Teri Williams (00:00)

There was a need to provide financial services to the black community, and I really didn't see ⁓ it being done. We ultimately realized that we had to actually own the bank in order to do it. When I went from Indian Town to Brown, ⁓ I became embarrassed or ashamed of my roots. Think technology first and think about how we can promote ourselves, how we can do business and leverage.

technology. AI is good and I would like our community to run towards it. Don't be dissuaded, don't be hoodwinked into thinking that it is not good. There's this ⁓ there's this myth out there ⁓ that we're not good with money. We don't have a spending problem. We don't have a money management problem. We have a problem with discrimination. Your job is what you're paid for. Your calling is what you're made

I am a a promoter of education, recognizing that it is an investment that needs to have a return and that the return on investment needs to make sense because you got into this great school sh that doesn't mean you should necessarily go. But when they try to sh shush me or when they say something negative or you know, I I I realize that it

You know, it's their issue, it's their problem, it's not mine.

Erin Braxton (01:38)

Hey everyone, welcome to the Coffee No Cream Podcast. My name is Erin Braxton, and I am the host of Coffee No Cream. Here on Coffee No Cream, we are unapologetically dedicated to Black women and we share what I like to call Coffee No Cream moments, those things that happen to us black women in business and in life just because we are Black women. Now, today I have Teri Williams. She's the chief operating officer of One United Bank. They are the largest Black-owned bank in the country.

Teri talks about her journey to Ivy League institutions. She went to Brown, she went to Harvard. She talks to moving with moving with grace in corporate environments. She talks about why she stepped away from American Express as the youngest vice president, youngest black vice president to become ⁓ an owner of a black bank. And it's just really interesting. And we learn more about One United, which is very impressive. So

Before we get into it, guys, I just want to ask that you please like, please share, please subscribe to the podcast if you like what you're hearing. If you like what you're seeing, hit the subscribe button, hit the hype button, share it with somebody. leave me a comment for sure, because I'd love to engage with you guys in the comments. We have the Facebook group, the link is below. what else? We've got the free resources tool, coffee no cream.com forward slash free. And yeah.

I think that is it. So let's just get into the episode. So welcome Teri. How are you today?

Teri Williams (03:11)

Good Erin. How are you?

Erin Braxton (03:13)

I'm really

good. I'm super excited to be here. And I just want to start it off by asking you a question. ⁓ you walked away from American Express to take over a struggling bank, if I'm not incorrect. And most people would call that crazy. what did you see that nobody else saw when you you made that move?

Teri Williams (03:39)

Hmm. I no, that's a good question. I have to think back. I think that the main thing that I saw was that there was a need to provide financial services to the black community, and I really didn't see ⁓ it being done. ⁓ actually we tried to partner with some banks.

to offer services directly to the black community and we couldn't get any bank to partner with us. ⁓ so we ultimately realized that we had to actually own the bank in order to do it.

Erin Braxton (04:22)

Okay. So when you say we tried what

Teri Williams (04:26)

Yes.

Yes. So I had a business partner. He's now my husband. ⁓ we both own the bank together and we've been business partners. ⁓ and we've been married for over thirty years. ⁓ so yes, it was the two of us. he had worked at Solomon Brothers, he was working at Solomon Brothers at the time, I was at American Express. but yeah, we realized that

You know, in order to do what we wanted to do, ⁓ which was to lift up the black community and focus specifically on, you know, economic well being, ⁓ banking, financial services, that in order to do that we actually had to own a bank.

Erin Braxton (05:06)

Wow. Wow. Okay. So, ⁓ what year was that?

Teri Williams (05:13)

ninety five. ⁓

Erin Braxton (05:15)

I think Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, that's amazing. And ⁓ this has always been I like so 'cause I've looked at, you know, I was like, sh do I need to get a bank account with them? Like do I need to open a bank account with them? So ⁓ tell us a little bit about your journey though, okay, 'cause I know you've got the Ivy League background. ⁓ I wanna know more. I want people to know who Teri is, where Teri came from, how Teri got to be the owner of a bank.

Teri Williams (05:47)

So it's funny you would ask that question the way you did because usually I would answer that question or for years by giving my resume. ⁓ but what I realized in my in my fifties, so a little too old to have realized this, ⁓ that I am who I am because of my great grandmother. ⁓

Erin Braxton (06:07)

Uh-huh.

Teri Williams (06:08)

We called her Ma Honey, you know, everybody else called her Miss Honey. Her name was Annie Coachman. And she owned a penny candy store where I used to work, ⁓ a barbecue pit where she sold barbecue, a juke joint, ⁓ where I learned how to yep, play pool, and a bunch of rental apartments. And I used to follow her around to collect rent.

So she owned these businesses on the black side of town in this small town called Indian Town, Florida, in Booker Park. And really since I was born, I mean, she owned that those businesses for way before before my before I was born, ⁓ in the forties. And so my whole life, you know, I was raised

in the entrepreneurial community. I didn't think of her that way. I didn't think of her as a businesswoman. You know, I just thought of her as my great grandmother. ⁓ but I realized that when I went from Indian Town to Brown, ⁓ I became embarrassed or ashamed of my roots. And I buried

Erin Braxton (07:15)

Yeah.

Teri Williams (07:17)

her and my whole upbringing, the first seventeen years of my life. You know, I buried ⁓ and started to give credit to my success, to Brown University, majoring in economics and Harvard Business School and all this stuff. And and now as I have aged and really have really thought my the origins of my of my success, I realize it was my great grandmother.

Erin Braxton (07:45)

I love that. because we've talked about on the podcast how black women were the most educated. ⁓ you know, we hold all of these degrees and certifications and we put so much emphasis on them and it's a beautiful, wonderful thing. ⁓ but we're more than that, right? And when I was ⁓ I recently did an episode because I think that

As we try to navigate what's going on right now politically. We're trying to figure out, you know, when we're losing our jobs, if we try to go get another corporate job, we're trying to stay so, you know, hard and true to what it is we were trained to do, educated to do. There's other facets of us. We were and I talked about how my father, I live in St. Louis, grew up in St. Louis and my dad's eighty-two.

And when we drive around Saint Louis, he's pointing out what used to be here and what used to be there and this abandoned building and that abandoned building. And I just wish I could have seen it. All all the black businesses that were there, and then white flight happened, and then black folks moved out to the suburbs and you know, we don't have those businesses anymore. So we were doing all of the things before, you know. Black Wall Street

Teri Williams (09:09)

Yep. And that's yeah.

Erin Braxton (09:12)

All of

the things, all of the things. So, but yeah, maybe talk about that because I'm sure you you you see like so many businesses and you know, now my whole thing is everybody's a consultant, right? I consult too, like I say this and I'm laughing at myself, but I also have, you know, rental property and other things, but you know

What what are you seeing? Like what are you seeing like these epiphanies that ⁓ black people are having, black business owners, things like that when it comes to maybe stepping away from corporate? I don't know. Like I'm I'm curious to what you s what you see.

Teri Williams (09:50)

Yeah.

Yeah, I think, you know, we sort of are going in two ⁓ different directions. I do think that we recognize that corporate America or government jobs carry a risk. ⁓ I think we thought of them as safe jobs and being an entrepreneur as being risky. but we're now realizing that you know, there's a risk to that path as well. Sure. And so yeah, and so

So a lot of us are, you know, whether it's you know doing something on the side or you know leaving our our corporate our quote safe jobs and and starting businesses or even acquiring businesses, which you know I I definitely you know promote. I think we're starting to see those avenues as as being

you know, more fulfilling, you know, and maybe even more secure. So that's that's one path that that we're seeing. And we're seeing it with the huge, you know, increase in new businesses that has happened since the pandemic, particularly in the black community, but also with women and just across the board. I think the other thing is that we're also seeing the importance of technology. ⁓ so, you know, when I think of my my great grandmother and her businesses, if she had only had social

media.

Erin Braxton (11:17)

Right.

Teri Williams (11:17)

You

know, people used to come from like West Palm Beach and drive all the way to Indian town to get a barbecue. But if she had had social media, she would have had people from Miami, you know, she would have had people from all over. ⁓ yeah. Yeah. So I think we're starting to recognize that, you know, with our businesses, I don't care whether they're brick and mortar or whether they're, you know, consulting or, you know, what they are, that we really need to think technology first.

and think about how we can promote ourselves, how we can do business and leverage technology. So those are the things that I see are happening in our community.

Erin Braxton (12:00)

I love that you said that 'cause I've been on this whole like self promotion, self promotion thing. And it's hard, I think, for black women to self promote because in so many instances we've been diminished and I talk about my journey and

you know, I I the things that I've done are amazing, but I don't see them as amazing. I just see them as regular and, you know, mediocre maybe white men just are willing to promote themselves so loudly and so strongly. And I talk about using technology, using AI to extract the value of what it is you bring to the table as opposed to I do this task, I do this task, I do this task.

Yeah, we all know we can do tasks, but what is the value that you bring to the table so you can start to charge for that value? So I did get some feedback about AI is bad, ⁓ this is bad for black people. What do you say about that?

Teri Williams (13:00)

Yeah, I say the opposite. Actually AI is good and I would like our community to run towards it. ⁓ it is a new technology, which means that we have the benefit of starting in the same place as the rest of the world. You know, today no one knows how to best use AI. So we can be first movers. ⁓ I you know, the bank, we we just introduced a program called Wise One and and it's

uses AI to be a personal financial assistant for you in your pocket. You know, you can talk to it about your finances. And it it all remains within the bank. It doesn't go out into, you know, the stratosphere to train other, you know, ⁓ agents. it stays within the bank, but it does use AI to give you insights into your money and help you make better decisions. So we

We sh you know, and you could find that at oneunite.com slash wise one. I want to say that because if if ⁓ your listeners are interested, but ⁓ we really want our community to embrace AI and and don't be dissuaded, don't be hoodwinked into thinking that it is not good. Now you know what I will say is that it does matter who is

building the services. You know, when we were building Wise One, you know, we built it for our community. We built it in a way so that everyone can benefit. And so it does matter, you know, sort of who built the agents, for lack of a better term. but the actual tool itself is incredibly powerful and we should run to it.

Erin Braxton (14:52)

Yeah, I agree. ⁓ so let's get into finances because I've been I've been waiting for somebody, financial to get a financial expert and not say you're a financial expert, but you do own a bank, so I'm assuming you have some expertise there. ⁓ when it comes to black women, what do you think the biggest financial mistakes that we're making are right now?

Teri Williams (15:19)

So first of all I I want to start with the financial wins ⁓ before I get to the mistakes. ⁓ Okay. Because there's this ⁓ there's this myth out there ⁓ that we're not good with money. And that's the opposite from what is true. that is untrue. We are actually very good with money. There have been all kinds of studies on this that need to get a lot more attention.

in fact I think the Federal Reserve in St. Louis did one of the studies. And and what it shows is that, you know, if we and I'm gonna say it in layman's terms, if we were paid the same for the work that we did as others, there would be no wealth gap. So it's not us.

We don't have a spending problem, we don't have a money management problem, we have a problem with discrimination.

Erin Braxton (16:23)

Yeah.

Teri Williams (16:24)

So, you know, that's the first thing is not to sort of blame ourselves for where we are. we actually have d made a lot of progress, you know, as I call it, made a dollar out of fifteen cents. You know, we're we're more educated, we're more entrepreneurial. I mean, there there's so many things that we've accomplished even with the barriers. So I think that's the first thing is to recognize is that we are actually good with money.

Erin Braxton (16:52)

Mm-hmm.

Teri Williams (16:53)

I think the second thing is that the things that we've done, you know, whether it's figuring out how to make a dollar stretch further, whether it's, you know, saving and putting, you know, money away for family and giving to family and and and ⁓ church and other organizations to help our community. Those are the same things that are now being done by others.

You know, a lot of folks, you know, that don't look like us, you know, were as I call it, born on third base and think they hit a triple. And Yeah. And so things were always, you know, going well for them. They, you know, went to school in some cases, didn't go to school, got good jobs, made enough money to buy a home, send their kids, you know, take vacations and all that kind of stuff. Whereas we have always had to struggle.

Erin Braxton (17:32)

I love that.

Teri Williams (17:51)

Well now the world is struggling. You know, a lot of Americans are struggling. And we know how to persevere through a struggle. You know, we know how to pivot. We know how to figure out how do I succeed in this environment. So I do want to start with that because I I think sometimes we focus ⁓ first and sometimes only on our challenges as opposed to our assets. ⁓ but

When I get to one of the things we could do better, I would say save, save, save. And save automatically. You know, and I say this to everyone, you know, I don't care what race or gender or whatever. particularly Americans, because we're we're not as good at it as other parts of the world. ⁓ but you really need to set up an automatic savings account.

so that money goes, you know, basically directly into your savings account and not into your pocket. If it goes into your pocket, you're and when I say pocket, I mean like into your checking account, into your spending account, into your physical pocket. If it goes into your pocket, you're more likely to spend it. And so putting it away, I can guarantee you you're not gonna miss it.

Erin Braxton (19:05)

Yeah.

Teri Williams (19:11)

You know, you're just not gonna miss it. You're gonna spend all the money that went into your pocket, but the money that went into your savings account you're not gonna miss. And then you're gonna look up, you know, ⁓ six months from now, a year from now.

and say, my gosh, I now have, you know, this emergency fund, I now have this vacation fund. I now have enough to invest. You know, I now have, you know, some some savings. And, you know, it is ⁓ true that most Americans do not have enough savings. So that's one of the things that I think

you know, I I I I'll I guess I can call it a mistake, but I think it's more that I would just recommend we make this change and set up an automatic savings account.

Erin Braxton (19:59)

What do you say you talked about this a little bit, I guess, with saving and you talked about

we're able to make, you know, like stretch, you know, ⁓ make a dollar out of fi fifteen cents stretch that money that we're getting. You talked about the the wealth gap and us not being able to make the money. We're not on par with ⁓ other groups. But let's talk about the difference between building wealth and building income because a lot of us confuse the two. A lot of us think if we just make more money, we would

we would be better off. But you know, my dad always told me it's not about how much you make, it's about how much you can keep. And yeah. So, talk about that.

Teri Williams (20:48)

So yes, it's you know, I I I'm glad you brought this up and there is a big difference between income and wealth. ⁓ and you could have someone that doesn't have a lot of income but has tremendous wealth. You know, we hear about them all the time, you know, the janitor that left a million dollars, you know, or ⁓ so it is possible to have low income and build wealth. it is also possible to have a lot of income and not be wealthy. And again, you hear about that where, you know, whether it's

athletes or ⁓ celebrities who you know have to file bankruptcy. you know one of the things that I say to everyone is, you know, don't try to keep up with the Joneses or the Kardashians. Don't look at your neighbor and say, I want to do what they do. Because you what you can see are their assets but you can't see their liabilities. You can't see the loans that they, you know, took out in order

to have the things that you're seeing. And it is really important for, you know, for all of us to be in tune with our finances, to budget, to not overspend, to spend within our means, and again I get back to setting up that automatic savings account. What I'd also say is when you think about wealth, you know, don't think about it, well maybe I'll say it differently. Think about the purpose of wealth.

You know, you're not building wealth just to have it. Just like you're not building a savings account just to have a savings account. You're building it with a purpose in mind. And that goes back to what is your purpose? You know, what is your purpose on this earth? You know? What are the things that you want to accomplish? Is it starting a business? Is it starting a family? Is it you know what it you know, is it you know

rising up in corporate America. I mean, what is your purpose? And use your your savings and your wealth to ⁓ to promote, to foster, to support that purpose.

Erin Braxton (22:58)

Yeah, you're talking about keeping up with the Joneses. I'm in Texas right now. ⁓ I live in St. Louis. I'm had to go to my friends. Kids are like my god kids graduation in Dallas. Then I drove to Houston where I am right now. Mm-hmm. And I lived in Texas. I lived in Dallas for eleven years and I was younger, right? But when I come back here now, like everything is just so over the top. It is just and you're just looking around like is it possible

Teri Williams (23:22)

Crazy.

Erin Braxton (23:28)

That all these people have this much money. Because I remember a girl told me when I interned here years ago. She's like, people here don't have more money. They're just more flashy. You know? And I was just like, yes, they are. Everything is over the top. And you can get so bamboozled and and stress yourself out looking at because here everybody has everything. You know what I'm saying? Like these

Houses are insane. It's like this many people have this much money and they just happen to live in this state. This is crazy. So I I I like what you're saying about keeping up with the Joneses because I'm just looking around. Like I just was telling a girlfriend of mine was going through a separation and she's gotten into a smaller home and she she wants to upgrade it, and I'm just like

Why do you want to upgrade it? You know? Do you wanna take on all the debt and ⁓ the money to operate a big home in Texas and run these big electric bills and to run, you know, to get the pool like all the things, you know? No shade to anybody who wants that. You know what I'm saying? But it is I think you you definitely affected because here everybody is just very much trying to keep up, you know? And I think certain cities are are are like that.

Teri Williams (24:45)

I think I

Erin Braxton (24:55)

You know, and you might find yourself in those environments.

Teri Williams (24:57)

And

it it's also even for the people that have those things, it is expensive and sometimes hard to keep up, even with themselves. and yeah, I say, you know, same thing, you know, no shade to those that have, you know, worked hard and accomplished a lot to you know to build, you know, all of that. I I just say be careful about

emulating them and really figuring out, you know, your own path. Wait right, what you want. Yeah you know, I remember when I got out of college I I moved to New York and I lived in ⁓ Bedsty, you know, shout out to Bedsty. and I remember visiting a friend who ⁓ good friend who lived in Memphis, Tennessee.

And she had this beautiful house with a pool and it was just, you know, a wonderful ⁓ home. And I, on the other hand, was living in this, you know, rinky dink, you know, apartment in Bedside.

Erin Braxton (26:05)

Padsta, yeah.

Teri Williams (26:05)

But

yeah, yeah. And it was like the contrast between the two. ⁓ but yet I I lived in New York 'cause I had a purpose. I wanted to learn. I was at the time I was working for Bank of America. I wanted that experience before I went to business school, you know. I you know, worked at America, you know, so I I was there for a purpose and I I did. I was happy for her, but I knew that my path was different. And so it is important for you know for for everyone

Okay.

Erin Braxton (26:43)

It's so important and I think we measure ourselves by other people's success. And yeah, so it's just like I can look at it at my age, you know, and be like, this is lovely. I love it. I'm gonna come visit you in that big house with the pool. But I'm not gonna have one. I've never wanted that for myself. Like I would rather I would rather travel, you know, with

My money and even if, you know, I I won the lottery tomorrow, I just don't wanna be bothered, I don't think. You know, I say that, I don't think. I'm you know. But ⁓ yeah, yeah, I think ⁓ yeah, we're very it's it's it we can get caught up for sure. We can get caught up for sure.

Teri Williams (27:27)

And I think the ⁓ the pandemic ⁓ really ignited ⁓ an interest in travel, you know, once we you know, sort of once we got out of it. particularly for young people. You know, I see young people traveling the world and and yeah, that that's their that gives them joy, you know, as opposed to, yeah, maybe a house with a pool.

Erin Braxton (27:52)

yeah, I mean, I'm not so young, but after the pandemic I was on I was on the move. Like I was in I was in Asia, I was in Europe, I was in South America. And it was just because at that time those opportunities were put in front of me and people were ready to go. I never attributed it to the pandemic though, but that's a because as soon as I I think I met some friends and ⁓ we met in Paris

And we all came back with COVID. You know. So that was just you know, COVID was still very much a thing, but I think everybody was so just itching to to get out. But but we all have different interests, you know, like people have different hobbies and it may be weird or it may not be what you would do, but I think that's what makes us like all so interesting.

Teri Williams (28:42)

Well let me let me also can I just add something to what we were just talking about. You know, because one of the th other things I see in terms of success is is people actually following their passion. You know, and I I s I say this particularly for young people. there was this saying, I'm gonna see if I can find it. The your job is what you're paid for. Your calling is what you're made for.

Erin Braxton (29:12)

Mm-hmm. Yep. So I just talked about it. Do you, like do you, you know? ⁓

Teri Williams (29:16)

Yeah exactly.

So

and I you know and I would say that you are going to be more successful if you follow your calling. Yes. ⁓ because it's gonna be really hard for you to compete with someone who

Erin Braxton (29:29)

God.

Teri Williams (29:37)

It's their calling. If you're just doing it for money and you're just on the grind doing it for money, you're just not gonna be as good as someone who like really loves what they do and gets up every morning. Like I do. I get up every morning like, my gosh, you know, I love what I do. Like I'm not gonna be able to compete with that person. So Yeah I yeah, I love that. I someone said it and I like, Wow, I I have to I have to share that.

Erin Braxton (30:05)

Tell us what you do. Tell us what you do then. Tell us what you do.

Teri Williams (30:09)

So

so yes. So I first of all I live in Boston, Miami and LA, which is where we have offices. And ⁓ but we are also a digital bank. Ninety percent of our customers come to us online.

So in those offices we have like in in Boston as an example, we have our IT team who's actually builds the platforms and you know the uses AI and builds all the services that we offer digitally. You know, in Miami we have our creative team, our social media team, and our call center who services our customers who call us from all over the country. And our creative team, we actually we have our artists in residence and we have a great social team, we have a creative director.

We have like so all the things that if you go to you know oneunite.com or you follow us on social media, all of the creative, all the that the wonderful card designs we have all come out of Miami and that creative team.

And then in LA we have our lending team, we have our finance team. We also have a call center in LA. So we have East Coast, West Coast, so we cover the entire country. ⁓ so I travel between our offices. ⁓ I love, you know, Boston, Miami and LA. and I also feel that it's important for us to embrace

⁓ growth outside of our individual location. ⁓ what technology has allowed us to do is to become the largest black owned bank because of our digital platform, because we attract people from all over the country. And you know, I was on a Zoom call with some black folks in Alaska. You know, there's Alaska Black Chamber of Commerce and ⁓ yeah. And so we we're everywhere and it's important for

our businesses to to you know recognize that you know we're we're bigger than any particular city or or location.

Erin Braxton (32:18)

I just wanna ask you about the lending, because I I recently finished the Goldman Sachs Ten Thousand Small Businesses cohort. Yeah, yeah. That was a l it was a lot, you know, but we we did have ⁓ they did a a a nice unit on lending and things like that. And ⁓ a lot of times I think as black business owners, as small business owners, if you have a small business that

you there are no options for you when it comes to lending or building your credit as a small business or if your credit isn't where you want it to be. So how does one united ⁓ support small business? Yeah.

Teri Williams (33:06)

Yeah.

So first of all, you you you said the magic word credit. ⁓ I add credit score to that as well. and one of the things that we focus on is helping people improve their credit score. ⁓ and we have a variety of programs to do that. We have a secured credit card. We have something called Cash Please. It's a sh short term small dollar loan ⁓ that you can get from us without a credit check. And the great thing about it is

that it reports to the credit bureau and so by paying that loan back you you you build your credit. so our focus really has you know starts with helping people build their credit score. Because what sometimes people don't understand is they say, okay I have this business over here

And I'm over here. But it's like no, ⁓ if you go to a bank, they are actually going to look at your individual credit score as well as the business. So that's one thing that we do to help businesses. the other thing that we do is we actually have a partnership with lendistry. think of dentistry, it's lendistry and Lendistry, okay. Yep, and they're black fintech, ⁓ black black owned fintech. ⁓ that provide

small business loans. ⁓ Their criteria though is you need to be in business for at least two years. Of course you need to be profitable ⁓ and you need to have you know decent credit. ⁓

But we partner with them because what we have found is it you know small business lending is not our expertise, so we needed to partner someone who it is their expertise. You know, our focus for lending is on real estate secured lending, you know, specifically home loans, multifamily loans, ⁓ but in terms of business loans, that's where we partner with lenders tree. And even on that, I would say, you know, one of the things that

you know, a lot of small business owners need to ⁓ understand is ⁓ bank lending isn't for startups. You know, people come to me and they say, Hey, I have this idea. And I'm like, Well if it's an idea and it's a startup, you know, that's really not a bank loan. A bank lends money to businesses that have cash flow. Now you can get a loan possibly to buy a business if it has cash flow.

Okay. You know, and in fact that's one of the areas I think we need to ⁓ focus on more is bu are buying existing businesses. Especially given what's happening with, you know, baby boomers aging out. You know, they have all these businesses that they've been running that need to be passed on to the next generation. And they could be anything from, you know, barbershops to menu f you know, small manufacturers to to to you know, big companies. But we need

to focus on acquiring businesses. And if you do, there's a possibility that you can finance that acquisition with a bank loan if that business has ⁓ cash flow.

Erin Braxton (36:24)

Okay. Okay. Yeah, thanks for saying that. ⁓ I know everybody is always thinking about starting a business. You hear more about that. But acquiring a business, if you can do it, I think a lot of people, ⁓ even me who who I've had this current business for thirteen years, but I would be like, ⁓ I can't afford that. I can't afford to acquire another business. And you don't think about now that I've I've been around for a while, you're just like you realize

Everybody has debt in their business. You need debt to grow. Right. And a lot of times we think it's such a bad thing and debt can actually be a good thing. Yes. I'm learning. I'm learning. ⁓ yeah. Okay. So I wanna pivot the conversation. I wanna talk about Brown and I wanna talk about Harvard because we talk about education a lot as black women. ⁓ we talk about being overly educated. ⁓ we talk about that. And I wanna get your take on

education in general, advanced degrees, but I also want to talk about what you feel or what you know being in the Ivy League realm has gotten you. You know what I'm saying? Because you know, I have friends have gone to Ivy and I feel like, yeah, it's great networking. Like it's amazing networking. But I'm I I wanna ask you, since you're sitting here and you've got that

that background. So what do you say about ⁓ black women right now and our education and how we're just I think sometimes education is a beautiful thing, I think, for those who want it and it's definitely necessary. ⁓ but sometimes I think because we're trying to overcompensate, I think a lot. ⁓ I'm that's just my opinion. I'm not you you have yours. So I I just want to get your take on it.

Teri Williams (38:17)

So first of all I am a a promoter of education in general. ⁓ however I really think that ⁓ the right education depends

Erin Braxton (38:26)

Mm-hmm.

Teri Williams (38:34)

on on you. ⁓ you know, I I'm a big supporter of HBCUs. You know, I do see Ivy League schools as providing a great education. ⁓ but there are also some really great state schools. You know, UMass is a great state school. You know, all the you know, California schools are, you know, great. ⁓ in and in Florida, you know, there's ⁓ you know, University of Central Florida, there's you know, there's Fam U, there's you know, there's so many

options. I think it really what's more important is to find the right fit. and I mean, you know, education wise and culturally

⁓ I had a challenge going from Indian town to Brown. Not with the academics, but with the cultural shift, you know, to Ivy League. they they now do a better job of of helping, you know, what what they call first gen so people I was the first person in my, you know, immediate family to go to college and so they, you know, they do a better job there. But I think, you know, part of it is finding the right fit. ⁓ I think the other thing is to

unlike when we went to school, you really do need to do the math. You know, and I I say that because ⁓ when we went to school the cost of of education was much less. I'm gonna y use numbers. You know, when I went to Brown, the tuition was seven thousand dollars a year. And when I left Brown, I made fifteen thousand dollars a year.

Erin Braxton (40:11)

Cheers.

Teri Williams (40:18)

Today the cost of tuition is seventy or eighty thousand dollars. So ten times what it was when I went to college. People are not leaving school making a hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand. So really

the the math doesn't completely add up. Now that doesn't mean that you won't benefit, you know, throughout your lifetime. but what it does mean is that you have to be very careful about how you go about it. And I you know, what I have seen is people going to state schools 'cause they're less expensive.

finishing more quickly as opposed to taking the four or sometimes five years trying to do it in three so that they can save money. HBCUs are really good value ⁓ for your money. ⁓ you can always go to a you know a different ⁓ grad school. You can go to Ivy League grad school. You don't have to go to Ivy League undergrad. or you could not go to Ivy League at all.

So I I think it's really ⁓ recognizing that it is an investment that needs to have a return and that the return on investment needs to make sense.

Erin Braxton (41:40)

Yeah, no, it's good the g yeah. My ⁓ I guess my my god niece nephew, one of 'em's going to San Diego State and one of 'em's staying in Dallas. He got an opportunity to go to Baylor, but it's ninety thousand dollars a year. So he he w he's a smart kid. He's like, I don't want that debt. I don't want that debt. His sister's like, I'll take it. She wants to go off and have an adventure, you know? And that's that was me.

But yeah, it's ⁓ that's a lot of money. It's a lot of money.

Teri Williams (42:15)

And and and student loan debt, you know, as I'm sure you know is like the highest it's ever been. And you you can't get rid of it. You know, it's it's it's you know, unlike other debt where you can, ⁓ whether it's, you know, I hate to say file bankruptcy or work out some you know, some terms that make it easier for you to pay back. You know, student loans are you know, are with you for, you know, in some cases, you know, for

So yeah, you just have to be careful and and not just run, you know, to something that again it goes back to you know keeping up with the Joneses, you know, because you got into this great school sh that doesn't mean you should necessarily go. yeah.

Erin Braxton (43:05)

Yeah.

All right. I wanna talk about when you left. You said you were making fifteen thousand dollars a year.

Teri Williams (43:11)

Yeah, after ⁓ after college.

Erin Braxton (43:14)

Okay.

I don't know I don't know what year that was. Yeah, but I I when I left college I was making twenty two thousand and that was in nineteen ninety six. so yeah, I was that wasn't all yeah, that was a struggle. but I wanna talk about your experience in corporate America because you were clearly successful in corporate America. Clearly. ⁓

Teri Williams (43:24)

Yeah. ⁓

Erin Braxton (43:40)

But a lot of black women are not successful in corporate America. We are dealing with things and perhaps you dealt with those same things and ⁓ you were able to navigate without it affecting I don't know. You know, so I wanna talk about your experience 'cause we talk a lot about the microaggressions, the things that happen to black women that cause depression and anxiety and all of the things, the stress, ⁓ the Monday scaries, all of the things. So how was it for you? ⁓

When you left to go to Bank of America.

Teri Williams (44:13)

So I I loved my jobs, ⁓ whether it was Bank of America or American Express. ⁓ and part of ⁓ though me loving the jobs was that I was very careful about the choice of the companies I joined.

You know, I was faced with a decision and I'm gonna talk about American Express more. I was faced with a decision in in business school where I could have gone to work for a consulting firm or an investment bank or ⁓ American Express and some other corporations. And I chose MX because I thought it would be fun.

that I would enjoy it, doing marketing, you know, being creative. And and I didn't want to go to an environment that where I felt like I had to be someone other than myself. So I you know, the first thing I would say is choose wisely. You know, same same issue. I mean, investment banks, consulting firms were offering more money.

In fact today I probably would have been would have made more money if I had taken that route. But I decided that I wanted to do something that was more consistent with who I was and and really, you know, sort of took the lower salary, took, you know, what would could be perceived as the lower or the less, you know trajectory excuse me. ⁓ because I wanted to do something that where I felt comfortable. So that's number one.

The second is ⁓ I got some really good advice from my mentor at the time, which was ⁓ Ken Chenault. He ended up becoming the CEO, but at the time he was like VP of strategic planning. ⁓ and he told me to go where there are problems. Go where there are problems. ⁓ and the way he described it is if you go to an area in a corporation that's doing really well

And it continues to do well, people are not going to give you any credit for that because it is it's they expect it to do well. Whereas if you go to an area where there's a problem and you fix the problem, then you'll get credit for that. And then you'll be able to shine, that people will be able to see you, you'll have more visibility because there was a problem that now has been fixed.

And it was really good advice, which is what I did. I went to as opposed to going to the card division, which was, you know, exciting and everyone wanted to work in card, I went to the traveler's check division, which, you know, doesn't even exist today. Like you're not. They're not. ⁓ it was a mature product. ⁓

Erin Braxton (47:00)

Are they still around?

Teri Williams (47:09)

And I went and you know, with mature products, you what you what do you do? You basically use them as a cash cow, which means you need to reduce the cost so you can make more money that you could then invest in your growth businesses, which was the card business. So I went in and figured out how to save millions of dollars. So I think that's the other thing is that you know we need to not

Not always go to the areas that are glamorous or that, you know, feel like, okay, this is the place to be. Yeah. But actually look in a c look into a corpor look in a corporation for the areas that need to be, quote, fixed or better managed where you could make a difference.

Erin Braxton (48:00)

So is that how you became the youngest VP? Did you go in? Yes, okay. Yeah.

Teri Williams (48:05)

It is how I became the youngest VP, yeah.

Erin Braxton (48:08)

Yeah. So and then you left and then you started okay. But so I I love I love that actually being the problem solver is really what you're saying. So ⁓ did you experience, on that journey any any issues as a black woman? I mean you I mean I'm assuming you had to and because there are

black women who don't want to start their own thing. Everybody shouldn't start their own thing. Corporate is the way for a lot of people. And when learning how to navigate those corporate waters, and I like what you said 'cause we've talked about this. I I'm saying a lot of things like I like this, I like this. And you talked about making sure you were careful about the companies that you went to. We've talked about that. Vetting them, you know, researching the company. So

First let me ask you about that and then I'll come back and ask you about ⁓ just navigating as a black woman. Probably I'm not sure if you were the only, one of the only ⁓ how that felt. but clearly you're a smart woman, you're an intelligent woman. That advice that Ken gave you was that was that was some good advice.

Teri Williams (49:28)

Yeah. And it doesn't mean that it's, you know, gonna be a bed of roses. I mean, yes, I I definitely you know, the the way I would describe it is sort of that feeling you have when you walk into the room and you are the only one. And and yes, that that happen happened and happens to this day a lot. Sure. ⁓

Erin Braxton (49:44)

huh.

Teri Williams (49:58)

I I this is one where I have to sort of lean on my great grandmother, you know. ⁓ and the way she walked through the world, ⁓ was like she owned it. And because of that, you know, I just walk into a room like I own it and I I di I just don't know any other way. ⁓ you know, I remember when I was in business school and you know, one of my black friends pulled me aside and said

⁓ you know, Teri, you may want to tone down ⁓ your comments. ⁓ because at at Harvard, you know, fifty percent of your grade is class participation and fifty percent is the exam. So you're always participating, but she, you know, said, Hey, you may wanna tone down your comments which I thought was like, you know, a weird thing to say. And she says, Well, I think you're making some of the

basically white guys ⁓ uncomfortable. I was like and ⁓ I thought about it just as I, you know, I listened to all feedback, and and, you know, talk to other people about it. And, you know, one of the things that someone said to me that, you know, really stuck with me is that, you know, they may not like you, but they will respect you.

Erin Braxton (51:21)

Yeah. Yeah.

Teri Williams (51:23)

And

⁓ they also ended up liking me as well. ⁓ but you know, I think it's important for us to show up in our full selves, like we own the room, ⁓ and to share, ⁓ not not not in a boastful way or not in an arrogant way, but really in a giving way, share our thoughts.

To solve the problems. I mean, that's all business is is solving problems. I mean, I you know, I say okay, you should go, you know, solve problems. That's all business is. If a business isn't solving problems, it's not going to be successful. So you go into these rooms and there's a problem. Otherwise, you're not meeting. You're meeting is a problem. Okay, what can you contribute to solving it? And just focus on that first.

Not, you know, the fact that you're the only person or that someone might be insulted that you even spoke or that you're even there. Who cares? Just, you know, be your full self and basically and don't don't talk just to be talking or basically share your thoughts on how to solve the problem.

Erin Braxton (52:35)

huh.

So when somebody tries to diminish you, who tr somebody tries to shush you, somebody tries to not give you your opportunity, somebody tries to take your idea. I mean there's all these are all the things that have come up, right? Take credit.

H you you navigate that by by what? You know, just showing up with confidence, grace. Okay.

Teri Williams (53:06)

Grace. Absolute grace. I you know, yes. I I even to this day, you know, I get the shush or I get the you know, or the comments. Like probably to this podcast, someone's gonna say something, you know. Right, of course. yes, yes, yes. ⁓ and I you know, I I I don't let the tone bother me. I try to focus on the words and whether or not it's constructive.

You know, but I in terms of the tone, I always respond with grace because you know, I think tone says more about them than it does me. You know, so when they try to sh shush me or when they

say something negative or you know, I I I realize that it's you know, it's their issue, it's their problem, it's not mine. And and I and I do feel I don't just respond with grace. I feel I feel for their pain. I I you know, I actually do ⁓ care that whatever pain they've experienced in their life

which is coming out to me in a negative way, I'm sorry about. I I really am. So it's not even like a phony grace. I actually do feel graceful ⁓ towards ⁓ graceful you know, not grateful but graceful towards that individual because it it to me it does say more about them than it it does me.

Erin Braxton (54:39)

That takes that's like growth. I mean, that is like I mean, especially to some of our younger viewers, it is it is hard. And when I was younger, that was not me. I don't even I I'm better now. But I'm just saying that that is hard. I feel like ⁓ but I love that. I love that. ⁓ and just getting your your mind in that space to be able to

Engage in that way because it's not it's not gonna go away. You're not gonna change people, you're not gonna change who they are. ⁓ but I

Teri Williams (55:16)

Let me let me say you do change them. So I that actually I I I disagree. I think you do change them. ⁓ by showing grace, you do change them. because you know people keep hitting. If someone's not hitting back, they eventually exhale. And and it y you see them change. I see them change all the time. You know? I mean people have come up to me, you know, and said, I thought this and now I see you know

I see that. Or I was raised to think, you know, whatever, black people weren't, you know, as good as, and now, you know, through you I see that's not the case. So everything I've been taught is is not true. I mean, I've seen that I've I experienced that over and over again. So yes, you do ch you do change. I mean not everybody and you know, but you do change a lot of people. And and you also don't ingest that negativity.

You know, you don't make it like you know, that that you don't ingest their pain. And that is healthy for y you know, for you, for us.

You know, I I don't I don't have to accept your definition of me. You know. That and that's getting back to my honey. That's why it was such a ha a ha moment for me. I was like, my gosh, I ingested this pain. When I got to Brown and you all made me feel ashamed of being from Indiatown, I actually ingested that and I need to throw that back up because I'm proud of my great grandmother. I'm proud of, you know, my roots. And so I I I really

And and at the same time, I don't I'm not mad at them for making me feel how they made me feel. You know, I I'm not mad at them. I you know, I look now and I I don't have any hard feelings about it. I just am not going to digest it. So I think that's the other thing. By showing them grace, you are do not digest their negativity.

Erin Braxton (57:19)

Yeah, and what I think I I what I meant is by going after them with that, you know, if they come at you with this, you you go back at them with that. You're not gonna change them with that, right? You know, I've had some crazy stuff said to me and you're just like, ⁓ why do you think that? Why do you say I don't ever I'm not gonna engage, I'm not gonna go toe to toe with you.

on that because you're not changing anybody's mind. In fact you're feeding into it, right? So

Teri Williams (57:51)

Yeah. Yes, yes. And I I agree with you. I agree.

Erin Braxton (57:55)

Yeah.

So I love but I love your calm approach. I love your graceful approach. That's that's because a lot of us we don't wanna be confrontational. And I think sometimes when things happen to us, I know for me in my past and you're just like you're trying to determine, whoa, what was that? You know, was that what I thought that was? Am I crazy? ⁓ you know, trying to figure out how to handle a situation. So I like

the approach that you have. ⁓

Teri Williams (58:29)

No,

you're not crazy, first of all. I wanna say that

Erin Braxton (58:33)

And

I I think that's been the beauty of this podcast. I think a lot of us have felt that way because sometimes it's so subtle. It's just like

Teri Williams (58:43)

Yes.

Erin Braxton (58:45)

What I thought, but and especially when you is at the beauty of you you went from India town to Indian town to Brown, you were in these spaces and a lot of us when we go to work, especially if you go from you know, where you're from to maybe you go to an HBCU and then you get into the corporate environment, that's your first time being in

these white spaces so tough. So you got a little probably come up ins and some some education in college, you know. So so we've been talking for a while. I wanna give you an opportunity to talk about the bank and 'cause honestly I think I'm gonna just when we get off this call later today or tomorrow, go open up my own bank account there. ⁓ 'cause I want a place.

You know what I'm saying? And I've always in my one of my friends and I have always talked about we've talked about your bank as well. Like sh we need to open up bank accounts. So tell us what we need to know as black women, what what we need to know about your bank and why it's important for us to invest our money there and and and be a part of One United. Yeah.

Teri Williams (1:00:03)

we're first starting with it is a bank. And I say that because there are a lot of fintechs out there, but One United Bank is FDIC insured ⁓ financial institution. So it it is a bank. ⁓

Erin Braxton (1:00:14)

And explain FinTech really quick to people who don't know so they

Teri Williams (1:00:18)

Yeah. So there are a lot of technology companies that offer financial services, but they're not a bank. And the difference between the two is that they're not regulated. You know, they don't have regulators coming in once a year to you know, make sure that everything is safe and sound and

And that your privacy is protected and all of that. So ⁓ that's the difference is that we are regulated and everything that you see on our website or if you come into a branch or that I even tell you today is one hundred percent accurate. One you know, one thousand percent accurate. because otherwise, you know, the regulators would come in and say, you know, you can't do that. ⁓ whereas the fintechs don't have that regulatory body. and you

your deposit is FDIC insured. So again, put your money with a fintech, you know, may not be. In the case of a bank, it is. So that's number one. ⁓ the second is for One United, we are a dig a digital bank as well as a brick and mortar. So you can go into a branch but you can also open up an account online in minutes. You can directly deposit your paycheck of which we will give you your money two days early.

Or up to two days early, I should say. So we'll we'll as soon as we know what your deposit is, we will give it to you. You know, someone just asked me the other day, well how do you do that? And I'm like, well, you know, the question is why don't other why don't other banks do it? 'Cause they they know what you're getting and so why don't they make it available to you? They and in a lot of cases they actually get it and then they hold it till Friday. So we we do give it to you as soon as we you know as soon as we get it.

as soon as we yes are notified that the deposit is coming. the other is that we we offer services that, you know, no other bank offers. We have the largest surcharge free ATM network than any other bank in the country.

Erin Braxton (1:02:18)

Just about

to ask you about that.

Teri Williams (1:02:20)

Yes,

you can get money out of seven eleven, Walgreens. You can go to a Chase Bank branch, a Citibank branch, and if you are a customer of One United, take money out with no fee. We have we have the largest surcharge-free ATM network of any other bank in the country. And the reason is we recognize that for our community, those three dollars and fifty cents or four dollars, in some cases five dollars add up.

Erin Braxton (1:02:34)

Wow. Okay.

Teri Williams (1:02:50)

So and we also know that a lot of ⁓ our community is in a ⁓ a banking desert. So they are going into a seven eleven or Walgreens to get cash. And so we wanted to make sure that you know our customers have access to their money ⁓ for no fee. We also have ⁓

something called cash please is a short term small dollar loan because again we see in our community a lot of check cashers, payday lenders, and charging three, four hundred percent for you to get a loan. So with our cash please which charges twenty-one percent, I think it's twenty-two percent actually. Twenty yes, twenty-two percent. ⁓ you can get a short term small dollar loan without a credit check.

You know, you do have to bank with us for a while, so you can't just come in and get it. But if you do bank with us for a while, you become eligible for that short-term small dollar loan. And the other great thing about it is that with check cashers, they only report to the bureau if you don't pay them. So they can only hurt your credit. We actually report to the bureaus when you pay us, so it can improve your credit.

So that's another you know, again, what we do is we look at banking rules and we figure out ways to use them to our benefit. We

Let's see what you know what else can I tell you? Our our focus, we have financial literacy is our focus. We just introduced WISE One. It will give you a personal financial coach that will be in your pocket 247. It will look at your finances, it will tell you, you know, who's over billing you, you know, who's dup double billing you, you know, you know, whether or not your bills are going up, you know, and if for to a particular ⁓ merchant. ⁓ it will tell you, you know, how many no spend days you have.

have you know that's the one I love and say ⁓ last week you had five no spend days you know yeah exactly I mean yeah exactly and so ⁓ but it's a it's a great tool it does use AI

for good. Uses AI for good. it helps you better understand your money. It can tell you how to pay down your debt, how to improve your credit score. And you can talk to it. It's not, you know, as we say, we speak human, not bank. You know, we don't throw in a bunch of acronyms and try to make it hard for you to, you know, understand what's going on with your money. You know, it'll tell you, okay, you need to, you know, reduce your spending 'cause you're about to overdraw, you know, or or you're about

to you know run out of money. I mean it it just gives you in plain speak you know this is another good one a lot of us you know we get family members to ask us for money it's a common theme in our community you know can I borrow because they look at us and they say you got it you know ⁓ well all you have to do is ask wise one what can I afford to lend

Erin Braxton (1:05:51)

Uh-huh, huh.

or lose.

Teri Williams (1:06:02)

Well, that's the other thing. Yes. That's the other thing. ⁓ but it you know, and we have a whole bunch of information about, you know, sort of lending giving family members ⁓ money. so it you know, we really do deal with the things that are going on in our community. ⁓ but the biggest thing is trust. You know, it what w we're trying to do is to help us trust each other.

You know, 'cause that's one of the things that's missing in our community is there's a lack of trust. You know, when we were all there living on, you know, I'll call it the black side of town, we knew everybody, we went into businesses, we you know, we we had a a community. But as you know, we've moved out and become integrated, you know, we have

you know, when we were growing up we used to hear the saying that their ice is colder. You know, my kids when I say that, they look at me like I'm crazy. But I was like, no, when we were younger, it was like if you had a choice between a white doctor and a black doctor, you went to the white doctor. You think about that. You know, that black doctor has had to get, you know, work harder. They they've had to do more in order to be successful.

You know, we know we gotta work twice as hard, you know, to get the same amount of credit. But yet we still don't trust that we're gonna get, you know, the the best care, the best services ⁓ from our businesses. And I we're A plus rated Better Business Bureau. You know, you look at our reviews, we get great reviews for our customer service.

So you're you are going to be ⁓ in a great place if you bank with us. ⁓ and and I would say that's true of all the black banks. I'm a I'm a big promoter of all. There's nineteen of us. And you know, there there's a bank in your community and if there isn't, you know, come to One United, go to oneUnited dot com and open up a an account with One United.

Erin Braxton (1:08:03)

Mm.

I love that. One one question. You guys have Zell, right? No? Okay. Okay. Okay.

Teri Williams (1:08:19)

No won't. No. For a reason. ⁓

so we ⁓ we do you can use Cash App, Venmo, you can use Apple Pay, all that kind of stuff. The only service we don't offer that people do talk about is Zell. And the reason is that we and I I I wanna say no shade to ju to Zell, but I

It probably is shade. ⁓ we just found the fraud to be too much.

Erin Braxton (1:08:53)

Okay, understood. Well, I heard and I don't know this, but I heard that the the banks that came together to create Zell I was to their benefit. I don't know. Like I haven't researched Zell. I do use it a lot, so that's why I asked because everything you've said is fantastic.

Teri Williams (1:09:16)

Yes. So what we've have found and there you know, I think Zell is getting better. It used to, you know, they're they're improving, but we've just found a lot of our customers have had negative experiences with Zell. And so ⁓ for us it yeah, we have stayed away from it. But we do we do offer something called money moves. ⁓

So in addition to Cash App, Venmo and all the other stuff, we offer something called money moves where you can pay someone who has, you know, any of the ⁓

In other words, it's agnostic. You you can pay someone with us without them having Venmo Cash App or any of those. You just send them the money directly and it goes into and they it uses their phone and can goes directly into their bank account. So we do have money moves. and the only thing we don't have is Zell. And for for intentionally.

Erin Braxton (1:10:20)

Well, we appreciate that. I did not yep. Well, Teri, thank you so much for coming on. I mean, this has been a great conversation. ⁓ everyone, they can go to one, tell us where we can find you, the bank.

Teri Williams (1:10:35)

Yep, you can go to one united, o n e united dot com. That's where you can find the bank. You can also find us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok. ⁓ you can also check out our podcast, which is about my great grandmother, it's called Who's Your Ma Honey? And you can find that on YouTube. ⁓

And you can learn more about my journey, ⁓ as well as my co-host, Suzanne McDowell. we call ourselves the Honeys, ⁓ in in honor of my great-grandmother. ⁓ but thank you for having me. My daughter's name is Erin. Erin

Erin Braxton (1:11:11)

Yes,

I have a sister named Erica, so it's the E

Teri Williams (1:11:16)

⁓ yes, yes. Yeah, yeah.

Erin Braxton (1:11:22)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I like my name very much. ⁓

Good name, good name. Well, thank you so much, Teri. This has been wonderful. I think I think the viewers are gonna really enjoy this one, so

Teri Williams (1:11:36)

Thank you for having me.

Erin Braxton (1:11:38)

Thank you. All right guys, thank you so much and we will see you in the next one.