>> I'm Dr.

Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., and this is "The Chavis Chronicles."

>> When you look at our female athletes across the board across leagues, you can see their social influence and impact -- They have been the voices that have helped uplift these leagues.

>> Major funding for "The Chavis Chronicles" is provided by the following.

At Wells Fargo, we continue to look for ways to empower our customers.

We seek broad impact in our communities, and we're proud of the role we play for our customers and the U.S.

economy.

As a company, we are focused on supporting our customers and communities through housing access, small-business growth, financial health, and other community needs.

Together, we want to make a tangible difference in people's lives.

Wells Fargo -- the bank of doing.

American Petroleum Institute -- our members are committed to accelerating safety, environmental, and sustainability progress throughout the natural gas and oil industry.

Learn more -- api.org/apienergyexcellence.

The Reynolds American organization -- on a mission to grow a better tomorrow by building a smokeless world.

Reynolds American -- investing in innovation, people, and manufacturing to grow tomorrow right here in America.

♪♪ >> We're very honored to have one of our nation's leading managers of sports, Danita Johnson, president of D.C.

United.

Welcome to "The Chavis Chronicles."

>> Thank you so much for having me.

>> From Fayetteville, North Carolina.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> How did you first get in general, but now managing sports?

>> Yeah, I think my interest really started at a young age.

You know, it's so important for our youth to have access to sport.

And if I didn't have access to sport at a young age, playing in high school and middle school in that time period in my life, I don't think I would have ever seeked this out, from a career perspective.

>> Okay.

>> And so, for me in sports management, it was really still early on when this was actually a degree that you could get, when I was first starting.

And the ability to go in and study sports and -- You know, I wasn't too sure exactly how it was all gonna pan out.

It worked out well.

>> Right.

>> But the ability to go in and study an area of business that I had a natural connection to is really what encouraged me to go and get my degree in sports management.

>> Passion and education intersected.

>> Yes, absolutely.

>> Tell us about D.C.

United.

>> So, D.C.

United is one of the founding clubs in Major League Soccer.

The club started in 1996, one of the most historic clubs, have won multiple cups over the years.

And what's so beautiful about D.C.

United and Major League Soccer -- It was actually birthed out of the '94 World Cup.

And from that, the league then began.

And so we've been a staple in this marketplace for over -- We just are celebrating our 30th anniversary here in Washington, D.C.

We started at the historic RFK, and now, back in 2018, we opened Audi Field right in the heart of D.C.

And so this stadium that we built -- it's been absolutely amazing.

We host not only D.C.

United -- the Washington Spirit of the NWSL, the DC Defenders from the UFL, as well as Power FC, which is part of the Women's Super League.

So we get an opportunity to host many different sporting events, entertainment, and bring community events and conferences to our stadium.

So it's been really amazing.

>> 40 or 50 years ago, most Americans watched the World Cup on television, but didn't see soccer as a growing sport in America.

A lot of that's changed.

>> Oh, yes.

>> Now soccer is right up with the NFL, Major League Baseball, the NBA.

Why did you choose soccer?

>> Most of my career had been in basketball, so I'd spent so much time in the NBA and a majority of my career in the WNBA.

And I love emerging leagues.

I love the opportunity to truly help something transition from one to the next.

And so when it came to me about this opportunity with D.C.

United and moving I could see what was on the horizon.

And the opportunity to help a league at a growth period was something that really attracted myself to it.

In addition to the global landscape, for once, I was in a league that -- Everywhere else in the world, the leagues were bigger.

You know, they had more presence around the world.

It's the biggest sport in the world.

But in the U.S., it still needed to grow.

>> Right.

>> And I like to create opportunity.

I like to be a part of something that's growing and emerging.

And it was really attractive to me for that.

>> Well, I think you picked the right sport.

>> [ Laughs ] Thank you.

>> 'Cause this definitely has evolved, over the years, particularly now in the United States.

Are there opportunities for women in soccer?

>> Absolutely.

I think there's plenty of space for women in soccer, whether that's on the business front, whether it's on the technical side.

I think there's a place for women in sports, period, that has grown.

And to see more of us in this business and a part -- at different levels, too, not just in the ground level -- leading organizations has been pretty powerful.

And I think, you know, for me, what I want to make sure is that I continue to create those opportunities.

When I look at my leadership team, over half of them are women.

When I look at the young women in our organization and where we started to where we are today, I get to help be a catalyst for change in that.

And I'm super excited to continue to see the growth for women in our business.

>> For people who are watching the show -- men and women, young men and young women -- what do you recommend as a beginning pathway to see sports management as a career?

>> You know, it's really important to get into internship opportunities.

And I know they can be competing in different ways.

So, if it's not necessarily an internship that you start with, volunteering and being around the business, right?

If it's a street team that a local sports team has, if it's volunteering on match nights, just to get exposure to it, I think is helpful to get your foot in the door to then get that internship opportunity.

I think, based on the university that you're at, helping and working with the university system to help from a placement perspective, and every chance that you get, I say go after it, right?

Put yourself in the room.

Go into those opportunities.

Have those conversations.

And the more you do it -- 'Cause I'm a shy one, I used to be a definitely "stand in the corner" when I was 20, 21 years old.

And I was definitely like, "I will talk to one person and move on," right?

But know that, like, those conversations and building genuine connection can really create opportunity for you.

And fear not in that and take that leap of faith.

>> How early could a young person get involved in learning about soccer?

>> I think they can start really early.

We have our camps and clinics programs.

Even if you wanted to help on the coaching side, to volunteer to help coach, the youth in your local community could be your first connection.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> And then as you get into your college age, the opportunity for the internship then becomes part of it.

So I think there's many opportunities to start early.

You know, when you're looking at your first job when you're 16 and trying to figure out where, do you go and work at the local parks and rec?

Right?

Does that start that catalyst for change for you there?

So I think very early on, you can start in those opportunities and really learn to grow your career.

>> In some of the major league sports, there's a debate about whether or not the women athletes are compensated in an equitable way with the male athletes.

Tell me what's happening in soccer on that question.

>> A few years ago, you probably saw with the U.S.

Women's National Team their fight for equal pay.

>> Yeah.

>> I think there has been a lot of change on the horizon for that, obviously.

And what they were awarded within that settlement I think has been great for women in soccer and women across sports as a whole.

I think what you're seeing more than anything and what -- I always talk about the basis of this conversation for women, it's about equal share, not just the pay, because the media-rights deal play a big piece into how -- media rights, sponsorship pay a big piece into how money is actually shared amongst athletes and the players within leagues.

And so a lot of what you hear is really centered around equal share, right?

What's the share that they get based off the deals, the visibility that's been created for these leagues?

And I think that is where the foundation of our argument for our women comes to, is that they are helping to create the catalyst to change.

And when you look at our female athletes across the board, across leagues, you can see their social influence and impact.

They have been the voices that have helped uplift these leagues beyond just action.

Their platforms, their reach, their ability to really let people into their stories and find out about them and who they are and share that across social platforms and digital platforms has really attracted so many people to become fans of them beyond just play.

And then you have the play on top of it, and they're playing at the highest level.

The competition is there.

The storylines are there.

That's why it's spoken about on ESPN and other platforms in new ways.

And so I think there's so many opportunities for growth.

But how do they get equal pay and what that equal share is off of what they're helping to build?

>> I noticed in your bio there was a reference to We Are the Women.

>> Yeah.

>> Explain that.

>> So, many years ago I was challenged -- and this is before the WNBA that you see in front of you today -- was how do we grow our audience?

How do we help put women at the forefront?

And more than anything at that time -- now Crypto.com -- was, how do we sell out Staples Center and just do something that was very different?

And we were able to do that.

And it was about an eight-month project of telling and sharing the stories of women within our community.

It became a rally cry for us of not only doing programming for women business leaders and entrepreneurs, but also for young girls.

So, we had a We Are Women platform and a We Are Girls platform that through the LA Sparks at that time, helped to share their stories and really develop a full-day event.

But there was multiple touch points that led to that.

But that was done through communication, building off of each other, and really bringing something to life.

>> So, you've witnessed firsthand some superstars among women.

>> Yes.

>> And of course, everybody is focused right now on Angel Reese and the WNBA.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> But tell us, these women superstars -- do you see that helping to be transformative, how people see women in general, but particularly women in sports?

>> Absolutely.

I talk about the inspiration.

It's expanding now 'cause there's more teams, but I always used to talk about the 144.

I say it in almost most of my interviews.

The women of the WNBA have made me who I am.

And so when I think about that and what it's created, these women are powerful.

And them showing what they can do within business is an inspiration to the young women around this country and the world.

And the more that they create access and break barriers, I think it's a great representation for other young women to know that they can and for our young men to also see the respect and support that they can do for women in these communities.

And it's been beautiful to watch.

I think about the emerging leagues that are coming, the spaces that are created, the digital platforms they've created.

Their voices are powerful and they mean business and they're worth every penny.

>> Thank you so much, Danita Johnson, sports manager extraordinaire.

>> Thank you.

>> President of D.C.

United.

Thank you for joining "The Chavis Chronicles."

>> Thank you for having me.

>> The communities that we serve need all of the encouragement to approach financial institutions like us and like others because money is a very important topic, not just in today's climate, but in the future.

And generational wealth has to get better for us.

♪♪ >> We welcome to "The Chavis Chronicles" Todd McDonald, chairman of the National Bankers Association and president of Liberty Bank.

Brother McDonald, welcome.

>> Thank you.

Thank you for having me on your show today.

>> So, Liberty Bank -- I believe you're the largest African American-owned bank in America today.

>> Yes, that's correct.

>> How many states are you located in?

>> 11 states, headquartered out of New Orleans, Louisiana.

>> And you're a New Orleans native?

>> Yes, sir, I am.

I am.

>> And you come from a banking family?

>> Yes, that's correct.

My father, along with Dr.

Norman C. Francis, started Liberty in 1972 right here in New Orleans.

>> As chair of the National Bankers Association, give us a kind of overview of how -- Black-owned banking, African American-owned banking, from an industry perspective, across the nation.

>> So, we're all putting our heads together to develop large partnerships.

And so with lending to small businesses and individuals for first time home-buying programs or debt-consolidation programs, we all partner with large corporations, small corporations to deploy the capital so that small businesses, for instance, can execute on contracts that they've received.

And so we're all looking at ourselves in a fashion of, "We need to hit these opportunities as a sector and not individually."

And so we do a lot of work together.

I actually have a call with many of the CEOs later on this afternoon.

We have a call on a monthly basis.

And, you know, this was very important for the connectivity amongst ourselves and others, especially during COVID, because a lot of the world did not know what was taking place and how things were gonna be deployed in order to get us through it.

And so a lot of strong relationships have been made through the National Bankers Association -- and not just amongst the Black banks.

It's majority-owned banks, as well.

And we are just learning from each other in a very big way.

I used to go to some of the conferences with my dad when I was little, and a lot of times, you kind of operated in isolated environments.

You didn't really do a lot of collaboration back then.

Now that's totally different.

"Collaboration" is the key word now today.

>> What would you say today are the top three priorities of the National Bankers Association?

>> So, growth, adoption of technology, and managing delinquencies.

And so those three are very important.

Growth is because you have to -- if you're a bank and a financial institution, you have to grow to start to absorb some of these additional costs that are coming our way through cybersecurity, through technology.

And those come with some pretty big price tags.

And so the more money you make is really connected to how long you're gonna be comfortably in business.

The second thing, the adoption technology, ties right into that.

A lot of our institutions we don't have hundreds of thousands of employees.

And so sometimes we miss opportunities to adopt technology just because we don't have the capacity or bandwidth.

And so what we're focusing on now are providing structure for group adoption.

So, we had a presentation at our previous conference where one company came in and you had seven banks to raise their hand.

And so now we're ironing out the contract.

But with us all going about it at the same time, we can compare notes, understand what's working in our institutions, what's not, and that will just help us adopt things faster.

And then the third thing is managing delinquency.

So, as I mentioned earlier, a lot of us are starting to experience higher delinquency rates just due to the economy.

And it's not a Black or white or purple, green, or gold thing.

It's the U.S.

economy.

And so a lot of banks, as you saw with the regional banks, are starting to reserve more because everyone is expecting to get hit with some write-downs and some write-offs.

And so those three focus points are essential to the NBA at this time.

>> How do you see technology impacting the expansion and growth of the banking industry today?

>> Well, it's expanding -- it's expanding it in a really good way because no longer do you not have access to money.

And so when you look at traditional communities, especially in underserved communities, you had predatory lenders that kind of fulfilled banking needs in some of those communities.

And so with those predatory lenders, they charge, you know, 400% interest rates, when you look at the fees and interests associated with those products.

Now an individual in a community that has no physical presence of a bank or financial institution can definitely use his or her cellphone to make those transactions.

While you can't do that with cash, a lot of industries are moving away from cash, so it should only get better.

>> Do you see an increase in entrepreneurship, or is it kind of flat?

>> I definitely see an increase.

I think exposure to technology is allowing a lot of companies, smaller companies, to get bigger opportunities.

You know, we have a relationship with an extremely large technology provider, and we provide funding to small businesses that support their supply chain.

And so I think the access to information, access to where a small business can plug in and play within a large corporation is probably better than ever.

And so the increase is there -- and then also the transition.

I see a lot of mature businesses selling to the younger generation.

And so those transfer of assets are gonna be a really big part in connecting the wealth gap just in the U.S.

in general.

>> And the extent to which those businesses are African American or Native American or Asian American or Latino American-owned is the extent to which one could measure the economic viability of these communities.

From your perspective as chairman of the National Bankers Association, do you see this growth in entrepreneurs being a sign that things are gonna be brighter over the years?

>> Yeah, we're, you know, processing things day by day.

A lot of changes have taken place.

I'm sure a lot of changes will take place going forward.

We are all positioning ourselves position when those changes take place.

A lot of us have combed through our long portfolios to understand who is a government worker, you know, how many mortgages do we have out to government employees, how many, you know, consumer loans do we have out to this segment.

We are looking at our portfolio of loans to doctors and their practices.

And with the different changes in healthcare and how things are paid, how is that gonna affect them?

And so no one has a crystal ball.

However, we are trying to move in a way that is responsible, that is caring because, one, if you have someone that lost a job, we have to show up.

We don't, you know, show up knocking on doors trying to, you know, kick people while they're down.

But at the same time, we have businesses.

We are for-profit entities, and we have federal regulators.

And so it makes it -- I'm not gonna say difficult, but it makes it a little challenging when, on one side, things are moving really fast, but yet on the regulatory side and in other constraints are moving very slow.

So it puts us sort of right in the middle.

And we tried to communicate different concerns, different trends that we see in our markets with government leadership as well as regulatory leadership, just so that everyone understands what levers are being pulled and the effects that they have.

>> How is Liberty Bank situated in terms of the community itself?

Do people see Liberty as a community-service institution?

Or do they see it as just another big bank in town?

>> Definitely see us as a community institution.

You know, we hear, especially in New Orleans -- People sometimes don't even know about our growth.

And so we're not connected to a large, big-bank environment, which is good because a lot of times that can, you know, come across a certain kind of way in our community.

And the communities that we serve need all of the encouragement to approach financial institutions like us and like others -- because money is a very important topic, not just in today's climate, but in the future.

And generational wealth has to get better for us, not just the African American community, but the community as a whole.

And so we are looked upon as a community partner in many instances.

>> I know that Liberty Bank also has some association with some of the historically Black colleges and universities.

Tell us how important you think these institutions are to the community at large, but also to the banking community from your perspective.

>> Extremely important.

I'm a graduate of Morehouse College.

My wife is a graduate of Dillard University.

You know, the founding chair of our board, Dr.

Norman C. Francis, used to run Xavier University here in New Orleans.

Very important institutions across the country.

And my experience at the college molded me and basically exposed me to a lot of different environments from across the country and even around the world.

And that exposure allowed me to think bigger than you know, me coming from a high school in New Orleans and not really having friends or real relationships with people from across the world.

And it's a breeding ground for innovation.

It's a breeding ground for collaboration.

And all of these organizations and schools are very, very, very important.

And even the president has acknowledged the importance of HBCUs in teaching segments of our country the importance of education and how to apply that into the job market.

>> Todd McDonald, thank you so much for joining "The Chavis Chronicles."

>> My pleasure.

Thank you for having me.

>> For more information about "The Chavis Chronicles" and our guests, visit our website at TheChavisChronicles.com.

Also, follow us on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.

Major funding for "The Chavis Chronicles" is provided by the following.

At Wells Fargo, we continue to look for ways to empower our customers.

We seek broad impact in our communities, and we're proud of the role we play for our customers and the U.S.

economy.

As a company, we are focused on supporting our customers and communities through housing access, small-business growth, financial health, and other community needs.

Together, we want to make a tangible difference in people's lives.

Wells Fargo -- the bank of doing.

American Petroleum Institute -- our members are committed to accelerating safety, environmental, and sustainability progress throughout the natural gas and oil industry.

Learn more -- api.org/apienergyexcellence.

The Reynolds American organization -- on a mission to grow a better tomorrow by building a smokeless world.

Reynolds American is investing in innovation, people, and manufacturing to grow tomorrow right here in America.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪