Black Bridge Mindset

Overcoming Financial Struggles with Afra Smith💰💳 | Black Bridge Mindset Podcast

• Black Bridge Mindset • Season 1 • Episode 6

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Welcome to the Black Bridge Mindset Podcast where culture, entrepreneurship, and business intersect to fuel inspiration! In this must-watch episode, your hosts Mike, Ken, and CJ sit down with Afra Smith, the visionary founder and CEO of The Melanin Project. Discover Afra's incredible journey from being bogged down by debt and financial hardship to becoming a beacon of financial empowerment. She shares practical tips on changing your financial mindset, the power of community collaboration, and her unique A-O-D-E-C approach to financial wellness. Learn how to control your financial future, build generational wealth, and break free from financial constraints. This episode is packed with actionable insights and motivational stories that will inspire you to take charge of your financial life. Don't miss out! 

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Website: https://www.themelaninproject2053.com/

Instagram: @_themelaninproject2053

Facebook: @themelaninproject2053

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Hosts:

CJ:

Hello and welcome to the Black Bridge 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 Black Bridge Mindset. Podcast is hosted by your three favorite best friends, Mike, Ken, and CJ. So now sit back, relax, and absorb the gems being dropped on you by today's special guest.

Mike:

Well, good morning kiddos. Yes. I'm gonna call you kiddos today. We're gonna be young because the other episode I was calling everybody old. So we're gonna be young today. How are y'all doing?

Ken:

Blessed favored good.

Mike:

Nice. Is it, is it spring yet? I don't, I'm, I'm so lost. I spring, right? Like spring.

CJ:

gotten a ton of rain?

Ken:

It's summer in Atlanta. It's 85 degrees

Mike:

Oh,

Ken:

or it will be 85 degrees

Mike:

well it is 40 degrees today in Chicago, so that's why I'm confused.

CJ:

Where?

Ken:

excited. It is barely gonna be 60 on Tuesday, so

Mike:

Yeah.

CJ:

Well, you, the one said it was summer.

Ken:

I said today,

Mike:

Well, we do have something exciting to talk about. We've posted two podcasts so far, and they're both doing really well. So I'm pretty excited about that. With Ranita talking about real estate development and then with David talking about his businesses epic and no number t. So I'm pretty excited about that. I'm super happy that people have come through and, and watched our episodes. If you're listening to this now and you haven't watched them go back and watch them, they were phenomenal guests. And then, our next one coming up here on April 8th is Sandy Daniels with Symphony Love, but yeah, all, all great guests. And looking at the numbers on Buzzfeed, we're actually doing better than, I was aiming for, so I'm pretty excited about that. But, yeah, let's, let's keep getting the, the word out. Thank you, Ken. It's all because of you.

Ken:

No, it is all good. Yeah, Mike, do you also want to, I'm putting you on the

Mike:

Mm-hmm.

Ken:

Talk about, what you did over the weekend at the

Mike:

Yeah. So I went to, so I do real estate investing, on the side, and I went to a big real estate investor meetup called Squad Up Summit. It was in Dallas, Texas. Over the weekend there were 3000 people there, and it's just the time for you, the people in, it's called sub two is the name of the group, but the people who are in this group, they consider themselves like a family. So it was more like a, a homecoming and it's a time to go and just network with people. Get more knowledge, understand how the real estate market is changing and all of that fun stuff. So, it was great. It was like, you, you go there, you get, fed, and you learn some things that's gonna help As I go through the real estate investing journey, so, right now looking for more properties, also looking for private money lenders and, you know, educating people on that. There's so many ways that people can invest their money outside of the stock market or, even if you have a 401k or IRA, people don't know that you can actually manage those yourself. You, you can have a self-directed account where you control, where the money goes. So I'm trying to, I'm learning more about that. I'm also a private money lender, so I do it myself, so I understand it a little bit. But, yeah, that's what I did this weekend. It was great. Learned a lot, but I was exhausted afterwards, you know, talking to, you know.

CJ:

Was that your first time

Mike:

It was, it was my first one and I almost didn't go. But, one of my mentors, he was like, dude, you gotta go. You gotta go. And I was like, fine. So last minute, bought a ticket, I went and, hit the ground running from the time I landed on Friday. And it went through Monday afternoon. And, I was actually supposed to fly home Tuesday morning, but I ended up switching my flight to Monday night. So I was like, I'm ready to go home and get my own bed. So, so yeah, so I came home a little bit early after everything was done. But yeah, it was great. It was definitely great.

Ken:

That's

Mike:

Yeah. Thanks for asking.

CJ:

I did something a little different last night myself, and I went to, I can't remember the exact name of it, but it's like a candlelight orchestra. I. Concert, was all string instruments, like four people in this quartet. And they played all RB songs, everything from DeAngelo to, SSA to like, you name it, they even played a a string version of Purple Rain by Prince. That was so hot. Like the stuff that they do is crazy and apparently they do it in, a lot of different cities and I think, they have something in Chicago. They may do it in Atlanta as

Mike:

They do it here.

Ken:

Yeah,

CJ:

if you get a chance to

Ken:

they do.

CJ:

it

Ken:

Yeah, they have a, a Beyonce one coming up. I'm gonna try to get tickets to, yeah.

CJ:

recommend it. It was worth it.

Mike:

Okay.

Ken:

Awesome. That's good. So what's new with me is, have canceled my, membership at Effect Fitness and I hired a personal trainer.

CJ:

What?

Ken:

I did.'Cause I, I just, you know,

CJ:

first thing in the morning.

Ken:

but so, well that's one of the reasons why like, getting up at four 30 in the morning is just, that's just too much. And then, you know, going through that. So, yeah. So I have my second session today, actually today after we're done at noon, at the gym, that I signed up for locally. So, which is good. So I'm looking forward to it, anticipation of our trip later this year.

CJ:

Oh, so that's to get ready for, to, to lay on the beach,

Ken:

no,

Mike:

that Greece body ready,

Ken:

mean, yes but no, my ass is old.

CJ:

the yada, yada y.

Ken:

Right. Correct.

Mike:

giving the people what they want.

Ken:

'cause I'm, I'm old and I need to get myself together. That's all.

Mike:

Nah, you're not old. You're good.

CJ:

identify with that.

Mike:

Yeah. I'm, I, I hear what you're talking about. Getting up at four 30 in the morning. People have been trying to get me to go to the gym first thing in the morning. For years, and I've tried it, but my, I am not a morning gym person. Anyway. Go ahead, Ken.

Ken:

All right. Are we ready to get started?

Mike:

Yeah, I'm excited about it. I guess, let's do it.

Ken:

Me too. I'm so looking forward to this like, it's like

CJ:

Yes.

Ken:

full circle. I. Right. So yeah. So I'm going to introduce our guest today. Today we are bringing to you live and in person Wisconsin. Today we have Afra Smith, who is the founder and CEO of the Melanin Project, where she's, made it her personal mission to eradicate wealth disparities for women of the Black and African diaspora. The Melanin project program support building generational wealth through advocacy, personal empowerment, and financial wellness coaching. She is the creator of the Financial Wellness Strategy, which focuses on three key principles, recognizing your emotions, educating yourself, and empowering your life. Afra. To the show this morning. We are super excited to have you. And just to give a little background, after we've known each other for what, going on 20 years now,

Afra Smith:

I think so. Absolutely. It's been that

Ken:

which is crazy

Afra Smith:

even a little longer.

Ken:

because you still, you look, you look like you're 23, so I don't know how that's possible.

Afra Smith:

The 5:00 AM gym workout. See?

Mike:

Do you wait, do you work out in the morning?

Afra Smith:

Yes. I I can't do it in the afternoon'cause I, I'm tired. Like after like one or two o'clock, my brain shuts down on me. I can't. I can take some meetings, but I'm not functional

CJ:

Hmm.

Afra Smith:

all,

Mike:

Hmm.

Afra Smith:

I won't go. If I don't do it in the morning, yeah.

Mike:

it.

CJ:

Then maybe that's what I'm doing wrong.

Afra Smith:

I won't go. And nobody's in the gym either that early. It's like few people in the gym so I can just lolly gag, not be bothered. And they get home time up just to relax and get a few more things done.

Mike:

Nice.

Afra Smith:

yeah.

Mike:

Yeah, maybe I'll try it again at some point, but my body, I, I get there and my body's just like, why are you here? And it just doesn't work. But

Afra Smith:

Yeah. You,

Mike:

I'll try it,

CJ:

Once you get going though, it's easier.

Afra Smith:

adjust

Mike:

I guess.

Afra Smith:

after a while.

Mike:

Okay.

Afra Smith:

Well, thanks for having me. I appreciate you all welcoming me. Welcoming me here today. So I'm excited to be here and dialogue with y'all.

Ken:

Yeah, I'm excited. This is gonna be a great show.

Afra Smith:

I am

Mike:

same here.

Afra Smith:

I

Mike:

Yeah.

Afra Smith:

welcome me so yeah.

Mike:

Nice. So, so Afra, tell us, give, give us your background. What, what do you do and how did you get started?

Afra Smith:

Yeah, so I actually work full-time. I've been in healthcare for, oh, wow, over two decades now. And, on the side, I shouldn't say on the side because it's actually full-time now. With my work with the Melanin project, everything about the brand is actually based on my personal story and struggle with money. And so, coming out of a situation where I had a credit score, the me five hundreds, I was upside down in my car paying 25% interest on a car loan. I had a massive amount of

CJ:

Hmm.

Afra Smith:

debt. I had taken out 10 to 12 payday loans at one time, and then I just wasn't paying them back. That landed me on check systems and being unbanked. Meaning no, bank would give me, a checking account because I had bounced so many checks and overdraft of so many accounts. And then to make matters worse, I was suffering from anxiety, depression at one point, you know, suicidal in my life. And so taking that journey to kind of clean up. My financial house and all these things that I discovered. I had money, a little money and credit, and I didn't know what to do with it. And so I started studying, you know, what do wealthy people do with their money? And it said, real estate and entrepreneurship. And I asked myself like, what am I great at? And I realized that I got myself through this horrific situation. I'm like, I can teach this to somebody else. And so during the pandemic, I was just in my house tinkering around, making stuff, making videos, just having a, you know, just relax, having a good time. I took a little social media class and I had been posting over the course of a couple years'cause we had been indoors and when I came out people knew who I was, although they weren't like necessarily engaging with the videos instead of like touching them, they were watching them. And so that kind of started this movement, to kind of where I am today, with some larger footprints of the work that I'm doing now. So I. That's just how I got to this place. And so I'm just very passionate about, you know, the work that I'm doing and to try to teach back to others and create a larger, a larger platform to drop people into financial empowerment.

CJ:

Very nice.

Afra Smith:

I.

CJ:

So hearing your story, I guess I'm gonna start out with a question that's, that's kind of gonna tie into, let's say if someone was in your shoes at this point, what would be one of the, I guess, first pieces of advice you would give to someone I.

Afra Smith:

tell people that 80% of our inability to be successful, in life and spec specifically with our money, is our mindset. And I used to cringe when I would see like

Mike:

Mm-hmm.

Afra Smith:

to my, you need to change your mindset. I would actually be offended, like, screw you, you have a lot of money. Like, how dare you talk about me? But as you start taking this journey, you realize how important the mindset is. And often talk about like, we are in work environments, and this was certainly my story. We're in work environments and we're dealing with all these isms. They're impacting us. Like, and so that becomes

CJ:

Hmm.

Afra Smith:

by and what your attention goes to. And you're very emotionally reacted to that. So much. So that's why we see a lot of disparities, right? In health, like preventable illnesses. And so I always tell people like, how you're processing that can actually impact everything about you. And so my mentality was, someone else needs to fix this. I just need more money. And I got to a point where I was actually making 70 K at one point and I was still struggling. So at some point in time we have to realize that I. The system is gonna be what it is. The isms aren't gonna go away. What about my situation can I control? And I realized that I had to use my wage as sort of the tool to inform my life and like through this journey, what I unpacked was. My mental health, my, the demons. I had to let go of the victim mentality that I had to let go of. And I start centering, like, what can I do to control my circumstances? So I think a big part of this is people, navigating their mental health and unpacking our lived experience, our trauma. Anything that you need to di whether it's childhood or adulthood relationships, it shows up all over the place. And so 80% of my model a otic, A-A-O-D-E-C is a part of unpacking. I spend 80% of my time with clients unpacking the mindset. I won't even touch your budget until I, I see where you are, what your triggers are. Like, what's leading you to spend the way that you are and getting people to identify what's gonna cause them to spin. And after I give you the aha moment, you hear my voice when you're shopping. And I teach them behavioral methods to kind of avoid, the emotional triggers from the day it's in your cart. You argue with your bosses, it's in the cart, you argue with your spouses in your cart. So just really helping people understand don't shop when you're hungry, right? Those types of things, really help people understand and connect to themselves. So always tell people number one. You gotta get into a place where you're gonna educate yourself. You gotta get into a, a pocket, right? You know, if you wanna be the next millionaire, you gotta surround yourself by five other millionaires. So it's like you gotta get into the room to get the education and then you gotta do the work. I think that's a big part of the problem. We don't wanna do the work and we've made poverty this beautiful thing. Poverty has become this comfortable thing that we're just, just super, I wouldn't say proud of. We just kind of normalize it. This is the way that we're gonna live life.

CJ:

Mm-hmm.

Afra Smith:

think that we need to live that way. It's all about strategy, and not necessarily money. I think money and strategy and, a good mindset, it is very, a very powerful thing and I think that's what makes me successful and certainly what's helped a lot of the people that I'm working with on a daily basis.

Ken:

So.

CJ:

you mentioned your, was it A-O-D-E-C approach? What, what does that stand for and how did you come up with that?

Afra Smith:

otic is, frame around unpacking the mindset. So it's, it's unpacking my story at the same time. It's telling them what I ran into and the why, but it's holding them personally accountable.'cause the frame that I do is personal empowerment. I don't wanna talk about the system, I don't wanna talk about racism. We are doing it all day. Somebody else is doing that on that platform. I'm wanna focus on you and where the solutions are. And so the A stands for acknowledge the problem and I kinda walked them through the frame of that Oh, is, own your behaviors and the importance of that. Right? I talk about how 90% of crimes committed are financial, financially related, but yet we don't teach financial wellness inside of high schools and middle schools and elementary. We're just now starting to get around that. The D stands for, develop selective hearing because as you're taking this journey, you're around people. They do not have wealth building mindsets. And so the fear starts to come. They start to tell you stuff. Don't do that. You know? And as much as you love your family and your friends. They will say stuff

CJ:

I was just about to say that.

Afra Smith:

it'll send you down. So I'm connecting in my journey to these things. The e is education, super important, what you give energy to grows. So I walk through the importance of that, what to be careful of, because we have platforms now. People are selling big cars and fancy houses. I don't do that on my platform. I don't think that people need to do extraordinary things to get extraordinary results. So I, I put in front of them tangible, culturally related, culturally responsive people that they can see themselves represented, in as, as they're taking their journey. And then the last one is celebrate yourself. Because as I was taking this journey, I developed a scarcity mindset in that by the time I got comfortable, I didn't wanna spend because I had restricted myself so much. But although I had money, it was like the thought of spending made me uncomfortable. So I had to un pay. It took me two years to let go of that to say, it's okay to spend money on yourself. So I teach my clients that it's okay to buy things that you love, don't spend stuff on money that you. That you don't love or that your friends may love, that's just not your jam. And be mindful of balancing that out. Like, don't take a trip to Mexico if it's not affordable, but buy yourself something nice to, you know, get them, keep those endorphins in your body. So walk through, you know, that frame, and that's a part of, you know, my workshops, bloom with your planet, or sometimes I do those as standalone motivational speaks. Again, it's just tying in. This is where I started, this is where I ended up, and then this was the journey to kind of getting you there. And as I bring people on and how I kind of, you know, leveraged it and scaled it a little bit. Now I'm doing this conference where you can see yourself represented. So there's a, a homeless mother, a person who was pregnant, a person who was on section eight. I bring in those stories that are really relatable and not. multimillionaire that people aren't gonna relate with, right

Mike:

Yeah.

Afra Smith:

Like what did you do to get off that system? What did you do to get around paycheck? Paycheck? What did you do when you were homeless and navigating your mental health? So I think those also help connecting into the aortic strategy as well.

Mike:

Yeah, and, and I sort of wanna walk through your journey because I mean, you hit on it in the beginning, but I think there's gonna be some people listening to this thinking, you know, this has nothing to do with me yet. I'm having all of these financial problems, or someone's listening to this thinking, I have financial problems. I'm in too deep. I'm not gonna be able to get out and build a better situation for myself. So I don't wanna skip over, what you talked about earlier and where you were. And then let's sort of walk through where you were to where you are now. So if we could go back a little bit. You mentioned, you know, you had payday loans, you had X, Y, and Z. That's, I don't remember them all. So if we could sort of walk through where your mindset and where you were at that point in time, and then we'll. Move because I want people to see like, it's possible, but if they don't hear someone walk through it, they're gonna like, this has nothing to do with me. Like, I, I'm stuck.

Afra Smith:

yeah.

Mike:

So.

Afra Smith:

Oh yeah. I spent probably a period of a good four years partying. And when I tell you I partied, I partied hard. And in that

Mike:

Mm-hmm.

Afra Smith:

living my best life'cause, but I was in the club Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, right? Buying rounds of alcohol, smoking weed, you name it. I did it. Shopping, taking trips, all on pay loans. I mean, my salary was not at 70 k at that time, but I was having a good time. I had new outfits every weekend. This was the lifestyle that I was living, but this was also how I was coping. But I didn't recognize that in the moment because I didn't understand why I was so bothered. But I was also trying to take these measures to kind of improve myself. Maybe if I go back and get another. Degree that's gonna help leverage me. That only brought more debt. And so I did it again, right? Only to have more debt that I couldn't afford to pay back. So now I'm partying, I'm coping that way. I'm having a good time using payday loans, trying to keep up with everybody else in the Joneses, meaning everybody around me is actually broke. But no one talks about that. It's this taboo conversation that none of us actually wanna talk about. Although 70% of Americans are paycheck to paycheck. It's not an identity thing. That's just where we are. And if you look at people who are six figure salary, they're also paycheck to paycheck. And there's a quarter of folks that are 250 K that are also struggling financially. So it's this taboo conversation that we don't wanna have and that we don't wanna acknowledge that sometimes we're stressed, we're overwhelmed, there's a lot going on. And then our coping mechanisms are something negative versus trying to find out, or identify solutions to kind of getting out of our circumstances. And so by the time all of this. Hit the nail. Those payday loans like started to hit, I was in trouble. Those

Mike:

Mm-hmm.

Afra Smith:

interest, so of course I couldn't pay them back, but my mentality To go and get another one,

Ken:

Damn.

Afra Smith:

another one, and another

Mike:

Yeah.

Afra Smith:

Landed me to be

Mike:

Can you, can you put a, can you define trouble with a dollar amount? Like what was trouble?

Afra Smith:

By the time I felt healthy, and this didn't include the student loans, I had paid off over 30,000 in debt. was from credit cards, petty loans, other blemishes being late.'cause my credit report was a disaster, right? I was,

Mike:

Mm-hmm.

Afra Smith:

getting dinged on credit cards as well, and I was a swiper. I didn't care. I would just swipe. I never knew what was in my bank account if I wanted it and they didn't decline it, I was gonna swipe it. And that was just my mentality until I got that decline. And even knowing, like sometimes, you know, you go back in the day when you used to get payday loans, and actually my brother-in-law said this because back in the day, they would call you and call your references if you didn't answer. And I remember one day he called me and said, Hey, Kathy, call. I'm like, who's Kathy? Kathy from a b, c payday loan? And we would just start laughing. Like, that was just the reality of my life at that time. I didn't care. I would always put my brothers as, as references on things. But I think that. During that time, you're just not aware. Like I, I'm, I wasn't educated enough to know that I'm going to get a payday loan at 300% interest. You don't, you don't really consider that a PR on those loans when you're not. Well, I, I needed the money and I actually got introduced to payday loans by a good friend, when I moved to Texas. And she was like, Hey girl, did you know you can get a loan? And I pay it back? And I was like, well say less. Like, where, where could I go? Like,

Mike:

And not pay it back.

Afra Smith:

and that started that journey. Just, being unwell. But if you name it, I had it on my profile. I was laid on utility bills, card

Mike:

Mm-hmm.

Afra Smith:

credit cards. I had amassed so many payday loans. The interest was hitting, they were tacking stuff onto that. So that racked up. And then over a course of time I kept adding on student loan debt that I wasn't paying back. So now the interest is hitting,'cause I kept deferring, that made my situation worse. So it was, Lot,

Mike:

so

Afra Smith:

of tackle. So Everything is hitting. the model that I have is for myself, it is for the worst case scenario. but it's very simplistic how I walk people through the budgeting process itself because of my situation. I gotta give them a plan where they can just see everything. You can see the debt in one preview, you can see what you have left over at the end of the month. You can also see the timing of when you're gonna pay that off and the importance of it. So if I give you the motivation, the 80%, now it makes sense why you need to continue to, clean up your financial house and continue to do the work after

Mike:

Yeah. So$30,000 you, you're like, I need to do something and I'm, I'm gonna get to the program and how you use that to walk people and, get in a better financial health. I just, I just want to sort of use your story so that people can see how this could work for them as well. So,$30,000 in debt, what was the trigger for you to be like, Afra, stop. We need to fix this.

Afra Smith:

I was at work, and I, I'm a person that shows up. I work hard, so I'll show up early, you know, I'll stay late. I'm doing the work, right? And I keep getting, turned down for these promotions. And my final straw was I interviewed, I was qualified, and they hired someone who was not as experienced and hadn't been at the company that longer. And it was just like so deflating. And I went home that night, I cried and I was just like, I'm just, I'm tired. And I had a light bulb moment. And in that moment it was like this awakening. And I asked myself. are you doing? Like, what are you doing? You're smart, you're degreed, right? You, you, you can figure this out. Like, what are you doing? Why are you depending upon these people? And that was my catalyst for change. And I remember being over at a friend's house, laying on her couch saying, I'm just tired. Like I'm broke. Like I can't get ahead. I'm tired. Like I'm just tired of living like this. And she said, I wanna introduce you to, the lady at the church who I had known already. I said, I didn't know that she did financial, wellness. And so I got in front of her. I was un uncomfortable, afraid, fearful.'cause I'm like, I have a degree fixing to sit in front of this woman, talk about my money. But she was very nice. She wasn't judgemental. She just simply showed me how to budget. It was so easy that I spent six months with her. And then I told her I needed to leave because I needed to know whether or not I could maintain this on my own. And that started the journey. It was just, oh, aha. Waking, I got tired. I'm tired, depending upon you all. And I learned to now use this wage as a tool. I stayed at that company for an additional four years after that, and I was very strategic about managing my money, and growing my money even. So going down to ask them for raises, you're not gonna promote me, so I'm gonna sneak down to HR every single year. Even though they were doing cost of living increases, I would ask for a raise, even if it's one or 3%, and they would give them to me. I'll keep track of all my duties. And so this started my journey to say, okay, y'all don't wanna promote me? That's fine. I'm gonna sit here and I'm gonna figure out. What I can do with what I have. I started with a therapist as well. That was helpful for me to sort of unpack all these things that I didn't know that I was just holding onto that actually had nothing to do with the work environment, but they were my center because of the money thing. And so it was a combination of that light bulb moment and in me starting to just unpack and let go of everything that I thought was holding me back in. In reality, it was actually me. Doesn't escape the system, but the reality was I had full control over the decisions that I made around my wallet. My spending habits were

Mike:

Mm-hmm.

Afra Smith:

my coping mechanisms were bad. And so that was the catalyst to, for me to shift.

CJ:

So now I just, I'm curious, now that you have addressed these issues, you know they exist, you've gone through your own personal journey, what steps did you take to start up your business? Like what, was there, a business plan that you had at the time, or you developed it after you went through your process? What, you know, what, what things did you put in place? To start up your business, what was the foundation?

Afra Smith:

I am very blessed to live in a state where there's a lot of support for entrepreneurs, but I didn't know that at the time, so it's pandemic. I'm playing around. I took a little social media class, so the pandemic is over, and I realized that I need to figure out how to grow this. So I got into, I. Three to four entrepreneurship programs. I say four because the fourth one was kind of light and it showed you how to develop your mission, your vision. They talked about, your market, right? I was gonna serve all black women. So really kind of navigating that down. Also being in these ecosystems, it allowed me to showcase my brand. So I got, to do some pitches to actually pitch my business, in

CJ:

Hmm.

Afra Smith:

That actually expanded the work a little bit. And so it was through those entrepreneurship programs that my business began to grow. I started to get media attention, as well, for the work that I was doing. And then, some other things, birth. But I do think that it's important for people to understand that you don't know what you don't know. And getting into these programs really help you evaluate where you are and make some shifts. So I made a lot of shifts within those first two years, but I was patient. I am a for-profit business doing grassroots work. That was the first thing that I had to figure out because I didn't feel that a nonprofit, was going to support the frame of me talking about wealth empowerment. And also, I live in a state where nonprofits are saturated. It's almost a competition now for dollars, and I hate that. So now I can be in collaboration with those nonprofits versus taking dollars away from them. They can go and get the grant and hire me in to do the work. So figuring a lot of that out at the very beginning and just being very slow, methodical, getting my items together, you know, how I was going to approach people and just slowly figuring things out. I started out as one-on-one coach that has evolved. You know, do I do a little bit of that? Yes. But they're mostly workshop settings now, conference settings now where I'm getting a mass of people together versus. One-on-ones, aren't something that I'm doing as much, but again, you do that through entrepreneurship programs. They kind of challenge your thinking around how you can scale, and reach a

CJ:

Mm-hmm.

Afra Smith:

audience with, with through my story. So I think, again, it was social media and then it was just getting into some of these programs to help expand my brand.

Ken:

So Afra, can you kind of talk about, talk to us about, how you work with people to change their mindsets. Because I think you had mentioned earlier that, you know, it doesn't make sense to put a millionaire in front of somebody who is struggling, but I think a lot of people feel like I need to be a millionaire in order to, know, to survive and to make it. So can you talk about how you work with, your clients in order to help them change their mindset?

Afra Smith:

Yeah. Thank you for that question. I think that's so important. And this

Ken:

I.

Afra Smith:

I have a conference theme of legacy, the Power of Prison choices. And a part of that theme is trying to tell people that you don't start building legacy when you have a hundred K in the bank. Your legacy starts now and cleaning up your stuff, right? And you gotta start someplace. Everybody has to start someplace, right? Unless you're inheriting wealth, somebody started at a place and where you are is okay. You're just building from where you are. I often tell people that I don't speak from a mountaintop. I need this conference just as much as everybody else. I'm on the journey just like everybody else. And I always speak from that place. Like the people that I'm bringing in, I wanna hear from, I wanna listen to. Right? And I think it's important that we not feel that our circumstances are so unique and so different. That's what kept me in shame. I felt like I was the only person struggling. And when my story came out. Everybody had petty loans around me. My friends had petty loans. I'm like, why did we never talk about the fact that we were surviving off of petty loans? Because it's easy accessible. So that's where you're gonna go. So I think for folks who are struggling and you're overwhelmed, I. You're not gonna get un overwhelmed by just sitting in it. It's only gonna get worse. Your credit score is gonna continue to tank, right? You're not gonna have as much money. Your mental health is gonna continue to tank. And the, the only, only freedom that we will ever have to me is through our financial houses. And it'll, help you unpack so much about yourself. But you gotta, you gotta. Go somewhere. You gotta acknowledge the problem and show up to somebody, whether it's a bank, even if you get, I had a lot of negativity. You know, I, I dealt with a lot of institutional bias. Number one, they didn't know how to deal with my circumstances. Number two, they were giving me bad information. But I just kept going, if you didn't wanna help me, fine. I will find somebody who will help me. And I still face those challenges, even where I am today, where there's barriers of financing. So I will develop products based on the fact that you're telling me no. Okay, I'm gonna develop something to help people behind me. And so when I'm working with people, number one, I don't work with everybody. You have to be committed. Very early on I did a lot of free stuff and I found that people will not commit when you're just doing stuff for them for free. They have to have some sort of vested interest in it. So if I'm working with you and you don't have the mentality to just wanna push, then I won't take your money. It's not gonna be a good fit. So I won't work with folks. Workshops are a different, structure, but. One-on-one. I will meet with you first to see who you are and what you're about and where you're trying to go. I work with a lot of entrepreneurs, right? And they have bad credit, but they have good business ideas, but they can't scale because they have bad credit. And so once I get them cleaned up, I can get them to a place of acquiring some business credit because that's something that I have done, on my own because of the barriers that I face, to acquire capital from real estate or having money to do rehabs and things like that. So I think, I'm not just gonna stop when there's a barrier. And I think when you're. Struggling and you're overwhelmed. You're hearing somebody say, fix your mindset, and you're like, that's not what I need. and I think I try to educate people that it is 80% of your inability to build wealth, 80% of your ability to manage your day-to-day finances. 80%, 80% of your ability to make good sound decisions in your life. and so I think that's a big factor. When people are overwhelmed, they, they, they're afraid I'm gonna be different. So I try to cultivate comfort through my story. My story brings comfort. Oh, she did it. She was struggling. It's okay. I can talk about that I'm paycheck to paycheck and that's what's happening in, in the settings that I'm cultivating, here in my state.

Ken:

Yeah. And how, how hard was it for you to actually start publicly talking about your story other people?

Afra Smith:

I think the therapist actually helped a lot with that. But I'm gonna tell you, I felt relieved once I let it out. I felt relieved. And a part of my motivational speaks are I actually built a brand around my lived experience. That is what's driving the work. I built a brand around being vulnerable and sharing my story, and I'm still vulnerable today. I'm very honest. Like, yes, I'm very visible, but I'm very honest about my struggles. Like even today through entrepreneurship, I'm, I'm telling people where I'm struggling at or where there's barriers because they still need to learn. I'm teaching from where I am and not from this mountaintop. And so I do think that's important that we share from that perspective because they may see you as an executive, so they see you as this, you know, like, oh, he didn't struggle. Oh no, you have that person on my stage. You just don't think that they went through a journey. They didn't just get to this place without struggle. What was the conversation that they need to have? Like, how do I brand myself in these work environments? I bring in those types of people so that we can connect in to their stories, but also the solutions. That they're gonna give to how you need to position yourself.'cause some of us just acting crazy in work environments. We are, we acting ratchet and we just need to be educated about our behavior. We're just not taught these things, right. We're not taught how to, how to manage certain stuff that's happening in the work environment. And so how do we create that, that, that, that that ability to, drive people towards thinking very differently about what shows up and how we're processing, those experiences. And I think certainly with financial affairs, that's huge. It's so big.

Ken:

Yeah, because I think even culturally, we have this now, mindset.

Mike:

Mm-hmm.

Ken:

I got the money. I want it. I'm gonna buy it despite whatever else is, you know, is happening and what is going on. And so I, I know you had mentioned before about talking to the lady at the church, what, talk about what we can do from a cultural and community perspective, right? In order to get people, you know, the education and the help that they need, right? In order for them to build, a strong financial foundation.

Afra Smith:

I think there needs to be more collaboration with organizations that are doing this type of work. What I see, is there is a. Level of competition between organizations that are doing work around disparities. And it makes me cringe and I don't quite understand it, considering the level of disparity we have. Why are we competing with one another's? I'm creating an e, ecosystem where I'm the vessel. I am not the source. I'm a resource to connect you to all these organizations that are doing amazing work. I don't care where you go in, just go and get it. I know that if I can shift the landscape of one house, that person's likely gonna give back to their community. We just do that naturally. We give back. So I think group economics is important to building legacy. One of the things that I'm bringing into this conference this year is a legacy story around certainly that group economics and family, and building, private sector. Enterprise, we have to be, we have to go together. The collective is necessary for us to build and grow, but if we see each other's competition, we're not gonna get anywhere. If I share something with you, it's not gonna harm me If you elevate right? I know you're gonna help 10 more people. And so I, I have tried to break that down in my community because even when I'm trying to share that I have a conference going on, people won't share it. Because if, if they're doing something similar, even though I'm trying to welcome them in, I'm not asking for money, I'm just asking for you to share it, and I'm inviting you to the table. So there's this resemblance of that, that I have to break down. But I knowingly know that that's a part of my mission to eradicate wealth disparities. I'm also dealing with the mindset of some local organizations or, organizations outside of it that don't see the value of collective empowerment and working together because we're so traumatized, we're dealing with post-traumatic slave syndrome. That that is how we're engaging with each other from a place of trauma versus a place of understanding what is the best solution to addressing some of these disparities. We wanna blame the system. We wanna blame racism. And I get it. And I, I'm, I'm growing tired of that. I'm saying, how do we as a community come together to decide how we can move forward? How we collect people, some of the people that I'm bringing in this year. lending that they do, they're not loud about it, but I normally know that they're lending to 85% black folks. But you don't know that unless you come into the vessel and you see the person and you connect in because they don't wanna be loud about it. So I think those type of connectors are the things that I'm learning are out here and available. I went through a development program and I was in awe. I had no idea that there were black and brown people in my state doing the level of work that they were doing. And I don't know how I got into this program.'cause at that time I owned not one property, but I got in and I studied very hard. But I was just watching and learning what these folks had been doing for years. But you don't see their faces. They're not visible. Nobody showcases these, these individuals. And I don't know why that is. So I've created that platform to be able to showcase what these folks are actually doing in, in my community. And some of them are millionaires, but you don't, they won't show that, they don't show that image of, of having, having that, that kind of money. They're just very chill people and I appreciate that. So that's me. It's group economics, collective empowerment, us, understanding that the disparities are so high. There's no competition. I'm not in competition with anybody, not a bank. I'm not in competition with, with the credit unions that I'm partner with. I'm just not, it's not a competition between us. We're doing very different work, but similar work.

CJ:

To, to kind of touch on that and, and put this out in the atmosphere. Are there some, guess, specific companies or institutions that you'd like to, to work with?

Afra Smith:

You know, I have some great collaborations with, some nonprofits that are coming in. This is the first time that for my, for my conference this year that I'm actually bringing in high school youth. I'm really excited about that, but that's not an area that I

CJ:

Hmm.

Afra Smith:

I work with adults, but I knowingly know in my community there are organizations that are doing great work. One of those organizations that's National's Climb, USA. They are teaching families and youth how to pick stocks, right? Getting paid a dividend on a monthly or quarterly basis can shift your life. Why aren't more people accessing this information? This company is right here in my backyard, but he travels nationally, to present this information. I'm like, why aren't we going in? It's free. But again, it's part of the, the idea of liberating ourselves, right? That self liberation piece

CJ:

Mm-hmm.

Afra Smith:

piece is like this mental thing that you have to break. Another organization that's local is CEOs of tomorrow, right? They're teaching kids entrepreneurship. I don't have to do it. I'm just bringing in the, the organization to be able to fill the day. Personal finance with Summit Credit Union, bringing them in to do personal finance for for the day. They're one of my sponsors for the event. Also in collaboration with, Marquette University, school of Real Estate. So again, I. I'm just bringing them in, being the connection to the vessel, getting kids excited about stock market, real estate entrepreneurship. In the frame of starting with that personal financial house, there's an adult side, right where we're doing something different. Still connected to those pillars, but again, I'm one platform with one mission and one vision. This is an inclusive environment that's culturally responsive, where I'm bringing in those connectors and solutions. And then I have a guide, I have a 60 page digital resource community resource guide that connects people in to those,

CJ:

Mm.

Afra Smith:

that they might not even know exist. But you gotta come in. You gotta come in and get the content.

Mike:

So for, for people who, who may have missed it, what's the name of your organization? How can they get involved? And what is your primary focus? Again, just to reiterate, for people I.

Afra Smith:

Yeah. So, I am Afro Smith, founder and CEO of the Melanin Project. My website is www.themelaninprojecttwozerofivethree.com. You can find out more information about upcoming workshops or conferences that I'm doing. I would say that my goal and my mission continues to remain the same, the eradication of Wealth Disparities. Although, black women have been my target, I have worked with every population of people you could think of from Black, brown, LGBTQ plus IA community. I've even been in banks, and credit unions to talk to them about embedding equity into practice, into products. Do you wanna talk finance? I'm open to doing so. And again, continuing to build this movement. I think my goal is to ensure that what I'm creating is the largest wealth empowerment, venue and platform in my state. And that work will continue because I do wanna reach a larger audience that are people that can't travel to Madison where I'm based in. And so I look forward to creating in the future an online opportunity for people to connect, online into, into the conference. So excited to continue to expand the work.

Mike:

It's awesome.

CJ:

Nice. Well, congratulations to you

Ken:

Yeah. Fantastic work.

CJ:

and, and, and actually putting your experiences to fruition and turning them into something that's actually doing good in the community.

Afra Smith:

Thank you. Thank you.

CJ:

I.

Afra Smith:

you. I appreciate that.

Mike:

Yeah. One of the things you mentioned, and I know we're coming up on time, is, nonprofit versus for-profit, and you know, some people may hear that and be like, oh, you're trying to help people, but you're also trying to make money for yourself.

Afra Smith:

Hmm.

Mike:

that to, to folks when they hear that, and say, well,

Afra Smith:

Yeah,

Mike:

that she's doing this for profit, but yet she wants to help people.

Afra Smith:

I really appreciate that. And that's a great question. I'm about to oof, I'm about to go deep with this one. So it is my personal belief that any dependence upon any system is dangerous. I. That in includes funding, that includes your job. I consider that to be a system. And so, how I have gotten around that is I'm using what I have to, make more to leverage, right? I'm using my wage as a tool to build beyond that. Anybody who challenges me to say, Hey, you should make money, then you probably don't have a wealth empowerment, wealth building mentality. We don't say that when we walk into box stores and they're selling products. My conference is very grassroots. It's not something that I'm making money off of. Year two, I had to invest$5,000 into the conference, right? I'm very vocal about the fact that I'm a for-profit entity that also invest into the building of it. This year, I won't do the same, right? Because I don't want to be, putting myself in a position where my wealth, and, and ability to can continue to drive visibility to the brand and the work is unnecessary. But I think a part of it is. Nonprofits are strapped for dollars, especially in this climate. Now we're seeing a residue of what I'm saying, dependence upon system. Even some of the current wealth builders who are in this community that established nonprofits, they talk about the regret that they have creating an entity, that is, nonprofit, right? They feel limited by it. It's a form of control. I also can unpack this from. A different perspective in that, I don't necessarily agree that nonprofits are the best tool to navigate disparity work, and that's just me. But it doesn't mean that people aren't doing great job. But I also look at the administrative burden of trying to manage nonprofits and where the money is going. It does limit my growth. It does limit my ability to grow because, organizations and corporate sponsors like to donate money they don't like to sponsor. So when people are seeing what I'm doing, those are in kind donations. There's no dollars attached to what you're seeing. There's very limited, very limited corporate sponsorship that I'm receiving, and in the ticket sales that I get actually go to pay my speakers. So when I say grassroots roots work, it's very grassroots. The only thing that I'm profiting on is this budget planner. Any workshops that I'm doing where I'm putting myself out in person and also my motivational speaks, that's how I continue to build my work. But I've also, created an ecosystem financially for myself that it, it can sustain itself. So my operating, budget is very small. But I also work full time as well. So I think that's what I would say. I think people should, any entity should be making money, whether you're a for-profit or a nonprofit, you should be making money to make sure that that business is financially sound, and fiscally able to manage itself. But for me, I still have a grassroots mission. I still donate and give back, to my local community. But yet I gotta still, build, build from where I am, build for myself personally. I have to build for myself personally. But the melanin project is revolving so the money continuously goes back into, the next year. But no, appreciate that question.

Mike:

No, that, that's perfect.

Afra Smith:

thing. I know I am.'cause I get challenged on that here. But I stand firm of

Mike:

No, I'm, I'm on the same, I'm on the same page as you. I think if somebody is bringing value to the table, they should get compensated for that. And

Afra Smith:

yeah,

Mike:

when people hear, hear profit like, oh, I need help. Can you help me? They're like, yeah, it's gonna cost$10,000 for this class. They're like, oh, oh, you're gonna make money off of me and I need help. Yes, I, but you paid this$10,000, you're gonna make a million dollars later. So, so what, which do you want?

Afra Smith:

yeah.

Mike:

I've gone through the struggle. I've gone through the learning, I've paid my dues to learn the information to share with you. So I a hundred percent agree with you. I think giving away things for free. To a certain extent is okay, so like if you go to a school and you do a speech, you know, you, you donate your time, that's fine. But if you're sitting here, you putting something together that can uplift the community. I a hundred percent agree with you that, you know, being for profit is okay. Mm-hmm.

Afra Smith:

and I'm still low cost, their budget planner is$20. My workshops are$35. You know, there's no, unless you want one-on-one with me, that's a different scenario.'cause that's a lot of time. But outside of that, if you go to my website, my products are all very reasonable for anybody to be able to take advantage of what they need. I have

Mike:

Yeah.

Afra Smith:

and approaches for different things, but only, only our community will do that. They will challenge you on your prices and then go somewhere

Mike:

Mm-hmm.

Afra Smith:

and pay of money. You know, like, it's just, it's, it,

Ken:

Yeah.

Afra Smith:

baffling that we don't think that we deserve wealth. So I love the challenge, those types of, conversations. I haven't had that though, since I've been built.

CJ:

It's that label mentality we have.

Afra Smith:

What's wrong with y'all?

Ken:

Yeah.

Afra Smith:

What's wrong with

Mike:

Well, we're gonna, we're gonna post it, but what's your website again?

Afra Smith:

Www, dot the melanin project 2 0 5 three.com. And I'm on

Mike:

Perfect.

Afra Smith:

media

Ken:

And do.

CJ:

Yeah.

Afra Smith:

Afro Smith, Facebook, Afro Smith, LinkedIn, Afro Smith. Also the Melanin project is also on all of those platforms as well. Look for the lady going up the stairs. If you're following the

Mike:

she's, we'll post it.

CJ:

allow us to, to post your conference?

Afra Smith:

Oh, absolutely. Feel free to do that. Absolutely. It's local to here, to Madison. There won't be an online platform this year, but I'm hoping next year I'll be able

CJ:

Okay.

Afra Smith:

bring in an online platform.'cause I've been, I'm getting asked to do that. But again, that comes in that That requires more dollars when you're doing,

Mike:

Mm-hmm.

Afra Smith:

So I gotta be mindful of

Mike:

Can I, can I plant a, a seed that, I've learned from other people. There's some capital raisers who lend to people like me, who, who I would go to them like, Hey, I need money. I wanna buy a house. They put on conferences, which are local, but they also have a digital copy that they then make available to people who could not travel

Afra Smith:

mm

Mike:

to the conference. So that may be something that you may wanna consider. I mean, there's some cost to have a, a video crew there recording it. I don't, I don't think you could just set up your iPhone right and record it and be like, oh, I'm gonna sell this for$20.'cause then people are gonna be like, I can't hear, I can't see. But

CJ:

Mm-hmm.

Mike:

before you make it a national thing, you may want to consider just, just have a camera crew in the back of the room recording it, and then package it for people who can't travel to your, to your, event. And then. Post it online after the event and say, for those who couldn't make it here, here it is. And the only thing that they're losing out on is that they couldn't ask you a question in person one-on-one, but still there's value to whatever content that you provide to them.

Afra Smith:

I love that. Ooh,

Mike:

I'll send you an invoice later.

Ken:

at you.

Mike:

I, I will send you my invoice later for profit, Mike. Love it.

Afra Smith:

That's a gym. It's gonna be recorded. Just not televis. So that's a great idea.'cause I'm recording my main stage. I don't have, breakout recordings, but yes, that's definitely a good idea.

Mike:

It doesn't have to be live. Yeah, it doesn't have to be live at all. And if no one buys it, who cares. Right? It's still there online, but if people buy it, there you go. There you go.

CJ:

Good thinking.

Afra Smith:

Love it,

Mike:

All right. Well, we are really coming up on time. So we are gonna jump into our next segment, and I, and I have a soundboard, but I just haven't recorded that yet. I'm gonna have it next week.

CJ:

on

Mike:

You, you just, you just, you just wait. And cj, you have a audio thing that you could do that Why haven't you done this for me yet? You failed.

CJ:

because you said

Mike:

You're, you're fired. Fired. But anyway, yeah. So we're gonna go into our next section. I'm not sure if, if, if Ken has told you or if you've seen this on our other podcast, is called a lightning round, where I think CJ today is gonna be asking you five questions. These are, I don't know why I'm explaining it since CJ's gonna be the one doing it. Sorry, I'd have a tendency of taking over things. But, he's gonna ask you five questions and I'm gonna put up a timer, which I'm trying to figure out now, for one minute and. I think it's five. You're gonna ask five questions, right? Cj?

CJ:

Yeah.

Mike:

You're gonna have one minute to answer these questions, so don't feel that you need to go into depth, like, you know what, what's your, what's your favorite chicken fried? Like, just, you know, whatever. I don't know why I thought of that Black, but

Ken:

Why did.

CJ:

Edit this out. Edit that part out

Mike:

I won't. I'm okay with looking crazy. Listen,

CJ:

of all things to say.

Mike:

I am okay. But, but yeah, so, so that's, that's what we're gonna do here. So without further ado, CJ

CJ:

I start

Mike:

and our lightning round, take it away.

CJ:

Alright. No pressure at all. Just first thought that comes to mind. right. Question number one. is your favorite r and b Female singer.

Afra Smith:

Houston

CJ:

Okay. What is your favorite vacation destination?

Afra Smith:

right now, Cape Town, South Africa,

Mike:

I've been,

CJ:

Oh wow. Okay. Who was your favorite character and that you most identify with from living Single?

Afra Smith:

probably Queen Latifah.

Ken:

Really, I would've said Maxine Shaw,

Mike:

okay,

CJ:

These are her questions, Ken.

Ken:

know.

CJ:

Number four, if you could counsel one female celebrity, who would it be?

Afra Smith:

Candace Owens,

CJ:

Oh wow.

Mike:

come back to one.

Ken:

That is counseling, counseling.

CJ:

That's an ongoing process. And lastly, finish this sentence for me, A financially empowered woman. Always. What

Afra Smith:

A financially empowered woman always. Ooh. A financially empowered woman always takes an opportunity to look inside of herself. Leave it at that.

Mike:

Nice.

CJ:

Nice.

Mike:

I'm gonna say congratulations and no shade to our other guests that have been on, but you're the only one who focused on the question, answered it, and then moved on. We didn't make time, but that's not your fault that I'm gonna blame Ken for jumping in and talking. I did the same thing, but you did amazing. Thank you.

CJ:

Right

Ken:

Yeah. Fantastic.

CJ:

around.

Afra Smith:

You know, I

Ken:

Yeah.

Afra Smith:

know, stick to the instructions. I heard you rapid fire. So

CJ:

Now, I've been curious and wanted to ask this earlier, but I didn't want to go off script. Off script. Your company and your, your programs are focused towards women. Do you do anything for men?

Afra Smith:

with everybody. I work with families. So here's a reason why I targeted black women. As I was unpacking my story, I realized is everything that I have gone through was in the data, the payday loans, the student loans. The paycheck to paycheck and the mental health. And then what happens with the data, and I I took some national data from the federal government, was that black women who have degrees are less apt to build wealth. And I'm just like, what in the world? What does that mean? So I had to unpack that. And as I started, I actually speak to that, to banks, to, and credit unions to help them understand like why they need to, orient their products a little differently because I'm gonna go get the loan. I'm gonna go get the loan anyway, so can you create something for me to come off of that 25% interest car loan or that 300% interest,

CJ:

Right.

Afra Smith:

And so I started orienting that. They also, what I also looked at was sometimes the dad wasn't in the household. So if I target the woman, the rest of the household will actually have an impact. But I work with couples. And, and black women and Latinx families and black women. So that's just my target audience. But I have done motivational speaks everywhere. I don't turn anybody down for service, regardless of their identity. I've worked with white folks, as well. So, you know, black women was just kind of the center of me, and kind of navigating out through my story and connected it in, and the data was just staggering. I was shocked like I was supposed to end up here. I'm going back to get a degree thinking that that's what's gonna save me, but I'm getting the degree to actually work the job to pay the degree back. So it's just like me thinking back, I would've never gotten a master's degree. Absolutely not. It ne it paid off so late, it just didn't make any sense for me to have it. And I always challenge people, you gonna go get it, you better figure out how to pay it back. And all of my friends were in the same boat, master's degrees with, with, with little salaries trying to figure out how to pay this debt back. Highly educated in, in no ability to pay the debt back. So yeah, I work with everybody.

Mike:

Yeah, I think people, and that was a great question, cj, I think people, really succeed the most when they see themselves in the business that they're creating. So

Afra Smith:

Mm-hmm.

Mike:

a black woman who went through all of this. So you created a business focused on black women because you're able to easily speak on that. That has helped you with your trajectory because it comes across as genuine, right? You're not trying to fake it in saying like, yeah, I know what black men go through. They're gonna look at you and be like, do you like, like, so that's probably a horrible example, but, but you get what I'm saying, right? So, so yes, I think, you, you did the right thing by starting off where you did. And now that you have it opened and it's really smart of you to, to say, I'm gonna target black women, but

Afra Smith:

Yeah,

Mike:

know the black man is in the household as well, so I'm actually gonna be targeting the whole system by doing that.

Afra Smith:

inclusive. There are so many different graphics that come to this conference.

Mike:

Mm-hmm.

Afra Smith:

it's like a

Mike:

Hey,

Afra Smith:

pot of age groups, income brackets, identity. Everybody's welcoming. My conferences come on in. Allies. Advocates come on in.

Mike:

Listen, I'm right down the street. I may be up in your conference.

Afra Smith:

come on. Come on in. We can kick it.

Mike:

There you go. I like it. We won't go back to the day when we're just swiping it and partying and getting crazy, but we'll, we'll, we'll kick it. I definitely wanna, there, there's so many other questions that I had, but I could be on here with you for like two or three hours, so we'll definitely have you back on at some point because I think financial literacy and just all, see here I go again. We'll have you on again at some point to talk more. So I think it's important, especially for our community to learn more.

Afra Smith:

Absolutely.

Mike:

All right. But before we go, we got one little thing. One of the things that I like to ask everybody to do is something that I came up with randomly one day, and we're going with it at the end of the show. I'm gonna ask all of our guests to do the Wakanda peace, pause, and this is how it works. We're just, I'm gonna count to three and then you're just gonna get in frame of the camera, gonna cross your arms, put up a piece, smile and pause for a few seconds, and then I'll just let you know when to stop. All right. Let's do the Wakanda. Peace, pause. On the count of 3, 1, 2, 3, and good. I like to sit there for a while and make it uncomfortable. I. It feels weird, but I love it.

Ken:

The fact that we've indulged this now for, what is it, six episodes,

CJ:

Yeah,

Mike:

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I thought about that the other day because I do take snippets of them. I need to start posting them and putting'em on, putting them online. anything else? You two, Ken CJ?

Ken:

No, thank you

CJ:

I

Ken:

very much,

CJ:

you,

Ken:

for, this was fantastic.

Afra Smith:

having

Ken:

job.

Afra Smith:

for having me.

Mike:

I haven't done it yet, but, but yes. Afra,

CJ:

just.

Mike:

what'd you say?

CJ:

I just want Alfred to know I wore this today just for you.

Afra Smith:

Love it.

Mike:

I, I wore,

Afra Smith:

I need

Mike:

I wore Brown. Actually, Ken got me this.

CJ:

I understood the assignment

Afra Smith:

that. Yes.

Mike:

Yeah. Kim, we're gonna get you to wear a different shirt because I feel like every video I edit, you're wearing the same shirt.

Ken:

Did I not tell? Did I not say that? Cj?

CJ:

did,

Ken:

I did. I said that earlier.

CJ:

in and it is his fatigues. He's going to work. He's coming to battle.

Ken:

Correct? you two. Always.

CJ:

Thanks for tuning in to the Black Bridge Mindset Podcast. If today's conversation resonated with you, don't forget to subscribe, share, drop a comment, and leave a review. We're building bridges, one story, one mindset, one move at a time. Show our guest some love by checking out their socials too. Until next time, keep pushing, keep growing and keep walking in your purpose.

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