This podcast is produced by the Kansas City Public Library’s Community Reference team to share different perspectives on money management with an eye toward starting a small business. Over three episodes, Small Business Engagement Specialist Hadiza Sa-Aadu hosts Black business owners from the Kansas City metro area. Each guest shares guidance and advice through personal stories about their challenges and successes, with a common through-line: As one consequence of systemic racism, none of the guests grew up with access to reliable information about money management.

Podcast guest Lolita Rucker is an insurance broker, notary public, and former Internal Revenue Service employee who understands the intricacies of forms many people find confusing. Now, she works to fill in financial knowledge gaps for other people.

Rucker was one of several children raised by a single mother on an income restricted budget – though “budget” might be the wrong word. She says she grew up watching her mother spend money without a plan. Her mother worked hard to pay the bills, but her income was never enough.

At 8 years old, Rucker had the valuable opportunity to establish a solid foundation in her own relationship with money. At the time, an older woman was renting a room in the basement of her family’s house. She approached the tenant asking if the woman would like any help with her cleaning and quickly landed her first job, earning $10 for her efforts.

“Back in those days, $10 was a lot of money for a child. It was a lot of money for a person, period. That was one of my earliest memories of actually being able to work and make my own money,” Rucker tells Sa-Aadu.

Later, through the help of mentors and her own trial and error, Rucker discovered that people with restricted incomes can still find ways to save money and avoid crippling debt. In this episode, she passes along some tips from her own experiences, including:

• Know how much money you have and prioritize your spending based on that number.
• Use credit cards sparingly to establish credit. Pay them off as quickly as possible.
• Visit the library and ask what resources are available to help you.

To learn more about Library business resources please visit the Small Business & Entrepreneurship page.

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Episode 2 - Lolita (Lola) Rucker

I'm Hadiza Sa-Aadu the small business and nonprofit specialist at the Kansas City Public Library. Thanks for joining me on this episode of Money Defined Capital Credit and Financing. I am very, very,

Contact Lolita Rucker

Reach Lolita Rucker at ruckerlolita277@yahoo.com.

Find Other Episodes

Episode 1 | Episode 3