Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Overcoming the Odds: She discusses her 5 Ps of success - Perseverance, Persistence, Preparedness, Purpose and Prayer.

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Overcoming the Odds: She discusses her 5 Ps of success - Perseverance, Persistence, Preparedness, Purpose and Prayer. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: My guess is the oldest minority woman owned professional design
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: and construction firm in the United States. The family's fingerprints
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: have been left all across the United States, spanning from
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: reconstruction to contemporary times through projects like the Barclays Center,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: the Billy Jean King National Tennis Center, the new terminal
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: one at JFK International Airport in Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: That's just to name a few. We still be talking,
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: but I want to interview her, revealed in.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Cheryl mckisse's daniels new book, The Black Family Who Built America.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Please welcome to Money Making Conversations Masterclass, Cheryl McKissick Daniels.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: How you doing.
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: I'm great, Rashaan, so nice to be here with you.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: First of all, it was a lot.
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: That was a lot.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: There's a lot when I sit here.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: First of all, I don't want to undermine the greatness
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: of your family, but also it's the buck stops with you.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: How do you make that level of expectation and also
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: that history, Cheryl.
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: Uh, Well, you know, I have leaned into my family
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  Speaker 4: legacy and I understand what it represents, and I understand
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  Speaker 4: the foundation that my forefathers.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: Have laid for me.
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: Uh.
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  Speaker 3: We go all the way back.
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  Speaker 4: To Moses the first and with each generation, uh, the
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  Speaker 4: foundation just increased.
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  Speaker 3: It was, it became.
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  Speaker 4: Deeper and wider, right, And so I stand on the
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  Speaker 4: shoulders of these individuals everywhere I go, and I remind
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  Speaker 4: myself of that, and that's what I'm representing.
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  Speaker 3: And so that's how I manage.
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  Speaker 4: You know, I walk into a room to sell new business, right,
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  Speaker 4: and I know I have four generations of ancestors right
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  Speaker 4: there with me.
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  Speaker 3: Uh, you know, cheering me on.
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  Speaker 4: Uh.
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  Speaker 2: I look at you, and there's a lot of hard
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: on this. You know. I'm listening to you, and.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: I'm just trying to build my little resume of my
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: little companies I can qualify for an R and P,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: which is in some company to give me a shot.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: You have.
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  Speaker 3: Centuries, centuries and thirty years to be exactly.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: Of a resume. That's impressive because I don't want to.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: You know, I read your book, you know, The Black
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Family of Built America, a really amazing read for me
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: because my last name is McDonald.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: McDonald's doesn't mean anything to me. The kiss X that
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: means something, starting with the slave owner, that the name
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  Speaker 1: you guys are caring today that is now tied to
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: which was a burden, which was a sense of tragedy
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: when your relative was brought over by force and enslave.
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  Speaker 1: But now it's recognized as a uplifting, motivational, powerful name.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: Talk to us about that.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, that is kind of interesting that we've taken on
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  Speaker 4: the slave master's name and it's now become our name
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: and our brands, right, and so you know, it's kind
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: of like reverse discrimination.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, it's something in there that I'm reading the book.
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: I kept trying to wrap my head around this. I go,
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: but that's a good thing.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Rashond, this is a good thing, right, mckissics in mcissicks right.
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  Speaker 1: But then when you read the book, you realize that
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  Speaker 1: William McKissick, which is the slave owner in North Carolina
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  Speaker 1: and gave a great great great grandfather the name Moses,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: that would name his name, right, And they come from
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: a Chante, which is this powerful African tribe on West Africa,
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  Speaker 1: And you guys in the book are trying to figure out, well,
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  Speaker 1: if he comes from a powerful African tribe, how did
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: he get caught?
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: How did he get his slave?
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  Speaker 1: So there's a journey that I've only experienced in my
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  Speaker 1: life life through roots, Okay, the roots, and so this
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: book is kind of like a modern version of Roots
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  Speaker 1: to me, but with a much more powerful and enduring
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  Speaker 1: and growing legacy.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I totally agree with you.
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  Speaker 4: You know, it takes roots and then overlaps business and
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  Speaker 4: the ability to overcome slavery and Jim Crow and all
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  Speaker 4: of the racism that took place in the South. And
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  Speaker 4: how can you overcome all of that and still build
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: a business that lasts today? I mean, you know, one
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  Speaker 4: out of five businesses failed the first year, right, okay,
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  Speaker 4: Only forty percent make it to the second generation, eighteen
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  Speaker 4: to the third, and three percent.
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  Speaker 3: To the fourth.
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  Speaker 4: And here we are the fifth generation, and we're black
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  Speaker 4: in America.
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  Speaker 2: The name of the.
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  Speaker 1: Book again, the black family who built a arca the
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: mckissics two centuries of Daren Pioneer, Pioneer. It was written
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: by you and Nick Choell Childs Childsick Childs pulla ter
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  Speaker 1: winning Yeah right, okay, yeah, Now, you know, when I'm
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  Speaker 1: reading this book, you know, I always admire the journey
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: of everybody Martin Luther King who experiences racism to those
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: of the prominent names. But then when I look at
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: Moses and his brother who were licensed I think in
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  Speaker 1: nineteen twenty two sports tartified in the state of Tennessee,
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  Speaker 1: I go how.
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  Speaker 3: And so that's very interesting.
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  Speaker 4: It was Moses mckiswic the third in Calvin incorporated US
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  Speaker 4: in nineteen oh five. But that was the second mckisic business,
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  Speaker 4: because the first one was with Moses mckiswick. The second
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  Speaker 4: right after emancipation. But in nineteen oh five, the state
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  Speaker 4: of Tennessee didn't have architectural license lows that adn't come
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  Speaker 4: into effect until the twenties, and so for them to
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  Speaker 4: even stay in business, they had to have these licensees.
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  Speaker 3: So first they had.
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  Speaker 4: To go to the school through correspondence and receive their degrees,
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  Speaker 4: and then you know, go apply to take the exam.
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  Speaker 4: And of course the entire board was white and they
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  Speaker 4: did not want my grandfather and my great uncle to
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  Speaker 4: take this exam.
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  Speaker 3: But they were able to lobby the board. And when you're.
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  Speaker 4: Talking about business, think about the fact that they had
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  Speaker 4: this characteristic that they could lobby the board and get one,
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  Speaker 4: just one board member to say, okay, we should not
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  Speaker 4: prevent these two gentlemen from taking this exam, and he
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: had to use the excuse they're not going to pass anyway,
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: and so they took the exam they passed the first time,
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  Speaker 4: and you know then the board's like, well, we don't
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  Speaker 4: really want to get these Now we're stuck, like what
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  Speaker 4: do we do?
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  Speaker 3: But the same board member went back and so I
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  Speaker 3: don't know who.
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  Speaker 4: Was the most clever in this, the mcusics or the
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  Speaker 4: board member where they working together. I mean to have
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  Speaker 4: this strategy that they use for the mcasics to get
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  Speaker 4: their license, but they had to give it to them.
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  Speaker 4: And then they became the first black license architects in
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  Speaker 4: America with license one seventeen and one eighteen. And because
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  Speaker 4: of that, the Tennessee Licensing Board now gets all this
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  Speaker 4: notoriety because they have licensed the first black men in
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  Speaker 4: America and as a result of that, they have a
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  Speaker 4: reversal in their stands on whether they should be licensed
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  Speaker 4: or not, and they decide they should be licensed and
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  Speaker 4: help them to get licensed in twenty two other states.
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  Speaker 2: Wow, you know what it?
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  Speaker 1: Ye, I'm gonna stutter a little bit because I'm like,
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  Speaker 1: because what I do? I read the books the day
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: of the interview, so all this stuff is framed in
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: my mind, and so I react and I'm like, people, go, man,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: you know a lot us because I read the book
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: today up and so you know we're talking Pulaski, Tennessee.
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  Speaker 2: Okay. And then you guys moved to Nashville. Okay. When
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: I say you guys, but that.
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  Speaker 1: Story right there so reminded me of your situation when
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  Speaker 1: it came to the Barclay Center. Okay, it felt so parallel.
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  Speaker 1: And because you were lobbying, you were hustling. I'm use
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: the word hustling because you had to go here, go
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  Speaker 1: here to you know, I do it, I do it
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  Speaker 1: raising your hand. You know, the gistics are doing giftics
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  Speaker 1: are doing it right like on the front row of
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  Speaker 1: high school.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I always want that attention. That's what you were, Seki.
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  Speaker 1: And when I go back in the twenties and I
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  Speaker 1: look at that story, that's all they were trying to do.
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  Speaker 1: They kept raising their hands and they could do it
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: no matter what. But they had to show they were qualified.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: They had to keep telling everybody they can do the job,
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  Speaker 1: just give us a shot. So with me sending the
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  Speaker 1: tone Sheryl, you so if it was written based on
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  Speaker 1: that parallel. Talk about that experience that you just talked
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  Speaker 1: about with Moses and Calvin getting certified in the state
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  Speaker 1: of Tennessee way back in the twenties, even though they
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  Speaker 1: have been doing businesses in nineteen oh five to today
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: when the opportunity of the Nets coming to town want
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: to build a new arena, and the things.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: You had to do were not giving away too much of.
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: The book, Okay, you know it's very interested.
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  Speaker 4: I did not know I was reliving exactly what they relived.
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  Speaker 4: And I love that you're bringing up this parallel because
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  Speaker 4: it's true because I talk about it all the time
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  Speaker 4: that we still have the people with the same mindset
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  Speaker 4: that they had in nineteen twenty two today in twenty
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  Speaker 4: twenty five. But like them, I knew that I needed
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  Speaker 4: to get to the right people to make sure that
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  Speaker 4: MkIS it was a part of this now. Just think
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  Speaker 4: I'm looking at TV. I seen Bruce Brady by the
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: Nets and he ain't even bottom yet. But I knew
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: a new arena was coming with it.
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  Speaker 2: As I'm talking about the hustling.
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  Speaker 3: And so you know, like, how am I going to
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  Speaker 3: be a part of it?
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: And so you know, I begin to think, Okay, a
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: third of the population in Brooklyn, at least the third is.
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: Black, you know.
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: But it's it's a diaspora absolutely, because it's gone all
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: you know.
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  Speaker 3: It's Caribbean black, okay.
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  Speaker 4: Mixed in with blacks from the South like me, and
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  Speaker 4: getting us.
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  Speaker 3: All rowing together is not easy. But I made sure
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  Speaker 3: that I made.
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  Speaker 4: A list of all the black organizations, all the black
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  Speaker 4: influencers and political people, and I went to see them,
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: and I went and told them my story, and I
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  Speaker 4: appealed to whatever they needed to hear.
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: Or whatever they need. But this is amazing because she's.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: Gonna give away the book, and I want you to
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: buy this book because of the fact that it's like
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: she sees something on TV, she sees an opportunity. She
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: is just going, oh, that'll never be my opportunity. She
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: figured out a way to how do I get in
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: front of it? How do I not only get in
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: front of it, become a recognized participant of it. And
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: as African Americans, we so often say I can't take it.
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: That's not me, it's not gonna happen.
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: It's not going to happen to me.
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  Speaker 1: That's the exact rights that we used absolutely, And that's
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  Speaker 1: why I was important that I bring that up, because
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: if I go back to Moses and Calvin, black people
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: saying that back then, that didn't never happen for you guys.
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  Speaker 4: And that's not true. You know, you have to say
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  Speaker 4: the opposite to yourself, and you have to put one
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  Speaker 4: foot in front of the other and do what's on
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: your mind and whatever your do list strategy is today.
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: And I believe in God's economy, nothing goes to waste,
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  Speaker 4: and if you put the energy in, it's going to
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  Speaker 4: come back to you. And so I knew that if
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  Speaker 4: I could just go out and meet all these various people,
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  Speaker 4: that it was going to come together. Now when I
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  Speaker 4: began to study Calvin and Moses, Moses, you know, they
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  Speaker 4: had persistence, they were prepared, as you talked about, you know,
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  Speaker 4: they persevered, yes, and they were on purpose right, and
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  Speaker 4: even fearless and they were feelings, well, yes, they were fearless.
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: I'm telling you they.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: Had fearless And I'm telling you, I'm Cheryl, You're fearless.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: I tell you you feel I read the you know,
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: I interviewed Cheryl back in twenty seventeen, but you know,
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: I was just starting money making conversations.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: She was gracious to allow me to interview her.
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  Speaker 5: Now, I like to believe that I've risen up a
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: little bit and becoming there are great.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: But you know that for the and I was interesting.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: And let me just tell you a little bit.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Let me ratle off some of some things about her brand,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: the mckissics and mckissicks firm, AMTRAKT Atlanta Yard Atlantic Yards
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Central Terminal building replacements at LaGuardia Airport, JFK International Airport
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: at Terminal want. I said that in the intro m
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: t A New Penn Station, New Jersey Transit, US Airways
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: Commuter Terminal, alf US air Raids International Terminal, you need
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: to stop.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: Girl. You a hustler with like ste arch. That's correct.
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  Speaker 5: Congratulations, but then you're not gonna stop though, No.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, thank you so much for that.
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  Speaker 4: You know.
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: I think I.
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: Learned in Philadelphia that there's always a technical buyer and
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: there is a political buyer.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: I feel in Philadelphia I got baptized by fire where
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: I came to politics, and so I think it's important
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: when you're looking at any type of pursuit to understand
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: that you know the technical buyer is.
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: Going to look at you know, four or five.
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: Dissent firms and see if they can check all of
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: the experience.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: And you know, you know.
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: The knowledge and the type of staff that you're putting
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: on the job, but the political buyer is very different.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: But that's the game that you've learned to understand is
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: equally as important as your academia, your resume, and the relationship.
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: You better have that relationship before you need it.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: Okay, absolutely, it's some questions I want to bring up
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: because I want you to drop some gems on my audience,
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: Like the five p's of family resilience.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: Can you talk about that?
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: Well, those are the five p's I gave you earlier.
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: It's perseverance, persistence, preparedness. You've got to be prepared to
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: deliver quality work, and then you got to be on purpose.
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: Now the fifth pi ad it and that's prayer. Because
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: sometimes you do get up in the morning and you say,
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: it's not for me. I'm not going to make it,
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: I'm not going to get there. It's just not for me.
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: You cannot ever let that enter your mind. You have
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: to come back and meditate on the fact that you're
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: a winner.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: Don't go anywhere.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: We will be right back with more insights from Money
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: Making Conversation mastic Class. Welcome back to Money Making Conversation
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: mastic Lass with me, Rashaun McDonald. Why is it important
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: that you write this book now, Cheryl Oh?
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: Good question.
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: This is the time that this book should be out because.
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: They are trying to do away with our history.
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: I'm so happy to get rid of the Smithsonian Institute.
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: On Sunday in the Times, New York Times, they're talking
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: about the President trying to embrace anything around slavery.
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: Yes, d E and I programs, which.
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: You know, I built my business on D E and
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: I programs.
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: When I first arrived in New York with a.
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: Company with almost two hundred years of experience, right I
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: still needed a DEI program.
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: And so this.
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: Book right here is a receipt to say we are around,
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: we have a foundation. We're not going anywhere. You may
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: not have known about black excellence, you just ignored it.
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: But we exist. And that is why this book is
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: important right now.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: This book, this book, this book, I'm saying the name again,
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: keep saying that for audio purposes and visual purposes. If
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: you get to see this on YouTube on the television
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: show The Black Family Who Built America? When I read that,
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: now went the Black Family Who. Why did you say
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: that like that? Why did you say that like that show?
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: Well, we did know that's the reason.
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: How you think now, Yes, it has a lot of
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: connotations behind it. First of all, we did want to
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: capture people's attention. But black people built America. And that's
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: the point we're making here, right.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: That's why it's so timely, Yes, because of the fact
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: that we need to tell our stories and our roles,
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: because so often black people are a stereotyped as needing
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: a help in hand, or always wanting something and not
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: giving something.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: And we have a black family that is at the
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: forefront of.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: High level construction, yes, decision making and rewriting the infrastructure
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: of our daily lives. I would tell my staff CHERYLD,
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: I tell them that we impact somebody's life every day.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: I tell them that, and I say that that's why
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: I'm always talking about control. Now I'm just in the
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: audio game. You in the building game, Cheryl. I mean
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: if a brick's not right, cheap ce met or talk
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: about that amount of responsibility because people are walking in
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: these buildings, people are living in these buildings, people are
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: flying into these buildings.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of pressure, Cheryl.
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it is, and but we've been doing it for
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: so long. You know, it's in our wheelhouse. And you know,
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: I would have to say, the business you're in is
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: one that we need to concentrate on because it's the
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: images that we show people that create their perception.
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: Of who we are.
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: You know, in my book, we talk about Birth of
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: a Nation, the film that came out in nineteen fifteen,
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: right when black people were beginning to thrive outside of
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: you know, right after emancipation, and they had a lot
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: of white patriots, you know, but when this movie came
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: out and it was a black blustered success. Okay, the
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: President showed.
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: It in his.
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: In the White House, but it depicted black people as
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: as killers, as sexual molesters, I mean, as thieves, and
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: sub human and it also scolded white people who wanted
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: to actually patronize and embrace us and bring us into
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: the fold. That movie showed them, no, you do not
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: need to do that. That would be a big mistake.
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: And of course the ones who wanted who hated us,
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: who wanted to kill us, it gave them license to
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: kill right, and that is the importance of image. So
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: I was justin Martha's Vineyard at the Black Film Fest and.
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: That was my.
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: They came from a book tour, and this is exactly
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: what I talked about, because where are we now one
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: hundred years later? Black people are showing us on film.
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: But it's not sanitized, it's not censored, right, It's who
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: we are, who really are, and you know.
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: I hope that we continue to do that.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: My guess is the oldest minority woman owned professional design
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: and construction firm in the United States. The family's fingerprints
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: have been left all across the United States, spanning from
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: reconstruction to contemporary times through projects like the Morris Memorial Building,
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: kper CM Church, John F. Kennedy International Airport in Philadelphia's
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Lincoln Financial Fiel your book, Gerild, I keep bringing up
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: the black family who built America. Now let's talk about you,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: because you talk about yourself in this book a little bit.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: Getting my life right, you know what, I'm saying a
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: little drink to me claiming myself.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: And I'm laughing at that because I think that sometimes
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: because I always talk about this about my show about
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: finding yourself, and I always say that between the ages
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: of eighteen and twenty two, we as individuals are unstoppable,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: and sometimes when we get out of that twenty two,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: we change, or either marriage can take in their direction
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: of lifestyle or children can take in that direction. And
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: in this book, you changed, but you had to get
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: yourself back. And it's discussing this book and that's why
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: it's important that you tell my listeners or viewers why
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: it's important to sustain who you are despite many level
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: of success or being in a relationship.
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's important that you are true to yourself, but
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: there are situations in life that will take you out
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: of that, and sometimes you might need to go down
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: that path just so you can understand how detrimental it
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: is not to be yourself. And you know, I do
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: talk about that in my book. For me, it happened
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: to be a marriage that really took me out of
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: who I am and finding my way back was a
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: lot of fun.
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: Though, keep going, continue because I don't keep cracking, because
• 22:27
  Speaker 5: I've read this book as fresh in my mind and
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: we'll be laughing and you go, what need.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: To be about you stayed, continue your process.
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: I just had no idea that I was so far
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: off course, And you know mine was my relationship with alcohol.
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: And you know, growing up early.
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: On, I tell the story about the first time my
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: father said, Okay, you all are going to have a
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: drink today and I'm going to be the first man
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: to get you drunk.
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: And were sent.
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: At his bar and he hoard us these big glasses
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: of Jack daniels. My twin sister and I both drinking
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: and our mother comes around the corner right when we
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: are finishing and about to fall out the.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: Chair, right.
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: So, you know, our family grew up where you know,
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: we'd have wine for dinner and all that kind of stuff.
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: And then I meet this man who doesn't want me
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: to drink anymore, and I completely cut it off. But
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: it just it made me not who I really was,
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: and I ended up, you know, at my doctor's office, stressed,
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: stressed out completely, young kids not understanding you know why
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: I could not get settled. And I'm not saying alcohol
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: truly settles you, but being yourself well.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Bisions is what we were talking about, right, And guess
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: what the word stress was introduced to you now? Everybody
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: talk about stress nowadays, you know, mental health is a
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: part of everybody's conversation, and black people don't even want
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: to talk about it, even though it's still popular or
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: it's popularized that you should realize that there are issues
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: that you have to deal with on a daily and
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: ongoing basis. Now, when it was being brought to you
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: about stress, how did you deal with that and how
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: did you comprehend that was something or reality that you
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: were living.
• 24:17
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean the stress would grow over time because
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: when you are building a business, you know, you're the
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: chief bottle.
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: Washer, cook and everything else. There's a period of time
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: of that.
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: There's a period of time of just going out into
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: the world and trying to you know, bring in new
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: business and increase your revenues, and so all of that
• 24:41
  Speaker 4: creates stress.
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: And you're working around the clock.
• 24:44
  Speaker 4: I remember catching you know, six o'clock trains out of
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: Penn Station to go to Philly and then come back
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: home and get back to New York at like ten
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: o'clock at night and still having to.
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: Drive back home. You know, all of that create stress.
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: You know, you're meeting people at events at night, you're
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: having a dinner in an event, and it.
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: Just it never ends.
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: And so that along with personal stress you can begin
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: to lose who you are. And so I deal with
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: stress very differently today. First of all, I recognize it.
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: I recognize that I am currently feeling stressed out. So
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: what do I need to do? And I usually will
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: go meditate. We have a meditation room in our office
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: and I can barely get in there most days because
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: everybody's in there right right.
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: And I'm like knocking on the door, It's my turn.
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: But there is something about calming yourself and being in
• 25:49
  Speaker 4: the moment. I did that this morning in this beautiful
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: airbnb we have here in Atlanta, with the trees around,
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: and I said, no cell phone, just sit here, just try.
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: You know, ten fifteen minutes of this, I swear it'll
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: change your world.
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: But not only that.
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: You begin to get all these thoughts, all these creative,
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: innovative thoughts that give you your next steps to take
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: the stress off of you.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: It's important that in your book I bring up your
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: mom opes.
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: I love her, you.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: Know, because of the fact that again as a black woman,
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: a woman of African American descent, you know, stay of
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: Tennessee your father, talk about her and her resilience, talk
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: about some of the things she had to overcome when
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: it continue the legacy that you're driving forth.
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: Now, Yeah, Mom is a dynamo, you know. She had
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: been supporting my father for many, many years and she's.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: Still in Nashville.
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: And she's still in Nashville.
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: She turned ninety five in July, and so she was
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: on the periphery of the company because she would tell
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: my father, well, instead of taking your clients out to dinner,
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: bring them home. And she would have these lavish meals
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: with the best china and wine and appetizers, entrede dessert
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: and she would make all of that. But she's sitting
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: there listening as well. So when my father had his
• 27:26
  Speaker 4: massive stroke and she had to step in and take
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: over the business, she only knew the telephone number to
• 27:33
  Speaker 4: the office at that time, but she knew deep inside
• 27:38
  Speaker 4: that she wanted to hold on for the fifth generation.
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: The city of Nashville. Other architectural firms and construction firms
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: at the time approached her and told her, you're a woman,
• 27:51
  Speaker 4: you can't run this business. You're not an architect, you're
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: not an engineer. Can we just buy your firm? And
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: it would have been easy for her just to sell,
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: but she's like, no, I am going to keep this
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: firm alive for my three daughters, just in case one
• 28:09
  Speaker 4: of them wants to come back and join it. She
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: had a master's degree in psychology. She's a teacher, right,
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: She was a teacher, a very good teacher. I've met
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: a lot of her students over the years, and we
• 28:24
  Speaker 4: like to say, at least I like to say that
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: her masters agree in psychology helped her to deal with
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: the manias and phobias of men who couldn't understand a
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: woman could run a business. So this is the eighties.
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: She could not borrow money. Women period could not borrow money.
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: Their sons, their uncles, everybody else could if you were
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: a man. It wasn't until nineteen ninety at the Women's
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: Business Act that was passed by Congress that she could
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: begin to borrow money. So she had to overcome that obstacle,
• 28:56
  Speaker 4: but she was masterful at it at selling business. We
• 29:02
  Speaker 4: went to Tuskegee University. We met with doctor Peyton and
• 29:07
  Speaker 4: she was opening up a new building that we had designed.
• 29:12
  Speaker 4: And doctor Peyton came over to her and it's like,
• 29:15
  Speaker 4: you know, Lee, when I've told you from the very beginning,
• 29:19
  Speaker 4: this is the South, it gets hot down here. I
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: need operable windows and Mom said they're not operable. He said,
• 29:28
  Speaker 4: not one she's she said, okay, She's like, you know what,
• 29:35
  Speaker 4: I'm going to change out every window and I'm going
• 29:38
  Speaker 4: to pay for it.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 29:41
  Speaker 4: So now we're walking through the campus and she looks
• 29:44
  Speaker 4: over and she sees this old, dilapidated building. They're literally
• 29:49
  Speaker 4: storing lawn equipment there. She says to doctor Peyton, I
• 29:53
  Speaker 4: see you living there. And I'm thinking to myself, is
• 29:56
  Speaker 4: mom has she lost? And he's taking the same thing.
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: She said, no, let's go over there. It's this beautiful,
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: stately building that was just in disrepair. Beautiful couple at
• 30:09
  Speaker 4: the top. He commissioned her to redesign that building and
• 30:14
  Speaker 4: renovate it and make it his home.
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 30:17
  Speaker 4: And it's called Great Columns and it's still standing on
• 30:20
  Speaker 4: Tusky US campus. So she fixed one problem and got another.
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: A hustle from mom and daughter. Come on, now, you
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: know it's such a beautiful story. And again reading your book, geryld,
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: I know you keep going. He did read it.
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: You know you didn't read it. You didn't read it.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: Yes, he's a you know hidden figures really popular movies.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: Uh to Rogi p Henson started in it, and oftentimes
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: your family legacy has been tied to like the hidden
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: figures of construction.
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: Talk about that.
• 31:06
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, it's very interesting that people walk in
• 31:10
  Speaker 4: the structures all day long.
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: I don't care if.
• 31:14
  Speaker 4: It's their grocery store, their school, their hospital, you know,
• 31:18
  Speaker 4: the airport, train station. They're walking into some establishment every day.
• 31:25
  Speaker 4: But they never think of who built this, right, And
• 31:28
  Speaker 4: you know, so we're trying to elevate this profession and
• 31:33
  Speaker 4: to brand it as a profession that can build wealth.
• 31:37
  Speaker 4: And you know, it's another alternative for our young people
• 31:41
  Speaker 4: to consider when they think about a career. And so
• 31:46
  Speaker 4: when you think about the hidden figures of the world,
• 31:49
  Speaker 4: you know, it wasn't until we heard that story did
• 31:53
  Speaker 4: we even know there were computer people acting as computers.
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: But they were black women.
• 32:01
  Speaker 4: And it's the same with our story. You never think
• 32:03
  Speaker 4: about who's building something. But then when you look further
• 32:07
  Speaker 4: and deeper into it, not only are the people who
• 32:10
  Speaker 4: are building it, you know, majority or whatever, they're black people, right,
• 32:16
  Speaker 4: And so that's how to me, you know, that is
• 32:19
  Speaker 4: the corel that's why they correlate between those two examples
• 32:24
  Speaker 4: that you just gave.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: Well, you know the amazing thing. First of all, thank
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: you for giving me the time to talk to you
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: in this forum. Cheryl. You know, the book is about
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: history repeat itself. It's about motivation, resiliency, overcoming the odds,
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: uplift relationships. That because I'm talking to small business owners,
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: I'm talking to nonprofits, I'm talking about entrepreneurs. And this
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: book is really a must read in my eyes, yes,
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: because it's so many lessons to be learned and to
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: be told. As we close out this interview, we've discussed
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: a lot of amazing stories that are coming out of
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: this book. Just a small part of your legacy that
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: you continue today with your super hustle.
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: Super Hustle that's a nickname.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: Because your family super hustles back then Moses and Calvin,
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: back in the day Moses when he's giving the first
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: opportunity and they were being allowed to travel in the
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: state of North Carolina with notes. That's the only way
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: slaves could get around. They would have to get a
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: note to travel from place to place to.
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: Justify the read it and so but that, But the.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: Legacy of Meckissic and mckissic was William mckissicks was a
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: slave owner who purchased Moses when he was eleven years old,
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: and that started the legacy that were and today your
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: final thoughts.
• 34:03
  Speaker 4: My final thoughts, especially for the small businesses, the nonprofits
• 34:09
  Speaker 4: and all of that. Like this book does talk about entrepreneurship,
• 34:13
  Speaker 4: and that's the beginning, but let's talk about sustainability. How
• 34:19
  Speaker 4: to keep it sustainable in perpetuity, you know, posterity.
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: Let's talk about what do you need to do for that?
• 34:28
  Speaker 4: And you know I always tell business owners you got
• 34:33
  Speaker 4: to think about your exit.
• 34:34
  Speaker 3: You got to think about your end game, because it's coming,
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: whether you're wanted to or not.
• 34:39
  Speaker 4: Succession is important, yes, and so I just want to
• 34:44
  Speaker 4: make sure people are really understanding that they need to
• 34:49
  Speaker 4: plan a succession and don't think you can do it
• 34:53
  Speaker 4: like the last two years that you want to work before.
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: You retire, but this is something that takes ten years
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: to plan.
• 35:01
  Speaker 4: In our world, we're creating and have created a very
• 35:04
  Speaker 4: strong management team. So the company now can run with
• 35:09
  Speaker 4: more than just me managing and telling everyone what to do.
• 35:15
  Speaker 4: Matter of fact, it runs without me right now. And
• 35:19
  Speaker 4: I don't plan to retire or step back until twenty thirty.
• 35:23
  Speaker 4: So I'm giving my plan many years to work out
• 35:28
  Speaker 4: all the kinks while I'm still around, and that is
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: what I want to say. Also want to tell people
• 35:35
  Speaker 4: to start doing a family tree, to start writing down
• 35:39
  Speaker 4: what they do know about their families.
• 35:41
  Speaker 3: You know, you have to know at least two generations
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: at least too.
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: You stop that I thought to go back to street
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: Port Louis pun stuff like that.
• 35:55
  Speaker 3: You'd be surprised.
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: I know, I'm I'm not surprised is the person I'm
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: talking to today. I am so proud of you, and
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: I say that with great sincerity. I'm so proud when
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: I'm able to talk to I like to believe living legends.
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: Oh thank you.
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: You've established a legacy with your family and you're not stopping,
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: and your kids are not going to stop. You won't
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: let them stop because you know there's history and it's
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: not going to die on the vine while you're alive.
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: And so twenty thirty is coming, But that doesn't mean
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: twenty thirty one. You don't have nothing to say.
• 36:34
  Speaker 3: That's right, You've got.
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: What you're doing working on.
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: See my mother.
• 36:45
  Speaker 6: Yes, you amazing, Thank you sir for coming to my
• 36:48
  Speaker 6: show in your book, My Black Family Who Built America,
• 36:51
  Speaker 6: The Mechistics Two Centuries of Daring pioneer Sarah mckistics Daniel
• 36:56
  Speaker 6: with Nick Childs.
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: Yes, thank you for coming on Money Making Conversation, My Pleasure.
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: This has been another edition of Money Making Conversations Masterclass
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: hosted by me Rashaan McDonald. Thank you to our guests
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: on the show today and thank you our listening audience. Now,
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: if you want to listen to any episode I want
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: to register to be a guest on my show, visit
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money Making Conversations.
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: Join us next week and remember to always leave with
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: your gifts. Keep winning