 It's hard to come up with enough descriptors to to describe our next guest. He's an author of philanthropists a tech entrepreneur And now a political candidate He is Westmore the pride of Baltimore the author of the other Westmore and and also here to talk with us about his impact and his oversight and insight on Higher education and the view of higher education from industrial and cultural perspective So brother more it is an honor to have you with us today. The honor is all mine I'm excited to be with you. Great to see you. You are now a gubernatorial candidate for the great state of Maryland Can you tell us about that decision and what makes you a good fit to lead the state particularly at this time in history? Where there's going to be so much transition for better and for worse in some respects But so much change that is likely to happen leading up to the election here in our state Yeah, well, I look at the fact that We have seen very clearly and not just over, you know the past year But but throughout that that economic opportunity is readily available to some It is just dangerously absent to others And I believe that no matter where you start that you deserve an equal opportunity to Succeed and if you take a look at our state right now, you know We have some of the best schools in the country and some of the most underfunded Where you have some of the most prosperous communities and some of the most neglected and by the way, they're side-by-side Right and and so when I think about this and when I think about that component that if we're gonna have a real conversation about true Economic mobility for every person true economic opportunity for every person that it needs to be a holistic Conversation and why and if I look at the fact that I've been able to it's not just a personal thing for me Where I've had a change I've seen for with my own eyes and I'm on life how these disparities show themselves But it's also I think about the experiences and the professional experiences I've had whether it's leading soldiers in combat or having successful Business here in here in Maryland or whether it's leading one of the largest nonprofits in the country for the past four and a half years I actually think our perspective and our experience is not just unique But also it's the exact kind of experience is going to be needed in this moment to be able to lead us out of this moment You talked about some of your experience as a nonprofit executive you form a CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation late last year That foundation invited more than dozens of HBCU students to come and be a part of an infrastructure training mechanism where Folks of color can learn to get their hands around in their minds around money What was some of the the thinking behind that and what do you think are some of the offshoots of that? So that folks when they're coming out of undergraduate going into graduate school or starting a careers They can tangibly see here is how I can impact wealth not just for myself and not just for my family before communities as well Hmm. I tell you there. There are a lot of things that I'm really proud of During my time leading the Robin Hood Foundation This is one of them. It's the fact that you know, the Robin Hood Foundation has really led this investors conference You know really for over the past decade where it brings in some of the world's best traders and and investors and It's a it's a conference where they're sharing ideas. They're sharing insights They're sharing the things that they're trading and one thing we've consistently seen is that for people who are doing this work Within this space that the ideas the best practices the best ideas that they're sharing These are things that also do well for people who buy into the investors conference It was also always though a group and a smaller group of people who were then get together a Very homogenous group that would get together and one of the things that I'm very proud of is the fact that last year We for the first time especially when we were in virtual we said now we're gonna open this thing up You know, we're gonna make sure that we have HBCU students there We're gonna make sure that we have HBU students who were there to listen and to learn and to share and to participate Both in terms of as a way of being able to open up Networks, but it's also a way of being able to say and in a very clear-throated way that you belong in this room You know, there is never a room that you don't belong in and and I and I think about that even in my own journey And in my own life where part of the biggest challenge I had at times was you know Oh, you almost take on this imposter syndrome where you're like, oh, you know I don't want nobody tapping on children say what are you doing here? Whatever the case might be like now. There's never a room that I don't belong in ever in fact that room was incomplete until I showed up Mmm, and that's exactly the kind of mindset and mentality that we want for all of our HBCU students Is that every single one of these rooms you could have the top investors in the world? The question isn't why should you be in the room? The question should be why haven't you been in the room in the first place? Right and that's the type of thing in the frame that we put in place where you know, and it's my my hope that the practice continues This you know continues on throughout because I just believe deeply that we have to be inclusive and particularly for our students And particularly for our HBCU students there should never be a room that they do not belong in Do you think that it's America is trapped in a nexus of you react to inequality and inequity when there are Glaring examples in your face. So we're talking about George Floyd. We're talking about coronavirus, but also your book Because that was a that was a ground-shaking moment where you're saying Look at inequity in a vastly different way. I'm black and I had opportunities and down my block a Brother who shares my name does not so that that moves people in a seismic way Are we better served by that when people have to hear horror stories almost horror stories of inequity? Or should we be pushing pushing society to say you ought not to hear the most violent The most disparate examples of inequity to know that these are things that have to be fit I think that people need to hear truth. I Think people need to hear honesty Mm-hmm, and the reality is is that the disparities that have existed within our society They have been eating us at our own core and we can't pretend like this doesn't come at a cost Right, we can't just pretend like oh, this is only hurting X group or Y group if you look at the impacts for example of racial disparity Right. We're city group put together a report just last year indicating that the cost of racial inequity that we have seen Has cost this country 16 trillion dollars in GDP, right? 16 trillion dollars. That's not a cost to a group. That's a cost to the larger American economic machine if you look at the cost of child poverty child poverty costs this country every single year between 800 billion and 1.1 trillion dollars a year That's the cost of what it costs for the fact that we still are allowing children to grow up in spaces and places of poverty and so I think the thing that we always want to introduce whether it is through Written word whether it is through our policy making whether it is whatever it is I think the thing that we want to consistently introduce is the truth Because if we're leading with truth and we're leading with data and we're leading with these these these disparate facts and realities The fact that race is still the predominant indicator for life outcomes that we have within this country We lead with that we're then able to make the structural changes that need to be made in order to prove That we're actually taking this seriously You founded a company an educational tech company that that emphasizes college completion and then job placement post graduation That is a margin that HBC use live at in terms of taking the best and brightest and folks who are at the academic margins and saying Here's how we will implant you into industry But there always seems to be a feeling that you know folks above us around us are talking about these issues Are there things that our communities can do? I guess even more so than we already are That kind of contribute to the conversation and say here it is from our perspective I know you guys are looking at us But here this is a message that we want to get to you about our struggle our opportunities our strengths our weaknesses Are there ways that communities of color HBC communities or even communities that are doing okay But just haven't had the opportunity to be exposed. Yeah, things that they can do we can do for ourselves to advance that cause Incorporate or political realms It's such a great question You know, I think oftentimes when we see these types of situations And we specifically wanted to focus on students who often times were first in family first generation students And actually one of the first partnerships we had Was actually with Coppin Coppin say so, you know an HBC you here in Baltimore, Maryland and and one of the things I was always amazed by was When people talked about the challenges that students were facing it oftentimes went directly to the academic and Saying there's difficulty with the the academics. They're not doing well academically And it would always force me then to turn around and say let's be clear about what we mean by the difference between cause and effect Right because you know the it's not that the academic The academic failings is the cause It's a family's many ways. It's the effects, right, right? It's the effects of all the other things the other pressures that students are facing that we then had to be honest in order to combat in Order to deal with the long-term effects, which is a student not doing well academically, right? If you're not dealing with the issues of childcare If you're not dealing with issues of food insecurity, yeah, if you're not dealing with issues of housing insecurity If you're not dealing with issues of back payments if you're not dealing with issues of transportation challenges these are the cause and The effect is the student is not doing well academically if you could provide me a platform Where our students know that the thing I have to worry most about that day is my biology 101 test now We're winning Right because then we can focus on what becomes that long-term effect that challenges for so many of our students the That biology 101 test is the 14th thing on their mind. Yeah, and that is where it gets complicated and so really what we tried to do from that perspective was to build out a platform and working in unison and concert with The business community the philanthropic community the community the higher ed community to really say, okay What are those choke points? What are those things that's creating this level of difficulty and challenge that our students are facing and then how Do we go and we circumvent them? How do we go and then to address them in a way that actually shows that we understand where how our students are coming from and what they Are facing and that then became really the birth of what we wanted to build out And so when I think about it from that perspective just like any innovation I think part of the reason that I think bridge you be bridged to you became so successful is you know It came out of a measure of necessity Right any any interesting idea comes out of a measurement of necessity The thing that we always wanted to challenge though is why was it necessary? To be able to create a bridge to you in order for students to be able to have proper pathways in order to find their long-term success Then the final thing is what you have really addressed throughout your career And what you're talking about here today is how to change systems that that promote Equality and focus for all people right and but there's a certain amount of trauma That is involved with what you do what a lot of folks at HBC use do folks who focus on poverty and education and Eliminating disparities is trauma with that because you have to drive in and out of that every day literally every day and literally some cases You're driving past it every day. How do you how do you look to? Create a system whether it be as governor, which would be state government What whether would be as an entrepreneur whether would be as a benefactor or a philanthropist How do you look to change systems where so many people particularly now are? Wearing thin of the trauma and the work of saying I got to live a life that I've built for myself Which may be or more affluent and more protected than the one I'm trying to change and every day I'm putting on different masks. How do you live like that as an agent of that? How do we all live like that and say? It won't stroke me out. I won't have a heart attack. I won't go to bed every night saying I didn't do enough How do you address the trauma of even working in this space to create equality? I? think that there's There's three things that we have to be able to do The first things we have to we have to understand that it's real I Think that we have to approach this with an understanding that what people are facing and what we're all facing It's not hyperbole. It's not exaggeration It's not making stuff up That feeling you feel is real and should be justified The second thing is I think it's important to understand you're not alone Okay, no matter what it is you're feeling trust me the person stands here left and the person stands here, right? They're feeling it too This is something that we this this is a weight that we all fear you talk about the mask right? We wear the mask that grins and lies and hides and shades our eyes I mean like this is something that sits on all of us every single day And so we have to appreciate the fact that that we are we're not alone in it and then the third piece is We have to stay focused on those things that motivate us Mm-hmm, and I know for me. I have this vice grip of motivation Where part of the vice grip is our history Our past Part of a vice grip is is is not just my family's history But it's the fact that I do come from a history of Tubman and Robson I Come from a history of truth And the boys I come from a history of people who Who sacrificed deeply? Who saw a world that they hoped I could actually live in and capture and The second half of the vice grip is the future. All right, it's our kids. It's their kids It's the fact that right now. I believe in this moment people will look back and ask us like what did you do? How did you respond? And I think that we should have an answer and so understanding it's real understanding you're not alone and Understanding your motivation behind keeping going getting support and Keeping going are the things that I think help to give me a relative sense of balance in all of this as well