Timed to resonate with the themes of freedom surrounding Juneteenth and July 4th, episode 1 of this conversation series addresses the pressing issue of the lack of financial freedom in America.
With 78 percent of Americans living paycheck to paycheck and many lacking sufficient savings, Hamilton, who transformed her life from homelessness to raising more than $30 million for startups through Backstage Capital, leads conversations that aim to inspire and empower viewers.
Partnering with the ABC Owned Television Stations, Hamilton and her entrepreneurial friends share their thoughts and insights on achieving financial independence and working to get "Our America: In The Black."
Rachel Rodgers spent her childhood with limited means. Now, she has millions to her name and uses her platform, Hello Seven, to help individuals from historically marginalized communities, specifically women and women of color, achieve financial success.
Rodgers founded Hello Seven on the belief that Black women like her deserve to create the ability to build generational wealth with the right tools.
"I want people to understand that making money is so easy, that it's not hard, that is a simple thing, and you just got to work the plan," Rodgers explained. "Do you know what makes it hard? Us. The nonsense in our brains, the stories we tell ourselves, the systems that make us feel like we're not good enough, that we're not worthy. We need to counteract that and understand, 'This is actually not that hard. I'm very capable. I can do it.'"
Rodgers, who also hosts the "Hello Seven" podcast and founded the club, We Should All Be Millionaires, believes that the first step to achieving this goal is for people to allow themselves to dream and to express what they want out of life without shame. The second step, Rodgers said, is to craft your skill and talents and learn how to make a high-paying career out of it. She also finds it highly valuable to choose your friends and family carefully, and to only listen to the voices that uplift, rather than discourage.
"Sometimes, too, when you're going along your pathway, you're [going to] see some people are [going to] be like, 'I'm here for you. I'm here to cheer you on and I'm coming with,'" said Rodgers. "Then, some people are not going to be here for it, and that's fine."
Rodgers thinks that once people learn these lessons, they will be able to find the same financial freedom she values so much. She hopes that Hello Seven can help bridge the gap between white and Black wealth and empower its users to overcome barriers to their financial success.
"It is going to take many, many hundreds of years, probably thousands of years to solve it, but I want to make my contribution in my lifetime to start to whittle away at this massive chasm that we have, this wealth chasm," Rodgers said. "We want a society where everyone can win and when everybody wins, when everyone is in the black, then we're all going to get along better."
She went on to say, "There's going to be more joy, there's going to be more connection. If we all can actually grow and actually have the same opportunities, I think we actually get to connect better. I think that is that is something that we need to fight for."
Watch episode 1 of "Our America: In the Black Conversations" with Arlan Hamilton and Rachel Rodgers now in the video player above or wherever you stream this station on Roku, Apple TV, FireTV or Google TV.
Luke Richards, Jason Honeycutt and Alexis Johnson-Fowlkes contributed to this report.