mike:

It's,

Ronita:

you have a degree though, don't you?

Mike:

I sure do. I sure do. Okay. It's in my, it's in my little, Rubbermaid tub in storage downstairs.

CJ:

That poor. I have a wall like yours someday.

Mike:

What'd you say?

CJ:

What things collecting does? Just trying to get out.

Mike:

It's wrapped up. It's wrapped up in my, it's

CJ:

all cold and lonely.

Mike:

Nah, you good?

Ken:

All right. Work for that. Can I just, I wanna, you've mentioned in your day-to-day and you, during your day-to-day, discussion, and you said you had a busy week. I saw on your Instagram that you are a panelist, this week at the Detroit, real Estate Association of Developers. Yes. And I wanted to just hear, about that, about what the organization is, what you're gonna be talking about as a panelist. Are you excited? No, I think it's, it's, on Thursday. Is it Thur tomorrow or Friday? It is. It's Thursday. Okay. It's Thursday. So yeah, let us know a little bit about that.

Ronita:

Reed is a, minority, group for real estate developers in metro Detroit. And they inspire, they have workshops, they also have bus tours, which is like amazing. So they'll rent a charter bus, I think it's quarterly or twice a year, depending on how many projects they have going on. But they'll, rent a charter bus. And invite all the members. And if you wanna come and you're not a member, that's okay too. But they will take you around Metro Detroit and take you to minority developments, commercial developments that are being led and driven by minorities, specifically, blacks. It is very inspiring to go to some of these key communities in Detroit and the developers tell their story. Sometimes they have their team members with them. And I'm hopeful that, I'll be one of the stops on the next, couple of, journeys through Detroit. But they're doing good things in com in the community.

Ken:

Yeah. Detroit is, I know you, you probably know this by, talking with Mike, but we like to travel a lot and Detroit is definitely on our list to, to visit because, we haven't been, but it's on the list, so we'll make sure that we partake, okay. In the bus store. Yes, please do. Yeah.

Mike:

Yeah. I'd love to do a follow up with you, later once you get, the building all done and ready to go. We'll come up and chat with you. Do a walkthrough. Let the listeners, or I guess people have to watch it on YouTube and see, exactly what you were working on, and talk about your journey on that one a little bit more. That'll be awesome. Okay.

Ronita:

And hopefully I'll be able to share with you the next one.

Mike:

Yep. Yeah. Many more. Yeah. I love it.

Ronita:

Yeah.

Mike:

Ranita,

CJ:

I have a question for you. Yes. Can you explain to our audience, I noticed, from your website that you have, looks like two companies. You have your, realty side, which is LJ Golden Realty, and then you have Green Living Solutions. Is the Green Living Solutions your development side?

Ronita:

Good question. You all have really done your research, huh? So Green Living Solutions is our nonprofit, which focus on sustainable, living, efficiencies. So like we're not, we're gonna go as green as possible. Net zero if you will. But we may not get there, with some of these revitalizations, but we're gonna get as close as possible. But at some point we would like to also provide, services to help people, with their, budgeting and things of that nature.'cause that's part of, the goal as for our nonprofit is to minimize the cost of living, right? So not only do you have affordable housing, but you can also have a place where you're not spending an arm and a leg for gas or electric because we've made everything in that facility, energy efficient.

CJ:

Got you. And then that's very necessary right now. Yes. Nice. Is there, any stipulations or any guidelines or criteria or driving force that, once you have your, your property in line, you've received your certificate, occupancy, you're ready to go, is there another organization, especially with this being historic, that you focus, are focusing on right now? Is there any driving factors that once you will open up and earn business, something out there is some entity that keeps like a check on you, make sure that you're doing this, make sure you're doing that, and just making sure that there are certain guidelines followed and does that create a issue? That's a

Ronita:

good question. So I'm gonna answer your last question first. It doesn't create an issue, but yes. Some of the funding that we did receive for this project, has some, affordability metrics tied to it. And, some of them, we have to keep in place for 10 years. And some others we have to keep in place for 20. But yes, we have, we will have, the compliances in place annually to make sure those are checked off and, there are no issues, moving forward with our tenancy. Gotcha.

CJ:

Nice.

Ken:

Can I, can we, I wanna ask a question and take it back to the top of the conversation. When you were talking about purchasing your grandparents' house, when did you make the decision or what transpired that, made you turn it into, the group home for reentry? For substance abusers?

Ronita:

That's another great question. There has been a friend of our family since I was a little girl, and, those type of services are what she provides and she has several homes, and larger commercial facilities, for those type of, reentry, substance abuse, things of that nature. But she has a heart for the people, and that's what I have that's been ingrained in me from my grandparents. And so when she shared with me that she was interested in renting the property, and that's what she would use it for. That was perfect. It aligned with my morals, my faith and my values that I grew up with as a child.

Ken:

Yeah, that's awesome. Like it's, I think it's just, it's fantastic like just hearing your stories, about how, you're giving back to the communities that you live and work in. Because a lot of times people say that, but they don't action upon it. So it's really great to, to hear, what it is that you're doing. Yeah, that's fantastic stuff. Live

Ronita:

work. And Ken, don't forget live, work and play. Don't forget that part.

Mike:

Yeah. And I know one of the things that you really like to touch on is, resilience. So if you wanna, talk about that a little bit, and let us know what your thoughts are on that.

Ronita:

Oh yes. It's a journey, right? It is not a sprint, it's a marathon. And there are a lot of hurdles along the way. We look at the Olympics and we see the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles, but could you imagine a marathon with hurdles?

Mike:

No.

Ronita:

So if you just put that into perspective, it's a lot of challenges along the way. It's a lot of challenges with just being a developer. But when you're trying to scale up, when you're not the majority in that space, it can be quite difficult and it's easy to throw in the towel. So you have to be resilient in this space. You have to be resilient in life, right? But if you want to go where nobody's gone. And do what nobody has done, then you have to be resilient in your pursuit of it.

Ken:

A hundred percent greed.

Mike:

So you just mentioned live, work, and play. Tell us how you enjoy your downtime. How do you, like how do you relax? What does play look like for you and your family?

Ronita:

I guess I have to give two sides to it, right? With my family, I love family. I love getting everybody together. I. And just having a good time. Maybe rent an Airbnb down in Florida and invite as many as who can come, with a pool and a lake and, the many resorts that they have down there and just have a good time. Let the kids jump and play and take'em to Disneyland. So that's, that's a good time with the family, right? But then there's the flip side of it where I've gone and gone and I'm just getting back from Miami on a solo trip because I just need that downtime to decompress. Retail therapy is nice as well

CJ:

We know about that.

Ronita:

Okay. Okay. So yeah, I, I think it's two sides to it, right? I have that family time, and you're, for me, I'm always going. And, but just to take a breath, a break and breathe, without any distraction. I like some me time as well.

Mike:

Yeah. I was gonna ask you to hit on that a little bit more because I feel like that's, nowadays people, some people just see that as controversial. It's you're in a relationship, you're married, you have a kid, what are you doing going off on vacation by yourself and, having some me time, like me time, go take a nap in the bedroom, have some me time, go downstairs, have some me time. But if you're gonna Miami and hanging out like that doesn't sound like me. Time to me, that sounds like party time to me. So how do you let people know or address like. This is okay, this is something that's good for your mental health. Having that break and separation, it's it's okay. It's not,'cause some people I think, struggle with that. Yeah.

Ronita:

Yeah. And just because I went to Miami doesn't mean I partied it up.

Mike:

I know. But I'm saying like, people hear that I

Ronita:

can tell you. Yes. But it, like, when I reflect on that trip, since it is, it just happened, I would sit on the balcony and watch the sunset in peace. I would lay next to the pool and just have a clear mind and no distractions. I was in the fashion district, so I was able to do a little bit of retail therapy Of course. And my husband and I, we have a heart for people, right? W we're always tending to someone else's cares and their needs and what everybody else has to do or needs our help with. It's something to take a pause and care for you and not feel guilty about it.

Mike:

Man. I think that's the biggest part, is not feeling guilty about it.

Ronita:

Yes. Yes.

CJ:

And if you have a partner sometimes that's the hardest part. Yes. Not feeling guilty.

Ken:

But can I give you a recommendation? I did this for my birthday and I went to, the Waldorf Astoria in, Riviera Maya, and I highly recommend it. Just going

Riviere. Yeah, that's

Ken:

what it was. Ri and oh, write down. Yeah. It was the reason why I say this is because they didn't allow Ubers on and off the property. And then for you to get an Uber, you had to walk to the front, to the entrance and it was like a 25 minute walk. So there was no really going anywhere. But it was beautiful. It was right on the beach. The hotel was gorgeous. Awesome. They had great restaurants. Staff was amazing. So I highly recommend it the next time if you get the opportunity.

Ronita:

Thank you. Thank you for that. Yeah. The next

CJ:

time we have you on the show, after you've had your fifth property and you're on vacation at Riviere Maya, we're gonna call you.

Yeah. Okay. I might not pick up,

Mike:

I must say don't pick up. Don't you enjoy your time. You do. You do your thing. But with that said, you could definitely see who the bougie person is in this group.

Ronita:

That's nice though. That's nice though. I'm gonna get there, Ken. I'm not there yet, but I'm going to get there.

Ken:

Yeah. Ask for bougie birds of a feather, right? You're right. Yes, you're right. I'm not together.

CJ:

I'm a little jealous maybe to a degree.

Ronita:

Oh, the other thing that I wanted to share, along with, my day to day, my husband and I are also pastors. So we have, we have a pastor's heart for people. So when I say we have a heart for people, we truly. Are inspired and fulfilled, when we're able to assist and help, with the needs of the people on many different levels. So

CJ:

very nice. You are a modern day superwoman.

Mike:

You are. Yeah. And you are doing great things. I love it. We are only, so we have about, 12 more minutes with you. Is there anything that you would like to, just a little nugget that you would like to leave to any type of entrepreneur, whether they are, looking to get into real estate or they're just starting and trying to figure out their journey, whatever that may be. What type of advice would you give if someone came to you and said, would you mentor me and help me get started?

Ronita:

I feel one, you have to be focused. Sometimes you talk to people and they want to do this and they want to do that, and they want to do this over here, but they have to have a focus. So once you have that focus,'cause that's the first thing a lot of people say, you can be a jack of all trades, but I know about that. So once you have a focus, you just dive in, dive into it, understand it, get engaged with, the different groups that, are in that industry and, just do your research. And then at some point you have to dive in because a lot of people want to get into real estate and they say they want to do this and they want to do that, but when it comes to buying that first property, they freeze. And so if you don't dive in at some point, I don't say dive in too early, but if you don't dive in, you'll never fulfill, that goal of entrepreneurship in that field. So you gotta stick your toe in the water and test it, because you really don't understand what it's like until you're truly engaged and, surrounded by the waters of that field.

Mike:

Yep. And what was my, my favorite phrase, starting this all out? You have to take imperfect action, right? And that's what, and that's what you're talking about. You just have to jump in and do something. You'll learn something. But, I don't know if I could show this how this looks, but there's a book called One Thing. I'm Reading it. I tried to make it the whole thing, but one thing, and that is exactly what you're talking about, and that's what it focuses on. It's like people try. To, I'm gonna stick with real estate because that's what we're talking about. People try to get into real estate and they're like, oh, I want to be a wholesaler, or I want to be a buy and hold, or maybe I wanna focus on pre foreclosures, or I want to focus on expired listings. And they're just like all over the place. It's no. Pick one. Get good at that one thing first. And then once you're good at that one thing, then hand it off to somebody else in your business and then you go off and you could pick up another lane to go down. But when you're trying to do all these things at the same time, you get nowhere. And I only say this because I was one of those people, so yeah. So you're speaking truth by saying that, and that's why I'm reading that book.

Ronita:

Awesome.

Mike:

Nice. We are coming up on time, and you know what that means? I don't, we don't have a soundboard yet. We, yeah, you need to edit that out. We still broke, so we gotta make our own sound effects

Ronita:

Buy a playschool toy

Mike:

next year. I'm gonna push a button and it's going anyway, so this is the lightning round, which we are gonna do with all of our guests that come onto the show. So I just have five questions that I'm just gonna ask you. You don't have to go into a, detail unless you want to, but it's just a quick answer on these and, yeah, we'll go through them really quick. Are you ready?

Ronita:

I am ready.

Mike:

All right. First question,

Ronita:

If you stay ready, you don't have to get ready. Ooh. Okay. Okay.

Mike:

I knew I had the first, the right guest on the first show. What is your favorite book? I,

Ronita:

my first favorite book would have to be The Bible. And, I think I shared with you my second book that sort of spearheaded me into real estate was Rich Dad Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki.

Mike:

Nice. Who are your mentors? Who helped you get to where you are today? Mentor or mentors who helped you to get to where you are today?

Ronita:

I would have to say, WSDI, women's Sustainable Development Initiative. Okay. It's a nonprofit. And the founders of that group have definitely been key mentors in my journey into commercial real estate and development.

Mike:

Nice. Who's your favorite basketball team?

Ronita:

The Ohio

Mike:

What was your Jersey number? Was it 23?

Ronita:

Oh, yes.

Mike:

Was it 23?

Ronita:

What else was I? Okay.

Mike:

Yeah. Yeah, it was 23. It's funny that I remember that it was 21 because my favorite number was 21. And so you were 23. Who was your favorite person at ou? Question. Oh, I

wouldn't have to say, oh, you love it. Yeah.

CJ:

Scratch that question. I have one for you. Yeah, go ahead and do it. Okay. What would be your dream property to develop developer redevelop?

Mike:

That's a good one. That's a good one.

Ronita:

I have my eye on these vacant lots on the riverfront in Detroit, and I can envision. A skyscraper with a restaurant and harbor on the river sand.

Mike:

Nice. I love it.

Ronita:

And I would keep a penthouse in the top corner, of course, because, you overlook Canada. And, maybe I would rent it out Airbnb when we weren't using it. But, far as here in the city of Detroit, that would be our, my dream commercial property. That I think would be like amazing.

CJ:

Alright. I'm gonna say a little prayer, a big prayer for you. And City of Detroit. Those, the powers that be. I'll let you girl.

Mike:

Yeah, that's right. She put it out in the universe. It's already gonna happen. I can't wait to go visit.

Ronita:

I. I, I've had that in the back of my mind for probably a year and a half right now. I don't wanna stop at Detroit, I'm not opposed to Atlanta or Columbus or Chicago. Listen, I'll keep

CJ:

my eye out. I've been here long enough to know some of the, what the better areas to look.

Okay.

Mike:

And listen, I'm becoming a private money lender, so you know, I'll give you my$2 that I got left in my account after everything that's happening this week. I want I hear you. I want 15% though. I want 15%, but,

Ken:

Can I ask one more question? I'm sorry. You said, oh. What is the best piece of advice that you've received?

Ronita:

The best piece of advice,

Ken:

either personal or business or both? If it relates to both the best piece of advice you've ever received.

Ronita:

I'm going to give you a simple one, but it always stuck with me. My mom gave it to me is if you wanna go after something, ask for it. The only thing a person can say is yes or no. But if you never ask, you never know if it could be in your hands or not.

CJ:

Yeah, my moms used to say that too. Great piece of advice. Perfect.

Mike:

All right, with that said, we're gonna keep our promise and not keep you over time. This is. Closing our very first episode of the Black Bridge Mindset Podcast with Ranita Coleman, who has graciously come on, drop some nuggets, giving us her story. And I will always love you for this. Thank you for entrusting us. Thank you for coming on. You look amazing. I'm not surprised. I saw your picture you sent and I was like, okay. And that's gonna be on our flyers and everything, or our flyers, man, how old am I? That's gonna be on our marketing when we send it out. But, yeah, I can't thank you enough for, this was a dream of mine and I came to these two and they were on board and I am so thankful to have a community of people to be here and make this happen. Like I said, we're taking imperfect action this time next year. We're gonna look back on this guest number one next year, we're gonna bring you back on, and we're gonna, we're gonna relive all of this, and it's gonna be just as good, if not better. And I love you for this.

Ronita:

It's been an honor. It's been an honor. Thank you for just thinking of me, not only thinking of me allowing me to be your first guest, so I truly appreciate you all. Thank you for the tough questions. Thank you for allowing me to be transparent, and just sharing my story.

CJ:

One thing I wanted to bring about before we break from this ranita, would you please, tell the people how they can get in touch with you, how they can view your, information.

Ronita:

Of course. Www dot LJ Golden Realty. And on Facebook, you can find us at LJ Golden Realty Instagram. You can find us at LJ Golden Realty. And if you wanna send me an email, you can send it to me at info@ljgoldenrealty.com.

Mike:

Nice. And we'll have all of this stuff in the comment section of our YouTube page. So go over to YouTube, check out the video. You'll see all of the information on how you could get in touch with Ranita and Ranita. I apologize ahead of time, but the other day I came up with something that I'm gonna have everyone do on this show.

Ronita:

Uhoh, uhoh. I'm afraid

CJ:

you should be very afraid. It's not as bad as he's making it sound.

Mike:

You gotta, I, it's not as bad as I'm making it sound, but it just feels silly. So I think it's gonna feel silly for a while. And I gotta make sure I'm in, in camera view. So what I want to do at the end of each show. I'm gonna have everyone do what? I made this up so it's, you could tell how my brain works. We're gonna do a Wakanda piece, pause, and we're gonna do this just as something that we're gonna do at the end of each show. And every guest is gonna have it. We're gonna post it. Everyone's gonna be doing the Wakanda Peace, pause. And what it is you're just gonna go like this and pause for a few seconds so I can take a picture of it later.

CJ:

Do

Mike:

again, Mike,

Ken:

you couldn't see the whole thing. You

Mike:

need to, you can't see me. She can't see it. Yeah. There you go. Zoom out. Zoom out. That's, you go. I gotta stand on my tippy toes because I got my, yeah, we only

CJ:

saw one hand.

Mike:

So it's Wakanda, you know what Wakanda piece, and then you're just gonna pause for a second so I can take a screenshot from the video later. Yeah. Got it. Okay.

Ronita:

Got it. All

Mike:

right.

Ronita:

Let make sure I got my stance

Mike:

back here, and we're gonna be good. All right. And for all of y'all, we not watching this on YouTube, you're missing out. You're gonna have to just switch over to YouTube and watch it. All right. You ready? You gotta tell me how you

Ronita:

came up with this.

Mike:

Don't ask.

Ronita:

Okay.

Mike:

All right. You ready?

Ronita:

And come up with a better name than Wakanda. Peace.

Mike:

Listen, I told you this is how my brain works. It's Wakanda. We're doing the peace sign and we're gonna pause. That's, okay. Listen, it is gonna be a hashtag someday. Okay.

Ronita:

The WWPP.

Okay.

Mike:

All right. You ready for the Wakanda? Peace pause? Yeah. All right. You're just gonna hold it for a couple seconds. You ready? Okay. I think we

CJ:

Good.

Ken:

That'll

CJ:

be

Ken:

edited out, don't worry. Ronita.

Mike:

Thank you. No, we're not gonna edit it out. It's gonna be in there. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for everything again, and yeah. I appreciate it.

People on this episode

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Mike Lovett

Host
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Chris Johnson

Co-host
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Ken Peak

Co-host