Imagine being nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Now imagine being nominated in a category that includes our forever First Lady Michelle Obama.
For Houstonian Jerome D. Love, he doesn’t have to imagine. His podcast, “The Black Money Tree,” was nominated in the category of Outstanding Lifestyle/self-help podcast. Other nominees in that category include “The Laverne Cox Show,” “Chile, Please,” “Is This Going to Cause an Argument,” and “The Light with Michelle Obama.”
“It feels amazing to be nominated for this prestigious award,” said Love. “When I saw that we are in the same category as Michelle Obama, it really sank in how huge this is. After I received the call from my publicist, the first person I called was our podcast producer.”
If Love’s name looks and sounds familiar, there’s a very good reason.
For over 20 years, Love has been at the forefront of community development and empowerment through programs under the Texas Black Expo, Inc., a non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance the quality of life and advance economic prosperity by creating opportunities for small business advancement and individual wealth development.
Even though the podcast space is over-saturated, Love still believed there was space for a conversation on financial empowerment.
“Honestly, I felt for many years that everyone was doing podcasts, so I didn’t want to do one, largely due to ignorance and not fully understanding the impact and how it worked. But the COVID-19 pandemic pushed me out of the nest and began to make me think outside of my traditional box,” shared Love.
The podcast has captivated audiences with its engaging and informative interviews featuring esteemed guests who are experts in entrepreneurship and masters of building wealth through real estate. With the NAACP Image Award nomination, Love’s “The Black Money Tree” podcast is being recognized as a leading voice in the financial education and empowerment space.
“Financial empowerment has been a major focus since I was a kid. My dad always told me, ‘The key to having money is to spend less than you make.’ So, he talked a lot about working hard and making money and not spending frivolously. In starting expo is when I really began to understand and focus on investing and growing your money,” said Love.
Love added that as time went on, he began to understand that many of the ills our community faces are directly correlated to wealth, which led him to understand the impact of businesses, investing, and real estate.
“As a kid, I used to just say that I wanted to be rich. That is a pretty vague term, and I think I just envisioned myself on private jets and vacationing in exotic places. However, once I got older and began to grow my wealth, I started to redefine that concept from a perspective of having the capacity to provide for and protect yourself and those you love. The material things are great and necessary to relax and recharge, but being ‘rich’ or wealthy is so much more than just having material things. Many of us see problems within our community but don’t have the resources to do anything about it. Being rich is having the capacity to make a difference.”
And with his NAACP Image Award-nominated podcast, Love is doing just that.
The NAACP Image Awards ceremony will air live Saturday, March 16, on BET and CBS. And whether he’s able to beat out FLOTUS and the others in his category or not, Love is still pushing to grow and expand “The Black Money Tree” podcast’s reach.
“We really are focusing on growing the platform and adding more online courses and learning tools to help as many people as we can to increase their net worth.”
To learn more about The Black Money Tree podcast and its journey towards financial empowerment, please visit theblackmoneytree.com.
