0:00

Hi, I am Ruchin McDonald, a host

0:02

of Weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass

0:04

Show. The interviews and information that this

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show provides are for everyone. It's

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time to stop reading other people's success

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Guest button. Press Submit, and the information

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will come directly to me. Now

0:24

let's get this show started. I

0:38

guess created the HBCU Week

0:40

Foundation in 2017 with a

0:42

mission to promote enrollment in

0:44

historically black colleges and universities,

0:47

which is HBCUs, provides scholarships

0:49

and create pathways for

0:51

students from undergrad to corporate

0:53

America. To date,

0:56

HBCU Week has facilitated

0:58

over 10 ,000. Listen to

1:00

me y 'all. 10

1:03

,000 on -the -spot

1:05

acceptance to HBCUs,

1:07

and awarded nearly

1:09

$100 million in

1:11

scholarships to HBCUs. If

1:14

that's not spectacular, I don't know what

1:16

it is. Please welcome to Monday Making Conversation

1:18

Masterclass, the one and only Ashley Christopher.

1:20

How you doing, Ashley? Hey,

1:22

hey, Reshine. Good to be here. How are

1:24

you? You know, Ashley, I built it up. Hey,

1:26

hey, Reshine, how you doing? How

1:29

you doing? I'm doing well. I'm

1:31

happy to be here. I actually had

1:33

a conversation. Come on now, Ashley.

1:35

10 ,000 people. Now, young people, you

1:38

know, that you've owned the

1:40

spot registration at your event,

1:43

$100 million in scholarships, because

1:45

that's what we talk about

1:47

now. Getting out of college,

1:50

not caring that debt owned

1:52

for the rest of their

1:54

life. Talk about the HBCU

1:56

week. What is it

1:58

exactly, and also explain to my

2:00

audience, what is on the spot acceptance?

2:04

Yeah, so, I mean, our on

2:06

the spot acceptance process happens

2:08

every year at our college fair.

2:10

So we do a week

2:12

long activation, which emulates an HBCU

2:14

homecoming experience. It's a week

2:16

long, it's in Wilmington, Delaware. We

2:18

do all the exciting things like concerts,

2:20

comedy shows, the battle of the

2:23

band, panel discussions, block party. But the

2:25

cornerstone event is the college fair

2:27

because that's where students can get accepted

2:29

into college on the spot and

2:31

receive a scholarship award. So if you

2:33

come as a graduating senior and

2:35

you have the requisite SAT or ACT

2:37

score and GPA, you could

2:39

be admitted right there. And unfortunately,

2:41

we have been able to provide that

2:43

kind of access for 10 ,000 students

2:45

since 2017. When

2:49

did you realize, first

2:52

of all, let's talk about your background.

2:55

You're double HBCU, right? Look at

2:57

everybody, your academic background and

2:59

what do you start, right? And

3:01

why did you choose an

3:03

HBCU? Well, the

3:05

funny thing is I was fortunate enough

3:07

to grow up in a household where

3:09

my parents encouraged me to choose an HBCU.

3:12

My high school didn't necessarily do that.

3:14

They didn't even discuss or acknowledge HBCUs.

3:16

But because of my parents, I already knew

3:18

in my mind that that was the

3:20

direction I wanted to go. I did go

3:22

to an all girls Catholic high school.

3:24

So even though I really did want

3:26

to go to Spelman at first, that quickly

3:29

became a non -negotiable for me. I didn't

3:31

want to do the all girls thing

3:33

again. So after that, Howard,

3:35

Howard became my first choice. And it

3:37

was the best decision I could

3:39

have ever made. So I went to

3:41

Howard University for undergraduate school, and

3:43

then I went to the University of

3:45

DC Law School, finishing up there

3:47

in 2013. Now,

3:49

when you talk about these different

3:51

scholarships that you, or dealing

3:53

with and putting out there. How

3:55

did you start the HBCU week?

3:58

And what was the original goal?

4:00

Because now it's huge, you know,

4:02

but you have to start somewhere

4:04

and usually by yourself when you're

4:06

starting out. So, and you have

4:08

this insane idea to change the

4:10

world. Talk about those early

4:12

days before it was 10 ,000

4:14

on the spot residence acceptance and

4:17

before there was a hundred million

4:19

dollars in scholarships to attend HBCUs. Yeah,

4:22

well, you know, I think, um,

4:24

the stars kind of aligned and I

4:26

was, you know, trying to figure

4:28

out what my thing was at the

4:30

moment. Um, I had recently finished

4:32

law school. I was successful with the

4:35

bar exam. So I was licensed

4:37

to practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

4:39

Um, and I'm trying to figure out

4:42

what, what my next step is

4:44

going to be. So I ended up

4:46

meeting the newly elected mayor in

4:48

the city of Wilmington and We struck

4:50

a really good relationship very quickly. So

4:53

what we did was we ended

4:55

up working together and as an employee

4:57

of his, he asked me to

4:59

come up with some programming that was

5:01

pointed directly at some of Wilmington's

5:03

most underserved communities. So

5:05

I wanted to lean into education

5:07

and in doing that, I

5:09

came up with this concept of

5:11

HBCU Week as a former

5:14

chairman or chairwoman of Howard University

5:16

Homecoming. that gave me a

5:18

clear backdrop for large -scale event

5:20

planning. And that coupled

5:22

with my love for HBCUs and

5:24

wanting to just expose students to the

5:26

same experience I had, that's what

5:28

led me to create this foundation. Initially

5:33

started now. This is what I

5:35

would love people, you know when

5:38

you hear something that you're accomplishing

5:40

you doing this in Wilmington, Delaware

5:42

Okay, that's not a major city

5:44

as we all know just south

5:46

of Philadelphia, you know and Right

5:48

there alone you go Did

5:51

you see it getting this big? Or

5:53

you were just starting an

5:55

initiative that you dreamed of and

5:57

you felt that you could

5:59

impact just the community locally? Because

6:02

you're impacting the country now,

6:04

not just the community of Wilmington,

6:06

Delaware. Yeah, and

6:08

to be honest with you, I had no

6:10

idea. And honestly, the

6:12

goal wasn't even for this to be

6:14

a national event. The goal was

6:16

to take care of the students in

6:18

my hometown. to get them the

6:20

exposure that they needed because I knew,

6:22

you know, a lot of people where I grew up

6:25

don't even think college is an option. So

6:27

I wanted to make sure that they

6:29

were taken care of. And in doing that,

6:32

it was very easy to show

6:34

or demonstrate the passion and

6:36

authenticity behind the mission and getting

6:38

the students involved and excited

6:40

about it. And it just kind

6:42

of caught on to all

6:45

the surrounding areas, students from different

6:47

schools, Our college fair started

6:49

to attract everyone from the Delaware

6:51

Valley, not just Wilmington, but

6:53

Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, even

6:55

as far as Connecticut and

6:57

as far south as Kentucky. We

7:00

had a bus from Kentucky drive

7:02

up to the college fair. So, I

7:05

mean, I think that it

7:07

speaks volumes when you love what

7:09

you do and you have

7:11

a real passion and drive behind

7:13

just the impact. It

7:15

catches on and people just

7:17

I think naturally get excited

7:20

about it. Yeah, I'm talking

7:22

to Ashley Christopher her HBCU

7:24

foundation that she started in

7:26

2017 Passion is to grow

7:28

the brand awareness of HBCUs

7:30

but more importantly the attendance

7:32

and also to Put students

7:34

in the position where tier

7:36

one students in particular they

7:38

can go to school via

7:40

scholarships so far since 2017

7:42

10 ,000 on the spot

7:44

acceptance that means when these

7:46

students bring the ACT or

7:48

SAT and they transcript to

7:50

the college fair they'll meet

7:52

with a counselor at this

7:54

particular HBCU and they can

7:57

be accepted on the spot

7:59

I've seen it with my

8:01

own eyes I've seen these

8:03

kids walk away with a

8:05

number of four rides, partial

8:07

scholarship offers right there. I've

8:09

seen long lines. I've seen it

8:11

so many times and a hundred

8:13

million dollars in scholarships. Can you

8:15

tell people basically you have other

8:17

scholarships that you are making available,

8:19

especially in the STEM area. Can

8:21

you discuss that with us on

8:24

air? Oh, yeah. Yeah.

8:26

I would say that my most

8:28

popular scholarship is the STEM scholarship.

8:30

It's the future of STEM. dollars

8:33

initiative. And it is

8:35

a $40 ,000 award available to

8:37

students that are committed to

8:39

attending HBCU and declare a STEM

8:41

major. So I was able

8:43

to broker a $40 million partnership with

8:45

the American Chemistry Council. So

8:47

that $40 ,000 scholarship is available

8:49

to 1 ,000 students. We've

8:52

given away just under 600

8:54

of those awards so far. With

8:57

North Carolina A &T being the

8:59

premier HBCU STEM school, we

9:01

have about 120 FASI scholars there,

9:03

followed by 78 at Howard

9:05

University. And there are

9:07

46 HBCUs that have FASI scholars

9:09

enrolled. So that's our most

9:11

popular one, the $40 ,000 STEM

9:13

scholarship. And that application goes live

9:15

every September on hbcweek .org. So

9:17

if there are any students

9:20

listening that are aspiring HBCU students

9:22

that want to study STEM,

9:24

Please look out for that opportunity

9:26

to live. This year,

9:28

it'll be September the 26th.

9:30

You know, I love about

9:32

you, Ashley. You

9:34

just threw out $40 million dollars.

9:39

And Richard, just, I broke

9:41

this $40 million scholarship

9:43

opportunity, you know, $40 ,000

9:46

scholarships, $1 ,000, you know. And,

9:48

okay, tell my

9:51

audience how. How

9:53

do we do this? We got

9:55

people out there who are cutting scholarships,

9:57

who are cutting grants, who

9:59

are cutting and they haven't got

10:01

the HBCUs yet. I can't wait

10:03

till that administration comes over to

10:05

the HBCU side. told

10:07

DEI and act like all black

10:09

people on DEI like nobody else

10:11

is tied to DEI bus. I

10:14

know you have a

10:16

comment about that. Please give

10:18

us off your feedback

10:20

when you hear the word

10:22

DEI, DE and I

10:24

being slanted so in the

10:26

direction of black people. Well,

10:29

you know, to be honest, we

10:33

all know that black people

10:35

were never the primary beneficiary.

10:37

of DEI to begin with.

10:40

So we have to ask ourselves, what are

10:42

we really honestly losing? I know a

10:44

lot of us in the nonprofit space, in

10:47

the social impact space, when

10:49

this racial reckoning happened with George

10:51

Floyd, and there were so

10:53

many companies that just wanted to

10:55

pour dollars into any black effort they

10:58

could find, we knew that

11:00

that moment was The energy was, I

11:02

get what you can while you can,

11:04

because this is a moment in time.

11:06

This isn't going to last. So

11:09

maybe there was some

11:11

short -term impact with the

11:13

whole DEI wave, but I

11:15

think everybody know wasn't

11:17

necessarily sustainable, nor was it

11:19

primarily benefiting anybody of

11:21

color. The primary

11:23

beneficiary to DEI, just as

11:25

welfare benefits, Medicaid, SNAP, is

11:27

all white women. Yeah,

11:32

we can we can try to play

11:34

that game and say that it's a

11:36

black thing But it's really not so

11:38

we got to stay focused on what

11:40

the goal is they laser focused on

11:42

the goal and just keep doing the

11:44

work That's what we have to do

11:46

under these circumstances now. Let's get back

11:48

to the 40 million. You know miss

11:50

laser focus I Have so many people

11:52

contacting me wish I can you help

11:54

me with a grant to get your

11:57

grant. We know it does grant writing

11:59

which I do Ashley

12:01

Christopher, get a

12:03

$40 million opportunity out of

12:05

a company that benefits

12:08

our youth today and then

12:10

convince that same company

12:12

that it's better served if

12:14

that money goes to

12:16

students who go to attend

12:18

HBCUs. You know,

12:20

it all worked

12:22

to my benefit somehow.

12:26

I really just Being

12:28

in a space that I'm in and

12:30

experiencing the success that I have in

12:32

such a short period of time, I

12:34

can't take credit for it. I'm a

12:36

person of strong faith. And

12:38

I know that, but for my

12:40

relationship with God, this wouldn't be

12:42

a thing, but specifically

12:44

the $40 million partnership

12:47

while I was in

12:49

Wilmington. Figuring out how

12:51

we were going to activate HBCU Week,

12:53

there were some companies, Wilmington -based companies

12:55

that were excited about my idea that

12:57

wanted to jump in and participate. One

13:00

of those companies was the Kamors Company. My

13:02

dear friend who is the former president

13:04

and CEO, Mark Fragonano

13:07

wanted to jump in and

13:09

help with scholarships because he

13:11

told me personally that the

13:13

STEM industry is experiencing a

13:15

serious deficit with jobs. And

13:17

by 2025, which is now,

13:19

They were facing a deficit of a

13:21

million jobs and he wanted to do

13:23

what he could to fill those spaces

13:25

with diverse candidates because he knows STEM

13:27

makes the world go around. There's questions

13:29

and problems that need to be solved.

13:32

And if everybody around that table looks

13:34

the same, we're in trouble. So

13:36

Mark Ragnano was actually on a

13:38

mission to diversify the field of STEM.

13:41

So he jumped in initially

13:43

with $740 ,000 scholarships. That's

13:45

how this scholarship started. it

13:48

started with seven and it grew

13:50

to a thousand after mark told his

13:52

colleagues in the american chemistry council

13:54

what we were doing and we had

13:56

a few meetings um told them

13:58

you know how impactful that this this

14:00

scholarship opportunity would be and and

14:02

sold the idea to get the american

14:04

chemistry council to participate so was

14:06

just kind of a waiting game and

14:08

then they came back and said

14:10

hey we're in for 40 million i

14:12

mean uh I

14:15

don't even have the words

14:17

for how I felt when that

14:19

happened to grow from $740 ,000

14:21

scholarships to $1 ,000 after just

14:24

a few conversations. It's

14:26

divine. There's

14:28

really no other explanation for it. Please

14:31

don't go anywhere. We'll be

14:33

right back with more Money

14:35

Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome

14:41

back to the Money

14:43

Making Conversations Masterclass hosted by

14:46

Rashawn McDonald. Money Making

14:48

Conversations Masterclass continues online at

14:50

moneymakingconversations.com and follow Money

14:52

Making Conversations Masterclass on Facebook,

14:54

Twitter and Instagram. In

14:56

my interview, our interview that

14:58

I'm having right now

15:00

is with Ashley Christopher, a

15:03

background HBCU Week Foundation. She

15:05

started in 2017. I'm

15:07

just getting everybody pumped up

15:10

because for a person to

15:12

doing less than eight years

15:14

to have registered 10 ,000

15:16

students on the spot at

15:18

her career fairs and awarded

15:21

these individuals over $100 million,

15:23

nearly $100 million of scholarships,

15:25

got a $40 million STEM

15:27

program where they have for

15:29

a thousand forty thousand dollar

15:32

scholarships where over six hundred students

15:34

have fulfilled those or means

15:36

that they have students and they

15:38

have slots right now if

15:40

your child is interested in STEM

15:42

that want an attendant HBCU

15:44

this is the person you need

15:46

to be talking to she's

15:48

providing real opportunity tier one students

15:50

and your child is going

15:53

to be taken care of. Now,

15:55

when I go back to Ashley, Ashley,

15:57

you're also participating in a

16:00

very worldly manner with the Disney

16:02

organization. And tell us little

16:04

about that. Tell us a little

16:06

bit about that. Yeah,

16:08

so we were blessed to

16:10

have the opportunity to bring Stephen

16:12

A. Smith on as our

16:15

brand ambassador through a few connections

16:17

between my team and his.

16:19

We were able to have a

16:21

conversation, invite Stephen down to

16:23

some of our events, get

16:26

him acclimated at what we do, and

16:28

make the formal ask for him to

16:30

be an ambassador. And it's been a

16:32

fantastic time. He has mentioned

16:34

our brand on the number one sports

16:36

show in the world several times. Um,

16:38

he's brought so many light. I think

16:40

you interviewed on the number one sports

16:43

show, my friend. I think last time

16:45

I checked that, so I saw you

16:47

on the, on the booth right

16:49

there with Stephen H fifth. So let's

16:51

not, but I will not let you

16:53

do as you do on this show.

16:55

Money making conversation masterclass. You

16:57

are changing lives and somewhere along

17:00

the line, you are blessed.

17:02

We all are blessed to be

17:04

here, have this conversation, but

17:06

you're doing what some people consider

17:08

impossible and Every

17:10

time I meet you, every time

17:12

I see you, I admire you

17:14

because you are focused, you are

17:16

laser focused. And you

17:18

can walk on stage, you can control the

17:21

room. And you sit

17:23

down, I saw you sit down

17:25

with Stephen A. and the team talking

17:27

about this book and just Oprah

17:29

could have been sitting there in that

17:31

chair that you were talking just

17:33

about how confident you are. That's

17:35

how you are. And I won't

17:37

let you come on this show. because I

17:39

think if you understand what you're doing,

17:41

people won't understand the magic and the accomplishments.

17:45

So let's do a reset and talk

17:47

about what you're doing with Disney,

17:49

okay? Okay. So

17:51

through our partnership with Stephen A.

17:53

Smith, he was able to get

17:55

us in front of some key

17:58

executives at Disney. And when

18:00

they witnessed what we were doing and

18:02

the impact we sustained with Stephen A.

18:04

Smith being so excited about our organization,

18:06

We're able to have some conversations about

18:08

bringing HBC Week to the Walt Disney

18:10

Resort. And as a result,

18:12

we've been able to activate HBC Week

18:14

twice at Walt Disney World, and we

18:16

look forward to maintaining that partnership. Several

18:19

students, I mean, the

18:21

very first time we had the college

18:23

fair there, we got about 8 ,500

18:25

students. 8 ,500 students attended in Orlando,

18:27

Florida. Yes. In Orlando, very,

18:29

yep. You're not doing it in

18:31

Wilmington, Delaware now. You're down Orlando, Florida

18:33

now. Yes. We're down

18:35

in Orlando. Okay. That was the first time.

18:38

That was the first time. The

18:40

second time we got around 12 ,000

18:43

students. 12 ,000 students. Yeah. So

18:46

it's really garnering some

18:49

excitement because the students,

18:52

not only are they excited to experience HBC

18:54

culture, but they're happy to be able to learn

18:56

that not only can they get in, but

18:58

they can find the money to get them through

19:00

the process. When

19:04

I saw you on stage

19:06

in Orlando in front of those

19:08

12 ,000 students, Anthony Anderson was

19:10

there. He was there making

19:12

and the parents, Steve and they couldn't make it

19:15

down there because he was doing something. So

19:17

Anthony Anderson Field Dan, who is

19:19

also a graduate of a recent

19:21

graduate of HPCU, Howard University,

19:23

where his son also graduated from.

19:28

When you look out in that crowd, Ashley,

19:30

what do you see? I

19:33

see purpose. I

19:35

see potential. I

19:38

see often when kids

19:40

don't see themselves, just

19:42

a future of excitement,

19:44

fun, forging relationships that'll

19:46

be meaningful forever, growing

19:49

their passions

19:51

and their drive,

19:54

deciding what the next move is going

19:56

to be, but having the opportunity to

19:58

do that. surrounded by people who look

20:00

like them with the same goals and

20:02

drive. You don't understand how impactful that

20:04

is until you step into it. So

20:06

when I see the students that attend

20:08

these events that aspire to it, I

20:11

can almost like daydream about

20:13

their lives, right? Envision them

20:15

on HBCU campuses or joining

20:17

sororities and fraternities or running

20:20

homecoming or yearbook and getting

20:22

the grades and internships and

20:24

landing the jobs. It's

20:27

really a dream come true to watch. Cool.

20:29

Now that was a dream

20:31

you almost didn't see because you

20:33

came across a physical obstacle

20:35

came about in your life that

20:37

you didn't see coming. Tell

20:40

us about that and how you was

20:42

able to overcome that and we understand even

20:44

more so the value of having you

20:46

in our life today and what you've accomplished

20:48

and will continue to accomplish in the

20:50

future. Talk about that moment in your life

20:52

where you didn't see that coming. Oh

20:55

yeah, it was a little more

20:57

than 10 years ago. I

20:59

woke up one Sunday morning and

21:01

I could not feel the right side

21:03

of my body. After,

21:06

you know, looking at my hand

21:08

or my arm and my leg and

21:10

like my brain telling it to

21:12

move, but it wouldn't. I knew

21:14

that there was something serious happening. So I was

21:16

able to get the attention of my mother who

21:19

came to my side and put both of her

21:21

hands. On my face told me to smile and

21:23

I couldn't, so she knew what was happening in. Called

21:26

the ambulance and I was

21:28

having a stroke at 29.

21:31

And it was due to birth

21:33

control use. I

21:36

had to learn to write again, I had

21:38

to go through physical therapy to get on

21:40

blood thinners, to get my blood back to

21:42

a normal level. And obviously

21:44

eliminate the use of hormonal

21:47

birth control altogether. But

21:49

it did, it did create

21:52

a different sense of drive and

21:54

purpose in me. Because

21:56

there were some moments that, you

21:58

know, in that space for anybody that's

22:00

listening that has experienced something like

22:02

that, where you question whether or

22:05

not you'll survive. And then

22:07

if you do, what's next?

22:10

And you want to make it, you know, the

22:12

best of it because you just never know

22:14

what's around the corner. And when

22:16

I adopted that

22:18

sense of purpose and drive, it

22:20

kind of just turned my

22:22

ambition up a few notches. So

22:26

not only am I focused

22:28

on the foundation, but I'm particular

22:30

about the things I eat

22:32

and making sure I maintain a

22:34

healthy, active lifestyle. Anything I

22:36

can do to slow the clock down, that's

22:39

what I'm doing. And

22:41

you can also follow us

22:43

on every social channel at HBCULeak,

22:46

like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok.

22:49

We're on all the socials. Well,

22:51

Ashley, thank you. You

22:53

know, Joe, subdued self, you

22:56

know. Your focus self. No,

23:00

thank you for having me. I

23:02

appreciate you taking the time. I

23:04

really do. No, you're fantastic. And

23:06

I think I hope people hear

23:08

a high value, what you're doing

23:10

to our youth in America, how

23:13

I value your laser focus, how

23:15

I value your passion. Because it's

23:17

something you basically survive, stroke, retrain

23:20

yourself. 2017

23:22

you found in an

23:25

organization as a local cause

23:27

turning into a national

23:29

cause When you started with

23:31

seven forty thousand dollar

23:33

scholarships now is one thousand

23:35

Yeah, you now have

23:37

over registered over ten thousand

23:39

on the spot students

23:42

at your career fairs to

23:44

go to HBCUs and awarded nearly

23:46

$100 million in scholarships. If

23:48

I can't hear up to Jill Horne, who can?

23:50

Thank you Ashley Christopher, you're amazing and

23:53

continue to change lives for our youth

23:55

because definitely you are a blessing. Thank

23:57

you for coming on Money Making Conversation

23:59

Masterclass. Thank you so much

24:01

for sharing. I appreciate the time.

24:03

This has been another edition of

24:05

Money Making Conversations Masterclass, hosted by

24:07

me, Rushan McDonald. Thank you

24:09

to our guests on show today and

24:11

thank you, our listening audience. Now, you

24:14

want to listen to any episode want to be

24:16

a guest on the show, visit MoneyMakingConversations.com.

24:18

Our social media handle is

24:20

Money Making Conversation. Join us next

24:22

week and remember to always

24:25

with your gifts. Keep winning.