Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Rushion interviews Simone Lawrence, creating "HBCU job and academic opportunities in Utah," and Ashley Christopher, who founded "HBCU Week" to develop academic and professional Black Excellence opportunities.

Transcript

Rushion interviews Simone Lawrence, creating "HBCU job and academic opportunities in Utah," and Ashley Christopher, who founded "HBCU Week" to develop academic and professional Black Excellence opportunities. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome to Money Making Conversations. It's the show that she
0:07
Speaker 1: is the secrets of success experience firsthand by Marketing and
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Speaker 1: Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I will know he's giving me
0:13
Speaker 1: advice on many occasions. In the case you didn't notice,
0:15
Speaker 1: I'm not broke, you know, he'll be interviewing celebrity CEOs,
0:19
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs and industry decision makers. It's what he likes to do,
0:22
Speaker 1: it's what he likes to share. Now it's time to
0:25
Speaker 1: hear from my man, Rashan McDonald money Making Conversations. Here
0:29
Speaker 1: we go. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome. You're listening to Money Making
0:32
Speaker 1: Conversations masterclass. And as he stated clearly, I am your host,
0:36
Speaker 1: Rashan McDonald. As always, I want to hear from you today.
0:39
Speaker 1: As always, this shows your show. I recognize that we
0:42
Speaker 1: all have different definitions of success, and today it's a
0:45
Speaker 1: very special show because our guess today we focused on
0:48
Speaker 1: HBCU what I like to call Black excellence, because I
0:51
Speaker 1: recognize that we have to have an ability to be
0:53
Speaker 1: able to communicate and share this slice of opportunities. This
0:57
Speaker 1: is happening on these HBCU campus Now, frankly, I did
1:00
Speaker 1: not graduate from an HBCU campus. But that does not
1:03
Speaker 1: stop me for being an advocate of an HBCU. I
1:07
Speaker 1: from graduate University of Houston, which is right down the
1:10
Speaker 1: street from Texas Southern University in third Ward, Texas, in Houston, Texas,
1:14
Speaker 1: and I almost went to HBCU and Baton Rouge Southern University,
1:19
Speaker 1: and I enrolled in the summertime and I opt out
1:22
Speaker 1: and rolled in University of Houston, and seven years later
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Speaker 1: I got my degree. And I've always been a fan
1:28
Speaker 1: of what the opportunities that what did what could have been,
1:31
Speaker 1: Not that my degree I got a UH has failed me.
1:35
Speaker 1: It's not failed me at all. But they are all
1:36
Speaker 1: different experiences, and I guess I have with my show
1:39
Speaker 1: that they are important because they're going to share with
1:41
Speaker 1: you the possibilities. If you're sitting on the fence, if
1:44
Speaker 1: you were curious about what an HBCU is, let me
1:47
Speaker 1: just give you some facts about an HBCU. And these
1:49
Speaker 1: can be checked. That fifty percent all graduates of HBCUs
1:53
Speaker 1: who are black public school teachers are black come from HBCUs.
1:58
Speaker 1: Hpcent of the HBCU graduates black judges come from HBCUs.
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Speaker 1: Seventy percent of the black doctors come from HBCUs, fifty
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Speaker 1: percent of the Black lawyers come from HBCUs, forty percent
2:11
Speaker 1: of the black engineers come from HBCUs, twenty four percent
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Speaker 1: of the STEM graduates come from HBCUs, seventy five percent
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Speaker 1: of the black veterinarians come from HBCUs, seventy percent of
2:22
Speaker 1: the Black dentists come from HBCUs. These are facts. These
2:27
Speaker 1: are individuals who are graduating from these schools and paying
2:31
Speaker 1: taxes and becoming an affected professional organizations, a group that
2:35
Speaker 1: is ruther than this country. And we need to know that.
2:38
Speaker 1: And sometimes I feel that if you don't have people
2:40
Speaker 1: like me chirping, screaming promoting black excellence from these schools,
2:45
Speaker 1: then a lot of people will know because we all
2:47
Speaker 1: know by Dion Sanders, we all know what he's doing.
2:49
Speaker 1: That's sports. I'm talking about the academic side. Or your
2:52
Speaker 1: child can go to school and be an incredible academic achiever,
2:59
Speaker 1: an incredible professional, and one of these areas a doctor,
3:02
Speaker 1: a lawyer, engineer black. I forgot forty percent of the
3:06
Speaker 1: members of Congress who are black come from HBCUs or
3:09
Speaker 1: graduate from HBCUs. So if you have a gift, I
3:12
Speaker 1: want you to leave with your gift and don't let
3:13
Speaker 1: your friends, family, or co workers stop you from planning
3:16
Speaker 1: or living your dream. We were discussing how to overcome
3:19
Speaker 1: the arts in life. Like I stated earlier, my guests
3:21
Speaker 1: on the show today represent people will creating Black excellent opportunities.
3:25
Speaker 1: But first guests would be introducing her in a minute.
3:27
Speaker 1: She founded HBCU Week. That's Ashley Christopher and she created
3:31
Speaker 1: academic and professional Black Excellent Opportunities. And Simone Lawrence who
3:35
Speaker 1: is creating HBCU job at academic opportunities in Utah. And
3:40
Speaker 1: as always, our theme is there's no perfect time to
3:43
Speaker 1: start following your dreams. Let's get this show started. My
3:47
Speaker 1: guests on the show today is Ashley Christopher. She is
3:49
Speaker 1: a double HBCU ALAM of Howard University at UDC David A.
3:53
Speaker 1: Clark School of Law. Miss Christopher is paving a way
3:56
Speaker 1: for black youth to succeed. She draws from her law
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Speaker 1: life experiences and celebrates how far she's come as an attorney, CEO,
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Speaker 1: founder of HBCU Week Foundation, stroke survivor, and mother. Since
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Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, HBCU HBCU Week Foundation has raised more than
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Speaker 1: fifty million dollars for scholarships and created dozens of events
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Speaker 1: to ensure that black youth no higher education is an option.
4:21
Speaker 1: The world took notice and landed her some of the
4:24
Speaker 1: most significant partnerships such as Walt Disney Company, Bank of America,
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Speaker 1: Capital One, the American Chemistry Council, and the NFL, to
4:31
Speaker 1: name a few. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations, masterclass,
4:35
Speaker 1: Miss Ashley Christopher. How you doing, Ashley? I'm doing well, Rashan.
4:39
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having me, and thank you
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Speaker 1: for that great introduction. Well, first of all, I'm speaking
4:43
Speaker 1: the truth, and that's what we're going to talk about.
4:46
Speaker 1: The truth, the excellence that comes out of HBCUs that
4:49
Speaker 1: oftentimes doesn't get there, that the notoriety of what is
4:53
Speaker 1: being accomplished to these schools. And when the Congress sits
4:56
Speaker 1: out there and tells us they're given two point eight
4:58
Speaker 1: billion dollars to HBCU, it's almost like they're doing a
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Speaker 1: favor which they should be given ten times an amount
5:04
Speaker 1: based on the academic and professional success of HBCUs. Can
5:08
Speaker 1: you comment on that? Oh, yeah, I have to agree
5:11
Speaker 1: with that. You know, HBCUs continue to graduate the best
5:15
Speaker 1: and the brightest year over year and contribute so much
5:18
Speaker 1: to just the world at large. And these institutions cannot
5:23
Speaker 1: continue to be overlooked. They need to be funded adequately
5:27
Speaker 1: and the opportunities need to continue to be extended the
5:29
Speaker 1: students who are looking forward to attending these institutions, because
5:33
Speaker 1: we can't get lost on the fact as to why
5:35
Speaker 1: they were even created. Because there was a time in
5:38
Speaker 1: this country where we were prohibited by law from matriculating
5:41
Speaker 1: into any higher education institution. So these colleges and universities
5:46
Speaker 1: were made specifically for us to get that education. And
5:49
Speaker 1: we have to remember that as we continue to push
5:52
Speaker 1: this message forward and that message and when we talk
5:56
Speaker 1: about that message. And you know, my relationship would asked
6:00
Speaker 1: Christopher's twofold. I met her when she was in college
6:03
Speaker 1: at Howard when I was managing Steve Harvey at the time,
6:07
Speaker 1: and then I managed met her again when she stationed
6:12
Speaker 1: in the Wilmington, Delaware works for the Mayor's office and
6:15
Speaker 1: they invited Stephen A. Smith down to honor him at
6:19
Speaker 1: an HBCU week event, and that's how I met her again,
6:21
Speaker 1: and that's how I found out about the event HBCU Foundation.
6:25
Speaker 1: But between all this the value of what an HBCU
6:29
Speaker 1: brings into your life personally. And people ask you, what
6:33
Speaker 1: is the first thing comes out of you through your
6:34
Speaker 1: mind process when you start talking about promoting or even
6:38
Speaker 1: talking about or being a symbol of HBCU success. Oh yeah,
6:44
Speaker 1: well I'll tell you this, Like I tell everybody when
6:46
Speaker 1: they ask me that question, going to an HBCUs the
6:49
Speaker 1: best decision I could have ever made for myself. What
6:53
Speaker 1: I've drawn from that experience is that no matter what
6:55
Speaker 1: room I walk into and who's in that space, I
6:58
Speaker 1: know that I had value. My voice is necessary and
7:01
Speaker 1: my presence is needed. And I don't know that I
7:04
Speaker 1: would have gotten that same sense of self confidence if
7:06
Speaker 1: I didn't choose a black institution, But going to how
7:09
Speaker 1: it really firmed up that confidence in me, and it
7:12
Speaker 1: gave me what I needed, you know, to go out
7:14
Speaker 1: into the world and to choose whatever career path it
7:16
Speaker 1: may be. That I'm valuable and my voice is necessary.
7:20
Speaker 1: So that hbc experience really developed that in me, and
7:23
Speaker 1: I think that every black student across the world deserves
7:27
Speaker 1: that same experience. And do you feel that there's competition,
7:32
Speaker 1: you know, as in athletics, there's competition you know, you know,
7:36
Speaker 1: you see these big schools like Michigan and University of
7:39
Speaker 1: Texas and Tennessee and you see eighty thousand, one hundred
7:43
Speaker 1: thousand people in the stands, and you know, but that's
7:47
Speaker 1: their reputation. But every but the HBCU got their reputations
7:51
Speaker 1: to those bands. Those bands and that athleticism, and that's
7:55
Speaker 1: that swag. You know, the HBCUs bring that swag to
7:59
Speaker 1: the table. So we may not have a hundred thousand
8:01
Speaker 1: people in the stand but we got the swag of
8:03
Speaker 1: a hundred thousand. That is really that is really something
8:07
Speaker 1: that really is that they puts a smile on your face, right,
8:11
Speaker 1: oh absolutely. And what you'll find is, you know, just
8:13
Speaker 1: like a lot of other things in black culture, people
8:16
Speaker 1: try to duplicate it. So even though we're small, we're
8:19
Speaker 1: very mighty, and we're very influential and the things that
8:22
Speaker 1: we do on those HBC campuses influences people across the world.
8:26
Speaker 1: So you were right on a spot or right on
8:28
Speaker 1: a target. And when you mentioned, you know, the swag
8:31
Speaker 1: and the bands and maybe small in numbers, but we're
8:33
Speaker 1: mighty in our influence and that influence is great, and
8:36
Speaker 1: we're gonna we're gonna We're gonna swing. I'm gonna have
8:39
Speaker 1: for a couple of breakshit because we're gonna slow it.
8:40
Speaker 1: That to talk about what she's doing from a standpoint
8:43
Speaker 1: of how the whole process of academic opportunities. I've been
8:47
Speaker 1: to her events. I'm talking about these college day events.
8:50
Speaker 1: You know, thousands of kids showing up there walking away
8:53
Speaker 1: with full scholarships, walking away with opportunities that they never
8:57
Speaker 1: is an entire weekend, and it's also traveling around country.
9:00
Speaker 1: But the whole idea of giving Scollish high school students
9:07
Speaker 1: is it? How did that whole idea of the HBCU
9:10
Speaker 1: Foundation WE Foundation come about? And also we know where
9:14
Speaker 1: it is now and it's not nowhere where we wanted
9:16
Speaker 1: to be. I say we because I got you on
9:18
Speaker 1: the show to say, Hey, I'm an advocate of HBCU
9:21
Speaker 1: week I'm an advocate of what you're doing. I'm a
9:23
Speaker 1: believer that you are a person who's living her dream,
9:26
Speaker 1: and her dream is to create black excellence in our
9:29
Speaker 1: in our future leaders. So how did they come about
9:32
Speaker 1: HBCU WE Foundation is Please explain everybody what exactly it is. Yeah,
9:38
Speaker 1: So you know, I was employed in the Mayor's office
9:40
Speaker 1: in Wilmington, Delaware as his special assistant. And what he
9:44
Speaker 1: did was asking me to come up with programming that
9:46
Speaker 1: was directed at Wilmington's most underserved communities. And I wanted
9:50
Speaker 1: to make sure that whatever focus I had, it was
9:54
Speaker 1: on education. I am a double HBCU, I'm from Wilmington, Delaware,
9:59
Speaker 1: and to be frank, there are a lot of students
10:01
Speaker 1: in my community that feel like higher education or college
10:04
Speaker 1: just isn't even an option for them, and I wanted
10:06
Speaker 1: to show them that that was not true. So what
10:09
Speaker 1: I did was I assembled in a college fair like setting. Um,
10:13
Speaker 1: you know, I planned for about two hundred high school
10:16
Speaker 1: students five or six HBCUs for students who engage directly
10:20
Speaker 1: with these admissions counselors, so that they would know what
10:23
Speaker 1: it took to get into these institutions and what they
10:26
Speaker 1: had to look forward to once they were admitted. But
10:28
Speaker 1: when I started to market that idea, those two hundred
10:31
Speaker 1: students spiked to seven hundred. So I knew that this
10:34
Speaker 1: was something you were you buy yourself, that it was
10:39
Speaker 1: just an idea by yourself. When you were lied, you
10:41
Speaker 1: gotta get some people around you. Huh. Oh, my gosh. Yeah,
10:44
Speaker 1: it was just like, wait, how did this number spike?
10:46
Speaker 1: You know, just a little old woman to Delaware. You know,
10:48
Speaker 1: two hundred I thought was an ambitious goal. But when
10:51
Speaker 1: we started to see the numbers coming in as to
10:54
Speaker 1: all the r vps from the surrounding schools, we knew, okay,
10:57
Speaker 1: well it's not two hundred or seven hundred, so we've
10:59
Speaker 1: got to change venues very quickly and course correct to
11:02
Speaker 1: make sure we're accommodating these students. But from then I
11:05
Speaker 1: knew that there was an appetite woman to Delaware to
11:08
Speaker 1: learn more about HBCUs. And as you mentioned earlier where
11:11
Speaker 1: Shan we met back at when I was at Howard,
11:14
Speaker 1: when I was a vice chair of Howard home Coming
11:16
Speaker 1: two thousand and six, and I wanted to in my mind,
11:21
Speaker 1: I'm like, how do I take how We're home Coming
11:22
Speaker 1: on the road because I don't know the listeners. I'm
11:26
Speaker 1: hoping that you guys could experience how We're home Coming before,
11:29
Speaker 1: but if not, you got about one hundred thousand people
11:33
Speaker 1: that descend upon the nation's capital to experience Howard home Coming.
11:36
Speaker 1: So being vice chair, it really gave me, you know,
11:40
Speaker 1: that backdrop of what I needed for high level event planning.
11:45
Speaker 1: So in deciding how to execute, you know how we're
11:47
Speaker 1: homecoming and bringing on the road, I knew this would
11:50
Speaker 1: really be exciting to these students, So let's excite them,
11:53
Speaker 1: have some fun, but also give them the opportunity to
11:56
Speaker 1: get accepted into college on the spot and get a
11:58
Speaker 1: scholarship award. So it's really transcended from a one day
12:02
Speaker 1: college fair, like I went to a week long of
12:05
Speaker 1: the activities. You're saying that that students can come to
12:08
Speaker 1: your event, just college their event, and bring their transcript
12:12
Speaker 1: and these test scores, which is ACT or the SAT
12:15
Speaker 1: test scores? Right? Oh, absolutely yes. So what happens is
12:19
Speaker 1: a lot of the participating college is engaging and on
12:22
Speaker 1: the spot acceptance process at our college fair. So if
12:25
Speaker 1: you're a graduating senior, we encourage you to come with
12:28
Speaker 1: copies of your transcript and your SAT or ACT scores
12:31
Speaker 1: because right there, on the spot, the admissions counselors will
12:34
Speaker 1: evaluate your academic record and tell you whether or not
12:37
Speaker 1: you're admitted and if you are eligible for a scholarship.
12:40
Speaker 1: And these scholarships range anywhere between a one time five
12:44
Speaker 1: thousand dollars award all the way up to a full ride. Okay, now, parents,
12:49
Speaker 1: you hear this. This is HBCU week. Now we're not
12:52
Speaker 1: We're not jumping around. There are no like, no no
12:56
Speaker 1: admission fee. This is free them to come. Okay, there
12:59
Speaker 1: are no registration fees. When you're feeling out the application.
13:03
Speaker 1: This is telling your child are you coming with your
13:06
Speaker 1: child to the event. And they got they got several
13:10
Speaker 1: of them. We're gonna talk about the other eventure they're
13:12
Speaker 1: coming up. But I just want to I just want
13:14
Speaker 1: to put a disclaim about that because you're you know,
13:16
Speaker 1: our broadcast on fam MEU. But then cook them then
13:19
Speaker 1: with Thun Cookman, h Clark, Albindy stay Texas and you
13:24
Speaker 1: you put some people on fire when you're talking about
13:27
Speaker 1: home coming in I just gotta put a disclaimers. Some
13:29
Speaker 1: people might get mad at you. Girl, you know, just
13:31
Speaker 1: talk about how good how it's home to coming is.
13:34
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, I just gott I just got I just
13:37
Speaker 1: got through to put which to Satan State. I just
13:39
Speaker 1: got throws to support out for my schools to let
13:41
Speaker 1: them know y'all got it going on with your home
13:44
Speaker 1: coming because those schools you're inviting to come to your
13:47
Speaker 1: HBCU Week events. Correct. Oh, absolutely, we have welcomed um.
13:53
Speaker 1: To date, since we started a culture in twenty seventeen,
13:55
Speaker 1: we've had about sixty HBCUs show up to engage directly
13:59
Speaker 1: with the st So, you know, it's all we're all family,
14:02
Speaker 1: HBCU love all the way around. And then sort of
14:05
Speaker 1: the beauty of it is that you maybe we're gonna
14:08
Speaker 1: we're gonna this is why like Soid met her and
14:10
Speaker 1: Howard like she said, university and then when I met
14:12
Speaker 1: in the Wimblton you know, it's it's a it's a
14:15
Speaker 1: local event in Wimblton at the time, it's not. It's
14:17
Speaker 1: not just in Wimblton anymore. We're gonna get that on
14:19
Speaker 1: our next break is that you come in there and
14:22
Speaker 1: you got when I went, it was about thirty five
14:25
Speaker 1: different HBCUs at the event that I went to up
14:28
Speaker 1: thinking what's in twenty and eighteen, I believe, yes, yes,
14:32
Speaker 1: thirty five HBCUs and I think there were thirty five
14:34
Speaker 1: hundred students there in twenty nineteen. UM this past year. No,
14:40
Speaker 1: don't don't, don't tell you we're gonna say that. We're
14:42
Speaker 1: gonna say that for them. We weren't tell them we're
14:44
Speaker 1: gonna we gotta get them again hanging around. But before
14:46
Speaker 1: we go to break, tell everybody how they can well
14:49
Speaker 1: with the website and the social media numbers and and
14:52
Speaker 1: studying it will check anythings out so when they come
14:54
Speaker 1: back from break, they can start calling us to find
14:56
Speaker 1: out how they get their kids over they get these collars,
14:58
Speaker 1: your opportunities at these hbc use How can we reach
15:01
Speaker 1: out to you? Absolutely, you can reach us at hbcuweek
15:05
Speaker 1: dot org. You can connect us directly connected with us,
15:08
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, directly through the website and on every social channel.
15:12
Speaker 1: We're at hbcueek that's Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Okay,
15:17
Speaker 1: hbcuweek dot org. And at hbcueek you can find out
15:21
Speaker 1: about scholarship opportunities. There are no tricks all. It's all
15:25
Speaker 1: complementary opportunities. But academic success. You got the scores, you
15:29
Speaker 1: got the You only get there by by finding out,
15:32
Speaker 1: You only get there by doing research. You wan't get that.
15:34
Speaker 1: This is one stop shopping. Like I said, they got
15:37
Speaker 1: access to all the top universities of HBCU related data
15:41
Speaker 1: out there Black colleges and university as well. They're they're
15:44
Speaker 1: are probably academically training our minority students of a couple
15:50
Speaker 1: of students of black or brown descent. But what I
15:53
Speaker 1: wanted to make sure that everybody understands that you know,
15:56
Speaker 1: HBCU week dot org is the website they should consider
16:00
Speaker 1: any information more about academic training and professional opportunities for
16:04
Speaker 1: your job. We'll be right back with more Money Making
16:06
Speaker 1: Conversation Masterclass with one and only as Astley Christopher. You
16:12
Speaker 1: are now tuned into the Money Making Conversations Minute of
16:16
Speaker 1: Inspiration with Rashaan McDonald. Hi, I'm Rushan McDonald for Money
16:20
Speaker 1: Making Conversation Masterclass with your daily Minute of Inspiration. Recently
16:24
Speaker 1: I said that with two times Stanley Cup winner, retired
16:27
Speaker 1: NHL player and brain trauma victim Daniel Carcillo, he explains
16:32
Speaker 1: how to test in your life will feel who you
16:34
Speaker 1: are and your purpose. I've always felt that there's a
16:37
Speaker 1: larger purpose to life than you know, essentially pushing a
16:40
Speaker 1: puck around. You know, it's kind of always I have
16:43
Speaker 1: a mind that was always kind of looking for other
16:45
Speaker 1: things even though I was in my career, and I
16:48
Speaker 1: feel like, you know, you get tested. This is not
16:51
Speaker 1: necessarily another test, but really a culmination of everything that
16:55
Speaker 1: I've done in my life up to this point to
16:58
Speaker 1: help mitigate suffering, whether it's the traumatic brain injury contacts. Yeah,
17:02
Speaker 1: it's just a really exciting time. So I appreciate you
17:04
Speaker 1: having me on your platform. If you want to listen
17:06
Speaker 1: to this full inter of you with Daniel Corsello, it's
17:08
Speaker 1: available on Moneymaking Conversation dot com. I know it sounds
17:12
Speaker 1: unbelievable that your child can just show up with their
17:18
Speaker 1: test scores, their academic scores from high school, especially they're
17:25
Speaker 1: graduating senior, and they can get and roll on the
17:28
Speaker 1: spot at these events that they can get a full
17:31
Speaker 1: ride scholarship at these events. I've seen them, I've been there.
17:34
Speaker 1: Stephen A. Smith is an ambassador for HBCU Week. A
17:38
Speaker 1: proud ambassador of HBCU Week. Now as we talk about this,
17:42
Speaker 1: you're being a double alum. Like I was at the
17:46
Speaker 1: event in twenty and eighteen when I saw thirty five
17:48
Speaker 1: hundred students show up and it was like just a
17:52
Speaker 1: line of kids, very organized. Plus you also bust some
17:58
Speaker 1: local kids in from high school to attend as well.
18:02
Speaker 1: Now this event is going around the country, but we
18:05
Speaker 1: want to talk about why is it traveling now, and
18:08
Speaker 1: what did advantages of it traveling is going to bring
18:11
Speaker 1: to other students who are not near the Wimblington, Delaware area. Yeah, so,
18:17
Speaker 1: I mean I knew that if a small city like Wilmington,
18:20
Speaker 1: Delaware could attract so much attention and participation, that the
18:25
Speaker 1: appetite for this around the country would would be pretty right.
18:28
Speaker 1: So I decided that we should probably explore taking this,
18:32
Speaker 1: you know, around the nation to get more and more
18:35
Speaker 1: students the opportunity. Because what started to happen was people
18:38
Speaker 1: are getting winto this college fare. They're seeing about it
18:41
Speaker 1: on social media, maybe hearing about it from other family
18:44
Speaker 1: members or friends they may have in the area, and
18:46
Speaker 1: they're wondering, well, what about our kids, how can we
18:49
Speaker 1: particularly to Wilmington, you know. So we're making arrangements because
18:55
Speaker 1: we want to have as many students have access to
18:58
Speaker 1: as opportunity as possible. Whether the beauty is accessed, that's
19:01
Speaker 1: really the key. And uh, like I said, I was
19:04
Speaker 1: fortunate to be a part of the event. If you
19:06
Speaker 1: want to call and ask Ashley any questions called for
19:10
Speaker 1: zero four eight eight zero nine two five five four
19:13
Speaker 1: zero four eight eight zero nine two five five If
19:15
Speaker 1: you want to get any more or ask any questions.
19:17
Speaker 1: Uh can be your child or just somebody you know,
19:21
Speaker 1: a cousin, or you could be an auntie who wanted
19:24
Speaker 1: to inquire about these opportunities as being presented at HBCU
19:28
Speaker 1: week dot org for information, but you also can talk
19:31
Speaker 1: to alive. The thing that the interests me is like
19:33
Speaker 1: these these events are always sponsored driven and they're motivating. Um.
19:38
Speaker 1: You know we went there the whole run where in
19:40
Speaker 1: twenty twenty, when you know HBCUs was you couldn't walk
19:45
Speaker 1: without reading and see something flashed about HBCUs or some
19:49
Speaker 1: type of um donation being made to HBCUs. Where are
19:53
Speaker 1: we at right now? Do you feel on that synergy level?
19:56
Speaker 1: It's it's still kind of like up there, or it's
19:59
Speaker 1: kind of like settled now and now you have to
20:02
Speaker 1: get back there and start grinding and not saying you
20:04
Speaker 1: didn't you weren't grinding, but there was at a point
20:06
Speaker 1: where people were gladly making donations to HBCUs and events
20:11
Speaker 1: like your event. M yeah, you know what I'll say
20:14
Speaker 1: about that is very interesting. The dust is starting to
20:19
Speaker 1: settle now and you can see which companies have a
20:23
Speaker 1: real intentional arm of support for diversity, equity and inclusion.
20:29
Speaker 1: I would say in twenty twenty it was a trend.
20:32
Speaker 1: Hey let's do this to make it look like we're
20:35
Speaker 1: in support of that, or to check a box. But
20:38
Speaker 1: as time is going on, a lot of those companies
20:41
Speaker 1: who are at the forefront of that fight may not
20:43
Speaker 1: necessarily be there. But the ones who had real intentionality
20:48
Speaker 1: behind their actions and authenticity behind their actions, they're still there.
20:52
Speaker 1: So I'll read it at that without you know, calling
20:54
Speaker 1: out any company. Oh absolutely, absolutely. But then I always
20:57
Speaker 1: say that because I can feel it, I can see it,
20:59
Speaker 1: you know, I mean to me, I understand where you know,
21:02
Speaker 1: you know, you see, it's got really political out there,
21:04
Speaker 1: you know where you know, a politics. Once people start
21:08
Speaker 1: moving stuff into politics, it's unnecessarily you know, you know,
21:12
Speaker 1: questioning colleges who support diversity, equity and inclusion opportunities, namely
21:17
Speaker 1: Florida as a state that's really battling that issue with
21:20
Speaker 1: their governor, and now the state of Texas is doing that.
21:23
Speaker 1: It's sad that in our conversation about HBCUs, we have
21:27
Speaker 1: to talk about that issue because it is becoming an
21:30
Speaker 1: issue which causes companies to back off a little bit.
21:33
Speaker 1: They don't want to be caught. They want to be
21:35
Speaker 1: a flag bearer, and that whole political situation they get
21:39
Speaker 1: caught up into, which in turn hurts a cause, a
21:42
Speaker 1: great cause that you guys are trying to do and
21:44
Speaker 1: are doing at HBCU. Weak. Yeah, it's very interesting. Um So,
21:50
Speaker 1: conversations are starting to shift just a little bit, right,
21:54
Speaker 1: But I'm just happy to say that we do have
21:56
Speaker 1: the support of enough companies. Do you do dismission moving
21:58
Speaker 1: forward pretty strongly? Yet, well, what are the companies you do?
22:01
Speaker 1: You got the mouse, the jack mouse came into your world,
22:05
Speaker 1: and I will tell you what's you know, certain people
22:08
Speaker 1: can tap you on the shoulder and you realize that, hey,
22:10
Speaker 1: this is a blessing that I didn't see coming. And
22:13
Speaker 1: you went to Disney what's the Disney World of Disney,
22:16
Speaker 1: What's what's in Orlando? The Disney World in Orlando, Disney World, Okay,
22:19
Speaker 1: Disney World in Orlando. And so that was kind of
22:22
Speaker 1: like the HPCU week on stir Rods st Roards because
22:26
Speaker 1: it wasn't it win within Delaware anymore? Now you uh yeah, Okay,
22:29
Speaker 1: So tell us how that event and how did they
22:31
Speaker 1: get to that? And also what's the ultimate goal Because
22:34
Speaker 1: like as earlier saying, since twenty seventeen, HPCU Week Foundation
22:39
Speaker 1: has raised more than fifty million dollars for scholarships. Wow,
22:43
Speaker 1: M yeah, I mean, honestly, we're shun. It grew at
22:47
Speaker 1: a pace that I was never anticipating. Um, and it
22:51
Speaker 1: is the most exciting roller coaster ride that I could
22:55
Speaker 1: have ever imagined. Um. Every turn I made, there's another
23:00
Speaker 1: their opportunity to consider, or another idea, you know, to
23:04
Speaker 1: to build out. And I couldn't be more grateful for
23:06
Speaker 1: the spot that I'm in. So I'm really happy that
23:09
Speaker 1: we're in a space right now. We're able to scale
23:11
Speaker 1: and we're able to grow. And I mean, who would
23:14
Speaker 1: have ever thought from Wilmington, Delaware to Walt Disney World.
23:19
Speaker 1: I mean that is the biggest jump that we could
23:22
Speaker 1: have ever experienced. So having that opportunity was incredible for
23:28
Speaker 1: us because to be on a stage like that, it
23:30
Speaker 1: got us all the eyeballs that we needed to continue
23:33
Speaker 1: to grow. And I'm especially grateful because bringing on Stephen A.
23:37
Speaker 1: Smith and having him agree to be our brand ambassador
23:41
Speaker 1: caught the attention of the Walt Disney Company, you know,
23:44
Speaker 1: because the ESPN is a part of the Walt Disney Company,
23:48
Speaker 1: and you know it caught some attention of some some
23:50
Speaker 1: key decision makers and the restless history. Next thing, you know,
23:54
Speaker 1: we're planning and going on site visits and executing events
23:57
Speaker 1: in Orland Hill. So you know, now you will end Wilminton, Delaware.
24:04
Speaker 1: Thirty five hundred students in Wilmington, Delare show it up. Okay,
24:08
Speaker 1: how many and so how many HBCUs attended the event
24:12
Speaker 1: the college the event, that's the event we're talking about.
24:15
Speaker 1: And then how many students attended the event seeking uh
24:19
Speaker 1: information about HBCUs enrollment in HPCUS and as well as
24:24
Speaker 1: scholarship opportunities at HBCUs. Well, you know, twenty twenty two
24:30
Speaker 1: was a very special year. We had record breaking numbers.
24:33
Speaker 1: So in Wilmington, Delaware, we had forty HBCUs present and
24:38
Speaker 1: seven thousand students at our college fair. When we went
24:42
Speaker 1: to Walton, Holo, Holo. Okay, all the HPCUS in Wilmington, Delaware,
24:50
Speaker 1: Littl Willington right between Philadelphia and Baltimore, right h we
24:56
Speaker 1: had forty and seven thousand students show up to that.
24:59
Speaker 1: But then months later when we went to Walt Disney World,
25:03
Speaker 1: we had eight thousand, six hundred students and fifty seven HBCUs.
25:08
Speaker 1: So every time we execute this event or reactivate HBCU,
25:12
Speaker 1: we can get the bigger and better. I have no
25:14
Speaker 1: idea what to even expect later this year in the
25:18
Speaker 1: fall when we do this again. Um, but it's just
25:20
Speaker 1: really growing at a pace that I couldn't be more
25:23
Speaker 1: grateful for. Well, so you know you're throwing out these numbers.
25:26
Speaker 1: You don't got your ball here stumbling now, So let's
25:28
Speaker 1: let's do some quick math, you know. Yeah, so yeah,
25:31
Speaker 1: but roughly ninety seven HBCUs that attended a lot of
25:35
Speaker 1: them were the same though still me Brad, can I can?
25:39
Speaker 1: I Brad. That's why some people need marketers. So that's
25:41
Speaker 1: why people need to have managers and consultants rich that
25:45
Speaker 1: would do it to get schools. You know, because you know, uh,
25:48
Speaker 1: Clark Atlanta, they went to both locations. You're gonna say, well,
25:56
Speaker 1: it was the same students of both locations, Rishan, you know,
25:59
Speaker 1: the same students. You know, we didn't really have fifteen
26:02
Speaker 1: thousand students, sixteen thousand students that you go so you
26:10
Speaker 1: have so you had forty in Wilmington Delaware, and that's
26:12
Speaker 1: what's in September of last year. And then you had
26:15
Speaker 1: fifty seven in Orlando in October of last year, as
26:19
Speaker 1: ninety seven schools HBCUs seeking a Tier one students I'd
26:25
Speaker 1: like to call tier one students students who are interested
26:27
Speaker 1: in going to college, seeking higher education. And then on
26:31
Speaker 1: top of that almost nine thousand students, oh yeah, eighty
26:38
Speaker 1: six hundred in Orlando and seven thousand in Wilmington. So
26:44
Speaker 1: it was it was a huge crowd in both spaces,
26:48
Speaker 1: um and nobody. Nobody paid the dime. No students paid anything.
26:52
Speaker 1: They just came and they met, They met the counselors,
26:56
Speaker 1: They presented their their their their graduate or information from
27:00
Speaker 1: their high school academic information, they transcript if they had
27:04
Speaker 1: test scores, act or sets, and they could have enrolled
27:09
Speaker 1: on the spot. Did you have any information on from
27:11
Speaker 1: Delaware how many students enrolled and how much scholarship dollars
27:15
Speaker 1: were delivered there? And I'll in the same in Orlando.
27:18
Speaker 1: Do you have that type of information you can share
27:19
Speaker 1: with my listeners. Yeah, So between the two locations, we
27:23
Speaker 1: offered over six thousand college acceptances on the spot and
27:27
Speaker 1: more than fifteen million dollars and scholarship awards, so that
27:30
Speaker 1: was split between each of the different locations that we
27:34
Speaker 1: activated it in twenty twenty two. So I'm gonna just
27:37
Speaker 1: tell you what you just did. You change six thousand
27:40
Speaker 1: young people's lives, fifteen million dollars and academic opportunities. If
27:48
Speaker 1: you didn't have an HBCU Foundation Week Foundation, then there's
27:52
Speaker 1: six thousand students who we don't know. I'm not saying
27:55
Speaker 1: they would they would have been lost out there, but
27:57
Speaker 1: at least they was given up a sense of purpose.
28:00
Speaker 1: At least they was given a direction. At least they
28:02
Speaker 1: weren't tricked and they got to then they and then
28:05
Speaker 1: they walking to your college day and they're not just
28:07
Speaker 1: walking and talking to just one HBCU. You know, there
28:11
Speaker 1: were there were There were fifty seven in Orlando, there
28:14
Speaker 1: were forty in Wilm Delaware. There were options. That's the
28:18
Speaker 1: beauty of what you're trying to do. So when we
28:21
Speaker 1: talk about going to other locations in twenty twenty three,
28:24
Speaker 1: what are the other places that you're looking at besides Orlando,
28:27
Speaker 1: besides Wimbledon, Delaware that we may be able to attend
28:30
Speaker 1: an HBCU Week Foundation event. Well, we're looking to activate
28:35
Speaker 1: in Atlanta this year. So okay, okay, you know I'm
28:39
Speaker 1: in a mouthpiece, I mean your mouthpiece. Yeah, oh yeah,
28:43
Speaker 1: you know. I'm excited. I love it Landa, I love
28:46
Speaker 1: the city of Atlanta, so um. It's such a rich
28:49
Speaker 1: spot for HBCU culture, especially with the AUC and Morris
28:53
Speaker 1: Brown getting their accreditation back. So it's just a really
28:57
Speaker 1: I think high time for us to come into that
29:00
Speaker 1: city and expose those kids to these opportunities. So we're
29:04
Speaker 1: working on it right now. We're doing some some pretty
29:06
Speaker 1: aggressive fundraising and we're on our way, so I look
29:10
Speaker 1: forward to that and the ultimate goal. There's always a
29:13
Speaker 1: goal to this, you know, because of the fact that
29:16
Speaker 1: it is h Maybe one day on a telethon where
29:21
Speaker 1: you know you're honoring people, are you what does the
29:25
Speaker 1: ultimate goal of the HPCU Foundation, outside of just presenting
29:29
Speaker 1: academic opportunities for students who are interested in tending HBCUs. Well,
29:35
Speaker 1: I have to say that that does fall in line
29:38
Speaker 1: with the main goal. I tell people all the time
29:40
Speaker 1: that I want HBCU Week to be as big as
29:43
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl, meaning I want people from every area
29:47
Speaker 1: of the world to at least know what it is. Right.
29:50
Speaker 1: You may not even have any interest in it, but
29:51
Speaker 1: you know what it is because our impact is so great,
29:54
Speaker 1: and our scholarships I am very very proud of, particularly
29:58
Speaker 1: the ones on our corporate side, because we don't give
30:01
Speaker 1: away anything less than ten thousand dollars when we give
30:04
Speaker 1: a scholarship from our foundation through our corporate partners, and
30:08
Speaker 1: those awards range between ten and fifty thousand dollars per students.
30:13
Speaker 1: Our most popular scholarship is our Fosse Scholarship. That's for
30:17
Speaker 1: STEMS students that are studying STEMS, and we give away
30:20
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty forty thousand dollars scholarships per year
30:25
Speaker 1: for students that are declaring a STEM major and are
30:27
Speaker 1: headed to an HBCU. So what I'd like to do
30:30
Speaker 1: is offer that opportunity in every industry, not just STEM
30:34
Speaker 1: but also banking or if you want to be an
30:36
Speaker 1: entertainment or marketing or communications. I want people to know
30:39
Speaker 1: that if they want to go to an HBCU, we
30:42
Speaker 1: have the funds available to sustain them throughout their career. Wow,
30:47
Speaker 1: she's on fire. You know you know you started slow there, Ashley,
30:50
Speaker 1: but ball you ended you and fire you and fire
30:53
Speaker 1: that last pitch you gave me. I'll try to I
30:56
Speaker 1: don't try to fire me a kid. Actually, you're tremendous.
31:03
Speaker 1: I want to thank you for taking the time to
31:04
Speaker 1: come on it before we go. Tell everybody to contact
31:06
Speaker 1: information on social media, to reach out to the website
31:09
Speaker 1: and all that good stuff. Yes, please follow us. You
31:13
Speaker 1: can keep up with all of our events and any
31:15
Speaker 1: information on our website at hbcuweek dot org or on
31:19
Speaker 1: any social channel that's Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn at
31:24
Speaker 1: HBCU Week. HBCU Week is coming to Atlanta. You're he
31:27
Speaker 1: heard it here first, and when they're coming, you're gonna
31:30
Speaker 1: hear it again. On Money Making Conversations Masterclass, Actually, thank you,
31:33
Speaker 1: thank you so much for coming in calling on my
31:35
Speaker 1: show with telling everybody about your incredible brand. Awesome. Thanks
31:39
Speaker 1: for Shana. I appreciate you having me. You have a
31:41
Speaker 1: great night. I appreciate you were coming up next. Miss Lawrence.
31:44
Speaker 1: She's out of Utah, but she's making a big impact
31:48
Speaker 1: with HPCU and Utah. Can you believe it in Utah,
31:51
Speaker 1: HBCU impact. What we're doing a big on Money Making
31:54
Speaker 1: Conversation Masterclass, HBCUs taking over the world be right back.
32:02
Speaker 1: You are now tuned into the Money Making Conversations Minute
32:05
Speaker 1: of Inspiration with Rashaan McDonald Him Rashan McDonald for Money
32:09
Speaker 1: Making Conversation masterclass with your daily minute of Inspiration. This week,
32:13
Speaker 1: I sat down with director, executive producer, and head writer
32:15
Speaker 1: of the hit series First Killed on Netflix, Felicia Henderson.
32:20
Speaker 1: She explains how being an open minded in the writing
32:22
Speaker 1: room can lead to a well balanced project. You know,
32:24
Speaker 1: I'm a big believer that the writer's room should have
32:28
Speaker 1: the experience that you're depicting on the screen. I also
32:32
Speaker 1: wanted to make sure there wasn't just one queer person
32:35
Speaker 1: in the room right where everybody was looking at going
32:38
Speaker 1: and now we turned to you as the queer expert,
32:40
Speaker 1: right because you know, it's like like all experiences, there's
32:44
Speaker 1: no such thing as a monolithic experience or whatever it
32:48
Speaker 1: is that you are. It was important for all the
32:51
Speaker 1: experiences that I thought we were going to be depicting
32:54
Speaker 1: right right. If you want to listen to this full
32:56
Speaker 1: interview with Felicia Henderson, it's available on Money Making Conversations.
33:00
Speaker 1: You know, I'm gonna tell everybody, you know, because you
33:02
Speaker 1: get a lot of people we we shine. You know,
33:04
Speaker 1: they have more HBCUs out there. Hey, you can come
33:07
Speaker 1: on my show. Anybody who graduates from HBCU can come
33:10
Speaker 1: on my show. My show is open to everybody. I'm
33:12
Speaker 1: trying to get the word out about how great academic
33:15
Speaker 1: opportunity and how great the academic opportunities are being made
33:17
Speaker 1: at HBCUs. And that is one of these shows I've
33:20
Speaker 1: dedicated specifically the conversation of HBCUs. Like I tell everybody,
33:24
Speaker 1: I didn't go to an HPCU. I went to a PWI,
33:26
Speaker 1: which is predominantly white institution of what they call a
33:29
Speaker 1: p WI, and it was the University US Too, which
33:31
Speaker 1: is now ranked number one and in basketball hopefully they
33:36
Speaker 1: win the Big March Madness this year. But my next guest,
33:39
Speaker 1: she is also an HBCU graduate, but she's doing it
33:42
Speaker 1: big in the state of Utah, Samon Lawrence. She's the
33:45
Speaker 1: program manager at the University of Utah's HPCU Impact Program. Now.
33:50
Speaker 1: She's originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, where she attended college
33:54
Speaker 1: in DC at Howard University, where she received her Bachelor
33:56
Speaker 1: of Arts and Strategic Legal and Management Communication. So you know,
34:00
Speaker 1: she can talk HBCU Impact is a summer internship program
34:04
Speaker 1: that allows students at HBCUs to connect with companies in Utah.
34:08
Speaker 1: This will give companies access to more diverse talent with
34:11
Speaker 1: the hopes of them having full time employment opportunities at
34:14
Speaker 1: their company. The companies paid for the students flights, listen
34:17
Speaker 1: to them. The companies pay for the students flights, house
34:20
Speaker 1: and the salary over the summer. In return, the University
34:23
Speaker 1: of Utah will provide access to HBCUs students, housing, the campus,
34:26
Speaker 1: community connections, and weaken activities such as professional development and
34:31
Speaker 1: community service. Impact It's an acronym for internship mentorship, professional development,
34:38
Speaker 1: academic achievement, and community service as well as talent enrichment.
34:43
Speaker 1: Please welcome to Money Making Conversations Masterclass. She's straight out
34:46
Speaker 1: of Utah by where of North Carolina. Some own Lawrence. Hey,
34:49
Speaker 1: you know him, it's Lawrence. I'm great, Thank you so
34:52
Speaker 1: much for having you today. Well, you know it's HBCU
34:54
Speaker 1: day for me today. Now I'm doing HBCU Conversations. Now.
34:58
Speaker 1: Now you and Utah. You're tall, you're talk you til
35:05
Speaker 1: I've been to Utah. I'm just telling everybody I've been
35:07
Speaker 1: to Utah. I should just standing up, come up comedy.
35:09
Speaker 1: And I went to Utah one time, and I would
35:12
Speaker 1: tell you that town closed down. And I'm telling a
35:14
Speaker 1: Salt Lake City, Utah. Let me just tell you, not
35:16
Speaker 1: just the old state. I went to Salt Lake City.
35:18
Speaker 1: You talk beautiful city, beautiful. I love snow. People are
35:23
Speaker 1: but I can't ski though. I just love snow. I
35:25
Speaker 1: just love the the picturesque and the look of snow.
35:30
Speaker 1: One of my favorite states is Colorado. And so when
35:33
Speaker 1: I went there, all activity basically ceased for me socially.
35:38
Speaker 1: At ten am. Now that's a long time ago. Now
35:41
Speaker 1: is it still hot and popping? Is it popping after
35:43
Speaker 1: ten o'clock at Salt Lake City today? Um? On the
35:48
Speaker 1: weekends sometimes coming from DC where I could get tacos
35:55
Speaker 1: at two am, and now I have to eat my
35:57
Speaker 1: food by nine. I've been learning to adjust. I love it.
36:03
Speaker 1: I love it. So let's talk about this program HBCU Impact,
36:08
Speaker 1: because I you know, when I was in college. I remember,
36:13
Speaker 1: I'm from Houston, Texas, and I went down to Louisiana
36:16
Speaker 1: and I met with this company and they had they
36:19
Speaker 1: kind of had a program like this, you know, and
36:21
Speaker 1: I when they were trying to get diversity. They were
36:24
Speaker 1: trying to bring in more people of color into the company.
36:28
Speaker 1: And I worked off shore. I worked eighty five miles
36:30
Speaker 1: out in the Gulf. I would do that for two
36:32
Speaker 1: weeks on, two weeks off and I was doing engineering world. Now,
36:35
Speaker 1: this program here is in at tied to the University
36:39
Speaker 1: of You Talk. Can you tell us a little bit
36:40
Speaker 1: about the University of You Talk before we get started.
36:44
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, So University Ties is located right on the
36:46
Speaker 1: hill in Salt Lake City. It's an R one institution
36:50
Speaker 1: and it's just slowly growing to this great economic development.
36:54
Speaker 1: And this is a unique partnership with an R one
36:56
Speaker 1: institution reaching out these HBCUs and developing these partnerships. Now
37:02
Speaker 1: when you now you you are a person who was
37:05
Speaker 1: a part of this program. Do you participated two years before?
37:08
Speaker 1: So you're not a person just over the program the
37:10
Speaker 1: program manager. You are a person who was I guess
37:14
Speaker 1: benefited from the program. Correct. Yeah. So I went through
37:19
Speaker 1: the program twice and then at the end of my
37:21
Speaker 1: second term, Day offered me the job to manage the program.
37:24
Speaker 1: So I've been doing that since twenty twenty one. Okay,
37:27
Speaker 1: so so how did you how did they how did
37:29
Speaker 1: you find out about the program? So in twenty twenty one,
37:33
Speaker 1: this is when the program was starting, and I had
37:35
Speaker 1: an internship class that I had to take, and Thorough Site,
37:39
Speaker 1: which was one of the first companies to come participate
37:42
Speaker 1: in the program, they ran my class. You were talking
37:44
Speaker 1: about this new opportunity. It's like, Yeah, the University of
37:46
Speaker 1: Utah is trying to get more diversity out here. We
37:49
Speaker 1: are going to pay for your flights, We're gonna pay
37:50
Speaker 1: for your housing, will pay you a salary. Oh like,
37:53
Speaker 1: this sounds amazing. Why would I not want to take
37:56
Speaker 1: this opportunity to try something new and expand my horizons.
37:59
Speaker 1: Even if I just find out that I hated Utah,
38:02
Speaker 1: at least I get to check you on another state
38:04
Speaker 1: off my list. So I was very excited to try
38:06
Speaker 1: this out. And then the pandemic happened and I didn't
38:10
Speaker 1: even get to go to Utah twenty fo hours. Yes,
38:15
Speaker 1: and then in twenty twenty one they opened it back up.
38:17
Speaker 1: I still was able to get TU my internship virtually,
38:20
Speaker 1: but in twenty twenty one was the first year that
38:22
Speaker 1: we're able to go out there. So my cohorts or
38:24
Speaker 1: sixteen of us and now sixteen sixteen from the one
38:28
Speaker 1: HBCU or attendant of various HBCUs around the country. In
38:34
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, there was only one HPCU involved, which
38:37
Speaker 1: was Howard University. But since then we've expanded to work
38:40
Speaker 1: with other HBCUs like Morgan State, Morehouse, Tuskegee, FAMU, North Carolina,
38:46
Speaker 1: Ant So we're gradually expanding. But that first two years
38:49
Speaker 1: were only Howard stealing Okay. Yeah, So basically you were
38:54
Speaker 1: kind of like the ambassadors to the brain to see
38:57
Speaker 1: if the program worked, the value of the programs, so
39:00
Speaker 1: you set you set the tone for the success of
39:03
Speaker 1: the program. Correct, yes, And you know, even though it
39:07
Speaker 1: was new, I still had obviously had a great impact
39:10
Speaker 1: on me where I thought, how can I get other
39:13
Speaker 1: students to get involved with this because it be kind
39:15
Speaker 1: of scary to want to go to Utah. I have
39:17
Speaker 1: no family out here. I just within U talk for
39:20
Speaker 1: two months during the summer for my internship and they said, uh,
39:23
Speaker 1: it's all just come move out here in two weeks.
39:25
Speaker 1: And I'm like, really, okay, let's back, let's back this
39:28
Speaker 1: up there. You know, I'm a readid bio you know, Charlotte,
39:31
Speaker 1: North Carolina and went to Howard University, Salt Lake City, Utah. Yeah,
39:38
Speaker 1: you know, you know, first of all, I think about
39:41
Speaker 1: the food. I think about let's let's go and kill
39:45
Speaker 1: the stereotypes. Now black people, black black people, I got.
39:49
Speaker 1: I gotta wonder where the black people at in Salt
39:51
Speaker 1: Lake City, Utah. Okay. And so so I know I
39:55
Speaker 1: saw you your Bachelors of Art and Strategic Legal and
39:58
Speaker 1: Management Communication. Okay, So what did the world Adventure adventure
40:04
Speaker 1: you know, come up and do this into your background?
40:07
Speaker 1: Who did you talk to? You talk to your parents,
40:09
Speaker 1: you talk to your classmates? Did you talk to anybody?
40:12
Speaker 1: They went, Girl, have you lost your mind? Why are
40:16
Speaker 1: you going there? Because because I gotta get that side
40:18
Speaker 1: of the story, because you usual leading all that, I
40:21
Speaker 1: leading all this little extra stuff out talk about that
40:23
Speaker 1: that before you got on the plane to go to
40:26
Speaker 1: Salt Lake City, Utah for the first time. Yes, that
40:30
Speaker 1: wasn't experienced. Everybody They're like, small, why are you going
40:35
Speaker 1: to Utah? What's in Utah? I was like, I don't know.
40:38
Speaker 1: People are trying to tell me different. I didn't research
40:40
Speaker 1: anything about it. I wanted to be completely surprised. I
40:43
Speaker 1: didn't want to have any biases against it, and I
40:45
Speaker 1: just wanted to just soak in the whole experience to
40:48
Speaker 1: see what I can get out of Utah and what
40:50
Speaker 1: it would teach me about myself. And so I just
40:54
Speaker 1: I thought, I was like, Yeah, I'm going to usat there,
40:56
Speaker 1: like what so again, I'm gonna just go there for
40:58
Speaker 1: this summer, Mike move there. Thing like that is crazy.
41:02
Speaker 1: But ever since then, I've had family who would come
41:04
Speaker 1: out here and my cousin, my dad, my mom, like Wow,
41:08
Speaker 1: Utah is such an amazing place, a hidden gym that
41:10
Speaker 1: you wouldn't have been thought of the quality of life
41:12
Speaker 1: that you have here. The black People's always the first
41:15
Speaker 1: thing I get asked about where we have So where
41:22
Speaker 1: are the black people? And so, like said, the Utah
41:26
Speaker 1: they are everywhere. We have them in Agsen, late in
41:29
Speaker 1: just around. It's not in a dense community, but they're
41:32
Speaker 1: kind of spread out around Utah. But it's once for me,
41:35
Speaker 1: one person, you get to me everybody in the community.
41:38
Speaker 1: It's a very tight knit community. So there's a group
41:41
Speaker 1: chat that we have. And when I first came here
41:43
Speaker 1: about a year and a half ago, there were four
41:45
Speaker 1: hundred people in there. Now there's six hundred people in there,
41:48
Speaker 1: so it's just continues to grow. They're always have their
41:51
Speaker 1: different hands in the community, like, oh, wants to go
41:53
Speaker 1: to the movies. Oh, we have this panel going on.
41:56
Speaker 1: We're gonna have this party to host us off together
41:59
Speaker 1: their June team here, all the festivities that are happy involved.
42:03
Speaker 1: As the legislator I got du teenth is salt Lake
42:06
Speaker 1: said to Utah, alright that alright that yes, you guys,
42:10
Speaker 1: not what you think it is. Okay, okay, now, but
42:13
Speaker 1: there are two Utahs. Then there is a summer Utah
42:18
Speaker 1: and then there's a winter Utah. Okay, see see the
42:22
Speaker 1: beauty of you. You were just doing internships, doing the summer,
42:25
Speaker 1: doing the summer. Did I tell you, hey, did you
42:29
Speaker 1: want to start working here? Now? Had you experienced the
42:33
Speaker 1: winter Utah at that point? No? I have not. When
42:37
Speaker 1: I was about to move, I love I love the mountains.
42:41
Speaker 1: I can have this the beautiful view. And then I
42:44
Speaker 1: was like, oh yeah it never rained here. It was like, great,
42:46
Speaker 1: it rained the first two weeks I was there. After
42:48
Speaker 1: I moved there, I said, now, why did y'all lave
42:50
Speaker 1: seeing you like that? Um? Better one show wiper Blaze.
42:55
Speaker 1: But this last year wasn't as um. It is snow
42:59
Speaker 1: as much, and this year it has been snowing every
43:02
Speaker 1: single day. I think he just snowed this morning. Actually
43:04
Speaker 1: now the sun's out, so there's definitely but there's no
43:08
Speaker 1: commidity here, so that makes it different from the East Coast.
43:10
Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely, abs so I think it's a bit more variable. Yeah, absolutely.
43:18
Speaker 1: I'm talking to the program manager at the University of
43:21
Speaker 1: Utah's HPCU Impact Program. This program allows students during the
43:25
Speaker 1: summer where their companies will pay for the students flights,
43:29
Speaker 1: housing and salary over the summer and return the University
43:32
Speaker 1: of Utah will provide access to HPCU students. That's that's
43:34
Speaker 1: what you're doing. They're trying to get students to come there,
43:38
Speaker 1: lived there, and possibly work there to create a more
43:41
Speaker 1: diverse and much more I guess you know, you learned
43:45
Speaker 1: by people you meet. You in stereotypes, stereotypes, and even
43:48
Speaker 1: in this interview we're laughing a lot, but we also
43:50
Speaker 1: end in stereotypes because of the fact that if you
43:53
Speaker 1: don't go there, you don't know what it's like. We'll
43:55
Speaker 1: be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass with
43:58
Speaker 1: Rushan McDonald, host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Rushan McDonald
44:03
Speaker 1: is uniquely positioned to provide a step by step, easy
44:06
Speaker 1: to understand blueprint because it's time to stop reading other
44:10
Speaker 1: people's success stories and start writing your own. The show,
44:13
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Masterclass interviews CEOs, small business owners, influencers,
44:19
Speaker 1: and celebrities. They share financial and career success tips that
44:22
Speaker 1: you can only hear in The Money Making Conversations Masterclass show.
44:26
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Money Making Conversations Masterclass, hosted by
44:30
Speaker 1: Rashaan McDonald. Hi, I'm interviewing interviewing Samon Lawrence. He's the
44:34
Speaker 1: program manager for the HBCU Impact Program. At the top
44:37
Speaker 1: of the show, I gave out some information about the
44:40
Speaker 1: success what I call Black excellence at HBCUs. I'm just
44:43
Speaker 1: gonna give it out again, just in case you weren't
44:45
Speaker 1: there at the top of the show. Eighty percent of
44:47
Speaker 1: the black judges in America graduate from HBCUs, seventy percent
44:52
Speaker 1: of the black doctors graduate from HBCUs, fifty percent of
44:55
Speaker 1: the black lawyers graduate from HBCUs, forty percent of the
44:59
Speaker 1: black engineers graduate from HBCUs, forty percent of the Black
45:02
Speaker 1: Members of Congress graduate from HBCUs. Fifty percent of the
45:06
Speaker 1: black public school teachers graduated from HBCUs, twenty five percent
45:10
Speaker 1: of the black stem professionals graduated from HBCUs, seventy five
45:14
Speaker 1: percent of the black veterinarians graduated from HBCUs, seventy percent
45:18
Speaker 1: of the Black dentists graduate from HBCUs. Reasons, I say
45:22
Speaker 1: that with your program, HBCU impact, HBCUs deliver, and they
45:29
Speaker 1: deliver academic success. So this program that they've set up
45:32
Speaker 1: at the University of Utah really is its vis basically
45:36
Speaker 1: inviting the best of the best academically into the city
45:40
Speaker 1: of the state of Utah in Salt Lake City. Correct, Yes,
45:44
Speaker 1: you're such a great talker and they need you go yes. Yes,
45:48
Speaker 1: usually like followed up with the robust tones of encouragement.
45:51
Speaker 1: And this is what I got out of This is
45:53
Speaker 1: very close to your Angela Davis moment I gave you
45:56
Speaker 1: and you just said yes. But that's all right, that's
45:58
Speaker 1: all right now I digress. The program started in twenty twenty.
46:01
Speaker 1: You've been a product of the program. Now the program
46:04
Speaker 1: this is unique because as far as a PWI, which
46:07
Speaker 1: is a predominant white institution, this is one of the
46:09
Speaker 1: first that's ever been created for HBCUs. Correct, Yes, this
46:15
Speaker 1: is correct. On campus, we're working out reaching out to
46:18
Speaker 1: different our two institutions, and hopefully we can develop faculty
46:21
Speaker 1: exchanges as well, so not only focusing our students, and
46:24
Speaker 1: we offer fifty percent off grad school if the students
46:27
Speaker 1: participate in this program and then come back at the
46:29
Speaker 1: U for any graduate degree. So it's very impactful and
46:33
Speaker 1: just something new that I don't think we see a
46:36
Speaker 1: lot of this at these higher education institutes. Well, you know,
46:39
Speaker 1: it's unique because of the fact that we all know
46:41
Speaker 1: that if you don't know that the predominant amoun it's
46:44
Speaker 1: like one hundred and seven HBCUs. The predominant amount of
46:47
Speaker 1: HBCUs are located in the southeastern part of the country.
46:50
Speaker 1: And that's not by accident, because of discriminatory practices not
46:54
Speaker 1: allowed black higher education in eighteen sixty five. Basically when
46:59
Speaker 1: HBCU who were founded, they were founding based as a
47:02
Speaker 1: trade school, based on trade school, and then all of
47:05
Speaker 1: a sudden it led or then you had w v
47:07
Speaker 1: D Boys, and then you had Bookati Washington. Bookati Washington
47:11
Speaker 1: emphasized trade school training. W eb du Bois emphasized academic.
47:17
Speaker 1: He wanted doctors, he wanted lawyers, he wanted engineers. And
47:21
Speaker 1: so that's really how HBCUs, the core, the HBCUs drive
47:25
Speaker 1: that we see today came out of that. Then if
47:27
Speaker 1: we all know the background of a Bookati Washington was
47:30
Speaker 1: Tuskegee University. Now when you talk about it, so when
47:34
Speaker 1: you talk about this program, that's what makes it even
47:36
Speaker 1: more unique because you know, Utah is Utah, it's not
47:40
Speaker 1: near an HBCU, it's in a part of the company
47:42
Speaker 1: country that is predominantly white. But also so I wouldn't
47:46
Speaker 1: see this program being tied to I wouldn't see like
47:49
Speaker 1: the University of Alabama or the University of Georgia doing
47:52
Speaker 1: this because HBCUs are right around the corner from them.
47:55
Speaker 1: But it's but it's a blessing to me that the
47:58
Speaker 1: University of Utah sees VA you in this type of
48:00
Speaker 1: HBCU partnership because it gives not only a new experience
48:04
Speaker 1: for you, but you get to share a part of
48:06
Speaker 1: life that I wouldn't never have known about it. When
48:09
Speaker 1: I found out about this opportunity, I immediately wanted you
48:12
Speaker 1: might show to talk about it. Continue. Wow, thank you.
48:18
Speaker 1: So yeah, this is such a unique program for the
48:21
Speaker 1: Salt Lake City. A lot people don't know about it,
48:22
Speaker 1: but it's like number two fast and growing city for
48:25
Speaker 1: business and the number one for financial institutions. So bringing
48:29
Speaker 1: having me see that step out of their comfort zone
48:31
Speaker 1: say oh, you know, I want to work at Google,
48:33
Speaker 1: I want to work at Apple. But there's just so
48:35
Speaker 1: many other career paths and like tech companies, financial banking companies,
48:40
Speaker 1: or even just healthcare companies in Salt Lake City that
48:42
Speaker 1: you wouldn't think about. We have an area called Silicon Slops,
48:46
Speaker 1: which is just kind of trying to replicate Silicon Valley
48:49
Speaker 1: in California, where we have all these tech cups like
48:52
Speaker 1: Adobe is located here. We've and something that you wouldn't
48:55
Speaker 1: think about because you're like, oh, let's use how there's
48:57
Speaker 1: something out here for me. But just having acts to
49:00
Speaker 1: that and being able to know, oh, I can go here,
49:03
Speaker 1: A lot of students don't think that they can do
49:05
Speaker 1: something because they don't see themselves, they don't see people
49:08
Speaker 1: like them in those situations. They're like, oh, I wouldn't
49:10
Speaker 1: go to Utah because I don't see my health here.
49:13
Speaker 1: But once you find out what the type of opportunities
49:15
Speaker 1: that they have. I think it's just a great opportunity
49:18
Speaker 1: for them come out here. And why wouldn't you want
49:21
Speaker 1: to go where internships offer youse free flights, paying for
49:23
Speaker 1: your housing, You get to go on fun activities I
49:26
Speaker 1: take in the southern Utah, get your head shots, work
49:28
Speaker 1: on networking skills in this type community where usually students
49:34
Speaker 1: are out here and you get an internship in another
49:36
Speaker 1: state and you have to find housing, or you have
49:39
Speaker 1: to pay for other things, or you have to figure
49:40
Speaker 1: out what to do on the weekends. But I create
49:42
Speaker 1: all that curriculum and I'm sitting here with these students like, hey,
49:45
Speaker 1: I understand where you're coming from. You know, I went
49:47
Speaker 1: to an HBCU, I went through this program, and now
49:50
Speaker 1: I live in Salt Lake City. So anything you need
49:52
Speaker 1: help navigating, I can be that for you. Give the
49:55
Speaker 1: list of black pages. Here's the barber shops, here's the
49:57
Speaker 1: nail shops. Here's some good food places to eat. You
50:00
Speaker 1: mentioned earlier. You know we had those hidden gyms. But
50:02
Speaker 1: you need to reach out to that community and have
50:04
Speaker 1: them engage that they're able to see what resources are
50:07
Speaker 1: out there for them. Awesome. Here's the thing about it
50:11
Speaker 1: when I when I listened to you talk or you
50:13
Speaker 1: know the reason you're on my show today money Making
50:16
Speaker 1: Conversation Magic class because people don't know it's about promoting,
50:19
Speaker 1: it's about getting the word out about because I always
50:22
Speaker 1: tell my story about working off shore and people look
50:24
Speaker 1: at me. Really, how did you find that out? I
50:27
Speaker 1: just happened to walk into you know, career training at
50:31
Speaker 1: the University of Houston, and uh happen to see it
50:33
Speaker 1: on board on the board, and I called a number
50:35
Speaker 1: and I had to go to like three different interviews
50:38
Speaker 1: in the state of Louisiana. And while I was eighty
50:41
Speaker 1: five miles out of the Gulf with a story that
50:45
Speaker 1: I would also you know, the beauty of even if
50:47
Speaker 1: you didn't work there and you came back, but the
50:49
Speaker 1: experience that you have of being in Salt Lake City,
50:55
Speaker 1: in turning in Salt Lake City would have been the
50:57
Speaker 1: ultimate blessing anyway. Correct, Oh, yes, definitely, just because when
51:03
Speaker 1: you expand your horizons to go out to different places
51:05
Speaker 1: where you don't see people like you and get out
51:07
Speaker 1: your comfort zone, it allows you to broaden your conversation topics.
51:11
Speaker 1: It allows you to speak with people that you wouldn't
51:14
Speaker 1: necessarily think you have me being communist, but now you
51:16
Speaker 1: have this unique experience if you want to know, oh,
51:18
Speaker 1: how did you get here? What did you learn from there?
51:20
Speaker 1: Oh you're not afraid to be an uncomfortable situations like
51:23
Speaker 1: let's talk more about you know what can I do
51:25
Speaker 1: for you? Or and how can you help me? So
51:27
Speaker 1: I think something very impactful about that. Now I've read
51:31
Speaker 1: a little bio. Say the bio, not the little bio,
51:34
Speaker 1: the bio. Now you have a c au alarm. Yes,
51:39
Speaker 1: So Rodnie Cohen, we started this program in twenty twenty
51:43
Speaker 1: and twenty twenty one realize there are other HBCU programs
51:46
Speaker 1: on campus. They're about seven other programs that work with
51:49
Speaker 1: students as well, like pass make Your Programs, a radiation
51:52
Speaker 1: safety programs, and cancer research programs as well on campus.
51:58
Speaker 1: Back KATA to HBCU students. We needed somebody to help
52:01
Speaker 1: manage all the discent programs. So Rodney Cohen has joined
52:04
Speaker 1: us and he has been instrumental to engaging with all
52:08
Speaker 1: of these different universities and developing out more of these partnerships.
52:12
Speaker 1: Now you had the NBA All Star Game was there
52:14
Speaker 1: and recently and I know they do a lot I
52:17
Speaker 1: think they're doing an HBCU game there at every HBCU
52:21
Speaker 1: an NBA All Star event. I know that Chris Paul
52:24
Speaker 1: is a number one ambassador for HBCUs and promoting the
52:28
Speaker 1: value of HBCUs. I think he recently got his degree
52:31
Speaker 1: from an HBCU. That's Chris Paul, NBA All Star, future
52:35
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame, future Hall of Famer who now plays
52:38
Speaker 1: for the Phoenix Suns. Did you guys benefit from any
52:42
Speaker 1: exposure of the NBA All Star Weekend when it was
52:45
Speaker 1: hosted in Salt Lake City the HPCU impact. Yes. So
52:48
Speaker 1: the university actually hosted a number of events on campus.
52:51
Speaker 1: We hosted the HBCU Classic versus Southern and Grambling, and
52:55
Speaker 1: we also hosted the g League game and the university
52:58
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks before that came to us say
53:00
Speaker 1: we heard about your program, how can you help support
53:02
Speaker 1: you and help build up these black communities, And they
53:04
Speaker 1: give us a gift up fifty thousand dollars, which has
53:07
Speaker 1: been exciting news for here just to hear that the NBA,
53:11
Speaker 1: since one of our partners is used high jazz and
53:14
Speaker 1: have this to spread out in the community where it
53:16
Speaker 1: reaches up to those levels where like we see what
53:18
Speaker 1: you're doing, we support these students in this community. How
53:22
Speaker 1: can we help you? And so that was that's interesting.
53:26
Speaker 1: You say you received a gift from fifty thousand dollars
53:28
Speaker 1: donation to the HBCU Impact Program at the university. You
53:31
Speaker 1: talk what does one do with fifty thousand dollars donations?
53:34
Speaker 1: What do you do? How does that benefit your program?
53:36
Speaker 1: So we were true during the school year, we go
53:38
Speaker 1: to these hbcs on campus and say may we want
53:40
Speaker 1: these galleries, resumes or helps start travel, help for the
53:44
Speaker 1: professive development workshops that you try to pay for welcome
53:47
Speaker 1: packages that we have with the students, and I host
53:49
Speaker 1: a number of community events to get the black community
53:52
Speaker 1: introduced to the students so that they can develop these
53:55
Speaker 1: organic mentorships relationships, and so it just helps fund and
54:00
Speaker 1: having these farewell welcome events to take them out to
54:03
Speaker 1: Moile to experience the different what southern Utah is like,
54:07
Speaker 1: which is more red rocks and what you would think
54:09
Speaker 1: Salt Lake is like. Food just goes towards that development.
54:12
Speaker 1: And we actually shared donation with the Black Cultural Censor
54:16
Speaker 1: on campus where they're creating new program Generation Next and
54:20
Speaker 1: they're trying to work with their black students who are
54:22
Speaker 1: locally and take them through these professional development workshops throughout
54:25
Speaker 1: the year and then engage with our students over the summer,
54:28
Speaker 1: so they worked with them as well. As we close
54:31
Speaker 1: out the interview, how can we get in touch with you?
54:34
Speaker 1: Tell us more about any social media handles, any website
54:37
Speaker 1: that they can visit to find out more about the
54:39
Speaker 1: HBCU Impact Program at the University of Utah. Yeah, so
54:43
Speaker 1: if you go to diversity dot Utah dot edu and
54:46
Speaker 1: then type in HBCU Partnerships in the search par it
54:48
Speaker 1: will take you to all of the different partnerships that
54:51
Speaker 1: we have on campus and the first one will be
54:53
Speaker 1: HBCU Impact. I want to thank you for taking the
54:56
Speaker 1: time to come on making conversations Massaca. You enjoy I
54:59
Speaker 1: enjoy your energy. And again if you need any and
55:02
Speaker 1: tell Rodney we love him down here at Clark Atlanta University.
55:06
Speaker 1: We shouting out his name, Rodney Cohen down there doing
55:08
Speaker 1: big things, and so LA said, you talk with the
55:10
Speaker 1: one and only some own Lawrence. Thank you for coming
55:12
Speaker 1: on money making Conversations masterclass. Yes, thank you so much
55:15
Speaker 1: for having me. Great and I want to thank all
55:17
Speaker 1: my listeners for listening every week and supporting me and
55:20
Speaker 1: allowing me to spread the word of motivation. You can
55:23
Speaker 1: be successful. Don't let nobody step away, step in front
55:26
Speaker 1: of your dream until your dream cannot happen. That's what
55:29
Speaker 1: we're all about. Dream because it starts today, because you
55:33
Speaker 1: can make it happen. Set your goals. That's the only
55:35
Speaker 1: way it can happen. You gotta have goals. Talk to
55:37
Speaker 1: you next week. Money Making Conversations Master Class or Rushan
55:40
Speaker 1: McDonald bye bye. As host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass,
55:44
Speaker 1: Rushan McDonald is uniquely positioned to provide a step by step,
55:48
Speaker 1: easy to understand blueprint because it's time to stop reading
55:51
Speaker 1: other people's success stories and start writing you around