Description

Marlon Weems spent over 30 years in the finance industry, beginning in the early 80s in Little Rock, Arkansas. In the mid-90s, he founded the state's first African-American-owned asset management firm.

He later acquired Security Investments of Conway from Saint Louis-based Mercantile Bank to found Weems & Company, the state's first Black-owned investment bank. He went on to hold several leadership positions on Wall Street.

In 2012, he and his family moved to North Carolina and began his writing career as an expert in capital markets analysis. A few years ago, he started The Journeyman, a newsletter exploring the intersection of American culture, politics, and anti-Black racism.

In addition to his newsletter, Marlon still takes on the occasional freelance project. In 2022, he authored a deep-dive report on applications for blockchain technology in healthcare for Boston Globe Media. He is currently working on a memoir about his experiences in finance.

Marlon lives on an island in North Carolina with his wife and two children. When he's not writing, you can find him on the beach or riding his bicycle up and down the island.

Key Points:

• Marlon started his career in finance in the 1980s in Arkansas, later founding the first African American-owned investment bank in the state.
• He moved to Wall Street in the late 1990s, working as a trader during turbulent economic times like the dot com crash and 2008 financial crisis.
• In 2012 Marlon and his family relocated to North Carolina where he pivoted to writing, exploring race, culture, and politics.
• He shared powerful stories of racism he faced when starting his business, like being denied office space and clients assuming he was white.
• Marlon continues to freelance and is working on a memoir about his career. He sees his writings and the memoir as part of his legacy.
• He has hope for younger generations who are informed, activated, and ready to take action for change.

Links:

Marlon's Substack: https://thejourneyman.substack.com

Marlon's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marlonweems

This podcast is sponsored by Good Morning Freedom, my retirement coaching firm. I help executives and professionals plan the non-financial part of their retirement, like how to discover new purpose and how you want to spend your time. I offer a 1:1 coaching retirement blueprint package where we work together to discover some new avenues of exploration for your Act Three. This coaching is completely custom and will provide you with a ton of resources and support as you transition to this new stage of life. For all the details, please go to goodmorningfreedom.com/services.

Connect with Cara on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caraliveslife/ or Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caraliveslife/ or Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cara.a.gray/