I would hope that more women would tap into their femininity because it’s their superpower I don’t walk into a board meeting and present myself masculine so when I come in the room I want to be able to show up as my feminine self so when I see your masculine self we’re
Able to reproduce I’m an African queen you are literally I’m a queen and Cote d’Ivoire what no seriously but zoom in I want you to see my skin I’m at a hotel and I’m like what are y’all doing here they said we need to prepare your body
For the ceremony I said prepare my body I’m in the land of the living we got a sound alarm because this thing is that serious it’s a state of emergency it was like wait affirmative action is gone what just happened and I said oh shoot I
Said this was put in place right after sleepy was abolished in 1865 stating that basically blacks could enter contracts and not be prohibited because of race yo yo yo what are you doing I’m giving you unbelievable content for the masses hey you just gonna keep it to yourself
Do me a favor tap that red button right there subscribe and it literally takes no time try to see what happens yo what’s good what’s popping What It Is What It ain’t what it could be what it should be what it would be Cam Newton his son Mr Boogie they’re all
Here with another episode of funky Friday and I promise to give good content for the masses but most of all I promise to Keep It Funky for your asses today this guest is a renowned author a entrepreneur a investor a Empire to say the least a FAMU graduate I present to some and
Introduce to others the founder and CEO of The Fearless fun miss Aryan Simone yes thank you thank you for having me how are you I’m wonderful how are you I am impeccable I know that’s right you know it ain’t wrong now as we get into this
Slate of questions I said to you off camera I don’t even want to use these I have to use these sparingly to get the party started my first question to you is how did you come about the Fearless fun and to the viewer what is the famous
Phone The Fearless fun is is the world’s first Venture Capital fund that’s built by women of color for women of color so if you’ve seen Shark Tank we exchange cash for ownership people come to us and they say hey I got a business can you invest five hundred
Thousand dollars in exchange we’ll give you ten percent ownership of the business so this is you’re a venture capitalist that is correct so you being Who You Are when did it click or when did you started having the idea to to bring this to life I was a college student at FAMU
It was when I was in school and I had a mall-based retail store and I had to go raise Capital I’ve been selling stuff since I was a kid I was selling Mary Kay in high school poinsettias in middle school and Lemonade by the time I was in
Elementary school like I’ve always sold stuff okay um but when I got to college I wanted to store in the mall and I had to go raise capital and that’s when I saw that at very few of the business investors looked like me okay and I made a promise
To myself that one day I was going to be the business investor I had been looking for and that promise looks like the Fearless fun today listen I had the opportunity to be a part of it uh thank you for acknowledging a lot of people and giving us the opportunity and the
Platform to speak Our Truth um but that Summit I know from from being a part of it what it is but what was the vision behind it and what is the vision for it ah the vision behind our fearless fund Venture Capital Summit is because a lot of our
Community they’re not educated on Venture education and we want to make sure that people understand what growing and scaling your business looks like we want them to know what it looks like to raise Capital do you even take Venture money yes or no you know every business doesn’t need it what it also
Basically looks like to do what I do right we want more black and brown women becoming investors because we’ll get more black and brown Investments if we have more people doing it um and even people learning about how to acquire businesses right such as yourself so yeah so the common question that
I would say um that’s asked and curious to hear your thoughts about what is the aha or what’s the the moment when you realize this is a good deal this is a good investment versus this is not a so good investment ah some of it is intuition
Some people do look good on paper excuse me but they ain’t got the grit they ain’t got the hustle and then there’s some people got the hustle but they may not look as good on paper um so I’ll say this we look at four things to get past the smell test brand
Traction how strong the team is um and product how good the product is we invest in product businesses we invest in tax so cpg and Tech are our main areas now there are people who are not as polished but I’m like I can’t duplicate this hustle right like that we can put
Some corporate people around that person correct but I can’t duplicate this house so that’s how so is is who they are and that’s when those types of decisions are made you know you’re gonna have to lean someone into your intuition you gotta have some resilience to do this so the
One thing that I respect about this is number one being a woman of color there’s not a lot of women that have not only the the drive the ambition the know-how right in a shark infested Market of males Caucasian African-American or any type of other
Descent right I I tip my hat off to you know women like you because you’re a double minority you’re a woman and you’re a woman of color to that what are some of the flags or the issues that you have you know in regards to whether it’s presentation not
Only from the investment standpoint where you like yo this is a good a bad investment we talked about that but what do you say as a presenter to try to raise Capital you were correct I work in an industry that’s 92 white man um just flat out
Um so a lot of women like you said an entrepreneur side they do have the ambition and the drive and all that but on the investor side there’s very few of us very very few of us um we go up a lot of I guess we’ll say
Red flags I would say when we first started the business we probably had 300 meetings before we got to maybe 5 million raised like it’s it’s no joke it is definitely a lot of sexism there’s definitely a lot of racism people were also mad that we
Were on the scene we were not we didn’t come from Investment Banking we didn’t come from um Venture we didn’t come from your typical Finance route right I’m an entrepreneur I’ve only worked probably 30 days for somebody always been an entrepreneur everybody was like who the
New people on the scene I’m like it’s us and we’re here to stay so get used to it but yeah there was a lot of resistance I would say um we thought we were building a five million dollar concept fund into building a 25.8 million dollar concept
Fund not the point a yes yeah um but back by like Bank of America JPMorgan Chase Mastercard PayPal Costco Ally Bank a host of corporations that we got alongside of us to go on this journey but was it tough at first yeah I mean it still is it’s levels to it now that
We’re raising even more it’s just like are y’all y’all ain’t gonna stop us what is this right so so to that I’m hearing a lot of dough coming through the Joe you dig what I’m saying I my issue not necessarily the issue I would say wrong word my concern is
It’s not being a bad person with money it’s the mismanagement of money and that creates the issue meaning okay a person comes into a large sum of money the person who is responsible for that may not be a bad person but over time it’s becoming bad what is being done with the money
Loans hey we gonna put money here we’re gonna put money there you’re talking like people we invest in just in general I’m talking about it could be personal Investments it could be business Investments you see either way it’s still the mismanagement of money is the biggest issue rather
Than just I mean those people do exist as far as okay I got an ulterior motive you give me your money I’m gonna do this then the third but more times than I from my experience I would say the mismanagement of money you having 25.8 million dollars at your disposal how do
You and you know you and your team do a great job of managing the assets to do what it’s supposed to do gotcha well we have a lot of security measures in place I run an SEC regulated business so we have Auditors in place they have to audit our financials every quarter we
Have accountants in place we have fund administrators in place we have Associates in place so there is a team that actually manages the fund right so it’s not like we have final says the GPS or general partners of making where the Investments go but as far as the
Day-to-day management there are a lot of checks and balances correct and unfortunately in Venture 25.8 and that’s our fun one we’re on fun two now that is anything under 150 million in Venture is called micro I work in a 62 trillion dollar industry they consider that micro that is just like
Very small in there dare I say peanuts but looking at the bigger picture that’s something where you got to start somewhere the fact that you was able to you know had that is a blessing in itself now um in regards to the the management of or mismanagement I would say we all see
Horror stories or or stories about foundations Ventures um that take the wrong turn in current news you know obviously the uh black lives matter situation that’s the first one that comes to the top of my head when it was public knowledge that what people’s uh donations were actually going towards is something that
It wasn’t intended for it to go towards so how do you Shield yourself from that situation like that happening I said we have measures in place we have audit companies on board we have audited financials we’re not allowed to just run loose like that they people watch us so
That’s pretty much how ours is shielded I would advise probably anybody that’s running anything of millions to make sure they have audited financials they have Auditors in place they have good accountants in place you have to have those measures but for us like I said we run an SEC regulated business we don’t
Have a choice but even if we had a choice I would tell people they should they should definitely look so this person who you are today how did you come about you know was this I mean obviously being a hustler at a young age selling things but what was
There who was the person what did you see you know that motivated you to say okay cool I wanted to I want to do this oh my gosh I grew up in Detroit Michigan the D yes the D what your buff said you ain’t got the bus huh we were about 88
Black okay growing up in the 80s and 90s in Detroit and it was probably the most empowering thing ever we paid the cable bill to a black man net worth nine figures back in like the 80s 90s Don Barton Barton Cablevision and we didn’t pay it to a t or Xfinity
Or comcast so I got to see black wealth at a very young age I got to see black Excellence so I would definitely say my environment played a role in knowing what I could be right so even like who I am along that that that Journey
I would say there’s not a lot of people that was like me that I was inspired by you could say the same being a woman representing and holding your own in these in these different meetings being very intentional very strategic in how you attack certain things was there a woman
Um who kind of showed you the ropes or was it a man who showed you the ropes to to say all right this is how you do it and you know giving you the law of the land oh yes when I started wanting to get into this space I knew I wanted to
Be the business investor that I had been looking for I did not know what’s going to look like venture capital okay I started meeting people at venture capital and the light bulb went off I was like wait that’s how I could do this and there were people Tracy gray she
Sits on our Advisory Board she was like this girl sounds nuts is it me yeah she’s like you want to go do what I was like yeah I’m gonna do that she was like well you can take my number and I’ll teach you she was like I’ve worked for
White boys all my life doing this and I now have a hundred million dollar fund I can show you she’s telling me where the Securities attorneys were she taught me how to set to fund everything so she took me under her Wing Rodney Sampson he’s here in Atlanta he’s a tech guy he
Took me under his wing um Jeff Jordan he is a managing partner over at Andresen Horowitz one of the largest Venture Capital funds he’s like I will Mentor her so people definitely put their counsel all around so great in that how do you pay it back you
Know what I’m saying like in a way where it may be a person that’s in high school it may be a girl who does your nails or or whatever it’s like I see it so often in our culture and in our community it’s like my mind is crazy but
I think of adult dealers the most risky business person because instead of fighting for Capital you fight for your life for the female standpoint I would say an adult Entertainer mm-hmm is a person from the a a a a male’s drug dealer is a female’s stripper you come into a large surplus
Of money okay the professional way of that in our culture I would say is an athlete you come into a large surplus of money such an early age and going back to the intentions are never what it is or the intentions aren’t to do harm the
Harm is done because not that you don’t educate yourself to managing what you’re about to come in up against how have you been able to pay it back to somebody in a way where it’s like nah baby like we’re gonna do it this way on many different levels but I even take
One with my assistant Lauren she is a huge blessing to me but I probably got her I think she was College age she interned for us first but she’s been with the company now since it’s been in existing and I pulled her aside I said I want you to learn
From every mistake that I made at your age and I said we’re going to sit down we’re gonna go through your money I said we’re gonna set you up you know your budget we’re going to show you how to invest and just making sure that you can
Have a good start off at 20 that I definitely didn’t have while I was out you know building businesses but it was still like ups and downs right I’m like no we’re going to start you off on the right track and get you everything together so that’s just like on a personal note
Um broadly when people come up to me I always teach them like how to start up a fun or how to do this or how to do that I believe that we are to give back all the time I believe that I don’t have this knowledge for me I have it to give
To whoever needs it yeah to to that I’m reading a book um Rich Dad Poor Dad and it’s so wowing to hear the simplistics of acknowledging the difference between an asset and a liability um and just because your name is on the LLC right that doesn’t mean that’s an asset
Just because you may own the house that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s an asset as the book kind of states and he makes a very valuable point I think a lot of people in money doesn’t necessarily understand that simple question and answering it to its hope and when you really put a
Microscope to that question it could be in relationships it’s like yo people are asking assets so you know what I’m saying like respectfully it’s like yo this person that I have in my life friend homeboy partner Confidant girlfriend wife side chick side dude whatever whatever the relationship may
Be you could either be an asset or liability and an asset is simple does it bring you value a liability is does it it takes away from you see what I’m saying it’s simple so when you go and answer that or ask yourself that question most businesses may be
Liabilities that people are rewarding it to be an asset that is very true yeah so for you how have you been able to fill your way to success oh my gosh um so I’ll go back to the store okay you’d have 50 000 one day you’d be broke
The next I was like am I doing well with this and I closed it and I actually was doing well I keep the financials on my computer as a reminder I just wasn’t patient and in that being 2021 building a business I just wasn’t patient I was like okay
Um am I doing well doing that and that’s just close the business and I went on to get the one job I had I had to remember Nellie’s apple bottoms them apples apples bottom jeans boots the whole club looking at her and I thought I was her and I went and worked
At this company days doing product placement placing products on Oprah Winfrey Jessica Simpson Tyra Banks only job I’ve ever had in my adult life 30 days President says I want to meet with you I said okay cool I’m thinking I’m getting a raise they said Aaron we have to let
You go I’m like no way let me go I’ve turned this company around and she said well it was based on performance you’d be the first to stay I said what is it based upon she said the company is being sold and everybody has to go you were just
The last hired first fired I said oh okay wow ran out of cash parents was in a divorce case at the time I told my parents I said I’ll just figure out life I moved from my apartment to my car I was without a place to stay for about
Seven months just but I was still in good spirits for the most part yeah I was sneaking into the BET Awards just because cutting up yeah and what I could say from that is I’ve learned in that experience to really stick with what I was designed to do and
That was to work in business after all of that somebody sought me out to do some PR marketing work I built a company from the ground up and I said Aaron you cause yourself more hell when you went to go get a job than when you were just
In your natural state of Who You Are and that’s one thing I can say of just from the failures of business and the failures of life is when I have stepped outside of who I was created to be right I caused myself a lot of chaos okay but
When I stay in who I was designed to be things run pretty smooth man listen I know we got to get to the game real quick it’s something that came about why he was talking give me a nugget right to what’s the most important attribute you have to have in presenting yourself
As far as whether you need funding or as being a boss right I’m not talking take away money right take away all the the things that may be superficial if everything’s equal if everybody wore a white shirt black pants and boom boom boom what is what will separate the good
From the not so good in your opinion the gift and then that’s okay just character um character explain it’s vague it’s broad you know how even we were talking about money earlier people will say well all money is not good money that is not true all money is good it’s whose hands it’s
In it’s the deal that may not be good it’s the person that may not be good but it’s not the cash so that’s why I said character I could dig that I love to ask this question especially to entrepreneurs curious to get your Insight and you have to choose one
What’s more important the product or the presentation but that’s a good oh the product meaning you have something that is I get what you’re saying okay cool but it’s it’s oh the reason okay as an investor it’s going to be the product but if you’re trying to sell something
To a consumer it’s going to be the presentation but you could say that you can flip it and say the same thing because as an investor he wants to be sold on something product can be so good that we can still surround you with the right people moving forward
That’s why I said as an investor is a little bit different for me but presentation is key if you’re trying to sell to the consumer but if you have a presentation that’s well thought out and you have a plan that’s well planned out to be executed you can have the same product
Well no no I’ll tell you where we’re going to have a road map or impasse okay that good presentation is going to get you in the door I just can’t keep you in the door it’s a product but anything and I’m just playing Devil’s Advocate I’m not agreeing or disagreeing got you
A disagreeing I’m just giving you perspective anything has to have a plan what Denzel say Denzel said versus a presentation is different no no no no no no no but a presentation is the plan okay in essence it’s a synonym going off what we a dream is just a thought without execution from
The from the great Denzel Washington right so we can have the dream or in this case the product got you without a thought out plan they say okay cool boom I got a red suit now listen this red suit right here or let’s just take apple bottom jeans I feel like
They are a couple years premature when they were supposed to hit the right way because if Apple Bottom Jeans was was was popping right now in the in the land of bbls you know how many Apple Bottom Jeans well listen bbls Apple Bottom Jeans but they are just um right there but
Kylie that’s a match made in heaven right there you know it’d be a good view um I’m saying all that to say if you don’t have a plan of action to execute it it’s dead no matter how great that product is that is true and that’s my when I when you said
Presentation I didn’t think that you were meaning playing okay because I think somebody can get a give a good presentation about dirt you know what I mean like they can give just a great presentation but you’re talking about a plan the plan is going to be essential
Because you’re true you’re right we can adjust the product if that’s the case so if it’s plan versus product we need a good plan um say less thank you so much all right boom Diggity boomed up come here this whole setup is everything huh that’s how set up is everyone I appreciate you
That’s how you feel when you’re going to Fellowship come on now you already know what it is you know and they’ve been the fellowship bring your ass on down to the fellowship minority owned you know what I’m saying but we don’t keep out nobody Dress code so here we go Aaron you are fearless not just in the work you do but in the fashion so let’s play funky things we could I took a deep dive or we took a deep dive here and uh we scrolled the rabbit hole of your Instagram and uh
We found a few Fearless outfits explaining the inspo and what the function is for it so you’re going to tell me what you thought about it and me being a fashion Chris uh fashion critic I will give you my two cents okay hopefully it’ll add up to a dollar
All right you ready I’m ready here we go okie dokie that is my godson’s 90s inspired though he’s born in the 2000s birthday party I grew up in Detroit as I stated before and in the 90s we were like in the biggie area we were Versace down mosquito down Iceberg down kuji
Down yeah pink Gator down like that was us so that is the inspiration behind it I got my Moschino from head to toe I I like this I like this because I I see what you did with the incorporation of is that considered a Babushka or a scarf you
Know what I’m saying uh just a product placement with the glasses the details is everything the devil is in the details but we Christians over here it’s given unbothered it’s given uh exotic you know it may be in Atlanta but it’s giving Jamaica in the background you know what I’m saying Tropical Smoothie
Cafe Florida yeah okay oh excuse me sodoflex sir all right boom Oh yes yes come through almost skin I was winning in this that’s my skin on too actually I’m an African queen you are literally I’m a queen and cultivoire and that’s my security detail they’re walking me into
Mary I think it was yeah yasin’s office um yeah Saints office yep but this is all I want to know were they a part of this or was this like an imprompt oh no those are all candy photos candy oh yeah like literally I usually tell my security
Detail to step out of my photos when I’m in cultivar but I was like you know what forget it I was like if they catch it they just catch it it’s given but the chin is at the right length like he was expecting them like that was candid
It was all the way candy it’s like oh oh it’s giving Elegance thank you when I go meet with politicians and I’m in my Royal duties I I definitely try to make sure that I look the prior Royal duties yes boom African queen now that of course I did not
So tradition in African Heritage is when you go into the villages for the village ceremony okay they take your clothes off you and they dress you yes respectfully though yes respectfully um and you got to come one day I even have a school I built out there you got
To come one day you just you just hitting these looks like I’m just not your average little chick you know we just you know zoom in I want you to see my skin so the night before what no seriously the night before I didn’t know
This was gonna happen I’m at a hotel and the Village People are there the chief is there and I’m like what are y’all doing here they said we need to prepare your body for the ceremony I said prepare my body I’m in the land of the
Living if they were like no well you’re you’re the queen you have to get painted before you can enter into the village tomorrow so I just said okay so I’m learning a lot on the job as far as all of this the culture yes it does
So we are aware this is in Africa yes it’s definitely an African what part that is in the Kingdom of dawa where I Reigns yes no no no no no no no no no no no no um what that mean people of dawah okay her name is Loza who designed that
She also does a lot of pieces for Beyonce um so okay keep going that’s that’s in cultivar too that is definitely that was at a pitch competition I helped my very first Fearless pitch competition in Africa see what you’re not about to do is make me believe that this is a candid photo
When I sat there oh and Camera chin mouth slightly open just oh I’m gonna give it to the camera you got to give it it’s given what it’s supposed to give it there we go okay that was the other day we have a podcast that we have coming
Out but I’m not the host they were just interviewing me it’s called The Fearless Founders podcast okay so featuring the women that we’ve invested in wanting to tell their stories of how they started their businesses they’re of course their tribulations and their triumphs so people can get a good sense of feel for
What it is that we do and on the first episode they interviewed me and my partner Ayanna and that’s what I had on I like the the the uh the stiff shoulder similar to what you have now it’s given like Cruella not no not koala it’s Crow Wella I love a mean
Women’s suit like it’s giving P P stands for pink ah they said ah yeah you want to take me through that I used to take you through that yeah that’s a piece actually from The Ivy showroom and I was doing a photo shoot so this is not a candid no that is
Definitely a photo okay thank you thank you that is definitely just where we are right now and I don’t know what the hell you was looking at you may have been looking at him hope he was looking at him because it’s giving like Baby if you thought I came to play you were highly mistakened it’s giving a cherry red um dress with the layered ends might I add and uh even though you walked in on your own darling I needed assistance I had somebody help me uh pick up as they
Would say the slack of my dress um all right so founders day did you pledge I most definitely did well she was AKA I’m just messing with you by the colors exactly I’m a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority Incorporated um you step did you step with the big dog of course
Um and the Brain I didn’t pledge you know I felt like I pledged I did a pledge to myself uh told myself I never let myself down me find me Delta baba um and I ain’t let myself down yet but I know that’s right now my question to that is do you think
Somebody could create something this impactful today yes but it just wouldn’t look like that I do I believe that we are all created you know to be fruitful and multiply so whatever that looks like for you just may look different but do I believe that things are being created today in this moment
That will have long lasting generational impact just like these sororities and just like these fraternities most definitely was given what it was supposed to give this is it I mean we did mine too but I ain’t want to put too much pain on them I ain’t want to shine on your
Parade you know what I’m saying that not rain I ain’t want to shine on it you feel better because it would have been like oh with that Banger after Banger after banger you know but to keep everything right where we at my question has to be
In a world of masculinity how are you able to find the partner for you in a world of mass like you know you have to present yourself in a way that’s Um professional you have to be Stern going back to the word intentional right how do you separate or how was you able to find your partner right can I get what you mean in this type of Realm and yeah I would hope that more women would tap into their femininity because
It’s their superpower it is my superpower so I I don’t I don’t walk into a board meeting and present myself masculine that’s not why I’m there I just don’t I’m not walking into a meeting to be that but don’t get me wrong there are times like you said of
Aggression of handling business yeah but I think that’s what we as women have that is our superpower when you have masculine and feminine together that’s the only combination that can make a baby um so when I come in the room and if it’s men in the room I want to be able
To show up as my feminine self so when I see your masculine self we’re able to reproduce well I’m preaching but I’m being serious because I’m like all the way up because that is what makes something bigger the masculine energy with the masculine energy we still ain’t made no baby yet
The feminine energy we still ain’t we haven’t produced nothing so I make sure I show up as the feminine me if I’m meeting someone masculine in the room so therefore we can reproduce um I love that so basically what she’s telling me is a masculine energy and effeminate energy can produce more
Yes uh oh so that’s why I say women don’t need to step into that that’s not who you are and it’s not who you were created to be um but I would say this and I always get on my little rants about this topic I love
Women I mean it’s anybody love them it’s me you know right I would say submission being submissive being feminine to the proper calls that’s earned right how I would raise how I am raising my daughters it’s respect is is is a non-negotiable right but who you submit to
That’s also earned as a father there’s not something that you just sit up here and say Cuda Carrie do as I say they have to respect me to in essence allow them to follow my lead you see I’m saying no different than my friends no different than my
Partner no difference than you know business uh constituents I think there’s a scarcity in in real men uh I challenge men to be men and at the end of the day I’m not sitting up here telling no female to challenge a man’s masculinity however I am saying everything should be
Earned in that way if that makes sense mm-hmm you’re making sense right so keeping everything rocking and rolling we also know one thing about business that conflict will come right you’re in the process of facing that conflict and tell us about it to like like where are
We with it for what you can share respectfully um like how is how is that altered the the plan if it has at all and you know how do we move forward from it I know that’s right on August 2nd of 2023 I was sitting at my desk and I started getting
Calls from our staff saying the Press was contacting them to speak on a lawsuit that we had I said we ain’t got no lawsuit that must be check GPT I thought it was like artificial intelligence we were being pumped on like emails right and I said well find
Me the filing found out that the filing took place the same day that everything hit the press and that it was done by a man by the name of Edward Bloom who was basically the champion of getting affirmative action removed at the Collegiate level in June of 2023
Everybody heard about it after the fact it was like wait affirmative action is gone what just happened uh yeah so he is suing us for discrimination whenever this comes out y’all this case may be over and we may have won already but we’re gonna speak that yes suing us
For discrimination at the time stating that we are not allowing of course everybody in now imagine we’ve run a public company I mean a private company not a public company we were a private company right people can choose spending money wherever they choose to absolutely
It just is what it is but um before you even it is what it is and go on somewhere else but I want to explain it’s not about us they do it oh yeah other people do it all the time all the time so go ahead the lawsuit is not an
Attack on us as a company it’s an attack on our economic progress and our economic freedom that’s what it’s about okay in the lawsuit it states that it’s a complaint against 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866. I thought that was another part that was
Just not right I said the only surprise act I know of is the one that Dr King had in 1964. so then I got to go research correct and I said oh shoot I said this was put in place right after sleepy was abolished in 1865 and to it
To educate the viewer it was stating what it that’s what I’m about to get to stating that basically blacks could enter contracts and not be prohibited because of race it was to provide us with economic freedom and I said oh no these people are trying
To flip this on us I was out it’s an attack against our economic freedom this is a problem and it’s really a scare tactic because right after our lawsuit was filed the SBA small business administration 8A program the government halted and paused on all of their minority contracts post on all of their
Minority grants yes it was a mess and I said oh this is not good because he probably could care less right now I have the outcome of the Fearless fund cases they probably feel like they’re already winning just because of the fear tactic has now carried over to so many organizations I
Was like this is horrible but generationally so these people plot for Generations so generationally this is something that our children will feel the effects of even if we don’t feel the effects of right now our Atlanta airport is like heavily minority contracted that stuff is a problem yes and without
This in place they’re able to leverage relationships to who they want it to be so basically if I’m hearing this right that motion of action is set up as an accountability tactic yes to give people of whether it’s brown white green black red or whatever the right person for this job should be
The right person not by the gender or race yes the minority mandates exist in a lot of cities I know growing up in Detroit our mayor Coleman Young he made sure that the city’s contracts reflected the demographics of the people in the city he’s like if the city 88 blocks and
The contracts is 88 black it’s just that simple correct um right now Atlanta is probably around 51 percent black and the contracts are probably about 38 black so people put these mandates in place to try to level out to make sure things are happening fairly and a lot of times it’s
Still not even fair because like I just gave you an example of 38 to 51 it’s still not even correct so taking that away people have choice to choose so let me get this right the SBA is affecting companies that are MBE certified yes you’re correct dbe certified the reason
Why I know this is I have a logistics company right and I’m in trucking transportation and I’m being impacted by this and not even necessarily knowing oh we got to sound the alarm because this thing is that serious it’s a state of emergency there are probably people working in
Corporate America right now and they’ve probably been hired under a minority mandate and they don’t know it let’s explain so say if a corporation said you know we’re going to make sure that we have this company set up to where it is 30 minority or 30 percent
This they may have been hired under minority mandate and don’t know it but if that Corporation chooses to loosen on that because they’re scared of being sued because of discrimination their job could be at risk but another loophole tactic is minority doesn’t mean the way you are doesn’t necessarily mean your race
Correct minority also could mean it’s a woman-owned company that is correct white women have been the biggest beneficiaries of minority contracts yeah yeah that’s a fact that is correct so with me knowing my little two cents I’m hoping this equating to a dollar to to the viewer uh it’s it’s a lot of
Loopholes out there right but help me help others by giving a what should we do knowing this knowing the State of Affairs right how can we kind of armor up to get prepared of what’s to come and how should we move forward oh that is such a loaded question
Um so I’m probably gonna have to give a loaded and it’s all right take your time we got time that’s definitely a loaded question um for our pers I’ve even explained to people with our situation I said if they come and attack you next we have our website fearlessfreedomnow.org people can come
Sign a petition they can donate whatever I said okay strapped great we’re gonna pass on the collection plate to the next person I said we’re going to have to keep this going but we’re going to need policy changes in place in order to ensure our economic freedom so the same
Way the law is being trying to be flipped on us quote unquote No we need measures put in place at a policy level and that is important we’re going to have to be willing to realize that voting is important right now Congress would not is is allowing this basically to go on
Um the reason why Ed Bloom and his organization his deep pocketed supporters were able to get done what they got done is because the Supreme Court Justices are in their favor so we have to be mindful of who we put into office um but policy work and legislation work
Is going to definitely have to take place in order to ensure the economic state of what would be equal and Equitable but it’s many different sectors to voting though right because it’s not just like the every four years get out and vote these voting measures may take every two years yeah you know
And whether you’re putting a picket uh sign in front your house vote city councilman or just then the third it’s very needed for change um and I think above all is is education not education of reading books but education of of necessarily knowing because I mean let’s let’s just keep it above the
Reality of it is a lot of people are being affected and they’re being suppressed and not even knowing that they’re being suppressed and there’s contracts that we can be awarded if these weren’t in essence in the way I’ll ask you this would you say we need more people who
Can relate to us who look like us in these positions of course I think that’s always a given and we need more voices like yourself even that have larger audiences making sure just like how this platform is making sure that people are aware like because you’re correct most people would
Not even know and I’m like no this is a state of emergency yeah because our kids are going to feel the effects of this if we don’t get a hold of this right now and and so the impact of this right and I as I would say let’s keep it above if it’s
In our favor right when I say R I’m saying I’m I’m on your ship or the elegant I’m on your yacht right how long could this be in place or how long could this be of impact oh this is generational impact so if we don’t take the measures oh yeah
How long could we be impacted oh my gosh it could be a century or two um seriously Century being you have to 100 years yes being what I mean by that also is we have been enslaved longer in this country than we’ve actually been free um so
I think slave is like 200 maybe 60 some years I can’t remember the exact numbers but it’s we’ve been enslaved on this country longer than we’ve actually been free and to reverse things like this it’s that’s dangerous it’s very dangerous I like it I could dig it I think where
We are as a society first off you say you’ve been from Detroit that’s a black dominated or a very black impacted city right when you when you think about Atlanta it is the black Mecca you know uh I hear time and time again I hear people moving or seeing or
Visiting Atlanta it’s like bro I’ve never seen black people so many important black people in positions of power you know what I’m saying whether it’s going to get cable whether it’s going to you know buy a phone whether it is going to buy clothes whether it is going to get life
Insurance these people are looking like me they’re relatable to me and why is that important is because we have to do a great job with taking care of our own you know now am I saying go slap the first white person you see hell no
Am I saying be cruel to any other you know race no I’m not saying that but in order to create change you have to be the change yes and even though from crime to uh impact or everything we gotta first do right by ourselves hold each other accountable and make sure
That we’re educating ourselves to really the impacts that may have way frequencies for the Next Generation you know what I’m saying did I say that right so as we end things here at funky Friday anything else you want to get off your uh um not really but thank you for having
Me and continue to use your platform for you know a voice of information a voice of entertainment a voice of just you know uplifting our communities I appreciate it thank you for that appreciate it thank you uh thank you for coming and listen I’ll try to do my part
Um I’m a father I’m a son I’m a brother I’m a friend um and most of all I’m a human so you know I try to do right by people it don’t matter what you look like no matter where you come from and I’m just doing my humanitarian restitution so yeah all
Right here we go so as we end things here we’re gonna do it in unison we’re going to start with this camera together then we’re gonna go to this camera together and then we’re going to finish in that camera right there all right you ready
Let me see if you know how to pay attention all right here we go one finger one finger hold on okay my finger my pinky one thumb and we’re going to say one love on the count of three one two three one yeah wait wait wait do it again oh I’m
Supposed to do for each camera it was a finger for each camera we was gonna finish right there see if he was paying attention about the presentation you skipped that slide we’re gonna try it one more time all right one finger one finger put the thumb down [Laughter]
The thumb at the finger all right gotcha one finger my pinky want them all together one love yeah there you go yeah and that’s a wrap yeah like Thank you
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