Speaker 1: Aba fam.
Speaker 2: It's time for the b a qa a the v
Speaker 2: a qa which say the v a q a with manda,
Speaker 2: the b a q a the b a qa a
Speaker 2: ba fam.
Speaker 1: How are y'all doing? Can we just take a quick
Speaker 1: wo saw? I really need a woo saw. I ain't
Speaker 1: gonna lie to y'all. It's Thursday night, it's ten o'clock.
Speaker 1: I just got back from the city. I wasn't planning
Speaker 1: to go into Manhattan. I live about forty five minutes.
Speaker 1: That's a damn lie. See. This is what happens when
Speaker 1: you leave New York and you try to kid yourself
Speaker 1: into thinking that you live closer than you do door
Speaker 1: to door. Commute to Grant's Central is forty minutes. But
Speaker 1: then I had to carry my booty all the way
Speaker 1: down to Brooklyn Bridge City Hall because my husband works
Speaker 1: for the government and he is one of millions of
Speaker 1: federal workers who were impacted by Lord Voldemort reincarnated in
Speaker 1: his executive orders. And for those of y'all listen, I
Speaker 1: forgive you in advance if you've already done forgot what
Speaker 1: half of the or even a fraction of what these
Speaker 1: executive orders that have come down. But my husband. In particular,
Speaker 1: he was in the very final stage of getting an
Speaker 1: offer from a federal agency that would have not only
Speaker 1: been a great career opportunity for him, but it would
Speaker 1: have allowed him to work closer to home, to where
Speaker 1: we live. And right now, he commutes an hour and
Speaker 1: a half minimum on bad you know, bad train days,
Speaker 1: We're talking like two hours each way, and he is tie.
Speaker 1: I heard this man has been doing this. And he
Speaker 1: comes home he does not you know, he's not trying
Speaker 1: to go to after office happy hours. He is trying
Speaker 1: to get home. He leaves early whenever he can, and
Speaker 1: he still feels like he's missing too much. And obviously,
Speaker 1: just y'all know if you commute, if your commute is
Speaker 1: anything like that, y'all know how just tiring and how
Speaker 1: it can wear you down. And we were both so
Speaker 1: excited for him to accept this new position. He got
Speaker 1: an email when he returned to work on Tuesday, like
Speaker 1: we all did, he got an email saying, your offer
Speaker 1: has been rescinded due to the recent executive order that
Speaker 1: mandated an immediate temporary hiring freeze across all federal agencies
Speaker 1: except for, of course, you know, your law enforcement, Border
Speaker 1: Control you know, the essential people that are going to
Speaker 1: come hunt down migrants and take them back to wherever
Speaker 1: they came from. I guess so he was. He's a
Speaker 1: very like he's a very, he's well, he's just a
Speaker 1: good person to his core. But he's also quiet, and
Speaker 1: he's a cancer. I'm a leo. So you make up
Speaker 1: your own mind about how that works. He's he feels
Speaker 1: things deeply, and he doesn't let things really get to
Speaker 1: him typically, And I could tell that this one really hurt.
Speaker 1: I mean it was it was just the worst possible timing.
Speaker 1: And he had already told all of his work colleagues,
Speaker 1: and he and another young woman that he works with
Speaker 1: as well were applying to the same agency. They were
Speaker 1: each in the same stage, the final stage of hiring,
Speaker 1: like background check, like go pee in a cup kind
Speaker 1: of stuff. They were just waiting on their start date,
Speaker 1: and they both got let down, and his colleagues offered
Speaker 1: to take them out for a drink and just have
Speaker 1: a good old pity party. And it's really you feel
Speaker 1: kind of like powerless. I mean, there's there's just nothing
Speaker 1: I can do to make it better for him. But
Speaker 1: I did got a sitter to watch the kids, and
Speaker 1: I went all the way down to Lower Manhattan to
Speaker 1: just be there for him and to share space with
Speaker 1: him and his colleagues. And it was really nice, actually,
Speaker 1: but I dropped everything to do that, and that includes
Speaker 1: doing my normal prep for the BAQA episode. So I'm
Speaker 1: here now and I'm never sad to show up to
Speaker 1: the mic for y'all. Y'all know that you know I
Speaker 1: love y'all. Ba Fam. I'm going to pick a couple
Speaker 1: of questions from the mail bag and thank y'all to
Speaker 1: those who have been sending in your questions. It's never
Speaker 1: too late to submit questions to the show. You can
Speaker 1: hit us up at Brand Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com,
Speaker 1: and I suggest that if you're writing a really long one,
Speaker 1: email is better, and then if you have a short question,
Speaker 1: hit us up on Instagram at Brand Ambition Podcast. I'm
Speaker 1: at Mandy Money, but the ba in box is regularly monitored. Okay.
Speaker 1: I just want to acknowledge that there are human beings
Speaker 1: whose lives are being impacted and so many ways by
Speaker 1: the policies that are being put in place, so many frameworks,
Speaker 1: so many regulatory agencies that are here to look out
Speaker 1: for the people who don't have billions of dollars in
Speaker 1: private jets and a dick. The rest of us who
Speaker 1: are not, you know, the top point zero zero one
Speaker 1: percent of America, we kind of need someone looking out
Speaker 1: for us. And that's literally what these regulatory bodies and
Speaker 1: laws were created for the Constitution itself. And to see
Speaker 1: it just being taken apart brick by brick, not even
Speaker 1: like brick by brick, more like just detonated, like demolished
Speaker 1: right before our eyes, it's it's shocking. I want to
Speaker 1: offer support and just yeah, hold space for those who
Speaker 1: have been impacted, For those of y'all whose family members
Speaker 1: are keeping the curtains drawn and not opening the door
Speaker 1: to anyone that they're not one hundred percent sure who
Speaker 1: it is. To people who are too afraid to now
Speaker 1: go to church or to school because they're afraid they're
Speaker 1: going to be scooped up in a van and forced
Speaker 1: to return to a country that they haven't called home
Speaker 1: for decades, for years, maybe even ever. That I'm with you,
Speaker 1: the Brand Ambition family is with you as well, to
Speaker 1: the LGBTQ plus community. My goodness, my brother in law
Speaker 1: who's a transman. When you finally embrace the identity that
Speaker 1: you choose to have and the way that you feel,
Speaker 1: and the really just getting to a place where you
Speaker 1: have this new chapter, you're starting this new journey and
Speaker 1: you feel more like yourself than you have for decades.
Speaker 1: And you watch this person embrace who they are and
Speaker 1: the excitement, the joy, the relief that they feel, and
Speaker 1: to know that now they're in a place where it
Speaker 1: was already unsafe for this community, and now it's even
Speaker 1: less safe. And I just I link arms with the
Speaker 1: LGBTQ plus community, the queer commun unity. I got, y'all.
Speaker 1: We have to have each other's backs. We have to support,
Speaker 1: protect each other, look out for one another more than
Speaker 1: ever at this moment. All right, you know what, speaking
Speaker 1: of wusaws, I'm gonna take a little break and we'll
Speaker 1: be right back to take some of y'all's questions. Be
Speaker 1: right back, ba fam, All right, ba fam? Who breathing
Speaker 1: is so healing? I don't know if the whole meditation
Speaker 1: movement made it to y'all during the pandemic like it
Speaker 1: did just about everybody else. But you don't have to
Speaker 1: do like a proper meditation, just like putting your feet
Speaker 1: on the ground, putting your hand on your chest, just
Speaker 1: breathing in, breathing out. It's so it's so silly and
Speaker 1: so true. It just really helps ground you helps me
Speaker 1: feel grounded and feel centered and be ready to pour
Speaker 1: into y'all. So let go enough of that. I want
Speaker 1: to take a question from a listener who submitted this
Speaker 1: I think on itg Yeah, So Jen, Jen reached out said, Hello,
Speaker 1: I love your podcast. I was just listening to one
Speaker 1: about how you were saying how expensive everything is. I
Speaker 1: didn't hear you mention over employment. I know several people
Speaker 1: who have two to four full time jobs working from
Speaker 1: home just to live. It's so sad, but it's also
Speaker 1: getting people out of debt and actually giving them money
Speaker 1: to save. Have you discussed this on the podcast. What
Speaker 1: do you think about this? Jen? Okay? Two to four
Speaker 1: full time jobs? God, I mean, listen, this is one
Speaker 1: of those situations where you can't trust the data because
Speaker 1: not everybody is going to tell the truth about holding
Speaker 1: down two to four full time jobs. Like and by
Speaker 1: the way, Jen, I need to meet whoever you know
Speaker 1: that's working full full four full time jobs somehow from home,
Speaker 1: like I can hardly I can hardly imagine like how
Speaker 1: I could add one more thing to my plate and
Speaker 1: I have to businesses that I'm running and being a
Speaker 1: mom and being a human like I just it seems
Speaker 1: impossible and really unhealthy. But to your point, over employment
Speaker 1: and working multiple jobs just to get by is a
Speaker 1: systemic problem in the US, and surprise, surprise, the research
Speaker 1: shows who is it really a systemic problem for black women?
Speaker 1: We are the most likely people in America to be
Speaker 1: working more than one job in order to cover our
Speaker 1: minimum expenses. Nearly ten percent of Black women hold multiple jobs. Okay,
Speaker 1: let that sink in for a second. That's twice as
Speaker 1: much as Hispanic women. It's more way more than men
Speaker 1: in general. It's more than women in general. And it's
Speaker 1: a problem. It's not okay now on its face, Like,
Speaker 1: of course, black women like we are incredible. We can
Speaker 1: achieve anything we put our minds to. We can make
Speaker 1: magic happen, we can do what we need to do
Speaker 1: for our families. But at what cost? And is our
Speaker 1: suffering is the fact that we have to work so
Speaker 1: much harder just to make do. Have we gotten too
Speaker 1: comfortable with that? And so I'm glad Jen that you
Speaker 1: gave me an opportunity to talk on this, because I
Speaker 1: don't think we should be comfortable with it. I don't
Speaker 1: think that we need to be taking for granted that
Speaker 1: Black women like we have an unlimited supply of energy
Speaker 1: and time to spend our lives in these ways, just
Speaker 1: working and working and working just to get by. Now,
Speaker 1: it's one thing if you've got to side hustle and
Speaker 1: you're doing that on the side, and you're doing it
Speaker 1: to raise extra money and you know, reach some goals
Speaker 1: that you really want to reach, like to increase your investing,
Speaker 1: and you're in saving, and that's fine, And honestly I
Speaker 1: support anyone who wants to have a side hustle on
Speaker 1: top of their regular nine to five. I think that
Speaker 1: that creates financial resilience, especially if it helps you save
Speaker 1: and put more aside for a rainy day. But it
Speaker 1: also makes you less beholden to your one singular employe,
Speaker 1: so that if they were to let you go, which
Speaker 1: is unfortunately still happening and will continue to happen because capitalism,
Speaker 1: that you can take care of yourself, that you can
Speaker 1: support your family and get by when you have that
Speaker 1: financial resilience because you have been stacking your coins and
Speaker 1: working on the side. However, we got to break our
Speaker 1: love affair with seeing black women struggle. We have to
Speaker 1: break the love affair with seeing black women struggle. People
Speaker 1: are way too comfortable with it, way too comfortable with it,
Speaker 1: to the point where I don't know if you guys
Speaker 1: have ever experienced this, but when you're talking to someone
Speaker 1: for the first time, and like, let's say that they're
Speaker 1: a white man, when you're talking about your upbringing, and
Speaker 1: they make assumptions about where you come from or what
Speaker 1: kind of upbringing you had, and they try to identify
Speaker 1: with you based on that. It's like, oh, yeah, well,
Speaker 1: you know, I grew up with a single mom and
Speaker 1: we were super poor, and like, yeah, we know. And
Speaker 1: it's just almost like, so do you think that's how
Speaker 1: I grew up just because I'm a black woman. This
Speaker 1: isn't just about hustle culture. We're talking about systemic inequities
Speaker 1: that are demanding that we work harder and work harder
Speaker 1: for less pay, because even though we're working more jobs,
Speaker 1: we're still not getting paid equitably. And in fact, that's
Speaker 1: one of the biggest reasons why we have to work
Speaker 1: so many freaking jobs. Okay, So, like why aren't we
Speaker 1: raising wages for these professions that over index in hiring
Speaker 1: women of color, like undervalued professions like caregiving, home health care, aids,
Speaker 1: retail work, restaurant work, work in the travel industry, hospitality industry.
Speaker 1: Let's stop devaluing those jobs just because you're more likely
Speaker 1: to see women of color working them. We need to
Speaker 1: increase workplace flexibility, so we need to have policies that
Speaker 1: make sense for a paid family leave, for affordable childcare
Speaker 1: that can ease the burden of any woman out there
Speaker 1: who is juggling caregiving and can't make ends meet and
Speaker 1: can't figure out how to do it all at once. Like,
Speaker 1: let's actually have some flexibility in our workplaces. Let's give paid, sickly,
Speaker 1: paid family leave, all these benefits that would make it
Speaker 1: so much easier and take the pressure off of us
Speaker 1: to work these multiple jobs so that we can have flexibility.
Speaker 1: We all know these are issues. We all know that
Speaker 1: we know, Like, I don't got to tell y'all that
Speaker 1: this is impacting us because we see it every day.
Speaker 1: Just like Eugen you see your friends working two to
Speaker 1: four jobs. I just want to acknowledge it. I wish
Speaker 1: it wasn't this way. And if there's you know, obviously
Speaker 1: at this point is a slim chance, and you know
Speaker 1: where that the elected officials at the top are going
Speaker 1: to do anything about this right now. Certainly not when
Speaker 1: they're too busy dismantling DEI programs and chasing down immigrants
Speaker 1: and focusing on all the wrong things. In my opinion,
Speaker 1: they're not going to be dealing with this stuff. So
Speaker 1: but at the same time, privately owned companies, y'all can
Speaker 1: still stand up. You can make sure that you're reviewing
Speaker 1: your compensation for any signs of gender racial bias that
Speaker 1: could be impacting pay equity. We could be educating when
Speaker 1: in about negotiating how to understand their true market values.
Speaker 1: So that's my work that I do through Manny Moneymakers,
Speaker 1: through of course Brown Ambition as well through all my coaching.
Speaker 1: We got to help each other. We got to talk about,
Speaker 1: you know, the ways that we are making money, the
Speaker 1: ways that we are able to develop multiple income streams,
Speaker 1: but do it in a way where we are not
Speaker 1: sacrificing our sanity and our health in the process. And
Speaker 1: support one another, rely on our communities. Make sure you're
Speaker 1: voting in your local elections. That has never been more
Speaker 1: important vote in your local elections. Pay attention to what's
Speaker 1: happening at the local and state level, because these guys
Speaker 1: and women are going to be the unsung heroes, I
Speaker 1: think to get us through the next four years. Because
Speaker 1: even though the federal policy does matter a great deal,
Speaker 1: there are certainly guard rails and safety nets, social safety
Speaker 1: nets that can be put in place at the state
Speaker 1: and local level that can help if we hold our
Speaker 1: elected officials accountable for putting those safety nets in place.
Speaker 1: All right, So this is not says I know this,
Speaker 1: y'all are not statistics like we are living this life. Okay.
Speaker 1: We have to push for a world where we do
Speaker 1: not have to work so many damn jobs just to survive. Okay, Jen,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for your question. Thanks for giving
Speaker 1: me a chance to speak on that. And I'm going
Speaker 1: to take the next question now, but maybe take a
Speaker 1: little break, all right, be right back, ba fam, All right, bafam,
Speaker 1: I'm back with my next question. This comes from listener
Speaker 1: budget Savvy and Stuck. Budget Savvy and Stuck says, how
Speaker 1: do I negotiate for more money in a nonprofit that
Speaker 1: does market analysis for set ranges for position levels? The
Speaker 1: only time people can negotiate is when they come into
Speaker 1: the company. I've been promoted once within the company and
Speaker 1: security twelve thousand dollars rais, but now I feel stuck again.
Speaker 1: I think I have a little more I could learn
Speaker 1: and would hate to leave too soon, but something gotta give.
Speaker 1: I work in that. Oh okay, anonymous note, I work
Speaker 1: in the HR department, so it's incredibly tricky to negotiate
Speaker 1: with the negotiators. Now listen, I completely see what you're saying.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think this is an issue that also
Speaker 1: holds back a lot of like state and federal workers
Speaker 1: as well, because you have your set pay bands and
Speaker 1: there's like all this magic math that happens to determine
Speaker 1: like where how soon you can move up a level
Speaker 1: and a grade and all those steps and stuff like that. However,
Speaker 1: you make a really important point. The only way you
Speaker 1: can negotiate for more money is when at the nonprofit
Speaker 1: you work for. You've noticed is when people come into
Speaker 1: the company. So you may need to not necessarily leave
Speaker 1: the company, but you may need to be at risk
Speaker 1: of leaving the company. And by that I mean getting
Speaker 1: a competing offer from another firm, another nonprofit, another organization,
Speaker 1: whatever it may be, and bringing that to them because
Speaker 1: I know, I mean, you're an HR, you know, and
Speaker 1: it sounds like, honestly, it sounds like they put a
Speaker 1: lot of thought into their analysis for compensation. And I'm
Speaker 1: really not mad at that. And I know there's maybe
Speaker 1: a higher bar for you being one of them to
Speaker 1: try to negotiate. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: like if you're really good at your job and they're
Speaker 1: afraid to lose you, and you come to them and
Speaker 1: you say you're going to lose me because they're going
Speaker 1: to offer me ten k more or they're going to
Speaker 1: give me a promotion to whatever title, they have an
Speaker 1: opportunity to step up and try to save you, and
Speaker 1: then you have a choice to make. I know that
Speaker 1: you say you don't want to leave too soon, you
Speaker 1: feel like you have more to learn. Then you got
Speaker 1: a weigh the pros and cons. Do you have to
Speaker 1: stick around to learn those lessons while feeling like you're underpaid,
Speaker 1: or could you learn what you need to learn by
Speaker 1: going to another firm. We all have something that we're
Speaker 1: afraid of and that keeps us stuck, right, So really
Speaker 1: get real with yourself, what is it that I'm actually
Speaker 1: afraid of here, and then let's lay out let's lay
Speaker 1: out what happens. Let's actually create a hypothetical reality where
Speaker 1: the worst case scenario happens, and then what will you do?
Speaker 1: Budget savvy and stuck? Who are the five people that
Speaker 1: you're going to call up if it's not working out?
Speaker 1: And who are going to help you by sending you
Speaker 1: new opportunities? Can you go back to your current job?
Speaker 1: Does your team love you enough to be like, Okay,
Speaker 1: if that doesn't work out, come back here. We got
Speaker 1: room for you. Do you have great references? Like do
Speaker 1: you have a great network that can support you as
Speaker 1: your experience really relevant in the marketplace? Are there many
Speaker 1: jobs out there that you'd be a good fit for.
Speaker 1: You know, these are questions to remind yourself that I
Speaker 1: can afford to take a risk, Like even if the
Speaker 1: worst case scenario were to happen, I trust that I could,
Speaker 1: that I got me, that I can pick myself back up.
Speaker 1: You know. Now, I'm not encouraging anyone to make a
Speaker 1: leap or quit their job just because they get more pay.
Speaker 1: I think that you've pointed out like a really good
Speaker 1: counter argument to just leaving in pursuit of higher pay
Speaker 1: or some bigger title. Is you want to think about
Speaker 1: the workplace culture, Like if you really like your colleagues,
Speaker 1: if they give you a really great remote work or
Speaker 1: they let you be flexible and phone in or work
Speaker 1: telecommute some days and come into the office other days,
Speaker 1: if you love the mission of the nonprofit you work for,
Speaker 1: if you really you know, align with the values of
Speaker 1: the company, all that matters as well. Okay, So I
Speaker 1: also think, like, one thing I'll leave you with is
Speaker 1: who's calling you stuck? Why do you you feel stuck?
Speaker 1: Are you really stuck?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: And when I think about stuck, I think I'm desperate
Speaker 1: to do something different. I've been doing this for way
Speaker 1: too long. I'm not growing, I'm not using I'm not
Speaker 1: really like using skills that are making an impact. And
Speaker 1: I see no other place to go. I don't have
Speaker 1: any contacts that could get me work anywhere else. I'm
Speaker 1: like really beating up against a brick wall here. They
Speaker 1: don't want to develop me, Like my pay isn't going anywhere.
Speaker 1: What is it that's making you feel stuck? Because I
Speaker 1: don't know that I believe that you're genuinely stuck. I
Speaker 1: think that you might feel that you're stuck, and I
Speaker 1: just wonder if it's something that you can just start
Speaker 1: telling yourself a different story about why you are where
Speaker 1: you are right now. What if you were to flip
Speaker 1: the script and say, oh, no, I'm not stuck. I
Speaker 1: really like the work I'm doing. I love the culture here,
Speaker 1: I have respect with my colleagues. I know I have
Speaker 1: more to learn, and I'm sticking around because this is
Speaker 1: the kind of place I want to learn it from.
Speaker 1: And I know when in a great opportunity comes along,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to be so foolish as to ignore
Speaker 1: that opportunity. And of course I'll entertain any cool opportunity
Speaker 1: that comes my way. But it's going to take a
Speaker 1: lot to persuade me to leave this place, because, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'd like to get paid more, of course, because I
Speaker 1: have financial goals and I want to reach. But I
Speaker 1: really enjoy the work here and I know that there's
Speaker 1: more than just money at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: and that is also like I'm weighing that as well
Speaker 1: as getting paid more and getting that title that I want.
Speaker 1: So no, I'm not stuck. I am strategically choosing to
Speaker 1: stay in place. Because this is the best option I have,
Speaker 1: because this is what I want for my career right now,
Speaker 1: and it's what makes sense for me, and it's what
Speaker 1: I can the best I can do with the information
Speaker 1: I have right now. And if I get new information
Speaker 1: or new opportunities, then I'll weigh those as well. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm true, I'm cool. I'm happy with where I'm at. Now,
Speaker 1: that's a different story you can tell yourself. And then
Speaker 1: once you start telling yourself that story, it becomes true.
Speaker 1: Isn't that crazy? It becomes true? And now you're not
Speaker 1: budget savvy and stuck to our budget savvy and slaying
Speaker 1: your budget savvy and sailing your budget savvy and satisfied. Ooh,
Speaker 1: that's the one budget savvy and satisfied. Hell yeah, all right,
Speaker 1: miss budget savvy and satisfied. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: your question. To be a fan love y'all. Thank you
Speaker 1: a million times for the support. Make sure that you
Speaker 1: tell a friend to tell a friend to listen to
Speaker 1: the show. We're airing new episodes. Brown Table is on Wednesdays.
Speaker 1: We're still doing Baqa on Fridays, sprinkling in some really
Speaker 1: cool guest interviews. Really, whenever I damn well. Please, And
Speaker 1: when I think there's someone y'all gotta hear from. Got
Speaker 1: some cool Brown Table guests coming up, and yeah, just
Speaker 1: can't thank y'all enough. Subscribe to our YouTube channel. Yes
Speaker 1: we are on YouTube. Come find us there. You're not
Speaker 1: gonna find this episode on YouTube because don't have my
Speaker 1: camera on. Do you remember the part where I told
Speaker 1: you it's ten o'clock at night, Well, now it's ten
Speaker 1: forty pm. And I still got to like edit this
Speaker 1: show really fast because that's how last minute it is.
Speaker 1: I can't even get the editor to edit it. I
Speaker 1: won't do it myself. But hey, going back to old school,
Speaker 1: early Brown Ambition days, when I was doing the editing myself,
Speaker 1: it's only fine. I could do it pretty quick. But
Speaker 1: thank y'all so much. Subscribe on YouTube, like follow, leave
Speaker 1: a comment. Some of y'all will leave a comment on
Speaker 1: every platform. And I just want you to know I
Speaker 1: see it. I appreciate it so much, and we're so
Speaker 1: lucky to have such an incredible audience. And yeah, we'll
Speaker 1: see you next week at the Brown Table. And in
Speaker 1: the meantime, take care, have a good weekend, lean on
Speaker 1: each other, support each other, and we want to get
Speaker 1: through this together, all right, okayba fam Bye.