by Stacy Jackson

October 25, 2022

TIAA CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett Talks Having a Strategic Retirement Plan After Her Father Missed Out on Savings

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The head of a leading financial services provider encourages people to have a strategic investment plan to avoid losing out on the full benefits of retirement earnings.

Thasunda Brown Duckett, CEO of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA), provides investment and insurance services for employees in education, medicine, culture, and research. Working at the organization led her to realize that her father lost out on years of retirement savings.

Duckett stepped into the role as CEO at TIAA in 2021 and is reportedly one of two Black women CEOs of a Fortune 500 company. Duckett’s father, Otis Brown, missed out on years of benefits in retirement as a result of never taking part in any further retirement planning beyond his pension investment.

“The information his company was providing [about retirement benefits] didn’t connect with a man in the warehouse,” Duckett told Fortune during the Fortune Most Powerful Women Conference.

The Economic Innovation Group (EIG) found that 41% of Black American families had retirement savings, as compared to 68% of white counterparts. She stressed the importance of having a robust investment portfolio, as studies found a high number of Americans risk running out of retirement money because they aren’t diversifying their retirement investments.

“The Fed has been very clear,” Duckett said.

“It wants inflation down to 2 percent; currently it’s at 8.3 percent. A recession is looking likely. The question is, ‘How long and how hard?’ We don’t know.”

According to a recent interview with Barron’s, the retirement expert shared that Millennials and Gen Z should prepare for a shift in wealth as a result of the start of one of the greatest transfers of intergenerational wealth that is likely to take place within the next five years. However, they also need to prepare to face new headwinds when it comes to retirement savings.

“Compared with their parents and grandparents, younger generations have fewer options to save for retirement,” she said.

“Older workers may have had access to employer-sponsored, defined benefits (DB) or pension plans which helped set them up for financial success and provided greater access to lifetime income options. Today, few employers offer these types of plans, opting instead for defined contribution (DC) plans, if they’re offering a retirement plan at all. In fact, one-third of Americans today say they don’t have access at all to an employer-sponsored retirement plan.”

The Earn Your Leisure (EYL) founders took the world by storm with a different approach, combining business, financial literacy, and entertainment to build a business empire. 

The company started in 2019 with what is now a Top 40 business podcast and has since expanded into a media organization; an online education platform, Earn Your Leisure University; and a one-of-a-kind festival, Invest Fest.

When discussing financial literacy, it is hard to miss Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings, co-founders of Earn Your Leisure. But, Michael MacDonald, the third co-founder of EYL, has been working quietly behind the scenes from day one to build the EYL brand and turn it into the success it is today.

Bilal, Millings, and MacDonald all grew up in New York City and have known each other since elementary school. Today, they are business partners in multiple ventures and have grown Earn Your Leisure to eight figures in revenue. It all started with a dream. Now these founders are taking Invest Fest to Europe, with plans to turn EYL and EYL University into publicly traded companies in the future.

I sat with MacDonald to discuss his journey as the third Founder of Earn Your Leisure. He shared the incredible odds he overcame to get to where he is today. “I grew up in the projects, on welfare, with a single mom and five siblings. I was in special education. I wasn’t supposed to make it,” MacDonald told BLACK ENTERPRISE.

MacDonald’s story is a testament to the belief that your start doesn’t have to determine how far you go in life. Here are my key takeaways from our conversation.

       Photo Credit: North 13th and Create

Overnight success takes 10 years

For many people, Earn Your Leisure blew up out of nowhere. But, for years, Bilal and Millings were in classrooms teaching the youth about financial literacy. MacDonald, the brain behind the visuals and EYL’s early content strategy, had been practicing his craft for years.

“I started making flyers for promoters in my neighborhood, getting $50 a flyer at 14 years old. I was doing graphic design throughout high school.

One of my friends and mentor taught me photography, and I was a photographer for ten years. Before Earn Your Leisure. I worked with DJs, influencers, and models to help them get off the ground and build their brands,” MacDonald said.

The three friends found success with Earn Your Leisure, but it wasn’t the first business they started together. “We started investing in real estate in 2008, but that didn’t work out. We tried a cloud business for DJs. We had a couple of small businesses.”

Years later, the trio started EYL without investing much money upfront. “We started the podcast with no money. We just invested our time.”

Photo Credit: North 13 and Create

Have a Clear Vision, Build the Right Team, and Get To Work

According to MacDonald, in 2017, when Bilal had around 300 followers, he shared his desire to build a financial literacy brand on social media. “He told me he wanted to build his Instagram to be the biggest financial literacy platform on the internet. I said, let’s do it and plugged him into different tools, doing photoshoots and videography work with him and building content. He started posting financial clips, and it was catching attention.”

When Bilal reached 40,000 followers on Instagram, people kept telling him to start a podcast.

“When Rashad (Bilal) asked me about it. I told him it was a good opportunity and how we could monetize it. So, we set up the podcast, and he was looking for a co-host. He thought, who better than Troy (Milling)? He talked to Troy every day. It made sense, and Troy was down with it.”

So MacDonald created the LLC, set up the podcast, the YouTube, and the trio got to work. In less than four months, the podcast had 5,000 listeners.

                                                                     Photo Credit:Jaylon “Quality” Cooper

Invest in Your Vision and Let Everyone Play Their Role

In the early days, MacDonald said, everyone had to sacrifice time and resources to make the vision happen. “I knew I was losing money on some other clients because I was dedicated so much time to Earn Your Leisure. But, I believed it wasn’t just about Rashad, Troy, or Michael, but that what we were doing would change the world, and financially our lives would change too.”

After the podcast’s success, MacDonald thought about launching Earn Your Leisure University and selling EYL merchandise. For the first 18 months, they didn’t take a dollar out of the company. Instead, they put all the money they earned back into the business.

They started selling EYL merchandise and built the ecosystem for EYL University. EYL University got to 4,000 members in less than a year.

Bilal, Millings, and MacDonald partnered with MG The Mortgage Guy on EYL University, and he handled everything real estate on the platform to further expand the EYL organization. Eventually, they started hiring people to help expand the company. Today, Earn Your Leisure employs 15 people. MacDonald shared that Earn Your Leisure went from earning $100,000 in its first year in business to Earn Your Leisure and EYL University being on track to hit eight figures in 2022, excluding Invest Fest, which is a monster in itself.

It is clear that the co-founders understand and respect each others’ roles on the EYL Team. “You need the talent. But you also need the systems and the machine behind the talent. Everybody has a role to play,” MacDonald said.

Be Consistent

MacDonald recalled the challenges, especially the first 18 months, when they were pouring all their time and energy but were not receiving any income from EYL. They had to remain consistent, regardless. Building a business empire like Earn Your Leisure requires consistency and sacrifice. MacDonald remembers wanting to go out on Friday night or to watch football on Sunday, but not being able to do those things for a long period. Instead, along with Millings and Bilal, he dedicated that time to Earn Your Leisure and turning their vision into reality.

“You can’t give up on your dream. It’s going to be ups and downs. There were times when I didn’t think I could do it anymore. But I kept going because I knew it would be bigger than anything we had ever done.”

Anne-Lyse Wealth is a certified public accountant, a financial literacy advocate, and a communications strategist for business leaders.

She is the founder of The ALW Communications Agency, which helps leaders amplify their brand through storytelling and PR, and the Plutus Awards-nominated Dreamoflegacy.com, a platform dedicated to inspiring millennials to build wealth with purpose.

Anne-Lyse is a freelance writer for Fortune Magazine, Business Insider, and Harvard Business Review Ascend, among other publications. She is the author of Dream of Legacy, Raising Strong and Financially Secure Black Kids, and the host of The Dreamers Podcast.

• News

by Atiya Jordan

October 25, 2022

Global Ministry Leaders Sarah Jakes Roberts and Her Husband Sell Calabasas Mansion for $9.5M

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Pastor Sarah Jakes Roberts, the daughter of famed pastor T.D. Jakes, and her husband, Touré Roberts, are looking for an eight-figure deal to part ways with their luscious Venetian-style mansion in the San Fernando Valley community of Calabasas.

Dirt reported that the global ministry leaders of ONE Church had listed the 9,473-square-feet home for under $9.5 million. The asking price comes two years since the couple purchased the property for $4 million in 2020.

Dana Olmes and Jeff Biebuyck of Frontgate Real Estate are currently holding the listing on behalf of the couple.

Originally built in 2004, the California abode features a two-level living space with seven bedrooms and eight bathrooms. The listing confirms that the stucco and terracotta roof structure had been newly painted, and the inside of the house flashes with glamour. Boasting a lush mix of stone and marble floors,  the home is furnished with designer light fixtures and high-coved ceilings throughout.

ATheamenities offer fitness options and entertainment for the entire family, including a movie theater room with leather recliners and a gym. Other comforts include an office, upstairs family room, two-double car garages, solar panel system, detached pool house with living room, fireplace, bedroom, bath, private back patio, and much more.

The daughter of renowned faith leader Bishop T.D. Jakes, Jakes Roberts is redefining what it means to be a modern woman of faith through her bestselling books, sermons, and viral messages. She joins her husband, Roberts, who is also a pastor, motivational speaker, and best-selling author, in leading the charge as a power couple in the faith and empowerment movement.

Jakes Roberts will now pick up her father’s mic as she takes over his popular women’s conference, Woman, Thou Art Loosed! transitions to Woman Evolve, the conference will fall under her ministry mantle, per a press release.

“Sarah Jakes Roberts, when you walk onto this stage, you are walking into your destiny,” Jakes told his daughter during the Woman, Thou Art Loosed! The Grand Finale at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta in September.

“After 30 years of Woman, Thou Art Loosed! and 45 years of preaching the Gospel, the time has come that I must decrease, and you must increase. This is not an inheritance; this is a calling. You are not standing on this stage for family legacy. This is not a favor, but a divine assignment that Woman, Thou Art Loosed! must evolve.”

For more information about the property, visit Frontgate Real Estate.

The cancelation of the artist formerly known as Kanye West continues.

According to CNBC, after stating recently that their relationship is “under review,” sports company adidas has officially ended its relationship with Ye. This news comes right after the controversial hip-hop recording artist was dropped by the agency managing his career, Creative Artists Agency (CAA), amid an announcement that a forthcoming documentary has been officially shelved.

After being in a successful business relationship with Ye since 2013, adidas put out a statement on Tuesday reacting to comments the music producer has made about the Jewish community.

“Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech. Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”

“After a thorough review, the company has taken the decision to terminate the partnership with Ye immediately, end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies. Adidas will stop the Adidas Yeezy business with immediate effect.”

When Ye appeared on the since-deleted Drink Champs podcast on Revolt, he practically dared the apparel company to act when he stated, “I can say anti-Semitic things, and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what?”

On Monday, it was reported that Hollywood talent agency CAA confirmed that it had cut ties with the combative fashion designer. A representative from the agency expressed it to CNBC.

“I can confirm that Kanye is not a client.”

Also, on Monday, The Hollywood Reporter reported that film and television studio MRC decided to drop the forthcoming documentary that it had done on Ye.

“This morning, after discussion with our filmmakers and distribution partners, we made the decision not to proceed with any distribution for our recently completed documentary about Kanye West,” MRC CEOs Modi Wiczyk and Asif Satchu, as well as COO Scott Tenley, wrote in an open letter. “We cannot support any content that amplifies his platform.”

They also stated that there would be no entries into any film festivals as “all activities are being pulled.”

• Education

by Derek Major

October 25, 2022

Poll: 60% Americans Support Ban on Race in College Admissions

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A Washington Post-Schar School Poll shows more than 60% of Americans support a ban on the consideration of race in college admissions.

The Washington Post reported that results come as the Supreme Court revisits affirmative action six years after it upheld the use of race in admissions at the University of Texas.

The High Court is set to hear arguments in cases challenging race-based admissions at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina (UNC) later this month. According to the outlet, 63% of U.S. adults, 66% of white Americans, 65% of Asian Americans, and 60% of Hispanic Americans support the Supreme Court banning race in admissions.

However, Black Americans were the only demographic not to support banning race in college admissions, as just 47% said they supported the move.

The results show Americans are torn over policies meant to reverse decades of historical inequities regarding higher education.

“It is important to have a race-neutral approach to getting into college,” Gwen Meeks, 50, a white nurse from Garden City, Missouri, told the Washington Post.

“Nobody’s ever helped by giving people something they haven’t earned through their own hard work.”

Meeks added that she supports racial diversity in education and white people are too often given privilege.

Nine states: California, Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, Arizona, Idaho, Oklahoma, Washington, and New Hampshire, as well as numerous public colleges and universities, have currently banned the consideration of race in college admissions. However, the low number of Black men and women at Ivy League schools and other prestigious universities is among the reasons people believe affirmative action should still be used.

In two lawsuits, the Student For Fair Admissions claims that Harvard University and UNC practice unlawful discrimination by putting too much weight on an applicant’s race to the detriment of white and Asian Americans. The two Universities denied the claim, and a lower court agreed with the schools.

Meanwhile, the poll also showed that 64% of U.S. adults, 59% of white Americans, 74% of Black Americans, and 75% of Hispanic Americans support implementing programs designed to increase the racial diversity of college students.

“Colleges are there to educate all, and they need to be looking at their populations to make sure that a broader swath of society has an opportunity for a good education,” said Calvin Emanuel, 51, a Black business executive in Naperville, Illinois, who has a doctorate in chemistry.

“They should be allowed to consider race as a factor.”

The Supreme Court’s decision in the 1978 landmark case, California v. Bakke, drew six different opinions from nine justices, including Justice Lewis Powell‘s opinion that universities may consider race a factor in admissions but cannot enforce racial quotas.

“The nation’s future depends upon leaders trained through wide exposure to the ideas and mores of students as diverse as this Nation of many peoples,” Powell wrote at the time.

Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry has been shooting basketballs on the court for years, and now he will be shooting for superhero status in his latest venture.

According to NBC Sports, the entrepreneur will launch a graphic novel series in partnership with Penguin Workshop. The set of books is titled Stephen Curry Presents!: Sports Superheroes. The first book will be released in the fall of 2024.

Curry is producing the graphic novel series through his company, Unanimous Media, which he co-founded with Erick Peyton.

“We hope that when kids pick up the books in this series to read all about their favorite athletes, it not only instills excitement and grows their love for reading, but also inspires them to reach for the stars and accomplish their dreams,” Curry and Peyton said in a written statement.

The debut book, which will be one of four, will focus on the sharp shooter’s basketball career.

When that book does drop, it won’t be his first book. Curry just released I Have a Superpower, a children’s book illustrated by Geneva Bowers. The book, which came out on Sept. 6, was also released under Penguin Workshop and is based on his path toward the NBA, from coaches telling him he was too small to make it to the NBA and utilizing his mental willingness to prove them and others wrong.

The book is described as “the empowering story that teaches kids you don’t have to be the strongest, fastest, or even tallest kid out on the court. So long as you have heart, any goal is achievable through hard work and determination—even without a cape!”

Curry is always trying to enlighten and uplift the kids!

As the fallout continues for Ye, a brand he named checked often has decided to drop him.

In a simple statement to Women’s Wear Daily, the parent company of Balenciaga has formally detached itself from the Ye business, which has been taking a nosedive recently. After Kering published the results of its third-quarter sales on Thursday, they stated, “Balenciaga has no longer any relationship nor any plans for future projects related to this artist,” referring to the artist formerly known as Kanye West.

Things were looking good between Ye and the company less than a month ago when he made his runway debut in Paris for Balenciaga’s summer 2023 show. During Paris Fashion Week, he was seen sporting several items of clothing from the French fashion house. The company removed all proof of the appearance after scraping images of him participating in the show from its website.

Balenciaga is the latest of several fashion lines to separate themselves from the combative designer since he made what’s been labeled as anti-semitic remarks in recent interviews.

Ye has been in the news consistently since the middle of September when he announced that he severed ties with the Gap on Sept. 15, where he had a partnership with his signature Yeezy line.

A few of the mishaps have taken place over the last eight weeks.

A day after his runway debut at the Balenciaga fashion show, Ye released his YZY Season 9 in Paris on Oct. 3. That is when the music producer debuted his controversy-causing long-sleeved shirt, “White Lives Matter,” alongside conservative firebrand Candace Owens, thus causing mayhem that would pale in comparison to his next move.

After going on a rant stating that “Black Lives Matter” was a scam, he made claims against Adidas, claiming they stole his designs. The sneaker giant released a statement saying their relationship with Ye “is under review.”

After his Twitter and Instagram accounts were locked for violating the policies of both social media platforms for posts labeled as antisemitic, he announced he was going to buy the social media platform Parler. Then, his friend, Owens, revealed that J.P. Morgan Chase had ended its relationship with the temperamental rapper.

And just a reminder, on Drink Champs, he disclosed that George Floyd wasn’t killed by Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin but by the drug fentanyl.

• Career

by Eric Moody

October 25, 2022

Black Physicians Speak Out After Claims of Racial Discrimination in Workplace

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Three Black physicians recently spoke out, claiming they experienced racial discrimination in the workplace during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The physicians, whose positions ranged from a former resident to a hospital executive, spoke on the allegations during an interview with ABC News.

Dr. Dare Adewumi claimed he was terminated without justification, and the two others, Chris Pernell, MD, and Dr. Rosandra Daywalker, said they resigned due to “untenable work climates.” The physicians cited in their ABC News report that racial discrimination was the common reason for their departures.

At the time, Daywalker stated that she was the only Black trainee at the University of Texas Medical Branch’s (UTMB) otolaryngology program for her residency. While reportedly excelling in the program, Daywalker claimed her supervisor began treating her differently, including him delaying her clinical rotations. After voicing concerns about a Black patient being mistreated by a white faculty member during a morbidity conference, reportedly the same faculty member later became Daywalker’s direct supervisor, and things took a turn for the worst.

“Overnight, I become someone who doesn’t like feedback. You start to see him inject these words like I’m ‘unprofessional’ or that I’m ‘incompetent,'” Daywalker said in her interview.

“This is what they do. If they don’t have a real reason to get rid of you to fire you, they will make things so bad that you have no choice but to leave.” After more than three years of training, the Texas Workforce Commission reportedly determined she resigned “for good cause.” Daywalker has since filed a lawsuit against UTMB alleging violations of the Civil Rights Act and the Family Leave Act.

As for Pernell, University Hospital launched an investigation into her conduct during media appearances. She shared her personal experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and her perspectives on the Trump administration’s pandemic response. But ABC News reported that Pernell was told that other hospital executives disapproved of her “mouthing off” on television.

“[It was] as if I, a Black woman who had experienced loss and hurt and grief in this pandemic, should not speak about it—and speak about it from the auspices of also being a Black physician, leader, and executive,” Pernell said in her interview.

Adewumi told ABC News that he began receiving an influx of “letters of inquiry,” which questioned his surgical approaches and technique after Adewumi was recruited to revamp the neurosurgery program at Wellstar Cobb Hospital in Austell, Georgia. He claimed that his white colleagues did not receive similar criticism, even when they reportedly had worse patient outcomes.

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, Black doctors constitute only 5% of all practicing physicians nationwide.

• News

by Atiya Jordan

October 25, 2022

‘A Phoenix Rising’: Canadian Orphanage for Black Youth Reopens 101 Years Later as Black Business Incubator

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After more than 100 years, the former Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children is transforming its agonizing history and creating an Afro-centric community for multiple generations to support one another and thrive.

Incorporated in 1921, the private nonprofit agency has now been renamed Kinney Place to honor the leadership and dedication of its founder and first superintendent, James Alexander Ross Kinney. The renaming is part of a multimillion-dollar restoration effort spearheaded by current property owners, Akoma Family Centre Inc. and Akoma Holdings Inc., in 2016, Global News reported.

The century-old building, which sat vacant since closing its doors in 1978, has been refurbished and reopened as a community gathering place and an incubator for Black businesses. The grand opening took place on Sunday, Oct. 23.

In a press release, the Akoma enterprise said they hope “the community sees [Kinney Place] as a place of both historic significance and a place for healing, a phoenix rising from the ashes.”

A painful history

The Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children was formed to meet the needs of disadvantaged Black youth. However, a restorative justice inquiry reported instances of abuse, isolation, and malnourishment.

“Forms of discipline included being sent to bed hungry and being locked outside with inadequate clothing,” the inquiry’s 2019 report revealed.

“Moreover, it was reported to us that food was withheld by some staff unless the resident would comply with sexual acts.”

A new hub rises

The new facility is now home to the nonprofit organization 902 Man Up, a Halifax-based volunteer organization that helps better the future of young males, a hair salon and spa, and more.

Cherry Brook native Deb Vaillancourt-Higgins, is one of the new tenants of Kinney Place, where she will be opening The Opus Café and Catering at the end of November, according to SaltWire Network. The café will offer all-day breakfast and catering, as well as a comfortable space for the community to connect “amongst our own and feel safe in doing that.”

“I feel like it’s an opportunity for us, us a people, us as a township/collective community,” said Vaillancourt-Higgins, per the outlet.

“It allows us to keep our money where it needs to be and that is basically in the community. I believe it creates opportunities for jobs for individuals that would not otherwise have the availability to be employable based on various things, the colour of their skin being one [sic].”