{"id":3000008982,"date":"2020-02-19T13:04:38","date_gmt":"2020-02-19T18:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/?p=3000008982"},"modified":"2020-09-03T05:53:24","modified_gmt":"2020-09-03T09:53:24","slug":"the-power-of-bringing-personal-connection-to-a-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/the-power-of-bringing-personal-connection-to-a-business","title":{"rendered":"The power of bringing personal connection to a business"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There are more than 2.5 million black-owned businesses in the United States\u2014and according to the most recent statistics, they\u2019re booming, generating over $150 billion a year collectively. This Black History Month, we\u2019re celebrating some of those <\/em>boundary-pushing black business owners<\/em><\/a> who also happen to be WeWork members. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a recent survey<\/a> of African-American-owned businesses, the key factors motivating the country\u2019s black entrepreneurs to go into business for themselves are: a desire to pursue individual passions, be one\u2019s own boss, and diverge from stereotypical corporate America. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For founders Selina Hanley, Wesley Burns, and Antoine Toussaint, there was another reason: to be able to serve their respective communities and clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Manchester<\/a>, United Kingdom, Hanley is advocating for a shift in her city\u2019s approach to social services with her company, Benevolent Life Change; meanwhile, in Seattle<\/a>, Wesley Burns and Antoine Toussaint are well on their way to building a billion-dollar black-owned enterprise with their highly personalized wealth management firm, Burns, Toussaint & Associates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A force for change<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Selina Hanley was working as a pastry chef on a cruise ship when she had a life-altering revelation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI realized that Manchester is just a dock in this whole globe,\u201d she says. Hanley had spent years working 16-hour days at various jobs to support herself and her daughter. Seeing the world allowed her to imagine a different future. \u201cThat’s when I realized how important [travel] is,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The transformative power of travel is a key element of her brainchild, Benevolent Life Change<\/a>. Through her charity organization, Hanley, a member at WeWork Dalton Place<\/a> in Manchester, provides international vacations for its beneficiaries, with the aim to empower young women, especially teenage ones between ages 16 and 18, who have been affected by homelessness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organization serves women particularly vulnerable to unplanned pregnancies, which they may not have the resources to manage. Travel is designed to bring these young people out of their everyday environments and introduce them to opportunities that exist beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTheir children often will end up in care, and their life will be a revolving door unless something drastically changes,\u201d says Hanley, who herself had a daughter at 16. \u201cIf I didn’t have my support network, any one of these girls could have been me. My vision is to help them change their reality.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Selina Hanley (second from left), founder of Benevolent Life Change, at an event in 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Although Benevolent Life Change\u2014founded just 18 months ago\u2014is in its earliest stages, Hanley\u2019s ambitions are expansive. Her goal is to work with other advocacy organizations to identify young women who are vulnerable due to limited resources, and introduce them to a host of opportunities that will expand their professional and personal opportunities\u2014from travel to counseling and life mapping to supportive, safe housing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The travel aspect of the program, Hanley explains, was not only the spark for the project but also one of the ingredients she believes is most crucial to its success.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can’t be what you can’t see,\u201d she says. Travel allows them \u201cto see what other things are obtainable. Rather than looking in a magazine or watching it on television, they’ll actually experience it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hanley\u2019s biggest challenge is finding the right allies and getting the parties she\u2019s in talks with\u2014members of health services, foster care, potential donors, and the like\u2014to understand how an approach that they might consider radical could in fact be effective. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe current system [for vulnerable young women] is costing millions for each person,\u201d she explains. \u201cYou have to convince people to undergo a system change, a cultural change, from the norm. But once I understood the numbers, I understood that it\u2019s possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A sound investment<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Many people of color are familiar with the \u201chead nod\u201d\u2014the silent gesture of introduction and acknowledgment made between two POC in a space where they\u2019re outnumbered, be it a workplace, a neighborhood sidewalk, or a college. This was the case for Antoine Toussaint and Wesley Burns, who shared a head nod as underclassmen at Seattle University. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The greeting marked the beginning of a friendship, and the two went on to become college roommates, coworkers at a wealth management company, and, eventually, founders of their own financial planning firm, Burns, Toussaint & Associates<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As colleagues, Burns and Toussaint, who are members at WeWork 1411 4th Ave<\/a> in Seattle, make a compatible team. \u201cWes is more of a risk-taker, and I’m more risk averse,\u201d says Toussaint. \u201cSo we meet in the middle.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn a client meeting, there’s a very good balance,\u201d says Burns. \u201cIt provides a nice one-two punch that makes people confident about hiring us.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They agree on the principles that anchor their financial planning strategy\u2014in particular, treating the job as much more than a transactional relationship. \u201cWe do life with our clients,\u201d says Toussaint. \u201cWe pop the champagne bottle when they have a celebratory moment, and we\u2019re a shoulder to lean on when they have a bad moment.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With an emphasis on that familial ethos, the two men launched their independent firm in December 2019 by moving $120 million in business from their old firm, where both had worked for over a decade. Thus, even though Burns, Toussaint & Associates is technically a new venture, its relationships have been years in the making. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn this business, even though you start out working for a firm, [your client relationships] are really your<\/em> relationships,\u201d says Burns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Toussaint and Burns on Toussaint’s wedding day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Their clients were equally as invested in Toussaint and Burns. \u201cWhen we told clients we were leaving to start our own firm, I can’t tell you how many folks said, \u2018It’s always been about you\u2014it’s never been about the name on the door,’\u201d says Toussaint. \u201c\u2018You made your way into our family and we’re going to go with you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two felt the significance of branching out on their own immediately. \u201cThe very first day, walking into the office, there was a totally different sense of ownership,\u201d says Burns. \u201cIt was a surreal feeling, like, \u2018We don\u2019t work as independent contractors anymore. We have an LLC that we own\u2014that’s black-owned. We\u2019re here. And we have big plans.’\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big plans indeed: The pair aim to be the largest black-owned wealth management firm in Washington state (as well as one of the largest on the West Coast), and to do so while remaining true to their core values. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe’ll continue to love on our clients the way we have,\u201d says Toussaint. \u201cWe don’t want to build a wealth management firm any other way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n