Get 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 good morning good morning good morning and welcome to another edition of techniche tips I am your host Joseph M Smith and like always we got another one for you now before we get into her story Sierra’s story before I even introduce her I have to ask you a special favor so
Things happen often they call it struggle streaming where there may be some glitch in The Matrix and then there’s an issue and for whatever technical reason things have to be moved around so just for full transparency for whatever reason my software said that this show was starting at 11:53 so I
Apologized for anybody who was a part of that and was like Hey 11:53 is the start time uh so I need I need a favor for the faithful few and I’m gonna point you guys out just now because you already are here I need y’all to do like a
Gorilla War style approach to getting this out now I need you the guys to share this to whoever you can because a lot of people have missed out because they went to the wrong show if I’m sorry about that technical glitch but we’re here now so go ahead and share it with
As many people as you can uh from many different Spears of influence because this is going to be a great show I think you’re going to really enjoy it and so with that being said I’m gonna go to the comment section right now and we are
Going to just uh say hello to the crowd um and then I’m going to introduce our guests to the show I have uh coach Ralph in the building welcome to the show please like share and subscribe on the way in you already know you already know
Um and then Mitch said good give a thumbs up as well got Darcell in the building saying good morning fam and uh take coach BR says I was wondering why not 1152 or 1154 uh hilarious hilarious Mitch said or 1155 you know so the faithful the faithful few are here
Holding it down so I appreciate yall for sure for doing that and supporting the channel and yeah like I said y’all if y’all could help us by pushing this forward that’ll be great um I’m going to try to do some stuff behind this scenes in the meantime but without further Ado
We have a guest on the stage today uh have none other than Sierra and I’m not gonna steal her Thunder I want her to give you give her opportunity to basically say all the things she’s doing because she’s doing a lot and then we’re going to dive into her story and don’t
Forget later today we’re actually G to have a Q&A a question and answer with her and you the audience so you can ask her any question that you have so stay tuned for that you do not want to miss out for sure so Sierra let’s get into it
Let’s talk about it can you tell us the audience like what are you doing right now who you are give a little bit of background and then we’ll dive into your story first and foremost I want to say thank you for just for having me on the
Show today and good morning to everybody out there it is a pleasure to be here with you all and I just saw on the cross comments I got to give them a shout out my boy Ty thank you so much it’s so good to see you out there live um my name is
Siera like you said but we are fam now so you could definitely call me CCE everybody out there um yes CeCe that’s me but I have a couple different roles um I am a financial technology consultant and so in that space I work with different um companies and I help
Them navigate through their conversion process for their core systems I work on the loan processing systems as they Implement I work in the deposit product section so where Banks and credit unions are implementing their deposit products to offer to their customers or their members I am the one who is behind the
Scenes helping to set that up I do security administration and I’m also working on programming with all of those lovely service fees that Banks and Credit Unions like to provide to all of us me included even though I’m the one building them out in their systems to do
It I I’m a part of that too so I am working with all of those items um so that is what I do in the financial technology space for different banks credit unions small businesses investment firms just depending on who the client is if they need that type of
A service I am here to do that um also I am the owner of two other businesses CIS events and services and CIS stands for sister inspiring society and so everything AP part of my brand has to do with CIS um I am an event and wedding
Planner and then a production company so we have a full production as part of that process and then with sis speaks uh I am doing professional speaking which is where I’m at right now I’m actually in Irvine California for the women empowerment conference I spoke yesterday and hit the stage with plenty of
Powerhouse women and so that is where I am at now this weekend doing the sis speaks portion of one of my many businesses oh my goodness I I I lost fingers I was trying to do the whole finger thing and count I lost fingers y’all did y’all keep count of that
Because I wasn’t able to do that that was amazing that was amazing uh so we’re gonna dive back we’re gonna peel the onion as I like to say we’re gonna peel the onion back and say wait a second you were in all these things at once when
You came out the womb like how did you get into this world specifically the fintech world Consulting world event planning world because it really does tie together when we talk about your story and what we’re going to talk about later on but how that all come together
Let’s start there well it starts when I was out in college in Tennessee and I thought I wanted to be in programming my mom actually works for Intel she’s an engineering Tech and so you know I was really interested in what she does which is engineering
For there and I was like oh computers it’s so great you know Intel makes um their microchips and what she does she looks under a microscope in a clean room and I just like putting on I like the bunny suit you know how they do the
Bring your child to workday we got to put on the bunny suit and I wanted to put on a bunny suit not knowing that it was because I needed to be clean I thought it was just something to do right um so that inspired me to really
Get into the programming space so I took computer science when I was in CL in college and I took some programming and then come to find out it really was not my Niche from the programming perspective um I figured out I really was not into Sequel and so but now my
Life is involved with squel so it’s crazy uh but I really was into communication so my formal education is um all the way through the space of organizational leadership business communication and human communication and public speaking so those are the areas that I focused on in my formal
Education however while I was going to school I started working at this company checkfree and when I was working at checkfree I was in the contact center and I wanted to kind of just build what it was I wanted to learn all about the company I wanted to learn what different
Products and services were available to me because I knew that there was more out there so I started learning all of those aspects and then as I advanced in my in my career and into leadership then I moved into the role of training and development which tied into it but I
Also had to plan I was doing project planning I was you know having to plan my own engagements and so that really helped me to shape into the Consulting world and I ended up moving into a role where I had to handle core systems and with managing out their core systems and
How they were working in that space um I was able to become a consultant and so now I am in that fintech space and Consulting but I also utilize my event planning services in my Consulting World by automating my systems making sure that anything I bring to the table has
Some form of tech involved with it um also I’m a Six Sigma lean black belt all right so that also helped to shape how I handle projects and how I’m able to be considered a consultant within um the fintech space well let’s go back for a
Second there’s a lot of things I want to pull out there but let’s talk about your mother like that’s a very unique position to have someone as a parental figure who’s working intact like you I could tell right away that you wanted to be like her the influences that she had
In your life can we just pause and talk about the impact that your mother had in your development in regards to your love and interest in tech oh absolutely so my mom she started at Motorola and so she’s always been involved with some type of Technology with her career and so when
She and also my father he was a semiconductor in that space at Motorola as well so from both sides yes from both sides I was getting that and you know being in a house with two people who worked at Motorola it was like that’s
All I saw and then when um my both my parents ended up working at Intel in two different spaces but you know daughter wants to be just like her mom did they meet it Intel as well did they meet there as well no they have they were
Already married um my parents met a long long time ago oh wow it was love at first bite literally right nanobit now if they met in Silicon Valley that would be something to talk about but no they were already married um when they were at when they were at
Motorola and um with I wanted to be like my mom in her space because she was the one who actually was working in the clean room and you know going there every year for the take your child to workday I really saw what she got to do Under the microscope
Um so what my mom does is there if there are defects in the computer chips um what she does is she’ll look and she’ll find those defects and she will um she’ll fix them so that was what she was doing at the time now she’s a lead engineering Tech of course you know
After 30 years of service and so you know the engineers come to her so it’s it’s really great to see that and I just see how well-respected she is in Intel um one of her one of her greatest friends was Brian cassan who was the CEO
Of Intel so like you know just to know that she has that personal relationship with someone of that caliber it really really just drove me to want to continue on that Legacy in the space of technology and so he was the person I actually wrote one of my um Master’s uh
Degree uh papers on because I knew they had that relationship so that was really really great wow wow and so I’m looking and thinking about your story you have all these influences you get to see and you’re exposed to so much let me just go let’s go back to the event planning for
A second then we got so much other things we could peel back but that combination of like saying okay I see as I see a real opportunity in event planning and meeting those two worlds of Fint Tac when did that AA moment happened for you I was actually looking at a post on
Facebook Facebook and noticing that there was nothing in that area and we have afrotech that happens but mine is very tailored to the black male experience um so it’s called the black male X and the opportunities that are available in Tech there’s so many and a lot of people just don’t have the
Information they don’t know what they don’t know and so that is where I was like well hey there is not that many of us in this space that offers these services or you know that are not available and I wanted to bring that space out there and just say hey we’re
Here this is what we’re doing and you do have the ability to do it without all of this formal education depending on the areas in which you want to go and grow in and so it is available wow and so I was like well let me take my knowledge
Of financial technology and what that looks like and then let me take my knowledge and what I can do in event planning and put something together to where it’s a freestanding opportunity for people to come together where you don’t have to join a membership you don’t have to be
In a fraternity or anything like that to get this information you can do it just by showing up getting your ticket and showing up so I’m making it available for everyone yeah and and we’re g definitely peal more into that uh you were talking before we had a conversation regarding opportunities in
The space and you were saying that there are opportunities now even where you can leverage whatever previous skills you have you can leverage different resources and get into the tech industry do you let’s talk about that a little bit because I feel like you your way you
Know you you talked about all things that you led to get here but there’s other people that may be like hey I don’t have that conventional background I don’t have that parent that was in the industry with the connections can you talk about the opportunities that are in the space yes absolutely
So when you want to get into the technology space all you have to do is start with some type of entry level whether you’re getting into that space with sales and just getting your foot into the door if you know you have your charismatic you’re outgoing and you have
That sales background you can start doing sales in technology and from that sales space which is what information I actually got that from my um friend Tai who told me that that’s available um in the space of financial technology you have the ability to join in if you’ve
Ever just worked as a teller there’s no formal education to become a teller but you can start out as a teller at a bank or credit union and work your way up into that back office space is what we call it and you can be in back office
And that’s where you start to get the behind the scenes and building and implementing different areas within the space for technology yeah and so having that front office knowledge of how banking Works will get you in the door without a formal education of that there’s also the area of communication
So if you are interested in maybe training and development or the communication space that is also a way into the door to getting into that back office space because once you’re in in you have to remember these companies will pay for your education if you want to go into further spaces there’s
Certifications that you can get so if you’re not a Traditional School there’s all types of certifications that are available also with organizations they have their own certification programs that are just you know for their company that are already implemented once you join the organization you can start day
One so those are types of opportuni that are available to you that you don’t have to go to Traditional School or enter into the space with that they provide those types of education and certifications for you yeah to be able to learn and grow yeah I totally agree
With that because that’s my story like I literally was in The Call Center contact center for a Solar Company and I didn’t realize I had transferable skills that would lend to the tech industry so I decided to do a boot camp called course careers where they do a HR they have a
Whole bunch of different courses now aail but back then the main the flagship was Tech sales and so I started my SDR journey by learning all of those different things regarding language like what is SAS you know what is truly a sales Cadence like how do you even start
In regards to finding your ICP like all that was done that course of training and then it got me my job which that was the goal of that particular boot camp but even when I was talking to uh my my one of my managers or leaders at my
Company now I mentioned hey there’s another basically course I want to take called level careers that has Kevin dorsy teaching it like if you know Kevin dorsy he’s big in this space yeah and they’re like and they said exactly what you said it’s like oh you gonna take
That course we love Kevin dorsy here we’ll pay for it so like there’s so many opportunities that you could leverage either a tech boot camp like course careers or level careers and you could be able to have the company pay for it as well so it’s a really a win-win
Situation in that in that case or if you want to be a sales engineer and really kind of find mentorship there’s like learn fful for example where they actually have a whole cohort dedicated and it’s actually led by uh Nigel who’s a principal SE at up spot and they have
Like a whole cohort where they kind of guide you and walk you through not saying they NE they’ll land you a job but they could give you the tools that you can use in order to get to where you want to go if that’s what you want to do
So if any of those things interest you go ahead and check the description below because they are there as well but that is so true there are unconventional ways of getting into this industry you just to know where to go exactly my uh my poison of choice is uh Cornerstone so
That was that was my learning course of choice um that was available to me was going through the Cornerstone different projects I know they have a lot out there but yeah the companies will pay for you to get these education um I got my my Six Sigma lean black belt from my
Company pay the company paying for for it well can you break that down for people that don’t know what is a Six Sigma lean black belt in case they don’t know might think it’s Kate yeah no words no it’s not K well it’s project management karate I love
It so with a Leen um Six Sigma Black Bel I have the skills and tools to lead projects and uh in the project management space and so it teaches you mainly in manufacturing and also when there is delay how to recognize and identify delays and waste in processes and how to
Utilize statistics in order to make better decisions from an organizational standpoint for any products that are being offered or any services that are being offered to streamline those items without with minimal uh delays and waste in their products and services to keep them going so yeah it’s a really great course um
Into the world of project management which is kind of where my next goals are is to you know continue to Leading projects working as an independent consultant you have to be able to have these little skills and tools to be able to manage and Lead projects because you
Know that is what they’re relying on you for when it comes to doing a conversion or when you are working in this space and you’re working on a project for a financial institution or any space in Tech you’re going to have different milestones in those projects and you
Have to know how to manage your time independently and so it really helps to identify any areas of opportunity that are available how to manage your time how to manage the project how to come back and let the customer know what’s happening with the product and service and what recommendations because they
Don’t know but they don’t know they’re looking at you for recommendations on how to make their product or service work from the back end and so in order to do that you have to have that that skill set and knowledge to be able to identify that information one and to be
Able to provide recommendations and workarounds as to how you’re going to deliver it in the most effective manner with the um with the less delays and waste for their processing time and their cost yeah so that’s what Six Sigma does you got me thinking now and first
Of all let me pause right here listen y’all y’all are talking in the audience I want to definitely point it out here because a lot of people have said some really good stuff and then we’re g do Q&A later so so don’t don’t forget put your questions in there guys and gals
Put your questions below so we’re gonna address it later but Ralph Tech coach Ralph says if there was a more context of what we use these Technologies and languages they teach us in college we’d probably stick with it better and he was talking about this those different
Concepts I think it’s a good point as well Mitch said black belt he knew exactly what you’re talking about he said uh actually said companies definitely pay for the lean Sigma she is right absolutely that’s how I got mine yeah and he oh he ALS uh also Tech coach
Ralph said all about strategy companies are willing to pay for your development I know this information is gold but take a second to like share and subscribe that’s what I was going to say next too if this information is gold to you go ahead and share this with somebody
Because normally we talk about so many different Tech careers that are available to you but we’re going to talk about being consultant in this space because Sierra or say let me say CC right CC somebody’s listening to this and saying listen you what you’re doing
I feel like I could do that I’m I’m I’m a C I’m a type D type c personality I like numbers I like finding the gaps I like to do this how do I get it I mean you told me how to get an entry-level position got that part checked but how
Do I become you Sierra CeCe you’re my idol you’re the person I want to idolize right now how do I become you so how you become somebody like CeCe I like the way you said that so so to become someone who is a consultant an independent consultant at
That um what you need to do is be able to build relationships right so you have to be able to communicate in an effective way that makes sense and you have to be able to deliver results so organizations they are going to pay for those two things they’re going to pay
For a good working relationship and they are going to pay for results so if you know already you’re a numbers person this is where your your numbers piece come into play so if you’re more of a numbers person and you know how to um get them the results on paper just from
Data data tells everything so if you know you could deliver the data in that aspect then make sure that you also have proper communication skills you’re a quick Communicator you were able to do problem solving you’re a critical thinker all of those things because things happen right Tech and things
Happen and so when um someone is and again I’m in financial technology there are all a lot of different spaces so you’re going to hear a lot of my examples in the financial technology space so there’s a lot of banks and Credit Unions when they are going through and they’re converting over into
A different core there may be some data that does not come over properly they’re looking to you to be able to say why didn’t these accounts these deposit accounts come over when they were supposed to come over um or they’re not tracking information or we’re balance
Our balancing is off for the day you’re going to have to be able to speak to those things for that institution and you’re also going to have to be able to provide work around so quick thinking on your feet problem solving are all skills that are transferable skills that you
Can utilize so you have to make sure that you’re really great with communication and problem solving outside of just being good with numbers so you always want to make sure that those are some things that you can impact so I was able to build my resume
Just from being able to one show result but I’m really really good at building relationships too I’m really good at making sure that my customer is um valued and that I’m listening I’m really good at active listening so that is a skill that you have to learn um is to be
Able to actively listen to what it is your bank or credit union or whatever your customer is looking for and what they want what is their end result and how are you going to help deliver that so when you’re bringing your proposal to the table and your bid to the table for
That bid you just have to make sure that what you tell them you are able to deliver to them um so that’s something that’s really going to help you to build your resume and start out with startup companies start out with small businesses that may need somebody in
That space to help build their course system um those are some really great areas that you know you can build your network in um to get started with the space and and building up that until you get into that that corporate space yes yes that’s so good so good y’all I’m GNA
Drop it right now I’m not going to wait any longer what connect with Sierra right connect with Sierra it’s in the description below but I definitely dropped it there on YouTube if someone wants to grab that right away there’s a couple links in there to connect and right there you’re going to see
Something that goes towards what she was talking about earlier which is the blackmail conference we’re going to definitely talk about that but one thing that I found is unique is that you and during our conversation prior to this and even from what I could glean from just doing research and and getting a
Chance to learn from you through Linkedin and and and things of that nature you have seen a lot having parents that work in the industry yourself that works in the industry realizing and let’s just be honest about it that navigating this space is very unique for people of color right it’s
Very unique for us and so you have a unique perspective on it and that has been the reason why you decided to create specific conferences and events specifically the blackmail conference because of specific things that you have seen experienced or heard can you talk about why the why behind it
In case some people may not be aware of what you’re doing in that space as well absolutely so what the reason why I created the conference to be geared towards the black male experience is because it’s not there I attend women conferences all the time I am
Speaking at them I’m there just as an attendee and they are always women dominated men are invited but they’re women dominated so it’s never a safe space for men to be vulnerable and no matter what even though I am a woman in the space of event planning as well there is nothing
Wrong with sister inspiring society which is the name of my business yeah bringing this awareness to the Forefront and shedding light and allowing that space to be available to them for them and allowing them to be treated like the king they are because yes we are going
To talk Tech we’re going to talk about all those things but they will be treated like a king while they are at that conference we got other things in store for them they don’t have to worry about food the entire weekend they don’t have to worry about um if you’re a part
Of our VIP experience we’re offering facials you get a facial you get a uh yes you get a facial compliments of rare skin care and Aesthetics you’re also going to get a personalized massage and so that is something that you know we’re offering to them you’re going to be
Treated like royalty we have selfie stations and um selfa information areas where you’re going to be able to get into the camera and talk to yourself and being able to provide you with that confidence um we are going to have video shoots going on professional head shot
For you to put on your resume and your profile for you to have that professional head shot taken at that time so it’s an elevation for you to prepare yourself for these interviews for these talks we’re going to talk critical thinking we’re going to talk and allow for you the opportunity to
Build your elevator speech so we’re preparing you to get into this space I see those eyes yes the black male ex conference it is for you and so that is what we are doing and it’s very important that all of these things are available women don’t have a problem
Stepping up and stepping out and I know men don’t either but they need to feel that there is a safe space for them to do so that’s not so women dominated now there will be women there but we are going to be serving the men hold on hold
On I gotta put I got to do this real quickly uh in the comment section Mitch is like that’s dope I had to put some clap emojis in there because I’m just like wow uh Tech coach R says Joseph started licking his lips when he heard the selfie station not even the
Selfie station I’m thinking about that I’m thinking about the massage I’m like yeah we got you we got you listen y’all seeing is believing I got to share this real quickly with y’all because we’re going to to dive into it June listen y’all this is very soon June right you
Want to look into now June 7 to the 9th and let’s go back let’s go one by one so June 7th to the 9th we have it here and as you could see this was founded by CIS events and services that the combination of everything CC combination of
Everything coming right now and yes I do give out a scholarship yes so I’ve I’ve been in business this would be my fifth year in August in business and I give out a scholarship every year and so I will be giving out a scholarship as well for 2024
So yes T say Smith said pull up y’all uh you could definitely have that you g definitely have that uh that pullup feature uh effect right now but let me ask you this I don’t I’m gonna ask you is it where is it gonna be hosted in
This year is it it is in temp Arizona oh nice and warm nice and warm nice and warm I won’t have you outside sweating I won’t have you outside sweating we GNA be inside it’s in a conf it’s at the conference center for the Double Tree
Hotel in Tempe Arizona um so yeah we inside get my cookies get my cookies that’s right yes getting those good old cookies we got those on Deck too oh man oh man y’all listen I’m gonna pause right now to say this if y’all have not shared this with a man one two three
Four five five at least share this with five men that need to see this right now because I think y I don’t know if this a part of the whole thing but we’re gonna probably need some counseling too we’re g probably need some mental health counseling up in there as well but this
But this is amazing so look at it look at that I’m just I’m just going through the information right now so the general public could see here but as I’m as I’m going through this feel free to talk about anything that you would love to absolutely yeah so I definitely want to
Hone in on the problem right so I actually went out in canvas surveys myself to black men and I did a survey talking about um their age range right I collected some demographic information right I’m a numbers person as well being in Tech in financial Tech I need my
Numbers so my demographic was um different age Grange but um a huge part of that was young under the age of 40 and the problem was is that they did not feel that there were enough resources for men so$ 59 % of those 100 um men that were surveyed 59% felt that
They did not have resources 73% said that they did not attend conferences because they were women dominated and again they did not feel it was a safe space for them to have like-minded individuals who look like them as far as not from being black but just look like
Them that were men that were able to freely talk without women being present and then 177% of that um group felt that well I’m just going to not do anything they lost interest they lost interest in their growth and development because the resources were not there and so again in
Order to have a conference for them to be able to get information they felt it was only available if they were in a fraternity or if they were a part of some type of membership there was nothing that was stand alone and that’s where my event plan kicked in and I’m
Like why not have a standalone conference you don’t have to join no membership to show up you don’t have to be in a fraternity and pledge to show up now I love my fraternity Brothers I am a member of Sigma gamma Ro sorority Incorporated and Iota F Lambda sorority
Incorporated and I’m a very proud member but that space does not mean that you have to be a part of that in order to have the information given to you so why not bring this table create the table and tell my people to pull up so that’s
Basically what I did wow wow and so you found a solution here 25% growth of Brotherhood 100% increase in mindset and motivation absolutely so these are my solution goals to the problem right I want to make sure there is that minimum it’s the first one right this is an
Inaugural event so everything is just based off of my entry level goals 25% of growth in Brotherhood and what that looks like is that at least 25% of the um participants they exchange information so when you get your badge there will be a QR code on the badge
That scans to the social to their social media I want you to connect scan each other’s badges while you’re there and connect so that’s where that growth and Brotherhood and hopefully they build in network relationships I want to grow the 15% minimum for increase in male business male black own male business
So patronizing at these different businesses I want a 15% increase in Topline Revenue right so that’s what I was look uh that is my goal for that and then 100% mindset I don’t care if one person shows up or 10,000 people show up I want everybody there to be able to take
Something away with mindset and motivation change so that’s that 100% wow wow wow that’s this is this is this is amazing and then you can see the research and prepare and experience and optimize and ele evaluate look at the smile look at the smile on that brother’s face okay okay
Last let me go back this guy L like he was like oh like this is so much he was like like it was overwhelming to him and this smil he looking shot right yeah man before and after of the effects of being there no this is going to be amazing
This highlights on the 7th is cigars and Cocktails meat and greet then on June 8th there’s the the conference at self then June 9th African royalty Galla and awards so we got to get out we got to get out the Shiki we gotta get we got
Get right you got to get right now I do want to mention the Gayla and awards women are invited to so yes the conference itself on June 8th that is just reserved for our men again women will be there but we will be there in service to our to our Kings and then
June 9th women are invited to come as guest if they would like to attend the Gayla and awards it is open for all royalty beautiful beautiful and then the single day cost as seen here which is not bad at all for all you mentioned you don’t have
To worry about food nothing that’s that this is this is beyond great yes so that’s just you know if someone just wants to come to the conference or they just want to come to the Gayla that’s our prices and then we have our full packages on that next screen yeah and
The gentlemen that is just if you want to come to all three days and experience you’ll still everybody gets a notebook a pen you get a lapel pen that says the blackmail X um it comes with all of your food and beverages included for the day
Now I ain’t ordering no um cocktails now you gotta pay for your own alcohol but um all of your non-alcoholic beverages are included now if you want to get the boss I only got 10 of those available so if you want the boss that’s where you
Get the choice of um you get the choice of a facial or a massage of at the event and then um it also includes drink tickets at the Gayla you get those two drink tickets the king you get both the massage and the facial and again I only
Have 10 of those available all and everything else is included plus you also get that professional head shot now the professional head shot are included in the king but if you want one you could still purchase one there separately as well the value is the
Value is you you price is very well the the value is like the value that you’re getting first of all is like beyond beyond like I’ve I’ve I’ve gone to events that were probably for the price of the king and you’re not getting nearly as many things as you’re getting
In this in this package listen it’s all about strategy right so as an event planner I have the skill of negotiation and strategy and that’s how I was able to get to the numbers that I was able to get to as well as portion of the proceeds being able to award in
Different areas and we can talk about the awards a little bit later that are going to be available where people can nominate other people for and then also to be able to ensure that you know you got the most bang for your buck for this conference and also we have discounted
Rooms as well I was able to get a room block so I do have a room block um at The Host Hotel that you could stay at and um not have to leave the whole weekend now you could go to the big popup uh oh wait a second the big papa the big
Papa so the big papa is our investor Circle so this is a minimum $1,000 investment it’s probably the cost of what you would spend for the king at a different conference but it’s a minimum 1,000 it comes with Elite everything you get a private room you get um full body
Massage and a full-fledged facial offsite it also comes with all the gifts but with this one you get to have a small intimate lunch with a celebrity guest so we have a celebrity guest coming I’m not telling who it is yet that’s a part of my little marketing
I’ll I’ll I’ll share who it is later but yeah there is a celebrity guest coming to have an intimate lunch and take pictures and and just be there you can ask questions it’s no holes bar conversation with that celebrity guest but it comes with that particular celebrity guest and but you also get
That you also get a bottle of champagne you get a waitress during the conference so you are literally in this conference hearing from our speakers from couches and a waitress and you get to sip on champagne during that time you get everything else that’s included in all
The other packages and also if you do a minimum 5,000 we giving you a limo ride to the event and um all your marketing as well so if you have a business we’re going to promote your bussiness on all of our banners and logos and things of that nature so that’s our investor
Circle or the big papa oh my God don’t it look good don’t it look good yeah Ty Ty said it right here he said this conference is truly about employment showout out to Sierra shout out to Sierra for making this happen wow absolutely thank you wow no
Absolutely like Ty is speaking on Tech sales at the conference so I’m super excited he’s doing techx so we have four pillars that we are focusing on that you’ll hear from speakers in their fields we have health and wellness X um that is going to talk about the health
And mental um health and wellness for black males in that space u we have empowerment X which is going to focus on just black male empowerment empowering you to get the confidence to be in these spaces um we have techx which is TI section he’s going to talk about tech
All things Tech how to enter into the space of tech how to get into Tech sales and how to grow your one if you want to have your own business if you want to um go with a company in Tech we’re going to focus on that space and then we also
Have wealth X where we are going to hear from um one of our real estate gurus he went from I call it his rags to riches story so or menace to millionaire is also what I call him because he was he was some back in the day but he is a
Millionaire now and he did that just through growth and development and continuing on in the real estate space and real estate investing so if you’re interested in real estate he is going to be your guy um to to help with that we’re also having um from BET’s Comic
View in Comedy Central big baby is going to be there doing our Barber Shop conversations that is our real yeah that is our real and raw conversation um so he’s going to be there as a special guest host and then we are also having King Kong who is our
Conference host and King Kong is the founder of poetic soul out here in Phoenix Arizona he is the host of that and it’s a very very popular thing that we have going on out here so um we have a full lineup of everything for those three days um so yeah it’s exciting you
Know I’m looking at the information you that just shared and the first thing it says you know are you ready and I’m like I wasn’t ready just now for all that I I feel I feel my acts of service heart being filled and I’m not even there yet uh we got aana in
The building she said love the empowerment Focus two hands in the air oh man so listen I’m gonna try something right now and I’m gonna put it out here and put it in the chat y’all who just just by off the information alone who’s saying that listen if I have nothing that’s holding
Me back I will be there put put put put a put a hand emoji in the chat right now if you’re like listen I’m I’m going to be there oh te says when event planning meets technology that’s period that’s that’s it that’s it oh man I forgot
About the Q&A part that’s how that’s how engross I was in this I was like listen y’all have any questions go ahead and put it below Ayana says I’ll be there she’s like I’m going to be serving my men come on look we need some women
Volunteers to come and serve that day so come on and then you get invited as a guest to the Gayla in your royalty uh Queen outfit so come on out yeah I’m joining I have my hands raised as well you know yes yes I have my hands raised as well uh we we
Actually are expecting a little one around that time but we’ll see it oh congratulations yeah literally I’m like that’s so close I think I think I think my head like oh that’s so close um but yeah she y says happy to volunteer awesome thank you thank you connect with
Me connect with me yes absolutely and just so if you missed it before I’ll put it here again go ahead and connect with Sierra it’s in the chat as well and then he said number 10 uh I believe that is a yes uh as well as a hands raised uh
Mitch has a clapping Emoji uh there are so many men in general I just feel like this was something that they would do like in a heartbeat um you may need to open it up for the king section for big papa section because you mean more give
Them more than 10 know yeah you might mean like 10 slots times times times 30 times three so might maybe 30 we’ll see Demand right supply and demand um absolutely there’s so much here um and he and oh thank you so much Mitch appreciate that man thank you for for for that
Congratulations so there’s a lot going on in my life uh but yeah so let me ask you this listen y’all Q&A time is on us again I didn’t really announce it we just kind of got I was so fixated on what was happening but Q&A time is upon
Us if you have any questions for cc go ahead and drop it in the chat below uh we will definitely address them but I definitely want to ask you a question as well in regards to in regards to and this is I guess a more of a personal
Question so like people might say that sounds great creating event sounds great but it sounds scary like how do I even go about getting funding doing like hotels and stuff like that like how did you of course you had experiences leveraging that while you were doing
Stuff in the tech industry but how does somebody go and create an event you know that’s feasible for them to do well it takes a lot of strategy and pre-planning you have to be very clear about the message that you want to send first what are your goals for your
Conference or your event it doesn’t have to be a full conference it could just be a day but what are the goals that you want to achieve and then you start writing down what are the top three things that must happen like what are the non-n Ables that are going to happen
And then what are the three things that you’re like it’s cool if this happens but it doesn’t have to and then what are the three things that you’re like I absolutely don’t want this experience because that will help you to organize what you need to focus on and then this
Is an a pro tip from an event planner come on now always start booking the things first that you need all day so hm I need the venue all day so my venue is going to be my main focus along with photography that’s something I need all
Day so that was a main focus um videography is something that I need all day so that is a main focus so you’re going to focus first on booking vendors that you know you’re going to need all day once you focus on that then everything else will fall in line if
You’re doing doing it at a hotel most of them include the food and beverage because you can’t bring outside food to those types things so we’re doing doing it at a hotel so the food and beverage is included that’s actually the cost of the room so there is no room room rental
It’s just food and beverage so those are the things to think about um do you want that a food and beverage minimum or do you want a space that you pay for the venue and you can bring outside food in beverage so if you do you need to make
Sure that you have food on your list always go with a caterer that allows you to do a taste testing this is just something that um again another Pro tip if they offer a taste testing yeah I need to taste it because food is very important to me
And I need my guest to be happy with the food selection food is huge right I don’t want nobody coming to saying no that food was not good no we need the food to be good not for the men so yeah it’s very scary but if you have
Strategic planning in place um that is something that’s going to help make it a lot easier of a process for you and and if you need help with it reach out to me that is something I do talk to my um clients about I do independent
Consulting for this as well so I have other event planners um if you’re interested in it on April 11th I am doing an industry night talk where I am talking about um the contract to sign now what and so it’s what do you do in between the event planning from
Conception through the fact that it’s there so if you’re interested in that that is coming up too so good so so good listen y’all if y’all appreciate the Nuggets that she’s dropping go ahead and like comment and if you have not shared this you got to
Share this with at least five five men that you know will benefit it it’s a pre- right this point after I’m done with this show I’m gonna go and share with five brothers as well listen y’all need to check this out get your money together yeah gas trip whatever we in
There right we got to do that we got to do that and then he put your LinkedIn as well connect with Sierra on LinkedIn absolutely dark says dropping gems dropping Mega gems for sure listen I’m not gonna hold you all day CeCe you got stuff to do as well you’re in your the
Beautiful hotel there and I know you have plans I’m gonna ask one more question audience this is your opportunity after this question if I don’t see any questions in the comments I’m giving CCE the rest of her day back I’m not holding her hostage right so the
Question is this you are in trenching ftech you are entrenched in event planning which connects you to so many other Industries as well in regards to careers of the future where do what industry do you say hey like y’all need to get up in this and what position
Within the industry would you say is a good place for somebody who’s looking to have a very fruitful career moving forward so definitely Consulting is through the future like like Consulting and is going to Skyrocket um in the tech space I’m very biased to financial technology because of the advancements
That are happening that I know are happening and that are up and coming um there there are some really great things coming up and I think that it’s going to solidify the future in the space however a lot of AI is also taking over AI is everywhere we’re even integrating AI
Into Financial technology a lot um we already have seen some of it but it’s going to continue to progress just from the clients that I’m working with a lot of them um you’re also going to see a lot of if you’re good with mobile app development mobile app development is
Really going to be a wave of the future uh one thing that I see a lot at institutions they’re moving away you know when tellers have the computers you walk up to the computer and then stand up yeah we’re moving away from that and again this is just droing gy so if
You’re good with tablet work if you’re good with building um systems in tablets they’re moving to where they actually come to you yeah they’re no longer let’s walk up to the counter at a standup computer they got a tablet in their hand and it’s a you a users’s experience type
That they are doing it just to incorporate and improve that and they’re walking up to you with the tablet and they’re going to take your information and handle all of your banking right there from that tablet wow so that is where the industry is going and it’s
Going to continue to progress from that perspective um also with jobs I would say if you are very much into the engineering or programming if you’re really good with SQL SQL is a Never Dying area because that’s where we see our data so um I would say learn some
SQL experience even if you don’t know all of it but know how to read it and understand it like SQL is probably on my top 10 list of things I know in Tech is probably number seven it’s not very high up there but I can understand SQL and I
Can read it and I know what it means and that’s enough for me to be dangerous in the field so love it um at least know some some form of SQL language um and how that works and how to read that data so I would say that in the industry
And also the everybody wants to learn and grow so outside of Consulting conferences are going to take over by storm because everybody’s having a conference to Showcase new products and services and networking is bringing everyone together and how to network with multiple people in one space is
Through a conference so that are those are some big areas so if you want to be a vendor or something be vendors at conferences to Showcase whatever your brand is in that one space so so good y’all go back and listen to that again gems were dropped
Trevor tro Tre Treasure Trove as I like to say was Dr there uh actually Tech coach Ralph said yep being able to query data is so important so important yeah Mitch says true Ralph they they totally agree with you uh he actually has a project management question for you as
Well he says back to project management is the PMP C necessary for future goals it depends on what you want to do so I paid for my PMP certification um I have not scheduled my test yet um the I don’t know I’ve just
Be so busy I have a year to do it but I’m just so busy to take it but that is something that’s on my personal radar it’s a personal um thing for me some organizations do require you to have a PMP however if you have agile on your
Certification list um that is something that sometimes they will take instead of the PMP so it’s not necessarily necessary because there are other things that you can do like if you are more interested in lean Six Sigma and agile I would recommend doing both of those things versus the PMP and so
You can show because they’re honestly a lot of them are the same things that get talked about um as I’m studying for my PMP I see it I see the same type of uh options and terminology the difference is with the um lean Six Sigma if that is
Something of interest that is where you’re going to get your element of Statistics so you actually have um a higher a higher I guess probility of getting in or they look at you in a different way because you also know statistics and what that looks like with standard deviations and things of that
Nature so that really does put you ahead of the game but that certification is important just depending on if you’re trying to go into a pmo then a pmo is a project management office so if that’s something that you’re interested in being a part of typically the PMP is
Required for a pmo so it depends on that if you’re interested into uh entering into those spaces or if you want to be lead on projects in certain areas then you know if you’re an independent consultant and you’re going up for a bid um when you when I say you’re going up
For a bid that means you were putting in a proposal for yourself to basically sell yourself to that company so if you are putting in a bid for that and someone is requesting that you know the client says one of the things they want
Is for you to have a PM P then it would become important for you to have that so it just depends on the space um so that you want to be in no that’s really good that’s really good actually Tech coach Ralph while you were talking he said you
Know I heard it’s really tough one the PMP and uh Mitch also mentioned that there are some companies that will actually pay for you to take the test as well so there are there are some companies that will help um that will have you uh pay for it they’ll pay for
It for you they’ll either pay for your training for because even the the pre- testing the training is not free um so uh join the so I’m a part of the project management Institute um so PMI is the one who actually gives the test and
Being a member of the PMI and also I’m also a part of the Phoenix chapter for it you get a mentor as part of that um the membership is only like $40 for me to be on the local level and then I believe it’s like uh hundred and something dollars
For me to be National um so with that you get mentorship so I have a mentor who is helping me navigate through the PMP process and I will share I did take the PMP once and I did not pass okay I passed two sections and I failed one
Section so um in order to pass you have to pass all three sections so even though I did well I didn’t do well enough in one of the sections to pass it so I’m Tak I’m so busy to take it again but I am going to be taking it again um
And you have a year to do it so it is it’s a tough test that was a tough four hours it’s brutal it’s brutal yeah and I got actually got a comment a question here from uh former manager of mine Demitri shout out to you uh he actually
Came through and he actually has a question because he wants to know where did you get your PMP from classes and and certification as well and he also you know cuz uh it’s what you mentioned was in Arizona is that a nationwide opportunity there as well mentorship and
All that could you could you dive into that a little bit yes so the project management Institute um they are the ones who actually created the PMP test so when you join the PMI um you were getting it from The Originators and the creators of that test and it is
Nationwide um there is a Phoenix chapter and there is a Tucson chapter here in Arizona but there’s chapters all over the place um it is Nationwide um so you can check and see if there is a local chapter in your area and that is you know if they have cohorts for
Mentorship yes that is the PMI website right here they have yep that’s the PMI website there’s different chapters that you can look at and Source um again it just depends on your area but it’s Nationwide and you can look that all over so that is where um I’m registered at
I believe Demitri and now my Six Sigma Black Belt I got that from the Six Sigma Global Institute and so I had I took all the classes so I started with yellow belt and then I went to Green Belt and then I got my black belt um so all from Six
Sigma Global Institute and the company I was working for at the time they paid for that certification um I also have a certification in instructional design which was also paid for by the organization that I worked with at the time nice yeah so that’s the play right
There the play is to basically the strategy is to basically get into this while working at a company see how much they can cover and go to well P it’s pmi.org right and listen y’all if you’re interested go to pmi.org and you’ll be able to get this information uh and
Hopefully that answers your question Demitri hope let me know in the chat if that answers your question but uh definitely I wanted to make sure that she answered that because this is really good info right here for sure uh I have a couple another another Mitch saying CeCe talking that talk
Period and then uh he said thank thank you for the insight and transparency CC like they’re got to connect with you my pleasure my pleasure I know I saw some connections coming through already I thank y’all so much I look forward to talking to you all more yeah man he said
Did you have the white belt as well no I started with yellow oh gota love it love it so listen y’all like I promised I won’t uh thank you she’s incredible she is y’all should connect yeah connect with her on LinkedIn I’m G to drop it one more time
Here um actually I think I have to drop it on LinkedIn itself let me see if I can do it for yeah I did get some so I’ve been seeing people um wanting to connect I’m going to accept those as soon as we get off this call I will be
Accepting all of your invitations and yes um those who want to come to the conference connect with me let’s get together let’s get it done come out and be a part of that experience it is the first one and you can say that you are a
Part of the very first black male X conference yeah if yall didn’t real quickly y’all because if you weren’t here for this part of the conversation this is something that you definitely want to check out it’s happening in June what let’s see if I could get this
Working again June 7th through 9th yeah uh oh technical difficulties there we go oh because it’s at the end I like why is it not going forward yeah June 7th to 9th look look here there’s so much to that they’re offering and really quickly y’all just lean at the look at these the
First of all these are the days for the conference look at what you’re getting just for conference days but also look at the packages man there’s massages involved for the king price right here the king one 450 all that you getting listen and if you really want to take a
Another notch get the big papa all that’s going on in there as well go ahead and go back to this video so you can see all that is being offered for there really good stuff here and uh Sierra amazing uh sh and Demetrius again said you know thank you so much he
Actually is at a catering company as well so uh I don’t know if you need food on the East Coast but he can probably help out that as well so y’all can connect and talk about that but yeah man that is it for us today at techniche
Tips thank you so much CC for stopping by course so good um I don’t even know what to say we we could talk offline though but everybody else y’all have a great one and until next time like I always say I hope to see you on the other side Take Care Family
source
