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christopher:good evening. we are so glad that you're here. we're just really excited to be here. my nameis christopher upperman. i'm from the us small business administration. i'm just really,really excited to be here. we have a wonderful program for you this evening. i just wantedto share a couple of things with you, a couple of housekeeping items. please put your phoneson vibrate, no flash photography. i just ask that you just abide by those rules. we'rejust really excited to be here. we have some amazing speakers here. we have some amazingtalent here. we have entrepreneurs. we have community leaders. we have cabinet officials.we have the historic charlie rangel in the house. come on, let's give him a round ofapplause.

once again, just like i had mentioned before,my name is christopher upperman. i'm a senior advisor at the us small business administration.i'm just really excited. we are really pushing millennial entrepreneurship, really tryingto increase access and awareness and opportunities for young people, and especially young peopleof color to start businesses and become entrepreneurs. we have a really, really dynamic program foryou this evening. at this time, i would like to invite ms. lauramiller to the stage. she is the head of small business commerce solutions. laura millerleads the small business segment for commerce solutions. in this role, she oversees thedevelopment and execution of merchant acquisition and has responsibility for product sales channeland account management. laura joined jp morgan

chase in 2009 after a very successful careerat american express. most recently, she served as president of small business card and retention,ceo. she has become known throughout the industry for her thought leadership and advocacy forsmall businesses previously, she served as the managing directorof the commercial banking products and sales for the global commercial card business. shewas responsible for product management and sales and relationship management for thecommercial card products in the middle market and commercial banking business segments.laura earned her bachelor's degree in marketing from the university of arizona. she sits onthe board of nonprofit, accion east, and resides in new york city with her family. ladies andgentlemen, a round of applause for ms. laura

miller. laura:thanks, chris. wow. what an intro. i think he went and covered my whole life. it is awesometo be here. wow. what a cool place, right? what a great group of people to be aroundentrepreneurs. it is i would say very inspiring every time i get the opportunity to interactwith all of you. as he said, i'm laura miller and i'm responsiblefor our small business for chase commerce solutions. we at chase are incredibly proudto be here. we are also proud to be the presenting sponsor of national small business week, inpartnership with the small business administration. this week helps everyone shine a light onmillions of american small businesses, the

four million chase serves and many more thatwe'd like to get to know. we are joining the small business administration at events allacross the country like this one here in new york city to celebrate and help business ownerswith tools and resources. across the country, chase serves more thanfour million american businesses, including over half a million here in new york city.not really a numbers game but we do think the combination of our scale, investment inour technology, our professional relationship management is truly a winning one. we tryvery hard to make it easy for business owners to control their finances so they can focuson running their business. last fall, we launched a brand, chase forbusiness, to help convey our mission to be

the bank for business. we took a hard lookat the fact that we have all the financial services a business owner needs; transactionaccounts, cash management, lending, credit cards and payment processing. we could improveon how these products work together. our main focus is making the parts of chase work bettertogether for all of our business owners. we feel pretty good about how weï¿½re doing.according to our small business customers who recognize us with number one and numbertwo ranked jd power and associates. of course, i must also mention how proud we are to beamong the top sba lenders in the country each and every year. beyond banking, jp morgan chase is very focusedon supporting the people and the organizations

that support small business. thatï¿½s whywe are sponsoring national small business week and why we have programs such as smallbusiness forward that help fund nonprofit incubators and accelerators across the country.one of those incubators is here in new york, grand central technology, which is helpinglocal tech companies scale. weï¿½re also deeply committed to supportingentrepreneurs from all communities. thatï¿½s why we invest in cdfis or community developmentfinancial institutions. that provides small businesses with the on-ramp they need to improveand grow their operations often before traditional bank financing is an option. one of thoseorganizations is vedc which recently launched a $30 million fund dedicated to helping african-americanentrepreneurs in the three cities home to

the greatest number of african-american-ownedbusinesses, chicago, los angeles and right here in new york. we at jp morgan chase arethrilled to see that fund so more business owners would get help to start and grow. itï¿½sone of several ways we are looking beyond banking to make a difference in the smallbusiness community. again, thank you to the small business administrationfor including chase in tonightï¿½s event and as a presenting sponsor of this special week.congratulations to all of you who own businesses or aspire to do so. from all of us at chase,we are proud and applaud you. we thank you for making new york and the whole countrya better place to work and live. thank you. christopher:thank you so much, laura. we really do appreciate

it. at this time, iï¿½d like to call up tamekamontgomery. she is the associate administrator for entrepreneurial development in washington,dc and she oversees all of sbaï¿½s counseling, training and technical assistance. tameka:thank you, thank you, thank you, chris. really, really quickly, how many of you prior to thiseveningï¿½s event had heard of the small business administration? can i just see a show of hands?great. how many of you had actually accessed the resources of the us small business administration?far fewer hands. i figured that that would be the case, and thatï¿½s the reason why weï¿½redoing this event, and the reason why weï¿½ve been really promoting entrepreneurship andreally being intentional about reaching out

to communities and individuals who oftentimesmay not be walking through the doors of our resource partners, of our district offices,who may not be engaging with sba. however, the beauty of it is that sba is the only federalagency whose mission is solely committed to helping you start and grow a successful smallbusiness. when we think about economic empowerment andeconomic empowerment in our communities, entrepreneurship really is a pathway towards having that happenfor us, which is so important because i think if some of you have heard, the census cameout and they projected by 2044, america will be majority minority. what that means is thatwe want to make sure that the majority of individuals are accessing and fully participatingin the entrepreneurial economy.

todayï¿½s event, todayï¿½s culmination ofthis video series is really to show you those individuals who have been able to really takeadvantage of this opportunity, the american dream. we want to put this out in front ofyou to let you know, one, that is accessible to you, and then secondly that sba can beyour partner to walk alongside of you and provide you with the resources to achieveyour entrepreneurial success. iï¿½m so pleased to have you all here, sopleased that weï¿½re able to share this great video series that mike has been able to pulltogether in this wonderful event that chris has pulled together. with that, iï¿½m goingto hand it back over. enjoy. thank you. christopher:thank you, tameka. i really appreciate it.

great words. this time, iï¿½m going to invitethe co-host of this event with us, a gentleman that weï¿½ve been working very closely withwho is very passionate about entrepreneurship, small business ownership and increasing opportunitiesfor young men and especially young men and boys of color. i want to introduce to thestage mike muse. he is sba's mbk millennial entrepreneur champion. he is focusing on allthings entrepreneurship, engaging with you young folks out here. weï¿½re going to getthis thing started. mike is a great partner of ours. mike:thank you, chris. looking good, brother. what is that, velvet? that is amazing. mr. gq here.i think iï¿½m in a different event here. i

think in the met gala last night tie, i thinkwe should have had chris with us with that. iï¿½d say with us as if i was with you. iwas with you on instagram watching but technically wasnï¿½t with you. good evening, ladies and gentlemen. it isan honor to be here. iï¿½m excited to be here. iï¿½m excited to see so many beautiful, wonderfulfaces here. itï¿½s our commitment as our team mbk champ says, change the narrative. reallymore so, iï¿½m just looking in the front row and iï¿½m just in awe of what we have gatheredhere on 125th street. iï¿½m a big believer in optics. my team in sba knows iï¿½m a bigbeliever in exposure. to have the administrator, maria contreras-sweet, here; to have congressmancharlie rangel, my god, again, congressman

charlie rangel; and then to have ï¿½ yes,here. if one cabinet secretary wasnï¿½t enough, we have two cabinet secretaries with mr. secretarybroderick johnson here. what theyï¿½re here for is when you pull thatback, itï¿½s what makes this moment and this night special. theyï¿½re here because theyï¿½reinvesting in our community. theyï¿½re here because theyï¿½re investing in young men ofcolor and young boys of color who are looking for opportunities, for a way up and a wayto improve their communities, a way to improve their neighborhoods through economic empowermentand making sure theyï¿½re exposed to the great panelists that weï¿½re going to have herelater on to say that you matter. changing the narrative matters. our young men of colormatter, but weï¿½re also going to invest and

show you how, and then weï¿½re going to havethe support of the cabinet and the congress here. my god, that is something special. without further ado, i am going to get thisprogram started because iï¿½m going to be talking all night so i donï¿½t have to givetoo many keynote speeches because you all know i love to talk. i was trying to containmyself because i am just so full right now. without further ado, i am going to bring someoneup to the stage who is so special to me, who has become a friend, who has become a partneriï¿½d like to say in crime. iï¿½m going to say row buddy too as well, traveling partner.the one who has really authorized all this and who has said yes. i think itï¿½s importantto note that she said yes. she said yes to

this idea. she said yes to this mbk initiative,and she said yes to us tonight. as she comes up to the stage, i want you to give her anincredible round of applause for having the courage to say yes, and thereï¿½s no otherthan administrator maria contreras-sweet of the us small business administration. yes, take a mic and i switch. no feedback. maria:all right. mike:madame administrator, i think this is a one-year anniversary now. maria:it is.

mike:yeah. we did this last year during national small business week. maria:yeah, we did. mike:we had a great conversation then. maria:on the other end of the country, los angeles. mike:literally. look at her, stunning. yes, and where we ï¿½ madame administrator, where werewe? maria:we did the real show. mike:you're so hollywood. administrator, itï¿½s

just so great to see you. i meant everythingi said when i said just thank you. as you travel around the country, as a congressmantraveling around the country, putting in the work for a number of years, as our mr. secretary,as he travels around the country, we know the importance of this work. we know alsoitï¿½s important, but we also know how challenging the work is. we also know how challengingit is to change the narrative and really change mindsets from people are able to make decisions,from people who are actually able to get capital and give access and partnerships. i just canï¿½tthank you enough for standing up for your men of color and for people that you representon a daily basis. itï¿½s not easy. iï¿½ve only been doing this for a year and iï¿½mlike, this is hard, but so worth it.

what is it about you that you always say yes?you say yes to this idea. you say yes to these young men of color. what is it about you thatmakes you want to say yes? maria:thank you for that question. anytime you receive any sign of affirmation, you really have toacknowledge the men and women who make things possible. i have to tell you. i was in losangeles running a small community bank that i founded. i received a call from the whitehouse. can you imagine, it was, what did i do wrong? did i not pay my taxes? what wentwrong? did my bank do something wrong? when you get the privilege, a true privilegeto serve on the presidentï¿½s cabinet ï¿½ i admire all of my cabinet colleagues. the factthat i was asked to serve as the voice for

small business, when i think entrepreneurshipand hackers and disruptors, itï¿½s the coolest thing ever. itï¿½s become a global phenomenon.it is hard work, but itï¿½s just so energizing when you see the rewards and whatï¿½s takingplace out there. i have to say when you asked me that questionthat it starts with the president of the united states. he believes that entrepreneurshipis the most powerful force that the world has ever seen to lift people out of poverty,and i respect him for that. to that extent, i hope that you have seen that he has hostedmaker faires at the white house. he has hosted mom and pops. he really works hard, and heï¿½snow convening people from around the world. thereï¿½s one program that i really love inaddition to the my brotherï¿½s keeper where

our cabinet secretary in the white house,broderick johnson, really heads up, and you're going to hear from him, but the other programthat i really love is that the president believes that to the extent that we can meet each otherand connect. to use, instead of saying weï¿½re minorities, how do we use that as the windto our back as empowerment? heï¿½s saying, for example, thereï¿½s so much opportunityin the continent of africa. how do we connect millennials here and take down the bordersof the marketplace and create new matches of people so that together, they can go sellthings in china as an example? thatï¿½s the glory of what weï¿½re doing heretoday, is lifting people up, reminding them that 95% of the worldï¿½s consumers are outsideof the united states. how do we team up? as

opposed to competing with one another, howcan we team up to become partners, brothers and sisters, and go out and capture 95% ofthe worldï¿½s consumers outside of the marketplace? thatï¿½s what sba is working on. thatï¿½swhat drives me, and thatï¿½s what gets me to yes, is to figure that is the magic ofentrepreneurship, to create more jobs which creates a stronger middle class, which assuresour democracy. mike:yes. getting to know you, i understand why you say the things that you say, but as weï¿½rein politics, and i think this room is very astute with politicians and i think weï¿½rewatching the cable shows and i think some of us subscribe to certain publications andcertain newspapers. i think weï¿½re getting

a sense across the country that some peopleare just frustrated with the talk, and some people are just frustrated with not havingenough action. you have this awareness of other than self, and you have an awarenessof how to advocate for others. i love how you brought in the world and nigeria and theglobe, but i think that has to do with something thatï¿½s called exposure. i know who you are, but letï¿½s let the audienceunderstand, what is your constitution? how did you become maria contreras-sweet? i knowyou're from california. iï¿½m going to lead the witness here. what has your constitutionallowed you to have this exposure? congressman, interject. yes?

charles:before the distinguished guest shares with us how we fortunate we are to have her, letme apologize to both of you and to this august group. i know it surprises all of you thati have a political engagement this evening that has to do with hillary and of coursemy successor. when i heard that the sba and maria contreras-sweet was coming in with mikemuse, especially coming into harlem at the world famous apollo theater, i had to cometo formally greet you on behalf of this wonderful audience. maria:isnï¿½t that great? charles:of course, to this audience, i just wanted

to share with you the rich history of thistheater. iï¿½ve been sneaking in here since i was 15 years old. it has a tradition ofgiving hope. people have come in here, wanting to become stars and theyï¿½ve left to becomestars. harlem closed down after the riots and we went through some bad economic times,but through clinton and the empowerment zones and the low-income housing, weï¿½ve come backand a guy named percy sutton ï¿½ how many people know him? he brought back the apollo.thatï¿½s shown a light on 125th street economic corridor, and quite frankly, we havenï¿½tlooked back. when we reach the point that we can bringcabinet officials here, and mike muse is doing so well for my brotherï¿½s keeper, and thefact that iï¿½ll be leaving washington, i

would just like to say that itï¿½s excitingto see that we have this attention now. believe me, what caused me to rise was you mentionedsomething about whatï¿½s going on politically. i think for national security purposes, weought to be concerned as to whatï¿½s going to happen in january. having said that, iï¿½vebeen going out trying to do that. by the same token, we have a long way to go. the fact that we need the sba and my brotherï¿½skeeper, it pains me to realize that if only we had gotten that 40 acres and a mule, wewouldnï¿½t need no damn sba. if only we could have shaken off the pains of slavery thenwe would have been able to associate in this society knowing that we would have decentschools, a decent place to live. when we were

born, our parentsï¿½ hopes and aspirationswould be just what kind of professional would we be? because we have a black president andstill nowhere near the fact that kids are born with the same opportunity, we welcomewhat you two are doing, and we encourage all of you to recognize that we need a lot ofhelp for our young people. iï¿½ve had so many meetings in asking thequestions you do. how many of you are interested in starting a business? we got that much ofthe white mainstream to be a businessman. then, i asked the next question, how manyof you ever made a payroll? no hands go up. we really are starting from the beginning.make no bones about it. the frustration thatï¿½s going on today are not because the multinationalsare not making obscene profits. itï¿½s because

the middle class have lost their hopes anddreams. 80% of all of our jobs are small businesses. itï¿½s small businesses that hire people.itï¿½s small businesses that you go out and buy the things you want. general electricand general motors, theyï¿½re international. what you two are doing is re-sparking whatamerica is all about. itï¿½s about us. each and every one of you will have to light anadditional candle to get the hopes back of what people are talking about today. i wasso pleased that youï¿½ve come here and whatever my office, my successor, the city council,we work together as a team ï¿½ harlem is coming back. the empowerment zones have made suchan exciting difference in helping small businesses. we shouldnï¿½t have to need that much help,but thatï¿½s history and we got to move what

we got to work with. you two do make one heckof a difference. i wanted to thank you personally. i know this is going to be successful. iï¿½ve never, my wife said, had a job, butafter the army, i became a us attorney. after that, i spent four years as a new york statelegislator and 46 years in congress. i should stay because iï¿½ll be leaving for congressin december. if you have any ideas about a small business like this ï¿½ mike:i have a few for you. charlie:itï¿½s never too late. thank you so much. have a great session.

maria:let me just say. when we see greatness, sometimes the proximity of it doesnï¿½t allow us tofully appreciate it. this is a human being who has challenged and succeeded in so manyfights on behalf of our community. we owe it to him to acknowledge his life-long legacyof work on behalf of the community, not just in the local community but for the countryand for people of difference. i want to salute you personally. we are honored that you arewith us here. i say the least we can do is give him a standing ovation of a life welllived. please join me in celebrating [crosstalk 00:24:29]. heï¿½s remarkable. the honorablecharlie rangel, thank you so much for honoring us with your presence. itï¿½s remarkable,just remarkable. that was such a great gift.

mike:when the honorable charlie rangel interrupts you, you stop the program. maria:you just stop. mike:you listen. when he begins to bless you with words of wisdom, you sit in awe and you forgetyou're moderating a panel and you become a fan. maria:yes, of course. no question. mike:i literally am a fan. iï¿½m trying to get back to being smart, analytical and logicaland linear. charlie rangel for me, he just

represents, madame administrator, what youand i talk about all the time about doing it your way. congressman rangel has a wayof introducing policy, but he has a way of telling stories and narrative. he has a wayof fighting. even when you see him do his beautiful walks with his wife, when you seehim two-stepping, you see him sway, and you see him look so smooth and gq and debonair.for me growing up as a young black man, he to me suspended the reality of what a politicianlooked like. for him to say that to us right here is very overwhelming, if you will. maria:very, very profound. mike:it really just speaks to our partnership and

what it is about us doing it this way anddoing this our way and showing young men and people of color that you donï¿½t have to bethis certain one type. you donï¿½t have to go this one way, but you can do it your stylethrough music, film, fashion, technology, where your interests are. maybe just talkabout our partnership and what weï¿½re doing together. maria:thatï¿½s right. one of my favorite quotes, just to tee off of him because he is so magnanimous,is it reminds me of martin luther king, and you remember one of my favorite quotes. iwas delighted that it was featured in the movie, selma. what good is it to be able tosit at an integrated counter if we canï¿½t

afford to buy the hamburger? charlie has alwaysunderstood that the great congressman has always said we have to advance on civil rights,but we have to push forward our market rights. to the extent that sba can be with you, notto go back to buy the hamburger but to help you go back to buy the restaurant is whatwe want to do. we want to build ownership, business ownership, so we have something forour families and legacies, and we have not just the googles and the facebooks but wehave businesses and corporations with our names and our last names and our legacy andour mission and value system. thatï¿½s why those stories are important tome. he has had a long fight forever to try to advance our community. the reason i takewhat he says to heart is for many of you,

you don't know, i was born in mexico. i arrivedhere as an immigrant, and i was five years old. when you ask me about my value system,i still remember becoming ï¿½ just trying to learn language, trying to understand whatthanksgiving was. i never saw such a big chicken when i saw that turkey come out. itï¿½s like,oh, this is a great country. they even make really big chickens. it was really quite something. the truth is then, i remember writing to mygrandmother, saying, ï¿½iï¿½m really making great progress. iï¿½ve just become the thirdgrade milk monitor.ï¿½ she said, ï¿½i just hope that you remember that itï¿½s not thetitles you have that is important. it is what you do with the titles that you have thatis important. you have to bring others along.ï¿½

for those of you that have served our country,for example, in the infantry and any armed forces, you know that when you're in a rut,when you are in a bunker and you're under attack and one of your partners comes in topull you out, you do not latch on with two hands. you grab with one and you pull anotherbehind to make sure that you're bringing somebody behind. that is what that man is about. thoseare the values my grandmother taught me, and i know itï¿½s what drives you. thatï¿½s why when i was called to serve thisadministration, to think about what the presidentï¿½s value system was, to use entrepreneurship,to go into communities like flint, to go into communities like baltimore, to go into communitieslike ferguson where the sba has gone to say:

if you canï¿½t get a job with sba, you canstart your own. thatï¿½s what this millennial program is all about. we are committed tothat in to say, how can we give you a skillset? we see people who are great on youtube andthen they convert that into a business. theyï¿½re really good stars and have a great voice.how do we get them to become consultants with that? thatï¿½s our job and thatï¿½s where i getgreat joy of. why it is that the sba said when the president announced my brotherï¿½skeeper, we at sba said thereï¿½s going to be an entrepreneurial component to that. yes,thereï¿½s education. yes, thereï¿½s social. thereï¿½s a labor component, but there mustbe an entrepreneurial component to it. that

is why we were smart enough to call in mikemuse because we know we do not have the cache weï¿½d all like to have. weï¿½re not as cool.my kids tell me, mom, you are not cool. we knew that we needed to attract people likeyourself that really has a great brand across the country to help us lift entrepreneurshipand bring it to communities that normally would not think of coming to the small businessadministration. mike:thank you. i think you're cool. i just want to put that out there. weï¿½re cool together.madame administrator, i just want to ask you one question before we bring mr. secretaryup here. you actually talk about your upbringing. you talk about you being a latina. you talkabout you being a business owner. you invoked

your grandmother. you also invoked that momentof grabbing and then pulling at the same time. how do you invoke that in your job? how doyou advocate for people of color? how do you advocate as being a latina and a businessowner when iï¿½m sure you may get pushback with that term? what about the others? howdo you cut down the middle with that so that you do that? thatï¿½s a very difficult nuancebecause we all bring our experiences into whatever area that weï¿½re in no matter yourbackground. maria:the beauty of the small business administration and why i urge all of you to come and experiencesome component ï¿½ if it doesnï¿½t work for you, i hope that youï¿½ll let us know becausejust like our democracy, the sba is a work

in progress. the really important thing toshare is that itï¿½s not as though there is a fixed denominator. people want counseling.we donï¿½t say, oh, weï¿½re done because we just did 10 counselings today. if there are12 to be done, if there are 15, if there are 1,000 counselings to be done, we manage itand we fit them in. itï¿½s not as if we have to put a cap on the work. thereï¿½s no competition.if a woman comes in, if a latina comes in, if an asian comes in, and african-americancomes in, we have the capacity to do it all. the really beautiful thing i have to sharewith you because we do three things. if you take anything away from what i say, i hopethat youï¿½ll remember these three things. that is that sba provides unlimited counselingto somebody who is contemplating starting

a business or repairing or growing their business.i love that weï¿½ve made it in a really accessible way. for example, the lgbt community, we hear thattheyï¿½ve been having obviously challenges. weï¿½ve seen the legislation. we say we wantto empower the community. we went out and launched a program called business builderwhere weï¿½re going out and reaching out to communities. the deaf, the hard of hearing,theyï¿½re over 40% unemployed. we launched a video relay service to be able to providethem counseling in a way that theyï¿½re comfortable so that they can start services for theirown community. we have for our aging population. they liveda long, hard life, sometimes in a corporation

but they still say, i never fulfilled my passion.we have an encore entrepreneur program. for people who transition out of uniform fromtheir military service, we call it boots to business. we have strategies for that. allthese counseling programs. thatï¿½s the c. the next one is then you say, but now thati have a great plan, i need access to capital. itï¿½s what we were talking earlier. if youneed access to capital, you go to a bank. thatï¿½s where you go, whether itï¿½s an onlinechannel or a conventional bank you walk in, but sometimes you donï¿½t qualify. the sbastands in ï¿½ some people have a wealthy uncle. weï¿½re your uncle sam. we come in and westand in to guarantee your loan, which sometimes that gets the bank more often to say yes.weï¿½re really delighted that we have this

partnership with chase here today becausetheyï¿½re one of our strongest lenders. the third thing that then you say, i needcustomers. i need access to markets. what we do at the sba is we take ï¿½ the largestprocure in the universe is the us government. sba takes a quarter of that spend and directsit to small business. we go to the pentagon. we go to the laboratories and department ofenergy and all across government and we say, one quarter of your spend has got to be goingto small businesses. we have sub-goals that we assign them; so many african-american,hispanic. we do the whole thing. thatï¿½s how weï¿½re creating a stronger middle class,and thatï¿½s whatï¿½s so exciting about the programs. itï¿½s not as though weï¿½re competing.

the congress gave us another goal, not justthe quarter of directing, of contracting the small businesses. they gave us a 5% goal forwomen. five percent, ladies. the point was that the us government had never reached thatgoal. when i arrived, i was dog determined to meet that goal as well. iï¿½m proud thatjust a couple of weeks ago, i stood with valerie jarrett from the white house and we announcedthat for the first time, the us government actually exceeded the goal of 5% of contractingwith women. mike:thatï¿½s amazing. i canï¿½t think of a better way to introduce our next guest with a roundof applause. madame administrator, i give you the honor of introducing this next gentleman.

maria:i have to tell you that thereï¿½s a whole bunch of us. i don't know what now the numberis. broderick knows, but i think there are about 15, 16 of us that report directly tothe president as cabinet members; the secretary of state and defense and energy. you can imaginethat the president has got much bigger priorities than always worrying about our whereabouts.he has one what i call a really supreme being who coordinates our activities and reportsto the president and reports on whether weï¿½re naughty or nice. we all love him. this iswhat we call the cabinet secretary. ladies and gentlemen, please meet mr. broderick johnson. mike:welcome to the conversation, mr. secretary.

broderick:supreme what? mike:supreme being, i believe, the almighty, omnipotent, all knowing. i think the reason why shouldcan say that, mr. secretary, is because what she left out ï¿½ it was a brilliant introduction.what you left out was that you are a michigan man, a university of michigan, wolverine,go blue. thatï¿½s the most important part of your intro. broderick:go blue. there we go. should we sing a fight song here? mike:literally we did this in his office for a

meeting and it changed my life forever, singingtheir victor at the white house. broderick:we almost got thrown out too. mike:literally, being a little bit too loud. mr. secretary, itï¿½s an honor to have you hereon this stage with us, as we celebrate the second anniversary of the my brotherï¿½s keeperinitiative and more so as we celebrate and as we continue to change the narrative onhow we see our men of color entering the entrepreneurship space and doing it their way. just start talking,if you will, but more so, let me guide you a little bit. why did the president even beginthis initiative? what was that process like when you guys ï¿½ actually, if you can justwalk us through that backroom conversation

as you guys were so bold to say that weï¿½regoing to focus on a program such as this. tell us about that conversation and tell usabout the why and why you guys have stayed so resolute for two years in this space. broderick:your enthusiasm is great, mike. let me just say that. mike:thank you. broderick:it truly is. let me start also by just thanking this exceptional member of the presidentï¿½scabinet, the administrator. i get to work with all the cabinet members. there are favorites.you're among my favorite because of ï¿½ i

mean this because of your commitment to thework that you do for small businesses, for the folks that you empower on your team, butalso for caring so much about mbk. because mbk, this isnï¿½t easy. this is having tolook at what really inspired the president to do this in the first place, that is touse his power as president. that was the tragedy of trayvon martin and the verdict. i remember talking to the president not longafter that and he said, ï¿½iï¿½ve been working on these issues. weï¿½ve got programs. iï¿½vebeen concerned and working on these issues since i was a community organizer, but aspresident of the united states, i want to use my power with all the federal agenciesand all the resources at my disposal, but

also my power to convene people, to bringpeople together from the public and private sector and to change the way we do this work.ï¿½there are hundreds of programs in cities that work on boys and young men of color issuesand other children who we would regard as vulnerable, but a lot of times, people spintheir wheels. they donï¿½t have a sense of collaboration or they canï¿½t get people tothe table. what the president understood he could do is bring people to the table. that really was the genesis of my brotherï¿½skeeper. six months after he came to the nation or spoke to the nation about trayvon martin,he started my brotherï¿½s keeper from the east room of the white house.

mike:wow. broderick:mike, if i could just say something about where he did it. i would certainly ask allof you to go to the white house website. the fact that when you go to whitehouse.gov, thereï¿½sa page that takes you to my brotherï¿½s keeper and there is a robust description of whatwe do but also profiles of the people that we are helping along the way. youï¿½ll alsosee some what iï¿½m sure will be iconic images of this presidency. first of all, when hesigned the initiative, the presidential memorandum, he did it from the east room of the whitehouse. thatï¿½s where bills get signed. thatï¿½s where the civil rights legislation got signed.the president wanted to make sure that it

had all the formality, the pomp and circumstanceof anything else that he did. iï¿½d invite you to go and look at that photographof the president signing the memorandum with 20 young men of color standing behind him.thatï¿½s rich and that says an awful lot about what this means to him and what this meanshistorically. mike:mr. secretary, you're right. i think as i even mentioned earlier, as we began the program,we really talked about optics and we talked about how optics has power. imagery is verypowerful. to be able to see these young men of color stand behind him and then to seeyou by his side together advocating for that, i am moved by that and iï¿½m in it. seeingon youtube and the cabinet fight the way that

you do energizes myself and my team to keephaving these very difficult and challenging conversations, which leads me to my next point.you mentioned what sparked this initiative was trayvon martin. as you're talking about across the countryand as you're talking about across the country, administrator, and as i go across the country,young people of color have a myriad of issues, a myriad of problems. we often try and tacklein law and we often try and prioritize which is more important. maybe set issue is moreimportant than set b. for you, mr. secretary, why is it importantfor economic empowerment? what is it about our entrepreneurship initiative that reallyspeaks to you and the president and the cabinet

on why economic empowerment is important tohelp change and solve some of our issues that we are currently facing in our nation? broderick:let me say this. in terms of, first of all, the construction of the taskforce, so to speak,the people who are ï¿½ the cabinet secretaries who are part of it. you would expect the secretaryof education, you expect secretary of health and human services ï¿½ because so many issuesare about education. you expect the attorney general and department of justice. would youalso expect the small business administration, the department of commerce, the departmentof the treasury, the department of energy to all be part of it as well? probably not.

thatï¿½s one of the things that makes us sodifferent, is that those ï¿½ including with the white house, the council of economic advisers,which by the way issued a report on the economic imperative of my brotherï¿½s keeper. again,looking at this not just as an issue of moral responsibility of this country, but economicresponsibility. the president has been very clear. we cannot compete globally if we continueto leave millions of young people off the field. that is what weï¿½ve done for so longin this country. thatï¿½s why we are working so much with the economic arms of this administration. maria:just to give you an example. when i went to visit flint to walk around with these familiesthat arenï¿½t getting ï¿½ maslow's hierarchy

of needs. water is at the bottom. thatï¿½sthe most fundamental thing that we need to build life. talking to the mayor and walkingthe streets and visiting with the families, they said ï¿½ obviously, iï¿½m not againstlarge or small. i think we need them both. when they said that so many corporations hadleft, you remember flint was a mega automobile industry, giant job-creating machine. we had90,000 jobs and now there are about 19 ï¿½ itï¿½s changed dramatically. what the people did,they were on their own and they say, we must start building our own institutions becauseno one is coming to help us. i went to visit a small business restaurant.everybody honored him, went to that family-owned restaurant. he was able to win a second oneand a third. he now has four all connected.

the kitchen in the middle so heï¿½s able tobuild efficiencies out to take care of his customers. iï¿½ve seen that domestically.we just left colombia, medellin. do you know what was going on in colombia in the armsand everything that was taking place? mike:yeah. maria:theyï¿½ve shared almost an identical story. i want to tell you that, mike, they just said,we were all on our own and we just said, what are we going to do? the young kids just cameforward and started building their businesses and supporting and sharing their dollars andpulling their dollars and change this community and are now changing the country. thatï¿½sthe power that we have within us and thatï¿½s

the power weï¿½re trying to harness. mike:that goes to just a couple of issues. it goes back to the notion of flint and the dire needand how different needs pop up on a continuous basis. ms. administrator, that goes to whatyou were just saying in terms of how important the work is but also, too, recognizing thatthis is just the second year as you recognize how much more needs to be done. with me andmy team, when we set out to do this millennial video series, we knew what the purpose wasand we knew the why. as we begin to search for individuals who look like lance, who youwill meet a little bit later, we had difficulty finding that lance. we had difficulty findingthat success story. we literally had a moment

where we broke down and we raised our handsand we said yes to the call, such as you and you. we said yes to responsibility that we willgo, we will lead, we will take it. we will take the hits, but not really realizing howdire the situation really is. i consider myself awoke. i consider myself really aware of whatï¿½shappening but then not really understanding how bad it really was in our search for lanceand how important it was for us to be able to tell a lance story. as you go, how do you wrestle with that? howdo you guys go into your meetings in your cabinet in the roosevelt room and just beginto say, how much more can we do? what is next?

is it exhaustive? where are areas for growthbecause things just keep popping up like flint? broderick:it is exhausting at times, emotionally exhausting. i was born and raised in baltimore. i thoughti had escaped baltimore. i used to say that, real arrogant, right? i escaped from baltimore,went off to college, went off to law school and didnï¿½t go back. i was in dc but iï¿½dgo see my family or go to a baseball game, but otherwise, it was like, oh, baltimore,and i got that out of my life. then, i realized as i got into this work and especially aftergoing back to baltimore around the freddie gray tragedy and the eruption of emotionsin baltimore, it reminded me of where i came from and of the values of the people, notjust my parents but the people who also helped

raise me in baltimore and how a lot of timespeople donï¿½t hear about people who go through struggle in a place like baltimore and comeout and do well. those stories donï¿½t get told, and so itï¿½shard to repeat them. success begets success. we have to keep telling stories about successso other young people have a lot of hope. it can be hard. we were in miami for an mbk event and it wasa full day of mbk activities. at the end of the day, we met with a group of 20 young menages 8 through 20. they are growing up in liberty city. liberty city is about as impoverishedin this country as it gets economically, not in terms of values but in terms of ï¿½ weasked all these boys and young men how many

of them knew someone who had died from gunviolence, and we werenï¿½t shocked every hand went up. there was one young man. he was aboy. he was probably 10 and he had on one of those t-shirts that has a picture of imagesof two people thatï¿½s an in-memoriam t-shirt. i asked him with hesitation who they were,and he said that one was his cousin and one was his neighbor. theyï¿½ve both been shotto death. oftentimes, what you get after that is, ï¿½soi donï¿½t expect to live to be 16.ï¿½ thatï¿½s not what this young man said because heï¿½sin a program with mentors who care about him. he said, ï¿½i going to go to famu one day.ï¿½every young man in the room talked about where theyï¿½re going to go to college. we talkedabout narrative. we talked about changing.

this is not pollyannaish. we got a lot ofwork to do, and itï¿½s exhausting, but thereï¿½s a lot of reason for hope. maria:speaking of hope, if i may just chime in. mike:please. maria:iï¿½m so proud of our team for coming up with this idea again. sba is the best assembledteam weï¿½ve ever seen at sba in my view. they came in and they said that so many youngpeople want to start their first job. when theyï¿½ve taken a left turn instead of takingthe right that they should have taken, they end up incarcerated. once youï¿½ve been incarcerated,when you get out and you're applying for a

job, you have to check that box that says,have you ever been in prison? have you ever been a felon? you have to check that box,and you know whatï¿½s going to happen as soon as you check that box. we thought about thatand we said, these are men and women who have served society by paying their dues, servingtheir time, and now theyï¿½ve come out and they need to feed their families and themselves,and the corporations are probably not going to hire them. government may or may not hirethem. we said, what can we do at the sba? we decidedthat for our applciations for the low loans, the microloans, we would ban the box. iï¿½mreally excited about this. itï¿½s now not asked anymore because we say itï¿½s time thatwe give them the opportunity. we believe in

second chance. we give it to others who havecommitted white collar crime. why arenï¿½t we doing it for all of our community? we justsaid thatï¿½s it. weï¿½re banning the box. itï¿½s really changing the way people canaccess capital. mike:iï¿½m glad you actually mentioned that. thereï¿½s a tie you two win, to banning the box andaccess of capital, being in environments like liberty city and thereï¿½s something aboutin that space and confinement. that becomes your norm and so you don't know anything else.you get caught up in that. i don't know whatï¿½s on the rabbit hole what psychology means behindthat, but being from lansing, michigan, from the automotive industry area, i had familyin goose. itï¿½s not too far from liberty

city. we went for a vacation. thatï¿½s thefirst time i ever heard of a gunshot as a child, and it shook me, and that was out ofmy comfort zone. as we begin just to hear even more storiesof gunshots and inflictions and impoverished being in cities going under and weï¿½re banningthe box, how can programs like sba and how can programs like mbk as we come together,when we meet those students ï¿½ because now this involves the community of harlem. thisnow involves the conversation for you guys to be included with us, of new york city,of the five boroughs. how do we grab that young person and then how do we guide themto a place where they can to these types of programs that you are offering at the sba?how do we access this cradle-to-careers of

opportunities which is the backbone of thembk? broderick:let me say first and picking up on what maria mentioned in terms of banning the box. thepresident has issued an order to all the agencies, all the cabinet agencies to ban the box withregard to federal employment applications. i applaud you for what you're doing aroundloans but banning the box as well. it builds on the same thing about second chances, andwe know how important second chances are because none of us is perfect and well make mistakes.the president oftentimes speaks about that very personally himself when he meets withyoung people. one of the things thatï¿½s very differentabout the approach with my brotherï¿½s keeper

that differs from other things is that itï¿½svery systematic. we know there are points in the life of every young person where interventionis critical, and it starts with cradle, and it starts with what happens in the first threeyears of life? then, what happens when a kid is in elementary school in terms of expulsionand suspension? it goes of course to being ready for college and being ready for a career,and then what happens when you get in trouble in life? you maybe spend some time incarcerated?whatï¿½s the second chance that you get? we have to take that approach. we also have todo it based on data that we know, evidence that we know makes a difference. that is whatis so different as well, and it helps to sustain this work.

maria:i just wanted to add to what mr. johnson said. when iï¿½ve gone out in the community andconnect with people, you see in some instances, in some communities where itï¿½s generational.i think itï¿½s really important at least particularly our young men ï¿½ i was at harris-stowe universityas an example. the young man said, ï¿½iï¿½ve just never had anybody that cared for me.the fact that you would come from dcï¿½ ï¿½ i explained to him. iï¿½m in evergreen. donï¿½tput me on that pedestal. it was very touching and obviously disturbing for me to have themsay, ï¿½iï¿½ve never had anybody that cared for me. if i just knew that i was valued bysomebody, it would build my self-esteem and then i could conquer anything.ï¿½ sometimes,itï¿½s just the will. yes, we have resources,

and iï¿½ve mentioned what they are, but itï¿½salso an emotional connection. i want to tell you that that is why we feelthat the programs that weï¿½re doing here with this program to showcase ty hunter, toshowcase mike muse, so that people see that you care for them and that you understandthem and that we understand them. in a connected way, weï¿½re reaching out to them and askingthem to join us and be a part of our family. thatï¿½s what this is about, is to say people,you matter. you matter. 80 million millennials matter in our country. you had them unemployed.at a certain point, thereï¿½s only so much you can carry when you get into the programs,social security and everything else that has to happen.

itï¿½s important for our country. itï¿½s importantfor our communities. this is how despotism begins. if you donï¿½t address the populationsthat feel that theyï¿½re being disenfranchised. itï¿½s very, very compelling to me, the valuethat i have that you're all joining us and that you're helping to tell your stories sothat people feel that there is a path forward for them. this is why weï¿½re here today.i want to thank you and all of the fine people that youï¿½ve brought into this program. wesalute you today. you are phenomenal. thank you so much. mike:thank you. before you guys leave the stage, mr. secretary, if you could help me answerthe most frequently asked question that i

get going to the bodega, going to my coffeeshop, as i travel on the airplane, just, how can i help? how can i get involved in my brotherï¿½skeeper? what can i do? please answer that. broderick:thatï¿½s a great question. first, you mentioned caring adults. mentoring is very, very fundamentalto what my brotherï¿½s keeper is all about. the president has emphasized this over andover again. along with ï¿½ how many people saw the steph curry video, steph curryï¿½svideo with the president? it was actually fun to watch the two of them prepare to dothat too, the volcano and all that stuff. they had a great time. four million peoplesaw that video on facebook after the first time it was shown in the first couple of days.the impact that itï¿½s had on mentorship registrations

across the country has been profound. i wantto encourage all of you. you can go to the white house website and you can get a linkto the mentor inc. nba in real life campaign. thatï¿½s one thing. second, for those of you who are small businessowners, take a young person under your wings. make that person an apprentice in your organization.teach them about what it is to run a business. give someone a second chance whoï¿½s beenin trouble. there are things that you can do there as well. otherwise, i think itï¿½s just spread theword with people you know about the fact that this is ï¿½ my brotherï¿½s keeper is not goingaway. we have 260 days left, i think, in this

administration. maria:heï¿½s counting them. broderick:weï¿½re not counting the days. weï¿½re making the days count. maria:there you go. i like that. broderick:as the president has said and as you all know and as more and more communities ï¿½ thereare 250 my brotherï¿½s keeper communities across the country. this work will be sustainedpost-presidency. the president has made it clear this is life work for him. itï¿½s lifework for all of us, but to have the tremendous

power of this president, post-presidency,working on these issues, it will give all of us reason to continue to be involved fordecades to come. mike:with that being said, ladies and gentlemen, please give it up for our cabinet secretaries.i donï¿½t think you guys realize how special it is to have two presidential cabinet secretarieson 125th street at the apollo. thank you so much for this. donï¿½t move. weï¿½re stillgoing to be here for our second round of our panelist discussions, right, mr. upperman? christopher:absolutely. please, weï¿½re just going to have a five-minute intermission and weï¿½llget started in about five to seven minutes.

thank you. [crosstalk 00:56:50] mike:as you guys take your seats, iï¿½m just going to do some entertaining. iï¿½m going to cracksome jokes. iï¿½ve always wanted to do amateur night at the apollo. iï¿½m mad that the woodtrunk isnï¿½t here, right? i wanted to rub on that. that sounded crazy. all right, beginto settle in. did everybody enjoy that conversation we had? yes, clapping up, clapping up. thatwas powerful, two cabinet secretaries. my god. iï¿½m thankful i can relax now. iwasnï¿½t really nervous about actually doing this. those who know me, i have some friendsin the audience. iï¿½m not shy to talk and to speak, but i was most nervous about isgetting their titles right. i was nervous

about it though. i thank god i grew up atpilgrim rest baptist church where on pastorï¿½s annual day, we had to give honor to god becausethatï¿½s how our day is, to the reverend, to the bishop, to the good doctor, precededtherefore thereby the good trustees, preceded therefore by the good deacons, preceded bythe good motherï¿½s board, and preceded by the good president of the usherï¿½s board.amen. if i missed anybody, sorry, itï¿½s in my head and not my heart. i was so stressed.we had a mr. secretary then we had an madame administrator whoï¿½s a secretary but do isay secretary? then, congressman rangel just threw me allthe way off. do i say honorable? in my mind, i always called him charlie and i think thatï¿½sdisrespectful on the stage to call him charlie.

i didnï¿½t know what to do. i was nervous.i think weï¿½re ready. chris wants me to stop talking. you all want me to stop talking?no. i donï¿½t want to stop talking either. chris is a hater. christopher:iï¿½m not a hater at all. no. iï¿½ll take a point of privilege. i want to invite thesba administrator back to the stage. this is a wonderful leader as you all have justbeen able to witness and see in her passion and efforts. on behalf of all of you all inthis audience, weï¿½re just really, really pleased and i want to invite her back up tothe stage. we have some great things that we want to do. this is a little off the schedule,but i want to go ahead and do this.

maria:this is national small business week so itï¿½s a particular week when we really promote tohonor all the mom and pops and across the country that really work hard each and everyday to create something special in a community. i donï¿½t travel to the other side of thecountry to go a costco. i go because i wanted to go to get chicagoï¿½s popcorn at garrettï¿½s.itï¿½s always the small business that attracts me. iï¿½m traveling today to eight citiesin about five days. weï¿½re working really hard. weï¿½re heading out right this minuteto head out to denver and then phoenix and then oakland and san francisco. we end upin los angeles. anyway, so i apologize that i canï¿½t stay as long as i want, but i wantedyou to know that this is personal for me.

i mentioned that i was born in guadalajara,jalisco, mexico. mike:come on, spanish. maria:i mentioned my grandmother. she was a tough, tough migrant worker. she always said thatif i worked hard and brought others along that someday, i might be able to work in anoffice and be a secretary. the good lord heard her and allowed me to hold office and to bea cabinet secretary. itï¿½s real beautiful. thank you. mike:thatï¿½s all right. maria:thatï¿½s the power of entrepreneurship. we

love that mike and his team have joined us.i wanted to hear them and then present these. now iï¿½m going to take it out of order. iï¿½mso sorry. with the power bestowed upon me by the president of the united states as theadministrator, the head of the us small business administration, i did not bring the framesbecause they didnï¿½t fit in my bag, but i brought beautiful resolutions to give themtoday. the first one goes to [carl jones shropshire 01:06:15]. did i say that right? again, forhis extraordinary work on sbaï¿½s behalf, leading the mbk biz my way millennial entrepreneursfor the video series that you helped us to present. congratulations. mike:carl. [crosstalk 01:06:35]

maria:did you get that shot? thank you. all right. now we have mike museï¿½s team members, [naleti,andrea, carl and reval 01:06:54] for their exceptional work, amplifying the message ofinclusion and increasing access to opportunities for young people, especially young peopleof color through our work. mike:ms. administrator, we have a couple more from our team. we have sybil. we have yvonne. wehave adam, if you can come up to the stage too as well. drake couldnï¿½t join us. ebonycouldnï¿½t join us. am i missing anybody? and kwaku, team amuti, sybil. 01:07:24]. kwaku,hurry up and get the picture. hold on, madam administrator. hold on. we have two importantteam members. yvonne, is she up here yet?

yvonne is so short. i canï¿½t see here. yvonne,are you there? she left. amen. weï¿½re going to cry for her. maria:weï¿½re going to redo this so everybodyï¿½s name is on it. christopher:here we go. maria:thank you. [crosstalk 01:07:52] finally, the one and only, the big finale. i canï¿½t tellyou enough about this fine gentleman. you feel his energy. you feel his heart, his passion.he is in it with his heart, body, soul, everything. ladies and gentlemen, please honor a dearfriend of the sba in this great country of

ours. please bring up my very special friend,mike muse, in recognition of his generous contributions for inspiring the spirit ofentrepreneur in this great nation. congratulations. we love you. all right. mike:thank you so much, madam administrator. maria:thank you again. itï¿½s good to see you. [crosstalk 01:08:45] mike:talk about a surprise. i was not expecting that at all. this is a night of surprises.i don't know what else is next. i was definitely just honored that ï¿½ you got to turn yourmic off. thank you. i was just honored and

thankful of that, just to see my team gethonored because although iï¿½m up here, iï¿½m doing a lot of talking, this literally cannotbe done, the work that weï¿½re doing. andrea and i, we had this saying that we say, whyjust shoot for the moon? she always says to me, ï¿½mike, what about going to mars? whatabout going to pluto?ï¿½ we literally try and get to mars and pluto because the moonjust isnï¿½t enough. as we began to lay out this program, iï¿½mgoing to be completely honest, we have laid out a very advantageous, bold, never beendone program ever, to scale the heights weï¿½re scaling with the academy, the oscars. ourlittle team partnered with the oscars. our little team, not being bold-faced names. weï¿½renot on the cover of gq. weï¿½re not on national

television on a daily basis. we were ableto secure the oscars. our little team that could, weï¿½re not bold-facednames but we were able to bring uscï¿½s cinematic school of the arts to the table and to partnerwith us and to create a six-week film intensive for free. if those boys came to our summitin la at the academy, they can touch it. they can see it. they know that itï¿½s real. youknow how hard that is to get the number one film school in the world to bring six weeksfor free? i donï¿½t have a name. iï¿½m not in the cover of any magazine, but we got themto say yes. then, we have our music summit coming up in june at the grammy foundationto partner with our little team, our little engine that could because this team workstirelessly.

we get told no a lot, constantly get toldno a lot. to be constantly get told, what about girls? well, weï¿½ll give you moneyif you include everybody. we stay strong and we say weï¿½ll pass because this matters.if we have to work another four hours, another eight hours, they have real jobs, people.they actually have real jobs, but yet they dedicate their personal time, late nightsto saying yes to young men of color and saying yes to me and saying yes to this initiativewhen it is so not easy. carl ï¿½ the only reason why weï¿½re hereis because of carl. literally, this man is a one-camera operation, one camera. all thosevideos you saw, that was one camera. yes, one camera. do you know how physical thatis for one person to have one camera and to

shoot as if he had three? to do quality editingas if he had a full editing team, to make all these gentlemen look good. at 4:00 inthe morning, 5:00 in the morning, carl, we need another edit. carl, the white house legalï¿½ we need this. carl, we canï¿½t say that. carl, can you edit? carl, can you do ï¿½ carl,the lady can attest to this, has never said no, never. please give it up for carl. enough of me being all emotional and passionate.when you have a team that rise with you, you just got to say thank you. you just got toacknowledge them. you just give them their due props. iï¿½m so glad they have the opportunityto stand here before you and you guys not only see the hashtag, #teammbkchamp. you knowexactly whoï¿½s working tirelessly for these

young men of color. with that, we just have an incredible panelist,individuals who are clearly the king of zamunda. the night just gets better with royalty and congressmen and nigerian princesses. ididnï¿½t know coming to america. thatï¿½s amazing ï¿½ that are here today. you guysdid a video. as you guys went viral ï¿½ you guys iï¿½m sure are following all of themon instagram. i think combined, itï¿½s like 15 million followers on here. itï¿½s insanethe impact itï¿½s having. i was really excited to speak with you gentlemen today in thisevening here because i just came back from a trip to denver. for the few hours i have,you may have some of my posts. i was out there too in the mbk summit. i was going to do akeynote and they had booked me to do a workshop.

the workshop, iï¿½m talking about entrepreneurship,how can young men do entrepreneurship, etc.? there was this one young man. itï¿½s a largeroom. iï¿½m talking in front of a large room full of kids, community partners, leaders,political, media. itï¿½s really important to say that, media ï¿½ was there. this youngman, he says to me. weï¿½re doing q&a. heï¿½s like, ï¿½man, you know what, mike?ï¿½ iï¿½mlike, ï¿½what?ï¿½ he says, ï¿½you remind me of carlton.ï¿½ everybody laughed like thattoo. i laughed too for a minute. iï¿½m like, ï¿½wait a minute. carlton from the fresh prince?ï¿½he was like, ï¿½yeah, carlton.ï¿½ i was like, ï¿½oh man.ï¿½ theyï¿½re young. theyï¿½re like,ï¿½oh, he got you. oh, carlton.ï¿½ theyï¿½re like, ï¿½do the dance.ï¿½ iï¿½m like, ï¿½what?bro, careful what you're saying because my

clap back is strong. my mean game is strongon instagram. i will drag you.ï¿½ i did say that to a 14-year-old boy. i did say that.i did feel some kind of way but i did say that. iï¿½m like, ï¿½seriously. why do you callme carlton?ï¿½ he was basically like, ï¿½you know.ï¿½ i was like, ï¿½no, no, no. tell mewhy.ï¿½ i feel like weï¿½re about to have a moment and so i quieted the room down andmade everybody pay attention. i said, ï¿½listen. all jokes aside, i wonï¿½t be mad. i wonï¿½tbe angry. just tell me. why did you call me carlton?ï¿½ he got really nervous becausei went into the aisle and i went to his row. i made him look at me in the eye. i said,ï¿½why did you call me carlton?ï¿½ he couldnï¿½t

say anything. he put his head down, all that[verano 01:15:41], all that grown man went away and he became a child to what he is.i said, ï¿½why did you call me carlton?ï¿½ his friend next to him, michael w., he said,ï¿½because you're bougie and educated.ï¿½ it hit me. i said, ï¿½listen. i know whatyou're saying. iï¿½m going to take it for good. iï¿½m not mad. tell me, what does bougieand educated mean?ï¿½ he said, ï¿½i don't know. i canï¿½t explain it, just bougie andeducated.ï¿½ i was like, ï¿½is that a good thing or is that a bad thing?ï¿½ he says,ï¿½itï¿½s a good thing.ï¿½ i said, ï¿½why?ï¿½ he said, ï¿½we donï¿½t see people who looklike you in our neighborhood. you're different.ï¿½ it allowed me to have this incredible momentof redefining what it means to be carlton,

really redefining what it means to be bougieand what it means to be educated because he wasnï¿½t doing it as a dis, as i learned inthat moment, which iï¿½ve always took it to be. these children just have ï¿½ theyï¿½reunable to articulate what theyï¿½re really trying to say. it comes off as this dis. we as our professional class, we say, oh,because iï¿½m reading, they want to call me bougie and i can read, but theyï¿½re not reallysaying that. we have to be careful really in how we really think that through. is itreally so much them calling us bougie and oreo and uncle tom because weï¿½re reading,or is it that they donï¿½t see nobody like us? they don't know how to describe it. thisis how theyï¿½re describing it.

i was beginning to take these insults andget mad and go on social media and write op-eds about we need to read more and be comfortableand reading is cool, but we really need to understand what these children are reallyjust trying to communicate to us that they just donï¿½t see nobody like us, which iswhy iï¿½m so glad that these gentlemen are here because as i told him, i am not the exception.i am the norm. itï¿½s important that we expose our young men of color to the norm. thesegentlemen are the norm. please, give it up for the norm. the first norm that we have is mr. reggiemiller of iced media. give it up for reggie miller. the second norm we have is mr. tyhunter. ty lite. follow the dot. the next

norm we have is mr. lance rios. the next normwe have is hollywood hino. the next norm we have is chef max. gentlemen, thank you for joining me todayand being here. weï¿½re going to do a q&a with the audience. this is the interactivepart. this is the time where you can get your questions. think about it. i want you to beengaged. i want this to be a two-way conversation. i canï¿½t talk all night. i need you all tohelp a brother out a little bit. please, letï¿½s make it fun. letï¿½s make it interactive.if i havenï¿½t called on you yet, just raise your hand, like, yo, mike. just be respectful,just like, yo, mike. do you know what i mean? be respectful but just say, yo, mike.

this is an open question. what does that meanto you when they say weï¿½re not the norm that weï¿½re the exception? what do you guysjust take from that? whoever wants to go first, what does that say to you about being theexception and not the norm but really repositioning and reframing and redefining that we are thenorm and not the exception? what does that mean? maxcel:it goes back to when we talked on the video. they donï¿½t get to see it every day. as achef, growing up in inner city of detroit, i didnï¿½t see chefs growing up. all i saw,like cool guys at ï¿½ maybe iï¿½ll be a barber or iï¿½ll be a lawyer or are you supposedto go be a doctor or a teacher? wanting to

be a chef wasnï¿½t the norm. i wanted to figureout what that normal was and then set the bar of that within just what i do as a chef.thatï¿½s how i feel. mike:lance, what does that say to you though? you in particular. you and i have had some amazingconversations when we talked on set just about our path of even getting to you. as you goabout and do digital influencing with the latino space and hispanic market, as you beginto find and uncover people who arenï¿½t the exception but who are the norm, whose responsibilityis it for us to get our young men of color to recognize more norms out there? whose responsibilityis it? lance:i think a lot of it is people feel what they

don't know and kids make fun of things theydon't know because thatï¿½s their way of expressing their fear. i think that itï¿½s definitelyup to us to be able to lead in any capacity when it comes back to the community becausewithout us being recognized as figures of something that is actually attainable, somethingthat is realistic for people, for young people of color, itï¿½s hard to imagine that. thereï¿½s this stigma i think across multiculturalcommunities, latinos definitely from my perspective where itï¿½s like, oh, you're acting white.that white aspect of it has so much tie to it of things that people really aspire tobe. white means that you are educated, that you speak differently from a lot of otherpeople in the communities that theyï¿½re used

to, that you have access to money. you havea nice car. you have nice clothes. you have nice whatever. i think that being able to go back to thosecommunities and show these kids that it is attainable is super important because iï¿½msure that weï¿½ve all experienced a very similar situation where itï¿½s like, coming up anddoing whatever weï¿½re doing, itï¿½s not easy. itï¿½s very hard, but to a certain extent,weï¿½ve all reached a certain platform because we believed that it was attainable. i thinkthat by us simply having the presence and really making a goal and an effort to speakto people of color, to young people of color, it really makes a huge difference.

mike:in some regards, ty, as much as i say, weï¿½re not the exception but weï¿½re the norm. ilook at you and actually say that you might be the exception, maybe for reasons that peoplemay not know where iï¿½m going with that. just the fact of as our culture, we are ajazzy people. we are colorful. we are the flyest in the room. we set the trends. whateverwe start wearing becomes a thing a year or two years out. we spend our money on clothesand shoes. we line up to get the new jordans. fashion is our thing, but we consume it. thatï¿½swhat we do. we consume it. we donï¿½t see people ï¿½ i didnï¿½t see ï¿½ iï¿½ve traveled around before i came to newyork. iï¿½m highly educated, worldly, well

read. i didnï¿½t meet anybody like you untili came to new york who was doing styling, whenever that was, but then after a while,i didnï¿½t meet any black people who were stylists. for sure, i didnï¿½t meet any blackmen that were stylists. in that area, you are the exception. how do we, ty, begin tomake that shift so that people like you do become that norm and that we are able to educateour young men of color to say, you donï¿½t have just to buy the jordan but you can createyour own shoe line? you can own the company. it doesnï¿½t have to be just public schoolout there with a fashion line but it could be your name-dot-com. how do we do that? ty:i think itï¿½s important. even with me, iï¿½ve

always been into fashion and i always wantedto do it. i felt like i didnï¿½t want that stamp of being ï¿½ they put you ï¿½ mike:careful. [crosstalk 01:23:43] they donï¿½t want you to be great, ty. come on, paulo,let ty be great. ty:come on. tighten me up over here. mike:let me make you comfortable. ty:mine is raggy. anyway, what iï¿½m trying to say is that even me, i wanted to do fashion,but at the same time, growing up, you didnï¿½t want to be labeled gay. you didnï¿½t wantto be labeled ï¿½ it was just hard because

you just didnï¿½t want to be put in a box.i went to school for a music video with my cousin. if you asked me to do something now,i wouldnï¿½t know what to do, but i wanted to do fashion. you have to just believe inyourself and forget what everybody else has to say about you and just live your dreamand your passion. i never thought i would be doing what iï¿½m doing. when you finallyreally believe who you are and not care what anybody else has to say, thatï¿½s when thingsstart happening for you. mike:yes. amen. reggie, iï¿½m going to put a little pressure on you. as we begin talking aboutwhose responsibility is it, whose fault is it, how do we transition that narrative? youcome from this amazing background of publishing

narrative at sales, advertising, magazinesto owning your own digital media company, iced media. is it the responsibility of peoplelike you to help transition that from exception to norm? is there blame to be placed on that?should individuals like you and your company do more to spread it because weï¿½re all ondigital now? weï¿½re all in these social media platforms where thatï¿½s a new age. your colleagues,should they be doing more to help emphasize this narrative, to showcase and expose individualslike this? reggie:i don't know about my colleagues, but i would definitely personally feel ï¿½ myself, i feellike i definitely have that responsibility. any chance i get to talk to anyone about startinga business, itï¿½s important for me to, first

thing is always say donï¿½t let people getin your head because someone is always going to, to your point, try to say you shouldnï¿½tdo that; you couldnï¿½t do that; you canï¿½t do that. even when i started my business,i heard from everybody, including my mother giving me statistics on how businesses goout of business. iï¿½m like, iï¿½m not trying to hear that. i think itï¿½s important toif someone has that belief that support that and not let people talk you out of that becausepeople that you look up to, they can be guidance counselors, whoever, people are quick to tryto talk someone out of an idea. mike:literally and talk you down, which leads me to my first video clip, if we can roll thefirst video clip of hollywood hino, please.

hollywood:you're looking at a man thatï¿½s failed 96% of the time, but that 4%, baby, is a beautifulthing. speaker 1:thatï¿½s when you win. hollywood:you're looking at the 4%. iï¿½ve used it and it opened a lot of doors, you know. mike:hollywood, when we were talking, you were talking about the 96% of the time that youfailed, to which reggie was talking about. you were talking about it because there issuch a high failure rate. you talked about hollywood:big time.

mike:you really owned that. you actually owned your failures and you said you're lookingat this 4%. hollywood:four percent. thatï¿½s what you're looking at. i made something out of it. i was bornand raised in west africa, nigeria. i came here. kids tease you and everything. you havean accent, donï¿½t speak english that good. i had to go through transition of startingall over again, a kid just brought here. i had to soak it all in. i had to learn everythingfrom scratch from what iï¿½m used to out there. that was already a huge task on its own tobelong, to make people like you, and go through high school and trying to find your place.i find my comfortability through playing sports

and just being good at it and just dedicatingmyself to finding your own. weï¿½re all on this stage for one reason. we find our passionand we turn it into an income. mike:how though? because a lot of people out there are probably interested in starting theirown companies, thought about it, who have yet to come up with the ideas because that96% is so strong. in that moment though of failure consistently, what is that transitionspace, that gap to 4%? walk us through in how you pushed through to get to that 4%. hollywood:what it does, it just makes you stronger. what doesnï¿½t kill you, it makes you stronger.you fall and you fall, but you learn to not

make the same mistake again. i think a lotof people give up after the first failure into trying to chase a dream of their ownand then they go back to working 9-to-5 or theyï¿½re like, maybe itï¿½s not for me. weall here, we have to battle with that, with our parents, with our family. your mom islike, go to school for medicine, every day in your ear, and you're living in her houseand you have to still chase a dream so you fight this demon because you have to obeyyour parents. mike:you do. hollywood:your parents are so ancient in their thinking that they donï¿½t think, oh, being a personaltrainer will make an exceptional living, which

is a struggle until today. itï¿½s still upand down. everybody knows that. iï¿½d rather work a thousand hours a week than work 9-to-5for somebody else. mike:you mentioned something interesting. chef, i want you to come into play with this becauseknowing your story, boxer, that was your dream. that was your hope. you and chef here arecoming out, you have sports. chef max, you wanted to be a basketball player. thatï¿½swhat you're interested in. talk to this audience though and talk to me more so as well. interms of the moment you pivot, we keep getting stuck in this rut. we keep working this, whateverjob that we have, and we keep having this idea and sometimes we get stuck. we keep itin the wall because of pride, humility, family,

others, etc. we donï¿½t want to pivot. weï¿½reembarrassed. we donï¿½t want to look at that we failed. tell us about the moment though,tell us about your pivot moment. when you pivoted from saying, you know what, this basketballthing ainï¿½t for me. i want to be a chef. what was that pivot moment like? maxcel:it goes back to just being a kid and not seeing that and then you get to that point wherelike, man, basketball is the key. i want to play basketball, but then you realize itï¿½snot going to be it, but you canï¿½t just stick in that rut. you got to continue to say, well,man, how can i turn this true passion to something that i really wanted to do? i turn into, man,iï¿½m going to cook for michael jordan one

day. maybe i canï¿½t make it to the nba, buti can still live a lifestyle as if i was an nba player. how can i do that? can i cookfor the top basketball players? absolutely. that gives me the opportunity to travel anddo all the same things that they would do if i was in nba. i think itï¿½s one of thosethings where you just have to figure out that passion, figure out how you can use it andmerge the two loves together. mike:essentially you mentioned some big celebrities. you mentioned michael jordan. thereï¿½s sotamayor.weï¿½re all aware that you are the personal chef for a lot of middle east royalties ora lot of big bold-faced names. i think now itï¿½s appropriate that we actually cue upthe next video of ty hunter as chef max has

led us, i believe, naturally into this nextconversation. letï¿½s run the tape of ty. ty:eventually, the headline would say ty hunter on something, but iï¿½m okay. itï¿½s michaeljacksonï¿½s little sister for a long time and then it was janet. they donï¿½t even saymichael. you know what i mean? there are certain things. right now, itï¿½s michael jacksonlittle sister. speaker 2:best piece of advice. i wasnï¿½t expecting that at all. thatï¿½s really amazing. mike:thatï¿½s good. ty, that was something i really noticed about you right out the gate whenyou said that. again, i donï¿½t get nervous

at all. i get nervous when it comes to technicalities.i was nervous to talk about the titles of the administrator and other cabinet secretary.for you, i worked really hard actually, ty. to be honest with you, i worked extremelyhard not to say beyoncï¿½. i really did because i wanted you to come in on your own merit.i knew you were working with amazing adventures. i wanted you to come in as that, as just tyhunter. i did not want to bring up beyoncï¿½ at all. love you, b, beehive. whatï¿½s up?shut out. donï¿½t drag me. no limits. love you, beehive. love you. i wanted you to beable to stand on your own. i was really big on that. it was interesting, ty. as we began to go,you kept bringing her name up. iï¿½m like,

why is he bringing her name up? he is messingme up. finally, you said that statement. i swear to god, i had a moment and i was like,thatï¿½s it. thatï¿½s the ultimate act of humility. thatï¿½s the ultimate act of submittingand to learn. talk to us about your process of how you go about that. thatï¿½s entrepreneurship.thatï¿½s the most successful ones who do that. ty:definitely. i had to explain to him, you guys, i want beyoncï¿½, beyoncï¿½, beyoncï¿½. mike:no, iï¿½m sorry. he said it one time and just the invoke ï¿½ ty:i was explaining to him, iï¿½m working on

other projects and everything i do outsideof just styling the queen that iï¿½m stamped beyoncï¿½s stylist. even if i ï¿½ my clothingline, beyoncï¿½s stylist came out with a clothing line. my phone case, beyoncï¿½s stylist cameout with a phone case. my emojis, anything i do is beyoncï¿½s stylist. i had to acceptthat and not run from it because that is the ï¿½ if i was not her stylist ï¿½ i canï¿½trun from that. thatï¿½s who i am. you know what i mean? i find a lot of times, peopleend up falling because itï¿½s like, iï¿½m not just a basketball wife or iï¿½m just nothis [crosstalk 01:34:09]. i ainï¿½t doing this or whatever. you were able to get these eyes on you fromthat, and you have to accept that. the key

is ï¿½ thatï¿½s why i say when janet jacksoncame out, it was like, michael jacksonï¿½s little sisterï¿½s single, michael jacksonï¿½slittle sister that, michael jacksonï¿½s little sister that. ty hunter had to work hard tobuild that up, so just beyoncï¿½s stylist will eventually ï¿½ the title will be ty huntercame out with his phone case and ty hunter did this and that. iï¿½m not ashamed of that.iï¿½m in the same ï¿½ iï¿½m around greatness. sheï¿½s a wonderful talent and iï¿½ve learnedso much from her. itï¿½s not like iï¿½m being tagged with something not great. thatï¿½sgreat. that shows me that i can be higher. thatï¿½s another thing. you have to acceptwho you are. donï¿½t run from who you are, especially if itï¿½s not a bad thing and thathelps lead you to more positive things on

your own. mike:amen. to tie with that, letï¿½s do a deep dive though because as i press with chef downhere about that pivot moment. what was that pivot moment when you went from basketballplayer to chef? thatï¿½s the hardest part by being an entrepreneur. how do you pivotfrom your 9-to-5? how do you pivot from i did have a barber shop. thatï¿½s not me anymore.now i need to do clothing line. thatï¿½s not me anymore. now i want to build a car. thatï¿½snot me anymore. how do you pivot because like you said, that stamp as stylist, but you haveyour emojis? you have your ty lite. you have all these incredible things. walk us throughthat moment where you said, i need to pivot?

thatï¿½s what people need to hear. ty:i just think the whole point of being uncomfortable in transitioning, when you're comfortable,you know itï¿½s time for change. itï¿½s just not good to put all your eggs in one basketanyway because anything could happen. you're living someone elseï¿½s life? you know you'reliving your dream, but also you're living someone elseï¿½s dream and you donï¿½t haveanything else to fall on. any time, this person can say, iï¿½m done. are you done when theyï¿½redone? itï¿½s important to have something to say thatï¿½s yours and claim your own. thatï¿½show starting my company and everything started happening from that.

mike:whatï¿½s your own and claiming and owning, reggie. letï¿½s just talk. you now own icedmedia and you make it look so easy and you make it look so effortless and you're reallyfirst in and turn that system in that era. you were once with vibe magazine at the timewhen vibe magazine was everything. it was epic. it was just the cultural indicator ofall cultural indicators. you jumped out the window and said iï¿½m out, iï¿½m leaving,iï¿½m going to do digital? the world wasnï¿½t even coming up with the internet yet, andyou're just like iï¿½m doing digital. what is that? how did you jump out the window likethat? these entrepreneurs, iï¿½m sure some of usin here are working like 9-to-5 and they want

to jump but they don't know where to jumpbecause their job is so good. the bonus at the end of the year is so good. iï¿½ll getone more. okay, iï¿½m going to leave after this bonus. as soon as i get my bonus, iï¿½mout, iï¿½m out, iï¿½m out. they came out with the bonus and theyï¿½re like, well, maybeone more year. when the getting is good, how did you leave? how did you untether yourselffrom that? reggie:the getting was definitely getting good because before i left, nine months before i left,i didnï¿½t want to be there anymore. probably a year before then ï¿½ i was married at thattime. i told my wife. i was like, ï¿½look. iï¿½m going to start this agency.ï¿½ also,i would just let you guys know. i handle my

own p&l at that time. i put myself in 100%raise, thinking, theyï¿½re never going to approve that. they approved that, but i stillleft. thatï¿½s the thing. nine months later, i still left because the check looked realgood for a minute then i still felt the same. i still had that passion that i wanted tostart my own business. at that time, the internet just seemed ï¿½ itwas like the wild, wild west. it felt right for me. there was definitely a void with digitalas far as advertising on the web. you're right. i definitely heard a lot of people who tryto talk you out of ï¿½ talked me out of, even when i started the business, trying to meetwith advertisers who literally said to me, do you think the internet is going to be around?iï¿½m like, where is it going to go? i used

to hear the craziest things. anyhow, yeah. mike:you guys are amazing panelists because you guys just set me up for all my segues. thankyou, reggie, because next, lance, iï¿½m coming to you. you talked about p&l, reggie, whichis really fascinating in terms of giving yourself 100% raise and capital. thatï¿½s a cue tothe audio team. i would like for you to cue up lanceï¿½s video because weï¿½re going togo into an area now of p&l, money and revenue and profit and getting started. please, rolllance riosï¿½ clip for us. lance:weï¿½re not necessarily coming from those really connected circles of money, so i thinkthat for us, itï¿½s just about being really

educated about it and providing outlets thatmakes it easier for us as minorities to access that information so that we can feel a littlemore confident in the pursuit of these types of opportunities. mike:isnï¿½t that good? lance, weï¿½ve heard about the failure and the 4% and weï¿½ve heard aboutthe pivoting moments and we heard about when to leave, and we witnessed humility, but endof the day, all that donï¿½t start a business. we need money. we need capital. thatï¿½s oneof the reasons why a lot of us young men and people of color donï¿½t start businesses.access to capital isnï¿½t there. you talked about that in that clip. can you talk a littlebit more about why you feel that and actually

why you said that and the challenges thatwe face as this particular ï¿½ lance:i didnï¿½t start this business. i didnï¿½t start it as a business. i started a facebookpage, and eventually that flourished into a business. itï¿½s a really long story soi wonï¿½t get into it. since i didnï¿½t start the business as a business, i wasnï¿½t necessarilyplanning for all the things that came with the business. as a result, luckily for thissake that weï¿½re able to evolve as a bootstrap company, no funding. i was just funding thecompany myself. whenever i had extra money, i would throw it in there to buy a computeror buy this or buy that. now at this stage after three years of doing this fulltime,iï¿½ve seen now, you see scale and then you

see scale get to a certain point where you'relike, all right, if i really want to scale, i need access to larger funds. it becomes very interesting for me becausei wasnï¿½t going after a venture capitalist before. i didnï¿½t know how to do evaluationfor my company. i didnï¿½t know a lot of other resources that were available because i simplydidnï¿½t need it. at that point of your company going from one stratosphere to the next stratosphere,from a revenue perspective, you have to keep up. thatï¿½s the point that from my perspective,you do realize that as a person of color, you're not having the same opportunities thatyou're seeing a lot of these other guys are having.

in my pursuit of going after and figuringout, whoï¿½s spending money in this space, whoï¿½s investing, you're seeing a lot ofguys who have companies that arenï¿½t profitable, who are very young and have an idea get accessto $5 million in capital when your company generates significant revenue, is profitable,has showcased that itï¿½s a company that can grow. just give me some money. iï¿½m not havingthose same opportunities. i donï¿½t want to use this as an opportunity to be like iï¿½mpissed off at the world or itï¿½s not for us, but at the end of the day, there are alot of things that just donï¿½t set us up for success. i think that initiatives likethis do bring this to fruition, stating the fact that we do have very capable, smart humanbeings who are running businesses.

at the end of the day, we do need fundingand we do need access to capital because just like everyone else, we bring great ideas tothe table. a lot of times, those great ideas could be the next big thing. thatï¿½s i thinksomething that weï¿½re probably all working towards. capital help makes it happen. reggie:mike, can i jump in? mike:yes. reggie:even with my business, i didnï¿½t start out ï¿½ i bootstrapped started on my own withmy business. sometimes, access to capital is important because i know after 9/11, becausemy business is located in wall street, advertising

stopped because nobody wanted to advertisewith that type of cinnamon out there. i still had payroll and rent and things of that nature.the sba actually saved my business then in 2001. in 2002 actually is when i got the loan.because at that time, i didnï¿½t qualify for the traditional banks and things of that nature.my business was still very small. iï¿½m talking less than $500,000 of revenue. now weï¿½relike $10 million in revenue now a year. i wouldnï¿½t have made it to that. if i didnï¿½tget that loan, it wouldnï¿½t have happened. mike:itï¿½s interesting weï¿½re talking about that because i actually want to contextualize thisstory even further. lance, you don't know this, but i literally talk about you in everycity that i go to, to really underscore the

work that weï¿½re doing because asking thelady, our chief of staff, she can relate to this. when we put a call out to find specificallyyoung men of color who are entrepreneurs in the areas of lifestyle, music, sports, film,fashion and technology, all the spaces we consume and donï¿½t produce our own thingin. iï¿½m going to go further to be really honest with you. we have a very narrow ï¿½ andsome may oppose this. iï¿½m sure we can talk back with our audience at the end of this. we have a very narrow definition of how weï¿½redefining entrepreneurship. we define it as an individual who has jumped out the windowor the plane and has built a parachute as theyï¿½re going down. they donï¿½t have adirect deposit coming in every two weeks.

they donï¿½t have that bonus coming in. itï¿½snot a side hustle. weï¿½re good for side hustles. this isnï¿½t a little thing that weï¿½re tryingto come up with some money so weï¿½ll be an entrepreneur. no. this is i don't know howiï¿½m going to pay rent. this is what we have here. i don't know how iï¿½m going to eat.if i donï¿½t work, if i donï¿½t do what i need to do, if i donï¿½t take that meeting,if i donï¿½t get that contract, iï¿½m not paying rent and i may have to go back to getthat direct deposit. thatï¿½s how we narrowly define this. donï¿½t judge us, but thatï¿½show we did it here. with lance, we did three months of calls toaction, and carol can attest to this, just scouring the country. who fits this? who maleï¿½ young men of color can fit this definition

as millennial? could not find. women, we couldhave done 10 per day. thatï¿½s it. all the time. hey, mike, i got this woman. sheï¿½samazing. hey, mike, i got this woman. sheï¿½s amazing. hey, mike, i got this woman. sheï¿½samazing. iï¿½m not going to go further. iï¿½m just going to let that sit. you think aboutthe nuance of that. when it came to lance particularly, i had influencers, businesspeople, entrepreneurs from miami, la and new york. help me find a latino male, please.weï¿½re running up against a deadline. madam administrator, she needs that clearanceof these videos. weï¿½re running up against a deadline. i found him finally, but threelatinos. only one nearly fit that definition. i found him, and lance can attest to this,at 10pm at night before our final shoot day.

i didnï¿½t even know this man. we got himon the phone. iï¿½m like, ï¿½yo, you don't know me. i need you. please say yes to thisvideo shoot.ï¿½ he was very confused. he was not really feeling me. who is this man callingme at 10, 11, saying, please, please, please. iï¿½m not a crazy person. please google me.iï¿½m legit. we just really need you. with that being said, i talked to lance, buton set, i was like, ï¿½man, lance, this really bother our team. can you help us connect withmore people who look like you so we could have a roundtable, so we can bring them intoour fold?ï¿½ lance, you said, ï¿½i probably know maybe one or two.ï¿½ thatï¿½s how realit is. thatï¿½s whatï¿½s at stake with this capital. i believe upperman is trying to interruptto do something. upperman?

christopher:yes. i just wanted ï¿½ the administrator is right here. we just wanted, right before sheleaves, she just wanted to say one last thing. maria:[crosstalk 01:47:25] with all of you. mike:come on up. maria:i thought itï¿½ll be so fun to do that picture. could i just do that? mike:come on up. how do you want to do it? you want us to stand up? maria:just how do i tweet it facebook it or instagram

it? this is going to be the best instagramshot [crosstalk 01:47:39]. letï¿½s just make this shot. mike:donï¿½t move, everybody. [inaudible 01:47:46] christopher:sba is trying to be fresh. you guys see it. you see? [crosstalk 01:47:52] maria:thank you, guys. mike:thank you, madam administrator. thank you so much. [crosstalk 01:48:06] christopher:just in one moment, weï¿½re going to finish

this and then weï¿½re going to start to openit up for some questions from the audience. mike:thank you, madam administrator. we know she is busy doing the good work around the country.we thank you for your time and for being here and for showing up. as we begin to settledown, so lance, thatï¿½s where we are with that in terms of where we are in our country.thatï¿½s how real it is in terms of the access that reggie and lance that you talked about.with that even further, now, guys, weï¿½re basically building a puzzle. iï¿½m reallyputting a puzzle together here, if you can follow me. we failed, we win, we pivot, mybrand, we have humility, we need access to capital. okay, boom, so now weï¿½re starting.now we did all that so now we have our company.

reggie, your next ï¿½ i want this video toplay. i want you just to talk to a few things. if you can please roll reggie millerï¿½s tape. reggie:working hard and continuing to prove to prove people wrong shows value. you're always goingto think you're valuable. it takes time for other people just to see that value. thathas everything to do with not giving up on yourself. mike:thatï¿½s the most important thing. give it up, yes. reggie, as we all begin to start,a lot of us, if you look, lead really nontraditional lives. we have nontraditional careers in termsof even in our own companies. theyï¿½re very

nontraditional. we are in a society, especiallymillennials, weï¿½re like a slashed generation. i see it as an intersection and everyone issocial entrepreneurship. itï¿½s this combination of things with this hybrid notion that ishappening. how do we price ourselves? how do we assess our fees? how do we assess ourvalue? i think you're the best person to speak to that because you were doing it when advertiserswere even asking if internet was going to be around. how did you price yourself? donï¿½ttell us what your price is, but just how did you go about that evaluation of knowing yourvalue and what to ask for? reggie:thatï¿½s a great question. when i started, we started with dot-coms who had, to yourpoint, a lot. they were getting the $5 million,

30, 10, whatever it was for that idea. thatreally helped me start, but to sustain after that once the dot-com bust happened, i wentto where my relationships stood at that time, which was in television, film, music and ihad to bring my prices down. you figure out where your value is and then doing that fora couple of years, i pivoted back into corporate which have bigger budgets. you can price yourselfbased on what the market is out there and what it can withstand. also at the same time,if you're starting a business out, if you're new, you want to be somewhat competitive asfar as you may need to undercut some other people so you canï¿½t always go in saying,oh, this person is charging that so iï¿½m going to do this. i think a lot of peoplestart businesses thinking ï¿½

mike:is it trial and error? is there a formula? is there a book that says this is how youassess your fees, this is how you assess your value, or is it really just doing it and ifyou get rejected, adjust? because i think sometimes we make entrepreneurship too complicated. reggie:the thing is the road is jagged. i think the whole thing is you're making it up the entiretime. mike:absolutely. can you say it again, reggie? please say it again. reggie:you're making it up.

mike:you're making it up the whole time. thereï¿½s no magical answer. thatï¿½s what we look for,is this magical answer. we like to read a lot of books. we like to say, how do we doit? in particular before i ask the last question with a clip and then weï¿½re going to turnit to the audience, i want you guys to start really engaging with us. chef, iï¿½m comingdirectly to you because, first, iï¿½m going to let you guys know, this smooth brotherto my left is my detroit player. heï¿½s coordinated with the socks and the tie. thatï¿½s my detroitplayer, baby. maxcel:i get that from you. mike:giving that shoe, baby, thatï¿½s coordinated.

that was hot. thatï¿½s what set back ï¿½ itï¿½sincredibly amazing. if we can please just roll his tape for us. maxcel:when we see an african-american chef, we just saw big momma cooking and we saw auntie cookingon the weekends and we just understood why she can really cook. that was her showingher love. it was a little more than just her cooking. we didnï¿½t understand how to takeit to the next level. we just said, okay, weï¿½re going to leave it there. mike:chef max, give it up. chef, i saved you for the last because to me, you represent theheart of who we are. you represent the heart

of our culture. you represent the heart ofour community. we failed. we succeeded. we pivoted. we know our value. we know how toassess. weï¿½re humble. now we have capital, but now thereï¿½s that love factor. thereï¿½sthis issue of i donï¿½t think i can make money off of it because i just love it. itï¿½s justa love thing. i canï¿½t tell you how culinary is the new thing. itï¿½s the new hot thingright now, how hot culinary is and how people are making these incredible super tasty soufflï¿½specialties and theyï¿½re having all these really unique macaroni and cheeses with goudaand all these amazingness. they have all these pork loins and deep grilled pork chops. maxcel:sounds like you're a chef already.

mike:all these things that we grew up on, all these things that we grew up loving. now collardgreens is in the category of kale. maxcel:stuffing chicken too now. mike:yes, the chicken. this is what weï¿½ve been doing. can you talk to us about that mindsetof how we look at food and our relationship with it? when do we begin to transition from,as you said so eloquently, i almost fell off during the taping when you said that, goingfrom an act of love to seeing it as an enterprise? maxcel:it goes back to just growing up, you just always saw food on the table on sundays andyou really didnï¿½t see it being monetized.

you're like, all right, well, i can cook.i love cooking. i can bake, but i don't know how to really sell this and market this. itï¿½sa fine line because you just don't know because you didnï¿½t see it. now i come in as a chefand iï¿½m like, all right, well, i want to be a chef but i donï¿½t want to work in arestaurant. i want to be a personal chef. i started off as a corporate chef, executivechef at 21 and learning, understanding the whole corporate side of things, but iï¿½mlike, i canï¿½t make anybody rich. i canï¿½t make myself rich. how do i do that and be a personal chef? ithink ty can attest to it. just being in the personal space is really tough because youdon't know the price to charge. itï¿½s always

a make-up game. itï¿½s always you're justshooting off the cuff a lot of times. to bring it back, i became a personal chefbecause i just wanted to show people love through food. i wanted to put it on the tableand see you smile. it always brings people together. you think about sunday dinner. itbrought everybody together and made everyone happy. i just wanted to do that but also monetizeit as well. mike:as chris goes on to the audience, please, everyone, just raise your hand if you havea question. christopher:weï¿½re going to actually put out one microphone in the middle as well. what i also want todo is just let you all know. please keep your

questions short. we want to get to as manypeople as we can with the time that we have. mike:as we do that, as someone comes to the aisle to ask a question, chef, not only is thisfood ï¿½ please come to the aisle. as you talk about that, thatï¿½s really our narrative.we love clothes. we love fashion. we love shoes. we love working out. we love leg day.we love hash-tagging that. we can talk about our brotherï¿½s wingspan and his verticaland how fast he runs a 40 like nobodyï¿½s business. thatï¿½s what we love, but we ainï¿½tmaking money off of it. maxcel:you're right. mike:i really want us to really think about how

do we begin to change that narrative? howdo we lift that veil? how do we begin to change and to shift? brother? speaker 3:thank you all so much. thank you. iï¿½m sitting here with my cofounders here. we run a highereducation crowdfunding platform. iï¿½m sitting here and i realize the whole time, i was gettingtears in my eyes. i didnï¿½t understand why, and i realized iï¿½ve never seen this manysuccessful, young, black people in one ï¿½ iï¿½ve never seen it in my entire life. with thatbeing said, where do you all find your personal inspiration from? what drives you every daywhen you wake up? where do you get that gusto? thatï¿½s my question. thank you.

christopher:thatï¿½s for everybody? mike:weï¿½ll do two people [crosstalk 01:57:01]. hollywood:i basically study great people like oprah winfrey, richard branson, people that i admire.i see what they do and what time do they wake up and what do they read on their tables?i go into real details with people like that. itï¿½s diddy sleeping now? is diddy sleepingat 4:00? seriously, those are the people i admire; nelson mandela, all the greats, muhammadali. iï¿½m big on work ethic. what really drives me is the competition isout there. you live in a big city, miami, new york city, la, vegas, houston. you gotto work harder than the average man because

if a celebrity or somebody wants to come trainwith me, the first question they ask is they say, why should i pay him that much? whatmakes him different than every other trainer thatï¿½s out there? iï¿½m like, trust me.those guys are working 100%. iï¿½m working 1,000%. what a lot of people tell me is that theyrespect that i wake up early, no matter. iï¿½m next to my phone at all times because thatï¿½smy money. i will sleep, i will take a shower with it. seriously. i got to be next to it.you got to be reliable in business. what really drives me, number one, is thepeople that look up to me. in my country and here, the people that look up to me, like,i canï¿½t give up. i canï¿½t say iï¿½m tired.

i canï¿½t say iï¿½m sick. i canï¿½t say, oh,itï¿½s 12 inches of snow, iï¿½m not going in today. i work on christmas day. i workon my birthday because i want the average person to look at me and be like, heï¿½s doingit. i canï¿½t let those people down. i donï¿½t want them to be like, oh, he now is my herobut he didnï¿½t come to work for two days. anybody can vouch for that. iï¿½m there everyday. people are like, what drives you? iï¿½m like, the people that are watching. you don'tknow whoï¿½s watching. iï¿½m not even talking about physically. iï¿½m talking about evenon social media. they might not follow you but theyï¿½ll go on your page and theyï¿½rewatching your everyday progress. seriously. not everybody that follows you are the onlypeople that are watching. you might have 100,000

followers, but 20 million people are lookingat your page and you don't know that, and i donï¿½t want to let those people down. mostof all, i donï¿½t want to let myself down. mike:i think hino did that wonderfully. just in the interest of time and making sure otherpanelists have different questions, brother, behind you. thank you so much for that question.i really appreciate that. yes? speaker 4:first of all, i want to start by saying this is beautiful you guys are doing this. i commendall you guys for doing this. i really mean speaker 4:my question is for my man, chef maxcel, over here. iï¿½ve gotten a chance to know you professionally.also because of that, i got to know you a

little bit personally. i never told you thisthough. one of the things that i admire about you is that the entrepreneurial spirit, thatï¿½sall great, thatï¿½s fine and good, but the fact that you paid forward. iï¿½m not goingto mention any names, but we both know that your willingness to take time to teach thenext person how to do it in the game, iï¿½d just love to hear just your ambition. whatdrives you to do that? maxcel:just because i was coming up, i always saw the guys in the community always grab somebodyand like, letï¿½s take a ride. they saw me playing basketball. when i finish my basketball,theyï¿½re like, you want to go for a ride? you want to hang out a little bit? i justalways wanted to be able to, as iï¿½m climbing,

pull somebody else with me. i knew that ican only be as good as my chef who was under me, my team, so i just always want to createthis whole team of chefs, but i had to first get to a level of expertise personally andthen bring another chef with me and continue to bring other chefs behind me. thatï¿½s thereason why we created the culinary school. thatï¿½s the reason we created the foundation,to always inspire individuals through culinary arts. mike:iï¿½d be remiss. this is a great moment. i want to make sure i acknowledge her beforeshe leaves. weï¿½re talking about following and supporting and pulling up and paying itforward. rochelle wilson, i want you to stand

up and i want to give you a round of applausefor all that you did. rochelle got a midnight call and said we need help with our videos,and she said yes in a major way that saved us so much heartache, pain and money and financeto get these stories and narratives to be told. please, rochelle wilson, please standup for paying it forward. thank you so much. speaker 5:hello. thank you so much for having us today. iï¿½m actually the colleague of [chesa 02:01:43].he was just here asking you guys a question. weï¿½re actually rutgers university students.like he said, we have a higher education crowdfunding platform. our true mission is to bridge thegap. we donï¿½t want students to believe that college is not as much of an option as itis going from middle school to high school.

we want people to think that itï¿½s just asseamless as other process. coming from an inner city community, like all three of ourco-founders, weï¿½re realizing that we donï¿½t want to sling dope; we want to sling hope.we want to be human navigation systems for these kids. when weï¿½re approaching these guidance counselorsin these different schools and weï¿½re trying to get our services into their programs, weï¿½rerealizing that thereï¿½s a disconnect between the middle income communities and the lowincome communities. the middle income communities are about the parents are involved. how dowe get scholarship opportunities? the low income communities are like, how do we getthese kids to understand that higher education

is not an option, that itï¿½s something thatthey should actually pursue and itï¿½s viable for them? as one whoï¿½s going through the daily notionsof progressing this business, how do you guys evaluate, measure, assess daily progress,knowing that each task that you're doing is towards that ultimate goal and you're actuallymaking an impact? mike:lance and reggie, one of you want to go? reggie:as far as in my business, as far as the goals? speaker 5:at least when you were starting in the startup, the very early stages of your business. howdid you know that what you were doing each

day was going to make an overall impact towardsyour mission? mike:you can tell sheï¿½s in college. you were just as studier and just as smart as you wantto be. you are just invoking stats and data and the sources and just big words. when weï¿½rein college, we love that, donï¿½t we? weï¿½re just so smart. iï¿½m like, oh, my god, whatï¿½syour question? iï¿½m just confused. reggie. i love it. reggie is confused too. reggieï¿½ iï¿½m just stalling for him to get his answer. you're welcome, reggie. thank me later. reggie:thanks, mike. mike:you're welcome. i wanted no parts of that.

sheï¿½s too smart. i want no parts. reggie:to be completely honest, you're not going to get a smart answer because honestly, wheni started my business, every day was just trying to figure out what am i going to dothe next day? i didnï¿½t have goals as far as ï¿½ i was trying to make sure that i canstill get paid for the business. i have more goals than things now. itï¿½s more laid outnow than it was before. it wasnï¿½t that sophisticated. it was basically this is what iï¿½m tryingto create. i have to find a customer, sell it, service, get paid for it and go from there.like i said before, i spent a lot of time just honestly trying to educate people becauseat the time, the internet was so new to a

lot of people. a lot of it was education-basedrather than trying to figure out, whatï¿½s my ï¿½ also, honestly too, i hate it whenpeople say, oh, whatï¿½s your two-, three-year plan? iï¿½m making it up every day. mike:great answer, reggie. speaker 5:thank you. mike:no more college students. coming up next. speaker 6:this is a question for mike. iï¿½m here with a small contingent for my church, riversidechurch, and we wanted to do a local my brotherï¿½s keeper thing at out church and weï¿½re tryingto figure out whatï¿½s the best component.

sorry other guys, i just want to get someadvice from mike. mike:one, i love your church. are you talking about the one on the upper west side? speaker 6:yeah. mike:i love that church. i visit that church. yeah, give it up for riverside. itï¿½s a beautifulchurch. we are here. iï¿½m the kind of guy, i stay until the lights come on and untilthey kick me out so iï¿½m going to be around so we can talk. you saw all the team mbk chancellorcame up to the front. thereï¿½s no lady here. thereï¿½s sybil. kwaku is in line. all ofus are here. all the people that you talked

to, we would love, love, love to do somethingwith you going forward. thank you. see how easy that was. ask and you shall receive.thatï¿½s what the bible say. look here. here comes a smart question. brace yourself. thisbrother is just smart. he did art for his birthday. thatï¿½s how smart he is. speaker 7:i just wanted to say one of the most powerful elements that you guys being on stage is thevulnerability and the perseverance. while everyone has been in this room, since then,ted cruz dropped out of the presidential race and so ï¿½ mike:breaking news. we are at neutral [crosstalk

02:06:20]. i just want to say that. i kepta straight face. speaker 7:iï¿½m thinking about that element of that drive and that perseverance. the fact thatyou guys are putting one foot in front of each other, in front of another day by day,whether itï¿½s a tough rivalry in a football match or whether itï¿½s that persevering dayby day. iï¿½m curious to know, specifically lance, was there ever a moment where you talkthe highs, we talk about the highs, but the lows, who is the first person you call duringthat moment? lance:for the lows? speaker 7:yeah.

lance:man, i have so many of them. who do i call? usually itï¿½s somebody who i look up to insome capacity. i try to identify what the core of the actual issue is. weï¿½re talkingabout something thatï¿½s business-related. at the end of the day, business i think reallyhas a parallel to life. whether somebody actually understands business or not, it doesnï¿½tnecessarily make my choice. itï¿½s somebody whoï¿½s gone through a similar parallel. ihave to just think back. a lot of times, your parents, family members are the first, butother people have experienced different things that you really only do experience once youget into business. i think your network expands, but itï¿½s really about just identifying thecommonalities of issues and figuring out the

best ways to get around it. speaker 7:follow-up question real quick. iï¿½m curious to know particularly being in an audiencewhere there are so many women represented, can you speak a little bit ï¿½ itï¿½s my brotherï¿½skeeper initiative, but can you speak a little bit to the ways in which women have also playeda role in your entrepreneurial endeavors? whoever, perhaps you ï¿½ in your life. maybety. ty:we wouldnï¿½t be here if it werenï¿½t for the women. itï¿½s important. women, they runthe world. i know that sounds crazy, but anyway. my mom, my motivation, my mom, my family,itï¿½s women. we canï¿½t do it without you.

mike:give it up for the women. before kwaku asks his question, the brother in the back withthe turtle neck, you are the last question, iï¿½ve been informed. right, upperman? justblame upperman. heï¿½s been ï¿½ just blame him. love you, chris. speaker 8:itï¿½s great seeing all of the entrepreneurs up on stage and speaking to ï¿½ and seeingthe videos and all of that. i guess my question is geared toward everybody. weï¿½re seeingyou in point either after your pivot or in your pivot. for all of the upcoming entrepreneursin the room or people who want to start a business because we always hear that message,start a business, start a business, and itï¿½s

great, but whatï¿½s the prescription for whenyou know you're in that pivot? what are the thoughts that were in your head when you weremaking ï¿½ when you stepped away from vibe magazine, when you figured out that basketballwasnï¿½t for you, when boxing wasnï¿½t that thing? for entrepreneurs that are in the audienceor people who want to start businesses, whatï¿½s that prescription of if you're thinking thisway, if you're feeling like, man, am i crazy, man am i doing the right thing? i donï¿½twant to find out more of what you're thinking now, but what were you thinking in that pivot?what were those thoughts that are sitting in the heads of some of us even now whileweï¿½re building businesses that can help

us along to get to that point where you are? reggie:i hate this job. ty:i think when you're uncomfortable and life is like you're feeling horrible right now,just transition. itï¿½s time for change. itï¿½s that feeling when you know that i cannot dothis anymore. lance:not to say that the feeling of being uncomfortable actually leaves when you become an entrepreneur,because it actually probably increases, but at the end of the day, itï¿½s a differenttype of discomfort that you will feel, and itï¿½s relatively invigorating. i think tothe 10th degree, itï¿½s unexplainable unless

youï¿½ve gone through that process. i thinkthat alone really led me to just want to say letï¿½s just do it. hollywood:for me, i go by with my heart. i felt like i didnï¿½t want to go training camp anymorefor two months and be away from family. i missed birthdays. i missed important dates.it just came down to making the right or the wrong decision. when you start questioningwaking up and going jogging or when you start questioning yourself, then you got to startlooking for something else. that was my turning point. i was like, i got to find somethingelse while iï¿½m still, like he said, still in basketball, while i was still in a boxinggym and donï¿½t miss it as much. i couldnï¿½t

just go from fighting a sold out fight atmgm grand 9 to 5 and ï¿½ that would have been crazy. i found something, thank god, thati was still in boxing. i see a boxing gym every day and i donï¿½t miss it as much asi would have if i did something else outside. maxcel:i guess for me, i got to a point where i was like, man, iï¿½m making someone else successfulevery day. iï¿½m working 150 hours. my stress level was crazy. iï¿½m running the line. igot 100 cooks, 75 dishwashers, and i just donï¿½t want to do this anymore. iï¿½d ratherhave three clients that i can deal with every day. iï¿½m always in a constant pivot. iï¿½malways thinking of the next innovative idea within my circle. i think for any entrepreneurthatï¿½s run a business or want to run a business,

i think youï¿½d always stay in that pivot.you're just always pivoting to the next opportunity, the next brand of your company. speaker 8:thank you. mike:thatï¿½s a great question, kwaku. that actually went to kennyï¿½s question about vulnerabilityso that was able to get really vulnerable with that, so good tandem with you two. yes? kentai:hi. my name is [kentia 02:12:26]. i work in the recording industry. one of the thingsyou talked about earlier was the importance of ownership. my business, we are strategistsso we really place an emphasis on the importance

of strong business practices with the clientsthat we consult. a narrative that we often really throw up to give an example is livenation. live nation owns, runs the largest stream of income for artists in the recordingindustry. if you look at their leadership, letï¿½s just give a rough number about outof 15 of their board members, 13 of them are white men and may 2 white women. again, backto ownership. iï¿½m wondering, what is it that mbk is doingthat we can do as well that will help to create an influence on the incarcerated populationbecause thatï¿½s where a lot of us are? what is it that weï¿½re doing as entrepreneurs,as sba, as mbk that is directly targeted towards the incarcerated population that impacts ownership?

mike:great question. what we did earlier ï¿½ give it up. thatï¿½s a great question. when thecabinet secretary broderick johnson, we were talking about that. as we began to talk aboutall the issues that face young people of color, why is it important that we focus on entrepreneurshipin particular? the way weï¿½re looking at that is that entrepreneurship is just onepiece, one tool inside the toolkit that provides economic empowerment. thatï¿½s why weï¿½refocused specifically on entrepreneurship, but there are other areas and facets of mbkthat are focused on prison and the prison population and the criminal justice systemand all those areas, because, again, mbk goes from cradle to career and all the things thatprotect that.

thereï¿½s a criminal justice taskforce thatpresident obama has issues that is solely looking into that. there are things from theus attorneyï¿½s office that are focused on that too as well. as broderick suggested,definitely go to the mbk website in the area that he talked about and click on those areasof interest that you have to really have an understanding of how you can partner and connectwith those types of areas within that. chris has more to say about that too. christopher:i would actually like to add also. those are very great points. at the us small businessadministration, we actually take this issue very serious as well. we actually, under theadministratorï¿½s leadership, just a year,

in about a year and a half ago, we changeda particular rule on our microloan program. for many of you who are not familiar withit, microloans are just small dollar loans up to about $50,000 that you can access. asshe talked about the challenge to get to large banks and get the financing that you may belooking for, sometimes you go to cdfis in the community and work with people. we basicallyjust changed that those who were formerly incarcerated can now access the microloans,and thatï¿½s a really, really, really big deal. i canï¿½t even say how big a deal thatis. speaking to that, we were talking about capital.weï¿½re talking about the access to the financing that you need for your business to even startor to grow or meet payroll or these things.

we saw that that was a gap in some of whatwe were doing at sba. once again, thatï¿½s just one thing. there are so many things.i would really just encourage you to go to the sba.gov website. type in formerly incarceratedreentry. go to the white house. do the same thing, and youï¿½ll find a lot of informationthere. mike:actually, on that, just offline, i would love to engage with the entire audience on thisidea because we are currently ï¿½ iï¿½m going to just let you in on something to just behonest and vulnerable. as we talked about really working through this program or thisconversation nationally, if you will, because i would love to get your thoughts on my socialmedia platforms. can we do it all at the same

time? can we focus on education? can we focuson financial literacy? can we focus on the prison system? can we focus on entrepreneurship?can we focus on tech? can we focus on coding? can we focus all at one time, or is it okayfor us to be tactical about it and to say, what is your strength? if your strength iscoding, do coding. do summits. do programming. create conversation. change the narrativearound coding. if your passion is criminal justice, should we do that singularly if thatï¿½syour passion, if that is your heart? i don't know if we are as a community if we had thatluxury anymore to sit back and wait for one or two or three initiatives or entities todo it all. when do we begin to take ownership of the things that we love, that weï¿½re curiousabout, that we have passions about, and then

when do we jump off the plane and build theparachute for the things that we care about without waiting for the pilot to fly us andto land us safely? thatï¿½s the conversation that weï¿½re about to embark upon this summerthat weï¿½ll be curious to hear your thoughts about. lanleech:my name is [lanleech 02:17:32]. iï¿½m one of the riverside [crosstalk 02:17:36]. mike:riverside is here. lanleech:this question is not about riverside. about two weeks from now, i will be celebratingmy first year as a business owner where i

started an it outsource company. i used asignificant portion of my own money to do so. i told my wife that weï¿½ll be broke fora very long time. she stared at me. my question to maybe all of you is, how long was a longtime? i didnï¿½t tell her how long weï¿½ll be broke. how long was a long time for youin terms of your journey when you began your business? mike:reggie, iï¿½d like for you to take that because you were married when you started your companywith that, but also we have five minutes remaining, panelists. i want to make sure we get to thoselast two and i want to make sure everyone has signed to network with each other andmeet these panelists and just exchange information

with each other. reggie:i was married and i had a second kid on the way. my wife at that time thought i was crazy.sheï¿½s like, ï¿½weï¿½re having a second kid. you want to quit your job.ï¿½ that was definitelyan issue. to be completely honest, i had already secured a client before i left my job. i startedmy business with a very large multimillion dollar client. iï¿½m probably the wrong personto ask, but there was definitely some bruises that happened. iï¿½m in 16th year of business.iï¿½ve taken my lumps financially over those time to get to where iï¿½m at now. as faras when i left, it was, in my head, comfortable and i had it figured out. it was about sustainingit.

mike:i wish we could do a deep dive on that if we had more time. i would want ty to jumpinto it as well because you have a daughter too as well, and that is a question entrepreneurshave. how do i jump out that window when i have a family and loved ones to protect? pleasemake sure you connect with ty offline about that in terms of he can bless you with somewise words too as well. in the interest of time, sorry to speed around this. yes? tammy:hi. iï¿½m tammy williams. my question is because entrepreneurship is just all over the placeand you're always having ideas. how did you guys stay focused and when did you realizethat you were actually at that successful

point? mike:anybody? hollywood:success is down to final so i would never feel like iï¿½m successful. thatï¿½s whatkeeps me working every day. mike:that was great. hollywood:people say it to me every day, like, man, you're so famous. iï¿½m like, what is that?i still go to work every day and still want to learn more about being the best trainerand not just in the east coast but in the united states, in the world, so thereï¿½sstill more levels that i need to get to. thatï¿½s

what ï¿½ i would never feel like iï¿½m successful. mike:thatï¿½s a good question. i want one more panelist to answer that. i donï¿½t care whoit is, one more, as the next brother comes up. thatï¿½s really important. maxcel:i think the first time someone pay you for your services. i think thatï¿½s when you realizelike, oh, well, maybe i made it. mike:my, man. hey, brother, the turtleneck. you're smooth. whatï¿½s going on? talk to us. you'rethe last one. you better make it count. speaker 9:got it, okay. really, really curious.

mike:here comes the softball. speaker 9:i can imagine that at some point in your journey, you felt like you were flying the plane whilebuilding it at the same time. if you can go back in retrospect and think about those thingsthat you would spend less time doing, what would be those things? mike:deep. drives the mic on the last one. i didnï¿½t think you had it in you the way you set itup, but you came through. all right, i ainï¿½t taking that one either. panelists? lance:i think itï¿½s a constant evolution. i think

that you learn things every single day. iï¿½mone to say and i really, really believe this, that every mistake you make along the wayis like you learn from it. i think that the bigger thing in life is being able to do asmuch as possible not to repeat that same mistake, but without those mistakes preceding thatmoment, you wouldnï¿½t be where you are. you wouldnï¿½t know what you needed to do. i thinkthat itï¿½s really hard to make that assessment of what would i do differently, because everythingreally pave that way to get you there. like itï¿½s been said multiple times, you're buildingthat parachute as youï¿½re going down. as long as you're staying afloat, you're nothitting the ground. thatï¿½s something that for me has always been important.

mike:ty. ty:i was going to say the same thing, but i would put more attention on me, do more for me,more than i would do for others. just focus on me more. thatï¿½ll be one thing i woulddo. mike:letï¿½s let everybody answer for the last one. reggie? reggie:with my business, i would have gotten a better financial adviser or controller in my businesssooner. mike:chef, you're the last one. you talked, lance

and hino, right? okay. maxcel:iï¿½ll do the same thing. just get a better financial plan out the gate because you'realways just making it up as you go. i think a better, solid financial base and understandingpricing, understanding structure, and just knowing your business and knowing that ï¿½ becausei started so young, so i just hit the ground running, not really knowing. doing a littlemore research out the gate. reggie:also, i know for those of us who didnï¿½t grow up with strong financial backgroundsin our families or things of that nature. even with me, it was a blurry line betweensomebody need to take the wheel on the financial

side. thatï¿½s something, looking back onhindsight, i probably shouldï¿½ve did sooner. hollywood:yeah. looking back, i felt like i probably ï¿½ weï¿½re spending the wrong energy on thewrong people, i feel like. weï¿½re still learning. mike:with that, i want you guys to go around, just go down and just give your social media handle,just one social media handle you check frequently so the audience can stay engaged with you.they can connect with you, who may not be able to talk to you before we leave. reggie,whatï¿½s your social media handle you want to give out? reggie:itï¿½s instagram. itï¿½s reggietmiller.

mike:reggietmiller? thatï¿½s instagram? reggie:yeah. ty:tytryone, t-y-t-r-y-o-n-e. thatï¿½s everything. mike:that is everything. i am mikemuse for everything. lance:iï¿½m mrchancla on instagram. mike:spell that, boy. lance:for the spanish speakers, c-h-a-n-c-l-a. thatï¿½s spanish for sandal, chancla. you get withthat. hollywood:mine is hollywood h-i-n-o, all one word. do

not let the video scare you. iï¿½m funny onsnapchat. maxcel:chefmax already on everything. mike:ladies and gentlemen, the new normal. thank you guys for coming out. we really appreciateit. thank you. christopher:i wanted to just say a couple of things. thank you so much for coming tonight. we reallydo appreciate your time here. weï¿½ll go ahead and do a plug as well. follow us at sba.govand our administrator at mcs4biz. once again, this has been a monumental evening for us.iï¿½m just really impressed with all the faces that we see there. letï¿½s give a round ofapplause for mike muse. letï¿½s give a round

of applause for this really great panel thatwe have here. we really do hope that you guys stay engaged with us at sba. thank you. havea good night.

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