“I’ve always been someone who has curiosity about people, society and culture,” says Dr. Rachel Laryea Entrepreneur.
Image loan: Courtesy of Penguin Random House. Dr. Rachel Laryea.
Raised by a single mother who emigrated to the USA from Ghana, Laryea began her profession at Goldman Sachs and has double doctorates from African Americans and sociocultural anthropology from the University of Yale KeleweleCurrent research at JPMorgan Chase and her recent book, Black capitalists: a plan for what is possible.
“It was certainly a cultural shock,” says Laryea about her working time in corporate services and real estate Goldman Sachs, “and I had a few cultural shocks in my short life. But it was also an experience that put me [my] Trajectory in a very pragmatic way that unlocked many questions and curiosities that led me to writing [Black Capitalists]. “
In her academic work, Laryea examined the black radical tradition and the way the history and critical theory of breeds around black experiences intersect with capitalism. Often, such a scholarship suggests that black people can’t be related to capitalism, which is not exploiting because of the history of American capitalism, taking into account that the black people “were and are often workers of capitalism, but almost never beneficiaries,” says Laryea.
However, in Goldman Sachs Laryea saw how many colourful people she had “complicated, interesting relationships” with the “belly of the beast” – Wall Street. Experience meant that Przemyśl had a lot of what she learned and wondered find out how to make room for black people in the American financial system to look at how they will use capitalism themselves.
“Everyone can be invested and exercise black capitalism.”
Laryei work on Black capitalists She began when she examined and wrote her dissertation, which focused on black capitalists in the transatlantic industry. Continuing the project, she confronted with the query of how people can use the tools of capitalism to lift their communities.
Image loan: Courtesy of Penguin Random House
Laryei’s book is based on two basic dates: “Black capitalist” and “Black capitalism”.
“I define a black capitalist as a person who identifies himself as a black person and strategically lie down in the economy to use it [and] To create social good, “explains Laryea.
On the other hand, “Black capitalism” is an agnostic race, notes Laryea. “Everyone can be invested and practiced black capitalism,” he says, “because it can be individual or collective, which does the same to change the position in the economy, to create social good.”
According to Laryey, this community way of considering can “break” modern ideas on capitalism – about what could be and how we will participate in it.
“For many people, the idea of a black capitalist is oxymoronical and even an identity crisis.”
Laryea admits that some people will have a “visual reaction in a negative way” to the title of their book: Black capitalists.
“For many people, the idea of a black capitalist is oxymoronical and even an identity crisis, because the question becomes: How could I accept an economic system that never allowed me to use it, and in reality there was only the exploitation for me and my community?“Laryea explains.
This is a tense query driven by the history of legalized slavery in the US, generation of economic trauma transferred to the present and a continually expanding gap of racial wealth, says Laryea.
Laryea also notices the distinction between the black capitalist and the black one who participates in capitalism. In the latter case, someone who participates in capitalism to “recreate the damage to capitalism” wouldn’t fit the definition of laryey.
“It became clear to me that I would have to use my own history.”
A few stories Black capitalists Rancing is an worker of Black Goldman Sachs and IFA Priest, who describes himself as a “spy” of accessing access, acquiring surplus resources and giving their black communities in Brooklyn, New York, and Nigerian entrepreneurs in Uemimo Abbey, which co -founded that the uniform company fintech esus, which consumes households households rental shop.
“[Esusu is] This Win-Win-Win design, “said Abbey Entrepreneur In 2023, “this is a victory for a tenant, because they can determine their creditworthiness or build their creditworthiness and not go through my mother and I went when we came to this country, and in a difficult time, [renters also] Get access to zero rent assistance. The landlord can also receive payment instead of the ecstal of the tenant. And the last win is for society – to prevent eviction and homelessness. “
Laryea also made a “difficult choice” to inform her own story in the book. She conducted interviews for the book, many women she talked to had concerns about being turned on and possible to discover despite anonymity.
“It became clear to me that I would have to use my own story in such a way that so many women I spoke to stand,” explains Laryea. “Because at the end of the day so many of our stories and experiences were similar in terms of how we are moving in corporate America – so many negative experiences we had, decreasing many of us return in being in these spaces, but we never really collect their benefits.”
Before publication Black capitalists On June 10, Laryea hopes that the book will take readers to a united operation.
“What is so important, especially in the time we live, [is to] Close your arms and go to the same page about how we intend to experience this moment and go through this moment, “says Laryea.” We know that capitalism will not be dismantled tomorrow, so from a pragmatic point of view, this question is a question, How can we use the tools of this system to create social good [and] A more fair system, in constant effort to bring us to something that is a little more? “