1
00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:04,359
Speaker 1: Oh iba fam, It's time for another Hola back Monday.

2
00:00:04,559 --> 00:00:07,880
Speaker 1: This week we're featuring a mega entrepreneur. Yes, this is

3
00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:10,760
Speaker 1: my friend. I just saw her the other day, Lauren Mailman.

4
00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:14,440
Speaker 1: Lauren has advised and invested in over forty startups and

5
00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:19,480
Speaker 1: her portfolio represents over five billion in market capitalization. Lauren

6
00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:22,520
Speaker 1: is that chick. Okay, she's gonna talk about everything you

7
00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,280
Speaker 1: need to know about investing. And like I said, I

8
00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:28,240
Speaker 1: just saw her, so I don't believe in coincidences. Okay,

9
00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:28,920
Speaker 1: give it a listen.

10
00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:41,320
Speaker 2: Hey, hey, hey, we're black. We're back. We're brown.

11
00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:48,840
Speaker 1: Ambition ambition, ambition, ambition. We're extra brown today. Hey, Mandram,

12
00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:49,360
Speaker 1: how are you?

13
00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:52,639
Speaker 3: Hi, beautiful, I'm doing pretty good.

14
00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:53,080
Speaker 4: How are you?

15
00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:54,200
Speaker 2: I'm good. I'm good.

16
00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:56,240
Speaker 3: And we just popped a couple of extra strength talent

17
00:00:56,320 --> 00:00:57,520
Speaker 3: all so I'm rare and to go.

18
00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:01,040
Speaker 1: We have some extra brown in the STU. I love

19
00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:03,400
Speaker 1: what I say this, dou I feel so cool. We

20
00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:08,080
Speaker 1: have some extra primes to today. Super special because she's

21
00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:12,080
Speaker 1: like super impressive, but she's also my frian friend. Let's

22
00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:14,319
Speaker 1: welcome Lauren and Melman.

23
00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:16,319
Speaker 2: To the studio. Welcome Lauren.

24
00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:21,640
Speaker 1: She's a change agent, committed to diversity, innovation, equity, and inclusion.

25
00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:26,360
Speaker 1: She's an award winning marketer, prolific investor, advisor, entrepreneur, and

26
00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:30,280
Speaker 1: board member with a multi health hyphen it career spanning

27
00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:34,679
Speaker 1: over fifteen years. She's advised invested in over forty starters

28
00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:40,000
Speaker 1: in her portfolio represents over five billion in market cap.

29
00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:40,800
Speaker 2: Okay.

30
00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:43,440
Speaker 1: She's the founder and the CEO of LMB Group, a

31
00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:46,800
Speaker 1: strategic marketing and advisory company partnering with brands like CoverGirl.

32
00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:51,560
Speaker 1: She also started straight Up and Successful women focused community

33
00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:54,760
Speaker 1: and professional development firm. She discovers and sees this hidden

34
00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:59,440
Speaker 1: profitable value across retail CpG lifestyle brands. Luxury goods, YadA, YadA,

35
00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:02,320
Speaker 1: YadA is about pioneer stuff. She's basically the bomb dot

36
00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:04,279
Speaker 1: com Okay. Oh, last, but not least. When she was nineteen,

37
00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:09,280
Speaker 1: she became the youngest winery owner girl in the country,

38
00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:13,639
Speaker 1: co founding the internationally recognized Sugar Leaf Vineyards.

39
00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:15,480
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, this.

40
00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:16,320
Speaker 4: Is incredible, Lauren.

41
00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:20,080
Speaker 3: I'm exhausted and I don't even is.

42
00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:22,560
Speaker 2: A mama of two beautiful kids on top of.

43
00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:27,400
Speaker 3: Her now I'm dead. I'm not also a bad as

44
00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:28,120
Speaker 3: my mom.

45
00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:31,400
Speaker 2: And she got her mom is so awesome and she

46
00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:33,600
Speaker 2: got a bad as mama.

47
00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:36,040
Speaker 3: And it's self proclaimed. What'd you call yourself a rich

48
00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:37,080
Speaker 3: auntie in this space?

49
00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:37,680
Speaker 4: Oh me?

50
00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:41,040
Speaker 5: I call myself like a dinosaur in this space, an auntie.

51
00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:43,560
Speaker 5: I'm just like the auntie dinosaur because I've been around

52
00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:47,119
Speaker 5: this for a long time. Like Tiffany says, we've known

53
00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:50,880
Speaker 5: each other a long time, so I've been able to see,

54
00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:54,000
Speaker 5: you know, her glow up and you know, the beginning

55
00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:57,200
Speaker 5: of this incredible podcast. But I just feel like I

56
00:02:57,200 --> 00:02:59,200
Speaker 5: feel like a lot of people's auntie in this space

57
00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:02,239
Speaker 5: because I have been around since we were all starting

58
00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:05,040
Speaker 5: and we're still here and now we're all thriving.

59
00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:09,880
Speaker 4: So I'm not new to this. I'm true to this. Yeah.

60
00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:11,920
Speaker 3: Well it's such a pleasure for me. This is my

61
00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:14,600
Speaker 3: first time meeting you, and I feel like just from that,

62
00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:16,440
Speaker 3: just from getting to know you a little bit, I'm like, oh,

63
00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:19,680
Speaker 3: Brown ambition personified. Obviously. Why haven't you we had you

64
00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:22,680
Speaker 3: on before? Well tell everybody, Like, I mean, there's so

65
00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:25,720
Speaker 3: much you have going on, and I feel like, you know,

66
00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:29,000
Speaker 3: seasons come and go as far as like entrepreneurship, So like,

67
00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:31,519
Speaker 3: right now, what are you focusing on? Because I or

68
00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:32,760
Speaker 3: are you going to tell me that you do everything

69
00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:35,640
Speaker 3: perfectly and you can do it all? No, the baby's

70
00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:37,640
Speaker 3: in the vineyard and the venture capital and all that.

71
00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:40,880
Speaker 4: Well, let me decide you. My babies are not babies.

72
00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:43,120
Speaker 5: So first of all, my babies are at the age

73
00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:46,680
Speaker 5: of being like useful. So I know everyone thinks that

74
00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:48,560
Speaker 5: I have like these little babies and it's like, girl,

75
00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:50,640
Speaker 5: how are you doing all this and wrangling like toddlers.

76
00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:53,640
Speaker 5: Luckily I've already gone through that stage. They are well

77
00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:56,960
Speaker 5: potty trained, they can cook, they can my son as

78
00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:03,440
Speaker 5: much as are driving, So fifteen year old son and

79
00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:06,360
Speaker 5: a thirteen year old daughter, and so they keep me busy.

80
00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:06,880
Speaker 4: For sure.

81
00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:09,600
Speaker 5: I'm more like a chauffeur than anything until they can

82
00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:11,560
Speaker 5: take them with all everywhere they need to go.

83
00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:13,480
Speaker 4: So it's a good age for sure.

84
00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:17,320
Speaker 5: And the things I'm working on now as an entrepreneur,

85
00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:21,200
Speaker 5: it's been really interesting. I think I'm in I'm in

86
00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:25,280
Speaker 5: the stage of my life where ran and we're talking

87
00:04:25,279 --> 00:04:30,440
Speaker 5: about this before we went live, where the bar is heightening, right,

88
00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:35,680
Speaker 5: it is raising, and both by design but also by choice,

89
00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:38,120
Speaker 5: because I want to do more and I have found

90
00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:41,680
Speaker 5: ways to do more and I think the epiphany season

91
00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:44,640
Speaker 5: that I'm in right now is that as women, especially

92
00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:48,279
Speaker 5: as founders and entrepreneurs, we try to create a life

93
00:04:48,279 --> 00:04:51,800
Speaker 5: that gives us the license to do the things we love.

94
00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:54,640
Speaker 5: We try to create a life that allows us to

95
00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:57,240
Speaker 5: move in these spaces. So, you know, ten years ago,

96
00:04:57,279 --> 00:04:59,560
Speaker 5: when I wrote my best selling book, The Path We Defined,

97
00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:02,560
Speaker 5: I have this chapter that was so enlightening for everyone,

98
00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:07,560
Speaker 5: and it's entitled, build a life That's serendipitous by design,

99
00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:10,119
Speaker 5: And I just think I'm doing that at that next level.

100
00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:13,120
Speaker 5: So it's like, you know, serendipity is not happenstance. It

101
00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:16,960
Speaker 5: is still strategic and it's by design if you keep

102
00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:20,920
Speaker 5: around good people, good ideas come, good businesses come, good

103
00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:23,599
Speaker 5: investments come right, like one thing kind of begets the other.

104
00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:25,599
Speaker 5: So I think, you know, as women, we spend a

105
00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:29,240
Speaker 5: lot of time trying to create our careers, our lives

106
00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:31,840
Speaker 5: that give us the license to do the things we love.

107
00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:35,320
Speaker 5: And that often means having the ability to do the

108
00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:38,680
Speaker 5: next thing right. So we spent so long talking about

109
00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:42,360
Speaker 5: you know, the next level, the next chapter, next, next, next,

110
00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:45,360
Speaker 5: and next really means move on from one thing and

111
00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:48,039
Speaker 5: replace it with another. And I think I'm in the

112
00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:53,279
Speaker 5: season of accumulation right, and like portfolio building, legacy building,

113
00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:55,360
Speaker 5: where I want to do more, But it doesn't mean.

114
00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:56,280
Speaker 4: To replace something.

115
00:05:56,360 --> 00:05:59,320
Speaker 5: It means to be good enough and have great teams

116
00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:02,919
Speaker 5: and infrastructure and systems that allow you to create a

117
00:06:02,960 --> 00:06:07,080
Speaker 5: portfolio that is an ongoing repertoire of all the things.

118
00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:10,159
Speaker 5: And so it's about building instead of replacing. So the

119
00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:13,560
Speaker 5: season that I'm in right now is about building, bigger, building,

120
00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:17,359
Speaker 5: more building at scale, bigger impact. So it is a

121
00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:19,120
Speaker 5: lot of what I've always done when you ask what

122
00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:22,080
Speaker 5: am I up to the same things, but in the

123
00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:26,880
Speaker 5: season of building for scale, for impact, for global for

124
00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:30,560
Speaker 5: global awareness, which just looks different because I'm not looking

125
00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:33,400
Speaker 5: to replace it. I still want to sustain and maintain

126
00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:36,520
Speaker 5: the things that I've already done well and established, and

127
00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:38,800
Speaker 5: I want to establish something else, right, I want to

128
00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:40,760
Speaker 5: layer on top of it. I want to want to

129
00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:44,239
Speaker 5: make it more complex and more robust, want to.

130
00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:45,120
Speaker 4: Again have that scale.

131
00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:47,359
Speaker 5: And I think we think about scale and businesses, but

132
00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:49,800
Speaker 5: I'm starting to think about scale in my life and

133
00:06:49,839 --> 00:06:51,680
Speaker 5: in my career and in the people that I'm able

134
00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:53,960
Speaker 5: to help and influence and advise and.

135
00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:56,440
Speaker 3: Invest in and I've got a feeling when you say portfolio,

136
00:06:56,480 --> 00:06:59,120
Speaker 3: you ain't talking about index funds like me and the

137
00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:02,000
Speaker 3: basic the basic bs out here still trying to like

138
00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:05,160
Speaker 3: make sure we're investing. I mean, you are an investor

139
00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:07,240
Speaker 3: in businesses, you have your own you have your own

140
00:07:07,279 --> 00:07:08,320
Speaker 3: VC firm, Is that right?

141
00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:10,720
Speaker 5: I do so, I have a family office. I had

142
00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:13,320
Speaker 5: started a VC more than ten years ago. Tend my

143
00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:17,600
Speaker 5: capital partners really early to the game in terms of

144
00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:21,440
Speaker 5: creating founder friendly capital, which was not cool in twenty eleven.

145
00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:24,800
Speaker 5: Two thousand eleven was very much the time of the

146
00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:28,080
Speaker 5: VC and not the time of the founder. So the

147
00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:31,280
Speaker 5: idea of founder friendly capital was like this, humh, like,

148
00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:33,400
Speaker 5: you're either one or the other. You're either on this

149
00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:34,960
Speaker 5: side of the table as the founder or you're on

150
00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:37,400
Speaker 5: this side of the table as the funder and show

151
00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:40,119
Speaker 5: my capital. And my role was to really say, hey, look,

152
00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:43,680
Speaker 5: founders can become funders, and we can be really great

153
00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:45,679
Speaker 5: funders because we know what it's like to be the founder,

154
00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:47,320
Speaker 5: and so we're going to do more than just give

155
00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:49,080
Speaker 5: you money. We're going to give you money, but we're

156
00:07:49,080 --> 00:07:51,200
Speaker 5: going to make sure that you use that money in

157
00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:52,960
Speaker 5: the right way that you stay on the right track,

158
00:07:53,040 --> 00:07:55,040
Speaker 5: that you know the right people, that you're around the

159
00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:59,440
Speaker 5: right networks, because the money enough alone is not enough

160
00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:02,440
Speaker 5: to achieve what you want. And so yes, now I

161
00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:07,720
Speaker 5: have this incredible portfolio that has been just so fun

162
00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:10,320
Speaker 5: and exciting to build because I could have never imagined

163
00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:13,120
Speaker 5: that it would take me to where it has today.

164
00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:16,760
Speaker 5: So now I look back and it's, yes, it's angel investments,

165
00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:21,040
Speaker 5: it's real estate, it's art, it's growth equity investments that

166
00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:24,640
Speaker 5: I've made of later stage into later stage companies. It's

167
00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:27,080
Speaker 5: you know, a year and a half ago, meeting into

168
00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:31,040
Speaker 5: the spack world of special purpose of acquisition companies and

169
00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:33,720
Speaker 5: being a partner investor and athena consumer and helping to

170
00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:37,359
Speaker 5: pay companies public trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

171
00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:41,679
Speaker 4: So it's been that for me was probably the beginning

172
00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:42,240
Speaker 4: of the build.

173
00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:44,760
Speaker 5: When I talk about build not replace, right, it's like

174
00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:47,839
Speaker 5: it's not you know, stocks for crypto and like moving

175
00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:48,680
Speaker 5: from one to the other.

176
00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:50,679
Speaker 4: It's like, no, how do you create a portfolio that's

177
00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:51,760
Speaker 4: a little bit of everything?

178
00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:54,160
Speaker 5: Right? In my case, I don't do crypto, but just

179
00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:56,760
Speaker 5: as an example, a lot of people are like going

180
00:08:56,800 --> 00:08:59,240
Speaker 5: to the next thing right, we think about a gold rush,

181
00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:01,760
Speaker 5: it's still like being one thing to rush to another.

182
00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:04,959
Speaker 5: It's not building upon what you have to create a

183
00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:07,640
Speaker 5: larger portfolio that can become even more valuable.

184
00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:11,520
Speaker 4: So that's the season I'm in and the lessons.

185
00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:14,760
Speaker 5: That I've learned that continue to kind of dictate the

186
00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:17,800
Speaker 5: steps that I take in my career. But also I'm

187
00:09:17,800 --> 00:09:20,000
Speaker 5: a big believer that proof is in the pudding. So

188
00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:22,920
Speaker 5: like you look at you look at the pudding, and

189
00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:26,800
Speaker 5: it's profitable, and the companies are growing, and there's unicorns

190
00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:29,520
Speaker 5: in there, and there are companies that are getting acquired

191
00:09:29,559 --> 00:09:33,480
Speaker 5: and that are really meaningful and that are changing lives and.

192
00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:33,760
Speaker 4: Making a difference.

193
00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:37,080
Speaker 5: And that's the portfolio I always wanted to have, Right,

194
00:09:37,280 --> 00:09:40,440
Speaker 5: So it's not always going to be the unicorns, it's

195
00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:41,760
Speaker 5: not always going to be the.

196
00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:45,040
Speaker 4: You know, the companies that are just in one sector.

197
00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:48,880
Speaker 5: I've always looked at my life as this medley, and

198
00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:52,280
Speaker 5: I think the world is finally catching up to this idea,

199
00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:54,960
Speaker 5: like this is what innovation looks like, because if we

200
00:09:55,120 --> 00:10:00,160
Speaker 5: stay in one lane, we get stale and stagnant, even

201
00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:02,960
Speaker 5: if we keep researching, right, Like I look at Tip,

202
00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:04,680
Speaker 5: like Tip's been doing budget.

203
00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:06,720
Speaker 4: Okay, budget, but not all budgets are created equal.

204
00:10:06,880 --> 00:10:09,400
Speaker 5: One minute, you budget in for saving money, then you're

205
00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:13,000
Speaker 5: budgeting for doing something big. Then you're budgeting for acquiring

206
00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:15,680
Speaker 5: an asset. Right, Like, not all budgets are the same.

207
00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:18,560
Speaker 5: They have different purposes. And you begin to build that

208
00:10:18,679 --> 00:10:20,800
Speaker 5: portfolio where you want to go, but we all have

209
00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:21,679
Speaker 5: to start somewhere.

210
00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:24,600
Speaker 1: That's a good like segree into like where what did's

211
00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:27,280
Speaker 1: starting look like for you? You know, because I feel like

212
00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:30,920
Speaker 1: you started so young, you know, starting your winery at nineteen,

213
00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:35,040
Speaker 1: but as far as like this where you are now?

214
00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:36,600
Speaker 1: You know, if someone was like, oh my gosh, I

215
00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:39,240
Speaker 1: want to chart the course that Lauren chart and I

216
00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:42,320
Speaker 1: want to create a portfolio for myself, but I have

217
00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:45,200
Speaker 1: no idea where to start. So someone is listening, like

218
00:10:45,240 --> 00:10:47,360
Speaker 1: what does that look like? We're like how what's the

219
00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:50,120
Speaker 1: iteration of? Like Lauren, like we started here and I

220
00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:51,920
Speaker 1: learned this and I did this, Like what did that

221
00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:52,360
Speaker 1: look like?

222
00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:52,959
Speaker 2: Your journey?

223
00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:56,360
Speaker 5: I think the journey is a series of baby steps.

224
00:10:56,720 --> 00:10:59,040
Speaker 5: Like I look at the baby steps I was making

225
00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:01,720
Speaker 5: early on in my career, and they were quick succession

226
00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:05,680
Speaker 5: of baby steps because it was much easier to break

227
00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:09,360
Speaker 5: down the big, lofty goal into these short, achievable goals,

228
00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:11,920
Speaker 5: and in the early days, it was really easy to

229
00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:15,200
Speaker 5: get to those next little milestones, especially when I was

230
00:11:15,240 --> 00:11:17,440
Speaker 5: only focused on that one thing, because I was still

231
00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:22,120
Speaker 5: trying to establish subject matter expertise, right, So you can't

232
00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:25,400
Speaker 5: create the expertise and build the portfolio at the same time.

233
00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:26,840
Speaker 4: I think that's difficult.

234
00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:30,360
Speaker 5: To do, and so I learned a lot of ways

235
00:11:30,679 --> 00:11:35,840
Speaker 5: to achieve what I wanted to achieve, and also realizing

236
00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:38,440
Speaker 5: what had the most leverage, what had the most influence,

237
00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:40,600
Speaker 5: what had the most power. A lot of times people

238
00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:42,880
Speaker 5: think it's money, but then there were times when as

239
00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:45,120
Speaker 5: a founder, I didn't always have the money, but I

240
00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:47,720
Speaker 5: had the network, and the network showed up for me

241
00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:50,000
Speaker 5: in ways that were more powerful and opened more doors

242
00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:52,160
Speaker 5: than the money would have. And I think a lot

243
00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:56,720
Speaker 5: of those experiences were happening to me, which were the

244
00:11:56,840 --> 00:12:00,120
Speaker 5: lessons that I was designed to learn to determine in

245
00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:05,040
Speaker 5: which path to take when conventional traditional methods and books

246
00:12:05,040 --> 00:12:08,040
Speaker 5: and articles would say to go one way. I would

247
00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:11,760
Speaker 5: have these series of aha moments within my baby steps

248
00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:16,640
Speaker 5: of achievement. And I was also able to very quickly

249
00:12:16,679 --> 00:12:18,679
Speaker 5: figure out, Okay, well, if this is not going the

250
00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:21,440
Speaker 5: way that I want it to, I'm I'm not going

251
00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:23,800
Speaker 5: to keep trying something that's clearly not working right because

252
00:12:23,800 --> 00:12:26,160
Speaker 5: if it's a baby step, okay, your step a little bit,

253
00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:28,160
Speaker 5: you go stop, and you're going to go onto something

254
00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:29,920
Speaker 5: else because you're not trying to leap, so you can

255
00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:33,080
Speaker 5: figure out sooner what's not right for you. And I

256
00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:36,680
Speaker 5: think that the accumulation of those lessons for me, combined

257
00:12:36,720 --> 00:12:40,440
Speaker 5: with taking those baby steps, allowed me to be where

258
00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:45,160
Speaker 5: I am now, but also allowed me to a mass

259
00:12:45,280 --> 00:12:52,120
Speaker 5: networks knowledge, access, acumen, and expertise at the same time.

260
00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:57,400
Speaker 5: So I was absorbing information from top sources because in

261
00:12:57,440 --> 00:12:59,840
Speaker 5: that moment, especially ten eleven years ago.

262
00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:01,960
Speaker 4: Women or not, there was not the movement that we

263
00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:04,720
Speaker 4: have now. There was not a spotlight on us.

264
00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:07,000
Speaker 5: I mean to if you remember this, this was not

265
00:13:07,760 --> 00:13:11,760
Speaker 5: how this ecosystem was, and so I think there weren't

266
00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:14,680
Speaker 5: a lot of us that were paying attention to the lessons.

267
00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:17,280
Speaker 5: And I think when you paid attention to the lessons

268
00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:22,920
Speaker 5: and kept learning and kept your intentionality, you saw a

269
00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:24,840
Speaker 5: lot of movement.

270
00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:27,120
Speaker 4: You saw the needle moving in ways.

271
00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:29,040
Speaker 5: That were important, but a lot of us didn't know

272
00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:30,800
Speaker 5: what to do with that, and so I spent a

273
00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:33,680
Speaker 5: lot of time listening as much as I was learning,

274
00:13:35,240 --> 00:13:40,400
Speaker 5: you know, researching, analyzing, but also trying to figure out

275
00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:43,640
Speaker 5: how I someone who was completely self made, who did

276
00:13:43,679 --> 00:13:46,160
Speaker 5: not come up with the soilver spoon in their mouth. Yes,

277
00:13:46,240 --> 00:13:48,360
Speaker 5: my parents worked really hard to give you what they have,

278
00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:51,760
Speaker 5: but I always say like, if I had had siblings,

279
00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:53,960
Speaker 5: I would not have even been raised the same way.

280
00:13:54,160 --> 00:13:55,640
Speaker 5: Like my parents told me all the time, we had

281
00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:58,440
Speaker 5: enough money to we ave money, we had to send

282
00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:00,400
Speaker 5: you to school by yourself. Like there was only one

283
00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:01,920
Speaker 5: there was three or four of you would not have

284
00:14:01,960 --> 00:14:04,880
Speaker 5: been going on the same school. So you know, where

285
00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:07,439
Speaker 5: do we learn these lessons if we don't grow up

286
00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:11,280
Speaker 5: with families that can tell us how it's done, or

287
00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:14,360
Speaker 5: that can usher us through that process. And so for me,

288
00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:20,440
Speaker 5: that's what starting looked like. And I was also really

289
00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:23,520
Speaker 5: grateful to have people in my life in my career

290
00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:28,360
Speaker 5: who gravitated towards me because I was so persistent. So

291
00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:31,000
Speaker 5: my persistence was very off putting to a lot of

292
00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:32,080
Speaker 5: people for a long time.

293
00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:33,360
Speaker 4: It was like, ah, it's.

294
00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:36,600
Speaker 5: Too much, But if you don't ask, you don't get

295
00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:39,160
Speaker 5: and the people who saw me continue.

296
00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:40,960
Speaker 4: To ask were like, Okay, we see you.

297
00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:43,960
Speaker 5: And people started telling me even then, ten eleven years

298
00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:46,400
Speaker 5: ago that they weren't initially going to take my meetings

299
00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:48,360
Speaker 5: for gin Way Capital, but when they saw my emails

300
00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:51,200
Speaker 5: coming in at you know, one, two, three, four o'clock

301
00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:53,600
Speaker 5: in the morning, they were like, okay, she's serious, right,

302
00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:57,200
Speaker 5: I wasn't sitting there scheduling send for seven am. No,

303
00:14:57,360 --> 00:14:58,480
Speaker 5: if I was up in the middle of the night.

304
00:14:58,480 --> 00:14:59,840
Speaker 5: I was up in the middle of the night. But

305
00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:03,320
Speaker 5: that's what people paid attention to. That's what folks noticed.

306
00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:08,080
Speaker 5: It was that consistency, that dedication that allowed me to

307
00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:12,520
Speaker 5: start and allowed me to realize the way in which

308
00:15:12,560 --> 00:15:15,680
Speaker 5: I wanted to build a portfolio or the ways in

309
00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:19,520
Speaker 5: which I wanted to be diversified based upon my experiences,

310
00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:23,560
Speaker 5: but also based upon the opportunities that were coming to me.

311
00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:26,280
Speaker 5: And so some of the greatest opportunities for me as

312
00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:30,240
Speaker 5: an investor, as a founder, as someone in media, as

313
00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:34,640
Speaker 5: a women's advocate came from people saying, hey, look, maybe

314
00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:37,280
Speaker 5: you don't have the expertise, Lauren, but what you do.

315
00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:39,600
Speaker 4: Have is the drive and the persistence. And so if

316
00:15:39,640 --> 00:15:42,840
Speaker 4: we can just teach you these things. We want to

317
00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:44,800
Speaker 4: watch you go. And there was a lot of that.

318
00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:46,800
Speaker 5: There was a lot of people that I just knew

319
00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:49,880
Speaker 5: wanted to see if that energy of Lauren, like how

320
00:15:49,920 --> 00:15:52,280
Speaker 5: long they could sustain that for? And that was exhausting

321
00:15:52,360 --> 00:15:55,280
Speaker 5: because that was the game of proving myself essentially right.

322
00:15:55,760 --> 00:15:57,800
Speaker 4: But that's what's allowed me to build.

323
00:15:59,280 --> 00:16:01,480
Speaker 3: Can we talk about out? I mean, I'm just listening

324
00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:03,520
Speaker 3: in the common theme I'm hearing are things that I

325
00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:05,880
Speaker 3: love to talk about, which is the secret sauce of

326
00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:09,680
Speaker 3: people and relationships and networking. So you mean you early

327
00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:12,400
Speaker 3: in your career, I know you owned a winery, you

328
00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:16,600
Speaker 3: worked in modeling, but eventually someone showed you it was

329
00:16:16,680 --> 00:16:20,040
Speaker 3: possible to become a founder and an investor and an

330
00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:24,080
Speaker 3: angel investor in all of that. And for someone like yourself, who,

331
00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:27,000
Speaker 3: like you said, you haven't grown up surrounded by those

332
00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:29,600
Speaker 3: types of people, how did you because of so many people,

333
00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:31,560
Speaker 3: somebody of us struggled with that, especially as you know,

334
00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:35,600
Speaker 3: minority women getting ourselves in even the same orbit as

335
00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:38,120
Speaker 3: people who can help us think bigger? So how did

336
00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:41,320
Speaker 3: you start putting yourself in those spaces to feel like

337
00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:45,280
Speaker 3: it was possible and then make those connections translate into

338
00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:47,440
Speaker 3: I'm going to enter this new path from myself and

339
00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:48,360
Speaker 3: I'm going to make it happen.

340
00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:49,680
Speaker 4: That's a great question.

341
00:16:49,880 --> 00:16:55,160
Speaker 5: I think when when I really analyzed my career to date,

342
00:16:55,560 --> 00:17:01,000
Speaker 5: it's that my approach is one that most people don't forget,

343
00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:05,800
Speaker 5: either because I am persistent, or because I am outspoken,

344
00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:07,800
Speaker 5: or because they meet me in a room at a

345
00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:09,640
Speaker 5: conference and I walk in and I'm the six foot

346
00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:11,480
Speaker 5: tall black woman and I'm like, well, where did she

347
00:17:11,600 --> 00:17:12,080
Speaker 5: come from?

348
00:17:12,440 --> 00:17:13,240
Speaker 4: But it's always he.

349
00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:15,480
Speaker 3: Seems so calm, but like I'm imagining, like when you

350
00:17:15,520 --> 00:17:17,520
Speaker 3: say your approach, I'm just like, what do you do

351
00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:20,000
Speaker 3: to these people? Intimidates them?

352
00:17:20,359 --> 00:17:20,600
Speaker 5: Well?

353
00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:21,560
Speaker 4: It does.

354
00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:25,280
Speaker 5: It does intimidate a lot of people, but it also

355
00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:29,320
Speaker 5: intrigues them. And so there was so many times and

356
00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:31,520
Speaker 5: again it was like you've got to be comfortable knowing

357
00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:34,520
Speaker 5: that you're being tested, right, So in those instances, it

358
00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:36,600
Speaker 5: was like, Okay, I want to be in this room,

359
00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:38,440
Speaker 5: but I know why they're inviting me in this room.

360
00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:39,119
Speaker 4: I'm not silly.

361
00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:41,840
Speaker 5: I know why they're asking me if I can show

362
00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:43,840
Speaker 5: up this way or if I'm available to.

363
00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:45,840
Speaker 4: Speak on X Y Z topic.

364
00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:48,560
Speaker 5: But I had to be strategic about what my presence

365
00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:51,879
Speaker 5: in those moments were going to mean to me, not

366
00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:53,520
Speaker 5: what they were going to mean to the audience that

367
00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:55,840
Speaker 5: was inviting me in the room, because for me, that

368
00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:58,280
Speaker 5: was no different than like having your one shot at

369
00:17:58,320 --> 00:18:01,760
Speaker 5: the meeting, right of being invited to conferences and on

370
00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:05,119
Speaker 5: stages to speak because I had been outspoken, because some

371
00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:08,639
Speaker 5: people considered my opinions to be radical, because if it

372
00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:11,080
Speaker 5: was in the corporate sphere, they could bring me in

373
00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:13,639
Speaker 5: to talk about it far easier than someone on the

374
00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:15,400
Speaker 5: inside that wanted to say the same thing.

375
00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:18,840
Speaker 4: Knew they couldn't, right, And so I knew that how

376
00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:19,679
Speaker 4: I showed up.

377
00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:22,800
Speaker 5: In those moments was going to create my reputation, was

378
00:18:22,840 --> 00:18:25,879
Speaker 5: going to create an opinion of me.

379
00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:30,320
Speaker 4: And I do think I was.

380
00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:34,000
Speaker 5: Really thoughtful in that process of what is it that

381
00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:35,880
Speaker 5: I What is it.

382
00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:39,320
Speaker 4: That I want them to leave feeling or knowing about me?

383
00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:43,520
Speaker 5: That's different, right, because what they knew about me was

384
00:18:43,560 --> 00:18:45,600
Speaker 5: the obvious, But what they didn't know about me, what

385
00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:49,320
Speaker 5: was here or what was driving me from here? And

386
00:18:49,359 --> 00:18:51,960
Speaker 5: so that's what I spent and I know some people

387
00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:53,000
Speaker 5: are going to be listening to it, so I was

388
00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:56,000
Speaker 5: touching my head and I was touching my heart in

389
00:18:56,080 --> 00:18:57,840
Speaker 5: terms of they don't know what's in my mind. They

390
00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:01,000
Speaker 5: don't know my ideas. They don't know how I strategize,

391
00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:01,720
Speaker 5: how I analyze.

392
00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:02,240
Speaker 4: They don't know the.

393
00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:05,760
Speaker 5: Intellectual property that I could bring to their companies or

394
00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:07,359
Speaker 5: to their clients or to their projects.

395
00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:09,199
Speaker 4: They don't know how driven I am. They don't know

396
00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:11,040
Speaker 4: the integrity that I come to work with.

397
00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:14,800
Speaker 5: And so when people were able to see that and

398
00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:18,400
Speaker 5: experience that, even if it was in short engagements, those

399
00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:21,359
Speaker 5: same people, many of whom are the ones that would

400
00:19:21,359 --> 00:19:24,159
Speaker 5: circle back and say, it doesn't matter, Lauren, that you

401
00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:29,159
Speaker 5: don't have the resume experience. We trust you, or we

402
00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:30,960
Speaker 5: trust that you're going to figure it out, or we

403
00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:33,080
Speaker 5: trust that you're going to work really hard to figure

404
00:19:33,119 --> 00:19:36,080
Speaker 5: it out because we've been watching you and so for

405
00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:38,520
Speaker 5: a long time. You know, early on in my career,

406
00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:41,480
Speaker 5: I was frustrated that a lot of people would ask

407
00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:43,560
Speaker 5: me to do things and then there wasn't follow up,

408
00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:47,159
Speaker 5: or the follow up would be another invitation to do

409
00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:49,439
Speaker 5: something else again, but not an answer to the feedback

410
00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:52,159
Speaker 5: I was asking for in that exact moment, And I

411
00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:55,200
Speaker 5: realized years later that that was basically my audition for

412
00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:58,120
Speaker 5: if I would be allowed into these rooms, into these circles,

413
00:19:58,119 --> 00:20:02,240
Speaker 5: into these networks. I kept showing up, and I kept

414
00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:05,200
Speaker 5: showing up with a level of consistency that created trust

415
00:20:05,320 --> 00:20:08,120
Speaker 5: that I had no other way to establish with these

416
00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:11,200
Speaker 5: rooms and these groups of people, who are the stakeholders,

417
00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:13,280
Speaker 5: who are the decision makers, who are the leaders of

418
00:20:13,359 --> 00:20:16,480
Speaker 5: tech and venture capital, who are the ones that you know,

419
00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:18,800
Speaker 5: are the ones to watch, the ones to know, the

420
00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:22,320
Speaker 5: ones who can make or break, you know, a major

421
00:20:22,359 --> 00:20:24,320
Speaker 5: career decision or you know, if you go on to

422
00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:26,720
Speaker 5: be the founder to watch or not. And so I

423
00:20:27,119 --> 00:20:31,440
Speaker 5: had to find other ways to establish credibility and trust

424
00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:34,720
Speaker 5: with these people that I also really wanted to learn from,

425
00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:37,000
Speaker 5: and I had to show them that I was going

426
00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:37,920
Speaker 5: to be a good student.

427
00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:40,600
Speaker 1: I guess my question really is is just like if

428
00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:44,240
Speaker 1: someone is like, I feel like you've come so far,

429
00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:47,240
Speaker 1: but it could not have been easy during that time,

430
00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:50,040
Speaker 1: and if you could kind of like, especially when it

431
00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:51,720
Speaker 1: comes to investing, how did you learn?

432
00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:53,719
Speaker 2: You know what I mean? Like, I mean, I know

433
00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:56,560
Speaker 2: it wasn't like mentors, was it sponsors? Was it books?

434
00:20:56,600 --> 00:20:58,080
Speaker 2: Was it podcasts? Like you know, like cauld.

435
00:20:58,080 --> 00:20:59,880
Speaker 1: I remember, like you had a party at your house,

436
00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:02,160
Speaker 1: don't know if it was New Year's or something, and

437
00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:04,400
Speaker 1: we just were talking and you were telling me how, like, girl,

438
00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:05,840
Speaker 1: do you invest in art? And then you went to

439
00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:08,080
Speaker 1: this whole diatribe about like if you do this and

440
00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:10,240
Speaker 1: you can put the art here. And I remember being

441
00:21:10,359 --> 00:21:13,080
Speaker 1: like way long talking about me at a party. But

442
00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:16,480
Speaker 1: you know, like you had such this deep, like deep

443
00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:18,639
Speaker 1: knowledge of like the way art can be used to

444
00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:22,439
Speaker 1: like to grow well, to shield well to you know,

445
00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:25,040
Speaker 1: And I just like, but where did this knowledge come from?

446
00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:27,119
Speaker 2: Like was it you know, did you go to school

447
00:21:27,119 --> 00:21:27,440
Speaker 2: for this?

448
00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:30,679
Speaker 1: You know, like because I know there are people who

449
00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:32,600
Speaker 1: are listening and they're like I want to start, but

450
00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:35,440
Speaker 1: you know, is it a book, is it a class?

451
00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:37,040
Speaker 1: Is it I need to find someone to put me

452
00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:39,240
Speaker 1: under their wing. So like, where did your knowledge, like

453
00:21:39,359 --> 00:21:41,480
Speaker 1: at least the beginning of it really start to come from.

454
00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:45,800
Speaker 5: So so much of my knowledge is acquired through reading

455
00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:51,080
Speaker 5: and asking questions. I've always been so inquisitive, So I've

456
00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:54,399
Speaker 5: been fascinated with my whole life. I've been fascinated with

457
00:21:55,520 --> 00:22:00,680
Speaker 5: how certain cultures and communities grow, create, keep, maintain, pain, share,

458
00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:03,480
Speaker 5: and spread wealth amongst themselves in ways that we don't

459
00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:07,040
Speaker 5: see in our community. And I've lived several places.

460
00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:07,280
Speaker 4: Around the world.

461
00:22:07,359 --> 00:22:09,240
Speaker 5: I've lived in Europe, I've lived in West Africa, I've

462
00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:12,919
Speaker 5: lived in South America. I speak fluent Spanish, I speak French.

463
00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:16,200
Speaker 5: I consider myself to really truly be a global citizen

464
00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:22,000
Speaker 5: in many ways. And I've always had this interesting network

465
00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:26,800
Speaker 5: of you know, I've got folks that are at every

466
00:22:27,080 --> 00:22:31,160
Speaker 5: end of the socioeconomic spectrum. I've got folks that fly coach.

467
00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:34,480
Speaker 5: I got folks that have g fives. I got folks

468
00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:35,200
Speaker 5: I got NetJets.

469
00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:35,280
Speaker 4: Like.

470
00:22:35,320 --> 00:22:39,879
Speaker 5: I've always had this kind of access or network to

471
00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:41,879
Speaker 5: a variety of lifestyles.

472
00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:45,600
Speaker 4: And it didn't matter that I wasn't maybe living all

473
00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:48,600
Speaker 4: of those lifestyles. For whatever reason, I was still being.

474
00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:50,359
Speaker 5: Invited into the room, whether it was because I had

475
00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:55,560
Speaker 5: established trust or credibility, whether I was on a long

476
00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:59,960
Speaker 5: audition and didn't realize it, you know, like, whatever that was,

477
00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:05,119
Speaker 5: I took note. I took note of how those families

478
00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:09,440
Speaker 5: were constructed. I took note of how wealthy family businesses

479
00:23:09,640 --> 00:23:11,000
Speaker 5: were hiring.

480
00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:14,080
Speaker 4: I had asked questions when the time was appropriate.

481
00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:18,240
Speaker 5: I'll never forget. I once asked a wealthy family leader.

482
00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:20,320
Speaker 5: I said, how do you determine like who gets to

483
00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:22,960
Speaker 5: rise in the ranks in the company and if you

484
00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:24,960
Speaker 5: promote the family member and not the family member. They said, well,

485
00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:27,200
Speaker 5: years ago, it used to be the family members were

486
00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:29,360
Speaker 5: the ones that led the business. But you know, now

487
00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:31,560
Speaker 5: we have nepotism rules and this is how it works.

488
00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:35,639
Speaker 5: And we actually require that they go work at competing

489
00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:40,199
Speaker 5: businesses outside of college, like after college in Europe or

490
00:23:40,359 --> 00:23:43,680
Speaker 5: in North America, to go acquire this knowledge to see

491
00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:46,439
Speaker 5: how other companies do it. And they're required to work

492
00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:49,359
Speaker 5: at least two jobs or minimum of two years for

493
00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:52,920
Speaker 5: competitive companies or companies where they can grow their skill

494
00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:55,280
Speaker 5: set before they're even allowed to work for the family business.

495
00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:58,240
Speaker 5: That to me was like, oh, mental note, mental note

496
00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:00,240
Speaker 5: for my children. Should my children be where being in

497
00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:02,919
Speaker 5: the family business right off of the cup? Probably not

498
00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:04,720
Speaker 5: right because what are they going to learn and it

499
00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:07,000
Speaker 5: is going to learn from me on the job versus

500
00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:08,760
Speaker 5: if I'm going to be in media, do they go

501
00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:10,639
Speaker 5: work at a big media company for two years? And

502
00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:12,399
Speaker 5: then if we're going to be an investing do they

503
00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:14,320
Speaker 5: go work at a big VC for two years, even

504
00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:17,080
Speaker 5: if they're just an intern, just to even be a

505
00:24:17,119 --> 00:24:19,840
Speaker 5: fly on the wall to learn process or see people

506
00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:20,920
Speaker 5: move in a different way.

507
00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:23,160
Speaker 4: And then should they come back to meet four years

508
00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:25,720
Speaker 4: after college. And I'd sit and think about it, just

509
00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:27,320
Speaker 4: as one of many examples, and it.

510
00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:30,800
Speaker 5: Was like, hm, that probably makes more sense, right, Like

511
00:24:31,119 --> 00:24:33,160
Speaker 5: go learn out in the world from folks that are

512
00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:34,879
Speaker 5: doing it at this level and then come back to

513
00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:36,119
Speaker 5: mom and keep it on the family.

514
00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:36,520
Speaker 4: Right.

515
00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:39,400
Speaker 5: But I don't have the framework for doing that because

516
00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:41,560
Speaker 5: I'm an only child, I'm a black woman.

517
00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:42,800
Speaker 4: That has not been done in my family.

518
00:24:43,119 --> 00:24:47,320
Speaker 5: But I'm around people who, for whatever reason, variety of reasons,

519
00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:49,880
Speaker 5: wanted me around them, and I knew that I had

520
00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:51,920
Speaker 5: a purpose to them. But I also knew that there

521
00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:54,560
Speaker 5: was something I could learn and me becoming a good

522
00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:56,520
Speaker 5: student in that regard. Yeah, it was helpful for me

523
00:24:56,600 --> 00:24:58,600
Speaker 5: for my own personal life because it can help me

524
00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:00,480
Speaker 5: figure out. Oh, Jayden and Cloue, this is what I

525
00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:01,600
Speaker 5: want you to do. This is I want you to

526
00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:02,680
Speaker 5: think about internships.

527
00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:04,200
Speaker 4: Even now thirteen and fifteen.

528
00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:05,359
Speaker 5: I talk to them about how I want them to

529
00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:09,040
Speaker 5: build their resume, because what do we see happening in

530
00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:12,360
Speaker 5: other communities. We see kids going off to college already

531
00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:15,399
Speaker 5: worked at three fourteen one hundred companies because the parents

532
00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:18,040
Speaker 5: hooked them up, right, or because they grew up with

533
00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:20,920
Speaker 5: an auntie and uncle who were an executive, and they've

534
00:25:20,960 --> 00:25:23,399
Speaker 5: heard the vernacular and they've had the interest, and the

535
00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:25,760
Speaker 5: parents have been sending them articles, and so they can

536
00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:29,560
Speaker 5: they're qualified to be an intern while in high school, right,

537
00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:32,240
Speaker 5: and they can have a great resume. These are things

538
00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:36,000
Speaker 5: that I say, hmm, let me see how folks that

539
00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:38,280
Speaker 5: are doing things far better than me are doing them,

540
00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:41,560
Speaker 5: and let me see which components of that, what pieces

541
00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:44,440
Speaker 5: of that I want to replicate or emulate in my life,

542
00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:47,119
Speaker 5: in my family and my career, in my construct to

543
00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:49,120
Speaker 5: try to escape achieve something similar.

544
00:25:49,359 --> 00:25:50,440
Speaker 4: The same thing with art.

545
00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:53,840
Speaker 5: I'll never forget when I remember exactly what you're talking

546
00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:56,520
Speaker 5: about with this party at the house, and I had

547
00:25:56,560 --> 00:25:59,680
Speaker 5: just sold some art at Sotheby's for the first time

548
00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:03,000
Speaker 5: ever at auction. It was my first auction experience. I

549
00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:06,119
Speaker 5: didn't know anything about art at auction at that time.

550
00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:08,480
Speaker 5: I knew the value of what we had, and I

551
00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:11,119
Speaker 5: knew that the starting bid was going to be lower

552
00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:14,520
Speaker 5: than its value, but I asked all the right questions

553
00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:16,400
Speaker 5: in terms of how does the auction work, how quick

554
00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:19,720
Speaker 5: does it go? How many dollar values can you rise

555
00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:22,399
Speaker 5: in sixty seconds, ninety seconds? And if you ever listened

556
00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:24,679
Speaker 5: to an art auction, which is maybe a good exercise

557
00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:29,120
Speaker 5: just because for whoever's listening, you'd be wildly surprised at

558
00:26:29,119 --> 00:26:31,800
Speaker 5: how quick prices can double or how quickly something can

559
00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:36,000
Speaker 5: triple or quadruple in a quick bid. And so that

560
00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:40,680
Speaker 5: gave me an opportunity to have information to analyze, to go, oh,

561
00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:42,919
Speaker 5: do I want to take burdenhand, Do I want to

562
00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:45,440
Speaker 5: take the surefire sale, or do I want to risk

563
00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:49,440
Speaker 5: going to auction starting at a lower bid, but having

564
00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:53,200
Speaker 5: working out some probability of my own decision calculus of

565
00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:57,320
Speaker 5: what's best burdenhand and sale and gallery or taking the

566
00:26:57,400 --> 00:26:58,399
Speaker 5: risk of going to auction.

567
00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:00,960
Speaker 4: Ultimately, it was the going to auction.

568
00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:04,040
Speaker 5: But then I learned something at that auction, and I'll

569
00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:07,800
Speaker 5: ever forget this very wealthy family next to me that

570
00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:10,680
Speaker 5: was watching their own art in auction. I had gone

571
00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:14,120
Speaker 5: to the auctions previous just to see how the auctions went,

572
00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:16,560
Speaker 5: because that was part of my decision calculus. I haven't

573
00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:19,479
Speaker 5: seen it auction in action. Let me go see The

574
00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:21,520
Speaker 5: only auction I had seen before this was the car

575
00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:25,040
Speaker 5: auctions because I used to go to those impound those

576
00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:26,920
Speaker 5: tow yard auctions where you can pick up the cars,

577
00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:27,960
Speaker 5: people don't pay their ticket.

578
00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:29,720
Speaker 4: That's the only auction I knew before.

579
00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:32,080
Speaker 5: Okay, you go with the car mechanic and you pick

580
00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:34,480
Speaker 5: up the cars and they make you a new key.

581
00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:36,119
Speaker 4: That was the only auction I knew. So I was like,

582
00:27:36,119 --> 00:27:37,119
Speaker 4: how does this art work?

583
00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:39,040
Speaker 5: So I was going to the auctions to just be

584
00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:42,480
Speaker 5: a flat from the wall, and I watched another very

585
00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:45,440
Speaker 5: wealthy family sell works of art, and I said. I

586
00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:47,199
Speaker 5: ended up talking to them after I said, why are

587
00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:49,239
Speaker 5: you selling so much of this incredible art like all

588
00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:52,000
Speaker 5: at one time? It turned out that they were doing

589
00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:54,840
Speaker 5: it because the family member who owned the art.

590
00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:56,879
Speaker 4: Had just passed and they didn't want to have to

591
00:27:56,920 --> 00:27:58,399
Speaker 4: have all this inheritance tax.

592
00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:01,600
Speaker 5: So they schooled me on the step up and basis

593
00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:04,960
Speaker 5: quote unquote and when to sell and how to sell,

594
00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:06,880
Speaker 5: and so they were like, we have this window and

595
00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:09,080
Speaker 5: we love this art, but we have so much art.

596
00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:12,560
Speaker 5: They did their decision calculus. So I'm like, how come

597
00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:15,240
Speaker 5: our people aren't talking about step up and basis, how

598
00:28:15,240 --> 00:28:17,800
Speaker 5: come our people aren't talking about how to hold these

599
00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:19,919
Speaker 5: assets so that our children can grow up with art

600
00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:23,000
Speaker 5: collections the way that others grow up with art collections.

601
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:25,840
Speaker 5: I'm not just accumulating these assets to just sit from here,

602
00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:28,639
Speaker 5: and I'm not accumulating these assets to leave my children

603
00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:32,280
Speaker 5: with more work to do. So I've always looked at

604
00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:36,800
Speaker 5: the people who are more accomplished, who are wealthier, to

605
00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:41,600
Speaker 5: know and understand what moves, not that I always should

606
00:28:41,600 --> 00:28:44,720
Speaker 5: be making, but what moves I could be making, because

607
00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:47,560
Speaker 5: I think that for black women, we.

608
00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:50,200
Speaker 4: Don't even know the full extent of ways that.

609
00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:52,680
Speaker 5: We can you had mentioned before make or shield our

610
00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:53,560
Speaker 5: money and our wealth.

611
00:28:53,640 --> 00:28:57,640
Speaker 4: We don't even know the full extent of things that

612
00:28:57,640 --> 00:28:58,760
Speaker 4: are available to us.

613
00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:01,120
Speaker 5: And oftentimes even we have an accountant, the account's not

614
00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:01,880
Speaker 5: telling you because the.

615
00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:03,760
Speaker 4: Accountant was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, you don't need to

616
00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:05,680
Speaker 4: know this, or it doesn't apply to you.

617
00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:07,440
Speaker 5: Like you don't know what's going to apply to me, right,

618
00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:09,800
Speaker 5: And so that's why I've always been inquisitive, is that

619
00:29:09,840 --> 00:29:12,360
Speaker 5: I never wanted anyone to tell me what knowledge I

620
00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:14,480
Speaker 5: needed to know, and I had enough people tell me

621
00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:16,959
Speaker 5: early on when I started investing. Oh, you don't need this,

622
00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:19,320
Speaker 5: or you don't need to know this. My first investment

623
00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:21,800
Speaker 5: started when I was a single mom. I had two

624
00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:24,320
Speaker 5: kids under two, and I remember people telling me why

625
00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:26,720
Speaker 5: am I investing twenty five fifty thousand dollars in a

626
00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:29,160
Speaker 5: startup when I'm going through a terrible divorce and I

627
00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:32,000
Speaker 5: have kids to feed and diapers and I need to

628
00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:35,520
Speaker 5: get Similac and my baby's actually one too similarc One

629
00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:38,040
Speaker 5: took nest the good start almentum and I was on

630
00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:39,720
Speaker 5: the expensive formula, and I was like, you know what,

631
00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:42,560
Speaker 5: let me stop telling people, because I just believed in

632
00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:44,520
Speaker 5: my soul that this was the way for me to

633
00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:50,680
Speaker 5: use my entrepreneurial gifts to identify companies early, to make investments,

634
00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:53,400
Speaker 5: to use my talents to help those companies ultimately grow,

635
00:29:53,440 --> 00:29:56,160
Speaker 5: and to ultimately help my money grow. But I also

636
00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:58,200
Speaker 5: knew that at that point in my life and my career,

637
00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:01,000
Speaker 5: I didn't have people in my orbit wh spoke that language,

638
00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:04,920
Speaker 5: who understood that intention, or who appreciated that kind of

639
00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:09,640
Speaker 5: of hustle. And so that was my first experience in

640
00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:12,640
Speaker 5: life of don't get advice or don't attempt to get

641
00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:14,880
Speaker 5: advice from people that aren't walking in your shoes in

642
00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:18,400
Speaker 5: the most respectful way possible. Because my grandparents loved me,

643
00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:20,000
Speaker 5: they wanted the best for me. But they're, well, baby,

644
00:30:20,040 --> 00:30:20,520
Speaker 5: what are you doing?

645
00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:21,240
Speaker 2: Why are you doing it?

646
00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:21,720
Speaker 1: Don't do it?

647
00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:23,800
Speaker 4: Don't make any sense. Well it makes a lot of

648
00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:24,400
Speaker 4: sense now.

649
00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:27,040
Speaker 5: And so I took a lot of risks where I

650
00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:29,680
Speaker 5: didn't always have people to talk to. I didn't always

651
00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:32,160
Speaker 5: have the answers for a long time. I was shooting

652
00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:34,960
Speaker 5: from the hip for a long time. It was just

653
00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:39,400
Speaker 5: my intuition. I think back to Ruggable Machine, Rashable Rugs.

654
00:30:39,760 --> 00:30:42,720
Speaker 5: I invested in that company in tw twenty sixteen, investor

655
00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:44,440
Speaker 5: number five on the cap table.

656
00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:47,320
Speaker 4: Everyone was like, rugs, they're only five by seven. Well

657
00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:49,680
Speaker 4: now they're nine by twelve, and now they're sold all

658
00:30:49,720 --> 00:30:50,880
Speaker 4: over the world. You know.

659
00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:53,440
Speaker 5: But a lot of it was just me trusting my

660
00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:58,000
Speaker 5: gut because we didn't have these kinds of podcasting conversations,

661
00:30:58,040 --> 00:31:00,640
Speaker 5: and we didn't have you know, women like us that

662
00:31:00,680 --> 00:31:02,680
Speaker 5: we're at this level where we can have these conversations

663
00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:04,120
Speaker 5: about art. And so I was like, let me just

664
00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:06,880
Speaker 5: do it by myself, and I hope I'm making the

665
00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:08,040
Speaker 5: right decision.

666
00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:13,760
Speaker 3: When it comes to hearing all these different perspectives and

667
00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:16,480
Speaker 3: here's what our path was, and here's why we're doing something.

668
00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:18,680
Speaker 3: It sounds like you also have a really healthy understanding

669
00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:21,160
Speaker 3: of the fact that you don't have to take everyone's

670
00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:23,560
Speaker 3: path as Bible like as you need to emulate it.

671
00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:25,560
Speaker 3: And I think that's where so many people get overwhelmed

672
00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:28,800
Speaker 3: and they start to get off course and out of

673
00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:32,640
Speaker 3: center with themselves and their own goals when they absorb

674
00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:35,520
Speaker 3: so much insight from other people and they don't know

675
00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:38,560
Speaker 3: how to filter that through their values, their dreams or goals.

676
00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:41,000
Speaker 3: So can you talk a little bit about how all

677
00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:45,640
Speaker 3: this information you have been able to discern what fits

678
00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:49,280
Speaker 3: for you, like what works for you? And what advice

679
00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:51,560
Speaker 3: do you have for people who are maybe hearing you

680
00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:53,640
Speaker 3: talk about some things and thinking like, how do I

681
00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:55,080
Speaker 3: decide if that makes sense for me?

682
00:31:56,560 --> 00:31:56,800
Speaker 4: Yeah?

683
00:31:56,840 --> 00:32:00,640
Speaker 5: I think determining what is right for you, your personal

684
00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:04,360
Speaker 5: decision calculus of the risks that you feel comfortable taking,

685
00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:07,840
Speaker 5: based upon how long you can live in the unknown.

686
00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:11,840
Speaker 5: And I think the blessing, the blessing in the curse

687
00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:13,280
Speaker 5: of being a founder is that you really know how

688
00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:14,040
Speaker 5: to live in the unknown.

689
00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:16,720
Speaker 4: Right. I remember when COVID happened, everyone was like, oh

690
00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:18,040
Speaker 4: my god, I'm not going to get a paycheck, and

691
00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:19,960
Speaker 4: I was like, I've.

692
00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:22,960
Speaker 5: Never had a weekly paycheck in my life, So you know,

693
00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:25,000
Speaker 5: in that moment, it was like, oh, there's the blessing.

694
00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:25,840
Speaker 4: Like I don't know what.

695
00:32:25,800 --> 00:32:29,240
Speaker 5: It's like to have that consistency there, and so it

696
00:32:29,240 --> 00:32:30,720
Speaker 5: feels just the same for me.

697
00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:33,920
Speaker 4: But it's also that we have goals.

698
00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:35,440
Speaker 5: We see what people are doing, and a lot of

699
00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:37,080
Speaker 5: us are sitting back now going I want to be

700
00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:37,560
Speaker 5: an investor.

701
00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:38,520
Speaker 4: I wanted this. I wanted that.

702
00:32:38,600 --> 00:32:40,880
Speaker 5: And recently somebody said to me, what do I what's

703
00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:44,600
Speaker 5: the first investment I make if I want to.

704
00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:45,760
Speaker 4: Invest in tech startups? And I asked them a series

705
00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:47,240
Speaker 4: of questions and the questions.

706
00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:48,760
Speaker 5: Were along the lines up. This is not the whole list,

707
00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:50,440
Speaker 5: but some of them. How much of a nest egg

708
00:32:50,480 --> 00:32:52,800
Speaker 5: do you have? Do you have at least six months

709
00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:55,360
Speaker 5: of runway? The money that you're going to that you

710
00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:58,640
Speaker 5: have that you're thinking about investing. Is that the only

711
00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:00,760
Speaker 5: pot of money that you have to make that investment

712
00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:03,480
Speaker 5: or are there more tranches of that same capital?

713
00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:03,800
Speaker 4: Right?

714
00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:05,840
Speaker 5: So, if you have twenty five k, twenty I wouldn't

715
00:33:05,840 --> 00:33:08,320
Speaker 5: say put twenty five k in one company, right, I'd

716
00:33:08,360 --> 00:33:10,320
Speaker 5: say put it in five companies, even if you have

717
00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:13,360
Speaker 5: a smaller position, just that you diversify your exposure because

718
00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:15,120
Speaker 5: you're not there yet right now.

719
00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:17,240
Speaker 4: When you go to sell, I'd say, at least pay

720
00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:17,960
Speaker 4: yourself back.

721
00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:19,880
Speaker 5: Your principle and one hundred percent. If you've got one

722
00:33:19,920 --> 00:33:22,200
Speaker 5: hundred percent, then go play with the rest. A lot

723
00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:24,600
Speaker 5: of people don't have a good handle on, you know,

724
00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:27,920
Speaker 5: what they're going to save, split, reinvest, what have you.

725
00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:31,480
Speaker 5: And the more I think about it, folks are often

726
00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:34,320
Speaker 5: chasing what they think is the thing for now, and

727
00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:37,080
Speaker 5: we see investors do the same thing. The investors that

728
00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:40,160
Speaker 5: were hot into cannabis all went into crypto. Now all

729
00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:43,680
Speaker 5: the crypto guys are just into blockchain. Now those guys

730
00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:44,760
Speaker 5: are into something else.

731
00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:49,880
Speaker 1: Right GP two there, you know.

732
00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:54,120
Speaker 4: But it's also starting with the capital.

733
00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:57,040
Speaker 5: You have to get to where you want to go

734
00:33:57,320 --> 00:34:00,400
Speaker 5: to build towards where you want to be, and that

735
00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:02,520
Speaker 5: means also baby steps.

736
00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:04,240
Speaker 4: Just like I said at the beginning.

737
00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:07,200
Speaker 5: So things that I started doing when I started growing

738
00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:09,279
Speaker 5: my money years ago, I don't do anymore, and not

739
00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:11,520
Speaker 5: because they're not good for growing my money, but they

740
00:34:11,560 --> 00:34:13,480
Speaker 5: grow my money at a different rate than I now

741
00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:14,520
Speaker 5: have access to other.

742
00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:16,360
Speaker 4: Avenues and investment vehicles to grow my money.

743
00:34:17,120 --> 00:34:19,839
Speaker 5: So I used to buy properties back in the day

744
00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:23,200
Speaker 5: on list pendence pre for closure, and that was how

745
00:34:23,239 --> 00:34:25,759
Speaker 5: I accumulated my money in the beginning was in real estate.

746
00:34:25,880 --> 00:34:28,279
Speaker 5: I would not start out with tech because I didn't

747
00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:30,640
Speaker 5: have a foundation to feel comfortable going into tech in

748
00:34:30,680 --> 00:34:32,959
Speaker 5: the first place. But I felt comfortable going into tech

749
00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:36,279
Speaker 5: knowing that I had the stability of real estate, real

750
00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:38,680
Speaker 5: estate that was income generating real estate that was a

751
00:34:38,719 --> 00:34:42,640
Speaker 5: growing asset. But also knowing that I could put smaller

752
00:34:42,680 --> 00:34:46,640
Speaker 5: dollars into multi family units and rent them out and

753
00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:50,480
Speaker 5: have small mortgages versus trying.

754
00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:51,640
Speaker 4: To come up with money to angel invest in a

755
00:34:51,640 --> 00:34:53,480
Speaker 4: company that I'm not going to see for ten years.

756
00:34:53,719 --> 00:34:56,560
Speaker 5: Right, that's not necessarily an appreciating asset that I could

757
00:34:56,560 --> 00:34:58,799
Speaker 5: sell at any time, whether it's for break even or

758
00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:01,640
Speaker 5: for profit. And so I'm speaking now a lot of

759
00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:04,840
Speaker 5: the times to women, especially around like what are the

760
00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:07,960
Speaker 5: asset classes where you should start with growing your money?

761
00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:11,399
Speaker 4: What are the areas in your life? Even if we can.

762
00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:13,319
Speaker 5: Think about asset classes, but we can also look at

763
00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:16,279
Speaker 5: our expertise and our intellect as an asset. And there

764
00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:18,439
Speaker 5: are so many women that have jobs doing one thing,

765
00:35:18,520 --> 00:35:20,759
Speaker 5: but maybe they have a super skill doing something else

766
00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:23,759
Speaker 5: that they could be having a side hustle making more

767
00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:25,799
Speaker 5: money per hour than they are in a week doing

768
00:35:25,840 --> 00:35:28,280
Speaker 5: their day job, which provides a separate set of security

769
00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:31,040
Speaker 5: or benefits that they need. Right, So, what other assets

770
00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:33,680
Speaker 5: do we have do we possess that we can grow

771
00:35:34,719 --> 00:35:37,440
Speaker 5: to make money, to preserve money, or to shield the

772
00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:40,480
Speaker 5: money that we're attempting to create wealth with.

773
00:35:40,880 --> 00:35:44,319
Speaker 1: Wow, honestly, I never is listening like wait, what, Like

774
00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:47,560
Speaker 1: you think to yourself, how do I get here? And

775
00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:50,040
Speaker 1: you know, like it's I'm glad that you share that

776
00:35:50,080 --> 00:35:52,240
Speaker 1: you were a single mom, that you went through a divorce,

777
00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:55,160
Speaker 1: that you didn't grow up with all of this access,

778
00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:58,680
Speaker 1: and that you persisted your way through. I think that

779
00:35:58,680 --> 00:36:02,319
Speaker 1: that's critically important if people want to stay connected with you, Lauren,

780
00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:04,400
Speaker 1: if they want to learn more about you. Maybe somebody's like,

781
00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:06,000
Speaker 1: well I want to be my mentor Like how do

782
00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:09,200
Speaker 1: they continue like to connect with you and to learn

783
00:36:09,239 --> 00:36:10,960
Speaker 1: what else you're going through, like what else you are

784
00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:13,800
Speaker 1: working on? Like how does someone follow your journey digitally.

785
00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:18,360
Speaker 5: Yeah, So I'm pretty active on Instagram and on LinkedIn.

786
00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:23,759
Speaker 4: So I'm at Lauren Mylin on LinkedIn and on Instagram,

787
00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:26,400
Speaker 4: so you can find me there. I'm pretty active on

788
00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:27,600
Speaker 4: both of those sites.

789
00:36:27,640 --> 00:36:29,960
Speaker 5: I do a lot of writing, a lot of opinion sharing,

790
00:36:30,040 --> 00:36:33,200
Speaker 5: a lot of lifestyle hack sharing. But you know, we

791
00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:39,040
Speaker 5: as brown women, as black women, being ambitious is not easy, right,

792
00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:42,920
Speaker 5: Like we say ambition and it's cool, it's awesome that

793
00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:43,920
Speaker 5: we can possess it.

794
00:36:44,239 --> 00:36:46,200
Speaker 4: What do we do with it? Right? What do we

795
00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:46,640
Speaker 4: do with it?

796
00:36:46,680 --> 00:36:49,360
Speaker 5: How do we harness it in our life to achieve

797
00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:50,839
Speaker 5: the outcomes that we want?

798
00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:52,920
Speaker 4: And I'm so passionate about that.

799
00:36:53,239 --> 00:36:56,000
Speaker 5: And I know that if it was not for entrepreneurship

800
00:36:56,120 --> 00:36:59,239
Speaker 5: and my unconventional path, I.

801
00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:00,000
Speaker 4: Wouldn't be here today.

802
00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:02,800
Speaker 5: There's no way that at thirty eight years old, single bomb,

803
00:37:03,320 --> 00:37:07,239
Speaker 5: you know, a single bomb for eight years, remarried, you know,

804
00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:12,640
Speaker 5: fifteen and thirteen year old, I mean, never gotten a diamond,

805
00:37:12,719 --> 00:37:16,520
Speaker 5: tiles of woid till this day. So I'm grateful for

806
00:37:16,600 --> 00:37:18,960
Speaker 5: what entrepreneurship has taught me, and I'm grateful for the

807
00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:21,480
Speaker 5: opportunity to have been around people who have allowed me

808
00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:27,000
Speaker 5: to see frameworks and examples of preserving and creating wealth

809
00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:29,880
Speaker 5: that you know we can we can look at and

810
00:37:29,920 --> 00:37:33,640
Speaker 5: we often see the end result, but do we understand the.

811
00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:37,120
Speaker 4: How or the why? Right we read the articles on

812
00:37:37,280 --> 00:37:40,080
Speaker 4: what the moves that people are making, taking a step further,

813
00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:43,359
Speaker 4: Go research, you know, go research what folks are doing.

814
00:37:43,440 --> 00:37:47,319
Speaker 5: Go research smart way better ways to do something that

815
00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:50,640
Speaker 5: you want to accomplish. Grab a couple of friends, and

816
00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:53,680
Speaker 5: start making investments in companies so that you can diversify

817
00:37:53,719 --> 00:37:54,600
Speaker 5: your exposure.

818
00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:56,200
Speaker 4: Right, Like, you great to need.

819
00:37:56,239 --> 00:37:59,520
Speaker 5: Access, but diversify your exposure is the worst thing that

820
00:37:59,560 --> 00:38:02,160
Speaker 5: can happen. Things are on land and they don't go

821
00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:06,200
Speaker 5: as we'd like them too. But if we've got this portfolio,

822
00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:07,960
Speaker 5: it's okay. You win some, you loose them, You win some,

823
00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:09,319
Speaker 5: you loose them, and it all comes out in the

824
00:38:09,440 --> 00:38:13,760
Speaker 5: wash and you get to hopefully perfectly have a life

825
00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:15,799
Speaker 5: that you love and that you're proud of and that

826
00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:17,719
Speaker 5: is authentic to who you are, and that sets you

827
00:38:17,800 --> 00:38:19,200
Speaker 5: up to live the life that you want to create

828
00:38:19,200 --> 00:38:19,800
Speaker 5: for your family.

829
00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:22,759
Speaker 3: I love that well. I feel like this was for

830
00:38:22,840 --> 00:38:26,000
Speaker 3: many people listening, probably like for me, I feel like

831
00:38:26,880 --> 00:38:30,279
Speaker 3: the kid who's stuck into a college level course was

832
00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:34,960
Speaker 3: like in the remedial class, and it's like this is no,

833
00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:37,160
Speaker 3: but it's so important, I think to be witnessed to

834
00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:40,840
Speaker 3: these kinds of conversations because it's like, Okay, this is possible,

835
00:38:41,480 --> 00:38:44,360
Speaker 3: and my AHA moment is And what I'm so glad is,

836
00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:47,200
Speaker 3: you know, it's about those baby steps and really like,

837
00:38:47,280 --> 00:38:48,719
Speaker 3: in order to get to where you are now, you

838
00:38:48,760 --> 00:38:51,880
Speaker 3: had to first make some money and use wealth building

839
00:38:51,880 --> 00:38:55,120
Speaker 3: strategies basic ones to you know, grow the capital so

840
00:38:55,160 --> 00:38:57,760
Speaker 3: that you could do something with it. And I feel like, Tiff,

841
00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:00,880
Speaker 3: you're at this like rich Aunty phase where this is

842
00:39:00,880 --> 00:39:03,560
Speaker 3: the level where it's like where's the budget, needs to

843
00:39:03,680 --> 00:39:06,360
Speaker 3: VC fund you know what I mean, like angel investing

844
00:39:06,400 --> 00:39:08,480
Speaker 3: and all that kind of stuff. So thank you so

845
00:39:08,560 --> 00:39:10,600
Speaker 3: much Lauren for just sharing a little bit of your journey,

846
00:39:11,440 --> 00:39:15,000
Speaker 3: because for me, I'm just like I will always remember

847
00:39:15,040 --> 00:39:16,600
Speaker 3: it's possible because I met Lauren.

848
00:39:18,560 --> 00:39:20,799
Speaker 4: It's possible. It is so possible, and I want to

849
00:39:20,800 --> 00:39:23,000
Speaker 4: help you achieve whatever dreams you've got to.

850
00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:26,400
Speaker 5: We'll talk offline and make that happen anyway that I

851
00:39:26,440 --> 00:39:27,200
Speaker 5: can be helpful.

852
00:39:27,719 --> 00:39:30,800
Speaker 1: Well, ba fam Hopefully your mind is blown like ours

853
00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:34,239
Speaker 1: is and you can take you to listen and yeah,

854
00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:36,600
Speaker 1: be able have va QA at the end of the week.

855
00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:40,120
Speaker 1: You have questions you have maybe you want to be

856
00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:43,520
Speaker 1: on the podcast because you're dope and amazing. Certainly can

857
00:39:43,600 --> 00:39:47,000
Speaker 1: hit us up at briannivisionpodcast dot com. We are Brand

858
00:39:47,040 --> 00:39:50,200
Speaker 1: and Vision podcast on IG the BA Podcast on Twitter.

859
00:39:51,520 --> 00:39:54,279
Speaker 2: But until next time, y'all, We'll see you soon.

860
00:39:55,280 --> 00:39:57,800
Speaker 1: Oh I got ba fam. Wasn't that such an awesome throwback?

861
00:39:57,800 --> 00:40:00,560
Speaker 1: It's such a fun trip down memory lane. Mm hm, Well,

862
00:40:00,560 --> 00:40:03,600
Speaker 1: make sure to check out Brown Ambition every Monday, Wednesday

863
00:40:03,600 --> 00:40:07,600
Speaker 1: and Friday. That's Looless, Miacherless and their nas Oh my

864
00:40:07,640 --> 00:40:08,400
Speaker 1: god on my lingual.

865
00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:16,680
Speaker 2: We'll see you next walks. You see you on Wednesday. Bye,