Mandi's Credit Crunch Confession

It may be the only chance y'all get I'm not gonna lie to see us together live in twenty twenty four, so please come get your tickets. We want to make sure that the crowd is packed with true be a family. Okay, So if you want to get tickets, run, don't walk. Run to Brown Ambition podcast dot com to get the link right there and let us know that you're coming. Tag us, send us your receipts, send us your order. Maybe we'll send you some BA wag. We'll have some

BA swag at the event. Even we are going to be celebrating nine years of the show, y'all. Nine years. We're like geriatric podcasters in the very best way. But we cannot wait to see y'all in Newark. So go ahead Brown Ambition podcast dot Com to get your tickets to see me and Tiffany live for Brown Ambition Live in Newark, New Jersey. It's all going down. Like I said October tenth, get your tickets again at Brown Ambition Podcast dot com.

collaborating with Tide? Are we gonna have like an oxy Clevin Yeah, like an oxy clean cowboy Carter, Like what are we doing a line of Levi's jeans? Like what is this visual? Are we getting in a music video?

And I was fed up? I was fed up, and so I went in the comments and I was like, just say something in the caption, like just right, just explain, because some of us are still paying off you know, not me particular, but a lot of Beyonce fans are like still paying off their after pay you know, like purchases of Sacred and Sir Davis whiskey and let's not forget about the Renaissance tour whatever.

So I did the first one and that was just a couple thousand people, like a few thousand, but I didn't even speak main stage. Then I did like a workshop or something like that. You know, it was still a lot of people, but you know, I didn't speak main stage. But this time they're like, oh, we want you to speak main stage, and I'm not gonna lie to your mandy. I was like, okay, I don't know what I was thinking, Like, I don't know. I didn't

I don't think I conceptualized what Maine stage meant. And so the day of, like the day before like I was to speak. So I landed on Wednesday. I spoke on a Thursday. They're like, oh, we want you to come to the you know location. So they put me in a hotel that was next to the location. They like come to the location, take a look around, but

also to do some press whatever. I said, Okay. So I get there and I'm like, why is it like a stadium, like you know, like I saw Beyonce as a stadium stadium right, And I was like, okay, so they're walking me around. I'm like, oh, so, like you know, somebody was like I think I forget the pastor that was preaching that morning when I was there, like just observe a little bit, and they're like, oh, do you want to like sit? I said no, because they told me I have to do press in like thirty minutes.

I don't want to disturb people getting up and down. So I just said, I don't know what Flora entered, but you know, like how stadiums have the tears. I was maybe midway up there were still more tears above and tears below. So I'm just standing like looking over and I said that that stays down there. That looks real little because there's so many people in here who goes be on that stage.

other people, they're like, no, just you. I'm like the announcer, They're like, no, just you.

so many times, so many ways. Just wake up in the morning, take one of your old presentations and practice it. Whatever. I woke up and I was stressed. I didn't do anything, so I think so I had woken up two hours before the the you know, the makeup artist came, but by then I had not done anything. I wasn't schedu to speak till five, but I said, Tiffany, so I

think what you called. I was like really like wow, so you speak in a few hours and you are not prepared to speak in front of thirty eight thousand women, and so I think I was kind of in my head like a lot, and so you know, they I had to go. I forget. They wanted me to do some other sort of press or something, and thankfully I had like a good two or three hour block before and so I came back to the room and I was just like, okay, Tiffany, block everyone else out and

I prepared, because it's there's a difference. There's one thing speaking in front of a thousand people, like I just did fourteen hundred people for the National Association of Black Glters. But in that room, you know, you see faces, you see not and you see yeah, you know, you hear the voice, you know. But what I realized, and I'm glad I got to go the day before. You know, it freaked me out because it you can't actually hear anyone.

It's a weird phenomenon that you can hear the general murmuring of a crowd but you can't hear the individual like you know, like yes, Tiffany, it just sounds like, oh you like So, so I realized that, like, it's gonna be hard for me to get a gauge of whether people are understanding and getting it. And so I was like, I realized that, like with a crowd like this,

that murmuring is the only feedback I'm gonna get. So I'm gonna need to infuse kind of some like call and response into my presentation, like I talked to the name of my talk was make your budget say yes, and so throughout yes, right, So I was like, so throughout I'd be like, wait, what did the budget say? Was it no? They're like no, yes. So that was like because I could get that feedback and yes kind of sounds like something when you're up there, but even.

know when I was. I actually went Once I got out there and I looked around, I realized I wasn't as nervous because I can't see anybody. It's just dots. So I wasn't as nervous actually as a smaller crowd, because a smaller crowd, I see your face, I see you, like what. So I was nervous, but not the level of nervous you would think with that many people, because at that point it's not people, they're just literally just dots.

And so I was able to just be like basically there was like, you know some people like in the front that I was like, well, it's me and U Tasha in the front, girl, Like that's funny. And so I actually was way more like, way more comfortable because you know, there was just too many people to even conceptualize. I thought I did okay because I couldn't, like I said, get a gauge because the sound just sounds like so

I don't know. Yes, no, maybe it wasn't until I'm so grateful for the people, which is that just yes, a little. Yeah, it was a little. And because I was nervous, I didn't tie myself like as I was nervous that I was going to take too long, and so I had like kind of like three parts. The first part I went through it too quickly, and so I actually ended I kind of was like wrapping up, and I still had three more minutes, which is like an Eterney.

I gave myself a nice B plus a minus. And I didn't look nervous at all, and I wore like I'm so glad, like I I just I went to this African street festival thing in Newark and I bought this like dress by this African vendor that was like African print. I had like these really like swirly sleeves and I was like, you know, I think I'm gonna wear this and what I liked about it too is that you could. I could wear like my cute sandals with it, so that way I didn't want to have

to wear heels. I'm like, I almost tripped coming up the steps, so I was like, I'm glad I had like my sandals on. So I felt very comfortable, and yeah, it looked amazing. The makeup artist did her thing. I told her this eight thirty am makeup actually has to last me till tonight, and so it did. She did such a good job with my face, so I felt

very comfortable. Thankfully, I had just gotten my hair retightened because I had literally an afro with locks, and the night before my Katab who tightens my hair, was like, hey, are you free? So thankfully, I mean, because what you don't want to do? You know, you're because little You're like this little ant on the stage and then they have the big the big prompters and so it's like all up in your face. So everybody would have seen my fro, my undone hair on the edge, and so it's.

they were trying to do. I just think that I don't know. It was the CEO CEO of t Iaa to Shanda, the Shanda, she was backstage and she she did one after me, so she too. At first I thought maybe they forgot to tell me, but they forgot to tell her too. She was like wait what So I was like, okay, good, not.

a day of like love. And I just was like, people look at me, double take Like, so I took so many pictures and hugged so many people and cried with so many women who were like, you know, I was not doing well and then I read your book or whatever, and so it just was like just a beautiful display. And like I said, I haven't got a chance to really like absorb the fact that like you really got on stage and spoke in front of all these people, Tiffany, and you didn't faint or pass out.

impact that you have. I just feel like it needs to be captured and given its due, Like I think to really like you have this New York Times bestselling book and it still feels like, well, one, I know you keep yourself humble, but it still feels like you're surprised I am. I mean, I don't know from the outside looking in, I know, but I just want, I don't want. I just feel like you need, you need, And you've been a part of other people. You're a part of that Netflix dock, you were in Queer Eye,

like you've been all over the place. But I'm like, you deserve I think top billing in like an actual documentary and not just and I want, like I want to see you, you with your crusty eyes in the morning when you wake up, like I want. Don't don't ask me to direct it because I'm like I don't want all that, just like no, but just like the realness of you, like you're just like a living legend just walking around Newark, just kind of like famous and

like you know, you're just I don't know. It just feels like it just feels like that's something that I would want to watch. It feels so heartwarming. It feels like you know that Michelle Obama's higher ground, that production company, like they would be all over that. But I also just think that you need to do it and then just sell it. I think people would scoop it up.

I think that obviously I'm an expert on Hollywood. Maybe it's because my little brother makes movies and gets them screened at film festivals and that world just feels so much closer and less intimidating. But I'm just but it's really about like the way that he makes films. He makes it first and then they go and sell it, and that if you could like get the funding or just fund it yourself, whatever, just make make it talk grand can watch it someday.

I think this was the first time. It kind of hit me because when I saw the CEO of t I A. She used to be like the you know, the top top woman at Chase Bank, like you know, like all JP Mortgage, that was her and now she's the CEO of t I AA. And when I got back there, she was like, girl, how we never met before? But I know, I know your whole story. I know,

I was thinking, like, how does she know me? And and then it was like but to see her, but then also to get like, you know, like women in the hallway and you know and literally the the you know, they have hostesses that like guide you and that, and it just really hit me, like Tiffany, like like my sister would say, everybody knows everybody like you're you know

you're but I guess I just I don't know. It just it's hard for me to wrap my mind around how big the brand has gotten because it still feels like mine and not small, but like personal because it's like largely when I'm not out there, I'm home. You know, I'm home, rubbing my feet on my couch. It's like, you know, like I'm home taking a walk up.

you to the Women Evolved Team one. They were so accommodated.

I brought my best friend Linda, and Linda had some mobility challenges, you know, and so they were just the kindest, the most accommodating, the most whatever you need, however you need, whatever you you know, like it just it's you know, Linda came with me to the first Women Evolved and you know they're not There's not too many conferences that I can say, Linda come and I can feel confident that she's going to be looked after just as well as I am. And Women Evolve hands down as one

of them. That's like, whatever your challenges are, not just her, But I just saw lots of people. They were just accommodating to every type of need that you might have, and they just were so kind like no, no, we got her, girl, you go ahead, No, no, we we're gonna go this way, We're gonna do this. It was just they were just amazing, and Linda was like, that was amazing because that's not always the case. You know, people don't make space for people who are different, and

so yeah, that was just really heartwarming too. So they will always have my whore because of the way they treat her, but also the way they treat me too, And honestly, everyone there, from the women who attended to the women who helped behind the scenes, it's just a love fest of black women on black women, black on black love.

We picked the best venue. It's a historic black owned bookstore in Newark, but seating is limited. This is going to be an intimate evening with me and Tiffany live in person. It may be the only chance y'all get. I'm not gonna lie to see us together live in twenty twenty four, So please come get your tickets. We want to make sure that the crowd is packed with true be a family. Okay, So if you want to

get tickets, run, don't walk. Run to Brown Ambition podcast dot com to get the link right there and let us know that you're coming. Tag us, send us your receipts, send us your order. Maybe we'll send you some be A swag. We'll have some BA swag at the event. Even we are going to be celebrating nine years of the show, y'all. Nine years. We're like geriatric podcasters in

the very best way. But we cannot wait to see y'all in Newark, So go ahead, Brownambition Podcast dot com to get your tickets to see me and Tiffany live for Brown Ambition Live in Newark, New Jersey. It's all going down, Like I said October tenth, get your tickets again at Brown Ambition podcast dot com. Bloods segue into like maybe not a not so funny story, but do you know these people are still trying to purge people from voter roles, like on like bold face to control

all deleting people from voter roles. So be a fan. We've said it before, where I'll say it again. Check your registration status. Yes, the state of Alabama is getting sued right now by the Justice Department. They try to get rid of thirty five hundred registered voters from their roles. And they want to say, yeah, no, I don't know.

It's like happening. And in Georgia too, you know, it's just these battleground states especially there is this like we all focus on the presidential election, but there's this like nefarious strain of low level government workers who are potentially altering the course of our democracy. I know that sounds

so dramatic, but it's actually happening. Like the people who are going to decide how do we count votes, and how do we contest a vote, and how do we make it easier to contest a vote, you know, to deny the will of the people. So just one thing I'll say is go to I will vote dot Is it calm or org? Let me see, I will vote dot com, and then it will direct you to where you can see if you're Yeah, it says check if

I'm registered to vote. Just check it. Check it for your grandparents, check it for your Yeah, your your loved ones who are maybe not so Internet savvy. Matter of that. Let me check it for my dad right now, because see, I worry about him, like I worry about older people of color in these battleground states, because I just feel like they are more susceptible to be getting kicked off these roles, you know. So I yeah, I want you guys to go, I will vote dot com. Stay woke.

Oh good, he is registered And look at him voting elections during off years. He was just voting in May, probably at a primary. Amazing. Okay, great, yeah, this was super easy. It took less than five seconds. I will vote dot com. OOHI now, Tiff, there was something that you wanted to talk about because somebody has sent you something.

twenty twenty four. It's been a little hard too, So she posted a story about it, and in her reals she shared how she said, I am struggling in business, and I decided to do a little digging to see, like what's really happening, because let the people say, like you know, let the government say the economy is strong, but come if the economy is so strong, why are

people Why am I struggling? And she was just like she came up across this article that said there is an uptick of people using credit cards for groceries, and whenever people use credit for necessities, that is something called a Canarian a coal mine, meaning like Molly you and danger Girl and so even though the stock market might be up, it is not translating to the everyday person's reality of being able to pay bills because I'm seeing it over and over. Remember, I think I talked to

that in one of our episodes. How a friend of mine who I've known since sixth grade, who's never asked to borrow two dollars in sixth grade, let alone money, is a teacher fully employed, did not get her summer hours like she normally does and asks to borrow money to pay rent, and I lent it to her, and

I was thinking, like, wait, what's happening. So when Kalila sent me that article, I was just like, yes, I'm wondering how BA fan feels, because I if I'm being candid because of the business that I'm in, in the work that I do, Certainly twenty twenty three was a hard business year. But for me, profess, for me as Tiffany, you know, I have, I have, You know, I am, I am past the ups and downs of the daily girl.

You know, like I've been able to you know, the life that I live is significantly less than what I make regardless, so I don't necessarily feel the pinch as much because I'm like, well, I was already living at twenty percent of what I take home, so it would take a lot for me to be like, hold up, how much is that? But it doesn't mean I don't hear all my family and friends being like girl like Carol,

my sister telling me like, uh, groceries are crazy. You know my other friend who's been having the hardest time finding a job, and he's got his master's and is well qualified, So like, what what are you seeing out there? Because you know the fact that people are using credit cards more for necessities, lets you know that they're in a bad place.

getting more. It's just like math is not mathing. Things are way more expensive than they ought to be and used to be, and our income not just hasn't been able to keep up with it. And so a good example is housing. I'm a homeowner, and I think on its own, my monthly mortgage payment would be maybe sixteen or eighteen hundred dollars. But my home value has, according to my town, gone up astronomically since we purchased it, like almost fifty percent fifty sixty percent. So my property

taxes have gone up. And I was one of the smart ones who refinanced during the pandemic when rates were super low. So my interest rate on my mortgage is like two point whatever percent, less than three percent, which is extraordinary, right. However, I keep looking at our mortgage bill and I'm like, this bill keeps going up. It's almost four thousand dollars a month, now four thousand dollars a month. And that is after we and I think when we move into our house, it was twenty five

hundred seven hundred. That is the cost of property taxes, that is the cost of house and home price inflation. It is gentrification, It is the housing shortage. It is the fact that I live. Like if you go on Zillo for my zip code, you'll find like three houses for sale, and a lot of that has to and the ones that are for sale are extremely expensive, even though they're very modest, like my home, and my neighbor built a brand new house literally right next to us.

It was an empty lot. He bought it and built this eight hundred thousand dollars brand new home. And I'm over here like and and which I think I mentioned a be a fan that we tried to appeal our property tax.

expensive is childcare. It is so hard, and it's like I could really get emotional about it because I made a ton of great choices and right now in my life, I'm thinking, oh, so I worked really hard in my twenties and made all the right choices, so I can barely goodbye my thirties.

our homes. So yeah, we're house rich, I guess. But how do you actually turn your equity into a picky bank. Well, you can do a home equity loan or home equity line of credit, which is when the bank basically says, oh, you have one hundred thousand dollar worth of equity, so we'll give you a line of credit for thirty thousand dollars and then you can draw on this line for the next like five years, five ten years, and then

you have twenty years to pay it off. And interest rates tend to be a lot I mean, they're definitely a lot lower than credit cards because your whole house is securing it, which means if you default, you can lose your house. But rates are like nine percent, which is significantly lower. So families are now taking their equity. And the reason why some people have a weird feeling

about home equity loans is that may sound familiar. This was one of the biggest causes of the housing crash and the financial crisis in eight was the fact that it's not as bad. I don't want to like be like alarm bells. It's not as bad as like two thousand and seven, when banks were giving out a good like so many home equity lines of credit. You know, people lived in houses that were like you know, the

housing and housing prices were super inflated. There was all this like crazy stuff happening in the back and the back end of banks that still go over our head

to this day. But the point is people were leveraging their home value for debt and then they couldn't repay it, and that was one of the reasons we had that bit collapse, right, So now that we are turning to this, you know, this smart, low cost form of debt consolidation by tapping into your home equity, it just yeah, it definitely makes me feel like, oh, people are including myself, like really overwhelmed and just looking for trying to make

the right decision to keep up. And meanwhile, September thirtieth is today October first. It's like, do we have the mortgage and the daycare? Do we have the eight thousand dollars? It is just the roof and kids like, can I make money in business to pay for their shit this night?

He's like like I don't even And so I'm thinking to myself like I don't know, like I don't know what there is, almost like there has to be this other solution, and so like the solution that's happening in my family is family, you know, Like I remember like when I was really, really, really struggling, and everybody does not have this. I know, I know this is from the place of the most luxurious, most privileged place to be able to have family that I was able to

when I was struggling. At my heart is to be able to sleep back home with my parents, like in you know, getting back in my middle school bed, and then after that being able to stay with my sister in her one bedroom and then being able to return the favor to her when she needed a place. And now then she stayed with me. But I think about like my sister and I to put my sister Carol. I know she probably remember why tomorrow, but not to put her business out there, because you know, she's got

two kids. She's and yeah, and she just told yes. And although she makes good money, she was like the same. So she was renting a place that we helped her find. And at the time, I want to say, rent was like nineteen hundred, do you know. And that was because at the time Amelia was list she was like nine months pregnant. So Amelia was like and Millias now just turned seven, and so she's been She stayed there for about seven years. That place it was either maybe nineteen

or even had sixteen hundred at the time. That place is now that every year, the way it goes up astronomically right now is twenty seven hundred dollars. And she was like and then she said before she left, she was like, oh, we're there, like we're raising another three hundred dollars a month. I'm like, wait, what so I was like, how would you even She's like, so this is a sister. Thank god that I had bought this condo, because I was like, I can't believe in two places.

So I just told her, you can live in my house cause honestly, that is my house with Drew, so I don't want strangers to live in that house. Draw and I would always discuss that if we ever moved out,

that Carol could live there. And so I told her, you can live here and just cover the carrying costs, which is the you know, which is about fifteen hundred dollars, which that that's that's the what's it called taxis you know, like you know, utilities are not so crazy and like other little like whatever like insurance, whatever's about fifteen hundred. So she took go from twenty seven really it was gonna be three thousand in a minute to fifteen hundred.

It's a huge saving. And the fact that the kids school is literally down the street, and so the blessing is now that they're seven and eight, you know, they go to public school. She doesn't have to because I remember when she was paying rent and daycare for two kids, which honestly, I just had to take a bill. I was like, I'm just gonna take a bit because there's just no way you're gonna be able to make it.

And so I remember going to the daycare center and then being like oh because they thought because we look at like I guess and they'll go, don't forget you you oh sad to such And I was like wait, what what's old? And they were like oh you know, And I was like, okay, I told them from now one just send that to me because I know she must be freaking out, like what am I gonna like what kind of if the kids don't go to daycare?

How am I gonna go to work? If I don't go to work, how am I gonna pay for anything anything? You know? And so like what I tell you, like fuck, I mean even now, like I try my best to like I don't know what people do. That that is the solution that've come up, but it's not a universal solution.

I will point out there is like economists they know about this housing crisis, like they know about the housing shortage and the only way to fix it. I was listening to we should put a link in the show notes. Yeah, the wonder One of the solutions is to aggressively build new homes in America. We need like the whole supply and demand of it all. They're just like sense because of the housing crisis. Builders and I'll give you an

even more personal example. My uncle and my on my mom's side in Georgia, they used to own a building. He owned a building company and they built homes all over Fayette County, Georgia and probably other places. And they shut down in the wake of the recession because they had to they where there were no one was buying homes, everyone was defaulting. There was no money for builders, and

so builders like him stop building. And you know what business he got into property management because of the renters surge, because se many people were pushed at traditional home ownerships so now we're renting. So these private equity firms are going into these neighborhoods, buying up single family homes and fail them and renting them.

But this industry property managers, these private equity firms, they are it is so rich, this off the backs of renters. And of course they're raising rent crisis because they can't because it's capitalism, because they have the vocation and they are baking in. This is one of the things that Stacy covers in her pot in a recent episode. Well

that's an antidote for me and my family. But just to tie it in, like she talks about how she talks to an eviction activist who's trying to help because and she's saying, how these the business models of these companies, they bake in the fact that you're going to have to evict people. They plan for it. They don't try to prevent it. It's like, yeah, you'll have the churn,

and it's like put an eviction notice up. We're going to tell them that their rent is going up, they're probably gonna have to leave, and we'll just you know, flip it to the next person. And it's very nefarious. But one of the biggest things is we need a big intervention local government federal government probably both like to

actually build how housing or subsidized housing for people. I know that's one of Kamala's platform pieces, you know, for for her campaign, is to have more down payment assistance. But I'm also like, bring back the fucking salt deduction.

Do you know about that? I mean, I know you paid for yeah, but before the Trump tax cut of twenty seventeen, he eliminated the salt tax deduction for homeowners, so that was stayed in local tax So your property taxes, you used to be able to deduct those from your taxable income. And that's why it was like, Oh, become a homeowner, it's beneficial for you. You get a tax break.

Cute for people who want to buy their homes, down payment assistance amazing, But like for those of us who are in these homes dealing suffering from the rising cost of our properties and the taxes that go, like, make it a deduction again, so that we can fucking breathe. Because I loot an affordable home within my budget. It's not my past that these fucking taxes are making it unaffordable. You know. Yeah, I didn't know I had that on my spirit, but I think, no, I'm so glad.

is beyond the fiscal responsibility like it is. It just is. There has to be an intervention because you know, you're forcing people to want you're going, you know, all of a sudden, you will have people who are working who are also homeless.

and support. I would just say it was even cathartic telling utivity, and I feel like, just tell your family if you're really struggling, because I I think the credit card debt to me just signifies that we are. We are keeping it moving. We're turning to our credit card, we're swiping at the grocery store because we have high credit lines. It's gonna clear. We don't always know how we're gonna pay it off, but we're like not, we're not like raising a hand asking for help whatever, at

least not even a lot of people can help. But just talk about it so you don't feel so alone, because it's real and it's stressful. It is stressful.

there's resources for this. I don't know. Maybe we can have someone come on to talk about how do you find resources in your you know, locale like because she's really good at like you know, like Jersey is her like specialty because that's where she lives and she's from. But she was like, she was just helping a girlfriend of mine with the resources. She lives in Pennsylvania. She was able to find a ton of resources. I'm like, how did you She's like, this is what they teach

you in social work school. Basically, she's just got her masters. She's got her bachelors and zoost work now her masters, and she's like, you know, there are resources that people don't know to tap into places to go. So maybe we can have someone come on to like I don't.

that was our joint Browned, Brown, Break and Slash. Like what if Kidfury and Crystal did a read on housing prices? That's what you did. Got here.

You know, that's been really beautiful and so that's probably been my favorite part that people are like, oh, I cried I'm sad about it, but I'm also here and excited to see what Mandy's gonna do. For those of you like what's happening, I'm like, well, go listen to the last episode. Yeah, because there's too much to say in one. But I just love this equal parts of although I'm sad about it, I'm also excited and I can't look forward to like continuing to like support Mandy

and continuing to like lean in. So there is equal measure of like sadness but excitement. Yeah, and so you know we're like grateful for that.

like you're very special. But also there's this level of excitement and pride in the person for being press to say that's it, and and it just clicked for me. I'm like, this is what you coach women how to do all the time. There's no one to walk away. So yeah, I'm super proud. I'm and thank you to be a fan for sure. For yeah, yeah, just the support can keep it up. Don't forget about us. She's still here through the end of the year.