Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Motivation: From project failures to the death of his father, he shows how adversity can reshape purpose and leadership.

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Motivation: From project failures to the death of his father, he shows how adversity can reshape purpose and leadership. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to my show. I'm Rashon McDonald, a host of
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  Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Masterclass, where we encourage people to stop
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  Speaker 1: I want to keep you on alert because my guests
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  Speaker 1: guest delivers his message through powerful storytelling and practical frameworks.
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  Speaker 1: He challenges audiences to move beyond conference zones, embrace growth,
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  Speaker 1: and lead with intention. It's missioning is simple to help
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  Speaker 1: people transform from the inside out so they can live, lead,
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  Speaker 1: and serve with greater purpose. Please work of Money Making
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Conversations Master Class. LeVar Thomas is LaVar. How are you doing?
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  Speaker 1: My brother?
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  Speaker 2: Doing well? In yourself?
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  Speaker 1: This is a visual interview ladies and gentlemen. Some people
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  Speaker 1: will be hearing this on audio, but he has nothing
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  Speaker 1: but motivational quotes on this world behind him. Why is that?
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  Speaker 2: It gives me a sense of meaning every day when
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  Speaker 2: I will wake up in the morning, I like to
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  Speaker 2: at least have a message that sets my attention to
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  Speaker 2: my mindset for the day. And I'm a visual learning
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  Speaker 2: I'm a visual person, so to be able to look
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  Speaker 2: around my office and my space and to be inspired
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  Speaker 2: to not only push beyond whatever I'm going through at
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  Speaker 2: the moment, but to always pursue my dreams, pursue my goals,
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  Speaker 2: and to always have a service mindset.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I'm gonna quote a couple. I'm gonna pull a
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  Speaker 1: couple up off the world that I'm reading. Every journey
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  Speaker 1: in life begins with a little faith. Talk to me
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  Speaker 1: about that.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's funny. So I was at church last week
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  Speaker 2: and my pastor gave us a small mustard scene and
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  Speaker 2: I didn't I realized how tiny a mustard seed was
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  Speaker 2: until I actually had it held it in my hand.
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  Speaker 2: And it really speaks to my journey growing up in Brooklyn,
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  Speaker 2: New York, in Brownsville and just wanting to experience a
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  Speaker 2: world that was bigger than my community. And that really
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  Speaker 2: started when I took advantage of a student exchange program
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  Speaker 2: in high school which allowed me to go to Spain
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  Speaker 2: and I lived with it a hopsest family for a week,
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  Speaker 2: and it really blew my mind in terms of pushing
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  Speaker 2: me outside my comfort zone but also getting me to
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  Speaker 2: see that there's so much more to life when you
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  Speaker 2: just had faith. So faith for me is not just
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  Speaker 2: a buzzword. Faith is an action word. It's me taking
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  Speaker 2: steps without even known to outcome. It's me believing in
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  Speaker 2: the future that I see in my mind before I
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  Speaker 2: can see it in my reality.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, faith is taking the first step, even whore you
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  Speaker 1: don't see the whole staircase. I've heard it called blind faith.
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  Speaker 1: Is that close to saying or what does that mean
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  Speaker 1: to you?
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  Speaker 2: I wouldn't say blind faith, because that, you know, my
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  Speaker 2: faith in God reassures me that everything is going to
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  Speaker 2: be okay. But I think it's not always needing the
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  Speaker 2: evidence first to take action.
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  Speaker 1: Let's talk about your experience in the Peace Corps. Because
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  Speaker 1: I'm a very competitive person, LeVar, and so I have
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  Speaker 1: to assume that when you work in an environment like
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  Speaker 1: the Peace Corps. It's not a competitive environment. Am I
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  Speaker 1: wrong when I say that?
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  Speaker 2: I wouldn't say it's a competitive environment because everyone is
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  Speaker 2: going there with the mindset of service.
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  Speaker 1: Right, and so so that's a different environment for me,
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  Speaker 1: you know, because of the fact that you know, service
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  Speaker 1: can be a nurse, service can be a doctor or
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  Speaker 1: a teacher. But when you get in that and so
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  Speaker 1: there is a level of competition there because you're trying
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  Speaker 1: to make more money, get promoted. But what is that
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  Speaker 1: environment like? Because you're the first person that I have
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  Speaker 1: met that have acknowledged to me that they left corporate
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  Speaker 1: to go work in the Peace Corps. You love a
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  Speaker 1: real competitive stress environment. Not saying there was not stress
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  Speaker 1: in being in the Peace Corps, but what was that
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  Speaker 1: environment like that uplifted you? And what was the working conditions?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, so I lived in a rural community in the
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  Speaker 2: western province of Rwanda near Congo d RC. And so
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  Speaker 2: I lived in a very remote community, probably about three
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  Speaker 2: thousand people that lived in that area, and I worked
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  Speaker 2: at a local health center. So every day I would
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  Speaker 2: go to the health center and assess, you know, babies
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  Speaker 2: and mothers who were malnourished, assessing cases of HIV malaria prevention,
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  Speaker 2: going out into remote areas within my area and assess
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  Speaker 2: for food insecurity issues. While Rwanda's quite an agricultural country
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  Speaker 2: and those remote areas there's still a large rate of
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  Speaker 2: malnutrition going on. And so every day I had to
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  Speaker 2: learn the local language Kinywanda, because no one spoke English.
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  Speaker 2: So one thing with the Peace Corps does they provide
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  Speaker 2: you with language training for the first three months, so
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  Speaker 2: that way you're equipped to be able to engage the community,
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  Speaker 2: establish trusts, and to be able to effectively do that work.
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  Speaker 2: And so for me, I think, what, what did you.
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  Speaker 1: Choose that community that you went into, the Rwandan community,
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  Speaker 1: or how did that work?
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  Speaker 2: So I got placed there. So I went at the
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  Speaker 2: time when I applied to the Peace Corps back in
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  Speaker 2: twenty twenty eleven, twenty twelve, that you weren't allowed to
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  Speaker 2: select which country you wanted to go to. You applied
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  Speaker 2: and they basically placed you in a country where there
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  Speaker 2: was a need for your skill sets, and so Rwanda
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  Speaker 2: was not in the card. To me, I didn't really
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  Speaker 2: know I was going to go there. So I got
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  Speaker 2: selected to go to Rwanda to serve.
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  Speaker 1: Now, when you heard that you were going to Rwanda.
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  Speaker 1: How did you react?
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  Speaker 2: I freaked out, fricked out because you know, the only
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  Speaker 2: reference that I had to Rwanda was the movie Hotel Rwanda.
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  Speaker 2: So I knew what I knew about the genocide and
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  Speaker 2: I actually lived.
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  Speaker 1: That started John Cheadle, Right.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, And so I lived about three minutes from a
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  Speaker 2: genocide memorial side in my community where you saw a
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  Speaker 2: lot of the historical stuff that took place, and it
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  Speaker 2: was very traumatic, but it really helped paint to the
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  Speaker 2: picture of how a country can move beyond that history
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  Speaker 2: and be a stable country today. Wow.
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  Speaker 1: Now let's talk about your book here. Yeah, what inspired
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  Speaker 1: you to write the other side of Letting Go?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah? So, again it goes back to the Peace Corps experience.
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  Speaker 2: I was in Rwanda, and I was building a library project,
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  Speaker 2: and I was gathering all this funds to launch the project.
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  Speaker 2: I had gotten a location to run the project, I
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  Speaker 2: was getting community buy in, and then one of the
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  Speaker 2: partners that I was working with hold because they lost funding,
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  Speaker 2: and so the project collapsed. And so initially you mentioned
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  Speaker 2: competition in that environment. So down deep inside, even though
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  Speaker 2: I thought I wasn't competing, there was some ego involved
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  Speaker 2: in trying to launch a project that was going to
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  Speaker 2: outlive me, right, and so I got caught up in
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  Speaker 2: the image of I'm abroad, I'm blogging, people were seeing
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  Speaker 2: me serving, and I'm like getting all caught up in
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  Speaker 2: that that pride and said, I'm going to leave a
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  Speaker 2: mess legacy that's going to outlive me. And when that
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  Speaker 2: project failed, I felt like it exposed me in a
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  Speaker 2: sense where how did it fail? I felt I felt embarrassed.
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  Speaker 2: I felt vulnerable because people kept coming to me like,
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  Speaker 2: what's going on with the library? What's happening? You know,
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  Speaker 2: you're you're One of my supervisors told me I was
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  Speaker 2: a failure because I wasn't bringing money as an American
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  Speaker 2: to this community. So that was a lot of the
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  Speaker 2: perceptions in terms of being in the Peace Corps. For me,
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  Speaker 2: as a Black American and the first Black American in
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  Speaker 2: in my community, it was this expectation of bringing me resources.
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  Speaker 2: And so once that library project failed, I had to
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  Speaker 2: really learn how to redefined success for myself, not in
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  Speaker 2: the accordance to like the glamor and the lights and
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  Speaker 2: the peel of a project, but the impact that I
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  Speaker 2: was having.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you know, it's really interesting you know, you didn't
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  Speaker 1: answer my question why did they fail or how did
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  Speaker 1: they fail? The project?
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  Speaker 2: So so it failed because it lost funding and then
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  Speaker 2: it got really political in terms of ownership.
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  Speaker 1: Now, failures are an amazing thing. A lot of people
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  Speaker 1: can't come back from failure. Failure can cause people deep depression.
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  Speaker 1: You're in another country. Where were your mentors? Who did
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  Speaker 1: you lean on at that dark moment emotionally in your life?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah? I listened to a lot of docdor Miles Munroe.
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  Speaker 2: He read his books. You know, my mentor des who
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  Speaker 2: and the spiritual side guiding me and kind of help
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  Speaker 2: and reassure me that every setback is a stepping zone
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  Speaker 2: for a great comeback, right, And so you know, I
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  Speaker 2: read a lot of Lets Brown, Lisa Nichols, and I
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  Speaker 2: think just filling myself with positivity and really helping to
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  Speaker 2: again redefine how I view failure. I think Opra said
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  Speaker 2: that failure is just life redirecting you. And so in
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  Speaker 2: that moment, I was working towards that project for the
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  Speaker 2: first year and a half and so now I have
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  Speaker 2: six months left and I'm like, I spent so much
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  Speaker 2: time throwing myself into this one thing, and now it's
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  Speaker 2: it didn't succeed, So what am I going to do now?
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  Speaker 2: But it allowed me to really look at malnutrition in
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  Speaker 2: my community and make that pivot. So training mothers are
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  Speaker 2: on developing food kitchen gardens, and so I partnered with
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  Speaker 2: us AID at the time, and we did a whole
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  Speaker 2: training with the health center and we grow fruits and
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  Speaker 2: vegetables and then we went into more ares and did that.
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  Speaker 2: And so my pivot from the library project turned into
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  Speaker 2: something that was much bigger than I expected. Like I
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  Speaker 2: didn't think I would be going to Rwanda do agriculture work,
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  Speaker 2: but that happened to have been the space where I
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  Speaker 2: had the most impact.
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  Speaker 1: Right. You know, really, when you look at life, it's
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  Speaker 1: all about making money the bar, How do you make
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  Speaker 1: money in Labar?
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  Speaker 2: Yes? So, well, I have a nine to five working
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  Speaker 2: within the federal government, but I also have my company
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: and Power for Greatness where I work with universities. I
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: work with companies and provide leadership development training to help strugguing.
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  Speaker 1: You extend your dream beyond your nine to five jobs?
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely?
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  Speaker 1: Yes, So you willing to balance and I always tell
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  Speaker 1: people dreams come with hard work. Now how do you balance?
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  Speaker 2: Just you? Yeah? So well, in the day at my job,
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: but in the evening, I'm I'm writing, you know, developing
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: my online presence, you know, identifying coaches. I know doctor
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: Will was one of my coach. I know he was
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: on your show as well. It's one of my coaches
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  Speaker 2: that I was a part of his his speaking program
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: to develop my speaking business and develop systems behind the business.
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  Speaker 2: And so I balance it by, you know, trying to
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  Speaker 2: do something every day that's going to allow me to
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: advance the goals within my company.
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  Speaker 1: You know, it's really interesting that I talk to a
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  Speaker 1: lot of people, and when I talk to individuals like you,
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  Speaker 1: the word conference zone always pop up. I'm talking about
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  Speaker 1: motivational people who lecture people who are transformative, and that's
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  Speaker 1: who you are. You're transformative person who motivates people to
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: find the best version of themselves. But the work conference zones,
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: can you tell people what's your view or comfort zone
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  Speaker 1: is and how some people can't get out of that
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: comfort zone or in other words, get out of their
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  Speaker 1: own way.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think for a lot of people, comfort zone
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  Speaker 2: represents an identity. It's a space of control, it's a
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  Speaker 2: space of operating within the boundaries of your limitations that
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  Speaker 2: kind of empower you to feel like you're doing something.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: And so when I think about the comfort zone, it's
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: really the line that you draw for ourselves of how
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: far we're going to go. But on the other side
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  Speaker 2: of that, it's scary for many people because when you
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: give up control, you risk embarrassing yourself, you risk failing,
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  Speaker 2: but you also risk identifying another version of yourself beyond
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: what you've created around you. And so for me, the
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: excitement of the unknown has far more potential than the
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: familiarity of the lines you create in your life. And
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: every time I step beyond that line, I grew. I
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: realized new possibilities for myself, and my identity shifts because
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  Speaker 2: I'm no longer limited to the narrative that I once
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: told myself about what was possible. Wow.
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  Speaker 1: And when you talk about the comfort zone, is that
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: can people have a good comfort zone or a comfort zone?
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  Speaker 1: It always comes out to me that that's where you
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  Speaker 1: can exhale or you can fail, depending on how much
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  Speaker 1: you allow that comfort zone to control your destiny. That
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  Speaker 1: am I incorrect when I point that negative size of
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: a comfort zone out or a comfort zone is your
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: safe space.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's a bit of both. It's your safe space.
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  Speaker 2: I think naturally we all operating with the oun comfort zone.
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  Speaker 2: I think when you wake up in the morning, you
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: brush your teeth, you know how you put your shoes on,
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: Like we operate an autopilot at times, and I think
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: it's normal when you can do things in auto pilot,
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: when you when you've mastered certain things that you to
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: the point that you don't have to think about it.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: I think it becomes dangerous when it's preventing you from
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: seeking out more, when it's preventing you from going after
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: that goal of yours or you know, you know, taking
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: that action step that's going to advance your life in
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: another direction. Please don't go anywhere.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: No need for you to do me a favor right
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• 14:38
  Speaker 1: back to Money Making Conversations master Class with me Rashawn
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: McDonald name I show LeVar is Money Making Conversation master Class.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: I'm all about the money and how you make money
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: and how you can give advice to people so they
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: can make money. When you say it's a phrase you
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: have that you say often, purpose is the real currency.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: Purpose is the real currency? What does that mean?
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: When you're operating in your purpose? It allows you to
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: to really make money. It allows you to add a value.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: It helps you to understand what is your worth, what
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: is your value? And how can you add a value
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: to the marketplace.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: You know, I left IBM, I've worked for Yours post Office.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: I've had a lot of corporate Channa Code, Pipeline Company.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: So I've worked in the corporate space. I worked in
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: the fourty hour week space. And one of the things
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: that I always saw were people who seem to be
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: in a rut of stuck or afraid to make a
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: change in your goals of trying to find that motivate
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: people to find the best of themselves. How can they
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: unstuck themselves or how can they overcome that fear of
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: making a change.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: So, I think when you look at organizations that have
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: been afraid to change, they went out of business or
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: they were not able to keep up with the way
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: the world is evolving so rapidly. You look at how
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: AI is drastically changing the world right now. For companies
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: and individuals who are not adapting or incorporating that into
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: their day to day, they're falling even further behind. And
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: so it's getting them to understand how are their goals
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: continuing to evolve with the changing world around them, and
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: how are they empowering the people within their organizations to
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: want to work towards that vision, that to want to
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: work towards that goal, Like what inspires their employees their
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: staff to be able to push themselves to the next
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: level so the organization can get to the next level.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: So for leaders who are afraid to change, I think
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: it's helping them to understand what's the risks of not
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: of remaining the same, Like what are the pros and cons?
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: You know, what do they risks? You know, disrupting within
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: their organization if they if they fail to change.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I'm not saying I'm afraid, but I do
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: understand change has made me better. But I do know
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: when I am about to make a change, I'm uncomfortable, LaVar,
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  Speaker 1: and I push past that uncomfortable zone, and I can
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: understand the challenge a lot better now. I don't know
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: if I can overcome that challenge, but I do understand it.
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  Speaker 1: And so but I do believe being uncomfortable is a
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: good thing. What are your thoughts on.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: That being uncomfortable is a great thing. I think when
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: you're uncomfortable, it means that you're doing something m h,
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: that you're trying and you learn. You learn more about
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: yourself when you're uncomfortable. I think you become more self
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: aware and it actually helps with even becoming self actualized
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: when you could develop that emotional intelligence about huh, when
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: I'm in this space or this environment, I realize my
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: heart beats a bit faster in this environment, or when
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: I'm getting ready to make a certain decision, I feel
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: this anxiety or anxiousness. So it helps you to really
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: study yourself and what makes you tick. And I think
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: when you further understand yourself and that to that extent,
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: you're able to make better decisions and you're made up.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: You become more effective in your leadership.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: Was just all about you know. I know that do
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: you do seminars or do you camps, or do you
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: do anything online and how can we reach you, LeVar?
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: Yes, I do seminars. I do webinars as well in
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: person events, but you can reach me at www dot
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: LeVar Thomas dot com and there I have different workshops
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: that I've done. I've done two ted X talks already,
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: and so I'm always looking for opportunities to get into
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: organizations to really help them leaders make that shift.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: Well, I would like people to show an example. I
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: would tell people I hate people who just talk and
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: like I said, tell you how to fix the car,
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: but they've never fixed a car. You know. They can
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: tell you how to cook food, but can't cook. So
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: when you're about it giving advice, can you share a
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: time when you had to reinvent yourself and what taught
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: you about and how that taught you about leadership.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah. In twenty eighteen, my father passed away and it
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: was probably the hardest moment of my life, losing kind
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: of the main man who taught me so much about
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: what it meant to lead to serve to be a man.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: And I think at that time I lost side of myself.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: I was in grad school at the time when I
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: got the call that his kidneys were shutting down from
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: my sister, and it was my first day at grad
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: school and I remember that call very vividly. I was
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: on a full ride scholarship at Records Camden, and I
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: realized that I had to to step away and walk
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: away from the scholarship because I needed to make sure
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: that LeVar was good and kind of get away from
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: all the checkboxes things and the degrees at the time.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: And so I think during that time I had to
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: step away. I went into therapy and really try to
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: rehabilitate myself and to really understand how my life going
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: forward was going to be the impact that I wanted
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: to have. And I feel like that moment really helps
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: solidify my authentic side of things. Being able to just
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: forgetting what people might have thought about me walking away
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: from school and taking a step away from my job
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: and really just rebuilding LeVar. Focusing on family and just
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: being there for my family taught me so much about leadership,
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: how to recognize my values, what I stand for, what
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: I believe in. And then I eventually got back in
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: the classroom and was able to get another scholarship back
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: University of Delaware when I got my master's in International business,
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: and so you know, I felt like it was full
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: circle for me being able to go through that experience
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: and really work on myself to be the person that
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: I am today.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: You know you've you've often talked about success beyond money.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: I will tell you this, LeVar, I am a guy
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: who takes my financial success and reincorporated into community through scholarships,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: donations and things like that. When I hear success beyond
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: the money, I need to be educated on exactly what
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: you're talking about.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So when I say success beyond the money, I
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: think for me, success is three sixty is success in
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: your health, and success in your family life, success as
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: a husband or a wife. It goes beyond on that.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: And so that like how good is money if you
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: don't have health? Or how so how good is money
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: if you're compromising the very relationships that you have in
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: your life? And so I think it's it's important to
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: have that balance across the board, and while using money
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: to create impact, recognizing the areas as well where money
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: may not be as sufficient, So where time is needed.
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: You know, when you're investing in those relationships and you're
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: investing in people. And so when I say you know purpose,
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: you know it goes beyond the currency of money. That's
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: what I'm referring.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: To, right, because in the end we all know that
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: it's got to.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: Be the rent. Absolutely, try to.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: Have money about food and if you're not, we represent
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: a part of the community. Nobody wants to be in
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: that homelessness. But you build up. You've been a part
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: of built movements like Leaders of the Free World. And
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: when when I say that, does it bring back memories
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: up for straight shit, because they are. You know, nothing's
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: easily built. You know, it's always if Plus when you
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: have an idea, it's never easily welcomed. And so talk
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: about the process of introducing the concept. Did talk about
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: the frustration of trying to get this concept off the
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: ground and then gathering momentum for it to be successful.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So when the concept of Leaders of the Free
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: World came about, I remember I was at a retreat
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: in Rwanda. It was twenty fifteen, and I had a
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: vision of wanting to increase the representation of young black
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: men who travel. I remember I was probably one of
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: two black men in the Peace Corps of Rwanda overall,
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: so there wasn't many of us growing up in Brownsville, Brooklyn,
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: New York. I knew that there were many people who
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: from our committee that would have never left their job
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: or even have to meet to go live abroad for
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: two years of volunteering on two hundred dollars a month.
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: It wasn't it's still not a reality for people. And
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: so what the concept of Leaders of the Free World
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: was to really create an opportunity for young black men
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: in college to go abroad for two weeks. And so
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: since twenty sixteen, we've been taking students to Ghana, West Africa,
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: where we helped them explore different themes in leadership. We
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: you know, we visit a lot of the cultural sites,
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: the Ashanti Kingdom in Kumasi, we go to the Cape
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: Coast Slave Dungeon where they learned about the Transatlantic slave
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: But something shifts in them when they return and they
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: see their lives differently in their community differently. And so
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: in the earlier days, it was always the frustrations of
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: being asked why black men, why not other people? Why
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: not everyone? And when it comes to young black men
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: and international experiences were largely in the one percent category
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: where you were not represented, and so it was a
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: lot of frustrations around having to convince people why more
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: young black men need to travel and what were the
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: benefits of them From an entrepreneurial standpoint, from a leadership standpoint,
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: from a personal development standpoint, from an economic standpoint, they're
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: just much more competitive in the market when you have
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: global experiences and you're able to translate that into your environment.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: And so early on it was a lot of that
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: having to justify the need for it, and then fundraising.
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: It's hard for a non process. It's still hard, you know,
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: and you find yourself feeling like you need to beg
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: people to give money to with this worthy cause. And
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: so in that regard, that's why money is so important,
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: you know, because you don't have to beg so much.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: But I think through our strategic partnerships with organizations universities,
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: we have been able to bridge that gap and you know,
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: fund our students in the program right one hundred percent.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: Those partnerships and collaborations and so over the years, we've
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: noticed the push for engaging more young black men across
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: the country, whether it was Obama's My Brother's Keeper initiative,
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: what took place with George Floyd. He saw a wave
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: of organizations wanting to invest in missions that were going
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: to engage when heedse of Color. And so I think
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: since twenty sixteen, we've had about five different cohorts go
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: to Ghana and many five students have graduated, they started
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: their own companies. You know, they're giving back in the
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: meaningful ways they're traveling, they're launching their own initiatives. And
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: so I think it keeps me, It keeps me grounded
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: and inspired to just see how the seats that I've
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: planted is germinating in such a meaningful way in their lives.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: He's the Rwanda Key. I call him that because he
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: didn't know he was going there the way he thought
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: he was gonna go when he signed up for the
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: Police Corps. But I can assure you Rowanda, he went
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: and every stereotype about Africa that he knew. Do they
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: have phone, do they have call? Do that road? Will
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: it be flies? Will they have food? Everything? Because we've
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: been so fully educated about what the reality is when
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: you go to places like South Africa. You know, when
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: you go to places like Rwanda, it is not the
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: story that you read, It is not the story that
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: you see in the news. It is something that you
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: should travel and see for yourself. You will be a mazed.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: You understand that clearly we should be telling our own stories,
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: and the only way you can tell our own story
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: is to travel and see it for yourself. Lovar Thomas,
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: thank you for coming on Money Making Conversation, Massaclins.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: Brother, Thank you. I really appreciate the opportunity.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: To Rwanda kid.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to this episode. No, I need
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: for you to do me a favor right now to
• 27:55
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• 27:59
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• 28:04
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• 28:07
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