00:00Text Currency Conversations Chase Essence.
00:04Hey there, I'm Kayla Walker, joined by two very special women,
00:08Michelle Evank, CEO of Essence Communications,
00:11and Raquel Oden, Managing Director of JPMorgan Chase.
00:15Okay, so tell me, how did the two of you come together?
00:17How did Essence team up with JPMorgan Chase?
00:19We've been privileged to be partners with JPMorgan Chase,
00:23and through that partnership, you know, we've had discussions
00:27about how can we improve lives of Black women,
00:30we were completely aligned.
00:32Absolutely.
00:33All of us at Essence and at JPMorgan Chase,
00:35and then it was how can we come together and create this initiative?
00:40We know that Black women are most likely the breadwinners
00:44and contribute a significant amount to household income,
00:48but we also know that we can be more on top of our finances.
00:53The partnership with Essence really allows us to focus on
00:56the strong Black women that we know.
00:58And we know you've been a staple in that community,
01:00we've been a staple in the financial services community,
01:02so what better partnership?
01:04Our culture is for, you know, Black women to help Black women.
01:08We teach each other, we learn from each other,
01:10we talk with our friends about so much,
01:13but we don't always talk about our money.
01:16Why is money so taboo in our community?
01:19We never talk about it as we should.
01:21When I think about taboos around finances,
01:23I honestly think it's just something that was never talked about in our household.
01:27Yeah.
01:27You know, I happen to be a first generation,
01:29my parents were immigrants to this country,
01:31and their real focus was really like,
01:34how do we stay in this country,
01:35how do you get an education and a roof over your head?
01:37It goes beyond that.
01:39And I never want my daughter to feel like
01:42this isn't something we're not going to talk about.
01:44We've got to stop making it a secret, right?
01:46And this is what we're trying to do here in this joint partnership,
01:49is allow this to be a conversation at every one of our dinner tables,
01:52conversations in our church, conversations with our parents.
01:57Because the idea here is that we want to pass on generational wealth, right?
02:01And have that conversation so it's not one and done,
02:04but we can think about our kids and our kids' kids.
02:06And I think that's the wealth of what we get to do.
02:09Kicking off those conversations,
02:11the women that I saw around me and that I loved and inspired me,
02:14I didn't see them save and take care of themselves financially.
02:20I met a guy who turned out to be my husband.
02:24Oh, okay, that's good.
02:25And so I met him in my 30s.
02:27And he said, why don't you own a home?
02:30It was such a wake-up call.
02:32I had earned, you know, a decent amount of money,
02:36but I spent it.
02:38I didn't know how to save,
02:40that it was important to save.
02:42No one ever talked to me about it.
02:43I have this thing where they always say, pay yourself first.
02:47And I think, unfortunately, how we look at it means,
02:49pay yourself first means I spend all that I need to,
02:53and what's left I save.
02:54I think we need to reverse that, right?
02:56When you say pay yourself first, it means I save first.
02:58I invest first, and then I spend what's left.
03:01It's never too late to start that saving journey.
03:04And as a child, you know, we had an unexpected fire.
03:07We lost our entire house.
03:08We lost everything.
03:09And we all know life gives us so many of these, right?
03:12Absolutely.
03:12And I never want to be in that situation
03:14that when the unexpected happens, we have no options.
03:18Financial wellness, it gives you financial freedom.
03:21Freedom to live life, freedom to make decisions,
03:24freedom to have purpose.
03:25This is an area, you know, where we're not comfortable.
03:29You know, the first time I had to sit down
03:31with a financial advisor, I was nervous.
03:33How did you develop the confidence to even start investing?
03:37Well, first I had to develop the confidence
03:39to make the appointment.
03:41That is important.
03:43You know, need to get the information
03:44and turn to our trusted institutions
03:47that can really advise us on what do we need to know
03:52in order to take the steps to secure ourselves financially
03:57and then secure our families.
03:58And I think part of the conversations
04:00that we have, especially here at JPMorgan Chase,
04:03is we need to allow our clients to feel comfortable
04:06to have this conversation.
04:08It's simply someone looking at you and saying,
04:10what are you saving for?
04:11It's a very normal question
04:13that you can quickly get your mind around.
04:15And what's the purpose of your money?
04:17What do you want your money to do?
04:18And then you simply say,
04:20do you feel like you have just enough,
04:22not enough, or more than enough?
04:24We are going to be the largest inheritors of wealth.
04:28And as women, if we don't understand
04:30financial conversations now,
04:33we can't wait till those moments happen.
04:34And it should be noted that you can start small.
04:37A lot of times you think of savings
04:38and you think it has to be this big,
04:40overwhelming task or this big chore,
04:42but you can start small.
04:43The point is to just start.
04:44And it's gonna be 20,000 strong.
04:46We're all saving.
04:47We're all getting to that goal.
04:49Everyone.
04:49It can be individual.
04:50Everyone.
04:50You can be a teenager,
04:51your 20s, 30s, 40s, a grandmother.
04:54Yes.
04:54Let's all start together.
04:56And we'll start with 20,000 women.
04:58But we want 100,000 women, 200,000 women.
05:01We want this to be what's expected.
05:03I agree.
05:04Your goals are waiting.
05:05Make the commitment today.
05:07Essence.com slash currency conversations.
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