Nafasi Ferrell is the Founder and CEO of Narratives Unbound, a consulting and education company that expands awareness of racial and economic systems. Nafasi is a community connector and events specialist focused on building bridges, healing, economic empowerment and closing the wealth gap.
Today, Jonathan and Nafasi dive deep into financial and generational trauma, the racial wealth gap and restorative practices for overcoming blockades to personal financial success. Nafasi speaks to the work she’s doing to help those in her community deal with trauma and personal finance and her idea of building a for-profit universal basic income program.
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Key Takeaways
01:11 – Jonathan introduces today’s guest, Nafasi Ferrell, who joins the show to talk about the connection between trauma and money
08:01 – The Racial Wealth Gap, explained
10:50 – Cultural and generational trauma
13:24 – How Nafasi has overcome trauma in her own life
17:51 – Overcoming limits that we put on ourselves
20:19 – Shame, scarcity, trauma, and personal finance
27:00 – Wealth redistribution
34:40 – How listeners can learn more about Nafasi’s for-profit universal basic income program
35:06 – One piece of financial advice to heed and one thing to absolutely ignore
37:48 – The last thing Nafasi changed her mind about and one thing that he would like people to know about her
39:33 – Jonathan thanks Nafasi for joining the show and let’s listeners know where to connect with her and learn more about Narratives Unbound
Tweetable Quotes
“But it really was when my father died in 2018. His death shook me to my core around really the big questions of ‘What am I doing? What am I living for? What society is this? What is my future and who’s writing my future? Is it me?’ And I realized it wasn’t me.” (05:37)
“People ask, ‘Why is there a large racial wealth gap? Why do we have these issues?’ Well, we don’t understand how society is made. And, the society comes from us and the things that we build. It’s not just you get up and go to work. It’s that there’s a whole society that’s being built around your labor and your efforts just as well as everyone else in your community, whether that’s positive or negative.” (07:40)
“I think when we speak to cultural trauma, we’re really talking about generational trauma. It’s trauma that’s passed down through generations. We know that slavery was just outlawed legally in a few states in the United States today. We know that people of color are still experiencing physical slavery. So nothing has changed for many since the Declaration of Independence, since the Civil War, since the end of Jim Crow Laws. This idea that ‘the past is the past and today is today’ is really not true. The practices are really the same and so, generationally, we can see today the things that our ancestors went through and we are still experiencing them.” (11:26)
“I think there’s levels of knowing you can have an affect. I think there’s limits that we put on ourselves and that society puts on us. It took me forever to build my business because I thought I couldn’t because I needed permission from somebody somewhere.” (17:51)
“Once your cognitive brain can function, new ideas and solutions actually flow; they are created. We are the only species that can take a thought and manifest it into physical reality. We’re it. That’s how powerful we are. Once we’re able to understand that, then we’re able to make better choices.” (22:14)
“My argument is that every single human being existing needs to understand how to manage wealth and manage resources, and needs to understand how to save, invest and redistribute.” (30:42)
Guest Resources
Mindful Money Resources
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