Modupe's Top 5 (#5): What does "wealth" mean to you? | Aisha Nyandoro

0:00With no fees or minimums on checking accounts, it's no wonder the Capital One bank guy is so passionate about banking with Capital One. If he were here, he wouldn't just tell you about no fees or minimums. He'd also talk about how most Capital One cafes are open seven days a week to assist with your banking needs. Yep, even on weekends, it's pretty much all he talks about. In a good way. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See CapitalOne.com slash bank. Capital One N.A. Member FDIC.

0:32Hi, listeners. It's Madhupe, the host of TED Business. Summer is fully underway, and that means we are well into 2026. I will never, ever be able to wrap my head around how quickly time moves. But as a way to process time passing, I'm going to do something a little different. I'm sharing a playlist of some of my favorite talks we've ever aired on this show. So settle in as we take a trip down memory lane. All of these talks are so different from one another. That's what I've loved about hosting this show. Every week brings a different topic, a different approach, a different way of seeing and thinking.

1:14But I think if there's one overarching quality these five talks share, it's that they remind us that our relationships to work, to personal finance, to our colleagues, are all distinctly human. In an increasingly automated world, that idea can truly change everything. Whether the speaker is harnessing humor or vulnerability or their own memories of growing up, these talks are anchored by compelling storytelling. They remind us that the professional doesn't mean sacrificing the personal and that all organizations are made up of people trying to figure something out together. You'll hear business leader Adam Wybrew make a case for talking about your anxiety in the workplace.

1:59President and CEO of Morehouse School of Medicine, Valerie Montgomery Rice, share how she stepped up to become a leader in her field. Director Barry Sonnenfeld on the lessons he's learned on set that can translate to the office. Goodwill strategist James Rhee on the power of kindness. and nonprofit leader Aisha Yandoro on Rethinking What Wealth Means. I have five nieces and a nephew, and I'm an adoring aunt. I'm blessed to have the kind of disposable income that allows me to support my family in numerous ways, like stepping in to bring dinner when everyone's too busy to cook, or stealing my sisters away so they can get some much-needed rest and relaxation.

2:50But I'm particularly passionate about helping support my nieces and nephew in ways that relate to their education, be it funding extra tutoring if needed for a particular subject, or helping them access extracurricular activities like sports or dance. And this extends beyond my immediate family. I've been able to step in for young people I know, for instance, when a college scholarship is no longer available and they need just a little help to finish out the semester. It's a privilege to be in this position, and it has shown me that wealth is about more than just having cold, hard cash. It's about having the freedom to use your resources to uplift those you love.

3:39I'm Madhupa Akinola. This is TED Business. Our speaker today, Aisha Yandoro, wants us to redefine what it means to be wealthy. Is wealth about a bunch of commas and zeros in your bank account? Or is it the ability to live a life where you have agency over your own well-being and the well-being of the people you love? What would it look like for us to really trust people, especially families experiencing poverty, to decide what to do with their own money? Then after the talk, I'll discuss this in greater depth. But first, a quick break.

4:21This episode is brought to you by PACA. I'm always on the hunt for those stable pieces I can easily pack and know I'll be comfortable no matter what I'm doing. At this point, I don't travel anywhere without my Paka hoodie and original cruise sweater. They're both made with the same care and unmistakable softness. Paka creates outdoor and lifestyle apparel from alpaca fiber, one of the most sustainable natural fibers on the planet. Their signature hoodie is unbelievably soft, warmer than wool, yet still breathable enough to wear through whatever the day brings. It's built for real life, thermoregulating, odor-resistant, durable, and made to last.

5:05And I'm not the only one who loves it. More than 250 ,000 people have already picked up theirs. Once you feel the quality of Paka, you'll understand why people keep coming back. To grab your Paka hoodie, go to www.pakaapparel.com. That's www.pakaapparel.com With no fees or minimums on checking accounts, it's no wonder the Capital One bank guy is so passionate about banking with Capital One. If he were here, he wouldn't just tell you about no fees or minimums. He'd also talk about how most Capital One cafes are open seven days a week to assist with your banking needs. Yep, even on weekends, it's pretty much all he talks about, in a good way.

5:54What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See CapitalOne.com slash bank. Capital One N.A. Member FDIC.

6:09Growing up in Mississippi, my family never talked about money. But I could infer how much people had by pattern keeping at Christmas time. My Uncle Chip was always good for money. An absolute delight. J.C. Penney's Here I Come. Mama Dill would always give us apples, oranges, butterscotch candy, and a brown paper bag. It was a gift given with love, and it meant a lot coming from the matriarch of our family. Now, my parents, my parents would make sure my twin and I were fresh in the latest fashions. Jerbo jeans, starter jackets. Looking good made us feel rich, even if we weren't. So it was interesting because I remember having a myriad of conversations about prison reform, the education system, voter rights, but a candid conversation about money.

7:01It never happened. When I went to graduate school, my world expanded. Hearing my friends talk about their overseas adventures made me envious. I didn't even have a passport at the time. When I got my first job postgraduate school, I was making$70 ,000. I was rich. But that shopping spree at JCPenney's was no longer going to scratch that itch. I needed to do whatever I could to be legit wealthy. I think that's why one of the many Oprah Winfrey episodes that I watched when the early 2000s stood out to me. On this particular episode, Susie Orman was the guest. And for those of you who don't know, Susie is an American author and financial advisor, and she has the most perfect white teeth I've ever seen.

7:51Well, Susie was talking about 401ks, and I got the basic gist of what she was saying. Save a little money now, have a lot of money in the future. Sounded great, amazing, sign me up. So I went to meet a wealth advisor, somebody I met off the Internet. I just knew that this random person was going to unlock some magical room and give me all the tricks I needed to be wealthy. I mean, big house, fancy cars, luxurious vacation. I was excited until I wasn't. The nondescript building in the strip mall did not boost my confidence that this was how the wealthy manage their affairs. I was placed in a small white waiting room and I stayed there for what felt like forever.

8:38Finally, a man came in who cannot even bother to learn the correct pronunciation of my name and asked me what my goals were for the future. Okay, I'm excited again. I know the answer to this. Number one, I would like to retire comfortably by the age of 60. Number two, I would like to be able to take care of my mom. His response, I don't know why taking care of your mother is your responsibility. He then went on to speak in some financial jargon I could not understand. The entire interaction took me so aback that I vowed to share the bare minimum the rest of the meeting. I could not figure out what I was missing, but it made me question everything.

9:19Maybe I did not know what wealth was. Maybe wealth was not intended for people like me. Maybe I was reaching for too much. So I find it funny, or maybe serendipitous, that I think about cash and wealth all the time now. For the last 10 years, I've led an organization in Jackson, Mississippi, that takes a radically community-driven approach to supporting families, mainly Black women, that live in federally subsidized affordable housing. Our programs are strategic and holistic. A few years ago, we became concerned that we were not moving the needle on poverty. So we went to the women that we work with and we said, what are we missing?

10:02The answers were all different, but the underlining problem was the same. The problem was a lack of cash. No money for pizza on a Friday night was causing stress. Unexpected car repairs were leading to unemployment because people could not get to and from work. So we began to research, how do you give money, not another program, to people experiencing poverty? In 2018, we launched the Magnolia Mothers Trust, this country's first modern guaranteed income program and the first in the world to center its efforts on Black women. Thank you. So quickly, for the uninitiated, a guaranteed income is a specific amount of money given to a specific population over a set amount of time.

10:50It's typically funded by private philanthropy or, in some instances, the public sector. It's not a new idea. Jenny Tillman, a mom and welfare activist, called for a guaranteed income way back in 1972. And even Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and President Nixon indicated that a guaranteed income could help solve for poverty. It's not a new idea, but like I said, we are pioneers and our efforts are working. We provide$1 ,000 a month for 12 months to black mothers, and our goal is simple, to provide these women with the breathing room they need by giving them the financial resources they need to dream a little bigger.

11:32We provide$1 ,000 a month for 12 months, and we have proven that$12 ,000 is a life-altering amount of money. Yes, it allows you to take care of the practical needs, like getting their car repaired, but it also allows you to shift your reality. Literally, shift your reality from scarcity to abundance, from tunneling to imagination, from scraping by to genuine opportunity. There are over 100 guaranteed income programs currently being implemented in this country, and many were inspired by what we started in Jackson, Mississippi, of all places. Black women have ushered in the movement, and it has been beautiful.

12:23But it is just a start. Over the last few years, as I have watched more and more moms move towards income stability, I have listened as they have began to dream about a life free of economic stress. I have watched as they began to dream about wealth. Now I understand that the most basic definition of wealth is what you own minus what you owe. And I also know we typically define it as having big cars, luxurious vacations, one upping our neighbor up this never ending ladder of economic success. But for many women, particularly women of color, who do not have assets or the ability to earn a living wage because of pay inequity, that definition is meaningless or inadequate.

13:09it. Laura knows that we must solve for the racial wealth gap, and it is going to take radical imagination and the reinvention of big systems. But until then, people cannot be gaslit into believing that their definition of wealth is invalid or less important.

13:31Bell Hooks once wrote, definitions are a vital starting point to the imagination. What one cannot imagine cannot come into being. One day I was having a conversation with Coco, a mom within a Magnolia Mother's Trust, and I asked her, what is wealth to you? Without skipping a beat, she said, if anything were to happen to me, my family would have the money to cover my burial expenses. Asking more and more women the same question, I have come to learn that wealth is dignifying funerals, the privilege of privacy, the ability to complete school, own a business, or the thrill of being the extravagant auntie.

14:11All of these are definitions of wealth to them. Wealth is about a sense of agency, a sense of freedom, the collective well-being of the whole. It is not an individual pathological pursuit. For too long, we have allowed financial institutions to define wealth and the process by which we build it. I have never had a mother say to me, wealth is having stocks and bonds, equity in her home, or even a retirement account. Instead, they dream about what a life of ease and care would look like. Another case in point. I was having a conversation with a mom I work with, and I asked if she had six months worth of savings to cover an emergency.

14:56She started laughing. She could not even see herself in the equation that I was offering. She said that before the Magnolia Mother's Trust, I didn't even have a savings account, let alone one month worth of savings. I said, okay, let me ask the question differently. What is wealth to you? She said, oh, that's easy. All of my bills paid every month with a little left over for anything extra. She knew exactly what she needed. Our narrow definition simply did not address her needs. Hearing these responses time and time again, I began to realize that we have to redefine wealth. And we actually can redefine wealth.

15:38And the way we do that is by listening to others and then by being brave enough to listen to ourselves. So, of course, y 'all, I had to ask myself what is wealth. And I will admit to each of you all, because we're best friends now, that when I first asked myself this question, I started crying. I realized that for over 20 years, I had been holding on to a definition that was not written for me, nor did it mirror my desires. I never wanted that big house backed up against the lake. I simply wanted what it represented in my mind, my ability to gather my people, to nourish them, to spoil them, to make sure that we were protected and cared for before we go out into the world doing the hard work of caring for others.

16:27Please hear my words. I am not saying that women experiencing poverty simply need space to dream. What I am saying is that the space to dream mixed with cash can lead to transformation. That can lead to true wealth. It is my belief that we, all of us in this room, are made less worthy by virtue of tolerating a country where anyone has to prove their worth. We may have 500 different definitions of wealth, but we can all agree that we are all degraded by normalizing immoral inequity. After all these years, I have finally accomplished what I set out to achieve all those years ago with that random wealth advisor.

17:17I am emboldened and empowered to manage my wealth. And no, I don't mean money. I mean, I am a loving daughter. I am a mom who takes her boys on vacation. And you best believe I am an extravagant auntie. we have a poverty of imagination about what makes you wealthy i mean the things that people say about you at your funeral i mean legacy but here's the thing from where i sit we can offer that kind of wealth to everyone and yes i am going to play on the word here i can guarantee it if we are simply willing to understand that a small financial investment can change someone's life, giving them the flexibility, breathing room, and space to define and build wealth on their own terms.

18:10And it may be wealth defined by equity, love, honor, and delight. Thank you. Thank you. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See CapitalOne.com slash bank. Capital One N.A. Member FDIC.

18:59I love Aisha's prompt to ask yourself, what's your idea of wealth? Embedded in that question is a dare to redefine and reimagine the way we think about financial well-being and trust and empower people to know what they need. Our narrow definitions around money bleed into other areas of our lives too. I mean, think about just asking yourself to redefine other seemingly simple untested questions like, what does a great day at work look like for you? What does a great day off work look like for you? What does it look like to be quote unquote productive? Just like the question of wealth, there are so many layers here.

19:44For example, a great day at work for me means having at least one inspiring conversation with someone that helps me understand them more and helps me understand me more. How might you approach that question? You probably know the answer better than anyone else does, and no one should dictate what that answer is for you. Aisha's efforts to create guaranteed income programs really follow this philosophy too. Perhaps organizations should be less preoccupied with prescribing methods for how to live our lives and more invested in providing the basic necessary resources people need to both live in community and thrive.

20:34That's it for today. TED Business is part of the TED Audio Collective, and this episode was produced by Hannah Kingsley-Ma, edited by Alejandra Salazar, and fact-checked by Hannah Matsudaira. Special thanks to Maria Lages, Farrah DeGrange, Corey Hajim, Daniela Balarezo, and Michelle Quint. I'm Madupa Akinola. Talk to you again next week.

21:04With no fees or minimums on checking accounts, it's no wonder the Capital One Bank guy is so passionate about banking with Capital One. If he were here, he wouldn't just tell you about no fees or minimums. He'd also talk about how most Capital One cafes are open seven days a week to assist with your banking needs. Yep, even on weekends, it's pretty much all he talks about. In a good way. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See CapitalOne.com slash bank. Capital One N.A. Member FDIC.

22:00Subscribe today at TED.com slash business news.