Style & Empowerment Chat With Laura & Friends Radio
Style & Empowerment Chat With Laura & Friends Radio
Interview with Marcus Allen CEO of Philadelphia Big Brothers Big Sisters discussing the importance of mentoring and community programs
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When I see you, I run out of words. Word to say, I wouldn't leave you. Cause you're that type of girl. Make this a guy tryna holla. But I don't wanna bother you. Cause you're independent. And you got my attention. Well, I just wanna show you that I love what you are doing.
SPEAKER_13I want to get with you. Yes, you win. I want to get with you. Yes, I'll be beautiful.
unknownBeautiful.
SPEAKER_11Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. How do you how to drift me away?
SPEAKER_13Bright in the day. Bright day.
SPEAKER_22You went in the sky blue and yellow discount. Yellow if it ain't about you. I'm a glass shake, make my place go. Waistline makes my salute. I'm a broo. High from your high heel game. High heels push up your X last name. And you're living in the fast lane. Eyes like an angel. Got that. Mike yelling at your eye track. Spot laughs. That's bad to the phone. Make me wanna vote. But be in the triple X code. All names don't know how to talk to you. So let me walk. You hold my hand, I'm gonna spend them brands. But after you're undressed, not like a hooker, but more like a princess queen. Impressed president, pull anyway on my nuts, cause you're beautiful.
SPEAKER_02Extremo, extremo, extremo, extremo, ribo No soy ni ribu ni sunai, no Sin estilista Luzko fly.
SPEAKER_03Claro salía me dice que Lukua No te lo niego porque yo sé lo que hay, lo que se ve no se pregunta. Como canelo en el ring nadie me asusta Vivo en mi oasis y la pan no me la tumba.
SPEAKER_00And in the the club pocket, because of course it is June 1st and we are kicking off gay pride month. Yay! So a lot in the entertainment fashion uh world. Uh so of course uh couple of news. I just at this one kind of took me by surprise. Uh Blair Underwood, who of course is famous for his earlier roles in LA Love, excellent city, um many colored hair movies, uh Matthia's Family Matthews Family Reunion. He played that ratchet and resident lawyer who was uh beating up his girlfriend and uh uh played the low. So uh player on your way after twenty-seven twenty-seven years of marriage. That one just kind of took me by surprise. I mean, you can look at it in two ways. One together for twenty-seven years and make it work and make it happen. Or another one life to live where you just can't try to get a resolution to live your life, you know, you're not happy to find your happiness. Especially when there's children involved, of course, they're building um like continuous. I was really shocked to hear that he he had uh a long-term mistress on the side. Uh again, I just don't understand that. If you're not gonna be committed, why are you married? And if it's a situation where you want to be with somebody else, yeah. You know, no amount of money is worth waiting or disrespecting. You know, being out there and on the table, you no longer want to be committed or you're not happy. One way or another it always comes out. So put it out on the table sooner, later, then later because later you often come more to live involved, but in a happy couple of years, uh former anything uh singer, reality TV star, uh podcaster film director Lance Bass. And has really just announced that they're expecting twins. Uh so that's exciting. Um you know, one one baby is quite a responsibility for having twins. That's uh a double, double uh excitement. So that's right. So excited uh to hear about that. So now of course uh June kicks off a lot of great events uh here in Philadelphia. The flower show starts uh this Sunday. Uh so I'm excited I'm gonna check that out on uh next Wednesday, actually. So uh this year the Philadelphia Flower Show is taking a good place I have to go to the park. It's outdoors, they have a butterfly garden, you can I you can purchase a catered technical lunch while you're there, so that's exciting. And it should be really beautiful. I actually like the idea of having an outdoors center instead of uh usually it's in the convention center. Uh also there's gonna be food vendors. So for my fellow foodies, it's gonna be the foodie paradigm, and I'm sure there's gonna be some really good stuff there as well. So uh you can uh buy tickets at the Philadelphia Flower Show website. Uh and then of course we also check out Black Music Month. Um of course we are always uh appreciating uh and supporting all music here, but uh uh that's my history of Black Music. Uh of course allow each other and inspired by each other. Uh so we're excited about that. A lot of um cable networks are doing different specials and concerts throughout the month. Uh uh and of course um other celebrity lists Harry Styles just registered a trademark for a cosmetic brand. So uh yeah, last week there um Alex Alex Rodriguez, of course, announced his foundation line. So now Harry Stiles apparently is throwing in uh his hat in the ring. Uh so I'm intrigued and excited to see how that's gonna evolve. Uh so also we had some big corporate mergers happening that affect the world of entertainment. Um Amazon and MGM are emerging. So Amazon's gonna acquire all the old Hollywood movies and TV shows from MGM. Also, it's an interesting tidbit on that is MGM actually was the network that produced the practice. So, of course, if you're following the political news over the past year or so, you know that um the CEO of Amazon and uh former President Trump were at odds. He was not a big supporter of Trump. And of course, along with haggling with the post office, uh Trump wanted it to disband Amazon, which of course affected package delivery here in the States and abroad uh this past year. Well, the interesting thing is now um that Amazon is moved emerging with MGM to the CEO of Amazon, will have access to the outtakes of their practice. Insiders are saying that there's a lot of races, grants, and sexist comments, and stuff that went on the cabinet room floor. So Chuck Bezos, um, the CEO of Amazon now will have access to all that stuff, you know, after Trump was trying to bring Amazon down for not being good supporters of the Trump campaign. So, you know, you gotta be careful how you treat people because um unless you treat people right, you never know where the things are gonna lead in business and they could get access to things that aren't that flattering. So it'll be interesting to see um what happens there. Um also the Discovery Channel and Disney uh are merging. Uh they just announced that AT ⁇ T, of course, had purchased uh both networks about a year ago-ish. Uh and they're breaking them up into subdivisions. So, of course, Discovery Channel is known for its major programs, adventure, travel programs, science, family. Disney has both the um the kids uh kind of programming and films as well as adults. So uh they announced that they're really excited to partner as brands and continue to support each other's uh family programming. Uh of course, Corelli Deville is out right now. Amazing film with Emma Thompson. Um uh, I mean the uh movie is fantastic. The costumes uh Anna are just of the couture gowns Emma Stones wearing all through the film are fabulous. She has 26 costume changes. Now, if you're going in expecting a kind of um um 101 Dalimations kind of vibe, it's not that it's giving you the backstory of uh Corella growing up and her adult life and how she became the character um in the 101 Dalimations franchise. Very well acted, fantastic film. Definitely recommend it. So we're gonna jump into another musical break. When we come back, we're gonna kick off our celebration of Pride Month by spotlighting several LGBTQ business moguls and billionaires. So keep it locked into style and pound and chat with Lauren friends, and we'll be right back after this.
SPEAKER_02This is the real bottom Baby the nice like fuego. We bought it to the extremo, baby. This is the real bottom, this is the real nice like fuego, spin a dinero We put it to the extremo, extremo, extremo, extremo, extremo, rhythm The rhythm, the rebel, styles upon styles upon styles.
SPEAKER_18I got several on the beat by Cause I live like a dead devil, live it up, hit him up, that's a scenario, too bad. I get around like a miracle rooftop. I am on top of the pedestal. I am so sick, I need medical hood. I learned that shit down in Mexico. The rhythm, the rebel, doing the proof, I'll be on a new level.
SPEAKER_19That's how we do it, we're building like Lego. You're on a fire, you're dealing with Fego. I am addicted, I never quit. Don't stop, don't need to speak to the therapist. Don't stop, keep it moving the narrative. Don't stop, do it like there it is.
SPEAKER_02You like that space?
SPEAKER_13Oh my god, oh the bike, but the buttons, oh my god! I don't know where the book is.
SPEAKER_24I don't believe you wanna leave like this. I don't believe I just had my last real kiss. I do believe we'll laugh and reminisce. Wait a minute, don't bounce, baby. Let's talk about this, man.
SPEAKER_13With that bounce, and I found the I thought it would be what I'm talking about. But then the girls on the block and not the I got this thing on the last. So without being a little bit, baby girl, what you had. No, that's pretty much me with that.
SPEAKER_24I don't get independent. You can make it on your own.
SPEAKER_13You face that face.
SPEAKER_24I had you it's got me as a sound. The wheel used to giggle right before I put it down. Come in, I'll move it down. Come in.
SPEAKER_13I gotta leave you alone. Hold it down with the back. I got the thing on that. So without baby don't we find all that's put your head, baby girl with your hat.
SPEAKER_24I know you're independent, you can make it on your own. The time is up to a head to watch baby alone. Don't make mistakes to make up, to break up, to wake up cold and lonely and chill, baby. You know me, you love me, I'm like your homie. Instead of beefing, come home me. I promise I'm not a phony. Don't bounce, baby. Control me, come ahead.
SPEAKER_13I can face the beef, I can't change my mind. I got a bed now. Just to be yours, you're waiting to go ahead and do your things now. I know you think I'm not feeling what you're doing. I've got a big new one.
SPEAKER_24You can make it on your own.
SPEAKER_00Uh giving you a little throwback, Ben of her musical, uh, uh jump back in the time machine. Of course, uh that was off of her album, Jennifer Lopez's album. Uh the How Glad and Dear Ben since apparently they're an item again. So I'll take you back in a feel good musical time machine. So, uh now uh let's uh start our uh discussion about uh gay pride month and all of the uh accomplished LGBTQ uh groundbreaking billionaires. So of course uh yesterday Taylor Swift came out on her Instagram uh announcing her partnership with the Glad Ag Campaign, uh Summer of Equality, which uh she along with many other celebrities are rallying behind uh the proposed bill uh that they're going to be proposing to the Senate uh for the new Equality Act that would amend existing civil rights laws to explicitly include sexual orientation and gender ID as protected characteristics uh under the law, and that protection would cover the areas of of employment, housing, uh loan applications, and education, uh which uh would make uh discrimination on covered under the law for LGBTQ and um trans citizens where you could not uh it would be illegal to deny someone employment or housing or a loan or uh education, scholarships, uh fair treatment, uh uh because of their orientation or gender ID. So I I personally feel that we should have been there a long time ago, but uh I'm glad that uh people were finally uh seeing that you know our laws are an architecture, but just like a home, a garden, uh they need updating uh to reflect what's uh the needs of the world that we're living in today as opposed to uh uh years prior. So now let's start our spotlight on uh several of the important and influential LGBTQ uh billionaires and CEOs of business moguls. So first uh uh influential LGBTQ uh billionaire we're gonna spotlight is David Geffen, who initially started out in the 70s as a talent manager and owning a record labeled Geffen Records uh and DGC Records. In 1994, he created the DreamWorks Film Studio with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, who at the time was the CEO of Disney. Gaffin also has a large real estate portfolio and a $2 billion art collection. Um in 2007, Out magazine called Geffen the most powerful gay man in the country. Uh and of course, uh Geffen has uh a net worth of $9.9 billion, according to uh Forbes. Uh Dreamworks, of course, uh created many uh influential movies and and TV shows uh for Disney. Um and of course, uh Geffen also uh uh uh had owned the publishing rights for many, many um huge artists. So uh David Geffen has been uh an architect in musical and film culture and business uh for over 20 years. So our next LGBTQ uh groundbreaking mogul is Giorgio Armani. So uh he is worth $8.9 billion. Armani began his career in the military after leaving medical school. In the 1970s, he started designing menswear clothing. His career really took off uh when he was the costume designer of Richard Gere in the movie American Gigolo. That movie was the first to kind of tie in fashion and MTV culture, and the fashion that he wore uh in that movie uh became a character onto itself. So uh that movie really, really brought Armani to the cultural forefront. So since then, Armani's brand has expanded into an empire, not just a brand, but an international business empire, uh, including accessories, uh interior design, fragrance, and hotels. Then uh also we're spotlighting PayPal's co-founder, Peter Thiel, who is worth five point two billion dollars. Uh in 1999 he co-founded PayPal, which was meant to be a simple way to exchange money via devices. Of course, now, especially being in business and entertainment, uh, we use PayPal all the time. Um, but in 1999 it was a new concept, and of course, um PayPal uh was the inspiration for Cash App and and Vemo and and many other um electronic transfer apps uh that we use every day and just don't even think about. He was the CEO of the company until eBay acquired PayPal, and his stake in the company is said to be worth $55 million. Athiel also was an early investor in Facebook and he founded a data analytics company uh which is valued at $20 million. Uh now our next uh uh LGBT mogul is John Stryker. So he is an heir to a medical equipment company worth $4.4 billion. His grandfather founded Stryker Corp, which is a medical supply company that sold $14.9 billion in equipment in 2019. Uh, he's also a philanthropist. He's donated large sums of his money to charities and scholarships. So far, Stryker has given away $585 million. He founded the Arcus Foundation, which fights for LGBTQ rights and uh conservation, um, nature conservation. Then, of course, also on our list is Jennifer uh Pritzker. She is the heiress, she's the first openly transgendered billionaire in the world. Uh former lieutenant in the army, Priitzker inherited part of the Hyatt Hotel fortune, giving her a net worth of $1.9 billion. She came out as transgendered in 2013. Um, but she made headlines in 2017 when President Trump announced a ban on transgendered people serving in the military. Before this, Price Garer supported Trump and donated large amounts to his his campaign, but the ban prompted her to support Biden in his bid for presidency. Uh, then another uh uh important LGBTQ, a CEO and billionaire that affects many of our daily lives through technology, is Apple CEO Tim Cook. Uh Cook became CEO of Apple in 2011 after the death of its founder, Steve Jobs. A decade later, the company is nearing a market value of nearly $2 trillion, making Cook a billionaire. Uh despite his billionaire status, he l lives relatively cheaply in a home in Palo Alto. Um and he came out as gay in 2014 and has just uh fiscally taken the brand of Apple to new new heights. Uh so then we also have on on our list Ellen uh within the world of entertainment, Ellen DeGeneres, her net worth is estimated to be $370 million. Uh and Sir Elton John, um, after decades in the music industry, charity, film, uh producing musicals and films, his uh net worth is uh $500 million. Of course, um Elton John became his uh began his music career in England and became known for his flamboyant uh and outlandish costumes and piano style and just became uh a cultural phenomenon. Uh he still is touring today. He sold over 300 million records, and of course he also founded the Elton John Foundation, which uh does uh so much fundraising um uh for the victims of AIDS all around the world. Um and he is someone who continues to fight for civil rights and mentors others. And of course, during the quarantine uh years, he was one of many uh celebrities who put on free concerts uh during the pandemic. So Alton John has always been on the forefront of a breaking ground and fashion and music and charity and philanthropy. Uh so uh we we say thank you to all these groundbreakers for uh the important uh contributions and fashion, entertainment, technology, and we celebrate you not only in June but all month long. Uh so of course uh usually there are uh gay pride parades and activities in all the major cities around the world throughout the month of June. But you know, we've been flexing the COVID now as we're moving more towards herd immunity and vaccinating. Uh we're it's still kind of in an in-between uh how the cities are gonna this this year uh do the uh a lot of the traditional gay pride events and celebrations. Uh but we celebrate all of our uh LGBTQ trans uh brothers and sisters all year long. Uh so now uh we're we have a fantastic guest today. We always talk about the importance of mentoring and being involved in your community and uh helping others. So on the one o'clock hour, we'll be uh interviewing the CEO of the Philadelphia branch of the Big Sisters, uh Big Brothers, Big Sisters organization here in Philadelphia. Uh so as uh community programs, uh government funding has been cut and and homicide levels are up and and uh youth uh incarceration and poverty increase, it's ever even more important for our children and young adults to have access to quality community programs and organizations uh to keep them on the right path, help their uh esteem and education. So we're excited when we come back to be interviewing uh Marcus Allen. So we're gonna take you on another musical break. Uh we have all our some of our favorite dance songs, some 90s house, club music, uh just real good music coming at you all day. So keep it locked in to style and empowerment chat with Lauren Friends Radio, and we'll be right back after this.
SPEAKER_21I don't like it. I love it, love it, love it. Uh-oh. So good it hurts. I don't want it. I gotta gotta have it. Uh-oh. When I can't find the words, I just go. I don't like you, no, I love it. I don't like you, no, I love it.
SPEAKER_23Uh-oh, out, turn the beat up. Hey, now I'm glad to meet you. Turn up, girl, blow the speaker. Yeah, think about it, now blow the speaker. I'll speak louder, let's get wild tonight. Billionaire bottles, we just out. I'm like, ain't no problem, all my roles, alright. All right, all right. I don't like it, I love it. I got another comma in my budget. I got a avocado in my trusty. Don't push it, don't push it. Cause I'ma hit it till I die five. That's right. Wax on, baby, wax off, back right. We can put it on the black card. All right, and I'll spend it, I'll spend it, I don't like it.
SPEAKER_21I love it, love it, love it. Uh-oh. So good it hurts. I don't want it. I gotta gotta have it. Uh-oh. When I can't find the words, I just go. I don't like you, no, I love you.
SPEAKER_23I don't like you, no, I love you. All night, let me grow up. Dance will be turned down for Ooh Girl. Another round I help her step the moves up. Yeah, but that brown need a measurement root up. Celebrate life and I'll pay for it. Take a body nice next to my tongue for it. Yeah, body all right, let's all aboard, less.
unknownAll aboard, all aboard. I don't like it, I love it.
SPEAKER_23And the mother girls, they can't touch it. Competition, that's a whole nother subject. I wanna walk it out in public. Do a star, baby, just go. Let's go to the mansion on the condo. That's so perfect time, gotta let it flow. You go, I'm watching, I'm watching it.
SPEAKER_21I don't like it. I love it, love it, love it. Uh-oh. So good it hurts. I don't want it. I gotta gotta have it. Uh-oh. When I can't find the words, I just go. I don't like it, no, I love it.
SPEAKER_23I don't want to get, no, I love it. Meet me at the studio, put away wax like food, fill a box like the booty book, I wanna look for the four run away for two days. I love like a shoe lace, I don't like it, I don't like I don't want you, no, I love it.
SPEAKER_13I don't want you, no, I love it. I don't like it, no, I love it, I love it.
SPEAKER_21I don't like it, no, I love it, I love it.
SPEAKER_12It's your boy Mel Hits, and this is another Hits Committee production.
SPEAKER_13It's time to do it my way. And that means getting away from you, you selfish.
SPEAKER_06I'm so candy. Yeah. Our candy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm super cycle with the crazy with a turn on my Our candy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_10I'm hot on the outside what if you give me time. Then I could make time for your love. I'm hot on the outside on if you be inside inside inside. But I know what's up. You want a real face and I'm not a fake. Don't dump on the green. Close your eyes and if now I'm under sick. I'll have our candy. Don't dunk under our candy. I'm on the yard. So I've got it to give me time. I'm on the yard. So I've got it given.
SPEAKER_06So it is a candy.
unknownYeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_10Take a bite, quick pie. Take a bite, quick. Take a bite, quick. Stop a candy.
SPEAKER_00And welcome back to Style and Empowerment Chat with Lauren Friends Radio. So I'm so excited to welcome and spotlight our uh this week's guest, uh Marcus Allen, who is the CEO of the Philadelphia branch of Big Brothers, Big Sisters. So welcome. So uh Marcus is just such a distinguished and accomplished member of our community. Uh, you know, I I don't have my flower petals, but you know, I'll gonna start off the interview just uh spotlighting Marcus uh for a moment, if I may, sir.
unknownThat's called work, but I'll take it. I'll take it over.
SPEAKER_00Well, well, I don't speak in codes, I I just speak directly. So uh for me when I say distinguished, it it means someone who is very accomplished and has been doing outstanding things in their field uh for quite a while. So uh Marcus is uh I was really surprised at what I was doing on my extra research. He played professional basketball for many years overseas. He is an award-winning basketball player. Um he has uh background in finance and nonprofit and um has studied at Temple and Temple University, of course, which is one of the most uh respected uh universities in Pennsylvania. Uh and he also was on um, what was it? Was it uh Senator Toomey? Uh he was also on an equity board discussing uh needs facing the community and our youth and uh actually uh right there on the grassroots trying to make changes in the law, which is uh one of the most important ways in which we facilitate changes for the community. So, first off, just some of many amazing things you have done and continue to do, I celebrate you and and appreciate you for all the great things that you have been doing for years for our city.
unknownThank you, Laura. Thank you.
SPEAKER_17To whatever extent possible, I like to think of myself as having some style. I guess every person has style, right? And so that is important to that. So what we are trying to do right here, but just trying to do my entire career if I don't like the empower of other people while empowering myself. Uh so I am just delighted to be here on the show with you today. Your award-winning show, and like you are like a massive listening audience. You have massive influence. So uh having the opportunity to speak to your listeners. Uh it's certainly an honor for me and to share uh our mission and what we're trying to do about this even is even more important.
SPEAKER_00Well, uh Marcus, you definitely are an example of someone paying it forward and the power of being able to break the cycle, transcend circumstances, because you grew up, um, you know, catchphrase, uh uh economically underprivileged uh um kind of textbook scenario, and oh you uh grew up in a single parent household, but at an early age you found sports uh uh and uh really kind of uh got within yourself that hey, I'm gonna do everything that I can do with the resources around me to transcend my environment and build a future for myself and for others.
SPEAKER_17Yeah, um I like to say sports found me.
unknownYeah, I I experienced a lot of things I had meaningful to do.
SPEAKER_17I experienced Magic Harry, experienced trawing holidays. Over my lifetime. It took me a while to stand all of those things opening control or really people have to go through certainly preventable. And my old goal is to do that. One is trying my darnest to try to extinguish those challenges, whether it's our poverty, racism, all those uh housing insecurity, lack of poor lack of education, poor educational can I serve in a way that affects policy? Live into reality and don't think what's the best way for me. Empower others.
unknownWhether it be people experiencing it or people with serving people experiencing those challenges. To empower them.
SPEAKER_17To be able to be creative and approach these issues uh in your own creative way with your own passion to figure that stuff out.
SPEAKER_00Well, first of all, you already are doing that just in the way you you live your life and walk in our community, um, going from a single parent household to the various challenges that we many of us face to being a CEO and growing your branch of Big Brothers, Big Sisters, which we're gonna talk about shortly, to one of the most influential and prosperous branches. You truly are yourself are a role model. Uh now, who were some of your role models um growing up that had a real impact in your life?
SPEAKER_17I had a lot of role models. I think my very first role models comparison to what he had to work. So growing up and see my mom showing that we're not sufferable. So I like to think that some of those attributes and virtues are valued. As long as I can remember. I was out of the life. You may not be the strongest, the fastest, most talented, but you can always, always work outwards a lot. And I and I look at him because I wanted to go to college or the idea possibly college to have a black man that looked like me. Oh, a black boy. And uh, you know, I give him a lot of credit for just inspiring me and empowering me to be able to go out here and do it for other folks. So that's why I believe so much in Big Brother's Big Sisters and what it stands for.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so for those who aren't familiar uh with the organization, um Big Brothers, Big Sisters. So, um Big Brothers, Big Sisters, uh partners, uh well, uh Biggs and Little and uh mentoring uh partnerships. Uh there's uh our branches all over the world. They focus on youth age six to eighteen years old uh to help them succeed in school, avoid uh at-risk behaviors, and just improve their self-confidence and overall um quality of life. So um each each branch, you know, has their own kind of bandage and the things that that that they do. So um can you talk about when you came on board with Big Brothers, Big Sisters, uh you all already had experience with other nonprofits? You know, one, what made you say, yes, this is the organization that I really want to be a part of? And secondly, when you did come on board, what you felt, okay, this is what I want to bring to the organization, the changes I want to make, my mission within within the organization.
SPEAKER_17Yes, so uh your first question, uh what made me want to do it, but like a lot of less three of my life.
unknownUm secondly, you know, brother has always had like a big three brand, right?
SPEAKER_17So even if you don't know exactly what brother sister does, I think the endearing term big brother or big sister is compelling to people who want you to be like, I want to be a big, right? I'm gonna be a big uh for three and a half years of my little glass here. Um it's not meant to be condescending, and I know there's a lot of words and going on in our community these days, and everybody wants you to use the correct term and try to be able to stay a more term, save the term, with a syllabus one week and a nice table next week.
unknownAll of that stuff is mean, you know, not going to hand it, but I think we we personally ourselves so much that sometimes it takes away the focus of the important stuff of the work.
SPEAKER_01Right. Right?
SPEAKER_17And so for me, when I heard the term being a little that bold feeling I get, you know, when I hear that and when I see her being a little different. I felt like that was something I wanted to be a part of. And then once I, you know, a friend of mine told me that they were like a four CEO and your right eye had a little bit of a non-profit experience. I was a CEO for capability out of West Philadelphia for 2013. And then like was awesome. And before that I'll work before we were doing family working work with the family. So don't do it very much. I think really prepared me for the afternoon. After the first black scene. You know, I I am an entrepreneurial type of nonprofit executive. Like I just believe that you should always have some level of risk capital that you bring with you when you're taking on roles like this. Because the challenges and the problems that we're trying to solve don't get smaller, they get bigger and bigger each day. The resources to address those seem to get smaller. And so when you have that sort of didactic di dichotomy, it's like so you're not gonna be able to solve these issues traditionally, the historically how they've been solved, because it's different, right?
SPEAKER_00Not to sound cliche, but you have to think outside the box.
unknownOh, absolutely. Uh you have to destroy the box, right?
SPEAKER_00Right. Because the box is to throw it on the sidewalk.
unknownRight? Yeah. You gotta forget it and and and and deal with what's in front of you. And so I like to think of myself as that type of leader who thinks who whose perspective and ideas are very malleable.
SPEAKER_17I can I can and I think you know, it says a lot about a leader who can feel one way and think one way one day, and then data changes your mind. Right? The more informed I get, the more I change.
SPEAKER_00You have to constantly pivot and flex in these environments to be successful, especially when you're dealing with your own corporate culture and also things going on in the community, laws and other obstacles and current politics that all interrelate and trying to find your way in in the middle of all that.
unknownYeah, it it is.
SPEAKER_17And and and and also at the same time, when you have cultures that uh that don't converge, they diverge, right? Because communities, uh, sometimes what benefits them doesn't benefit corporations and and and government. And so, you know, I think nonprofits are a lot of times that that tie in to keep all of those things connected, right? Because government sometimes can be kind of isolating, the corporate culture can be somewhat isolated, the academia culture can be somewhat isolating, and many times the linchpin for all of these different groups are nonprofits, and so as and nonprofits are relied on heavily more and more, particularly in Philadelphia. Like uh Philadelphia uh nonprofits provide the majority of the jobs outside of government, right?
SPEAKER_00Right. Um, you know, Philadelphia don't have a lot of corporations, and so um and oftentimes as the government is cutting more and more uh programs, community programs, and support for the school system, that that load, a societal load, falls on the shoulders of nonprofits.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_17And so if that's gonna be the case, and if what yours you and I are saying in espousing here is true, then we need the best of the best working in nonprofit, right? We need people who can think big and who can execute well. Um, and so I'm still, you know, developing as a leader, and and I'm not here to say that I'm perfect and I don't make mistakes, and I I I I have a lot to learn. Um, but what one can't say about me is that they can't say that I don't think big, they can't say that I'm not imaginative, I'm not creative, and I try to bring um that imagination I had when I was 12 years old. I think too often as adults we get so cynical because we heard no so much and we go past some scrapes and falls and all of that stuff, and then we start to get a little bit on a place safe. And I and I I espouse people to encourage people to like uh demonstrate professional courage, right? Um courage is not the absence of fear, it's the presence of fear, you do it anyway. And so um if we're gonna take, you know, uh if we're gonna take on these big problems, we have to be willing sometimes to take big risks, right? Because if you're not willing to take a big risk, you know, a big calculated risk, then what you're saying to me is you're okay with either things staying the way they are, or you're okay with incremental change.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. And increment incremental change is not going to get us, in my opinion, where we need to be.
SPEAKER_17We need some we need a big thing. Like the big thing that we've seen recently is Black Lives Matter.
unknownRight? Oh yeah, it's gonna like like it's gonna, it's jarring for some people to hear that.
SPEAKER_17It's jarring for people to think that you know we're gonna re we we're gonna call out one race and say this race matters, but guess what? Before that, we weren't uh really focused on black issues, right? We weren't like even with President Obama, we weren't focused on black issues, right? It was a it was a convergence of the George Floyd thing happening, the pandemic happening, and then uh Black Lives Matter movement and other things happening that say, okay, well, we got to do something totally different. And so that's what nonprofits have to do. I'm not saying we gotta beat Black Lives Matter, well I'm just using that as an example to say we have to start thinking about what's that that next big thing, like in serving kids, a big thing was chip.
SPEAKER_07Chip changed the trajectory of thousands of millions of kids, right?
SPEAKER_00So that is out-of-the-box thinking it really should be, but it was that next time chip was was founded by the late and great uh seminator Ted Kennedy.
SPEAKER_17Absolutely, right? So so those are those are ideas, and and there's a risk that he took a political risk and used a lot of political capital to get make that happen.
unknownSo as a leader, and and and and we have to be willing to accept the consequences too, but like I I I don't want to just do things the way everybody else did it, right?
SPEAKER_17Because if I do that, then I'll be then we're not solving the problem because everybody we've been feeling problems for centuries.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. And so like, you know, you want to see something stay the same way and keep doing the same thing. Right, right. And uh I mean uh we could go on for hours talking, talking no, but like we're a hundred and fifty percent on the same page. Um so I'm like, do I want to go this way? Do I get that one? But I I wholeheartedly uh agree with everything um uh you you're saying, and of course, uh, for this past summer, both of us have uh been uh were very active in the Black Lives Matter protests and um uh marching for the budget uh to include community programs. Uh uh, you know, I've said this many times, and I've been talking about these different subjects with various guests, is that you know, there's a point where uh you have your personal beliefs and things you do in in private and whatnot, but there's a time where um things are just so big that you leave a side, oh you're supposed to be impartial, you're not supposed to, and you just get in there. And uh and uh I mean I always have been, but this past summer was such a uh a precipice, what they call like a boiling point moment, uh, that you can't just stand there on the side, you know. Uh you have it's too much going on that is so important that you have to jump in there uh for the community and also for what's right. Um, you know, as we s as we speak, um homicides and youth violence are skyrocketing here in Philadelphia. Um the drop uh rate is approximately in Philadelphia is approximately at 30%. Um and of course a lot of the funding uh to the arts and community programs are going to the side, which I still just do not understand. I feel like it's such a contradictory uh coin, where you know all these programs are what keep people on the right path and and and give them a more hopeful future. But then we take all these programs away, and then we want to say, oh, crime rates up, oh this, oh look, he fell off the path, or she's this, she's that, but then you're taking away the resources uh for the community. Not the quote my dad used to always say, you know, not everybody was born with a silver spoon in their mouth. You know, not everybody's born a millionaire. All of it was so, but it's not. So we can't take resources away and not put proper legislation in place to create a fair world of potential equity and protection for everybody. But then sit here and say, oh, prisons are overcrowded, oh crime's up, this is up, this is uh well, you know, it's all part of it. And it's frustrating that nobody seems to really want to look at that in legislature and make sacrifices so that we can keep important tools in place to help our youth and our adults you know have a brighter future.
SPEAKER_17Yes, and and the other thing too you were saying, uh Laura, is oftentimes when when we are advocating for community, people will say to me, or even when we're talking about Black Lives Matter, you're advocating for certain things, you're trying to extinguish poverty, or you're trying to, you know, whatever it is, they say, Well, you should be political, you're you're running nonprofit. And what I say to that is uh I don't know if you really understand the definition of political because politics being political is really about the division of resources. And so I don't think you should be in nonprofit worker if you're not political. Because the only way you're gonna be able to resolve, at least in the human services space, resolve a lot of the challenges is making sure that there's enough resources going to whatever your mission is. Therefore, like nonprofits should be on the forefront of understanding politics and talking about how politics impacts the type of work they're doing.
SPEAKER_04Yes. Right?
SPEAKER_17So I'm an entrepreneur and I'm a nonprofit executive. My my like simple definition of entrepreneurship and politics is you know, politics, and this is not you know across the board, but in general, politics for me is a division of resources. Entrepreneurship, business, that is the creation of resources, right? And we need both. We need people on the business side who can create ideas and patents and proprietary stuff and to create efficiency and effectiveness and whatever products and services that they are providing. But we also need people who are looking at as those things are being created, are we uplifting or at a minimum, we're not pushing down a certain group of people? Right? And politics is the way to do that. You you have people say who are in business say, well, I just don't get involved in politics.
unknownI don't do I'm thinking okay, so what do you do? Oh, I do real estate.
SPEAKER_01I've been doing real estate for 15 years old. You don't think there's politics and laws involved in real estate?
SPEAKER_00Oh, you're back.
unknownGo ahead.
SPEAKER_00Now I was saying, echoing your point, you don't think that there's laws and policies and politics that regulate real estate?
unknownThat's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_17So people like they get so into this thing about politics is a bit, and that's it's something they've heard from other folks, and they've heard for a long time. Um and and and and I just I don't subscribe to that. Like I am my own man, my own person, and I know that politics is essential in being at the table when we're talking about resolving issues um uh like poverty and racism and all the other stuff. We need all of that, right? We need business, we need government, we need politics, we need, you know, you know, all aspects of our community to be involved in these conversations so that we can bring those different perspectives and hopefully we can sit down with people who are empathetic, who can put themselves in other people's shoes, regardless if you weren't born with a silver spoon in your mouth, or you're dealing with a person who was born on third basis where they hit a home run.
SPEAKER_19Right.
SPEAKER_17Like we we need everybody at the table, and we need all of us being able to, like I heard someone say recently, it's not just being a great communicator, we need to also be great comprehenders, right? Because you can communicate all you want. If you're talking to a person who just isn't trying to understand or can't understand and can't comprehend, then you can be the best uh communicator in the world. It won't work.
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_17And so we gotta have both. We we gotta be able to do both and not either or.
SPEAKER_00Very true. Uh now, of course, uh the Big Brothers, Big Sisters organization uh has served uh over a hundred and seventy thousand children uh uh across the country. So just uh shouting out some of the celebrities who have uh been big and uh supported the work of Big Brothers, Big Sisters, of course. You know, I in my heart I was a perpetual Philadelphian. Um Malcolm Jenkins uh of course uh has been very active. I mean, across the board. He has been using his platform as an athlete to speak out on the Black Lives Matter movement, equity, education. He has his own foundation, um, and he was has continues to be very active in the Big Brothers, Big Sisters organization, Hill Harper. Of course, um uh speaking about President Obama, they were uh roommates uh in college. Hill Harper's an accomplished actor and lawyer. Uh also a very um have been very active in the past years with the DNC and legislation and lobbying for a lot of uh uh important social change. And then Mr. Cool himself, Jamie Foxx. Um can you imagine getting the call? Oh yes, hi. I'm pleased to tell you that Jamie Foxx is gonna be your your big um and then of course um uh uh Mr. Cool himself as well, Samuel L. Jackson, um, and Ephilly's own Eve all have uh been involved and endorsed the important work of the Big Brothers, Big Sisters. And statistically, um those who have mentors i in in life um are more successful in work and and and in all areas of their life. So now the Big Brothers, Big Sisters has several pla like pillars, um uh uh like they call pillars of purpose uh within their their their marketing uh tree. So so the uh programs uh that the Big Brothers Big Sisters um have, uh first is um correct me if I'm not saying it right, is the Amachi program.
SPEAKER_17Amachi? Yes, Amachi, absolutely serve serving uh children who have incarcerated parents.
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm. So now the word Amachi actually has some special meaning. Yes, so it means it means help if I remember correctly.
SPEAKER_15Yep.
SPEAKER_00Yep, see and and so now talk to me a bit about the kinds of things that um Amachi does uh for uh children of incarcerated parents.
SPEAKER_01So uh so the Amachi program is actually wasn't started by Big Brother Big Sisters, but we adopted it because Wilson Good Sr.
SPEAKER_17was very supportive and involved with Big Brother Big Sisters, and he had this idea that he wanted to serve kids who had incarcerated parents across the country. And so he approached Big Brother Big Sisters um because at the time he had been a part of PPD uh public-private ventures that did a national study on Big Brother Big Sisters that showed that um we had really great outcomes with kids who were involved in our program. And so he he won he had this idea of how can I um do Amoji across the country, and he started to um partner with Big Brother Big Sisters, and through partnering with Big Brother Big Sisters, he was in and also the federal government, state government, and locally here in Philadelphia, he actually spread the program to all 50 states, right?
SPEAKER_01Wow.
unknownUm, yeah, he uh you know, Dr. Reverend Dr. Wilson Goodsea is the man. Like the work that he has done to support kids has been amazing. And his support of Big Brother's big sisters, he's uh he's one of my mentors.
SPEAKER_17And um, like, so we continue to do the Amachi program, um, uh, at least the concept of it and the principles of it, um in terms of knowing that families, particularly kids, need a lot of support when they have a family member who's incarcerated. And and that has research has shown that kids who have an incarcerated parent, it has a negative effect on their emotional, their behavioral, and their mental health. And so uh we understand that that's even more important that you have more caring passion adults that are surrounding that child because there's a whole adult who's been displaced from them. Right? Children don't understand that if their father or mother uh committed a crime and now they have to be away for a a a number of years, uh they don't understand that. And so there's really no great services for those kids who have to contend with and adjust to their parent being taken away. Of course, their whatever their parent is accused of, and if they did it, there has to be a consequence to that. But we should be trying to mitigate the consequence on the kids uh who had nothing to do with that.
SPEAKER_00And then of course, oftentimes there's a social stigma that they have to deal with as they're uh evolving through school, and it's n natural, you know, teachers ask, Oh, about your parents, or you you you sometimes there's like father-daughter day or you know, parents' day, and all those little things that you just don't even take for granted. You know, a child with an unincarcerated parent, you know, you have anxiety or depression, thinking, Well, how am I gonna say it? Oh, eventually the the the question's gonna come up. How do I say it? Am I gonna get made fun of? Am I gonna be looked at as different? Or people prejudge me because of my parent situation, and that puts an unfair burden on the child's shoulder as they're matriculating socially, um, in addition to the stress that they'd be dealing with at home.
SPEAKER_17Absolutely, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00So now the uh the other uh pillar uh programs, uh uh Big Brothers, Big Sisters, uh you also support the uh the children of military families. So uh so uh let's uh talk about some of those programs and you know the obstacles that children of military the face.
SPEAKER_17So uh that one is special to me because I actually served in the military, I served six years in the National Army National Guard. Um and actually I was on alert to go fight in Desert Storm, and uh the last week as we were prepared to be shipped out, we got pulled back. So um I I think I I was blessed and lucky that I didn't have to go and fight um and and who knows what would have happened, but uh I've always believed in uh you know that uh the United States of America is a special country, and I believe that we should always fight for our for our freedoms and the things that this country stands for. Um in terms of Big Brother Sisters nationally, we we've we've long had a long-standing relationship uh with the military, particularly military basis. Um so we have programs where uh particularly when spouses are away and and they're on duty or in uh overseas, um, we've been able to put bigs and little uh male and female in homes of those those uh spouses uh to help with support. Um I think that's really important. Um locally, uh we have one of our most decorated um Military folks serve on our board. A friend of mine, Patrick Murphy, who at one point was the youngest serving congressman, uh, who was a uh veteran of the Army, um, he was on our board and just did an amazing job of supporting us and also had a little himself. Um so um we we totally believe in supporting the military and shout out to the families um who were uh commemorating uh soldiers who lost their lives this past Memorial Day.
SPEAKER_00And shout out to my cousin Arianna, uh who is a sergeant in the army. She's out uh in California right now. She's just a uh a badass uh ass woman. I I love her so much. So uh service. Thank you for your service. Uh so now um let's uh now talk about the work that uh Big Brothers, Big Sisters does on the front line with schools, your school-based programs uh beyond school walls. They're so important.
SPEAKER_17Yeah, we so we we we kind of divide our programs up into two major uh distinctions. We have what we call community-based and we have what we call site-based.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_17Um, and so our community-based programs are our traditional programs where you know we have a uh a volunteer who sounds they get big, they get matched with the a young person, and they serve that young person in their neighborhoods, in their community, and they get a chance to go to the young person's house, pick them up, go and do different activities like basketball, sports, arts and crafts, uh, go to the movies, things of that nature. Um I guess I should back up and say, you know, what bigs aren't here to be a parent. We don't call it Big Mama program or big papa program. We call it a big brother and big sister, right? And so, and they're not here to be tutors or or teachers, right? Uh that's not their role. Their role is to simply um and and humbly uh spend time with these young people and and walk humbly beside them, listening to them, and being a support system to them, and kind of plugging in where they see it appropriate and relevant, and and and being supported by our mass support specialists, our staff, who help them to navigate and manage different challenges that may come up uh during the match. Um so that's our our our traditional community-based program, and then our site-based program, which encompasses our Beyond School Walls program, encompasses our um uh college bigs program, encompasses our mentor 2.0 program, uh, so it encompasses our school-based programs. And so those programs, they're really different. Our Beyond School Walls program is really like a workplace mentoring program, where we would take maybe a busload of 25, 30 kids or more, and we take them to a corporation like Comcast, Urban Outfitters, Wells Fargo, Signa, just to name a few of our partners, Mary Sword Bergen, which is a new partner, um, and they spend an hour uh every other week at the corporation during the lunch, their lunch period with their big. They get a chance to see what happens with their corporations, maybe learn a skill, but more importantly, building a relationship with a caring, compassionate adult who hopefully will have a positive impact on them. Um then we have our college-based program, which is more, we take kids to a college like University of Pay, which is our biggest program, but we have 10 students who are matched with kids in the surrounding schools in West Philadelphia. Um that's a really great temple is a really good one too, uh, in terms of our college-based programs. Um and then um we have our site-based programs where we have people in the community like at Russell Byers Charter School and the businesses around there, because they didn't have time to be in the traditional program, community-based programs, they come once a week during their lunch period and stop at the school and spend an hour at the school during the kids' lunch period at that school at Russell Byers. So that's our site-based program. And then we have our mentor two-party program, which is our newest program. We started about four years ago. And it's a whole school model program where we're trying to match every kid in that school with a mentor. But what's unique about this is uh it's built on a online platform whereas um our staff are in the school once a week and we do a whole classroom, and we we do one hour each week in the classroom where we facilitate discussion between the kids in the classroom and their bigs who are online, um, and then they meet in person seven to eight times a year. And you have to have a college degree to be a uh a big in that program because the focus is helping kids to uh graduate from high school and then if they so choose to go to college, persist through college. So we know that not every kid is gonna go to college, right? But I believe my philosophy is every kid should be preparing to go to college, whether they go or not, right? And so for those who do go to college, we want to support them, and not only do they get into college, but they persist through college. And we know Philadelphia has a challenge with the guidance counselors and such. And so our our our program and our staff and our bids kind of serve as an ancillary support piece to like a gat guidance counselor.
SPEAKER_00So uh now uh let's talk a little bit more in in depth. For first off, so if you're a child and you want to get involved and have have a big or mentor your parents saying, hey, I think this would be something great, you know, for my kid. Um, what's the process like for the mentees um uh to get involved in the program?
SPEAKER_17So uh right now we have a waiting list of about 800 kids who are trying to get into the program, right? Um the average black boy on that waiting list is on that waiting list for about 20 months waiting to be matched. That is a challenge for us. Um, and that's one of the reasons why we are always pushing to get more and more mentors because we need more mentors if we're gonna take kids off the waiting list. Uh so uh that's not a great experience for our kids right now.
SPEAKER_01Sure.
SPEAKER_17Um, but what happens is we're a volunteer program, and the way kids come to us, their parent or guardian um, you know, goes on our website or calls us and says, hey, I have a child. That child needs to be between the ages of seven and sixteen to get into the program. And we serve kids up to the age of 20, young people up to the age of 22. Um, they do an application. Um, we send them out a survey, or we we call them, we do a survey, and based on the answers to that survey, we're going to other, we're going to people who volunteer to be Biggs and kind of querying them to see if they have personality matches, if they have, you know, preference matches, and we're trying to find the adult who most suits the kid who gave us their application and the adult who gave me their application. So it's a really extensive uh matching process. Oftentimes I've heard big say, How in the world did you find this little? Like this little is perfect for me. It's like my own little like twin here, right? And and that those are the type of reactions that we're looking for because we know when people have can can articulate and see uh commonality that makes that relationship uh grow faster and grow deeper.
SPEAKER_00Now, on the other side of the coin, what is uh the process like um for people who would like to be a mentor and uh to be a big?
unknownYes, uh similar process.
SPEAKER_17Uh the the one difference is you know, we are all about child safety, right? So this is one-to-one mentoring.
unknownSo first and foremost, we want to ensure that every child comes in this program to the extent possible that we can protect them.
SPEAKER_17We want to make sure that we we're confident before we put an adult in front of a family and a kid and say this person is a big, right? So we do that through FBI clearance, background checks, uh fingerprints, interviews, reference checks. Like you're gonna go through the ringer. Now, a lot some people don't like that. They're just like, Marcus, you're getting all up in my business and all of that stuff. But I'm a parent, I got five kids, and I can't imagine one of my kids walking up to an adult that I don't know, right?
SPEAKER_00Right. Uh but I think it also weeds out the serious from people just thinking as a whim uh uh versus the people who are really serious about committing to the responsibility of it.
unknownAbsolutely. Absolutely. But we also have to take the parent's perspective.
SPEAKER_17So every day, Big Brother Sisters is somewhere saying, hey, we we want to introduce a big in your son or daughter's life or your young person's life, um, that parent needs to be confident that we've done all the betting that we can do to try to ensure that that child is gonna be safe in the presence of this other adult, right? And which is also one of the other reasons why we have mass support specialists to ride alongside that mess the entire time to make sure the big is getting what they need and they feel comfortable, the little feels comfortable, the parent feels comfortable. So we want to make sure that we stay on top of that. Um so the process for a big is a little different, it can be a little bit cumbersome in the beginning. Uh, we did a survey of over 800 uh bigs across the country. One of the things that the big said was, I love being a big, I just hate the process of becoming a big, right?
SPEAKER_00Um then on the other end of the coin, if you didn't do that that uh in-depth vetting and certain things happened, one, you're liable as an organization, and then two, then people would be chirping at you, oh you didn't check out this, how could you be so irresponsible? This person's crazy, weren't you doing your job? So, you know, i i it everything has a yin and a gang to it, right? But if you're serious about about helping and making a difference, nothing in life comes easy. So if you're serious, you have to go through the process.
SPEAKER_17Totally agree. Totally agree.
SPEAKER_00And now, um, with your matching, do you have to l live in the area, like for instance, if you're in one area but you say, Oh, I'd l I'd like to to be be a big and uh maybe do do a match in another like town, or like could you be from one area and match with someone in in Philly, or do you have to be part of the like live in that specific area and only get matched with someone from that area? How's that work?
SPEAKER_17So generally we we want to try to match uh our bigs and littles up who live in close proximity.
SPEAKER_01Right?
SPEAKER_17Um our experience and research has shown us that uh when you can you know make sure the bigs and littles, there's no travel barrier, uh meaning that they don't have to travel 30 minutes or an hour to see each other, then more than likely they will, you know, continue the relationship and the relationship will last longer. Um on average, our relationships and our community-based programs are lasting about um almost uh two and a half to three years. Actually, I think right now maybe about three years that they last. So that's our goal. We want to to put matches together and keep them together as long as possible. So um where they live is I think really important. Now, we also know because we work with 90% more or less kids who who are experiencing poverty, uh, we also know that that that target group can sometimes be very transient. Um and so sometimes we can't avoid that you know this kid is gonna live as close to the big as we like. Uh and so we have a conversation with the big to make sure that that's something that the big wants to continue with and that the family wants to continue with it. So uh that's a pretty dynamic situation that changes based on the family's needs.
SPEAKER_00Well, uh, you know, I'm I'm uh throwing my my uh big hat in the ring. We'll talk later, but I would like to be a big sister.
SPEAKER_17I would love, Laura, I think you would be an awesome big sister. And the reason I say that is because you're great at listening, you have a just a bubbly personality, um, you're well versed in what's happening in our communities, um, and you have a humble nature, and I think that is uh those four qualities make an excellent big in our program. Um and and and so some young lady, uh young girl would be just you know so blessed to have you at their big.
SPEAKER_00I I can I can have my uh my little coming studio.
unknownYeah, absolutely. Like think about like that experience.
SPEAKER_17I call it that's something I call extraordinary experience, right? Something that a kid experiences that they would have never experienced had it not been for you, right? And so those are moments where they're life-defining for some of our kids. We have stories, uh Joe Marone, who's a a lawyer on our uh board, he has his own law firm, uh group. His he and his little go back 20 years or more. Yeah. And now, and his little had a lot of challenges growing up. But guess what? His little now's like 29, maybe 30, and is a lawyer in his law firm. Very successful lawyer in his law firm. And so we I can I can give you all kinds of stories. I got Mike and Justin, who's gonna be speaking at our board meeting next week. Um, Mike has been in Justin's life for I'd like to say seven, eight years. No, no, that's not true. Like nine, ten years. Justin now just graduated from Wyden University. Um, Mike was an auditor slash accountant. Now Justin has a CPA and just got a really big job working for a firm, a tax firm, uh, finance firm, financial firm. So we know just anecdotally and through research that adults, when they spend quality time with a young person, it is highly influential. And I'm not saying that just because you spent time with a kid, that that's gonna change their life. I'm not saying that you're even gonna know how it changed a kid's life. But I am saying that I can think of hundreds of examples that we've seen and we can prove that had it not been for that adult, and the time that they spent in the quality, strength, the relationship that was built had an influence on that child.
SPEAKER_00And feeling that someone outside of your home cares about you and is vested in your future and and uh cares about what you're going through is just so important. That's something that's important just throughout life. No matter how old we are and successful or where we go in life, feeling that somebody cares about our success and our development and the issues we're facing, you know, it's that extra boost that helps it take us to successful places. Um something that's uh very important to me that uh one of the things that I love about your organization is um work on self-confidence and self-esteem and finding your your you know internal power and and how to uh stay strong within yourself to transcend past setbacks. So can you talk a bit about the important uh effects on uh your self-esteem that you know the work that your organization impacts?
SPEAKER_17Yeah, so uh, you know, really there's three factors that like we we talk about that we believe our organization impacts. One is aspiration, right? We are really concerned with how does a per uh a young person see their future, like and how do we measure that over three and holding tasks. Right, so that's one. Uh two is hope, right? Do they have a sense of hope? Right, we know research tells us that when uh kids, particularly kids, adults as well, when particularly kids have hope in their lives, it changes their behavior for the better. And and that goes into the third one, which is uh behavior. We look at mostly um academic behavior, and we look at um uh mitigating risk behavior, meaning that they haven't had any more interaction with the police or the criminal justice system, right? And that they're staying out of trouble, they're not being suspended from school, they're maintaining uh, you know, I guess good grades, or at least passing grades, and they're increasing in that as well. So those are the three areas we look at, you know, aspiration, hope, and and and um academic behavior.
SPEAKER_00All of which are just so important, and you know, just being conscious of how we sometimes people are drawing inspiration and you don't even know. You're just out there, you know, living your life and and you're inspiring people and you don't even realize it. So every day just having the courage to get up and and get out there, you could be uplifting someone and not even realizing it. So it's just so important that we believe in ourselves and that we have the caring to make sure we're treating others with love and uh understanding, um, even if you don't understand what someone's going through with their perspective, but that you care to want to hear and try and and understand and validate what what we're all going through in this life.
SPEAKER_17Absolutely, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00So now, Marcus, you also have something uh exciting coming up uh to raise awareness uh for the big brothers, big sisters, uh of course, coming from a uh background in athletics and whatnot, putting that to good use. So you have an exciting biking program happening right now. You want to talk to us a bit about that?
SPEAKER_17Yeah, and if you don't mind, I may take you off of video for a second because there's some information on there. I want to make sure you your your listening audience has. Is that okay?
SPEAKER_01That's fine.
SPEAKER_17Alright, so yeah, so we are gonna be doing engaged in the miles for mentoring campaign over the next uh seven weeks. And so basically, what it entails is well part of what it entails is me and three of my friends, we're gonna be riding a bike um uh cycling from starting June the 5th from San Francisco, uh, California. Uh, we're gonna dip our wheels in the Pacific Ocean on June 5th.
SPEAKER_01Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_17Those bikes all the way across the United States, all the way over to Atlantic City, where uh on July 23rd, we'll dip our wheels into the Atlantic, the Atlantic Ocean. So we're gonna be traveling 3,800 miles on bike.
SPEAKER_01Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_17And our goal to uh take 800 kids off of our waiting list here locally, as well as uh three 30,000 kids on the waiting list across the country for Big Brothers Big Sisters. And so we have over 240 affiliates. We're gonna be stopping in different towns and states and talking to board members and bigs and littles and parents about what's happening in their regions. Yeah, yeah. So we are so excited about it. We are partnering um with so many really great people and sponsors that I am just really excited about this. And part of it, Laura, Laura, is uh for seven weeks, each week is gonna have its own theme. So week one, we're doing the power of mentorship, week two, we're doing social justice, week three, we're doing community engagement, week four, educational equality, week five, building social equity, week six, empowerment of youth, and then week seven is gonna be all about resilience. And that's I think that's so fitting because that's that last week, and I'm sure we're gonna be done by week seven.
SPEAKER_01I hope that you're at least flying out to California to start off with. Say that again. I said, I hope at least you're flying out to California to start out with.
unknownYeah, we're gonna fly.
SPEAKER_17I'm I'm getting on a flight Thursday evening, uh, and I'll be in California around 10 o'clock, and then I'll take all day Friday to rest up and acclimate to the time change, and then get on a bike on Saturday.
SPEAKER_00Wow. Well, I think you should also have a segment that has to do with fashion and and and makeup and styling.
unknownOh, absolutely. Listen, we can fit it in because you know, again, I'm all about style.
SPEAKER_01So we can definitely do that.
SPEAKER_17And before I uh forget, let me also give your listening audience ways that they can participate and support this so they can go if they want to get involved in the campaign, they can uh visit miles.givesmart.com.
SPEAKER_00Well, that's fantastic. And of course, uh markets is gonna be all over the country. So wherever you are outside of Philadelphia here, um that's a great opportunity for you to get involved and feel I see where they're gonna be stopping and you're neck of the wood. Uh I encourage all of our listeners to visit the brothers and sisters website and get involved. There's so many great kids out there waiting to be mentored among my listeners around the world, especially now that we do have virtual mentoring, which is also something I want to kind of chat about more enough later. You know, you could be outside of the US and do virtual mentoring. So Michael, we're in London, we're in Pakistan, we're in Malaysia, uh, Cleveland, all over the world, don't feel that if you're outside of the state, that you can't jump in and participate in the Big Brothers and Sisters program. So they're waiting for great mentors uh like you. Um so I guess where can everybody follow you and the organization on social media?
SPEAKER_17We also know what I don't know.
unknownSo it's gonna be interesting, uh doing it.
SPEAKER_01Well make sure you hydrate out there.
SPEAKER_00Well, I look forward to when we, you know, again safely have events again and you know, looking forward to things in the future. And I just again I applaud you for all the great things you're doing to continuously helping the entire community. Um I look forward uh to uh doing things together and uh complete your bike campaign together and chat. Definitely follow Big Brothers, Big Sisters, sign up. You can follow me on the file and comment chat at the Laura Friends Facebook page, on Instagram at the LauraMagic. We're gonna take you out on another uh five musical break as we continue to celebrate Friday Month, like Music Month. I mean we're we're always celebrating everybody doing big things here. That's a part of that doesn't stop, but everybody else has to put a label on it. Or just in in perpetualness here. Uh but uh thank you for being on the show and just all the the uh impactful and important things you shared today. It's been a pleasure, and you keep doing all your amazing work.
SPEAKER_17Thank you so much, Laura. Thank you to the audience. Looking forward to hearing corresponding with you. Um we have a happy music human, happy black music mode to you. Um, keep angry, keep doing what you're doing.
SPEAKER_00Oh, thank you so much. You're a wonderful person, and again, I would do nothing but uh success and everything that you do.
SPEAKER_17Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_08Wait too good a camouflage. Can't see what I am, I just see what I'm not. I'm guilty about everything that I eat. Feeling myself as a felony. Jedi level sabotage. Voices in my head make a entourage. The times I went and fucked it up. The times I went and fucked it up. Living my head should be paying red. I'm way too good at listening. All these comments fucking up my energy. I wanna do it, I love me is enough. All the times I went and fucked it up. The times I went and fucked it up. I'm gonna do when I love me is enough.
SPEAKER_13Listen to the catalog music. She doesn't like, and she'll never know your story like I do. She wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts, she's cheer captain, and I'm on a bleacher, screaming about the thing. When you wake up and find it, what you're looking for has been here the whole time. If you could see the eye, no one would wanna stand you been here. So I can't you see You belong with me, you belong with me. Walk in the streets with you and your worn-out jeans. I cannot think this is how it ought to be. What you're doing with a girl like that. She wears high heels, I wear sneakers, she's cheer captain on a bleach shirt, dreaming about the day. When you wake up, you find it what you're looking for. Has been here the whole time. If you can see the eye the one, the one steps you've been around, the one can see the way to all the time. When you know you're about to cry, I don't know your favorite songs, and we're silly about your dreams. Can't you see the dog? The one who understands you then you all belong to I can't you see E you belong with me. You walk in on the moon. Now you're feeling low. Oh oh. What they said wasn't true. Your beautiful sticks and stones break your bones. I know what you're feeling. Words like those won't steal your glow. You want in a millionaires. This is the whole girl. What are they holding toes? You are wooden gold. So what's the fire? It's the sunshine from the inside of the toes. You are wolves and go. You are wolf and go. But everybody keeps gone. But you're gonna do ooh ooh ooh. Just didn't know. They don't know the real food. All the brain in the sky. Can't put out your fire. With all the stars out in my eye. This is the go. Whatever you are doing. So what the fuck? On the inside of the toes. You are doing good. You are doing good. So don't let anybody tell you that you're not wrong.
SPEAKER_04And don't let anybody tell you that you're not enough. But the truth is that we're all dumb. So don't be ashamed too bad. You blow like the moon, you shine like the star.
SPEAKER_13This is for you. Whatever you go, oh this is the goal.
unknownYou are good and so much.
SPEAKER_13On the inside toes, you are good and gone.
SPEAKER_04So don't be ashamed to wear your crown, you're a king, you're a queen inside now.