Podcast Summary: Black Entrepreneur Experience

Host: Dr. Frances Richards
Guest: Shawna Wells, Founder/CEO, B is for Black Brilliance & 7Gen Legacy Group
Episode: 500
Date: February 5, 2025

Episode Overview

This milestone 500th episode features Shawna Wells, a dynamic "legacy architect," educator, coach, entrepreneur, and founder of both B is for Black Brilliance and the 7Gen Legacy Group. The conversation dives deep into the ideas of generational legacy, the real-world ups and downs of Black entrepreneurship, and practical, soulful insights about making business (and life) meaningful and sustainable. Shawna’s approach emphasizes blending personal history, community, and future-facing strategy, challenging the audience to rethink success, disrupt limiting narratives, and build a "living legacy" rooted in both care and impact.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Backstory: Legacy as a Roadmap

• Shawna credits her journey to her ancestors, especially her grandmother, who was an entrepreneur and community leader.
  • Quote: "I'm always in relationship with my ancestors... I got here because of them and I got here because of the world that shaped around them and the world that they shaped." (02:18)
• Her move into entrepreneurship is rooted in recognizing the "breadcrumbs" of yeses and nos that she inherited and encountered.

2. Navigating the Ebbs & Flows of Entrepreneurship

• On Uncertainty & Lean Moments:
  • Shawna resists easy advice, noting everyone's circumstances are unique.
  • Insight #1: "All the rules are made up." She encourages reminding oneself that systems were constructed—meaning new rules and paths can be created.
  • Insight #2: "It's likely never a finished product." The goal is not just building a product but fostering a living community around it. (04:08–06:12)
  • Quote: "If you never get to the point of putting something in place and seeing if it worked or it didn't, you're not going to know whether or not it's your thing." (05:12)

3. The Importance of Community, Care & Connection

• Entrepreneurship isn’t just about "cracking the code." True change comes from ongoing relationship-building, adapting, and allowing the audience or community to shape what you build. (06:12–07:13)

4. Monologue on Inspiration: The Legacy of Kevin

• Shawna’s student Kevin asked her every day, “Ms. Wells, why are you here?”—a question that shaped her understanding of legacy and intentionality.
  • Quote: "You, as you know, ask me every morning, Ms. Wells, why are you here? ... you shaped for me the real discipline of being able to speak to why I am here and what is mine and what is others." (07:55–09:21)

5. Defining the "Why" and the Work

• Her mission: honoring both past sacrifices and future generations by creating spaces for Black and Brown individuals to define success on their own terms.
  • Quote: "I just believe I'm a bridging ancestor..." (10:34)

6. Ideal Clients & Shifting the Narrative

• Shawna identifies her three core audiences:
  1. Those searching for "what’s next"
  2. Individuals ready to move beyond generational wealth to generational health
  3. Leaders eager to reimagine impact with their teams
  • Consistent trait: willingness to question and disrupt outdated rules (11:21–12:47)

7. Learning From Challenges

• Example: Their pivot at B is for Black Brilliance from a focus on schools to caregivers—the realization that system change can require organizational humility, reinvention, and listening to what people actually need, not what founders "think" they need.
  • Quote: "We had to put aside our own ego... That's not what our people are telling us. This is what they're telling us they need." (12:58–14:39)

8. Mentors—Positive and Otherwise

• Her father, math teacher Mr. Morton, and rest coach Octavia Rahim top Shawna’s mentor list. She also notes that “negative” mentors (those showing what not to do) are as important as positive ones.
  • Quote (about her father): "He is an entrepreneur. Like, he can't help himself... And the question that he gave me is like, okay, but what's possible?" (15:34)

9. Actionable Takeaways for Listeners

• 1: Infinite possibilities, finite time—“Legacy gets left in every decision you make.”
• 2: How you spend your time and money = moral documents
• 3: Don’t wait to celebrate brilliance—live out and acknowledge your gifts now, not just at the end of life.
  • Quote: "Can't we talk about the ways in which we are brilliant now... You can build from your brilliance and that can do a lot of good in the world." (18:24–20:30)

10. On Zone of Genius

• Shawna’s superpower is deep listening and catalyzing others’ ideas into actionable legacy statements and strategies, often undervalued but essential.
  • Quote: "I am a really remarkable listener and I can hear you and then create something based on what I heard you say." (21:40)

11. Podcast, Music, and Legacy

• Shawna’s own podcast, Legacy Lyrics and Life, explores living and leaving legacy, often using music as a metaphor and tool for generational storytelling.
  • Impactful songs for Shawna: "What a Wonderful World" and "A Change Is Gonna Come"
    • Quote: “Change is the only constant. And if we can wrap our heads around that and embrace it... then I think we have the ability to shape more robustly what we're actually working to build and our connection to what's happening around us.” (25:51–27:13)

12. Redefining Legacy

• For Shawna, legacy is about building playful, liberated adult lives where we set our own principles, not just following external expectations (27:19–28:51)

13. Reflections on the Principal–Entrepreneur Transition

• Transitioning from school principal to entrepreneurship meant letting go of titles and focusing on impact, joy, and skills over roles; redefining what’s possible beyond societal instructions (28:51–31:11)

14. Success Story: Unleash Your Legacy Workshop

• A participant was inspired to connect with family after decades and prioritize her sick child following the workshop—a profound testament to the real-life impact of legacy work.
  • Quote: “She says, after I wrote my personal legacy statement, I did two things. I talked to my grandmother for the first time in 20 years and my kid is very sick … I realized that’s been a mistake because what he really needs is me.” (31:26–33:56)

15. “Walking With What You Believe”—The Challenge of Living Legacy

• Living in alignment with legacy can be agitating:
  1. Redefining rules puts you at odds with some people you love
  2. Balancing generational thinking with daily urgency is hard
  3. Shifting focus from generational wealth to generational health can be at odds with cultural norms
  • Quote: “What agitations can legacy create? ... it’s agitated everything… It causes the brain to have to reorient.” (34:11–36:52)

16. What's Next: Mastermind & Retreats

• Announcing the Living Your Legacy mastermind and Maryville (Austin, TX) retreat for women to focus deeply on personal legacy across six “realms” of life (36:58–38:24)
• Sign up: 7genlegacygroup.com/livingyourlegacy

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "All the rules are made up." — Shawna Wells (04:25)
• "Infinite possibilities, finite time." — (18:28)
• "Your calendar and your budget are moral documents." — (18:54)
• "I just believe I'm a bridging ancestor..." — (10:34)
• “My daughter said... you play with your friends all day. And that's what I want to be able to impact.” — (27:30)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:18] Shawna’s journey and ancestral roots
• [04:08] Dealing with lean moments and breaking the rules
• [07:55] Monologue to her student Kevin
• [10:34] Explaining her "why" and legacy’s purpose
• [12:58] Reframing after business pivots
• [14:46] Lessons from mentors
• [18:24] Three main takeaways on legacy
• [21:40] Defining her zone of genius
• [24:00] About her podcast and music as a legacy artifact
• [25:51] Songs that reflect her intended legacy
• [27:19] On being remembered and legacy through the eyes of her daughter
• [28:59] Transitioning from education leader to entrepreneur
• [31:26] Success story from Unleash Your Legacy workshop
• [34:11] Question: What are the agitations of living for legacy?
• [36:58] Launching the Living Your Legacy mastermind and retreat
• [39:08] Rapid Round of Fun (favorites, relaxation, etc.)
• [40:41] Where to connect and learn more

How to Connect with Shawna Wells

• LinkedIn: Shawna Wells (curly hair in profile photo)
• Website: 7genlegacygroup.com
  • Mastermind/retreat: 7genlegacygroup.com/livingyourlegacy
• B is for Black Brilliance: bisforblackbrilliance.com
  • Instagram: @bisforblackbrilliance
• Podcast: Legacy Lyrics and Life (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, website)
  • Drops every other week

Final Words from Shawna

"Thanks for asking. I hope I get to do this—help people play, create, and rewrite the rules for the lives they truly want—in community, for generations." (27:41)