Brown Ambition

This week on Brown Buzz, Mandi Money is breaking down the headlines shaping our money, careers, culture, and everyday lives. First up, LeBron James’s reported $15 million partnership with Polymarket raises questions about the growing popularity of prediction markets and how these platforms are marketed to people who may already feel financially behind. Mandi explains how prediction markets work, why the line between trading and gambling deserves a closer look, and what you should know about protecting your money if you use these apps.
Then, Mandi celebrates some major Black business wins, including Carol’s Daughter founder Lisa Price returning to an ownership role in the brand she built from her Brooklyn kitchen. She also dives into the Ebony Power 100 list and shares a reminder for anyone who has ever felt overlooked: someone else’s recognition is not evidence that your work is small.
Plus, Mandi breaks down what rising home heating costs could mean for your winter budget, gives CultureCon founder Imani Ellis her flowers for responding to attendee feedback, and celebrates authors Tayari Jones and Julie Leung for their literary accomplishments.

In this episode, we discuss:
LeBron James and the prediction market boom: What Polymarket is, how these platforms work, and why celebrity endorsements can make risky financial products feel more legitimate.

When betting gets dressed up as investing: The potential risks of prediction markets, crypto security concerns, and why these apps should never be treated as a savings plan or side hustle.

Lisa Price and the return to Carol’s Daughter: What her return to an ownership role means for the founder of a pioneering Black beauty brand and the legacy she built.

The Ebony Power 100 list: Celebrating Black excellence without allowing industry awards and recognition to determine your sense of accomplishment.

Winter heating costs: What projected increases in home heating expenses could mean for your household budget, plus practical ways to reduce energy costs.

CultureCon and founder accountability: Why Mandi is giving Imani Ellis and her team credit for listening to attendee feedback and making changes.

A Brown Boost for Black and women authors: Celebrating Tayari Jones’s literary achievement with Kin and Julie Leung’s work as a children's book author.

Resources and reminders:
If you use prediction market apps, enable two-factor authentication, use unique passwords, and never keep rent money or emergency savings in a betting account.

Explore ways to lower your winter energy bills, including weatherstripping doors and windows, sealing drafts, and improving attic insulation.

Remember: your work matters even when the spotlight hasn't found you yet.

Listener question CTA
Have a money or career question for a future Brown Buzz? Email brownambitionpodcast@gmail.com or send a DM to @brownambitionpodcast.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What happens when you grow up knowing what it feels like to not have enough money?
For La La Anthony, that feeling became part of the fuel behind her ambition. Raised by a single mom, La La learned early that she wanted to build a life where she could take care of herself and never have to feel guilty about asking for money. That independent spirit eventually took her from an unpaid radio internship at 16 to a career spanning radio, acting, producing, entrepreneurship, fashion, and philanthropy.
In this episode of Brown Ambition, Mandi Money sits down with La La to talk about the money lessons she had to learn the hard way, from spending her first paychecks on things that made her look successful to negotiating an $80,000 salary at just 18 without a lawyer or agent. La La gets candid about what it took to understand her worth, why she believes you have to stay involved in your finances even when you have financial professionals managing your money, and why asking questions is a critical part of becoming financially literate.
Mandi and La La also talk about building wealth as a Black entrepreneur, the importance of access and capital for Black and brown founders, and La La's growing interest in supporting innovative businesses. Plus, La La opens up about raising her son Kiyan to understand the importance of paying attention to his money from a young age, and the ongoing challenge of learning how to balance a relentless work ethic with rest, family, and actually enjoying the life she's worked so hard to build.
In this episode, we get into:
• How growing up without much money shaped La La's entrepreneurial spirit
• The lessons she learned from her first paychecks and early money mistakes
• Why knowing your worth matters when negotiating your salary and contracts
• The importance of being actively involved in your finances, even when you have a financial team
• Why financial literacy also means being willing to admit what you don't know
• Supporting Black and brown founders who don't have easy access to startup capital
• Teaching the next generation about saving, investing, and financial responsibility
• The tension between ambition, work ethic, motherhood, and making time to actually live
• Learning to give yourself grace when you're figuring it all out
La La's biggest money lesson? Give yourself grace. None of us get a roadmap for being an entrepreneur, a parent, an employee, or simply trying to build a life that feels good. We're all learning as we go.
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This week on Brown Buzz, we’re cutting through the headlines and getting into the stories that affect our money, careers, and lives.
First, Mandi discusses the allegations involving Cornell and LSU, why Title IX is not the same thing as a criminal investigation, and what students and survivors should know if they want to explore a report to law enforcement.
TW: From 02:21 - 11:05 this episode includes discussion of SA.
Then, we get practical:
• The career skill employers say matters most in an AI-powered workplace
• Why more buyers are considering adjustable-rate mortgages—and the questions to ask before you sign
• A listener inherits more than $100,000 from her great-aunt: Should she pay debt, save it, invest it, or spend a little to honor her aunt?
• Why $100,000 invested at a hypothetical 7% annual return could grow to nearly $1.5 million over 40 years, before taxes, fees, inflation, or investment volatility
Plus, Mandi gives Alexis Nikole Nelson—the Black Forager—her Brown Boost after Alexis’s cookbook, Happy Snacking, Don’t Die!, lands on the New York Times bestseller list.
In this episode
• Cornell and LSU: What the reporting raises about campus accountability and Title IX
• How a Title IX process differs from reporting to campus or local police
• RAINN resources for support and reporting options
• IBM’s survey on critical thinking and discernment in the AI workplace
• Fixed-rate mortgages vs. adjustable-rate mortgages
• How to handle a $100,000 inheritance without rushing into a decision
• Emergency funds, high-interest debt, investing, and getting flat-fee financial advice
• Brown Boost: Alexis Nikole Nelson, the Black Forager
Resources mentioned
• RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline: 800-656-HOPE (4673)
• RAINN: rainn.org
• Alexis Nikole Nelson / The Black Forager: Happy Snacking, Don’t Die!
• Listen to Mandi’s interview with Alexis Nikole Nelson in the previous Brown Ambition episode.
Listener question CTA
Have a money or career question for a future Brown Buzz? Email brownambitionpodcast@gmail.com or send a DM to @brownambitionpodcast.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What happens when the thing that makes you feel most like yourself doesn’t fit neatly into the version of success you were raised to pursue?
For Alexis Nikole Nelson, aka The Black Forager, that question has shaped nearly every chapter of her life. From growing up as a curious, outdoorsy kid who learned about plants in her mother’s garden to studying environmental science and theater, working in marketing, and eventually building a community of millions around her love of foraging, Alexis has never really fit into just one box. And that’s exactly the point.
In this episode, Alexis joins Brown Ambition to talk about building a life and business that makes room for all of her interests, identities, and curiosities. She shares how her mother introduced her to foraging as a child, why she initially kept her love of plants and the outdoors to herself, and what it took to stop suppressing the parts of herself that didn’t fit other people’s expectations of Blackness, femininity, or success.
Mandi and Alexis also get into the less whimsical side of turning a passion into a business, from navigating taxes and forming an LLC to saying no to brand deals, managing burnout, and learning how to treat your creativity like a business without losing the joy that made you love it in the first place. They also talk about connecting with Black ancestry through food and the land, the importance of curiosity in adulthood, and why getting to know the world around us can make our lives feel a little more magical.
In this episode, we get into:
Growing up with a mother who was a Black corporate leader and finding connection with her through gardening and the outdoors

How Alexis discovered foraging at five years old and never really stopped being curious about plants

The pressure to pursue a traditional, “successful” career and what happened when Alexis realized environmental engineering wasn’t for her

Going from environmental science and theater to marketing and eventually becoming a full-time creator

Why Alexis chose the name Black Forager and the importance of making Blackness visible in spaces where it hasn’t always been expected

Challenging narrow ideas about Black femininity, identity, hobbies, and what Black people are “supposed” to be interested in

Finding a deeper connection to Black history and ancestry through plants, gardening, and the land

The complicated history of Black people and the outdoors and what it means to reclaim those spaces

What happens when your hobby becomes your livelihood, including burnout and the pressure to always create

Building a business around your personality without losing yourself in the process

Why curiosity is a muscle we have to keep exercising, especially as adults

Making everyday life more magical by getting to know the natural world around us

Giving yourself permission to be playful, weird, creative, and fully yourself

Alexis’ new cookbook, Happy Snacking, Don’t Die, and the community that helped bring it to life

Plus, Alexis shares a few beginner-friendly foraging tips, the plant she thinks we should stop calling a weed, why we might want to rethink our relationship with black walnuts, and her official ranking of some very whimsical activities.
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Brown Buzz is back! Mandi breaks down the Nikole Hannah-Jones school-choice debate, the latest in the Nolan Wells case, why the AI job apocalypse may be more complicated than it sounds, and what SAVE borrowers need to do now.
In this episode
• Nikole Hannah-Jones, school segregation, and the emotional cost of impossible parenting choices
• Why repair and accountability matter after harm
• The latest in the Nolan Wells case
• The AI “boomerang” trend and how to strengthen your career resilience
• What SAVE borrowers need to do now
• Kennedy Ryan’s major adaptation news
BA Fam action steps
• Parents: Review what your child is bringing home from school, ask questions, document concerns, and organize with other families when systems are not meeting students’ needs.
• Workers: Update your résumé with business outcomes, build fluency with the AI tools relevant to your industry.
• SAVE borrowers: Check your StudentAid.gov and loan-servicer accounts, find your individual transition deadline, compare repayment options, and submit an application before that deadline.
RESOURCES:
Explore federal income-driven repayment options
SAVE-plan transition information
🎁 FREE LINK to "In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own? By Nikole Hannah-Jones
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