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As you were saying that, so you're talking telling me, like the steps, Now you have to find an architect and you have to can you talk about that, because like it's one thing, all right? So you get the land, you get, you get the families. Everybody agrees to it. Now you just have one hundred acres.
It's a lot of money, a lot of money. The step, the step is a mass as much money as.
You can right, so listen.
It literally starts with buying the land. That's the easiest first, that's the easiest part is buying the land, setting up the LLC so that we could buy the land.
We did that two days. That's easy.
The harder parts are spending that money on the photographical survey to find out what the topography.
Is and whether or not you can build.
If it's too steep here that means you can't build here. Soil samples, percolation tests, water testing, environmental testing, environmental impact fees.
There's always another step.
And then because we have such a massive project, it's not just one hundred acres, like to be a city, we need at least six hundred and forty acres a square mile radius. So you constantly like, okay, that means we got to acquire more land. So you have to negotiate the next conversation with the neighbors, like a neighbor, can I get your land so that we can get this puzzle piece going, so that we can eventually have enough of the requirements meant to push a charter through the legislature.
So if this is like building blocks, this is just the first piece.
You have to still get a few more pieces to make it a city action.
And the people because you got to have at least two hundred residents, and so every little thing is strategic and even the politics of it all making sure that Wilkinson County knows that we're here to help uplift them, like we're here to add.
Value to the county.
If we can attract more people to the area, that means Tombsboro, Gorton, Ivy, all of those people doubling. They get to benefit from that economic development too of now having more people in the area. So there's so many different things. But technically, yes, you have to get a civil engineer. From the civil engineer, he's going to just do like, Okay, this is your roads, this is your setbacks, this is your stormwater runoff, this is your waste water management.
A waste water management system state of the art can cost a million dollars.
Then that's if you're doing it.
Like top of the line and you're trying to be eco friendly, and that's our goal. Our goal is to build the best and so taking the time to research and find like, who is the best, who is the person that can create as a black person because sometimes I don't want to put it this way because I think we have enough talent to do everything ourselves, but sometimes the people who are most qualified might not be black.
So then we have to look at, well, what does that look like when we have to go to an ally and say, hey, can you partner with this subcontractor or the sub vendor so that we can put some black people onto the project because y'all the only ones who can do it. Because that's all of the types of things that we're navigating. Even when we talk about we're gonna have to put homeowners insurance on every single house that we build in Freedom, we would love to
be able to put a black homeowner's insurance. Be the writer, the person who writes the policy, not the person who writes the policy, but the actual insurance agency. We don't have a black owned insurance agency. We got Guico State Farm ain't no black ones. So that's the kind of stuff that we're always thinking about when it comes to this journey of building a community that meets all of our needs, and that is pro black and allows us to really support black businesses in that way, because that's
what our goal is every step of the way. We want to put black businesses on and so looking at how do we do that, how do we hire the best civil engineer, the best city planner, Because after you hire the civil engineer, he lays out the roads.
Now somebody's got a plan.
Okay, the subdivision's gonna go here, This subdivision is going to go there. This is where the agricultural goes, this is where the industrial goes. And if we don't want to have polluted air, we might need to move industry way over here.
If we need the you know, waste water management, and.
How can we utilize permanent culture so that everything's regenerative, Like we having those kinds of conversations.
So I feel this is like you know, Sims, this is that's why we.
Exactly doathor Mike might used to kill that guy was my favorite. We used to catch them in the computer room in eighth grade.
That was my favorite. That was my favorite. That fount but so and Sims. If anybody's familiar. Sims was a video game back in the days. It was a computer game where you can build your own city. So this sounds like it reminds me of sims So and your brain. All, I want to get all of your opinions on this. How do you envision your city looking like right now, it's just land, but in the perfect world if everything
goes perfect, which never nothing ever goes perfect. But how what's your blueprint in your brain that you want a bank, you want a school, you want what do you?
What do you? What are you envision in the community.
But as I say, y'all hear it, and everybody's got a different vision. Like and when I think, because at the end of the day, I'm a relative, so I always kind of go back to the real estate. So I'm like, it's gonna be different subdivisions, some kinds because I don't never want to live nowhere where every house look the same, but some people like the uniformity of I want every house on my subdivision to look the same. And when I think about building freedom, I want people.
To have choices. I think that's what freedom is genuinely about.
So if we got the misers, that's like, look, I want a little subdivision where I can have my r V.
We're gonna put them way in the back.
You can what I mean, like I see having different communities, different vibes where we're not all on top of each other. Because it's rural and it's beautiful. We've got a lot of wildlife, lots of animals. We don't want to run them off. We want to be as eco friendly and as environmentally and naturally in harmony as we can because the land is just gorgeous, so like it won't be a whole bunch of sky scraper or none of that, because the rural beauty of this scenic landscape is the selling.
Point real quick.
Because I'm thinking, like even when you said the waste management piece of it, yes, eco friendly, But as you're building it, are you building it for the ninety seven acres first, or you're building it with the intent that, yo, we're going to acquire more land.
Is that what we.
Absolutely are doing it with the intent to acquire more land?
Got you? Got you?
And the other part was said, two hundred people have to live there? How many acres does it have to be?
So technically, because we still ender the jurisdiction of Wilkinson Cam is it is.
It a state mandate or is it a county mandate.
It's a county mandate typically, but so we this is raw, right, so they don't have everybody out there in this area that they told us. We thought Tombsborough was the Bulldogs. They told us where we boughtland was the Bulldog.
They were like, oh, you in the Bulldog. I was like, sir, you think.
We So they're on well, they're on septic right now. County code means that anybody who builds there has to have at least an acre, a minimum of an acre to put your well in your septic tank on for your.
Home, like a water well, a waterway, like you got a jail.
Yeah, excuse me.
So we do have, you know, awesome technology like I all everywhere I go, Like I shout out to Moses West. He has atmospheric water generation technology that literally separates the hydrogen and oxygen particles from the air to generate gallons, thousands of gallons a day. His technology is a piece of technology that they utilized in Puerto Rico to bring
fresh water to Puerto Rico after the hurricane hit. So, like, we have black excellence all around us, and so being able to implement those kinds of technologies is what we want to do, we want That's why when I wrote my Black Blavity piece, my optat, I said, we can have what kind of like we really can, Like the sky is not even the limit. Like anything we can conceive, we can create, and there are so many people already out here doing it, doing.
It dope, like doing some dope things.
So being able to attract those kinds of resources and those kind of people has been the most exciting part about it, which is one of the reasons why we went public, because everybody always talk about you know, on conversations on social media, people.
Talk too much. YA should have kept it to y'allself, And.
I'm just like, but we would not have inspired a generation people all over the world. We wouldn't have been able to attract the resources people like, look, I will help you do this because they want to see this succeed.
Because we had so many black cities that were burnt down.
To completely destroyed for no reason other than white aggression and jealousy and misdirection.
And so this is a.
Chance for our our ancestors do something that can honor them because they were so talented, they had so many dreams, so many prayers, and to be the answer to those prayers is what this moment is about.
So I'm gonna ask all three of you a question, and ask I've heard you speak about it before, but the importance and you use the word a safe haven for black families, what does that look like?
And how does that come about?
I guess all three of you can answer really right?
Sure?
All right?
So, growing up, like I'm from New York too, and we used to have the pledge of allegiance. This is what I was saying on the zoom, but the zoom the audio went out, a little bit. Pledge of allegiance. You stand to your feet, you put your hand over your heart, turn to the flag. All right, I'm gonna spare you the words. But at the end it says liberty and justice for all, and that wasn't really reflected
in my neighborhood. I was a little confused growing up, you know, like every day you brainwashing us to say this, but that's not what I'm seeing, you know what I mean? Where's the liberty and justice for all?
The all part?
You know?
So I guess I started my path to just kind of go down and have it make sense for me. Eventually, you know, so networking that's how it became an entrepreneur. You know, it just didn't feel right, you know, going and making somebody else rich and you know, getting the peanuts and not really getting the respect that I needed, Like I'm running this company, you know, so just trying
to make that make sense, you know. So I do that with my family, with my friends, with people I meet strangers, you know, because that's the change I want to see in the world. So I live that, you know. So that's what that looks like for me. People that have a vision that may not have the support that they may that they may need. You know, it's tough being an entrepreneur, I know, you know how many man, my mom still wants me to be a pilot to this day.
To this day.
Sorry Mom, it's not happy, you know. But but for those people who need that support, but that's all it takes. You know, you have a vision, you may not have the little components that you may need, but your neighbor might have it, your cousin's friend might have it. You know, somebody went to high school with might know somebody. You know, get that network together right and then you can achieve that, you know, but the key thing with that is getting
the right mindset. So we don't want that kind of mindset in our land, in our world. You know, that mindset is everything, just everything.
You know, if you.
Think you can or you think you can't, probably right, oh right, you know what I'm saying. So you know I gotta think actually again for you know, we talk even before this, you know, offline about a lot of different entrepreneurial experiences and things that we wanted to do. But it's because of the mindset. I wouldn't have conversations I have with her, with you know, my neighbor who doesn't have the mindset for it. So that's the kind of people that we want to earners.
What's up?
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See that's the safe haven. When we say the safe haven, it's not only from police and things of that nature, but it's from all forms of oppression. Oppression is not just police, you know, that could be negative vibes from a spouse or from a loved one, or from your boss, or from your neighbor or your parents or from whoever. No, so a place where you can feel free to experience life and you don't have to worry about that kind of stuff and you can really focus on your dream
and your mission, you know. So you know, I'm glad you brought that up because we're gonna be need a lot of help. So we're here to here today too, to reach out, you know, like you know, people of like minds. If this is something that speaks to your soul, speaks to your spirit, please reach out to us, you know, please reach out to us.
Safe even for me, you know, it's similar to what you guys were saying as well. You know, I have I have an eight year old son and a nine year old nephew that stayed with me and everything, and it's.
Like, you know, they get to go outside and not have to.
Worry about microaggressions from you know, a neighbor who doesn't understand their culture, you know, riding down the street on their bike and he might be too close to the cars and now he's calling the police or throwing rocks something like that. You know, they can really just be free,
like literally be free. You know, you go outside and you don't have to worry about where they're at, and you're gonna want to know, you know, just because but you don't have to worry about where they're like really worry because i'mund my dad was in the military.
I used to leave the house at eight o'clock.
In the morning and not show up until now, no one ever worried about where I was. I mean, my parents never showed the interesting, they showed the interest that they weren't work I know, they weren't worried, and so that's what the safe pavin is for me. Then also, this whole land, you know, this whole experience is not just a safe haven. It's more of like retribution, Like we're getting land back. We're taking land that was taking
away from people in my family from years ago. Like I'm like, as this is becoming, you know, as I'm getting more involved with this, you know, I'm talking to my family members and knowing more because you know, I'm involved with this, and they're telling me stories of things that happened to them, you know, in the forties and the fifties have land was literally just taken from them, like like you know what, this is not yours anymore.
I'm taking it. You can't do anything about it, you know. So I'm like, wow, I didn't even like I had no ideas even happen in my family. But now I'm learning about the history of my family and not just mine.
It's so many people in the South who have land like literally taken from them, like just just because they were black, no other reason than that, just because you were black. I want this land, it's mine now. So all these like you know, especially in Concord, Georgia. You know it's owned by one family, but that one family literally was taking land away from black people. Like wow,
Like my generation is a part of that. Like my cousin, one of my older cousins, Remember, he literally remembers the house burning down because they burned it down in order to get that land.
That it was that serious. I had mean, I.
Had no idea, you know what I'm saying. None of these conversations were had. That's because you know, they kind of wanted to get rid of those memories. And now This is kind of brought it back up. Like I told them, like, you know what, I'm gonna speak for you guys. I'm gonna make sure that you know people know your story and this land is for y'all too, So you can come up here and get some red dirt play wherever you want to do, you know.
So that's that's that's what it means as well.
Yeah, just going through that process discovering that and now, yes, that's crazy.
That's amazing.
Because this sounds like a very costy project as far as like you said, even the sewage systems like a million dollars.
So can you get loans for this type.
Of project or we can get loans?
Just can you talk about like how does somebody get loan for something that's not built?
Like, well, how does that work?
Like? Yeah, So, I.
Mean, first of all, we're in rural lands, so we get us DA opportunities for our agricultural USDA loans.
We haven't talked about that yet, but that's something that people should be very.
Very aware, especially if you're talking about building a house in the rural area that's a zero down payment.
Can you talk about that? Yeah?
So the United States Department of Agriculture pretty much guarantees.
That you go through a bank.
When your traditional bank you let them know that I'm purchasing in this area.
It's similar to like even a VA loan.
You qualify for a VA loan by being a honorably discharged veteran or you could be still in the armed forces. But it's a zero down loan, and our federal government backs those loans, so if you didn't pay it, they would be responsible for it. So the threshold for requirements are a little lower than traditional conventional loans. So that's why you're able to get that loan at zero down versus having to put your twenty percent down because the
government backs it. You go through a regular bank, you can go through a land bank or what's known as an agricultural bank a credit union, and you just say, hey, I want to purchase this land in this rural area. It does have to qualify based on the zip code it's in, but if it does meet those qualifications and you meet certain qualifications, then you'll be able to purchase it through their zero down program.
So so you got the USDA loans and any other type of like regular banks, they can their loan money as well.
Yeah, absolutely, and so the key is to have a good credit score.
Make sure the people.
If you're talking about getting a loan for your business, everybody in the business needs to also have good credit.
So credit is essential.
It's the essential thing in this game is making sure that credit score. Everybody should be shooting for at least a seven hundred. I would love to see eight hundreds. But the reality is the thing that keeps a lot of people from progressing in life is the ability to leverage credit. And the way that you leverage credit is by having that credit score, and you have to show
those income streams. You need to be able to show that you have cash flow and revenue streams coming in so that you can get as much credit as you possibly can. So right now we're at that place because we're a brand new business. It's hard for us to get traditional credit right now without having assets and to
show that we got income streams. We don't have income streams yet because we're building a town, so we have to take the route of working with a hard money lender, and that's private money that has a little less stringent underwriting.
So there's a million ways to skin a cat.
The most important thing is to make sure that your credit score is as high as it possibly can be.
And so that leads me to.
I'm a brand ambassador for a black owned, not black managed credit and business financing and funding company called novay Money, and so that organization actually helps people to increase their credit score, helps them to establish business credit and access funding. Because that's what we need to actually be able to build our businesses, is that good credit and that access to capital. And since venture capital lists traditionally are still not funding black businesses, all of.
The research is dismal.
Even now, even after all these people came out and said black lives Matter, we ready to support y'all, nothing has changed in the venture capitalist space. So we have to have this ability to access money through our black banks like Unity Bank, like Citizens Trust Bank, one United Bank, having those relationships Unity Bank and that credit score because they can only do so much like you can't go to the bank without no income streams and without and
with poor credit. So it's up to us to make sure that we're educated, we're financially educated, that we understand the entire credit pie because the reality is you could have missed a few payments that's not the only way to increase your credit score.
You can increase your credit score by opening additional lines of credit.
You can increase your credit score by making sure your oldest line of credit doesn't close, that you keep that open forever in your history. Like, there's these pieces to the pie that we have to become more educated about.
And when we are able, for every eight hundred creates one hundred thousand of leverage.
So when you and shout Renee, because Renee's been emailing you back and forth, shout to her when you were in the quote unquote drafting, is that some of the criteria You're like, listen, guys, if you want to be part of this, this is no.
I wasn't. That was after the day and that now we have to contend with.
Yeah, I'm a real estate agent. I'm like, look, we just gonna get this land. Like I was, like, who got this check? And so everybody came up with the red board our land. Like so no, in that case, No, we do have We do have some people in our are collective as exceptional credit. We have some people who have challenge credit.
I have.
I'm just now getting to the place where I'm not so challenged, you know, like it's a journey and we have to just be honest and have these kinds of conversations because it's not impossible. You just have to have the right education and right partners and accountability partners are everything.
People like Kevin when he started talking about his Cris gub like get my game.
Make sure I got my little self together. I'm like, I want to be able to go get my r V too. So those are the conversations that you have with you know, like we keep saying, like minded individuals, we go further faster together.
That credit is everything.
Yeah, and I think it's dope because you're growing together. But you're also educating each other. Right, so you didn't come in with that education, but now everybody's on the same plan and everybody's educating each other.
I want to go back to the land because I heard it.
I read the first thing that you guys are doing is building out the agriculture and the farming.
You talk about why that's so important.
Yeah, I mean food is everything. Like we watch enough Walking Dead, Stop playing with me, y'all. We watch enough Walking and enough of these Hollywood shows to know when it all goes down and it's fee out money start crashing.
What we're gonna need to eat and some water.
So that's why farming comes first around here. Now, granted, we've been doing more events first because that's just a revenue stream that's quick and easy. Camp out events we got dope musicians and our collective. My husband's a musician, our friend Q is a dope song stress, my pastor and first Lady, our dope our ministry and worship leaders. So we have dope events like our jam sessions be lit.
So the events are one of the first things that we've been doing because that's like the lowest cost barrier that we can start generating revenue from because you just.
Need the land, right and so is that what the Big Black Hut.
There banks been coming to the Big Black.
Camp Out because I might go camping, you get some people camping.
There's a lot of people can people came from all over.
The cries tell everybody what it is.
So the Big Black camp Out is our annual event where we are encouraging black families to get outdoors. We hashtag diversify Outdoors because there's an entire black camping culture like shout out the Melanated Camp, Black Urban Camp Weekend.
It's so many black girls camp like this.
We we be outside, we be doing stuff like I don't know, everybody trying to act like we're not out here getting this fresh air and living our best life in nature and outdoors because we do. And so we had really cool people outdoors men, sportsmen and just regular folk who had never been camping before, who would have never went camping if it wasn't a group event because.
It's like, you know, like I'm not going out there with.
No bears and doors.
We literally got.
Wild turkey, wild boar, wild, and you know, but jumping together collectively.
It was so dope.
People really enjoyed it and people bought their RVs like it was so fun. And we had music, we had live performances, we had the vendors out. We really just enjoyed ourselves and we're gonna do it every year.
It's going to just get bigger.
And people were they literally slipped outside on the ground.
Where was it? Where was he?
Labor day?
We were talking like campfire and.
That was that was a fundraiser to have the fund.
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