Episode Transcript

Rianka (00:00): Hi, I'm back. Well, almost. If you are new to 2050 TrailBlazers, welcome. My name is Rianka and I am the creator and host of this award-winning phenomenal podcast, 2050 TrailBlazers. We are not only a podcast. We also are an educational platform. So today I wanted to share with you just an overview, a recap of what's been happening and what is about to happen. So again, if you are new to 2050 TrailBlazers, or if you are already a part of our family, welcome back. I know you miss me. I missed you too. So what has been happening? Well, 2020 was a very interesting year to say the least, we survived a pandemic and I put survive in air quotes because I am still, you know, I'm still, yeah, I'm still 2020, although, was a very, it was a challenging year. And I, and I don't want to say that for everybody, but I'll talk for myself.

Rianka (01:15): 2020 was a very challenging year. We had some births in our family. We also had some deaths and, I don't think my family situation was too far off. Considering, you know, we went through a pandemic together. Some new things that happened in my world. I am now a mom. Yay. In March of 2020 I gave birth to my son Remington and he is just a cute little snookems. That's what I call him. So yeah, I gave birth to my son. As you are listening to this, he is almost one. He will probably be walking soon. And, in February 2020, I merged my firm to create a new firm with Lazetta Rainey Braxton. Our firm is called 2050 Wealth Partners. You may have heard of us. You know, the summer of 2020 was very challenging. It was very hard. I'll get into that more, you know, in the season, but giving birth to a Black boy, in the midst of a pandemic, in the midst of a social and racial uprising was challenging.

Rianka (02:40): And, I knew that bringing a son or, or a daughter in this world, was going to be a huge responsibility. But as a Black woman, I knew having a Black son was going to be even more, bigger responsibility and the summer of 2020, you know, showed me a lot. And, but, you know, before I go there, you know, I'll save that for season five. But we really are going to dig into that, you know, what did the financial service industry do? What did they say they're going to do? And what did they actually do? What can we do together, just to make this world a better place, holistically. And because I am a financial planner, I speak specifically about the financial service industry, but the things and topics we talk about it transcends industries and sectors.

Rianka (03:52): So, if you are not a financial planner, this is the place for you. This actually is a place for everybody. So let me, let me stick to the script here. So, all right. I'm back. So black history month is very special. Black history month is always special, but this year is even more special. So just in a few weeks, we are kicking off our Black History Month History Maker Series, and I'm so excited. Get ready to listen to inspiring Black women from different backgrounds, disciplines, and industries. That's right. I said Black women, because I am officially declaring 2021, the year of Black women. Okay. At 2050 TrailBlazers is here to celebrate that. So listen, if you are new to the 2050 TrailBlazers family, before we kick off the black history month series next month and season five, which is kicking off in March, I thought it would be good to take you down memory lane and share with you.

Rianka (05:01): You know, some of the past seasons highlights from, you know, seasons one through four, if there are different seasons, which piques your interest, you know where to go. But first, if you would like to keep up with each episode, make sure you subscribe to this podcast on whichever platform you love listening to podcasts. Also subscribe to our newsletter, head over to 2050TrailBlazers.com. And also each episode has show notes. So if you go to 2050TrailBlazers.com and you click on podcasts and then click on the actual episode, each episode has a summary of what the episodes are about, beneath the summary, we have a section called what you'll learn and it's bullet points on exactly, if you listen to this episode, this is what you will learn. And then also we under that, a section called show notes, where if we share videos, books, resources, articles, we are actually going in listening to the episode and tagging the books, the articles.

Rianka (06:14): So it will make your learning easy. So that's what we're here for. We're here to be an aid and resource for you on your journey. Okay? And so this is why we are saying 2050 TrailBlazers is more than a podcast. We are an educational platform, something else I want to share as well, we have a resource library. So again, go to 2050TrailBlazers.com, click on resources, and you will see a lot of resources. In 2018, we released a white paper called, Addressing Identity and Culture to Improve Client Services and the National Impact in the Financial Profession, which is a great white paper. If you ask me also Your Guide to Allyship, we talked about 10 tips for allies and how to get started. We have an episode guide there. We have an Ally Index for ways to level up your allyship, and, and many more.

Rianka (07:21): So this year we are focusing on giving you not only the content, which you are listening to through these episodes, but also the resources and tangible resources to again make your learning and your willingness and wanting to learn much more easier. We're putting the tools and resources in your hands. All right, now that we got the housekeeping out of the way, I feel like you are now a well-informed family member of 2050 TrailBlazers. You feel good? All right. So here's the recap. All right, season one was all about setting the foundation. We laid the foundation for so many impactful conversations around diversity, equity, and inclusion in the financial service industry. Our introductory episodes cover a lot of ground from episode one, with Cy Richardson. He is the Vice President of the National Urban League, where we discuss how to bring down the barriers of entry for people of color and other minority groups entering the financial service industry.

Rianka (08:33): We also discuss going a step further and moving from attracting diverse talent to retaining. It's one thing to attract, but it's like, okay, when, when they're here, when we're here, what are you going to do to retain us? What's the culture of your firm like? Are you really ready for someone of a different background coming into your firm? And while I would say you can be well-intentioned, it may not always end up like that. So, we dove deep in that we ended season one with episode nine, with Katie Augsburger. She is an employee experience strategist. We cover how to implement strategies to attract and retain diverse talent and shared stories. You know, season one was amazing because it was the first one, right? Our guests boldly shared their stories. And I shared a bit of mine as well. We learned how to stop using code words and code switching and shared what efforts are currently being put forth like the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning, Diversity Summit, also TD Ameritrade, calling racial diversity out by its name on their blog.

Rianka (09:54): You know, season one was great. Season one happened in 2018. So again, if you are just new to the 2050 TrailBlazers family, welcome, we've been around and we've been doing this. Season two, all right, season two, we talked about practicing dynamic allyship. We hear that term ally, right? And allyship. What we did was we actually defined what allyship means to 2050 TrailBlazers. And we boldly put out there that allyship is a verb. Not a noun it is an active practice in which a person of privilege acts in solidarity with marginalized groups. It is a practice of unlearning and reevaluating what you know about identity and power. It is all about making space for inclusivity. And season two, we brought forth the allies to answer the questions of how can I help.

Rianka (10:57): So what happened after season one was a lot of people were listening. A lot of white people were listening and said, wow, how can I help? I don't want to say or do the wrong thing. And so I've been paralyzed and I've done nothing, but I'm ready to step up, step out and make some mistakes. And I thought that was, I thought that was beautiful, right? Because they are willing to fail forward. Right. And the great thing about this is that most allies who stepped up and stepped out actually did not fail. There were some learning opportunities there, but there's no failure when you're trying to learn and advance and better yourself and make yourself just a better human being there, no failure. We can not advance the culture around gender, racial, and sexual diversity by ourselves. We need allies, a diversity and inclusion ally again, is someone who is willing to take action and support of another person in order to remove external barriers that impede that person from contributing their skills and talents in the workplace and community.

Rianka (12:14): I've shared this so many times, it is expected for Black and Brown people to talk about diversity and inclusion, and also to fight for it. What is not expected, and always comes at a pleasant surprise is when white men and white women speak up about gender and racial diversity, you know, this industry, the financial service industry, and, you know, the financial planning profession is so fortunate to have powerful allies across the board. Some of whom joined us this season, like Tom Nally, who was the former president of TD Ameritrade, Susan Syracuse, Ed Gerson, he is the past National President of the Financial Planning Association. Sonya Dreizler, who has been a champion of, you know, she could be the president of the allyship club and Arlene Moss.

Rianka (13:13): Both of them had a phenomenal conversation around using your privilege as a white woman. It was a good episode. Also, we have Brian Thompson and David Rae who discuss LGBTQ inclusion in the financial planning profession. It was, it was amazing. It, you know, season two, hands down a really great season about doing allyship. All right, 2019 February, we had a Black History Month special season. And in recognition of Black History Month, last February, we had four bonus episodes highlighting and elevating Black trailblazers in the financial planning profession and beyond, was tapping into their successes, failures, expertise and advice on how we can continue to move forward. Industry leaders, such as LeCount Davis and Carla Harris provided insight on what it was like to be the first blaze, a trail and drop pearls of wisdom for current and future generations to advocate for themselves and others.

Rianka (14:24): Also influencers, Everette Taylor, and Natasha Alford discuss putting in the work and overcoming obstacles to achieve personal and professional success, and how to use that success to open doors for others. And I will say Everette Taylor and Natasha Alford have been two very outspoken professionals, colleagues, friends, who not only when they get to a table, they figure out how to make sure the table is big enough for more of us to join them. And so I've always appreciated them. And, them blazing a trail. Season three was probably one of my favorite seasons. I mean, all of my seasons are favorite, but season three, you know, it hit home. You know, we talked about money and culture and throughout season three, we explore the multifaceted intersection of money and culture, and various cultures, which are classified as Black, Hispanic, or Asian, are made up of a rich diversity of ethnicities, all with their very own unique traditions and ideas on money.

Rianka (15:40): We kicked off season three with Saundra Davis, where we started to address the need for advisors and coaches to understand the why behind how people spend their money. And then I brought on many different guests from different backgrounds. And we explored how Africans, Haitians, Colombians, Vietnamese, and African Americans view financial and family responsibility. And yeah, there's no one way on how someone looks at money, feels about money, or spends their money, nor should there be right as financial planners we need to meet clients where they are and not have clients meet us where we are. And I think that is one of the big learnings that you will find in season three of money and culture, these enlightening and frank conversations on money and culture compassion, and the DEI movement helped us all be better advisors to our clients, consumers, and our colleagues of color. So I definitely encourage you to tune into season three and last but not least, season four, we talked about best practices.

Rianka (17:01): So season three, again, that was 2019 season four 2019. We talked about best practices, season four, focused on utilizing the wealth of knowledge of our expert guests who have walked the walk. So we bring on people who not only talk it, but walk it as well. Walk it like I talk it, walk it like I talk it. Okay. So we had Kate Healy who, was from TD Ameritrade, Mark Tibergien, you know, phenomenal guests to disseminate tangible actions you can take to increase diversity equity and inclusion within your organization or firm, you know, I hear a lot like, oh, my organization is too small, so we don't have the resources or my firm is too big, and there's a lot of red tape. Season four I made sure I had guests from different size firms, different parts of the financial services industry, so that we can see how it's being done in other organizations, firms, and companies, so that we can expand our way of thinking, how to get things done.

Rianka (18:18): So our guests not only continue to share their personal and professional stories, but in parted concrete lessons and takeaways such as how to address your biases and notice them in your team, how to focus on self-reflection to improve your services and make an impact, how leaders can support their employees, how employees internalize biases in a way that negatively impacts their performance, and developing business objectives around diversity, equity, and inclusion. Because as we know numbers don't lie.

Rianka (18:55): So as you can see, 2050 TrailBlazers, we have covered a lot of ground, a lot ground in the past four seasons over the past couple of years. And I just want to say, thank you. Thank you for subscribing. Thank you for sharing the resources. Thank you for just promoting 2050 TrailBlazers as the platform for diversity, equity, and inclusion. And season five and season six is not going to disappoint. I've had some time off. I had time to reflect, to think I have a new lens that I'm looking through. Not only am I a financial planner, I am a mom. Get ready for a phenomenal, season five and season six. We will not disappoint. Don't forget to subscribe. Follow us on all social media platforms. 2050 TBS, two zero five zero T B S. We're on Instagram, Twitter, follow us, share, and get ready. Here we go. I'm so hype.