As Juneteenth celebrated its first year of being a federal holiday, Urban One and Chevrolet continued their partnership to launch Real Talk Drives Real Change to create positive social and economic impact within Black communities across America. Dr. Benjamin Chavis and Gia Peppers came together and talked about Black entrepreneurship and the idea of creating a legacy. These cultural icons left the dialogue with one resounding idea — the future is now and building a legacy starts today. 

With sixty years of activism under his belt, Dr. Benjamin Chavis, spoke truth on finding a center point and understanding Black history when becoming an entrepreneur. He dived into his own experiences on how he started his own business to create economic fortune for the Civil Rights Movement. He goes on to mention that Juneteenth becoming a Federal Holiday is important for the next generation of Black small business owners because it pushes for reflection and understanding of our past, “raising up our businesses was intergenerational, so our young people today inherited wealth instead of poverty,” said Dr. Chavis. The next generation has the opportunity to do the same. 

What is the future of entrepreneurship especially post Juneteenth becoming a Federal Holiday? Gia Peppers on-air journalist and creator, reflects on this question stating, “Black women are the biggest group of business owners and the most educated group and now we should look at how people have utilized the internet NFTs” and says the new wave of NFTs, Bitcoin and web3 will be the biggest shift.  After Y2K and Web2 shifts, web3 has the power to monetize the culture being set by Black creators.

According to Peppers, Web3 is going to create more access to wealth and will create a major impact in the creator economy. Digitally, we can now trace through NFTs and bitcoin where pop culture trends are especially ones stolen from white corporations or go viral. Peppers believes the future of Black business is getting the “credit and coin” where it’s due. With web3 that’s possible, today. 

Juneteenth becoming a federal holiday and Real Talk Drives Real Change inspires today’s Black Cultural Icons to come together and create a legacy for the next generation. Dr. Chavis’ parting words, “Start building your legacy today. As we prepare for our first Juneteenth and having this conversation, that's part of our building our legacy today.”