The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – No One Is Self-Made: Build Your Village to Flourish in Business and Life by Lakeysha Hallmon

Episode Date: January 19, 2025

No One Is Self-Made: Build Your Village to Flourish in Business and Life by Lakeysha Hallmon Amazon.com Ourvillageunited.org Thevillagemarket.com Drkeyhallmon.com This book isn’t just for one kind of entrepreneur—it’s for every kind. Whether you're thriving with purpose or struggling to grow your business and battle self-doubt, No One is Self-Made offers solutions and encouragement you need to push forward with the right community. From the visionary behind the groundbreaking Village Market, a direct pipeline connecting Black businesses to engaged consumers, this inspirational guide dares to dismantle the myth of individualism and reveals how collective support can shatter systemic barriers to success. It’s a bold roadmap for entrepreneurs and leaders determined to rewrite the rules of business. Support is a verb. Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon keeps this mantra pinned to her wall as a reminder of the undeniable impact of community. When she was pursuing her entrepreneurial dreams, she quickly saw the racial disparities and systemic issues affecting Black small businesses. She began meeting many brilliant entrepreneurs and small business owners, recognizing their potential to soar if backed by invested supporters. In response, Dr. Hallmon founded the Village Market and challenged people to put the “Support is a Verb” mantra to action by rallying around businesses within their own communities. As a result, The Village Market funneled millions of dollars into local businesses, attacking the wealth gap and spiriting economic prosperity. This replicable model has inspired others nationwide to adopt a similar approach and economic strategy. She found that her beliefs were true: that by rooting our lives, businesses, and work in community–we find resources to create and support economic mobility from within. No One Is Self-Made is an inspirational narrative weaving together themes of community, purposeful businesses, and collective economics. This book debunks the myth of being self-made and empowers readers to abandon the notion and lean into community on their pathway to success. Entrepreneurs at any stage of growth will appreciate Dr. Hallmon’s story—with all the ups and downs of founding the Village Market—and the road-tested advice she dispenses for those trying to find success in business, career, and life. She explains economic and social factors, missteps that can derail goals, and the tools necessary to create their own thriving village. Along the way, it becomes clear why working within a collective is a more effective path to success than going it alone.About the author Dr. Lakeysha "Key" Hallmon is a mission-forward visionary celebrated for developing an economic vehicle that empowers the Black community through collective wealth. Since founding the Village Market in 2016, Dr. Key has served over 1,440 businesses and facilitated millions in direct sales to Black-owned enterprises. She set a new standard for success among Black-owned businesses by integrating programs offering grants, mentorship, and technical assistance through her nonprofit, Our Village United. She has awarded hundreds of thousands in grants. Dr. Hallmon continues to expand her mission, creating a retail storefront — The Village Retail at Ponce City Market — a curated retail collection of premier Black businesses. Dr. Key's mantra, “Support is A Verb,” propels businesses from Atlanta to nationwide, turning big ideas into big profits. Esteemed publications such as The Today Show, Forbes, Essence, and Black Enterprise have recognized her and have partnerships with notable institutions and corporations, continuing to advocate for equitable opportunities and community-centric wealth-building. Dr. Hallmon is from Batesville, MS, and a graduate of Tougaloo College, where she serves on the Board of Trustees. She resides in Atlanta, GA, and enjoys spending time with her nephews.

You wanted the best. You've got the best podcast, the hottest podcast in the world. The Chris Voss Show, the preeminent podcast with guests so smart you may experience serious brain bleed. The CEOs, authors, thought leaders, visionaries, and motivators. Get ready, get ready, strap yourself in. Keep your hands, arms, and legs inside the vehicle at all times because you're about to go on a monster education roller coaster with your brain. Now, here's your host, Chris Voss. Hi, folks. It's Voss here from thechrisvossshow.com. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the big show. We certainly appreciate it. As always, the Chris Voss Show is a show that loves you but doesn't judge you as long as you don't ask for money because we don't loan money

around here we're not that kind of family folks we do love you though as long as you're not evil so you know you got that blessing i mean how many people give you kind of unconditional love as it were anyway guys go to goodreads.com force has chris foss linkedin.com force has chris foss chris foss one on the tiktokity and all those crazy places on the internet. We have an amazing young lady on the show today. We're going to be talking about her amazing journey. Her new book comes out February 4th, 2025. It is entitled No One is Self-Made, a motivational self-help guide with a community-oriented approach perfect for winter 2025.

Rewrite the rules of business with collective support lakisha hallman joins us on the show today we're going to be talking to her about her insights her experience her life's journey and purpose and how she can you you can utilize what she has learned and developed to make your life better. Dr. Lakeisha Hallman is a mission-forward visionary celebrated for developing an economic vehicle that empowers the black community through collective wealth. Since founding the Village Market in 2016, Dr. Key has served over 1,440 businesses and facilitated millions in direct sales to black-owned enterprises.

She sets a new standard for success among black-owned businesses by integrating programs, offering grants, mentorship, and technical assistance through her non-profit, Our Village United. She has awarded hundreds of thousands of grants, and she continues to expand her mission, creating a retail storefront, The Village Retail at Ponce City Market, a curated retail collection of premier black businesses. Welcome to the show. How are you, LaKeisha? Chris, I am wonderful.

And also, what an opening. Thank you so much for having me today. I just wrote that. I just came up with that right off the top of my head. You are incredible. I read it off Amazon. So, La. You are incredible. I read off Amazon. So, Lakeisha, give us your dot coms. Where do you want people to find out more about you on the interwebs?

Yes, everyone. First, I'm related to be here. To learn more about me, go to drkeithallman.com, www.drkeithallman.com. You can learn all about me. You can also learn about my forthcoming book that will be out February 4th, No One is Self-Made. Ah, No One is Self-Made. So where did you get the title of that from? You know, Chris, I will tell you in my entrepreneurial journey, as I began to garner some success, I continued to hear, oh, Dr. Key, Dr. Key, you are a self-made woman.

And words mean a great deal to me. I'm always evaluating the truth of words. And while I understood being called self-made as giving, paying homage to my journey and my success, I knew that while it was meant to be something positive, it wasn't true because I am a reflection of a lot of people that have poured so much support resources into me. And so what I started to evaluate, Chris, well, what is true? And what was true for me is that I'm village made. And it took me down this journey of understanding what it takes to be successful and what stories should we tell when we reach steps to success in our lives and our business. And I just felt that overall feeling that I needed to start this book, write

this book about, listen, y'all, no matter how successful we are, we are not self-made. And for us to be able to grow and be stronger in community, to be more unified, we have to start telling that collective approach and the collective approach to our success. Yeah. I mean, we're a community, whether we're the nation of America, whether we're the United Human Beings together with each other, whether we're, you know, in our integrated sort of, oh, what's the right word, in our communities, our local stuff. You know, we're, you know, rising tide lifts all boats. We're all one in the same, and we all need to work together and help each other. There was an old saying, it takes a village.

I guess that's what I'm trying to stretch to. And, yeah, I mean, like I was joking with you before the show, my mom reminds me that I was not self-made and that she gave birth to me and she's very disappointed. So that's what moms tend to do. But give us a 30,000 overview of what's inside the book and kind of, is it part memoir where it talks about your journey, et cetera, et cetera? Yes. So in No One Is Self-Made, it is part memoir, part guide, because I believe books should be tools. And I feel that in my work, I am a tool. I'm here to help entrepreneurs build the most incredible businesses that they can build. And so in the book, I tell about my story of founding my very first company, The Village Market, to how I pivoted and opened in retail, The Village Retail,

and how I knew that I needed to have a nonprofit arm so I can give out grants to small businesses and technical assistance. I tell those stories. I tell my stories of triumphs, and I also tell my stories of failure. And also in this book, you'll find what I believe is incredibly important for partnerships. I believe as is very much so we need to be mission aligned as a community, but we have to be values aligned. And to get to that place of being values aligned, I write about in the book, understanding purpose and alignment and how alignment is little breadcrumbs that lead us to our purpose. And one of the things, you know, Chris, that means a great deal to me as I work with entrepreneurs across the country, as I want these entrepreneurs to scale, I also want these entrepreneurs to be well while they scale. So I talk about the importance of self-care for entrepreneurs

and founders and CEOs, and even those who are not in that world, who may be in corporate America. I talk about how important or write about how important wellness is for us on this journey. And I close the book. I close the book talking about economic parity and what does it look like to operate as a community with cooperative or collective economics. And then in the final chapter, I have all my verbs because I have this saying, support is a verb. And then in the final chapter of the book, I am telling the beloved community, this is what we need to do next to make all these things real. So talk to us about your journey. How did you grow up? What kind of shaped you to be this sort of entrepreneur and charity driven person?

Yeah, I, you know, I'm a deeply purpose driven social impact entrepreneur. I tell everyone that for whatever reason, I've always had the compass from a small town in Mississippi while I live in Atlanta. Now I'm from a small town in Mississippi. I grew up very humbly, hardworking, blue collar parents, hardworking grandparents. And while they afforded me so much, the things that they left me with is how I need to show up in the world and the type of person I need to be, the type of character that I must have. And so growing up in Mississippi, I was often playing sports, creating community events, volunteering with the Boys and Girls Club. All of those great things led me to being a classroom teacher for a number of years. So I taught in the Mississippi

Delta. I taught English. And beyond college, beyond being an entrepreneur now, those are some of the best years of my life, Chris. And as I was pivoting out of education to open the village market, you know what that what I asked for. And this is my conversation with God. Like, please let me still have a classroom. Please let me still be able to touch people and have relationships because my life is deeply relationship driven. And starting out in Mississippi to transitioning to Atlanta from classroom to opening my own business, I have truly been a social entrepreneur driven because I believe that we can have a better lived experience. I think we must do that through a collective. We must do that. We must be unified and we must do the self-work to be willing to work together. The rising tide lifts all boats. I mean, it seems like we've kind of changed our mindset in the

recent decades of this country where we've moved from something you know, something of empowerment to a victim who's competition, where everyone's trying to compete for who can be the biggest victim. And everybody is kind of at odds with each other. I mean, politically, we're on opposite sides of the spectrum in each other's throats. You know, a lot of other things we can't agree on. You know, you see what's going on with the wildfires right now in January of 25, where, you know, some people can't even be kind for other people's tragedy. And, you know, there seems to be some real empathy missing and humanity missing in our interactions with each other these days. And we need to realize that scarcity is not a healthy sort of mindset. I mean, this country wasn't built on scarcity.

And when, you know, you're trying to fight someone over a piece of cheese, you know, rising tide lifts all boats. We all share. We all grow together. We all live together. And I think we need to get back to that as a humanity and back to that maybe as a country and even in local communities that are, you know, politics is just so toxic these days. It separates us.

Yes. You mentioned scarcity and I write about in the book, a scarcity mindset. I believe it keeps us fighting. It keeps a lot of infighting. And with the mindset of scarcity, that means, Chris, you and I cannot be successful together. Yeah. Yeah. That we must be fail probably apart. No, you said it. We will ultimately fail if we continue on this mindset of scarcity. And so what I write about is the mindset of abundance and how do we get there? I think we have to unpack some truths though. The truth of how did we, how did we, first you have to be able to acknowledge that you have a mindset of scarcity. You have to start processing the root cause analysis of why do we feel that we need to be contentious and competitive

against each other. I'm a former athlete, so I like a little healthy competition, but I'm always trying to be better than who I was yesterday, Chris, because I know that that's my responsibility. But if we can tackle the mindset of scarcity and see that we are much more powerful, our companies, our goals, even those in the corporate world, if we see the superpower is in our ability to work together, I think we can eradicate scarcity. But it takes a shift in a willingness to say, y'all, we're doing this all wrong. We're doing this all wrong. Doing all wrong, y'all. We doing this all wrong we're doing this all wrong doing all wrong y'all we're doing wrong we we need to we need to get back to you know when this country worked off an abundance mindset

and the enemies were foreign as opposed to domestic with each other you know that's when we really focus and that's when we we try to do great things we're not a perfect nation by any by any means but we seem to we seem to be on a better course. There's an old Russian saying, I think it's Brezhnekov or something, that basically says, you know, we will destroy America as America will destroy itself from within. That seems to be the course we're on. So talk to us about what you did with this village market project in Atlanta

and your org. You started this retail project in the middle of or the beginning of COVID. Talk to us about what that journey was like. Yes, I'm going to answer that, but I want to add something else when we think about the scarcity mindset. And then I'll answer the question about how I was so fortunate to find to found this country these companies but another thing that is hurting us and I think in a mindset that we've adopted is individualism we we're driven by individualistic wants and desires and is is is forcing us to not think about the collective. I believe if we can solve the issues of individualism and create a mindset of collectivism

and communities built on collectivism and businesses created on collectivism and relationships built on collectivism, then that is another way that we eradicate scarcity. But in order to do that, we have to take a massive, a massive shift. And I write about in the book how we can take that shift. But to answer your question about my company, the Village Market, and why did I have the audacity to open a retail in the heart of the pandemic,

Chris Beyond, I don't know. I was so... No one warned me. Give us a rundown. Had the pandemic started yet? Did you know that was coming? So you did this in response to what was going on with COVID? Yes.

So the Village Market, my primary company, I founded it in 2016. And the big vision of the Village Market was to create these marketplace experiences, well-curated nighttime markets to celebrate Black-owned brands in Atlanta. And I did so because while Atlanta is one of the most special cities in the world, there is a disparity between the growth cycles of Black-owned businesses and non-Black-owned businesses. So yeah, beyond sitting around and saying, I'm upset about this, I am deeply action-oriented. I said, okay, if the issue is Black businesses need more customers, I'm going to create a marketplace and I'm going to have all

the customers come in and shop from these brands. And I did. So we were able to circulate millions of dollars from these village market experiences, diverse customers. It was absolutely incredible. And so my largest market was in 2019 and I was slated to have a market in March 2020 and it was Chris we had finally got to a place where we got sponsors where entrepreneurs were coming from across the country to be a part of these marketplaces that our audience sites had grown by five times and so we we were we were we were doing wonderful then Then the pandemic happened. And like a number of businesses across the country, I had some choices to make. And I decided to do a pivot.

I did two things. I knew that entrepreneurs, PPP loans were going to come out. And I wanted to make sure that the entrepreneurs that I served were ready, were positioned to get these loans so they can stay open, so they can keep their staff and their employees. And so I decided that I needed to open a nonprofit arm. And so Chris did this crazy thing. I got my nonprofit up and running, created a program called Elevate. And I was able to support entrepreneurs with the infrastructure, making sure that they were financial and capital ready, ready to get loans and things like that, and able to deploy some grant dollars. Then this other idea popped in my head. I said, so the world is going to open up

one day. I didn't know when, but I knew we were going to open up. And I looked at the opportunity to open a retail store at Ponce City Market, which is one of the highest foot traffic locations. It's a highly sought out destination for tourism and also for the local community in Atlanta. And the educator in me and the person who loves data and numbers, I thought about if I open this retail store and I work with brands who never had an opportunity with retail, but who may not have the capital to open their own brick and mortar location. How can I support these entrepreneurs and meeting customers to have a whole incubator experience, but in real time in a retail store. So I had this idea in May 2020. I worked extremely hard and opened a retail store by January, by November 2020. It is one of the hardest things I've ever done

because I was doing two things, the nonprofit arm, the for-profit arm, but it was serving this bigger vision that I had in my mind. And also, I'm just deeply, deeply solutions driven. If entrepreneurs are saying, I can't afford to get into Ponce City Market, my book talks about, well, how about we go do it together? And I share with Ponce City Market my proposal and I said, listen, you're going to have one curated retail store, but at least 39 different people's dreams, their brands under one roof called The Village Retail. And we just celebrated four years in November. The retail store is highly successful. I talked about our nonprofit,

Art Village United, and how we started with one program. Now we have five programs. We're in 25 different states. A lot can happen in four years if you are driven by alignment and purpose. But all of that sounds beautiful and it was hard, but I've managed through the hard stuff because I'm not doing it alone. I have talented people on my team. Yes, I have talented, talented people on my team to help me ensure that we continue to be impactful,

successful, and purpose-driven. And you came right back to, you need a village. You can't do it on your own. So it helped that you had that opportunity. Now, do we cover what you do at the.org for that section? Is there a way people can help out or contribute to the charity or do something that way? Yes, to support the nonprofit, Our Village United. And I'm very fortunate to some of the partners that we have now.

We've been able to work with a lot of national philanthropic organizations such as the Rockefeller Foundation, Annie Casey Kellogg Foundation, a number of other corporate partners such as MasterCard and Target and a number of others. So if you are out there and you're in corporate America and you're thinking about, and you have a KPI and a focus on economics, building local communities through small businesses, through technical assistance, OVU, look us up, ourvillageunited.org, because we work with entrepreneurs across the country, as I said. On an annual basis, we work with about 800 entrepreneurs. And last year, we deployed a little bit under $500,000 in grants to entrepreneurs. But we were fortunate to do a number of technical assistance hours. We do pro bono services. So if entrepreneurs need accounting support, we get the accountant. If they need small business support, we get the small business attorney they need small business support, we get the small business attorney to work with these entrepreneurs. And so if you're out there in

corporate America, or if you would like to volunteer because you're a master in your field, we're always looking for the right people to join the mission because Chris, you said it, none of the great work that I do, I do alone. I've been able to attract some really like-minded people who have a belief that our communities can be better. They can be more viable and they bring all their goodness to the work that the work that I'm doing. And I write about a lot of these incredible people and the way that we are building community through nonprofit, building community through the for-profit arm. We're doing it and it looks and feel different and i write about it in the book so you know this is a good example you're setting to inspire others to do better to contribute to their community to you

know build consensus to you know really recognize it takes a village to you know do all this stuff so i commend the job you're doing thank you very much for doing it thank you i i feel and i know that you know i'm talking to a lot of entrepreneurs now what i would like to tell entrepreneurs out there who are who are listening is that our biggest dreams can happen it doesn't matter how many times we have to pivot. To me, pivot is a compliment of what we can do differently. It just gives us time and opportunity to have a plan B and have a plan C. So if you're an entrepreneur and 2024 was a tough year for you and you're trying to figure out, you know, what am I going to do in business? I want you to make sure that you have a community around you.

You should not be the smartest person in the room. You can be one of the smartest people. You can be one of them, but you do not have to be the smartest person in the room. If you find yourself saying, I don't know, I have no idea. That's a superpower. I write about in a book. I don't know, can be an amazing superpower if you use it well. So make sure that it's okay to be vulnerable, but it's also okay to believe in something bigger than what you have now. And everyone, Chris, I know that you talked to a number of entrepreneurs. Everyone doesn't have the big vision to scale nationally or internationally. Some people want to scale hyperlocal. If you're that entrepreneur, that's okay. What my hope and belief for entrepreneurs

and those who are listening and those who may be thinking about entrepreneurship, I just want us to live a life of purpose, that we can find joy in what we do. We can find joy in the people that we meet, that we know that we are much, much, much more powerful together. And that even if we have to shift the way that we've done things and do things, shifting is a gift if we use it purposely. Well, what an inspiring message, Lakeisha. We really appreciate it. As we go out, give us your final dot coms.

Tell people where they can learn more about you on the interwebs. Yes. So listen, everyone, this is an incredible book. It's much more of a book to me, but it's a love offering to entrepreneurs. I wrote the book that I longed for when I started my entrepreneur journey almost 10 years ago. So go to no one is self-made.com to purchase the book. There's no www. So just no one is self-made.com to purchase the book. If you are an entrepreneur looking to build, this is your book. If you're in corporate America and you're trying to figure out how to be

even more impactful and to live a meaningful life, this is also your book. And if you say none of these things to me, but I know somebody that this book may help, buy the book for them. And if you want to keep up with me on social, it's Dr. Kee Hallman, all platforms. I look forward to connecting with you. And Chris, I just want to tell you thank you. Thank you for supporting me in this work. You're part of my village now, so you stuck with me. Thank you.

I'm in the village. We're in the village. Thank you, Chris. I need all the help I can get. A rising tide lifts all boats is one of my favorite sayings. And so I'm going to have to come out to the shop there next time I'm in Atlanta and check it all out and do all that stuff. So

very much a great inspiring message. Thank you very much. We really appreciate it, Lakeisha. Thank you. Thank you. And. We really appreciate it, Lakeisha. Thank you. Thank you. And thanks so much for tuning in. It's one of those days where I'm a little off on the kilter there. It must be the vodka in the water there. No One is Self-Made, a motivational self-help guide with a community-oriented approach.

Perfect for winter 2025. You can order right now, folks. February 4th, it will be out, and you're going to want to take advantage of it. Build your village to flourish in business and life. You know, I do a lot of that with my communities. I build different communities on Facebook and groups and things like that. It's so important to have these communities, and it's amazing how much you can touch and lift people that, you know,

you may not have otherwise known that you would have an impact in. So thanks, Miles, for tuning in. Be good to each other. Stay safe. We'll see you next time. And that should have us.