 Black History Month, February. What better way to celebrate some young people doing some great things out in the community and across the globe. So ladies and gentlemen, you guys and girls are in for a treat today. Today, I have a very, very special guest coming to me all the way, but she's live right now in Washington, DC. And I'm here in Denver, Colorado. So y'all stay tuned. We're going to have a very great episode. Colorado Battalion celebrating at 30 under 30. But as always, if you haven't done so already, go ahead and make sure you hit that like, subscribe, comment, and share button. And I'm your host, Prince Stax, the Prince of Investment. Y'all get ready. Stay tuned. Now, Colorado Battalion does great things here across the nation, especially here in Denver, Colorado. Today's episode, we're going to highlight two young ladies who are doing great things. Who are alumni of this awesome program when I moved to Denver here four years ago. And I think I was a guest speaker. I think that's how I got introduced to the Colorado Battalion. And I saw all the amazing things they're doing for young people, especially young people of color, getting their mentorship guidance. So it's only right that we turn around and honor some of the alumni who were awarded the 30 under 30. But without further ado, let me introduce my first guest today. This is Ms. Jalen Turro. Hopefully I got that right. She's coming in live from Washington, DC. So let's break her on. And Jalen, how are you doing today, Jalen? Round of applause. Hi, how are you? OK, so let's talk a little bit about you. So you were born and raised in Denver. You went on to Howard University. And you were pretty much just an art fanatic, it seems like, right? Oh, yes, definitely. And you want to go back to get your, you graduated. When did you graduate? I actually just graduated this past December. But that's what it was, December you graduated. And now you're looking at going to get your master's degree in arts, right? Yes, in art therapy specifically. OK, great. So congratulations on that. And also, you were very involved in your community in Washington, DC. Tell us some of the things you did out there in Washington, DC. Yeah, definitely. So I was a part of a service and activism organization called 10 for 10. We spent our summer of 2020 basically fundraising and going out into the community, trying to raise awareness and definitely leading some marches and some demonstrations. So it was a great way to stay active, especially during a moment in time where we were very disconnected as a whole, as a nation, as a world, honestly. And distribute the necessary resources that people needed and amplify their voices in as many ways as we could. So what are some of the demonstrations or some of the things that were important to you to go out and demonstrate for? One of the things we did first was distribute water bottles down, if you guys are familiar with the five points area. So we made sure that the population of people down there without housing had at least water at bare minimum. We got thousands of water bottles distributed that day. And my older brother came with me. So that was really impactful for me. I was grateful to have that moment with him. And I was grateful to be able to give back to the community. I'm from around five points. So that's where I grew up, where I was born and raised. Another demonstration that we did was called the Rise Up Rally. Instead of celebrating 4th of July, we definitely got a large crowd in front of the Capitol Building. And we had a lot of speakers come and attest to their stories, share their stories about growing up in a marginalized community. We had artists present that was where I presented one of my pieces for the very first time in front of a very large crowd. So we always incorporated the arts and amplifying and promoting the voices of our community and the people who look like us. Got it. So tell us about your born and raised here in Denver, correct? Yeah. So what was life growing up in Denver, Colorado? I loved it. I get that question a lot being out here in DC. Everybody's like, Colorado, that's so far away. What is it like? It was beautiful. I have a lot of friends back home that I'm really grateful for and I still keep in contact with. I spent a lot of my time growing up in the museums with my family. And I've always loved academics. So I was always involved in my school and extracurriculars, sports, all of the above. My parents made sure that I stayed busy. And I stayed doing things that could help me become a well-rounded individual. So I definitely shout out to my parents for that. Shout out to your parents. OK. Now, which one is colder? Washington DC or Denver, Colorado? Definitely DC. I don't know what it is. I think it's the wind chill. But that'll take you straight out. Well, because Denver is known for the outside people that's being cold because they see snow all the time. They're like, oh, I bet it's just freezing all the time. And I try to tell people like, it's not as cold as it looks. I lived up in Connecticut. And I just was in DC a couple weeks ago, too. And I'm like, man, it's just colder. I don't know if it's the water or whatever is going on. Yeah, it's got waterfront. Now, tell us some of the things you got into. You got a chance to visit Egypt while at Howard University. You went to HBCU. You went on to not Howard University, but to Egypt. How was your trip to Egypt? I think about my trip to Egypt every single day. I still wear this cartouche around my neck from my trip there. It says my name in hieroglyphs. So I did a study abroad trip. And it was two weeks long. I studied with the Africana Studies Department at Howard University. So I was there with three professors from Howard, as well as two professors from Morehouse. And it was a beautiful experience. We went into, I think, five pyramids total. We did three pyramids in one day once, though. And we traveled all throughout Egypt. So we started at the top. We made it down to the island of Aswan through Cairo. So it was a very pivotal time in my life. And I'm really, really grateful that I took that opportunity. I was able to get a scholarship to fund me as well for that trip. So that was really great. And I'm so glad that my school, my HBCU, has those types of endeavors for the students to take. And it was a moment for me to connect with my homage and basically just learn more about our roots, our history, where everything started initially before coming to America and being African-American, all of these. Now, not only did you graduate college, looking to go back for your master's degree, you're also the executive coordinator for a nonprofit, right? So I am the communications director for Howard University Alternative Spring Break. OK, OK. Yeah, so that is a community service organization, Student Let at Howard, where we basically go to other communities, other cities, both domestically and abroad. And we do community service because a lot of places contribute to Howard's history and Howard's success. So we want to make sure that the students have the opportunity not only to appreciate these places but appreciate the people in these places and help them in whatever way we can. So we do a lot of volunteer work. That's our motto is honesty and truth and service, excellence and truth and service. So we do as much service as we can. Now, down in Puerto Rico, you're getting ready to go back to Puerto Rico, right? Yes, I am. You did some community service down there? Yeah, yeah, with Alternative Spring Break. OK, so was connected back to Howard University, to your current job now. OK, nice. That's awesome. You know what? I have never been to Puerto Rico. I was Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico, when we went, it was right after, it was two years after Hurricane Maria had hit. So we were down there trying to, our initiative was to help with restoration and youth empowerment. So we were doing some demolition in houses, tearing down houses that needed to be refurbished after the hurricane. And we were painting schools that had some water damage and just needed to be beautified. So the students felt welcomed back into their space of learning and their space of education. We were able to also volunteer at the Boys and Girls Club in Puerto Rico, which is great because I am not fluent in Spanish. And there was definitely a language barrier, but I was able to connect with those kids and have fun and play. And it was just, it was really invigorating. OK, so now what is, besides going back to school and getting your grad degree in arts? Because I know you love arts. You were featured in a few art shows out in the DC area. Tell us about that. How did you get into the art community of the DC area? So my major at Howard was psychology, and I'm minor in painting. And so I've always had a love for the arts. I've always had a passion. This is one of my pieces behind me. So the DC area and the DC scene has a very strong art presence, especially black people in the arts. So we have this thing called Art All Night in DC, where you basically go out to different spots downtown and talk to artists by their art. And while I was out there, I was introduced to an artist who goes by DC art magic. And he hosts rooftop private art shows almost weekly. So I've been involved in those art shows. I've been able to network, sell my work there and a lot of the other artists in DC who are prominent and also up and coming. So it's been a great platform for me to see what it's like to be an art vendor. See what the DC art scene is like and definitely like hone in on my networking skills, especially in our world. Okay, very important. Now the next thing I got to ask you, what's next for Jaylen? You're only 22 years old. Going to college, you're giving back to your community. You're being active in your community. I understand completely why you won the 30 and the 30, being involved in your community, giving back to your community, traveling abroad, finishing school, following your passion of art, selling art, things like that. What is next for Jaylen at 22 years old? I'm looking forward to getting my master's degree in art therapy and seeing where that takes me. I definitely would like to be able to practice art therapy in galleries or museum spaces. So I'm focusing on that niche right now. I'm trying to get as much experience as I can, especially in galleries right now. I am the graduate intern at the Howard University gallery in the Fine Arts building. So I am making sure that I'm creating connections in the museum and art world. And I am applying as much pressure as I can to pursue my degree in art therapy. I like that. Applying to pressure, keep the pressure on. Now I want to ask you this question. As a young black woman, what advice, especially with the climate that's going on, things that's going on in the world and the country and things like that, what advice, because you moved to D.C., which is a pretty predominantly black city. It was Chocolate City, right? Denver, Colorado is not as much, right? So growing up as a, you know, coming from Colorado, it's a young black woman. What advice or what mentorship you would give to the younger version of you or to the young little black girl that's out there? I would say follow your dreams, even if they seem like they're far, just go for it. I think one thing that I knew as a senior in high school when I was applying to my schools was that I wanted to leave Colorado. And it's not even to say that I don't love Colorado because I do, it's just, I know that there's so much out in the world to go discover and find out. And I honestly had never been to Washington, D.C. before I applied to Howard. And as soon as I got in, I didn't go either. I first stepped foot on Howard's campus while I was moving in with my parents. So just take a chance and believe in yourself, put yourself out there, you know, apply to whatever comes across your surface, whatever opportunity presents itself, take it because you never know if you'll end up in Egypt or Puerto Rico or Washington, D.C. But there's only one way to find out. Okay, well, last thing before we gotta get out of here, we gotta take a break. How can people find more about you or people wanna get in contact with you for your art, see your art, which is social media, all that good stuff like that. So if people want to stalk you or whatever the case may be, how can they do that? Tell us, how can we find you? My art Instagram is J-M-A-R-I-E visuals with a Z. So J-Marie visuals. And yeah, if you type my name in, you can find me on LinkedIn as well, Jalen Turrode on LinkedIn. Okay, all right, y'all got Ms. Jalen, she's coming from Washington, D.C. I'm out here in Denver, Colorado and we're broadcasting live right now in Haluulu, Hawaii, which just seems like it's late, but it's actually early in Hawaii. A little early, the sunlight is starting to go down in Hawaii, but we wanna thank you for coming on. Is there anything you wanna say before we get out of here? Thank you so much for having me and thank you, Ms. Cheryl. All right, shout out to Ms. Cheryl. She definitely loves you guys and I always wanna keep in contact with the alumni. But ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of strong age, we're gonna take a quick break. I mean a very quick break and we're gonna come back with more for the Colorado Battalion, 30 for 30. Two major crises have descended upon humanity, climate change and the coronavirus. They may seem independent of each other. In fact, they are very closely linked. The emergence of COVID-19 on top of climate change is a spiraling crisis and it's just the beginning. And we're back here with the Prince of Investment, coming to you guys and girls live all the way from the beautiful city and state of Denver, Colorado via Haluulu, Hawaii. If you haven't done so already, make sure you hit that Like, Subscribe, comment and share button on all the podcasts and platforms that you may catch us on. So we're back, Colorado Battalion 30 for 30, highlighting on Black History Month, what better way to highlight people who are out here doing young people of color, Black History Month that are out here doing great things, especially from natives of the Denver, Colorado area that's gone off to do great things in the Colorado Battalion who were selected for the 30 for 30. So the next guest we have, she's Hampton University. She's right here in Denver, Colorado still. She's went out to Hampton University. She is a major in business marketing. I don't know why I'm tripping over my words a little bit here. Major in business marketing, done great things out there. I didn't get her age. I didn't have her age then. I didn't get her age, but we would ask her that anyway. But she's gone to college, done great things and entrepreneurship. Y'all know something that I love. She wants to get in real estate, go to family homes. I want to know why does she want to do that and more how she's going to do it. You know, in this crazy world, especially in the Denver market, real estate is crazy all over the globe. We're probably in the start of World War III right now. We don't know. But anyway, coming to us live, Ms. T. Angela Wilhite, are you doing today? I'm doing well. Thank you. Happy Black History Month. Yes, definitely. And what better way to highlight what young ladies are doing. We had Ms. Jaylin earlier. We got you now. First of all, tell us a little bit about yourself with the people who don't know. I didn't get your age by the way, too. I am 22 years old. So like you said, thank you for that beautiful intro. I am T. Angela Wilhite. I am originally a Denver native. I graduated from East High School for anyone who knows where that is or what that is. And yes, I am 22 years old. I am currently the executive coordinator at a nonprofit organization entitled Sheik. And I am a God-fearing woman with big dreams. Got it. Got it, great. So congratulations on your selection for under 30, right? Colorado Battalion, reaching out to the alumni. I got to ask you this, right? Great things you did. You went off to school, graduated, all those good things. You want to get into real estate. Why is that? So my love for real estate give you a little bit of a backstory. I started for my love of interior design. With interior design, it's such a broad world and there's so many different endeavors and avenues that you can go into. And going through college, going through my major at Hampton, meeting a couple of mentors and things like that, I really just learned how I could kind of marry the two. I want to go into real estate to marry my passion for interior design and bring the element of raising to a higher level of financial literacy, but not for myself only, for my family and for my community. I'm somebody who is very passionate about African-Americans and the level of wealth that we can create for ourselves. And I want to be a teacher of that and a steward of that as somebody to say, here in multi-family or here in other realms of real estate, you are able to grow your family wealth. You are able to learn financial literacy and gain the tools to change your life, change your family's life. So. Okay. Now I got to answer this question now. You want to go into real estate but you have business marketing. I was told that you was pretty good at content creating. What are you, how are you creating content out there? Yes, I also do content creation. I'm a little bit of a jack of all trades when it comes to creation, but in terms of content creation, I run various social media pages. I'm an independent contractor to individuals who would like anything such as a flyer or real or an Instagram post that is going to expand their brand and expand their story in a creative and unique way. And that's one of the ways that I give back to people that I've passed work with, that I connect with now and going forward, anyone that I meet, I always try to give them tips, pointers, any help that I can in the areas of social media. Okay. Now you spoke about your passion for real estate. Why do you feel real estate is a good way to create wealth? You know, because you have things like, why not stocks? Why not, you know, businesses, franchises, restaurants and, you know, hair style is, you know, the list goes on to things you can do for real estate. Absolutely. There are various ways and avenues to create wealth. I personally, from what I've learned, from what I've studied, from what I've implemented myself, have learned one, the quickness of it. When you think about stocks, stocks is a 10 year, 20 year game. That's the long game. And a lot of people like to play the long game and that's okay. But real estate, because of how the market flows and if you're following the market and knowing the correct trends and seeing the deals that you can jump in on and ride that wave up, it's a much quicker way to acquire larger amounts of wealth. For instance, in a multifamily building or unit, typically what a lot of people tend to do is do a hold process where they hold from three to five years. And in that hold process, updating the property a little bit, kind of turning the tenants around to get that higher caliber of tenant, bringing the property into a certain level and standard, the ROIs and percentages and ROI meaning return on investment and percentages that you can receive from your initial investment are 25% plus. And when you think about the stock market, you're looking at smaller single digit percentages. Now, have you seen Will Smith's latest movie that he did with the Williams sisters? Have you seen it? Yes, I have. Did that inspire you? Absolutely, that was an amazing film. Shout out to Will Smith. He's one of the people that I look up to and I follow along with and some of the trends of his life of how he's reached success and how he's still a humble God-fearing individual. And that absolutely inspired me. Not only as a black woman seeing the empowerment of other black women, but more so having that feeling of believing in yourself, having that feeling and that drive to know that beyond the shadow of a doubt, beyond what anyone says, whatever the haters say, whatever's going on in the media or the news, if you are the believer in yourself and you can carry yourself to those higher heights then you can do anything and the limit is endless. I like that. What made me think of that was I saw the way you was thinking at 22 years old, right? I didn't want to tell you I was doing that at 22. But at 22 years old, to see the way you're thinking, you're looking at real estate, you're looking at return on investment and also you already evaluated opportunity cost of like, hey, look at these returns, look at stocks, stocks are a longer term game. I can look at the rate of return, especially being a Denver native, you've seen this real estate market just go crazy, right? So to seeing that in the part of the movie, I can't say how Will Smith said in the movie, but he said, you know, a woman that can think, right? Think and figure things out and use critical thinking skills. That's what something that I picked up on. I want to definitely applaud you on that. Right? So the thing about it is I like the confidence of what you know exactly what you want to do. See, with me, I was about 30 years old before I figured out like, hey, you know what? This is what I want to do. So knowing what you want to do at a young age, you know, you have to move around or whatever, knowing what you want to do and knowing how to get there is very important, right? So in your grand scheme of things, I got to ask you this question too. Knowing that you're coming from Denver, coming, you know, going to school, going to college, getting involved with the nonprofit organization, doing things there, getting to digital marketing, even being versatile to know how to, hey, I can create reels. That's a whole nother revenue stream for you, right? Yes, yes it is. I would tell a young person, what would you tell a young person? Who wants to do content creation? I just, you know, overcoming, thinking of, looking at things, someone who's young. Some people are from a little small town, right? They're like, man, you know, overcoming obstacles, thinking they can do something. What would you tell your young self that you've learned so far? This might be a shocking or an unconventional answer, but honestly, you have to have God first in your life. You have to have that anchor that is ordering your steps so that you know who you are, you know where you've been, and you know where you're going. Everything that we are as beings, everything that we are as people and individuals, we are made up of the spiritual and that matters. And everything is ordered and aligned in the ways that it is for you. You just have to find that connection within yourself and within whatever higher power or being that you believe in. And I truly believe that you cannot fail. Any circumstance, any issue. I wasn't a silver spoon kid. I wasn't somebody who came from a lavish lifestyle or a family background or anything like that. But having that faith that wasn't still in me and in my family also that has been passed down from generation to generation has allowed all of us, not just me, others in my family as well, to go on and do amazing things. Sometimes you have to stop and ask yourself, you know, is this real? Is this really happening? But yes, it's real. And believe in yourself and know that your steps are ordered and where you're supposed to be, you're there. Nice, congratulations. Congratulations on that. And I like the way you're thinking on that. Now I gotta ask you, how can people follow you? You said you're an entrepreneur. You know, let's see, what are some of your entrepreneur endeavors? I know you say you do Instagram and one day you wanna do the real estate or you maybe already be working on it now. What are some of your entrepreneur endeavors? Yes, so some of that I've started on my own is just smaller entrepreneur endeavors, specifically getting into multi-family but smaller multi-family. Multi-family is such a large global scale that you can reach the highest of heights. But a lot of people don't know that you can just start with a duplex, you know, one or two units under an LLC, have that operating as a business and bringing in streams of income and revenue for you monthly that can afford your bigger dreams and afford your bigger entrepreneurial goals. Got it, okay. Now, how can people find you? You know, you do digital content. You know, you gotta market yourself at all time. I know you got your business marketing. How can people find you? How can people find out more about you and maybe support you, connect with you, all those type of things like that? That's if you wanna be, you know, go with and follow all the type of stuff too. Absolutely. I am in the process of creating my own website. It is not 100% finished yet, but it will be. But you can also follow me on Facebook, T'Angela Wilhite, as well as LinkedIn that has all of my contact information, all of my past history. I'm not comfortable giving out my personal Instagram at this moment. Okay, no problem with that. But for sure, Facebook and LinkedIn are the two avenues that I normally use to promote myself and to promote my businesses. Great, great way of thinking, you know. Great way of thinking. So anything else that you wanna leave anybody that's listening, that's gonna catch the playback, that's tuning into this live? Really, I just wanna say, find that thing. Find that thing inside of yourself that you think about all night long, all night when you sleep, every day when you wake up and chase that thing, because that is the thing that is meant and intended for you to do and be. And if you believe it, you can achieve it. All right, you guys and girls, y'all heard it here. Ms. T'Angela, Ms. T'Angela Wilhite, I can't get it right, Wilhite, right? Yes, you got it right. Here we go, got it, got it. Ms. T'Angela Wilhite, thank you for coming on. Congratulations to you on the Colorado 30, under 30, continue to do great things, keep that confidence up. And thanks for being a great role model. Absolutely, thank you, Prince, for this opportunity, for this platform. Shout out to Colorado Bill Tillion, excellent endeavor. If you ever are in the Denver area and interested in being involved, it's really a program that can catapult you to higher heights, so. Okay, all right. Well, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and children of our ladies, y'all heard it here today or tonight, you know where you catch it in from. As always, I'm your greatest host, the Prince of Investment, Prince Dice, coming to you guys and girls live, all the way from beautiful state of Denver, Colorado via Halu, Hawaii. And to the next video, podcasts, cartoon, or whatever else crazy you see me doing around the globe, peace, be safe, I'm out, and thank you. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and donate to us at thinktechhawaii.com. Mahalo.