Empowering Communities: Black Banks & Beyond with Jeff McGruder

[00:00:00] You are now listening to Black Guy Therapy, a therapeutic podcast.

[00:00:13] We damn right we're a therapeutic podcast and we back. Finally we are back again. I told

[00:00:24] y'all well first off let me do what I always do welcome to Black Guy Therapy just know we're

[00:00:28] at therapeutic.com this is your first time listen to us remember we are therapeutic podcast

[00:00:32] with Black Man to come and vent just talk about things that we probably wouldn't talk

[00:00:35] about in our normal lives but this is our new season this is season six and as I told you

[00:00:41] in the first episode I was coming with the fire not only me but Jarod till we come

[00:00:46] over with the heat as that that tick tock where they do be like straight gas that's

[00:00:52] us all season so anyway we got another guest here today right because we

[00:00:58] bringing them all on to talk about all these issues and I'm gonna let Jarod go

[00:01:03] ahead take it away for that. Alright just introduce myself I'm Jarod Parrish again

[00:01:08] thanks for anybody who's listening to us today yes and we do have another

[00:01:14] illustrious guest who's going to join us today and his name is he's Nashville's

[00:01:21] own another he's a Nashville native you know some of those are hard to find his

[00:01:24] name is Jeff Magruder he's been a personal friend of mine for years and years

[00:01:28] he's a he's another Tennessee vol yes sir yes sir a mentor you know when I first

[00:01:36] got the Nashville look look to him and he kind of helped me you'll navigate the

[00:01:39] city and figure out a lot of things and then you know continue to do those

[00:01:43] types of things for me now give a little introduction for him he is a

[00:01:49] banker he's been a banker for over 20 years he's worked in all different

[00:01:53] sectors of banking and currently he's what is your role there you're the chief

[00:02:01] relationship officer yeah relationship offer a chief lending officer anything

[00:02:06] that makes money for the bank I'm in charge of so yes he lends the money to

[00:02:11] the people he has he's at a black owned bank here in Nashville who likes to

[00:02:17] lend money to black businesses to make sure that we thrive and that we have a

[00:02:23] place of our own here in Nashville and he's very instrumental in the community

[00:02:29] he also you know heads up one of the basketball pro-am leagues here I know

[00:02:33] he's done that for a while as well and one of those people who helps people

[00:02:38] be financially stable financially literate and I know he does a lot

[00:02:42] talks around the city on boards around the city I let him talk about about

[00:02:47] some of that as well but Jeff man I want to let you introduce yourself a

[00:02:52] little bit and tell us about your professional journey to begin with how

[00:02:57] did you get here to where you are yeah yeah first of all thanks for having

[00:03:00] me it's great to see black men get together the talk just off the cuff

[00:03:06] mentally I think it's well is well needed much more of this so kudos to

[00:03:11] the two of you for actually doing this is there a period just to have

[00:03:15] conversations after being run all over the city to come home and just chat

[00:03:19] with some brothers it's a blessing so thank y'all so yeah I'm like a man

[00:03:23] civilian you know bank in 20 years I currently have the best job in the

[00:03:28] world working for citizens savers and trust bank is a dream come true being

[00:03:36] able to to build wealth for people of color not just black folks but just

[00:03:42] people of color in general that typically this country I denied access to

[00:03:46] so many things systematically to be able to be a partner in the bank too as

[00:03:51] an owner and is a blessing to be able to bring that to market like we've done

[00:03:57] and stores yet to be written we've been grinding three years to build it

[00:04:01] up and this is what we do and it's in money is is on everyone's mind right

[00:04:12] right right community especially it is a big topic it's definitely become

[00:04:21] invoke with podcasts like Ernie Leisure that have really PPP you know you see

[00:04:29] the LLC's stuff that's going on so everyone's getting into understanding

[00:04:34] with cash out and then mo money is a big deal is in this entrepreneurship I mean

[00:04:40] the last two years are really seen at height in the black and brown

[00:04:43] community so I'm excited to be able to be a part of something an institution

[00:04:47] that could help facilitate some so I got a question before you before

[00:04:52] y'all jump into this we just said citizens bank right so citizens bank

[00:04:56] is like historic right it's a historic bank like founded in what night like

[00:05:01] the early 1900s yeah 1904 1904 as like one of the first black owned banks

[00:05:10] in the country right it was one of the first and we maintain the oldest

[00:05:14] we're still the oldest black owned bank in the country

[00:05:19] so funny story about this and now I was in the African American Museum

[00:05:25] and they had city bank in the African American Museum like they had a little

[00:05:31] small is it I don't know if it's still there but you know that people go to DC

[00:05:35] they send me pictures every time every time my friend that goes there to know

[00:05:38] that that I'm at the bank they'll send me a picture so I'm working on

[00:05:43] and figure out a way to take the girls up there my kids and my son wife

[00:05:48] up there next summer to do everything in DC we have famed there

[00:05:51] but that's gonna be fun to go see it and now that our family's a part

[00:05:54] of the ownership is pretty cool and that's what I'm gonna say you just

[00:05:58] kind of blew by that ownership y'all right yeah that's you know that's

[00:06:06] fairly new this year we finished up a capital raise in March my family was

[00:06:12] fortunate enough to help to put our own money in on that on that capital

[00:06:16] raise and control the bank plans and growth with some other folks and so

[00:06:22] it's pretty cool it'll never happen again in history in the city because

[00:06:29] we're never selling it. Perfect. That's all I'd like to hear. Yeah.

[00:06:35] So Jeff if you don't mind just tell us how you know you went from

[00:06:40] you know playing basketball you know going to to Lipscomb transfer over

[00:06:44] to Tennessee you know helping coach a little bit and playing and

[00:06:49] turn that into being a bank owner man who knows a black bank owner right like

[00:06:54] it's right you really did that for athletics to bank on you know I think

[00:06:59] all three of us can appreciate our upbringing and our families and being

[00:07:03] raised in a church household with Godfrey and grandparents and parents

[00:07:11] and I was putting Boy Scouts at a young age and so athletics was a big

[00:07:17] part of my life but also was I'm an Eagle Scout and so I've been

[00:07:21] I've been really fortunate enough to be able to navigate the black and white

[00:07:25] world you know even coming up in inner city I was in scouting which is mostly

[00:07:30] white kids and so it really helped me like when I went to college at

[00:07:34] Lipscomb it was a small Christian school all white

[00:07:39] but because of that I was able to like acclimate and get in their world

[00:07:43] and so my career kind of spent off of that so when I got to UT I was with me

[00:07:47] they were able to get involved with the basketball program getting athletics

[00:07:52] there and sports management and finance I fell in love with finance and decided

[00:07:57] not to coach took a job with Amp South Bank in Marriville, Tennessee where

[00:08:04] Coach former lived and you know it's been up from there man and the

[00:08:09] bank and I realized when I got into the role there was no people of color in

[00:08:13] leadership but there was mostly men and so I said what

[00:08:17] what was the history of all the men that actually rose to prominence in the

[00:08:21] bank and it was commercial banking and so the commercial department is the

[00:08:26] bread and butter of America small business lending has created this whole

[00:08:30] country you know there isn't a publicly traded company

[00:08:34] that wasn't a small business first like there's no company coming out making

[00:08:38] 100 million they all made one to two million dollars at first

[00:08:42] even you know even a Facebook or or Netflix they were all small businesses

[00:08:48] at one point in time and so I realized this is the one of the most closely

[00:08:52] held practices in our country is is lending to small businesses and that

[00:08:58] growth turns into what we see now the Pepsi's and Coke's of the world

[00:09:02] and said I said well look I'm gonna I'm gonna be a commercial banker and

[00:09:06] I realized I was good at the relationship piece and teaching and educating

[00:09:10] and I'm you know naturally a servant so I always loved community stuff

[00:09:15] and banks do everything in the community as y'all know

[00:09:19] so I spent like 17 years doing that but because of doing that in the city

[00:09:24] and being from here and you know it's our relationship driven I got a tap

[00:09:29] and call probably five years ago from the chairman of the board now to help

[00:09:35] come and talk about changing the bank around and that's what got me involved

[00:09:41] in the capital raise and I realized that oh I can put something in on this too

[00:09:47] and it started started snowballing I realized I can put a lot in this

[00:09:51] and and and have some people back me too they have some power and position

[00:09:59] but also they didn't let me run it with with Cory Hamas who's my business

[00:10:04] partner in this and we're in the door now and it's going to be a very cool story

[00:10:09] when the history is next and I don't care who knows now my money's in the bank

[00:10:14] you know like I don't care like you know I was I've kept it close closely

[00:10:20] to the vest but it's time to tell the story.

[00:10:25] Man this is awesome. Banking is something that in our community I mean other than

[00:10:33] getting your check direct deposited I feel like as a kid I didn't really learn much about

[00:10:39] you know banking and I think that now it's really important especially I have kids now

[00:10:45] that earlier I can start them you know learning about banking the better right because it seems

[00:10:52] like you had you found that niche and was like yeah I like this this is what I'm going to do

[00:10:56] it just it just seems like that needs to start earlier in our community is that something that

[00:11:02] you could say is true or well I'll say this Terry Turner who's the CEO of Pinnacle tells the

[00:11:07] story he's from Atlanta talks with a big like almost big southern draw like you know almost

[00:11:14] foghorn leg horn but he's super brilliant big you know faith-based guy amazing leader

[00:11:21] and he talks about his dad was a salesman as a kid and his dad will come home

[00:11:26] as a salesman for a big company and talk business at the table at the dinner table every night and so

[00:11:34] when he got to college he knew terminology about banking assets sales and marketing

[00:11:43] HR like these are the things his dad would come home and talk about around the dinner table

[00:11:47] and I think that's something that our community doesn't do a lot because it's very new to us to

[00:11:53] be in a position to talk of corporate America now I think our generation needs to think about that

[00:12:02] and realize hey we need to be discussing money with our kids earlier and make it a part of just

[00:12:09] normal talk around the family household and it's not some secret I think in the past it was a

[00:12:16] secret because we was always broke and we wanted to kids know how bad we've struggled but now there's

[00:12:21] a big black middle class in this country that needs to replicate that you know we only been technically

[00:12:28] free 50 years you know barely 50 years and so it's going to take a couple hundred years for us to

[00:12:34] just catch up our financial education but I see it my Ernie Lees is a great is a great

[00:12:42] story and I think that's snowballing to a lot of other financial literacy programs like we have one

[00:12:49] with Operation Hope it's based at our branch and they do financial literacy eight to five at our bank

[00:12:56] okay I'm you know six figures a year to be in our bank they're not they don't work for us but it's

[00:13:02] full financial literacy anybody can use them you can sign up with your family

[00:13:07] um and we have one in our office on Jefferson street

[00:13:12] and for those who don't know Jefferson Street is the predominantly black area in the Nashville

[00:13:19] area that's where home of TSU if everybody knows anything about anything TSU's down there along

[00:13:26] with some other prominent schools in that area. That's all by a hundred black businesses on Jefferson Street.

[00:13:32] Did y'all know that? Did you start on Jefferson? I didn't I did not know that. Over a hundred black

[00:13:36] businesses on Jefferson? Yeah. Wow. So with that being said a lot more dancing y'all think it is

[00:13:43] man there's a lot of us over there in business. With that being said like this I think this

[00:13:51] makes a good point right like what why is the black bank so important to our community?

[00:13:57] Yeah a simple math 90 cents of every dollar bank budget for lending from cash all right and if we

[00:14:06] could pull our resources and put it into a bank that's owned by us we won't have any problems

[00:14:14] we won't need Bank of America we won't need Chase we won't need Walsh Fargo but the fact that

[00:14:20] they've done what they always do is divide and conquer our communities with marketing

[00:14:27] and sponsorships of our junior pro teams and our churches and our cookouts and our philanthropies

[00:14:34] we're divided and that's the new way to do it but the old way they did it was Jim Crow

[00:14:42] systematic oppression, red lining even before that you know colorism they've always divided us

[00:14:52] in how we move and so I mean we have to figure it out like you know the institutions are still

[00:14:58] here there's a national bankers association which is all black banks that are doing things together

[00:15:05] we just financed the NFL recently with a hundred million dollar line of credit all black money

[00:15:12] we did that deal the NFL brought that deal to us because a lot of these corporations are

[00:15:17] coming to the Lanny Hops practice facility that was an all black bank refinance that was

[00:15:22] 45 million dollar deal we have citizens has two million dollars of that deal so

[00:15:27] things are starting to happen but this is them this is the renaissance of us right now it really is

[00:15:33] so what you're saying is um and what I've come to find out is banks are looking to lend money

[00:15:39] you just have to have your things and your you know assets and things in a ducks in a row

[00:15:45] and come with a good business plan and a bank is looking to loan you that money because that's

[00:15:50] how they make money I don't think sometimes people really realize yeah you're cash in the bank and I

[00:15:56] think the leverage that I think our community doesn't realize the more we have in cash in one bank

[00:16:01] that's ours the more power we have to dictate where that money goes and so in the past what happened

[00:16:09] and so there's a book written by uh Mercer Baderrand she's an uh the Indian law professor

[00:16:16] she's a Cal Berkeley but she used to be a Georgia she wrote a book about the color it was called The

[00:16:21] Color of Money the History Black Banks and the Wealth Gap and in that book she describes

[00:16:25] the way that we were divided and and how the system kept us away from pulling our resources

[00:16:34] together and if we would just a percentage of us would just come together and say hey

[00:16:39] let's just pull our stuff in one bank then you can dictate the the policies of that bank you can

[00:16:46] sit on the board you can be an advisory board member your community is telling you this is what

[00:16:51] we want now it's still a regulatory business you know we just can't do every deal but at the same time

[00:16:59] you can look at our track record the last three years like we've done the impact study

[00:17:03] and most of our clients look like us and we've stretched and we've done some remarkable things

[00:17:08] that have not been done at traditional banks great great now i know and some of you may not know

[00:17:17] who are some of the people that you've helped get loans to start businesses some of them are pretty

[00:17:22] prominent around here i know once you know sometimes people don't like to brag but i want

[00:17:25] to let people know yeah i mean i you know we we've helped several i mean we've worked with

[00:17:31] the Slemon Huskies owners on on on projects before they even got into business they

[00:17:36] got a company called the green truck and you know the citizens was one of the first

[00:17:41] clients you know Matthew Walker Healthcare Center on Jefferson Street TSU FISC

[00:17:48] you know a lot of our institutions of color have come through is 90 percent of the black churches

[00:17:54] in national have borrowed some money from from Citizens Bank you know we've worked with

[00:17:59] prominent nonprofits in the city schools not charter schools you know kid leave academy and all

[00:18:07] of you know we've this is the list goes on and on of who's dealt with that with that with that bank

[00:18:13] and it's just it's only a small piece of the business you know we're 180 million dollars in assets

[00:18:21] which means we have about 18 million dollars in capital that's that's still a small bank

[00:18:26] y'all and so in order for us to really affect us our goals to get to a billion you know we want to be

[00:18:34] 250 million in assets in Nashville and go to Memphis and grow there to be at a half of

[00:18:41] billion dollars and then that combined capital gets us about 50 million in capital

[00:18:46] and that's how you keep growing right and that's how you can touch more small businesses

[00:18:53] and the stories that come from this is is literally people have been in office in tears

[00:18:57] because we have been able to structure things outside of the box because of our mission

[00:19:04] and so and then it's it's it's stores for days man that's that's so great and could you

[00:19:14] that talks about your your community engagement that you're really into

[00:19:18] and I know you have a strong like interest in in your community and wanted you to touch on

[00:19:25] your granddad's I know you got some agrooter center and I know that's one thing that really

[00:19:29] impacted you so I froze up a little bit Jen I froze up a little bit I want you to kind of talk

[00:19:34] about your your granddad and his center that he has here in Nashville and how it opens your

[00:19:39] heart you know community engagement absolutely and you know the ancestry of that we've talked

[00:19:44] about there with other guests about okay yeah man you got you really got to walk into your

[00:19:49] ancestry man I'm thankful that I had two grandparents and my mom's family was amazing too man they

[00:19:58] were more blue-clawler that that's where I get the soul food and the spirituality from and and

[00:20:04] then but the education and civil rights and social justice piece came from the McGrew side of the

[00:20:11] family so my grandfather was a physician at maher he taught that 40 years he was the medical director

[00:20:17] of the hospital my grandmother curly McGrewter was a civil rights activist in the 60s she

[00:20:25] was the one that the center was named after her name and likeness is all over north Nashville

[00:20:32] because of her training of students from Fisk primarily Fisk students to go to the Woolworth

[00:20:41] downtown to demonstrate peaceful protesting as people would throw and spit in their face at

[00:20:49] lunch counters she didn't take no shit and people knew her for that every mayor every mayor or

[00:20:58] candidate before she before they before she passed away would would have to go to see her

[00:21:04] and hear what black issues were and she did not play recently I was just overwhelmed with the motion

[00:21:12] I was able to go to the national public library and pull records of her from an old and national

[00:21:19] general national banner and see pictures of her in action in black and white I mean these photos

[00:21:26] and then there's a hundred articles of her name and these and here's what the takeaway is

[00:21:34] the headlines on those articles violence protest

[00:21:42] black rights voter suppression that it does that sound familiar

[00:21:49] but the dates on those article the dates on those articles were 1963

[00:21:56] which seems like a long time ago but man it was and that's her name was in a lot of those

[00:22:01] articles and so I'm saying the fight is just still getting going to really get us where we need

[00:22:06] to be and so I'm I'm pushing into that my grandfather was medical grandmother social

[00:22:12] justice I'm doing it with economics

[00:22:18] so I I got a question just talking about banks I know like you said earlier you know these other

[00:22:24] bigger banks have to have divided and conquered black people how can and it goes back to the

[00:22:33] I feel like it goes back to the fact where they where you hear the old additive

[00:22:36] the white man's ice is colder than mine or you know that's true that's true that's true how

[00:22:42] how do we I mean how can we get into these black banks how can we take our money out of

[00:22:50] our other banks and put them into these black banks well I mean the process is so simple now

[00:22:55] because it's all digital and I think it's more of a mindset to start a movement it takes an

[00:23:03] institution to kind of get loud about it you know one being the black church really needs to get

[00:23:09] behind it at a at a loud level and that's one of the initiatives that we have is really driving

[00:23:14] the church to push some of this because that's where we listen the next thing is our is our

[00:23:20] black is our black nonprofits that are very social justice active like the equity alliance

[00:23:26] urban leads of the world NAACP who have a large voice who have a large voice in the community

[00:23:35] need to get behind some of this stuff and then the rest will follow because

[00:23:40] individually to do a celebrity endorsements big in our community as you all know

[00:23:47] you get LeBron James and and Shaq and and these folks behind some of this stuff you see

[00:23:53] killer Mike when they how that went with the Greenwood bank there was an online digital kind of a

[00:23:59] marketing play bank it wasn't a real community bank but you know it takes that type of movement

[00:24:05] for us to have a change in mindset because doing it one-on-one is cool like I love how

[00:24:13] I do it every day and I love talking to people and they you know and I win you know more

[00:24:17] business than I lose with us because it doesn't I go right to the heart

[00:24:21] but folks who realized like you you just you can't tell me that that this doesn't work for you

[00:24:28] especially now because we've got the bank rocking

[00:24:31] but at the higher level though our institutions have to get on board and here's the issue with them

[00:24:42] corporate America knows that and you know what they do they are on the the tip

[00:24:53] the breasts they are they are they are addicted to it they're drinking the milk

[00:24:59] from corporations large corporations they can't get off of because they're they need it to

[00:25:05] run their operations right right and so it's it's going to take a it's going to take a

[00:25:09] lot it's going to take us to have our own companies to be able to move into these banks to grow because

[00:25:16] like our big companies and our big nonprofits can't do anything because they're so they need

[00:25:21] the corporate donations to keep coming to them. So with and I hate to belabor this but I'm

[00:25:29] just trying to think as a layman right here if I'm just a common person and

[00:25:36] because I feel like when we're talking about community and banks a lot of people

[00:25:40] want that oh let me go into a branch type deal so with citizens being a smaller bank there's only

[00:25:48] one location the one location on Jefferson right? We have a location on Jefferson and we also have

[00:25:53] one in Memphis so which is our next our next phase of growth. So will there be I mean I know

[00:26:00] you're saying in your next phase of growth is there going to be any other smaller branches

[00:26:05] like around the city or are we just? You know we we will hire more private banker and business

[00:26:11] bankers to be in the market you know because the the fixed assets of real estate is it doesn't

[00:26:17] really help your bottom line and with technology everyone's using cash app or VMO and direct

[00:26:25] deposit and they're using remote deposit capture for their business so they're not coming in they

[00:26:31] really just want someone to come see them. The consumer especially is driven by where you lend

[00:26:38] them money so they'll bank wherever you can lend them some money though so that's why you see USAA

[00:26:45] and Navy Federal Credit do so well in our community because they you can get your car you

[00:26:50] can get your house through them and so oh I can just open the account online while I'm buying a house

[00:26:55] I'll move my direct deposit now bank with Navy Federal so that's the same flavor that I'm going

[00:27:00] after you know we want to be a great lender in our community we have a great credit card

[00:27:05] product for a HELOC great mortgage product and that's how we're growing we won't have to

[00:27:09] have locations because people will come because they want to borrow and then we say okay in

[00:27:13] order to borrow you need to have an account with us. Oh man so I could I could go online

[00:27:19] right now and open up an account with citizens. Right now bankcbn.com you can open an account we

[00:27:28] have an online account process that works right now. See you done talked you didn't talk about

[00:27:34] my banks both of my banks so I guess I need to go ahead and go use my money. I can get a

[00:27:41] list of where all of most black people have their money in this country and it's probably five or

[00:27:46] six banks that have all of our money. Bank of America. Bank of America. All right we love Bank of America

[00:27:53] we love USAA we love Navy Federal Credit Union I would say Truist gets a little bit of our money

[00:28:02] but in Tennessee first to first horizon and Pinnacle those are those are that's here those are the

[00:28:10] like the five banks studios kind of cutting into some of that in Nashville because of Harry Allen's

[00:28:17] Capital Raise you did with Aaron and people thought it was a black-owned bank because he's from

[00:28:23] Nashville and he had a lot of black founders but it's it's just just like Pinnacle great bank

[00:28:29] great partners of ours but they're not black-owned. Man see see here you talking you talking my

[00:28:36] language and I'm a Pinnacle look I'm a Pinnacle bank person and I have Pinnacle stock like like I am

[00:28:43] in my yes I worked here I still have my stock I've been I worked at eight years oh man were you

[00:28:49] doing all right in your stock then because I am I know that's cool yeah I've been inspired I'm

[00:28:58] going to move my money at least one of my direct deposits over there well well since

[00:29:03] you know me uh you know like we have we have cars and people can scan a QR code or an app in a

[00:29:09] account but because you know me send me an email when you're ready and I'll give you a person

[00:29:14] that will walk you through the process which is gives you that more hands-on touch you know

[00:29:19] like you know we do the digital thing so when we're out like we had a we had a something with

[00:29:24] the Titans tonight with the official community lending partner for the Titans contract just

[00:29:29] on building this 2.2 billion dollar stadium we have a lending program with them so tonight we

[00:29:34] had a table and we had these cards to give out to people to to try out the online banking

[00:29:40] in new account future but when you meet me one-on-one I say don't go through that call me

[00:29:46] send me an email let me get you with someone it can get you going cool yeah I'm gonna do that

[00:29:51] personalized service look out for something for me later personalized service

[00:29:55] that's what it would be it's like I'd rather have a name thank you thank you for banking with us but

[00:29:59] I'd rather you know Maudel or Angela or or um Brittany uh who's over at I bet I mean or Lewis you

[00:30:08] know know those names like you know when people take a pinnacle people say I'll make a pinnacle and

[00:30:14] they say someone's name too yeah yeah and one of I know one pinnacles big thing if you call

[00:30:21] you're always gonna get somebody on the phone oh yeah three it's the three it's the three ring rule

[00:30:25] yeah and I love that like I love that I'm talking to a person who is local it used to drive for

[00:30:30] us crazy in the office because you had to pick that thing up man like you gotta get it like even

[00:30:34] if I was there and there's two people to bank like they're right if that third ring where you

[00:30:40] you don't want to get you don't want to get it to the fourth it's just it's just accountability

[00:30:44] is really cool we're working on that at our bank right now and it's getting close

[00:30:51] it's awesome so I got another question for you Jeff so um I know you're doing all these great

[00:30:57] things with your bank and you're big in the community how do you balance your career

[00:31:03] with your commitment to the community your commitment to your family

[00:31:07] so

[00:31:12] Doris say it one more time that you're oh yeah yeah I said how are you balancing like your

[00:31:18] your career and your community service and your family I know that all three of those things

[00:31:22] are very important to you well you know me bro like family's always first so you know the

[00:31:27] the cool thing about banking uh it's the most flexible job outside of maybe medical device

[00:31:33] sales and that you can have you know because a lot of it is digital now that I can talk to

[00:31:39] clients to test the clients check emails from the house um and so it allows me to be able to

[00:31:46] still coach pwe soccer be at dance practice you know pick up my you know diet mark my oldest

[00:31:57] soccer um so it does give me a lot of flexibility because banking is from eight to five technically

[00:32:04] but when you in the position that I'm in like a commercial banker or executive you know the bank's

[00:32:10] running it's moving every day and my job is just to stay out in the community but with

[00:32:16] with that flexibility if I need to shoot out at two o'clock to see my daughter play

[00:32:21] out here in Williamson County you know I can do it and so and I do that you know I don't consider

[00:32:28] myself a workaholic like that I'm I was raised in a good family environment where people

[00:32:34] will even come see me playing I I meant I want to be the same but I also like golf too

[00:32:41] you know that gives me that gives me my peace that's my that's my peace and so but also

[00:32:47] it also helps make me money you know because a lot of it's been some good time with people that

[00:32:51] end up becoming clients about too um yeah man it's it's it's really cool um that I found this very

[00:32:59] early my tourney around with other things um and it's like no I knew this was my thing and

[00:33:09] and it's really cool so I'll also I'll tell y'all this this is pretty historic um

[00:33:14] um we launched they we have a wealth management company that that I launched along with the bank

[00:33:21] it's called Jefferson Bridge Capital and it's the only it's one of the only black owned registered

[00:33:26] investment advisory firms in the state of Tennessee um it's already doing about 150 million

[00:33:33] AUM that's that's assets under management um we have three employees I serve as a board member

[00:33:40] um and they focus only on institution institutional money which is really unheard of in a black owned

[00:33:48] environment and that's going to be a big story when it comes out because I think they'll get to

[00:33:52] a billion asset for the bank well I got a quick question like when we're talking about black

[00:34:02] money I've always heard like this random number but maybe you know this because you're in the

[00:34:07] banking industry but how how long does the black dollar stay in our community like is there research

[00:34:15] yeah there's research and I think it's a pretty pitiful number to even quote compared to everyone

[00:34:20] else's but it's not even the circulation I think they do it by days how many days it's

[00:34:29] circulating the community um and I think the highest is probably like the Jewish community

[00:34:35] has a very high circulation it's like 17 days it circulates or something some crazy number like that

[00:34:43] and hours is not I mean it's like it's like hours it's something really pitiful man because

[00:34:51] you understand we don't own anything right that right right like from a consumer standpoint

[00:34:57] we don't own anything you know like the best thing you can do is try to hire out all of your

[00:35:02] home service like I think about my family my you know our we have a cleaning service we have

[00:35:09] the landscaper we have a we have a garbage pickup you know those are all three black owned companies

[00:35:15] right there I mean I think I mean ways that's the ways that we can do when it comes to shopping

[00:35:22] you know you get your haircut of course right you go to the beautician right you know those

[00:35:26] you know but it's limited man we start thinking about the big stuff that we spend

[00:35:30] car dealerships you know like going through a going through a place to buy your house going

[00:35:37] through a realtor that's the way to do it but the realtor needs to be a broker at all their firm

[00:35:41] so it's like start thinking about these things he's speaking institutional things that people spend

[00:35:45] money on we don't have we don't have it man that's a crazy stat hours like hours hours

[00:35:55] it's gone like you get it it's gone like everybody think about being changed

[00:36:01] you know and I would think about I know what I know it works like the average average african america is

[00:36:08] $17,000 a net worth average white and white companies

[00:36:14] have a 10-fold net worth game we're working with that from birth from birth 17,000

[00:36:21] which is why black banks are important like right there point

[00:36:28] it's crazy why I mean the multiplication only can be done through black banks I mean what you see

[00:36:34] having a $1,000 black owned bank like liberty setting the standard

[00:36:41] it's really important you know they've done it the right way so when we look up to

[00:36:47] their entity they call it the high state bank which is in Memphis but we're gonna be bigger

[00:36:56] I like it I like it a lot yeah so we've been talking a lot about you know Jeff the banker

[00:37:03] Jeff the father Jeff the community service leader how about Jeff the person what do you do

[00:37:10] for your mental health to keep you sane I know you're doing a lot and what can you advise others on

[00:37:19] on how you you keep it all together because I know there's some days when the family needs you

[00:37:24] and somebody else needs you to get pulled into a million places how do you manage those things

[00:37:29] well well first of all you know spiritualism for me I'm a Christian you know and going to church

[00:37:34] on Sundays that time at church as you can all do you realize that like why people pray and why are

[00:37:41] you praising worship and why you sit in a in a seat for an hour hour and a half like that is

[00:37:51] that is therapy too you know that that piece that you get to yourself to think and concentrate

[00:37:57] on God once a week like that is big time there's stats around the longevity of people that go to

[00:38:03] church consistently like their health is better because of that that at least once a week they

[00:38:09] know they have a concentrated time to themselves next is exercise you know I'm a big Kobe Bryant

[00:38:17] fair I don't get up at 4am but my alarm goes off at 4 30 you know and I'm trying to get to the

[00:38:23] gym by 5 at least three to four days a week right here down the street from my house and in

[00:38:29] that session I'm trying to do whatever I can as hard as I can go for an hour you know and in that

[00:38:35] and then that time as you know as an athlete you're already it's it's I mean it's therapeutic

[00:38:40] manner to break a sweat and to just persevere through something and strain and have a little pain

[00:38:47] going before you get to the next time and then leaving the gym after you have a good

[00:38:52] sweat is one of the best feelings because it's 6 30 in the morning sun's rising it's cool outside

[00:38:59] and you and do your your your set that's one of the best days I've been a Y member since I was

[00:39:05] five years old you know I've been going to middle Tennessee wise you know and I think about

[00:39:10] that sometimes I say damn I've been going here for 40 years that's a big number bro so you've

[00:39:18] been going someplace for 40 years and you realize oh this is why I'm not as stressed because I

[00:39:23] have a place to go as a sanctuary um and lastly I mean I think just mental health is spending

[00:39:29] time with my wife and my kids like after you know that's uh you know downtime is seen when you're

[00:39:36] doing a thing you know that's therapeutic to me um and cooking you see I like to get online and

[00:39:44] throw up something and do my premium cooking uh prep and you know and thinking about food

[00:39:51] I'm a little bit of a nut about because I started thinking about what I'm going to cook on

[00:39:54] weekends on like Wednesday I'll see a TikTok video and I'll just I'll just fantasize about it until

[00:40:00] Saturday so I can go to the store and buy the ingredients and put it together and show it off

[00:40:05] on my on my Instagram feed that keeps me sane too that is that is awesome um I'm thinking

[00:40:15] about you and your family right now and I know sometimes with black men they they say that we're

[00:40:20] not great fathers are not great husbands but I've seen you you've been a great husband great father

[00:40:26] and to talk about the the husband part how have you and Jess has such a great relationship over

[00:40:32] the years proving that black families are together and that we love each other and we value each

[00:40:39] other how can we make sure that's heard and if other people are struggling what advice would

[00:40:43] you have for them in that room I give a lot of credit to my wife man I mean I look up to her

[00:40:48] and her family like you know I'm married way up you know I came from just you know broken households

[00:40:54] single mom single dad grandparents raising me and very loved but didn't have a model

[00:41:04] and so seeing Jessica's family and being around them her mom and dad had basically taken me on the

[00:41:09] stairs you know now I can say like it's a 20 year relationship with them as well along with Jessica

[00:41:16] and the way they move means spirituality family you know loving on people in the community like

[00:41:23] it just hits home with with us and um and my wife has introduced me to another world too

[00:41:32] you know that's helped my career like she's been able to navigate being a biracial woman

[00:41:37] from Memphis um of course she identified as a black woman let me just be clear

[00:41:44] but but in that space my wife can navigate being an aka being a Tennessee ball but also be able

[00:41:52] to be a dance mom in Brentwood you know I'm saying and I love watching her in that space

[00:41:57] and I admire that and it helps me so we both sharpen each other because you know

[00:42:04] one of the telling things for us when we were the youngest family in England with lipscomb board

[00:42:09] you know lipscomb is as lay white as it can get from a school standpoint I'm and I'm proud to be

[00:42:14] an alma mater of the school but excuse me an alumni of the school and but when we were on that

[00:42:22] trip man it was just us one of the black folks in England and we and we were we were a beloved

[00:42:29] couple because our willingness to be vulnerable in front of these these these older white families

[00:42:36] and it was it just shows just we just get each other but we're also able to resonate that

[00:42:42] and make other people feel good around being with us great you think great think athletics help

[00:42:48] with that because I mean let's be real we all are former Tennessee athletes right like the

[00:42:55] fan base is very much white so you think that helped with that any of that Tennessee going to

[00:43:02] Tennessee man come on bro that's you know you really get I mean you get you get at first hand

[00:43:08] but it's not like it's some demonstrators like they they pledge you into it it's done in love

[00:43:13] you really see the spirit of folks um and and being an athlete it did help like break down

[00:43:20] those barriers and after you know getting into a career getting into jobs and talking to clients

[00:43:27] and being I would say I went to lips come I went to Tennessee the conversation the first 30 minutes

[00:43:32] is about who the balls are playing this weekend you know and do you want to come over and have

[00:43:38] some barbecue I mean look the tailgate experience is everything the tailgate is how you learn

[00:43:47] how to navigate in business if you can get through a Tennessee tailgate kick it you meet everybody

[00:43:53] you will be a successful student and an alumni you're gonna get a job you're gonna get an opportunity

[00:44:00] at a tailgate that's really it that is entirely true because that is how I got my first big boy

[00:44:07] job yes sir come on that's hot hat that's cool that is here it is

[00:44:20] and I do you got force I was gonna ask him um what are his tips because I mean he's a successful

[00:44:27] person right for personal growth for any man and especially the black man growing up in um

[00:44:34] Nashville or anywhere currently you know outside you know the spirituality in your

[00:44:41] mental health is everything physical like but you can't mentally and physically you just got

[00:44:47] to be sharp right I just think you got to take care of your body and your mind those are like

[00:44:52] top two you know because health as well like is you know you can have you can earn all this

[00:44:57] money but if you if your blood is messed up you need to take your blood pressure you need

[00:45:01] to take your cholesterol every year you don't know what's coming like you ain't gonna be able to keep

[00:45:06] you know so health and mental health and like like especially in our community where there's

[00:45:10] just a denial of pain because we we we suppress pain because we're under pain and we're under

[00:45:16] stress all the time as black men like like those two things right there are so important

[00:45:22] and you'll hear people someone ask like that question they don't go right into some kind of task

[00:45:27] do this read this book I say no mental health physical health first for black men get that right

[00:45:34] we're the most talented people in the world black americans we are but we got to get that health and

[00:45:41] mental health and physical health we gotta we gotta tighten that up and after that you know you

[00:45:47] just gotta get your plan now I use a system um I call it the get shit done list

[00:45:54] I keep it I keep it ongoing every month I have an October 2023 get shit done list and as I'm

[00:46:03] thinking of things all throughout the day I'm putting them in a bullet point

[00:46:07] under my notes and I'm putting a priority beside the A B or C and throughout the month I'm working

[00:46:13] through that I'm working through that list that my office or at home and uh and that's and

[00:46:18] that's really that I learned that from Boy Scout you know like early marriage badges there was always a

[00:46:24] list of things I had to accomplish to get that married badge or that next so that's how that's

[00:46:31] how I built my career it's really building out um that get shit done list that's that's had different

[00:46:38] iterations of names but now it's the get shit done list because serious business

[00:46:42] yeah I really appreciate you bringing up the the health factor I'm really um an advocate for

[00:46:51] black male health and for us to find a provider if we have to find one that looks like us

[00:46:58] great but if we need to find somebody can y'all hear me am I bad got you can yeah um having

[00:47:07] some technical difficulties with that rain that came through I think but anyway I'm saying

[00:47:11] I'm a big and I think some of these technical difficulties that's probably due to the new

[00:47:16] software that we are using we might need to go back to old software yeah it's all good though

[00:47:22] go ahead and try it one more time for you try one more time um I'm a big advocate for black male

[00:47:27] health um because I see a lot of us and older black men who feel like if I go to the hospital

[00:47:33] I may not come out right I don't want to go to hospital because I don't want to know what's

[00:47:37] happening or they'd have that you only live once lifestyle but my biggest thing I like to tell people

[00:47:43] is you may only live once but you can suffer before you die and that suffering can affect your family

[00:47:52] it can affect your job it can affect everyone around you because if you have a stroke you

[00:47:58] you may not die right away with a stroke but you're going to have to go to rehab you have to

[00:48:03] miss work and all these different things that you're going to have to suffer with because you

[00:48:08] decided that your health wasn't important you decided to smoke cigarettes and things of that

[00:48:14] nature and it all can catch up with you at one point in time and hopefully that's the wake

[00:48:22] up call but we don't need that you know health to me is wealth because if you're not working you

[00:48:28] make this money you can't invest the money like with Jeff you know if you're not getting it here

[00:48:33] you can't put it there so if we're not healthy and one thing you can't buy is health right you have

[00:48:40] health when you're born most of the time and if you lose it it's hard really hard to get it back

[00:48:46] so all of us out there please please take it seriously go get your checkups like Jeff was talking

[00:48:52] about get your blood pressure check get your cholesterol checked make sure your blood sugar

[00:48:56] under control those are three things that we can all can do and make sure we do at least yearly

[00:49:02] all right well good good Jeff man I really really appreciate you know you you stop

[00:49:08] stopping in and um and sharing these financial literacy tools with us and things that you're

[00:49:15] doing these great things that you're doing at the bank um I've known I've been knowing you for

[00:49:20] a while and when you told me about purchasing the bank I was like man that's that's big time

[00:49:24] man like who gets to do these things who lives this who would expect that this will happen in this

[00:49:30] lifetime too so I did it I know and that value your opinion and like all the things you've told me I

[00:49:35] can see it coming to fruition in your life all the faith the family the love mentorship that you

[00:49:43] showed um it all has come to fruition man and I want to give you your flowers you know let you

[00:49:49] know man we're we're looking up to you and that we appreciate what you do for the for the

[00:49:52] community and Nashville in the black community platform this is beautiful thank you all so much

[00:50:02] man yeah so look again sorry everybody's listening for our technical difficulties again we're using

[00:50:11] some new software you might have to go back to the old software but that's okay um so if you

[00:50:18] know anything about our show you know at the end we always give our final thoughts so we're gonna give

[00:50:24] it to our guests let them let them give us final thoughts for tonight

[00:50:29] what's there so I'm kind of out of silence man I can go to a lot of places with pigs I'll

[00:50:36] do what's in the most top of my mind right now reading a book right now from uh called

[00:50:41] shoe dog I feel nice so we'll go back to the athlete's story it's a great book it talks about

[00:50:48] the journey of Nike but one of the things he talks about is like what kept him going as he was a

[00:50:54] runner at Oregon and he just and what what drove him was his athleticism and his his wanting to

[00:51:03] continue to grow the business and it was just like as a long distance runner you got to keep

[00:51:08] running the race and so I would say my final thoughts for us is like people that are trying to get

[00:51:14] it we got to keep running this race but we got to run it together you know and and there's a lot

[00:51:22] for us America is ready for us they want us um I think the blame game we can't do it anymore

[00:51:30] there's no excuse in every immigrant group in this country is figured out a way to scale themselves

[00:51:36] like people are still struggling because we're divided amongst ourselves mentally run our race

[00:51:42] together and we'll blow by everything by the competition let's go I like it you're raw what

[00:51:50] you got for us I gotta I got a little bit about just finding your your motivation

[00:52:01] and once you find that motivation at times it will leave you

[00:52:04] and when that motivation is gone or you need to something to pick you up depend on consistency

[00:52:10] because that's what'll get you through ultimately to reach your goals so start with motivation

[00:52:17] get the consistency then get that goal I like it well I don't have much look this has been a

[00:52:26] great conversation um and I look we're gonna keep bringing it because I believe

[00:52:34] the following week we're gonna have we're gonna have somebody here from Lulu Lim and Pham

[00:52:38] like we're gonna keep bringing the heat so so we're gonna have one of their ambassadors and

[00:52:45] I'm sure once this person gets on everybody's gonna know uh who they are because this person

[00:52:50] is in a lot of commercials that I've seen on tv so uh once you hear the name you're like oh my

[00:52:56] god another person but anyway we're gonna keep bringing the fire again Jeff we appreciate you coming

[00:53:00] on we are going to keep doing this and this is the this is the new black guy therapy we we are so

[00:53:06] excited we made a transition and we're glad that you are part of this transition with us

[00:53:11] and you can always come back whenever you want to you are never stranger here let's go bring

[00:53:16] it back we're gonna be a stranger at the bank yeah absolutely yeah bring that money I need

[00:53:23] let's go I'm bringing my a matter of fact on my other screen I have the bank portal pulled up

[00:53:34] standing on business right that's right stand on business

[00:53:46] I love it I love it and this is what blackout therapy is about y'all we can come together

[00:53:50] have these conversations and uh just fellowship with each other I love it so if ain't nobody else

[00:53:57] got nothing else to say as I always say every week we out we out thank you