SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The gender pay gap has been widely reported, with women earning a fraction of what men earn.
Add to this the disparity in wealth between different ethnic groups, and African American women can easily fall to the bottom of the totem pole. But as 10News anchor Wale Aliyu showed, one group is making sure niche groups catch up and excel.
We have more than 13,000 women nationwide, and our footprint is growing right here in Southern California at Black Women Invest. “We’re making the little things look like the many things,” one of the leaders of the movement said in Washington, D.C. He spoke at an event. Aliyu specifically asked local chapter leaders why the organization was targeting black women.”Many Black families have never been exposed to financial education or the tools to build wealth,” said Samoney Carter, president of the Southern California chapter of Black Women Invest.
Carter leads a group of several dozen women who meet biweekly. “It’s not just stocks and real estate. It’s also everyday investing. You’re investing in your health,” she says.
Her goal is to help this group of girls become as financially literate as everyone else. “Many of my friends and family don’t know what I mean by index fund. Of course, people have heard of the stock market, but there are various creative financing techniques to buy real estate. I don’t know what I mean about, leveraging different types of business and not using any of your own money,” she says.
Carter is extremely knowledgeable, but most of her knowledge was gained by surrounding herself with similar groups and diving in head first, or perhaps fist first.
“Do you know someone who is looking for a vending machine or needs a vending machine repaired? Samonae is your girl,” she said in a Facebook video from 2021. One of her first forays into the business world was purchasing 29 different vending machines throughout San Diego.
“We were allowed not to pay anything for 90 days, which gave us time for the vending machine to start paying automatically,” Carter said. She started a business and then sold it. Now she’s aiming even higher.
“I’m going to build my own airpark,” Carter said. That ambition pervades the conference, with some participants branching out and starting their own groups.
Dr. Darleanna McHenry of Black in Money Recovery said, “Economic and racial integration, how they have played out historically, and what we face in today’s market are the challenges that we face when it comes to homeownership. This is when you want to buy or increase your assets. We need to be able to talk about these things because it’s part of what we do with money.”
McHenry started Black in Money Recovery, which now has about 300 people around the world who come together every day to read books, listen to podcasts, and grow their wealth. “Seeing people get out of debt. Seeing people increase their income. Seeing people gain confidence and take charge of their lives. It was just the ultimate reward,” says Mak Henry.
Aliyu asked Carter what kind of change he believed his organization could make in the community in the long term.
“I think we can diversify financial education and financial literacy while also addressing the wealth gap,” Carter said.
To learn more about Black Women Investing and Black Capital Recovery, please click on the following link:
