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Speaking through our passions, part2: Shepreneur Magazine’s 'Rich Daughter' program
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Photo: Jazzy Studio/Aisha Butler
On an unusually cool Saturday in late September, fifteen young ladies, grades 4 to 12, participated in this year’s “Rich Daughter's” closing ceremony at the Pikesville Library. Some dressed in their professional attire while others professionally wore the program’s lone sponsor, Shepreneur Magazine, black tee shirts. Their day began at 9am as three guests, all successful African-American women entrepreneurs, discussed the benefits of being “your own boss” and the determination and focus it takes to build a sustainable & profitable business. The young ladies asked questions demonstrating their sincere appreciation of the guests’ busy schedules.
Afterwards the young participants had an opportunity to share their own individual business plan. Each came prepared to talk about their business’ mission and vision as well as what makes their business unique and a comparison analysis of their business competition. Even the youngest participant typed her 5-paged business plan complete with a table of contents, cover and marketing analysis pages. The presented business plans included beauty & hair salons, an all-encompassed artistic studio, jewelry designing, tailoring, web design and development, fashion/modeling studio, restaurateurs, dining hall/event rental ownership, social media development enterprise, and magazine publication. The young ladies questioned, commented, and offered suggestions & support about each other’s businesses.
The remaining sessions included ‘creating a dream board creation’ contest, a financial literacy test review, and a professional photo shoot. Each ‘dream board’ reflected the passion the young ladies expected for themselves as business owners. As an incentive for completing the program, the young ladies received their very own professional photo that will be a part of their portfolio because “every business woman should have a professional portrait in her business and personal portfolio”.
The “Rich Daughter” program was created and implemented two years ago by Ms. Kristy Johnson, Editor-in-Chief of Shepreneur Magazine, a publication devoted to urban women entrepreneurs.“Rich Daughter” is a six-week summer program for young ladies, grades 4 to 12, to educate them about financial literacy as well as developing their own entrepreneurial business. During the six-week training, the young ladies learned about finances, and business planning and development among other things. Through aggressive online and direct marketing campaigns, all applicants were interviewed by Ms. Johnson for entrance into the program.
The forty-four selected young ladies included local Baltimoreans as well as young ladies who Skype every Saturday morning for the 1hour instructional programming. This year’s Skype participants included young ladies from New York and Texas, just to name a few. For the closing ceremony, the New York participant made the decision to travel to Baltimore. Her reason to commit to an over 7-hour round trip travel was that she “wanted the opportunity to meet the other young ladies and be a part of the closing program”. She learned about "Rich Daughter" from her aunt and viewed her time in the program as an investment in herself. She is committed to launching her own magazine in a couple of years.
When interviewed, a group of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade participants remarked they learned about savings and investing. One of the young ladies’ father opened a savings account in which the funds will be used for her business or a car. They all agreed that the program felt more like an investment instead of a sacrifice. Adhering to one of the lessons learned, one young lady said “when someone borrows money from me, I will have a written contract that will include the interest on the borrowed funds”.
For Ms. Johnson, “Rich Daughter” is a natural response to God speaking through her passion. When asked her motivation for creating such an auspicious program without sponsorship beyond her own, Ms. Johnson commented,“I believe when you teach a child, you teach a nation. It is much easier to train a girl than it is to rebuild a woman. Creating financial awareness will harness our youth to be better than our parents taught us. Unfortunately, the school systems are not teaching our youth to be financially independent, and they go straight into college adopting habits of what they see their peers doing instead of implementing proper financial tactics. When you know better, you can do better. Rich Daughter is a program that teaches young girls about finances, entrepreneurship and leadership, in addition to self esteem. My desire in sustaining this program is to partner with local and national brands to develop a standardized accredited curriculum for women and girls on a global level.”
Of those who complete the program, 78% will start their business while the others will work with mentors in their field on interest as they continue to develop their business. With only the support of her own personal funds and family members, like her mother, offering their time and assistance, Ms. Johnson remains spiritually motivated to fulfill the “Rich Daughter” mission. She said, “The Bible taught me that when much is given much is required. To gain the whole world and not give back is a waste of talent, wealth, and knowledge. I believe in being generous with information, being able to provide lessons life has taught me in the area of business and finances is enough to gain a goods night sleep. A leader is someone who does more than talk about issues but creates solutions that make a difference".
Also in attendance was Ms. Johnson’s mother, two daughters--whom were also program participants, and cousin. Ms. Johnson’s mother offered some insight about her daughter’s progression to this point in her journey. She commented that Ms. Johnson has always believed in herself and did not allowed obstacles to stand in her way; she moved forward from being a Real Estate agent to a successful magazine owner. “Kristy has always committed herself to whatever she desired to do in her life”, her mother stated.
The Law of Attraction says that whatever we subconsciously hold within our consciousness about ourselves and others will form our outward experiences. In other words, what we believe, we will see. Ms. Johnson, like the young ladies who have participated in the Rich Daughter program for the past three years, showed up as a demonstration to the world that anything and everything can be accomplished when we step out on faith. When we believe in the idea that God places within our hearts and minds, all is possible.
Continue with us on the journey as we ‘speak through our passions, part3’.
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