Tamira Chapman is an award winning lawyer, entrepreneur, and speaker. She is most known for her company Storehouse In A Box and serving as advisory council member for Forbes BLK. Her company Storehouse In A Box, was ranked as the 8th fastest-growing woman-owned enterprise in 2022.
Tamira Chapman joins 'Forbes Talks' with Ali Jackson-Jolley to discuss building generational wealth, the success of the Forbes BLK Summit in Atlanta, and her new business ventures.
Tamira Chapman joins 'Forbes Talks' with Ali Jackson-Jolley to discuss building generational wealth, the success of the Forbes BLK Summit in Atlanta, and her new business ventures.
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00:00 Hi, I'm Allie Jackson Jolly.
00:04 I'm here with Tamira Chapman, who is the President and CEO of Storehouse in a Box.
00:11 She's also an attorney and a philanthropist and an advisory council member for Forbes
00:18 BLK.
00:19 Tamira, welcome and thanks for being here.
00:21 Thank you for having me, Allie.
00:22 It's an honor and a privilege.
00:23 Yeah, so about a month ago when we were at the Forbes BLK Summit, we had a really interesting
00:31 conversation and that was around how the black community and the brown communities in America
00:38 tend to over-index in terms of philanthropy and volunteerism, but not necessarily in terms
00:44 of wealth building.
00:48 Doing both, doing well while doing good, is something that you focus on with your organization.
00:54 You help nonprofits create sustainable revenue flows.
00:59 And so talk to me about how you think we can get our community to understand that you can
01:06 do well, you can be a philanthropist, but you could also and should also be thinking
01:10 about building your own wealth.
01:13 Absolutely.
01:14 So thank you for that question.
01:16 And you're right, when we had this conversation a couple weeks ago, it was really centered
01:21 around how do we continue to do well by doing good.
01:25 And so in terms of philanthropy, I think it's absolutely necessary because once you develop
01:31 a deep why and you know why you're working so hard, then it becomes easy to make money.
01:36 It becomes easy to accumulate wealth.
01:39 So if we're simply seeking to build wealth for wealth's sake, that generally doesn't
01:44 work and that's not the type of wealth that'll stick around for too long.
01:47 But when we understand the different things that we desire to move the needle on.
01:52 So if I know that I want to help underserved kids in a community, if I know I want to move
01:56 the needle with cures for cancer or eradicate hunger in Africa, then that's what's requiring
02:03 the work for me.
02:05 So I think that the first thing that needs to happen is we do need to identify causes
02:10 that we're deeply passionate about.
02:12 And once we identify those causes, then it gives us the why we use that why to go out
02:18 and to drive capital.
02:20 The second part of that is it has taken a long time for us to get to this point in history.
02:26 And so in my particular family, it's taken 400 years to make a millionaire.
02:32 And because that is the case, I cannot allow another 400 years to go by before it can happen
02:38 again.
02:39 And so what that means is that my generation has to stop and be very thoughtful about wealth
02:44 strategies that we can employ for future generations.
02:47 Yeah.
02:48 And so if I may, you actually spoke about something sort of personal to yourself in
02:54 talking about how you want to make sure 400 years from now, your son, your grandchildren,
03:02 your great great grandchildren have money and are not worried about being at the bottom
03:10 of the wealth pool.
03:11 Can you just explain a little bit about how you see that and how you're doing that?
03:16 Yeah, for sure.
03:17 So my husband and I have been very intentional about providing for not just our son, but
03:23 for his heirs as well.
03:25 And so when we think about it, there are a few things that we believe will really change
03:31 the trajectory of his life.
03:33 One is making sure that he has access to a quality education and so getting him in the
03:38 best schools that we can possibly afford today.
03:41 And then the second part of that is making sure that when it's time for him to procure
03:46 a home, that he's in a position to do so, because we know owning a primary residence
03:52 is one of the primary drivers of wealth building in the United States.
03:56 And then a third part of that is making sure that there is access to capital.
04:00 Should he ever want to start a business or should he want to do something else if he
04:05 doesn't want to work in corporate America, say he decides to go in sports?
04:10 He actually has the luxury to do that.
04:12 He has the luxury to try.
04:14 And so those are the building blocks that we believe are foundational to building wealth.
04:19 And because that's the case, we've did everything we can to see that that is provided for him
04:25 and for future generations as well.
04:28 And so we don't believe that the key to driving wealth is everything that we've managed to
04:32 acquire in our lifetime to give it all to him, because we want to make sure that he
04:37 continues to have a strong work ethic and that he understands what it takes to be successful
04:42 in America and beyond.
04:43 And then we want to make sure that those lessons are passed on to future generations, but giving
04:47 them all that same head start, because we believe if we would have had access to something
04:53 similar, we would already be much further as well.
04:55 Yeah, I love that.
04:57 And you mentioned access.
05:00 And so I want to switch gears a little bit and talk about something I know is a new passion,
05:08 mission and project of yours, and that is creating more access to the publishing world
05:15 for underserved communities.
05:17 So making sure that there are more authors from underserved communities who have a voice
05:22 and can tell their stories and get them published.
05:25 Tell me a little bit about what you're doing and how I guess how you got how that became
05:29 something that you started thinking so deeply about.
05:31 Yeah.
05:32 So thank you for that question.
05:34 So maybe about a year ago, Ms. Obama was releasing The Light We Carry.
05:41 And we had the fortunate honor to partner with Penguin Random House to do a special
05:46 edition of her book and to release that to our various audiences.
05:51 As part of that work, the team was pleased and the thought was, you know, Tamira, you've
05:56 been so helpful to us.
05:58 Is there anything that we can do to support you?
06:01 And I said, for sure, I'd love to have you all help me demystify the publishing pipeline
06:07 on behalf of black and brown communities.
06:09 And so in that regard, we set out about 12 months to today to develop a program entitled
06:16 Women in Words.
06:17 And this program has allowed over 10,000 underserved women to come through and literally
06:23 learn everything they can about publishing from A to Z with Penguin as the anchor for
06:28 that.
06:29 So it's really been extraordinary.
06:31 Yeah.
06:32 And so anyone who has worked with me recently knows that there is a date that's tattooed
06:37 on my brain.
06:39 That's 2045.
06:40 That's the year by which if population growth continues as it is now, there will be a new
06:47 generation of women.
06:48 And so I think that's a really important thing to remember.
06:51 And I think that's a really important thing to remember.
06:54 And I think that's a really important thing to remember.
06:57 And I think that's a really important thing to remember.
07:00 And I think that's a really important thing to remember.
07:03 And I think that's a really important thing to remember.
07:06 And I think that's a really important thing to remember.
07:09 And I think that's a really important thing to remember.
07:12 And I think that's a really important thing to remember.
07:15 So, has that been to try to get into an industry that is traditionally not very diverse and
07:22 then to make the case for more diverse voices?
07:25 Like what have you found?
07:26 Yeah, so I found working with the Penguin team that it was welcomed.
07:30 And they were extraordinary champions for the work.
07:33 So it wasn't lost on the team that by 2045 will be majority minority.
07:40 So I don't think that there was much of a case to be made.
07:44 In this particular case, it was simply mating up a willing partner with the audience that
07:49 really desired the information.
07:51 And I think that what we found from working together over the last 12 months is that it's
07:57 needed and that when we create these sort of spaces, we see extraordinary energy come
08:04 out of it.
08:05 And I think that we'll all be better for it.
08:07 Okay, yeah.
08:08 I agree.
08:10 And then how about you and I also have discussed the idea of a legacy, right?
08:16 I mean, I heard you talk about that with your son and your family in terms of wealth, but
08:21 also in terms of the work that you're doing to create diverse pipelines and sort of this
08:28 idea that there's not enough of us in these leadership roles now.
08:34 And we sort of feel like we can't leave until the pipeline's larger.
08:38 How do you create a pipeline?
08:42 Often the argument in industry is, well, we'd love to bring people in, but the pipeline
08:48 just isn't there.
08:50 What do you say to that?
08:51 And how do you build that pipeline?
08:53 I say to that they simply don't have access to the pipeline.
08:56 And so I think that if there is a desire to bring in more diverse voices into some of
09:03 these spaces, you have to start with a diverse voice.
09:06 And so what we found in the publishing space is that we have black women that are spending
09:12 two times as much in terms of their annual budgets in purchasing books.
09:17 They're spending at least 60 hours more a year reading books than any other demographic
09:22 group.
09:23 And I actually thought about that, and I said, what would make us spend more and what would
09:27 make us read more?
09:29 And I finally realized it's the one spot where we can go and get an unfiltered opinion.
09:35 So, when we're having conversations with someone and we're wanting to learn, based on who you're
09:40 talking to, you may get a different version of the narrative.
09:43 But when someone gets ready to publish a book, you got their best 10,000 hours, right?
09:48 And so it's a safe place for us to go and learn.
09:51 And because we are always out there trying to acquire skills, it's a perfect spot to
09:55 do it.
09:56 So, when I think about access to the pipeline, I think that you first have to start with
10:01 somebody that is within that pipeline, because you have to know how to have conversations
10:06 with that actual community.
10:07 You basically need a broker that sits in the middle, that understands you have a business
10:12 need, but you also have a good community need as to why this needs to happen.
10:17 And you've got to have someone else that's in the middle willing to really make that
10:21 introduction.
10:22 It's a referral like it is in any other thing that we're getting ready to do.
10:26 So, the pipeline is always there.
10:29 It's just a function of, do you have access to it?
10:31 Do you have the right champions, the people that believe in you, that trust the work that
10:35 you say that you want to do, in that they're willing to release or make an introduction
10:41 to their audience on your behalf?
10:43 Because a lot of times, you may find that an organization wants access to a particular
10:48 community.
10:49 You're kind enough to give it, but it was nothing more than a press release.
10:53 And so, when we get ready to make these big leaps, you want to make sure that there's
10:58 something on the other side of it, that the community that we're tapping gets something
11:02 tangible out of it.
11:03 Yeah, I love that.
11:05 Unfortunately, we're almost out of time, but as we head into the holiday season and the
11:11 new year, I want to be a bit optimistic.
11:15 So, may I ask you, there's a lot of fights still to be had to make this world better,
11:22 but what makes you most optimistic about 2024?
11:26 I think conversations like the one that we're having today, the work that I'm doing with
11:33 Penguin, when I sit down and have conversations with children.
11:38 And so, they're still very much so innocent, and they're inspired by corners of the work
11:46 that's being done.
11:47 And as long as I can look at a child and I can see hope in their eyes, then it gives
11:51 me the luxury to keep going and knowing that everything will be okay, because there's a
11:56 future generation that's right behind us, that's counting on us to really get it done.
12:00 So, I think as long as there are children that believe in us, and as long as conversations
12:07 like this continue to happen all around the world, then I think the future is in good
12:11 hands, and I've got on my gear and ready to get the work done in 2024.
12:16 Yeah, I love that.
12:17 Well, now we are out of time.
12:19 Thank you so much for coming, Tamara.
12:21 And yeah, let's just keep these conversations happening.
12:24 Let's do it.
12:25 Thank you for having me.
12:26 Thank you.
12:27 Thank you.
12:28 Thank you.
12:29 [END]