Today I speak with Tina Brown. Tina began to provide financial wealth, empowerment, and health wellness resources for women through My Sister’s Keeper Expo created in 2015. Tina’s life has been a display of strength and courage mixed with compassion and love. Tina has always dreamed of being able to help teenagers reach their dreams.
This podcast series is hosted by Patricia Kathleen and Wilde Agency Media. This series is a platform for women, female-identified, & non-binary individuals to share their professional stories and personal narrative as it relates to their story. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age, status, or industry.
TRANSCRIPTION
*Please note this is an automated transcription, please excuse any typos or errors
[00:00:00] In this episode, I had the opportunity to sit down with founder and CEO Tina Brown. Key points addressed where Tinas convention called My Sister's Keeper Expo, which was launched in 2015. It was providing a yearly expo filled with financial wealth, empowerment and health wellness resources for women. We also discussed Tinas nonprofit Starbound Inc, which is an endeavor that reflects her passion for helping teenagers at risk. Stay tuned for my fascinating talk with Tina Brown.
[00:00:36] Hi, my name is Patricia Kathleen, and this podcast series contains interviews I conduct with women. Female identified and non binary individuals regarding their professional stories and personal narrative. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age status for industry. We aim to contribute to the evolving global dialog surrounding underrepresented figures in all industries across the USA and abroad. If you're enjoying this podcast, be sure to check out our subsequent series that dove deep into specific areas such as Vegan life, fasting and roundtable topics. They can be found via our Web site. Patricia Kathleen dot COM, where you can also join our newsletter. You can also subscribe to all of our series on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Pod Being and YouTube. Thanks for listening. Now let's start the conversation. Hi, everyone, and welcome back. I am your host, Patricia.
[00:01:36] And today I'm excited to be sitting down with Tina Brown. She's the founder and CEO of a couple of different companies. You can find out more about her companies and her nonprofit on w w w dot. My Sister's Keeper Expo. Dot com. Welcome, Tina.
[00:01:51] Thank you. Thank you for having me.
[00:01:53] Absolutely. I can't wait to kind of climb through. You have a production company and you have this nonprofit, Starbound, and then you have my Sister's Keeper Expo and they all kind of have this beautiful narrative between the three of them. And I want to dove into each of those. But before we get to that, I want to tell everyone listening. I have a bio that I'll be reading on TNA to give everyone this kind of platform of her professional history. But before we get to that, a roadmap of today's podcast. We'll follow the same trajectory as all of those in this podcast series. Namely, we'll start by looking at Tinas academic background, early professional life and personal narrative that kind of draws as to where she is now. And then we'll start look towards unpacking her nonprofit, Starbound Inc, her production company, Tina Brown Productions, and her My Sister's Keeper Expo. And we'll get into some of the logistics of who, what, when, where, why, how, with funding, founders, co-founders, all of those things, growth that all of those endeavors have received since they've been launched. And then we'll turn our efforts towards looking at goals that she has for the next one to three years for herself and her business endeavors. And then we'll wrap everything up with advice that Tina and I have. For those of you who are looking to get involved or contact her or emulate some of what she has done. A quick bio on Tina. Before I start peppering her with questions, Tina Brown was born in San Francisco, California. Three days after her birth, she was abandoned by her biological mother and left on the doorstep of of couple Mr. and Mrs. Walker, who raised her as their own. Later, a runaway teenage mother, Tina, still continued her education, taking up criminal justice at San Francisco City College. She has been employed with the city and county of San Francisco for 25 years. Tinas nonprofit organization Starbound Inc is a true reflection of the passion she has for helping teenagers. And her love of music made her dream come true come true. When she founded her own production company, Tina Brown Productions, where she serves as CEO after receiving a vision from God, Tina began to provide financial wealth, empowerment and health wellness resources for women through My Sister's Keeper Expo created in 2015. Tina hosted her third annual expo in October of 2018 and offered women the resources and support needed for their success. In spite of her busy schedule, Tina always places her Christian life first. She's an active member of her church as a servant leader for the women's ministry. Tinas life has been a display of strength and courage mixed with compassion and love. Tina has always dreamed of being able to help teenagers reach their dreams.
[00:04:33] So it's, you know, I think it's such a powerful bio that you have. It's it's such a mixture of the endeavors that you're currently involved in and your pursuit, an ethos that you run your life by. But before we get to all of that, I'm hoping that you can draw a numeral a little bit further on what I spoke about in reading your bio. If you can tell everyone listening about your academic background and early professional life that brought you to launching your first business endeavor.
[00:04:58] OK. I will start off by saying that I was a young girl 10, 10 and a half turning eleven. I end up being homeless in the streets. I didn't have many.
[00:05:14] I didn't have I didn't go to school at that time. And when I type there was like a two and a half year time period. I became a teenage mom. I had my children. And at that time I started to pursue going back to school. I went to teen pregnancy school and then I would finish high school. And then I attended city college. And that's where I got my criminal justice information, my classes. I didn't I didn't graduate from there because it became the fact that I had to work and take care of my my children at that time. So I wasn't able to finish that. And of course, life goes on.
[00:05:52] Say it's never too late. So that's life. Just calm down a little bit when it calms down.
[00:05:58] That's something that I will entertain pursuing to go back.
[00:06:01] Absolutely. It never is. And for me and the older I get, the more, you know, I get out of my educational training returning. I kind of feel like we do it backwards in this country. I've had a lot of professors speak to this as well, but saying, you know, you should work when you're young and go to school when you're older and can handle it. And all of those thoughts I'm wondering about. So which you've had three endeavors that I want to impact here today. I'm sure you've had a gazillion more than that. But a Starbound Inc, I want to know. Did your nonprofit. Come first, did the production company or My Sister's Keeper Expo?
[00:06:38] Nonprofit was first, actually. And when I listened to you read the bio, I'm like, Oh wow, this, you know, three different companies. But each one represented a piece of me where I was at at that particular time and how I developed that particular company.
[00:06:55] So what was the impetus for starting it? I mean, it's it's obvious that it was connected to your own pursuit in your own life as as a young teenager undergoing more than the average stressors. And did you have a directional goal when you launched that nonprofit as to how you were going to implement it and which communities or groups you were going to address?
[00:07:14] Actually, no. It was actually suggested to me. I've always wanted to help young girls because I was that young girl that didn't have anyone to feed into me or, you know, to talk to. So with that, I always worked with young girls and I was talking to her name was Jamila, actually one day. And just like you should start a nonprofit online. What's a nonprofit? Yes. And to explain. And so she offered to help me do that. And that's how Starbound each was incorporated. And even though it wasn't corporate, I still didn't have the knowledge or didn't use it to its full capacity at that time because it started in 2012. I just continue to help the girls on my own funding because I know how important it was. And with that, Starbound starts to, you know, take effect and get donations for, you know, like Tripps going to a game or just that type of thing.
[00:08:09] It's a major undertaking. Did you go through any type of an accelerator or how did you garner all of the knowledge? Nonprofits are such a different beast, right?
[00:08:17] They're like their own form of business. They have their own set of laws and rules. Did you have an advisor or a mentor that advised you or just kind of figured out as you went?
[00:08:26] No, I figured it along the way. She Djamila set up the whole nonprofit. So when I received my paperwork, I was already a nonprofit. So it was just at that time where I had to, you know, get a duns number and get it. Yeah, no. Oh. Type of things. But I learned as I go everything I must say that everything in my whole life, unfortunately, was like self-taught.
[00:08:51] Yeah.
[00:08:52] That's amazing. I mean, it's the information and the utility of knowledge when self-taught is usually much more deep, much more deep. It runs deeper. You know, it has a different effect on the person in the way that they run the business. In my humble opinion, I'm wondering. And so have. Has there been kind of a growth with it since you launched in 2012? And it's a nonprofit which has some flexibility. Has it changed and manifested over the years? Have there been some quieter years and some heavier years? And also, do you ally with other nonprofits who have similar goals and motives?
[00:09:29] Actually, I did not. I didn't network at that time.
[00:09:34] I'm just starting to really take advantage of the nonprofit and collaborate with different nonprofits. As I've gotten older and seen how it really works and how much more it could thrive more with the collaboration's like Larkin Street Youth that's in San Francisco, where, you know, they have their teeth. They have their youth programs focus on housing. But it also focused on speakers coming in and those type of things. So I've been able to collaborate a little bit with them. And then we have Huckleberry House, which is a house for runaways, which was right down the street from where I reside. Where I grew up. That and so I'm able to talk to young kids from there as well.
[00:10:16] That's awesome. So when did the production company. Tina Brown Productions come along that came along in the in?
[00:10:25] Actually, it twenty's 2014 because as I was homeless out there in the streets, I've always had music.
[00:10:35] So I have a great love for music. So I will listen to particular artists and things like that. And I wanted to see how I can make that happen and bring it to the Bay Area. So I started off with my church, like doing a church prayer breakfast, and I will bring in certain artists to come in and perform. And then it became like that was just like second hand. I just knew how to do that again. It's crazy. I was blessed to have that skill set. I worked at a B.F. F. as a volunteer. So I've had different people that were able to pour into me to where I was like, I think I want to have my own production company. I think I want to, you know, do that. I wanted to do film, but it's just I still haven't graduated, so I got to tell my story and to tell other stories that people encounter in their life span.
[00:11:25] Absolutely. So that's storytelling. The production company, does it have like a specialty or an area population, a group that it centers more towards? Or is this is it kind of anything that lands in your lap or any projects that you find interesting?
[00:11:41] It's really RB music and Christian.
[00:11:45] OK. Yeah. Sounds like that from the basis of launching within the church. I'm wondering, when did it when do you feel like that production company launched if you don't have a specific date. Do you have a year that you kind of felt like it was founded? And how long before was it before My Sister's Keeper Expo came along that launched in twenty.
[00:12:08] Fourteen. I was the summer was the summer because my first show was in November, November 4th in twenty fourteen. So.
[00:12:20] Yeah. Okay. And then my Sisters Keeper Expo. When did the idea for this come along and what was the impetus or the story behind developing it in 2014.
[00:12:33] Once I launched launched Tina Brown Productions.
[00:12:37] I found out I started to really get to know myself because in life you're just dealing with hunches that come along along the way.
[00:12:45] So that's when I start to realize that I was really a broken person and my self-esteem was really shocked to extent so because it got to a point with the shows, I wanted to do more. But then I would hear that little voice that says you could do it. You know, all my past failures came to creep up behind me. So with that, I realized when I realized that I was broken. I started to go out and get help. I started to go to workshops and listen to different people speak. And I went to Dallas for T.D. Jakes. He has a woman that are not loose a bit mega fest every year. And that's where I went there. And I had a vision that night from God. There was a room full of women. And I was like, well, I do that with my prayer book. So I really, you know, she did off. However, later on I went to a symposium and the girl there needs to be show Warner. She talked about how drain's impact us, how they're from, you know, God has things that he wants us to do. And afterwards, I connected with her and she had just shared little pieces of me and how I was fearful and how I didn't feel good enough. I felt less than and we talked a lot. And then there formed My Sister's Keeper because I had a conversation with a young girl and she was pregnant and she didn't think she was going to make it. She did that life. There was no life ahead of her. She just thought it was over. And I began to share my story with her and she ended up saying, I wish I had a sister. And when she said that, that resonated so well with me because I did so there was my sister's keeper. And it's really to build women up where I'm at. Like, I, you know, in the 40s, you think your souls have it all together. Some people wife showed up, though, and I didn't have it all together so as to help get our finances going. I care about money. It was as I was doing money given, you know, doing my girls programs and my production company. I really didn't have the solid knowledge of how I'm supposed to save or what stops a lot. So what is stocks about things like that? So when my sister's keeper up on that message to the Bay Area, for them to to hear the different speakers speak about things that was relatable to us and how it affects our community.
[00:15:06] That's exciting. And I think it's it's so crucial that people think that everyone's connected to all pieces of knowledge. You know, with the advent of social media and there is. Clearly, you know, in the industries and the people that I work with, which are women, female identified, non binary individuals, there are huge pockets, still completely mystifying. You mentioned the stock market and things like that. I have very seasoned sage colleagues, you know, who are female or female identified that are still terrified of those systems, don't understand them and claim that they don't want to get involved with them, you know. And so I think that breaking open those systems that have been largely dominated by, you know, a different gender or group is is really important. I'm wondering, can you kind of unpack or at least give us, like, a bird's eye view of what an expo event would have been like? Did it change from, you know, the first one to the last one that you had and was the last one in 2018 or 2019?
[00:16:02] Well, I actually was in two thousand eighteen. I didn't do one last year. I was working on the one for me, twenty twenty within Corona of it. And we, I say can work over 19.
[00:16:15] Absolutely. So what was the bird's eye view for the last one in 2018? Was it multiday?
[00:16:20] Was it one day don't breakout sessions. One day breakout sessions, different speakers come in and talk about different topics. Lunch was provided. We had we honored that that year. We are on it.
[00:16:35] Renel, she's a local deejay in the Bay Area. We we honored her. We honor Carolyn Tyler and wanted to rent was our keynote speaker for that year.
[00:16:47] Nice. So how does has the structure changed since you created it in 2015? I mean, you had this three year stint, but I hear frequently from people who host festivals or founders of events and things of this nature. You kind of massage it to the you know, to the industry and to the needs of the attendees and things like that. What changes existed over the three years that it was going up?
[00:17:12] Actually, the interest really grew. It grew probably because of the the not the topics that were discussed. My first one, you know, was like all day and I had M.S. like I keynote speaker and I massage it, too, because I always want it more. So I'm always reaching a high bar, reaching high. So I always wanted to be better than the last year. And I focus on whatever topic we're going whatever is going well in this particular season.
[00:17:43] Those are the speakers that I want to come speak and share with us today.
[00:17:47] Give us that knowledge and that insight to make us feel better is the hard part was is getting sponsors and stuff on board, because there again, I spent all my money on on into the program itself, but eventually that'll come.
[00:18:04] Do you think that moving forward you'll move some of it into a virtual space or do you think that you're far enough out from the next one? There will be a vaccine. People will return to nonsocial. This isn't saying. Also, do you think that the format could be conveyed as powerfully if it wasn't in person? I've spoken to a lot of people that say even if I can employ this Zoome aspect, the point of it was being in this group of people.
[00:18:27] I totally agree. I totally agree. That's why I haven't done it. I had the option to deliver Virtual for this year, but I declined because it's the atmosphere at the buildings. It's not as real. I mean, it's not as authentic as it's being there in person.
[00:18:43] Yeah, absolutely. So will you postpone the lineup that you were getting ready for in 2020 or will you completely revamp the entire thing for twenty, twenty one?
[00:18:53] I'm going to revamp it for twenty, twenty one because I think this year is pretty much halfway gone. And I want to focus on getting, you know, a fresh start. So Angela Davis was our keynote speaker this year. Hopefully she'll still be able to be on board for next year, but it'll be May 1st, 20, 21. Best to date scheduled May 1st, 2021.
[00:19:15] Excellence. And I'm sure you'll update it on My Sister's Keeper, Ex Baucom, everyone listening information from the vendor.
[00:19:23] But best that that data's available at that space. But as soon as I get the green light and that's the Tenzer.
[00:19:29] OK. And do you have other social handles that people can kind of follow some of this across with you?
[00:19:35] I have my Sister's Keeper XPO on Instagram, my sister's keeper on Facebook and link in my schools.
[00:19:43] Yes, yes. Everyone can kind of connect on their favorite and then follow it. Yeah. It sounds like a dynamite, at least Keano. So is everyone who's in the area should look into attending. I'm wondering. I've spoken with a lot of founders and over the past couple of months with the Koven 19 epidemic pandemic. And it's given people, in addition to the sorrow and the sadness, a lot of people have taken the time to reflect and and even reassess business, personal re. Conversation wise, their life with itself, with the outside world, and I'm wondering if you have done that with some of your endeavors and any changes that have come up for you over the past couple of months or any goals that have surfaced as a result of this kind of forced meditation that people have been having?
[00:20:36] Actually, I haven't had much time to sit because I'm a central worker. So they I'm out there front line. I work for the city and county homeless department. So I've been out there every day.
[00:20:51] Yeah. That's. So you are a unicorn in the people I've been speaking to. And I first want to just say thank you for your service and for being, you know, brave and and helping us all out and being an essential worker has its own incredible bag of baggage. I can't even imagine. So I do kind of want to dove into that because you're the first person that I've spoken to that is frontlines thus far since the pandemic hit. Has the how has the rhetoric within your department ban regarding the safety and the way that the city of San Francisco is handling it?
[00:21:33] I think I think the city of San Francisco's handled it very well. I'm really, really supportive of our mayor. When Mayor Brait, our department, actually is focused on homelessness. So, of course, it has like tripled as far as because our main goal is to get the people off the street and into hotels. So we're setting that up. And that takes a lot of time and it takes a lot of patience. But in the end, we'll get through. It probably will hit everyone at Nesto Reality part of it, but we'll hit majority.
[00:22:06] Has there been any talk about post? I live in San Diego and likewise we have these efforts to help individuals who are in homelessness. Reconvene right now to our International Conference Center and a couple of other places that they've loosened up. But there have been a lot of grassroots movements to give these individuals an opportunity not to return to the streets or start implementing mental health systems. Now that, you know, we've done this move. There's been a lot of talk about not having a return to prior moments. Has there been any of that in the city of San Francisco?
[00:22:41] Yes. Yes, there is. There's talks about it as far as because it would be ridiculous to house all these people. And then once the Cold War is over, we release them back to the street where we worked and basically in vain. So they are working on programs to keep them house. It's just a matter of budgeting and all the federal and all of these other Congress in votes. And it's beyond my control. But it is there. There are plans in place.
[00:23:11] Interesting. So you haven't had time to sit and reflect, as I very naively asked. I'm wondering, as you've gone in day in and day out with the kind of scarcity of people on the streets and things like that. Have you ruminated to yourself? Have there been thoughts that came over you about. Anything that's uplifting, things that you've noticed, you know, during this this incredible time of hardship for people, particularly people who are homeless, the idea of sheltering in place when you don't have a shelter is abusive and mean, you know, and having those thoughts you must have had early on. I'm wondering if you can share any nuggets of hopefulness or even lessons that you kind of washed over you or that you had with yourself.
[00:23:57] Well, for me, being homeless on the Akesson and a homeless community, my community, I could take that real personal because I walked those streets that they walk. I lived on some of those streets that they sleep on. So I get that part of it. And quite as a kid, we have our own community.
[00:24:14] So the hopefulness comes out of, you know, well, we're going to be OK. We're you know, we're going to survive this. Whether you have your your your people that are in addictions, your street walkers, still, there's a sense of that community sticking together and trying to go whichever way is beneficial to them and how we can stick it like I know people that want to stay right here in this area. So I take it back to my office where, you know, we've got to find hotels. We have to find a spot where you could just stay right here because this is their comfort zone. We can't move people out of their comfort zones. It's it becomes a that's a whole nother beast. So I see people on the street. Yes.
[00:24:54] But they're still hopeful.
[00:24:55] They're there. They're they're hopeful that things will get better.
[00:25:00] Yeah.
[00:25:01] Absolutely, and everyone needs hope, you know. And I think to be able to be hopeful is is crucial. I'm wondering, where do you see the production company? You said you were heading into film. Do you see any? Like, I feel like there's an opportunity for cross pollination between some of your companies. Have you ever thought about bringing your production company into the expo and utilizing some of that there in your future? Or is it still kind of disparate, separate measures?
[00:25:32] I've thought about it, but I would be wearing too many hats at one time.
[00:25:36] So I have to reach I'll have to learn to delegate and pick different people that those are in their field. I right now, my mindset is focused. I want to do a best me housing. I want to provide housing for young women. I'm trying to get capital to to purchase a building or you're going to lease a building for five years because I want to start that process because again, that's the walk that I come from. So at the end of the day, that's that's something that I didn't think I could do. Essential work were being put in a position where now I'm a project manager for starting up a hotel and putting people in it almost like I could do this. And I could help. I could give back. I always, always, always want to just give back because I know that I know that journey.
[00:26:22] So that's all that's on my pipeline now. And as far as Tina Brown Productions, I'm trying to work on Skilling starting my own podcast.
[00:26:29] I just have to figure out a day at a time. And yeah. And talk about things that go on in the community and how how we're affected by that and what change to take place for us all to be able to thrive, not just thrive.
[00:26:41] Yeah. Yeah. And that's it. It's a powerful topic that was never ending for a podcast. I would tune in immediately. Do you. So would you do it? This kind of dream that's formulating right now because of all the access that you have in implementing these structures for your current work with the city of Sandy at San Francisco? Would it be under Starbound? Would you do that under your nonprofit? Yes.
[00:27:07] Yes, definitely. And I would actually have to quit my job. So there goes that fear again, because I would be a topic of interest right now. There goes a fear again, because I'm like, I can't just do it because I don't have a funding to get a bill or to finance ability. So, you know, that kind of makes me kind of nervous. But, you know, people told me to do fundraisers and, you know, I probably will, but it just takes me a while longer. But that's that's that's a goal that I would love to accomplish. Yeah, absolutely.
[00:27:36] And for everyone listening, if you're interested in getting involved in any of those activities, reach out and, you know, throw some some lifelines into the water with Tina. I think that there's a lot of collaboration that can happen when someone's you've got a lot of the wisdom and stuff like that. And you need some of the energy that there are a lot of people out there with energy and resources that you can collaborate on partnering up. I think as good as a forty three year old woman, I haven't done half the collaborating and partnering that I ought to have done that a lot of my male colleagues have done because I was too busy working twice as hard as them, you know, and doing different things. And as women coming together as well, there's unity there, you know. And so. Yep, reach out to Tina. I'm wondering I want to wrap everything up with I always ask this in the end, and I don't know if this doesn't resonate with you. I can come up with a different analogy. You. But you'll bear with me. I am wondering if someone came up to you tomorrow without the covered concerns, they were actually able to speak with you without being concerned within a six foot radius. And it was a woman or a female identified non binary, pretty much anyone other than a cis gendered male man. And they said, listen, I am you know, I've had this this very interesting past and it's been riddled by a lot of struggle, but a lot of lessons and a lot of accumulation of knowledge. And I've been gifted with this faith and all of these things that I have. And I now I'm looking to launch like a nonprofit and maybe another company. What are the top three pieces of advice you would give that individual knowing what you know now?
[00:29:15] My first one was the to plan A.. I just did everything just off a thought process vision, just I think I will say plan. I would say you have to put on.
[00:29:30] Let's see your armor because you have to be strong because everything doesn't happen just like that.
[00:29:35] It doesn't. And focus on finances so that you won't be in the struggle and. The business will take such hard hits and so, so many hits to keep it going.
[00:29:53] So those are finance strengths. You definitely need strength to get through whatever journey you're trying to start. I mean, and faith, you've got to believe if it's something that's on you, you've got to believe, then you'll get through it and then we'll have nice.
[00:30:08] I like that form of armor being strength. That's both internal and external. Yeah. And I mean financial knowledge. And to be able to alleviate early stage struggle with any endeavor is another form of armor. That's a really great visual. Well, you know, we are out of time, but I just want to thank you so much. I really appreciate everything that you're doing. Your goals in all of your endeavors.
[00:30:32] My Sister's Keeper Expo, your nonprofit, Starbound Inc and your production company, they all align really great deal with what a focus of Patricia Kesling podcast and my film company do. And I really appreciate the work that you're putting into humanity. We need it.
[00:30:49] Oh, thank you. And I thank you for having me, Miss Patricia. Thank you.
[00:30:53] I appreciate that. Absolutely. And for everyone listening, we've been speaking with Miss Tina Brown. She's the founder and CEO of My Sister's Keeper Expo dot com. You can find her online at that Web site as well as across her social media handles.
[00:31:09] Thank you for giving us your time. And until we speak again next time, remember to always bet on yourself
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