Episode 1: Black Student Subject Matter Experts

Season 9: Undiluted
Episode 1: SME

Download the transcript (PDF)

SPEAKERS

Joyce Mgbolu, Kadaesha Lindsay, Rachel Atta-Mensah and Nkechi Nwafor-Robinson.

Joyce Mgbolu  00:10

Hello and welcome to the first episode of the Undiluted Podcast. The Undiluted Podcast amplifies black voices, and celebrates black excellence within and outside the Centennial College community. I am your host, Joyce Mgbolu. In today's episode, we will talk about black students SME, with student guests and a professional guest speaker. Students will discuss the experiences of owning a business in Canada. Following, our professional guest speaker will share her experience as a black female leader in a male dominated industry including her insights on entrepreneurial leadership. I have here with me Kadaesha Lindsay, Rachel Atta-Mensah and in Nkechi Nwafor-Robinson . Welcome to the Undiluted podcast, Kadaesha Lindsay began her entrepreneurial journey in 2018 when she launched Untainted Bath and Body Care. As a curious been a lifelong learner training and education has played a significant role in our professional development, from starting business to now currently being a final semester student in the social service worker program at Centennial College. Kadaesha plans to venture off to university to obtain a Bachelor of Social Work upon graduating. This way she can fulfill a meaningful career as a social worker while continuing to grow her company. In Kadaesha's words. Gone are the days that we stay on one career path forever. My goal is to wear several different hats that generate several different streams of income. Rachel Atta-Mensah is the CEO of Rachel Lashes. Her passion is to bring social and positive impacts to children and families. For this reason, she decided to pursue a career in social work, and is currently studying the social service worker program at Centennial College. Outside of her passion she loves all things fashion and beauty, and this led her to start a lash business. Rachel's main goal to beauty regimen, are lashes, and a love for business made it feel natural to start a lash business. Rachel started her business in 2020. At the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic. However, she held on to faith and only wished for the best outcome in her business during that challenging time. Although Rachel's business is young, she says she's not giving up on jrt business, pandemic or no pandemic. Nkechi Nwafor-Robinson is an experienced Information Technology Professional. With more than 20 years in the IT space, she's held a variety of progressively senior roles within various organizations, and currently the Associate Vice President technology solutions at TD Bank Group, Inc. She is an entrepreneur, author, podcast host, and inspirational speaker, who's speech went viral on several motivational platforms, most recently on goal casts, with over 10 million views and shared over 100,000 times worldwide. As an advocate for helping others, she is the CEO and founder of Empowered in my Skin. And her goal is to help people maximize their true potential and become leaders in every aspect of their lives. Thank you for this opportunity. And thank you to Rachel and Kadaesha for giving me your time. First and foremost for the questions I will move on to Rachel. What inspired you to start your business?

Rachel Atta-Mensah  04:05

I've always really loved lashes, all things beauty, but I'm not a strong makeup wearer, I really don't even know how to apply foundation. But I've always really liked a simple look, lashes and lip gloss and I'm good to go, even before I was allowed to wear lashes I used to wear mascara and the funny thing is I actually kind of foreshadowed Rachel's Lashes in grade 10 in my business class we were asked to create a business proposal to present in front of her class and I ended up creating a lash business but I didn't really have faith in that business. It was just a project to me then in grade 10. But then fast forward when I turned 18, the idea came back to me again and you know sometimes, when things keep coming back to you maybe God is trying to tell you something you know, maybe the universe is trying to put something on your heart so I looked into it I'm like you know well why not? Because a lot of people come to me for all things lashes and stuff, like I help rent, I help strangers with their lashes and stuff. So I'm just like, You know what, why can I turn this into my own business idea and merge my love for lashes, my love for faith, put it all together and make something beautiful out of it. That's what inspired me.

Joyce Mgbolu  05:01

Oh, I'm inspired, Rachel. And then I'll move on to Kadaesha. Kadaesha, what inspired you to start your business?

Kadaesha Lindsay  05:10

Yes. Great question. First, I just want to thank you so much for having us here. I'm so grateful to be amongst such like powerful black women. Awesome. Awesome. I appreciate you for having us. For me, like what inspired me to start my business was a few different things. One, I started out doing this as kind of a hobby of making natural soaps and lotions, body butters and creating natural body care products for my son. But the idea to actually turn it into a business started to come when my frustration for like working dead end jobs, what I would call them are dead end jobs with no real promise for the future. So my frustration led me to thinking well, I want to be able to have financial freedom, I want to be able to create generational wealth and these jobs that I'm working over the years, it's not, it's not working out for me. So I thought, if I want more, I have to create these avenues for myself. And so I used to go to a lot of farmers markets where I would purchase my soaps and things like that. I remember feeling like you know what, I can do this, I can create my own business, I can do it. And then and that's where really started.

Joyce Mgbolu  06:19

Yeah, that's really I would call that innovation, creating your own ideas and looking inwards. And it takes a lot of courage to do that. So this question is directed to Rachel and Kadaesha, as a young and thriving black female entrepreneur, what do you want to achieve next in expanding or growing your business?

Rachel Atta-Mensah  06:39

I definitely see Rache's Lashes just becoming very big. I mean, one day, eventually, by the grace of God, I want to see a pair of my lashes in Sephora, I want it to be that big. I also do plan on owning like a studio because I wanted to become a lash technician one day, I'm currently working on that. I don't know how I'm going to balance that and school. So I'm probably going to take it one step at a time. But I do also want multiple stores and online stores. I want Rachel's Lashes to become a global one day because like Kadaesha said I don't think I wanted to stay a social worker for the rest of my life. Like it's only for a season. There's other projects and businesses I want to manage as well.

Joyce Mgbolu  07:12

I'm really encouraged by what both of you have been talking about in this episode, it's it really makes me proud of being a black, a young black woman. So I'm gonna move on to the next question, directed at Rachel and Kadaesha, put it into context, your social location and intersectionality, Can you share a time when your resilience helped you pull through a challenging situation in your business.

Kadaesha Lindsay  07:36

COVID-19 Definitely presented a huge challenge for all of us business owners, and everyone you know, and for me, I really feel like resiliency came into play during COVID-19. Because, for example, craft shows and selling at markets in person that was like a major. That's where most of my income from my business was generated. And when that all stopped, it was a setback, you know, but the mindset, I just kept pushing, and I found ways to pivot and like, strengthen my online presence. So I feel like that was a form of me using resiliency through a tough time to stay afloat and not give up, no matter how tough it was.

Joyce Mgbolu  08:18

Yeah, the COVID show had a lot of serious impacts, especially for the marginalized communities, people who identify as black, it's not easy running a business during the COVID 19 pandemic, particularly for small business. Is there any advice you want to give to students at a college that identifies as black person in terms of your business?

Rachel Atta-Mensah  08:39

I would say, I don't think you should let anything hold you back. Your color shouldn't be a factor when you want to pursue anything, you shouldn't have that written in your mind that oh, I'm black, so I probably No, I've never, I've never really thought about that. So it's never been something that stopped me. I mean, racism is definitely a thing, but it's never affected me to the point where I feel like I do recognize it on black women. But it's never been something that stopped me from to the point where like, it's so conscious on my mind. So I would say for anyone who wants to start a business as a black student, go for it. I don't see what's stopping you. Unless it's financial and everyone goes through financial struggles, especially in business. If you want to start a business I think you should get yourself together, do what you have to do and go for your your sexuality, your color, your religion shouldn't be a factor, especially when starting a business. I say have confidence in yourself and put everything and everyone else to the side and do what you want to do.

Joyce Mgbolu  09:28

I took two keywords from there. Which means one four, have confidence in yourself and go for what you want, those two phrases I will always remember from Rachel Atta-Mensah's section in this podcast, so I'll move on to Kadaesha. Kadaesha you have something to say?

Kadaesha Lindsay  09:47

Yes, I totally agree. Rachel, don't let anything hold you back. If you want to start a business go out there and start a business today. I think you know whether you think you can or you can't. You're absolutely right. So you really have to push yourself and keep that mindset, mindset. And also, right now more than ever, there is support for black entrepreneurs that we didn't have just a few, maybe even just five years ago. So the support is, is there for us and now is like a great time, I would highly encourage anyone to start a business. There's support out there for you.

Joyce Mgbolu  10:23

Wow, I am so so inspired. So I'll move on to Nkechi Nwafor-Robinson, our professional guest speaker in the house, I'm so honored to have you here, sit among us. My question to you is as a black female leader, and considering your intersectionality. Do you feel you have had to work harder than male colleagues to advance your career?

Nkechi Nwafor-Robinson  10:49

Thank you for inviting me into this space. So I'm actually going to say that Rachel, Rachel has it right like I grew up in a very racially tense environment, you know, to be quite honest, back in the 70s, affluent neighbourhoods were typically white neighbourhoods, and we were the only speckles of black so we encountered a lot of racism. And so I would say that beyond, it's never been about gender, to be quite honest, it was always just about being recognized as a human. I would say that that's pretty much what the if you want to call it the battle, the struggle wasm it wasn't till way later in my career, maybe, maybe over 10, 10 years, 10-plus, 15-plus years into my career. I was at IBM at the time, and I was asked on a panel, you know, what is it like being a black female in tech, and it's interesting, because up until that point, I never, we you know, diversity back then wasn't as much in the forefront of conversations as it is now and I had to look around I had to really reflect them like actually a lot of women like their limit. I just was always so focused on being the only black you know, and and the and the challenges that came with that, you know, more so but still not letting like very much like Rachel not letting that be a barrier or blocker to my, to how I showed up then in the work I did but ingrained in me that yeah, I have to work hard, probably a little bit harder than most. So to be quite honest. Joyce, to answer your question. Like when it came into view for me, I didn't make it a problem for myself. I didn't sort of add that on. Because I'll be honest, we become the story we tell ourselves. And so if I start to say, oh, you know, I'm the only yeah, I'm the only black woman then suddenly. That's my story. And I really chose not to make that my story. But I recognized that it was other women's stories, especially black women. And so I'm like, what can I do with my life as a platform to help make that better and I will say this always bully on any panel mod anywhere I get a chance to lend my voice. I'm a human first, you see my gender. You see my skin color. As I'm out here looking at you, I don't see any of that. You know, and so I but I am a human being and I just happen to be black. And I happen to be made female, I happen to be made wonderful and I happen to be brilliant and talented and experienced and do you want to get to know me? You know that's how we embrace our personal empowerment is by pushing away all those labels that people put us in and be open to, to build and create the story that empowers us to be everything that we possibly can be whatever it is just our humaneness to endure.

Joyce Mgbolu  13:17

I like that, the humanness.

Nkechi Nwafor-Robinson  13:19

Yeah, we're human first. We're human beings first.

Joyce Mgbolu  13:24

You all have so much courage in your words. Yes, so powerful. And I'll move on to the next question. Which goes, what advice would you give to young black people who just launched their career? Or who own small and medium sized enterprise considering the marginalization that takes place in a capitalist society?

Nkechi Nwafor-Robinson  13:46

That's the big question. So the first thing I would say is know who you are, first and foremost, a fundamental requirement, you need to know who you are. Tanisha shared about COVID and the experience through COVID. And I would say that people that probably suffered the most and I'm gonna use the word suffer are people that don't know who they are. COVID required us to get still, in that stillness and isolation mode, a lot of us had to spend a lot of time with us, like ourselves. And if you don't know who you are, and what you're here, what you're made for. That's where you step into the space of suffering. That's where the pivot becomes a little bit harder. But the Northstar that I had for my life wasn't challenged by COVID. Because the dream is so big that I know it's not attainable tomorrow. And I know that the road to get there is going to be riddled with challenges. And in this particular case, it's happened to be called COVID. Didn't change with the vision that I have for my life. It didn't change the fierceness in which I attack it. It just presented an opportunity to look at what are the things that I need to do in order to be able to continue to succeed. Knowing who you are is a large part of that because then you don't get to be defined by the worldly things. that are happening like COVID/ COVID changed the definition that people had. Because suddenly, if they were their jobs, and that's what they lost, then they lost themselves. So that was a mic drop, wasn't it? Yeah. So knowing who you are is so important, because fundamentally that is the thing that does not change. When things around you change. And then the other thing is, you got to know what you want, you have to know what you want. And I think it has to be bigger than material things, you know, and my desire now like, actually, I had a COVID Scare personally, that's, you know, sent me to the hospital, in a really for five days of treatment. And like, I came out, and I heard this, this clip by Oprah, and she talks about what do you want? What do you really want? And she's asking herself that fundamental question. And you know, it was just her words of saying I want to be, I want to live the highest truest expression of myself as a human being. And so that fundamentally changed who I am. Because when you don't change what you want in life, to material things, two minutes, you don't change what you want material in life, then you're not really you're not that impacted by the world. Wow. So as you step into entrepreneurship, you have to know there's going to be, there's gonna be bumps, there's going to be success, there's going to be things that you're gonna feel really great about. But all of that is necessary. And so know what you want to know who you are, and then go after everything that lays in front of you.

Joyce Mgbolu  16:20

Thank you so much Nkechi, for your wise words, I've really taken a lot from this, I will just pass it on to Rachel if she has anything to say last words.

Rachel Atta-Mensah  16:30

Um, first and foremost, I just want to say thank you to Joyce for this opportunity. And I want to say Nkechi, it's really inspiring and amazing to meet you. You've been really wonderful. I think you're a very energetic person. Thank you for the little warm up we did in the beginning. Yeah, but I do have a question. I just want to know what motivated you to start your business, um Empowered in my Skin. And just wanted to know, like, how that came to be.

Nkechi Nwafor-Robinson  16:55

Well, Rachel, thank you so much for answering that question. Love that question. I can answer this question all the time. Because I think one of the biggest business rules I've, I'm learning, you know, more so now than I've ever really thought of before is, is, you know, I think business is like a spiritual game, just the Coles notes is is really is that I had a time in my life, about seven years ago, where I really got into a space of darkness. And I've actually been learning about darkness. And I recognize the only thing that rids the room of darkness is light. And you can turn up the light. But you can't turn up the darkness. You can't turn down darkness to can turn up darkness. But you can turn on the light. And so I you know, over the course of two years, I learned how to turn up my light to full wattage and I did that by excavating a whole bunch of painful situations. And so I got into the business of unlearning all of the things that that were not, that were contrary to love in my life like things like unforgiveness, jealousy, frustration, anger, resentment. Unforgiveness was the biggest thing. It's like, who might, Who am I, who do I have a record that I need to burn? So I did all of that. And then it got to a point like, as you start to rid yourself of those things that weigh you down, the unloving things, you start to feel lighter, I felt like it was levitating. And I start to feel very empowered in the skin that I'm in and I came, I literally came up with I feel empowered in my skin, you know, and my girlfriend's like, wow, that's a great movement, you know, great name, and really started as a movement as a, you know, sort of that domain eventually registered it as a company later on in years. But it was really it's about, I was starting to feel very empowered in my skin. But I think the biggest gifting was I wanted others to feel that same way. And I recognize that all along that that was the gift that God had given me, was one of my biggest gifts, is my ability to help people turn up the gears in their life just a bit. They come with me feeling a certain way. And in five minutes, I have them feeling better. Sometimes it just starts with, hey, great day, how awesome are you doing today, most of you will say how you doing today, I put you on the scale of awesome always, even if you are a one on the scale of awesome, you know, on the scale of good, you're on the scale of awesome. And so it's just that I recognize that innate ability to be able to turn the light on in rooms of darkness and so empowered my skin, you know, was born and and eventually became who I was. And it became just the essence of, of how I leave experiences. And I incorporated. I made it a business and, and I didn't know what it was going to do. But then I came up with a mission statement, which is to help a billion people think in ways that are empowering because it's when we empower, when we feel empowered, that we empower other people.

Joyce Mgbolu  19:39

I also like tapping into that word on learning, having the ability to feel empowered and empowering others. That is so, so, and strong, powerful words. So Kadaesha, do you have any questions for Nkechi?

Rachel Atta-Mensah  19:58

That was really inspiring Yeah. Thank you.

Kadaesha Lindsay  20:04

Yes, yes. What is your most favorite and your least favorite aspect about being an entrepreneur?

Nkechi Nwafor-Robinson  20:14

I would say, so I'm not gonna, I'm gonna, I'm going to do least favorite. I don't have a least favorite, I'm passionate about what I want to do. So everything about what I what I need to do in order to actualize that is important. But if I, you know, what I would say is the things that I'm not good at, I'm now learning to hire for. One could say that the things I'm not good at are my least favorite. But, but I recognize that they're important. And so you hire for it, I do believe that there's some you want to be able to at least try and, and touch and execute on every aspect of your business, at least initial at the forefront, like you know, just try to try to be the lead in all of those areas, so that you have an understanding of at least the effort that's required, so that when you do hire for it, you, you, you actually have an inkling of what you should be able to get out of that human that you've brought on board. You know what I mean? Like you would know, you'd be able to know what excellent looks like, you know, because you've given it a shot, that type of thing. So yeah, so try not to look at anything as least favorite, but maybe as opportunities to say, okay, this is not my strength. And if it's not a strength, I either have to work at it if I'm not able to hire for it, or is it something that I can hire for and, and so that I can focus on the things that I'm really, really great at. And my most favorite, honestly, I think it comes down to people, right? There's nothing better than knowing that you have a product that people will tell you is changed my life, people will tell you that has made them feel better and more fulfilled and loved and, you know, whatever it is that your product is, I think more so it's, it's how I see it's impacting the world. That's, and ,I you know that, and that's the aspect of your business that you should be able to do for free. You know, and if you get paid for it, wow. Even better. When, when ,and I looked at both of your websites, you know, and I totally I love skincare, I'm all about self care, skincare is part of self care. And, and lashes. I was telling Rachel's like my next favorite thing outside of like buying wigs is like, I love a lash. I love a lash. I actually have two in my cart already just ready to hit, hit pay on Rachel's website, you know, it's so yeah, so when you, when that should make you feel good. It I mean, like, you guys have products that I'm excited about, you know that because I'm gonna bring them into my life and they're gonna change my life, it's gonna change the way I look that day, people are gonna be like, Oh my god, your lashes are so fabulous, oh my god, your skin is so supple. I'm like, Yep, here you go, these two locations, you want to go and purchase your own. So, you know, that's, that's, that's, that's stuff that you just, that's free.

Joyce Mgbolu  23:03

And I would like to ask you another question Nkechi. Do you think enough efforts are being made by private and public organizations within Canada to help the black community grow and sustain via SMEs?

Nkechi Nwafor-Robinson  23:18

So I will say this out of the bat, there's always room for more ,period, you know, and I think the reason there's, there's so much room for more because there's so much years of neglect. But I would say in the last couple of years, there's been a significant amount of effort that the doesn't take much to be able to Google an article to see who and where you can potentially go for some additional financial assistance. So I would say that, you know, there's been some impressive work that's, that we've seen surface in the last year in a number of major countries and, and cities here in North America, for example, but there's definitely, there's definitely room for more, you know, until all of our communities are having sustainable growth and, and opportunities for all people that are in position with the ability to do something to stroke of a pen. Yeah, my ask is that you continue to do the work to help advance, advance, the lives of those that are less than, that are you know, marginalized.

Joyce Mgbolu  24:15

Thank you so much. That's such an important question and also an important answer. We need to do they need to do more, Rachel, any other questions before we finalize the episode?

Rachel Atta-Mensah  24:26

I just wanted to generalize this for all of us. I wanted to direct this at Nkechi. I just wanted to ask what advice would you have for a small upcoming business? A black owned business as my ow, just any business, doesn't have to be black, what advice do you have for young entrepreneur like myself and Kadaesha and even Joyce, because I hope you do start your business eventually. What advice would you give to us?

Nkechi Nwafor-Robinson  24:49

Yeah, a couple of things. I think if you're not journaling, journal, journal your journey, and journaling your journey because, start to make it bigger than, than yourself, and journal it so that you can leave a legacy with your kids or whomever you know, one day they can read about it, but also with the intent that you're paving the path for others that are coming up behind you. So that's the most important thing, right. The other thing I would say is believe, believe there's got to be a level of belief that is just insane. You know, like, there's just got to be a level of belief that is just undescribable. You even get shivers when you think about that, you know, that you are, that your business is actually bigger than you could possibly imagine it be, you know, because I think that creates your Northstar. Habits, huge, humongous, the habits that you, that you, that you create in your life, is what's going to help sustain you especially through you have to recognize there's going to be easy, great times, there's going to be tough times and you need to celebrate everything. The, I think the challenge, the challenging times should excite you, because coming out of them means that you're going to grow and you're gonna get bigger, and you're gonna get smarter, and you're gonna, you're gonna build muscle from that, you know, so you know, don't look at them as such, be aware of them. But try not to stay in the suffering of them too long, wishing something were different than it actually is, no, recognize that this is an opportunity that's going to help make you better. So really start to conquer your challenges in that NetFront. No successful business that we see today was void of challenges, chances are, they had double the amount of years of challenge and we've actually seen them in in successful years, you know what I mean? So, celebrate, celebrate and embrace those challenges when they come and build habits, build habits. And I'm gonna be honest with you, especially as I'm talking to young women of color, like myself, when I say the habits, the habits need to be mind, body and soul. As much as you invest in your business, you have to invest in your body, I want you to be healthy business owners, I mean, I want you to be healthy business owners, I want your, I want you to move your body every single day, because that is what will help you build great resilience in your life. Every single morning, one of the first things I do is I get my body into peak state, I do things that are hard, like tough, like challenging, I lift weight that is heavy, and I, the value, maybe it's because I'm an athlete, but the value in marrying that into my life makes everything else so much easier. Because when you're in those valleys, and you're in the gym, or you're moving your body, it's like you still feel like you're on top of the world. So if you don't have a regular habit of getting your body into some form of peak state, I'm letting you know, do not waste another moment, do something every single day that gets your body moving, puts it into a peak state and gets you used to doing hard things. You could do hard things physically, you can get through hard things mentally. So yeah, that's I mean, I can keep going. But those would be the fundamentals. And the last one sorry, is environment, your network is your net worth. And the network you build today is for when you need it some time in the future. It's never for the present moment. You know, if you're if you're in a neat if you're in need of somebody right now, to help you get through something, oh, they better already be in your network, because it'll be a lot harder to find someone who's willing to help you because you haven't established a relationship. So your network is your networks, start networking and network with people that you can't really understand how they can help you now, but that it makes sense to have them in your network, because someday you will need that skill or you will need something or someone that they know. And a lot of times the people that help you is never the direct network. It's you calling me to say hey, Nkechi, do you know somebody who does this? And I'd be like, I don't know them directly. But I know someone who knows them. Let me reach out to that person and help you out. Six degrees of network, of separation is no joke. We're six degrees separated from, from Michelle Obama and Barack Obama. That's just the truth. You know, and so, and I'll tell you, we're probably three degrees because you know me. I know someone who knows that, the Obama, right? Yeah. So, so that's just four degrees of separation, right? So don't discount your network.

Joyce Mgbolu  29:04

I really gained a lot from this. I liked the fact that you talked about journaling, which is really really, actually journaling. Yes. Journaling helps me to write like my projections what I want to do the next five years, the short and long term plan. And also things that I need to put down like an idea or something creative that because one thing about ideas, you could have it now and in an hour, you could forget it again. So I make sure, I ensure that I journal, and then you also talked about habits which for me is really important. And I like that catchphrase you use you said, put your body in a peak state that is, that is really deep.

Nkechi Nwafor-Robinson  29:46

I'll tell you the truth. Let me let me also give you a little other thing. It also sets you apart. The average person that I, like, most meetings, forget about being black. Most meetings I sit in, I'm the fittest person in that Room for decades, I'm turning 50 This year, you know, and I'm talking about I know I look good. That's what I'm saying, peak state every single day will make you look 10, 10, 15, 20 years younger. So, yeah, so I recognize that I am typically the only with muscles just bulging out of my shirt, you know. And, and it's, and it's something because it speaks to your level of discipline. You know, you don't and it builds your brand. The one thing I learned from one of my business coaches, is that when you walk into a room, you don't need to say anything, because people see discipline.

Joyce Mgbolu  30:39

Yeah.

Rachel Atta-Mensah  30:41

I like that, honestly, to be more healthy, be more specific with my life choices. Because you know, we tend to say, Oh, when I get older, but time waits for no one, right?

Joyce Mgbolu  30:52

I'm really, really grateful for all the beautiful women of color we have here. And I've learned so much from each one of you, like how to sustain businesses, how to go through trying to overcome those challenges we haven't, we go through when we have businesses and things like that. And I'm really, really impressed of how you've been able to maintain and sustain your business, because it takes takes a lot because I reached out I think your business is about how old is your business now should be about?

Rachel Atta-Mensah  31:25

Yes, about a year now.

Joyce Mgbolu  31:28

Kadaesha, how long have you been running your business?

Kadaesha Lindsay  31:31

I'm going on four years in June?

Joyce Mgbolu  31:34

Wow. And Nkechi for Empowered in my Skin, skin? I think it was established in 2014. Right? Yeah. So that's about-

Nkechi Nwafor-Robinson  31:44

Seven years, seven, seven plus. Yep.

Joyce Mgbolu  31:47

Yeah. So we all wish for our business to, we always to prosper in our business. And I hope you have the best outcomes in your business. And Nkechi very soon I'll be joining that network of Empowered in my Skin. I'm looking forward to, I don't know when next you'll be having your meetings or-

Nkechi Nwafor-Robinson  32:09

Oh yeah, there's a great one coming up. It's, it's going to be our, our spring cohort, it's going to be, it's called the Empowered professional. So yeah, so watch out for it.

Joyce Mgbolu  32:21

Okay, I'll definitely go to the website. So thank you, ladies for everything. And thank you for accepting my invitation to attend this live podcast. I'm really grateful, and see you some other time.

Rachel Atta-Mensah  32:39

Thank you. Thank you guys. It was amazing seeing everybody.

Kadaesha Lindsay  32:43

Yes, thank you so much for having us and giving us this platform to amplify our voices. Thanks so much.

Nkechi Nwafor-Robinson  32:54

Good to see you Joyce. It's been great and hanging with you ladies.

Joyce Mgbolu  32:58

Thank you. Thank you for joining us for Episode One of the Undiluted Podcast. In the next episode, we will discuss racial trauma, the distrust that emanates from it, and anti black racism. Joining me in the next episode are Basirat Naphew, Brandon Calliste, and Talisa Boland. Make sure to subscribe to the Centennial College Podcast on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify.