South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual convening of the world’s biggest creatives across music, film, and traditional art punctuated by fun-filled events. But it’s not all about the parties. Major knowledge is dropped as well.
The founders of wildly popular podcast Earn Your Leisure, Troy Millings and Rashad Bilal joined forces with music distribution company UnitedMasters and Ally, the nation’s largest digital-only bank to launch Earn Your Masters (EYM). The event took place on March 17 and centered real conversation about upward mobility for the next generation of creators through fireside chats, workshops, and live entertainment.
“We’re so honored to have been one of the drivers behind this,” said Natalie Brown, Senior Director of Corporate Citizenship at Ally, who hosted an intimate workshop about the importance of building credit at SXSW. “Our goal is to really live up to our name and mission of walking alongside our customers as they navigate their financial journey and events like this one is a part of that.”
Ally, one of EYM’s key sponsors and long-time supporter of Earn Your Leisure and aims to create pathways to financial success for underrepresented communities by meeting them where they are.
“We originally started in a relationship in 2021 when we recognized that UnitedMasters and Earn Your Leisure had the vision of creating growth and economic mobility for the Black and Brown communities,” said Erica Hughes, Multicultural Marketing Director at Ally. “And so that’s something we are deeply passionate about, answering the question of ‘how do we make sure that our audiences build generational wealth from the ground level. A lot of folks in our community weren’t taught these things at the dining room table.”
She added: “One of the things we paid especially close attention with these two entities is leveraging the fact that they’re exposing people to critically important information at younger ages, which is pivotal in shaping a solid foundation for financial health.”
The Earn Your Masters event featured panel discussions around creator economy investment with speakers including Rashad Bilal, Troy Millings, Chaucer Barnes, Chief Marketing Officer at UnitedMasters, Inc, Jadakiss and Ryan Leslie.
“It’s always great when you have a corporate establishment that completely understands the vision we have,” Millings told ESSENCE. “Financial literacy, is incredibly important for our community so when there’s strong backing for amplification of it, that opens their audience up to a new entirely new demographic. That’s one of the strongholds of what we’ve been able to do, is speak to an audience that’s been underrepresented and underdelivered to for years.”
Ally is also powering a world tour for Earn Your Leisure’s marquee live event series Market Mondays. The duo, along with fellow financial educator and EYL collaborator Ian Dunlap will be making stops in cities like London, Chicago, and Ghana through the end of the year.
“This isn’t just your typical boring financial seminar—we’re aiming to ring a premium experience to everyone that’s a part of our community,” Bilal told ESSENCE. “We wanted to take this {critically} important conversation we’d been having on the podcast to an even bigger platform so a world tour was something we were thinking about, and Ally supported the idea from day one. We’re just excited to spread the word the word about financial wellness being attainable for everyone.”