Speaker 1: We should open with we never say this is Brown Ambition.
Speaker 1: Should we do that?
Speaker 2: I'm like Brown, we never like you know it time
Speaker 2: like the present.
Speaker 1: And we're back.
Speaker 3: So I was just telling Mandy, we never say like, hey,
Speaker 3: you're listening to Brown Ambition. I mean, do you guys
Speaker 3: care or do you kind of know?
Speaker 2: I feel like if you downloaded the if you subscribe
Speaker 2: to the podcast and you have to push play and
Speaker 2: you see the logo, you might know it's Brown Ambition.
Speaker 2: For those of you guys who've like stumbled home drunk
Speaker 2: and just started listening, this is Brown Ambition.
Speaker 3: And I'm Tiffany and Mandy.
Speaker 2: I will be your co host Mandy and Tiffany. Yes,
Speaker 2: you know what I don't you know what I want
Speaker 2: to say off the bat, because I was just going
Speaker 2: our inbox and we have so many sweet notes from listeners,
Speaker 2: like at least a dozen from the past couple of
Speaker 2: weeks alone, and I just wanted to say, we really
Speaker 2: appreciate the emails. It's so nice of you. What we'd
Speaker 2: appreciate even more is if you could turn those emails,
Speaker 2: just copy and paste them and put them on iTunes.
Speaker 2: Oh yes, just a simple, a simple way to do
Speaker 2: good in your podcasting immunity because iTunes reviews are like
Speaker 2: currency in the podcast world, and that just means that
Speaker 2: other people like you can find the show and enjoy
Speaker 2: the show. And we live in a yelp world and
Speaker 2: people want to know, you know, what others think of
Speaker 2: something before they try it out. So it would definitely
Speaker 2: help us out if you guys, could you know, kindly
Speaker 2: send all the emails you want, but a nice little
Speaker 2: iTunes review on top of that would just be so sweet.
Speaker 3: Be your best friend, best friend, that's my best friend,
Speaker 3: that's my best friend.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll just pass out free best friend cards exactly everybody,
Speaker 2: and yeah, send us. Maybe we should do another giveaway
Speaker 2: that worked out pretty good the first time.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, well, I mean it's not ready yet, but
Speaker 3: I do have these DreamCatcher t shirts that I'm making
Speaker 3: and they're so cute, but they're not quite finished yet.
Speaker 3: But when they are, we can do that as a giveaway.
Speaker 2: Who doesn't love a T shirt? Yeah, So, when you
Speaker 2: leave a review, take a screenshop and go ahead and
Speaker 2: email it to brown MBIs Podcasts at gmail dot com.
Speaker 2: And when we come up with the sweet giveaway idea,
Speaker 2: we will we'll have to do it some sorlver drawing
Speaker 2: or something.
Speaker 3: Mm hmm. I'll be fine.
Speaker 2: I love giving stuff away me too.
Speaker 1: I love a good giveaway.
Speaker 2: Oh lord, Okay, let's get home with the show.
Speaker 3: So this is kind of well, you know, I was
Speaker 3: gonna say this, but I'm like, I may or may
Speaker 3: not have regifted a really great gift to one of
Speaker 3: my VFF and she was so convinced that I bought it,
Speaker 3: and I didn't tell.
Speaker 1: How I did it.
Speaker 3: I was like, what should I do? Should I just
Speaker 3: let her rock out? So it was a it was
Speaker 3: a a Kindle fire. I'd want it at FINCNN remember
Speaker 3: Finconn last year, like I got an award or whatever,
Speaker 3: uh huh, And it gave me like this awesome kindle fire,
Speaker 3: And but I already have a kindle and I have
Speaker 3: a laptop. So I was just kind of like, I
Speaker 3: kept it in the packaging. I didn't even open it
Speaker 3: because I thought, like Supergirl has an iPad, Superman doesn't care,
Speaker 3: like he's not really tech, mister tech guy. And so
Speaker 3: everybody who I kind of was thinking about giving it
Speaker 3: to at the time when I first got it, it
Speaker 3: just didn't make sense. And then her birthday passed not
Speaker 3: too long ago, and I was like, oh, I should
Speaker 3: give it to dust friend because I called her and
Speaker 3: I said, do you have an iPad or Kendall? She
Speaker 3: said no. But then when I gave it to her,
Speaker 3: she was so overwhelmed, and I realized quickly, I don't
Speaker 3: you know. I didn't think that to say, oh no, no,
Speaker 3: I'm regifting. But I'm like, do you tell.
Speaker 1: People when you read gifts?
Speaker 3: Because now I feel bad, But I'm like, it's still
Speaker 3: a really good gift.
Speaker 2: Well, does your best friend listen to the show.
Speaker 1: No, but I'm sure people who know her, dude, don't
Speaker 1: tell her.
Speaker 2: She knows, don't go.
Speaker 1: I mean, she's still gonna be geeked up.
Speaker 3: But she was like so like overwhelmed, and I was like,
Speaker 3: what's the idea?
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, cause she.
Speaker 3: Knows, like like you know, I'm like notoriously like cheap,
Speaker 3: so I think she was like, I was like, he's
Speaker 3: so excited. It's just a candle far Oh.
Speaker 1: She thinks I bought this. I mean it is brand new.
Speaker 2: You know, I don't think you have to tell something.
Speaker 2: You wouldn't tell her if you had bought it, like
Speaker 2: how much it costs. I don't I don't know. I
Speaker 2: feel like I'm leaning towards no.
Speaker 3: Okay, So if you guys know bff, I have two
Speaker 3: and you don't know which one it is. So I'm
Speaker 3: not gonna say, but if you see her with a
Speaker 3: new kindel fire, allow her to enjoy and to think.
Speaker 1: That I purchased it. It was not intentional. It was
Speaker 1: just like it was just I knew that she would
Speaker 1: enjoy it, and I was like, she care it to
Speaker 1: be f f.
Speaker 2: Yeah. There is that thing though of like you know,
Speaker 2: when you give someone a gift, not that money means that,
Speaker 2: it means more, but it's I mean, as long as
Speaker 2: the gift is thoughtful, like you thought she'd really enjoy it,
Speaker 2: and clearly she does. It'd be one thing if like
Speaker 2: you were you know, it's like, oh, I have this
Speaker 2: free scarf and your friend lives in Florida and just
Speaker 2: like give it to her for birthday, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, she's a big reader. That's why I was like, ooh,
Speaker 1: she would love it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you could have easily sold out for I
Speaker 2: don't know how much it's worth, Like that's just one
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty bucks or something and you.
Speaker 1: Do No, you're right. I could have You're right.
Speaker 2: See, Mandy, I'm just here to affirm every all the
Speaker 2: choices you make.
Speaker 1: How good of that? So we have to talk about
Speaker 1: the BET Awards.
Speaker 2: Yes we do, but really, just to be completely transparent,
Speaker 2: I did not watch it because I haven't been in
Speaker 2: a place in my life where I can watch an
Speaker 2: entire music awards show in a long time, I know.
Speaker 2: But I watched the clips usually, and usually I'm the
Speaker 2: clips the next day.
Speaker 3: Girl but best friend was like, hey, I was on
Speaker 3: my way to go for a walk and I called her.
Speaker 1: And she's like, what do you do?
Speaker 3: And I'm like about to start with this walk so
Speaker 3: I can be snatched for Essence Fest And she was like, no,
Speaker 3: come over and watch the BET Awards instead, and I
Speaker 3: was like, okay, So I missed like the first hour.
Speaker 1: But it was just fun to hang out.
Speaker 3: Honestly, I'm not an award show person at all, but
Speaker 3: it was actually really good.
Speaker 2: I heard it was good, But I feel like the
Speaker 2: BET Awards, like you're not really there to see who
Speaker 2: wins the awards, do you know what I mean? It's
Speaker 2: more of like the entertainment. The host I saw that
Speaker 2: Tracy Anderson or not Tracy Anderson. What is happening Tracy
Speaker 2: Ellis Ross thesting together again?
Speaker 1: Yes, that's why I thought you mixed them up because
Speaker 1: you blended their.
Speaker 2: Name, did I? No? I think Tracy Anderson is that
Speaker 2: like workout coach that Madonna and Tracy Ellis Ross also
Speaker 2: use I digress.
Speaker 1: No, but she was she was great.
Speaker 3: Well, Tracy alis Ross is always great, and Anthony Anderson
Speaker 3: was funny. But you know, it just was because BT
Speaker 3: is not exactly known for keeping a classy but it
Speaker 3: was so well done and the way they honored Prince,
Speaker 3: this was the best tribute I'd seen, just period, across
Speaker 3: the board, not just BT, just in general like giving
Speaker 3: tribute to an artist. Because what they did was that
Speaker 3: everymusical selection there was a Prince tribute like folded in,
Speaker 3: you know, for the most part. So it wasn't like, oh,
Speaker 3: just this one long montage of Prince Vince, Prince, let's
Speaker 3: go about our business. It was like everyone who sang
Speaker 3: a song gave tribute, usually in some way, and it
Speaker 3: was just really nice. It was so well done. I
Speaker 3: was like, look at bat growing up.
Speaker 2: You knew there was a lot of pressure on them though, yeah,
Speaker 2: especially after what award show was it that happened right
Speaker 2: after Prince passed and in Madonna Bond Yes, oh Madonna
Speaker 2: was Stevie and everyone was like, bet you better come,
Speaker 2: like put up or shut.
Speaker 3: Up, yup, and they honestly they put up. It was
Speaker 3: like I said, like my favorite musical selections. Beyonce killed
Speaker 3: it with Kenchrick Lamar in the beginning. Jennifer Hudson laid,
Speaker 3: I mean, I mean her voice is just like, you know,
Speaker 3: genius anyway, but she just was incredible Janelle Money, although
Speaker 3: vocally I wasn't there with her necessarily, but her energy,
Speaker 3: like she know, she's got like that great dance thing
Speaker 3: that she does, and so she that was awesome.
Speaker 1: Butlile who he was Prince and Carnate like, so, who
Speaker 1: is so blod?
Speaker 3: You know you must be my soul sister, soul sister, hey, sis,
Speaker 3: you never heard that song? Well you still have not
Speaker 3: heard it because that's not how he sounds. But he
Speaker 3: came out like maybe like I want to say, ten
Speaker 3: to fifteen years ago, maybe longer, but when he was
Speaker 3: part of like the neo soul movement, remember when like
Speaker 3: di'angelo and all that, like yes, yeah, yeah, so he
Speaker 3: was part of like the neo soul movement. But he
Speaker 3: What I love about Blau is that very similar to Prince.
Speaker 3: He is a classically trained musician. He has perfect pitch.
Speaker 3: He plays a number of instruments, and he's got that
Speaker 3: same rangers Prince, like that super high falsetto and then
Speaker 3: that super low like baritone voice and he.
Speaker 1: Redid I forget what song?
Speaker 3: It was a difficult Prince song and he killed it.
Speaker 3: I mean he sounded like Prince even like rolled on
Speaker 3: the ground like Prince. He he was Prince. And everybody
Speaker 3: was like, yes.
Speaker 2: Okay, I haven't watched that clip. I need to watch
Speaker 2: the Prince tribute.
Speaker 3: Yeah it was good. Yeah, honestly, everything was just really good.
Speaker 3: I mean I was like, look at Beyonce, because you know,
Speaker 3: Beyonce usually doesn't do the BET Awards.
Speaker 2: All the headlines I saw today, including the front page
Speaker 2: of Yahoo, was about Jesse Williams's speech.
Speaker 1: Sure, yeah, oh.
Speaker 3: I forgot about that, just to find himself to his
Speaker 3: beautiful wife.
Speaker 1: But his speech, did you listen? Did you watch it?
Speaker 4: Later?
Speaker 2: The clip I watched, and and well I read the
Speaker 2: transcript first and then I watched would you think? I
Speaker 2: thought it was really poetic, like that's the only way.
Speaker 2: It was almost like spoken word. We know Jesse Williams
Speaker 2: as the beautiful face on Gray's Anatomy. Yes, I still
Speaker 2: watch how many years like twelve thousand years later anyway,
Speaker 2: but he's always been very vocal and outspoken during the
Speaker 2: Black Lives movement move matter or sorry, black Lives Matter
Speaker 2: movement since four AM anyway. Yeah, so it's it was
Speaker 2: I'm gonna let you talk, said yeah, without joke, but.
Speaker 1: Honestly, it was very poetic.
Speaker 3: It was there were some things that he said that
Speaker 3: just especially the last few lines he said something like that,
Speaker 3: like you know, uh that you you what did he say?
Speaker 2: We may be magic, but that doesn't mean that we're
Speaker 2: not real?
Speaker 1: Yeah, they we're not humans.
Speaker 2: That was really no yeah to that effect.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and there was no something that he said. He said,
Speaker 3: you you put us on like clothes and then discard
Speaker 3: us like the rhymes of strange fruit. I mean I
Speaker 3: was like the so like I used to do like
Speaker 3: spoken word like all that yes, yes, yes, back in college,
Speaker 3: and I was like yes, like that old Tiffany was
Speaker 3: from twenty one was like just like snapping my fingers
Speaker 3: and like just sipping my tea. It was amazing they
Speaker 3: had done some Do you hit that feedback feedback?
Speaker 2: No, I don't hear anything.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, sorry I heard feedback, But no, they'd done
Speaker 3: like kind of like a little clip leading up to Jesse.
Speaker 3: I did not know that he was an Africana studies
Speaker 3: professor at one point. It totally makes sense that he
Speaker 3: was a teacher and the Africanda studies professor.
Speaker 1: Did you see his.
Speaker 3: Yeah, did you see his father in the audience, like
Speaker 3: tearing up?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I didn't know have his father.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was like his father and his mother. So
Speaker 3: Jesse is biracial, his mother is white, his father is black,
Speaker 3: and his father and his mom they just looked so proud,
Speaker 3: and I thought I saw tears in his father's eyes,
Speaker 3: like look him all, I have taught him good.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: Well, we didn't even say he was there accepting an
Speaker 2: award for Humanitarian of the Year. That's the whole reason
Speaker 2: he wasn't just like you know, oh yeah up there,
Speaker 2: just you know, grabbing the mic from somebody, and he
Speaker 2: also runs, I'm gonna I want to I'm want to
Speaker 2: talk about the group he runs. Oh, it's called the
Speaker 2: Advancement Project. We've talked about him a couple of times
Speaker 2: on the podcast before The Advancement Project is I believe
Speaker 2: mostly about I don't know. I'm not even gonna try
Speaker 2: and pretend like I know exactly what it's about. But
Speaker 2: there's one there's one thing he does forcifically. There was
Speaker 2: like a documentary series or something that was all about
Speaker 2: black men in America. That's right, Okay, got.
Speaker 3: Something right that like just basically shifting the portrayal of
Speaker 3: black men. And it's I think it's a docuseries, but
Speaker 3: I just they showed like clips of it on.
Speaker 1: The BT woards like while they were honoring him.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but he got a bigger standing ovation than any
Speaker 3: other artists, like like you know who's saying or anything else,
Speaker 3: Like he really moved the crowd. He talked about how
Speaker 3: yesterday or the day or today would be tame or
Speaker 3: Rice's fourteenth birthday, and that you know that sanction that
Speaker 3: they did a that paid public servants did a sanctioned
Speaker 3: drive by on a twelve year old playing alone in
Speaker 3: the park alone. How can you say that we've advanced?
Speaker 3: I was like, oh my goodness.
Speaker 2: You don't hear a language like that in the news.
Speaker 2: You don't you know, accidentally discharged his weapon or you know,
Speaker 2: not a sanctioned drive by, which is essentially what it was.
Speaker 3: Like.
Speaker 2: He's not mincing words at all.
Speaker 3: If you haven't listened to it. It's like mandatory viewing, honestly.
Speaker 2: And you know it's important when like he's making headlines
Speaker 2: and not Beyonce, not Jennifer Hudson, not the Prince Tribute,
Speaker 2: Jesse Williams, Ye anything, Oh did you? Justin Timberlake got
Speaker 2: in a little bit of trouble afterward.
Speaker 3: But he didn't say anything wrong. I thought he just
Speaker 3: said I'm inspired. That's what I thought he said.
Speaker 2: Well, he responded to someone who tweeted at him, saying, Okay,
Speaker 2: so does this mean you're gonna stop appropriating our culture?
Speaker 2: Because you know, people have issues with Justin Timberlake and
Speaker 2: Robin Thick and being like white dudes singing R and B.
Speaker 2: I find it really hard to be upset at Justin
Speaker 2: Timberlake because I've loved him for so long.
Speaker 1: Exactly, I'm sorry, I'm like sorry, I think.
Speaker 2: There's rude enough for everybody, and Justin Timberlake.
Speaker 3: Yes, I'm like, I'm actually gonna give him a past
Speaker 3: like I always I mean, I grew up at that
Speaker 3: time where I was like just that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he has like the Black card of passes, like
Speaker 2: the Black visa or what is it, the Black AMX.
Speaker 2: You can get it unlimited for your lifetime. He has that.
Speaker 2: He has that pass card anyway, but he responded to
Speaker 2: them saying oh sorry. He was like, first of all,
Speaker 2: he said, sweet heart, which is my pet peeve. Southerners
Speaker 2: do that when they're being condescending, they call you sweetheart.
Speaker 2: He was like, sweetheart, I'm just trying to say that
Speaker 2: I think we're all one human race and something to
Speaker 2: that effect. You know. He might as well have put
Speaker 2: hashtag all Lives Matter at the end of it, basically.
Speaker 2: But then he like walked back and apologized. I just
Speaker 2: feel like, this is again a moment where it's like,
Speaker 2: no one, it's your moment to speak and sometimes just
Speaker 2: let just let us have our moment without chiming in,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: Yes, wasn't there there was a video, this awesome video
Speaker 3: of a Muslim woman speaking on the same panel as
Speaker 3: Glorious Steinem and I can't remember where it was but
Speaker 3: they asked basically like what can people do? And he
Speaker 3: said and she said, and it was just so appropriate
Speaker 3: because Glorious Sinum was literally literally passing her the mic
Speaker 3: to speak. And she said, that's what you can do
Speaker 3: that allow us to tell our story past the mic,
Speaker 3: Like you cannot decide for us or speak for us.
Speaker 3: Allow us to speak for ourselves. And I think sometimes
Speaker 3: that I mean And like I said, I didn't have
Speaker 3: a problem with his original tweet justin Timberlake, but I
Speaker 3: get what you mean. Sometimes you're just like, yeah, now
Speaker 3: it's not just sh yeah some.
Speaker 2: Part you know, you want to talk about allies. The
Speaker 2: best thing you can do is an ally. Sometimes is
Speaker 2: no one.
Speaker 1: Touch Yeah, you need to shut it. That's right.
Speaker 2: Hashtag passed the mic.
Speaker 1: Yes, hashtag passed the mic.
Speaker 2: Yeah, is anything? Did anything else happen in life? Oh?
Speaker 2: Game of Thrones? This has absolutely nothing to do with finance.
Speaker 2: If you guys came for finance topics today.
Speaker 1: This is not the Yeah it's gonna happen.
Speaker 2: Game of Thrones was last night. I know you don't
Speaker 2: watch it, but the finale was epic. If anyone wants
Speaker 2: to swap notes, feel free to tweet me at Mandy
Speaker 2: Woodruff or email us at Brand Ambition Podcast at gmail
Speaker 2: dot com. I have a lot of thoughts on the
Speaker 2: show this is. This show was increasingly becoming like the
Speaker 2: feminist icon, I feel like, because I mean, it's a
Speaker 2: medieval show, and I can't really think of another period
Speaker 2: of time when women were more like victimized and objectified.
Speaker 2: Maybe all the times in history, but anyway, this period
Speaker 2: is specifically it's all about like corsets and wenches and
Speaker 2: rape and like using women as pawns and like just
Speaker 2: make me an air, you know that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: But this, like and this author, he's he's like this big,
Speaker 2: like Santa Claus looking white dude from like Phoenix, Arizona,
Speaker 2: and he's made some bad ass like feminist characters we have,
Speaker 2: and even like even Beyonce if you don't, if you don't,
Speaker 2: if you want a reason to watch this, Beyonce watches
Speaker 2: it too because she paid tribute to Kalisi, the Queen
Speaker 2: of Dragons. Anyway, like five of the major and i'd
Speaker 2: say prominent characters are all women right now. And this
Speaker 2: is a show that started out like majority males six
Speaker 2: seasons ago.
Speaker 3: I think that Superman and I we were talking about it.
Speaker 3: I was like, he's like, me and him are like eighty.
Speaker 3: He's like, have you heard of Game of Thrones? I
Speaker 3: was like, I have, I have. I think I want
Speaker 3: to get into it, and so I don't know, I
Speaker 3: think that we might, you know, because we tend to
Speaker 3: do that like wait forever and then like just like
Speaker 3: watch like one weekend or like a week and then
Speaker 3: we'll just sit and watch it together as a family.
Speaker 3: So well, obviously Supergirl can't watch.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but man, it's a little, uh, it's very vulgar.
Speaker 2: It's not just the sex and the in the the language.
Speaker 2: It's like just the violence, the sheer violence, and the
Speaker 2: blood and goods. Oh and the zombies.
Speaker 1: Zombies, and yeah, I'm confused.
Speaker 2: Don't get too caught up in the zombie aspect. It
Speaker 2: can kind of turn you off. But it's interest. It's good. Okay,
Speaker 2: it's scary, but good. The zombies are there. They're like
Speaker 2: they're called white Walkers.
Speaker 3: Oh, I think I've heard of them.
Speaker 2: Don't read the books either, another just don't do it.
Speaker 2: I did it because I'm a masochist. But you don't.
Speaker 2: You don't have to read the books. To enjoy the show. Okay, okay, yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm jealous. You guys get to start from scratch.
Speaker 3: I know, we'll see, we'll see how long I laugh
Speaker 3: because I usually have like I end up being like
Speaker 3: I'm bored to this.
Speaker 2: Oh I do kind of have a financial topic.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: I sat down with my wedding budget this week and
Speaker 2: my my nice little multi sheet spreadsheet and Google docs.
Speaker 2: I don't know what happened, but my wedding is like
Speaker 2: twice as expensive as I thought it was going to be.
Speaker 3: You know what happened.
Speaker 1: I know what happened.
Speaker 4: What to do?
Speaker 2: I'm bad at math.
Speaker 3: I know life happened to Carrie Broadshow, but she's like,
Speaker 3: I just want a simple wedding and then all of
Speaker 3: a sudden, you're gonna have a bird in your hair.
Speaker 2: But this is a simple wedding. Like I'm literally I
Speaker 2: have chosen the least expensive option for all the vendors
Speaker 2: I can think of, and we're not even halfway done.
Speaker 2: I'm really just estimating, and I'm my original budget. I'll
Speaker 2: just say it was about fifteen thousand, and it's looking
Speaker 2: more like twenty seven thousand. If my calculations are correct.
Speaker 2: That cannot happen. I can't help and can it can't happen.
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know because I'm still like Superman
Speaker 3: the other day was like, what's your ring size?
Speaker 1: Anyway? Just out of the blue, and I looked at
Speaker 1: him like, don't play.
Speaker 2: With can you just get it together? I know, stop
Speaker 2: asking questions. He has all the information he needs.
Speaker 1: I said, you know what, I'm gonna take batters into
Speaker 1: my own hand. And I called best friend best not
Speaker 1: kindle best friend, my other best friend. I said, look,
Speaker 1: best friend, my ring size is a six.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna give you this place that was highly reviewed
Speaker 3: on Yelp in the Diamond District in New York. And
Speaker 3: what you're gonna do is you're gonna call Superman and say, look,
Speaker 3: cut the shit, and you're gonna take him to the
Speaker 3: place and you're not gonna make him feel bad or
Speaker 3: like no matter what his budget is, and you're gonna
Speaker 3: find like a nice and you're not gonna let him
Speaker 3: pick the ring like you know, just you know me.
Speaker 3: It's simple. And he's a little bit busier than I am.
Speaker 3: You're gonna keep it simple because he's already spoken to
Speaker 3: my father.
Speaker 1: He's already, like you've done everything.
Speaker 3: Ye like yeah, Like I don't know what we're waiting on, Like,
Speaker 3: come on now. So that's what I told her.
Speaker 2: She said, Okay, it's waiting for the stars to align.
Speaker 2: Just do it.
Speaker 1: Like what are we waiting on?
Speaker 2: We've been waiting weeks. He doesn't know we've been waiting weeks.
Speaker 3: I can't wait. I come back and I'm like, okay,
Speaker 3: being podcast folks.
Speaker 1: So it finally happened.
Speaker 2: Well, I cannot wait for you to be in spreadsheet. Hell,
Speaker 2: I know that you're gonna make everything simple.
Speaker 1: You say, oh, yeah, no I am. I'm going out.
Speaker 3: I'm telling you I know right, I'm like justice of
Speaker 3: the piece and he's like, wedding.
Speaker 1: I'm like, we'll see who wins.
Speaker 2: You only get one, supposedly hopefully.
Speaker 1: I was like, I wool said, no.
Speaker 2: It really does start me, you know, making you start
Speaker 2: to think. When you're putting this much money into an event,
Speaker 2: You're like, what about people who get divorced? Aren't you
Speaker 2: so madns of thousands of dollars down the drain?
Speaker 3: Can you imagine the people who get divorced and are
Speaker 3: still paying for their wedding? How terrible that must be.
Speaker 2: No, I've been. I've had money for this saved since
Speaker 2: before I met well not since before I met him,
Speaker 2: but since before. It was probably conventionally, you know, accepted
Speaker 2: to be saving for a wedding to a person you're
Speaker 2: not engaged to yet. I'm just trying to think long term.
Speaker 2: The money is there. It's just like, you know, we're
Speaker 2: also trying to save her house. It's just that it's
Speaker 2: that time in your life where everything just collides. The house. Yeah, wedding,
Speaker 2: everyone else's weddings, might I add, there's so many. Yeah,
Speaker 2: So if you're out there and you're planning a wedding
Speaker 2: or you have teen weddings to go to this year,
Speaker 2: I feel your pain. Let's co miserate.
Speaker 3: See I'm passed like that. Well, no, I would say,
Speaker 3: because I'm in my mid thirties. So a lot of
Speaker 3: my friends got married in like their early thirties, so
Speaker 3: I remember it was like back to back to back.
Speaker 3: So now I'm like, okay, we're starting to get into
Speaker 3: the dwindling. Like not you know, it's not a whole
Speaker 3: bunch of weddings that are coming up. It's mostly like
Speaker 3: kids stuff like oh my kid's birthday and I'm like,
Speaker 3: oh boy.
Speaker 2: I wonder when the second weddings wave hits.
Speaker 3: I'm assuming, like in your forties and fifties, and even then,
Speaker 3: I'm assuming that you do you probably don't do a
Speaker 3: big shindg. You just kind of get married.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's not the whole like registry. There was a
Speaker 2: really sweet you know, I don't often peruse the wedding
Speaker 2: section of the New York Times, but someone posted this
Speaker 2: on Facebook because it's a really what's a rare black couple?
Speaker 2: I think for the New York Times wedding section, but
Speaker 2: this is a couple who are getting married. They're both
Speaker 2: in their sixties, and the story is really sweet, not
Speaker 2: only but it's not just these aren't your average people.
Speaker 2: So the woman, her name is doctor Helene Gail. She
Speaker 2: has been like a top executive at the Centers for
Speaker 2: Disease Control and Prevention in the HIV AIDS epidemic. Like
Speaker 2: she's cool with Bono, like Bono mentions her in speeches.
Speaker 2: And then her husband used to be a former aide
Speaker 2: to Senator Edward Kennedy. His name is Stephen Keith. Anyways,
Speaker 2: so they're like huge in public health. So they are
Speaker 2: doing amazing things but their love stories that they met
Speaker 2: in the seventies when they were both like medical students,
Speaker 2: and they went their entire lives like thirty years, you know,
Speaker 2: working together, but never really like connecting. And eventually he
Speaker 2: just like woke up and got his shit together and proposed.
Speaker 3: Damn, but I mean, in your sixteen I'm not trying
Speaker 3: to wait that long, superman. If you do, listen, don't
Speaker 3: do it to yourself.
Speaker 2: Well, he was married twice and she but she was
Speaker 2: more of like a feminist, like didn't want to get married,
Speaker 2: and I really identify with her. Actually, I was like
Speaker 2: hanging on to her every word in this quote because
Speaker 2: I don't know something about marriage, you know, I'll just
Speaker 2: go ahead and read it. The article says the question
Speaker 2: of marriage was one that doctor Gail had to work
Speaker 2: out for herself. She said, it's easy to be intellectual
Speaker 2: about marriage. Is it an equal institution for women as
Speaker 2: it is for men. Is it going to change my
Speaker 2: life and my life options? Does it indicate I need
Speaker 2: someone to complete me as a human being. Eventually, she
Speaker 2: decided to let emotion rule. There is something about the
Speaker 2: act that a public commitment does make a bond that
Speaker 2: is different and special and creates a level of intimacy,
Speaker 2: not necessarily that you need marriage four, but probably is
Speaker 2: facilitated by marriage. And I was like, okay, because I
Speaker 2: think it's I don't know, I've sort of been overthinking
Speaker 2: marriage a little bit because we're having this like a
Speaker 2: third or fourth wave femine as a movement, and I
Speaker 2: feel like, no, you don't need to be married technically anymore,
Speaker 2: and yeah, you can be financially in depend on your
Speaker 2: own as a woman. But you know, just sort of
Speaker 2: like personally soul searching and asking myself, you know, why
Speaker 2: am I actually getting married?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: And what is it really going to mean?
Speaker 3: You know, it's so funny because you said because this
Speaker 3: I was driving because I remember when I first got
Speaker 3: back because I'd know n Superman for a while and
Speaker 3: I dated in between, and I remember like when I
Speaker 3: really started dating him again, I wasn't in the best
Speaker 3: place because.
Speaker 1: I was like, ugh, you know, you've just been heard
Speaker 1: and you're like, this guy is a jerk.
Speaker 3: That guy was a jerk. And then Superman kind of
Speaker 3: came back in my life and I wasn't especially in
Speaker 3: the beginning. I was like nervous, like is this just
Speaker 3: the safe space to park, you know. And then yesterday
Speaker 3: I had just gone and see my dad and he
Speaker 3: was like, you know, Superman. Of course he doesn't call
Speaker 3: him Superman, but he said, you know, Superman. He spoke
Speaker 3: to me about you. I was like, Daddy, I know,
Speaker 3: and so he's.
Speaker 1: Like like, you know, I just want to let you know
Speaker 1: it's coming soon. You know.
Speaker 3: My dad's all excited and geeked up because he has
Speaker 3: five daughters, so you know, he's at a point now
Speaker 3: where he's like, please someone marry me. And as I
Speaker 3: was driving home, I thought to myself, you know, like
Speaker 3: I really love Superman. Like it's not you know, it's
Speaker 3: not a hurt place. You know, it's not a I'm
Speaker 3: parking myself here. It's not like he's a really great guy,
Speaker 3: you know, just like I mean, I'm sure you think
Speaker 3: about this about you know fiance boo that you're just like, yo,
Speaker 3: this he's a really good person, not just a good
Speaker 3: man like to me, just a good person. And I'm
Speaker 3: just really blessed just even if he wasn't my man,
Speaker 3: he's a good person, you know, and just it just.
Speaker 1: Makes me happy.
Speaker 3: And I thought to myself, and I'm finally in a
Speaker 3: place too where honestly, it was nice that my dad,
Speaker 3: you know, was happy about my choice now because remember
Speaker 3: remember when we first started the podcast, they were not happy,
Speaker 3: And I thought to myself, the truth of the matter is,
Speaker 3: I don't care that I'm finally in a place where
Speaker 3: I'm like either way, if they were happy or not
Speaker 3: happy or whatever, I've heard that I'm filing the place
Speaker 3: where I'm literally living life on my own terms and
Speaker 3: for the most part, you know, within reason. You know,
Speaker 3: I'm not like, you know, I'm going to walk the
Speaker 3: streets naked, But I don't care. Like I'm making choices
Speaker 3: based upon what I feel is right for me. I'm
Speaker 3: not measuring them against what my parents think, what my
Speaker 3: friends think. I'm finally like feeling fully grown and just
Speaker 3: making choices just based upon what I feel is right.
Speaker 2: I think it's all about trusting yourself. I think we
Speaker 2: doubt ourselves so much when we're younger, and you know,
Speaker 2: you well, you have the foresight of like seven years
Speaker 2: on me. But I feel like I'm still in that
Speaker 2: dowdy place, you know, or you feel like every decision
Speaker 2: is so huge and so important, and you just like,
Speaker 2: am I making the right decision and what if I'm
Speaker 2: not and you know, and that trickles into relationships too.
Speaker 2: But I think it's all about you know, not to
Speaker 2: sound all religious, but it's really about faith. You know,
Speaker 2: whatever you think of as faith, you just have to
Speaker 2: step out on it and hope. And I feel the
Speaker 2: same way about fiancee boo. It's like when you look
Speaker 2: at someone and you see how they move in the world,
Speaker 2: and yeah, sometimes I just like step back and I'm like,
Speaker 2: why you're so good?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: How did I wind up with you? I'm a mean person.
Speaker 1: I think that two people think I'm so.
Speaker 3: I mean, I guess I'm nice, but honestly, yeah right,
Speaker 3: I'm like I could be petty as hell. I can
Speaker 3: be like just like I get very I just get
Speaker 3: stressed out super easily. Like I'm literally like the nicest
Speaker 3: person until i'm not. And then when I'm not, it's
Speaker 3: like who is this monster? And like Superman is like
Speaker 3: even when he's not in a good mood, he's still nice.
Speaker 3: I mean, who feeds the kids in the neighborhood? Like
Speaker 3: just today he was like, oh, Man, like like our
Speaker 3: watermelon had a freezer burn, and I was like, I.
Speaker 2: Don't know why wait, what is that sentence? You just said?
Speaker 1: Our watermelon?
Speaker 3: He took it out of refrigerator and it had freezer burn,
Speaker 3: like because he had it all the way in the
Speaker 3: back and he was so okay, yeah he had it.
Speaker 3: So he was so disappointed and I asked why. He
Speaker 3: was like I was gonna cut it up to the kids.
Speaker 5: In the back, and I'm like, who are you you know,
Speaker 5: and he's just like such a sweetheart and like, yeah,
Speaker 5: it's just it just it's made me like even just
Speaker 5: to see, like you said, when you watch them navigating
Speaker 5: the world, and I think that I'm really really, you know,
Speaker 5: blessed and lucky, even if he was just my friend,
Speaker 5: you know.
Speaker 3: So yeah, and honestly, Mandy, when you get to I mean,
Speaker 3: when I was because you're what are you twenty nine?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll be twenty nine and exactly two.
Speaker 3: Months so so I'm thirty six now, and at twenty nine,
Speaker 3: I mean, so much was shaken up because that was
Speaker 3: like the time when I lost my job and I
Speaker 3: lost everything and everything. I was questioning literally everything. But
Speaker 3: now and I don't know if there's a magic age.
Speaker 3: I'm just assuming it's just there's not an age. It's
Speaker 3: just the moment where you get to a place and
Speaker 3: you feel not that everything is perfect, because it's not.
Speaker 3: But I'm finally at a place where I feel like
Speaker 3: I'm not looking for perfect I just want to do
Speaker 3: my best and be my best and like not in comparison.
Speaker 1: To what people say. But I don't know how I
Speaker 1: arrived at this point.
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna lie, just living and you know, so
Speaker 3: I hopefully, you know, everyone kind of gets to that place,
Speaker 3: but I'm assuming you get to that place.
Speaker 1: I'm sure there's some twenty five.
Speaker 3: Year old who are at that place, and there's some
Speaker 3: fifty year old who are just getting at that place.
Speaker 3: But I think as life evolves that you'll get to
Speaker 3: that place where you're not like questioning every move. You
Speaker 3: just understand that there's a flow to life and that
Speaker 3: you're on the right path. And even the bad things
Speaker 3: are good things. That's what I've learned. Like even the
Speaker 3: stuff that's that's messed up, it's supposed to be and
Speaker 3: it's supposed to bring me to the next level. So
Speaker 3: I even welcome my mistakes. I make so many, like
Speaker 3: even that car crash. Don't you know they offered me
Speaker 3: another car, I was like, oh, well that worked out,
Speaker 3: and so like, yeah, so the flow of life is
Speaker 3: really just amazing and beautiful and if you learn to
Speaker 3: kind of chill out and just rock with it and
Speaker 3: just you know, do your best and try to be
Speaker 3: your best, everything else works out.
Speaker 4: Yep ah.
Speaker 2: So that concludes our joint therapy session. Sorry for the
Speaker 2: gushing about the booze. I'm sorry, I know, but.
Speaker 1: Yeah, somebody's like me too, you know sometimes it's like
Speaker 1: the gush. So are you gonna boost? Are you gonna
Speaker 1: have breath?
Speaker 2: Oh? You broke up a little bit?
Speaker 1: Okay, did you hear you? Hear me? Now?
Speaker 3: Yes? Okay.
Speaker 2: So I'm gonna boost this week. Feeling in an optimistic mood.
Speaker 2: It's Monday, and it's going to be a short week
Speaker 2: because this weekend I'm going on a trip, a trip
Speaker 2: with my friends, my best friends, which maybe I'm realizing
Speaker 2: the last time we actually all get I don't want
Speaker 2: to jinx it. It may not be the last time,
Speaker 2: but it kind of feels like it might be the
Speaker 2: last time we all get together for our annual camping trip.
Speaker 2: So I'm gonna boost one vacation time and time off
Speaker 2: from work and two time off with friends when you
Speaker 2: still can, because I you know, you read all these
Speaker 2: studies about Americans not taking all their their PTO and
Speaker 2: I just don't understand why, because I feel like you've
Speaker 2: earned that time off and you're not impressing anybody by
Speaker 2: staying and you know, wasting your days. So take your
Speaker 2: days off. I'm MAXI mine out every year, but this
Speaker 2: trip in particular. These are my my like core group
Speaker 2: of like rider die friends, and you know, we're all
Speaker 2: going to be each other's weddings, and we've all sort
Speaker 2: of we live in different states. I think we were
Speaker 2: enforced three or four states now, and that's evolved over time.
Speaker 2: And that's the reason I feel like it's such an
Speaker 2: important trip right now for us is because three of us, wait,
Speaker 2: two of the couples in this group are getting married
Speaker 2: in the next year. Okay, one of the couples is
Speaker 2: probably going to be prego in the next year, and
Speaker 2: you know, we're buying houses, and you kind of get
Speaker 2: the sense that, like, Okay, this is the this is
Speaker 2: the pivoting point, Like this is when we transition into
Speaker 2: you know, real life and it's not just about the
Speaker 2: group of friends and we're not gonna be able to
Speaker 2: just pick up and go to the Pocono's for a
Speaker 2: week like we're doing right now. So I just really
Speaker 2: want to cherish his time and enjoy it with them,
Speaker 2: because who knows what's going to happen next year.
Speaker 3: That's true because once babies come. I was just like
Speaker 3: me and one of my bs, we used to always
Speaker 3: go like at least the way once, like for an
Speaker 3: extended weekend, and I was like asking her, She's like,
Speaker 3: did you forget to have a baby? I was like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 3: my God's son.
Speaker 1: I was like, can he come.
Speaker 3: She's like no, so yeah, no, definitely. That's an awesome
Speaker 3: brown boost, And mine is actually really simple. My brown
Speaker 3: boost is Jesse Williams.
Speaker 1: That's it.
Speaker 3: I mean, there's nothing else to say. Just more of
Speaker 3: Jesse Williams. Please with the little uh grape juice and
Speaker 3: soda on the side.
Speaker 1: What is that chicken noodle soup?
Speaker 2: Yes, episoda on the side.
Speaker 3: Yes, he is the chicken noodle soup to my soda
Speaker 3: on the side. And I just want to just more
Speaker 3: of him. I cannot get enough. So that's my brown boost.
Speaker 2: He's such a pleasant picture to imagine in your head. Yes,
Speaker 2: I think he uses his beauty for good. To be honest, Yes,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. Like, and he's written about
Speaker 2: and we've talked about the European beauty standards in the
Speaker 2: black community. And he is light skinned, biracial, blue eyes,
Speaker 2: and I can identify a lot with that with him
Speaker 2: because I'm light skin, I have green eyes, and you
Speaker 2: almost like you want to be involved in in all
Speaker 2: the you know, exciting movements and like Black pride that's
Speaker 2: happening right now. But you also like he also acknowledges like, hey,
Speaker 2: I have been given this genetic situation and it puts
Speaker 2: me in a different place than a lot of people,
Speaker 2: in a lot of people's minds, and he like acknowledges that.
Speaker 2: And I always respected him for calling that out and
Speaker 2: acknowledging that little piece of privilege he has. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: being lighter skin with you know, lighter complexion and stuff.
Speaker 2: But I think he and to the same end, I
Speaker 2: think he really uses that. Like people like him. They
Speaker 2: think he's hot and sexy, which he is, and that
Speaker 2: means they pay attention to him, and that can be
Speaker 2: a negative thing, but he's also he's sort of like
Speaker 2: made it a positive.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree, like you can't help go ahead.
Speaker 2: Like you think I'm beautiful, great, but listen to what
Speaker 2: I have to say. You may not like it.
Speaker 1: And so I love because you're right.
Speaker 3: He gets invited to some of these conservative like panels
Speaker 3: and like TV shows and news shows that might not
Speaker 3: otherwise have like a Nate. Who's the guy Nate, the
Speaker 3: one who did uh? He did the new movie about
Speaker 3: Oh My mind is just a blanket everyway. He has
Speaker 3: this new movie about the slave Revolution, like.
Speaker 2: Oh, Tucker, Tucker, Yes, I know what you're talking.
Speaker 3: So he's very handsome too, but he's like just like
Speaker 3: you know, he looks like typical black man, you.
Speaker 2: Know, not yes the movie about Not Turner.
Speaker 3: Yes, so he's very handsome, but like a Jesse Williams
Speaker 3: is the type of he has a type of looks
Speaker 3: that like across all races people can acknowledge like okay.
Speaker 3: And as a result, yes, doors definitely open and he
Speaker 3: uses you know, and I'm glad that he uses that
Speaker 3: for good. And it's like, yes, you have me invited here,
Speaker 3: but I'm about to read you like like no, like
Speaker 3: no other And.
Speaker 2: Just to be clear, so we're not drugged. It is
Speaker 2: the movie is about not turning the slave by Nate Parker, Yes,
Speaker 2: the director.
Speaker 3: Yes, and he's fine, fine, fine, I have.
Speaker 2: Just even seen a picture of him.
Speaker 3: I mean, well, child, make it your make it your
Speaker 3: business to google.
Speaker 2: I know him. What's he been in Yeah, he's been Yeah, he's.
Speaker 1: Been in movies before.
Speaker 3: But he's just like you know, I like, like, I mean,
Speaker 3: my preference, like Superman is super chocolate. I love, love love,
Speaker 3: dark skin, high cheekbones. Nate's not really like he's more chocolate,
Speaker 3: like you know, like a milk chocolate. But yeah, I
Speaker 3: love I'm hungry. Do we get any letters this week?
Speaker 3: If you do have letters, or you do have a
Speaker 3: financial question or career question, you know, you can always
Speaker 3: tweet us at the BA podcast. You can find us
Speaker 3: on Facebook as Brown Ambition, and you can email us
Speaker 3: at Brown Ambition.
Speaker 2: Oh no, come on the.
Speaker 3: BA podcast at gmail dot com.
Speaker 2: Nope, Conic, what is this Brian Ambition Podcast at gmail
Speaker 2: dot com?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 2: Have we listened? Have we done this question yet? From?
Speaker 2: Does she want us to use her name? We'll just
Speaker 2: call her I really feel bad because shorthand of her
Speaker 2: name is fatty, but can't call her that.
Speaker 1: So let's call her, let's.
Speaker 3: Call her slim Slim.
Speaker 2: Okay, so here's the question, and forgive me if I
Speaker 2: repeat of repeating myself. Okay, she says, Hi, Mandy and Tiffany, Hi,
Speaker 2: I am an entrepreneur. This is my second year in business,
Speaker 2: and revenue is growing, and the next month client work
Speaker 2: will bring in about twenty three thousand dollars, not to
Speaker 2: mention smaller incoming client work. I want to allocate this
Speaker 2: money in a way that helps me get ahead. My
Speaker 2: concerns are how much to save my save toward living
Speaker 2: expenses and in my emergency fund, and how aggressive I
Speaker 2: should be toward debt pay down. I have an old
Speaker 2: personal credit card bill that's high that I've been paying
Speaker 2: down and not adding expenses to. My instinct is to
Speaker 2: be aggressive and paying down the credit card, but I
Speaker 2: want to be sure I have enough money to cover
Speaker 2: my living expenses if things get lean, I already keep
Speaker 2: my expenses. My personal expense is low. Any ideas and
Speaker 2: how I should consider allocating this money or how I
Speaker 2: can approach debt to pay down? No, to pay down
Speaker 2: my debt and increase my savings.
Speaker 1: Well, first, congratulations two years and you know you're making
Speaker 1: good money a month.
Speaker 3: That's awesome.
Speaker 2: Seriously, congrats. That's a good question.
Speaker 1: It is.
Speaker 3: I'll tell you what I do because I'm kind of
Speaker 3: similar in that I don't have old credit card debt,
Speaker 3: Like I'm credit card debt free. The only debt I
Speaker 3: do have is my student loan debt for my masters.
Speaker 3: So what I decided is I really live, especially as
Speaker 3: an entrepreneur, I don't live by a mouth. I live
Speaker 3: by percentages because I never necessarily know.
Speaker 1: What I'm going to make month a month.
Speaker 3: I mean, I kind of have a general idea, like
Speaker 3: a range, and so I have allocated five percent of
Speaker 3: my income toward debt paydown. So what that means is
Speaker 3: I give my debt automatically.
Speaker 1: I have it.
Speaker 3: My bank automatically gives a minimum every month, So no
Speaker 3: matter what, you know, my student loans get their four
Speaker 3: hundred bucks or whatever it is on like the fifteenth
Speaker 3: of the month, and then depending on what I make,
Speaker 3: I give an additional payment at the end of the month,
Speaker 3: a five percent of what I made that of what
Speaker 3: I made that month, just to like, So that's my
Speaker 3: way of allocating without like overly aggressively just paying down debt,
Speaker 3: and then I set aside, so twenty percent of my
Speaker 3: income goes toward investing. Ten percent of that twenty is
Speaker 3: retirement and the other ten percent is investing for wealth.
Speaker 3: So that's I call that my me money. And I
Speaker 3: take twenty percent of my income and do that. Thirty
Speaker 3: percent of my income I set aside for taxes because
Speaker 3: you know, you don't have no business, but Uncle Sam
Speaker 3: takes it, you know, And like I said, five percent
Speaker 3: for debt, and I like to give ten percent, like
Speaker 3: I set aside ten percent to donate, and so those
Speaker 3: percentages come after I set aside my my like after
Speaker 3: my expenses and stuff.
Speaker 1: So it's not like I'm like, oh, off.
Speaker 3: The top except for taxes off the top, unless you know,
Speaker 3: I set aside my taxes before basically everything except for
Speaker 3: business spending. So that's what I would probably do. Just
Speaker 3: work out some percentages for yourself. I probably would set
Speaker 3: aside ten percent, maybe five percent for debt, and then
Speaker 3: maybe ten percent for savings, if not more, and just
Speaker 3: start chopping up. Like I like to play with my percentages.
Speaker 3: So I do a percentages for you know, three or
Speaker 3: four months, and as I start to make more, I
Speaker 3: increase those percentages because I don't need as much.
Speaker 1: I save a really aggressively.
Speaker 3: I don't you know, I make really good money a
Speaker 3: month now with the BUDGETISA, after like five years of
Speaker 3: toiling away. But I set aside a large chunk for
Speaker 3: myself because by four I want to be financially independent,
Speaker 3: and you know, so I live simply now so I
Speaker 3: can achieve that goal. So that's what I would suggest,
Speaker 3: set aside five percent on top of your your your
Speaker 3: minimum payment.
Speaker 2: Well here's my question to you. So if you had
Speaker 2: a she doesn't tell us how much is on this
Speaker 2: credit card, but if you had a credit card with
Speaker 2: let's say, like ten thousand dollars on it, with like
Speaker 2: a fifteen percent which seems about average fifteen to twenty
Speaker 2: percent interest rate, do you think you'd still kind of
Speaker 2: like just let that sit there and only put five
Speaker 2: percent or do you? For me, personally, I get stressed
Speaker 2: out by having credit card like debt, and so for me,
Speaker 2: I was always more on the And I think it's
Speaker 2: really a personal thing and it comes down to your
Speaker 2: your like the way your your mentality around money, and
Speaker 2: if having debt is going to weigh on you at
Speaker 2: night and you can't sleep, which it does to me.
Speaker 2: I was always leaning toward more of the aggressive with
Speaker 2: by you know, saving still, which I think is important
Speaker 2: to have money on the side so that you know,
Speaker 2: you know, something happens, you can always lean on that savings.
Speaker 2: But when you have that crazy high interest rate and
Speaker 2: you know, you know this credit card is is has
Speaker 2: been you know, on your on your docket for a while. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I've always been toward more of like the you know,
Speaker 2: pay whatever you possibly can. That's that you know that
Speaker 2: you have left over toward that to that credit card.
Speaker 1: All what you can do.
Speaker 3: Too, is like if you let's just say you have
Speaker 3: ten thousand dollars and you split it up into four
Speaker 3: payments of twenty five hundred dollars a piece, and right,
Speaker 3: so you could do that over four months and say, okay,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna save, I'm gonna do something of that, and
Speaker 3: I'm gonna in four months, since I'm not actually using
Speaker 3: this credit card, in four months, i should be credit
Speaker 3: card debt free.
Speaker 1: So you can kind of do that too. And if
Speaker 1: you don't want.
Speaker 3: To do the monthly percentage, just decide when do I
Speaker 3: really want to be done with this and set aside
Speaker 3: a chunk of money that you're going to send monthly.
Speaker 3: I probably wouldn't do it all in like one month,
Speaker 3: because you want them, especially as a business owner. You
Speaker 3: know you might be doing great now and then in
Speaker 3: two months the thing that you do, you know it's
Speaker 3: no longer relevant, and you don't want to have like
Speaker 3: you're just debt free, but you don't have any money
Speaker 3: to fall back on totally.
Speaker 2: You never know what next month is going to bring. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and this may be your first month when things are final.
Speaker 2: It's just like, you know, you're feeling successful and you're
Speaker 2: making money, but this is all new and it's just
Speaker 2: the beginning, and you don't want to put all your
Speaker 2: eggs in your credit card basket and have no cash
Speaker 2: left orr at the end of it. Yeah. I think
Speaker 2: starting from like what you what you said, setting an
Speaker 2: end date and then working backward how much you need
Speaker 2: to actually pay on the card to get to that
Speaker 2: end date is a good idea. They're all right, slim, slim,
Speaker 2: not batty. If you guys have questions again, you can
Speaker 2: email us that Brown Ambition Podcast at gmail dot.
Speaker 1: Com dot com. Know, I gotta do that every time
Speaker 1: I do. You're waiting for it. I know you will,
Speaker 1: all right, So it's.
Speaker 3: Time for all we do is when when win, no
Speaker 3: matter what. I don't know the second line, so don't ask.
Speaker 1: Okay, So what is you're winning for this week?
Speaker 2: Instead of a win, I'm going to do a book recommendation? Okay,
Speaker 2: I'm in. I'm doing audiobooks now that my commute is
Speaker 2: hellishly long. I'm trying to disilver lining. Is that I'm
Speaker 2: listening to audiobooks now. I this is a book called Grit.
Speaker 1: Get rid of it.
Speaker 2: I have. I like it a lot.
Speaker 1: That's all.
Speaker 2: That's it?
Speaker 1: What is what?
Speaker 3: What is it about?
Speaker 2: I was just trying to buy myself some times, like, oh,
Speaker 2: look up the whole title of the book.
Speaker 3: You're like, yeah, it's really good. As I look up.
Speaker 2: Grit the Power of Passions and the God I need
Speaker 2: to go to sleep. Grit the Power of Passion and Perseverance.
Speaker 2: It only has been out since May, but it's by
Speaker 2: Angela Duckworth, who has been the recipient of a little
Speaker 2: award called the MacArthur Genius Grant MacArthur Genius Award, which
Speaker 2: ton of Hasse Codes won. Lynn Manuel Miranda one like
Speaker 2: a lot of amazing people. And if you don't know
Speaker 2: the McCarthy, the MacArthur Award, you don't even get, Like,
Speaker 2: you don't apply for it, you don't ask to be nominated.
Speaker 2: Like a super secret board of the most elite people
Speaker 2: in a dozen different fields gets together and they like,
Speaker 2: pluck you out from obscurity and they say that you
Speaker 2: get the award. So anyway, that's awesome. So she's super smart.
Speaker 2: But the book itself was really good. Sweat. I like
Speaker 2: it because it's about so it's called the grit, the
Speaker 2: power or passion and perseverance. It's not just like a
Speaker 2: book on how people become successful. It talks about what
Speaker 2: separates someone who's successful from someone who's not successful. And
Speaker 2: Angela has done years and years of research on this,
Speaker 2: looking at everyone from West Point cadets to those National
Speaker 2: Spelling Bee champion kids, to college graduates to high school
Speaker 2: students and finds that grit is what sets people apart.
Speaker 2: It's not just your talent or your potential. It's the
Speaker 2: ability to withstand anything and keep and keep going. And
Speaker 2: it really resonated with me especially well not just from
Speaker 2: a like a career kind of aspect, which I think
Speaker 2: is good too, because it just shows you that, like,
Speaker 2: you know, I don't always personally, I you know, covering
Speaker 2: finance and being a financial reporter, I know, I don't
Speaker 2: always feel like I'm the smartest person financially or that
Speaker 2: I know all the answers financially. But I've always sort
Speaker 2: of felt like, you know, a little scrap and like
Speaker 2: I'm going to get the answer and I may not
Speaker 2: know everything, but I'll figure it out. And I think
Speaker 2: that's what she's sort of talking about. And I and I,
Speaker 2: I don't know. I highly recommend it. I think it's
Speaker 2: a it's a good book, and it's a good reminder
Speaker 2: that you you may not be the smartest or the fastest.
Speaker 2: Like I was never the I'm not the best athlete,
Speaker 2: but I've done a half marathon and I've done a triathlon.
Speaker 2: That's because you know, I was always the biggest girl.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, I'm the biggest girl in my cross
Speaker 2: my CrossFit class. I'm the slowest girl in my CrossFit class.
Speaker 2: But I'm the only one who's come to every class
Speaker 2: like it's all the time, and like I keep going
Speaker 2: because I get really I get really stuck on these
Speaker 2: goals of mine, and you keep going and it's nice
Speaker 2: that there's actually a word I can call that now,
Speaker 2: which is I like that.
Speaker 3: Great grit right if you know. It reminds me of
Speaker 3: my dad. Like he was the youngest son of the
Speaker 3: last wife. My grandfather had I think like five wives
Speaker 3: and Nigerian that was totally cool back in that those days.
Speaker 3: And his mother was the last wife. He was the
Speaker 3: youngest son. I think some number seven or eight. So like,
Speaker 3: you know, just to put in perspective, the first son
Speaker 3: is obviously the most important.
Speaker 1: He's the heir. The second son is despair. Everybody else
Speaker 1: is like extra mouths to feed. So imagine the youngest
Speaker 1: So he wasn't really given much attention or just even
Speaker 1: just his father didn't invest much in him. His mother did.
Speaker 1: But my dad is little on.
Speaker 3: The short side. He hates to sit out, like I'm
Speaker 3: so glad he does not listen to this. He's a
Speaker 3: little on the short side. And he's smart, like really smart.
Speaker 3: But really, when I see from where he came in Nigeria,
Speaker 3: like literally at sixteen, he built his own home for
Speaker 3: lack of a better word, for himself and like like
Speaker 3: right outside his father's compound, like like you know, like
Speaker 3: with like just built his own home. Just imagine what
Speaker 3: that looks like in Nigeria and somehow got all the
Speaker 3: way to America to succeed, not only succeed, but thrive,
Speaker 3: master's degree, undergraduate, just five kids, all college educated. And
Speaker 3: that's when I really, when I look at him, it's
Speaker 3: that grit that you're talking about. He is one of
Speaker 3: these tenacious I don't know how we're gonna do it,
Speaker 3: what we're gonna do. I don't know how I'm going
Speaker 3: to keep doing it, and I'm going to keep going.
Speaker 3: And my dad does not let go when he has
Speaker 3: like something in mind. And so I actually really want
Speaker 3: to read that book because I love, Like, if there's
Speaker 3: anything that I hope that I inherited from him other
Speaker 3: than his temper, because lord knows when I get mad
Speaker 3: that I hope it's that grit of his because he
Speaker 3: is I can only imagine if he would have grown
Speaker 3: up with like and started a little higher, you know,
Speaker 3: because yeah, he's just from he fard. I mean, he
Speaker 3: has literally gone to the moon, you know, like not
Speaker 3: literally because that's not what that means, but you know
Speaker 3: what I mean in comparison to where he's come from
Speaker 3: to where he is now whoa you know, like a
Speaker 3: hundred paces you know. So yeah, so you know what,
Speaker 3: in honor of you sharing a book, I think I'm
Speaker 3: going to do a book too, because I'm actually reading
Speaker 3: a new book and it's called What I Know for
Speaker 3: Sure by Oprah Winfy Winfrey. And Oprah has a magazine
Speaker 3: and this is like her column in her magazine, what
Speaker 3: I Know for Sure. So these are like a collection
Speaker 3: of all of not all, but like a few years
Speaker 3: of her column and it's just literally just that she
Speaker 3: would just share whatever she was feeling that she knew
Speaker 3: for sure at that moment in time in her life.
Speaker 3: And it's just really it's like typical Oprah, but it's
Speaker 3: just I needed some I don't know, like Oprah provides
Speaker 3: sometimes that like you could do anything, you know. Oprah's
Speaker 3: like the ultimate cheerleader. And so yeah, it's just a
Speaker 3: great little it's an easy little read. It's very uplifting.
Speaker 3: It's not I'm not rushing through it. I'm just kind
Speaker 3: of reading it as I need that feeling of Tiffany,
Speaker 3: You've got it, You're okay, you know, everything's going to
Speaker 3: work out. And so it's just a nice book and
Speaker 3: it just it's like soothing to the soul. So if
Speaker 3: you need a little soothing, I would highly recommend What
Speaker 3: I Know for Sure by Oprah Winfrey. I have it
Speaker 3: on my kindle, but they also have obviously, like you know,
Speaker 3: the regular book version too.
Speaker 2: I want to get the audiobook. I miss Oprah's voice.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and if you go to Amazon, which I love,
Speaker 3: they actually have like a nice chunky section where she's
Speaker 3: like you hear her reading and you're like, oh, Oprah, yes, yes, Oprah.
Speaker 2: I haven't really like I haven't watched any of the
Speaker 2: own shows or any of oprah stuff like Super Soul Sunday.
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't have cable, but I haven't. I
Speaker 2: feel like I've been like Oprah to pray for a
Speaker 2: long time. Depraved, deprived.
Speaker 1: We're both like just words.
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, I'm gonna stop talking now and just call it.
Speaker 2: This is the end of the show.
Speaker 3: Yes, And if you guys have any really great books,
Speaker 3: please please please share.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let us know what's on your bookshelves or in
Speaker 2: your ears, because.
Speaker 1: I honestly, like I I love reading. It's just to me.
Speaker 3: Reading and nighttime walking are the things that just like
Speaker 3: they're like my decompression. It's my thing that I love
Speaker 3: to do that brings me to like center and brings
Speaker 3: me peace. And so I love a good book.
Speaker 2: So I can't even think of a segway. I'm sorry, my.
Speaker 1: Brain is so.
Speaker 3: On that note.
Speaker 1: Y'all weird.
Speaker 3: Gonna let you go, and like I said, share your
Speaker 3: books with us. Tweet us at the BA podcast, Facebook,
Speaker 3: us at Brown Ambition, email us at us at Brown
Speaker 3: Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com.
Speaker 2: Look at God, I thank you for picking up the flock.
Speaker 2: I am on a different planet right now.
Speaker 1: All right, Mandy go get your rest.
Speaker 3: Night y'all, like nine nights, Bye bye