And welcome to the truth in SR beyond, and we are back in Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. I am your host, Rob Lee. Thanks for listening. And I'm excited today to be in conversation with my next guest, a serial entrepreneur, a founding partner, and chief strategist at The Growth Collective, a partnership with the vision to provide access to resources and capital that will elevate communities of color and generate wealth for neighborhoods victimized by systemic racism. Please welcome, Tayeeb Smith.
Rob Lee:Welcome to the podcast.
Tayyib Smith:Thanks for asking me to join.
Rob Lee:And before we get into the sort of, main theme of today's conversation, I wanna give you the space to, like, you know, share your background and perhaps some of those, like, early experiences that might show up in your work today. And I and I think is something interesting in that, right? Where, you know, oftentimes people are like, I'm not doing anything that's connected to what I experienced growing up. And I look at what I used to get in trouble for. I did a mural when I was a kid and you see on the spectacle such as yourself.
Rob Lee:And then I got paint on my glasses and I got into so much trouble. And I was like, I'm not gonna be an artist. I'm gonna be around the artist.
Tayyib Smith:So, you know, at different times in in your journey, you probably answer, the same question in different ways. And I would say where I am today at 52, you know, some of the formidable experiences that I think define or have influenced my work. One of both my parents, being, you know, progressive people, people in the in the Black Nationalist Movement, people who were, you know, most of the things in our household would have fallen under the description of the Black Arts Movement. So whether that's jazz musicians, poets, activists, hustlers, you know, just, just people who were trying to find some form of liberation, in their work and their activities, even, I mean, in their dress and how they were, wore their hair. So, you know, controversies before I was 5 was like, you know, my, both my parents naming me type been Abdul Malik Smith and like 1971.
Tayyib Smith:You know, my, I haven't, a cousin in North Philadelphia and she says, oh, you was the first child with one of those with those African names. Like, she was like, there was nobody before you. At least in my world. Right? So, you know, contemporarily, I live a very, you know, progressive, diverse life, but, like, I think retrospectively, even me being involved in real estate or, you know, going through a bunch of endeavors, like creating a a, you know, an art project around the history of redlining.
Tayyib Smith:You know, being a a board member at the Black Star Film Festival, being in a a partnership with, investment group looking for ways to develop, you know, holistic community development models. You know, I could take that back to being on a, you know, looking for an apartment with my mom and her cursing out the realtor, you know, basically being like, motherfucker, I asked you for this neighborhood. Why are you taking me over here? And in that, you know, her saying something about redlining and me being like, what's redlining. Yeah.
Tayyib Smith:Right. So like some 30, 40 years later, it's it's those formidable memories that kind of define, like, your worldview. You know, I also have a really good friend, Dante Neil, who's an artist in Philadelphia. And, you know, he said to me one time, he was like, you don't even know. And I'm like, what do you mean?
Tayyib Smith:And, you know, he was describing to me that, like, my formable years were so progressive. So, you know, in a language of black liberation that he's like, you don't you don't even know that other people didn't have that perspective. Right? Or I one of my form formal memories, is asking my dad where white people came from and him taking me to the fridge and pointing to Europe. Right?
Tayyib Smith:Like, I remember that. Yep. And, you know, that's a that's, like, a funny narrative because how many black children who have, like, such you know, like, I have posters with Idi Amin. Do you know what I mean? Like, I like or, like, all of the, you know, anti colonialist leaders in Africa.
Tayyib Smith:Like those were like my formidable images with black GI Joe figures. Like these, those are like very young, you know, things. But when I talk to some of my friends who didn't have that perspective, it makes me see that that's a part of my fortune. You know? And then another, you know, kinda dissident court in relation to that, It was formable experiences when I went outside of my parents' ecosystem or community.
Tayyib Smith:You have to fight the constant indoctrination of our education systems, our business systems, our systems that teach us about history. Mhmm. So there's an element, you know, as children where you become defiant of your home, you know, images. So, like, one of my rebellions when I was 18, yeah, I joined the navy without telling anybody in my family. And, you know, I just came home and started telling people, and it was like, you did what?
Tayyib Smith:You know, and like retrospectively, that was me trying to be independent. That was me buying into a certain level of propaganda about, you know, like what a young man does. Yeah. But that was rebellion. You know what I mean?
Tayyib Smith:Then I had to had to go into that experience and have all those formative, you know, experiences be like, wait, what? What are we doing in Panama? Oh, man. Some colonialism. You know what I mean?
Tayyib Smith:Right. Man.
Rob Lee:I mean, you you you you briefly mentioned GI Joe, and I couldn't help but think of a black shipwreck for some reason. It was just I'm mean, the Navy now is like, where did
Tayyib Smith:that hat come from? You know? Mhmm. Mhmm.
Rob Lee:So and thank you very good. We're definitely going to be tapping in on a few other things. I think this definitely really helps sort of set the stage. So, you know, talk about, like, when you started moving in, like, the direction of this is what I want to do with with my life. I see, you know, different, like, sort of cross sections that ultimately connect with black folks, you know, whether it be, you know, the the hip, the Institute of Hip Hop Entrepreneurship, whether it be, you know, the collective, which we'll definitely talk about much more later.
Rob Lee:But talk about talk about that a little bit. And to give you a moment to kind of ruminate on that, I'll throw this out there. So I'm a huge black dude, you know, just that's just my my my setup. And I'm a very smiley individual, especially when I get into a conversation, as you've probably noticed so far. Right.
Rob Lee:And you you'd be surprised. You hear some of the weirdest things. I hear from some folks who might look like me that I'm not black enough. And I hear from some folks who are white who will say I'm militant. And it's like, I'm just me.
Rob Lee:It's like, how am I both? And it's like, oh, maybe the subject matter, maybe the lens in which I'm doing these interviews. But it's very, very interesting.
Tayyib Smith:So black or white, when people say someone's not black enough, like, you know, I definitely think we have to evolve past tropes of people pleasing other people's identity with Blackness and I would say, you know, throughout the diaspora there are probably different versions of how white supremacy, you know, will put, I'll say a white face on your identity when you're just living through your lived experience. Right. So I would say personally, like, I feel fortunate that I was raised by a mother in particularly that didn't put any constraints on my, my ideas of what blackness, can encompass. And I think that's a constant, you know, fight that we have to exist in to, you know, evolve beyond tropes and be evolve beyond kind of minimizing perspectives. What, what we inhibit or inhabit, you
Rob Lee:know, in the past, present, or future. Yeah. That's that's that's wonderful. And it like, I I did a and to kinda combat some of that, because I I didn't come, you know, live in that sort of dynamic. It's just like you be you, you know, whatever that might be.
Rob Lee:And I did it for a while and I'm thinking about bringing it back. I did a podcast for a while called Just Like Unofficially Black. And this is sort of, you know, you have like the barbershop podcast now and it's way too many of those. But it was just kind of like, hey, we both had the same thing of you're not black enough because we had the me and my buddy, my co host at the time, we were talking about traveling to we joked about it, but we were talking about traveling to LA. And it's like, oh, you're going to, like, you know, watch some, like, rap concert or whatever the the thing that do your would be.
Rob Lee:And I was like, nah. We're gonna watch sweaty Asian men, like, wrestle. If you're watching Japanese pro wrestling, it's like, my people don't do that. I was like, but we we we're the things. We're we're the guys.
Rob Lee:So we we would cover, like, the news, but from that perspective of kind of, like, not being black enough, but talk about whatever is right there on our radars. That's what we really like.
Tayyib Smith:You just gave me a flashback of, like, early Afropunk when James Spooner first started it. And it like, even the first documentary that he created around Afropunk, it was it was really about, like, all of the Black people and different, you know, progressive arts, music, visual arts spaces who with their Blackness was questioned perspective. Perspective. That's interesting. That's interesting.
Rob Lee:I had had the opportunity to interview James. I I met him, last year and it was it was great. And I think in speaking with him and looking at, you know, watching the documentary on YouTube and I just started looking at it. I was like, I wanna do this, you know, from, like because I joked and I was like, so 20 years later, we don't wanna see this. It's like that.
Rob Lee:Well, he
Tayyib Smith:got he plowed out in the in the early, mid aughts.
Rob Lee:Mhmm.
Tayyib Smith:Yeah. And it it like many things, it grew to have a a life of its own.
Rob Lee:Right. Yeah. Yeah. So were there like some stops, like, along the way when you were like, you know, I know that this is where I want to focus my energy. This is where I can do the most good.
Rob Lee:Like you you touched on earlier with real estate and we were touching on a little bit about the Institute of Hip Hop Entrepreneurship and many, many, many other styles because like my Internet searches earlier and put it in your day, I was like,
Tayyib Smith:the students everywhere. Wow. You know what, man? That one, thank you for that. 2, I'm fortunate that I have, like, like this deep curiosity that keeps me on different journeys.
Tayyib Smith:When you say doing good, I'm just, you know, I've just been a hand to mouth entrepreneur who's trying to survive and like do things, in some way either contribute or pay respect to the people who helped me get here. And even the ones who, I might not even know their names. You know what I mean? Like, we all stand on the shoulders of others. So I don't really like see myself in the, in like the do gooder space.
Tayyib Smith:I see myself as like a curious entrepreneur who just keeps trying things. So, you know, I had one experience with this, one of the fellows from the Institute of hip hop entrepreneurship. One time he wanted to do something. It was like some type of business around coffee. My coworking space is right across the street from La cologne and, you know, at 15th street.
Tayyib Smith:And I was like, well, I know, you know, I know the owner and like, I know some people work there, let me figure out and we can talk and you could go over there and you could work there. And he also saw himself as someone who was like a thing, an artist, you know, like a a brand. And he was like, but I don't really see myself, like, working in coffee. I got so upset, I wanted to shake him. And I started talking to him, like, why do you think you you know, how come we can only see ourselves performing or being the talent are being on a field in some, way?
Tayyib Smith:And when I was cursing him out, I started thinking about stuff and I started thinking about my first, you know, not that I ever, you know, outside of being a little kid, but like once I was like a teenager on through my twenties, like my relationship with entertainment was supporting other people, but I, I, in me cursing him out, I realized that I was like, oh shit, I'm talking to myself. Right. Because, you know, my first ideas of what it meant to be a business. You know, a hustler businessman entrepreneur was through these things that I saw. Yeah.
Tayyib Smith:And, you know, we have such a limited palette that black men in particular are given in terms of possibilities. Right. I've, I've had the experience of talking to high school students or middle school students and the questions I get back from them scare me. Right? And if, you know, I had one day I might have talked to 75 kids over the course of 4 hours.
Tayyib Smith:And, like, they couldn't name 7 careers. Right? They they could only name, like, ball player, you know, social media, you know, like some type of performer. And although I I had a journey through entertainment, it really scares me that we don't give more pathways to people affecting like the built environment, our civic infrastructure, like the future of work in general. Yeah.
Tayyib Smith:So again, you know, like that's a, you know, that that's a complication that, really concerns me. And even in the institute of hip hop entrepreneurship, like we won that grant. It was a $300,000 grant from the Knight Foundation, and it came from a national challenge, award. So 45100 people submitted ideas. There was probably a 150 finalists, and then there were 38 ideas, funded.
Tayyib Smith:And that was one of them. So it enabled us to work with 24 fellows over 9 months and 3 people got, $10,000 to start their business. Now in that experience, I learned so much
Rob Lee:Yeah.
Tayyib Smith:About myself, about these young people, about the contemporary work environment. But one thing that is challenging, we have a narrative about black business ownership and entrepreneur that is strictly through the lens of exceptional ones. Alright. So even in our respectfully, like earning your leisure type podcast environment or like that LLC entrepreneurship, Instagram, the person selling classes and stuff like that. Even the things that we reference, they're like moonshots.
Tayyib Smith:You know, like, you know, I don't wanna hear you talking about, like, don't give me Jay z quotes when you can't hire 3 people. Right. I mean, or, you know, you're a small business if you make less than $10,000,000 a year annually. You know, I live in a city where 2.3% of the businesses are black owned, but we make up 40% of the population of that 23.3%. There's a minuscule number of people who are doing more than $1,000,000 a year in revenue.
Tayyib Smith:So the conversation about business and the intergenerational structural racism that has removed us from equity. To to have investment in businesses. A lot of the narratives around entrepreneurship and small business have been weaponized against us in a way that is really complicated.
Rob Lee:Yeah. Yeah. It's it's funny. Like, you mentioned the exceptionalism thing, and that's, you know, I've run into it in doing this and doing it as long as I have. And it's almost this sort of if I reach out to someone, I don't lead with what my background is, what my criteria is.
Rob Lee:It's like life are out there. I've been doing this for 14 years. I don't know if I need to audition. You know what I mean? And now I joke about it.
Rob Lee:I was like, yeah. Some of those opportunities don't float over. So if I do an interview with someone from Philly, oh, you're leaving Baltimore. You're you're doing this other thing, and it's kinda like, you know, you're you're selling out. It's kinda the the echo of that.
Rob Lee:And it's like, I kinda can do what I want. You know, when you start speaking in terms of, like, what almost feels like, I guess what I would deem is this is me being free, not being beholden to anyone and kind of setting like this is what I find interesting. And the thing that you said earlier, being curious, that's that's the thing that kinda drives me. That's the thing that guides me. So I'm I
Tayyib Smith:you know, I'm I'm quick with ideas, but, like, when I hear you talk about, like, you're doing something Philly, you're leaving us. Like, that comes from a scarcity mindset that comes from, like, our traumas. You know, Philadelphia is a city. To be frank, most of the people who Philadelphia is a part of their brand, they do not have a 2, like a 215 number or if they do, they hold it on 1 since the nineties and not have a 215 zip code. They're not paying municipal taxes.
Tayyib Smith:They're not voting here. And that that's from, like, publishing to brand to, you know, social media person, like, you know, then they they only walk in distance to city hall like me. Alright. So, I, so I've, I, and I, and I, I have experienced multiple generations of an, like an intellectual vacuum of peep moving to larger cities, for opportunity. Right?
Tayyib Smith:And I under I understand it, and I hold a lot of, empathy for for how, just the the black condition is one of, almost being nomads. You know what I mean? Like, how, yeah, How many of us in contemporary cities that were redlined, that did go through a crack of, you know, holocaust, that have been, leftover since white flight can afford to move back to the neighborhoods where, parents, aunts and uncles like fought just to keep alive after we move to a New York or Miami or in LA or, you know, or London, wherever. Right? So when you said that, I was like I just started thinking, like, we need to have better dialogue between Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, New York.
Tayyib Smith:Like we should be jumping on Amtrak's and talking about, like, they doing that to you. This is what I see at city hall is doing to us. That's what your state rep those state representatives are doing you. This is how they play us. So I don't
Rob Lee:you know, I I used to be like Philly Philly Philly Philly,
Tayyib Smith:and I still live here, but I had experience years ago, looking at displacement issues in multiple cities, particularly Chicago, Detroit, Miami. And when I really got to spend time in some other spaces, I got to see how the same policies were executed on us, how we reacted to them differently. Mhmm. Right? Oh, that's what that's that's what they did to the Westside.
Tayyib Smith:Oh, that's what that happened on 52nd Street. You know? So I I encourage people. I I I, you know, I would really love to explore ways that erstwhile chocolate cities could have spaces where we had a media and a public policy network and, like a social political economic action network, to share ideas, resources, and opportunities versus thinking of people, you know, selling out? 100%.
Tayyib Smith:I whenever that question comes up
Rob Lee:and when it's presented to me, like, I I always come from a position of, I know I know stuff, but I was saying, like, I don't know anything, but and then just drop like a truth bomb or what have you. Mhmm. Like, I I kinda talk about it in in Baltimore. It's like, you guys see these changes. I was like, we're trying to ape what DC does.
Rob Lee:And d z DC definitely has these sort of vibes of nobody lives there. You know, people kind of at least, like, pass through there. I was like, I was like, I see, like, really substantial change. Like, I remember in Philly going up there, so I'll go up there to Red Philly, do the interviews up there. And I remember I like didn't come up there for a month.
Rob Lee:It was like December and I was like, Oh, it's cold. I'm not going up there. And I just remember I was like, yo, I walk the same path each time from 30th Street. Why is it different suddenly? And then thinking back, I was like, I was up here a couple years ago.
Rob Lee:None of this was here. Mhmm. I see that sort of similar change to similar energy around Baltimore. I'm like, you guys need to be looking at what's happening in Philly as you were touching on. And I was like, because that's like a year, 2 years ahead of what we're doing here.
Rob Lee:Mm-mm. Yeah. Yeah. So I got one last question before I before we start talking about the collective a bit. And I and I kind of touched on a little bit, you know, as far as curiosity being a driver for me.
Rob Lee:We always hear about North Stars. We always hear about what guides sort of whatever our work might be. Do you have like I like to look at it as truth. You know, like the truth in his art, you know, patent pending or what have you or trademark. But what would you say are like those 3 truths that kind of guide you of what you're doing?
Rob Lee:Is it curiosity in there? Is it like empowerment and support of, like, black folk or what have you talk? Talk about that
Tayyib Smith:a little bit. So I'm, you know, I'm going to throw clear curiosity in one. I'm gonna keep it real and say that it's been fear of poverty. Do you know what I mean? Like, I have experienced poverty.
Tayyib Smith:I come from people who who, you know, I come from sharecroppers. You know? Like, I'm a great grandkid of the great migration. Those have been, 2 really important drivers and, you know, I wouldn't know how to frame it. And I in this moment, I can't think of the right adjective, but, you know, just, care and dedication that came from the energy of my parents and the people who influenced my parents.
Tayyib Smith:You know, my dad's 76 now. He'd be 77, Sunday. My mom passed away in 2009. And, you know, they were extraordinary. They are extraordinary, and special people.
Tayyib Smith:And oftentimes, regular folk, ordinary people are not thought of when we we think of, like, the real change. And I'm fortunate enough to I'm old enough. You know, Mark Anthony Neal has a book called Soul Babies. I highly recommend it if you've never read it. But in it, when I read it 20 years ago, I was like, oh, this is me.
Tayyib Smith:Oh, I, this is what this is, what we are. And, you know, I was born 3 years after the 68 uprisings I was born, you know, after the Harvard study of the soul environment, when they figured out that there was a middle class black marketplace, I grew up with, you know, positive black images, whether it was George Jefferson or, you know, that just, just an ecosystem that I didn't know was designed to get us to purchase. But, you know, I also grew up in an age where people went to city hall or went to Harrisburg and they talked about Black Power. And I I didn't know until, you know, kind of looking at Mark's work that we were we were punched in the gut and the face by the crack cocaine eighties. Right?
Tayyib Smith:So you you grow up with this one, like, perspective and you hit with this, like Reaganomics reality. Yeah. I feel I feel like, the juxtaposition between those 2 two realities, kind of forged my social political identity. So part of part of that is like, you could call it Afrofuturism. And then the second part is like just pragmatic, Like, oh, this this is this they bring in the dark star?
Tayyib Smith:Oh, this this is what we deal with. Okay. I gotta change it up.
Rob Lee:Every now and again, when when someone does the thing of, like alright. So what's your perspective on things? Looks like, look. I was born in 1985. I was like, so there's some weird weird prominent things that happened there in the black community, and it was like, it's kinda baked in.
Rob Lee:It's been looking at, like, maybe how the household setup was and and things of that nature, living in the projects, all of that different stuff. And just like my parents were very aware of what was happening during that time. We we were talking crack. We're we're talking, you know, aids. We're talking all of these different things.
Rob Lee:And my dad's a veteran. So you all you have that as well. Those things, like, are baked into, like, yeah, how was it growing up? Not bad. And then when you become an adult, like, oh, that's what was happening.
Tayyib Smith:Mhmm. Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, just to speak about that being an adolescent Southern crack cocaine eighties, like, it makes me really curious, you know, the children who are living through the opioid epidemic, like, how that will frame their futures.
Rob Lee:Yeah. Mhmm. Mhmm. Things are cyclical. They just come back in different just a different shade of paint.
Rob Lee:Just, you know, slightly different color. Yeah. So I want to switch gears a touch and but I still think it connects to the overall theme here. So I got 3 questions like the chunk, the 3 question chunk. Tell us about the collective.
Rob Lee:I mean, just for for those who are who are undeped, unfamiliar.
Tayyib Smith:Mhmm. So the growth collective, which we've evolved into, is set up as 2 companies, one being a fee for service consultancy and the other is actually an investment group. There are 7 black owned real estate companies that are our primary members and clients. And then my partners, Sandra Dungey Glenn and Steven Saunders. Sandra coming from more of a political, consulting perspective.
Tayyib Smith:And she used to work with Shaka Vittaj. She worked with senator Hughes, both pen Pennsylvania state representatives and senators. But she comes from that a different era of political engagement. Steve and I like to, teaser and say we brought it to capitalism. As Steven is a pension fund manager, he has another company called Beltre Capital.
Tayyib Smith:He's raised much more money than I could ever imagine in his lifetime and years ago, pre COVID, probably like 2017, 'eighteen, Sandra and I had first met. And then when the Opportunity Zone policy was rolling out, we went on this journey talking to political representatives, you know, stakeholders, people at site control investors, because the language of the policy didn't connect with the reality of the policy. Right. So we were shocked and all to talk to frankly, some representatives who represent, you know, black constituents who did not read the policy and didn't understand it. And, you know, we're speaking about guardrails that we, were where it didn't exist.
Tayyib Smith:So in that endeavor, we gathered probably around 9 different real estate practitioners, primarily real estate developers and realized that we had more in common. And some of the institutions, lenders, bankers, and investors had different narratives for us. We also learned that someone who's doing a $5,000,000 deal doesn't have the same problems as someone who's doing a $50,000,000 deal. So the person who's doing a $50,000,000 deal doesn't wanna necessarily hang out around the $5,000,000 deal person, but there's there's a shared possibility and the alliance and the exchange of information. So that's kind of how we came to be the collective.
Tayyib Smith:And currently one of our clients is Achievability, which is a nonprofit, based in West Philadelphia. Then we're consulting, helping them figure out what to do with their nonparcels of land to have a positive impact on the community that's there. So long story short, we like to say that we focus on holistic real estate development with the lens towards, you know, repair to Black communities that have traditionally been divested from.
Rob Lee:Thank you. That's great. I I I saw it as both, and I was like, I had it in there in in each willow point. I was like, pro collector. Pro collector.
Rob Lee:And I was like, yeah. It's just a collective. Right?
Tayyib Smith:And I was like, which one is it? Yeah. In slang, we say the collective. But and, let's say to IRS, we're we're the gross collective squared.
Rob Lee:That's a great answer to that. So I got these 2 last, like, like, real questions here, like, and like obviously like you're very like I was following the the the Twitter a little bit. I was like, this is a this is a really smart deal. I was like,
Tayyib Smith:I don't know if I'm
Rob Lee:qualified for this. And, just it's but what are what are in your opinion and kind of like, you know, where your focus is at, what are some of the effective ways to, like, share information and resources to, like, you know, the communities and what you're speaking to? Like, how how do you go about it? Because I look at it like I look at it like this. I had this conversation with someone from a grant perspective, like grants for artists and and it was, what is it?
Rob Lee:Our administrators of color. And it mentioned the person I was talking to, he mentioned like, yeah, a lot of these grants are written weird and it's just like they're intentionally, like, vague or intentionally something that's confusing that you're going to waste time on and you're too busy. It's, like, not knowing who your audience is. So so talk about that a little bit. That's just the example that comes to mind.
Tayyib Smith:So I'll go back to my earlier comment of how you would answer questions differently at different stages. And, you know, I've I've had the good fortune of, winning multiple national challenge awards for the Knight Foundation. My other company won a Pew Arts and Heritage, award to do a project around the 7th Ward, which is, you know, one of the oldest black, communities in the country where w d boys came to study. And I had almost like a Forrest Gump education on philanthropy. And that, that came from individuals who, you know, I was fortunate enough to receive their mentorship or they might just might, you know, believe enough in me to invite me to the right things that my heart headed ass just kept asking difficult questions.
Tayyib Smith:And then I understood what the nomenclature in the language is. Right? So I say that to say that, you know, you referenced you you started referencing Twitter. Right? And Twitter today is not the Twitter of, like, 2008, 2009, 2010, which frankly is similar to the Internet experience, in general that, like, it's just not as robust.
Tayyib Smith:It's not as, like, engaged, authentic, fulfilling. You know, I can remember actually connecting with people in multiple cities and having, like, thoughtful engagement, people turning me on to things, and it wasn't, like combative or ironic or just sharing things, that aren't intellectually stimulating. Right? So there's an aspect of the platform economy that for me, you don't really know who, you know, I share things I find of interest, right, on the platform, but you don't know who you're act who it's hitting with. Right?
Tayyib Smith:That's almost just like putting something out there, like putting little notes and bottles and throw them in at the Pacific Ocean.
Rob Lee:Like you
Tayyib Smith:don't somebody might get it, somebody might not, but to actually get like the cheat code, the information, the person to say like, don't do it that way. I can save you 3 years. Right? Nobody ever says that, but their actions might actually save you 3 years. Right.
Tayyib Smith:I have really believe in and reacquaint it with how much we have to have 1 on 1 conversations with people and how much we have to, like, create networks of nurturing, like, intellectual thought. Or, you know, I'm a big believer in intergenerational community. Right? So I have 2, 2 colleagues that are in their seventies that, you know, I talk to frequently. But they're very successful people who have, like, more energy than me at 50 and people who are, you know, 20 30 years younger than me.
Tayyib Smith:Yeah. So I, I, I reap the benefits of just that type of knowledge. And I've always, you know, not always probably since my thirties, I've made an effort to nurture relationships with people who are younger than me. And I don't think mentorship should ever be a one way street. Right?
Tayyib Smith:So in in mentorship, there's something that the energy for me should be reciprocal. Right? Like, whether it's inspiration, turning me on to something I wouldn't be aware of, translating something for me, like, and it it it might just be the how Gen X has received Boomer love, but I'm not I'm not the mentor who, you know, I might ingest, you know, teas or, as we say, some peep some people, but, you know, it's more of peer energy that and, you know, talking down to people or, you know, quick thought. So there's a there's a type of old head who will say, you gotta come sit at my knee, and I and I my dad did this, this, and this, and they don't even know the kids' eyes are rolled back in their head because they don't even understand, like, the contextualization. But I had, he's not, we're only a year, a couple of years apart, but I had this experience with Theaster Gates.
Tayyib Smith:Who's an artist in Chicago years ago. And he he's heard me tell the story and he laughed because he he didn't remember it. But I was on a bus trip with him and all these philanthropists, and they were showing all his properties in Chicago. And I had met him a cup maybe, like, 3 or 4 years earlier, and he didn't have as many things going on. And I I came to him on the bus, and I was like, Diester, how did you get your business acumen up to the point you're doing all this?
Tayyib Smith:And he looked at me, and he looked both ways to see if anybody was was and he said, I don't have the business acumen that you or anyone else believes. But if you see something I'm doing right that you can copy or you can approve on, do it. And don't even call me and ask me, just say I support you. All right. That was such a freeing moment for me because you know, as a black man, how many people you might come to for advice, a positive word, an autograph, a shout out.
Tayyib Smith:Please listen to my demo who and they will show you their ass.
Rob Lee:This is true.
Tayyib Smith:But here, here was, you know, someone who's on their trajectory upward, who was being authentic to me, almost like we were in the underground rail railroad. Like, look, this ain't what you think. I'm trying to hustle, too. I'm just trying to figure it out like you. It might be working, but you you too can be free.
Tayyib Smith:That's that's great.
Rob Lee:So I got I got one last real question. And then I have, like, 4 rapid fire questions. The last real one goes is this. I just want to get a sense on, you know, we're talking trajectory a little bit there towards the end. Looking towards the future, what are what are some of the goals and priorities for the Growth Collective?
Rob Lee:And how do you envision, like the organization, like moving forward and evolving over the next, let's say, 3 to 5 years?
Tayyib Smith:Oh, great question. So we're in dialogue with some financial institutions that, you know, probably should and shouldn't mention about using some new regenerative investment, vehicles to actually put dollars, equity dollars into black, real estate developers projects. I think we've done a great job of, elevating issues that have been there for a long time, but then our our local municipal state, you know, ecosystem. I'd say in the tradition of of black progress, it's always challenging because the facts are there. Yeah.
Tayyib Smith:Like the figures are there, the lawsuits about divestment and communities go back, you know, no longer than me at 52. The number of gaslighting excuses are reasons not to invest in Black and brown people are infinite. So we keep doing the work. We keep struggling. We keep, you know, making wins and trying to influence not just the public policy, but the projects where we can.
Rob Lee:Thank you. That's that's great. Essentially, I love to hear it. So is we wind up in these these these final moments here. And I got to ask, this has nothing to relate to you in Aquarius
Tayyib Smith:No, I'm an aries pisces cusp.
Rob Lee:Okay, my partner is that I'm an Aquarius. I'm a capric custom or Aquarius thing. I look around for it, and, I I share a birthday with another great Philadelphian, southeast Philadelphia, and me and Questlove have the same birthday. Oh, really? Okay.
Rob Lee:So whenever I see that January 20th pop up, I was like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, me and Quest, it's like, you never met him.
Tayyib Smith:I know I know Amir very well. I know Amir very well.
Rob Lee:So here's the rapid fire questions for you. No. And I'll give the same thing I give to everyone. Don't overthink them. They're they're they're all over the place.
Rob Lee:So here's the first one. Thinking back, what is the, first record that you owned? Oh, yeah. So I
Tayyib Smith:would say it's the first record my family owned that I can remember because I don't recall, like, what my first purchase, record was. But, when I was a little kid, Marvin Gaye's what's going on used to give me a headache, And I didn't I couldn't understand why. Yeah. I remember that when my dad would play it, and I would be like, and I remember, like, I can remember, like, holding the record. And I don't know why, but, like there was something about that recording that used to make me uncomfortable as a child.
Tayyib Smith:So that's the first album that I really be remember being consciously aware of even before, like really understanding recorded music.
Rob Lee:I dig it. What are you currently watching? Like, is there any shows, any movies that you watched recently? You know, I may have seen a post for some folks. They talk about succession.
Rob Lee:I'm definitely watching that. So a lot of things that are out there. There's a lot of things that I avoid because, you know, there's a there's a attention real estate conversation that happens. I was like, I don't have time for that. So what are you currently watching and investing that time in?
Tayyib Smith:So I too, find joy in succession. And I would say it's kinda like suburban people watching The Wire. Like like like problems that I am not connected to at all or any way, shape or form, but the writing, the cinematography, the wardrobe, like there's like levels to the things that aren't like very loud, but are outspoken and suggestion. So it definitely a guilty pleasure. Outside of that, I cannot stand scripted TV usually.
Tayyib Smith:So, like, I'm more of a person who's into documentaries recently. I've, you know, like Arthur Jotha has a couple films on YouTube that I, I think are exceptional. And that's more like that's not like traditional linear, film. I'm a bigger book person than I'm like a content person. Like I remember how books, resonate or make me feel more than particularly like contemporary, like scripted content.
Tayyib Smith:No. It some it's just doesn't inspire me in any way, but I will shout out Raul Peck's, kill all the brutes. Have you seen that? That's, that's really heavy. Exterminate all the brutes.
Tayyib Smith:That's heavy. It's like 5 parts. That's that's that's deep.
Rob Lee:I mean, I'm I'm over here noting things as we go along. So look, I'll be reaching back out on the email like, yeah, man. I watched this. Why? Yes.
Rob Lee:So I I got I got 2 more. And, you know, we were talking about that experience earlier of what, what Twitter is. Right. And what the Internet, by and large, has kind of become. And, you know, I find myself I try to avoid the news, but I find myself actually getting content from the news now because of the proliferation of, like, fake news and alternative facts and for you, what are your, like, 3 most reliable sources for information?
Tayyib Smith:Oh, do you, do you watch democracy now? No. Oh, so, you know, I don't know how long I've been watching democracy. That must be at least 6 or 7 years, but democracy now comes on every day at 9 AM. If you go to democracy now.org, you can see it.
Tayyib Smith:It's also like through Apple TV, but just watch democracy now for like 7 days. Right? And then go back to mainstream corporate media And you're gonna be like, how did I not? Did you know? How did I, did you see?
Tayyib Smith:Or it'll come like a week or 2 weeks later, in the mainstream press with a different lens. Other than that recently, I operate in capitalist spaces, but I tend to read more leftist literature. So this year I've been making an effort to read like the New Republic, Jacobin, more like traditional, leftist political, periodicals in journals because, I I feel like you get a a deeper analysis, from long form then the clickbait of contemporary journalism. That's so good.
Rob Lee:So this is the the last one. Last question I got. And this has been my favorite recently because I'm very interested in like, you know, what the guests do, you know, what what their what their things are. So let's say it's super long day, don't have time to really, you know, put together that that healthy that meal, but you need something you need something that hits, but it doesn't have to be healthy. What is that go to meal for you?
Rob Lee:Is is there a
Tayyib Smith:go to meal? No. It's it's suit. My wife and I just order a bunch of sushi. Let's get it.
Tayyib Smith:And I I I only wanna go to the spot. I want it at my spot.
Rob Lee:I've been the opposite. I've been so like hey, man, like my partner. She was like like, hey, let's go get sushi. I was like, nah, man. It's been it's changed so much man.
Rob Lee:I gotta go to the place It's an intimate experience. Yes, it's really because they give me a lot of extra sushi because I'm always just there just getting loose on a volcano roll. Alright. Alright. And I
Tayyib Smith:can't believe I I'm not thinking of right nomenclature. What's the when you go, I'm a Cassey. So, it was a great. I'm a Cassey and, Fishtown. Very expensive.
Tayyib Smith:But my wife and I will do that, like, twice a year. I went we went from a Cassey in Manhattan, like, 2 weeks ago. That's more like that out ex sushi experience, for me. And if I'm not doing that, then just give me a bunch of balls and let me chill.
Rob Lee:I like it. Well, that's it, for for the the interview. Thank you for indulging me in my my questions. This has been, this has been great. This has been fun.
Rob Lee:And in in these final moments, I wanna invite and encourage you to, share with the listeners where they can follow you, keep up on anything the growth Collective related and all of that good stuff, websites, social media, whatever you wanna share in these final moments, the floor is yours.
Tayyib Smith:Okay. So for the Growth Collective, we are at the collectivephl.com. For me personally, I can be found at 215tayyib on Twitter. Don't follow me on Instagram. I'm just kidding, but, I'm more interested on I'm more interesting on Twitter, probably.
Tayyib Smith:I have a project called the 7th War Tribute that, my good friend and colleague, Britney, Coleman is leading, basically creating a tribute to the 7th board's history in Philadelphia. I'm on the regenerative leadership team and the board of an organization called the Guild of Future Architects. It's just, guild of future, dot org. Yeah. I'm on the board of the Black Star Film Festival, blackstarprojects.org.
Tayyib Smith:They have a brilliant Terrence Nads exhibit at the ICA right now, in Philadelphia. I highly recommend people check out. I'm working on a film project with my friend Cassie Owens, tentatively titled Philly Jazz Legends about, you know, traditional African American dance cohorts in Philadelphia. I executive produced a film, by my good friend, Shantrell Lewis a few years ago, called In Our Mother's Gardens. Other than that,
Rob Lee:yeah, that's about it. And there you have it, folks. I wanna again thank Tyb Smith from the Growth Collective for coming on to the podcast. And I'm Rob Lee for Tyb Smith saying that there's art, culture, and an intersection where entrepreneurship lives. In and around your neck of the woods, you've just gotta look for it.
