A Bro Talk International Women’s Day Conversation with Dr. Barbara Wright

The spark of entrepreneurship isn’t a business plan—it’s the moment you speak ownership over your life. Dr. Barbara Wright joins us to unpack how that declaration becomes a durable enterprise through readiness, strategy, and systems that work even when you’re tired. We celebrate International Women’s Day by spotlighting women as infrastructure builders who bring order to chaos, stabilize families, and scale impact through repeatable frameworks.

Barbara shares the “wealth triangle,” a practical lens that moves us from existing, to confidence and financial literacy, to a legacy tier where purpose outlives the founder. She breaks down why budgets are strategic narratives—proof of capacity, alignment, and credibility that funders can trust. We get real about the unglamorous parts too: zoning surprises, credential gaps, slow-pay contracts, and the lonely stretches when friends fade. Through it all, she shows how planning, compliance, and negotiation can shorten the pain and lengthen the runway.

We also dig into mentorship as mobilization—beyond advice to navigation and systems you can reproduce. Barbara contrasts survival with ownership, calling women multipliers who create jobs and design ecosystems of tools, teams, and tech. She highlights top funding mistakes to avoid, points to fast-track certifications and readiness tools, and makes a compelling case for sisterhood as protection, correction, and strategy. For men, the charge is clear: honor publicly, sponsor access, and invest in women’s leadership. For underestimated founders, don’t confuse being overlooked with being underqualified—sometimes you’re hired while you’re being built.

If you’re ready to turn gifts into cash flow and vision into legacy, this conversation gives you the mindset shifts, the systems, and the next steps. Subscribe, share with a builder who needs this, and leave a review with your top takeaway—what ownership move are you making next?

Transcript

Welcome And Origins In Kansas City

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Real memory It's the roads are broadcast where we'll make connect sharing the stories with no disrespect We keep it on as we keep it tight on the two Real memories Changing the laws taking good Welcome to another episode of the Bro Talk Podcast where we explore purpose, resilience, leadership, and what it means to show up when life calls you. I'm Brian Williams joining you from H-Town in Houston, Texas.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

I'm Jermaine Alberty coming to you from Las Vegas, Nevada. And today we're celebrating International Women's Day with a powerhouse entrepreneur, educator, and funding strategist, our friend, our sister, Dr. Robert Wright, founder and visionary behind the Certified Dream Builder.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

Robert, welcome to the Road Talk. Thank you so much. I am honored to be here with you guys. It's good to have you.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

It's been over 30 years since you, Brian, and I worked together at the Housing Authority of Kansas, Missouri. And those early days were full of running a daycare, writing grants, playing instruments, and building systems and strategies behind it all. But I want to start off with a question as it relates to those days. What was one of your fondest memories of Brian or I? What's one of your fondest memories?

Honoring Women As Infrastructure Builders

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Oh my God. I remember when you all walked through the day. Oh, I was like, look at these little young Martin Luther Kings that are coming through this door. You guys were 19. I saw you when you came up the stairs at 299 for sale. It was just totally amazing. You all were already model citizens in Kansas City, and I was amazed at your maturity and your desire to help other young people. You carried yourselves like the male leaders at home showing up for your siblings, helping your families. I've even seen you out, you know, later on in life doing that when I when you would come through Kansas City and still serving your community with consistency. So we juggle uh real life, serving families, running programs, writing grants. Yes, we did all of that. But that's what I remember about you guys that you came in at 19, so mature and ready to help your community.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Today is International Women's Day. And on this podcast, we say real men, real talk, real transformation. And real transformation doesn't happen in isolation. It happens because women invest, model resilience, and build bridges. And so I would like to ask, how do you see women shaping purpose, leadership, and the future for both men and communities?

SPEAKER_00 2:56

Women are really get good infrastructure builders because we do it at home a lot. So I believe that we use that same infrastructure, which is what you have to have for funding, for building grants, for whatever it is that you do in your building process. Women basically bring that to the table because we are those those nurturers and and we do see things out of place and we try to get it back in place. We stack the pots a certain way, we fold the towels a certain way. Some of us have different ways of doing things to make sure that we dot every I and cross every T. And that's one of the ways that I feel like we can help men and help our communities to survive and and not only survive, I'm I'm out of the thr the survive mentality, but to help us thrive in this day.

SPEAKER_03 3:49

You come up with so many witty analogies and examples, and uh I just love hearing your words of wisdom. When you think about the women's role and being that infrastructure and bringing order out of chaos, from your perspective, what should the purpose of the women's role in the relationship be as it relates to you know investing in men and providing that infrastructure and bringing order out of chaos and supporting men?

From Survival To Ownership Mindset

SPEAKER_00 4:20

Our role is a role of support, and we have to realize that the men do have to take ownership. That is one of the things that I am promoting for the year 2026, is that we are moving from the survivor or survival mindset to ownership. So if women could help encourage men to own their destiny rather than falling into, woe is me, I don't have this, I don't have that, I'm not I'm not able to provide, I haven't gotten degrees. Now, thank God for you guys getting your degrees and getting your getting the education that you've gotten, some of it in the street, some of it in the classroom. But I believe women can encourage men to own their destiny. And if we help men own their destiny, become owners, then that's how we can become asset millionaires because all of us were born with everything we need to succeed. Do we take our gifts and talents and use them to become the owners that we should be? So women, I believe, could help men in encouraging them to change that mindset and develop the owner's mentality.

SPEAKER_03 5:38

I like that. Helping men and empowering men to own their destiny.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_03 5:44

So as Jermaine said, we are celebrating International Women's Day. And uh we really think highly of you and other women who've been impactful in our lives. And so, as you you think about that, reflect on the mentoring, the accountability, the correction, and the support women provide and how that impacts generational transformation. How does that impact the generational transformation and the role that women play?

SPEAKER_00 6:12

I believe that with the things that we bring to the table, we have to remind our children and the men in our lives and the community that we come into contact with. I have what I call my wealth triangle. And in that wealth triangle, down at the bottom, you have people who are learning um just how to how to maintain and work throughout the day. But if we as women can help our children and the men and the communities get from just existing to the second level of the triangle, which is where we build confidence and where um we learn financial systems and we learn some of the other things, then that can help us move into the top layer of, to me, the wealth triangle. And I'm not talking about money, I'm talking about enjoying life. I'm talking about leaving legacy, a building legacy, not just living, but we are living so that we can get to top of the triangle where we are it's no longer about us, it's about providing legacy and leaving legacy for others. So that's what that's the importance of the International Women's Day. How can we, being that we're at home, we have the babies before they're out and out in the world? How can we help them develop legacy?

SPEAKER_01 7:43

Before certified dream builder existed, before the systems, the strategies, the funding pipeline. Who was young Barbara? What formative experiences uh shaped that resilience and purpose that you have right now?

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Young Barbara was a builder before I ever had the language for it. Um I observed other people. I loved systems. I used to love to my games was playing with numbers. Now, I won't say that's because we lived in plum nearly plum out the country and out the world or whatever. We was all we were behind the forest. I won't say it was because of that, but I played with numbers. I learned casting out the nines. I learned that uh nine times nine is eighty-one. And if you say eight plus one, that gives you nine, and you can check your answer. I use those same things in developing frameworks, systems, and ecosystems for people right now. The resilience that I learned from back then, and the resilience that I saw in you guys, it's just totally amazing. But that is what shaped me. Today I was talking in another forum about how my kindergarten teacher realized I had a gift, and she encouraged me and promoted me back then. My eighth-grade teacher realized I had a gift. She promoted me and she found a poem that I wrote called I'm Unique. And she said, Wow, you have a gift. And then, you know, on down through the years, I worked at um Truman Medical Center. Hamburg, I was a hamburger helper, Dr. Hamburger. He saw a gift. Chris Collins, um, and uh Miss Dodson, though they saw a gift. You guys saw some things, and you all encouraged me. And at UmKC, uh he's um now a president of a college in St. Cloud, I think is the name of the college. He's at Larry Dietz, all of these people, they saw something in me at different levels and stages, and that's what has helped to take the confusion out of life and make me the person that I am today. I have a lot of people to thank, and you too are two of those people that I have to thank.

SPEAKER_03 9:54

Wow, what an honor. We appreciate you saying that. And uh this this actually has come full circle. I don't re I don't know if you remember, but when we first met at 19, you used to have a uh radio show called Business by the Book.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Oh my god.

Young Barbara: Numbers, Systems, Mentors

SPEAKER_03 10:09

And you invited me and Jermaine to be a part of that radio and that radio broadcast, and you and Price were always broadcasting every every Friday, and you were really just trying to help the community understand some business principles, entrepreneurship principles. And as we talk about this whole idea of entrepreneurship, some people believe that entrepreneurship begins with the business plan, but others believe that it really begins with what happened to us in our formative years, how we were raised, what we survived, what we had to figure out without a roadmap. And you alluded to some of that in your description of your journey. But what say it to you about where does entrepreneurship really begin? How does it begin? How does it form?

SPEAKER_00 10:58

Entrepreneurship begins with your words. And I was telling people today, you go from employee to owner when you speak it out of your mouth. And generally you're speaking it because something has been birthed inside of you, and it was for it, if it's the right entrepreneurship, it was already there. So some people start with planning, but there's a lot of infrastructure that has to be built, and it's it's almost like building a house. If you don't start with the right type of foundation, as you grow, it's gonna fall. So just making sure that you're doing something that is it to me, it's it's kingdom building. You have to be doing something that you feel good about, something that is that is purposeful. If you can get to that point, then you're at the right place in your business building. I opened the child care center because I love children, but there was a lot of things I didn't know. So, what I know now is when you do get ready to start a business, you read and study because I don't care if you do love children, you need to know that business side of childcare. So that's the other other thing. I'm telling people, readiness is what's gonna determine whether or not you're gonna be successful. Readiness is one of the first things that you have to do when you are wanting to start a business. You can be very ever so good at it, it could really be what you want to do, but you must get ready. You must take those classes, get those certifications. There's a website that I love to give people called uh expertratings.com. I love to give people that website because that website has uh 6,000 different tests and certifications that you can get for very little money, and you can get them quickly in order to help get yourself ready for entrepreneurship. So the success factor in entrepreneurship is preparation.

SPEAKER_03 13:03

Very well said.

Where Entrepreneurship Truly Begins

SPEAKER_01 13:04

Yeah, I I think you you got there because the whole thing is it's not just about having an ideal. Right, it's about being prepared to actually carry out the ideal. What you have shared just by giving us that one resource, you can know where to access information. That's half the battle. That one website that you just gave us is half the battle of knowing where to get the information. You are gifted to be able to fill the gaps. The gaps where people don't realize there is a gap. So when you launch Certified Dream Builder, what gap did you see within the marketplace that certified dream builder could fill that gap?

SPEAKER_00 13:47

The gap at the time was readiness, actually, because I learned that if, and I didn't even understand the whole of it when I was trying to do it. I did realize that when I opened my child care center, I went from my home. So I had to pay light, gas, water, and phone anyway. But it didn't take long before the regulators came out and said, you can't operate this daycare at home. So I ended up having to move from home to a building. And so here I am, thrust out into this building with no background, no experience, no nothing. Thank God I knew about zoning then. So I knew I had to have a building that was zoned properly for childcare. So there's so many different things, and it's the readiness piece that I could go on down the line about the mistakes that I made. And I'm I thank God for every mistake because now I use those mistakes in helping other people build their ecosystems and build their businesses and uh get them ready for entrepreneurship. So it was the readiness that uh certified dream builders fill the gap. If we are going to build these dreams, we've got to make sure that we work on getting ourselves ready. Because if we're not ready, guess what? We're raggedy.

SPEAKER_03 15:06

If we're not ready, we're raggedy. That's good. Well, uh, when you talk about having those dreams, developing those dreams, those dreams cost something. And so hearing you talk about transferring your home daycare to a larger uh facility where there's overhead costs and other fees associated with that, that costs money. So you talk about turning dreams into a funded reality. Why is funding infrastructure, and you use that word infrastructure quite a bit, but why is funding infrastructure such a critical factor for entrepreneurs and organizations? And when did you know that it was going to be yours?

Readiness Gaps And Certified Dream Builder

SPEAKER_00 15:53

I knew that it would be a part of my reality early on because uh when I stepped out there, as I said, I was not totally prepared. So what I had to do was learn how to do the budgeting piece after I got there. But now when I'm working with new new organizations, I let them know right away that your budget is first. Because your budget does more than give you numbers. Your budget tells the story of what you are doing, your budget tells the funder whether or not you're gonna be able to pay back with interest. Your funder, your budget tells the funder whether or not you know what you're doing and whether or not you're going to be able to handle the organization. So there's a lot in the budget. If you don't understand that budget, you're in trouble. That's why that was our first app that we developed through iOS and Android, and it's called Budget Builder Pro. It's a free app to download. But what it does is it asks you how many hours are you willing to work to make the amount of money that you want to make as the executive director or the leader of your organization. And then it will figure how much money you need to develop or create, or how many widgets you need to sell to open your business. So the budgets tell the story of whether or not you're gonna be successful.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

Barbara, you've helped secure millions of grants, contracts and loans, and train tens of thousands of leaders. Uh, for listeners who don't understand scale, how would you describe the scope of your work?

Budgets That Tell Funding Stories

SPEAKER_00 17:39

As far as the scope, it is I have to go back to building, I I understand now that I am building frameworks and systems that turn into ecosystems. And if you want to picture an ecosystem, pick picture a hamster or a gerbil. When they're in this little spinner, it's just going around and around. So when you come up with a great system, you have a weld oil system that helps you. And so that is what's extremely important in scaling your organization. Because once you develop that weld oil machine, it becomes easier for you to turn it into a franchise. It becomes easier for you to help someone else replicate your great practices and do the things that you're doing. So it's very important that you come up with a framework and that you come up with systems in order to implement that framework. And if you really want to scale it, you develop it into an ecosystem. Right now I have books, I have apps, I have classes, and and all of those things work together. And now I um have the licenses, and I'm not just a dream builder myself. Now I dream, I build dream builders, and when my dream builders get the app, they can have they have two dream team members under them. So it's built, it's it's all full circle, and that's what you have to do when you are building, when you are thinking about building a business, you have to start with the framework, move it into systems to implement it, and then eventually you're going to have an ecosystem, and that is how you're monitor, that's how you're able to monetize what it is that you are providing.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

I love this ideal of creating ecosystems, and I think that hopefully through your tools that you've developed to your business, that folks will know that that's one step, but there are so many more steps after that to be successful. And so I I'm just like taking notes myself while I'm doing the interview. Women now own nearly four. In 10 U.S. businesses, but revenue gaps persist, and closing that gap could add trillions to the U.S. economy. We also know that black and brown women are one of the fastest growing entrepreneurials in America. So given that reality, how do you interpret the economic and generational impact of women entrepreneurs?

Frameworks, Systems, And Ecosystems

SPEAKER_00 20:24

Well, I believe that women entrepreneurs are multipliers. I know at one time women had had um, they said, even though we are multipliers and we start more businesses than any other per any other nationality, um, a lot of times we started the small business and we had trouble going into scale. But if anybody is going to do it, generally, it's going to be um that woman that's doing that. And so as we're doing that, we're we're building households, we're stabilizing communities, we're creating jobs. So as much as we can support each other for black and brown women, especially entrepreneurship, is um often not just a choice, it's a strategy for freedom. And I will tell you, with AI, um, I don't like to focus on AI. My focus right now is not survival. My focus is thriving, my focus is ownership. I'm gonna own whatever it is that I have been given, and I am going to take that to the next level. So that's what I believe that women will do or can do as a whole to make sure that we are continuing to help our communities. We are going to own what we're doing, and then that um we're not gonna let AI, the loss of jobs, uh black women lost more jobs than anyone else uh with this AI. So you would think it took you a step backwards. But what you've got to do is start stirring up those gifts that are in you so that you can take that one turn talent and turn it into two, and those two talents and turn them into four, and those five talents and turn them into 10. It's time to stir up the gifts that are in you. So that's how we're gonna do economic multiplication on our businesses, and we're we're we're taking it back no longer survival, it's ownership.

SPEAKER_03 22:25

Wow, you are being prophetic and preaching.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

Oh my god, I I apologized in my class this morning. I said, Y'all, I feel preaching this morning, so you're all gonna have to forgive me.

Women Entrepreneurs As Multipliers

SPEAKER_03 22:37

You don't ever have to apologize for uh downloading into us some nuggets of wisdom, not just surviving, we're thriving, and you're speaking ownership into the life of women and and all of us, and so we appreciate that. And so as we we continue this topic and journey about entrepreneurship, sometimes it can appear to be glamorous on the exterior when you're on the outside looking in. But talk to us about the non-glamorous aspects of owning your own business.

The Unglamorous Truths Of Building

SPEAKER_00 23:12

I cried many days. I remember when my husband and I married, we were young, we were 21. He was I was 20, he was 21, and uh we didn't didn't know much, didn't have much, but I can remember being five dollars short, and it seemed like the world was coming to an end. Well, in business, when you're five thousand dollars short, I realized it was the same feeling. The five dollars short was the same feeling as being five thousand short. So sometimes your funding is not clicking like it's supposed to. And even though I had a contract with the state of Missouri, a lot of times the state was slow about sending the money. And as I told you, I'm my business, I had it at home, it was thriving, but then I got a knock on the door and it was zoning to say you're not zoned properly for this. I was one door in the Grand View. The house next door to me was Kansas City, but because I was one door in the Grand View, I had to abide by Grandview's zoning laws. And guess what? I had to shut down. Even though the business was doing well, I was happy. So then I went and found the building. Now, your negotiations can kind of help you with the building because there's a thing called a triple net lease that in most cases you want to stay away from. So I was able to negotiate my lease, and there's a thing called a graduated lease to where you can get that building for three months and not pay any rent until the third month. So I did a graduated lease and I was feeling so good, but somehow the state found out I had a graduated lease, and it seemed like they put every roadblock in my way to make sure that they didn't let me open until I had to start paying rent. So that's one of the problems that you had. The other thing was I didn't have the credential to run my own business. I had to hire a director to run my own business, and so therefore, I was at her mercy because I didn't have the credential. So I had to use her. So sometimes you may not have the credential. You you need to make sure that you're no you that you do those regulatory requirements. I have seven steps to that I use for starting a business, and one of them is doing that um feasibility study, making sure that you know the zoning laws, that you know all of those things that are happening. And I didn't do it at the time, so therefore, I use all of those terrible experiences that I had to help other people. But yes, it's not all glamorous. And then I learned a thing called the festo analysis. Every time you get a new administration in office, things change. I don't care if it's President Trump or if it's President Biden or if it's President Obama, I don't care who it is in the White House, things shift every time you get a new person. But one thing I tell people no matter how bad the business is going, no matter how things are happening, you got to realize the money is not leaving the planet, it's changing hands, and you got to figure out how you're gonna get something in your hands to keep your business going.

SPEAKER_01 26:18

So you've already answered this question because you described no, no, that's as good. You described the time when entrepreneurship demanded more from you than you expected. I mean, having that had to hire somebody who had credentials to run your own business. I mean, the whole idea of having this wise idea, get a graduated lease, but the state saying no, no, no. I mean, all these different things that are just unexpected, and so tell me how did you manage that gap between purpose and perseverance?

SPEAKER_02 26:56

It was you had to persevere, you had to.

Planning, Perseverance, And Lost Friends

SPEAKER_00 27:00

It was very difficult because we lost all of our friends. So for me, it was turning to God, and uh it was tightening up that family relationship to where we had each other. So when all the friends left, and you know, the family didn't want to come around because they come to our house and they're like, Where's your broom at the daycare? Where's your mop at the daycare? Where are your pots and pants at the daycare? Everything was at the daycare, and so it was losing your familiar friends and and family, and just so you know, some of there was there was lots of gap. Entrepreneurship has many demands, and it takes a while before you get to the point to where it's running free, and you are not having to be there 24-7. You know, what I did learn is that if I had my infrastructure developed, now and I'm not talking about the building infrastructure, now I'm talking about job descriptions and plans. The better you are at organizing and planning, the easier it is to not have those gaps. So the planning is everything.

SPEAKER_03 28:07

It almost sounds like this reoccurring thing that continues to surface of preparation, preparation, planning, and organization.

unknown 28:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:14

And Jermaine, before I ask this next question, I want to I want to probe you a little more, Barbara, because you said you lost some friends.

SPEAKER_00 28:21

How did if you don't mind, tell us a little more about how that friends, our friends, we used to go out to dinner all the time. Our church, our friends were our church friends. So after church, we'd go to dinner. Well, after church, we had to go dig a hole and put a post in, or we had to go down to the daycare and clean up, or we had to go down and prepare for Monday, or and so you know, we invited them to come. And initially, they're like, Okay, we'll come, you know, and then after a while, they're like, What's she at? Let me hide. Let me hide, let me go. So that's kind of how it was. And even sometimes you might have the vision, but your spouse doesn't have the same vision. So you're he's dragging you, or you're dragging him, trying to, you know, get them to buy into it. If you just if we just hang in here, it's gonna be all right. If we just hang in here, it's gonna be all right. So it's not just the outsiders. Sometimes it's it's right in your house, and and our our children had to give up some things. Our children worked in the center. It's kind of like a pastor, a pastor's children and the wife and the husband, everybody is at the church working. And in fact, some of the lessons that I learned from that, I use those in business right now. And that's that budget. When we when we're figuring the budget and it's a whole family working, we figure that the whole family is a lot of the family members are going to help that your immediate family, and that's why your cost is a little less, your personnel cost is a little less initially. Hopefully, after a while, you're able to pay them as well. But yeah, that's that's some of the issues.

Top Funding Mistakes To Avoid

SPEAKER_03 30:00

Interesting. Okay. So you you you provide a little more insight on that question. So I'm gonna shift the conversation because one of your other passions is grant writing and helping businesses and individuals to seek funding. So, what I want you to unpack for us as we think about individuals or organizations seeking grants and other sources of funding, what are the three biggest mistakes that individuals or organizations, in particular people in color, make when they're seeking funding?

SPEAKER_00 30:31

Number one, they apply before they're ready. Because if you're not ready, do you remember the word? You're raggedy. So organizations with uh, you know, no compliance, no clear program model, no framework, no system, you know, uh no outcomes, no documentation, it's very difficult. Number two is they don't treat the budget like a strategy. As I said, budgets are not just numbers, um, they're a story of how impact will happen. How how is how is this gonna impact the world? And then the last uh they chase money instead of alignment because the only reason that a funder is gonna give you their money, regardless of your credit, regardless of who you are, is because they believe that what you are doing matches their mission, the capacity, and the measurable outcomes. When you fix readiness, the funding becomes more predictable as to where you can get that funding from. So, readiness, again, is everything.

SPEAKER_01 31:39

I want to ask about mentorship because that seems to sit at the heart of your work. So, how do you define mentorship and where does it fit in your philosophy of leadership?

Mentorship As Mobilization

Sisterhood’s Power And Correction

SPEAKER_00 31:53

Mentoring um uh helps in in more ways than one. Sometimes we we just say the word mentoring and we think that someone is uh supporting, but mentoring is really like mobilization because it helps you to see what they can't see and to correct what it will cost them, you know, correct it if if there's something, if you know, they're to help them with the correction and then build what will carry them. So in my leadership philosophy, mentorship is like essential because people don't just need information, they need navigation, they need a direction. That's why I'm so into strategy and framework right now. I'm so into building systems right now. So I mentor by teaching frameworks and systems at this point, because once you have a system, you don't need somebody because you can reproduce results once you have a system. You I mean, you don't need somebody to rescue you, you don't need the rescue because now you can produce results. Um, so you need more than just someone telling you what to do. You need that framework or system. That's young people, that's older people, they need that. That's why it's so important that we monitor what our children watch and see. And and if it's important for us to monitor what we're putting in our spirit because that that stuff becomes like a mentorship to us. So we want to be mobilized into action. That's what the mentorship is actually doing. It's helping to mobilize us into action so that after a while, we don't need to be rescued. We've we've got a system and we're ready to go.

SPEAKER_03 33:41

So if we talk about mentorship, we want to focus on the aspect of sisterhood. And of course, this is the Bro Talk Podcast. But when Jermaine and I set out to do this podcast, we initially agreed that we were going to celebrate our sisters and embrace sisterhood. And so thinking about that topic of sisterhood, since it's so central to International Women's Day, how has sisterhood shaped your entrepreneurial journey? And then how are you utilizing sisterhood to shape the entrepreneurial journey of other sisters in the struggle?

What International Women’s Day Demands

SPEAKER_00 34:16

It seems like these questions was just right in the forefront this this week because I put a posted a picture of a friend of mine on uh social media. For 30 years, we had dinner on Sunday. For 30 years, we had Sunday dinner. We raised our kids together, and I believe that kept them out of trouble. Our kids had kids, everything happened during that 30 years. You know, we became grandparents, all kinds of things happened during that 30-year period. For 30 years, so that sisterhood was totally amazing. So, sisterhood has been a protection, it's been wisdom, accountability. I still have great friends. That friend moved to St. Louis, but I still have great friends. She's still a friend. Sometimes sisterhood is about celebration, but sometimes it's about correction. Sometimes those sisters have to correct you. It's the friends who tell you the truth, the women who open the door, the women who pray with you when you're tired, and the women who remind you that you're not crazy, uh, you're called. And you know, I believe uh sisterhood is also strategy. So we build faster when we build together.

SPEAKER_01 35:27

Sisterhood is so important, and we've dedicated this podcast to talking about International Women's Day. What does International Women's Day mean to you personally and professionally?

A Charge To Underestimated Builders

SPEAKER_00 35:42

I tell you, I I thought about Martin Luther King's mom, how she was assassinated too. We we always talk about Martin Luther King, but we don't think about um his mother being the strong woman that she was, and she was carrying a torch. So I feel like, you know, um someone felt like they had to take away that torch. But it's honoring the women who carried families, communities, and movement, sometimes without even getting any type of credit. Professionally, it's a reminder that women are not just participants in the economy. We are the builders of it in many cases. So it's also a call to action, equal access, equal opportunity, and investment. I want women to be funded, protected, trained, and positioned, not just celebrated. Because women are the connectors a lot of times.

SPEAKER_03 36:44

Wow, nugget of truth. For women. And so keeping on that same theme, um, if you could speak directly to the next generation of women entrepreneurs, and you actually kind of answered this question, but if there's something else that you'd like to add, especially for those women who are unseen and underestimated, and even brothers, what would you what would you tell them?

SPEAKER_00 37:10

I would tell them don't confuse being underestimated with being underqualified. Sometimes God hires you while he builds you. So um keep sharpening your skills. Go to that website that I talked about um building your assets so that you become that asset millionaire. Now you can become an asset millionaire. We are already asset millionaires. You become an asset millionaire when you say it out your mouth. But if you don't, because you were born with your assets, but if you don't turn those assets into cash flow, you go to the graveyard and they throw dirt in your face and they go back to the church and eat potato salad and talk about what a good person you were. So keep documenting your outcomes and keep your integrity. Build systems, not just followers, build systems and speak those things that be not as though they were, because your confession sets your direction. You are not invisible, lady. You are not invisible, you are in formation.

How Men Can Honor And Invest

SPEAKER_01 38:17

Well, as we honor International Women's Day, what responsibility do we have as men to acknowledge the women who have helped activate, correct, or propel us?

SPEAKER_00 38:33

Okay. Men have a responsibility to honor women publicly, not just privately, uh, give them credit, create access, and protect their dignity. You know, acknowledge the labor, the mentorship, and the emotional intelligence uh women being to leadership and the family. Um, and beyond thanks, invest in them, sponsor women, open the doors. You know, you might have a few women that get upset, but most of us are not gonna get upset if you open the door. Put women in rooms where decisions are being made because you'd be surprised. They may bring something serious to the table that can help you. That's how respect becomes legacy.

Practical Ways To Support Women

SPEAKER_03 39:16

And to build on what you just said, Dr. Wright, how can listeners support women entrepreneurs today, practically, financially, relationally, and professionally?

SPEAKER_00 39:28

Buy from women consistently, not just one once. Find those women that are providing what you need and then buy from them. Refer women for contracts, partner with women on businesses, invest capital, not just compliments, you know. Oh, that's nice. And relationally, introduce women to decision makers professionally. Hire women as consultants, not just volunteers. Support should show up in receipts, y'all. It's assorbing receipts, relationships, and in opportunities.

SPEAKER_03 40:04

That's interesting that you say that because I was using a facial cream product. And as I looked at the wording on that particular product, I'd never seen this before. But it said this product was created by a woman-owned business. And I thought I'd never seen that on any products that I purchased before. But I'm glad to hear you encourage us to celebrate women by purchasing from women-owned businesses.

SPEAKER_00 40:32

Yes. Yes. And we we sometimes focus on black-owned businesses and that kind of thing. But sometimes, you know, the women do get left out. So it it that's nice.

Connect With Certified Dream Builder

SPEAKER_03 40:42

Before we close, Dr. Barbara, right? We don't want to ever forget that because you have achieved such major accomplishments with earning your terminal degree. Where can people find you? How can people work with you? And how can they connect with you as the certified build dreamer? So we're going to give you the platform to explain and unpack that for us. How can how can folks find out about what you're offering?

SPEAKER_00 41:08

You can connect with me through certifieddreambuilder.com. Certifieddreambuilder.com. That's my current nonprofit ecosystem to where we provide free resources and all of those things to help you personally, academically, professionally, and in your career and building your ecosystems. For for those personally and academically, we put information in our free resources. You can just go there yourself. For our businesses, we actually provide classes Monday and Thursday, 9 a.m. Central Time. So I don't have to go into all the classes that we offer. We have hundreds of events, over a hundred events on my website right now. Now, some of those events are just our weekly classes, Monday, Thursday, but uh we are also adding all of our events wherever we're gonna be nationally and internationally will be on our events in our website. So if you're an entrepreneur, a nonprofit leader, a grant writer, and you're ready to build funding readiness and a ready um a real pipeline, we have training, consulting, and tech tools. Our grant builder pro max and our budget builder pro max is there to help you in building your framework. It asks you the questions to help you build your framework. So make sure that you go to those sites. And um, the best thing is we don't just teach, we build systems with you so that you can repeat the results.

Closing And Listener Invitation

SPEAKER_01 42:44

Well, this has been a powerful, powerful podcast. Uh, Brian, I knew when we uh asked you to do this, that people's gonna lead with just a wealth of information. So we want to encourage folks, if you like this content, please subscribe to the Bro Talk Podcast, share this episode, and keep the conversation going because real men, real talk, and real transformation is what we do.

SPEAKER_03 43:10

And I agree with you, Jermaine. It has been a privilege, just our pleasure and a wonderful opportunity to have the one and the only Dr. Barbara Wright as our guest today. This is the Bro Talk Podcast, and we'll see you next time.