Name: John Henry: Changing The Color of Money
Uploaded: 2019-12-13
Duration: 6 min 12 s
Description: John Henry isn't an influencer, he's an entrepreneur

 Nas has his line, he goes, my father wasn't a banker. Neither was my neighbor. When it came in game paper, who the hell was going to train us? I resonate with that because there was no long-term thinking where I grew up. My life's work is to build generational wealth in our communities. And the way that that happens is putting capital in the hands of founders that are crazy enough to think they can go and change the world. My first job was working as a doorman. I took immense pride in being a doorman. And there, I learned opening up doors for people helped open up doors for me. I did my job with a great attitude and that eventually unlocked the heart of a resident who presented me with my first business opportunity. He owned a dry cleaning facility, and he said, hey, if you can convince someone out there to give you their clothes, I'll clean them for you for cheap. You charge the market rate and you make the spread. I started hustling and meeting other doormen and saying, hey, I know you're the key to the building because I'm a doorman too, so convince the residents to give me their clothes. And that was my initial hustle and that snow-balled and turned into another resident introducing me to the film industry. They were looking for dry cleaning to pick their clothes up at 3:00 in the morning. And so he said, what time you get off of work? I said 11:00. 11:00 PM on the dot, he picked me up, and he took me to the set of what became my first film account, which was The Wolf of Wall Street. That was my in. That was my elevator moment, so to speak. That was my kind of big opportunity. We cleaned all the wardrobe for The Wolf of Wall Street, Boardwalk Empire, Law and Order, Person of Interest, White Collar. We would go on to control over 90% of the film and the TV industry in New York City. And I was an 18-year-old kid, as a college dropout, with no formal business experience. And so this is why I firmly believe that being entrepreneur is not necessarily about-- the way the media captures it is like you have to be a business boy wonder or girl genius. It's more about being a regular person who's got the courage to act on an idea. Right around the time that I've sold that company, I headquartered my first business in Harlem. I'd fallen in love with the neighborhood, spending a lot of time there. Harlem is a wonderful melting pot of style culture and rich history. And I felt like there was a good opportunity to bring a new young perspective to it. And I thought, man, let's start a monthly meetup. And that meetup quickly turned into something more because the market is really hungry for it. So that became what Cofound Harlem is, which is this incubator that helps businesses grow. We take no equity and companies just committed to stay in Harlem after the program, which was nine months long. So I ran Cofound Harlem for a number of years. That was my first time helping other companies grow. And I started realizing that for me the kind of impact that I want to have on my community was investing in companies that could grow and really change things on a broad scale. So I took a step back from Cofound Harlem because the mission was there but that wasn't the right vehicle. I knew that I wanted to grow into an investment fund. And right around the same time, I met my now partners at Harlem Capital and we decided to pair together and further the same mission with a different vehicle. So all my experience up until Harlem Capital got me to understand that the playing field is not leveled. It's really reserved for the elite, so to speak. And we really feel like, hey, the major exporters of culture, we're not being represented in these groups. So our communities where I come from, we are the biggest exporters of culture, of style, of fashion, and music, food, and we don't own any equity in these industries. That seem completely lopsided. That seem like a broken system. And so my life's work is to build a generational wealth in our communities. And the way that that happens is putting capital in the hands of founders that are crazy enough to think they can go and change the world. We have investments in Los Angeles, in Baltimore, in San Diego, in Harlem. We invested in a company called Paladin and they created software for legal firms to manage their pro bono services more efficiently. We invested in the cosmetics business called Beauty Bakery. Their main consumers are women of color and it's founded by women of color so she knows how to kind of resonate with that audience. So the African-American community, black community has a trillion dollars spending power and we own almost none of that equity. So those trillion dollars are going to corporations not owned by us. And so we're on this mission to, again, to level the playing field. Now, I'm hosting a show for Viceland called Hustle. I've got to get out of my world and step into the world of all these different entrepreneurs from jam makers to micro-distillers, the apparel companies. I had an opportunity to get in tune again with what it means to start from the ground, from scratch. It was wonderful. And also meeting all these-- it takes a really kind of special person to leave their traditional environment and go and do something that by most definitions people would consider kind of weird and sometimes crazy. Those are the people that I like to be around because they're quirky, they're different, they're fresh. And so I enjoyed it a lot. If you ask me who's John Henry, I would say the proud son of immigrant parents who has been working his ass off for years. I want to change a paycheck to paycheck situation for a lot of people because that's what I grew up in. And every day, I work towards leveling that playing field. 

John Henry: Changing The Color of Money

Finance

John Henry isn't an influencer, he's an entrepreneur

Naz has his line, He goes. My father was in a banker. Neither was my neighbor when it came to game paper, Who the hell was going training? I resonate with that because there was no long term thinking where I grew up. My life's work to build generational wealth in our community. And the way that happens is putting capital in the hands of founders that are crazy enough to think they can go and change the world. My first job was working as a doorman. I took immense pride in being a doorman, and there I learned opening doors for people help open up doors for May. I did my job with a great attitude and that eventually unlocked the heart of a resident who presented me with my first business opportunity. He owned a dry cleaning facility and he said, Hey, if you can convince someone out there to give you their clothes, I'll clean them for you for cheap. You charge the market rate and you make spread. I started hustling and meeting other doorman and saying, Hey, I know you're the key to the building because I'm a doorman to so convinced the residents to give me their clothes and you know, that was my initial hustle, and that snowballed and turned into another resident introducing me to the film industry. They were looking for dry cleaning to pick their clothes up at three in the morning. So I said, What time do you get off work? At 11:11 p.m. On the dot He picked me up and he took me to the set of what became my first film account, which was the wolf of Wall Street. That was my in, you know, that was my elevator moment, so to speak. That was my big opportunity. We cleaned all the wardrobe for the wolf of Wall Street for luck Empire, Long order person of entries. White collar. We would go on to control over 90% of the film and TV industry in New York City, and I was an 18 year old kid as a college dropout with no formal business experience. So this life firmly believe that being entrepreneur is not necessarily about the way the media catchers is like to be business boy wonder or girl genius. It's more about being a regular person who's got the courage to act on an idea right around the time that I sold that company, I head toward my first business in Harlan. I've fallen in love with neighborhood spending a lot of time there. Harlem is a wonderful melting pot style culture and rich history, and I felt like there was a good opportunity to bring a new young perspective to it. Um, and I thought, Man, you know, let's start a monthly meet up and that meat up quickly, turning to something more because the market is really hungry for so that became what co found Harlem is, which is this incubator that helps businesses grow. We take no equity, and companies just committed to stay in Harlem after the program, which is nine months long. So I ran Copa Harlem for a number of years. That was my first time helping other companies girl and I started realizing that for me the kind of impact that I want to have on my community with investing in companies that could grow and really change things on a broad scale. So I took a step back from Kofi Harlem because the mission was there, but that was in the right vehicle I knew that I want him grown into an investment fund and right around the same time I met my now partners at Harlem Capital and we decided to prepare together and further the same mission with a different vehicle. So all my experience up until Harlem Capital got me to understand that the playing field is not level. It's really reserved for the elite, so to speak. And we really feel like, Hey, the manger exporters of culture, we're not being represented in the troops. So our communities where I come from, we are the biggest exporters of culture of style, fashion of music, you know, food and we don't own any equity. These industries that seemed completely lopsided that seem like a broken system. And so my life's work is bill generational wealth in our communities. And the way that happens is putting capital in the hands of founders that are crazy enough to think they could go and change the world. We have investments in Los Angeles, in Baltimore, in San Diego, in Harlem we invested in a company called Paladin, and they created software for legal firms to manage their pro bono service is more efficiently we invested in the cosmetics business called Beauty Bakery. Their main consumers are women of color, and it's founded by a woman of color. So she knows how to kind of resonate with that audience. The African American community black community has a trillion dollars of spending power, and we own only none of that equity. So those trillion dollars air going, you know, to corporations not owned by us. So we're on this mission again, the level that now I'm hosting a show for Viceland called Hustle. I've got to get out of my world and step into the world of all these different entrepreneurs, from jam makers to micro distillers, their apparel companies had an opportunity to get into tune again with what it means to start from the ground from scratched was wonderful and also meeting all these. You know, it takes a really kind of special person to leave. They're traditional environment and go and do something that by most definitions, people would consider kind of weird and sometimes crazy. Those are the people that I like to be around their, you know, their Quartey. They're different, they're fresh. So I enjoyed it a lot if you ask me Who's John Henry? I would say the proud son of immigrant parents who has been working his ass off for years. I want to change a paycheck to paycheck situation for a lot of people, because that's what I grew up in, and every day I work towards leveling the playing field.