Greekly Speaking

Trae was initiated in the Alpha Beta Theta Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma in Fall 2000 at Kennesaw State University. In 2019 he formed his publishing company, Campania Publishing LLC named after the community he grew up in

He recently released his first novel entitled Family Scars.

Jean Lamothe was initiated in the Mu Zeta Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma in 1988 at Rutgers University. He triple-majored in Political Science, African Studies, and Philosophy. Bro. Lamothe shares his Greek story, his Sigma Forward vision, and his leadership aspirations within Phi Beta Sigma.

[00:00:00] Aric Tucker: This episode is brought to you by the new D9 Business Directory shot, greek owned brands from a variety of categories and if you are greek, author or business owner at your profile today at D nine business dot com honoring those trailblazers who preceded us is just as important as leaving a legacy for those who will follow us. Greek lee speaking is about highlighting Greeks today who are creating positive change for tomorrow. We hope you enjoyed this episode. Mhm Hi, welcome to Greekly Speaking. I'm Aric Tucker and joining me for this episode is author and entrepreneur. Warren Galloway of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated Warren was initiated in the λ γ chapter 5 80 signal 1985. He spent over 14 years in the banking industry at an executive level and because of his experience in the field, Warren has made numerous appearances on various media outlets. One of his more notable ventures, the micro loan conference is a national annual event that focuses on micro lending. Brother Warren Galloway, thank you for joining us on greek lee speaking, how are you doing today?

[00:01:20] Warren Galloway: I'm doing phenomenal, Thank you for inviting me to be, I guess

[00:01:24] Aric Tucker: the pleasure is all ours and we are delighted to have you spend a few minutes with us. We noticed some content that you were posting and generating out on social media and some of the initiatives that you had going on. And we just had to try to reach out to you to see if we can connect and just touch base with you and learn a little bit more about your brand and, and, and we're going to get into all of that, trust me. But as you know on greek lee speaking first we have to know who we're dealing with. I don't care what executive you are, we gotta get a little bit about your greek background, man. Did you have any greek influences in your life coming up?

[00:01:58] Warren Galloway: So, so the irony of it is that I became a member of phi Beta Sigma without having any greek influences in my life run up. And I say that because I'm actually a legacy, my father plays lambda chapter 1964 and my father was a civil rights leader down in Mississippi and he loved Mississippi and get involved with the black power movement. So as a result, my father really didn't talk a lot about his sigma life when he was at Virginia Union, he was always saying as a school fight song and he would talk about the civil rights movement, but he never really talked about black greek life for him as a student at Virginia Union. But I remember seeing his yearbooks and I seeing people standing in line, but none of that meant anything to me. I remember school days, that's what I, you know, I remember

[00:02:47] Aric Tucker: school days,

[00:02:48] Warren Galloway: But when I stepped on the campus of Central Michigan University in the fall of 1980 80 for met a gentleman named Jeffrey Malloy who end up being like a mentor to me on campus and he just so happened, he was a sigma, but I didn't know what the signal was, so it didn't really didn't mean anything to me. And then he started introduced me to all his friends and come to find out they are with signals. And I was like this P Wi school, 300 blacks out of 16,000 students and the sharp brothers on campus. And hey, I started asking him, hey, I'm looking at this upper class and like, hey, you know, hey, when you guys get together, I would love to just hand, you know, it wasn't fraternity thing. I mean, it was just some intelligent smart brothers. They were in the school of business, which is where I was planning on going into, they were on the basketball team, they were on the football team, they ran track, they were the science department or the education department. It was just a phenomenal group of black men that I just wanted to be around. And then they had these 40 young ladies around campus following and they were sick, my sweetheart. You know, I was like, okay, my, and then my, my girlfriend, first semester became a sick mystery head and I'm like, okay, well this must be a really good organization. But you know, I watched these guys and then watched out for me and help me out when I, whenever I need to help. So it was me that with the jump and say, you know, if you guys have anything, please invite me. I actually went to the step show. I saw signals that still didn't make the connection. But when I went to that smoker as we used to call him back in the day, I left out there, like I'm pledging immediately and at that time you can play as a freshman. So I was 18 years old when I went online, I was 18 years old when I crossed and I played that next semester and that was March 30, 1985 36 years ago.

[00:04:40] Aric Tucker: Wow. So you don't as they say, terry long when it comes to making your mind up. Once you see what you like you go for it. Huh?

[00:04:47] Warren Galloway: Exactly. And it wasn't until I was going through my probate stage that I came home, we had spring break and I was telling my mother that was joining us returning call five sigma and she said, well you know your dad is a sigma what they were separate at the time. So I called him up and tell him on pledge and he was all excited. And then I say you know what people look at his yearbook because his college yearbooks were still there and there was his mind and he was, he was detail on this big line at lambda chapter. And then after I crossed he sent me a picture of the following year's yearbook, which I have all of those yearbooks myself now of him as a brother. And so I played without any influence of my father because I played the right organization.

[00:05:31] Aric Tucker: Wow man. Uh yeah, I've been there man. I had a cousin named Zeta. I just thought it was a cool name. I didn't know that. Her dad, my uncle man. Just, you know, he plays at the exact same university. I did. I had told the brothers, hey, I don't have any, maybe Greeks of the family. I didn't know but come to find out after the fact his real name was my line named Romeo. And, and, and we, you know, it was just, it was eerie man. So I, I know that feeling that you and your dad must have had sharing in that experience man. So, so how many brothers came in and and cross with you?

[00:06:08] Warren Galloway: We started with five, ended up with three. The other two brothers actually were transfers and so they a little bit older than me. I was a freshman and they were going into the junior year and to this day we're still tight both professionally, all of us are doing well. It was just a blessing to not only become a member of phi beta sigma but to have line brothers that also had great aspirations and have been able to achieve them as fathers, as community leaders and as professionals. The other thing too and which I didn't know at that time, but I know now because I trapped and started in 79 I placed in 85 so they were still young. We had about 20 something brothers on the yard Since 1979. We've graduated 99 of the brothers who have come through our chapter,

[00:06:53] Aric Tucker: wow, it's

[00:06:54] Warren Galloway: like if you play a sigma at central michigan lambda Gamma chapter, you will graduate. And it wasn't like we were telling brothers to graduate what it was, we would, they will watch us graduate year after year and then you get that drink cause I remember going to graduation ceremonies and seeing the older brother's graduate, like man that's gonna be me next. So really how we walked and talked on campus influence how we did in terms of excelling on campus and graduating and, and we still have that legacy going on to this day with the brothers that are on the yard.

[00:07:25] Aric Tucker: But you know, that speaks to that worth of example, right? When you know, sometimes the most powerful message is the example and the image that people that you don't even know see when they're looking at you and the organization and the company that you keep. I think, I mean just listening to you share that story about how you notice the friends that, that your buddy had, right and not knowing at the time that they were fraternity members. Right? So, you know, it's example, everybody's watching you, you know, So that that is good. Okay, so three of you guys went over and what, what number were you?

[00:08:01] Warren Galloway: I was number three. Originally I crossed at number one. I made sure we crossed at 10:59 p.m. March started 1985. I let us across the burning sands. Okay,

[00:08:14] Aric Tucker: I hear a story behind that bad, but let me start with this question, what was the name of the line?

[00:08:19] Warren Galloway: Hannibal's five was the name of the Lion after the great black warriors who defeated the romans and with such a rich name because we felt that we were part of royalty and that, you know, we were going across this burning sands,

[00:08:33] Aric Tucker: the

[00:08:34] Warren Galloway: like Hannibal defeated the the romans with his unique fighting style. And that's how we looked at things when we're online that we're gonna have this unique line, that's going to make sure that we crossed that Bernie sands.

[00:08:46] Aric Tucker: Okay, okay and what was your line name?

[00:08:49] Warren Galloway: Silk? That was my, you know, back then we had those corny names. It was Silk used to have a pledge to say greetings my brother Silk. Too serious with this is the single sigma phi beta sigma fraternity corporate is to you sir that the blue and white will make this right and we too can be established, you know, that's all that kind of corny stuff like Okay, so we

[00:09:09] Aric Tucker: are, we're going to have to go ahead and launch a greeting contest

[00:09:12] Warren Galloway: because

[00:09:14] Aric Tucker: I had an optometrist or not long ago

[00:09:17] Warren Galloway: he was you

[00:09:18] Aric Tucker: know, straight laced and he hit me with something called Chocolate thunder. Let me hear that one more time.

[00:09:24] Warren Galloway: Grand brother Silk. The serious will this thing is gentlemen, five days returning corporate through you sir, that the blue and white will make this right And we two can be as down as

[00:09:33] Aric Tucker: you

[00:09:34] Warren Galloway: Forehead 36 years later. I still remember. I should remember a lot of the chocolate brothers greets. That's what's crazy, wow

[00:09:44] Aric Tucker: man. I might have to have that as part of your intro or your episode man. This is awesome. Okay, so you're at this as you say, P wi your central michigan. What kind of community service projects were you guys known for man other than academics man? Which is awesome that you guys were all, you know, focused on that.

[00:10:03] Warren Galloway: Oh, we had a harvest drive. You see, I remember this because I was so engaged as a young brother because what I didn't tell you that, I mean I graduated in four years. I place I graduate in four years. I got into the School of business after my sophomore year, but I had such great role models and when we talked about time value, that to me was time management and I manage my time well to ensure that and I was on a full academic scholarship to money so I had to maintain good grades, but I still was able to get involved in the community activities. We have, we we did the harvest drive where we collect the canned goods for the community. Had a large at the time of a reservation, indian reservation. So we would collect goods and donate to the reservation and now it's a huge casino back there which is a reservation. We adopted this young man who is biracial at that time. And up in my pleasant, you know, at the time I had 1% african americans living in the community. We adopted him and mentored him while we're on on campus. We did scholarships, we did cancer walks. I mean we just did a lot of activity amongst all the school work that we're doing and the brotherly activities were involved.

[00:11:10] Aric Tucker: That is some pretty heavy service and you got to love that, that you guys were focused and that in tune with what was going on on campus and in the community. One final question in that space. If you were to meet someone who was considering going greek, whether it was fraternity or sorority, what advice would you give them?

[00:11:27] Warren Galloway: You know what? My son who was president of Detroit Sigma Beta club for three years, They elected him three times and I ran the Sigma Beta club. We have 50 young men in there and I had no influence on him getting elected, but they saw the leadership qualities that were in him. He's a sophomore now at the University of Toledo and people say, well, is he going to play a segment? He's made it very clear if you pledge anything, he will definitely play a sigma. But what I would tell him is you got to think about who has invested in you, okay, who has been there and mentoring you, coaching your, providing scholarships and supporting you and it's been nothing but sigma. And so if you're going to join the organization, if you have gotten that type of support from members of a greek letter organization, why would you look at someone else? If you had such a great opportunity? I'm talking about providing job leads for you, tangible things that impact your life. Now, if you haven't had that experience, then what you do is get to know the members and see what do they bring to the table that not only you will benefit you, but what you can also contribute as wealth to those members in those future. Members that are coming to your organization. Because there's a give and take. You know, most people say, well, I want to see what they're doing well. What can you do? Can you can you can you network with those brothers? Because I tell people the fun part is when you're collegiate brother, But the real hard work is when you graduate and guess what can that brother help you get a job? Is that brother going into a career that you might be interested in? You know, is that brother going to make sound decisions when they get out of the community? Are they gonna be community leaders? Now, sometimes it's kind of hard to see that at the collegiate level because some people turn their lives around, but you, you know who the brothers are there going to be successful and going to impact the lives of many people. Those are the type of brothers you want to be around. If they're knuckleheads, trust me, some of them will turn around, but if you're not go ahead now, probably a number here for a very long time. Do you want to be involved with it? Are they causing rockets on campus academically? Are they doing well? You know, I want to be around brothers that have potential and can grow from and the older brothers can they meant to you, can they support, you know, I'm not a party, not a step shop, we're talking about, you are going to college to get an education so you can have a career, what impact would they have? So if it's me, I want to know what impact you're gonna have. How can I network re where's your alumni chapter? Who's in your alumni chapter? That's in the career of one and two that who can help pull me over that fence where they say he ain't heavy. Those are the things I look for. You gotta ignore the parties, You gotta ignore all the rhetoric and get down to what that organization can really, how it can impact your life. And I can tell you Sigma has impacted me in incredible ways because I made the right decision. But to this day, those mentors I had when I was 18 years old, I'm 55 now, there's still my mentors to this day. So that's why I know I made the right decision.

[00:14:26] Aric Tucker: That is awesome, man. And and that's really what it's about because you have to, when you look at investing in yourself,

[00:14:33] Warren Galloway: the whole

[00:14:34] Aric Tucker: concept of self improvement, you know, whether it's enrolling in a college or university, that's a business decision. One of the first ones that you're going to make, and you have to learn how to market yourself, but you have to give people in your target audience some content worthy enough to be sold right to your point. You know what you do to build your career is part of everything you do every day, your experiences, your circle, because people what are watching you? There's a young warren, Galloway Junior watching you right now. Right, So that's what it is.

[00:15:11] Warren Galloway: Yeah. So listen here, at the beginning of the pandemic, when everybody was struggling, all of our love nights came together and we put together a life skill workshop that went over eight weeks. We had a brother and a different specialty that was training people and motivating people through this pandemic. We went on and launched an endowment at the University of First Black Greek organizations, a sub and endowment at Central Michigan University for scholarships for incoming freshmen students on campus. But these are the things that I learned from them when I was 18 years old. And so reinvesting back into your brother's, Reinvesting back into your school and making a better future for those who follow behind you. And that's why I say they still mentored me to this day at 55 years old. And that's just such a blessing because I know the things that I saw at 18 far exceeded my expectations once I became a member of the organization.

[00:16:07] Aric Tucker: So beyond college, obviously you have that business background, spent several years in the banking space, but now you have your own company, presidency of your own brand. Talk to us a little bit about your company and tell us about the motivation behind it.

[00:16:22] Warren Galloway: So I was one of those corporate young men coming up through the ranks. My banker career was just phenomenal. I just made the made the right decisions. But once again had a strong foundation, had the right mentors around me Sigma's and non sigma's and I reached the point where I crack that glass ceiling in corporate America actually ran the entire department E trade uh went to Virginia in the D. C. Area. I decided the very short period of time that no longer wanted to be in corporate America. So I came back home. I started a small business where I would help with housing developments and I would help with with small businesses would negotiate funding deals. I came back and I really went back to the people that I helped out for many years when I was here in the Detroit banking community and they started hiring me and from there that was in 2005. I have not looked back since. I've grown now. My company, which is worn gallery and associates to being one of the top business plan writers were now on capitol strategist. I'm known for helping for getting funding for small businesses. And all of that led up to me doing a few things, one becoming a published author. We talked a little bit about that, but also being an advocate for finding resources to put back into our low to moderate income communities to support business ownership. I've now become the face of that. When we talk about Michael linden, I'm known as being the micro lending expert, which led me to start hosting the first ever national microphone conference in 2019. I put that on all by myself except for the day of I needed somebody. And when we had that conference I brought together some of the top Michael loan lenders, some of the top bankers Plus entrepreneurs. I had 350 people in my conference for two days, had 70 workshops over two days and 70 speakers from across the country. They had never had this type of lending conference focus on connecting entrepreneurs to those who would lend money to them to help support them starting businesses in this country. That's an incredible, incredible experience. And it all started for me being in banking and decided to become an entrepreneur and become the face of micro lending.

[00:18:43] Aric Tucker: You know, it is so timely that you're sharing that that story. You recently joined the D nine Business Directory which features business owners and entrepreneurs such as yourself. But one of the first challenge is that business owners have is funding that we hear a whole lot during the pandemic about p. P. P loans and these grants and all of this. So I was happy to hear that you touched on funding in general. So I mean it's really good to see you in that space providing that knowledge and that insight. I want to touch a little bit on the publications that you have, you know, check out your website man and just great content. What services specifically do you provide and and outline in your book that can help that new business owner.

[00:19:24] Warren Galloway: So I've written 12 books since 2016, it's crazy. I've published four books in the pandemic and six of the books are focused on supporting entrepreneurship, six various other subjects. But when we talk about the business books, I wrote the first resource book of Michael lenders in michigan. If you need a mike alone, you buy my book and bam all the resources that are in there. And in that book also show you how to apply for a microphone. I that's going to be an annual publication. So what I did,

[00:19:59] Aric Tucker: I

[00:20:00] Warren Galloway: pulled out the resource book and I create my second book, microphone book, which has nothing but resources in but took that section where it shows you how to apply for mike alone. And I wrote a new book called How to successfully a platform microphone. That's a powerful book, because it shows you all the steps you need to take in order to put yourself in the best position to get a yes declination on a loan application. I do workshops on that exact same subject and I talk about those steps in detail. It's a powerful workshop and I believe I have it on my website as well, but in the book you have it in your hands and really the steps I teach you to really question that you asked of all the lenders that you want to speak to about getting funding to see if they are right lender for you, not only that lender interviewing you, you need to be interviewing that lenders that lend it might not be a good fit. And then I worked with another business partner minds, we jointly wrote a book about basic questions and answers about entrepreneurship. I have a series of books called Tennessee steps to start a business michigan edition and I have to. Energy Steps are starting their business youth edition. I'm in the process of finishing up 10 easy steps. Start to starting a Business Veterans edition. I'm doing I'm doing all 50 states, I'm doing a veteran version, I'm doing one for the visually impaired, I'm doing the spanish version. I look at it as being a dummy books. Okay, my tendency steps is gonna be something like that micro

[00:21:27] Aric Tucker: lindy for dummies. I love that analogy man, you know one question I have and and I want to get into the bookshelf that that we have coming up to, but when is the right time to start thinking about funding? As you start to formulate your business

[00:21:43] Warren Galloway: immediately, you need to start thinking about what is it that you can bring to the table to get your business started. Then you need to determine how much will you really need to successfully launch your business And if there's a gap now you got to think about how am I going to fill that gap between what I have, which can be my savings, which can be the earnings I get from the job I'm working right now. Which could be some investments, your own investments, but also investments of others who want to invest in your business. How much do you have? Once you find out that you have a gap now, you need to look at other resources and other resources could be a micro loan. It could be a traditional bank loan. It could be what we call a community loan. Community loan is Organization that lends more than 50,000, which is the maximum microphone, but less than what a bank will lend. They kind of feel that gap of lending. Do you need to do a crowdfunding campaign? That's that's another option for you. Are you going to use your tax returns? So you need to start thinking about how much you're going to need to launch your business. But guess what the reality of it is. And I tell business owners this all the time, you really don't know what you need for your business and to write that business plan if you do not have a business plan, which is the road map, you've been able to operate your business because in your business plan or financial projections, if you do not have a business plan, you you're just winging it, it's a hustle. But then no one is going to take you seriously. But once you get that business plan and I guess that's what not everyone is going to sit up and you've got their attention because you put it in black and white, you're going to present it to them, whether it's to a lender, whether it's to an investor or now because covid 19 they have all these grant programs. You might have to submit it to get a grant or something like that. So early on, you need to determine what you need in terms of capital to get that business started. And also not just get the business started because I think there's this misconception that all I want to do is get my business started and I flip my money back into the business. It's not quite that easy because the reality of it is you're going to have these projections in your business plan And you think you're gonna make $1 million dollars that first month. Well, guess what, at that ground open, You're gonna make a lot of money. But what we have to worry about is that next following monday when you really have to promote and market your business and get people to come to the door and guess what? Yeah, those projections look good, but you might fall short. What are you gonna do if you fall short and while you're doing the strip your money back into your business, there's gonna come a time where your expenses all right, gonna be far exceeding your revenue. So, I talked to business owners not only get enough money to open your business, but let's talk about working capital. Okay. Maybe it's gonna take based on your business plan. Maybe it's gonna take 3-6 months before your revenue exceeds your expenses. Well, guess what? You need to be able to cover your expenses. You need to pay your employees, you need to buy supplies, You need to do marketing. So when you go out and you're looking for capitals and launch it, let's think about working capital and take that and put that on top of your original need. Now, what is working capital? Working capital is, take a look at your expenses for about 3-6 months, depend on how long you want working capital for total that. And put it on top of your loan. And guess what that information is. It's in your business plan. So you can't do anything in terms of identifying how much you need for your business until you get that business plan does,

[00:25:03] Aric Tucker: it's part of the blueprint, right? Most lenders are gonna want to know that you thought things through. They're gonna want to see the evidence of that and they want to know that the numbers make sense, right projections or otherwise. Where can we find most of your publications?

[00:25:18] Warren Galloway: So most of the publications you get from me speaking, you should be to go to www dot warren Galloway associates dot com. And my bio, which were also linked to my business website is Warren Galloway dot com. So if anyone wants to see some of the workshops that I've done, I have all my videos on that. I collect everything when I speak. I collect all my videos and I put them on my website because you know as people say I try to give nuggets and I like to share those nuggets because I need to people around you. People support the system. So that information is free on my website Warren gallery dot com.

[00:25:54] Aric Tucker: But what's next for you?

[00:25:56] Warren Galloway: What's next for me is the show, my new show doing business with Warren Galloway. I'm excited about it because you know I've always envisioned myself eventually being on tv but when someone approached you which someone did and said let's hear I want to have a T. V. Show for you and that's what happened about a year and a half ago. That's what I'm excited about just taking me to another level. And also will allow me to get more of this information about access to capital and Michael linden and community linen to hopefully thousands and millions more people who need to know this information because here's the thing we didn't talk about this. One of the reasons why I'm a big big advocate of micro lending and getting it into a load of modern income communities is the ripple effect of supporting entrepreneurship. Give an example if I live in a low income neighborhood and I decided to open up a business and I get a micro law. Michael only help jump start me getting that business started. The ripple effect is now I might be the higher disenfranchised people from the community. I. E. Returning citizens, you seniors, low income people, they will have a place to work and earn some money to be able to now fix up their home. Or if they're renting they after working for a while they can look at purchasing a home and guess what those young kids that they have there watching this mama and daddy are walking to work or they're riding their bike to work because the job is in the neighborhood. So in my generation coming up in Detroit a lot of people left and never came back. But the impact of you circulating dollars back in community and employing people and communities that those young kids see this and guess what they're thinking like oh when I go to college I'm coming back home because I want to open up a business right down the street from where my mother and father working because I see that neighborhood coming back, I want to be part of the revitalization, so it helps retain talent. And now you begin to see the investment back into the community and the community come back and they come back stronger than ever before because large corporations are not going to go into the low income neighborhood. It would have to be entrepreneurs that we support right now. They're willing to take that risk and open up a business and keep those dollars circulating in the community and creating more jobs.

[00:28:14] Aric Tucker: And what happens when you're not only hiring people in your community, but you're actually influencing people in your community to do the same thing that you're doing right, They're going to seek that expertise and then you create that network, right? And you know, I'm excited for all the businesses you have a chance to touch and help. But you know what, I'm the most excited for your son because he has a positive black role model that he can look up to man. And I hope that image permeates throughout the pandemic. I hope we can use imagery like that to give a pandemic a vaccination and just make A whole lot of 400 years of yesterday's go away and I believe it can happen because you know, we didn't always have direct access to the concepts that you're speaking on.

[00:28:58] Warren Galloway: Well thank you. And you know, one last comment, I think it's important for the viewers to know that it's not all doom and gloom during the pandemic, it's actually a chance for opportunities. And I know of african american businesses that are thriving in the pandemic, they just create the right model that would fit in this pandemic and thrive. I got a business owner called Detroit Soul african american family owned restaurant owned by two brothers. Their model was fit for you know, carry out deliveries and I'm helping open up a second location in the midst of a pandemic, they're thriving so well, so no, you don't have to take this journey entrepreneurship by yourself, that there are individuals like myself that are spread across the country who are passionate about what we do, but more importantly we want to support you and being successful and turning around your community, providing economic opportunities as well as jobs for people who live near where you're going to have your business.

[00:29:59] Aric Tucker: Hey that is the sign of an exciting future and a culture that can adapt is one that will survive and I think you speak very well on that topic man and once again, thank you for taking a few minutes to share with us your greek journey mr smooth as silk

[00:30:17] Warren Galloway: uh

[00:30:20] Aric Tucker: or in Galloway. Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated man. We appreciate you sharing your subject matter expertise and that micro lending space and don't hesitate to let us know when you have more exciting news coming up in the future. Okay,

[00:30:36] Warren Galloway: definitely. Well thank you again for allowing me to be on your show.

[00:30:39] Aric Tucker: Our Pleasure. Have a good one.

[00:30:41] Warren Galloway: You as well. Take care.

[00:30:48] Aric Tucker: Yeah. Mm.

Faith was initiated in the Kappa Gamma chapter of Zeta Phi Beta in 2007 at Fisk University. She holds a Bachelors of Music in Pipe Organ Performance and a Masters in Higher Education and Administration. She shares information on her exciting new fitness brand @BBWSWorkout.

Matheis Lockett joined the Beta Nu Chapter of Iota Phi Theta in the Fall of 1995 at Northern Illinois University. He shares his unique Greek Journey as well as his views on service, acceptance, and inclusion.

Kelvin Hinton joined Phi Beta Sigma in the Tau Iota Sigma Chapter in Memphis, TN in 1998. He and his wife Nicole operate Applesoft Homecare in Arlington, TX. Kelvin shares his startup story as well as tips for new entrepreneurs.

[00:00:00] Aric Tucker: this episode is brought to you by the new D nine Business Directory. Shot Greek-owned brands from a variety of categories. And if you are Greek, author or business owner at your profile today at D nine business dot com honoring those Trailblazers who preceded us is just as important as leaving a legacy for those who will follow us. Greek Lee speaking, is about highlighting Greeks today who are creating positive change for tomorrow. We hope you enjoyed this episode. Yeah, hi. Welcome to Greekly Speaking. I'm Aric Tucker, and joining me for this episode is Doctor Ansel Johnson of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity incorporated. Dr. Johnson was initiated in the Lambda Omicron chapter of Phi Beta Sigma. In 1979 he received his doctor of optometry degree from the New England College of Optometry in Boston, Massachusetts, along with postgraduate certification from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He's the founder and clinical director of the Vision Salon in Blue Island, Illinois. Please welcome to Greekly Speaking, Dr Johnson, Thank you for joining us. How are you doing today?

[00:01:20] Dr. Johnson: Fantastic. Aric. Just blessed. Tremendously privileged to be sitting here with you.

[00:01:26] Aric Tucker: Hey, it's a the privileges, all ours, man. I'm glad you're able to make it. You know, we connected recently on social media. We saw some content that you post it and some of the things you're trying to do as far as vision and health awareness in the community. And we said we had to reach out, man, And just connect with you for some good information and health-wise and learn a little bit more about your brand and the services you're providing in that Chicago land area. But first, as we do on Greekly Speaking, we have to know who we're dealing with a little bit about your Greek background. Man, Did you have any Greek influences coming up?

[00:02:02] Dr. Johnson: Actually, no. Neither one of my parents, even though they want to HPCs uh, we're, uh, black Greek letter organizations. So this is organic. And it Eleanor Westlund. It's a PW I where we We just had an opportunity, actually, I'm the charter on the charter line and charter president of our undergrad line, and it was just an opportunity to just do something special. Looking at the values and philosophy of Phi Beta Sigma, the founders It's just tremendous. And as we learned, there were 12 of in our lives in our school again, less than 3% African AmArican student body. But 12 African AmArican men, young men to come together to, uh, start a chapter was historical. And, uh, we'd like to think that we set the bar real high because out of our line or 12, we have five doctors and everybody is a professional. So from orthopedic surgery, the anesthesiology we have three and three optometrists. So we're really proud of that. And, uh, of course, we all still keep in touch. And it was just a tremendous opportunity. We about a mile and a half down the street from my state chapter. And so we had a little bond and, uh, it was interesting were the taller chapter, so they'd have Greek games to the United States, and they recruit us to play for them for their Greek games. Because again, I'm number 10. I'm 62 behind me was 64 and then we had 65 behind that. So it was real fun playing as a combined chapter in the Greek Games, and one might say it was very, very competitive. And so there was a lot of fun, So But we did. We did something real interesting and some really good things.

[00:03:53] Aric Tucker: Hey, that's that's great, man. So 10 deep 12. So what was the name of the line?

[00:03:59] Dr. Johnson: It says First

[00:04:01] Aric Tucker: s first since your charter. Okay, love it. Look. And what was your line name

[00:04:08] Dr. Johnson: and believe it. Not because I'm small in stature, but aunt, and we'll leave it at

[00:04:13] Aric Tucker: that. You know, uh, with those folks who played the old school, they end up using that phrase a lot. We'll leave it at

[00:04:21] Dr. Johnson: that. In my greeting, I go by dark thunder chocolate Wonder the biology progeny destined for Tom a tree. So I like that I still remember. Say

[00:04:36] Aric Tucker: that one more time,

[00:04:37] Dr. Johnson: Big brother. Dark thunder, You chocolate Wonder the biology progeny destined for optometry. Big brother, that makes the Alfa shake Kappas Quake. It turns cute dogs into pups. That was my greeting. Old school? Yeah, old school.

[00:04:55] Aric Tucker: I thought you would go to add Big Brother Dean Almighty or the end of that. But that's all right, man. Hey, I love it. That is so far the number one greedy that we have heard of Greek Lee speaking at, uh, we're going to have to come up with a spin off just to dive deeper into those, uh, scenarios, man. But that's that's wonderful. That's

[00:05:14] Dr. Johnson: wonderful, man. What was your What was your what

[00:05:19] Aric Tucker: was your greeting? Uh, yeah, we won't give it to buy, because this is all about you. So what came first, man? Your your passion for sigma your passion for optometry.

[00:05:28] Dr. Johnson: Wow. Well, I was a sigma first, right? So But I was obviously I was interested in being a enough time interest, too. And like I said, it was to be something special to I think we all try to be asset to our organization, and and there was a means to do that. I love what I do. I'm very passionate. One of the things that got me into optometry was that out of 25,000 of challenges at the time, were talking again in the mid eighties late seventies, there only 400 African AmArican optometrist, and now there's still less than 1000 out of 45,000 in the country. So we make up less than 2% of that professional. But yet I care, and I issues going to touch everybody every life, eventually, right? So even if you've never had glasses all your life eventually getting into the forties fifties and the computer stuff, you might need a little help in. So just also ties into our overall health. Diabetes is one of the leading cause of blindness. Glaucoma is one of the leading cause of blindness and arcs community. There are a lot of our Children, uh, that are in schools that have visually related learning problems, even though they might pass the screening seen 2020. So in terms of impact on our community lifestyle, we touch people every day. And unfortunately, growing up and throughout life, many of us have never seen an eye doctor that looks like them. And so that's what I'm passionate about, giving us the highest level of care. We have a very technologically advanced practice where we have technologies and diagnostic instrumentation to manage my disease. I problems that a lot of the teaching institutions of large major clinics and hospitals don't utilize on a regular basis, and studies show, and this is documented. It's not any big secret that African AmArican patients do better with African AmArican doctors. There's a study out of California that no black patients to see black cardiologist tend to do better, less hospitalization and live longer so that that's documented. And so now my passion I looked at as an opportunity because they were so very few of us, and to get to enhance people's lives every day. There, there, everyday quality of life. Now we got to play it forward and help lift up other people and to at least look at this field if you're considering it. Because, for example, in Chicago area where I am located when I started my practice here, probably about 25 30 African AmArican owned independent practices. Now there's only four of us. So people I tell that to people's like, Wow, how did that happen? Well, uh, again, people aren't used to seeing black eye doctors, and don't think about it. So, um, and a lot of the schools have not done a really good job in terms of their diversity equity and inclusion. And so those are things that were demanding. Now, with my vendors and on all different levels, be it the Technician Side, too. Being sales Rep. Pharmaceutical reps to being selling frames. One of the things we're looking at we are. We're the first office in the Chicago area. White Black agreement to bring back food, white wear for us by us Damon Johnson re released his brand in in that Glass, so we want to make sure the word gets out on that brand, and we're looking at bringing in some additional ones. Another one is Coco and Breezy. His two sisters out of New York, D. J. Said it had a phenomenal looking looking friend, and so we're looking to expand that, and and so we're looking for young people that are interested in the sciences in terms of being a doctor. It's four years after college and an additional one year residency, but again, the opportunities are tremendous.

[00:09:12] Aric Tucker: You know, I think you touched on a key point. You know, a lot of us as Children based, are set of options on what we see, right. I mean, and if we see examples of people in these various fields that leave that impression upon us, right, we're more apt to, you know, add that to the list of options. And, you know, I commend you for, you know, and I heard you speak on your passion about, you know, helping our community in particular. And you you're actually located not far from where I grew up in Chicago. I was like, Man, that's pretty close to where I actually grew up. And I and I wish we had the option at that time of of of going to different doctors in various fields that we're actually closer to us more accessible, right? And and that could actually provide that level of care. And, uh, that was not the case back then. So I commend you. And you've been doing this since 1990 in that area, What have you seen? As far as trends, you're obviously really close to the community. Are you seeing an increasing awareness of health in your particular space?

[00:10:20] Dr. Johnson: Short answer is no. There's so many deficits. I mean, if you just look at the covid 19 situation, there's something we've always known that there's been health disparities and things of that nature in our community. But it's just really brought it to the forefront. And in people's faces, you know, we're dying more from covid the bottom line. We're just dying from lack of knowledge and lack of understanding. And basically, when you break it down to people, this is operational situation. In our office, we ask for your medical and your vision insurance. Most people what you need a medical insurance for it. Well, because if I see something going on in your eyes, possibility of stroke or bleeding in the back of the eyes, and I need to do some more in depth evaluation that falls under your medical insurance. So we need both parts so we can maximize your own benefits. Whereas a lot of our people are going to corporate places where the business model is just simply to sell your glasses and they don't get all deep into the other stuff, they may refer you out. You know, if something serious looks like, you know, might be in jeopardy, which is fine. But we like your primary care provider for the eyes, and we connect with your primary care physician. We connect with your if you're living with diabetes with the endocrinologist cardiologist, we communicate and let them know, Hey, this is what we're seeing what's going on in guys or their blood pressure. We catch so many people, we checked blood pressures and people are surprised. Why do you check your blood pressure? Just came in here and get a pair of glasses. Well, I guess you'd be surprised the people that we have found with extremely high blood pressure and we're totally unaware of it. So or at high risk for stroke or diabetes, or even autoimmune disease like sarcoidosis or Lupus, because their eyes are dry and those can be some of the very early signs of that. But a lot of I doctors don't talk to their patients on that level and try to connect those dots. Yeah, we can help you look good with some nice glasses from U Boot or Coco and Breezy, but understand the other aspect of it. Other things that people don't hear about his. They're different lenses you can get for the computer other than your regular, no line by photos or the whole thing reading. So there's a lot of specialty treatments on your lenses that can help enhance your lifestyle and make things a little bit more comfortable. People are getting zoom fatigue and eye strain. And you know, I'm prescribing a lot of glasses for kids that normally would not have to, but they're on the computer remote learning so much so again, we touched so many aspects of people's lives, and unfortunately, people don't run into that real often. But again, we're trying to play it forward and just build awareness. So that's why I get excited about the opportunity to share my passion and what we do, you know, and and let people know. Uh, you might not be in Chicago, but guess what? There might be an African AmArican optometrist in your area in your city, and there are their feelings all over the country that we can steer folks, too.

[00:13:14] Aric Tucker: I would love it if we could help share that list of resources because we're now in a climate where I think a lot of people have a greater interest in supporting black business owners and and keeping the black dollar in the black community a little bit longer. Um, then it has been traditionally, and for me personally, one thing that I just just reflected on all my visits to optometrists. I've rarely seen an optometrist that wore glasses. I can't think of a better way to support vision Health that with an optometrist who actually proven that vision health is reported. You know, I like the frames that you rocket right now. Man, that's classy. So you know, the other thing that you touched on was diabetes, and we know there's a correlation between vision, health and diabetes, and you're also one of the founders of knockout diabetes, Right? Tell us a little bit about that organization, and what it does

[00:14:09] Dr. Johnson: well are not gonna. Diabetes Program is actually a nationally certified diabetes education program that we have in our office. I treat diabetes classes. I have a registered pharmacist, and I have a certified dietitian and and basically being nationally certified. That means people can usually get paid for it through their insurance. But we are the only I care facility with that type of program in the state-owned and one of two in the country. There's a sister by the name of Paula Newsome, who's the Delta in Charlotte, North Carolina, and both of us have certified programs only two in the country, and both of us are black owned, right, so that just shows our commitment to really taking it to another level. So most of the time when people are told that they are living with diabetes or that they're borderline most of the time, they are not referred to a diabetes education program. Most of those programs in your large hospitals are large clinic situations. Well, we have a little bit more flexibility. We can do it in the evenings. We can do it on Saturdays. We could do it remotely so we have a little bit more flexibility with people, uh, in terms of meeting them where they are with this program. And it's also documented and shown that once people have gone to, uh through a diabetes education program, you know, 34 sessions or more if needed, they can control their blood sugars better. They can lose weight better, because then they kind of know the mechanics. Most people say, Well, I know what I'm supposed to eat better and also the exercise, but they're not. Where people stumble at is that step-by-step process to do it instead of just trying to join the gym or go to a boot camp and lose a whole lot of weight quickly. But then how do you maintain it? It's about lifestyle change, and it's not about well, I can't eat this. I can't eat that well, a lot of times you can't eat some of the stuff you were eating. It's just portion control and turning that corner and moving that in in that direction. The big thing now is vegan. You know, a lot of people want are going vegan, which is a very, very healthy, very useful means of losing weight. Everyone might not want to do that, But again, if we can move the needle more in that direction, it's going to help you different supplements and just giving people guidelines on how to live your best life. It's not a death sentence when you told your living with diabetes and catch it early and deal with it earlier. So another thing we deal with when patients are told that they're borderline or watch the sugar, that's when it really should be addressed, uh, more strongly and and again we just lose 5 to 7% of your body weight. You can sometimes even avoid getting fulfilling diabetes where you have to buy medications and pay, copays and all of that. So again, we're just taking it to a whole nother level because of our commitment to our patients in our community.

[00:16:54] Aric Tucker: I think right now they're going to be a lot of people in our audience listening to this that wish you were their primary care physician because just that information alone and the fact that you're willing to share all these other aspect of health and wellness, right? And some of it is, hey, you know, treating, you know, specific conditions or symptoms. But, you know, a lot of this can be prevented with the proper amount of awareness. And I think you touched on that. But a lot of people don't feel comfortable sharing everything. You know, A lot of a lot of us brothers don't want to go for these checkups and things like that. But I think once you increase that comfort level to your point that you made, if I see more people that look like me, you know that increases the comfort which increases my participation in my own wellness. Right? So talk to me a little bit about the other organization that you found it. The healthy living with a vision.

[00:17:44] Dr. Johnson: Yeah. You know, to whom much is given, much is required that that's what we say at our church. And and so this kind of falls from our diabetes education program or not got diabetes. So a lot of times people, their insurance would not cover it or they don't have insurance coverage or we're out of network for them. It's like, Wow, there's a whole bunch of people out here that need this. How can we help people get this education? Because I still got to pay my diabetes education, right? So I started not for profit called healthy living with the vision. And the initial impetus of that was to raise funds to help pay and provide scholarships for people to have diabetes education to help them live their best lives. And, uh, our, uh, day, which we get tax I D. Number was Juneteenth 6 1920 20. So what better day can we have is our start date, But Simpsons? We really expanded that. So our basic mission is to eliminate health care disparities in the African AmArican community. So with that being said, it's not just diabetes Now, Now we've had some virtual town hall meetings on the Covid 19 situation and the vaccines. One of our board members and I got to say, This is not just me, but we have a phenomenal board is an African AmArican physician that is board certified in immunology and allergy. So same credentials as Dr Fauci. So he's our black Dr Fauci and he's conducted well. We probably had about five or six of these town hall meetings, virtual town hall meetings with huge success and growing, you know, listenership. So and then we're also another project that we have on that, and we just found out today we have Comcast who's one of our major sponsors coming on board. But we also, um, I just did a town hall meeting on low vision. People are legally blind to think they can't do anything, can't see they can't, you know, like Dr. But there's so many things they can do to enhance their lifestyle and vision and function normally. Uh, just because your normal Eurovision seven or it's not just reduced, so there's that we're going to do another one on Lupus and sarcoidosis, so it's really in our community. We just don't have the knowledge, and we want to be a conduit to get that knowledge out to the to the community, and and and we're committed to doing that. So that's another exciting passion. Uh, that I have and one other one is to bring more African AmAricans into our our field. We have poses out there, too lit our undergrad. You know, we have undergrad chapters to divine nine as well as our own organization all over the country and those that are interested in medical and health care professions need to look at optometry, and we can kind of help walk you through that and into that process. If you're interested, those that are are listening to hear because their scholarship money is out there. Some of these schools are finally getting their attention. Wow, you know, all the other ethnic groups have increased in their percentage. So we asked some, Well, what's the minority population of your school? What's 50%? How many of them are African AmAricans? Oh, then you get crickets, right? So now we're asking what what's the number for us? Because that's what we need to impact to impact our health and our community. better

[00:21:05] Aric Tucker: you've You've been recognized by Black Enterprise magazine as one of AmArica's leading 101 African AmArican doctors, and and I can see why, man. I mean, when you have passion, I think it adds to what you're able to accomplish professionally and, as far as you know, in the community. And that's a wonderful thing to see. That's a great example. So we appreciate that for those folks in that Chicago land area, where can they find you again?

[00:21:34] Dr. Johnson: Located at 1 to 812 Southwestern Avenue in Blue Island were just outside the South City limits of Chicago, You know, New Year old neighborhood. So we drop people from the North Side Chicago West suburb South suburbs, so we're pretty easy to get to. Our phone number is 708 38500137083850013 And when in doubt, you can always find us on the Web at www dot vision salon dot com. Vision salon dot com were also on social media Facebook Instagram, Twitter V S. I care under Twitter, and if you Google a vision salon, you'll find this.

[00:22:19] Aric Tucker: Hey, I love it. Dr. Ansel Johnson with the vision salon and that Chicago land area in Blue Island, Illinois. Thank you so much for the information and for spending a few minutes with us here on GreekLy Speaking. I'm looking forward to hearing more about what you have going on with your foundations. So keep us posted, okay? And let us know if there's anything we can do to help support and promote anything you have going on. Okay.

[00:22:45] Dr. Johnson: Well, definitely. Thank you so very much. And you be blessed,

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