Four Degrees to the Streets

Five real estate professionals, five different sectors, one conversation. This panel brings together five Black real estate professionals across capital markets, retail leasing, residential brokerage, portfolio management, and community finance. In this episode you’ll get free game on how the various players in commercial real estate shape neighborhood development and design.

Timestamps:

2:54 Career Paths in Commercial Real Estate

9:29 Interest Rates, Expectations, and Housing Affordability

21:25 What to do when 24% of U.S Families Spend More Than 50% of their Income on Housing

30:50 Real Life Example of Apartment Hunting in Los Angeles

37:58 Our Favorite Iconic Views in Los Angeles

44:19 Navigating Being a Black Professional in Commercial Real Estate

1:08:24 Some Free Game (Insights) on Commercial Real Estate

“You buy real estate and wait. You don’t wait to buy real estate.” - Bryce Grandison

We spend a lot of time breaking down challenges in the industry including interest rate volatility, investor interest, supply + demand and then we connect those challenges to what we all experiences daily - a world in which 24% of all U.S households spend more than 50% of their income on housing and where homeownership is at the lowest it's ever been in American history. Watch the full episode to gain insights from real estate leaders on how to navigate this landscape successfully for your own wealth generation.

We also discuss the challenges of being Black in an industry in which just 7% of all employees in U.S based commercial real estate firms are Black. Many of us have been the only Black person in our firm or at our office and have had to overcome imposter syndrome and build the mental fortitude to know that we belong even if we are not represented.

Featured Guests:

Diandra Dillon | Associate | Retail Leasing & Investment Sales Greater Los Angeles

Diandra Dillon is a commercial real estate professional in Los Angeles, specializing in retail leasing and investment sales throughout Greater Los Angeles. Originally from Jamaica, she brings a background in environmental policy and international affairs to how she thinks about cities, neighborhoods, and commercial development. She especially enjoys helping businesses find the right locations and understanding how retail can contribute to stronger, more active communities. Outside of real estate, Diandra brings people together through laughter, producing comedy events centered on community and connection.

Jalynn Borders | Capital Markets Associate | Debt & Equity Placement

Jalynn Borders is an Associate on JLL Capital Markets' debt team in Los Angeles, where she arranges permanent, bridge, construction, and mezzanine financing across a variety of asset types, including multifamily, retail, industrial, and office. Jalynn is originally from Shelby, NC, and graduated from Howard University with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics before breaking into commercial real estate in Los Angeles. She's an active member of AAREP LA, where she co-leads the NextGen young professionals group and helps mentor students and young people looking to break into the CRE industry. Outside of work, she enjoys reading, hiking, yoga, and a good movie or TV binge.

Khalil Clements | Associate Vice President | Product Specialist | Fund Strategy & Capital Formation

Khalil Clements is an Associate Vice President and Real Estate Product Specialist at CIM Group, where he focuses on product development, fund strategy, and capital formation across the firm's Real Estate Equity platform. He supports the structuring and launch of investment solutions spanning commingled funds, SMAs, and co-investments. Prior to CIM, Khalil was an Investment Analyst at The Townsend Group, focused on real estate private equity and credit investments. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from The Ohio State University and is a U.S. Army veteran.

Bryce Grandison | Luxury Residential Real Estate Advisor | SERHANT. Atlanta, Georgia

Bryce Grandison is a REALTOR® with SERHANT. Atlanta, specializing in luxury residential and investment properties across Metro Atlanta, with a particular focus on North Atlanta. With a master’s degree in real estate and prior experience managing over $150M in commercial real estate assets, Bryce brings an investment-minded approach to helping buyers make confident, strategic real estate decisions.

The Four Degrees to the Streets Podcast is available on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. New episodes weekly! Stay connected with the show on all social media: Instagram, YouTube, Substack, Threads, LinkedIn, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify @THE4DEGREESPOD. Send us an email, we love to hear from you [email protected]. Peace.

Kristen Jeffers aka The Black Urbanist joins the podcast to talk about her new self help book for folk trying to be the best version of themselves in a world with decisions, plans, and policies that a) don’t align with our values, b) restrict our freedom, and c) deny our identity and existence. The Defying Gentrification Playbook: A Memoir + Manifesto for Black Queer Feminist Disabled Urbanism goes beyond theories and practices of Black urbanism to explore intersectionality and creating a more just world. Jasmine (host) and Kristen yap about growing up country, making rent every month, and which cities support Black people the best.

Click through the episodes topics using the times below:

0:00 Cold Intro

3:28: What Does it Mean to Defy Gentrification

16:35 Designing Cities for the Most Discriminated Communities

29:45 Encouraging Others to Advocate for Themselves in Public

33:45 The People with Power Don’t Care About Black People

46:43 Raging Against The Machine

58:00 Connect with Kristen Jeffers

Thank you so much for supporting the show, I truly appreciate yall’s viewership! I’m actively growing the show’s YouTube subscribers, trying to reach 500 subscribers but I need your help to get there! Please subscribe on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/@the4degreespod . Your support allows me to keep bringing fantastic conversations on how urban planning decisions and policy decisions shape our lives for better or worse. I’m an urban planning and real estate professional with 6 years of experience in this space and I created the show because we are all impacted by planning decisions yet only a few of us know how to use the system of urban policy to benefit our neighborhoods. This show spreads knowledge through education + entertainment!

A few special things from Kristen:

Her Audre Lorde post-- https://theblackurbanist.substack.com/p/audre-lorde-is-one-of-two-black-feminists?r=71ju

Her June Jordan post-- https://theblackurbanist.substack.com/p/june-jordan-is-why-im-unerasing-myself?r=71ju

And to subscribe to her newsletter and podcast via www.defyinggentrification.com

Purchase your copy of Kristen’s book here: https://5995039007095.gumroad.com/l/thedefyinggentrificationplaybookpdf

Connect with Kristen Jeffers

Substack - https://theblackurbanist.substack.com/

Instagram - @theblackurbanist https://www.instagram.com/blackurbanist/

Website - https://kristenejeffers.carrd.co/

Email: [email protected]

The Four Degrees to the Streets Podcast is available on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. New episodes weekly! Stay connected with the show on all social media: Instagram, YouTube, Substack, Threads, LinkedIn, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify @THE4DEGREESPOD. Send us an email, we love to hear from you [email protected]. Peace.

Think back to the last concert or event you went to, how much was the ticket? And how much of the ticket cost was actually just fees: processing fees, delivery fees, and service charges? Our guest is Eric “The Doctor Dapper” Jones, Founder and CEO of Memberly, the first ticketing platform with zero dollar platform fees on tickets and passes. Eric joins the Four Degrees to the Streets Podcast to draw a straight line between in real life events (IRL), community building, community ownership, and the art of human connection. A very important conversation in a world that is almost always online and suffering from a loneliness epidemic.

“We’ve overcomplicated the simplicity of life through the complexity of technology.” - Eric Jones, Founder and CEO of Memberly, Guest on Four Degrees to the Streets Podcast

Your host, Jasmine Jones-Bynes, interviews a tech founder about the relationship between urban planning, entertainment, community organizing, and technology. Urban planning is the art of designing and organizing an urbanized geography, it goes beyond physical infrastructure and public policy. Planning for joy, planning for recreation, planning for leisure, and planning for play is an important part of the industry. Memberly helps improve people’s quality of life through entertainment and community building.

Timestamps:

01:23 Connecting Tech, Cities, and Community Building

05:50 The Story of Doctor Dapper and His Company, Memberly

09:27 The Art of Human Connection

13:56 A Country Boy Disrupting the $2.5 Trillion Dollar Event Ticketing Industry

27:47 Finding Success as a Black Male Tech Founder with Non-Technical Experience in Silicon Valley

48:30 Safe Spaces, Ownership, and the Future of Black Communities

55:23 Opportunities in the Business of Tech and Events

Stay in contact:

Thank you for your continuous support of the Four Degrees to the Streets Podcast! We are actively trying to grow the show to 500 YouTube subscribers, help us to get there SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube! Your free subscription helps the show grow and allows me to continue to connect urban planning to your everyday life! Thank you again!

Follow The Four Degrees to the Streets Podcast on LinkedIn, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, and Substack @the4degreespod

Eric Jones social media: @thedoctordapper @withmemberly withmemberly.com

Our perfect city has the energy of New York and the climate of Los Angeles. If only we could have it all! This episode started as a love letter to the New York-Newark-Jersey City Metro Area and ended with us questioning how New York can be our favorite city when neither of us can afford to live there comfortably? This week Jasmine is joined by urban planner, senior urban consultant, New Jersey native and her old roommate – Jonathan Bruan. An episode a little bit on the longer side, but give it a chance!! I know you’ll be laughing and learning the whole way through + use the time stamps below to help navigate to the topics that interest you the most.

Together, Jasmine + Jonathan, explore how New York is winning right now and the areas where the city is on the struggle bus – mainly: affordability, failing transit infrastructure, and high taxes. The episode goes interactive when Jasmine + Jonathan start screen sharing the New York Times: An American Mosaic map of the entire U.S showing the distribution of racial and ethnic groups down to the census block level.

Toggle between topics using time stamps to jump between the episode:

00:01 Introducing Jonathan and Our Connection to New York

07:00 New York’s Diversity, Mapped: NY Times an American Mosaic

24:43 Taxes and Tolls: The High Cost of Living in New York

34:58 What Are We Really Willing to Pay to Live Near Transit?

43:11 Accidentally Making the Case for Leaving the NYC Region

Thank you for your continuous support of the Four Degrees to the Streets Podcast! We are actively trying to grow the show to 500 YouTube subscribers, help us to get there SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube! Your free subscription helps the show grow and allows me to continue to connect urban planning to your everyday life! Thank you again!

Follow The Four Degrees to the Streets Podcast on LinkedIn, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, and Substack @the4degreespod

There’s no place like home! After four fantastic years living in Los Angeles, the host - Jasmine, has finally returned home to the great state of New Jersey! This short and sweet solo episode is a love letter to LA <3.

In the discussion you’ll hear the professional planner's opinion about the design and planning of Los Angeles, Jasmine has a trained background in city planning and commercial real estate finance but she holds a *slightly* biased opinion being someone who grew up in the New York Metro, New Jersey specifically. In it, we'll compare cost of living in LA vs. NYC, demographics of both metros, and lessons that LA can learn from NY and vice versa.

Congestion pricing, sales tax increase to support homelessness, finding authentic + genuine people amidst the Hollywood glamor, the jobs/housing imbalance, LA’s traffic problem, neighborhood density, and the New York Knicks are some of the themes of this discussion.

You’ll love the engagement as Jasmine brings in screen recordings from Google Earth and data tables to help illustrate the points.

Do us a favor, please subscribe to the YouTube channel - search @the4degreespod on YouTube and subscribe to our page. I’m trying to reach 500 YouTube subscribers and I need your help! So if you like this show, if you like the combination of entertainment and education, how I associate various aspects of life and living with urban planning and urban policy then do me the biggest favor and subscribe to our YouTube @ the4degreespod.

References

https://www.chamberofcommerce.org/cities-with-most-self-employed

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics/2024/

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics/2024/hm72.cfm

U.S. Census Bureau. "Means of Transportation to Work." American Community Survey, ACS 1-Year Estimates Detailed Tables, Table B08301, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT1Y2024.B08301?q=B08301:+Means+of+Transportation+to+Work&g=310XX00US31080,35620. Accessed on 11 Aug 2026.

U.S. Census Bureau. "INDUSTRY BY OCCUPATION FOR THE CIVILIAN EMPLOYED POPULATION 16 YEARS AND OVER." American Community Survey, ACS 5-Year Estimates Subject Tables, Table S2405, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSST5Y2021.S2405?g=310XX00US31080,35620&moe=false. Accessed on 13 Aug 2026.

It has been nearly two years since the Eaton Fire destroyed over 10,000 residential and commercial structures, burned 14,000 acres of land, and took the lives of at least 19 people. And the predominately Black and middle-class neighborhood of Altadena has not recovered.

Altadena’s residents and businesses continue to fight for justice, payment of damages and answers from Los Angeles County, Southern California Edison, and the State of California.

This episode features a conversation with one of the community advocates leading the charge - legacy resident and landowner, native of Altadena, and coach: Zaire Calvin also known as Coach Z (@zaireforaltadena). Zaire Calvin has been to Sacramento to advocate for legislation that protects residents of Altadena from harassment by real estate developers. He’s worked with elected officials to author a plan for a community land trust. And Zaire is leading the charge of the Altadena Natives Rebuild Plan - a bold strategy to have the community recovered by native and legacy residents before Los Angeles hosts the Summer Olympics of 2028.

Watch or listen to this episode to engage in a conversation about how Altadena hopes to achieve its goals of an equitable recovery, what the rebuild means for the Black community, and what are the current opportunities or challenges available to residents of Altadena.

How to connect and support our guest Zaire Calvin:

Instagram: @zaireforaltadena

Website: https://www.xtremeathletics.org/about

GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-baby-zara-and-grandma-rasheedah-rebuild-both-homes

In this video:

00:53 The Devastating Eaton Fire and Altadena's Black Community

19:19:00 Zaire's Mission to Serve His Community

25:35:00 What is an Equitable Recovery for Altadena?

34:39:00 Altadena for Accountability: Civil Rights Investigation

43:50:00 Impact of the Eaton Fire on Mental Health

52:33:00 Predatory Real Estate Practices and Disaster Capitalism

01:04:10 Continue to Support Altadena's Recovery

We are working on a goal of reaching 500 YouTube subscribers! If you want more of this show please - SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE.

YouTube, Substack, LinkedIn, Spotify, Apple Podcasts @the4degreespod

For those who care to know more, check out a blog post about this episode on Substack

On Juneteenth, I did a 30 mile loop bike ride from Hollywood to Venice Beach in California with over 150+ people. We rode down Hollywood Blvd, La Cienega Blvd, and other busy streets without police escort and took over the traffic lanes when necessary. I never felt more aware of my freedoms. This episode is about the way that outdoor recreational social clubs like run clubs, walking groups, calisthenics meet ups, tennis clubs, yoga in the park sessions and others are defying systemic and institutional classism, sexism, and racism while building community and improving health outcomes.

A short and sweet solo episode with your host, Jasmine Jones-Bynes that pulls from Smart Growth America, the Trust for Public Land, New York City Parks Department, the Journal of Criminal Justice and more.

There are intentional urban policy and urban planning practices that hinder people’s freedoms: freedom of mobility, freedom of expression, freedom of access to capital, and freedom to be safe in public spaces. This episode highlights three big themes in urban planning that contribute to inequitable outcomes: policing and enforcement, undervaluation of assets, and streetscape and neighborhood design.

**I had a sound issue at the studio during this recording, I apologize for the audio quality** But I think you will love it still.

Share this episode with someone you know who cares about their neighborhood!

Follow the podcast on Instagram, LinkedIn, Substack @the4degreespod. This episode is available to watch on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

If this conversation was interesting to you, write us an email to share your thoughts and feedback at [email protected]. We love to hear from you!

Peace out yall!!

Originally designed as a whites only master planned neighborhood, today Leimert Park is the Black and African-American arts, entertainment, food, and cultural district in Los Angeles, California. The neighborhood includes the largest concentration of Black owned businesses in the city and has one of the highest rates of Black home-ownership. But the community is under attack, many residents are concerned about gentrification and displacement. The Four Degrees to the Streets Podcast sits down with one of the community-focused entrepreneurs preserving the culture and shaping the future of Leimert Park. Genelle Brooks-Petty is co-owner of ALL CHILL Hip Hop Ice Cream Shop, Vice President of the Leimert Park Village Merchants Association, seasoned interior architect and designer, and 4th generation Leimert Park resident. Genelle’s great-grandmother moved to Leimert Park in the 1920s when deed covenants restricted Black families from buying homes and her extended family has been in the neighborhood ever since. In this episode we discuss how entrepreneurs and community leaders in Leimert Park have the agency, resources, and determination to protect the community from gentrification and displacement. Business owners in Leimert Park are working together to mold the future of Leimert Park - the last and largest Black cultural district in Los Angeles.

Genelle Brooks-Petty is Co-owner and Head Ice Cream Maker at ALL CHILL Hip Hop Ice Cream Shop. ALL CHILL is located at 3415 W 43rd Pl, Los Angeles, CA 90008. The shop is open Thursday through Sunday 12-7pm. ALL CHILL serves ice cream, sorbet, and vegan flavors. The shop is more than ice cream. It is a hip hop museum, gathering space for the community, and platform for local entrepreneurs. Visit ALL CHILL for scoops and smiles today.

Share this episode with a friend or family member who cares about their neighborhood. Send us an email at [email protected] and connect with us on social media @the4degreespod on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Substack.

Hey yall! Welcome back to the Four Degrees to the Streets Podcast! This episode is about Institutions, as both structured and tangible organizations like universities and churches and as societal and human practices like capitalism and marriage.

Queen Tone Podcast x The Streets Are Planning Podcast x Four Degrees to the Streets Podcast collab to discuss how most urban spaces and communities are shaped by powerful institutions—city governments, transit providers, the mortgage and banking industry, capitalism, police, churches and more.

Featuring Jermaine Ruffin of Streets Are Planning podcast, along with Dayna Cole and Nina Idemudia of Queen Tone podcast, the episode examines how we all participate in institutions - some by choice like choosing to attend and HBCU or adult within a particular type of religion and others by external forces such as the tech industry.

From the Black church to HBCUs, and grassroots nonprofits to city government, discover how these institutions shape opportunities—and how communities are creating alternatives to shift power and resources into Black and marginalized hands.

—--

This episode is the final installment of a 3-part special podcast collaboration series bringing together three platforms that explore culture, community, and the future of our cities while centering voices of the marginalized.

This collaboration series leads up to the A Planner with a Purpose’s activation weekend in Detroit, where planners, creatives, and community leaders will come together to explore how planning, culture, and community storytelling intersect, taking place during the National Planning Conference for the American Planning Association. A Planner with a Purpose is a curated set of experiences designed to support planners and civic leaders navigating an increasingly complex and demanding moment. Grounded in care, clarity, and collective power, the event creates space for honest conversation, practical tools, and connection beyond traditional professional programming. Be sure to join us starting on Thursday, April 23 in Detroit, Michigan. For more information on the weekend, follow @aplannerwithapurpose on Tiktok and IG.

The series is a collaboration between The Streets Are Planning Podcast in part 1, Queen Tone for part 2, & Four Degrees to the Streets closing out part 3.

1. The Streets are Planning Podcast is hosted by Jermaine Ruffin, be sure to follow @thestreetsareplanning on IG.
2. Queen Tone is hosted by Dayna Cole and Nina Idemudia. Be sure to follow them @queentonepod .
3. Four Degrees to the Streets is hosted by Jasmine Jones-Bynes. Check her out @the4degreespod on IG, YouTube, and Substack.

This podcast collaboration series is produced and edited by Dayna Cole of Daynerco LLC, audio consultancy.

Thank you for listening, and we look forward to continuing the conversation across all three podcasts!

Environmental and civil engineer, professional hair braider, public health scholar, and triple HBCU alumna, Nemmi Cole, PhD joins the show to discuss outdoor air quality, warehouses, and respiratory health in California’s Inland Empire on the Four Degrees to the Streets Podcast.

From 1980 to 2021 the number of warehouses and industrial buildings in the Inland Empire grew to 1 Billion Square Feet (1,000,000,000 SQ FT). Nearly 40% of all goods and products coming into the U.S travel on trucks through or sit in warehouses within San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. In 2024, the 5 most polluted cities in the entire nation were within the Inland Empire including Ontario and San Bernardino. Children and adults living in these communities have the highest rates of asthma, lung disease, and COPD in the State of California. Diesel trucks, industrial waste, truck idling, and output of industrial machinery contribute to chemicals in the air such as Sulfur Dioxide, Particulate Matter, Nitrogen Dioxide, and Volatile Organic Compounds. Our guest on the podcast is a native of San Bernardino so her work is personal. On the show Nemmi reminisces and laments the loss of parks and farmland in her community to industrial buildings and warehouses.

After completing her PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Florida A&M University, our guest Dr. Nemmi Cole returned home to join the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California to study the impact of megawarehouses on children’s respiratory health outcomes in San Bernardino and Riverside County. Jasmine and Nemmi bonded over their shared passion for how neighborhood design shapes our mental and physical health. Download the episode to hear the civil engineering, environmental science, urban planning, and real estate perspective on warehouses, asthma, diesel trucks, globalization, zoning, and mental health.

Share this episode with a friend or family member who cares about their neighborhood!

Thank you for listening!

Read Nemmi Cole, Phd full bio:

Dr. Nemmi Cole is a researcher, engineer, and entrepreneur whose work sits at the intersection of science and social impact. Growing up in San Bernardino, California, with roots in Houston, Texas, she was driven by a deep intellectual curiosity about the world around her. That curiosity took her to Florida A&M University, where she became a proud triple alumna, earning her Bachelor's, Master's, and Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Her professional background spans academia, state and federal government, and international research, including roles as a Florida Gubernatorial Fellow - Federal Affairs Fellow in Washington, D.C, and as a Regulatory Program Assistant with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Most recently, she completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine, where she led research focusing on the impact of the built environment on children’s respiratory health outcomes.

Off the clock, she has spent nearly 28 years running her business, Braids by Nemmi, where she treats hair as a sophisticated art form rooted in culture and care. As she steps into her next chapter as a future faculty member, her mission is to equip the next generation of engineers and STEM professionals with the knowledge and practical skills to translate their academic training into real-world impact.

References:

Kim C, Gharib C, Atamna H. Pediatric Asthma in the Inland Empire: Environmental Burden, Gaps in Preventive Care, and Unmet Needs. Children (Basel). 2025 Sep 4;12(9):1183. doi: 10.3390/children12091183. PMID: 41007048; PMCID: PMC12468150. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12468150/

Andre Perry. Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities. https://bookshop.org/p/books/know-your-price-valuing-black-lives-and-property-in-america-s-black-cities-andre-m-perry/6d4a4eab6505ab10?ean=9780815737278&next=t&next=t%2Ct

Rose Institute of State and Local Government. 2024 Inland Empire Outlook. https://roseinstitute.cmc.edu/research/inland-empire and https://roseinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IEO_Spring_2024_IE_Warehouses.pdf