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[0:05] Donnie L. Betts: Fresh for your ears, tell everybody. It's the new podcast from the producers of Destination Freedom Black Radio Days. Produced and hosted by Donnie L. Betts of No Credits Productions, comes The Eclectic. Interviews with difference makers, artists, authors, bold thinkers, people we love who get stuff done. So we're speaking with Jice Johnson, the founder and CVO of the Black Business Initiative and principal of the New Community Transformation Fund in Denver. She is also an Army veteran, a mother of three, and an amazing business person based in Denver, Colorado. And she's playing a very vibrant role as an advocate to empower Black entrepreneurs, leaders, and professionals. She's also been named Denver Business Journal's top 40 under 40. It is our pleasure to speak with Jice Johnson. Welcome, Jice.

[0:56] Jice Johnson: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

[0:59] Donnie L. Betts: Now tell me your full name, your mama's name, your mama's mama's name, and where you spent your childhood.

[1:07] Jice Johnson: Awesome. So my name is actually Jiselyn Michiko Johnson. And my mother is Akiko Johnson. And my mother's mother is Marian Tomita. I grew up in the Bay Area in Oakland, East Oakland, specifically.

[1:30] Donnie L. Betts: So tell me, is there a story behind each one of your names, your name, your mother's name, and your mother's mother's name?

[1:39] Jice Johnson: So I don't know the story behind my mother's mother's name. If there is a story, it's not one that's known to me. My mother is half Japanese, half Black. And so I'm actually named after my mother. My mother's real name is Jiselin, but somewhere along the line, she changed it to her middle name, which is Akiko, and that is Japanese. And then I was named after her because my father loved her name, her real name. And so then I became Jiselyn. I shortened it to Jice because for some reason, whenever I add the Lynn, it just seems like it throws people off. So I get all types of weird names—Jiselyn, Jocelyn—they think I spelled it wrong. And so then one day I actually had an ex-boyfriend in Atlanta, and he started calling me Jice, and people were able to say that. And I was like, Jice, okay, I might can do this. And so by the time I left Atlanta, I became Jice Johnson, and people have not mispronounced my name since. So it stuck.

[2:52] Donnie L. Betts: So shout out to the ex, right?

[2:54] Jice Johnson: Shout out to the ex. We don't thank him for much, but we thank him for that.

[2:59] Donnie L. Betts: That's fantastic. Akiko was actually one of my friends' names too. I don't know where she is now, but she was a broadcast journalist. So I haven't kept up with her lately, but she used to be our intern for me some years ago. So I love that name.

[3:14] Jice Johnson: Yeah, yeah.

[3:15] Donnie L. Betts: Is she also Japanese?

[3:16] Jice Johnson: She is Japanese, yes, indeed.

[3:18] Donnie L. Betts: Yeah, yeah. Well, thank you so much for sharing that with us. You know, a lot of people don't know that. That's why my mentor, Dr. Vincent Hardy, always started his interviews that way. And he said you get to know people that way and see people now. If you share that, people will know the origins of that beautiful name of yours. So that's an awesome question.

[3:39] Jice Johnson: Thank you.

[3:40] Donnie L. Betts: So let's start first with the Black Business Initiative. Talk to us about that, your founding of that, and where it stands today.

[3:40] Jice Johnson: Yeah, the Black Business Initiative was launched in 2015 officially, but we started the planning for it in 2014, and so it originated because this was during the time of a lot of the civil unrest that surrounded the murder of one of our young kings, Trayvon Martin. And around that same time, we had the release of Tariq Nasheed's Hidden Colors, and so during this time I was moderating with a group called Shop Talk Live that is here in Denver, and we also have a chapter in the DMV, and we were watching part of that docuseries. Well, the thing that stuck out to me was Dr. Claude Anderson, I believe it was in the second video in that series. Dr. Claude Anderson was talking about how all the things that we fight for, whether it's housing, health, criminal justice, social justice, all these things that really we weren't gonna make any headway, in his opinion, because the Black community had a weak economic base, and basically he said we live in a capitalistic society and we don't have no money, and so we don't have any power, we don't have any leverage, and as long as we don't have any money or any power or leverage, the things that we are continuously fighting for, we're not really gonna see the type of change that we want.

And so we have to build a strong economic base. And I went home really thinking about this, and so I spent quite a bit of time kind of researching what does he mean by we have a weak economic base. How did that play out inside the Black community? And that led me to coming across a woman named Maggie Anderson based out of Chicago. And Maggie Anderson had been running an experiment, I believe her book is called My Black Year. And in that experiment, her and her family were attempting to buy 100% Black for a full year. And she talked about in a TED talk, a very compelling TED talk about the difficulties that they faced and also the dangers that they faced in attempting to buy Black and empowering the Black economic base in the Black community.

And so when she made this announcement, it was big and it went on the news, like all the way to receiving death threats for just wanting to buy Black and empowering the Black economic base in the Black community. And so that sent me down kind of another rabbit hole of why is Black economic power so threatening to the white power structure. And that is kind of the catalyst, the baseline of where the Black Business Initiative started. I said, well, we need to have strong businesses. Businesses is how this economy runs. How can we create strong businesses? And I launched a workshop at the time, a boot camp in order to help Black entrepreneurs start a business. And it's really grown very organically since then.

The vision continues to lay itself out; the mission has been very clear. It's how do we close the economic wealth gap and how do we create agency and power for the Black community. And so yeah, that's like where it started. It's really developed into the concept of institution building at this point. So we're looking at how do we develop and launch institutions that house resources and redistribute those resources with the needs of our community in mind. And we can talk more about that if you'd like.

[7:18] Jice Johnson: And the last thing I'll say about that before I turn it back over to another question is the thing that keeps me moving in the Black Business Initiative that I really want for people to know and understand is there is a statistic out right now that compels me. And it basically states that Black wealth is lost in the second generation. And I see that play out in my own family. My parents are boomers and they work really hard. And my parents do not cash flow a million dollars, but they do own over a million dollars in assets. And they've come from the gutter, right? My mom is the youngest of 11 kids out of the Bay Area. My dad is in the middle of 15 kids coming out of Houston, Texas in the 40s. I mean, my parents have worked really hard to be able to amass the type of wealth and comfortability that my family experiences.

And statistically speaking, between me and my two siblings, we are statistically speaking almost guaranteed to lose that wealth because structurally, the systems don't allow us to continue to grow that wealth. And so for my kids or my sister's kids, it's like next to nothing. It's like they're starting back over from the bottom. And that has been the number one thing that has driven me is why work so hard if my kids and my grandkids and my great-grandkids won't have the benefit of moving upward in life based off of my hard work because our systems are set up for them not to. And that's been what's driven me in the Black Business Initiative.

[8:58] Donnie L. Betts: One of the reasons that I wanted to talk to you and I've been kind of chasing you for a while is what you just articulated because I think it's so important that people understand that generational wealth is something that is not guaranteed, especially to the people in the Black community or people of color community. And you talk about that building. Same way, you know, it's almost identical for me. I'm the youngest of 12, and my brothers—there's only three of us left now—my brother who is still living, we talked about this ostensibly and about how a lot of my family sold land, you know, sold off the land that we did own. But we have kept not a lot of acreage, but we kept that at least in the family.

And we bought now recently, my sister who is 92 bought her land to make sure it stays within the family because she didn't have any children. So we're just trying to teach our children how to keep doing that, how do you keep building wealth. A couple people in our family, nieces and nephews, are into wealth building and that sort of thing, wealth management and that sort of thing. But because we don't get that education at a young age, we don't realize it or it's not respected within the community. So that's one of the reasons why I really wanted to talk about you.

[10:17] Jice Johnson: Now you talk about the workshop, and I want to ask you about that workshop because I read—I don't know if it was when in the workshop—but just as your philosophy, you talk about the four pillars that you have to build your platform. Can we talk about those four pillars that you use to build your platform?

[10:33] Jice Johnson: Yeah, absolutely. And so also we did a couple of years ago add a fifth pillar. So I'll add that in. The initial four pillars that the organization was built on were business acumen, mentorship, access to capital, and patronage. And then a couple of years ago, we actually added policy as a fifth pillar. And so I like to look at this as a very holistic approach. And so as we think about how do small businesses help to move an economy, right? And so, you know, the government, of course, is a large employer, but you know, kind of next to that, we think of all the large companies that employ people, but what we're not necessarily thinking about is how many small companies employ people. And so inside of individual communities, a good number of those people that live inside of that community are actually employed by small business.

And so, in order for you to take your side hustle essentially to a business, a scalable business, right? That's important. You have to understand how business works, and that has to go beyond the thing that you like to do. So you have a passion somewhere; that's awesome. But then how do you take that passion and monetize it and then scale that monetization to the point where it's profitable and then it's profitable enough that you can then hire. And so there's some of the statistics and things like that that we know, like when you reach scalability of at least five employees, you have a better chance for survival. We know that 96% of Black-owned businesses are single-member LLCs and sole proprietorships, which means we have a skill, but we don't have a business.

If I stop working, my business stops because I'm the only person working my business. And so as we start to think about wealth building, right, you have to have a greater level of business acumen in order for you to grow your business or scale your business to the next level. And so, in order to create some of that acumen, of course, you can have programming and classes and workshops and training and all that stuff, which are things that we do, but you also really need to have a good level of mentorship. And this was something that I was seeing was lacking because we know that when you're scaling in corporate America, like you're climbing the corporate America ladder, or even just the concept of you know, people do business with people who they know, like, and love, right?

[12:51] Jice Johnson: Those types of concepts indicate that your network, your social capital is really important. And so you take leaps and bounds inside of building a business when you have someone who you can talk to, bounce ideas off of, someone who can advise you, someone who has done the thing that you're trying to do, or something similar. And so mentorship inside of our community is really important in that space, and it helps us with upward mobility. Then, of course, you have to have access to dollars. And so this is something that I am hoping to really drive home to our community, is that we have to see money differently. Money is a tool, and what I find is that not only do we have issues with accessing it, but we have quite a bit of issues around our mindset in the way that we see or value money that don't allow us to use it as a tool to help us get to our next level or even to help us actually live the lifestyle that we want to live sustainably.

But inside of your business, you have to have infusions of dollars in order for you to grow and scale that business, whether that's equipment, materials, expanding in your space, expanding your marketing, hiring people, whatever that looks like, that infusion of cash needs to come from somewhere. And in our community, we often don't have the assets to pull it out, like a 401k or savings or even like, you know, our equity in our home. And also we don't have the ability to access those dollars from the banking system. So we either bootstrap our business or don't get any funding for it, so we never scale, or we end up falling into like predatory lending traps, which are detrimental for our businesses.

So understanding capital and accessing capital is key. And then, of course, patronage. And I think this goes both ways. One is we do need to buy Black. And so as we think about our spending and our procurement and who we're buying from, we need to be thinking about how to purchase from Black-owned companies as often as possible. And the other thing is there's a forward-facing kind of component to patronage because as we build scalable businesses, we need to have other organizations that are going to buy from those businesses. So that's when we talk to governments or private corporations and say, how are you spending your dollars? And are you allocating dollars to businesses that are inside the Black community in order for there to be an exchange of goods and services that come out of our community?

And that piece, you know, really hitting home that we are not a charity case, right? Like it's not just grants and charitable donations that we need. We need business exchanges because we are viable and valuable entrepreneurs. We are capable and our work should be valued. And then lastly, is that policy piece. And that means that we have to have both legislative policies and corporate policies that support making sure that there are dollars being spent inside of our community and that there are laws that are not harming our economic growth. So that is what has created the five pillars of the Black Business Initiative.

[16:08] Donnie L. Betts: That's amazing. That's totally amazing. You just walked me through half the mistakes I've made in my life, you know, trying to be a business owner, you know. So like I said, that's one of the reasons I want to speak to you because, oh, let me get educated even more so than I think I need to be even later in my life. I don't think it's ever too late to start building, you know?

[16:33] Jice Johnson: It's never too late.

[16:34] Donnie L. Betts: Yeah, as I mentioned earlier, you know, I'm trying to leave a legacy for my grandsons, you know. So that's part of what my motivation is too. Um, like I said, a lot of people have that passion. I'm so glad you brought that up. People have the passion, but um because my one of my questions was the tools, what tools you think are very important for entrepreneurs to have and to um to help close the wealth gap, not only for entrepreneurs, but for regular family members um to build that generational wealth and keep that wealth there. You mentioned you alluded to it a little earlier in the conversation, but can you expand on that a little bit more?

[17:10] Jice Johnson: Um, sorry, just want to make sure I understand the question. You're asking what tools do we need?

[17:15] Donnie L. Betts: Yeah, I mean the pillars are part of the tools, you know. But some entrepreneurs just getting started because one of the things that um I understand that you do is show entrepreneurs how to uh be empowered and give the information and tools they need to have that economic equity and liberate them from um from debt for one thing, or like I said, predatory lending and that sort of thing. Are there tools that entrepreneurs should work on or skills, or whatever term you want to use that they should have?

[17:48] Jice Johnson: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, so first I would say is um, you know, there you have to always be learning, right? And I think that sounds super cliché, but it really, really isn't. There are constantly uh laws and dynamics that are changing. And we have to stay in a space where we're willing to, you know, learn. Um, we need to be able to learn the environment that we're in so that we can be informed, and that information can really help us with our decision making. And I think that's a key aspect to um how you begin to grow and develop your business, right? Is I watch people make decisions without information. And uh, and I'll be honest, I'm always baffled. Like, how did you come to that conclusion?

No research, no data, no, you know, industry information, no idea of the law. I mean, just this is how I feel, right? And so, like, there's a space in which we have to be more um emotionally intelligent to get out of feelings because there are places in this world and in this country um that we have to operate kind of with some facts behind us, right? And so I think the concept of and the ability, the um the drive to stay informed is really important for entrepreneurs that want to be successful. Um, and then I think there's a lot of soft skills that need to be developed. Networking is certainly one of them. I see all the time that we really, really struggle to build strong social networks. And here's the thing about how things work versus how you know we wish they worked, right?

Like in an ideal setting, everyone would be on an even playing ground. And you could come in and be assessed for who you are and what you bring to the table without any bias. And the reality of that is that that's just not true. It doesn't even hold true in our own community. If you have a, you know, a homie who you know does good work, and then you have this other person who comes to you and says they do good work, you are more likely to go with your homie who you know does good work because you have a relationship there. Right. And so there are expectations that come with relationships, right? And we absolutely have to be careful about how we set those expectations and managing those expectations.

But there are in fact expectations that come along with relationships, right? Even negative expectations. I know that you know you never do what you say you're gonna do. So when you come to me, I am likely, because of our relationship to not trust your word that you can do this job and I'm gonna go and hire this random person, right? And like see those things play out. Well, how did you hire that person? You don't even know them. You're right. I don't know them, but I know you and I know you're not reliable. Right. Right. So like relationships can help us, but relationships can also hurt us. And so when we understand that concept uh and not think to use it in one direction or the other, just to understand that when we relate to someone, um, if it's in a positive way, that gives us a leg up.

If it's in a negative way, that can you know damper um our chances for something. And if we understand that, we can really work on building out our social capital. And that way it helps you as the individual think about how you show up, right? How do I show up and present myself? And is it in a way that's going to grow my social capital? So that concept of social capital really kind of covers down on a plethora of other soft skills that need to be developed because they're all going to play a role in how you show up and present to others, and then what that means in terms of your ability to use your network um to move upward or your ability to uh hold yourself back really because of your reputation.

[22:00] Donnie L. Betts: That is wonderful advice, especially by networking, and a lot of people don't realize that. Just what you just said, you know, if you're not dependable, why hire you in the first place? So we're speaking with Jice Johnson, who's a founder and chief visionary officer of the Black Business Initiative. She's also the principal in the New Community Transformation Fund at Denver. Can we first, before we jump to that, I want to talk a little bit about that. Let's talk about your military background. Um, when did you go into service and what branch?

[22:36] Jice Johnson: Uh, so I went into the army um and I went in immediately following high school.

[22:43] Donnie L. Betts: And then what was the other question you asked me?

[22:46] Jice Johnson: Yeah, well, just let's talk about your military career. You know, where were you stationed? Where did you, you know, what you felt it was helped you build a foundation that you where you are now? Was that important in your life, you feel your growth?

[23:02] Jice Johnson: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, absolutely it was. Um, so let me see. So I would say in a certain sense, my military career probably started in high school. Um when I got into ninth grade, I actually started in the junior ROTC program. And um I switched schools. I ended up being at Skyline High School in Oakland, California. And um I had this was probably the first place that I recognized that I actually had mentorship. And so I was being mentored by um a retired uh sergeant major from the army and he really poured into my life he talked to me a lot about um having some natural leadership abilities really helped to kind of pull that out of me and kept pushing me um in our junior ROTC program into leadership positions all the way up to like leading our drill team um and things like that and so um those leadership positions actually helped me in a lot of ways um as I began to kind of develop a pathway for myself being able to show up taking command of a room being able to um you know delegate out and uh directions or instructions uh learning how to, you know, be a team player and a lot of other skills that I began to develop at that kind of early age with uh a kind of a long-term mentor because he really mentored me from my 10th grade year through my senior year.

[24:28] Jice Johnson: And so I went into the military after that, and I opted to go into the army versus into um college. That was quite a bit of an uproar for my family. They weren't pleased about that. But um, I'm really, you know, if I had one thing, and I have many things to be grateful to my parents about, but if I had a thing, it would be the fact that despite uh not always understanding or being in agreement with my decisions, my parents have always backed me. And so it was not a decision that they liked. But uh as I was looking at what I wanted to do for my future, um, they gave me their full support. And that was really important to me. So um I went into the military initially as a um 73, I think that was a 73 Bravo. We changed our designation. So when I left, I believe I was a 25 Bravo. It was one way or the other, but I left as a 25 Bravo, I believe, um, as a sergeant.

[25:22] Jice Johnson: And um, I did spend a year over in Iraq, but um, you know, my military career really helped me hone in on leadership skills. I hated my career. Um, I went into networking, I hate computers, I don't like computers to this day. I do not want to run cable anywhere. So I hated the job that I had in the military. Um, but the military taught me a lot about discipline. The military taught me a lot about um leadership, the military taught me a lot about execution and um and planning and things like that, things that I have definitely carried with me into um my civilian life and and my career here. And so, you know, I there's not a place I'm afraid to go. Um, even if I am fearful, I think that started in the military of still being able to come in, shake hands firmly, look someone in their eye, be confident in what I'm saying, even be competent in saying that I don't know, you know, and being able to go back and do that research, having the discipline to show up.

Really, really I would say now that I kind of flesh that out, I would say grit is one of the biggest things that the military taught me. It's you just don't quit. Okay. And you have perseverance. And so that has played itself out in practically every area in my life that I've experienced extreme growth has been because I just don't quit.

[26:49] Donnie L. Betts: Beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing that. I think that's so important. Uh, been speaking to a lot of vets, so that's why I asked that question, you know. And then almost universally they've said that, especially when it comes to a black business owner. That's what they said too is taught you that discipline you need to have out in the world that you just don't quit. We're speaking with Jice Johnson, who's a founding chief visionary officer of Black Business Initiative and principal within the New Community Transformation Fund, Denver. Let's speak about that now, the New Community Transformation Fund. To share with the audience what that is and what you do.

[27:23] Jice Johnson: Awesome. So the New Community Transformation Fund, Denver is a venture fund. Um, and uh it's a traditional venture fund. It's an equity venture fund. So right now we're in the middle of a raise. We're working to raise $50 million. Um, and we'll make those investments inside of BIPOC founders. Um, you know, for me, I am uh all about supporting black entrepreneurs. This fund, though, while I am a person who brought it here, is not a fund that I designed and created from scratch. And so I've been outvoted. So it's BIPOC founders is what we're supporting. Um, but in all cases, um, we are looking to make investments into founders of color, and um, those investments need to be in scalable businesses, right?

So this kind of goes back to how we develop our businesses in a way that they can be scaled, that they um that they would be scaled, so to speak, and so um the fund is here, it actually came about because I happened to have met who is now a good friend of mine, a gentleman named Kwame Yanku, um, on a very random trip to Aspen, I met this gentleman and he began talking to me about venture. And I had no idea I was talking to one of the top black venture capitalists in the country, and so we're having this conversation, and I'm telling him, you know, I don't think that venture is the tool for black folks. And he's like, let me let me tell you more, right? And so that developed into multiple conversations over time, um, a very short time actually, around venture because every time he dropped a little nugget, I was doing some research and I was calling him back, like, oh my God, you're like opening my eyes to this, right?

So I kept calling him and calling him, and then finally I said, you know, I think we can do this here in Denver. And I started sending him information on the landscape in Denver, the ecosystem that was here in Denver. Um, Denver's kind of a big little city, and so while it's uh growing really quickly with the right social networks, there isn't anyone in Denver that I can't reach. And so I said, I think I could pull the network here that can do this. And um, and so he decided to come on out and visit with me. I was able to pull together a small group of folks to make a good introduction, and I said, This is the person who can help us bring this here, and um, and so it, you know, it really is is um it's actually unfolding now, you know, still as we speak, we're getting ready to launch the fund officially in the spring.

Um, and we are you know in in our inaugural raise. Um, and I am a principal of the fund and I'm learning venture um in real time, right? Because uh, while I brought this here, my background is in venture. And uh, my background is in building, you know, building our community. That's what I've been doing for the last seven years, building the black economic base. And so I'm excited to be a part of these efforts. We've brought on an amazing team who has these skills, uh, and I'm learning these skills as we go. Um, and I'm excited for what the possibilities of this fund can do, right? Because this is an opportunity for um black fund managers to direct dollars into our community.

[30:50] Donnie L. Betts: It's fantastic. Uh, I am going to watch that you and the fund uh as you continue to grow. And um, I may even off off mic um suggest someone that you might look into too about uh who's uh real upstart on your own.

[31:07] Jice Johnson: Yeah, I look forward to that. Send them my way. Use your um expertise. Um, the sister is just dynamite, you know. She uh has built her own streaming service from scratch, you know. So um definite for us to be reckoned with. So I think you guys should definitely connect in some kind of way. Um, I want to ask a couple more things and I'll let you go because I know your time is very valuable. Um, let's talk about the Black Boss Summit coming up this fall.

[31:37] Donnie L. Betts: Okay, so let's talk about it.

[31:39] Jice Johnson: All right. So what's what's what's planned and what is it about?

[31:44] Jice Johnson: Awesome. So the Black Boss Summit is an annual conference. This will be our sixth annual Black Boss Summit. So we're very excited about that. We are getting ready to launch ticket sales April 30th. So there will be more information coming out. I have limited information right now. What I can tell you is that the dates are September 9th through the 11th. But I can give you some historical data on it and talk a little bit about what we've done in the past.

[32:12] Donnie L. Betts: Yes, please.

[32:13] Jice Johnson: We're really excited. Like I really want to encourage people that if you have not visited Denver, or if you have, that you make plans to be here September 9th through the 11th. We're going to be all over the city. It's going to be fabulous. We always have amazing speakers. We always have amazing presenters. And this is really an opportunity for our community to come together and continue to build on that social network that I was mentioning, also gaining additional business acumen. So we always have some amazing presenters that are just dropping tactic tools and gems and knowledge, right? Like things that are not just motivational, but things that you can apply to your business to the growth and health of your business.

So that'll be taking place. We will have our second uh pitch black contest. So we're going to be giving away some money to businesses that will they're going to pitch for it. So you got to compete. You got to be in there to compete to win, but you can go ahead and get signed up for the pitch black contest. So it's going to be an amazing time. Um last year we gave away a total of $15,000. We had a $10,000 grand prize winner and a $5,000 runner up. Uh last year we hosted the amazing Chris Sinegal based out of Houston, Texas. He is out there buying up blocks in Fifth Ward Houston. And he's doing some amazing projects. So if you're not familiar with him, you should absolutely look him up. And we also have family in Houston. So I'm like, okay, let me see. Let me see who his brother is and what he's doing, you know.

[33:51] Donnie L. Betts: Yes. Yes, he's amazing.

[33:52] Jice Johnson: So he came in and spoke with us. Um, we also brought in Kendall Ficklin out of Atlanta. Um, he is an awesome coach. He's my business coach. So I give him extra props for that. Um, so you know, if someone is coaching me, he's got to be pretty on point. I think so. So that is um Kenna Flickin. We also brought in Dr. Ken Harris with the National Business League from Detroit, phenomenal speaker. This man is literally a walking textbook, so full of information and knowledge, and he is all about the community. So we've just had the opportunity to bring in some amazing people. And then we closed out last year with Hill Harper, um, of course, talking about his um cryptocurrency platform, his digital wallet.

And so we want to make sure, you know, if you are in crypto, which you should be, um, that you have that Black Wall Street um digital wallet and other things like that. But we talked uh quite a bit with Hill Harper. He was amazing to have. And so every year we brought in some really dope people. Uh in 2020, we had uh virtually Eric Thomas, um, ET the hip hop preacher. Prior to that, we had Karen Sybil. So we're always bringing in some amazing um black excellence to come before our community right here in Denver.

[35:14] Donnie L. Betts: That's so beautiful. Well, I plan on attending some event so I can gather that knowledge, as you said, you know, so I can come up with some fact between my ears, hopefully, you know.

[35:26] Jice Johnson: Awesome. I can utilize in my business and um help it continue to grow in some form or fashion. It has been an absolute pleasure to speak with you, and I hope we can do this again. And I'm going to turn you on to um yeah, like I said, Deshaun Spencer, who's at Khalif TV, um, who's at streaming service, and I think you guys should meet.

[35:47] Donnie L. Betts: So I'll meet you.

[35:49] Jice Johnson: Well, yeah, I really appreciate you having me on and for you following up with me. I know sometimes it can be hard to get in touch with me, but I appreciate your diligence in working with me.

[35:58] Donnie L. Betts: That's okay. I mean, that's that that's what you talk about, right? So you know, you just have to stay on it, right? You have to be consistent.

[36:05] Jice Johnson: Right. Yeah, absolutely.

[36:08] Donnie L. Betts: Yeah, so I'm just trying to I'll just follow, just following in your footsteps, that's all. It's been a pleasure to speak with Jice Johnson, the founder and chief visionary officer of Black Business Initiative, and a principal in the New Community Transformation Fund, Denver, among many other things that she does she helps uh black folks and entrepreneurs empower them so they can become the best leaders and entrepreneurs and professionals that they can be, giving them the tools that uh hopefully close that generational economic gap that we see in the people of color. Thank you again for being our guest here on The Eclectic, Jice Johnson.

[36:45] Jice Johnson: Thank you.

[36:46] Donnie L. Betts: All right, take care.

[36:56] Donnie L. Betts: I'm Donnie Betts, and this is The Eclectic. It's produced by Donnie O. Betts and No Credits Productions LLC. You're listening to The Eclectic, the series mixed by Maurice Smith. Please subscribe to our podcast at Spotify, Radio Public, iTunes, Stitches, or wherever you get your podcast. Follow us on Facebook at No Credits Productions LLC dot com, Instagram, on Twitter at Donnie Betts, or at The Eclectic the Podcast. I'm Donnie Betts. Talk to you soon.