Sullivan Anderson 
Chicago was a little sunnier this past weekend, shining brighter than ever on the West Side of Chicago. The Ross Mac Maconomics Wealth Summit occurred this weekend, where there were a series of events: an All White Yacht Party on Friday, the Wealth Summit on Saturday, and the Charity Basketball Game on Sunday. In other words, the whole weekend was catered towards building wealth and relationships. True Star had the pleasure to attend the Wealth Summit at Whitney Young High School, where the wealth of knowledge provided was truly once in a lifetime.
We enjoyed Black-owned vendors, including More Than a Minority (a 501(c)3 non-profit clothing brand), Sip and Savor Chicago (a coffee shop), and Juice du Jour (a cold-pressed juice company). The main event consisted of a series of panels that spoke towards the importance of investing, mental health and wellness, life insurance, and good mentorship. There were many heavy hitters in the building who offered their gems: Kristin Myers, award-winning journalist; Dana Evans, WNBA player; Mandell Crawley, Chief Human Resources Manager at Morgan Stanley; Rashauna Scott, CEO of Flippin’ in Heels and Real Estate Investor; and Troy Millings and Rashad Bilal, owners of the Earn Your Leisure platform.
Among the stars in the building were Ryan Leslie, a renowned recording artist and investor who worked his way to his success. During his panel, Leslie told a thought-provoking story about the start of his investment journey experience at Harvard University. He spoke about his investments as a college student, where he worked three odd jobs in pursuit of mentorship from an investor. After his experience, he was able to turn his own debt into personal success, which inspired the audience to pursue short-term sacrifices in search of long-term success.
True Star had the opportunity to sit down with Leslie, where he gave a golden piece of advice to young people who crave financial freedom and wealth. “Find a mentor,” he said. “Warren Buffet, one of the greatest investors of all time, read a book. But it wasn’t enough for him to read the book – he sought out the writer of the book and moved to where that writer was to ask for an apprenticeship.”
Leslie added, “In life, you can model success. When I saw that Warren Buffet found a mentor by reading a book, I discovered that you can model that same behavior to get a similar result.” Another gem he dropped for young people who really want to learn: “Seek out someone who is at a level that you would like to be and take guidance from them.” Talk about a word!
Overall, the Maconomics Wealth Summit was definitely something to remember, and we look forward to witnessing its growth in the coming years. Chicago and the Black community as a whole needs the code to financial freedom more than ever, and it feels even greater when the change is happening right inside our neighborhoods. We remain hopeful that the culture will continue to improve, and the Wealth Summit this weekend was a great start.
By Sullivan Anderson, North Carolina A&T State University Alumna
Instagram: @SullivanGrace_
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