Mahogany Thoughts

The Metro East Black Wealth Builders is committed to provide quality education, networking opportunities, and build a collective of Black owned businesses in the St. Louis Metro East region to increase business capacity, growth, and achieve scalability based on the results of the Black Business Survey results. Ms. Jo Ann May of the Illinois Small Business Development Center, SIU-E/East St. Louis o...

The Metro East Black Wealth Builders is committed to provide quality education, networking opportunities, and build a collective of Black owned businesses in the St. Louis Metro East region to increase business capacity, growth, and achieve scalability based on the results of the Black Business Survey results. The first workshop dedicated to providing educational resources to promote sustainable g...

Join Dr. Terrence Duncan and Carmel Brown, LCPC , as they provide their tips and recommendations for professionals and entrepreneurs to achieve and maintain work-life balance. Post pandemic, more individuals are reporting feelings of being overwhelmed, stress, and increased anxiety due to increasing demands for work as well as personal/family obligations. Dr. Duncan is an Assistant Professor at Li...

For this episode of Mahogany Thoughts, Dr. Terrence Duncan and Carmel Brown discuss boundaries and what it means from a mental health perspective. Queen Carmel discusses several coping strategies when addressing challenging situations that we often encounter. The team also discusses how words such as boundaries are often mistaken in context, as well as the frequency of individuals diagnosing other...

Welcome to a new year and a new season as Mahogany Thoughts returns for another season. Dr. Terrence Duncan, Carmel Brown, and Terrence Butler return to the microphone to discuss the difference between goals and resolutions heading into the new year and why it is important to distinguish between the two. As we consider goals for the year, we discuss the importance of planning, seeking feedback, se...

The Mahogany Thoughts team with Dr. Terrence Duncan and Terrence Butler discuss the effects of misinformation and how it influences the Black community as well as other groups. Misinformation has been historically weaponized against African Americans as a tool to create and maintain systemic and institutional barrires associated with discrimation and racism. Misinformation is present in a variety...

The Mahogany Thoughts Team is back with a new regular co-contributor, Devon Moody-Graham, of CEO Empire, LLC. She joins the Dr. Terrence Duncan, Carmel Brown, and Terrence Butler, as we discuss how to combat burnout. Everyday we are flooded with images, videos, text messages, and other distractions that makes us more engaged, but encourages burnout faster. We discuss strategies whether you are a b...

The Mahogany Thoughts team with Dr. Terrence Duncan, Carmel Brown, and Devon Moody-Graham discuss lessons learned from Black Wall Street and economic indicators for African Americans today. The panel discusses with its audience some of the challenges exisitng and the importance of utilizing elements of the Mahogany Legacy Project to create socioeconomic change by focusing on improving relationship...

The Mahogany Thoughts team discusses an excerpt from Dr. Duncan's Mahogany Legacy Project book and an article detailing how close to 3 out of 4 Blacks do not have a will, esate, or a trust which affects the household's ability to transfer wealth from generation to generation. The MT Team also discusses that securing a financial future is important regardless of income, owning a home, business, or...

Mahogany Thoughts returns from an extended break for the first recording in 2022. Dr. Terrence Duncan and Carmel Brown discuss the importance of business planning for 2022 by setting actionable goals to be achieved by accomplishing tasks. The team also discusses the importance of nurturing healthy relationships, establishing healthy boundaries, and the importance of networking. We also discuss the...

Season 3 for Mahogany Thoughts is officially in the books. Tune in as we close this season until late summer. This season we covered the following topics:   Mental health, marriages and relationships, overcoming adversity, parenting, Black women in entrepreneurship, obtaining business capital, government contracting and nutrition and wellness. A special thanks for all of our guests past and presen...

The Mahogany Thoughts team has reached a significant achievement. This is a milestone episode as we have reached the 25th episode ranging on a variety of topics in healthcare, finance, education, social justice, and entrepreneurship. Thank you to all who have supported or personally participated in making this dream a reality.   We have a great panel led by Carmel Brown discussing nutrition and we...

The Mahogany Thoughts team welcomes Giovanna May, Director for the Small Business Development Council at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. Topics this week included how to start a government business, challenges for minorities in starting or maintaining a business, the importance of building teams to improve revenue growth, and how to register on government websites to begin the proces...

The Mahogany Thoughts team, led by Terrence Butler, continues last week's discussion on the importance of business capital from our personal perspectives. In the quest for generational wealth, the team discusses the importance of life insurance, and some of the coverages available. It is important for families to know that securing financial coverage during life is as important as leaving a legacy...

The Mahogany Thoughts team is welcome to have Krista Smith as our guest for this episode. Krista is the founder of Mykovas Commercial Lending ( www.mykovas.com ), a brokerage specializing in providing commercial loans to businesses.  Krista's passion for business also includes her passion to educate and assist Black owned businesses to obtain access through business lending.  Dr. Terrence Duncan,...

The Mahogany Thoughts team, led by Terrence Butler, discusses entrepreneurship through the lens of three dynamic African American women who laid their roots in St. Louis, one of the fastest growing women startup regions in the country.  The guests discuss their journey to their entrepreneurship, how to grow your brand, using business incubators to receive assistance in acquiring business capital a...

The Mahogany Thoughts team discusses parenting during challenging times such as pandemic, sporting activities, and maintaining for self care strategies. Carmel Brown and Dr. Terrence Duncan leads this week's discussion on the following topics: *Balancing roles (parenting, virtual learning, Career) *Modeling resilience *Talking to kids about challenging times and uncertainty *Supporting kids mental...

The Mahogany Thoughts team is welcome to bring about Dr. Wayne K. Richards, Jr. who discusses his journey from the neighborhoods of New Orleans, LA to his playing days at Southern University and overcoming learning disabilities en route to earning his doctorate and Project Management Professional certification.  His passion for education, food, culture, his non profit (Rise, Build, Achieve NFP) an...

Carmel Brown leads this episode's podcast with Dr. Terrence Duncan and Terrence Butler as co-hosts. Five sets of couples and spouses discuss critical issues in marriage today, relevance of marriages, techniques to strengthen marriages, love languages, and the importance of self-care, self-love, and how to seek help with marital problems.  The couples discuss ways to nurture and maintain their marr...

Addressing mental health in the African American community is critical in improving opportunities to acquire generational wealth by focusing on the tools to build stronger families and communities. Dr. Terrence Duncan and Carmel Brown welcomes four accomplished mental health therapists: Rachel Jackson, Tessie Amos III, and Cecilia Carter to discuss therapy during the pandemic, cultural competency...

The return of the Mahogany Thoughts podcast begins 2021 with a new co-host, Carmel Brown.  We start the season discussing Dr. Duncan's Mahogany Legacy Project with Dr. Allen who is an Asst. Professor at Shaw University. She brings 20+ years of academic and executive experience discussing Black education and the challenges of HBCUs during the pandemic.  We also discuss the importance of education i...

The final episode of 2020 features a reflection of the Mahogany Legacy Project, what led to the podcast, and the noted highs and lows of creating a podcast. Hosts, Dr. Terrence Duncan and Terrence Butler, are joined by previous guests Brian Hurd and Carmel Brown as we go over key points from each guest and highlight their businesses, contact information, and their expertise.  We also discuss the d...

This week, the podcast looks at non-profit organizations and their impact on the Black community. There are many benefits of creating and operating non-profits as they provide access to resources in ways that local and regional government may not able to provide, as well as some of the more relatability to a cause which may provide assistance for marginalized populations. Our guest, Leslie Davis,...

Episode 13 features a retired Army veteran of 23 years who is not only active in the community but is also an entrepreneur, professional/personal development coach, and public speaker, Kenric S. Lynn. Mr. Lynn joins hosts Dr. Terrence Duncan and Terrence Butler in discussing the value of networking and planning, whether personally or professionally, as well as traits of successful individuals. Top...

Episode 12 features a return guest, Carmel D. Brown. She is an entrepreneur, mother, wife, and counselor, as well as an author. On this episode, we covered lessons learned from our previous panel discussion podcast, mental health in the Black community, as well as discussed her new book "Your Exhilarating Life: Creating Prosperity in Family and Career" which is available on Amazon. Topics covered:...