And we're back.
So this is Brown Ambition, Right, We're trying to be more mature and actually name the podcast before we start to start talking.
Right, this is Brian Ambition. Welcome. We will be your host today and every day.
All right.
I am Tiffany and this is Mandy.
So we have a lot to talk about.
I feel like we should start with a good.
I could use some good news. What do you what do you have?
Well?
I just came back from essence Fest and it was amazing.
Everybody was at essence Fest book but me, I feel like I had severe fomo.
It was honestly, like like severe, It was just.
It was just I don't know, all all good black things, like everything from like the best food OMG.
Like oh, I just love my people and some food we know how to throw down. I was like, dang, New Orleans. Honestly ten pounds. I guess.
I love New Orleans and what.
I love about people is there every year? Yeah, it's there every year.
Okay, good because why be anywhere else exactly?
And there's just so so much soul in the city.
Because what I really loved about New Orleans and the people there is that like they take so much pride, especially in their food. I mean, you can't ask anybody where to eat without getting like ten suggestions or specific things.
They're like, oh, for.
Oysters, you need to go here, but if you want five chicken, you need to go here.
But if you want.
And so the food was amazing, the like the empowerment sessions were awesome. The convention center, I was like, I've never seen like literally some companies. It's like it's like they tore down the building and rebuilt it in the convention Center, like they're they're they call them, I guess activations like their booze. Like I can't even call them a boost. I feel like to call them booze would be like disrespectful.
Can you just real quick, just for me and everybody else, just what is Essence Fest?
And like a nutshell, So Essence Fest is a music festival and a mixture of like empowerment and entertainment. So half of it is like this awesome music festival that's three nights and all these big acts, and then the other half are all these empowerment.
Like workshops and stuff. It's specifically geared toward women.
Of color, right, and it is awesome because you have like every brand that has anything to sell toward women of color that are there, And honestly, it's just awesome, noness.
It's just like one big party for three days or four days, three nights.
Yeah. I always thought it was music, but then after like knowing people like you that have been going there, I thought, what is it at a conference? Is it like soul sessions? What's happening? And I saw this this year seem like I don't know if I've just followed more people who were going this year, but I feel like this year was bigger than any other year in the past.
Yeah, they had a lot of news, so this is the first year they did like money and power like that. They had like a special stage for it because Yeah, so that was really cool because they're starting to understand that, like we need to talk about personal finance and entrepreneurship and ways to make money.
So that was new.
We had some of our friends, Patrese Washington, it's been on the podcast.
She was there, Tanya of my Fab Finance, Marsha of the Finance Bar.
So it was like squad was so in the building.
Len Calforn wasn't Lynette there?
Yes, And I totally missed that. I was like, Lynette, whey are we disconnecting? Yes, Lynnette was there killing it as usual. She's a regular at Essence honestly, right yea, she should be right exactly.
She's like the fairy godmother of all that we do.
If you're new to the show we talked, you should definitely go back and check out our interviews with Lynette with Patrese on the podcast. We got to have Tanya and Marsha on Someday.
I was thinking that when I just said their name. So I was really fortunate. And then so for the last three years I've been wanting to speak at Essence Fest, and my Papa says, Drina has been like pitching me, but it just has not been a fit. And then this year Essence reached out to her. They were like, you know, I think we'd like to have Tiffany this year. You think she'd be interested. Rina's like, I can speak for both of us.
Hell, yeah, let me take my schedule.
Yes exactly. I'm like, oh, the birth of the baby. Sorry, I'll be Essence No.
And so it was awesome because one I got to do cut a keynote at the on the Money and Power stage, and then Prudential hired me to do a panel and like two panels, and then Ford came through and hired me to do a panel.
So it just was awesome and awesome every day.
I spoke every day, and so it was great to see the different crowds and to like speak to the kind of different audiences every day. So I went from like no essence to like essence overload.
And my sisters came, which was so fun, that's right cool.
Yeah, it was because the essence gives you, like, you know, like passes to like the concerts and this and that. So it was just fun to be able to like, here's VIP for you. There's a little VIP for you. So yeah, it was just awesome. Honestly, it was like is this how the other half lives? Because you know, I'm just a regular girl. So usually when I go to a concert, I'm in the newsweed just like everybody else.
So to get like floor tickets and you're like they're like escorting you to the stage, You're like, wait, the first day, I didn't even know how to use the VIP ticket. I just I'm just so used to being like, you know whatever, enjoying like regular everyday life at a conference and someone was like, why are you in front?
You know you can go backstage and you can go here, And I'm like, I can't.
Get the snacks I know, right, you know that's the first thing I don't even drink. But I was like, I'll take a Shirley Temple, which is really just soda and like red syrup.
How many? How many goodies ended up in your bag? Tell the truth?
Honestly, we left half of them for like the woman that like took care of our room, because I was just like, I just don't need any more any more things, yes, and because a lot of it didn't really apply to me, so it was like hair stuff that like that didn't apply to my kind of hair, and so yeah. So but just honestly, the biggest and best part of Essence was Oprah Lady Oh for the first time spoken Essence Fest and I got floor tickets three rows away.
I could have given her a high five.
Oh my god, what did she smell?
Like?
Ah? She just was like I could just see.
I was like, this is why, Like there was a light that shone on Oprah and she just said exactly what I think. We all needed to hear, which is that to make sure that you were actually living what your purpose is, what your passion is, and not what someone has has picked out for you. And when you do that, you'll be amazed at the door set opened. Like that was her core messaging.
Meanwhile, I was strung up on a on a light pole at a rope's course in the mountains all weekend.
I saw the pictures. Was it glamping? Was it really glamping?
Or did you really just it's so far removed from camping. It was like, we rented this beautiful ski shallotte, like a little cottage that looked like a legitimately looked like a gender cake house, like I could have put icing on it and taking a bite. It was so adorable, and it was just it was ten of my friends
and we do it every year. But yeah, one of my friends had a hookup one of his, one of his friends owns a house and it's on air and bb for like two hundred something dollars a night, but she gave it to us half off, so it ended up being like the whole weekend all together. I think between ten people it was two hundred bucks each. Awesome food because we always cook together, we go maybe we make one big Walmart trip, and then we we each
take a night. So they were happened to be couples, so each couple took a night to cook and we split it up and it was it was it was nice. But so on Saturday, we always tried to do one crazy excursion and we never ever plan it beforehand because we're just not it's like a miracle that we even get together at the house, so we don't really we're bad at planning. So it's always something. And we went back and forth, are we gonna go there's a lot to do in the Poconots. Are we gonna go to
a water park? Are we gonna go roller coastering? Or like whatever? And finally my friends found this adventure course which was it's called Treetop Adventures, and it's like I thought in my head, I was like, oh, that it'd be neat, and then when we got there, I was like, oh, that'll be five courses that take nearly five hours to complete, and you are doing the most ridiculous things like jumping off of like heights as high as like three telephone poles.
You're climbing trees, your you're tarzan roping onto nets and like you're swinging from swing to swing, and it was like the most challenging thing I've ever done. All of us, like halfway through we were like, what.
Who made this choice?
Why it was only fifty bucks each? And I just looked at my friend Brian because he was pushing hard for the water park. He's like a big he's a big he's a big kid. And I was like, Brian, I'm so sorry. And you could hear the screams of joy from the water park because it's in the same like the same area.
Sounds amazing, Yeah, sounds great. Yeah no, but you guys looked like you had fun. I saw pictures. It was.
It was really fun. And you know, they get me to do crazy stuff every year. Oh, I didn't even mention that morning we had the bright idea to do a five k run. Oh my gosh, because half of the group is training for the New York City Triathlon okay, and I was like sure, I've done a half marathon over a year ago. So we did a five k that morning and then a five hour wow. Needless to say, on actual fourth of July, we did not go anywhere
we did not do anything. We saw not one firework, just sat around the house and I.
Can't imagine your body was like, so we're just gonna.
Relax right now.
So whole different world from the glamour of Oprah and your face on billboards.
Honestly, I have not even processed.
I have not I need to like go to the park and like lay and look at the sky and just like let it soak in, like that this amazing weekend actually happen in real life.
Like, yeah, honestly, I just need to.
It's just it's been hard because I got back and it's been busy, and then like all the foolishness was like, you know, the killings started and I just.
Oh, we're here now, okay, Yeah, it's been yeah, you know, I actually got into a So the killings obviously, well as of yesterday it was just one and then last night there was another two more black men senselessly violently killed, and yeah, I don't I don't know what to say. I texted a couple of my friends. We have a group text going, and I like I texted something, you know, kind of joking, just to sort of break the tension in the group text. And then my friend was like
chewed me out a little bit. She's like, I can't believe we're joking at a time like this, and we had to, like we were texting back and forth, and I could tell she is she was she was lashing out, but she was, you know, frustrated and angry, and I was I could just feel her stress, and I was like, you know, I feel like you have to sort of take a step away and take care of your mental
health a little bit. And all this stuff happens, and it's hard to do when you feel like you want to talk about it but it's so painful and you kind of just talk yourself in circles and don't know what to do.
Yeah, it just.
I don't know, like to I didn't even watch like of course, you know, like little clips have like I've seen little clips, but not kind of purposefully as they like came across my timeline on social media.
But I'm like, I don't want to watch the video of.
Them murdering, like you know, I just and just like I did see the video of the press conference. I did see the video of the press conference where like the first gentleman, mister Sterling, right, is that his last name.
I know his first name is Alton because that's my dad's first name.
So I did see the video where his son at the press conference just like an rightfully so obviously breaks down.
Yeah, and that was like, oh my gosh, because what do you even Yeah, what do you even say?
I mean, if that were my dad, and you know my dad, I don't. I've always wanted to have this conversation with him, and I haven't yet. But my dad is like, and I mean, you probably relate to my dad's dark skinned. He's six, I don't know, six one, six two. He's not a small man, especially before so he had gastric bypass surgery and before that he was like close to four hundred pounds, So he's tall. He's big,
you know. And he drives around Atlanta all the time, and I always I should ask him, like it's it's a miracle. He's never been pulled over for anything. All he says is like his driving is perfect, so he would never get pulled over. But one of the things I did notice about my dad, especially over the last over the last few years, when everyone has sort of been hyper vigilant of like violence, police violence against black men and black women. Is how nice he is to everybody.
How when he watch in a room, the first saying he does is talk to everybody, Hey, how you do and how you doing, ma'am, how you doing, sir? And I feel like when he's doing that, it's almost a survival thing. It's like, I'm a human, I'm a person. I'm not here to hurt you don't don't be intimidated by me. I'm a nice guy.
My friend Mark does that, he said, unconsciously, so because Mark the same thing. It's dark skinned, six one six two to something, big guy, you know, not huge, but like you know, so, he says, honestly, Tiffany, That's one of the things that my dad taught me is that like when you enter a room or situation to make yourself known as friendly, which is so crazy.
I you know, I don't think about that.
Hell know I you know, I really I we have the ability to or I have the ability to, you know, be rude or ignore people or just walk in and not you know, just beating myself and not have to think about that kind of thing.
Yeah.
I mean, I've been told I have resting bitch face.
I'm like I'm sure I do, because my natural face is like, you know, like course I'm a happy person, but if I'm not purposefully smiling, it's just kind of like whatever and so to, And I don't think about it, but like I can remember distinctly, like when Superman had had the he had aneurysm surgery, and he or he was supposed to have anneurism surgery, and he had to just get a note from his doctor saying I'm legitimately out of work because I have this life threatening thing in my head.
And the doctor wasn't there.
It was like he was on vacation and he had like some junior doctor there who like apparently was not blessed with common sense. So I'm telling her, like, okay, you know, here's the note from the hospital. We just need a note. But the hospital can't give us extended time or whatever. You have to just write a note saying, yeah, he's not just goofing off, you know, he just might die, so he can't come to work for a few days until after the surgery. Then after the surgery they give
you some other special notes. So anyway, we're in there and he's like the woman was just being so difficult and dream like Superman look like he wanted to pass out because he was in so much pain.
And I'm just like, so I'm talking.
To her and like I'm getting sassy and that's not normally my nature. But by then I'm frustrated because I'm advocating for him. I'm like, I'm not understand Like, sure, if you understand what I what I'm saying, I'm not really We're out sixteen.
Saying hey, can you write me a note so I don't.
Have to go to school, Like here's an aneurysm that's like life or death. Can we just have a note saying that he doesn't have to go to work tomorrow so we can go see the neurologist. I don't understand what's so difficult about that?
And so he got up.
I guess to confront her too, and I took a look at him, and I thought to myself, like, Superman is six six, like super Chocolate. He's not big as far as like wide and like you know, cause he's a little bit on the slim side, but he looks like okay. And I just looked and I saw her face and I said, go sit down because she and I can get sassy together. I you know, cause I could see her ten s up like oh my god,
oh my god. Oh got like when I was getting sassy with her, she was just like what her But I can see her look like, oh my god, it's about to be a problem. And I thought to myself, Wow, he couldn't even legitimately like advocate for himself and express frustration without it being like a true problem. I mean, eventually she gave us, like, you know, the note. But that's because you know, just me just kind of like,
you know, just laying into her. But I just thought to myself, Dang, if I wasn't here, what would he do? They probably would have called the police escorted him out.
You know. It's just so frustrating because.
It just and you know, I was just thinking to myself, like, you know, because I grew up in a white neighborhood, you know, some of my most of my friends on Facebook are fairly silent, like my white friends are fairly silent. And you know, because everybody would love to tell you that like, oh, things are better. I don't know why people complain, but I think to myself, like, Okay, if things are better, is that a big deal.
Would you like to trade and be black?
Meaning you could keep the same intellect, keep the same job, keep the same family, but you're just black and you get to live the black experience in America? Like it things like you know, like who exactly who would want to change? Because you know you wouldn't want to, So knowing that, don't pretend like it's not anything. You know, just because you know you wouldn't want to trade. And I'm not saying you'd have to like give up your lifestyle, none of that. You can keep the same lifestyle, but
you would just have to live the black experience. You wouldn't want to because you know something's not right, And to pretend that it's otherwise, to me, it's criminal.
And it's just it's just so.
Frustrating because I just see too much and I'm and you know, as a woman, I don't get nearly as much as like what men get. And I just it makes me afraid, like what if me and Superman have a son?
Then what that's you know?
I've read interviews from parents and how they talk, how they and there is a good article I think by Nicole Hannah Jones and in the Times about how she talks about maybe I'm getting the right or wrong, but yeah, about how you talk to your son and your and your child. But you know the two men who passed away, So Alton Sterling was the first, and then Philando Castile. I was reading an interview with his mom that she gave to CNN and she's like, I know my son,
I've warned him about this. He knows not to talk back to police. We have a whole system of how we cooperate. And even that wasn't enough. You know, he didn't do anything wrong. And at that point you just it's like what.
You know, Yeah, because that's the scared only so much you can do. Because it's like your your youth won't save you. To Meer Vice was twelve twelve years ol't playing in the park.
By himself a baby.
I mean, your education won't save you, right, your sex won't save you being a woman. Look at Sandra blind like it's like you're all the things they tell you. Your behavior is not going to save you.
Remember the gentleman that was.
Actually in Walmart buying a firearm like that actually is sold at Walmart and the police came upon him and killed him. I just I just don't even so for you, like, well, if only so, what happens when someone shoots you in the back, what could I have done differently? And like just exactly. And that's the part that's scary is that you can make excuse after excuse after excuse.
But if if that young man.
Who shot up the police there was I forget his name, that he shot up the movie theater doing like the Batman premiere, shot and.
Killed people while wearing a costume, can be escorted out and make it alive into the car and into the precinct. Like that's just crazy to me.
You don't see that that other young man who raped a woman behind in a dumpster, And it's only because like these two young men happened to walk by and throw him off of her and hold him down for the police to come.
And they don't want to.
Put him in jail because it would affect his future. Like what kind of world do you live in where you look at that and you don't think to yourself, something's not right, you know, Like it's just that's why I just said I had a sad nap today, because it's just when I'm so exhausted that I can't even stay up because it's like, well, what do you do? Does it take for people to riot? Does it take for people to start burning things down?
Is that I hope not?
You know that already didn't It didn't help in Freddie Gray's case exactly.
That's what I'm saying, Like, what.
That didn't It didn't help? Does er Gardner? Doesn't help? Doesn't help? Nothing helps, you know, the most. The most you can do is contact your local representative and tell them it's not okay. Hold them accountable. That's the most
we can do. That's probably the most effective thing you do because when their jobs on the line, when they may not get re elected because enough of their constituents are outraged, you know, I think that's the only thing you can do, really and I feel like that's what so many young people don't do, unfortunately, and very unfortunately, because that's one thing that could have some impact.
Maybe because people don't feel like that's going to make an impact because it's like, you know, you have lobbyists, you've got corporations with money. It doesn't seem like your voice would be heard even if you're like, well, you're not going to be elected because everybody has so many interests that they have to cater to, and it's like, when does your interests, you know, get finally get looked at.
You know, this isn't like the gun debate where there's clear for profit businesses at on the other side of this and trade associations with the NRA fighting against this. This is like how police officers are trained, this is how they're armed. This is the way America polices. You know, the fact that we have to pull over, get pulled over for a broken tail light, Like, isn't technology good enough? You can you can take a picture of what's the red light camera and get a ticket in the mail.
Why not limit the contact police have with people in cars and just you know, take a picture, take a license plate, send them, send them a ticket in the mail the next week. You know, why have to Why even put yourself in a position where you might, you know, do something like that to a person, have that confrontation.
I mean, I'm no criminal justice expert, but I think that's where it starts in how we police and that kind of stuff comes from the top, that comes to the Department of Justice and the state's Attorney General's office, and you know, I was glad to see at least the DJ is investigating the Alton Sterling murder, which happened first. And I haven't heard anything about Filando Castile, but the
governor he was from Saint Paul, Minnesota. The governor in Minnesota at a press conference said, you know, would this have happened if he had been white? I don't think so.
Yeah, but I feel like I've heard that, we've seen the videos, and yet no conviction, no conviction, no conviction.
I guess it's just so frustrating.
The convention of the conviction. I mean, I don't even know if it's still happening just because people aren't getting convicted. I think it's happening because people are poorly trained. I was reading that CNN story. It was like, oh, the Alton murder. They were like, oh, one officer was a three year veteran, a four and the other one was a four year veteran of the police force. That's not a veteran. Yeah, three years on the job, you're still a rookie.
Yeah, But in any job, like year three of teaching, I was still like, so, what do these kids need to learn?
Again, that doesn't make you a veteran.
Yeah, and then you know my and just real quick and my fiance's brother, my age actually has been a police officer. He just graduated from the police academy in DC, and I worry about him too. You know when when you and you think about the police officers out there who are doing good work or you know, and after incidence is like this, people might try and lash out at the first cop they see, and you worry about them too. And it's just that's why I'm saying, please
no violence, please, no, no, no, no physical violence. I don't think that's necessary.
Yeah, because I mean Superman, honestly, he wanted to be a police officer. He like went, you know, filled out all the paperwork. But he his past is a little bit too spotty.
We're just gonna call him put him on blast.
Like he was a wild boy in his teens, and he was like, I didn't think that they were going to look at all that. I was like, well, let's just be happy that you're in a good place right now.
Yeah, they might look at that.
So I mean, so I'm definitely not here to bash, you know, because that could have easily been you know, Superman, had he had it worked out for him.
He really really wanted to be a police officer.
It's a disservice to police to these young men. These men, these police officers weren't that old either, and they're gonna have to live with this for the rest of their life and their training. I don't think that they may not they're probably not evil people, you know, they probably just have terrible training. The fact that they would pull a weapon like that and shoot someone like that, they're poorly trained.
And you know, well, I disagree about being not evil people, because I just saw a clip of it and I was like, so you have him down, you actually take the gun out, put it to his chest and pull it and magically your body camp Oh, they fell out in the scuffle and magically the video from the from the story is gone.
Like you know what I mean? Like whatever?
Like I that part, I'm like, I don't you know. Poorly trained, yes, but also poor in character yes, and integrity. Yes, you killed somebody. And I haven't heard anybody own up and be like you know what, I'm so sorry for You know, none of these people, even if you didn't think you were at fault, you still killed somebody. If I get to a car accident and I hit somebody's car.
It's my fault.
I'm still like, you know what my bad Like, honestly, I'm sorry. You know, let's figure out what's what the next stepsode. You never hear that, You never hear the regardless of what happened, someone's life is, it's been taken and their family will never be the same.
And so to me, I'm just like whatever.
I mean, Like, I don't even know what special place in hell there are for people who take someone's life and then show no remorse.
But I hope wherever that is they go there. That's just my two cents, Tiffany.
I guess that's where you say, let the Lord deal with them, if you believe in that. I don't know what. I don't know what I believe in. I do know that these police officers, police commissioners are elected. They and I think that in a lot of cases it's not you know, even if a person does want to apologize, they're probably being told, hey, don't admit fault by their lawyer, by their bosses, by people who are elected above them. Don't admit fault because it makes us look bad.
Whatever.
There's so many different layers.
That's why I said that's still an integrity issue, because you're right, maybe that's so, But ultimately, you're a human being. And if you can't say I'm not saying that, if you don't feel your fault. But still someone is dead, Like when I saw that fifteen year old boy break down, his life will never ever ever be in the same. He will always know that his father's death has been recorded for the world to watch over and over again. How is he supposed to, like, what does life look
like for him in ten fifteen years? How is he supposed to move on and be like, Okay, Like I can have a normal childhood and normal adulthood. How when I can watch my father's death at any moment in time on.
YouTube, I don't even know, Like what do you do with that? You know?
How sometimes something so tragic happens and you can't even process. How can someone process that and move on to live a productive life?
How? You know? And so ultimately I think people, you know what it is.
I just think people are disconnected and that they don't they don't. It's like you're not connected to people who are not like you, you know, and.
You don't have a black father or black brother or black friend. It's hard. It's the same reason we don't care when you know, there was just an article about all these bombings and violence and bagdad over the last week, three hundred deaths, something like that, and no one's changing their profile picture, no one's you know, saying, you know,
sharing their sympathy for the victims and that. I think that's another issue, is if you don't have people who are there or skin in the game, then you won't care. And that's another sad I think that's another sad symptom of just not having a diverse enough network social circle. Seeing why you're comfortable.
Yeah, okay, so I think I am.
I think I know what my brown break is.
Well, I'll tell you what I did today that made me feel a teeny weensy bit better.
Okay.
I followed the hashtag care for You Black Kids two K sixteen. Okay, have you followed this hashtag? It's literally just nothing but vines of like happy black children doing things like singing sound of music and doing cartwheels and dancing and like little cute kids with pigtails. I don't know. I felt a little bit better after seeing.
That Okay, I'm gonna look at that because I'm like, okay, I need you know, that would be great to be able to just watch.
Because that's one thing I used to always say that like would always make me.
Like just always kind of get on my nerves when people reported, like from from places that were considered dangerous or like you know, from a Newark or an Oakland or Detroit, that they all they ever showed was the
bad side. And I would always think to myself, especially since I was working in Newark, like they would be like, you know, a shooting maybe the day before, but yet me and the kids would go out and go to the park and they'd be giggling and laughing, and I would always think to myself, you know that despite the fact that there is this ugliness going on, there's always beauty still happening simultaneously, And I wish that there would be a spotlight on that because they would always bring
me so much joy, Like, no matter what was going on in the city of Newark, I found that, you know, still the next day the kids would go out, we'd go to the park.
You know, they eat their little gram crackers.
They would call me miss Tiffany and give me hugs and kisses and we would like enjoy life at that moment, and I think that maybe that's what be You know, I was gonna take a brown break or maybe I'll do a brown boost instead.
Well, okay, you want to go on and do the bron break and brown boost mm hmm.
So definitely, I'm just going to take a break from social media just because it's a lot right now, like there's no joy there, so I just need a break from that. But definitely a brown boost to that new hashtag. I think that just like watching care free black kids be free and fun and laugh and smile and have a good time, I think that I want a little bit of a boost of that. So that's my bron break and my brown boost.
Well, I'm going to do a triple dose of happiness for brown Boots today because I feel like we need it. If ever there were a day for a triple dose, today's day. So one is that my fav I saw you posted this before I could on the on our Facebook page. But it's a ray actually raised in like less than a day, maybe a matter of hours, over two hundred thousand dollars for the children of Alton Sterling to go to college. So that's amazing someone using their power for good. And that's one. Two is that I
saw Hamilton last week. How was it? It was life changing? Like I sort of feel like I don't know how to describe it. I'm gonna sound insane. I've been trying to describe it to everybody, and all I do is sound like a crazy person and obsessed, and I just need to like tone it down a little bit, I think. But it was. It was the greatest thing I've ever seen. Like I took fiance for his birthday and I literally put I purchased these tickets nine months ago, like last September.
No more than nine almost ten months ago. I purchased these tickets because they were all sold out till January. And everyone's acting like I must have like shot somebody or murdered somebody to get these No, I bought them nearly a year ago. And everybody in that audience you can just tell they were so grateful to be there. And when all those actors because this is the last this was the last two weeks of before three of the primary cast members, including the main star of at
Lin Man and Will Miranda. They they leave the show, so they were taping the play for I think to air on PBS or something like that. So everyone was there, all the original cast and when I've never heard of Broadway audience, Like I go to Broadway plays a lot, but I've never heard an audience like like scream, like laugh.
It was like being at it might have been like being at that New Addition concert, like seeing your favorite band on stage, and like people are going to like a Beyonce show, like they were all Beyonce up there, and it just I've never seen and I went to color purple, but like, how often do you see a cast that is that dive burse like like Latino Asian, black and white too and gay and straight, and like the fact that they could make history through hip hop
one of like a masterpiece, Like I'm listening. The soundtrack is forty six songs long. All of them could be on the radio, all of them and they will be because Questlove and the Roots are producing like an album based on the cast album. It was just so good. And like my fiance he was like half the time he was just watching me watch a play because my mouth was hanging open.
Like well, somebody tweeted me a question.
Oh what is it?
It's just a simple question.
She said, Hey, at the bunch, anista, do you think it's a good idea to refinance my car loan?
Okay, yeah, yeah, Okay, we'll set it up and we'll do that as a question. Okay, all right, do we have any questions today?
Yes?
I we were tweeted a question and someone asked if we thought it was a good idea for her to refinance her car loan. I'm assuming that. I'm assuming her she didn't. You know, it's a tweet, so you can give but so much information. But I'm assuming it's because her payments are too high.
You know, that's a real issue. I was just I was just doing a whole story for this for Magnify Money, where I right now about subprime auto loans, like how easy it is to get you know these like no credit, bad credit, anyone get a car loan, and then they talk you into getting these crazy expensive car loans that you don't think is crazy because they're like, oh, well,
your monthly payment's only like two hundred dollars. But what you don't realize is that not only is your interest rate incredibly high, like over fifteen percent, sometimes even more than twenty five percent. But that the only way they're getting a monthly payment so loan so low is because they're making your loan even longer, like giving you even longer to pay off your loans. So instead of having like a three year car loan, they're giving you like a five, six, seven year car loan.
And then sometimes too. This happened to a few of my dream catchers. They finally did get the money together and there's a prepayment. They're not allowed to prepay.
That's oh yeah.
Like one woman, she was sending an extra payment and noticed that her principle wasn't going down.
She called them.
They're like, oh, yeah, we've just been putting it toward the interest because you can't prepay. So basically they've just been keeping her extra money. Can you imagine?
Wow? And she was like a criminal, I know.
And I was like, wait what She's like, I don't even know what to do.
I've been prepaying for three months, thinking like I'm doing a good thing, and basically they pocketed my money.
You know, the CFPB the regulator for financial institutions, banks, credit card companies, stuff like that, they've been trying really hard to regulate the auto loan industry. M hm, they have been unsuccessful because I didn't realize this until I started doing this story. But like, do you know how powerful car dealers are, like car dealers, like your local car dealer and your neighborhood. They're like more politically powerful than sometimes legislators. Like they're the personal like they are
the mini NRA of different states. So really yeah, and so they've influenced policy. I was looking over the car. The auto dealer industry has donated over like one single auto dealer from Florida, Okay, donated seven million dollars to political candidates this year through the election. This happened to also be just a year after the CFPP failed to get the get the power to regulate auto lenders too.
And it's because they have so these dealers, they have so much influence over their local politicians.
That is insane and scary. So what say you about advice for her? I say, well, obviously, I say yes, you can definitely refinance your your car loan. I always say, you know, when you're looking to buy that you should try your best to bring your own financing with you.
Yes, you know I do that.
I know you don't realize it, but like you can go. You can go to your credit union or even your bank, especially if you have decent credit and work out. I think this is what a superman did. You know he has a really low at the time when he had a car payment, but he got his financing from his credit union. It was super low, single digit and he was able to go to the car lot car dealership and let's.
Say no, no, you know I have the money. I just I'm here just for the car.
Right. People don't shop around enough. And you know when you go to a dealer and they're taking you to their financing office, you should know that those financing people like it's in their interest to sell you loans that they get the biggest kickback from. So when they shop around, like oh yeah, Capital one is great, you know, we'll
get you set up with them. They'll prove you they're getting a kickback from Capital One or not just to call out them, but any bank, most banks that they work with for bringing them business, for bringing you to the bank, like the bank is actually kicking them back to a little cash on the side. Sometimes they get a cut up the interest rate that they give you, so they're incentivized to give you a higher interest rate. There's like a million reasons why it's better. You're better
off shopping for your loan on your own. But even like I've heard from people that even if you shop around, you still get there and they try and bully you into car signs of extra stuff.
Like I'm actually gonna search for a car now. So I was like, Okay, my ninety nine Toya camera. She has done me well, but at this time to retire her at least for like regular everyday use.
So I was gonna. I saved.
I've been saving, honestly because I've had the camera for ever. So I have a good chunk of money. Honestly, my budget is about twenty thousand dollars like cash, and because I've been saving and saving for the last three or four years, knowing that the next car I I didn't want a hoopdie. Finally, I was like, all right, Tiffany, you know you work hard, you've done well, you saved, We're.
Not going to get a hoop die.
But at the same time, I'm not going to get a car loan and I so I saved and I said, plus two, I'll buy the car for my business because I'll keep my hoopdie for personal use and get the car for my business so I can write it off as a you know, as a tax write off for my business a budgetista. And you should see their faces so disappointed. Like first me and Superman would come in one.
You know, they I could tell they thought like, oh, they don't have any money because you know, like we're black and we're young, and so just even getting someone. There were some dealerships that were really great about coming up to us and asking us questions and you know, and some dealerships that kind of just like eyes glazed over,
like they don't have any money. And you know, when I would go and talk and talk about like you know, they're like, oh, what's your budget, and you know, I tell them, you know, well let's see the cars first. And then when it got down to talking business and they were like, oh, you know, we have great financing.
I would just be like it felt so good to say I'll.
Actually be paying cash well cashier's check and they're like, wait what.
And Superman said, that's my favorite parctivity.
I couldn't wait till we get to those parts and they're like, well, I'm like, yes, it's for my business, so I'll be paying be a cashier's check. So again, so how they and you don't understand how many times they were like wait, I don't I'm not quite understanding. I'm like, no, I won't be doing any financing. I'll be paying just straight.
Cash money hunt why.
And then that's when they're like, well, what do you do again?
A briefcase, I know, I teach financial education, so what you're not going to do? I'm like the quickest one at Target at the gap when the women are trying to like or the cashiers trying to get you to sign up for like a credit card, and I'm like now they're like you don't want to save? And I'm like, honestly, my sister's like, oh boy, here we go, because they know about they selling them. I'm like, every time somebody signs up for these, you know you really are helping
to lower their credit score. Sometimes the women behind the counter, the cashier whoever, is actually really surprised and grateful that I shared that with them.
And sometimes they're like girl, yes or no, I was that.
Girl at the Gap because I used to get I used to get in, like you get rewarded for how many credit cards you sign up. That's a whole other conversation.
Yes, just crazy.
No, but yeah, so I'd say like, yeah, so refinancing definitely looking.
You can Yeah, you know, Magnify actually has a cool tool A little plug from my new job. You know, they're good Magnify if you're do you want to compare loans like they're they're like have some of the best tools out there and they're free to use and they're all better.
And what I love about Magnifying money everybody's activity like do they pay you? They don't.
I just really love their website because one, it's just great for comparison to all these different financial products and services.
Two, the language is so easy to understand. You're not like, wait, what does that mean?
Like they're just like it's just plain spoken English, so you get it.
You know.
Everyone who I said there is like, oh my god, I love this website. I'm like, I know, because it's just it's a great website that you can use to find resources and you can actually understand what they mean and you don't have to like Google like what does that word mean?
So yeah, well, yes, I'll take credit for all that.
And one last little thing that about magnified money. Had you've heard of the trans Union had that glitch?
Have you seen?
No?
Yes?
So, I mean the only reason why I know is because my dream catchers were going crazy for the last few days. So trans Union apparently had either a nationwide or a worldwide glitch where everyone, everyone's basically credit score was deleted. Everything was taken off the yes for whatever reason. But then they put it back on. But apparently there's a law.
That states that once you take something off of a credit.
Score, you're not allowed to put it back on without written notice.
Yeah, so they get a free credit clean up.
Basically, it's like it's like the FCR section six to eleven, like the final Girl on if we what FCRA stands for. But anyway, so all of my dream catchers have been calling TransUnion and basically being like, nah na, nah, don't put that back on, not my negative stuff. But the thing is, I mean, yes, it's great that you'll be able to clean up your TransUnion score, but if they mail you within five days of reinserting, they can actually
add the deletions back on. Also, it's not gonna affect the other two credit report, Like, it's not like it's across the board, like everyone is going to be removing these negative stuff things off your credit report, and it just because the like the line.
Item is gone, like girl, you still oh the account is still there?
Oh of course. Yeah.
And honestly, you likely won't see a huge jump in your in your credit score. Some people had did see a jump. A woman was like, oh, my credit score went up fifty points. But that's just for TransUnion, So what if the car dealership uses Equifax, then it's not gonna affect So I'm.
Not saying I'm surprised people's course, couldn't your score also go down if they remove some of your older credit history?
This is possible too.
I haven't seen that that's what has happened, but it was like a huge like everyone was.
Talking about it and the group, so I had to do a little bit of research, like what happened? So yeah, apparently I don't know this.
Let's just erasing everybody's credit reports and they're basically like, no, no, don't put that old stuff back on. But like I said, ultimately it doesn't affect all the other all the other credit reports that you have. So you know, I'm not saying you shouldn't you shouldn't fight to keep those negative increase off your those negative things off your credit report, your TransUnion credit report, but.
Just now that it might not make a big of a difference, as.
You think, Yeah, pay your bills.
Yeah, exactly, that's gonna make the biggest difference. Pay your bills and actively work toward like like restoring your credit by paying your bills on time, keeping your utilization of your credit cards low, and like not opening up new credit cards right away.
Yeah, so we could do a whole episode, I think, I mean, I think we're due for a nice credit score episode. People are obsessed, yeah.
They yes, what is the obsession with credit score?
Not even just well, I mean there's a reason to be obsessed with it, but I mean it's just people who have bad credit and want to know how to get out of it. You know, those are the people who end up with these these bad auto loans. And one thing I'll say, just getting back to her question real quick, is when you refinance an auto loan which you already have poor credit to begin with, you know, that's kind of it it's kind of an issue. You really got to work on your credit because to get
refinance that just means taking out another loan. That means finding a lender who is willing to lend to you, and if your credit's poor, that can be difficult. So some of the advice that is maybe not so good to hear. It's not like a get out of debt quick advice. It is clean up your credit as much as you can. You know, sell whatever you can, sell the car if you have to, if you're bleeding money, especially if what's happening. Sometimes I was just talking to
a woman from Georgia actually whose car she refinanced. This is another thing you can do. So the sometimes they'll be like, oh, so you know you want to refinance, Well, we'll give you a new loan for a new car, and we can roll over your old loan into that. You're basically adding on your old loan onto the new loan, so your loan is even bigger than it was before. Yeah,
isn't always helping you exactly. So you're paying for two cars but only have one, yeah, basically, and that just means and you probably that makes immediately the car you have worth less than what you owe on the loan, which doesn't make any sense obviously. Yeah, but I wrote I'm going to post a link to on our blog. I just we just did a story how to get out from under a bad car Loan, and I saw that the yes that you well, I didn't write it, but I assigned it. So that's what.
Excuse me. It's my feet, my pinky up.
It's my job. I'm an editor now, so I get to assign the different stories. So hey, if you guys have story ideas you want to answer questions answered, go to magnify money dot com. I swear they have answers to like everything, and if they don't, let me know and we will get those answers for you.
Awesome.
Yep.
So we should end with some wins, although I'm struggling to decide what a win should be.
Oh, I have a quick one. Okay, there was Actually I said I was gonna do three boosts, but I forgot one. So here's a third.
Okay.
Do you know Leslie Jones from SNL?
Yes, yes, you here?
So she is like, first of all, she's hilarious. I don't know her her sense of humorism for everybody. She's kind of like loud and sassy, and some people say that she's not doing any favors for black women by being like a stereotype, But I don't care. She's on TV and that's amazing. But she's in a movie with
She's so she's starring in Ghostbusters, right mm hm. We talked about this before, like how everyone was saying how in Ghostbusters she's like stereotypical, Like why is the one black actress got to be the MTA worker and like have all you know from the hood or whatever. But so she tweeted that she's going to the premiere of Ghostbusters and she's not like none of these designers want to design dresses for her. And immediately who comes to the rescue? But my favorite Christian Siriano.
Ah, I love him.
I feel like he has done more for black women in fashion than like, I can't even think of anyone else. So Christian Syrian if you don't know. So he was on Project Runway when I used to watch it. Yeah, Slade, Slade was amazing, this like pint sized little nugget and he's gone on to dress everybody. He's on all the red car because he's a huge brand, and he does not have to go out of his way to help
women who are different sizes. He could dress all the models he wants to, but he has dressed the entire cast of Orange Is the New Black that's become like his little muse lately. They and all those women or different sizes, mostly minority women. And not only that, but Danielle Brooks, who is from Orange Is the New Black. She became the face of his plus size line for
Lane Bryant, which just debuted this year. So anyway, christ so I saw her tweet on Twitter that no one was finding no one would make her address, and immediately I tweeted at her and Christian Siriano and I was like, please make this happen. And Christian Siriano favorite in my tweet, I'm so oh yeah he did. Now I'm not gonna say.
Yo, honestly, this is everything.
I'm not gonna say that I made this happen.
You did.
But a day either they tweet the Instagram to post together and she's shopping in his store or not shopping, but she's there in his in his in his store getting he's designing a dress for her.
Now, no you made it happen.
Let's let's all give Mandy. I'm not even gonna do a win. I think that's a win for everyone. That's just like a round of applause because like, that's just honestly, that is so awesome. That is the power of positive social media at work, ladies and gentlemen, soweaiting and.
Connecting folks Like I knew I loved him when I saw.
I don't know if it was his best friend or his sister, that she was getting married and she's plus sized and he made her a beautiful wedding dress, and I was like, I.
Love you and Nicolette Mason.
I'm not sure if that is that his friend.
Yes, I saw that on Instagram too. Yeah, she's like a plus size like uh blog, I think she's a she works for a magazine I forget now, but anyway, she's cool, she's great to follow. Oh, she's a columnist at Marie Claire. That's what it is, okay, yeah, plus size. Oh I loved her wedding dressy have gold and sparkly.
Yes, so beautiful And I'm just like, oh, look at this the fields, Yes for both, look at you, Mandy, see you get virtual hugs.
I just feel like, you know, I just feel like plus sized women should not have to feel like there's nothing for them. You know, people should make things for us too, because our bodies are our bodies. They're normal, they're not crazy. And I just love Christian Serano for for being aware of where as a lot of designers are not. Yeah, if you're listening, Christian, thank you on behalf of all women with curves.
Yes, that's awesome.
All right, you can top that now.
No I can't, so on that note, we are just going to close that.
Top dead with your essence fust wonderment.
No, we're just going to like end on that note.
And oh yeah, so if you have any financial questions, you could send them to.
Brown Ambition Podcasts at gmail dot com, or.
You can tweet us at the BA podcast or facebook us at Brown Ambition on Facebook.
We look forward to connecting with you.
If you have the feels about kind of how this episode went, we'd love to hear you tweet us share with us. Maybe you have a story that you kind of want to share as far as like, you know, kind of like the sadness that's going on, and you know what, I really would love what brings you to your happy space, like if you know, like how Mandy said that hashtag care for You Black Kids twenty sixteen kind of gives her, like the smile. So what gives you the smiles and gets you to a happy space
when things are not quite so happy? I'd love love love to like know what that is, so you can tweet us at the BA podcast or me at the Budgetista or Mandy are you Mandy money or Mandy I.
Am at Mandy Woodrow at Mandy was an eye, I was an eye. I hope that they say brown ambition helps them. Yes, we hope we bring a little bit of joy to your lives.