B (5:39)

What was that aha moment when you knew that your app was going to be successful?

C (5:46)

I think I'm still kind of waiting for the aha moment. I believe in me and I believe in my team. So for me, it was not necessarily an aha moment. It was. I know that I have assembled the best team. I know what my abilities are. I know that failure is not an option. There's only a lesson. For me, it's it. I wouldn't necessarily say there was a moment where I just knew this was going to go. But it does help when other people who don't know me, who are not my friends and family, who tell me this is needed. This is what I've been looking for. Hearing people give you that sort of feedback, I think is definitely getting towards that aha moment. But like I said, my belief is in me. My belief is in my team. And I know that when we all put our heads together, I know that great things are going to happen.

B (6:42)

And speaking of by black women for black women and we've seen over the last couple of years the dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion. Large corporations are actually stepping away from that, as well as suits taking place around specifically focusing on black women. What have you and your company have done to safeguard to ensure that you will not end up in those situations?

C (7:20)

Right. That's a very good question. I mean, we've all watched sort of how this has played out over the last couple of years. Candidly, one of my team members worked with Fearless Fund during the lawsuit that was happening. So there's some inside information that I know and I can sort of avoid some of those pitfalls. But the long story short here is we are centering black women for sure. We know that that black women are a underserved demographic, one of the most educated, certainly the highest growing entrepreneurial population. And so we want to make sure that our community speaking black women are served. But that's not to say that we don't recognize that there are other underserved communities of women out there who may be looking for some of these resources too. That's not to say that we don't believe in allyship. We absolutely do. We don't necessarily. We're not closed to anybody. We are an inclusive community for whomever is looking for these types of resources. We know that there are organizations, there are sororities that are centering black women. There are other organizations that center black women, and they have members of those organizations that are all different races and ethnicities. And you know, for us, as long as you understand the assignment when you come in, then welcome.

B (8:48)

There are so many brands and businesses. Lee that are dominating. Talk about a brand or a business that's dominating that you admire and why.

C (8:57)

Excellent question. I think that one of the businesses that I admire the most is probably essence. And I say that because, you know, ESSENCE has been around for as long as I can remember, for sure. And I'm. I'm 46, so I don't ever remember there not being in ESSENCE on my mom's coffee table. I admire ESSENCE because I admire the way that they've pivoted. I admire the way that they have sort of moved with the times. I definitely think that there is. I think that with my company, because we have had to pivot not so many times. We've had to make some. Some quick pivots. You know, when. When I first came onto the scene, you know, we knew, oh, okay, this is something we need to. We need to get on. We need to be at the forefront of this. We need to innovate. I looked at Essence as sort of the way that they have been able to move through the times. I looked at them as the example. Not to mention it is a company that centers black women. So that's just sort of who I am as a person, and that's where my passion lies. Yeah, I definitely think that Essence would be one of those companies. I also really admire another company called Motherly. Motherly is a rather large platform that is for. It's probably centering moms, but the information that they provide for caregivers, anyone that is, you know, has a child in their life in some way, shape form or fashion, and the way that they've been able to grow as a company from just a little website into this large conglomerate, but really staying true to who they are. They're not an app. They're not, you know, sort of getting into this social media thing. They are a company that distributes resources and information to moms. And I just. I love the way that they've sort of stayed true to what their original mission was. The same with essence. I mean, Essence has stayed true to its original message, its original mission. And of course, there's been some pivots over the years, but, you know, definitely just understanding what your mission is and not being swayed from it, not being convinced to do something else or to add this or add that. You know, you always just stay true to what you set out to do in the first place.

B (11:21)

Talk about your top two mentors. And some people call the mentors, some call influencers. What lessons do they teach you, Lee?

C (11:31)

Oh, gosh, now you're Going to get into the emotions. Okay. My number one mentor is my grandfather, my father's father, we all called him granddaddy. And my granddad was a physician, was an entrepreneur, one of the first black physicians in Fort Worth, Texas. And what I admired most about him and the seeds that he planted in myself and my cousins was really service, service to the community, service to your family. That's what we're here for. I think that that is, that's really put me on the path. If you're doing what you're passionate about and if you're doing it in service to others, the money will come, but the money is like secondary or even tertiary to how you live in your purpose. And so I really think that my granddad sort of instilled that in his, in his five kids, certainly in my father, and definitely in my sister and my cousins. We all probably have a story or two about watching granddad bringing people off the street because they needed medical care. And it wasn't about whether or not they could pay. It wasn't about their insurance. It was about being of service and being, being helpful. And I can recall my father actually saying in an interview maybe 13, 14 years ago, the family, his family, most of them are physicians. And he said, you know, our medical degrees are a community resource, and to whatever extent they can be used, that is what they are there for. And I think that that's sort of how I've operated anything. I'm very much a how can I help person. If you call me up, the first thing I'm going to say is, hey, how you doing? How can I help? If I have a resource that I can share, I'm going to share it. I'm not even going to think twice about it. Gatekeeping is not in my DNA anywhere. I have to say that about my granddad and my father. But the other person is probably my mother. My mom is, she's an attorney, she's semi retired now. But my mother lost her mom very young. And the way I like to, to describe her is she raised my sister and I on instinct. She's always been that person that's been, you know, right there in our corner. She's always been the bulldog that's protecting her girls. But she really instilled in me that sense of independence and don't let anybody ever doubt you. You believe in you and you're going to get it done. And so that's, I'd have to say my, my mom and my granddad for sure.

B (14:11)

Lee, talk to a younger you, what advice would you give to a younger you?

C (14:16)

Get out of the way, get out of your own way. Believe in yourself more. For sure. I think growing up I had these examples of black excellence around me all the time. I think I spent a lot of time wondering if I was good enough. But 46 year old Lee knows she's good enough. And 46 year old Lee is not swayed by any naysayer or anything that might be going on in the world that might be telling me, you know, it's not going to work, it's not going to happen. Like I said, failure is not an option. There's only lessons to be learned. If this particular iteration of Akina, you know, if we find that, you know, there's something about it that isn't working, we not, we don't quit, we pivot. Because I know that what I'm doing is needed. I know that what my team is building is revolutionary and will be impactful. If we impact one person, then I think that we've done our jobs. But, but, yeah, just that imposter syndrome. I heard somebody the other day say that they didn't believe that it existed. And I, I'm like, well, gosh, I'm freaking living proof of that. It exists. But it's very diff, it's, it's, it's not easy to, when you're young to look at yourself and think, yeah, I can do that, I'm good enough. You know, you're surrounded by examples, but can I live up to that? So I think I would tell my younger self, get out of your own way. You can do this. It's fine. Just keep moving forward. Just like the little movie. Keep on swimming. Keep on swimming. It's, it's just get out of your own way and believe in yourself.

B (15:53)

I want you to have a monologue. I want you to name this person, living or not, and this person has impacted your life so much. Who is that person and what are you saying to that person?

C (16:05)

Gosh, Dr. Richards, you're getting real deep here. I would probably talk to my dad. I lost my dad a few years ago and my dad was my person. So I think what I would say to my dad is, I did it. The last thing my dad said to me before he died was, you don't know how smart you are. And I'm gonna need you to start recognizing that. I think I would definitely say, dad, I heard you and I did it and I'm going to keep doing it and I'm going to keep doing it. For my people and I won't be swayed and I won't be misaligned I will stay stay the course through all of the tears, through all of the blood through all of the sweat and through all of the winds I'm going to stay the course.

B (16:52)

Thank you so much for being so authentic and my sincere sympathy for the passing of your dad. And I want you to take a step back. You are very, very fortunate that you have seen kids generations and generations of black excellence black entrepreneurs. A lot of us, we did not have that growing up. So I want you to take us back to that journey. When you started in entrepreneurial ship, did you go to school for entrepreneurial ship? What was that moment? Tell us that story. Were you in corporate America? What was that when you were really knew that you had to launch and leap into entrepreneurial ship? Or maybe you started right out. Tell us your story.

C (17:46)

I did not go to school for entrepreneurship. I, like I said, I think I always knew was in it was going to happen eventually, but it was not top of mind for me. At any point up to my 30s, I went to school. I went to Hampton University and I studied English literature. And the reason I did that was because my original path was to law school. And I had an epiphany midway through my senior year that I wasn't entirely sure that I wanted to go to law school. And I remember waking my mother up at 2 or 3 o' clock in the morning. I was home for Christmas and I woke her up and was like, I need to talk to you. I don't think I want to be a lawyer. And I was so scared to tell her because, you know, she's an attorney. Like, this was the path, this was the dream. And she's like, okay, okay, that's fine. What do you want to do? And I was like, mom, I just, I don't really know, but I don't think that that's my path. And we had a long talk, decided in that moment. Art was also a passion of mine. My father and I curated a art collection together. And so I was like, well, I think that I will take some art history classes. I'll take some art classes and kind of see if maybe I want to be an art broker or maybe I want to be an agent or something like that. And so she supported that decision or indecision, whichever you want to classify it as. But when I graduated, I went into nonprofit work. I worked for a small nonprofit in Washington, D.C. and it was in service to minority transportation officials. Again, Here we are going from an HBCU to a nonprofit that is in service to my community. And from there, I think I did make the final decision. Okay, I am going to go to law school. I do think maybe I need to rethink this. And Dr. Richards, I took the LSAT. I took classes before I took the LSAT. I was, like, in the application process. Did well on the lsat, by the way. And at the time, my mother was on the board at Howard University, and I attended an event with her where I met Jack Kemp. For those of you who may not remember, Jack Kemp was a former football player, played for the Buffalo Bills. He parlayed his football career into politics and became a congressman. He was HUD secretary under Big Bush, and he also ran for vice president, first president and then vice president under Bob Dole. I met him at a Howard University event. He also was on the board at Howard. And when I met him, he immediately became a good friend. I would actually call him a mentor. And at the time I developed this relationship with him, and he was just sort of like, yeah, okay, let's go to law school. Great. You know, we can do this. And some situations happened with my parents, businesses, and. And I was actually on my way home. I was going back to Texas, and I was talking to Jack about this, and he said, yeah, I don't think that's a good idea. I think you should stay in D.C. your parents are grown. They can figure it out, but you have to figure your own path. And he said, you know, if you're second guessing going to law school, why don't you come work for me? To be honest with you, Dr. Richards, little black girls don't get those kinds of opportunities. And I called my mom and I was just like, I really feel like this is something. I can always go to law school, right? Like, it's not going away. They're not going to shut all the law schools down in the next two years. But this is something I feel called to do. And so I did. I stopped my application process. I went and I worked for Jack for almost five years, I think. And when I tell you the lessons that I learned, how to think and how to. How to analyze, especially people that are different from you, people's, you know, other people's positions and lived experiences and how to communicate my own lived experiences, I think what I learned most from Jack was how to advocate and. And I would not trade that for the world. Did I ever go to law school? I did not. After actually ended up leaving Jack's, office when I got married and moved to Birmingham with my husband. So I stayed in politics. When I got to Birmingham, I worked for the Jefferson County Commission President Betty Fine Collins at the time, had my two kids. And then I started working for Congressman Archer Davis, first as a deputy district director and then as district director and then from there went into public relations, all the while helping my husband with this business that we started. It was in 2020 when I said, I want to do this for me though. Like I, I've always been in business with my husband, but I wanted to, to do this particular thing in service to my particular demographic, in service to black women in particular. And my husband said, let's do it. He didn't say go do it. He said, let's do it. That's kind of the 30,000 foot overview of the story. But my husband and I, we do, we don't do everything together, but we do most things together. He is my best friend, he is my business partner, he is the father of my kids. He is the first person that I want to talk to when I have an epiphany and you know, I can't imagine going on this journey without him.

B (23:39)

Speaking of your best friend, business partner, husband, talk about love, marriage and entrepreneurial ship.

C (23:47)

It's not for everyone for sure. And it took us a good maybe seven years before we found our rhythm. I had seen examples of couples working together. Some worked out and you know, they're still married to this day, 40, 50 years later, some didn't. One thing that I saw as being a constant refrain is communication. How well you and your partner communicate will dictate whether or not that working also romantic relationship will work out and it's not going to happen overnight. Just like marriage, you have to fall into a rhythm with your partner. You have to learn each other. We've been married for 17 years now and I think we're still, you know, sort of learning the rhythm and you know, because we're evolving creatures, we, we don't stay the same. I'm not the same person that he married 18, 17, 18 years ago. I'm a completely different person. I'm a mom now. I'm an entrepreneur myself. I'm, you know, I done a lot of things between now and then that have affected my worldview. And so just being able to sort of evolve with your spouse but also evolve in your communication styles, constantly having those check ins, it's a respect level, it's a always remembering, even when we disagree. I'm your teammate and you're my teammate. It is never. I am never against you. And I know he is never against me. And he likes to remind me, I'm not the enemy, Lee. I'm not the enemy. But it's just, that's just how we, you know, how we communicate. We are very, we're both very passionate people, but we've been able to sort of evolve. We've been able to respect one another as spouse and mom and dad and, you know, this personal relationship that we have over here, but also recognizing that our professional relationship is not going to be the same. It's going to look different. And so, you know, he had to learn what work, who workly was and who at homely, that's not the same person. And I had to recognize the same in him. And so just constantly keeping that communication up, like, okay, you said this. It didn't make me feel so hot. What did you mean? Did I get something from that? Did I receive it in a way that you did not mean it? Did I say something that you didn't receive in the way that I meant it? You know, it's just constant, constant communication and checking in, but with always in the back of your mind, this is your teammate. It's not my adversary. He's never my enemy.

B (26:26)

Talk about motherhood and entrepreneurial ship.

C (26:30)

I think that might, my husband might be upset if I say this, but I think that might be my favorite part. I love that my kids get to see not just mom and dad doing this together, but mom sort of coming up with her own idea and seeing it through. They get to see that example of a woman being in that position as well. And my kids also, all three of them, they're 16, 15, and the youngest one just turned 6. They all have some sort of business idea that has come out of their mouths at one point or another. The 16 year old has a really good idea that I think once we can get a keynote to where I want it to be, we may, you know, invest in that. But. But they've been watching this since they were babies. All three of them have seen some semblance of mom and dad working on their own business, doing it together. And I think that I think all three of them will be entrepreneurs in some way, shape, form or fashion. But I think that is the thing I am most proud of is them being able to see those examples in mom and dad, but also see us work together. Yeah, I'm really, really proud of that. I think that that's going to speak to how they select A partner. Is this somebody I can work with? I already see it in how they are selecting their girlfriends now. I can see that. It's, it's. They're looking for people that they can work with, that they can build with. And so I really, I think that's one of the things I'm most proud of.

B (28:13)

Lee, you said something very profound. You said that no failures. It's just lessons, right? Talk about that lesson, that great lesson. I call it opportunities, right? In business, let's talk about life or business. And what lesson did it teach you?

C (28:32)

There's been quite a few lessons along the way, but I would say anytime that something didn't seem like it was going to work out the way I wanted it to work out. I think the very first lesson I saw in not just my parents, but as my husband Chris and I have been going down this road is the ability to pivot. You have to be able to evolve, certainly keeping in line with your original mission, but you have to be able to keep up with the times. You've got to be able to innovate. You've got to be able to bring value to your consumer base. Whether that is a, you know, in tech, whether that's a user or that's a client or whatever, you've got to figure out how to bring value. And the way you bring value on day one is not going to be the same as the way you bring value on day 739. It's going to be different. And it's, you have to be open to constant evolution and innovation. Like I said, I don't believe in failures. If I have not learned a lesson, then that's a failure. I can't think of a single time that I did not learn a lesson from something not working out for me. I can't think of a single time that a lesson did not come from it. But then that also is self reflection. That's also. Okay, okay, this didn't work out, but that doesn't, that's not a reflection of you. What could we have done differently to make this have a different outcome? Is there anything we could have done differently to make this have a different outcome? I think that as long as you keep that, that you are able to evolve and you're able to reflect inward and see where maybe you, you, you could have, maybe you could have done something differently. Maybe your marketing campaign could have done a little, a little tweak, maybe made a miscalculation and, and something else that you were trying, but it's it's keeping up and being able to take accountability a as the leader and then also accountability for what may have not been put in place to give you the outcome that you desired. So, yeah, I don't believe in failures.

B (30:46)

Only lessons, advice you wish you had followed.

C (30:52)

Again, I don't believe in failures. One thing that my dad said, I think when Chris and I first started our first business was take care of yourself first. If you, as the, as the leader is not taking. If you're not good, the rest of it is not going to be good either. You have to take care of yourself first. You have to be the example that you want your team to follow. And it was a very quick lesson. It was very quick. The second he said it, I was like, oh, yeah, that actually makes sense. How you show up as the leader is how your team is going to show up. I wish I would have followed it immediately when he said it, but I didn't. I recognized it and I was like, he's right. But I didn't do that because I felt like I couldn't. I felt like if I'm taking care of me first, then I've got my eye off of this, I've got my eye off the business or I'm not able to do the things that I want to do for, for the company. But he was right. As an entrepreneur, as a leader, you have to check in with you first. You have to make sure that you and your situation is good. You have to make sure that your kids eat. You have to make sure that you have a roof over your head. You have to make sure that you are taking care of all of the things that would make you not show up for your team or your company. That was a hard lesson to learn, but definitely I wish I would have followed that advice immediately when he said it.

B (32:26)

What problem exists in the world today that you would like to solve?

C (32:31)

Equity and access. I think that, I mean, that's an obvious problem, right? Like, we know that the world is not equitable and not everyone has access. As you said earlier, Dr. Richards, not everyone had the example that I had growing up. And I want to make sure that if you don't have that example, you can come to Akena and get it. You can see you're surrounded by women who look like you and who want to see you succeed. You can look at a Dr. Richards and say, I can do that. You can look at me and say, I can do that. You can look at my sister Cody and say, I can do that too. I Want to bring access to those who may not have had it or may not have had it. May have had some access, but not all of it. Right. We all have something that we could be bringing to the table. And if we can just start coming together and bringing those resources together as a community and stop gatekeeping those and. Oh, well, you know, I had to figure it out. So you go figure it out. Other communities have figured this out for some reason. And I'll be honest with you, I think this country profits off of us not figuring it out. I think that this country does not want, and not just black women, but our community as a whole to figure out how to work together and how to pool our resources and how to bring each other up. The black dollar circulates something like 14 times in the community before it leaves. And then when you go into other communities, it circulates something like 87 times before it leaves. I mean, and we have a lot of dollars. Don't let anybody tell you that we don't. We have a lot of dollars. I think the last number I saw was 1.7 trillion buying power. And that's just in America. The possibilities are endless if we could figure out how to come together. So, yeah, I really. This problem I'm trying to solve is access and resources. We want this world to be an equitable world for everyone. Not just us, everyone. It should be. Not the color of your skin or how you grew up or what, you know, what degrees your parents had or how much money granddaddy had or all that stuff. No, it should be how hard are you willing to work, bottom line. And I think that that's the problem that I've always seen. I think that's the problem. Problem that our community has identified from day one. And however I can be helpful and impactful, that is what I want to do.

B (35:09)

Lee, if you conducted this interview, what is the one question you would have asked yourself? I want you to ask the question and answer it.

C (35:18)

Why are you the person to do this? And that's a question that I ask myself a lot. Why me? Why am I the person? And I think that it boils down to why am I not? Why am I not? Tell me why I'm not the person looking at myself in the mirror. When I do ask myself this question, I'm being completely honest with you. I ask it more often than you think. That is always the answer. Why am I not? I'm certainly smart enough. I'm certainly resourceful enough. I will learn. And I am a sponge. I will learn whatever lesson God sends my way to teach me. But I absolutely believe that this is what I was put on this earth to do. I don't believe I was put here alone to do it. Let me make that very clear. I do not believe that I'm the only person in the world that can do it. But I'm certainly one of the people that God put it on on her heart to do. And here I am. And I am going to do it. And I'm not going to let anybody or any lawsuit or any foolishness come in my way. We're going to get this job done and I'm going to find the other people that God put on this earth to help with this mission. And we're going to do this together.

B (36:35)

Talk about the name Akina.

C (36:38)

Where did it come from? Akina is Swahili for strong family bond. So initially when we were a starting out as a social media app for moms, you know, obviously we wanted to create this strong family bond. But as we took it a step further, we want that bond to extend first to our community, but then to the world. We want to create a strong family bond within the global diaspora. Hence the name Akita.

B (37:08)

And how can our supporters help you?

C (37:12)

Absolutely. You can go to akinaconnect.com you can sign up. It's free. We are always looking for beta users on our platform and we are always looking for contributors. So whether that is as an expert, whether that is, you know, your company has resources to to help feed our our tool or want to contribute, we're always looking for that information as well. And all of that is there on the website. You can also email us@infoquinaconnect.com We've come.

B (37:48)

To the part of our interview. It's called rapid round of fun. I'm going to ask you a series of questions and I'd like you to give me very quick answers. If there's something you desire not to answer, feel free to say pass. Are you ready for the rapid round of fun?

C (38:04)

I am. I love this part.

B (38:06)

Your favorite comfort food.

C (38:08)

Macaroni and cheese.

B (38:10)

The last movie you saw.

C (38:12)

The documentary on Martha Stewart. Your ideal car, a 1985 Mercedes Benz 500 SL.

B (38:23)

Your favorite singer or rapper.

C (38:25)

Okay, Beyonce. You relax doing what I relax watching. Okay. Trashy tv. I like housewives and a glass of wine.

B (38:38)

Your favorite dance song.

C (38:40)

I have so many. I love to dance off the top of my head. The menopause.

B (38:45)

What food you eat every week, no matter what.

C (38:49)

Salmon salad. And that's a salad with grilled salmon on top of it. Not a salmon like mayonnaise y thing.

B (38:56)

No workout or hit the couch workout.

C (39:00)

Three and a half miles a day.

B (39:02)

Thank you so much for joining us Lee on black Entrepreneur Experience podcast. Before we let you go, share with our audience the best way for them to connect with you. Leave all your social media handles and let us know what we can do to support you.

C (39:18)

Thank you. Akinaconnect.com Ak I n a connect.com that is our website at akanaconnect on all socials on Instagram and Facebook and I think that's it. Yeah. Please reach out to us. Infoquinaconnect.com is our email. Please reach out with questions, comments, ways in which you want to support. We will. We read everything. Appreciate it. I really appreciate you having me. Dr. Richards. I appreciate it. Thank you.

B (39:50)

That's a wrap.

A (39:51)

Thank you for listening and subscribing to black entrepreneur Experience. We would love for you to leave a review and rating on itunes and share with your friends. For show notes and more episodes go to www.beepodcast.com. join us next Wednesday. And remember, green is the new black, so keep your bank accounts and your business in the black.