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The Breakfast Club
INTERVIEW: Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon Talks 'No One Is Self-Made,' Divine Alignment, State Of The People Power Tour + More
00:33:42
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- [00:00]
Carlos Miller
Taking control of your career is empowering. Just don't tell my boss I said that. Just kidding. I am the boss. This is Carlos Miller from the 85 South Show. And building a career isn't just about a job. It's about creating a path that impacts our community and future generations. Whether you're starting out or even making big moves, State Farm is here to support you with resources to help protect what you're working hard to achieve. They've got your back every step of the way. Because like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Find out more@state farm.com youm know that.
- [00:33]
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- [01:04]
Carlos Miller
Wake that ass up early in the morning. The Breakfast Club.
- [01:08]
Charlamagne Tha God
Yup, it's the world's most dangerous morning show. The Breakfast Club. Charlamagne, Tha God, Jess, hilarious and Envy are out. But Lauren LaRosa is here and we got a special guest in the building. Her name is Dr. Lakeisha Hallman. She has a new book out now called no one is self made. Build your bill, Build your village to flourish in business and life. Good morning. How are you, doctor?
- [01:28]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
I am wonderful. I'm happy to be here for a second time.
- [01:31]
Charlamagne Tha God
Yes.
- [01:31]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
So thank you all for having me back. I've been excited to have this conversation.
- [01:35]
Charlamagne Tha God
I'm happy that you're here and I love the title of your book because this is what I be trying to tell people, man. We live in this era right now. Thank you. We live in this. You got one, right? Yeah. We live in this era right now where everybody's always talking about, you know, I'm self made. You know what I mean? I did it myself. Nobody put me on, nobody helped me. That's a lie. There's no such thing.
- [01:54]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
That's why I wrote the book, because it is profoundly untrue. All of us who are sitting here today, entrepreneurs across the country, anyone that we've lift up, even the people that we don't know, there have been a village of people that's supporting them. And so it was critical for me to write this book. But for me, it's a love letter to our community, that we must return to community and also have the true stories of what success is and how we got there.
- [02:21]
Lauren LaRosa
When you say return to community and have those stories, what do you mean by that?
- [02:24]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Yeah, I mean one of the things that I write about in the book, particularly in chapter one, I write about individualism. I think individualism have been propped up in this country where we talk about the self made woman, the self made man. And the more that we lift up the individual, it takes us back from that collective, the group, the village that I write about and talk about and my companies are built around it is time sensitive that we return and get back to our togetherness and figure out how to work together, how to be tethered and to the place where we say that no one is going to separate us from our bigger purpose in doing good work together.
- [03:04]
Charlamagne Tha God
I know exactly what you mean. I think it's one of those things that you kind of gotta be spiritually in tune because it's like the ancestors are talking to us and telling us that. Like, I've been, you know, I got the Black Effect podcast festival that we did this past weekend, and that's what I said. I said I feel like nowadays we have to have more community than we've ever had and we got to create safe spaces for each other. So I totally understand what you mean.
- [03:28]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
You. You said something that I felt the ancestors talking to me, singing to me as I was writing this book. And not just in the book, but also in my businesses. They understood the collective. And I think what the whisper is to our generation is to not lose sight that we are meant to be together, but not just meant we must be together. I think we're in a very critical time and that togetherness is what's going to help us survive, but also get us to a place of thriving.
- [04:03]
Lauren LaRosa
Now, when you moved to Atlanta in 2011.
- [04:07]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Yes, I think it was 2011, 2010 or 2011.
- [04:10]
Lauren LaRosa
And I was gonna ask you what brought you to Atlanta, but everything you're talking about, Atlanta just feels like that the minute you land.
- [04:15]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Yes. Atlanta is so special. You were there this past weekend? I was, yes. Atlanta is incredibly special. I remember when I first visited, I believe I was undergrad when I visited Atlanta and I hadn't experienced anything like it. It was a sea of black excellence. You all have had killer mike on and lift him up. And he often talks about the of Atlanta. Coming there from Mississippi. I was Blown away. I knew that it was upon my destiny to be in Atlanta, to grow in Atlanta. And it was that deep history, but also that deep communal sense.
- [04:51]
Charlamagne Tha God
But it's. I think it's the south, period. You know, Atlanta definitely, you know, they lead the charge when it comes to black excellence. But when you talk about the heart and soul of black America, it is the South. It is the Georgia's, the Mississippi, the South Carolinas, like where I'm from, the North Carolinas, like those 60. What is it? 60% of all black people in America.
- [05:07]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Live in the South.
- [05:08]
Charlamagne Tha God
Yeah.
- [05:09]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Yes.
- [05:09]
Charlamagne Tha God
Yeah.
- [05:10]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Yeah. It is the south is the heartbeat. My, my, My friend Charles Blow writes about this a lot, about the, the power that we can have if more people move to the south, but also in the south, if we lose, if we use our collective power. But I, you, you're from South Carolina, so you understand there is something. There's nothing like the, the south, small towns that we come from.
- [05:33]
Charlamagne Tha God
That's right.
- [05:34]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
It's nothing like the resiliency of the people from my hometown of Batesville, Mississippi, or where my, my mother is from Crowder, Mississippi, and my father marks, Mississippi. There's nothing like the resiliency of those people.
- [05:45]
Charlamagne Tha God
Can we talk about the myth of being self made some more? I really just want to expound on it. That's the first chapter in your book. What does the myth of being self made.
- [05:52]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Yeah, it's. Well, number one, it's untrue. I write about that. For me to be able to sit here today, I am the product of my grandmother's prayers, their hard work, my grandfather's, my parents, the team that I have running my companies, my friend group and my extended family. I'm a product of all these people. So if I sit here and you all ask me about how my companies have been successful, and if I'm only talking about myself, I'm lying to you. If the true story is that we're village made and if we accept this title, we began to erase people that have been critical to us on our journeys. Even our first jobs, our first opportunities, they were building us to be who we are today. I look at these first opportunities as divine assignments that we were planted in these experiences. But to take on the title of self made, we are erasing people. And then they become hidden figures. And we. And when we sit for these interviews, we are telling a profound untruth. But we're also telling people, in order to make it, you need to do it by yourself.
- [07:03]
Charlamagne Tha God
I wonder why we have that. Well, it's not, not we, but there's a lot of people who have that issue, you know what I mean, who just have that issue of not wanting to give people credit, like they want to just beat up. I did it myself. Nobody helped me do it like, huh. I love assistance. Please help me.
- [07:19]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
I do too. And I write about, you know, in the book that I believe how we got here is because it's been propped up that anytime we've seen people reach a level of success, the first thing that the media calls them is self made. And then we've also shunned people who've had support. When you didn't work as hard because you didn't work as hard, somebody gave you something. But the reality is we are, we should be proud that we have been able to attract people in our lives that want to assist us, that want to help us. And so it's just really training our mindsets to really look at success differently. But I think it has been sensationalized, this self made notion and what it is deemed to be successful. This has been largely overplayed in the media because if a person I write about all the titans in the book, the Tyler Perry's of the world, but we often look at these people as self made. They made it out of no way. But what I think is missing in the story is that what I believe the truth is that we are all self determined people. Self determination and self made are different. Self determination means all the work that you've done, Lauren, to be where you are today because I've been following your journey. You are divinely self determined. You charlamagne all the work that you've done to be who you are, you are self determined. No one gave you that but God. And the stick to itness is the thing that I think lifts us up, but what really propels us forward is all the people that saw something in you, saw something in me, saw something in you and they said, oh, it's something about them. I'm going to do all that I can to make sure that they reach the pinnacle of their success.
- [09:02]
Lauren LaRosa
I was thinking about that this morning. All the people who are like that, that just see something in you, how blessed you are to have that. But I think for us too, because when you talk about being self made, I was going to say maybe it's like a scarcity of resources and people feel like they have to do it on their own because a lot of times you're like the first through a door or first generation. But when you Talked about just your grandmother's prayers and how much that helped you. I'm like, we don't even look at little stuff like that as those that got me to the next point. It's like, you do, but it takes you.
- [09:27]
Charlamagne Tha God
I do.
- [09:28]
Lauren LaRosa
It takes you. I feel like it takes a lot of maturity when you young, you don't think about that. You like, this person didn't give me a job.
- [09:34]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
This person.
- [09:34]
Lauren LaRosa
It's like, no, something as simple as your mom teaching you how to wake up every day and make your bed before 9am Got you. You know what I mean? That discipline. We don't think about stuff like that. And I don't know why that is.
- [09:44]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
I wrote about it in the book because I want us to understand that we must think about it that way. And then if we shift in looking at these things as the people that pray for you, when you have, like, what you feel like one of your worst days, way that you can talk to your friends or people who really know you beyond all the titles and they lift you up when all things are falling apart. That is just more powerful as. Just as powerful as someone financially investing in your business. They're financially investing in your spirit. And that is the true work of us and why it was important for me to write about support in that way, because I think we always. And we can get to a place where we say, I don't have this. I don't have that. This person. And look out for me. But you also have all these other things. So you do have a village. You may not have the village where you have everything that you need, but you do have a village of people pouring into you. And that is all. That is what we need.
- [10:40]
Charlamagne Tha God
We're talking to Dr. Lakeisha Hallman. She has a new book out now, Knowing Itself Made. I love what you said about, you know, people assisting you. And in chapter two of the book, you talk about discovering your purpose and getting into alignment. I feel like that's when the help comes. The help comes when you've discovered your purpose and you're starting to get into alignment. So now God starts to bring people in your life that help you, you know, as you're getting into alignment.
- [11:03]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Yeah. And the. What I love about alignment, it's not forced. Relationships are not forced. Opportunities are not forced. You get to the point where you calling the people you love like, can you believe that this just happened to me? Can you believe I just met that person?
- [11:18]
Lauren LaRosa
Oh, yeah, that. And I'm sorry to call you bro, but I just Feel so, like. Like, yes, that has. That's literally what I've been experienc. These. Even at the festival, I was just like, I cannot believe that all, like.
- [11:28]
Charlamagne Tha God
With all those studies that was hollering that.
- [11:30]
Lauren LaRosa
I mean, that happens all the time. No, but just the people and how people receive certain things and how impactful things are. And then I had a moment where I was like, backstage, and I jokingly said it to him, but I'm like. I was like, oh, you got money? But I was just looking around. I'm like, all of this because Charlamagne decided to sit down and talk on a microphone. And then so many people saw something through all of the, you know, all the crazy stuff he'd be doing, right? And he gets to that point, and I'm like, man, like, can't believe that this is happening. But everybody has shared that. Oh, my God, I can't believe this is happening.
- [12:00]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Yes. And that is divine alignment.
- [12:02]
Charlamagne Tha God
That's right.
- [12:03]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
And the only how we. How we operate in that space is saying yes to the things that we're meant to be. The us accepting the path that we're on and deciding to work extremely hard in the space that we're in. And it becomes a domino effect. You began to meet the people, people who can really, really look out for you in these situations. I think how you know that you are in alignment is that it's truly not force. You're not contorting yourself to be anyone else. You don't have to go and put on your Persona to be someone who you are is enough. And people want to do all that they can to see you be successful.
- [12:44]
Lauren LaRosa
No. Go ahead.
- [12:45]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
No. I remember when I was teaching in Jackson, Mississippi, and my colleague there. I wanted to move to Atlanta. Didn't know a lot of people in Atlanta, but I wanted to move to Atlanta. And we formed. My colleague, Ms. Etheridge, and I formed a relationship where she would tell me to come over and tutor her students some days. And so Ms. E. Was like. She would call me Hallman. He was, hallman, I need you to come over and tutor. Ms. E. Taught special education. I taught honors in AP English. And so Ms. E. I would go over anytime she did. I'm from the south, so we respect people that's older than us, so when they tell us to do something, we do it. But needless to say, there was one evening after we played tennis together, she's like, you need to take your certification exam. And I didn't see that for myself, but it stayed with Me, because she said I needed to do it. But when I say I did not see that for my own life, but I went ahead, took the exam. I was in my early 20s, so I almost overslept that morning, but I took the exam, didn't study. Finally got a call for a job in Cobb county at South Cobb High School with my now friend, Dr. Ashley Hosey. And I nailed the interview. I remember calling my mom and saying, I know that I got this job. By the time I made it back to Mississippi the next day, Dr. Hosey called, and he was like, you did so well in your interview. However, a teacher with more seniority wants to come to my school, and I cannot offer you a job. And I was completely deflated because I knew I had it now. He said. And of course, he said he would refer me out. He was like, you know what? If you have your special education certification exam, I can offer you a job. And a week before, I got my test results and I passed the exam.
- [14:50]
Charlamagne Tha God
Wow.
- [14:51]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
That is. Look at God, but look at divine assignment. Look at the people that's placed in your life, like Ms. Etheridge, who saw something in me that I didn't see.
- [15:00]
Charlamagne Tha God
That's. Those are the. Those are the people, like, the people that see things in you you didn't see in yourself. Those are the ones that keep you on the path that you're supposed to be on.
- [15:08]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Yes. Yes.
- [15:09]
Charlamagne Tha God
I'll get you on the path you're supposed to be.
- [15:10]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Get you on the path. And I believe that God sends them and put them in a body that you will respect. Because I was raised to respect my elders. And so God knew, in order to get to me, it had to be someone I deeply respected, someone that I listened to. And so through Ms. Etheridge, then I did that, and I got the job in Cobb County.
- [15:32]
Charlamagne Tha God
And that's how you started building your village, which is chapter three in your book.
- [15:35]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Yes. Yes. That's how I started to build my village. But really, my village started to build before then. But when I started thinking about my companies, I didn't see myself being an entrepreneur. I didn't know that I was going to be on that path. I thought I would be in education. I had ambitions of opening schools, but I really got the vision of creating a village for entrepreneurs. Because what I kept hearing from my friends who are more entrepreneurial at that time is that they didn't have support, and where I didn't have the financial capital to invest in them, I knew that if I got people, if I got them people they can scale. And so got the vision of launching the Village Market. And now I have my nonprofit, Our Village United. And what started as I was an educator, but I've been able to support thousands of entrepreneurs. And currently our program is reaching 33 different states and we've been able to deploy about $800,000 in grants.
- [16:34]
Charlamagne Tha God
Wow.
- [16:35]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Yeah, that's fire.
- [16:36]
Lauren LaRosa
Well, how do you cause. So I know you said you respect your elders and this is someone that you knew, so you went along and did it. But you talked in this ESSENCE article that I read about not saying yes to every invitation that you get. As you're building community, what's your spirit? Is it, I mean, for a lot of people, spirit of discernment? But what's your breakdown of how you decide to say no to certain invitations?
- [16:57]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Yeah, it is spiritual discernment. It's maturity. It's also me operating in abundance rather than scarcity. I think when we're in, when, when we're in a scarcity mindset, we believe that we have to be in every single room, that we have to accept every invitation, that we must say yes to everything. Where I am in my life now and what I'm hoping to empower other people is that we don't want all the yeses. We want the right yeses. And how I discern when the yes is right is. Is it aligned with my values? Is this opportunity aligned with the mission that I'm on? Will it take me off course? Will I have to divorce things that I believe in? Will I have to contort and change myself? If I'm saying yes to all those things, it's not the yes that I should take. And now I haven't always been at this place. I've had to grow to get here. My deep relationship with. Hey, what up, y'all?
- [17:50]
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- [18:45]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Panoramic moonroof, ambient lighting, bows and massaging leather. Appointed seats are optional features. God has helped me be here, but I remember and I write about managing the hard stuff in a book. I remember saying yes because I was afraid that if I didn't say yes to this opportunity that I won't get it again. But the timing of the opportunity was so wrong and so I needed to say no. And, and so what I've learned about life is that sometimes the test and the assignment is will we say no to things when it's out of alignment? Will we have the discipline, the spiritual discipline, to know that while this may sound good, but this is not. This is not what I should be doing. Will we be strong in our faith and our belief that our right yes is coming. And when I have done that, and again, I wasn't, it's very important for me to share because it's different when you've done the work and we can talk about these things. But I do remember what has awakened in me is more so a spirit of abundance that I only want to be where I'm meant to grow. And I don't want to be in every room. I only want to be in a room where I'm meant to be transformational. Not just to sit at a table, just to sit there.
- [19:58]
Charlamagne Tha God
I hate that we don't trust our instincts anymore. I hate that we don't trust God anymore. Because, you know, you can just feel it, like everything you're talking about, you can feel it. You can feel the people you're supposed to be around. You can feel where you're supposed to be. You can feel the things you're supposed to say yes to and supposed to say no to. But we let so much that's going on in the world cloud us and disconnect us from just that discernment and that instinct. Why do you think that is?
- [20:22]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
I think it's distractions. I think we're at a time in our society where everything takes us away from us in what I call profound stillness, the quiet. Because in our quiet times, in our still time, I believe that's when we can actually hear and feel the presence of God. But the more that we stay on apps and I'm probably aging myself but we more we stay on apps the more we in the videos are funny but the more that we stand to these things it takes us more and more and more away from our internal consciousness. And I think the, the, the reason why, why we here and it's, it's because of these distractions and I look at the distractions as a ploy to keep us from our divine selves. And so we need to spend more time enjoy the apps but I think everything's, everything that we have need to be done in moderation. We must dedicate time to our stillness. We must dedicate times where we're nurturing our mind, bodies and spirits in that when that what you you I wrote about gut in the book as well how you know that you're in the room where the, where the vibrations are off and the vibes are off. You have to be in tune with yourself to feel it. But if you're not in tune with yourself, you're going to be in a room and you don't feel the difference. But doing that, doing our self work, committing to the stillness and quiet and I'm a faith driven person committing to deepen our relationship with God will help us know. When you walk in a room and the atmosphere is off, you need to get out that room. It's not the room for you. Or, or if you meet a person and you're getting ready to do a deal with if something feels off, it is off and to trust it.
- [22:03]
Lauren LaRosa
What do you tell people though? Because you talked about the scarcity mindset and how you it's hard for you to make those decisions. What do you tell people who are in that scarcity place that just need to eat real quick, they can't walk away from that deal. They can't afford to.
- [22:15]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
That is a very, very, very good question. Scarcity is a place of survival. So what I do have is a profound respect for people who are simply striving to survive. But the question would be do you want to eat something that's poisonous to you? You know, do you want to accept things that's going to actually change the makeup of who you are that may compromise you from your greatest self? Where we know in our greatest selves and we operate in our higher selves more is there. And so this is a question that is less tangible but it's truly operating in faith that if I just be consistent, I continue to work hard, I continue to show up for myself, I continue to operate with the spirit of Discernment, then my opportunities will come. Will you have moments? Will you have moments where you may take a smaller contract because you need to eat? I don't have kids to take care of. And so I would never be in a place of saying that I fully, fully understand, but I'm in a place where I have a level of empathy. But I do know that we, while in a space of striving to survive, we can still be very selective with the things that we say yes to.
- [23:36]
Lauren LaRosa
Right.
- [23:37]
Charlamagne Tha God
I want to talk about chapter eight, support. Support is a verb. And in that chapter you got a bunch of Village Verbs. Explain what a village verb is.
- [23:45]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Yeah, this whole book is. And wow, I'm so excited about it. While I tell a bunch of entrepreneur stories, things that I've experienced, and I write about many luminaries from the past and people presently who's doing the work. The anchor piece of this book is all about the village, all about community in the Village Verbs. When people close this book, I want people to do something. So Village Verbs is making sure that we participate in the voting process. Village Verbs is making sure that we're buying local, that we're buying from black businesses. Village Verbs is making sure that we're showing up for one another. If we do not have action behind the things that we believe, then I always ask people, do you really love it? Because if you love it, your actions should follow. You have on a black brand today.
- [24:40]
Lauren LaRosa
Oh, this is my sister, Milano D. Rudolph. Yeah, this is my sister. I've been wearing her for years and years and years.
- [24:45]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Yeah, but what you are doing today is love in action. You support her in a real way. You're on a syndicated radio show rocking her brand. That is what it's about. Charlamagne. I think about the number of things that I'm aware you probably do even more. But Black Effect podcast, your imprint, all these things, you are putting people in rooms and putting people in position, and it's because you want your actions to look like things that you care about. You want people's lives to change, and not just for this generation, but next generation and next generation. But you're not just saying these things. You are doing these things. That final chapter of Village Verbs is all about us doing the things that we say and getting put our action and love behind it and our challenge. I always challenge our community that you may not be able to participate in 10 different things, but you need to find something that you're passionate about and put your love and your action there. And our communities will Change.
- [25:49]
Charlamagne Tha God
I love it. The village verbs lock in, show up and connect. Keep learning. And higher. Teach it. Govern your words and listen intently. Pivot, invest in your people and spend locally. Wow.
- [26:02]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Yeah, wow.
- [26:03]
Charlamagne Tha God
That's a plan. All this is a plan. It's a call to action and plan of action.
- [26:07]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Yes. And a lot of the things, even in the sense of governing our words, I don't think we spend enough time thinking about the power of our words. Words are prophetic. We have to be in a different relationship with each other, even in a place of disagreement, even in the place when things don't always feel good and look good within our community. But we have to govern the way that we speak to each other. We have to govern the way that we react and interact with each other. And all of. Everything that I'm sharing requires discipline. You often talk about discipline. Having to dis. Have the. Having the discipline that the change begins with you.
- [26:52]
Lauren LaRosa
Now, what about you talk a bit about. Well, I saw a statistic in the essence article. The 72% of entrepreneurs struggle with mental health issues, including burnout. And you talk about how like the. Being the individual who did it all by themselves leads to that even if you know you didn't do it by yourself, burnout still be real.
- [27:13]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Burnout is real. Yeah. Burnout is real. Even when you have a village.
- [27:17]
Lauren LaRosa
That's what I'm saying.
- [27:17]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Yeah. It's a real thing. You know what I've done, number one, we do need to delegate more. And it's hard to delegate when you're running things and trusting people with your baby. Especially in the entrepreneurial world. Letting go is hard, but the more that we hold on, the more that we try to do all the things, be all the people for everybody. This is not just business. This is life. You're going to find yourself feeling depleted and so always trying to. To. To literally be there for everyone when you haven't quite been there for yourself. When you're there for yourself, you get to replenish yourself and you have something more to give. But this sense of burnout, imposter syndrome, decision fatigue, all of these things. We, in my nonprofit, our Village, you name it. We did a poll for the entrepreneurs in the village, and what they shared was that they were burnt out, decision fatigue, and completely overwhelmed. And many of them experienced anxiety. And what I did was make sure that all our programming that we offer for entrepreneurs are holistic. And so we have therapists on board, we have coaches on board to not just help these entrepreneurs with their. With their businesses. But to help entrepreneurs with their psyche, with their mental health, because that is the only way we're really going to be our who we're meant to be.
- [28:38]
Charlamagne Tha God
That's right.
- [28:39]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Yeah. And I think that has to be we. I talked about this when I was last time. So much of business and scaling and want to be successful is all about money. And we're spending less time of talking about the soul, less time of talking about why we're really here in this time. And it's really for us to illuminate light, we will get to do a lot of things well. But even when the positions that you all are in right now is to illuminate light, and in that light, we can find each other when it's dark.
- [29:10]
Charlamagne Tha God
I totally agree. I love we talking about village and we're talking about community. I know that you're on the State of the People power talk with my good sister Angela Rye. Can we talk about that a little bit?
- [29:20]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Oh, my goodness. I was. That's why I couldn't attend Black Effect podcast in Atlanta. But I got to be there last year and it was amazing.
- [29:28]
Charlamagne Tha God
Thank you.
- [29:29]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
But State of the People is so. It's powerful. I looked at what happened in Atlanta this weekend and what's powerful about what Angela and team has done because she is adamant that this is just not about her.
- [29:46]
Charlamagne Tha God
It's the village. Absolutely.
- [29:47]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
It's the village. And that's the way that she was raised in coalition building. But in a few short weeks, intentional people decided that they were going to do something. We're at a time where people feel hopeless, scared. And a small but mighty group of people said, not on my watch, that I am going to gather the people, that I'm going to make sure that a room is comprised of people that can give resources, people that can give hope, people that can give direction. And when you look left or right, you see people that look like you. That is what happened this weekend in Atlanta. Day one, there was a service project done where so many snack boxes were given to elders in the community. Why that is so profound is because elders often feel forgotten. And so for them to have a snack box with people convening from all over that say, I see you, I love you, I want to support you. That kicked everything off. And then to go into the workshops, action oriented workshops that help people build in their community. And then Sunday is what I got an opportunity to participate in was the rally. It was absolutely powerful. You had my brother from another, Gary Chambers, one of my three dear friends. But Gary shut The house down. You had Pastor Dr. Jamal Bryant there and a number of others. Keisha, Lance Bonnells, myself, many others. It was just such a beautiful response to this moment. And why I think State of the people is so important as they go to other cities, because history is determined by what you do. And when the history books are written, the history books are right. That a group of people decided to do something. And do I think people left State of the People feeling empowered. Absolutely. I remember walking to my car, Gary was walking me to my car, and we could barely make it to the car. People saying, thank you.
- [32:05]
Charlamagne Tha God
Wow.
- [32:06]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
It was so I. And when state of the people comes to the. Comes to other cities, I'm really encouraging people to make sure they attend because it is absolutely special.
- [32:16]
Charlamagne Tha God
Absolutely. And I know you founded the Village Market, but you also have our Village United. What are those two entities and how are they different from each other?
- [32:25]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Yeah. So I have a retail store at Ponce City Market and we have a pop up at Google visitor center as well in California. But when. When you all come back to Atlanta, make sure you come by the Village retail at Ponce City Market, where we have about 37 different black brands in this beautiful retail store. We're going into our fifth year being open. It has been highly successful. But what I, the former teacher in me, is that in order to make something real, you have to make an experience of it. And so I had to build a retail store so entrepreneurs can see themselves on shelves. And so our community can also have a place where they can patronize. But the ed. The other part of educator inside of me is that I also wanted to make sure that entrepreneurs had the resources, technical assistance that they needed to grow. And so daily we work with entrepreneurs from our elevated cities program, our get ProCure program, our her pro bono program. We're working with entrepreneurs across the country to make sure that they have a village. So when you have. We have some of the top entrepreneurs coming to teach classes, we have some of the top corporations coming and talking about supplier diversity and how to get these government contracts and things like that. When I say I'm so proud of this work, I really feel very fortunate that God trusted me to do this. And I take it very seriously. It's much more than me building a business or growing a nonprofit or me writing a book. I am being obedient to the call that's on my life. And so I've been able to work with so many entrepreneurs now and to see them go from early stage concept to growing to opening their own locations to being in big box retail and soon and to know that they are getting an education that is about the collective because we have a collective wealth building model. So it's less about building more individual multimillionaires, it's more about when you make your money, what is your social impact focus. What is the collective of that?
- [34:32]
Charlamagne Tha God
Wow.
- [34:33]
Lauren LaRosa
Yeah.
- [34:33]
Charlamagne Tha God
Well, keep doing the work. Dr. Lakeisha Hallman, we appreciate you and your new book is out right now. Well, tell them where to find you.
- [34:40]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
First of all, yes, you can find me at Dr. Keyholman. On social platforms, you can get the book at no. 1 as selfmade.com, but from all major retailers, entrepreneurs, you will most definitely love this book. Leaders in the communities, you will love this book. It is very practical and prescriptive. I didn't say this, but what's special about the way the chapters end? I have reflection questions and those reflection questions, by the time you finish the book, you have a whole plan on how to map out and build community.
- [35:15]
Lauren LaRosa
In true teacher format.
- [35:16]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
In true teacher format. You right, Lauren.
- [35:19]
Charlamagne Tha God
The funny thing is I think that you'll also realize you already have that community.
- [35:23]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Yes.
- [35:23]
Charlamagne Tha God
You just haven't acknowledged them as such. That's what I. That's what I think.
- [35:26]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
That's good.
- [35:27]
Charlamagne Tha God
But Dr. Lakeisha Hallman, her new book knowing itself made build you'd village to flourish in business and life. Go get that right now. Thank you for joining us.
- [35:34]
Dr. Lakeisha Hallman
Thank you. And thank you.
- [35:36]
Charlamagne Tha God
It's the Breakfast Club.
- [35:38]
Carlos Miller
Wake that ass up early in the morning. The Breakfast Club.