Speaker 1: You guys, we are here with a very special bonus episode.
Speaker 1: You thought you only get in one episode this week,
Speaker 1: but you're actually getting two because we could not wait
Speaker 1: exact to talk to you guys about this excellent week
Speaker 1: of Brown Girl Magic those for most those from us.
Speaker 1: So in the special bonus episode of Brown Ambition, we
Speaker 1: want to start by talking about the incredible Emmys this
Speaker 1: past Sunday. I don't think I've ever sat through an
Speaker 1: award show. I was on. I was like interested the
Speaker 1: entire time, from beginning to end.
Speaker 2: Really honestly, I'm not gonna lie I didn't watch it,
Speaker 2: but I did watch the clips that everybody was talking about.
Speaker 1: Of course, it was a huge night if you if
Speaker 1: you didn't watch if You're Living under a Rock, Viola Davis,
Speaker 1: the incomparable Viola Davis How to Get Away with Mud
Speaker 1: walked away with the first dramatic Emmy for a black
Speaker 1: woman in Emmy's history.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: History was made on that stage.
Speaker 2: Yes. And then Regina King, one of my faves on faves,
Speaker 2: I mean, I used to love Regina Kin from two
Speaker 2: to seven, okay, and then she walked away with a
Speaker 2: well deserved Emmy.
Speaker 1: For her role in American Crime.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I actually liked that show. She was so
Speaker 2: good in it.
Speaker 1: She's so good in everything. It is so nice to
Speaker 1: see these, you know, amazing actresses. You know, forget their
Speaker 1: skin color for a second, but just to see an
Speaker 1: actress who you've watched, who's been in every one of
Speaker 1: your favorite movies. Just get that recognition. And not only that,
Speaker 1: but just there was you know what I noticed during
Speaker 1: the Emmys. So I don't know if you guys watch,
Speaker 1: if you've done it, but this movie on HBO called
Speaker 1: Olive Kidderidge did not watch it. Apparently it was real
Speaker 1: good though, because it won like a bajillion awards and
Speaker 1: one of the lead actress, Frances McDormand, who's this. I
Speaker 1: think she's one oscar. She's this huge actress, very well respected.
Speaker 1: When she won up when she walked up there to
Speaker 1: get her award, she wasn't worrying any makeup. She just
Speaker 1: sort of looked like she rolled out of bed and
Speaker 1: she's like, oh, I'm here, and you guys love me
Speaker 1: and like whatever, like I've been doing this forever and
Speaker 1: this is great. Oh, another Emmy. I guess I'll have
Speaker 1: space for that in my you know, den or something
Speaker 1: like that, and it was just such a different you
Speaker 1: know it was it was so refreshing to see someone
Speaker 1: who really wanted it and who really just like thirsted.
Speaker 1: Like you saw Regina's acceptance speech and Viola's acceptance speech.
Speaker 1: We haven't even gotten to Uzo Aduba from Oranges.
Speaker 2: To New Black, my fellow Nigerian lady.
Speaker 1: They had me. They were literally in tears. And that's
Speaker 1: what we mean when we talk about really feeling like
Speaker 1: you have not been represented you're and just being like
Speaker 1: that affirmation of knowing that your work is being respected
Speaker 1: and being accepted knowledge, right, So.
Speaker 2: What about Taraji? I just love her reaction. She was like,
Speaker 2: someone said, you were happier than Regina King. Regina was
Speaker 2: surprised you were excitic.
Speaker 1: She was like that Mama happy.
Speaker 2: Yes, she said literally like on stage, Yes, I thought
Speaker 2: that was amazing.
Speaker 1: And she gave her those the most amazing bear hug.
Speaker 1: You could feel the love and that hug and it's
Speaker 1: just and you know what, Taraji, it wasn't like she
Speaker 1: was putting up her front because I follow her on Instagram.
Speaker 1: If you don't follow her, the real Taraji. She has
Speaker 1: always been posting about Viola Davis. She posts this amazing
Speaker 1: cover of them on on Ebony magazine from like a
Speaker 1: million years ago, and wrote a cute little story about
Speaker 1: how Viola asked her to be on the cover with her.
Speaker 1: And there you can just tell from that to that
Speaker 1: commercial that played you.
Speaker 2: Watch I Do Carrie Washington, May J Blige and Taji
Speaker 2: and Taraji.
Speaker 1: Yes, it's not like girl like Brown Girl Magic, just
Speaker 1: getting along just to see like three first of all,
Speaker 1: three women of color, just listening to music at home,
Speaker 1: just dancing with each other, talking about boys, yes, but
Speaker 1: like just having a good time.
Speaker 2: Like when you when you see that on teac, Like
Speaker 2: just pure positivity, which I love, so a little bit
Speaker 2: more Brown Girl Magic. Manny and I both attend. Actually
Speaker 2: it was our anniversary, Mandy what our friend our friend anniversary,
Speaker 2: our friend of hers, Yes, because I didn't because last
Speaker 2: year so Mandy had written like a story or two
Speaker 2: about me, like in her when she worked at a
Speaker 2: business Insider, but I had never met her personally, and
Speaker 2: she went to fincann last year for the first time.
Speaker 1: Right, is what is FINCN for the people who aren't
Speaker 1: big vats.
Speaker 2: That's true. So fin con is a financial Blockers Conference,
Speaker 2: but it's really expanded to financial education, blogging, media, brands, companies,
Speaker 2: all things personal finance. And so it's just a conference
Speaker 2: for those people who are involved in those avenues and
Speaker 2: teaching personal finance. And so Mandy went for the first
Speaker 2: time last year to FINCNN New Orleans and that was
Speaker 2: my first time as well, and I think I tweeted
Speaker 2: and we tweeted each other and she's like, oh, you're here.
Speaker 2: Oh I'm here. You want to meet me for a
Speaker 2: beignet or whatever? And I said sure, and we ended
Speaker 2: up going for a walk and just like hanging out.
Speaker 2: And so that's when we see the friendship with planting.
Speaker 1: I feel like some lovely string music should be having.
Speaker 2: And so it's our f anniversary. So I'm like, you said, Mandy,
Speaker 2: I didn't get you anything, but you know, your presence
Speaker 2: is a present. And so we went to FINCN. We
Speaker 2: just got back. It was in Charlotte this year and
Speaker 2: it was just such a beautiful brown magic moment.
Speaker 1: Moments, many moments.
Speaker 2: Yes, what was your favorite brown magic moment?
Speaker 1: My favorite thing about finn CONN this year was so there. FINCNN,
Speaker 1: first of all was a record year. There was over
Speaker 1: I think eight hundred different I saw nine hundred, okay,
Speaker 1: nearly one thousand financial bloggers all gathering, just taking over Charlotte,
Speaker 1: and there was a very there's a very small group
Speaker 1: of brown bloggers, and I know that it's grown since
Speaker 1: the fincann's been around five years. I heard that it
Speaker 1: was a handful of the first year and now we're
Speaker 1: up to like, I don't know, maybe fifty. So it's
Speaker 1: a very small and a small group and it's hard
Speaker 1: to find each other when you're in this huge conference
Speaker 1: and there's always people around. And something Tiffany did that
Speaker 1: I want to point out was she arranged this group
Speaker 1: dinner for all of us to get together, and by
Speaker 1: the way, had its answered by Prudential. Shout Outdential, you know,
Speaker 1: and I think Prudential, what you thought they were going
Speaker 1: to have like ten people and then it was like fifteen.
Speaker 2: Well no. Originally the woman from Prudential, Alicia, who I love,
Speaker 2: she was like, oh, you know, let's have dinner me,
Speaker 2: you and two other brown personal finance you know, just
Speaker 2: experts that she knew. And I said, well, you know,
Speaker 2: there's a bunch of other brown folks that I think
Speaker 2: that you should meet, and she said sure. So the
Speaker 2: list grew and grew and grew, and what was supposed
Speaker 2: to be three you.
Speaker 1: Just said it was free food. So I think you exactly.
Speaker 2: So what was supposed to be three people balloon that
Speaker 2: I want to say, oh, maybe like twenty.
Speaker 1: It was over twenty yeah, like twenty five, twenty six
Speaker 1: packed the room.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And so it was just amazing because we got
Speaker 2: to kind of express ourselves in a way that only
Speaker 2: brown folks can and just share our experiences and our stories.
Speaker 2: And it was just such a beautiful time.
Speaker 1: We had Lynette Calathani come.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, she walked in. We were all like
Speaker 2: the godmother, the fairy Godmother of Brown personal find has
Speaker 2: entered the room.
Speaker 1: And we're not going to give too much away. She
Speaker 1: is our guest on next week's podcast. You guys have
Speaker 1: to stay tuned because she literally gave us life, yes,
Speaker 1: and all of our ambition tonight.
Speaker 2: And it was just so awesome because it was just
Speaker 2: a great place for us, you know, to kind of
Speaker 2: just be ourselves and just express, you know, how we
Speaker 2: felt being brown bloggers and brown financial educators and brown writers.
Speaker 2: And it just was just so much love in the room.
Speaker 2: We took so many pictures and ate such great food
Speaker 2: there for three hours. Yeah, and we could have gone longer,
Speaker 2: could have, but we were just like I think the
Speaker 2: restaurant was closing. They were like, get out, brown people.
Speaker 1: They knew it was up when they saw us walking.
Speaker 1: They're like, oh, this is gonna be a long night.
Speaker 2: And it was.
Speaker 1: So I've told you guys before just what it's like
Speaker 1: that I haven't I haven't had the privilege to work
Speaker 1: with another woman who is African American in a very
Speaker 1: long time, like someone I could just look to and
Speaker 1: like oh I understand, or like yeah, girl, yeah, I
Speaker 1: like that kind of recognition. And it's I I was
Speaker 1: just sitting back like, man, I'm a lucky chick me
Speaker 1: in the club. I'm so glad. It's so nice to
Speaker 1: sit here and be like, yeah, all the stuff that
Speaker 1: I'm going through as a woman, you know, in business journalism,
Speaker 1: as a woman of color and business journalism, I can
Speaker 1: actually look around the room and just like nod and
Speaker 1: everyone just gets it.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 1: We didn't even have to like bring up all these
Speaker 1: data challenges, just like you just look at each other
Speaker 1: and you're like, I know, and it's in the struggle
Speaker 1: real and we're doing it together exactly.
Speaker 2: And that's what I liked about it. There was just
Speaker 2: this air of positivity, like you're right. There wasn't a
Speaker 2: whole lot of oh, isn't it so hard? Isn't it
Speaker 2: so terrible? Being brown and personal finance. It was really
Speaker 2: just this is how I got here. What I really
Speaker 2: heard a lot was I'm here because of service, and
Speaker 2: I really want to help, and you know, I've made
Speaker 2: my own mistakes, so I'm trying to help other people.
Speaker 2: It was just like, honestly, love on love.
Speaker 1: Right, And when how often do you get to sit
Speaker 1: around a room with like how often do we in
Speaker 1: our daily daily lives sit around and just look at
Speaker 1: accomplished people of color talking about their accomplishment exactly? It
Speaker 1: was it was pretty extraordinary. So and it wasn't just
Speaker 1: girls we have to say brown girl magic, but brown
Speaker 1: guy magic too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there was a few. There were like five and
Speaker 2: then So not to toot my own horn or anything. Actually,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna let me do it, Okay, good god you goines.
Speaker 1: Tiffany Alice, the Budget Neist to Herself is the Plutus
Speaker 1: Award winner for the best Financial Education program of twenty fifteen.
Speaker 2: They're like, what does that mean? So Polute a big deal.
Speaker 2: So Polluta is what I really love about Plutus is like,
Speaker 2: there's no real awards for personal finance. A few, not
Speaker 2: for blogging, yes, not for blogging. And so they started
Speaker 2: the Pollutus Awards and maybe like five years ago, maybe
Speaker 2: a little longer, and it's kind of like what I
Speaker 2: like to say, it's like the Oscars Grammys, even though
Speaker 2: I don't know if that's true, but it sounds good.
Speaker 2: The Oscars Grammy slash what's the other one? Emmy's for
Speaker 2: personal finance bloggers. And so to win an award like,
Speaker 2: you know, nine hundred people and to win an award
Speaker 2: for the Live Ritual Challenges, it just was so amazing,
Speaker 2: And honestly, I was not expecting it. I was sitting
Speaker 2: in my seat. I was already told that I was
Speaker 2: gonna lose.
Speaker 1: Meanwhile, I'm on periscope, I was ready the film on
Speaker 1: Tiffany Walks on the stage.
Speaker 2: I just knew I was good. Like literally, someone told
Speaker 2: me earlier, Oh, I saw the voting and you're losing.
Speaker 2: So I was like, oh, okay. So I was really prepared,
Speaker 2: not to win. And so I'm sitting in my seat
Speaker 2: next to my my fin Con roomy and they read
Speaker 2: the nominees. Are you know they read my name. I'm like, oh,
Speaker 2: that's cute. And then they say live Richer Challenge. And
Speaker 2: as I was getting up, I was so full of emotion.
Speaker 2: I said, don't cry, don't cry, which of course made
Speaker 2: You're gonna cry. So I get up there, I'm crying.
Speaker 2: And I didn't know you weren't allowed to do speeches,
Speaker 2: so I'm like, why is he not handing me the mics?
Speaker 2: So I totally did the brown Mama thing. I was like,
Speaker 2: give me the mic. I took the mic, and I
Speaker 2: like squeaked out in my tearful voice, thank you. And
Speaker 2: I walked off the same thank you.
Speaker 1: And I walked off stage and dignified.
Speaker 2: Yes it was, and yeah, so you're not stiffening.
Speaker 1: It was so awesome, especially since the Literature Challenge, I
Speaker 1: mean a year ago. When I met you at the
Speaker 1: last pin Con, you were just like the Literature Challenge
Speaker 1: was just getting off the ground. You were looking for
Speaker 1: sponsors and you were hearing a lot of nose.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of nos. And honestly, it hadn't even
Speaker 2: started yet. I was just signing people up and honestly,
Speaker 2: literally everyone said no everyone, So it was kind of cool.
Speaker 1: Except for thirty thousand women around the world. Oh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you signed up?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah yeah, hell yeah.
Speaker 1: Tiffany's driving the ship. I'm on it.
Speaker 2: But you know what I really love about the challenge
Speaker 2: that it's not about me. A lot of the women
Speaker 2: who sign up literally don't know me. They just know
Speaker 2: each other, and so it's just this awesome community of women,
Speaker 2: especially women of color. And just to see the reception
Speaker 2: a year later, there was this one bank in particular
Speaker 2: that I just really wanted to work with and last
Speaker 2: year they weren't really that interested, and they literally leapt
Speaker 2: at the chance to sit down with me this year.
Speaker 2: So it's just a lesson in that that just because
Speaker 2: something is hard doesn't mean it's not working. And so
Speaker 2: it's just a reminder of that. And it was, just,
Speaker 2: like I said, a lot of brown awesomeness, brown girl magic.
Speaker 1: So proud of you.
Speaker 2: Thanks.
Speaker 1: And the Literature Challenge is still going on right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I'm going to be launching. So what I
Speaker 2: diday is that every year we'll do a new live
Speaker 2: Richer Challenge every January, so in about November I'll start
Speaker 2: sign up again.
Speaker 1: What's the website?
Speaker 2: People can go live Richer Challenge dot com. Excellent, Thanks
Speaker 2: and it's free. You know, I love me some free.
Speaker 1: Three niney nine.
Speaker 2: So I think that's it. This is a good bonus.
Speaker 2: Any other bron Girl magic things you want to share?
Speaker 1: I don't know, Viola, Tiffany, Ali, Taraji, Regina, Carrie, Mary J. Blige.
Speaker 1: Uzzo Adoba did I mention that Uzzo Adoba is gonna am?
Speaker 1: I saying her name? Right?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I. Uzzo Odoba's a Nigerian sister, so Uzo, she's Nigerian.
Speaker 2: Actually met her and she's Ebo, which is my tribe.
Speaker 1: You met her? What does she smell like?
Speaker 2: She actually was really med at first. She was a
Speaker 2: little weirded out because I wanted to She was her
Speaker 2: backwards to me and I didn't know how to get
Speaker 2: her attention, so I lightly tapped on her shoulders. She
Speaker 2: looked like, why are you touching me? Yeah? Exactly. It
Speaker 2: was a creeper and then I quickly said, Uzo, I
Speaker 2: just want to thank you for being you and do
Speaker 2: you and allowing because you have followed your dreams. You
Speaker 2: have made it more acceptable for a Nigerian woman like
Speaker 2: me to do the same. And she totally lit up
Speaker 2: and like grabbed my hand and said, thank you so
Speaker 2: much for that, because she knows how hard it is
Speaker 2: to be a child of Nigeria and not choose doctor, lawyer,
Speaker 2: you know, pharmacist, engineer.
Speaker 1: For another podcast, we're gonna talk about that, disappointing your
Speaker 1: Nigerian parents, your career choices, Uzo, and she's gonna be
Speaker 1: starring in The Whiz.
Speaker 2: Just some a little amazing this.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know we should have her on the podcast.
Speaker 2: I know you think she'd come Stretch goals.
Speaker 1: Stretch goals maybe in the future.
Speaker 2: Well that's it.
Speaker 1: That's your bonus. Brown Ambition. Hope you guys enjoyed us.
Speaker 2: Yes, and you can find us, do not forget. You
Speaker 2: could always email us at the Brown Ambition Podcast at
Speaker 2: gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: Find us on Twitter at the BA podcast, or on Facebook.
Speaker 1: The group is called Brown Ambition Yes more time. Have
Speaker 1: a lovely rest of your week, guys. Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 2: Stay brown.
Speaker 1: If you're not Brown, it's okay.
Speaker 2: Fi