# Motivation: From project failures to the death of his father, he shows how adversity can reshape purpose and leadership.

An episode of [Money Making Conversations Master Class](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1264705641), 9 Apr 2026, 28 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/b1db7263-d1a3-4d00-8976-af62012aab44/84d49833-296f-4edc-9845-b4000129cdc7/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 Lavar Thomas. Motivational speaker, author, Peace Corps alumnus, leadership coach, and founder of Empower for Greatness. Lavar’s mission is to help people transform “from the inside out” so they can live with greater intention and purpose. The conversation explores Lavar’s upbringing in Brownsville, Brooklyn; his life-changing Peace Corps service in Rwanda; his understanding of faith, purpose, failure, and leadership; and how he built international development programs such as Leaders of the Free World, which exposes young Black men to global travel and leadership experiences. He discusses how stepping outside his comfort zone—from traveling abroad for the first time to navigating Rwanda after only knowing it through “Hotel Rwanda”—opened his worldview, deepened his empathy, and developed his leadership style. Lavar explains how a major project failure in the Peace Corps forced him to redefine success beyond titles, money, or recognition. This experience ultimately inspired his book, The Other Side of Letting Go. He also shares how he balances a federal government job with building his speaking and training company. The interview concludes with a powerful discussion on purpose, reinvention, leadership, and the role travel plays in expanding one’s mindset—especially for communities that are historically underrepresented in global spaces. PURPOSE OF THE INTERVIEW 1. To highlight Lavar’s transformative journey from Brooklyn to global leadership. Rushion showcases how Lavar’s experiences shaped his philosophy and mission. 2. To educate listeners about purpose‑driven living and leadership Lavar explains why purpose—not money—is the “real currency,” and how aligning with purpose drives impact. 3. To inspire people to step beyond their comfort zones The interview emphasizes how discomfort and uncertainty can spark growth. 4. To reveal the value of international exposure for Black men Through Leaders of the Free World, Lavar advocates for global experiences that shift identity and opportunity. 5. To discuss resilience, reinvention, and personal development From project failures to the death of his father, Lavar shows how adversity can reshape purpose and leadership. KEY TAKEAWAYS 1. Faith requires action Lavar describes faith as taking steps without knowing the outcome—“believing in the future before it becomes reality.” 2. Growth happens outside the comfort zone Comfort zones feel safe, but they also create limits; stepping beyond them leads to self‑awareness and transformation. 3. The Peace Corps experience was life‑changing Rwanda taught him service, humility, language, cultural understanding, and the power of community trust. 4. Failure can be an important redirection When his library project collapsed, Lavar learned to detach from ego and redefine success through impact, not image. 5. Purpose is the real currency Operating in purpose helps you add value, understand your worth, and ultimately generate income more meaningfully. 6. Leadership includes being willing to pivot He shifted from a failed library project to impactful malnutrition programs, partnering with USAID to train families. 7. Personal setbacks can sharpen identity and mission His father’s death led him to pause graduate school, attend therapy, and rebuild himself—learning leadership through vulnerability. 8. Global exposure changes lives…

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Welcome to my show. I'm Rashon McDonald, a host of
[0:02] Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Masterclass, where we encourage people to stop
[0:06] Speaker 1: reading other people's success stories and start planning your own. Now.
[0:10] Speaker 1: You don't want to miss an episode, so please take
[0:12] Speaker 1: a moment right now to follow or subscribe to Money
[0:14] Speaker 1: Making Conversations Masterclass. It's free. You can follow me on
[0:18] Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
[0:22] Speaker 1: to your podcast. New Money Making Conversations Masterclass episodes drop daily.
[0:27] Speaker 1: I want to keep you on alert because my guests
[0:29] Speaker 1: provide tips on how you can uplift your community, improve
[0:32] Speaker 1: your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be
[0:36] Speaker 1: a successful entrepreneur. Now, let's get this podcast started. My
[0:40] Speaker 1: guest delivers his message through powerful storytelling and practical frameworks.
[0:45] Speaker 1: He challenges audiences to move beyond conference zones, embrace growth,
[0:50] Speaker 1: and lead with intention. It's missioning is simple to help
[0:53] Speaker 1: people transform from the inside out so they can live, lead,
[0:57] Speaker 1: and serve with greater purpose. Please work of Money Making
[1:00] Speaker 1: Conversations Master Class. LeVar Thomas is LaVar. How are you doing?
[1:04] Speaker 1: My brother?
[1:05] Speaker 2: Doing well? In yourself?
[1:07] Speaker 1: This is a visual interview ladies and gentlemen. Some people
[1:10] Speaker 1: will be hearing this on audio, but he has nothing
[1:12] Speaker 1: but motivational quotes on this world behind him. Why is that?
[1:18] Speaker 2: It gives me a sense of meaning every day when
[1:20] Speaker 2: I will wake up in the morning, I like to
[1:22] Speaker 2: at least have a message that sets my attention to
[1:24] Speaker 2: my mindset for the day. And I'm a visual learning
[1:27] Speaker 2: I'm a visual person, so to be able to look
[1:29] Speaker 2: around my office and my space and to be inspired
[1:33] Speaker 2: to not only push beyond whatever I'm going through at
[1:35] Speaker 2: the moment, but to always pursue my dreams, pursue my goals,
[1:39] Speaker 2: and to always have a service mindset.
[1:43] Speaker 1: Well, I'm gonna quote a couple. I'm gonna pull a
[1:45] Speaker 1: couple up off the world that I'm reading. Every journey
[1:48] Speaker 1: in life begins with a little faith. Talk to me
[1:51] Speaker 1: about that.
[1:53] Speaker 2: Yeah, it's funny. So I was at church last week
[1:55] Speaker 2: and my pastor gave us a small mustard scene and
[1:59] Speaker 2: I didn't I realized how tiny a mustard seed was
[2:01] Speaker 2: until I actually had it held it in my hand.
[2:03] Speaker 2: And it really speaks to my journey growing up in Brooklyn,
[2:08] Speaker 2: New York, in Brownsville and just wanting to experience a
[2:13] Speaker 2: world that was bigger than my community. And that really
[2:16] Speaker 2: started when I took advantage of a student exchange program
[2:18] Speaker 2: in high school which allowed me to go to Spain
[2:21] Speaker 2: and I lived with it a hopsest family for a week,
[2:24] Speaker 2: and it really blew my mind in terms of pushing
[2:27] Speaker 2: me outside my comfort zone but also getting me to
[2:29] Speaker 2: see that there's so much more to life when you
[2:33] Speaker 2: just had faith. So faith for me is not just
[2:35] Speaker 2: a buzzword. Faith is an action word. It's me taking
[2:39] Speaker 2: steps without even known to outcome. It's me believing in
[2:42] Speaker 2: the future that I see in my mind before I
[2:44] Speaker 2: can see it in my reality.
[2:47] Speaker 1: Wow, faith is taking the first step, even whore you
[2:50] Speaker 1: don't see the whole staircase. I've heard it called blind faith.
[2:57] Speaker 1: Is that close to saying or what does that mean
[3:01] Speaker 1: to you?
[3:02] Speaker 2: I wouldn't say blind faith, because that, you know, my
[3:05] Speaker 2: faith in God reassures me that everything is going to
[3:08] Speaker 2: be okay. But I think it's not always needing the
[3:11] Speaker 2: evidence first to take action.
[3:13] Speaker 1: Let's talk about your experience in the Peace Corps. Because
[3:16] Speaker 1: I'm a very competitive person, LeVar, and so I have
[3:21] Speaker 1: to assume that when you work in an environment like
[3:23] Speaker 1: the Peace Corps. It's not a competitive environment. Am I
[3:27] Speaker 1: wrong when I say that?
[3:30] Speaker 2: I wouldn't say it's a competitive environment because everyone is
[3:32] Speaker 2: going there with the mindset of service.
[3:35] Speaker 1: Right, and so so that's a different environment for me,
[3:38] Speaker 1: you know, because of the fact that you know, service
[3:41] Speaker 1: can be a nurse, service can be a doctor or
[3:44] Speaker 1: a teacher. But when you get in that and so
[3:46] Speaker 1: there is a level of competition there because you're trying
[3:49] Speaker 1: to make more money, get promoted. But what is that
[3:53] Speaker 1: environment like? Because you're the first person that I have
[3:56] Speaker 1: met that have acknowledged to me that they left corporate
[4:01] Speaker 1: to go work in the Peace Corps. You love a
[4:03] Speaker 1: real competitive stress environment. Not saying there was not stress
[4:08] Speaker 1: in being in the Peace Corps, but what was that
[4:10] Speaker 1: environment like that uplifted you? And what was the working conditions?
[4:16] Speaker 2: Yes, so I lived in a rural community in the
[4:20] Speaker 2: western province of Rwanda near Congo d RC. And so
[4:25] Speaker 2: I lived in a very remote community, probably about three
[4:29] Speaker 2: thousand people that lived in that area, and I worked
[4:32] Speaker 2: at a local health center. So every day I would
[4:34] Speaker 2: go to the health center and assess, you know, babies
[4:38] Speaker 2: and mothers who were malnourished, assessing cases of HIV malaria prevention,
[4:44] Speaker 2: going out into remote areas within my area and assess
[4:47] Speaker 2: for food insecurity issues. While Rwanda's quite an agricultural country
[4:55] Speaker 2: and those remote areas there's still a large rate of
[4:58] Speaker 2: malnutrition going on. And so every day I had to
[5:01] Speaker 2: learn the local language Kinywanda, because no one spoke English.
[5:05] Speaker 2: So one thing with the Peace Corps does they provide
[5:07] Speaker 2: you with language training for the first three months, so
[5:09] Speaker 2: that way you're equipped to be able to engage the community,
[5:11] Speaker 2: establish trusts, and to be able to effectively do that work.
[5:16] Speaker 2: And so for me, I think, what, what did you.
[5:21] Speaker 1: Choose that community that you went into, the Rwandan community,
[5:25] Speaker 1: or how did that work?
[5:27] Speaker 2: So I got placed there. So I went at the
[5:28] Speaker 2: time when I applied to the Peace Corps back in
[5:31] Speaker 2: twenty twenty eleven, twenty twelve, that you weren't allowed to
[5:35] Speaker 2: select which country you wanted to go to. You applied
[5:38] Speaker 2: and they basically placed you in a country where there
[5:41] Speaker 2: was a need for your skill sets, and so Rwanda
[5:45] Speaker 2: was not in the card. To me, I didn't really
[5:46] Speaker 2: know I was going to go there. So I got
[5:48] Speaker 2: selected to go to Rwanda to serve.
[5:51] Speaker 1: Now, when you heard that you were going to Rwanda.
[5:55] Speaker 1: How did you react?
[5:57] Speaker 2: I freaked out, fricked out because you know, the only
[6:02] Speaker 2: reference that I had to Rwanda was the movie Hotel Rwanda.
[6:05] Speaker 2: So I knew what I knew about the genocide and
[6:08] Speaker 2: I actually lived.
[6:09] Speaker 1: That started John Cheadle, Right.
[6:11] Speaker 2: Yes, And so I lived about three minutes from a
[6:16] Speaker 2: genocide memorial side in my community where you saw a
[6:20] Speaker 2: lot of the historical stuff that took place, and it
[6:23] Speaker 2: was very traumatic, but it really helped paint to the
[6:26] Speaker 2: picture of how a country can move beyond that history
[6:30] Speaker 2: and be a stable country today. Wow.
[6:33] Speaker 1: Now let's talk about your book here. Yeah, what inspired
[6:36] Speaker 1: you to write the other side of Letting Go?
[6:40] Speaker 2: Yeah? So, again it goes back to the Peace Corps experience.
[6:43] Speaker 2: I was in Rwanda, and I was building a library project,
[6:47] Speaker 2: and I was gathering all this funds to launch the project.
[6:53] Speaker 2: I had gotten a location to run the project, I
[6:56] Speaker 2: was getting community buy in, and then one of the
[6:58] Speaker 2: partners that I was working with hold because they lost funding,
[7:02] Speaker 2: and so the project collapsed. And so initially you mentioned
[7:05] Speaker 2: competition in that environment. So down deep inside, even though
[7:11] Speaker 2: I thought I wasn't competing, there was some ego involved
[7:14] Speaker 2: in trying to launch a project that was going to
[7:16] Speaker 2: outlive me, right, and so I got caught up in
[7:21] Speaker 2: the image of I'm abroad, I'm blogging, people were seeing
[7:24] Speaker 2: me serving, and I'm like getting all caught up in
[7:27] Speaker 2: that that pride and said, I'm going to leave a
[7:29] Speaker 2: mess legacy that's going to outlive me. And when that
[7:32] Speaker 2: project failed, I felt like it exposed me in a
[7:36] Speaker 2: sense where how did it fail? I felt I felt embarrassed.
[7:41] Speaker 2: I felt vulnerable because people kept coming to me like,
[7:45] Speaker 2: what's going on with the library? What's happening? You know,
[7:47] Speaker 2: you're you're One of my supervisors told me I was
[7:50] Speaker 2: a failure because I wasn't bringing money as an American
[7:55] Speaker 2: to this community. So that was a lot of the
[7:56] Speaker 2: perceptions in terms of being in the Peace Corps. For me,
[7:59] Speaker 2: as a Black American and the first Black American in
[8:01] Speaker 2: in my community, it was this expectation of bringing me resources.
[8:06] Speaker 2: And so once that library project failed, I had to
[8:10] Speaker 2: really learn how to redefined success for myself, not in
[8:17] Speaker 2: the accordance to like the glamor and the lights and
[8:19] Speaker 2: the peel of a project, but the impact that I
[8:22] Speaker 2: was having.
[8:23] Speaker 1: Well, you know, it's really interesting you know, you didn't
[8:26] Speaker 1: answer my question why did they fail or how did
[8:28] Speaker 1: they fail? The project?
[8:30] Speaker 2: So so it failed because it lost funding and then
[8:34] Speaker 2: it got really political in terms of ownership.
[8:37] Speaker 1: Now, failures are an amazing thing. A lot of people
[8:40] Speaker 1: can't come back from failure. Failure can cause people deep depression.
[8:45] Speaker 1: You're in another country. Where were your mentors? Who did
[8:48] Speaker 1: you lean on at that dark moment emotionally in your life?
[8:53] Speaker 2: Yeah? I listened to a lot of docdor Miles Munroe.
[8:56] Speaker 2: He read his books. You know, my mentor des who
[9:00] Speaker 2: and the spiritual side guiding me and kind of help
[9:04] Speaker 2: and reassure me that every setback is a stepping zone
[9:07] Speaker 2: for a great comeback, right, And so you know, I
[9:10] Speaker 2: read a lot of Lets Brown, Lisa Nichols, and I
[9:14] Speaker 2: think just filling myself with positivity and really helping to
[9:20] Speaker 2: again redefine how I view failure. I think Opra said
[9:23] Speaker 2: that failure is just life redirecting you. And so in
[9:27] Speaker 2: that moment, I was working towards that project for the
[9:30] Speaker 2: first year and a half and so now I have
[9:33] Speaker 2: six months left and I'm like, I spent so much
[9:35] Speaker 2: time throwing myself into this one thing, and now it's
[9:38] Speaker 2: it didn't succeed, So what am I going to do now?
[9:41] Speaker 2: But it allowed me to really look at malnutrition in
[9:44] Speaker 2: my community and make that pivot. So training mothers are
[9:49] Speaker 2: on developing food kitchen gardens, and so I partnered with
[9:52] Speaker 2: us AID at the time, and we did a whole
[9:55] Speaker 2: training with the health center and we grow fruits and
[9:58] Speaker 2: vegetables and then we went into more ares and did that.
[10:01] Speaker 2: And so my pivot from the library project turned into
[10:04] Speaker 2: something that was much bigger than I expected. Like I
[10:06] Speaker 2: didn't think I would be going to Rwanda do agriculture work,
[10:10] Speaker 2: but that happened to have been the space where I
[10:12] Speaker 2: had the most impact.
[10:13] Speaker 1: Right. You know, really, when you look at life, it's
[10:17] Speaker 1: all about making money the bar, How do you make
[10:20] Speaker 1: money in Labar?
[10:22] Speaker 2: Yes? So, well, I have a nine to five working
[10:26] Speaker 2: within the federal government, but I also have my company
[10:29] Speaker 2: and Power for Greatness where I work with universities. I
[10:33] Speaker 2: work with companies and provide leadership development training to help strugguing.
[10:38] Speaker 1: You extend your dream beyond your nine to five jobs?
[10:43] Speaker 2: Absolutely?
[10:44] Speaker 1: Yes, So you willing to balance and I always tell
[10:46] Speaker 1: people dreams come with hard work. Now how do you balance?
[10:51] Speaker 2: Just you? Yeah? So well, in the day at my job,
[10:57] Speaker 2: but in the evening, I'm I'm writing, you know, developing
[11:01] Speaker 2: my online presence, you know, identifying coaches. I know doctor
[11:05] Speaker 2: Will was one of my coach. I know he was
[11:07] Speaker 2: on your show as well. It's one of my coaches
[11:09] Speaker 2: that I was a part of his his speaking program
[11:11] Speaker 2: to develop my speaking business and develop systems behind the business.
[11:15] Speaker 2: And so I balance it by, you know, trying to
[11:19] Speaker 2: do something every day that's going to allow me to
[11:23] Speaker 2: advance the goals within my company.
[11:27] Speaker 1: You know, it's really interesting that I talk to a
[11:30] Speaker 1: lot of people, and when I talk to individuals like you,
[11:33] Speaker 1: the word conference zone always pop up. I'm talking about
[11:35] Speaker 1: motivational people who lecture people who are transformative, and that's
[11:40] Speaker 1: who you are. You're transformative person who motivates people to
[11:44] Speaker 1: find the best version of themselves. But the work conference zones,
[11:48] Speaker 1: can you tell people what's your view or comfort zone
[11:52] Speaker 1: is and how some people can't get out of that
[11:55] Speaker 1: comfort zone or in other words, get out of their
[11:58] Speaker 1: own way.
[12:00] Speaker 2: Yeah, I think for a lot of people, comfort zone
[12:02] Speaker 2: represents an identity. It's a space of control, it's a
[12:06] Speaker 2: space of operating within the boundaries of your limitations that
[12:12] Speaker 2: kind of empower you to feel like you're doing something.
[12:15] Speaker 2: And so when I think about the comfort zone, it's
[12:17] Speaker 2: really the line that you draw for ourselves of how
[12:22] Speaker 2: far we're going to go. But on the other side
[12:25] Speaker 2: of that, it's scary for many people because when you
[12:30] Speaker 2: give up control, you risk embarrassing yourself, you risk failing,
[12:36] Speaker 2: but you also risk identifying another version of yourself beyond
[12:40] Speaker 2: what you've created around you. And so for me, the
[12:44] Speaker 2: excitement of the unknown has far more potential than the
[12:48] Speaker 2: familiarity of the lines you create in your life. And
[12:52] Speaker 2: every time I step beyond that line, I grew. I
[12:56] Speaker 2: realized new possibilities for myself, and my identity shifts because
[13:02] Speaker 2: I'm no longer limited to the narrative that I once
[13:04] Speaker 2: told myself about what was possible. Wow.
[13:08] Speaker 1: And when you talk about the comfort zone, is that
[13:11] Speaker 1: can people have a good comfort zone or a comfort zone?
[13:14] Speaker 1: It always comes out to me that that's where you
[13:16] Speaker 1: can exhale or you can fail, depending on how much
[13:20] Speaker 1: you allow that comfort zone to control your destiny. That
[13:24] Speaker 1: am I incorrect when I point that negative size of
[13:27] Speaker 1: a comfort zone out or a comfort zone is your
[13:29] Speaker 1: safe space.
[13:31] Speaker 2: I think it's a bit of both. It's your safe space.
[13:33] Speaker 2: I think naturally we all operating with the oun comfort zone.
[13:38] Speaker 2: I think when you wake up in the morning, you
[13:40] Speaker 2: brush your teeth, you know how you put your shoes on,
[13:42] Speaker 2: Like we operate an autopilot at times, and I think
[13:46] Speaker 2: it's normal when you can do things in auto pilot,
[13:49] Speaker 2: when you when you've mastered certain things that you to
[13:52] Speaker 2: the point that you don't have to think about it.
[13:53] Speaker 2: I think it becomes dangerous when it's preventing you from
[13:59] Speaker 2: seeking out more, when it's preventing you from going after
[14:03] Speaker 2: that goal of yours or you know, you know, taking
[14:06] Speaker 2: that action step that's going to advance your life in
[14:09] Speaker 2: another direction. Please don't go anywhere.
[14:12] Speaker 1: We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
[14:15] Speaker 1: No need for you to do me a favor right
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[14:38] Speaker 1: back to Money Making Conversations master Class with me Rashawn
[14:41] Speaker 1: McDonald name I show LeVar is Money Making Conversation master Class.
[14:46] Speaker 1: I'm all about the money and how you make money
[14:48] Speaker 1: and how you can give advice to people so they
[14:51] Speaker 1: can make money. When you say it's a phrase you
[14:54] Speaker 1: have that you say often, purpose is the real currency.
[14:59] Speaker 1: Purpose is the real currency? What does that mean?
[15:04] Speaker 2: When you're operating in your purpose? It allows you to
[15:10] Speaker 2: to really make money. It allows you to add a value.
[15:15] Speaker 2: It helps you to understand what is your worth, what
[15:17] Speaker 2: is your value? And how can you add a value
[15:19] Speaker 2: to the marketplace.
[15:20] Speaker 1: You know, I left IBM, I've worked for Yours post Office.
[15:26] Speaker 1: I've had a lot of corporate Channa Code, Pipeline Company.
[15:30] Speaker 1: So I've worked in the corporate space. I worked in
[15:32] Speaker 1: the fourty hour week space. And one of the things
[15:35] Speaker 1: that I always saw were people who seem to be
[15:39] Speaker 1: in a rut of stuck or afraid to make a
[15:44] Speaker 1: change in your goals of trying to find that motivate
[15:49] Speaker 1: people to find the best of themselves. How can they
[15:53] Speaker 1: unstuck themselves or how can they overcome that fear of
[15:57] Speaker 1: making a change.
[16:00] Speaker 2: So, I think when you look at organizations that have
[16:03] Speaker 2: been afraid to change, they went out of business or
[16:08] Speaker 2: they were not able to keep up with the way
[16:10] Speaker 2: the world is evolving so rapidly. You look at how
[16:13] Speaker 2: AI is drastically changing the world right now. For companies
[16:16] Speaker 2: and individuals who are not adapting or incorporating that into
[16:20] Speaker 2: their day to day, they're falling even further behind. And
[16:24] Speaker 2: so it's getting them to understand how are their goals
[16:28] Speaker 2: continuing to evolve with the changing world around them, and
[16:31] Speaker 2: how are they empowering the people within their organizations to
[16:36] Speaker 2: want to work towards that vision, that to want to
[16:38] Speaker 2: work towards that goal, Like what inspires their employees their
[16:41] Speaker 2: staff to be able to push themselves to the next
[16:45] Speaker 2: level so the organization can get to the next level.
[16:47] Speaker 2: So for leaders who are afraid to change, I think
[16:50] Speaker 2: it's helping them to understand what's the risks of not
[16:53] Speaker 2: of remaining the same, Like what are the pros and cons?
[16:57] Speaker 2: You know, what do they risks? You know, disrupting within
[17:02] Speaker 2: their organization if they if they fail to change.
[17:05] Speaker 1: You know, I'm not saying I'm afraid, but I do
[17:10] Speaker 1: understand change has made me better. But I do know
[17:14] Speaker 1: when I am about to make a change, I'm uncomfortable, LaVar,
[17:18] Speaker 1: and I push past that uncomfortable zone, and I can
[17:24] Speaker 1: understand the challenge a lot better now. I don't know
[17:27] Speaker 1: if I can overcome that challenge, but I do understand it.
[17:30] Speaker 1: And so but I do believe being uncomfortable is a
[17:33] Speaker 1: good thing. What are your thoughts on.
[17:35] Speaker 2: That being uncomfortable is a great thing. I think when
[17:40] Speaker 2: you're uncomfortable, it means that you're doing something m h,
[17:43] Speaker 2: that you're trying and you learn. You learn more about
[17:48] Speaker 2: yourself when you're uncomfortable. I think you become more self
[17:51] Speaker 2: aware and it actually helps with even becoming self actualized
[17:55] Speaker 2: when you could develop that emotional intelligence about huh, when
[17:59] Speaker 2: I'm in this space or this environment, I realize my
[18:01] Speaker 2: heart beats a bit faster in this environment, or when
[18:05] Speaker 2: I'm getting ready to make a certain decision, I feel
[18:09] Speaker 2: this anxiety or anxiousness. So it helps you to really
[18:12] Speaker 2: study yourself and what makes you tick. And I think
[18:15] Speaker 2: when you further understand yourself and that to that extent,
[18:18] Speaker 2: you're able to make better decisions and you're made up.
[18:20] Speaker 2: You become more effective in your leadership.
[18:24] Speaker 1: Was just all about you know. I know that do
[18:26] Speaker 1: you do seminars or do you camps, or do you
[18:29] Speaker 1: do anything online and how can we reach you, LeVar?
[18:33] Speaker 2: Yes, I do seminars. I do webinars as well in
[18:36] Speaker 2: person events, but you can reach me at www dot
[18:39] Speaker 2: LeVar Thomas dot com and there I have different workshops
[18:44] Speaker 2: that I've done. I've done two ted X talks already,
[18:47] Speaker 2: and so I'm always looking for opportunities to get into
[18:50] Speaker 2: organizations to really help them leaders make that shift.
[18:53] Speaker 1: Well, I would like people to show an example. I
[18:55] Speaker 1: would tell people I hate people who just talk and
[18:58] Speaker 1: like I said, tell you how to fix the car,
[19:00] Speaker 1: but they've never fixed a car. You know. They can
[19:02] Speaker 1: tell you how to cook food, but can't cook. So
[19:06] Speaker 1: when you're about it giving advice, can you share a
[19:09] Speaker 1: time when you had to reinvent yourself and what taught
[19:12] Speaker 1: you about and how that taught you about leadership.
[19:15] Speaker 2: Yeah. In twenty eighteen, my father passed away and it
[19:23] Speaker 2: was probably the hardest moment of my life, losing kind
[19:28] Speaker 2: of the main man who taught me so much about
[19:31] Speaker 2: what it meant to lead to serve to be a man.
[19:36] Speaker 2: And I think at that time I lost side of myself.
[19:40] Speaker 2: I was in grad school at the time when I
[19:42] Speaker 2: got the call that his kidneys were shutting down from
[19:45] Speaker 2: my sister, and it was my first day at grad
[19:48] Speaker 2: school and I remember that call very vividly. I was
[19:53] Speaker 2: on a full ride scholarship at Records Camden, and I
[19:58] Speaker 2: realized that I had to to step away and walk
[20:02] Speaker 2: away from the scholarship because I needed to make sure
[20:04] Speaker 2: that LeVar was good and kind of get away from
[20:08] Speaker 2: all the checkboxes things and the degrees at the time.
[20:12] Speaker 2: And so I think during that time I had to
[20:14] Speaker 2: step away. I went into therapy and really try to
[20:18] Speaker 2: rehabilitate myself and to really understand how my life going
[20:22] Speaker 2: forward was going to be the impact that I wanted
[20:24] Speaker 2: to have. And I feel like that moment really helps
[20:30] Speaker 2: solidify my authentic side of things. Being able to just
[20:36] Speaker 2: forgetting what people might have thought about me walking away
[20:39] Speaker 2: from school and taking a step away from my job
[20:41] Speaker 2: and really just rebuilding LeVar. Focusing on family and just
[20:46] Speaker 2: being there for my family taught me so much about leadership,
[20:50] Speaker 2: how to recognize my values, what I stand for, what
[20:54] Speaker 2: I believe in. And then I eventually got back in
[20:57] Speaker 2: the classroom and was able to get another scholarship back
[21:00] Speaker 2: University of Delaware when I got my master's in International business,
[21:03] Speaker 2: and so you know, I felt like it was full
[21:06] Speaker 2: circle for me being able to go through that experience
[21:10] Speaker 2: and really work on myself to be the person that
[21:12] Speaker 2: I am today.
[21:14] Speaker 1: You know you've you've often talked about success beyond money.
[21:22] Speaker 1: I will tell you this, LeVar, I am a guy
[21:24] Speaker 1: who takes my financial success and reincorporated into community through scholarships,
[21:34] Speaker 1: donations and things like that. When I hear success beyond
[21:37] Speaker 1: the money, I need to be educated on exactly what
[21:41] Speaker 1: you're talking about.
[21:43] Speaker 2: Yeah, So when I say success beyond the money, I
[21:47] Speaker 2: think for me, success is three sixty is success in
[21:52] Speaker 2: your health, and success in your family life, success as
[21:56] Speaker 2: a husband or a wife. It goes beyond on that.
[22:00] Speaker 2: And so that like how good is money if you
[22:03] Speaker 2: don't have health? Or how so how good is money
[22:06] Speaker 2: if you're compromising the very relationships that you have in
[22:09] Speaker 2: your life? And so I think it's it's important to
[22:12] Speaker 2: have that balance across the board, and while using money
[22:16] Speaker 2: to create impact, recognizing the areas as well where money
[22:22] Speaker 2: may not be as sufficient, So where time is needed.
[22:25] Speaker 2: You know, when you're investing in those relationships and you're
[22:28] Speaker 2: investing in people. And so when I say you know purpose,
[22:32] Speaker 2: you know it goes beyond the currency of money. That's
[22:35] Speaker 2: what I'm referring.
[22:36] Speaker 1: To, right, because in the end we all know that
[22:40] Speaker 1: it's got to.
[22:41] Speaker 2: Be the rent. Absolutely, try to.
[22:43] Speaker 1: Have money about food and if you're not, we represent
[22:47] Speaker 1: a part of the community. Nobody wants to be in
[22:49] Speaker 1: that homelessness. But you build up. You've been a part
[22:52] Speaker 1: of built movements like Leaders of the Free World. And
[22:55] Speaker 1: when when I say that, does it bring back memories
[22:59] Speaker 1: up for straight shit, because they are. You know, nothing's
[23:02] Speaker 1: easily built. You know, it's always if Plus when you
[23:06] Speaker 1: have an idea, it's never easily welcomed. And so talk
[23:12] Speaker 1: about the process of introducing the concept. Did talk about
[23:16] Speaker 1: the frustration of trying to get this concept off the
[23:21] Speaker 1: ground and then gathering momentum for it to be successful.
[23:26] Speaker 2: Yeah, So when the concept of Leaders of the Free
[23:30] Speaker 2: World came about, I remember I was at a retreat
[23:35] Speaker 2: in Rwanda. It was twenty fifteen, and I had a
[23:39] Speaker 2: vision of wanting to increase the representation of young black
[23:43] Speaker 2: men who travel. I remember I was probably one of
[23:47] Speaker 2: two black men in the Peace Corps of Rwanda overall,
[23:50] Speaker 2: so there wasn't many of us growing up in Brownsville, Brooklyn,
[23:53] Speaker 2: New York. I knew that there were many people who
[23:56] Speaker 2: from our committee that would have never left their job
[23:59] Speaker 2: or even have to meet to go live abroad for
[24:01] Speaker 2: two years of volunteering on two hundred dollars a month.
[24:04] Speaker 2: It wasn't it's still not a reality for people. And
[24:08] Speaker 2: so what the concept of Leaders of the Free World
[24:10] Speaker 2: was to really create an opportunity for young black men
[24:15] Speaker 2: in college to go abroad for two weeks. And so
[24:18] Speaker 2: since twenty sixteen, we've been taking students to Ghana, West Africa,
[24:22] Speaker 2: where we helped them explore different themes in leadership. We
[24:25] Speaker 2: you know, we visit a lot of the cultural sites,
[24:28] Speaker 2: the Ashanti Kingdom in Kumasi, we go to the Cape
[24:31] Speaker 2: Coast Slave Dungeon where they learned about the Transatlantic slave
[24:35] Speaker 2: But something shifts in them when they return and they
[24:38] Speaker 2: see their lives differently in their community differently. And so
[24:42] Speaker 2: in the earlier days, it was always the frustrations of
[24:46] Speaker 2: being asked why black men, why not other people? Why
[24:49] Speaker 2: not everyone? And when it comes to young black men
[24:53] Speaker 2: and international experiences were largely in the one percent category
[24:58] Speaker 2: where you were not represented, and so it was a
[25:01] Speaker 2: lot of frustrations around having to convince people why more
[25:04] Speaker 2: young black men need to travel and what were the
[25:06] Speaker 2: benefits of them From an entrepreneurial standpoint, from a leadership standpoint,
[25:10] Speaker 2: from a personal development standpoint, from an economic standpoint, they're
[25:14] Speaker 2: just much more competitive in the market when you have
[25:18] Speaker 2: global experiences and you're able to translate that into your environment.
[25:21] Speaker 2: And so early on it was a lot of that
[25:25] Speaker 2: having to justify the need for it, and then fundraising.
[25:32] Speaker 2: It's hard for a non process. It's still hard, you know,
[25:36] Speaker 2: and you find yourself feeling like you need to beg
[25:39] Speaker 2: people to give money to with this worthy cause. And
[25:42] Speaker 2: so in that regard, that's why money is so important,
[25:46] Speaker 2: you know, because you don't have to beg so much.
[25:50] Speaker 2: But I think through our strategic partnerships with organizations universities,
[25:53] Speaker 2: we have been able to bridge that gap and you know,
[25:56] Speaker 2: fund our students in the program right one hundred percent.
[26:00] Speaker 2: Those partnerships and collaborations and so over the years, we've
[26:04] Speaker 2: noticed the push for engaging more young black men across
[26:07] Speaker 2: the country, whether it was Obama's My Brother's Keeper initiative,
[26:12] Speaker 2: what took place with George Floyd. He saw a wave
[26:15] Speaker 2: of organizations wanting to invest in missions that were going
[26:18] Speaker 2: to engage when heedse of Color. And so I think
[26:21] Speaker 2: since twenty sixteen, we've had about five different cohorts go
[26:26] Speaker 2: to Ghana and many five students have graduated, they started
[26:30] Speaker 2: their own companies. You know, they're giving back in the
[26:32] Speaker 2: meaningful ways they're traveling, they're launching their own initiatives. And
[26:35] Speaker 2: so I think it keeps me, It keeps me grounded
[26:39] Speaker 2: and inspired to just see how the seats that I've
[26:41] Speaker 2: planted is germinating in such a meaningful way in their lives.
[26:46] Speaker 1: He's the Rwanda Key. I call him that because he
[26:50] Speaker 1: didn't know he was going there the way he thought
[26:52] Speaker 1: he was gonna go when he signed up for the
[26:54] Speaker 1: Police Corps. But I can assure you Rowanda, he went
[27:02] Speaker 1: and every stereotype about Africa that he knew. Do they
[27:07] Speaker 1: have phone, do they have call? Do that road? Will
[27:09] Speaker 1: it be flies? Will they have food? Everything? Because we've
[27:13] Speaker 1: been so fully educated about what the reality is when
[27:17] Speaker 1: you go to places like South Africa. You know, when
[27:20] Speaker 1: you go to places like Rwanda, it is not the
[27:23] Speaker 1: story that you read, It is not the story that
[27:25] Speaker 1: you see in the news. It is something that you
[27:28] Speaker 1: should travel and see for yourself. You will be a mazed.
[27:32] Speaker 1: You understand that clearly we should be telling our own stories,
[27:36] Speaker 1: and the only way you can tell our own story
[27:38] Speaker 1: is to travel and see it for yourself. Lovar Thomas,
[27:41] Speaker 1: thank you for coming on Money Making Conversation, Massaclins.
[27:43] Speaker 2: Brother, Thank you. I really appreciate the opportunity.
[27:47] Speaker 1: To Rwanda kid.
[27:48] Speaker 2: That's right.
[27:49] Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to this episode. No, I need
[27:52] Speaker 1: for you to do me a favor right now to
[27:55] Speaker 1: follow or subscribe to Money Making Conversation. It's free and
[27:59] Speaker 1: you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts,
[28:04] Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. Please do me that favor,
[28:07] Speaker 1: follow a subscribe money Making Conversations. Keep winning.

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