Entrepreneurial Appetite
Entrepreneurial Appetite
Entrepreneurship, Education, and Empowerment: Insights from Dr. Ron Kelley
Are you ready to be inspired by the profound journey of Ron Kelley, the founder and CEO of the National Mentoring Foundation? Join us as Ron shares his incredible story from championing hip-hop in San Antonio to becoming a beacon of black intellectualism and entrepreneurship. His deep insights about the value of education for black males and the transformative power of tenure for black men will leave you moved and motivated.
Ron's passion for mentoring is palpable throughout the discussion. He speaks with candor about his involvement with Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, Freemasonry, and his own company - platforms that have enabled his mentoring initiatives to flourish. Listen as Ron gives us a glimpse into the power of building community through organizations, alumni connections, and the strength of a brotherhood committed to success.
But the conversation doesn't end there. Ron is a prolific writer and a voracious reader. A treat for the bibliophiles among us, he discusses his 10+ books and current reads that have ignited self-pride and respect for black women within him. Finally, we delve into the secret sauce for staying motivated, pursuing your passion, and sustaining growth. A riveting discussion with Ron Kelly awaits you, a mentor whose journey transcends entrepreneurship and seeps into the heart of the community.
All right, what's up everybody Again. This is Langston Clark, the founder and organizer of entrepreneurial appetite, a series of events dedicated to building community, promoting intellectualism and supporting black businesses. And on today's episode we have a very special guest, someone that I know personally, Dr. Ron Kelley, who is the founder and CEO of the National Mentoring Foundation. He is also a fellow UT Austin alum, and so you have all heard me talk about I have this very dynamic family of black men who all got their PhDs from the University of Texas at Austin, and so in some ways, Dr. Kelley, even though he didn't get his doctorate from UT Austin, he went to that other school. He is still a Longhorn and part of that connection that I have with brothers who went to UT Austin and my story about him, that I went to the Texas Exes. So the UT Austin, your alumni social, is called Texas Exes, which is kind of a cool moniker, right? So the black exes of Texas, that's the black alumni group, and I think the woman who was the national chair was there talking to graduate students about how we could be members, because a lot of times these memberships are really like we think about that from our undergraduate institution but they were very cognizant of including graduate students, and so the woman was there talking to us as Black Graduate Student Association, and so she put the names of the people who were presidents.
Langston Clark:I think the San Antonio chapter was maybe in its first year, if I'm not mistaken, I think, ron, you were the founding president of that chapter, and so I had known that I was coming to UTSA to start my career as a faculty member and a professor, and I think Ron is the first black person in the community in San Antonio that I corresponded with Actually, I'm 100% sure, other than people who were at UTSA working, ron was the first person that I reached out to and connected with, and he responded immediately, inviting me to those meetings to be part of best San Antonio the black exes of Texas in San Antonio and so I have known Ron probably like close to nine, 10 years now.
Langston Clark:So it's an honor to have you here, and I know I talk a lot about you, but, ron, just tell us a little bit about who you are and what's your story, from being someone who grew up in San Antonio to working with mentorship of younger black men black men in college, even younger than that so in your entrepreneurial journey as someone who also has a.
Ron Kelley:PhD. All right. Well, I'm glad to be here. It is a great thing that you're doing. Want to start off by commending you. It's great to see a young brother doing something like this. That's going to get out there in the community and, believe it or not, this stuff gets out there A lot of times we're working on things and we wonder where does it go in the end. You know, I've been a part of the podcast movements since the beginning and I always tell brothers just keep going, keep doing what you're doing, because it's going to get out there. When your message is strong and it is so many benefits to to spreading black excellence, and that's what we're doing. Well, my story man. This is just a great intro you gave. I'll just go through it real quick. Just touch on it so we can get into the questions.
Ron Kelley:But I was born and raised in San Antonio, grew up here, roosevelt High School graduate, graduated from Roosevelt. After that attended the United States Naval Academy Prep School. After the prep school I decided I wanted to go to UT. So went to UT Austin and it's funny you mentioned I did get my text to my doctor that takes a say in them. But I tell people the way it works. Your heart goes with where you went for undergrad. True, that's true, thanks, I'm a long horn all the way like that. It was hard to go to A&M, actually being a UT undergrad, but they have one of the top education programs for that. So I said, let me, let me go ahead and focus and then make that drive over to college station. So went to UT. They're at UT. I was very involved in my undergraduate fraternity. I was the poll mark of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity there, which gave me a lot of networking experience as an undergraduate because I was a regional officer and very involved in the organization. So I left out of college knowing a lot of people and knowing a lot of professionals. You know, in my field I graduated from UT but while I was at UT one of my interests from high school was the music industry.
Ron Kelley:I actually was part of the pioneers that brought hip hop to San Antonio and that started when I was in the fourth grade. We basically introduced breakdancing and hip hop and rap and all of those things. So from the fourth grade on up until I was in middle school I own my own studio, had my own record label released some of the first records. There were some guys that got out because of the military influence in San Antonio. There were a few hip hop records that were put out before us because they were older guys but we were the young guys in town and we put out a record in like 87 and things like that. So we were the young version of hip hop and when I tell students today about that they say you know your image, I can't see that, I can't see you. You know, in hip hop. And they don't understand the image of hip hop. From the beginning Hip hop was the smart kids. It was no thugs and you had the art. In hip hop we wore polos and we were very conservative and if you look at hip hop from New York, I know you're from the East Coast If you start to go back to the roots and you look at a brand newbie and grand poob, but they're on there wearing the polos and the nonicas. So hip hop from very early was a very. It was the smart kids. Just look at the language that rappers use. So just got involved in the music industry, continued that at UT and became very successful with several releases that led to major record deal working with various platinum artists, just always kept that going.
Ron Kelley:Graduated from UT, went to law school. First. My goal was to follow the whole entertainment industry as an entertainment lawyer. But my thing I thought law was always. Speaking was my thing and I thought law was all about speaking and I'd get to be this, you know, orator in the courtroom and all of that. And I learned that law is mostly research first, you know, very few things go to trial and things like that. So I started to research and find out my passion. You know, as I met more lawyers I was like they were like nah, we're not in court, we're behind a computer all day. I was like I can't do that. I said I got to be in front of people talking and speaking. So education was the way I envisioned myself as a college professor. I said as a college professor I can do that and just, you know, speak all day. You know at that point and that would be my passion and that's what I want to do.
Ron Kelley:So I started pursuing education and going the route of, you know, getting my PhD, becoming a professor as I was doing it, I first started working on my masters at Texas State. I'm a master's there ran into the principal of a high school in Austin who knew about my, heard about my music background and she said would you like to teach a class about the music industry? So that threw me into the K through 12 world. So I became a high school teacher while I was doing my. My masters did that, fell in love with it and said I want to be the youngest superintendent in the state of Texas. Wow, talk.
Ron Kelley:Two years went to be the director of the technology magnet program for SAISD, went on to assistant principal at Martin Luther King Middle School on the East side, which is a very historic school, and became a principal in the South Sam school district on the South side. Eventually went to Houston, became a principal. While I was there in Houston I was moving up the ladder to be a superintendent, became certified, worked in central office and at that point I said man, I liked owning my own, I want to have my own business. And at what angle could I take? And I saw an angle for consulting and training and publishing in education.
Ron Kelley:That was 2006. I started my company and, long story short, 15 years later I retired from that company as one of the top education companies in the nation was very successful and led to what I'm doing now, cause all along I was mentoring students. That was another interest. I said I want to retire from all of this traveling and all of this stuff and just do what I want to do and that's mentoring. So I started the national mentoring foundation, which we work with African American males, and that's what I do all day Now. We go into schools and mentor at risk males. So I'm almost out there.
Langston Clark:So you know, Ron, I'm glad that you told that story because I knew some of these things about you. I didn't know all of them, and so I have a question about the environment that you were in that allow fourth grade Ron Kelley to start a studio and to be okay with pursuing that dream in the arts industry, because hip hop music is arts. What was that environment like that, I'm assuming, spurned your interest into entrepreneurship?
Ron Kelley:Yeah. So basically kids coming from New York, from the East Coast, bringing hip hop I met the first time I heard tapes, so it got introduced through cassette tapes of the radio in New York. I don't know if you've ever heard of WBLS and Hot 97. I think that was later. But those New York radio stations when I first heard that I fell in love with because English was always my thing. So the vocabulary, you know the way they were flipping the words and everything. And it all goes back to Rock Him. I know you're familiar with Rock Him, you know that voice. When I heard that voice and you know, and then heard him, eric B as president and all of those things, my melody, all of those old school tracks, I just fell in love with it and it was the perfect thing for us.
Ron Kelley:I was in a upper middle class environment in San Antonio. I tell people man, I'm not from the hood, it's not that story of some rags to riches story. I grew up in a family where they were just like hey, you better go to college, you better do this, you better do that. It was all locked in. I didn't have to change my life at a certain point. I had to maintain and get better at that point, which I tell people, one is not better than the other. You know a lot, of a lot of brothers who come from a background with a lot of challenges. That's what they use as their motivation. I used as my motivation the racism that I faced by being one of the only black kids at a upper middle class type school and in that environment. So everybody has their struggle. No struggle is is harder than another, it's just different. That's what I tell people.
Ron Kelley:But yeah, growing up in hip hop with that, we were at the beginning of it, man. It was just something that was so interesting to us and to this day it's a big part of my life. People think when I'm riding in my car, you know, as a retired CEO, I'm jamming jazz and classical and I'm Wu Tang all the way. Yeah, I keep up with all the stuff. My son is 15 years old and that bug.
Ron Kelley:I didn't push that on him, you know, I just let him develop it on his own, but he got the music bug. We have a full recording studio in the house and you know all the equipment is there. You know, all my life I had a studio and I watched my son gravitate toward that. I never pushed him. I never. My wife will say you know you encourage him. He just went in there on his own and now he's into making beats and doing things like that. So yeah, it's just something about hip hop that just draws the black intellectual and that's why we have to protect hip hop and keep it from becoming something negative, because there's a lot of positives to it.
Langston Clark:Yeah, I like how you said it draws out the black intellectual, because we don't always view our culture, black culture and what it produces, as an intellectual enterprise, and it very much is. Before we get into some of the conceptual things that I told you about, I have to ask this question as someone who is also another black man, who's been in education and was I was a PE teacher for two years and taught summer school a few years as well and so I want to get your thoughts on the state of black men in education not boys, per, say, but black male teachers right and talk about your thoughts on that, and then maybe we'll get into a little bit about what you deal with, your consulting in schools.
Ron Kelley:Regarding black male teachers, it's all about misinformation. Let me say that again, misinformation. We were taught, and we're still being taught, as black males that you don't make any money in teaching. That's not a good profession. It's hard, the kids are bad man. The best job I've ever had was as a high school teacher.
Ron Kelley:I always say I would go back right now if I didn't want to live after all of the travel and hard work. Now I kind of want to live a more laid back life, but I would go back in the classroom in a second because of the pleasure, the feeling I would get from educating kids. So I think we've got to let our black males know because one they're not there From the consulting side. I've been in and out of schools for the past 15, 20 years and there's very few of us there, very, very few. Especially at the elementary level, where we're needed, where we're forming the thoughts and the vision of our future, young black males, we're simply not there. We've got to know that.
Ron Kelley:One you can make good money in teaching. Those days are over when they say, oh, you don't make any money in that. Here in Texas a lot of starting teachers starting at 60,000 a year. Those other jobs are not comparing to that. You can pull it out, they may be closed or something like that, but that's in a lot of cases it's one of the highest paying jobs straight out of college. So that's more than enough money for you to get established and everything like that and the lifestyle you know. If you manage everything right, it is not a difficult profession.
Ron Kelley:Yeah, there's stress to it and things like that. But there's jobs, certain fields, where you may be working 70, 80 hours a week. That's not going to happen in teaching, unless you. You can have those kind of hours on there. But at 330, when the bell rings, you know you can wrap it up and go home. You know as far as that.
Ron Kelley:But we've got to let our black males know that education is one of the best jobs that you can get. When we put that message out there, I think we'll draw more through that. When you do as a college professor, I see that as the ultimate profession. That was my plan. If my company had not taken off, I would have got a job at a university, got tenure.
Ron Kelley:As I always say, a black man with tenure, that's the most powerful thing, one of the most powerful things in America. That goes against everything that they've used to try to keep us down, because when you have a black man and you say he can't be fired now you can speak out, you can. You can do what you have to do. So that's my thing with black males and education. Let's get the word out there that that is and I think it's the ideal profession for us. We're made for this, the way our personalities work, the way our qualities work. So we've got to get the good information out that this is one of the best careers you can have as a black male.
Langston Clark:Yeah, I agree, you know it's interesting. If I had known that Texas paid the way that it did, I may not have started my teaching career in North Carolina, because even back in was it 07,? The 0708 school year was my first year teaching. You know, in Houston they were paying 40, 40, like 45, $47,000, which was like $10,000 more than I was making my first year teaching. I think you're right. I think there's a lot of misconceptions about teaching, a lot of misconceptions about children in schools nowadays, and teaching is a great way to start your professional career and there's also opportunities to ascend, to become principals, to go in a central office. But, as you said in your story, you pivoted to starting your own company. Tell us a little bit about the company that you did, working with schools, and some of the good outcomes of you making that pivot to entrepreneurship.
Ron Kelley:Well, it was twofold. So the first thing I did as a principal I would always do very elaborate staff development sessions. So when we'd have a faculty meeting it would be very elaborate. You know, I would present and my teachers would always say you should be like a motivational speaker or some type of like training for teachers. And that really put that in my ear. I was kind of like you know, that's interesting, I hadn't thought about it. So I started off as a principal. I spoke at a conference. I said I'm going to sign up for this conference speaking and my two things. I had two specialties, always in education and to this day my specialties are improving test scores and improving discipline. I can show you how to raise your school's test scores and how to improve the discipline and get kids to act right.
Ron Kelley:So I did a presentation in Austin at a conference. I believe it was like an assistant principal's conference or something. I said I'm going to see how this goes and everything. I didn't even know how it worked, like like here's the funny thing I think I started at two o'clock while I showed up at two. I didn't know you were supposed to show up early to set up your PowerPoint. I didn't know how it worked. I really had never even really been to a conference, right Like. I was just like, let me see how this goes.
Ron Kelley:I do my presentation and when it's over, the entire place lined up in a straight line and each person was like can we get you to come to our school? How much do you charge? I didn't know how much to charge, so I had one friend that did this right and he did you know speaking and everything. So I called it real quick. I don't know how I broke the way to call it real quick, but I called him. I said hey man, how much do you charge to speak? He's like $2,500 for an hour. It's like 2,500.
Langston Clark:I said, man, I'm better than him.
Ron Kelley:I'm going to charge 3,500. So I said I charge 3,500. They were like that's it, can you speak? You know, can you do like three presentations? So I'm sitting here and it goes back to what we just said about doing the math and figuring out how you can progress up the ladder and then you can really make money. I was like I'd like two things. One, I want to make a difference. But two in this world you have to make some money and you have to get some type of financial empowerment, and that usually comes with starting a business in some form or another. That's what it hit me, that this might just be it as my calling. So I'm a principal, I start speaking at conferences and I'm getting booked for this and I'm sitting there at my desk as a principal and I remember I had a blackberry. You know about that, the blackberry. Yeah, had my blackberry. And I'm sitting there at my desk and my email is just going like this, it's just click. People are just like can we book you to go to Idaho?
Langston Clark:Can you come to?
Ron Kelley:California. Can you come to New York, can you? Because it's just spreading like this was before stuff went viral. I went viral with this speaking right and I went into the superintendent and I was sir. Let me explain the situation. This is February, in the middle of the school year, and this is before the test. It was the tax test at that time and I'm you got to get the school ready. I just explained to him. I was like, look, I think I'm on to something here and luckily they were able to let me out of my contract. And man, I never looked back since that moment in 2006,. I was on the road nationally, just traveling and just doing presentations, just just consulting, showing school districts how to get better. So I use that story to show brothers that you can empower yourself financially, like you can change your life. All you got to do is use your talent and your passion. You know before that. And look, I'm just telling y'all the good parts. I'm telling you the good parts.
Langston Clark:It was a lot of failures along the way.
Ron Kelley:It didn't just work perfectly like this, but once I found my talent and my passion, it took off immediately. I tell people there's no weight Like you. Don't have to wait for a business to take off. When you hit that right one, you'll have so much work to where you won't even you can't even handle it.
Ron Kelley:You know, it's just crazy, that's how I was able to retire at 47 because I was like man, I'm done. You know now I can have fun and just just enjoy life at this point. So I tell people, go for it. If you have an idea, go for it.
Langston Clark:I think one of the beautiful things about being a teacher for Black men in particular is that it is an early entry point into professionalism. And so, I think most other jobs you can climb. You can climb up the corporate ladder or whatever, and the same exists in education. You can go from being a teacher to an administrator, assistant principal, principal, superintendent, assistant superintendent, whatever. When you become a teacher, people know that you're kind of there, you are the professional you have responsibility for other people, which is leadership.
Langston Clark:Most other people going into their first job aren't responsible for other people, but as a teacher, you automatically, at the very least, are going to have 20 people you're responsible for, and if you teach high school and middle school or you teach one of the other specials areas, you're going to have more than that, because if you're an art teacher, you're going to get all the kids in the school. So that means at some point you have responsibility for all of them. And so when we think about when I think about being the consummate professional day one being a teacher, is that because you automatically have responsibility for other people, and so I just that's a great point.
Ron Kelley:Yeah, I'm gonna add this to that. We're taught as black men. Be a doctor or a lawyer. You know, those are only two successful things and you got it exactly right, the reason why they tell you be a doctor or a lawyer you're responsible for people. As a doctor, you're responsible for lives. As a lawyer, you're responsible for people's freedom. You know, in situations or in a criminal case and guess what? All that's missing with teaching is the money. The doctor, the lawyer concept has money attached to it. Teacher does not have money attached to it, so it has that respect.
Ron Kelley:As you know, when you go back, let's get real. You know historical and go back in black culture. The highest level of status for a black female at the 50s and 60s was to be a teacher. So when you see this, there was no. You didn't look and say, oh man, we don't have that many black female doctors or lawyers or CEOs. The pinnacle of success for a black female was to be a teacher and it had that. And actually, you know, for black males it just goes back a little bit further. But at the 20s and 30s, at that point, being a teacher, being a principal, that was right up there, equal, like that when that money disparate, when that that disparity came about with the money, that's when it lost the prestige. But you're absolutely right, the consummate professional, the consummate professional is an educator For sure.
Langston Clark:And it's interesting.
Langston Clark:I want to put another interesting fact out here that goes contrary to stereotypes about black folks and black men is that the area of learning that black folks are most likely to get their PhDs are in education.
Langston Clark:And I don't think that that's because we can't make it in other areas, because I've seen people who were math majors and undergrad and engineering majors and have master's degrees in engineering decide that they're going to get their PhDs in STEM education because they want to fix systemic issues around how we educate and prepare black folks for education science, technology, engineering, math or whatever. Right, and so it's. It should be noted that one of the things that we do at that is part of black culture when it comes to aspiring to the highest degree is to do that in the field of education. So I want to talk about your next pivot. So you have the consultancy that you're doing with schools, but I think while you were doing that, you had also started doing some mentorship of I know for a fact like younger black men here in the community in San Antonio. So talk about how mentorship is kind of embedded in the work that you do and how it how it's led to you starting these mentorship organizations for black men in particular.
Ron Kelley:Well, definitely, mentoring has just been such a big part of my career and I think it's been part of the reason I've had good luck. You know, until black men, everything really flows for me because I spent a lot of time giving back. You know a lot of us worry about just becoming successful and and focusing on money for yourself. I was doing all of that, but I was about 50% of the time constantly giving back and I think it started in undergrad and I always joke me and my fraternity brothers from undergrad we say we invented mentoring because in 93, around 93, 94 and UT our chapter of Kapao Vosai we said let's go to. They had a daycare center close by UT in Austin, at one of the churches, and we were like, let's go over there and spend some times with the kids and tell them about college, because we never heard of that. Now, you know, mentoring has been going on since the since, for the beginning of time, you know, especially during the civil rights movement. You know we had leaders but we didn't know. We didn't know. So we thought we were inventing something new by going over to this daycare center and showing these young black kids what it's like to be in college. So we went over, we did that and I just fell in love with. I was like man, this is so cool because for some reason you know, they always said I had they call it I had the magnetic kids were kind of drawn to me when I would go there. Everybody else they were scared of them but I sat there and they just gathered around me. And I never forget this this one black kid, maybe about three years old. He just came up to me and just touched my face. He just did like that and I was just me. I think I have something with kids, you know, because when I talked they would just listen and they would ask me questions and all of that. So I started there. They kept going.
Ron Kelley:Once I became I was the youngest one, the youngest poll marks, that's the president of the alumni chapter of Kappa Alpha. Psi started mentoring program here in San Antonio. With that I'm also a member of the Freemasons, as a Mason did a mentoring program through that. So every organization that I was in I was always involved in and adding that mentoring component to it. Once I started my own company, I had a mentoring component to that. So the goal in the back of my mind I was is there a way to do this full time? I always was wondering is there some kind of way that I could do just mentoring? And with the success of the company, that's how I was able to get that division to do it, got my 501 C three, got all of that to start a nonprofit and now that's what I do full time as far as that.
Ron Kelley:So it started when I was an undergrad, kept going up the ladder with the mentoring and now, you know, we work with schools all over. The Northeast School District my own school district, where I graduated from, is one of our largest contracts that we work with. So it's just great to be at my former high school. Let me tell you I'm like, it's just like a dream life for me. Right now. I mentor at my elementary, where I went my middle school and my high school, and those kids are just amazed you seeing you really went to this school. They were like you wear suits, you know, here every day. And then and you went to this school because my school has changed, you know a lot of this jazz.
Ron Kelley:I told y'all it was an upper middle class neighborhood. It's not anymore, you know, it's a lower socioeconomic area. So that's kind of how it all flowed together, man. But mentoring has been my thing. You know, if somebody's like what is your thing, that's my thing.
Langston Clark:So let's take Ron Kelley, before you had your doctorate, still figuring things out. Let's say you're coming back to San Antonio, or it could be another city, somewhere else. What do you tell the version of you 30 years ago about navigating being in a new city or about navigating being in the city that you grew up in? Now, as a professional, how do you build your network? How do you build context? How do you get mentors and mentorship and things like that? What's what's? What's the? The playbook for that? Hey everyone, thank you again for your support of entrepreneurial appetite. Beginning this season, we are inviting our listeners to support the show through our Patreon website. The founding 55 patrons will get live access to our monthly discussions for only $5 a month. Your support will help us hire an intern or freelancer to help with the production of the show. Of course, you can also support us by giving us five stars, leaving a positive comment or sharing the show with a few friends. Thank you for your continued support.
Ron Kelley:Real simple One get out. You got to get out and see somewhere else. First you got to get out of your environment. I did that by living in Houston and going to the East Coast and, you know, going different places. Then, if you're interested in how I'm a family guy, I'm a mama's boy so I wanted to be close, close to the family. Once I had got out and got those experiences, I wanted to come back. I actually started my company in Houston. I was there in Houston for us in San Antonio. That's our mini New York, so you know, just three hours away, that's where we go to the big city and everything. So I was able to go there and really learn and learn how to hold rat race works and the competition and the and everything. So then I wanted to come back. I knew I was set and wanting to come back, so I came back and then the next step is to get involved.
Ron Kelley:And the way you get involved and climb the ladder as a black male, with aiming for the highest levels of success, is organizations. If we look back at our black leaders, how they did it? They were involved in many organizations fraternal organizations, community organizations, all of those that got lost, probably maybe with my generation and it's definitely lost with your generation. Your generation is taught do your own thing. You ain't got to worry about all that stuff. You don't need anybody man being in these organizations and being around older people who are successful. It was just a no brainer One. They helped me be in the youngest guy in the room when the opportunities to get on boards and all of these things, they're like yeah, you go do it. I'm the only young guy sitting in the room. Everybody else didn't have time or wasn't interested. Man, I don't want to be around these old guys and this and that man.
Ron Kelley:I immediately got involved in the masons and the Elks, the Odd Fellows, all of these organizations that are. Average age is 70 plus. You know, in many of those organizations I was the 30 year old guy sitting in the room and I was with a network. These guys were at the end of their career and I was able to network and get all the benefits off of that. So I say, get involved.
Ron Kelley:Don't just go to work and go home and watch Monday night football every night. Go to those meetings, you know. Go to the NAACP. I even went to the NAACP meeting. I mean, nobody encouraged me to do that. That was seen as an organization that's strictly for older people, you know. And now I see younger people getting involved. You know I remember being the youngest person in the room there, you know as far as that. So get involved. The more organizations, the better. Be a joiner, you know you don't have to be the president of everything and be at every meeting, but join stuff. You know boards, all kinds of things like that. That's the key Get yourself out there. Network.
Langston Clark:So it's interesting you bring that up. One of my episodes from last season is a recording from a dinner party I had at South by Southwest EDU, and so it was just serendipitous that we just extended an invitation to people who were attending South by Southwest EDU. It was an unofficial event. Some people came. One of the women who joined us was the president of, I think, the largest community college in New Mexico. I think it's New Mexico, this is New Mexico or Arizona.
Langston Clark:And so after the conversation, after the recording, she pulls me, my homeboy, to the side and she says listen, you all need to start preparing yourselves for leadership positions now. I was like I know, you hear, I hear you saying you don't want to do leadership and all of that stuff. She's like there's about to be a void, because boomers, boomers are about to be on their way out one way or another, because either they have time on this on this earth is going to end or they're going to retire, because it's just, it's just the natural cycle of things. But because boomers has occupied space for so long, there's going to be all of these gaps and you all need to start preparing for that now. And so, ron, it's interesting that you bring that up.
Langston Clark:So, as a younger person going into a city where there are these established networks of folks already in place, now is the optimal time to join a group. It is the optimal time because in five years, all that older leadership is going to be gone. They're going to be gone and it's the perfect opportunity for you to ascend to a leadership position and have impact and influence in your community. So I definitely appreciate you saying that, and I know personally. One of the things that you did in terms of being opportunistic about joining organizations was that you were the founding president of the Black X's of Texas and San Antonio best San Antonio and so can you talk about what it meant for you to fill that void and how, as a younger professional, you could leverage being in your alumni association or, as a younger entrepreneur being what's the value of being a part of your alumni associations?
Ron Kelley:Great question. You know, with UT it's interesting. So I came out of UT in 96 and there's a love hate relationship with UT from that era because there were so many racial things going on and a lot of African Americans from that time distanced themselves. They say I got my UT degree, I got this good degree, but I'm not going back there. You know, I didn't have a good experience and I thought, as I saw so best the Black X students of Texas, the Black organization, started to come along and there wasn't a San Antonio chapter. So I was like maybe this is a way, because I'd always wonder how many Black people that went to UT or in San Antonio. Is there a list? How could we get everybody together? And they were, yeah, it is a list and everything. So I said I'll go ahead and start the chapter and bring everybody together.
Ron Kelley:And the very first meeting we had, I met people I had never even heard of before. They all came together. You know for this, and I was man, we are onto something at this. And so we got it going and immediately I'm not a power guy, right, I'll be the president to start it off, but after that I like to go to the back, I'll pass it on to somebody else, pass it on to somebody else. And we did that and it just kind of faded away. You know, that's one of the things because we said about the organizations, but a lot of times you got to find the one that fits you, the one that's really really you, and with that one I thought we could pass it on and keep going.
Ron Kelley:But with our alumni association it kind of goes and waves with that and here's the reason why the Texas Exis, which is the large alumni association, is really the driving force. So to have a Black version of it is good, but it goes back to that one because, looking what happened to me, from going from being the founding president of that organization, I was immediately recruited for the board for the Texas Exis and I became president of that board, like that. So it all leads back into that. So it tells us one, we do need our own thing. We do need that because we are overlooked. But two, we got to be involved in the other one also. You know, just like Black doctors have the NMA, the National Medical Association for Black Doctors, the AMA is everybody which is the predominantly white one. So I think for them. You got to be involved in both like that.
Ron Kelley:So, yeah, the Black Students Association Best is a great thing. It's a powerful thing. I love to support our Black home coming every year that we have. I haven't been in a few years. I got to now definitely be at the next one. But yeah, we got to unite. That's the key too, and you can't do it by yourself. It's best, whether you unite with your alumni or your fraternity or your sorority, come together with somebody at some point.
Langston Clark:And I would say personally for me, not having gone to UT for undergrad, my experience there is very different. Being able to be attached to best San Antonio gave me a network of people who were older, who were more established in San Antonio, that I could call, that I could lead on and that I could be in community with. And so because I went to North Carolina A&T for undergrad and we you know, folks in North Carolina don't have as big a presence here in San Antonio, so there's not many Aggies here, north Carolina Aggies, not Texas Aggies, right, and so having that opportunity to lean into being part of best San Antonio was really a great, great network and community of support for me and my level of comfort being here in this community in San Antonio. So here's one of the main questions I have for you, and really it speaks to something that I'm very much passionate about, interested in and you've alluded to some things related to this already but what is your strategy or what are your ideas for building community among Black men?
Langston Clark:So when I say community, I mean that professionally and entrepreneurially. So how does Ron Kelley, 30 years ago, go about building a network of other Black men who are interested in entrepreneurship Almost like almost one thing like Kevin Samuels. Kevin Samuels talks about. You need a crew of men that you need to be around with. Like how do you get your crew of brothers who are holding you accountable to excellence and entrepreneurship in your profession and just just ascending in general?
Ron Kelley:Great question? Great question. First, keep them together, because you're going to get the crew. The crew is going to develop and I decided to keep mine together and I decided to bring them along with me for that success. Because early in my days of success, it was me and my group of friends who I'd bring along with me, and as I became more successful, I'd be like, hey guys, let's go on a trip. I got everybody covered, let's do this. And it was just me as the successful one and it was just kind of my guys. You know my little crew right here. And then I started. You know I watched LeBron James empower his guys. You know, around them, all of them now are part of his company. You know, watch Rich Paul become one of the top sports agents in the world and that's. You know LeBron's close friend and just watch that. And that's what I did. I started to empower them and give them jobs and and and watch them become successful.
Ron Kelley:So don't be that one where you have to be the guy and you're always. Everything is about me. You spread that out. You watch other people. There's, there's so much.
Ron Kelley:I tell guys all the time being successful is like a one time thing, like with money and success, and it's great that first time. And then after a while, you kind of have everything and you're just kind of like, okay, like what do I do next? You know as far as that. But when you help other people and you watch them become successful and you help their families as a result of your help, man, there's nothing like that feeling. I mean, just there is nothing is so much better than that. Well, I'd say the best one is buying your mama a house. So people ask when you're able to do that? When you're able to do that, there's nothing. Nothing beats that one at all. Right there, right there. But besides that one, helping your friends and watching them, you know, empowering them financially and helping them network and helping them that's the key. So keep the crew together, spread the love.
Ron Kelley:Don't try to be the head of it and say I'm going to keep because that's what a lot of us do, that's what a lot of athletes do. The athletes are the whole time I'm the superstar and y'all are just my crew. The guys never come up. Lebron James is really the only example I've seen. You know of that. But just help everybody, because here's what's going to happen. Those guys can then turn around and help you, because you're not going to be hot all the time, you just get hot being successful. You get hot in waves. You know there are down parts to that. It's up and down and if some of those down parts the very people that were under you that you help they can make one phone call to change everything. You know, I've had some of my guys that worked for me call and say, hey, man, you know, so-and-so company just called you want to take this contract, I'll take that one. And we're just floating contracts back and forth like that. So help each other, keep the crew together, keep the jealousy out. Man, you know, let me tell you what messed all of that up Social media, me and my guys.
Ron Kelley:Let me tell you, me and my guys use social media to come up. In the beginning we used it to advertise what we were doing. See, we were on it, using it as a business thing. In 2008, when people were just trying to figure it out, we were on it hard. We were on it hard, we were doing it.
Ron Kelley:Once we got successful, we backed off.
Ron Kelley:We're not on there like the rapper show and our cars and our trips and all of these things like that, because that creates a sense of competition and jealousy among your friends. Cause let's look at what it is, facebook, let's take Facebook. Facebook is a network of your friends, right? So if you're on there and you're constantly flossing and bragging and doing all of these things like that, you know people feel some kind of way about that. You know, kind of like man. You know why is? Why is Ron doing that? And it's not so? That's one of the things we said we would do.
Ron Kelley:We live very private lives, super, super private, and you know, when we do something positive in the community, we put it out there. You know, as far as that. But but just being mindful of of how to get along with each other, how to keep it together, cause we would have fell apart a long time ago. I've got about two or three best friends and then we've been in some knockdown, drag outs over business stuff, arguing we would have fell apart a long time ago but we kept that brotherhood like that. And back to the organizations that's important too, because those, those organizations for black men, they haven't been around over a hundred years for no reason. They really have a purpose and they've really kept us together. So yeah, great question, man. It's just cool thinking about that, cause that's stuff I don't even think about on a daily basis.
Langston Clark:As I mentioned before we started the recording that we have origins as a book club, and so can you do two things for us as our final question. One, tell us a little bit about maybe one or two of the books that you've written, and then tell us a little bit about one or two books that have inspired you on your journey.
Ron Kelley:So I've written 10 books and I may be a little more than that. I just finished the recent one. I may be on like 10 or 12 right now, but I know I've done at least 10. And my most successful book was a book called that answers that I wrote in 2008. And what I envisioned was a guide for teachers that they could have on their desk that had how to improve test scores and how to improve discipline, where they could just pick up this book when they're running into issues and they could flip to it and it has answers. If you have a kid, it just starts tearing up your classroom. What do you do? How do they get them under control?
Ron Kelley:So I released that book, would speak at conferences and after I speak at conferences, I would sit there and I would sell books and sign the books and things like that and with this particular book every single time. There was never enough. I never had enough books and I'm just like wait a minute. That means people really want. Like, why are people buying five copies of the book? Why are they saying do you have 10 copies of the book or can I buy your whole box? Like I have a box and they're like I had no idea that I had written a book that was designed to be purchased in book. Like you, buy this book for your whole staff or you buy it for your school history.
Ron Kelley:Yeah, so that was my first time in realizing like, like and people think like. Oh man, you know he thought of that idea for the money and, and you know guys will joke with other fellow speakers and educated joke with me. But like man, how'd you think of that one man? I heard they buy like 800 books at a time. I didn't imagine, I just imagine. I thought teachers would go online and buy. The book was $20. I thought they'd buy it for themselves and just keep it. But I didn't know that.
Ron Kelley:Principles are like let's buy this for the staff, let's buy this for the district, so that that's definitely the book that stands out because it had such wide appeal that to this day, you know, the book is over 10 years old, 15 years old, and it still sells. You know, when I look, it's just constantly. There's been a part two and then all that stuff like that. And onto the more fun part of the question it was with book Am I currently reading? Is that what it was? Yeah, man, let me tell you. So I'm an English major.
Langston Clark:OK.
Ron Kelley:Major for undergrad was in English. My master's was in English. Reading is my thing. That's the thing that I don't get time to do. I don't get time to do two things anymore Reading and making music. So. So I was always the production side, making the beats and all of that. I don't get time for those two things, so I had to come up with a way to make time.
Ron Kelley:So I built a library in my house. I said I want a reminder for when I walk in and I see this, I see this room with all the books. And I was inspired by Dr. Joseph Pierce. I don't know if you've heard of him. Dr. Pierce is a legend in the San Antonio community. He's a legendary anesthesiologist. Yes, his hobby, his hobby, has two hobbies, him and his wife, Aaronetta Pierce, who is a legend among legends among black women. Their hobbies are art, black art and black books. And you know, going to their house seeing their library of thousands of books, that just inspired me. I said somebody's got to carry on this tradition. So I started my library as as to carry on tradition and to remind me to sit down and read, and so if I sit down and read, I may be able to read 10 pages or something, but I make progress on the different books.
Ron Kelley:But my interest in books, definitely in the black history realm a book that I'm currently rereading is Message to the Black man by Elijah Muhammad. I think that is an excellent book because it's written in a format that talks to the black man. Of that. I don't know when I can't remember the year that that was published it may be the 60s, I believe it was something like that but it's talking to black men. I remember when I first read it I said why has this book written so simple? Like like it's just real simple. I was used to reading, you know, intellectual, scholarly type books and someone explained to me its message to the black man. He's talking to the black man in 1965. He's not talking to the scholars, he wants everybody to get this message. So, seeing how that book was written and basically what he's doing in that book is introducing Islam to blacks at that time, which was very foreign, because in the black culture all we knew was the black church and the south and things like that. So he he expanded the minds of black people to let them know that there is another religion you know from the Middle East and we're the same as these people. Don't fear someone when you hear they're a Muslim and and things like that. So that was just interesting to see how he was able to connect. And the book builds self pride and and tells you how to respect yourself, how to respect the black woman. So that's a book that I go by, read it once in high school and I think I read it maybe like after college and then I'm kind of going back back over it right now, but I think that's the one right now.
Ron Kelley:Another one I thought of another one our kind of people, by Lawrence Graham. They did a TV show on it A very controversial book because it exposes the world, the black upper class. The thing I love about that book we were never told there was a black upper class and if you don't know about a black upper class, you'll never be a part of a black upper class. So we need to know that there are successful black people out there. You know that book talks about the culture of how black executives live and what do they do and the organizations are a part of and and all of those things, and some people see that as a negative. You know, some black people are like oh, you know, that's the lead, is and it's, and that.
Langston Clark:I don't see that.
Ron Kelley:I look at those 70 and 80 year old me because those guys are my age, you know, in that book I look at them and say, how do I get to that point when where I can fund a scholarship at a university, where I can do all those kind of things? So yeah, those are the two books that kind of piqued my interest right now.
Langston Clark:Well, there you all have it, Dr. Ron Kelley, a fellow longhorn, a fellow entrepreneur, a fellow author, a fellow reader, fellow lover of literature. Thank you for joining us and we look forward to the next episode. And we look forward to maybe having you on again sometime in the future.
Ron Kelley:Anytime, man, this is a great thing that you're doing.
Ron Kelley:Keep doing what you're doing. And look, let me tell you all about the doctor Langston here. He lets me know about all these events and I am so busy where, when he lets me know about stuff, my calendar is already full and I get so frustrated when he tells me about something. I'm like, man, I got to do this, I got to do that. So when he told me about this podcast, I didn't tell him this, but I had two or three other things going on at this time and I had said since the last one, I remember he invited me to the event at the pizza place, right, and I was. I was out of town. I said next time he calls me, I'm canceling whatever it is I have. I was, I'm not going to tell him, but I'm OK. So he let me know.
Ron Kelley:We set a time. I call mother one not going to be able to do it. I made time for this and this has just been great. Man, this is, this is a great thing that you're doing. Don't think while you're doing it, don't, don't stop. You know, don't think like you know, I don't know how this and that. Just keep going. When you, when you're ready to turn that corner, everything just takes off, man, and I think this could be one of the top podcasts because it's inspiring. So keep doing what you're doing, thank you.
Langston Clark:Ron, I appreciate it. Thank you for joining this edition of entrepreneurial appetite. If you like the episode, you can support the show by becoming one of our founding 55 patrons, which gives you access to our live discussions and bonus materials, or you can subscribe to the show. Give us five stars and leave a comment.