Speaker 1: Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Coleen Wit and today we have very
Speaker 1: special guests. Entrepreneur founder of Elite Learners, Kamara Jackson is
Speaker 1: in the building.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1: How are you doing today?
Speaker 2: I'm good, excited.
Speaker 1: Excited thk you. So, guys, we are not in a
Speaker 1: kitchen today, we are in New York, So when in Rome,
Speaker 1: eat out. So before we get into your story, which
Speaker 1: and before we get into your story, actually, why don't
Speaker 1: we start with telling us a little bit about Elite Learners.
Speaker 2: So, Elite Learners is a five oh one c three
Speaker 2: nonprofit organization and we provide services to young people and
Speaker 2: their families. We are part of the New York City
Speaker 2: Crisis Management System, which focuses on public safety and making
Speaker 2: sure that our communities are safe for our young people.
Speaker 3: Along with Elite Learners comes an education department that serves
Speaker 3: in New York City public schools. So we support many
Speaker 3: schools in the boroughs with mentorship programs. We do a
Speaker 3: lot of robotics and sports things that really keep young
Speaker 3: people in tuned and excited about learning in school.
Speaker 1: What makes you, guys unique that I call. My attention
Speaker 1: to was twenty four to seven. Yes, how is that possible?
Speaker 1: So we have on call teams. We have support teams
Speaker 1: that work either at the hospital for those that may
Speaker 1: be victims of crimes, or we have our Let's Eat,
Speaker 1: which is our food program where individuals may need food.
Speaker 2: So we have on call shifts.
Speaker 1: And then do you guys do after school care services?
Speaker 3: So we are in about two public schools in Brooklyn,
Speaker 3: we have one in the Bronx, so we're servicing anywhere
Speaker 3: from six hundred to eight hundred kids weekly and after
Speaker 3: school services.
Speaker 1: Wow, this is a big feat now. And just to
Speaker 1: get into the New York schools, by the way, is
Speaker 1: really really tough. If you guys know anything about it's
Speaker 1: LAUSD and New York. They are probably one of the
Speaker 1: toughest schools to get yes up partnership. But so I'm
Speaker 1: pretty sure it was a heavy feet all right. Now,
Speaker 1: why don't we get into what are you gonna have
Speaker 1: me eating today? Because you could smell the aromas.
Speaker 2: Yes, so we're eating fried chicken.
Speaker 3: And it's not just fried chicken, it's from our local
Speaker 3: Chinese restaurant.
Speaker 2: So very much a go to.
Speaker 4: For me.
Speaker 1: Last time I was in New York. I want to
Speaker 1: say a couple of times ago. Let's open, let's try
Speaker 1: to take a bite of this. Last time I was
Speaker 1: in New York, I think the last person I had
Speaker 1: me eat this with cipher sounds, you know, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: And when he ate it, he was like, yo, it's
Speaker 1: taking me back. He really enjoyed it, and I enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: But you know, sometimes these Chinese foo spots mess it up.
Speaker 1: But I feel like the fried chicken is.
Speaker 3: Thet It smells good, it has the right amount of crunch,
Speaker 3: so definitely that every time.
Speaker 1: Okhay, oh my god, it's so good. It is now
Speaker 1: just random random. I know this is your broke dish,
Speaker 1: but when was the last time you actually ate this?
Speaker 3: So I haven't had Chinese food in probably about six
Speaker 3: or seven months.
Speaker 1: Oh.
Speaker 3: I have sickle cell disease, okay, and I'm really trying
Speaker 3: to work on my diet and you know, just being
Speaker 3: able to have longevity in life. So I've been watching
Speaker 3: what I eat, trying to cut back on the fry foods,
Speaker 3: more of the fruits and vegetables.
Speaker 1: So what you eat affects the sickle cell. Yes, and
Speaker 1: for listeners that don't know about sickle sell, could you
Speaker 1: tell them a little bit about it?
Speaker 3: Yes, So, sickle cell disease is an inherited blood disease disorder,
Speaker 3: and it affects your red blood cells. So it is
Speaker 3: the lack of oxygen moving through the body which causes
Speaker 3: your bones to form a sickle shape. And when that
Speaker 3: shape forms, when you're in that sickle moment, it's called
Speaker 3: a sickle cell crisis. But any and every joint that
Speaker 3: you can have really hurts at that moment. It's excruciating
Speaker 3: pain and it's really nothing that you can do but
Speaker 3: hydrate yourself. You know, in the past, I've been on
Speaker 3: chronic blood transfusions to try to keep fresh blood coming
Speaker 3: in the body. But that wears and tears on you.
Speaker 3: So unfortunately, it's a disease that I've been born with
Speaker 3: and I'm going to continue to live with. But it's
Speaker 3: very painful and it attacks the bodies. It attacks you.
Speaker 3: So your immune system is not strong like the average
Speaker 3: person's immune system, and any and everything can really cause
Speaker 3: that change in health to where your bones and your
Speaker 3: body's just aching. Lack of oxygen to the chest, it
Speaker 3: gets really difficult.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, So there's no way to actually predict it.
Speaker 1: But no, but the best thing you could do is
Speaker 1: watch diet. Yes, so you utivity.
Speaker 3: I'm watching my diet the best that I can, right
Speaker 3: because a part of it is when you are in
Speaker 3: so much pain, it's really hard to even consume food
Speaker 3: that you would normally, you know, consume because you're just
Speaker 3: in so much pain. But watching my diet definitely trying
Speaker 3: to manage stress because it is an illness that can
Speaker 3: be brought upon when the individual is really under a
Speaker 3: lot of stress. So managing that, dressing warm according to
Speaker 3: the weather, you know, when the weather changes, we have
Speaker 3: to be prepared and changed before so that we can
Speaker 3: kind of protect ourselves against coals and the flus and.
Speaker 2: Things like that.
Speaker 3: So it is definitely a full time job.
Speaker 1: I would imagine though, being an entrepreneur and stress goal
Speaker 1: kind of hand and hand.
Speaker 2: Hand in hand.
Speaker 1: How do you, I guess, reduce your stress levels? Like,
Speaker 1: how can you do that? Because entrepreneurship is pretty much unpredictable.
Speaker 1: It's rough.
Speaker 3: So for me, you know, one of the things that
Speaker 3: I do is communicate, right. I find that when my
Speaker 3: employees or my mentors allow me the ability to talk
Speaker 3: through a lot of my challenges. It alleviates some of
Speaker 3: my stress. So although the stress is there, but if
Speaker 3: I'm able to communicate and really just express myself, it
Speaker 3: helps me. So it doesn't feel like I'm doing this
Speaker 3: on my own and I'm, you know, relying on that
Speaker 3: village to help me. In the business, time management is
Speaker 3: what I'm finding to be more successful the more that
Speaker 3: I manage my time, meaning I have to take care
Speaker 3: of myself. So my monthly hematology appointments, I have to
Speaker 3: make them. I want to know what my blood levels
Speaker 3: are beforehand. So just carving out the schedule where it's
Speaker 3: conducive to me and my illness is big for success. Now,
Speaker 3: when I'm not doing those things and I'm completely elevated
Speaker 3: and completely stressed out, nine out of ten times I'm
Speaker 3: in the hospital because that's what it does to your body,
Speaker 3: just a complete shock.
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, Well, you've had a lifetime so far to
Speaker 1: kind of get it right. So take me back to
Speaker 1: what was going on in the Fried Chicken survival mode error.
Speaker 1: Can you take me back to that pivotal moment where
Speaker 1: when you thought about what am I gonna have on
Speaker 1: eating while broke? I think I'm gonna go with fried
Speaker 1: chicken or chicken Alfred. Oh, can you take me back
Speaker 1: to that era of time? What was going on?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I just had my daughter, so fresh into motherhood
Speaker 3: and really trying to balance being a mom but not
Speaker 3: wanting to be home, right. I really wanted to continue
Speaker 3: my journey and working with young people. So what I
Speaker 3: would do is, I'm rushing to take my daughter to school.
Speaker 3: I'm working and going into a school building, and then
Speaker 3: I'm rushing home, and I'm just grabbing that meal, right
Speaker 3: and Chinese chicken and the wings and fried rice was
Speaker 3: my go to meal, something that I can get while
Speaker 3: coming in and really just affordable rights, something that I
Speaker 3: something that I know I could afford at that time.
Speaker 3: Timing is everything, you know. Having the disease and then
Speaker 3: bearing a child is big, is big, and I knew
Speaker 3: that it was going to be a challenge, and you know,
Speaker 3: so I wanted to ensure that I was able to
Speaker 3: do that, but I still wanted to have a career.
Speaker 1: What were you doing prior to having the baby?
Speaker 3: So prior to having my daughter, I was working, but
Speaker 3: working wasn't as major as it become as it became
Speaker 3: after adder.
Speaker 2: So I would work in schools. I was teaching.
Speaker 3: Oh, you were still in education, always an educator, always teaching.
Speaker 3: I would work with other nonprofits. I had many jobs, right,
Speaker 3: But the idea was that I could not remain consistent
Speaker 3: because I couldn't remain healthy right, And corporate America wasn't
Speaker 3: accustomed to folks saying, hey, listen, I'm really not well today.
Speaker 2: You know I can't come in today.
Speaker 3: You look at me now and you say, wow, you
Speaker 3: look great, you look strong and healthy.
Speaker 2: I can leave here and in ten minutes I'm in
Speaker 2: a crisis.
Speaker 1: So with sickle cell, is that something that you would
Speaker 1: disclaim upfront or would you be more fearful to tell employer? No.
Speaker 3: I would always tell my employers upfront because it's a
Speaker 3: part of me right, and I know that I can't
Speaker 3: prevent what may happen. You know, no one wants to
Speaker 3: be but you don't know when that's gonna happen. So
Speaker 3: I've always been an upfront person because it's a part
Speaker 3: of my journey. However, you know, I think once an
Speaker 3: employer hires someone and they need them and they get
Speaker 3: them in the workforce, then they just don't understand how they.
Speaker 2: Own this works.
Speaker 3: Right, you were here today, you did great, fine, you
Speaker 3: seem fine, and now all of a sudden, you can't
Speaker 3: come in or you're at the hospital. So I knew
Speaker 3: it was that moment that I had to make a decision.
Speaker 3: And the decision was, Yeah, I have my daughter. I
Speaker 3: need a career, but not only that, I want a career,
Speaker 3: and then what am I going to be able to
Speaker 3: do that's going to allow me to take care of
Speaker 3: myself and really accept the fact that if I'm not well,
Speaker 3: I can't be there.
Speaker 2: And that was me creating Elite Learners, Inc. And becoming
Speaker 2: an entrepreneur.
Speaker 1: Now when you pitch a family, hey I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: into Elite Learners or I don't know if you pitched it,
Speaker 1: but typically from that hospital, yeah, I had a black
Speaker 1: and white notebook and from the bed, they will go,
Speaker 1: you sick.
Speaker 2: Again, What are you going to do? What did the
Speaker 2: job say? What about the kids?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 2: What did the principles say?
Speaker 3: And I'm like, so from the bed, it was a conversation.
Speaker 3: I am going to pivot and I'm going to find
Speaker 3: something that allows me to be a mom but also
Speaker 3: something that I can take care of myself and impact
Speaker 3: youth impact.
Speaker 1: Youth, and you need it. Being a momm you also
Speaker 1: need that like kind of unpredictable schedule because now you
Speaker 1: have you have you are juggling too things here, you're
Speaker 1: juggling sickle, which is in my opinion, its own monster.
Speaker 1: Then you have it because it's unpredictable. Then you have
Speaker 1: your child, which I'm a new mom, I get it.
Speaker 1: Like you're on call, You're on demand. Yes, you're on
Speaker 1: and as a mom, you're like even more wanted on
Speaker 1: demand as far as like the nurturing and the neediness. Right.
Speaker 1: But then you're like, Okay, now I'm gonna want to
Speaker 1: add this business to my life. What is the first
Speaker 1: steps you took when you decided to launch Elite Learners.
Speaker 3: My first step was to get the name. Okay, security name,
Speaker 3: security name. And the name came about because as I
Speaker 3: was explaining this vision I had, everyone would say, well.
Speaker 2: What are you gonna name it? I don't know, but
Speaker 2: whatever we do, whatever I do, it has to be elite.
Speaker 1: Oh.
Speaker 2: I like that.
Speaker 3: That was the conversation. Listen, I really like that if
Speaker 3: I am going to bring services to communities like mine, right,
Speaker 3: me being from Brownsville, Brooklyn, it's going to be elite.
Speaker 3: It's going to be the highest caliber of service. We
Speaker 3: are going to do everything.
Speaker 2: To the best of our ability. So we knew. I
Speaker 2: knew elite, elite?
Speaker 1: Was it? I like that?
Speaker 3: And then I had to figure out, how is this
Speaker 3: girl from Brownsville, Brownsville, Brooklyn tackle corporate America. You know
Speaker 3: what it's like to be outside and be in the
Speaker 3: community and hang out, but want to be influential. And
Speaker 3: I knew that I was going to be the voice
Speaker 3: of the young people that is, so what am I
Speaker 3: going to do? So I knew it was a lot
Speaker 3: of teaching involved, It's going to be a lot of
Speaker 3: learning experiences.
Speaker 2: So it came up elite learners.
Speaker 1: In Now, what was the initial need that you were like,
Speaker 1: is not being met that you saw where you had
Speaker 1: to create elite.
Speaker 3: School based programs that actually captured students' attention.
Speaker 2: You know, those programs that you can't wait to get to.
Speaker 3: You're in the class and you're like when it's because
Speaker 3: I got to get to that class. I was that
Speaker 3: person in the school. Right, you walk into lunch.
Speaker 2: Room, all of the kids run to you, They're excited
Speaker 2: to see you. You know, life.
Speaker 3: It's heavy for our kids that are going to school, right,
Speaker 3: and sometimes when you walk in those buildings, you want
Speaker 3: to know that there's someone that you can talk to,
Speaker 3: someone that's safe. So I knew that there was a
Speaker 3: need for programs, but not just regular programs, programs that
Speaker 3: gave hands on experience, programs that allow young people to
Speaker 3: talk their problems to their mentors, problem solve, mediate conflict,
Speaker 3: those type of programs, and then programs that had excellent,
Speaker 3: you know gear materials, you know, top of the line.
Speaker 3: So that was the first thing. And all of our
Speaker 3: programs is our mentorship through so it's mentorship through sports,
Speaker 3: mentorship through culinary and you know, that allows for our
Speaker 3: instructors to not only be instructors, but to be instructors
Speaker 3: and acting mentors to the students.
Speaker 1: I love that. Now, what were some of the tougher hats,
Speaker 1: Because if you're on the service side of a company,
Speaker 1: you're the service brider, you're the teacher, you're you know,
Speaker 1: the other side of entrepreneurship is typically sales, sales and marketing, Right,
Speaker 1: these are if you're on the service side, If you're
Speaker 1: like say the chef of the restaurant, you enjoy cooking
Speaker 1: the food. But you want but you have to step
Speaker 1: out of the comfort zone and you know, do all
Speaker 1: the other stuff, negotiate your leases or what have you.
Speaker 1: In your case, what was some of the hurdles that
Speaker 1: you would say you faced in getting out of your
Speaker 1: comfort zone? And what was out of your comfort zone
Speaker 1: to you?
Speaker 3: Out of my comfort zone was actually asking for what
Speaker 3: I needed in order to do the work. Right, So
Speaker 3: being able to present, to talk about my company, to
Speaker 3: talk about, you know, what resources are needed, to start
Speaker 3: to advocate for communities.
Speaker 2: All of that was foreign to me.
Speaker 3: Right, This is someone who want to do so many
Speaker 3: things but lived in a shell. So now I now
Speaker 3: have to break out of that shell because I got
Speaker 3: to be able to represent my business and represent you know,
Speaker 3: the vision and the mission that I see for young people.
Speaker 3: So definitely number one, I would say asking for funding, right, so.
Speaker 1: Trying to get and like what was that approach? How
Speaker 1: did it look?
Speaker 3: And so my first funder, I definitely would say the
Speaker 3: New York City Doe, right was education, the education now
Speaker 3: New York City public schools, but the principles in the
Speaker 3: areas I went back home, right, went back to my community.
Speaker 3: That's where I wanted to start, so definitely reaching out
Speaker 3: to those principles and allowing them to see my program
Speaker 3: and then deciding that they would want to work with
Speaker 3: me as a vendor.
Speaker 1: Was it hard to like name your price or did
Speaker 1: you try and do like a competitive scope.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's it's hard because.
Speaker 1: You got to get them to take a chance on
Speaker 1: a brand new.
Speaker 3: Brand new and that's what And in the beginning it
Speaker 3: was a lot of volunteer work.
Speaker 2: It was a lot.
Speaker 3: I was not afraid to volunteer to show you know
Speaker 3: what I bring. And then you want to see the difference, right,
Speaker 3: You want to know that if you're working with the
Speaker 3: vendor that is working with some of our students that
Speaker 3: normally don't come to school or maybe late to school. Right,
Speaker 3: you want to know that after that work has begun,
Speaker 3: you see a difference, You see progress in the students
Speaker 3: that they're working with. So we did a lot of
Speaker 3: volunteer services.
Speaker 1: Now, when you do volunteer services, you're in for another
Speaker 1: tricky bit because you are providing for your child, you're
Speaker 1: providing for yourself, and you're providing for this brand new company.
Speaker 1: And volunteer doesn't exactly keep people on your team. And
Speaker 1: it also makes you a triple headed person with sickle
Speaker 1: cell respectively.
Speaker 3: So yes, and you know what that brings me back
Speaker 3: to this, right, It became a point in my business
Speaker 3: where I knew not having a store front was detrimental, Right.
Speaker 3: I didn't have a place that my young people could
Speaker 3: come outside of their school to work with the organization.
Speaker 3: And I wanted that place so bad that I stepped
Speaker 3: out and rented our first office, our first store front.
Speaker 3: And I kid you not, that first month I signed
Speaker 3: the lease. The day I signed the lease, I stood
Speaker 3: there and I looked around and it was a white box.
Speaker 3: You know when you buy a storefront, you know the
Speaker 3: term white box. I didn't know any of this, and
Speaker 3: I signed, got to keys and went in and it
Speaker 3: was literally a white box. So that means I had
Speaker 3: to do everything. And leaving there, I remember saying to myself,
Speaker 3: this is the time that I make the decision do
Speaker 3: I pay my rent at home or do I pay
Speaker 3: my rent.
Speaker 2: In the storefront.
Speaker 3: And I knew at that moment I was paying my
Speaker 3: rent in the store from of course, not my rant.
Speaker 1: Of course, what kind of logical entrepreneur would do it
Speaker 1: the other way? Right, so logic there, Yes.
Speaker 3: So I secured the next month's rent at the storefront,
Speaker 3: did not pay my rent?
Speaker 1: Oh you actually did forego your own rent?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 2: Oh, yes, what, yes, I didn't have anything.
Speaker 1: So but did you have a path on before you
Speaker 1: sign this lease, on how you're going to make the
Speaker 1: revenue to pay.
Speaker 2: For the lease?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 1: Oh, you're all faith No.
Speaker 3: I only I knew that it was an hindrance to
Speaker 3: my young people because school would dismiss at two twenty
Speaker 3: and if there's no after school program, and I wasn't
Speaker 3: a large enough vendor to be the after school program
Speaker 3: at that time, so that means that there's no place
Speaker 3: for the children to go.
Speaker 1: But they didn't when you're they didn't say, hey, even
Speaker 1: though we have an after school program in the school,
Speaker 1: will allow you this certain area. To know, my princes
Speaker 1: always wondered if schools would allow to My principal said,
Speaker 1: and it was very much appreciated.
Speaker 3: She said, you can use the space anytime during the day.
Speaker 3: But you know, unfortunately it's not open twenty four hours
Speaker 3: a day, seven days a week. It's not open on
Speaker 3: the weekends. And this is all I could offer you.
Speaker 3: And at that time, I said, you know what, I'm
Speaker 3: gonna take it because I got to start somewhere. So
Speaker 3: I had a little office and I had a little
Speaker 3: you know, computer setup during the day, but I had
Speaker 3: no I had no place to.
Speaker 2: Get to grow the business.
Speaker 1: So you didn't think that possibly trying I'm trying to
Speaker 1: play Devil's advocate here, you didn't think about those living
Speaker 1: work spaces. I don't know if they have those out here.
Speaker 1: I know in Kelly they do. They have like the
Speaker 1: you have that's on the bottom, and then you have the.
Speaker 3: At that time, I couldn't I knew I couldn't afford anything.
Speaker 1: And you had to be in a certain area, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was in my area. Yeah it was.
Speaker 3: It was in the Brownsfelt section of Brooklyn. So I
Speaker 3: got those keys.
Speaker 1: Just so you guys know, just to fast forward a
Speaker 1: little bit, she has four locations now, right, Yes, four locations.
Speaker 1: So that's a huge leap of faith to skip rent on.
Speaker 1: How long did you have to kind of like balance
Speaker 1: the rent Dance Act?
Speaker 2: So I did that for two years?
Speaker 1: Two years? So what would you do, like play two
Speaker 1: months with from where was that?
Speaker 3: And I'm telling you my little secret, but where was that?
Speaker 3: You could miss two months and then after the third
Speaker 3: month they would serve you with the court papers.
Speaker 2: Okay, right, So what.
Speaker 3: I would do is I would miss and then pay
Speaker 3: at the storefront. And then I knew I could not
Speaker 3: allow a payment not to reach the third month or
Speaker 3: I would have to be in court.
Speaker 2: So I was juggling, juggling.
Speaker 3: You know, my personal needs versus what what I needed
Speaker 3: to do because I believed.
Speaker 2: In your company.
Speaker 1: Your cash flow was at this point, you're really learning
Speaker 1: how to juggle cash flow, because yes, even even with
Speaker 1: the three month system or what have you, how are
Speaker 1: you able to make or I guess, before you got
Speaker 1: the storefront, did you predict that you were going to
Speaker 1: be able to whether the cash flow storm but still
Speaker 1: have enough revenues to cover both.
Speaker 3: No, so I knew for a fact, I had no
Speaker 3: city or government contracts at that time. It was only
Speaker 3: the work that I contract subcontracted with other larger nonprofits
Speaker 3: or working within a school, and it was nowhere near
Speaker 3: where I needed to be to be able to even
Speaker 3: have a budget.
Speaker 1: Right, So you, how are you able to take that
Speaker 1: much faith?
Speaker 2: I had to do.
Speaker 1: It in another shout out, not only for locations, but
Speaker 1: it's ten years now, ten years ten years yes, wow, yeah,
Speaker 1: So how did you whether that's storm to be able
Speaker 1: to grow the business.
Speaker 3: So what I did is I started to get out.
Speaker 3: I started to meet my elected officials in the area.
Speaker 3: I met with them, Listen, this is who I am,
Speaker 3: this is what I've believe in, this is my.
Speaker 2: Calling, and this is my plan.
Speaker 3: And it was just me getting out and really pitching,
Speaker 3: putting the you know, putting my feet, my hands, everything
Speaker 3: all in community, all in So, if there was a
Speaker 3: walk in my community, I was there. If there was
Speaker 3: a community board meeting, I was present. You know, police
Speaker 3: gatherings as far as community forums and settings meeting NYPD
Speaker 3: and the roles that they played with our communities, I
Speaker 3: was there.
Speaker 1: What made you decide to look up electors who pointed
Speaker 1: you in a direction? Because a lot of people do nonprofits.
Speaker 1: They don't necessarily I don't know why they don't, but
Speaker 1: they don't necessarily think, let me go to my.
Speaker 2: Elected for me.
Speaker 3: I was really intrigued by the lack of resources that
Speaker 3: were in our school system. Right I'm in the schools
Speaker 3: and I see computers that are really expired, old programming,
Speaker 3: not up to date. So For me, it was just
Speaker 3: the lack of what is happening in the community. And
Speaker 3: I knew that A lot of the funding and a
Speaker 3: lot of the structural how should I word it, A
Speaker 3: lot of the funding that comes down comes from city
Speaker 3: council comes from council members. Right, they advocate on behalf
Speaker 3: of their areas and their communities. Like they're normally who
Speaker 3: you go to when you want to really make change.
Speaker 3: And I saw the need immediately to make change. But
Speaker 3: more importantly, like I knew I wanted to be right
Speaker 3: with them to make that change. So I, you know,
Speaker 3: it was like a you know, get in where you
Speaker 3: can fit in, right, what can I do?
Speaker 1: I love the fact that you didn't even have relationships
Speaker 1: because even in Cali it's very political.
Speaker 2: So it's like you.
Speaker 1: Call, you call, you make six phone calls. You don't
Speaker 1: get to that elected No, it's but another thing is
Speaker 1: your storefront at the time, what services was your storefront
Speaker 1: offering to the community.
Speaker 3: So at the time when we first started, I had
Speaker 3: my first employee, right, So I did I did have
Speaker 3: someone that said listen, I will come on and work
Speaker 3: with you.
Speaker 2: She had another job, so she would.
Speaker 3: Carve out hours that were donated hours to the organization.
Speaker 3: Very grateful for my board because my people I put
Speaker 3: together board. Yes, my board comprised of community members. These
Speaker 3: were individuals, homeowners, folks that were already involved in community.
Speaker 3: So my board played a major role in volunteering time,
Speaker 3: leading me to some of the resources I didn't have.
Speaker 3: And really they were my backbone, they were my strength.
Speaker 1: And how did you put together your board?
Speaker 3: So my board was put together by people, by myself,
Speaker 3: but with people that I would see at the meetings.
Speaker 2: So you know, you go to community.
Speaker 3: Board meeting, Oh you were building your board, yes, yes, simultaneously,
Speaker 3: so I was. I would go to the meetings and I,
Speaker 3: you know, see the same people, right. So when you
Speaker 3: see the same people and they're advocating for sanitation, then
Speaker 3: they're at the education meeting, then they're advocating for policy,
Speaker 3: they're you know, involved in NICHA. Then those are folks
Speaker 3: that are willing to give their time and those are
Speaker 3: folks that are dedicated to community. So once I identified
Speaker 3: those people, I asked them to be a part of
Speaker 3: my board. And that's really what gave me the strength
Speaker 3: to know that although I didn't have the finances at
Speaker 3: the time I would be able to continue to do
Speaker 3: some of the work. So I had my board and
Speaker 3: then I had, you know, my first staffer, who said, listen,
Speaker 3: I'll volunteer at these amount of.
Speaker 2: Hours a week and we'll get started.
Speaker 3: And literally we went to school to school, we interviewed.
Speaker 3: We couldn't take on too much because we couldn't pay staff,
Speaker 3: and you know, folks will volunteer a little bit of
Speaker 3: their time, but they're not really into volunteering. So we
Speaker 3: did what we could at that time. And then it
Speaker 3: began to grow. And the way it really began to
Speaker 3: go but was by elected officials and government agencies and
Speaker 3: us applying to grants and now really starting to market
Speaker 3: Elite Learners as a community based organization.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I like that now sometimes. Okay, so right now,
Speaker 1: I currently reside in Los Angeles, as you guys know,
Speaker 1: I am originally from New York. But I know in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles sometimes these electeds they have access to also
Speaker 1: buildings and stuff like that, and sometimes you can kind
Speaker 1: of get a building for like a dollar, you know,
Speaker 1: or whatever. A month you're still trying to figure it out.
Speaker 2: I was gonna say, you helped me out.
Speaker 1: If you haven't cracked it out, then it's probably not possible.
Speaker 1: And with New York real estate, I'm pretty sure it's
Speaker 1: almost impossible. But I know in Kelly, yeah, you can
Speaker 1: try to hear about those lucky nonprofits, those nonprofits that
Speaker 1: really get buildings, and listen, I've been out there, I'm looking.
Speaker 1: I need put it out there.
Speaker 2: Put it out there.
Speaker 3: Definitely is my dream to not only own a building,
Speaker 3: but to have a community center for young people.
Speaker 1: So I know you talk about some of your setbacks
Speaker 1: being like obviously the beginning of the company, which is
Speaker 1: like juggling, you know, building a business, creating these services
Speaker 1: while not having the funding. Before I get into my
Speaker 1: next question, at some point, do you decide to take
Speaker 1: on loans.
Speaker 2: No, because I know I couldn't pay them back.
Speaker 1: Really at that time or forever because you're ten years
Speaker 1: olds now.
Speaker 3: Yes, we did take on loans during the COVID time, right,
Speaker 3: and we were forced to, but very grateful for those options,
Speaker 3: you know, and those opportunities because we didn't lay anyone
Speaker 3: off during that time. So definitely, But in the beginning though,
Speaker 3: because I knew I.
Speaker 1: Didn't have to be yes on what was probably the
Speaker 1: most heartbreaking in the company in the whole ten years
Speaker 1: where you were like, you don't know if you could
Speaker 1: weather this storm, and I don't even know how that
Speaker 1: works with sickle cell also, But what was there was
Speaker 1: there ever a point in the business where you're like, ooh,
Speaker 1: this is a bit yeah, I may be in over
Speaker 1: my head, we may closed doors or.
Speaker 3: Yeah making it So it was definitely during COVID and
Speaker 3: right before the city shut down officially like New York
Speaker 3: City public schools are closed, we're in a state of emergency.
Speaker 3: Right before that, I signed a lease for my second location.
Speaker 2: Jesus right.
Speaker 3: So it was at that time, and the vision for
Speaker 3: my second location was adding on from the work I've
Speaker 3: done in Brownsville and I did in Brownsville, moving it now,
Speaker 3: expanding it to East Flatbush. So we were like in
Speaker 3: a time where we're jumping out on a on a
Speaker 3: leap to just even expand a small nonprofit at least
Speaker 3: signed ready to move in all of a sudden city
Speaker 3: shed stand again, the only folks that can come out
Speaker 3: their homes or technically do anything are essential workers. We
Speaker 3: were considered essential workers doing the public safety work, you know,
Speaker 3: keeping our seniors and our community members safe, right safe
Speaker 3: passages and things like that. Here I find myself in
Speaker 3: this white box again with another set of keys, and.
Speaker 1: There was no way to possibly say. And at that time,
Speaker 1: you couldn't predict it. COVID it was going to be
Speaker 1: two years.
Speaker 3: I couldn't predict it. But what you know, what I knew.
Speaker 3: I knew it was going to be a time where
Speaker 3: food and seniors were going to be in need. And
Speaker 3: one of the programs that I was planning to run
Speaker 3: out of that office was.
Speaker 2: A food pantry program.
Speaker 3: Okay, So what I did is I said, listen, it's
Speaker 3: a white box. We can't paint the walls, we can't
Speaker 3: move in, but what we can do is we can
Speaker 3: use it as a space to collect food items to
Speaker 3: distribute to community members during.
Speaker 2: This hard time.
Speaker 1: So you pivot it.
Speaker 2: So I pivoted again.
Speaker 1: Why do you say again, did I miss the first pivot?
Speaker 3: The first pivot was me pivoting from not having an
Speaker 3: office space.
Speaker 2: You're getting the first space.
Speaker 1: The first one, yes, But oh I was when I
Speaker 1: think pivot, I think you shift your market. Well oh okay, okay, okay, okay,
Speaker 1: But technically I see what you're saying. All right, all right,
Speaker 1: I like, I like acknowledging that, guys, just because I
Speaker 1: think pivot. When you're a founder and a creator, it's
Speaker 1: extremely hard to say this is the number one focus,
Speaker 1: this is why my business was created, and then say, Okay,
Speaker 1: even though this is my focus, the world or something
Speaker 1: shifted in the market where I have to adapt and
Speaker 1: say we're not going to close this focus off, but
Speaker 1: we got to renavigate how we get to this goal.
Speaker 1: And so that's why I like to say the pivot,
Speaker 1: the pivot game is really tough as a founder, you know,
Speaker 1: as a CEO, I think pivots are you know, you're
Speaker 1: not as tied to that original. If you're not a
Speaker 1: founding partner, you're not as tied to that original. But
Speaker 1: when you created created, yes, you like ooh. I was
Speaker 1: having this conversation the other day. I said, man, you know,
Speaker 1: we got to just figure out another way to capture
Speaker 1: this audience. You know what I'm saying. And you work
Speaker 1: with a very when you're working with teens and kids,
Speaker 1: you know, your pivot game gotta be strong because the
Speaker 1: trends changed and they don't mess with you no more.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And then on the just to add on on the
Speaker 3: public safety violence prevention side of the work. We are
Speaker 3: employing or I'm employing individuals that were formerly incarcerated, individuals
Speaker 3: that were previously involved in gangs or you know, just
Speaker 3: in be behavior that may not have led them to
Speaker 3: a road of success. So now the organization is about
Speaker 3: creating success and showing our young.
Speaker 2: People how to get there.
Speaker 3: Right, So in this moment of uncertainty, you don't know
Speaker 3: when funding is going to come in. A lot of
Speaker 3: our programs, remember were school based, their mentorship, they were
Speaker 3: hands on. So now we go to a virtual world
Speaker 3: and we can't capture the audience the same way.
Speaker 1: And kids that are coming from like not so great environments. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's you know, I would imagine those two years could
Speaker 1: have set some set them back pretty far and created
Speaker 1: some damage.
Speaker 3: So what we did is we utilize the new location
Speaker 3: at that time, which is the second office, and we
Speaker 3: stored our pantry goods there.
Speaker 2: Set it up.
Speaker 3: We were coming out every day masks, you know, full soup,
Speaker 3: full gear, and we were making home deliveries of pantry
Speaker 3: food to community members. So at one point we were
Speaker 3: doing maybe five hundred and fifty stops a day.
Speaker 1: What yes, and where were you getting the food. You
Speaker 1: did a contract with the city or something. So what
Speaker 1: we did is we worked with different organizations. We worked
Speaker 1: with some warehouses, and you know, we just rallied around.
Speaker 2: But that's you doing a lot. Restaurants were calling and donating.
Speaker 1: Meals, but you were doing a lot of the legwork
Speaker 1: as far as sparing all of that, right, because it's
Speaker 1: not I would imagine you're not giving it to some
Speaker 1: employer or whatever. So your career, not only are you pivoting,
Speaker 1: but you're like picking up the phone and saying, hey,
Speaker 1: but at this point, how many years in are you?
Speaker 3: So?
Speaker 2: And this point I was six years in?
Speaker 1: Six years in? Okay? So you you you gained enough
Speaker 1: of a roller decks, yep. But also like right when
Speaker 1: you hit your stride, you got the wind kicked out
Speaker 1: of you. Yes, so during the two years you successfully
Speaker 1: pivot the company. But when you come out of hybration,
Speaker 1: you return to your initial focus.
Speaker 3: Yes, returned to initial focus and expanded to being able
Speaker 3: to have actual food programs.
Speaker 1: Now, oh wow, because of all that. Wow, So we.
Speaker 3: Still have our food pantry every week. We never cut
Speaker 3: that off, we never stopped. And then it has now
Speaker 3: led us to actually have a food program, so we
Speaker 3: have the Let's Eat program, and.
Speaker 1: Then do you still cater to seniors in addition.
Speaker 3: Still working with seniors. Our pantry line weekly is comprised
Speaker 3: of seniors. Still answering those emergency calls when families, you know,
Speaker 3: don't have enough food and resources.
Speaker 2: So yeah, still doing the work.
Speaker 1: Wow, Now how many employees do you have?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 2: Now I'm up to seventy eight employees?
Speaker 1: Seventy a yes, yes, yes, that's a huge fate. And
Speaker 1: you know, employees is a tricky thing because not only
Speaker 1: are you responsible for you know, one bad a can
Speaker 1: can roten an entire part of your company or if not,
Speaker 1: take out your company. And then you have the other
Speaker 1: thing is.
Speaker 2: You have cash flow. Yes, and that well how do
Speaker 2: you how do you how did.
Speaker 1: You scale the business business to navigate those waters to
Speaker 1: that capacity?
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So earlier when you asked about the loan opportunity, right,
Speaker 3: that was that was pivotal. Well, that was major at
Speaker 3: that time. So we were able to do that and
Speaker 3: do that and now we have contracts, right, so now
Speaker 3: we're actually contracted to do some of the most of
Speaker 3: the work that we're doing in the city. Yeah, so
Speaker 3: we were able to, you know, gain those relationships and
Speaker 3: get solidified contracts where now we know, okay, this is
Speaker 3: what we're contracted to do.
Speaker 2: We perform those services and the companies compensated.
Speaker 1: So just to recap, I could I wish I do
Speaker 1: wish we were in LA because I feel like this
Speaker 1: conversation could go a little bit longer. But just to recap,
Speaker 1: can you give us a snapshot on how we know
Speaker 1: you have over seventy eight, seventy eight employees for locations,
Speaker 1: how many people are being serviced at the moment right
Speaker 1: now on average? Because I saw it in the day,
Speaker 1: it was a big number. Go ahead, you can shout
Speaker 1: it out talk wow, I wow, you've serviced over half
Speaker 1: a million.
Speaker 2: Yeah, over half a million.
Speaker 3: Who I thought it was in the seven hundred, it's
Speaker 3: about it's about six hundred and I think six hundred
Speaker 3: and fifty thousand people comprised of all of our after
Speaker 3: school programs, our senior programs and events, our staff. We
Speaker 3: have consultants. So my seventy eight employees, that's just my employees.
Speaker 3: Those are my full time, part time employees. Doesn't factor
Speaker 3: in all of the consultants that we have shut out
Speaker 3: to the consultants, the other businesses that we support in
Speaker 3: doing the work.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're servicing.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 1: Wow, when you look back at that ten years, what
Speaker 1: advice would you give to someone in your shoes may
Speaker 1: potentially could have been? It could be a single mom.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you're a single mom or not.
Speaker 2: Yes, okay, yes, even tougher, even tougher. Yeah.
Speaker 1: When I say the cards, the cards somewhat seem a
Speaker 1: little stacked against you, even though you're so graceful and
Speaker 1: so sweet and so packaged, so well, and you've accomplished
Speaker 1: so much. But it definitely seems like the road was
Speaker 1: one hundred percent uphill during those ten years. I would
Speaker 1: imagine you had crisises right. Yes, yes, and your team
Speaker 1: stayed stayed the course.
Speaker 3: Yes, my team, very very grateful for all of my
Speaker 3: team members directly, but also for all of the supporters,
Speaker 3: you know, those that really support and stand with elite learners.
Speaker 2: I can't, I can't thank.
Speaker 3: You, very gracious, but I suffer daily with the illness
Speaker 3: crisis in and out the hospital. So yes, that still,
Speaker 3: you know, continues to happen. It's it has not been easy, right,
Speaker 3: And what I could say is keep going right, we
Speaker 3: all have our tough days and times, and we have
Speaker 3: our you know, periods where we don't see the good
Speaker 3: and the work that we're doing, but keep doing it.
Speaker 3: And I think for me, what keeps me going is
Speaker 3: I see the way elite learners has changed the trajectory
Speaker 3: of communities. I see the difference, the decline. I haven't
Speaker 3: had a shooting in my catchment area in over three hundred.
Speaker 2: Days, right where these are areas that.
Speaker 3: Are infiltrated with gun violence, right, it's just violence. I'm
Speaker 3: watching the schools that we work with and partner with.
Speaker 3: I'm watching those kids walk across stages, you know, when
Speaker 3: they didn't believe in themselves, when they just needed the support.
Speaker 3: So I see the difference that the organization makes and
Speaker 3: for me, that is what keeps me going despite you know,
Speaker 3: the hard times and the health issues.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, So your advice would be to stay the course,
Speaker 1: stay the course. And during the ten years, was there
Speaker 1: any point where you thought I want to quit? Yes? Okay,
Speaker 1: Well I think it's good to know because I think
Speaker 1: people will see this in ten years. All the success
Speaker 1: self made, self made. You know, it's self made. When
Speaker 1: your go to dish is you know fried chicken wings
Speaker 1: and poor fried riot or self made is also when
Speaker 1: you're like, I'm going to choose between my storefront rent
Speaker 1: and my house rent. Yes, and so I just want
Speaker 1: I want everybody listen to walk away with you this
Speaker 1: single mom sickle cell, like your cards were stacked against you.
Speaker 1: With what's going on in the world today. I'm sure
Speaker 1: you heard about the incident happened in Chicago. I have
Speaker 1: a theory. I'm gonna share my theory. No, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: ask you because people don't care about my theory. But
Speaker 1: what do you think some of the route behind this
Speaker 1: childhood bullying is? And do you think that parents should
Speaker 1: somewhat be a little bit responsible for some of this
Speaker 1: bulling that's going on.
Speaker 3: Parents have to definitely step up right, they have to
Speaker 3: definitely take responsibility and accountability for what is.
Speaker 2: Happening and definitely what has happened. It's hard, though, it's hard.
Speaker 2: You know, there's so many.
Speaker 3: There's so many things going on that really just influence
Speaker 3: the behaviors of young people. You really, you know, there's
Speaker 3: the pair pressure, there's the just not thinking, there's the
Speaker 3: lack of support. It could be it's so many different
Speaker 3: challenges that are just happening in the world. But definitely
Speaker 3: it's a hard topic to speak on. Very It's very
Speaker 3: difficult for me because the mom suffered with sickle cell
Speaker 3: and it's dealing with that disease, right, And I know
Speaker 3: the beast. I know what it feels like to not
Speaker 3: be able to get your kids from school because you
Speaker 3: don't feel good, But you got to push yourself and
Speaker 3: pick them up, right, I deal with that. There's days
Speaker 3: I don't want to go to my daughter's softball game.
Speaker 3: I know, sitting out there the weather is just too much.
Speaker 2: It may but I gotta go.
Speaker 3: So I can only imagine she may not have even
Speaker 3: been feeling well right to be able to deal with
Speaker 3: what was put in front of her for no apparent reason.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say for the side of the kids
Speaker 1: that are actually doing the bullying.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but they need they need help, they need support, right.
Speaker 1: I heard that some people were saying that they're going
Speaker 1: to try and try them as adults, Like you can't
Speaker 1: really do that, do the right, you know?
Speaker 3: For us, and in this, in the work that we do,
Speaker 3: we are about supporting both sides, right. We support the
Speaker 3: folks that need the help and that have committed the
Speaker 3: crimes or may have partaken in the active bullying, and
Speaker 3: then we also support the families right that are victims.
Speaker 3: So in my stance, it's very hard. Both need a
Speaker 3: lot of support and not a lot of love. But
Speaker 3: at the end of the day, there has to be accountability.
Speaker 3: What that looks like, I don't know, and I you know,
Speaker 3: I guess, you know. For me, it's hard to answer
Speaker 3: because I'm struggling with the entire situation as a whole.
Speaker 3: You know, it hit home, but definitely the school has
Speaker 3: to take accountability.
Speaker 1: As all members. Yes, Okay, I I like that answer
Speaker 1: cause I was kind of coming from a more ignorant state,
Speaker 1: and I say ignorance, But I come from a more
Speaker 1: ignorant state, and I say, you know, I think sometimes
Speaker 1: parents and single and or single parents are up against
Speaker 1: a lot of pressure, and I feel like, if there's
Speaker 1: not enough active role models touching the youth regularly, this
Speaker 1: is what happens. Yes, where you don't have someone that's
Speaker 1: constantly checking in, who are your friends, where'd you do,
Speaker 1: what'd you eat? Or whatever? Like I was at a
Speaker 1: pizza joint yesterday and I saw like six ten year
Speaker 1: olds rolling in order they pieces and pay. And it's
Speaker 1: just like, Yo, these kids are like you know, they're
Speaker 1: they're living their lives. But it's like, yo, you really
Speaker 1: need someone that's like actively active.
Speaker 3: And I want to say, what was key for me
Speaker 3: and what is really still bothering me is the fact
Speaker 3: that mom explained that her son had been bullied for
Speaker 3: several years and that she had contacted the school and
Speaker 3: you know, try to reach out. And that for me,
Speaker 3: right is the school needs to provide support.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: We can't turn a blind eye to bullying. We can't
Speaker 2: turn we can't.
Speaker 3: Say it's dismissal right, you know, see you later write
Speaker 3: what happens outside of my building? No, you know, as educators,
Speaker 3: as leaders, we got to protect our children and our families.
Speaker 2: At every step of the way.
Speaker 3: So at Elite Learners, we have safe passage programs that
Speaker 3: actually puts individuals outside of school buildings to ensure our
Speaker 3: families get to and from school. So, had I had
Speaker 3: a violence interrupter, a credible messenger, a mentor outside of
Speaker 3: the perimeters of the school, we alleviate things like this
Speaker 3: from happening. There's someone there to intervene, right, someone that's
Speaker 3: not afraid to say, hey, listen, this is not acceptable behavior.
Speaker 2: This is not going to happen.
Speaker 3: So we create and have programs to do that work
Speaker 3: because we see the need. We know what happens, you
Speaker 3: know after school and during dismissal and what could happen.
Speaker 3: But you know, we got to start to address these things.
Speaker 3: We can't turn a blind eye to it.
Speaker 1: No, But I think that speaks to elite learners in
Speaker 1: the fact that your service is elite in the sense
Speaker 1: that you know, you're thinking about everything from on the
Speaker 1: way to school, yes, to getting home to the feel
Speaker 1: like what that process looks like for a young person,
Speaker 1: lunch from support and lunch from support. Right, So when
Speaker 1: this bullying may be taking place right or any of
Speaker 1: those opportunities where children are left and they may not
Speaker 1: know how to deal with those situations, we're in them.
Speaker 2: We're in those spaces and in those areas. And you
Speaker 2: know this is not only in New York but across
Speaker 2: across the world.
Speaker 3: Like principles, educators really have to dive into utilizing services
Speaker 3: and programs that can alleviate some of these things from happening.
Speaker 1: Wow, well, where can everybody tune into everything? Elite Learners
Speaker 1: and you can.
Speaker 3: Say right there, So please follow us on Instagram. It's
Speaker 3: Elite Learners, Inc. The website is Elite Learnersinc. Dot com
Speaker 3: and we're everywhere.
Speaker 1: Everywhere, And you know you guys can more than welcome
Speaker 1: to donate support. Yes, and I know I was talking
Speaker 1: with you prior to our taping. I definitely want to
Speaker 1: see a ten year anniversary gala. Okay, so all y'all
Speaker 1: funders and everybody pull out your checkbooks and supports more.
Speaker 1: We want to see more storefronts, more schools, more communities
Speaker 1: impacted by Elite Learners.
Speaker 3: We appreciate it and very very much into making sure
Speaker 3: that if anyone donates supports the organization, the resources really
Speaker 3: impact the individuals on the ground. We really change the
Speaker 3: trajectory of communities and support families. So looking forward to
Speaker 3: continue in the mission. And thank you so much for
Speaker 3: having me.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for taking time out of your
Speaker 1: day and feeding us. Thanks you all for tuning in.
Speaker 2: Peace out. Thank you