- Support for this program was provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

Berkeley College Education drives opportunity.

Be inspired.

- Hello, this is John Harmon, founder, president and CEO of the African-American Chamber of Commerce in New Jersey.

And thank you for tuning to Pathway to Success.

Today's guest is an amazing woman.

She's done a lot of stuff in our great state and around the country.

And you are in for a real treat.

I speak no other than Ms. Tanya Freeman, Esquire welcome to Halfway to Success.

- Thank you John.

I'm so excited to be here this morning with you and I look forward to our conversation today.

- I as well, I wanna get right into it.

A little bit about you, your background, your family.

- I was born and raised on the Lower East Side.

Before it was the very cool LESI lived with my dad and my five siblings.

I'm the youngest of five and I always say that's what makes me a little tenacious because when you're the youngest you're sort of fighting for your rights from day one.

- Well I understand.

I'm, I'm the youngest of five boys and two sisters, so I've been there source of inspiration for you.

- That person truly was my dad.

I think my dad was ahead of his time raising kids after he and my mom went their separate ways.

And I learned a lot from watching my dad.

I learned perseverance.

I learned you get up every day no matter how you feel, no matter what happened the night before.

And you go do your thing out in the world.

And you know, his dream was for all of us to get a diploma.

Right.

Just never having finished school himself, just get a diploma.

And he knew that education would give us a greater pathway to success in life.

And I was a little, little girl, probably seven or eight years old watching schoolhouse rock on Saturday morning and learning how, you know laws are made.

Yes.

And I said I'm gonna be a lawyer one day.

In fact I'm going to the Supreme Court.

Wow.

And he said, you go do that, you can do that.

And my dad died when I was 14, but I never forget those life lessons that he gave me and my siblings.

And we've all done our thing, all five of us.

- So education wise, why did you choose the institutions that you attended?

- Sure.

I would say my institutions chose me.

So I took a very traditional path after high school in New York.

I enrolled in Marymount Manhattan College in New York City.

And I didn't finish like so many people that look like me.

I did two years of college and I dropped out.

I had my first son and I entered the workforce and I started doing my thing.

And as I did my thing in corporate America, I hit a ceiling where finally my human resources department said, wait a minute, you don't have a college degree.

And at that point I was a mother.

I had not one, not two, not three, but six children.

And I went back to college at night and on the weekend and I finished my undergraduate degree.

So Caldwell University found me and law school is an even funnier path.

I live in New Jersey now, so what did I do?

I applied to our two law schools here and I didn't get into either one.

And so what to do you say I didn't get into law school.

Do I give up my dream?

Absolutely not.

I casted a wider net and second go round.

I got into one law school and that law school is to a law school at on Long Island.

And they took a chance on me and I'd like to say I made them proud.

So I commuted about two hours each way every day to law school for three years.

But it was a beautiful journey out to Long Island.

- You know, what a story, were there challenges you faced during your corporate life as a woman of color?

- So I remember my first day at work and I had, you know, still living in a space of scarcity.

I had four kids at the time my, my first day working here in Newark and I bought a pantsuit and I think I spent about $80 on that pantsuit.

And I was super proud of my suit that day.

And I walked into work and I got a finger from my boss who was a woman ironically.

And she said, bankers don't wear pants.

And me being the tenacious person I am, I said, there's plenty of people here wearing pants.

And she said, but there're men, women don't wear pants.

And I thought, are you really gonna judge my work product today about whether I'm wearing a skirt or pants?

And so that was my first glimpse into women sit in a different place, we sit in a different space.

And as my career grew, I was often the only woman or the only woman of color or both in a room.

And so you realize as you mature professionally that there were all these little subtle, I'll call them microaggressions.

And I know that could be a charged word, but the, you know, you make a good point and someone will say, wow, you're so articulate, but my colleague to my left or to my right, they're never told they're articulate or you share that you're a parent.

And it's like, oh wow.

So they readily assume you're a single mother and you have childcare challenges.

Right.

And so all of those stereotypes, they land in the conference room, they land in the boardroom.

And I was front and center for so much of that - In 15 years in banking and insurance.

Talk about some of the, the roles that you played during the course of that that time.

- Sure.

So my early part of my career, I started out in banking and back then in the nineties, I know I looked 25 so we can run with that.

But in the nineties the banks were all merging.

And so I was with a bank right here in Newark and they were acquiring other banks and I was part of a unit that went to examine the other banks from a compliance perspective.

So I was a compliance specialist and then I became a compliance manager.

And I just, my career took off on this compliance path.

I leave banking and I joined a healthcare, an insurance company also here in Newark.

And I spent some time there and it was really there that it was like, wow, okay, now I'm managing people, now I'm managing teams of people and I didn't have a college degree.

What a funny story that was in the nineties where that happened today, I doubt it.

But in the nineties it was, you know, you could work your way up in a company for sure.

- So what happened after you realized that, you know, you didn't have the degree and, and it was limiting your, your pathway to success.

- It's amazing how we often do a job before we get the job and we are doing the job really well, but you need to check some boxes.

And that's exactly what happened to me.

So I grew within this organization.

I was leading a team, ironically it was a team of 90 people, so they rolled three departments.

I'm managing all three.

And we have the conversation of what comes next.

I think it's a while ago, but I think my title was something like senior manager.

And I said, well, should it be something greater?

And so as they're trying to revamp the job description and give me the appropriate title, and I would hope the compensation to go with my responsibilities, that's when I get the call and human resources says, Hey, we're missing something in your file.

We're missing a copy of your degree.

And I said, oh, I don't, I never finished college.

I don't have a degree.

You could hear a pin drop in the room.

And so they create a role.

But it wasn't the role that compensated me truly for the work that I was doing.

And it was at that moment I said, I'm gonna take a leap of faith along with my husband and I leave corporate America and you know, finish up my degree as well as take the plunge and go to law school.

- Why law, family law in this case, - The family is really the heart of the community.

We are the heart of everything.

So whether we look back on our childhood and my five siblings and I sort of gathering around the one TV in our house, I think of family, I think of Christmas morning, I think of Thanksgiving dinner at your Nana's house.

And you're getting the best collard greens and macaroni and cheese of the year on Thanksgiving day.

And so when you think of family law helping families bridge challenges in their life, you are really working on the heart of the community.

Whether it's a family that's coming apart because of divorce, whether it's a custody dispute, whatever's happening, family court is so essential.

- Let's talk about activities or the environment for a woman of color in a law firm.

- I was fortunate to be in the top of my law school class and so many opportunities.

I interned for federal judge, I interned for state court judge.

And so what do you do after that?

Well, I was 40 something, I had six kids and I knew I couldn't start out, you know, sort of in the beginning of a career like many law school graduates do.

And so my first job was truly with my husband.

We spent two years together.

He is also an attorney and we practiced law together.

And I remember one day a woman judge who I am very fond of, she pulled me to the side and she said, Tanya, it's time to step outta your husband's shadow.

And that conversation really morphed into, okay, what does this look like?

Can I part ways from my husband's firm, not parting ways from my husband and still have a career of my own?

So I called a recruiter and she said, okay Tanya, how much did you do in business last year?

And I said, oh, good question.

And I called my accountant and I realized two years outta law school I had done $750,000 in business on my own.

And she said, oh, I can place you in any law firm in this state with a $750,000 book of business.

And that's where my career took off.

I started at a firm for about 70 lawyers.

From 70 lawyers.

I joined a firm that was 200 plus lawyers.

And now I have the good fortune to be in a beautiful space with about 25 ish lawyers.

- So again, top top leader class in law school, challenging your superiors to, to, to respect you for the value that you brought the work into the organization.

You know, how does that feel or how do you come to be that type of personality?

Hmm.

- So often when you grow up in a space of scarcity, you realize early on that abundance is there.

It is there for everyone if we are not afraid to push those boundaries.

And what keeps so many people in the space that they're in is they're afraid of rejection and they're afraid of failure.

And if you can overcome those two fears, you can pick up the phone and call people you don't know and you can push the boundaries in any work environment so that we are all paid what we are worth.

We bring more value than we ever take from an organization and we can excel in any space.

- I love it.

We'll take a break at this time.

This is John Harmon, founder, president, and CEO of the African American Chamber of Congress in New Jersey here with Tanya Friedman, Esquire.

We'll be back in a moment.

- The African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey is your pathway to success.

We encourage you to visit our website@www.aaccj.com or call us at (609) 571-1620.

We are your strategic partner for success.

- Welcome back to Pathway to Success.

I'm your host, John Harmon, founder, president and CEO of the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey.

Our guest today is Tanya Freeman, Esquire.

Let's hear just something about you that most people would not know about you.

- So my fun fact for today is I have spent over a quarter of a million dollars on personal and professional development.

And that might be a mic drop to some people, but personal development and how you grow in business is the key to everything.

- I love it.

Invest in your vision, invest in you.

Betting on you is probably the most important thing any aspiring entrepreneur or individual can do is better on themselves.

So can you elaborate on some of the specific things that you invested in for your development and success?

- Sure.

So like many entrepreneurs, 'cause I do believe I've been an entrepreneur my whole life, you know, you invest in things that you believe are gonna help you develop a business from a coach that teaches you how to speak to people.

So we can command an audience from coaches that help you how on how to develop business, how to grow a business, coaches on marketing, coaches on influence.

And I threw a lot of money to the wind like many entrepreneurs do.

And a couple of years ago I truly learned the secret sauce.

- Well, secret sauce is important.

- Yes it is.

Because everyone you meet John, people all want the same thing.

People want three things.

People want more money, people want more time freedom, and people want a little magic.

And for me, I want all three of those things in that order.

And creating a little magic for my cool half dozen kids is top of mind and top of heart for me.

- Why is business development important to you?

- Knowing how to grow a business and don't get focused on the fact that I'm a lawyer and I'm growing a law practice.

I could own a corner store and sell great groceries to the people in my community.

I could have a hair salon, which I actually do have if nobody is walking in your door.

You have an idea but you don't have a business.

And so knowing how to grow a business, it truly is the secret sauce.

And I knew a little something, something as the kids might say.

So the secret sauce can really be distilled into three steps.

There's just three things that you need to know how to do.

And you know, lawyers, we like to talk in threes anyway 'cause it makes our argument in court so much more powerful for the judge.

So the first step in the secret sauce is called self-mastery.

And that might sound like a fancy word or a fancy term, but it's anything you heard of.

Whether you are an athlete in school or you are in any kind of team, it's peak performance training, it is meditation, it is being grounded in the why you're doing what you're doing.

That thing that makes you get up outta bed every morning.

That self-mastery and what kills us in this space, what prevents us from achieving our dreams and our goals.

It's only two simple things.

You're either afraid that you're gonna fail.

So it's that fear of failure or you're afraid of rejection.

The second part of the secret sauce truly is influence mastery.

Again, it sounds like a fancy term, but I promise you it's not.

It is the only, from my perspective and many others, attainable superpower.

And why do I call it a superpower?

Because it gets you from saying, hello, my name is to a yes.

Influence mastery is how people become rock stars.

It's how Oprah is Oprah.

And the last piece of the secret sauce is process mastery.

Process mastery is the how.

It's the how.

It's the steps.

It's the 1, 2, 3 steps that you need to do in order to accomplish everything.

These three steps are truly the secret sauce.

I don't care how you package them, they work tried and true.

And I spent a quarter of a million dollars to figure this out.

And you hear a little bit here and a little bit there, but these are the three steps.

- I think that's an amazing kind of articulation of your pathway to success.

But also a part of your team was an individual who was visually impaired.

Can you talk about him and how he worked with you?

- Yes.

So as I move through this personal development space, I was in Puerto Rico of all beautiful islands to be in.

I'm in Puerto Rico, it is November, 2019 and I am moderating a paddle at a legal conference and there is a gentleman on the panel and he gets up to the podium to speak and he puts his slide up and his slide is out of focus.

And I'm like, oh my Lord, his slide, he's not even prepared.

He proceeded to explain that that was his vision, that blurry slide was all he could see.

And he goes on to tell his beautiful story, his pathway to success.

And it's a beautiful story.

And as the conversation ends and we're, we're getting ready to break apart, I'm like, when we get back to New Jersey, I need to have a cup of coffee with you.

And that man's name is Sean Calley.

And the success he has had in the courtroom is unbelievable.

He has become my mentor, my coach, and we are now law partners.

I left big law to join his firm a few months ago.

And the work that I just shared, that Self-Mastery Influence Mastery Process Mastery, that is Sean's 25 plus years of work distilled into three steps.

Yes, some of it I knew before, but I gotta tell you, he put language to it and made it so simple to follow.

Using this methodology allowed me to deliver some of the most powerful speeches I've ever given in my life.

- I think that's amazing.

But also in your bio it describes you as a community advocate.

Speak to that a little bit.

- I believe in every space we enter we should add more value than we ever seek to take.

And so I do add value in my community, or at least I'd like to believe that I do.

So I love the state of New Jersey.

This is where I've raised my family and every opportunity I have to meaningfully give back.

I do.

- Let's continue on this adding value.

You serve as the chair of the board for University Hospital in Newark.

How did you arrive at that position and what you know, what does that entail in that role?

As Chair - University Hospital is the state's only public hospital.

We are a level one trauma center and we sit in the beautiful city of Newark, New Jersey.

Newark is where I started my career.

So my roots grow deep here in the city of Newark.

I arrived at University Hospital in 2014.

Governor Christie appointed me to the board then and I chaired our governance committee.

The hospital, as many would agree, sits on hollowed land.

The lands that our campus sits on was taken from the people I let maybe say borrowed from the people in the city of Newark.

And the state made a promise through the Newark Accords that the community would always have a hospital.

And I know over the years some would say that the hospital did not live up to expectations.

Others might say the hospital was neglected at times, but it's been the dawning of a new day.

And in 2018 I had the privilege of being asked by Governor Murphy to be the chair of the board of this beautiful hospital.

And it has been an amazing journey of resilience.

It's been an a journey of change.

The hospital has grown, our leadership team has changed over the years and we are in a beautiful place now in terms of the quality of care that we deliver to the community, the commitment we have to this community.

And shortly the breaking of new ground revitalizing that campus.

- I have have a similar experience with both Governor Christie and Governor Murphy.

There are a number of programs that the African American Chamber of Commerce manages now that were started under Governor Christie, but since Governor Murphy working with him has taken many of those programs to another level and we appreciate the bipartisan support that we've experienced.

And so can you talk to our audience today about some of the ways you envision, be more deeply in partnership with the African American Chamber of Commerces, New Jersey?

- So when I look at all that you've built John, and the mission and the vision and the purpose of this chamber, when I look at what Tanya Freeman and John Harmon can do here in New Jersey and everywhere we move, it's giving the gift and teaching the gift of the skills that many of us didn't know when we entered business.

And that's those three steps that I talked about.

- So hey, I look forward to the future working with you, but can you speak to some of your future plans?

- So while I enjoy the practice of law and I believe that I will be a lawyer for as long as my brain stays sharp enough to go toe to toe in the courtroom, I also see myself moving around the country in the personal development space.

And you know, ironically, I started talking about my mentor who is now my law partner, Sean Calley.

But the company that he built is called Unblinded.

And when you think about the thought in the name of the business, we're all becoming unblinded because we're learning to see what we don't see.

- And we're gonna close it right there.

I want to thank you, Tanya for being here with us today.

- Thank you for having me, John.

I believe in business.

I believe in business growth and all things that help people move on to the pathway of success.

- Until the next time on your pathway to success, this is John Harmon, founder, president and CEO of the African-American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey.

Thank you for tuning in.

The president's message today is difficulty ahead.

As I reflect back on the last speech of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. That took place in Memphis, Tennessee, the mountaintop.

And he talked about difficulty ahead.

He shared with us that he might not get to the mountaintop with us, but nonetheless, this message still resonates today.

The recent dismantling of affirmative action by the Supreme Court and the retreat we're starting to see in the marketplace of corporations for their commitments to diversity, equity, inclusion is a clear sign of some of the headwinds or the difficulty that we are experiencing in our efforts to get a more equitable coexistence for blacks in New Jersey where it be employment board seats or contract opportunities.

Time and time again, we see people rewriting policy, putting barriers in place, but it's easy at times for blacks to take shots at Republicans or blacks to take shots and white people in charge.

This is a time for full accountability.

We have black leaders as well in New Jersey as mayors, as elected officials at the county or the state level.

What are they doing to contribute to the success of blacks?

We see in the state of New York, they have a 30% goal for minorities and women, New Jersey.

We still have not completed a disparity study.

We're approaching another election and the same promises we're gonna do better for blacks, we're gonna do better because they, they've helped us get elected or they've helped us win, but it hasn't happened.

So I'm challenging those at the base level.

The mayors, the black mayors, in particular, the school board officials over communities that are predominantly black for, for more contract opportunities.

There are a plethora of opportunities that could be had.

And we're not asking you to give us anything but access to an opportunity to compete and to win.

And by doing so, New Jersey wins.

We all win and our state becomes more competitive.

More boats rise, difficulty ahead.

Stay tuned.

- The port for this program was provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, Berkeley College education drives opportunity.

Be inspired.