Speaker 1: Decided to take those matters into my own hands and say,
Speaker 1: you know what, I got to figure out because I
Speaker 1: want to.
Speaker 2: I want to live. Not only do I want to
Speaker 2: live the.
Speaker 1: Lifestyle that I've become accustomed to, I want to make
Speaker 1: sure that now as a parent, I set a foundation
Speaker 1: so my children can even start out better than I am.
Speaker 3: You're listening to Money Moves powered by Greenwood, a finance
Speaker 3: podcast dedicated to dropping all the knowledge and gems from
Speaker 3: the world's leading celebrities, entrepreneurs and experts, and tech, business
Speaker 3: and more. I'm your host, angel investor, technology enthusiast, and
Speaker 3: media personality Tanya Sam. Each week, we talk with guests
Speaker 3: who are making significant strides in their fields and learn
Speaker 3: how they are making their money move. If you're someone
Speaker 3: who's looking to make your money move, you're in the
Speaker 3: right place, So open up your notes app and lock
Speaker 3: us in, because this podcast will give you the keys
Speaker 3: to the kingdom of financial stability, wealth and abundance you
Speaker 3: so rightly deserve. Before we start the episode, I'd like
Speaker 3: to remind you to check us out at gogreenwood dot
Speaker 3: com and follow us on social media at Greenwood and
Speaker 3: me on all Things Social at It's Tanya. Time to
Speaker 3: stay locked in too new episode. Hey, Moneymovers, get ready
Speaker 3: for a week of inspiration and empowerment. I'm your host,
Speaker 3: Tanya sam and our guest today is a true trailblazer
Speaker 3: who's been making waves on a global scale. She's not
Speaker 3: only shattered barriers, but established herself as a visionary entrepreneur
Speaker 3: and is now the chief of staff at Essence Ventures,
Speaker 3: with the focus on bridging gaps and fostering connections and
Speaker 3: finding money grants to fund your wildest business dream. She's
Speaker 3: defining industries and leaving a lasting impact. Money Movers, please
Speaker 3: welcome the International Boss.
Speaker 4: Barku Tubman Zavolo. Hi Barkoo, how are you?
Speaker 3: Hi?
Speaker 4: Tanya. I like that intro.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna have to keep that for something else.
Speaker 3: I mean, I feel like I had to chop it
Speaker 3: down a little bit because I also know you wear
Speaker 3: a lot of different hats and you have some other
Speaker 3: roles in there. So I'm leaving space for you to
Speaker 3: sprinkle in. And this is your time to humble brag
Speaker 3: because you are a multifaceted woman, And so tell me
Speaker 3: what I left out, because I know there's others in there,
Speaker 3: but I just took you know, your top roles here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So I mean I think you captured just about
Speaker 1: everything I pride myself on. I like, the boss Lady
Speaker 1: is really the boss Lady is the Barku brand, right,
Speaker 1: and and it really it has a lot to do
Speaker 1: with not only your accomplishments, but also your journey to
Speaker 1: your accomplishment. So I think you know what we don't
Speaker 1: do sometimes as women, as boss ladies is give ourselves
Speaker 1: grace and credit for how we're even waking up, moving
Speaker 1: and thriving every day.
Speaker 2: So one of the things that I take pride and
Speaker 2: I have.
Speaker 1: A nonprofit in Liberia called the Boss Lady Effect, And
Speaker 1: what we do and what we say we do that
Speaker 1: we we take pride in is we're changing the world
Speaker 1: one boss girl at a time and helping young women
Speaker 1: understand that legacy starts with them.
Speaker 2: So that's that's one of the other things.
Speaker 1: And of course, as you mentioned, I'm the chiefless staff
Speaker 1: and diasporic engagement at Essence Ventures. Really exciting role as
Speaker 1: as a serial entrepreneur.
Speaker 2: When the opportunity came almost two.
Speaker 1: Years ago, I had not worked for anybody, but this
Speaker 1: is such a different opportunity first of all, Essence Communications
Speaker 1: means Essence Festival. I mean, like, you know, the the
Speaker 1: universe for black women globally, and I get to participate
Speaker 1: in my little way and contribute and be in service
Speaker 1: to this community.
Speaker 2: So it was, it was, it was amazing.
Speaker 1: And plus I get an opportunity to work with the
Speaker 1: amazing Caroline Wanga and Richel Dennis and the incredible team
Speaker 1: that that's there. So yeah, and that's that's I think
Speaker 1: you captured all of it.
Speaker 4: I mean so beautiful.
Speaker 3: And I love that you're starting us off on just
Speaker 3: encouraging our money movers audience. Like you know, sometimes as
Speaker 3: black women in particular, we don't give ourselves the grace
Speaker 3: the credit about how much we've done, how much it
Speaker 3: takes to do what we do. So listeners out there
Speaker 3: seriously like we are handclapping you all right now. I'm
Speaker 3: so excited to dive into your story. So I want
Speaker 3: to take us back because you know, in our little
Speaker 3: pregame preamble here, both of us recognize that we are
Speaker 3: neighbors because you know, my family comes from Ghana and
Speaker 3: you are from Liberia.
Speaker 2: That's right.
Speaker 3: So I want to go back to the very beginning
Speaker 3: of little Barku, tell us about how you grew up.
Speaker 3: And I want you to frame this because you know,
Speaker 3: what I think is so interesting about money moves is
Speaker 3: we always talk about generational wealth and like, you know
Speaker 3: how we were taught to think about money as children,
Speaker 3: the family sort of you know, whether or not they
Speaker 3: were good or bad legacies that were indoctrinated into us.
Speaker 3: So let's go back to your early days. And you
Speaker 3: grew up in Liberia or you were born there.
Speaker 1: This is this is how what I always say, I
Speaker 1: was born in Liberia, raised in America by very Liberian parents.
Speaker 2: Aha.
Speaker 1: So yes, I've been here for as long as I
Speaker 1: can remember. But I also remember growing up in like
Speaker 1: a my family left Liberia in nineteen eighty. There was
Speaker 1: a coup, there was a civil unrest in Liberia. My family,
Speaker 1: my father was in government. My grandfather was a president
Speaker 1: of Liberia.
Speaker 2: Well, yo, what she is.
Speaker 3: Saying, very you left Liberia like you were not you
Speaker 3: could not stay there?
Speaker 1: Yeah wow, right, So we were fortunate to be able
Speaker 1: to make it out of Liberia and we came to
Speaker 1: the United States.
Speaker 4: The interesting thing is, I mean I grew.
Speaker 2: Up extremely privileged.
Speaker 1: You know, you're from Africa and your family's from Africa,
Speaker 1: and for those in the diaspora that understand, you know
Speaker 1: what it means to have family in government. You know,
Speaker 1: you do live a pretty privileged life. But we did
Speaker 1: come to America and have to start all over again.
Speaker 2: Because one of the.
Speaker 1: Things that I think most of our most of our parents,
Speaker 1: and I when I find that when I talk to
Speaker 1: my other Liberian relatives and friends and even other Africans,
Speaker 1: is you know, I think they get so accustomed to
Speaker 1: how things you know were and are, that they don't
Speaker 1: for there not to be right.
Speaker 2: So interesting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you sort of grow up with everything, but
Speaker 1: when you come to America, you're who you were in
Speaker 1: Liberia doesn't translate to America. You know, my mom used
Speaker 1: to call my mom right, my mom calls America the
Speaker 1: great equalizer. Like, you know, everybody's got to show up.
Speaker 1: Everybody's got to work hard. Your last name or who
Speaker 1: you are or the click you in does not matter here.
Speaker 1: You really have to show up and do that work
Speaker 1: in order for anybody to do it. So I did
Speaker 1: grow up very fortunate, but coming to America at a
Speaker 1: young age with the parents that I have instilled hard
Speaker 1: work is really and integrity is really you know, how
Speaker 1: you you you survive and how you thrive. It's so
Speaker 1: funny because as I even talked about earlier, why my
Speaker 1: nonprofit does what it does and how you know. For me,
Speaker 1: the boss Lady title really is about your your whole self.
Speaker 1: Everything I do really speaks to myself or those people
Speaker 1: that may follow me or people that start to follow
Speaker 1: me on social media. If you see a comment, it
Speaker 1: really is me preaching to myself and trying to tell
Speaker 1: myself this is where. This is the headset, this is
Speaker 1: the mindset I need you to be in. Right now,
Speaker 1: you get it together right. You have done this because
Speaker 1: as you know, as you continue to climb the ladder
Speaker 1: of success, as you as driven as you are, when
Speaker 1: you're put in position, it's not always easy to show
Speaker 1: up so confident.
Speaker 2: What's exciting about is you tend to do scared?
Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, do it scared absolutely so.
Speaker 1: As a young as a young girl basically you know,
Speaker 1: just grew up very fortunate.
Speaker 2: My mom and dad were not married.
Speaker 1: I have I have a very I have a You
Speaker 1: have to excuse the lightning and thunder in the background.
Speaker 1: It just is what it is. You can't showers of blessings.
Speaker 1: Look will take it as that. But my parents weren't married.
Speaker 1: I come from a family, a very very African family. Actually,
Speaker 1: my father has six kids. I'm the youngest by three
Speaker 1: different women, and they might kill me when they hear
Speaker 1: but it's it's reality.
Speaker 3: And you know what I like to say, Like you know,
Speaker 3: on podcasts like this, all these pieces rest with different people.
Speaker 4: There's somebody else out there who's listening. It's like, oh,
Speaker 4: that sounds like my family.
Speaker 2: Tell me more.
Speaker 4: You know somebody else who was like huh.
Speaker 3: And so I just I love the truth because it's
Speaker 3: your truth is definitely somebody else's. And if not, you
Speaker 3: are informing other people on just your life.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And and listen if you have a show where
Speaker 1: you're educating people. And I think in order for people
Speaker 1: to learn how to navigate where they are, is they
Speaker 1: if I'm going to jump on, it's really important that
Speaker 1: I'm on right, It's really important that I'm honest.
Speaker 2: But but but.
Speaker 1: I think that I had an amazed both my parents
Speaker 1: and my stepmother, They're all amazing. And then of course
Speaker 1: by extension, we have second parents, the aunts and the uncles,
Speaker 1: you know, because in Africa, and as we grew up,
Speaker 1: even as we lived in America, even more so, it
Speaker 1: took a village. And so just growing up just really
Speaker 1: really was forced to just you know, it's all about
Speaker 1: do good in school, do good in school, right, and
Speaker 1: it's got to you know, who wants to be the doctor,
Speaker 1: the lawyers and all the traditional beings.
Speaker 3: I grew up and like this is where I feel like,
Speaker 3: you know, I overstand being first generation. I was born
Speaker 3: in Canada. However, my older brothers and sisters were born
Speaker 3: in Ghana, and my dad similar background. His dad was
Speaker 3: a civil servant, but he came to Canada to go
Speaker 3: to med school.
Speaker 4: And it was like just be a doctor.
Speaker 1: That's success, that's a savior money, Be a doctor, take
Speaker 1: care of my family. The interesting thing is when you
Speaker 1: talk about money management at an early age and now
Speaker 1: that I have children, I have six year old triplets
Speaker 1: by Praskuylar and kJ who owned me and ruled my life.
Speaker 1: We didn't get taught the money, you know, how to
Speaker 1: manage money, right. The sort of things were just there
Speaker 1: for you, right, they were star just there. And I
Speaker 1: think when I got older was when I decided to
Speaker 1: take those matters into my own hands and say, you
Speaker 1: know what, I got to figure out because I want to.
Speaker 2: I want to live.
Speaker 1: Not only do I want to live the lifestyle that
Speaker 1: I've become accustomed to, I want to make sure that now,
Speaker 1: as a parent, I set a foundation so my children
Speaker 1: can even start out better than I am.
Speaker 3: So I so, now you're growing up in New Jerseys
Speaker 3: that correct, So when we came to America.
Speaker 1: Sorry, I didn't give you that part. When we came
Speaker 1: to America, I actually grew up in Manhattan. I grew
Speaker 1: up on sixty fifth Street and Third Wow.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: I went to the International School. Units loved it, and
Speaker 1: then I went to boarding school. I graduated from boarding
Speaker 1: school in Princeton at the Hunt School in Princeton, New Jersey.
Speaker 2: I'm a New Yorker.
Speaker 1: That's sort of my my, my sort of backstory Liberia America.
Speaker 2: It's I'm very much a worldly global citizen.
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to today's episode. If we helped you
Speaker 3: make your money move, please share it with your community,
Speaker 3: Subscribe and leave us a review on iHeartRadio and Apple Podcasts.
Speaker 3: Follow us on social media at Greenwood, and visit us
Speaker 3: at gogreenwood dot com for more financial tips and remember
Speaker 3: money movers. If this were easy, everyone would do it.
Speaker 3: So take the lessons you've learned from this episode and
Speaker 3: apply it to your life. Money Moves is an iHeartRadio
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Speaker 4: Until next time,