In this week's episode of #NoVisuals, I am joined by Lisa Ranglin, President, and Founder of the Rhode Island Black Business Association. We talked about how Women can empower and advocate for themselves in the workplace. We also delve into the importance of Black business and how we can support the circulation of Black dollars in our community's ecosystem. A lot of gems in this one!
Some of the resources mentioned in this weeks episode include:
BlackLivesBiz.com
@rhodeisland_bba
ri-bba.org for Black Business support and lending opportunities.
In this week's episode of #NoVisuals, I am joined by Lisa Ranglin, President, and Founder of the Rhode Island Black Business Association. We talked about how Women can empower and advocate for themselves in the workplace. We also delve into the importance of Black business and how we can support the circulation of Black dollars in our community's ecosystem. A lot of gems in this one!
Some of the resources mentioned in this weeks episode include:
BlackLivesBiz.com
@rhodeisland_bba
ri-bba.org for Black Business support and lending opportunities.
You are now listening to the no visuals podcast and unedited take on life. Hi everyone. I'm Shanique and welcome to the no visuals podcast. Your weekly unedited take on life. This week. I am joined by Lisa Ranglin, the president and CEO of Ranglin and associates consulting, which is a multidisciplinary consulting firm, specifically designed to provide integrated business development services. She is also the founder and the president of the Rhode Island black business association. She works as an activist, but also has worked in the banking industry for the last 21 years. She's very passionate about bringing forth equality for women and access for underrepresented populations. And a lot of her work stems around creating access for these underrepresented communities. So I thought on this week's episode, we can delve into a little bit about her work, how we can support the mission of the rhode island black business association. You'll also hear referred to as RIBBA and different steps that we can take to sort of push and propel ourselves forward. We want to move in this world from a position of power and a position of accessing knowledge. So thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2:Thank you Shanique for having me. I'm super excited to be here. I'm looking forward to the conversation.
Speaker 1:So I know you recently graduated from the university Johnson and Wales university. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Yes. Um, what propelled you to go back to school and let's start there. What made you want to go back to school? Because you went, you graduated with computer science.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I graduated with, um, my undergrad, um, many, many years ago, um, in computer science and I've always wanted to earn a master's degree. I started it a very long time ago and it had been a journey. I started it and I stopped, but I knew that eventually I wanted to finish it, but it was actually a few years ago when I actually saw my own daughter graduated with her master's degree. I realized that I needed to finish it. So I would say she has been, um, an inspiration for me. Um, as I watched her cross the stage and, you know, receive her a diploma, I knew that I had to go, but also she encouraged me that, Oh, mommy, you could do it. And she was cheering me on. So I'm super excited that I finished, um, this past April and I started my master's degree. Again, it was an MBA when I started in organization leadership, but over time I realized that my passion really is around developing people. So I've changed, um, from the, and I've, you know, graduated with a master's in human resources. I really want to focus on developing talent and I want to help people to really own their career and grow, but more importantly to ensure that they're loving what they're doing and also being paid, compensated, um, for equal, um, work again, I think women are as good as men and they should be compensated equally. How does
Speaker 1:How does education factor into a woman's ability to advance? Like you said, sometimes in a lot of these places or frankly society is a little bit more patriarchal historically, so you see men being able to propel a lot faster. Um, there are a lot of different initiatives in different organizations and companies that are geared towards incorporating women, making sure women are represented. So like it has been one sided for some time. How do you think education can play an important factor in that?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So thanks for that question. I think, you know, education for me gave me wings. So, um, you know, a little bit about my background, I was born and raised in poverty in Jamaica, but through education, um, initially I was actually going to a failing school and then, um, I transitioned out of that failing school into a high performance school. So I do believe, um, you know, having a great foundation is very important. And then, um, to take that to the next level. So as you go through, you know, middle school, high school and then decide to go off to college and I must say, not everybody wants to go off to a two year or four year college. So I think we have to make sure that we're really supporting young adults and meet them where they're at and support them at every level because some young people want to go off and they want to do a trade. They want to do something with their hands and they love it. And some want to go off to either a two or four year college. But I do believe that regardless of what someone wants to do, I think education is a really a great neutralizer as it relates to moving into the workforce.
Speaker 1:So once you're in the workforce now, you're, you're the next battle is okay now I'm here. But I just realized that the person next to me, who happens to be a man is getting paid more than I am. And that's not to say companies haven't been making strides towards that. You see a lot more transparency now, but how would you encourage someone to advocate for themselves if they do feel like they are not being paid equitably for the work that they're doing?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I think we've seen that, that trend over time. Again, there's a huge effort around pay equity specifically around ensuring that a woman is being compensated for the fair amount of work and compensated just like any other male. I think one of the things that we've seen historically is that male or a typically paid again it's society, right? They've paid a male more, but with the sort of advocacy effort, and there are lots of women organization that are starting up, come in and really advocating for this and calling companies out around making sure that one, they have a level playing field and making sure that when they think about pay scale, that the pay scale is equitable. Again, women should not be underpaid currently within the infrastructure, a white woman makes 80 to send to a white man's a dollar. When you look at a black woman, she makes 62 cent on a white guy's a dollar. And then look at Latino women. They only make 50 cents or 52 cents. So again, currently we still have ways to go. You're absolutely right Shanique that companies are making strive in terms of trying to level the playing field, trying to open up opportunities for women, but we're not there yet. We're way, way behind. And we still have a lot of work to do, you know, women. We got to own our own careers and we have to do the research. So again, when you're going in for a promotion or you're going in for a new assignment or you're taking on a new role or a stretch assignment, I think don't just jump up and say, I'm going to take this assignment, but make sure you're do your due diligence. Do your homework to understand the, what you're taking on. Does that require you to be more, you know, compensated at a higher level. If you're going to take on additional responsibilities, should you ask for an increase in salary? I think that's okay. Don't be afraid to ask, but also more importantly, negotiate, negotiate, negotiate. Don't just settle for a salary that somebody gives you. Make sure you say, I want this range and also be ready to justify why you believe you should be compensated for the level that you're asking. Never say yes to the first amount that is thrown at. You always pushed back, um, in a nice way, share what you bring to the table. What you're good at, what your values are and what your skills are and what your capabilities are and why you believe you're the best candidate for that particular role and why you should be compensated fairly.
Speaker 1:That just makes me think you have all the tools now in your tool belt to do that. Like logically all those steps make sense, but then now you have to conquer having that conversation. And I know for people who, a lot of the people, like my, of the demographic of this podcast, they're ranging from just graduating to like mid twenties. Yeah. So you're probably in your first job. You don't, you've never had these conversations before. You don't really know how to advocate for yourself. How do you build up that mindset? Like, okay, this is, I know the conversation that I want to have, but now I'm sitting in front of the person and you know, like you kind of losing the words, the words are not coming out.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. So I totally get it. And I think what I would encourage young people, either just coming out of college or just enter into the workforce, their first job is to always figure out how do I find a mentor or somebody that has done it before. I would not recommend anybody to try to do it, do it by themselves. I mean, there's also Google's is my friend. I will go out and search for different things. But I would say I would encourage young people to find a mentor, find somebody that is, you know, is going to take them along that journey and coach them, somebody that they trust. Somebody could just be an advisor. Somebody could be in their church, could be somebody that, you know, part of the family, but find somebody that they can share, you know, their journey. Again, it's very difficult when you're going into a workplace that, you know, absolutely nothing about. It's always, I always encourage young people to identify somebody at the company that either is currently working there or may have worked there in the past. But I would say the biggest thing, I would say, find a spot, you know, a sponsor or a mentor or career coach or somebody that just guides you along the way or just an advisor. Um, I typically encourage young people before you go in on an interview, make sure you do a little research about the company and also go out there on there several sites on the internet where you could look at, you know, this particular role, what it should be compensated at, if you're entry level, mid level or senior, what should that be? So I would encourage you to make sure they're doing their homework. What's the difference. Can you explain the difference between a mentor, a sponsor and say just an advisor? Yeah, absolutely. So when you think of, when someone is coming out of college, a young person coming out and say, let's focus on the gen Z population for now, they're just enter into the workforce. Some of them, um, you want to identify a mentor and what a mentor provides is really a guide if you will. So they provide you with, um, you know, different ideas, suggestion, here's a little more informal it's, it's very, it could be formal or it could be informal. So you do have some mentorship programs where it's, it's formal sometime you see them within an organization, or sometimes you may see them within a organization, such as the Rhode Island, black business association, where we have mentorship program for high school students that are going into college and recently graduated students. So I would say it could be formally or it could be informally. Um, but those relationships are typically to guide and help you navigate, you know, that relationship that you build to ask somebody a question you may have, or you just want to get some ideas on the other end. If you have a advisor, that person is a trusted, um, expertise. Typically that person is somebody that's a seasoned professional, a much older person that has spent many years in their career, and they have lived experience as well as career experiences. So that advisor is going to be able to you around different decision, as you're thinking about your career path, that person is usually somebody that, as I mentioned, seasoned professional person, somebody that's been working in the field for a very long time, and you're going to trust that they're going to one provide you the best guidance and the support that you need to move ahead. When you, when you think about a sponsor. So when, if somebody's just coming out of college, they would not have a sponsor. A sponsor is really designed to help a professional. So somebody that's a mid level manager, somebody that's currently working within the industry and they're looking for somebody to advocate on their behalf. So for instance, it's time for a promotion. It's time for bonus. When you have a sponsor that sponsor really knows everything about you, they know what you're good at. They know that you're fair. They know everything about you. So when you're not in the room where the decisions are being made for rent and the conversation around bonuses, you may not be there. That sponsor is going to advocate to say, I know Shanique, well, I know her work. I know what she has done. I know what she's delivered. So that sponsor is going to really speak on your behalf and be your champion. So when you're, you know, move from your entry level job into your middle of a job, each of us should have a sponsor, a mentor, a coach and advisors.
Speaker 1:That's good. That's very helpful information. A lot of people, I think have the mentor piece, but like, as you go through and you gain more years of experience, getting that sponsor will definitely be beneficial when you're trying to like move up or go to a different department, get a different role, relocate, whatever the case is.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. That person is really critical and it's really a team effort, right? So you're a sponsor is a person that you're going to let them know everything. What you're good at, you know, your, your skillset that you're willing to travel, that you really take on additional assignment that you want more money, all of that, because that sponsor is going to be your champion in that room when you're not there to say, yes, John is great. Yes. So is awesome. And he, or she should be promoted. And here is why
Speaker 1:I think that's important too, because now thinking about it, I've worked for a little bit for what going on two years, like in a real like corporate setting and you see those kinds of relationships play out. And when people always mention it to me all the time, like when I started like find those people that can be in your corner because things get more challenging as you get more experienced, you take on new responsibilities, you get new, um, projects, whatever the case is. Um, and especially for, I would say underrepresented populations in the workforce, whatever that workforce may be for you. I think it's important to have someone that can for you or help you learn how to advocate for yourself in those critical conversations. But you see that sometimes as you move up the chain up, the ladder representation kind of dwindles a little bit, my opinion, I think a lot of that comes from not having those people in your corner. Would you say that it's solely based on not having the proper tools in your tool belt is why is why women don't kind of move up as quickly or like why underrepresented populations are not represented in C suite levels? Or what is your take on that?
Speaker 2:You know, there are many variables in terms of why somebody may not go and fast, fast in terms of advancing in their career. So, um, when you move into your middle level manager, so for, if you let's focus on women for a minute, so women typically, um, you know, when they come out of entry level are their first, second year in, in, in the workplace. They probably, by then out of college, two years later, three years later, they're getting married. And most of them, once they get married, they start moving into the childbearing age. So for those women, um, or, uh, men as well, they want to have work, you know, that balance. They want to be able to have a family, but they also want to have a career. Um, and sometime they may be helping with a family member. So they want that flexibility. So sometime women, um, may not want to take on that extra assignment or that stretch assignment. And they may have a little bit of limitation. Um, they may not have a broad network. I think one of the things that you see with women or people of color is that their network is not as wide. Um, so what companies tend to do is to encourage them to be part of employee, employee groups. So in some organization, you may have a DNI diversity and inclusion group in some group organization, or in some companies, you may have a group that focused on women or focused on veterans, but different groups of people, because basically, um, what you want to do is to make sure that you have a strong network that's going to help you navigate. And I think work life balance is very important, but having a support team is also really important. What I would encourage young people to do is to really have a strong relationship with your direct manager or supervisor, because you should be having ongoing one in one relationship or conversation with them and build a strong relationship because they too, right? Yes. You need to own your career, your own career. No one is going to own it for you, but your manager, your mentor, your sponsors, all of those people are going to be helpful as you navigate the workforce, right? As you, either you go across or you go up, regardless of where you're going, you're going to need a support team. That's going to help you really navigate and advance and Xcel to the next level. Do you think like
Speaker 1:It is calling some of those excuses as to why people of color or like women say it was, it was a thought that you have children. Now you took a little bit of time off. So now you kind of were stunted in that area. Like whatever the case is, like, we're seeing that you can do most of the work that you can at home. You can have work life balance, work, life harmony, while being productive at home. So do you think COVID, and this kind of remote situation is kind of shit bringing new ideas to light on how we actually can work and how we actually can be productive.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. I think Kobe came and it has shifted, um, or environment in, in many ways. I think in my mind, I think for the best, I think, I think COVID has shared our shed a light in terms of, you know, I think what I'm hearing from a lot of people across the globe is that productivity has gone up, right? So people are working longer hours and their balance in it. Right? So as you know, some families, the children are home, the children are doing remote schooling, right? So they're no longer in school. So they're all home as well. So mom and dad is home as well as children are home. And they're all coexisting and working at the same time. But what we're seeing is that companies are more flexible. So they're allowing, you know, moms or dad to take care of the children or to help the children with their homework. And then to really design their timeframe, to make sure that one, they have the flexibility to support their children, but also to be able to work at a timeframe that really meets their schedule. So, and then the other piece of it is, you know, with COVID, a lot of people are working remotely at home. So I think, you know, as we evaluate what this new normal looks like, I think we'll see a lot of people will still remain at home. Even when the States reopened. We'll see a lot of people still working remotely because they're able to do both. They can take care of their family, they can provide for their children, but they also can be productive, very productive at work.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I really think it's interesting and what it will look like when everyone starts to go back to work. I think some people do Excel in an environment where you're like you drive to work, you have your commute, or some people do really thrive at home. So I think it will be, it will have to strike a balance between the two. I don't think it's just that one, uh, paradigm that we're living in anymore. It's kind of shifting that you can be both and you can be at home taking with a family and you can still have the career that you want.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I think, you know, you're absolutely right. It's around that balance. And I think the flexibility, I mean, we have heard, some companies said, you know, they're not going back for a while. At least the remainder of 2020, and some are actually moving into 2021 where people are still going to be working remote and some companies are giving up office space. So I think you're absolutely right in terms of reevaluate in the way that we work and be openminded to creativity and flexibility, and to make sure that people are able to have it all. I think, you know, historically we were told that women, as you enter into the childbearing age, you're not as attractive in the workplace anymore. So you can't travel for work. You can't stay late anymore because you've got to juggle the kids or the family and dinner and all this stuff. I think those are like stigmas. Exactly. And now I think those kind of, you know, stigma or the, those outdated norms are going away and we're creating an environment that is very, very supportive of family and women are able to bring their true self to work their family, their children, but also ensure that they're having a successful career
Speaker 1:Going on to what you just said about kind of the recent uprising around race relations in this country sparked by the killing of George Floyd. You see a lot of companies now trying to be again, more transparent in their diversity or lack thereof in their organizations. I think it was problematic to begin with. But why do you think there are so few women specifically black women in non-black people of color in executive positions? Because I think what happens is when you don't have voices of all creeds, all types of people represented around the table, then you're not making the, you're not making equitable decisions because you don't have all perspectives of your company represented.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Yeah. You're, you're spot on around that. So again, you know, I think a cloth across the globe, this country in the U S um, we see there's a, historically there has been an issue with women, just women nevermind race, right? Um, you had very few women, um, in C suite or executive roles across the nation in fortune 500 companies. And, um, I don't believe currently in the current trend, I don't believe there is one black woman. That's at a fortune 500 company today. And this is 2020 in a C suite position in an C O role in any fortune 500 company. There was, we had one black woman Ursula burns. She was at Xerox in the past. She retired a few years ago at the current, in the current land. There's about 33% of women. That's actually in, you know, fortune 500 companies that are CEOs. And we don't have any black women. We have four black men that are there currently, and we got to do better. Right? We got to create pathways for people of color, for women to get up into the corporate climb, the corporate ladder again, many, many years ago. Again, we heard of this act, the glass ceiling act, and that came about to really support women and get more women actually in these, you know, C-suite roles that we call them. And I think there has to be a Prath way. We need to create robust, um, part ways for people of color, to thrive people of color, to advance into these ranks. It's not going to just happen overnight and it's not going to happen by itself. It's going to happen by intentional work. So you think, you know, from my point of view, where I sit, I think we need innovators and we need disruptors. And I think, you know, the generation Xs coming up right now, I think I'm hopeful. I think we're going to see a lot of movement with these young people coming into the workplace, because I think they're going to really flip everything upside down and they're going to demand that we have a more adjust workforce that is representative of all people, not just some people as it relates to in leadership ranks. And I think we'll see people of color throughout organization, not just in low tier jobs, but also in the higher senior ranks as well.
Speaker 1:I think that's important too, because sometimes when you have like large companies and you get different messaging, sometimes it kind of just, it falls on deaf ears because the right people, weren't in the right room in the room to support it. And to really weigh in their opinion is not represented of the population. I think that's like the biggest, biggest fault we're seeing that. It's just, it's just bad.
Speaker 2:I don't know another way to say it, but it's just bad. Yeah. I would say again, you know, the environment needs to be improved. I think we need to, it's continuous improvement. And I think it's listening. I think companies have to do a lot of listening to the people that are throughout their organization. And I think too often we see companies are designing programs that they believe is what their employee employers are looking for. And I get the feedback and I think they need to not, they need to stop designing things that they think people are looking for, but rather engage with their employees and find out from them specifically what their needs are and what they would like to see what's working well today. What needs to be improved and what needs to be eliminated altogether and what needs to be replaced with some actual things that it will actually work. What I would encourage companies that are thinking about, you know, diversifying their workplace. I would encourage them to do, don't just bring in black and Brown people in their organization without that inclusion piece. What we see a lot of failure, failure point on is people will bring people in they'll recruit, recruit, recruit, recruit, but they don't worry about the inclusion and the retention. And once they're there, right? It's very important to ensure that you're creating an environment where it's inclusive enough, where people feel like they can thrive and they can, you know, they're valued and respected and they're going to deliver at their best.
Speaker 1:I think all of that is really important. And I don't, my concern is sometimes is that these ideas are people like to see it as we're doing these things where like these special groups, quote unquote, but it's really not that, but it's just more of like a history lesson of why these groups are underrepresented to begin with. So I think a lot of what the undoing now is people on a personal level, taking the time to actually understand the history of what the separation of women, not even based on race, but then also adding in the race component and why companies look the way they do presently, because it all is, uh, it's all birthed by the history that we've had. It's not just people are getting upset and just demanding these things. Now it's, this has been an issue.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And typically why you see the, you know, let's, let's be real, right. So historically you've been seen throughout organization. If you look at the corporates, um, the corporate side of the house, you'll see mostly white people or white men in leadership ranks. And that has been the norm typically. Right? I think, um, what we're seeing with the change, from a demographic perspective, we're seeing that there's more people that are coming into the workplace, right? When you look at the millenniums, when you look at the gen Z, you're seeing that there are more people of color that are coming into the workflow, um, the workplace, and what we're seeing is that the baby boomers, right, the people that are retiring out of the system. And I think if companies really want to ensure that they are providing products and services that meet the needs of their constituents or their community or their stakeholders, they really ensure that they need to really ensure that whatever they're rolling out is a representation of what is needed based on the shift in demographics.
Speaker 1:I agree. I know you do a lot of stuff with Reba, which is a nonprofit in Rhode Island that kind of supports, well, not kind of definitely supports a lot of entrepreneurs, whether large businesses, small businesses. I see a lot of people in my generation choosing the entrepreneurship route or starting some sort of small business, whether it's a side hustle or something that they hope to grow. Um, how can this translate into that? So how can they find mentors, I think is a little bit more difficult when you're kind of like maybe a three person operation, um, how can say Reba or different organizations being, getting, or just finding resources to kind of figure out I'm the marketer. Now I'm the finance person. I'm supply chain. I'm everything that my business needs, but I didn't want to go to college. So I didn't really learn these things. I have Google, I have YouTube, but I want like actual person to go to as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So that year you're absolutely right. So you see allow young people in terms of, I mean, they may want to do both, right? So they may want to have a full time job and they want to have their site hustle. There's nothing wrong with that. Um, the Rhode Island, lot business association, we go by Reba, um, our website www.ri-bba.org. I think, you know, we're one of the organization in Rhode Island we've been around for the last 10 years. And our primary focus is really around meeting people where they're at. So for instance, if a business owner and most of the clients that we, the people that we provide services today, there are companies, you know, small and micro companies with 10 or less employees. So we're talking about mom and pop shops right here, salons, barber shop, convenience stores, or somebody that may want to be, you know, doing something from a tech perspective or even DJs, right? So we're seeing that we're helping all kinds of small and[inaudible] and small businesses and what we provide them with. Again, if somebody gets services from Reba, it's free. So all the services that a company would come in and get from Reba, whether, again, with the exception of a loan, if you, if you come in for a loan, um, again, it's a loan, so you'll need to pay that back. But if you come in for mentorship or technical assistance, for instance, you need a website or you need help with estimation or marketing or legal or anything of that sort of, um, services, that services is free to you. So I encourage people to get involved with Rhode Island, black business association, Reba. Um, our phone number is four Oh one three eight, three 1179. There was also lots of ways that you can participate either through the business services or you can become a volunteer and there's tons of volunteer activities. So I know there's a lot of young people out there that wants to get involved once to give back. I think they should, you know, find Reba online, get involved. And we're also starting a college chapter of Reba. Um, so we're kicking off, as I mentioned earlier, the mentorship piece and then the emerging leadership training program that will kick off for 15 mid level managers. Um, there's going to be tons of activities such as financial literacy and job training and different things. So I think, you know, people should get involved with the organization or just find us if you need services. And then also if you're looking for professional development around, you know, your resumes or career coach or whatnot, I think you could start with Reba. We certainly will have either, if we can't do it in house, we'll even give you a consultant that can work directly with each person.
Speaker 1:I think that's very beneficial because sometimes you don't know who to go to for like certain information and just having Reba as like a directory is super helpful. Absolutely. And good,
Speaker 2:Good news is we're actually enhancing our website. We'll have a new website probably within the next week or two. We'll have lots of amazing features that will come online. There is also a new, um, directory, um, uh, black lives biz directory that actually just came online and what that effort is a nationwide initiative. And that is really to identify across the nation, all black owned businesses. So, you know, for people out there that wants to support black businesses, this business director is coming online and you'll be able to find, um, black businesses within your state. You can go to www that black lives, biz.com and you could put in your state and then you'll be able to identify, um, businesses that are in your state. I know Rhode Island, um, black biz was just black lives. Biz was just launched. Um, last week you can search by state. Um, but yeah, if you want to support, you know, a black business across the nation and do business with them, you certainly can, um, find that site, but market. And we encourage you to, um, support these local companies, whether you're in Rhode Island or some other state, this will be a national, um, website. So we encourage you to share it and tell your friends if they want to support black businesses, or if they want to put their businesses online, they can also register their own company. They have a black biz. Um, they just pulled it up.
Speaker 1:Cool. They have like a bundle, a abundance farm, like agricultural farming, legal media communications of food trucks, uh, retail shops. Everything is on here. This is, this is really nice. This is not just what Alice is everywhere. Yes. Oh, this is nice. So national directory. And we talked about that a little bit in our first episode, just like circulating the black dollar, like in our communities, helping our community businesses thrive. Yeah. Currently the black dollar only remains in the black community for six hours. So what
Speaker 2:Only six hours. So what we're trying to do there is this movement right now with this black lives biz and the goal of this one is to create stronger black businesses within these communities. And then to ensure that the dollar remains in our state, in our community, much longer than six hours, six hours. Oh my goodness. That's insane. Yeah. And we, you know, the black community we spend, um, one point$5 trillion a year, I think is spending power is huge. But the funding, the money that we spend does not stay within our community. That's why the wealth creation is so lagging. And we want to change it by rolling out this black lives beds. I share it with everybody with your network. I will put this in the show notes, the link to this, but I think that's really mind boggling that it stays in the community for only six hours out of trillions of dollars. And I think sometimes it's just like a matter of, you don't know where to look for certain things. Like all of these businesses that are being shared, like you're seeing cleaning products, haircare, um, law offices farms, but you don't know that they exist. So I'm glad there's organizations that re like Reba that can help these businesses with their marketing. Because I think that if you're an amazing company, no one knows that UAE exists that having this directory, everything in one place will be extremely beneficial to helping that extend longer than six hours. Absolutely. And that's the goal and that's one of the reasons why Reba is a partner in this initiative and we're super excited, um, you know, to bring people to share this site and our goal from an organization perspective, one, we want to create more strong black businesses throughout Rhode Island, and we want to promote these businesses. And that's why we have partnered with black businesses. And we want to make sure that we're lifting these communities up. So the wealth creation can continue and then we can grow these businesses. So, yeah, we're super excited about this initiative. That's all I had. Was there anything else that you wanted to share? No, this has been great. I'm so glad that I had the opportunity. Um, just to reminder, I think, you know, always identify people in your network. Um, I think it's important to make sure that you're finding, you know, a support team, whether you are in college today, whether you are graduating or whether you just started in your career. I think having, you know, trusted advisors, mentors, or sponsors, or just to coach, I think find people that, you know, that have your back and that you can trust. And you know, they're going to give you sound advice and they care about your career growth and they want to support you the best way they can. And again, it's a two way street, right? So you want to be sharing what you believe you want to share, and it's a two way street. So you want to build those long lasting relationships. And it's not just a, you know, for a short time it's ongoing. And I would say, go out there and make your Mark. Um, whenever you do make sure you're intentional and be committed to what you do and deliver at your best and always make your Mark and do what you said you're going to do. Um, integrity is very important and just deliver and have a lot of fun with it. Um, it can't just be work. You gotta love it. You got to also one very important thing that I would say, make sure that you're practicing self care, self care for young people. Anyone it's very important, but more importantly for young people because you're either entering into the workforce. It's, it's different. It's new. It's, it's, it's, it's scary all of those things. And you're going to want to have a great support team to help you navigate it. And it's okay to ask for help. Don't try to do it by yourself. And if you feel stuck, there's a lot of people out there also, that's going through the same thing. So reach out and ask for help. People are always going to be willing to help you. Well,
Speaker 1:Thank you so much. Those are a lot of gems that you shared. If you have any other questions for Lisa for the round black businesses association, how you can get involved in this black lives biz as well. I will have her contact information and rebbes contact information linked in the show notes. Let us know what you thought. Make sure you follow the no visuals, Instagram at no visuals podcast on Instagram and on Facebook follow Reba. They are at our I dash BBA. Um, everywhere. If you search Rhode Island by business association, you'll be able to find them tons of speeches. They're all over the place. So thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. And I look forward to coming back and I would love to share a little bit about just how the money is spent in the black community. I'm in a future show. Yeah, we can definitely delve into that cause I'm still sure
Speaker 3:By that fact, that six hours. That's insane. Yeah. But thank you everyone for listening until next Tuesday. Thank you for listening to the no visuals podcast. Don't forget to rate this podcast and leave us a comment on what you thought of this week's episode. Also be sure to subscribe to the no visuals podcast for a weekly unedited take on life wherever you listen to podcasts until next Tuesday. Peace
Speaker 4:[inaudible][inaudible].