# Perseverance: Twice a teen mother, high school dropout, and still built a multi-million-dollar family law firm.

An episode of [Money Making Conversations Master Class](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1264705641), 13 Mar 2025, 26 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/b1db7263-d1a3-4d00-8976-af62012aab44/a570d92b-f086-4648-af96-b29e01327bae/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=35a10561-3e1b-4d05-a529-af62012aab6a

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Attorney Tessie D. Edwards. A family and criminal law attorney based in Atlanta, Georgia. Here's a breakdown of the key highlights and themes from the episode: 🔑 Key Themes & Takeaways 1. Early Life & Adversity • Tessie Edwards grew up in a challenging environment marked by poverty, teen pregnancy, and systemic injustice. • She became a mother at 16, dropped out of high school, and had her second child by 18. • Despite these challenges, she never lost sight of her dream to become a lawyer. 2. Turning Point • A pivotal moment came when someone told her that her daughter looked like her. That realization sparked a deep desire to become someone her daughter could look up to. 3. Relentless Pursuit of Education • Earned her GED, then an associate degree to qualify for military service. • After a brief stint in the military (cut short due to pregnancy and miscarriage), she pursued higher education. • Graduated from Indiana University with five children and went on to law school with her then-husband. 4. Professional Success • Now runs a multi-million dollar law firm in Atlanta, Georgia. • Has handled over 2,000 criminal cases and is deeply committed to serving families in crisis. • Her firm has been serving the Atlanta community for over 15 years. 5. Support System • Credits her success to a strong support network: her husband (who co-runs the firm), her children, her brother, and her team. • Emphasizes the importance of surrounding yourself with people who believe in your vision. 6. Advice & Motivation • Be clear about your goals and stay focused. • Don’t wait for the “right time”—start now. • Believe in your dream even when others don’t. • Use adversity as fuel for your ambition. 💬 Memorable Quotes • “I feel thankful but not satisfied.” • “My life was so divinely chosen… I was just given a dream and the courage to go after it.” • “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!” #BEST #STRAW #SHMS See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Hi, I am Rashan McDonald, our host the weekly Money
[0:03] Speaker 1: Making Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this
[0:06] Speaker 1: show provides off for everyone. It's time to stop reading
[0:09] Speaker 1: other people's success stories and start living your own. If
[0:13] Speaker 1: you want to be a guest on my show, please
[0:15] Speaker 1: visit our website, Moneymakingconversations dot com and click the be
[0:20] Speaker 1: a guest button first submit and information will come directly
[0:23] Speaker 1: to me. Now let's get this show started. My guess
[0:27] Speaker 1: that I have currently on the show today fights to
[0:30] Speaker 1: find the right solutions for families in crisis. Would her
[0:34] Speaker 1: years of experience as a prosecutor. Attorneys respect Tessa as
[0:38] Speaker 1: an aggressive advocate who knows how to achieve client's objectives.
[0:43] Speaker 1: Clients see her compassion side, where she and her team
[0:46] Speaker 1: take the time to listen to gain a full understanding
[0:50] Speaker 1: of the situation. Please work to Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
[0:54] Speaker 1: Attorney Tessa D. Edwards. How you doing, Attorney Edwards.
[0:59] Speaker 2: I'm good. Thank you for having me with Sean.
[1:01] Speaker 1: First of all, being an attorney was that something you
[1:05] Speaker 1: dreamed of?
[1:07] Speaker 2: It is? I actually knew I wanted to be an
[1:08] Speaker 2: attorney since I was in third grade. I had a
[1:11] Speaker 2: teacher that asked me what I wanted to be, and
[1:14] Speaker 2: being a person that likes to talk and debate and
[1:16] Speaker 2: just liking to I just challenge other people against an argument.
[1:21] Speaker 2: I knew very very early that I wanted to be
[1:24] Speaker 2: an attorney.
[1:25] Speaker 1: So so again the attorney was now argument and debating.
[1:29] Speaker 1: Now you just well, you just one of those people
[1:31] Speaker 1: just wanted to have to get the last word.
[1:32] Speaker 2: Is still sometimes I want to get the last one.
[1:40] Speaker 1: Oh, your coach Tessa, you know she ain't gonna let
[1:43] Speaker 1: nobody talk but her. Here's your come, here's your come.
[1:46] Speaker 2: Now.
[1:46] Speaker 1: Now when you see a talent like that, I will
[1:48] Speaker 1: be a front. I'll be upfront with everybody about my life.
[1:51] Speaker 1: Is that I didn't really know what I wanted to be.
[1:53] Speaker 1: And for you just say you wanted to have that?
[1:55] Speaker 1: You had that vision so early. What compelled you? Was
[1:59] Speaker 1: it your surroundings with somebody, something you saw on TV
[2:03] Speaker 1: that made you say, you know, that's what I want
[2:05] Speaker 1: to be.
[2:07] Speaker 2: Well, kind of like what you're saying, I always had,
[2:10] Speaker 2: you know, this idea that I like to argue. I
[2:13] Speaker 2: love debating, I love strategizing about a debate. And if
[2:16] Speaker 2: I could win an argument with anybody, a sibling, a pair,
[2:19] Speaker 2: or anybody. It just kind of inspired me. I just
[2:22] Speaker 2: liked arguing either side, it didn't matter. And so when
[2:26] Speaker 2: I realized that, I that there was a career for
[2:29] Speaker 2: people who liked the art of debate. That's what drove
[2:33] Speaker 2: me to do that. So it wasn't necessarily my surrounding,
[2:35] Speaker 2: it was more my personality. Some people learn to litigate.
[2:38] Speaker 2: I feel like I was born to litigate. I liked
[2:40] Speaker 2: the challenge and the art of trial work and just
[2:43] Speaker 2: strategizing debate.
[2:45] Speaker 1: Wow, I like that. Now when you look at turn
[2:48] Speaker 1: on the radio, personal injury commercials dominate the airwaves, and
[2:53] Speaker 1: so that means that the legal profession people have one
[2:57] Speaker 1: version of it right now being pounded in who they sponsored,
[3:01] Speaker 1: evening news, they have commercials, it's all types of broadcast
[3:07] Speaker 1: is making it available for personal injury talking about how
[3:11] Speaker 1: much they can win for you, how much you can
[3:12] Speaker 1: give you come to us. If that version is not
[3:16] Speaker 1: the version of law that you practiced, Why did you
[3:18] Speaker 1: choose the version of law that you're practicing now?
[3:23] Speaker 2: Well, as I talk to people and tell them all
[3:25] Speaker 2: the time, I am a project ghetto born and raised,
[3:29] Speaker 2: and what I thought around me was a lot of
[3:33] Speaker 2: strange suffering, a lot of arrest, a lot of team pregnancy,
[3:37] Speaker 2: which I was a team in, a high school drop
[3:39] Speaker 2: out myself, and just seeing that around me, I grew
[3:43] Speaker 2: up with a very unhealthy idea of the justice system.
[3:47] Speaker 2: I saw a lot of friends and family members and
[3:49] Speaker 2: neighbors getting arrested. I didn't always believe that what happened
[3:53] Speaker 2: was fair, didn't believe that the police were honest, and
[3:56] Speaker 2: I wanted to go into criminal justice as a way
[4:00] Speaker 2: to argue for my community, for my family members, and
[4:05] Speaker 2: have someone fight for them and have their voice heard
[4:08] Speaker 2: if they ever found themselves in that situation, because I
[4:11] Speaker 2: didn't feel like that was something that I saw growing up.
[4:15] Speaker 1: Now, that's interesting because you said something very casually because
[4:19] Speaker 1: you've overcome it. You said teen pregnancy and high school
[4:23] Speaker 1: drop off, and now you are very prominent lawyer, family
[4:28] Speaker 1: lawyer that practiced crimin law as well over two thousand cases.
[4:33] Speaker 1: How did that happen being a teen mom and what
[4:37] Speaker 1: age was it that you became a teen mom?
[4:41] Speaker 2: Well, I was pregnant at fifteen. I had my first
[4:44] Speaker 2: child as a sixteen year old, and my second child
[4:47] Speaker 2: at eighteen. Third child at twenty one, I am the
[4:52] Speaker 2: prow mother of seven children today. And how I got
[4:57] Speaker 2: from being a teen mom to where I I am now,
[5:00] Speaker 2: which is the proud owner of a multimillion dollar law
[5:03] Speaker 2: firm in Atlanta, Georgia, was nothing other than dreaming it,
[5:07] Speaker 2: seeing it, and then persistently going after time and time
[5:11] Speaker 2: and time again. The first time I can imagine to
[5:13] Speaker 2: even begin to tell you how many hurdles and obstacles
[5:16] Speaker 2: were there, but just seeing that vision and that dream
[5:19] Speaker 2: so clearly, and staying the course whatever comes, just having
[5:23] Speaker 2: the will to go over it. And when I had
[5:25] Speaker 2: my first child, it was very uneventful. Unfortunately everybody around
[5:30] Speaker 2: me and all the girls around me were pregnant teens,
[5:33] Speaker 2: and a lot of the guys, including some of my
[5:35] Speaker 2: family members, were in the system, in prison or in
[5:40] Speaker 2: on probation or some sort of custody. And when I
[5:44] Speaker 2: had my daughter, my second chalid eighteen.
[5:47] Speaker 1: Sixteen year old. Because that's you know that right there
[5:50] Speaker 1: is usually with shuts down opportunities, and when you read
[5:53] Speaker 1: about it, you know the dreams, you know, become a
[5:57] Speaker 1: welfare our kids, second, third, or four, or may go to drugs,
[6:01] Speaker 1: may go to a minimum wage opportunities. There are no
[6:05] Speaker 1: extended version of educations after that. At sixteen years of age,
[6:10] Speaker 1: What did your family, how did your family react to
[6:13] Speaker 1: that and how did they come to your to your assistance.
[6:17] Speaker 2: Well, my family didn't actually did not react surprised. Like
[6:22] Speaker 2: I said, everybody around me, it was the norm to
[6:25] Speaker 2: be sixteen and have a baby. Like there's a lot
[6:28] Speaker 2: of teen pregnancy unfortunately. What's states this in Florida, Okay, Florida, Coco, Florida, Okatrobe, Florida.
[6:38] Speaker 2: There's a lot of team moms. There's a lot of
[6:40] Speaker 2: teenage boys and sometimes girls that are already in the system,
[6:44] Speaker 2: whether it's juvenile or sell any system early. So it
[6:47] Speaker 2: was the norm. It was not a shock. Or had
[6:49] Speaker 2: family members that were teen moms, so it wasn't anything
[6:51] Speaker 2: that really shocked them, and they rallied around my mom,
[6:55] Speaker 2: my mom, my siblings. They all helped with my son,
[7:00] Speaker 2: and so it was very uneventful in my life. But
[7:02] Speaker 2: when I had my second child at eighteen, it was
[7:05] Speaker 2: her girl, and that changed everything. She was six eight
[7:09] Speaker 2: six to eight weeks old and someone was visiting and
[7:12] Speaker 2: they told me that she looked like me. And you
[7:15] Speaker 2: know how you have that moment that just kind of
[7:18] Speaker 2: stops you in your track and you get a big
[7:20] Speaker 2: frog in your throat you can't swallow. When the first
[7:22] Speaker 2: time that someone told me my daughter looked like me,
[7:25] Speaker 2: it moved the rest of my life. I felt like,
[7:29] Speaker 2: if she looked like me, she may want to be
[7:32] Speaker 2: like me. And so I felt like I needed to
[7:35] Speaker 2: be something that she was proud of. And so when
[7:38] Speaker 2: she went to school on career day and talk about
[7:40] Speaker 2: her mom, she would have a story that she could
[7:43] Speaker 2: be proud of. My mom does this mom? I didn't
[7:45] Speaker 2: want to say, my mom is, you know, work at McDonald's.
[7:47] Speaker 2: No knock at McDonald's, employee us or anything. But that's
[7:50] Speaker 2: not what I wanted for my daughter to aspire to
[7:52] Speaker 2: be if she was aspiring to be like her mom.
[7:55] Speaker 2: And so that changed everything going forward, and this mean
[8:00] Speaker 2: that I had as a little girl now became real
[8:03] Speaker 2: a goal more than just a dream at that point,
[8:06] Speaker 2: it was a goal.
[8:07] Speaker 1: So were you in high school?
[8:08] Speaker 2: Drop out at that point, Tessa that pregnancy? I did
[8:12] Speaker 2: drop out with that pregnancy. I dropped out with that
[8:15] Speaker 2: pregnancy because I missed a lot of school and they
[8:17] Speaker 2: told me I had to come back and go to
[8:18] Speaker 2: summer school, and me being the defiant person, I decided
[8:22] Speaker 2: I was done with school. That year was my senior year.
[8:24] Speaker 2: I wasn't coming back. I was going to college in
[8:26] Speaker 2: the fall. So that's what I did. I went and
[8:28] Speaker 2: got a GED and went to community college and I
[8:31] Speaker 2: got an AA. So I had decided that was my
[8:35] Speaker 2: senior year. And that's so that's what it was.
[8:37] Speaker 1: So once you got focused, it was you were relentless.
[8:42] Speaker 2: Yes that is a good word.
[8:46] Speaker 1: But you know, because the story, you know, people are
[8:49] Speaker 1: listening to this story, and thank you for sharing your
[8:51] Speaker 1: story on Money Making Conversation Masterclass, because it's about motivation,
[8:55] Speaker 1: it's about overcoming the arts. I'm talking to attorney Tessa
[8:58] Speaker 1: Deep and what's uh started a team practicing sixteen fifteen,
[9:02] Speaker 1: going on sixteen. Now she runs a multi million dollar
[9:06] Speaker 1: law practice, family law practice in Atlanta, Georgia. And how
[9:10] Speaker 1: proud are you when you say that to yourself that
[9:14] Speaker 1: you run a multi million dollar law practice in Atlanta, Georgia,
[9:20] Speaker 1: knowing where you've come from.
[9:22] Speaker 2: Tessa, you know, honestly, sometimes I still am in shock
[9:29] Speaker 2: and in awe of how far I came. When I
[9:33] Speaker 2: look back at that little girl as an eight year old,
[9:35] Speaker 2: nine year old, ten year girl. Hell, even looking back
[9:37] Speaker 2: as a sixteen year old eighteen year old, because it
[9:40] Speaker 2: was such a long road, so many curves, so many valleys.
[9:45] Speaker 2: It still amazes me. And when I say multimillion, I
[9:48] Speaker 2: mean we have barely even scratched the service of where
[9:51] Speaker 2: we're going to do. The growth we hit in twenty
[9:53] Speaker 2: twenty four, our goal is to double that this year.
[9:56] Speaker 2: So the aggression will never stop. If I wanted, I
[10:00] Speaker 2: am absolutely going to give it everything in my power
[10:02] Speaker 2: to go get it.
[10:04] Speaker 1: Now, So how did how do?
[10:06] Speaker 2: How?
[10:06] Speaker 1: Now let's talk about the journey because you mentioned a
[10:08] Speaker 1: lot of kids here, and I'm sure it's a strong
[10:11] Speaker 1: man in your life who allows you to be able
[10:14] Speaker 1: to be yourself. Also your husband. Now you had did
[10:19] Speaker 1: you was there any other experiences after college? Did you
[10:23] Speaker 1: do the military? Did you do go to a four
[10:25] Speaker 1: year institution? How did? What were the next steps? After
[10:28] Speaker 1: your second child? And you got your GED?
[10:31] Speaker 2: Well, after I got my GED, I didn't know how
[10:34] Speaker 2: I was going to pay for college, and so I
[10:37] Speaker 2: decided to enlist in the military. And because I was
[10:39] Speaker 2: a high school dropout, they required me to have a
[10:42] Speaker 2: two year degree to join, and so I got my
[10:45] Speaker 2: two year degree and I went in and me being
[10:48] Speaker 2: the fertile myrtle that I am, I got pregnant when
[10:51] Speaker 2: I came home for the Christmas break. I went in
[10:53] Speaker 2: like in November and everybody got to go home for
[10:56] Speaker 2: two weeks being on birth control. To make a long
[10:58] Speaker 2: story short, I still got pregnant. I was released from
[11:02] Speaker 2: the military and on my way home, I had a miscarriage.
[11:06] Speaker 2: I had a miscarriage that you never even know. But Rashona,
[11:09] Speaker 2: the you're the crazy thing is I would have never
[11:11] Speaker 2: ever known that I was even pregnant if I hadn't
[11:15] Speaker 2: made friends with my drill sergeant and I was trying
[11:18] Speaker 2: to get out of doing a drill. He allowed me
[11:20] Speaker 2: to go through the clinic and they did a routine
[11:23] Speaker 2: test and something that I was pregnant. The interesting thing
[11:26] Speaker 2: about that, though, when I went to the military, my
[11:28] Speaker 2: drill sergeant, and you know, the first day or two
[11:31] Speaker 2: people had pointed me out and came to me and
[11:34] Speaker 2: were commenting on my score. And I honestly don't even
[11:37] Speaker 2: remember what it was, but they were coming to me
[11:39] Speaker 2: talking about my test score, how high it was, and
[11:42] Speaker 2: why are you here You're incredibly smart. You should be
[11:45] Speaker 2: doing something else.
[11:45] Speaker 1: This is it for you?
[11:47] Speaker 2: And I'm thinking to myself, well, I need to pay
[11:49] Speaker 2: for college, so it might not be for me, but
[11:51] Speaker 2: this is where we are. And so when I got out, okay, well,
[11:56] Speaker 2: my plan B is to figure out a no way
[11:58] Speaker 2: to face the college because that's the only reason why
[11:59] Speaker 2: I was there. So I got out and finished, you know,
[12:05] Speaker 2: finished up what I was doing, and transitioned into uh
[12:13] Speaker 2: law Indiana University. It was, but I had to finish
[12:18] Speaker 2: my bass. When I got out, I finished my bachelor's
[12:20] Speaker 2: and then law school, all in Indianapolis.
[12:23] Speaker 1: Wow. So we went from Florida and Indianapolis Military stopping between.
[12:29] Speaker 1: You got two kids at this point, unfortunately. Uh my
[12:32] Speaker 1: prayers went out to you on that when you lost
[12:34] Speaker 1: your third child. So so I'm assuming because you said
[12:39] Speaker 1: it in a humorous way, Miss Fertile. Uh so you
[12:42] Speaker 1: have two kids. Did you have two kids when you
[12:44] Speaker 1: went through law school or did you have another kid
[12:47] Speaker 1: while you were in law school? I got to ask
[12:48] Speaker 1: that question, honestly, the way you're dropping these kids.
[12:51] Speaker 2: Here, Well, I was dropping online there with hot potatoes
[12:55] Speaker 2: when I graduated undergrad when I graduated. When I graduated undergrad,
[13:00] Speaker 2: I have five children. When I graduated undergrad, I have
[13:04] Speaker 2: five kids. My ex husband and I went to law
[13:06] Speaker 2: school together. And I say this to everybody, laughing and jokingly,
[13:10] Speaker 2: but I don't even know that a lot of people
[13:11] Speaker 2: knew our name. You were just a couple with the
[13:13] Speaker 2: five kids because we started law school together, right, And
[13:16] Speaker 2: we had five kids and we started law school, and
[13:20] Speaker 2: everybody was like, oh, you should wait until your baby,
[13:22] Speaker 2: who was you know, very young, like one, You should
[13:25] Speaker 2: wait till she go to kindergarten. And I say, all
[13:27] Speaker 2: the time, what am I waiting for the same four
[13:30] Speaker 2: years are going to go by, whether she's in kindergarten
[13:32] Speaker 2: or not. So what are we waiting for? Let's go,
[13:34] Speaker 2: Let's go. And we started and she graduated kindergarten when
[13:39] Speaker 2: I graduated law school. There's nothing to wait for us.
[13:42] Speaker 1: So you are something else? Can I say that? I
[13:45] Speaker 1: have never spoken to somebody as determined as you. Five kids.
[13:50] Speaker 1: You know, had ain't got your law degree yet. Sixteen
[13:53] Speaker 1: years old, you had a child. Eighteen year old, you
[13:55] Speaker 1: have a child? You what did the military? Unfortunately lost
[13:59] Speaker 1: a child. Now you're at Indian an US verse everybody's
[14:02] Speaker 1: telling you how fantastic, how smart you are. And that's
[14:06] Speaker 1: the interesting thing about living in these communities that don't
[14:10] Speaker 1: really push our children because they don't understand we just
[14:13] Speaker 1: trying to survive. I grew up in that type of community,
[14:17] Speaker 1: you know, fifth ward. My father was a truck driver.
[14:20] Speaker 1: My mom, she went to college. You went to high school,
[14:22] Speaker 1: didn't go to college. Six sisters, two brothers. We loved,
[14:26] Speaker 1: you know, in two bedroom, shotgun house. And so I
[14:29] Speaker 1: know that they wanted me to be successful. They wanted
[14:33] Speaker 1: me to be good. But guess what. When I graduated
[14:35] Speaker 1: from high school, I became a forklift driver. That's what
[14:38] Speaker 1: I became a forklift driver. So the same people that
[14:41] Speaker 1: saw you in the military testa when you should you
[14:45] Speaker 1: don't need to be here. You can be better than this,
[14:47] Speaker 1: you can be better than this. What were you saying
[14:49] Speaker 1: yourself when they were telling you those things.
[14:54] Speaker 2: I didn't really believe that I was smart at all
[14:56] Speaker 2: I knew was me, and so I felt like I
[14:58] Speaker 2: was smart, but it didn't feel like anything exceptional, Like
[15:01] Speaker 2: I didn't I wasn't my own cheerleader. Then it was
[15:04] Speaker 2: just okay, whatever, I need to do this in order
[15:07] Speaker 2: to get to there. So I wasn't. I was never
[15:10] Speaker 2: wrapped up in anybody else's praises of me. I didn't
[15:13] Speaker 2: take compliments. Well, so you were telling me that I'm
[15:15] Speaker 2: smart means nothing. My smartness haven't shown me how to
[15:19] Speaker 2: pay for college and this is how I know how
[15:20] Speaker 2: to do that. So I only discounted it like whatever.
[15:23] Speaker 2: I didn't pay it a whole lot of attention.
[15:26] Speaker 3: Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
[15:29] Speaker 3: money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
[15:38] Speaker 3: Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass
[15:44] Speaker 3: continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making
[15:48] Speaker 3: Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
[15:53] Speaker 1: As he owns a family owned law firm that has
[15:55] Speaker 1: been serving the Atlanta, Georgia community for over fifteen years.
[15:59] Speaker 1: Your attorneys provide enthusiastic representation and brings along extensive experience
[16:04] Speaker 1: and representing their clients. Tessa, when I say overcoming the odds?
[16:10] Speaker 1: Am I being? Am I understating what has happened in
[16:14] Speaker 1: your life? Or am I hitting it right on the
[16:17] Speaker 1: nail on the head?
[16:19] Speaker 2: You are hitting the nail on the head. Absolutely, do
[16:23] Speaker 2: you do public speaking?
[16:24] Speaker 1: Come on, Tessa, you gotta be telling your story. You
[16:26] Speaker 1: got to be. You are an absolute motivator, and you're
[16:30] Speaker 1: so casual about it. I'm gonna tell you something. What
[16:33] Speaker 1: you know this story? I don't know who's it driving
[16:36] Speaker 1: around the car, sitting at home, probably eating while they
[16:38] Speaker 1: listening to this interview. But what you're talking about is
[16:42] Speaker 1: pretty pretty impressive for a sixteen year old team. AM
[16:47] Speaker 1: eighteen year old team, AM wandering out there having five
[16:52] Speaker 1: kids in undergraduate before you finish law school, and now
[16:57] Speaker 1: you're still focused enough, focused enough, and your children are
[17:01] Speaker 1: still in your life, and but you're so casual about it.
[17:06] Speaker 1: Am I wrong in saying that? Sounds kind of like
[17:10] Speaker 1: you a different you cut from a different cloth.
[17:14] Speaker 2: Well, you know, I say all the time, and I
[17:18] Speaker 2: mean it sincerely. I feel like my life is sound
[17:21] Speaker 2: almost fruitful when I say that, But when I felt
[17:24] Speaker 2: like my life was so divinely chosen, that the path
[17:29] Speaker 2: for me was chosen from somebody higher than me, and
[17:32] Speaker 2: I was just given a dream and the courage to
[17:35] Speaker 2: go after the dream, and blessed enough to have people
[17:38] Speaker 2: around me that believe and support my dream and my
[17:41] Speaker 2: visually and so I do think that it is insane
[17:45] Speaker 2: when you say it out loud, but you know, I
[17:47] Speaker 2: don't usually say it out loud.
[17:49] Speaker 1: I'm say it out loud. I'm gonna say it out loud.
[17:51] Speaker 1: I'm gonna say it out loud. Attorney Tessa D. Edwards
[17:55] Speaker 1: is a blessing attorney Testity Evans, it would excuse me
[18:02] Speaker 1: as opposed to child for overcoming the arts. You are
[18:06] Speaker 1: a person that needs to tell your story over and
[18:09] Speaker 1: over again because you know why, because I get tired
[18:12] Speaker 1: of people being that I come from the inner city.
[18:16] Speaker 1: They will they stereotype us, They tell us that we
[18:21] Speaker 1: can't achieve or we don't achieve. They don't give credit
[18:25] Speaker 1: from the community for people around us, the people who
[18:28] Speaker 1: believe in us. And so that is why if I
[18:32] Speaker 1: do anything in twenty twenty five, and this is not
[18:35] Speaker 1: going to be the last time I interview you, and
[18:38] Speaker 1: because your story and your personality in general needs to
[18:43] Speaker 1: be amplified, can I do that?
[18:47] Speaker 2: You should and I will be honored. I will be honored.
[18:51] Speaker 1: No, I'm honored. And the reason I say that is
[18:53] Speaker 1: that so many of our people of color, African Americans,
[18:58] Speaker 1: you know, we're in an administration right now now that
[19:00] Speaker 1: you know the diversity, the echoing inclusion, and they act
[19:03] Speaker 1: like they've given us opportunities, like they like we have
[19:06] Speaker 1: an earned opportunity. You are a poster child for earned
[19:10] Speaker 1: earned Big E. You're the big E. You've earned everything
[19:14] Speaker 1: you've achieved in life, and this new administration will make
[19:18] Speaker 1: us believe that you didn't earn it, you didn't achieve it.
[19:22] Speaker 1: And So when you look at giving people advice, what
[19:26] Speaker 1: advice do you give them?
[19:28] Speaker 4: Attorney Edwards, The biggest advice that I can give anybody
[19:34] Speaker 4: is to make it make it clear of what it
[19:37] Speaker 4: is you're going after, so that you don't waste time
[19:40] Speaker 4: doing things that's not going to help you get to
[19:41] Speaker 4: that goal.
[19:43] Speaker 2: Just be clear about what it is you want. Be driven,
[19:46] Speaker 2: be focused, be hungry, and wake up and go to
[19:49] Speaker 2: sleep with your eye on that goal even as you're
[19:52] Speaker 2: going down that path. To get to that goal, you
[19:54] Speaker 2: have to have people around you that support you. I
[19:57] Speaker 2: can tell you my husband, Charles, who probably is one
[20:00] Speaker 2: of the biggest cheerleaders I have. That daughter that you're
[20:02] Speaker 2: talking about is one of my four daughters, has three
[20:05] Speaker 2: sons biggest cheerleaders very supportive, always ready to go in.
[20:11] Speaker 2: My brother. I have a younger brother. I have several
[20:15] Speaker 2: younger brothers, have five brothers and five sisters. But one
[20:17] Speaker 2: of my brothers beat you.
[20:19] Speaker 1: Said five brothers and five sisters. Have six sisters and
[20:22] Speaker 1: two brothers.
[20:25] Speaker 2: Well, I have a big family supported, but that one
[20:30] Speaker 2: brother that's two years younger than me. My day one,
[20:33] Speaker 2: like we grew up the hard way, beside me hustling,
[20:37] Speaker 2: eating out the garbage can. When we were younger, we
[20:39] Speaker 2: would some up with I would come up with the plan,
[20:41] Speaker 2: and he was the executor, and that was our role.
[20:43] Speaker 2: And to this day, if I say, hey, I'm going
[20:45] Speaker 2: to do this, he's always what do I need to
[20:48] Speaker 2: do to help? How can I help the same thing
[20:50] Speaker 2: with my husband. So my husband runs the firm with me.
[20:53] Speaker 2: He's there one hundred percent bought in. He'll tell anybody
[20:56] Speaker 2: we're gonna bet on us all day. Things we set off.
[20:59] Speaker 2: BUYD too have never failed anything that we've ever tried
[21:02] Speaker 2: to do. We've always succeeded when we are doing it
[21:05] Speaker 2: to like mine together thinking it and doing it. My
[21:08] Speaker 2: team and my firm is incredible. Now one of them
[21:12] Speaker 2: is the reason I'm talking to you today. So I
[21:14] Speaker 2: have a lot of people around me, and just surround
[21:16] Speaker 2: yourself with people that believe in you, and even when
[21:20] Speaker 2: you have those tough days, because it's not if it's
[21:22] Speaker 2: when you need people around you that believe in you.
[21:25] Speaker 2: When you're tired and you don't necessarily have the belief
[21:28] Speaker 2: in yourself in that day, surround yourself with people who
[21:33] Speaker 2: who are aligned with your vision.
[21:35] Speaker 1: Attorney Edwards, My wife just text me, have I been
[21:38] Speaker 1: seeing your name room?
[21:40] Speaker 2: You have it? It's okay?
[21:42] Speaker 1: No, no, no, no no, she texted me for Sean
[21:44] Speaker 1: you're seeing her name room. Please tell everybody that these
[21:48] Speaker 1: your first name, Tessie. Yes, Attorney tess D. Edwards. Yes,
[21:58] Speaker 1: I will never make that mistake again. Can we tell
[22:01] Speaker 1: everybody how we can reach out to your law firm
[22:02] Speaker 1: that's been in practice for fifteen years in the state
[22:05] Speaker 1: of Atlanta, Georgia.
[22:08] Speaker 2: Well, they can follow us on any of the social
[22:10] Speaker 2: media platforms. They can call us at four zero four
[22:13] Speaker 2: three three zero eight three three. My website is my
[22:17] Speaker 2: name TESSI B. Edwards, So any one of those things
[22:21] Speaker 2: you can google Testy, which you can probably even spell
[22:23] Speaker 2: it the wrong way, and.
[22:26] Speaker 1: Like versa, make me feel bad. Make me feel bad,
[22:30] Speaker 1: Come on, make me feel bad. But I'll tell you something.
[22:32] Speaker 1: You know, this this the story our relationships to day.
[22:36] Speaker 1: She was you know, she had my office. She thought
[22:39] Speaker 1: it was a lively person there. But I'll tell you something. Uh,
[22:43] Speaker 1: I will tell you something. TESTI Attorney Ewards respectfully speaking
[22:47] Speaker 1: to you this way, is that your story is why
[22:51] Speaker 1: I wanted you on my show today. It's unusual, and
[22:55] Speaker 1: but it's not unusual because it happens. It's unusual because
[23:00] Speaker 1: of the story that they overcoming the odds and people
[23:05] Speaker 1: looking at you and telling you you are blessing and
[23:08] Speaker 1: you hearing it, you hearing it and reacting to it
[23:11] Speaker 1: and not ignoring it. And that's what happens to a
[23:14] Speaker 1: lot of people. They ignoring it because the work that
[23:16] Speaker 1: goes along with it. And that's what people are forgetting
[23:19] Speaker 1: in this story, is that yes, yes, she had two kids,
[23:22] Speaker 1: she was a teenage mom. Yes, but she applied work, ged,
[23:27] Speaker 1: she went to the military, then she got scholarships. Then
[23:30] Speaker 1: she went to Indiana University. She had five kids at
[23:33] Speaker 1: that point, she still graduated. And now she's in Atlanta
[23:37] Speaker 1: and she's like she said, she wants to double her
[23:40] Speaker 1: revenue of twenty twenty four into twenty twenty five. When
[23:45] Speaker 1: you hear me say that, you hear a stranger saying
[23:48] Speaker 1: all those things about you. You have a husband who
[23:51] Speaker 1: supports you, your daughter who you said, somebody said look
[23:55] Speaker 1: just like you, that motivated you to change your life
[23:58] Speaker 1: now works in that same law firm with you. How
[24:01] Speaker 1: do you feel now, Attorney Edwards?
[24:05] Speaker 2: I feel thankful, but not satisfied. Thank you, there's so
[24:09] Speaker 2: much chilse to do. Let's go, Let's go, let's go,
[24:12] Speaker 2: let's go, let's go.
[24:13] Speaker 1: Well, my friend, thank you for allowing to be me.
[24:17] Speaker 1: Come on my show, and as we close out this
[24:19] Speaker 1: show one more time, I we can get in touch
[24:20] Speaker 1: with you. And again I want to consider you a
[24:24] Speaker 1: person I can call on. And I want the next
[24:26] Speaker 1: thing I want to bring you on the show. We'll
[24:28] Speaker 1: get that straight where you'll be at okay? And I
[24:32] Speaker 1: want people to call in and ask questions and uh
[24:35] Speaker 1: and I'm pretty sure you have some responses that will
[24:37] Speaker 1: change some people's lives. Can we make a better deal
[24:40] Speaker 1: on that?
[24:41] Speaker 2: We can definitely make a deal. I would love to.
[24:43] Speaker 1: Okay, cool, Thank you. Please tell everybody how to reach
[24:46] Speaker 1: out to you and we're gonna close out this interview.
[24:49] Speaker 2: They can reach us at four zero four three three
[24:52] Speaker 2: zero eight eight three three, follow us on any other
[24:55] Speaker 2: social media platforms at my name Tessei D. Edwards old
[25:00] Speaker 2: fashioned way Google me.
[25:03] Speaker 1: I'm laughing because I said your name m my wife Cord.
[25:06] Speaker 1: If you don't start saying her name right right now
[25:09] Speaker 1: and then then I asked you just even saying it wrong, sir,
[25:12] Speaker 1: even saying it wrong. But again, you're fantastic. Thank you
[25:17] Speaker 1: for coming on Money Making Conversation Master Class and we
[25:19] Speaker 1: will talk and see each other soon.
[25:21] Speaker 2: Bye bye bye.
[25:24] Speaker 5: This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
[25:27] Speaker 5: posted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
[25:30] Speaker 5: on the show today and thank you listening to audience now.
[25:34] Speaker 5: If you want to listen to any episode I want
[25:36] Speaker 5: to be a guest on the show, visit Moneymakingconversations dot com.
[25:40] Speaker 5: Our social media handle is money Making Conversation. Join us
[25:43] Speaker 5: next week and remember to always leave with your gifts.
[25:46] Speaker 1: Keep winning

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.