Latest / LIFE Podcast with Dr. C / The Secret to Youth Success: Financial Literacy, Mental Health & Finding Your "Why"

Transcript

The Secret to Youth Success: Financial Literacy, Mental Health & Finding Your "Why" · LIFE Podcast with Dr. C

• 0:07
  Dr C: Hola, and welcome back to the live podcast where we learn, inspire, flourish, and evolve together on the journey to our best, most authentic selves.
• 0:15
  Dr C: Today I am joined by Sean G.
• 0:18
  Dr C: Goldberg, a strategist, educator, and serial entrepreneur who is changing the way we look at youth development.
• 0:25
  Dr C: He's the founder of SRGMF Consulting and the nonprofit Alive and Well, an organization that sits right at the front door of opportunity, ensuring that our young people prepare for life after school with the identity and wellness foundation they need to succeed.
• 0:41
  Dr C: Sean discusses the importance of building authentic relationships, personal branding, and discovering your why at a very young age to set yourself up for the rest of your life.
• 0:53
  Dr C: We'll be looking at it through the lens of our social, occupational, and financial wellness.
• 0:58
  Dr C: Let's get to it.
• 1:00
  Dr C: Hola, Sean, and welcome to the live podcast.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: Hola, hola, Dr.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: C.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me.
• 1:07
  Dr C: Sean, you are passionate about building a foundation for youth and moving from transactional to transformational engagement.
• 1:15
  Dr C: Can you tell us about your organization, Alive and Well, and how you do that?
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: Of course.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Alive and Well is a 501c3 focused on helping young people discover their why.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: And how we do that is by developing a career and life plan for them so that they can really take the proper next steps to career success and life success.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Our belief is that there's some incredible, incredible organizations in and around Rochester.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: And we just want to be of help.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: And we think where we help is being at the front door.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: So being able to catch young people right at the beginning of them trying to figure out their next steps and their next path, give them some options, let them see what the world has for them.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then being able to walk them through that door so they can be successful.
• 1:56
  Dr C: Beautiful.
• 1:58
  Dr C: So when you think about the foundation versus the house, you use a powerful analogy about building a house.
• 2:06
  Dr C: You said without financial literacy and mental health, mental wellness, you're trying to build a house without a foundation.
• 2:13
  Dr C: Can you break that down for us?
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's great.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: That's great.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, ironically enough, we have a program within our nonprofit called the foundations.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: And the foundations really, like you said, is the beginning.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: You can't have a house, you can't have all of these great things that you want in the world without your foundation solid.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: So our foundation program is just that, you know, focused on personal branding, per foc focused on personal goal setting, really focusing on financial intelligence, right?
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's not enough to know about stocks and bonds and all of this, but do you have a bank account?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know what a credit score is?
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: Do you understand as you go into the next phase of your life how those things are very important for your housing and your car and these things?
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: So really cutting the fat and getting very, very baseline with it so that our young people and our young adults can be on the right path.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they may have missed that, they may not have been given those tools in high school or from their parents, and we're able to come in and sort of help with that piece.
• 3:09
  Dr C: Yeah, that's amazing.
• 3:10
  Dr C: You know, financial literacy is one of the biggest gaps in knowledge for our youth today, just understanding to your point, credits and debits, and also how you spend your money, right?
• 3:20
  Dr C: Really understanding that you can buy that Benz.
• 3:25
  Dr C: But is that really a logical step for you?
• 3:28
  Dr C: So, in a world of entrepreneurship and youth programs, there is often a rush, you know, to get to the finish line, to get that rich quick, right?
• 3:37
  Dr C: To get the Benz or to launch the business.
• 3:40
  Dr C: But what is the biggest misconception for young people or their parents about what it actually takes to get there sustainably?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a great question.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: I think some of our young people and even their parents think that entrepreneurship or something is like a fast track to cash or fast track to money.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: I tell a lot of people, I'm an entrepreneur, I tell a lot of people go get the job, go work where you know you're gonna get a check and you know it's gonna be there every week because being an entrepreneur takes dedication, drive, it takes hustle.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: You've got to know that you're gonna get knocked down 10 times, you got to get up on the 11th time and still make it work, right?
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the biggest misconception.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of the individuals that I work with somehow think that it's gonna be a faster way to being your own boss.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not, it's it's not, it's doable if you have the drive, it's doable if you're willing to put the time in.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, it's it's better to figure out what your passion is first.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: So, what why you starting this business, why does it matter?
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: And then finding someone who's doing that business, right?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: Because now if you're finding someone who's doing that and you could potentially work with that person, you get to learn the good, the bad, and the ugly of that business and figure out if it's what you really want or if you need to take the next step.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: So those are the things that just are really important.
• 4:58
  Dr C: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:59
  Dr C: Wow, and you just gave a a lot of good tips there, right?
• 5:02
  Dr C: So having a mentor in the field that you want to explore for your own business, I think that's critical too.
• 5:09
  Dr C: And a lot of times we don't think of maybe getting that on the ground experience alongside while we're still building our own business and kind of dreaming what we want it to be.
• 5:20
  Dr C: So you've talked previously also about how many programs are transactional versus transformation.
• 5:27
  Dr C: Can you share a story of a young person where you saw the light bulb go off where they shifted from being in a program to actually building a life plan?
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, definitely have a few really great stories.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: I have one in mind.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh a young man in one of my programs.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I love this story.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: A young man in one of my programs was hustling bags of chips and candy in their in their book bag.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: I won't say the name.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to I don't want to blow them up.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want nothing to happen.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: But it was hustling, was doing good.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of the conversations, and they were side conversations.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: I think we were having overall dialogue with the entire group, but we would we would go off to the side and have conversations about, you know, what you know.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: So, what are you selling?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: How are you selling it?
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: How are you pricing it?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: How are you tracking your pricing?
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: How do you know what products do well opposed to which ones don't do well?
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: And he was like, I don't do none of that.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: I just I just like okay, so so this is the part where we can kind of learn and take this from just buying a bunch of candy and and chips and put it in your book bag to really turning it into a business.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: Ironically enough, we were building websites in this program, so we were able to teach them everything we were doing for foundationally and then turn that into an online like web.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: So if you were going to a job or if you were trying to get into college, you could actually send your own link and someone could see exactly who you are as a person alongside your grades and what you've done.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, so it was a cool program.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: This individual was not only building their personal one, but was trying to build one for their business.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, Oh, wow, okay, go for it.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: Fast forward to this summer after the program was all set, and we were just kind of like one-twoing, and I was texting, seeing how everybody was doing.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: And my student was like, Hey, I started a new business doing, you know, I'm doing power washing and and car detailing stuff right now.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and and you could just see that everything was in line.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: Here's my pricing, here's this.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: I still got to build a website, it's coming, but here's this and here's that.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Long story short, I bring them, I bring her, I mean, I bring his company out with a client with a partner of theirs.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: They do my car, they do my wife's car, everything is all good.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: We pay them, we feed them.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: Really great experience to see someone go from I'm here in my life to now I want to go here and transition into like a bigger business.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: So it can be done.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: Again, I think his drive was I want to be an entrepreneur.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: I would I understand that's the space that I want to be in, and it's great to be in high school and starting to learn what that looks like when there's less issues, there's less need for like rent and all these other things because you're still living under your parents' roof, and you can begin to build your business out the right way.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: So that was really a good story for for me to see it go from kind of one thing to something bigger, yeah.
• 8:14
  Dr C: And that's pretty amazing, right?
• 8:16
  Dr C: The the aha moment where wow, I can make my bags, my chips, and my book bag of business, and then thinking of another business.
• 8:23
  Dr C: So that's the so now you created a serial entrepreneur, right?
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, yep.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: That's what we want to do.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: And and again, it's it was good to identify that this individual had entrepreneurship in them already, right?
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, came to the program with I'm you know, I'm selling bags of chips, I'm doing my thing, took everything that we put in the program, which was half personal, half business.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: So they learned business banking, they learned personal banking, they learned business taxes, they learned personal taxes.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: So everything in that program was giving them the uh the ability to say, I know what I need to do as a person, and I know what I need to do if I want to start a business.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: And like they were given both tools.
• 9:03
  Dr C: That's amazing.
• 9:04
  Dr C: Wow, I think I need to take that uh course.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: I got you.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: I got you.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's for anybody, anybody can come in and learn.
• 9:11
  Dr C: Yeah, I mean, even adults need it, you know.
• 9:13
  Dr C: And you mentioned that you are successful because you're living it, right?
• 9:17
  Dr C: You're a young black entrepreneur making business happen.
• 9:20
  Dr C: So, how does sharing your own real journey help break down the walls with the youth you serve?
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: Another great question.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: I think I think the benefit that I have when I go in front of the youth is that I'm talking it and I'm living it.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I look like them, I talk like them.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'm normally not in the polo, I normally got the hoodie on with the hat, and then I think they just feel a closer connection to me, right?
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of them think I'm younger than I am.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: God bless, black don't crack, right?
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: So um, so they just you know, they look at me like a big bro or an uncle or somebody who like is just giving them the real, and then I'm walking in talking about branding with my brand on my chest.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like I it's my own thing.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that gives me a bit of an advantage, also having that lived experience.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like I understand where they're coming from.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: I was, you know, 15, 16, 18, wanting to do business, but didn't know how and thought that I could be rich tomorrow if I tried it, right?
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: So, really, what alive and well is designed to do is I walked the road.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: I've already walked through it, I'm continuing to walk through it as a human being in this life.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm looking backwards and saying, before we let you go down this long road I took to get here, here are where the forks are gonna be at.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: Here's where things are gonna be at.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: Be mindful of this.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: I can't stop what's gonna happen in your life because your life is yours.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: But if you have knowledge that this could potentially happen, or I need to go this way to get this, I think it can make a shorter journey for our people.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what's very important to me.
• 10:47
  Dr C: It's amazing.
• 10:48
  Dr C: You know, being informed and then empowered, I mean, it makes a big difference, right?
• 10:52
  Dr C: Kind of knowing what your path may look like, knowing what the pain points may be helps you prepare and and also helps you kind of get to that point where you're like, I know it's gonna happen, so you don't give up, right?
• 11:02
  Dr C: You're like, I know this is gonna happen.
• 11:04
  Dr C: Several have overcome it, and I can't, I too can overcome it.
• 11:08
  Dr C: So I I love you know that you're sharing your story with with youth so that they could really understand that it's doable and it it is it is hard work and it's gonna take you know dedication, but doable.
• 11:19
  Dr C: And um, so that's that's that's the key word, right?
• 11:22
  Dr C: It can be done.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah.
• 11:25
  Dr C: So let's pivot a little bit about actually connecting with youth.
• 11:28
  Dr C: Parents often ask, how was your day, right?
• 11:31
  Dr C: And we get a one-answer, one-word answer.
• 11:34
  Dr C: Fine.
• 11:35
  Dr C: What's the practical tip or a better question adults can ask to actually connect with youth in their lives?
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't, I mean, I'll just I'll just let everyone know the question that I ask every day.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, when I see my daughter, the first question I ask is, What did you learn today?
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: And that gives her the platform to express what she feels.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: She could have learned something new on TikTok, she could have learned something new in math, but she gets the floor in my world, you know, for as long as she wants to tell me what's up.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: And then I can sort of post questions after that, you know.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: So, so was math hard?
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: But was it hard to learn this thing?
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: What like what are you feeling?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and really allowing them to tell us.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think, you know, us growing up, sometimes parents were just kind of like, you know, a little bit a little bit stern, a little bit colder.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: In this generation, you gotta be a little bit warmer, right?
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: Even when I when I open up class with the youth, we do something called a whip around.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: And the whip around allows them, you know, as they're eating and starting to, you know, to nourish themselves and kind of de-stress from school, but get ready for this kind of program.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: We're able to say, Well, you know, what's up?
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like, tell us what's up.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: You watched the games last night, was like, this is your time.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: You get 30 minutes to to break bread and just talk.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: And then right after that, we're like, all right, tell us what you felt about the last class, the pros, the cons.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: What can I be doing better?
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what are the things that I can be bringing to you that's better?
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: And those things again give them a sense of of like they're not uh below us, we're equal, we're having a conversation, it's respect to hear what they have to say, and then be able to open the door for us to teach what we need to teach.
• 13:20
  Dr C: I love that.
• 13:21
  Dr C: You know, the kids should be kids should be seen and not heard thought that I grew up with.
• 13:28
  Dr C: That's long gone, right?
• 13:30
  Dr C: We we should we should definitely transform our thought that every child has something to say and is still a human being that should be included in the conversation and what they say, we we should listen intently, right?
• 13:43
  Dr C: And making sure that we're that we're really in present in the moment and modeling the way for them as well.
• 13:49
  Dr C: You know, so many times we ask people how are you doing, and by the time they answer it, we're already down the hall.
• 13:55
  Dr C: We we're not necessarily engaging.
• 13:57
  Dr C: So I love the fact of actually engaging and asking you, you know, what did you learn today?
• 14:02
  Dr C: Or you know, letting them say what you know, anything that they want to talk about so that we can be part of their world versus them having to be part of ours.
• 14:10
  Dr C: So I really, I really like the way you you um the way you're addressing your youth in your program.
• 14:16
  Dr C: So if a listener wants to help a young person start their own foundation, specifically regarding financial or career wellness, what is the first smallest practical step they can take this week?
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think I think if you're talking about finances, right?
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: And depending on well, not really depending on the age, right?
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like I, you know, I mentioned my daughter's 10 years old.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, she has a bank account already.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: She has quite a bit of savings in her bank account, right?
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's just about again being practical and training from a real real place, right?
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I think young people don't know how to manage money properly.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: I think it goes and it and it comes, right?
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I think we need to help you know, as parents or as or as teachers or as guidance mentors, we need to teach them what money like money matters, especially 2026, especially what we're looking at in our in our climate.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: We gotta be mindful about what type of money we're spending and what we're doing.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I think the first conversation goes into savings.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: You get some money in, how much of it are you putting away and why?
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of young people just don't understand.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of grown people don't understand that.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people just don't understand the importance of saving something, putting something away for tomorrow, yeah.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: And and being able to manage money, right?
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: I think I think when money comes in, being able to manage it, you mentioned getting the bens, right?
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's like you can't get the bends first before you got all the other things in your found your personal foundation that you need.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: You just need to get from A to B.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: That could be a Kia, right?
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, maybe not a Kia, but that could be like a Toyota or something, right?
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: So so you know, we just want to make sure that that, but like, yes, but keep the Benz in mind, like it's it's there, and Benz makes a new one every year.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: So don't worry, like you know, 2030, you're gonna get the fresh new Benz, but right now get yourself situated, put some money away, and and then start start thinking about the future and where you're trying to go next.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I think if our young people start with that, they've got so much more of a runway than than we may have, right?
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: So, like starting to think about five dollars, right?
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's something I do with my daughter is you know, if you read a chapter, you read a book, you get that's when you get allowance.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: I don't need you, you you gotta clean your room no matter what.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: The more books you read, the more things that you're doing is the easier for me to say, here's some allowance, take this and put half of it into your savings and take half and go buy what you want, and now you're able to do what you want to do.
• 16:36
  Dr C: Wow, I I do I do love that idea of how do we get them to learn about savings.
• 16:41
  Dr C: I think the other piece too is you know, keeping up with the Joneses.
• 16:45
  Dr C: Like, why do you want the Benz?
• 16:47
  Dr C: What does the Benz represent for you?
• 16:49
  Dr C: And a lot of times we're looking for status, right?
• 16:52
  Dr C: Those those reputation markers that the world has told us matter.
• 16:58
  Dr C: And so I I love the fact of you know, financial literacy at a very young age because I think it'll get them to critical thinking of well, why do I want the benz?
• 17:07
  Dr C: Why am I spending$200 on a pair of Jordans when I could save those, I could save$100 and spend a hundred on some, you know, regular kicks that still gonna do the work for me, right?
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: So and to your point, you know, I think you know, just want to chime in on the why.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's you know, we normally leave with that, like that you know, alive and well is this, you know, discovering your why and who you are.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes that message isn't as clear because many people don't do that, right?
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: So we have to attach you know career and life pathways for people to kind of see, oh, okay, like you're trying to help people get to the next, of course.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: The medicine and the candy of everything I'm doing is the why, right?
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you don't know why you're doing what you're doing, then you're just doing you're just doing stuff, right?
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: The status we we've all done it, right?
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm I'm rocking the Jordans because I want you to know I got money for the Jordans.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's cool.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: I like having my money in my pocket now, and I don't need every Jordan, right?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: But but why I like Jordan.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: So when a when a pair of Jordans that I'm really infatuated with come out, I've got the money and the ease to just buy that pair if I want to.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: So it's about really understanding to your point why you're doing what you're doing, and then putting a plan around you know, the things that you really want, the things that you really cherish.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: So if you truly understand your why, then these things that you might buy or these things you might get have more purpose because you understand why they fit into your life, right?
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: And they fit into the world.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: So um, I just wanted to chime in on that because the why is just very important.
• 18:32
  Dr C: Yeah, I appreciate that.
• 18:34
  Dr C: And you know, I think as I've gotten older, I used to save money, like I don't have enough to save, you know, a single parent, two kids, you know, trying to make ends meet, robbing from Peter to PayPal.
• 18:46
  Dr C: I'm sure Peter and Pa are still looking for me from back in the day, but but I think that as I've gotten older and understood money, which is is is a different language, right?
• 18:57
  Dr C: When I've understood the power and the benefit of my savings and how I set myself up for the future, it changed the way I use my money, it changed what I buy, it changes my desire for things.
• 19:10
  Dr C: And I I've become a minimalist because I love to travel.
• 19:14
  Dr C: So, to your point, what is my why?
• 19:16
  Dr C: My why is I want to work hard, but I also want to play hard.
• 19:20
  Dr C: And I know if I'm gonna play hard, that money that I'm building needs to support that.
• 19:26
  Dr C: So I love the fact that you're making sure that youth are learning this early in life because to your point, it it just gets them there quicker, right?
• 19:35
  Dr C: And it eases it eases the pain and and anxiety of finances when you better understand it.
• 19:42
  Dr C: So I know you believe heavily in the power of mentorship and even peer to peer mentoring.
• 19:47
  Dr C: So, for someone listening who wants to find a mentor for their child, where do they start?
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I think if you're looking for a mentor for your child, again, you want to make sure that your Finding someone who again we go back to the why.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: You're finding someone that matches their why and their and their and and what they want to be doing, right?
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: And the age age is going to be different, right?
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: You get someone a little bit younger who you know isn't really ready to work yet, isn't really ready to be in the career.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's the moment when you can expose these youth to something they may have never seen, especially our youth, right?
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: Our youth for some reason only see certain careers and entertainment as the way to be successful.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of ways to be successful, but what does success look like to you, right?
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I think when you choose a mentor, choose someone who one is relatable to that individual, two, is in a space that that individual has some sort of um interest in that can actually talk to them on a human level, like we spoke about, right?
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: We don't want anyone speaking down to our kids like, you know, you gotta go get your bachelor's and master's and dah, dah, dah.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: No, like I force mentors when they come in and talk to our young people to tell them stories about when it didn't work and when it wasn't feeling like it wasn't gonna happen, right?
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: And because when I talk to my mentors and people that, you know, I followed, those are the things, those are the questions that I ask.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, you know, tell me a time when you didn't think this was all gonna work out, and like how'd you get over that?
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: And those are very human moments that I think we all share.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yo, I'm just out of it, or I'm depressed, or something happened, or I lost a family member, or you know, nobody was returning my calls, or I didn't think this was gonna work.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: And then when it worked, what was that feeling like?
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I think those are the moments you want young people to kind of take in because when they feel them, they can link think back to that story that my mentor told me, and how do I move this ball forward because it can be moved.
• 21:43
  Dr C: Yeah.
• 21:44
  Dr C: So the reality is that you know there are highs and lows to everything, right?
• 21:48
  Dr C: Peaks and valleys.
• 21:49
  Dr C: And so we do need to prepare one another for those peaks and and how to how to remove yourself from it, how to climb out of that.
• 21:57
  Dr C: And our youth need to understand we romanticize a lot of things, right?
• 22:00
  Dr C: I was just talking to somebody the other day, you know, when we think of something, we always think about all the wonderful things about it, all the great things that can happen, and we don't necessarily think about the pitfalls, right?
• 22:13
  Dr C: And so when we don't do that, we're not prepared, we're not preparing ourselves for that, you know, the contingency planning of if this doesn't work, then what?
• 22:21
  Dr C: And and I need to have a then what plan, right?
• 22:24
  Dr C: And so I'm glad that the youth are learning that.
• 22:26
  Dr C: I'm glad that you're forcing your mentors to also talk about these things with your youth.
• 22:32
  Dr C: So you are building a pipeline of future workers who are healthy, engaged, and productive.
• 22:38
  Dr C: How does mastering this wellness first mindset change their trajectory?
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I think I think the the wellness piece is so important because again, you know, we we can listen to stories of folks who are like, I hate my job, and I don't have man, if I didn't have these bills, I wouldn't be doing this.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, you know, you don't you don't want to start your life out in that space.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: I've done that.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: I've done those jobs where like, you know, you you like what am I doing wasting my time here?
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like I know that I have more to offer and more to give, right?
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I think again, going back to being to understanding who you are, I think when you talk about you know mental health and and healthy, like wellness living, it's you know, our people in our community have a lot of a lot of trauma, a lot of things going on that you know, because of our past and like you know, our parents and our and our grandparents, like you know, you just gotta you know put some dirt on it, keep it moving.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's it's like no, like we're humans, like you need to like actually have a conversation with somebody that could be a barrier to moving forward, right?
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: So thinking about it from a mental standpoint as well as you know, healthy, right?
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: You got we gotta be here.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: We got a lot of high blood pressure diabetes in in our you know in our communities.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, if you out here trying to go for it, but you still eat at McDonald's every day, like you're not alive and well, right?
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like you're just not, right?
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the whole play on the name, right?
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's like you know, it's alive and well because you hear you're not in the graveyard, you're not in a jail cell, you're not any place, you hear your present, but you also need to be alive and well mentally, spiritually, emotionally, physically, so that you can be the best you possible to move the ball forward.
• 24:23
  Dr C: That's deep.
• 24:24
  Dr C: And and our youth getting it early in life.
• 24:27
  Dr C: I mean, it just makes such a big difference.
• 24:29
  Dr C: So when you look at the alive and well brand, which you're wearing, you want it to be something people wear proudly.
• 24:36
  Dr C: What does the brand represent for the future of Rochester?
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's a great question.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the goal, the goal for 2026 is to get the brand out there.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think what we offer and what we bring, like I said in the beginning, is just an add-on to any program that's out there.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I don't see where we're trying to compete or or do anything, you know, to hinder the work that everyone else is doing.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: We just feel like we're at the front door so we can at least get people placed in the right directions, right?
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: So alive and well as a brand is looking to put themselves in all of these directions, right?
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: We've got a number of things happening from curated dinner series with with bad minds to our own podcast talking about the front door and speaking with other community members who can say, here's what we're missing in this whole front door piece, and like how can we start to bring some things together?
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we're we're big into merch, so we have everything from polos to hoodies to hats to cups to whatever.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: So more of that goes out there so that alive and well is just in the ecosystem, it becomes one of these names that people can attach themselves to, you know, career planning, life planning, mental health and wellness, things like that.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: We just want to be in that space.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: And just because I come from branding and marketing, I understand the importance of that.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: I understand that people need to see it, people need to like to see it, to hear it, to taste it, to feel it, to be in the room with it.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: If you can do all of those things, then you have a, you know, you have a better play to moving the needle forward.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: And then just on a cool tip, like we really want the young people to be designing their own hoodies.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why, you know, I I got I'm I got old eyes, I see things a certain type of way.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like, let them put their spin on what they feel like alive and well is.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: I think we're in a really great space to be a a nonprofit and a brand that, you know, YMCA doesn't got people rocking their hoodies, you know what I'm saying?
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like, boys and girls don't got people rocking their hats.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we want to be able to have young people engaging with the brand in a different way and really build like an alumni, fraternity, sorority kind of uh piece around alive and well where people feel like good about it.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, you know, alive and well is my thing.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: You ain't in alive and well, you gotta be in that, man.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: They're helping out.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, we want that kind of a feel um for for years to come with alive and well.
• 26:46
  Dr C: Yeah, so you're looking for ambassadors for your brand.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: That's the that's the goal, that's the next step.
• 26:51
  Dr C: I love that.
• 26:52
  Dr C: So, a couple of things.
• 26:54
  Dr C: We know right now federally the funding for nonprofits is being jeopardized, extremely jeopardized, right?
• 27:03
  Dr C: Many nonprofits are facing the unfortunate decision of maybe having to close their doors.
• 27:11
  Dr C: So, how can someone learn about alive and well and support the work you do, bringing in that sh money?
• 27:19
  Dr C: If there's somebody out there that says, wait a minute, this sounds like a phenomenal opportunity.
• 27:25
  Dr C: I want to be able to support it.
• 27:26
  Dr C: How does someone you know get in touch with you to become a partner or or a uh I'm sorry, a donor for your program?
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I think our website, our website is probably the easiest place to go.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we're on socials, we're on LinkedIn, you know, I'm on LinkedIn, so there's ways um to communicate, you know, via email, via phone call meetings, but you know, our our website allows for the donations, and that really helps us out because, like you said, yeah, it's it's tough right now with everything changing and languages changing.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm just trying to be as lean as possible, but really want to work with the community because I think, like you said earlier, it benefits everybody.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: Our our goal is to build a pipeline.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: So if we can get youth starting at 13, 14, 15 and thinking about their why and where they want to go, put them into career pathways and training because we have an abundance of that here in the city.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: So let's just file individuals where they actually want to be at, um, and then see them get hired on the back end with help from you know my company and and just working with alive and well to say, here, we're just pipelining you through this process to get into the careers you want to be in, or go to college, or do whatever it is you want to do.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know, those are the things that we would need help and funding with, and those donations and and um some of our fundraisers and stuff are going to be really helpful in that space.
• 28:42
  Dr C: So can you tell me the name of your website?
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: So it's www.aliveandwellny.org.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: So in this A N D.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: So aliveandwellny.org.
• 28:56
  Dr C: All right, beautiful.
• 28:57
  Dr C: And if somebody was interested in signing up their their child for programming, they would go to alive and well new york.org.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: Alive and well ny.org.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: And they could go there on the contact sheet, they can sign their their youth up there, and then you know, we'll reach out and see.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: We we normally work closely with school districts.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: We want to have at least you know 10 individuals in a cohort, but depending on where they're at and just kind of like all of the stuff we can make it happen.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, if they reach out, we can make some things work.
• 29:27
  Dr C: Right.
• 29:28
  Dr C: So, the million-dollar question.
• 29:30
  Dr C: If our listeners could do one thing differently tomorrow to ensure that they are alive and well in their own pursuit of success, what would you recommend?
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, what a great question.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: It starts with the why.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: Why are you doing what you're doing?
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, we normally lean on it's for our kids, it's for our family, it's for this, but you know, I didn't ask you about your kid or your family.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: I asked you about you.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I think I think that's sometimes we all, all of us, sort of forget that we got to put ourselves first.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_01: We gotta wake up in the morning first before we can before we can help those other people.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_01: So what is it that we want?
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: What is it that you want out of life?
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: What's your why?
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_01: And it your life can be going tough right now for you.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_01: It could have been tough for the last 10 or 15 years, but tomorrow's a new day.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we 10 years, 11, I mean, excuse me, 10 or 11 days into the new year.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_01: So you got everything in front of you if you start asking, you know, why?
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_01: Why am I here and why I'm doing what I'm doing?
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's the biggest thing.
• 30:30
  Dr C: I love that.
• 30:32
  Dr C: My life changed when I stopped, when my why became about me.
• 30:37
  Dr C: And when I what I mean by that is a lot of times we we see it as selfish, right?
• 30:42
  Dr C: Like, oh, I'm thinking about myself and what I want, and that's selfish.
• 30:46
  Dr C: But the the reality is that you have to put your goals and your dreams first.
• 30:51
  Dr C: You have to pour into yourself first because you can't you can't mentor, you can't pour into somebody else when you have an empty cup, when you don't have your own personal why, where you're not trying to fulfill your own purpose.
• 31:03
  Dr C: So I love that that you're bringing that up because many of us cannot sustain the work because it's not ingrained in our purpose, it's not our why, it's somebody else's why.
• 31:16
  Dr C: So I really, I really love that how you put that and how you said that.
• 31:19
  Dr C: I'm looking to get an alive and well hoodie.
• 31:22
  Dr C: Where do I go?
• 31:23
  Dr C: How do I how do I get down with the cause?
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's what's up.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's it's on the site.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: Everything is on our site www.aliveandwellny.org.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_01: I got you though.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: We we family, so I got you, you know.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_01: But everybody else, if you if you can support it, show some love, it'd be great.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we definitely we got some hoodies, we got the quarter zips for all the new kids that want to do that.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: We was doing that before, but we got quarter zips, hats, a little bit of everything.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: So definitely that that goes right into our into our funding too, as I mean, our funds for our fundraiser as well.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: So your purchase goes right into the work that we're doing.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, it's it's big work.
• 32:00
  Dr C: Beautiful.
• 32:00
  Dr C: So if you want to support alive and well, you could buy polos, you could buy the hoodies, you could buy the hats, and you know that those proceeds go directly into programming.
• 32:08
  Dr C: Sean, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and your passion and for sharing all that you do in alive and well.
• 32:14
  Dr C: I'm sure that many parents are going to be looking into your program.
• 32:18
  Dr C: And I'm hopeful that there are many people out there that want to support the work that you do as well.
• 32:24
  Dr C: Thank you so much, Sean.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Dr.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: C.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: Good to see you.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_01: Appreciate it.
• 32:29
  Dr C: What a powerful distinction to hear that we can't just hand someone the keys to success, we have to teach them how to maintain it.
• 32:37
  Dr C: Sean is showing us that true wellness isn't just about feeling good today, it's about the financial and emotional plan to be well tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next.
• 32:50
  Dr C: What's stuck most with me today is the idea that we can't skip the foundation.
• 32:55
  Dr C: Whether it's our money, our career, or our mental health, we have to do the work at the front door before we walk through to our destiny.
• 33:04
  Dr C: As Sean reminded us, you cannot build a successful house without the solid baseline or financial literacy and mental wellness to sustain it.
• 33:14
  Dr C: We will have all the links to alive and well in the show notes.
• 33:16
  Dr C: You can support their incredible mission, sign up for the programs, and support their programs by purchasing some of their branded hoodies and gear by visiting their website, www.aliveandwellnework.org.
• 33:30
  Dr C: Every purchase directly funds their youth programming.
• 33:33
  Dr C: If today's conversation inspired you to rethink your own why or how you connect with the youth in your life, please share this episode with a friend and parent who needs to hear it.
• 33:43
  Dr C: And to help us continue to bring you these transformational conversations, please subscribe, rate, and leave a review.
• 33:51
  Dr C: Until next time, keep on learning, stay inspired, continue to flourish, and never stop evolving.
• 33:56
  Dr C: I'm your host, Dr.
• 33:58
  Dr C: C, and this is the live podcast.