And welcome and good eveni.

You've got more than money.

You've got Jean Dickinson,r host, your personal financl visor and happy to be withu again.

This evening, it's still a challenging world out ther.

Lots of progress being mad.

There's no question about .

Tens of millions of folks vaccinated now and that's a ectacular more a more the country is opening more and more people are going backo work.

This is a good thing, but e not there yet.

We've got so much more to , so much further to go.

So we're asking you during these challenging times, be creative, be courageous.

And sw compassion Everyones going through challenging times.

Everyone has a certain stoy behind the stresses that ty have in their lives.

Make sure whether they shae that story with you or notu show compassion first.

It'll help if not the worl.

Your world.

And that's a fantastic thi.

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So if your question has lof different parts to it, dont hesitate to send us you.

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Many of our editions of Moe than Money have our opporty to interview folks who have interesting in some cases incredibly interesting Amen stories.

And I think you're going to find this evening is no different as we welcome tor studio somone in Franci.

Phillips, welcome.

Thank thank you.

It's all going to be good.

Young lady, you have a tremendous story, but I dot want to start with you.

I want to start with this .

So this is mom?

Yes.

And you have some pretty exciting stuff coming up in your very near future.

Don't.

Yes.

Where are u heading off to law school.

And where will you be studg law possibly.

Weidner in Delaware Univer.

OK.

So I've got a waiting for a couple more.

So we hope.

Yes.

And we say our prayers law.

Have you thought about what type of law you might study either?

Intellectual property or business?

Wow.

So in the very near futureu might come and join our organization.

I know that's the kind of f that we do intellectual property.

at draws you to that?

What would make that interesting to you?

I just like rule and I liko follow.

And so it's a set out for .

So.

OK.

This is what you do.

And then protecting peopleu know, it's their property t their intellectual properts very valuable.

Andou want to make sure everyone gets what they're worth.

It will not surprise you tn to know that our more than money trademark is challend all the time and our intellectual property attoy who I will be happy to introduce.

introduce.He's in Philadph.

Happy to introduce you to.

He's fantastic.

Has a fair amount of work o make sure folks don't trod.

All will get you like rule.

As the father of three daughters, I'm thrilled tor that.

A little surprise.

Thrilled you like rules and following the rules, somon.

I'm not sure that your lifs followed any rules whatsoe.

Still doesn't actually.

Fantastic.

Starting with yo birthing Guyana yet.

How did I do?

You did amazing guy and Ana had a country.

Yeah, And you lived in Guy.

Hello.

I was there from birth to e 17.

Does that experience still influence you today?

Absolutely Every day.

I mean, if it's whether ite talking to my children in y Creole Pat Toomey mixed language and doing all of e facial expression and the s about, you know, when in my country thi well had doing the things that people do e in America.

When I walked a mile in the snow, I do the same thing y children.

And more than that, it influences the choices thaI make some good and some ba.

But mostly well informed choices that I make.

Being from Guyana has real, really been instrumental iw I conduct my daily life for folks who have never been Guyana's differences compad to United States.

What are the primary differences?

Well, the primary differenI would think, especially ine area that I work in mental health is that they are now coming of age or coming toe realization of the pervasiveness of mental heh and how it carries you thrh your lifespan.

And that I mean, it's warmd there before coming to Ame, I've never eaten a frozen d in my life.

Anything frozen in my life.

You know, there's tons of h vegetation and in seafood d all of that in we enjoy cooking.

We enjoy cooking together.

We enjoy cooking separatel.

But for the most part, it s just more of an easy sort f living, although there's ts overarching I just want toy into generational tramissin of trauma that is on addred and not easily recognized , you know, being taking carf the lack of a better word, knowledge, knowledged dealt with.

Right.

And that's true almost everywhere in the world.

There's so much that people expected just push through.

Just.

Yes, Keep quiet.

And that's as.

As you've said so many tim, I've read so much of your material.

Fantastic that the issues f addressing mental health ao very critical.

Now, you mentioned cooking together.

Do you actually eat food because you are all the ref us.

You're going are you kiddi?

This is Gracedale.

And are you talking cooking tritional food or why?

So that's a skill that I'm getting there.

I'm getting where I like to observe a little bit more n cooking.

But Durban's import, I'm t. You supported your support.

Very good.

Well, in my house, my my w, my daughters cooked wonderfully.

I scrub pots and pans that that's like well, apparent.

And I generally get thumbs.

What brought your family te United States?

Well, if we had me time, I could tell you every little detail.

So when it says family, I e a code that I use.

I say family as family doe.

So my biological father migrated to America back ie 70s and had, you know, the typical experience of a pen who would have stayed past their time.

They should have been in America, so to say.

And so, you know, through sponsorship and ended up ie Lehigh Valley, you know, ar a while what happens?

Parents migrate to Americad they try to set up things d if they've had children bak home that they could not bg with them because of you dt know where you're gonna ben you get here.

I came later.

I came much later.

My father left when I was t 5 years old or so.

And he and my mom, of cour, were not married.

So he was it was easy for m to leave.

He came with his wife.

And so my stepdad, my formr stepmother and gave a searh for a better life just like everyone else.

You know, passport, the drm and.

And so I followed after.

So we didn't come together, which would speak to a lotf trauma that and difficultis that occur when you are separated from your primary caregivers.

That makes perfect sense.

And when you came here, you ended up not very far froms very studio right then on Haight Street.

And I watched a lot of.

Oh, yes.

Fantastic.

Were you fluent in the lane before you got here?

Well, our country and I ams the only country in that pt of the world where Englishs its first language.

Frenchtown.

So wn I came, of course, I haven't a heavy accent bece the mix of Creole, the Brih influence, the Dutch influe and north and west African influence suddenly, you kn, fused together to produce s accent that I have that pee missing understand or ideny easily.

And it's not their fault as you're Jamaican or you're African.

And I'm like, well, I'm certainly of African herit, but I didn't come from Afra today.

And so when I came, I spoke English.

But because I have an accet and they were unlearned, obvisly they were like, we, what do you speak English y well?

And I think, oh, what I guI should since I've been speg all my life.

So when I did know the lane is what I'm trying to say,t all of that fantastic hard coming to a new country, obviously 17 tough age, toh move.

Your home life was a significant challenge.

Well, so coming from the background that I came fron South America where, you k, a lot of domestic violencea lot of abuse, a lot of environmental trauma, Not t they weren't good times, bt they were good times.

Different passages of famis that I lived with, you kno, extended families.

But coming to America.

Well, a couple of the thins that were vastly differents the fact that I started hih school at 11 because we stt high school much younger.

So when I came to America,I was basically an adult.

And so having to go back to high school here was like g challenge.

Right.

And so that would have beee of the marked difference wh like Y'ers 17, a 19-year-od still in high school.

I didn't understand that.

Right.

Because by that time you wd have been married, had chin at least.

And so that was one of theg challenges.

The other big challenge was being identified as color g stratified that way.

When I was X will.

Hey, wou you prefer to be called black or colored?

And I thought, well, you k, since yeah.

You address me as Miss Phillips, that would be fi.

We don't have to pin the ll on me in any other way.

And again, racism and colom and all of that, all those different stratifications e new to me.

And it's still I've only bn here 35 years.

It's still new.

So that's that was the big change.

And so I was juxtaposed ben people that were biased and then people who were like,y aren't you more angry?

And I'm thinking I don't kw how to be because I'm not m here.

This is not my legacy or m. It wasn't passed on to me t way.

And 35-year later you're sl dealing with colorism and racism and the diversity issues.

Not surprising consideringr country is what, 400 yearso dealing then they still hat gotten the right wrist.

A working on a work in progress.

Francey or your mom for mof your life?

I think was was a single m. Yeah.

How was that growing up wih your mom?

As not just as a single mo, but with - as your mom.

How was that growing up Gaa She's hard worker.

That's the one thing she ad she does everything she can from my sister and I.

And so with that I learnedw to be diligent with my wore purposeful.

And even with being a singe parent, you spoke on compan very compassionate.

We'll give off give someone hope that she has on if the cold.

So be with my being with my mom.

You're very giving person d I've got that treat for me, too.

So I appreciate that.

That's a wonderful thing to learn from you use the word purposeful.

There's not a lot of young people anywhere today usina word purposeful.

Zoom call.

Inow you're a Navy vet.

You're a nurse.

Yes, sir.

You are a therapist.

Yes, sir.

You have had multiple purps is throughout your lifetim.

You have evolved your Amern dream in sever different ways.

How did those transitions happen?

Were they God given were ty inspired by somebody in yor life?

How did that happen?

Well, I had a lot of diffet ispirational moments and hp along the way and certainlI would say of course, God he where he wants me right no.

Right.

I was passionate, but a lof things about social justic, about equality, about gend, rights, about equanimity ad conversations.

And so what ended up happeg was that I was passionate t a lot of things with no direction, no sense of direction.

And I absolutely did not kw my purpose.

My daughter says she's purposeful because it's onf the things that I have poud into them, so to say be purposeful, be exact.

Know what you're doing bece you don't really have a whe lot of time ways.

Having said that, because f where I came from and whatI experienced in America, I d this yearning to be treatea certain way to be accepteda certain way and to be considered as a person, a e person, not my experiencest the things that I fell shot of.

Right.

Because of that, I sought o give that to other people.

And the way I gave thato other people because I was thought by the church thatt was better to give than to receive and but they nevert to give to yourself.

Right.

So I always gave and I empd my cup and then I was left bitter in anger.

And so part of my work waso try to make sure that at I wanted from myself, other people had so that, of cou, stirred and birth passion.

So passion has varied.

Right.

But then as time would hav, too, the passage of time becoming a mother.

Obviously, I don't want toe the kind of mother I had oe kind step mother I had.

And so I wanted to do thins differently, didn't have ay direction.

I didn't really know what o for the first four years or life.

Had no.

And I'm still not perfect.

I don't get it right all te time.

And sometimes I'm beating myself up like I guess any parent would.

But through the yearning ad all of the abuse and all oe neglect and all of that anI experienced at the hands of people who are supposed toe me, I decided that I was gg to make sure that not anyoe would do that to my childrr anyone that I knew.

And so it started our way.

Being a therapist was not something I sat down and wd to do.

I wanted to fix planes at e point and then I want to ba cook, a food and attritionI want to be a journali.

I didn't know what I want o be, but God is so good howe could take you through all these different passages so that he could marry your purpose and your passion.

And so that's why I am absolutely live my best lie right now because they mard and they cameogether.

So all the very things thaI did being a nurse helps men I have a client comes in wh mental health hygenic needI call them when they come wh those needs.

I have my nursing backgrouo say, hey, you know, maybe u should check your blood su.

Maybe your blood pressure.

Maybe something that you're eating that's causing you e up at night.

Whatever the case may be, g in the military also know a little bit about, you know, far, far with hierarchy, O?

So being a social worker, I know about being a walk ina human repository.

I could fin if I you know.

Yeah.

I could fight ice water anywhere.

I could find a spot in the desert.

Trust me.

So there's that.

So that's how I was led ths way.

Obviously not having a good role model for being a mot.

There were people came alog when I got pgnant out of wedlock with my second chid and was actually ostracizen the church.

And there was a woman of Gd that came along and said, l help you in.

I thought, no, you won't.

You're just like them.

And thank God Frenchtown or your mom didn't have role models to be a mom.

And she as she said, all parents, we beat ourselves.

We simply do.

We want the very best for .

We are hearts are just ful.

We want the very best.

Sometimes we don't know hoo give that to you.

If and maybe in the future motherhood comes your way.

What lesson have you learnd from your mom that will hep you be the mom that your mm ha turned out to be?

There are so many.

I think.

What do you do with us?

My sister and I spending te in listening, but really spending time, especially n growing.

Having a single parent liku understand that time is precious and when you'd cae out that time also listeni, being heard, making sure yu heard.

You know, she's very good t that.

And apologizing.

Tell me more about the GI.

I feel like sometimes pares don't always apologize to a child because they think Im the parent.

You're the child.

But at the end of the day, you're still raising someoe and you would want them to acknowledge when they are wrong.

So what better way than to demonstrate that?

And so the theory that a pt is never wrong just doesn't hold water with you, I'm guessing.

No.

Good for you.

Good for you.

Absolutely right.

We're doing the very best e can and sometimes the veryt we can.

Stinko Bucks.

And just doing your best is what matters, you know?

But spending time and actuy listening.

Fantastic and love, of cou, love that doesn't run out.

We hope.

We hope not.

Goodness.

On my mom's deathbed, she squeed my arm.

I was her youngest of six I was still her baby.

She was in her 80s.

I was still her baby.

So shame on you.

You had in one of your transitions the opportunito go back to grad school ando become a therapist.

And there's two women's nas that popped up that mean a great deal to many of our listeners, certainly to me.

Frances Hessel, Bine and Ga Steinem.

Tell us a little bit aboutw you interacted with those o ladies.

Well, it was quite coincidental, really, but I nothing happens by coincid.

Now we.

All right.

So I was sitting watching V because I wanted to be a journalist and I really idolized Oprah Winfrey.

And I was watching this shw one day and I saw Gloria Steinem on there and I was studying feminism and tryio figure out, you know, why feminist feminists and this like that always they kindf honed in on Gloria Steinem because I really admired te fact that she infiltrated organization and things le that.

So I said, oh, I want to It that woman when they I'm vy big on, you know, proclaimd things.

And the Krien things over y life and then just taking s towards that.

She knows that.

And so I don't want to be r one day.

And I forgot about that.

And then Frances Hessler'sy scholarship came up quite o serendipitous.

But this someone else was supposed to go interviewedr this scholarship and they d of blew it off.

And they say, hey, I know u know someone else.

Well, you know, we neither candidate.

So I went and I interviewed against odds.

I was very nervous becausey self-esteem was so low andI was going to go anyway.

You know, I mean, what's te worst that could happen?

You know, they say no, liko defeat anyway.

So I'll deal with that.

Well, I went in the intervw that I had to the United Wf the Lehigh Valley was awes.

And I went home never thing I was going.

And they called me and they said, because of your storI had to write something abot myself.

And is that because of your story?

Francis, has Jill Biden ded to continue this scholarsh?

She was ending it with me.

Like the recipient that was going to get it that year.

It was going to be the last maybe because of my story.

She continued it.

So we had to I had to haven extra akpan speech.

I mean, undergrad I'm hered I have to have a speech.

I'm thinking, OK, fine, I'm going to do something real quick between the marijan f papers that I had and theny said the morning of so juso you know, you're going to o first and then Gloria is gg to follow.

And I Gloria, who was Glora what they thought it was Ga Steinem had no idea.

So here is I the speech.

The symposium, you know, gt the scholarship.

And then she came on and se spoke afterwards.

I still was like afterwardI didn't realize we were goio be having a lunch together.

e presidents of colleges house.

And she came up to me.

She said, hey, I heard that you're some act to follow.

I heard of your speech this morning.

And so of course, the extrt the burning bra.

She's like we didn't burn a bra.

OK. A phenomenal woman.

Just I was very surprised y just how calm in sweet in n all of that she was she's flawless.

Beautiful.

Well, we had some really gd conversations and the thref us.

Yeah.

So that's those people.

And Mrs Hestill mind she changed my life.

Gloria Steinem is a name tt everyone recognizes.

Frances Ashley Biden not so much.

And for folks who are not familiar with her work.

Specter your on so many les thers a named Peter Drucker that all of our business f, all the fans business knows name instantly.

He is the father of modern management.

He's written every importat book in the last 50 or 60 s prior to his passing, he ad Frank Francis hassled by wk part owners in their non-profit, bringing the management management quals to non-profit.

And she was I think, if noe founder of the Girl Scoutse was the executive directorr a year.

A year?

Yes.

Fantasy.

So you had the opportunityo connect with those are fams names.

Is there a person's name tt they're not famous but thed a real impact on you Gammar name was Irene Marie Duran.

Pianos.

She just passed on.

She transitioned to glory.

February 4th, she was the person who came along 22 ys ago.

The day that I was experieg the lowest of the lows.

I mean, I was on the road t and God is so cool.

Like I was home praying.

OK, you need to take me ouw because this pain has to sp or sme something someone and she was home praying.

Send me someone to love tht they care of or kill me no.

And she was like that.

She would say stuff like t. So I went to the church tht day to talk to the pastor.

Long story short, the pastr s like, well, you know, I really can't help because,u know, you're pregnant agai.

What are we gonna do about that?

He said, but yeah, maybe yu should.

Don't you have family?

Of course.

You know, I have family, bt they don't like me.

So he said, you know what?

I was jusbout to get out te door.

He says, hold on.

And of course, he mispronod my name.

But he says, hold on.

There's a woman that I wanu to talk to.

Maybe she can help you.

He did just like that.

And what does he know?

His maybe she can help you.

Was answer to prayer just e that?

We met the very next day ad stayed in the love story tt spanned 22 years.

We changed my life.

She was the first person tt told me I had a right to be angry.

She's the first person that told me to take the Jesus position if I didn't do something, stop hitting me.

She was the person first pn and the last one, she saido me after she died.

I opened a picture that I didn't open and just 2004 I was getting ready to go on camera to do a class healig the wounds of trauma classt I was teaching to a group f women through our church aI take the picture out to mae her announcement.

She passed 20 minutes befoI was going on camera.

And because I went to see r and came home a I pulled a picture up in the back purchases to see mom.

Yes.

You can.

She was asking me she's a mommy.

You sure you're going to be able to do this?

And just like that, we oped the picture and she said, , you can.

And she always said yes, yu can.

To change my life.

Soeople don't have to be famous to really change the lives someone else and they know start to connect just.

Yes.

And they don't have to be family family as this famiy does.

You know, lady, I think yoe very lucky.

I know.

God bless.

God bless you both.

Fantastic story.

And we just scratched the surface.

But time goes very quicklyn you're on more than money.

I've got to turn to the Kameron.

Say thank you.

Thank you for spending your time with us.

Thank you for spending a hf an hour and hearing another American story that maybe u can connect with.

Maybe you can understand, e inspires you to have a lite bit of compassion.

Maybe you're the person whs no one else knows your nam, but you've reached out to someone or should reach ouo someone and it's your turn.

It's your opportunity to me your life a little better y making someone else light someone else's life a litte bit better.

Maybe, just maybe.

And hey, check out Phoenix Rising.

Pretty interesting stuff.

I think you're going to be very, very impressed.

We just have seconds left n this edition of More than Money.

And as I reminded you whene started our show, you have concerns or questions thatu need addressed on any topi, particularly financial, of course.

But it is more than money.

Send them directly to .

And ask MTM D-Conn. Giuliani and ask MTM .com.

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Many will be, but I can pre you every single email wile answered personallyrom our team to to you to give as h support and information ase possibly can on your journ.

That's more than money.

So thank you so much.

Again, we're going to taket a second to say we'll see u next time on more than.