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One conversation can transform your business, and this one could be the catalyst.
In this episode of the Black Business Live Podcast, award-winning storyteller, filmmaker, and business strategist Dr. Cheryl Polote-Williamson, a woman on a mission to empower and elevate others, shares how to build legacy, lead with authority, and expand your influence globally.
Underpinned by faith, this is the Market Access Playbook for Black entrepreneurs ready to break barriers, win markets, and scale with purpose.
Creators and Guests
What is Black Business Live Podcast?
Where bold conversations meet Black excellence. Black Business Live (BBL) Podcast is a live, immersive storytelling podcast spotlighting the journeys of successful Black entrepreneurs, creatives, and business leaders who have scaled their companies and are committed to helping others rise.
Born out of a deep need for community, strategic partnership, and authentic representation, our podcast goes beyond traditional interviews. Each episode features accomplished leaders who exemplify Black business excellence.
BBL Podcast is part of the Black Business Network, a peer-driven platform where entrepreneurs connect, collaborate, and grow, all housed within All Things Black and Beautiful (ATBB), a social enterprise focused on business education, market access, and sustainable growth.
Our podcast bridges the gap between knowledge and transformation, showing that real growth happens through visibility, connection, and proximity to those who’ve done it before.
Tune in to be inspired, informed, and empowered.
Welcome, everybody, to the Black Business Live Podcast. We're so excited to have you all here. Today, we have a very special guest with us, and we'll be introducing her shortly. But before we start, we just wanna tell you a little bit about us. So I'm Tolu.
Belva:I'm Belva.
Tolu:And we are the co hosts of The Black Business Live. This is an immersive live podcast where we are showcasing real stories for of business leaders who have walked the path and are ready to give back to the community because we believe that that representation drives aspiration. And our motivation is to bring that aspiration to our community so that we can all grow and scale and thrive in our businesses.
Belva:Yes. So we are so excited to have doctor Cheryl Williamson with us today. And we just wanna say that first of all, before I ask any questions, you are so fabulous today and I just love your outfit and I love it because you typically wear some folks that are in your network's outfits and you like to promote. So would you like to share with us today who you are wearing and how fabulous you are today?
Dr. Cheryl:Actually, I'll start with the earrings. Okay. Because this is the artsy girl. She is out of Atlanta. Uh-huh.
Dr. Cheryl:I love her. My makeup is actually done by an amazing artist here who is Belandra. This is Alice and Olivia and typically I have on Seysa now, but today I don't have her on. Okay. But they are very amazing women doing some awesome things.
Belva:I love that. Thank you for sharing and I love the fact that you wear local artists, black owned artists as well. And you know, support and promote on all of your shows. So I think that's fantastic.
Dr. Cheryl:So I'll say this, I also believe in truth and transparency. So today, Allison Olivia is not a black owned she is globally, but she's not black owned. Artsy girl is, and my makeup artist is as well. You'll always get transparency from me.
Belva:I love that. Thank you for that. Absolutely, so today we're going to treat Doctor. Cheryl like she's our auntie in the living room with us all right so we're going to ask her some very personal questions that we really want to dig in to understand and know more about who she is and so that we can support you in all the many ventures that you are doing in the world. And so I really would like for you to start by sharing with us some of the b roll that we're rolling here about the products and programs that you're offering.
Dr. Cheryl:Absolutely. So the screen that you just left from is the summer issue of Cheryl Magazine. And I have to tell you this truly was a hard project because this was started in the middle of the pandemic. I was fortunate enough to get into the Goldman Sachs Small Business Program and they asked me what is your stretch goal and I said that I would take my 11 page newsletter and turn it into a 80 to 100 page full color magazine as a love letter to specifically black women. Lovely.
Dr. Cheryl:And people said, oh, it's not gonna work. Nobody's gonna buy it. Everybody's digital. And for me, I don't check with people once I've determined what I'm supposed to do. And I've honestly what God has told me to do.
Dr. Cheryl:I don't check with the human on anything that God has told me to do. So as I sit here before you right now, this magazine will be five years old in January. Yay. Yes. Uh-huh.
Dr. Cheryl:It is a global magazine which has now gone from being a magazine to being a c suite retreat. So I'm four years into doing a c suite retreat where I carry women away to foreign locations and it's in the height of luxury. Oh. And the reason that I do that is because I have found that typically women, we make sure that everybody else is okay except us. Everybody is getting a massage except us.
Dr. Cheryl:Everybody is taken care of except us. We help other people fly first class, but we won't fly first class. So I have awakened these women to realize that it's okay for you to experience luxury. You don't have to save all your money so that everybody else is okay. Absolutely.
Dr. Cheryl:So from the magazine to the c suite retreat to the Cheryl Magazine Women of Influence Luncheon, which you all have had up on the screen. Like I said, this is the summer issue Yeah. Which indicates there was a winter and a fall. It means a lot to me. Everything that I have done is in the spirit of legacy, of making sure that I leave things better than I found them and I pride myself on that.
Dr. Cheryl:Everything that I do I don't shrink in the opportunity, I don't worry about what are people gonna say because I realize that my time here is finite. Right. And so I don't have a lot of time to be messing around trying to figure out is everybody gonna like what I'm doing because the bottom line is as long as I like me, everybody else is extra.
Belva:Love it. So Doctor. Cheryl, one of your programs that I've read about and seen that you offer every year here in Dallas is the Women of Influence program or conference that you have in March which is my birthday month. So we know where we'll be this March. But I wanted to bring that up and ask you to share more about it so I would love to.
Dr. Cheryl:Was actually on the Cheryl Magazine c suite retreat and I heard the holy spirit say this is not enough. I want you to pay tribute to women. Now mind you that was in December.
Belva:Okay.
Dr. Cheryl:And I said really? And the Lord said yeah really, you can do this, if you lean in on me you can do this. So I said okay, so I came back from the c suite retreat in December, I booked the golf club where we had a, I think it was Gleneagles Country Club for year one and we recognized, I believe it was 10 or 11 women, amazing women, Awesome awesome Kim Tolbert, the new city manager was one of them. Alexis Kerr, Seth Marshall. It's just been a blessing to be able to honor women.
Dr. Cheryl:And the reason that I do it is because I realized that so much of the world is focused on celebrity and there's nothing wrong with that. I'm not taking anything away from that. But Sheryl Magazine is about inspiration for the everyday woman so this award and this venue is about making sure that I acknowledge women who are doing amazing things that the world does not know about. And so I've been afforded the opportunity to give awards to Tabitha Brown. She was honored last year, Egypt Sherard, Shanny Hoston, the vice president at AARP, Karen Boykin Towns, the chairman of the NAACP board, and the list goes on and on, and many of the women who are here.
Dr. Cheryl:So tomorrow, we'll actually open up the launch of the luncheon. Mhmm. And I have to say that we have been blessed to have six sponsors already come aboard before I've even gone public.
Belva:That's amazing.
Dr. Cheryl:I'm excited because two African American women who have a nursing practice here actually are my $50,000 sponsors this Wow.
Tolu:I want to piggyback on that because we're talking about legacy and what you've done with this award is that you have shown the world what it is to create legacy. And the women who are doing that in the corners of their room, in their in their households, you know, with the said, the nursing agencies, who would have thought, and you're showing that they are also creating legacy. Now, this, this series, this season for our podcast is around manufacturing, black excellence in manufacturing. And the reason why we chose manufacturing, it would that was even before the, you know, the Made in America initiative was announced. We chose manufacturing because we thought that there was a hidden gem there.
Tolu:It's a it's a place where you don't see women. In fact, I think it's only about 2% of black business owners that actually are operating in that space. So there is a lot of gap. Right? But then you but but then we hear about what you're doing with the Women of Influence Award and and the signposting that you're creating that for for our our generation of of business owners to see what is possible.
Tolu:So I wanna talk about that, about about how you are manifesting legacy and how our community can tap into these, these avenues that you're creating for them to to to also become influential women and men of influence as well?
Dr. Cheryl:I I love that question because I truly am a person that believe that representation matters. Mhmm. So I am very bold about everything that I do because I want people to know that if I can do it, you can do it. Mhmm. So from the women of influence luncheon to the books, it all started from manifestation.
Dr. Cheryl:Mhmm. In 2012 I had no books, not one book at all and I want our listeners to hear that because there's somebody right now that's sitting hoping, wishing, wondering when can I write a book? The key is to just start. You don't have to look for the perfect opportunity, you don't even have to be the best writer. You can hire people for that.
Dr. Cheryl:So I started writing down on my vision board and posting pictures of books, who would be my agent, all of those things, I had no books. You're looking at somebody now who has 19 books, one book in particular has sold over 75,000 copies of that book. From manifesting that I kept writing after I knew what was possible, I kept writing that I received a book deal. I just signed my book deal last year. Penguin Randby, thank you.
Dr. Cheryl:So Storehouse Voices which is the first imprint owned by African American woman through Penguin Random House, I was the very first person that they signed. But I will tell you about the power of manifestation because it happened because I was willing to do something that other people sometimes are not willing to do. I was sitting at my desk one day and this particular person that owns Storehouse Voices also owns Storehouse in a Box. And I heard the Lord tell me, oh you should contact them and tell them that you want to be a brand ambassador for them. And I said I don't have time for that.
Dr. Cheryl:You have me doing all these other things. I said it just like that. And he said no, you should go do that. So I sent in the picture and maybe about six weeks later they contacted me and I know this may be too much information but I just want people to realize how when your mindset becomes your superpower Yeah. Anything is possible.
Dr. Cheryl:You can be poor today and a multimillionaire tomorrow. Okay. So I sent in the photo, they accepted me. Three years, I did my very best. They always told me, oh, you put such heart into everything.
Dr. Cheryl:See, for some of us, if we feel like it does not manifest fast enough, we fall off. We move away from excellence. It's like, oh, I'm not gonna give it my best. Three years, I never asked for anything. Never asked for anything, but did everything so they would notice me.
Dr. Cheryl:As soon as she got her imprint, I became a part of the cohort. They I went to New York, I pitched. I was the only one in the room that had an agent. I had an agent before they even gave me the book deal. So my agent went to bat for me.
Dr. Cheryl:And I have to tell you that was manifestation because the agent that I had is the agent for Jen Psaki. I mean some tremendous people. She is a bad sister. And she told me, she was like Cheryl, and she didn't mean that as an insult, she was like I don't usually take people like you. She said, they're celebrities, they're whatever.
Dr. Cheryl:She said, but I wouldn't study you. She said, your following is bigger than some celebrities. Your engagement is more than some of the celebrities. So she said, I'm gonna sign you. So I got signed to an agent, I walked into Penguin Random House and Storehouse, Voices with an agent.
Dr. Cheryl:And so now they want my memoir which leads to these books. What captivated them was the art of influence because it's about legacy. Yeah. It's it came about because so many people were inboxing me saying, oh, can you mentor me? Can you tell me?
Dr. Cheryl:Can you show me? And I told my husband, I said, I love people, but I can't mentor all these people and do what I'm supposed to do right. And many times, mentoring people do nothing with the information.
Belva:Mhmm.
Dr. Cheryl:And and people will get upset when I say this, but I'm gonna say it. They don't use it many times because it's free. People do not value free. When I started putting a price on what I started doing, that's when people started following directions and they started winning. So all the questions that people were asking me in my inbox, I put it in the book.
Dr. Cheryl:That book has been featured at the Congressional Black Caucus, the NAACP convention, so many places because I realized that I'm not going to be here forever but I'm responsible to leave a legacy that does.
Belva:Absolutely. Amen.
Dr. Cheryl:So my words are my legacy. Mhmm. When people pick up these books, the affirm book, all these years later, they'll realize, okay, September 8, my heart is open to receive God's guidance and wisdom. There's an affirmation, there's a scripture, and then there's a lesson. And in legacy, you leave lessons.
Dr. Cheryl:Yes. I love that. Right? You leave footprints, you leave breadcrumbs that let people know I was here. See for me, when I take that last breath, I will not die with regret.
Dr. Cheryl:Mhmm. Because every day that I wake up, I make sure that I am doing and living on purpose with purpose because I realize it does not matter how long that I live. Mhmm. I will be dead longer than I'm alive. Yes.
Dr. Cheryl:So I'm gonna make a difference Yeah. While I'm here Yes. While I'm breathing. I just I truly believe that I am responsible to leave goodness and kindness and generosity in the earth. I'm not one that's gonna talk about it.
Dr. Cheryl:I'm always about it.
Belva:Yeah. Love that.
Tolu:Yeah. Absolutely. And and, you know, that brings in the the the notion of being on a mission. You you you're a woman on a mission. Yeah.
Tolu:Your mission is to to empower others, but also to, as you said, to leave the footprints for them to walk in that path as well. And sometimes, as business owners, that's something that we tend to ignore. It's always about the money, the revenue we're gonna get out of that. But what you're sharing with us now is that legacy is first first of all about the mission. That's The cause.
Tolu:And as you deliver that with intent Yes. And with excellence Yes. People will recognize you and then the money will come.
Dr. Cheryl:I have to tell you, as sure as I sit here, that is 100% true. Mhmm. When I put all my focus into the message, the mission, the purpose, that is when the money came. That is when the opportunities came. And I'll let you in on a little joke.
Dr. Cheryl:When people say, oh, Cheryl, you're always so busy. I said, I'm not busy. I'm purposeful, productive, and profitable. Alright. Never busy.
Dr. Cheryl:Clock it. Never busy. And and that's a part of it. And when you can own that Yes. That starts to manifest in your life.
Dr. Cheryl:And and anybody who's in here that knows me, they will tell you, they they they immediately when they say, oh, that we're busy, they, like, take it back because they know that I'm gonna correct them. You are not busy. And I wanna give a little clarity around that. Yeah. You don't want a mission that has you busy because busy means that you're doing a little bit of this, a little bit of that, but you're accomplishing nothing.
Dr. Cheryl:Wow. And when you're busy, your mission, your purpose will never take off. When you focus on being mission focused and purpose focused, you'll be in people in spaces and places that absolutely will blow your mind. When I got really serious about what my mission was was to empower and impact women globally, that's when global opportunities just started to fall in my lap. I had always wanted to go to Ghana to work with women.
Dr. Cheryl:In October, I got to go and work in Ghana for two weeks. When I came back, I told my husband, I said, oh, we're gonna do citizenship. We need to live six months in Ghana and six
Tolu:Yeah. Months Yeah.
Dr. Cheryl:And and and and and thank you. And that's about mission. Yes. And I saw the impact. And I have to tell you this, I saw the impact just in those two weeks because last Saturday I had to get up at 4AM to teach a class at 5AM in Ghana.
Dr. Cheryl:And I will tell you, when those women stood up at the end and said, when you came here in September, I felt like nobody. I didn't have my business going. I had no drive. They said because you stood and you told us that our mindset is our superpower Mhmm. And that we can do and have anything, my life changed miss Cheryl.
Tolu:Mhmm.
Dr. Cheryl:Now those women, many of them, they're talking about their thriving businesses. Right. They're talking and speaking about the fact that nobody, no one can stop them Mhmm. From believing in themselves. Mhmm.
Dr. Cheryl:That's mission work. That's mission work. That's hard work. Yes. That's purpose.
Tolu:Yes.
Dr. Cheryl:If we all develop that type of thinking, the world would be better. Mhmm. Women would get along farther in their business, in their life. If we focused on mission instead of money. Yeah.
Tolu:Thank you so much. That is powerful right now.
Belva:Very powerful. Thank you. So many things you just said. That's so I'm just tingling all out. Don't make the holy ghost come out on stage.
Belva:I'm trying to hold my chair together. But it is ordained. This conversation has been ordained for us. It has. And it's just so beautiful because first of all I forgot, I don't want to forget Doctor.
Belva:Cheryl is also a 16 time best selling author. Yeah. Right? And I'm also an author and and just in what you were saying about writing your thoughts and making it plain and following the purpose and following the And this morning when I got up to get dressed, I was Getting dressed and I heard God say, didn't I tell you you were going to be on panels? Didn't I tell you you were going to be speaking in front of people?
Belva:Did I tell you you were going to have a platform? Don't you remember I just spoke that to you a year ago when I wrote the book? And the the epiphany that I had back then was driving down the road, God was like, excuse me. Excuse me. I got your attention now.
Belva:Yes, Lord. He said, when are you gonna write that book?
Tolu:Wow.
Belva:And I said,
Tolu:soon, you know. He said, do
Belva:you believe that I will bless you? Do you believe that? I said, yeah, Lord. I do. I believe that.
Belva:He said, no. Do you believe that I will bless you in this lifetime? Yes. Do you believe that? And I stopped and I said, Lord, forgive my unbelief.
Belva:If I don't believe, I want to believe today fully. Yes. I do believe you will do that. He said, well then, what are you waiting for? You already have the story, he said.
Belva:And before you convince yourself that you can't write the book and you don't have time and you're too busy and you need to do x y z, he was like, you already have the book written. All of those journals that you've been writing in, all those years you've been speaking in your phone, talking to yourself, telling the stories out loud to yourself, you have
Tolu:it all.
Belva:Go back and look in your Google Docs.
Tolu:Yes.
Belva:All you need to do is create an outline and the book is already ready. I said, let me help me get home Yes. Driving from Virginia to from Virginia to Dallas, let me get home and let me get settled and when I get settled, I will be about your business.
Tolu:That's it. Do you hear what she say?
Belva:About And your I wrote that book and it was the most freeing of myself. I'm telling you, wouldn't even be here. And then everything else just fell in the line and I went to a class and met Tolu and doctor KJ and just so many people and it just all laid out and God brought that back to my remembrance this day. So we just give God praise for that.
Tolu:Yes. Yes. Really do.
Dr. Cheryl:Thank you.
Tolu:And what you're talking about there is the ecosystem ecosystem of Right. Of people, people because your God spoke to you and then you obeyed and you wrote the book, but then people had to invite you to the business master class program. Then we had to meet and then I became your mentor and it all manifested that way, right? But if you didn't follow that cause, it would not have happened. And in your book, The Art of Influence, you talked about removing yourself from the people that drain and putting yourself in an environment where you can flourish.
Tolu:Can you talk to us about that? Because we're living in uncertain times. We've got the big, beautiful bill, we've got everything else going on. And even though we can be worried about that. How can we
Dr. Cheryl:I'm just gonna say one thing about that. I I tell people, be informed but not consumed.
Tolu:Uh-huh.
Dr. Cheryl:That's the thing. You should know what's going on but you cannot be consumed about what's going on. And that's critical. Now I want to answer your question. Once I mastered boundaries my life changed.
Dr. Cheryl:You have to get to the point in life where you're not trying to vie for the attention of everybody to like you. Because I don't care how much you do for people, you can do 10 things for them, but if you don't do the eleventh thing they will find a reason to hate you or or disrespect you or whatever. Once I got comfortable with that and I started praying and I started saying just this one sentence, God blow my mind. God blow my mind. See that's all encompassing.
Dr. Cheryl:I don't have to tell him anything in specificity if I don't want to because he will bring about opportunities that I don't even know to ask about. So when we want to change our outcome and change our life, you have to be around people who are talking about business and love and kindness and not people who are talking about other people.
Belva:That's right.
Dr. Cheryl:I often tell people and again they get upset, I said I heard the critique that you gave, now try critiquing, try doing what you just critiqued. See that's the thing. Right. People who spend so much time critiquing, you have that time to critique because you're not doing anything. Yeah.
Dr. Cheryl:Absolutely.
Tolu:Yeah. That's true.
Dr. Cheryl:So like for the people who have so much to say about the magazine,
Dr. Cheryl:I said well where's yours?
Belva:Well?
Dr. Cheryl:Yeah. Why would I take advice from people who have never done this thing that they can't even imagine? Right. And then when you talk about networking, well, if you know you wanna be a millionaire, you don't hang no broke people. That's right.
Dr. Cheryl:Well People don't wanna hear that, but it's the truth.
Belva:It is the truth.
Dr. Cheryl:What advice would you take about building wealth from some somebody who's never built wealth? What advice would would you go buy a house from somebody that's not a certified realtor?
Belva:Right.
Dr. Cheryl:Okay. It's the same thing. So you know that if you wanna be a best selling author, you hang around authors. That's If you know you want a book deal, you make sure that you're on those pages where at Women in Words. And this is what I tell people.
Dr. Cheryl:It's not this this climb that I'm on, it's not rocket science. I got very intentional. Mhmm. Very intentional. I wrote it down.
Dr. Cheryl:I believed it. I saw it before I saw it. I don't allow people places and things to talk me out of my destiny because they don't know how to reach theirs.
Belva:Right. Wow.
Dr. Cheryl:Also, I focus on assignments not attachments. See there's a big difference. Yes. The people who are assigned to me, they bring me life. Right.
Dr. Cheryl:The people who are attached, drain the very life out of me. And so when I realized that that is not going to get me any closer to completing and hearing job well done, I'm like goodbye. Yes. Goodbye. The people who would never have anything good to say, they're not focused on anything but tearing people down.
Dr. Cheryl:They don't have a door, a window, or anything to open for you, but their focus is on closing everything down so you can never achieve it. I don't know about you, but I wake up every day, not even worrying, I don't want to use that word, consumed and concerned with how can I help somebody else? Because this is what I've realized, for every door and table that I help create for somebody else, God multiplies not adds, he multiplies whatever I do for someone else. So me sharing a business opportunity or hey, did you know that Intuit has this ideas program? Three of my clients just got in that program.
Dr. Cheryl:Mhmm. Another one of my clients who is actually in your audience just got in the Mavericks program. Mhmm. And and I say that to say because you asked me about a eco system and you asked me about networking and sharing of information. The thing is it it serves you no purpose when you don't share the information.
Dr. Cheryl:Right. Yes. The more I share, I promise you. The more it comes to me. I'm on more stages in in in programs than ever than I could have even at one time imagined, but I'm not gonna say I can't imagine it now because see this is what I asked God for.
Belva:Right.
Dr. Cheryl:I'm prepared for what I asked him for thirteen years ago.
Belva:Yes. Wow. So amazing.
Tolu:So amazing.
Belva:You are constantly giving as you just said and that's your platform, like that's your purpose to give and to share and to motivate and encourage and inspire other people. What can we do to motivate and inspire and encourage and support you and our readers, listeners, our audience? What can we do to give to Doctor. Schirle?
Dr. Cheryl:I appreciate that question because I have been extremely blessed to have an eight year old nonprofit, Soul Reborn, which helps women who are disadvantaged, disenfranchised, the formerly incarcerated whether it's through writing their books or entrepreneurship. It's so many all encompassing things. It's full wraparound services what we do and as I've shared with you I'm very in tune to the Holy spirit. So when God tells me to do something, I don't ask the questions and I don't check with anybody. So Soul Reborn is moving into its first office space Mhmm.
Dr. Cheryl:In Oak Cliff Towers. I'm so excited.
Tolu:Yeah.
Dr. Cheryl:I'm so excited and it was so intentional because he says, Cheryl, I love that you always listen to me, but I need you to serve women on a more consistent basis so you need office space. So my husband and I went looked at a building and we signed the lease on June 30. They finished the carpet and the painting last week and we're going to move in next week. So what I need are people to donate to Soul Reborn. Okay.
Dr. Cheryl:They can donate at soulreborn.org. I give away even from my personal business, I'll just put it out there, Soul Reborn has always given away more than Soul Reborn has ever taken and I have to speak on this if it's okay.
Belva:Sure, absolutely.
Dr. Cheryl:Have got to get away from taking advantage of all the free stuff Uh-huh. And never contributing to the person or the entity who says, oh I'm doing a vision board session for free. We have to realize that even though it's free for you Right. It costs that person to bring Yes, I think. In a 105 women and you get the food, the the all the supplies Yes.
Dr. Cheryl:Everything for free. And I shared this with someone the most one of the most troubling things for me has been lately is sometimes seeing the people who you serve at other events where they're donating thousands of dollars.
Tolu:Oh wow. Yeah. Yes. Yeah.
Dr. Cheryl:To other Yeah. And then bragging about, oh my gosh, they brought in $300,000. That's beautiful. But then you come and you sit in my event that I'm footing the bill for to help people get have a better life and you don't even deem it appropriate to even pledge or give $25. See, I'm gonna continue the work.
Dr. Cheryl:Right. Yes. Because I'm not that's not gonna be the thing to stop me, which is why I'm eight years old. Yeah. Because as I said from the beginning, while everybody else is adding, God is multiplying.
Belva:Yes.
Dr. Cheryl:So I need help to keep Soul Reborn going. Yes. I need help with furnishing Soul Reborn so that women have a great place to come into. I want them to walk in and feel the hug and the love Mhmm. Which is why I've had people say, oh, I have something that's 15 years old.
Dr. Cheryl:I don't want that. It's not out of arrogance. I'd I attribute that to it's like when a a a child is taken out of their home and they go into foster care, they don't want used pajamas.
Belva:Right.
Dr. Cheryl:They already feel bad that they've been pulled out. So I don't want women to come into Soul Reborn and oh, it's it's already spotty and dirty. I want them to come in and feel like, you know what? Soul Reborn cared enough about me to invest in making sure that everything I touch or had, it was new, it was it was fresh. So while I appreciate the offers, I wanna give these ladies new things to come in soon.
Tolu:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and and that's just the message that I'm gonna put out to our community there because though, you know, Black Business Live is underpinned by all things black and beautiful, and it's really to amplify black owned businesses and create opportunities for growth. But one of the things that we do, we're also, a social enterprise, one of the things that we do is that we contribute and we pour into other businesses and other organizations as well to make sure that the work continues.
Tolu:So I'm putting this word out there to to everyone, contribute to Soul Reborn. Don't bring used furniture. We want brand new furniture. We want funds. Yeah.
Tolu:We want your expertise. Yeah. If you do not have the the the the money, $5, $25 consistently every month, that's just the price of a net Netflix subscription. Yeah. Contribute to Soul Rubon because they are doing the work.
Tolu:That's right. Now, Olivia, thank you so much. Me too.
Belva:Oh, I'm still feeling tingly, ladies. Oh, and to to to to share more tingles. We have something that we would love to just give you.
Tolu:Doctor Cheryl, we are so excited that you're here today, and it's it's a it's a great privilege. You've you've poured into us. Yes. And we wanted to give you a special gift. This is from one of the members of our community.
Tolu:She's actually from Jacksonville, Florida. Her business is a lifestyle brand, Mygani LLC. Oh. And they specialize in creating culture and talking about the the culture, the cultural influences that affect many of us, people's color. So so this bag showcases just that.
Tolu:She's also the the the owner, Felicia Wright, is also the organizer of a program called Curls and Convo, which happens every year. And it's created to talk about our afro hair and in in inspire young children, young girls on how they can wear that with glamour glamour and with pride. So the bags have that on there. We thought you would love to have that. We we just So let me
Dr. Cheryl:tell you? Let me tell you something. Uh-oh. I love this bag. I love it and I'm gonna tell you what I am going to do.
Dr. Cheryl:So you're gonna give me this young lady's information and inside Cheryl Magazine there is a Black Business Directory and Russell and I, who's our president of Williamson Media Group, We meet tomorrow to finalize the fall issue. So what I will yeah. Fall issue. So what I will do is I will add her company
Tolu:Oh, thank you.
Dr. Cheryl:To the Black Business Live group.
Tolu:Thank you very much.
Belva:Listen. This is what Black Business Live is all about. Clocking. And clockwise.
Dr. Cheryl:And guess what? Good. This particular issue, the summer issue Yes. Is gonna be in some of the VIP bags at New York Fashion Week.
Belva:Wow. She's She's telling us.
Dr. Cheryl:And that issue is highlighting on the front cover black designers.
Belva:Wow. So perfect alignment.
Tolu:And that's it. It's the power of community. Community is collaboration. It. It's just full circle.
Tolu:Fit.
Dr. Cheryl:Yeah. So did everybody get that lesson? Did everyone get the lesson Mhmm. Of what just happened? So if you didn't, you know, I'll tell you what the lesson is.
Dr. Cheryl:It's simple. The first lesson is if you don't ask, you don't get. That's right. So you ask her to send this to you, you presented it to me, I immediately in my mind said, how can I help? Mhmm.
Dr. Cheryl:And that's what we have to ask. How can I help? Mhmm. How can I help this business owner? Okay.
Dr. Cheryl:We have a global magazine. What is that gonna hurt me Right. To promote her brand?
Tolu:Right.
Dr. Cheryl:So I wanna elevate our thinking with that. Ask yourself that every single day. What does it hurt me to promote your show? That's just like when you sent me the information. I know you noticed.
Dr. Cheryl:I sent it to people. Promoted it.
Belva:Yes. Thank you
Tolu:very much. Yeah. Yes.
Dr. Cheryl:And it's it's free. We don't even realize how much we can help someone just by like, share, comment.
Belva:That's right.
Tolu:Thank you so much.
Belva:Answers And
Dr. Cheryl:that's how you build network. I want people to know that. Yes. When people see you liking, sharing, commenting
Belva:That's right.
Dr. Cheryl:I got asked how did you end up on the Essence main stage? Yes. Like, share, comment, somebody saw me.
Tolu:Wow. Wow. And, yeah, Dr Cheryl, your liking, sharing and commenting Yes. Has done so much. This week, my phone hasn't stopped buzzing.
Tolu:Yes. It's like, oh, yeah, my email hasn't stopped. It's like, you just you just did it. It's an act of grace. But what it's done is it's created a reverberation Yes.
Tolu:All across. Yeah. So thank you so much.
Dr. Cheryl:You. Yes.
Tolu:Thank you. It. Thank you. Of us are there. Yes.
Tolu:Yes. Yeah. That's the power of community.
Belva:It's so easy.
Tolu:It's how we our forefathers were. That's how, you know, the community was built in the past. Yes. And we somehow lost that, and we're bringing it back in now. Yeah.
Dr. Cheryl:It's right here. You just you just did what you spoke about. So let this let people see what we've created here today and then replicate it. That's all you have to do. They just saw it in real time.
Dr. Cheryl:You don't even have to guess how you do it. Right. Just, oh, can help somebody. Let me introduce them. Let it's it's very simple.
Dr. Cheryl:You can build generational wealth by helping Yes. The people sitting right here by introducing someone. Yes.
Tolu:Thank you. Thank you so much. It's so much. Pleasure.
Belva:Thank you.
Dr. Cheryl:I love this baby.
Tolu:We know you travel a lot, so we thought you'd have a nice trolley bag to go with it. Look. I you
Dr. Cheryl:know what? I'm from LA in the morning.
Tolu:I will carry this on the plane.
Dr. Cheryl:There you go. Oh, that's So look for a video. Video. Yeah. Believe in good content now.
Tolu:Love that. So what questions do we for the audience? Okay.
Audience 1:So I have a question that's not necessarily about business itself. It's a more personal question if that's okay. So my personal question is, how do you reconnect either spiritually or if you're facing something and you feel like you're in a season or a space. How do you reconnect to God and to yourself and to your purpose?
Dr. Cheryl:I've been in that space. Oh, So I'm on many many occasions and so what I have done is disconnect from the world without apologizing, oh I'm not available and what I do is I leave my cell phone in another room, I get up every morning and I journal everything that I want to see happen in my life. And I will tell you for three years, three years, I'll never forget it. I would go to vision board sessions and everyone's board would be full except mine. Only one word was on my board for three years and they said, God, I needed to get closer to him so I moved farther away from people until I got clear with him.
Dr. Cheryl:I didn't make excuses. I just did it. I poured into me. I loved on me. I served him.
Dr. Cheryl:I didn't make apologies for serving because I wanted everything he wanted for me. And I knew that I could get it get it if I center in on him. The greatest things happened in my life when my focus became God and God alone. When everything and everybody else became extra. Yeah.
Dr. Cheryl:And I will tell you as sure as I sit here, nothing that God has for you will pass you by if you stay focused on him. I wanna give you another point because a lot of times people are afraid to talk about God in certain settings. Let me tell you about me. I don't take contracts from people, corporate or otherwise, that tell me that I can't talk about God. Come on, please.
Dr. Cheryl:And I have shared this before and I'll say it again. I when people approach me and they say, oh, can't talk about God? This is my response. I didn't call you. Okay.
Dr. Cheryl:You called me. So you knew what you were getting when you called. The other piece of that is God will not always put you in a situation where you even have to call his name. I've been in situations where people see the light of Christ in me. I don't have to give them a scripture.
Dr. Cheryl:Mhmm. So you get close to God, separate yourself from anything, and this is the last thing. Baby, make your peace priceless and non negotiable, and you will remove all of those people from your pal. Yes, I promise you that. Once my peace became priceless and non negotiable, things changed because if it's not about God, I'm not for it.
Dr. Cheryl:I don't need it. That's right.
Belva:I love that. Thank you. Thank you so much for your question. And this is the part that sets the Black Business Live Podcast differently across all podcasts. We're not all the same.
Belva:You won't ever hardly will you see us sitting in a room with the big microphone in front and we're like tight and the only thing we could do is just kinda talk and share. No. No. No. We are really about the live part.
Belva:And so the live part is having the live studio audience engagement. And also gives you an opportunity to network with our hope, with our guests. As well as we will come to the community, eventually you'll see some more of that work where we're actually coming to out into the community and coming to the Soul
Dr. Cheryl:I was gonna say coming to Soul Re Reborn. Yeah. Even right there in the Yes. With the office. Absolutely.
Belva:Absolutely. We will be there. So that's the part that we love the most about the show. Thank
Audience 2:you. Thank you, doctor Chirio. Yes. You blessed me. Thank you.
Audience 2:So first question, I have two questions.
Tolu:Okay.
Audience 2:When will you be in Nigeria?
Tolu:So you've been to Ghana? You've been to Ghana?
Dr. Cheryl:You you know, I will tell you, I am in a season, my husband and I, where we're we're ready to go because I wrote down, I speak globally to millions and God has already shown me that. So I'm ready when the invitation comes. I'm ready to go. I was supposed to go to Ghana in October, but I'm gotta get my passport situation straight. But as soon as that's done, I will be ready.
Dr. Cheryl:Just let me know because I have a global message Mhmm. And and the world needs to hear this message. God told me that, so I don't need anybody else to to to second it. So I'm ready when you all are ready because he already told me, go girl. Go.
Audience 2:Second question is this. Believers, most believers confuse being led by God and hard work. So what do I mean? So I've seen you you're very hardworking, and you're a leader with influence. So do you get led by God to do what you do, or you decide what you want to do and take it to God?
Dr. Cheryl:I am led by what God tells me to do. And I and I know that factually because I can tell you some of the stuff that I've done, I have no experience whatsoever. And when I tell you whatsoever whatsoever, I sit here on the stage as a HBO Max award winning filmmaker who has never gone to film school. Yeah. He told me to do a stage play.
Dr. Cheryl:I did the stage play with no experience. And from the stage play, he said, okay. I want you to do film. This is who you should call and I promise you as sure as I sit here these were the exact steps. I called a friend, she said, oh yes, you can come and intern with me but you'll need to be a production assistant.
Dr. Cheryl:Well I didn't know what production assistant was because I told you I had no film experience. I was only following the move of the Holy Spirit. So I looked up production assistant and it says serve coffee this that the other. So I called her back and I said of course I'll be a production assistant under one condition. I said when I come on set nobody used to know who I am, what I do, and what I have.
Dr. Cheryl:Just let me be a production assistant. Because mind you I was owning three companies at that time. So I went on set, served coffee, did all the things that a production assistant does, blocked her from the sun, all the stuff and they realized that they needed money. So they came to me and they said, we understand you have a unique set of skills and I said, yes, I do. So I raised the rest of the money for the film and I went from production assistant to executive producer.
Dr. Cheryl:Wow.
Tolu:Wow. Marni Miller. And that's how he's done.
Dr. Cheryl:That was god led. I I just have to tell you, I'm I have the Noah effect. I'm willing to build the ark. I'm not explaining to the people on the shore about the donkeys, the possums, any of those things. I'm like, I'm building.
Dr. Cheryl:I'm gonna do it. So when I get asked that, it's like, it is pure Noah effect. I don't even know. Just I'm just telling you, as I sit here and and and my mind is racing on all the things that God has had me do and the doors that he's opened and the opportunities, it's truly God led because I couldn't even think of it. I'm I'm telling you, I I would have never thought about one book.
Dr. Cheryl:He said write the book. Do the book. The first book, I would tell you, came from social media. Wow. I was posting affirmations on social media and I was in the shower one day and the holy spirit said, girl, and I love him when he calls me girl, it's time for you to write the book.
Dr. Cheryl:And I said, well, where's the book supposed to come from? And he said, go on social media and pull off all the affirmations that I've given you over the past eighteen months. That's where Affirm volume one came from. Wow. Thank you.
Belva:A race winning.
Tolu:Thank you.
Belva:Thank you.
Tolu:Thank you. Well, we we've been blessed. We've been poured into. We've we've been in church. We've been at home with our mom.
Tolu:We've got no. We've we've had everything. Yes. Thank you so much, doctor Cheryl. We're we're so it's been it's been wonderful.
Tolu:Thank you for Can give a round of applause to everybody? So, I
Belva:mean, this is where we we wrap up for the day. I don't want to. I just
Dr. Cheryl:we could go on and on. I told you
Belva:on the beginning, I felt like I was sitting here with my auntie Yeah. Just dropping gems and giving it to us real. That's what we really are here for. And thank you so much for your authenticity for just showing up completely like you are. And all the things that you shared today were ordained by God and that's what I love the most.
Belva:So thank you to you.
Tolu:Thank We're so blessed. Thank you. Yes. Appreciate it.
Belva:To those that are watching or will be watching, make sure you follow doctor Cheryl. Right? And make sure you tune in to Soul Reborn, donate, like, share, all the things. And follow us on Facebook and all the channels. What else Tolu?
Belva:Did I miss anything?
Tolu:Yes. The other thing is that the Black Business Live is like as we talked about, being underpinned by All Things Black and Beautiful, but we also have a network. So we've created the Black Business Network as the avenue for us all to connect, to build each other and to develop information will be shared on that on the screen as well. So it's it's the the whole purpose of it is to be in the right community. So not just be in community, but be in the right community where we develop and grow together.
Tolu:So follow us, like us, share, and also join the Black Business Network.
Belva:That's right. Thank you.
Tolu:Thank you, everyone.
Dr. Cheryl:Thank you.