Follow Your Dreams: Jasmine's journey from a small rural town in Alabama to becoming a financial literacy advocate,

0:00This is an I Heart Podcast. Guaranteed Human I survived nine months in captivity and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart and these are the survivor files. Every week I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable, abducted, stalked, controlled and nearly silenced. These are stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the survivor files with the Elizabeth Smart on the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. On the new podcast, Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering the ride on his motorcycle. I choose option B. I'm Julie Pinero and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word Solita, trading the pity for possibility.

1:02Listen to Solita on the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. What up this J Valentine co-host of the R&B Money Podcasts alongside my brother R&B legend, tank. Together we've built a space for artists, executives and fans of R&B music to reminisce and tell the real stories behind the music. I have no money, I was hood famous. They think you're gonna get everybody out. We lived in a project and real love came out. They hear an amusement and we had nothing. From Smokey Robinson to Mary J. Blige, V2K to Jill Scott. If you're a super dedicated R&B fan, this is where you belong. Listen to R&B money from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Alec Baldwin. This season on my podcast, here's the thing I talk to actor Stephen Root. I'm a people watcher. You see that guy going down the street though? Yeah, I can use that. And open igloo co-founder, Alia Muhammad. I love staying on top of what is going on in our city, what is on Renter's minds.

2:05And taking all of that knowledge to build a platform that hopefully is gonna make New York City better in the long run. Listen to here's the thing on the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. It's the US Open, which means the tennis world is about to lose its mind. And I'm here for every second of it. Join me, Renee Stubbs on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast as I break it all down. The matches that matter, the drama that doesn't, and the stories everyone's talking about. No cliches, no sugar coating, just host analysts from someone who's actually been there. Coco, looking real good, her surf looks so much smoother than it has in the past. I was really happy to see Iga back to what she looked like a couple of years ago and she was winning dominantly. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my show. I'm Richa McDonald, the host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Where we encourage people to stop reading other people's success stories and start planning your own. Now you don't want to miss an episode. So please take a moment right now to follow or subscribe to Money Making Conversations Masterclass.

3:11It's free. You can follow me on the I Heart Radio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts. New Money Making Conversations Masterclass episodes drop daily. I want to keep you on alert because my guests provide tips on how you can uplift your community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be successful entrepreneur. Now let's get this podcast started. Next guest is Fuller Information. She's a founder and president of the Financial Literacy Institute. Please welcome the Money Making Conversation Masterclass Jasmine Young. How you doing Jasmine? I'm doing well. How are you? Pretty good. First of all, where are you based? Just get that out the way. Based out of Atlanta, Georgia. Are you are you are you born in race in Atlanta, Georgia? Are you really relocated? Actually, no, I'm not in Atlanta. Native. I was born in Jackson, Alabama and raised in Indian Reed. It's about an hour above Mobile, Alabama. Jackson, Alabama now. I'm from a big city. I have a different point of view versus what yours might be. Tell us about life in Jackson, Alabama.

4:17It's very small. Everybody knows everybody. It's just a very close community. We do have a Walmart. There's one of the things that everybody has. We do have a Walmart. We do have traffic lights. Most of us grew up and lived on our own land. Dirt roads had farms, you know, things of that nature, very, very country. Very country. Now, now, how did you get out of Jackson? Was it education in Pro-Trader Jackson or job opportunities? How did you get out of Jackson? What motivated you to get out of Jackson? It was definitely education. I left my hometown on a full scholarship to Alabama and University in Huntsville, Alabama. And I knew that I was going to leave and actually go to college and be a CTA as early as the 11th grade. So I knew that I was getting out and I was going to find an ecileherty as a way to do it. And that's exactly what I did.

5:23So I left Jackson, Alabama and I haven't looked back. I love it. And first of all, you still got that accent now. You do not get rid of that accent. You're not going to go to New York and act like you in New York. Now, this is an accent. Okay. Absolutely not. I am a country girl born and raised. I love it. I love it. Now, you went to the HPC you, you know, Alabama and you. Did they have an impact in your life? Tell us about that black excellence that they're teaching academically and these HPC use. Absolutely. In a world where we are the modern ority going to a place where we were the majority and we were treated as such. Really helped. I would say myself a scene and it also helped how I looked at myself when it came to a professional in this big world outside of an HBCU. It kind of built it kind of built me for what was to come. And especially with the teachers that were there, they prepared us in a way that I feel like I would not have been prepared had I not gone to an HPC you.

6:28So there were things that were taught us like survival skills that I don't think I would have gotten. Had I went to it had I chosen a different school and when I say survival survival skills, I'm not just talking about, you know, how to provide for yourself or things of it. Nature know they taught us how to operate in a world where we aren't the majority where systemic racism still exists. They taught us how to, you know, always be prepared to over deliver and under promise so that you're always on the mark or better. And it definitely shows I came out in 2013 and to say I'm proud of my classmates and even those before me and after me have done some amazing things coming from an HBCU. Whereas when I expressed that I would be going to an HBCU, I was met with comments such as you're so much better than that. Why would you go there? Why would you limit yourself when actuality going to an HBCU was the best thing I ever did. And it didn't limit me. It actually catapulted me into into my career and where I am today and I wouldn't change the pain.

7:35Yeah, you are a motivator. I'm telling you, you know, they need to put you on tape. You know, they need to put you like on the billboard right outside of Alabama and then please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more money making conversations masterclass. Now I need for you to do me a favor right now to follow or subscribe to money making conversation. It's free. And you can find it on the I heart radio app Spotify Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Please do me that favor. Follow or subscribe money making conversations. When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and health captive for nine months. I survived and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart and these are the survivor files. Just remember this low taunting voice next to my ear saying shut up. Don't say anything. Every week I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. I knew if he woke up without a doubt he was going to hurt me.

8:42I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed and I just started screaming. They are abducted, stalked, controlled and nearly silenced. But these aren't stories about what's taken from them. Their story is about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the survivor files with Elizabeth Smart on the I heart radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to money making conversation masterclass hosted by me, Roshan McDonald. Let's get back into it. Listen to Jasmine Young. See you teach you right because you know a lot of people stereotypes, you know, will stop you from being reaching great heights. Because always that's why I was talking about, you know, where you came from because a lot of people say, you know, they put people certain educational reach because it's the same thing small towns in inner city because I came from inner city.

9:43I was born in race. So people like me wouldn't suppose to get out. According to them, you know, people like me, you know, and when I met people they go, oh, you're different. I never knew how to take that when they said that. Oh, you different. You know, because you know, it was always like, what do you mean different? I could my teachers prepared me to be this way. They told me what I could be in high school because if they didn't tell me these things like your teachers told you at Alabama and I would tell you I would not be the person I am today, but they saw something in me. Jasmine, they allowed me to be able to sit on his microphone and talk to motivating people like you because that's the story that you want to be able to put out that and what inspired me to do this interview was that. I was a good drive about financial literacy spread financial literacy around the world. One family at a time. Talk to us about that. Absolutely. So I learned early on that my passion for financial literacy was actually going with actually my purpose.

10:47And I'm blessed that both my passion and my purpose aligned because I had a net for numbers going up. I counted everything. Even my food particles by steps. When I will repeat things to myself, I had to say on a certain amount of times, just really, really big on numbers. I didn't know that I had a great uncle who was a math genius. And apparently it was it passed down to me. So I knew back in high school when I was met with the comment that everybody wasn't fit with the silver spoon like me infuriated me, but it infuriated me to make a difference because in our actuality, I don't believe I was fit with the silver spoon. My mom and dad, they grew up poor. I mean, we're already in the country, but my mom is one of eight. My dad is the baby boy 17. They were poor and they didn't have a lot growing up. But one thing I wouldn't one thing they did for my brother and I is they worked very, very hard. They came from eight they came from eight and 17. And is that too cute?

11:47It's just 18. They go, we're just going to do two. Are you the baby? Okay, continue with the story. I just had to stop that when you said 18 and 17 and then only just two of y'all and they're on the farm. But we had a lot of cousins. We grew up on our own land and I'll be honest back then. I was ashamed of where I came from because I lived on dirt road. There was no traffic. Everybody knew everybody. It was farm animals everywhere. I was like trees, gullies, all types of things. And it wasn't until I actually went to my HBCU and got it to my career that I realized that I really did. I really did come from rich heritage. Not only the place that I lived. It's called Indian Ridge, but I'm an eighth Indian. I had no idea that my grandparents were Cherokee Indians had no idea. So we lived on over 78 plus acres of our own land. That then as a child I didn't realize that that was something to be proud of.

12:54All of these roads, we walked the roads and ate from the fruit of the trees, plums, muskadines, apples, pears, pigs, like we'd farm. We had animals, pigs, horses, chickens. We had it. But from my standpoint, because I had never left Jackson, Alabama, before I went to college, this is country. Why can't we live in the city? We don't have tables. We don't have a pool. I rode the dirt road. But I realized that my parents gave my brother and I was a basic foundation of how to be a responsible financial adult. They surrounded themselves with people that had the financial education that they wanted to have. They also held each other accountable for the finances in the household. Even dancing me and my brother. My dad was always gone before we got up to go to school. Because he was already at work, but he would leave $220 bills on the table. And my brother and I knew that outside of any school requirement, if we wanted to buy anything, whether it was gas for the car to get the band practice, basketball practice, softball practice, whatever, snacks, anything. We had to make that $20 work. Because we weren't even in.

14:16And it was actually that budget that my dad gave us to this day. My parents have never purchased a cell phone for me every minute I had on my cell phone back then and I'm dating myself with a beat. But the minutes that I had on my phone back then, I purchased them because my dad taught me, hey, look, this I'll give you. You got to figure out how to make it work. Love it. And it was that example that allowed us to be able to have the things that we wanted to have and took my peers because they weren't getting it. It looked as if I was privileged or if I was fed with the silver spoon. When in actuality, my parents gave my brother an example and that was it. And I realized that I wanted to address that's actually when I decided that I wasn't going to become a professional singer and mayor Michael Jackson. I was actually going to be a CPA. Can you sing though? Can you sing those? You know, I can hold a tone. You know, others, others will say different. But you know, I've been singing since I was five years old. It's not something that I do often anymore. I did sing a lot in class view of you.

15:23You know, you're a kid. They let you sing as you get older. That day is true. Okay. They keep no more. I'll tell you these. I sung in I sung in college and I also sang on the parade team at my church. Oh, praise team. Now, praise team. A lot of people now. And there's a lot of energy. Okay. Yeah. But you know, that's what I decided. And I come from a musical in class family. Okay. Okay. Now they got a musical in class family and then mathematically in class family. And you won eighth, which is one eighth Cherokee. Yeah. Fair. Gary, you working it. You working it. First of all, first of all, Jasmine, y'all, this is an incredible interview from an authentic tone. You know, because of the fact that you are telling me who you are, you're honestly breaking down what I think coming folk talk coming folk talk. Because that's all I was offered. You know, and I was complaining. I was complaining about the clothes I wear. I was complaining about everything. Not realizing that my parents didn't not allow anybody in our house to curse. We couldn't curse. I didn't I tell people today. I did not utter a curse word till I was 18 years old.

16:3219 years old because my parents raised me that way. But I thought, oh my god, this is the worst. But in the process of raising me that way, I had to speak correctly. I had this no, I'd have a vernacular because I always tell people, you curse. You use, you'd like using five words with a file word. Because it's just short cuts your your intellect and short cuts your ability to communicate. And so when I hear your story, and I remember going because I'm from Houston, Texas, and we'd go to Boeys, you're in Shreep, or Louisiana, and we see black people in the form, and they had to look little, you know, the outhouses and the little little pain by the bed. And I was going, what the heck is going on here? I can't get away from here. But I realized now all my life, I've been trying to get back to that. Absolutely. Yes. Yes. And it's like now when I go home, I get the best sleep. It's so peaceful there. Don't go anywhere. We will be right back with more insights from money making conversations, master class.

17:37When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and health captive for nine months. I survived, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the survivor files. Just remember this low taunting voice next to my ear saying, shut up, don't say anything. Every week, I'm with survivors who lived through the unthinkable. I knew if he woke up without a doubt, he was going to hurt me. I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed, and I just started screaming. They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. But these aren't stories about what's taken from them. Their story is about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the survivor files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

18:37On the new podcast, Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait four hours for the next bus, or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle. I choose option B. I'm Julie Pinierro, and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes. Without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word Solita, trading the pity for possibility. Every time I try to be alone, I kept meeting people, and they were like, you smiled at us, not a lot of people smile around here. It's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is, and not the lies you're sold about it. It can be a time where you push your limits, change your mind, or wake up to a new version of yourself. So whether you're a solo travel veteran, or you're too nervous to book your first trip, I hope you listen to Solita on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

19:38On big lives, we take a single cultural icon. People like Jane Fonda, George Michael, Richard Pryor, and we pull apart the story behind the image. And we do this by digging through the BBC's vast archive. We're talking iconic moments in broadcast history. I'm not just a boxer, I'm educating, I can talk all week on millions of subjects. And forgotten interviews that change how we see these giants of our culture. Well, if changing the system from the ground up is revolutionary, then I'm revolutionary. We're here for the messy, the brilliant, the human version of our heroes. And when I go on stage, I like to dress as slutty as possible, because it makes me dance better for some reason. I'm Immanuel Jocci. I'm Kai Wright, and this is Big Lives. Listen to Big Lives on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get podcasts. Dear Hunnies, this is goodbye. In February of 2024, celebrated illustrator and children's book author, Patre Mathers, and her husband Michael,

20:40nailed letters to dozens of friends and family members to let them know that they had died by suicide. By the time you get the shalliter of both Petra and I will be dead. Next stop, Wonderland. Patre and Michael were by all accounts healthy, happy, and in love. Why did they do it? And what did it do to the people they left behind? I would have given a million reasons to not leave this world had I known. I keep coming back to a truly hope that Patre was a thousand percent on board with the plan. Do you think of him as having killed her? Yes, I do. I hold Michael responsible for my mother's death. I'm Leon Nevock. And I'm Alice Gregory. Together we set out to interview everyone who got one of Patre and Michael's letters. As one married couple, trying to understand another. Listen to death of an artist on the iHeart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Michael and Perry Oli. I want to tell you about my new podcast Underground Zero.

21:41I'm on the screen. I need something to wrong. It's about what happened in the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. We're looking at the opportunity of a lifetime for us and the other families. While the world was mourning, five powerful New York families saw an opportunity. The debris supposed to go to the city on salvage and some of it will. They would go on to make millions of dollars. What's in the tunnels? Go on bars, silver ingots. It could be worth half a billion. And they would have made more if it hadn't been for one courageous cop. No, Dad, don't. You're going to need all of us. I'll call you when I can. Frank, be careful. Underground Zero, starring Steve Sharipa, Ray Abruzzo, and me, Michael and Perry Oli. Would you be willing to see your family go to pieces? Some ways it already has. Listen to Underground Zero on the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to Money Making Conversations Masterclass hosted by me, Roshan McDonnell.

22:44Money Making Conversations Masterclass continues online at moneymakingconversations.com And follow Money Making Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, X and Instagram. They call the annual Black Wall Street Black Business Expo. Tell us what that is all about. Ms. Jasmine Young. Absolutely. So the Black Wall Street Black Business Expo is a two-fold event. Of course, we want to honor the excellence that existed in the Greenwood District, commonly known as Black Wall Street, in Tulsa, Oklahoma back in the 1900s. Unfortunately, due to racism, that community was burned down. And in Black Wall Street, in the time of Black Wall Street, that was actually a time where African Americans exemplified exceptional amounts of will. However, since then, the wealth gap has increased due to the demise of Black Wall Street. So our event pays homage to our ancestors who exemplify Black excellence through entrepreneurship.

23:50But it also is a call to action for today's entrepreneurs to use that spirit of Black Wall Street. One to recreate the generational wealth that existed back then, but also to create social change and use the Black dollar to actually get legislators to make bills and laws that will allow us the equity and the social justice that we are so long overdue for us to receive. So we're using this event. Why don't you run it for a public office? I'm telling you, I'm just hearing you. You talk about social change, you need to just mention politics. You have a good sense, you have a very, very marketable personality. You have an engaging tone of how you are your background and how you're going to move the community forward.

24:51Why aren't you running for a public office? Well, I'll be honest with you, going through school, I actually hate it politics. I hate it government. Which doesn't make sense because I spend 11 and a half years of my life as a government employee. But I have come to have a passion for social action and making a difference. And I realized that for our community, the way for us to make... I guess you can say move the needle and where we need to be economically is we have to be civically engaged. The two are synonymous. You cannot have one without the other. And it goes back to the Black Wall Street store, which was one of my inspirations. And I'm actually toying with the idea of actually going to law school. I've ordered my ill-fledged book and I'm thinking that's the way I want to go, but I do not. I don't want to sit for the bar because it's literally like sitting for the CPA exam, of course, without numbers.

25:56But I do want to see us in a better place and I believe as a community we can be in a better place because we've done it before. And Black Wall Street is an example of it. Now, when you thought of this idea, what model did you have? Did you pitch it to somebody and they go, what are you talking about? What did you... No, I did not. I'll tell you what sparked this. I actually wanted to do the event in 2020, but COVID hit. Right. So I killed the idea, I tabled it, and then the murder of George Floyd happened in 2021. And what sparked it was, you know, corporations start to state their claims whether they backed the blue or whether Black Lives Matter. And for those that said they backed the blue, our community said, okay, well, if you backed the blue, we're not going to support you. And some of those corporations actually changed their stance because we decided we weren't going to spend money with them. Right. Now, if you're familiar with the financial industry and the African-American buying power, we are the largest group of consumers in the world.

27:02So for a corporation to decide, you know what? If this group of people are not going to support us because we don't support what their social justice, we got to change our stance. And it was at that moment that I knew this is the answer to all our social injustice issues is recirculating the Black dollar in our community and making those that want our money played by our rules. And that's why I started the Black Wall Street Black Business Act. Congratulations. Powerful. Powerful outlook. Now tell us how we can find out more information about this and also get in touch with you. And I'm speaking to Jasmine Young. Absolutely. So you can go to Black Wall Street at lancer.org. And then of course, if you're just interested in the financial literacy institute and the programming that we have, you can go to tfliink.org. And you will see all of the programming that we offer in order to spread financial literacy and to underprivileged communities.

28:02Wow. You know, this is amazing interview. I want to tell you this. I'm a fan. Jasmine Young. I am a fan. I am sold on your personality. I'm sold on your vision. I am sold on your, I am motivated to do more. And I'm telling you that Rusha McDoll is in your life. Okay. And I'm in your life for real because I can't, I cannot tell you in words how inspiring you are as an individual. And I, anything I can do to help spread the word like I'm doing today right now, I will continue. And I will continue to tell people you are a blessing. Thank you for coming on Monday making conversation masterclass. Thank you so much. I appreciate you looking forward to connecting with you. Oh, you will connect. She's the beast. She a beast. Let's go and put it out there and tell everybody correctly. She is the truth. And the truth need to be told everybody. And thank you for coming on Monday making conversation masterclass. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for listening to this episode. Now I need for you to do me a favor. Right now, you'll follow or subscribe to Monday making conversation.

29:05It's free. And you can find it on the iHartRadio app. Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Please do me that favor. Follow or subscribe. Money making conversations. Keep winning. I survived nine months in captivity. And I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart. And these are the survivor files. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. Abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. These are stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the survivor files with the Elizabeth Smart on the iHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. On the new podcast, Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle.

30:05I choose option B. I'm Julie Pinero and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word Solita, trading the pity for possibility. Listen to Solita on the iHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Alec Baldwin. This season on my podcast, here's the thing I talk to actor Stephen Root. I'm a people watcher. You see that guy going down the drain though? Yeah, I can use that. And open igloo co-founder, Alia Muhammad. I love staying on top of what is going on in our city, what is on renters minds. And taking all of that knowledge to build a platform that hopefully is going to make New York City better in the long run. Listen to hears the thing on the iHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. What up this Jay Valentine co-host of the R&B Money Podcast alongside my brother, R&B legend, tank.

31:06Together we've built a space for artists, executives and fans of R&B music to reminisce and tell the real stories behind the music. I have no money, I was hood famous. They think you're going to get everybody out. We lived in a project and real love came out. They hear the music and we had nothing. From Smokey Robinson to Mary J. Blige, B2K to Jill Scott. If you're a super dedicated R&B fan, this is where you belong. Listen to R&B money from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. It's the US Open, which means the tennis world is about to lose its mind and I'm here for every second of it. Join me, Renee Stubbs on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast as I break it all down. The matches that matter, the drama that doesn't and the stories everyone's talking about. No cliches, no sugarcoating, just host analysts from someone who's actually been there. Coco, looking real good, her serve looks so much smoother than it has in the past. I was really happy to see Yiga back to what she looked like a couple of years ago and she was winning dominantly. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the iHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.