Entrepreneurial Appetite: Season 7 Preview - A Conversation with Lloyd Kuykendoll

As we launch into Season 7 of Entrepreneurial Appetite, I'm sitting down with one of my favorite co-hosts, Lloyd Kuykendoll, founder of Black Cabinet Education, to preview what's coming in 2026 and reflect on the books and conversations that are shaping our thinking.

Lloyd shares the four books that changed his life this year: The Black Jacobins by C.L.R. James, I Have Avenged America by Julia Garfield (exploring the true legacy of Jean-Jacques Dessalines), The Wounded World: W.E.B. Du Bois and World War I by Chad L. Williams, and the rare bibliophile treasure Damn Rare by Charles Blockson. We dive deep into Du Bois—not just as an intellectual, but as a flawed human navigating mistakes like his controversial "Close Ranks" article, and how Anna Julia Cooper pushed him to write Black Reconstruction in America.

I share my favorite interview from last season with Julius Garvey, Marcus Garvey's youngest son, discussing Justice for Marcus Garvey—an interview that happened just before President Biden pardoned Garvey.

What's Coming in Season 7:

We're previewing conversations with authors and entrepreneurs who are pushing the boundaries of Black economic thought:

• Dr. Rachel Laryea on Black Capitalists and what Pan-African business really means
• Trey Baker and his blueprint for Black economic development in In the Black 2050
• Dr. Julia Gaffield on Dessalines and rewriting Haiti's narrative
• Oji and Ezinne Udezue, Nigerian-American tech leaders who wrote Building Rocketships
• Plus book reviews of Banking on Freedom: Black Women in U.S. Finance Before the New Deal and Mentorship Unlocked

Lloyd reveals his dream interview: Dr. Greg Carr, Chad L. Williams, or Gerald Horne. I share mine: Demaurice Smith, former NFL Players Association executive director, on his book Turf Wars: The Fight for the Soul of America's Game.

This season, we're also evolving—more live events, more book reviews, and a challenge for you: share your favorite episode with six people to help us grow this community of Black entrepreneurs, intellectuals, and dreamers.

Lloyd closes with his powerful origin story—from being a "functioning illiterate" who feared reading aloud to building Black Cabinet Education, where his books became his greatest friends and his ancestors spoke back to him when he was lost.

Welcome to Season 7. Let's build together.

Transcript

 What's up everybody? This is Langston Clark, founder and organizer of Entrepreneur Appetite, series of events dedicated to building community, promoting intellectualism and supporting black businesses. And I thought it'd be great if, this year, as we got started for season number seven, which is taking place in twenty twenty six, that I invited one of my favorite guest host, favorite co-hosts, Lloyd Kuykendoll to, be a part of the conversation. Lloyd is also the founder of Black Cabinet Education, and Lloyd filled in. I think it was like one time last season and two times already for this upcoming season on some pre-recordings that we did And Lloyd is he's a, he's a, he's a bibliophile, Lloyd loves reading books, all things black history, black culture. And so just wanted to have a conversation with him about Lloyd. Like, what were some of your favorite books that you read this year in your journey as a reader and a learner. Well, this year I would have to say there would be four books that changed my life. one is, The Black Jacobins. I've owned the book for years, but I finally actually read it. And CLR James Black Jacobins about the Haitian Revolution really opened up my world to the Caribbean. Uh, I would have to say. Number two is I Have Avenged America by Julia Gaffield, who we interviewed. that book coming off of who  Jean-Jacques Dessalines really is. Yeah, was truly amazing. Chad L Williams, uh, The Wounded World, W.E.B. Dubois in World War One was just amazing and astonishing. It's a book. Uh, that is that is nonfiction, but reads like fiction. Yeah. And, uh, last but not least, I would have to say damn rare by Charles Blockson, a bibliophile. Mm. That book, uh, I found it. You can't find that book for under six hundred or seven hundred dollars, but the minute it dropped to about one hundred and fifty dollars, I took a leap of faith and bought the book. And it is the first page told me it was worth one hundred and fifty dollars. Oh, wow. Yeah. I don't think I've ever spent that much money on a book that wasn't like a textbook for college or anything like that. So, talk a little bit about the book and the reason why. Reason why I ask about the book is one my bias. I'm most familiar with W.E.B. Du Bois, but I think people don't really have a clear understanding of just how dynamic Du Bois was in terms of like business, in terms of sociology and history. And I don't know if this comes about in the book that you read, but there was a book that I read years ago, I started reading years ago, and I cannot remember the name of it. I'll look it up before we start recording. And basically, the book makes an argument that W.E.B. Du Bois is is the founder of the American style sociology. But I won't go too much into that. I'll let you talk about your experience with the book that you read about W.E.B. Du Bois. It opens up, gives a good history of Du Bois and who he is. But really the book is about how to appreciate somebody even with their faults. Mhm. And the book really talks about, you know, Du Bois has a long life, but all these different people in his life are dying. Mhm. And the Du Bois has a mistake where he writes this article called Close Ranks, where he tells black people to lay aside their special grievances with white people and stand shoulder to shoulder with them and their allies in World War one. And he gets hammered by everyone, in fact, to a point where they actually call him a race traitor. And so throughout this time, Du Bois is really trying to navigate that mistake and wondering, almost like Martin Luther King says, I feel I take. I've brought my people into a burning house or led them to a burning house. Well, the boys feels the same way after he really lobbies for black people to go into World War One, and then how black people are treated not just at the in the war, but coming out of the war in the summer of nineteen nineteen, everything else. So things I learned about that book is I never knew that one. Dubois was about to become a captain in the Army. Another one he ran for Senator. Right? I didn't know that. Yeah. I mean, just those things. And then, of course, his relationship with Shirley Graham Du Bois started while Nina was still alive. His current wife. So those things are just things that you just see him navigating, but also a lot of the what do you do with a lot of the money? Yeah. Uh, what? The boys. One of his greatest works is Black reconstruction in America. And finding out why he wrote that book was because of a woman named Anna. Julia Cooper said that they did not like how how black people were being portrayed in reconstruction. And she said the only person that could do this is the voice. You're the man that has to correct this. Yeah. And the boy stands up and writes black reconstruction in America and basically just, you know, really heals heals the wound that, that, that we're going through at the time. You know, it's interesting that you bring up Anna, Julia Cooper. I'm going to suggest a book for folks to read. that wasn't a book I read this year, but it was co-authored by two of my mentors, Anthony Brown, Doctor Anthony Brown and Doctor Carolyn Brown. And it's called the ah, black intellectual, black intellectual thought. It's like either the origins of black thought or the tradition of black intellectual thought. And basically, it tracks the history of three black intellectuals who are basically in America, the foundational black intellectual thought. And they intentionally put Anna Julia Cooper in there as well. So I suggest folks read that book and really like Anna. Julia Cooper is kind of like she's a true hidden figure in black history in terms of like her contributions to black thought in the United States and maybe even Pan-African in a Pan-African perspective globally. another MC graduate, which later became Paul Laurence Dunbar. Yeah. And also, a lot of people don't know that Anna Julia Cooper was, uh, only only two women spoke at the first Pan-African conference, and she was one of them. Yeah. Yeah. So it's some really interesting history, that I think is in some ways disconnected from business and black institutions, because I think sometimes we separate those two things. but they go hand in hand. So, we talk about Pan-Africanism, we talk about Du Bois, and of course, you know, entrepreneur appetite has a a focus on business and economic development in terms of like our authors and our guest hosts and people who speak to our authors and people who speak to the entrepreneurs who come on to the show. One of my favorite books was justice for Marcus Garvey, which was written by his son, his youngest son, Julius Garvey. And it talked about, all of the tensions that Garvey had with Du Bois and some other people at the time, and how in many ways, Gavi was a precursor to other folks who were who were originally maybe had maybe not opposed, but had tensions with him, and his approach to Pan-Africanism. and so that that to me, I think that was my favorite interview this year because I got to interview, like, Marcus Garvey's son. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? I heard it was pretty cool. It was it was pretty dope to be able to do that and have that conversation with him and to have that conversation with him, I think almost like a month, two months. I can't remember if it was a week, a month or two months before Marcus Garvey got pardoned. Wow. So even though the episode was released a little bit later. But that conversation happened was recorded around the time where, like, almost right before Marcus Garvey got pardoned by, by Biden. So that was that was probably one of my favorite, recordings that I did last year. So, looking forward to this year. I know that we've got, some interviews lined up. What are some books that you're looking forward to reading to, in twenty twenty six? as you prepare for what you're doing in black cabinet education. But also we got some interviews with me and you and some authors lined up as well. Well, I think at the top of my list is a book I probably should have done two years ago. And that's Howard French is born in blackness. Uh, but and also, uh, this year for sure, I'm gonna finish, uh, Howard French's The Second emancipation. And really, it's, uh, it's a it's a broad stroke with a lot of intricate parts of of Kwame Nkrumah. And they're calling the second emancipation is really the emancipation of Ghana and hands off of Ghana and then becoming who they are. And it really talks about how great Kwame Nkrumah is. And I seen Doctor Karen Hunter, her interview with Howard French. And it made me look at at Kwame Nkrumah as probably. And you talked about Pan-Africanism. Some would say that Kwame Nkrumah, probably the greatest Pan-African we ever had. Mhm. And so based off of the second emancipation, I want to read that and see exactly what was Howard French talking about as far as he took, he took Garvey's words and Garvey's preaching and put it into action. Yeah. So yeah. So it's interesting that you bring up Ghana, because we had an interview that we pre-recorded for this upcoming season with Doctor Rachel Lal. We won't spoil it for you all, but Doctor Lal is Ghanaian Ghanaian American. And you know, her book is called Black Capitalists. And man, I don't want to spoil it her based upon what she talked about in our interview, her next book is probably going to talk a little bit about what it means for us to be Pan-African in the way that we do business in the continent with Africans in the Caribbean. And so, like, that's one of the books that we've already read. But I look forward to like our audience also like sharing that experience with us when that episode comes out. later on in the season. also, we haven't recorded this interview yet, but we do have scheduled a brother by the name of Trey Baker, who's been doing some really good work in Tulsa with the revitalization of Black Wall Street there. And Trey has some interesting ideas. I follow him on LinkedIn, has some interesting ideas about, like how we connect globally, with folks in Ghana, on the continent, Nigeria, what have you. But he wrote this book called In the Black twenty fifty. It's a blueprint for black economic development. And I believe in the book he talks about, not only things that we can do, but he also has ideas about reparations and how that can work. from a business perspective. And I think he's probably one of the first people other than like when we did the interview with Cliff Goins. He's one of a few people that we've had on the show that are like investors in, in other businesses. And so I think he's going to have a great perspective to share, to share with the audience. About Goins. Oh, okay. so yeah, I look forward to that. I think it'll be a great follow up to what we did with Cliff Boyens, the interview with Trey Baker. and also you mentioned, Doctor Julia Garfield. Yes. So we recorded that interview months ago, but it will release for this audience, this season in twenty twenty six. Oh, wow. Okay, so talk a little bit about why that book was one of your your favorite books that you read and why Haiti is, like, so significant to you as someone who reads all things black and like, is interested in leveraging your platform as an entrepreneur to highlight, like, what's happened in the history of Haiti. Wow, that's a great question. why the interview with Julia Garfield was so important was because it was coming off the cuffs of reading The Black Jacobins, and when you heard Toussaint was in a jam, there was There's always this one person that he always went to and they say, send the armies of desolation. And so whenever the enemy seen destiny and his armies come, it seemed like they were panicking. Yeah. And so after Crescent gets captured or basically, after he basically gives over his self into armies to the French, and then they capture him and take him and expedite him, uh, to, uh, to Napoleon. Well, this person becomes the main person, uh, for Haiti, and that was Celine. And Celine becomes that forerunner. And so I there's a lot of books that's only in Haitian writing about him. And they were saying the first book about Celine is coming out by Julia Gaffield. Mhm. And I started looking at who is Julia Gaffield. And after I found out who she was, a person that finds the Haitian Declaration of Independence, uh, Haitian Revolution scholar and this book is coming out. So I immediately had it on pre-order. Yeah, and I just wanted that, really, honestly, I wanted to know more about Desiline. Yeah. And she paints them in such a picture that if you if you don't read this book, you'll think that destiny is a tyrant. You'll think that he's just some bloodthirsty murderer. But really, he was really about his country, about the protection of Haiti and about the protection of the people. And because Desiline has this stain on him, Haitian Haiti has always gotten a bad rap of who they are and who they could have been. Yeah. And and the the embargo's that happened to Haiti, uh, America actually invading Haiti in the nineteen forties. And all these things happened because no one has ever set the record straight on who Desiline was and the things that he did. And so I think, I think, uh, we are we are now in a time of learning and understanding and really putting together the patterns of history and showing where these bad narratives have taken us, for sure. And if we clean those narratives up, then people will see that Haiti is only in the way that it is, is because of imperialism around the world. So, something else that like I'm looking to evolve to doing a little bit more in twenty twenty six, is hosting some live events. And so we started this actually last year actually maybe three or four years ago at my home, where once a year we've had like an author come and speak to some folks in my house. Me and my wife have hosted and, Lloyd, you were able to come be in the conversation with EJI and Essien, who wrote Building Rocket Ships, which is like that was an interesting conversation in the house. We didn't record it. but but this Nigerian American couple are really in. It's just I thought they were amazing because they work in big tech. Yes, but they have like they have a global African ethic to the way that they think about themselves, to the way that they orient themselves to black folks here in the United States. And what's interesting that the AG had an appreciation for, like, what happened in civil rights movement and embrace that as part of his identity. So later on, this season, I'm going to have one of the folks who was at that, dinner and discussion interview them about what it means to be in project management. Now, this is like real technical business stuff. But I think one of the beautiful things that we do is even when somebody who is like hard core business person or maybe a capitalist, right, you don't always know the ethic behind the author or their value system. And then like, they can operate in two spaces and still do good work for black folks. And so that's one of the interviews that I look forward to, being a part of later on in the season and hopefully releasing it to the audience to see and be a part of some, also taking inspiration from you, because I know you do book reviews. folks in the audience may not know this, but as I try my best to like book authors to come and talk about, different things related to, uh, black folks and black business, sometimes things don't work out. Authors busy. Something happens in their life and like, it just it just doesn't work out. But I've had the opportunity to read some of the books. And so what I'll do this year is I'll start integrating some book reviews into, podcasts just so people can get a feel for what's out there. So one of the books that I read years ago was called Banking on Freedom Black women in the US, financed Before the New Deal, uh, by Jeanette Garrett Scott was a great book that I read maybe like two or three years ago, and it actually talked about how, like black women in these secret societies like, created their own banking systems. And so I look forward to, like, if I'm gonna reach back out to her. But if I can't get her to come onto the show, like I'm gonna do a deep dive on that book, with the audience, and, like, I think it'd be an amazing read for anybody who is really thinking about, like, black women's contribution to black business and black economic development. it's something I think people should check out another book, which is by, a sister who I think is based in Austin, Texas. she wrote a book called Mentorship Unlocked The Science and Art of Setting Yourself Up for success. And she's one of few black women to get, like a million dollar investment in her tech startup. And so the woman's name is Janice. and so I look forward to, like, just unpacking that book as well. And I'll reach out to her to see if we can get her on the show, too. but I think those are two, two books that I suggest that the readers, who are in the audience read, and I'll do a deep dive on both books and also check to see if I can get them to come on to the show as well. So who is like your dream interview? Like if you could interview somebody? wow. This coming year, I know you mentioned a few, a few folks, but there was someone you could interview who's writing a book that you know is coming out or wrote a book that recently came out. Like, who would you want to interview? Well, in, uh, in Africana studies, we don't use the word mentor. We use the word degna. And my degna is, uh, Doctor Greg Carr. All right. Uh, I know he's in the middle of writing, and and I've seen him write different forwards of books, but, uh, man, I would I would love to be one of the first or one of the people to interview Doctor Greg Carr. Uh, when his book does come out. So, uh, that would be someone, again, Chad Williams. I have my second book. I'm about to start on him. That comes, uh, that should be in my, uh, it should be in my mailbox in the next couple of weeks. So Chad Williams, uh, That's another person who I love to interview. And, uh, I think that's about it right now. It's, you know, I'm I'm doing a lot of. Oh, Gerald Horn, I would love to interview with the great Gerald Horn. Uh, Gerald Horn has, in fact, he has more books coming out. He's produced. I have, I believe, all forty three of his books. So Gerald Horn is right there in Dallas. Very easy to get Ahold of. Yeah. Uh, but yeah, I would love to interview Gerald Horn, but I want to make sure that it's key and focused on maybe one or two of his books at the same time. But yeah, Gerald Horn would probably be another person I would look forward to interviewing. So let me tell you, I just thought about this. I want to interview Demaurice Smith. And so, for those of you who are avid listeners, you know, I have two podcasts. The other one is called the African American Sport Pod Class. But and sometimes we share content between the two different platforms. Demaurice Smith is the former, executive director of the NFL Players Association. So he was the lead for the players union in the NFL. And he wrote this book called Turf Wars The Fight for the Soul of America's Game. And so my dream interview for this coming season, if we can make it happen, is to get Demaurice Smith, to to talk about the book that he wrote about his experience as, you know, leader of the players union, the Players Association, NFL. So. Wow. Yeah, that's that's that's one that I look for. That'd be money right there. That'd be great. I would love to. That's a book that I never even thought about getting. And now I'm thinking about it. Yeah, yeah. So that's what I look forward to. and again like, thank, thank I want to give a shout out to not only you, Lloyd and the people in black cabinet education who follow your work and have from your work started to listen to this podcast, but also the loyal listeners of Entrepreneur appetite for checking us out for the past, six and now going into our seventh season, and I have one quick favor to ask those of you in the audience. one of my major goals this year is to grow the audience. So I'm just asking that you all, if you like the show, if you appreciate what we do that for twenty twenty six, if you could share, this podcast or your favorite episode in the past of this podcast with six people, to help grow our audience because, you know, this is a labor of love and I do it for fun, but I also do it so that people can learn and get something out of it as well. So, I think all of you for supporting us, and I look forward to a great season. And, Lloyd, before we sign off, tell us a little bit about black cabinet education so that the folks on this platform can follow and support what you do. Uh, black cabinet education, uh, actually started in twenty twenty, uh, when I first opened up myself to going onto social media. I didn't even have Facebook or anything like that for a long time. And, I, I found it black cabinet off of coming out of the military in twenty nineteen and not having any direction or, you know, I was going to work, but what was going to be my my niche? Who am I? Yeah. And, I'll share something with you. I was a functioning illiterate through high school and everything. I was scared to read. Yeah. If I read out loud, my palms would start sweating. I start sweating and I would fumble over every word. I would read, so I never read out loud. And, uh, while I was in, I was in the military. And there's this one young lady. She was reading a book, and believe it or not, she was reading an erotica book called Zane. Mhm. And so I read a Zane book and I'm like, oh my God, it's sticking. I can't believe I read something that sticks. Yeah. Yeah. And and it was more, it was more like an open and eye opener, like, yo, you're not stupid. You can read. Yeah. You know, and I was like, wow. So as I started college classes and started reading more often, I was like, wow, things are sticking. And, uh, I read my. I read, uh, The Challenge of Blackness by Lerone Bennett Jr. And it changed my life. And after I read that, I read The Soul of Black Folk. I read up from slavery. And those were the first books that I had for black history. And of course, Frederick Douglass books and black cabinet education started to come up at that point. And now black cabinet education is going into my fifth year of being established or my sixth year, twenty twenty six. Uh, October will be six years. Black cabinet education has been alive. I started out as a Da select and then higher education TikTok, and I changed the black cabinet education. And I get the name from the actual black cabinet. Uh, that that was part of our history of the black advisory Board. That was Roosevelt's black advisory board to help on black issues. And so even though I'm not trying to help a president with black issues, but I think that we need an advisory board for that. So that's how it was birthed off of, uh, basically just being alone. And my books are now like my greatest friends. Yeah. If you want to know any of my secrets, you got to go into my books and you'll hear all my problems, all my secrets, my tears. Yeah, my, my my wife's counsel came from the writers of these books and the different, uh, ancestors who spoke back to me when I was lost. Yeah. And so, uh, that's what it's all about. Uh, last words I do want to say, uh, you know, uh, what, doctor Langston. Clark, I really appreciate not just your friendship, but also the mentorship that you have given me in the short time I've known you. Uh, I look up to you and also look sideways to you as a brother, a friend, a mentor, and I just. I just believe that sky's the limit with you. And I thank you for allowing me to work with you. Yeah. Thank you, Doctor Kuykendoll. I say Doctor Kuykendoll, because at some point, this brother going to get his PhD, those of you who are listening always appreciate your listenership and your support. you all have a happy New Year, and I look forward to the seventh season of Entrepreneurial Appetite. Thank you.