Michael Woods and Lonnie Halkmon

[00:02] MICHAEL WOODS: Hey. My name is Michael Woods. I am 36 years old. Today's date is October 9 of 2023. Our location is St. Louis, Missouri. I am here with my brother, one of my best friends. His name is Lonnie Halkmon and we're going to have a great conversation. Lonnie, can you tell me about the person who has been the kindest to you in your life?

[00:31] LONNIE HALKMON: Um, I have to say the most kindest has been my mother, my creator, um, my dad, too. My dad was very inspirational. They both was very kind. So that's what's up, mandy?

[00:57] MICHAEL WOODS: Yeah. I would say, for me, the most kind person, to me was. That's a good question. Who's the most kind person in my life? I would probably say my dad, too. I would go with my dad, and I would pick him because he is the person that fully believes in me. And I think having faith and believing in you, seeing your potential, that's probably the kindest thing you could do to somebody that makes them feel seen, that makes them feel loved, and that, like, empowers them in a way that's real. So, yeah, I would think that that would make him the most kind person to me up.

[01:47] LONNIE HALKMON: Okay. My name Lonnie Halkmon age 38. Today is October the 9th, 2023. We currently in St. Louis, Missouri, and I'm here with my brother, Mike woods. And he's very, very intelligent, and he always, always just been a very inspirational person to me. So I want to, you know, I'll take that. And I want to start off, what was your favorite memory in your childhood that you admire the most, like, that you really remember and just stand out?

[02:40] MICHAEL WOODS: That's a good question. The first thing that comes to mind is, like, basketball, playing AAU basketball. I remember we played a game in Poplar Bluff. It was like a game to go into the Nationals or something like that. And we was playing against a really good team. Ended up having some NBA players. And I remember we beat them. It was a really close game. It was one of the best games I ever played. And again, my dad is in this memory, too. He picked me up at the end of the game and kind of, like, ran me across the stage or the court, and everybody was cheering. So that's the first thing that come to mind when I think about happiest memories as a kid. What about you?

[03:26] LONNIE HALKMON: My favorite is probably when I play little league baseball. And what stand out to me the most is when I play atom ball. Starting out, childhood baseball, just a camaraderie with all my fellow. My fellow friends and my cousins on the baseball team with me. And just our first season, we lost every game. Like, it was just so dumb, demoralizing. But what made me, what make it stick out, that just. We just kept trying, you know, it just was a good, good, like, defeat, but it's just like, man, we, and then next season, like, we turned around and won. Like, what was it, adam? Tuba. We won. We was runners up in the championship game. So it was just like, you just always got to fight, you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

[04:24] MICHAEL WOODS: That's dope. I think that's super dope. Perseverance is super important, and I think, like, I see that in your life now. Like, you, no matter what happened in your life, you feel like you always find a way to figure it out. You never give up. You just keep going. So that's a good theme in your life.

[04:44] LONNIE HALKMON: What.

[04:46] MICHAEL WOODS: What are some of the most important lessons you learned in life?

[04:52] LONNIE HALKMON: One of my best lessons was just like, you gotta have, like, a. Like, how you wake up every day is just like, you gotta kind of forget about yesterday. You gotta know about yesterday, but you gotta just kind of gotta forget, you know? So it's just like, as I'm getting older, I kind of can see, like, you gotta almost, like, put yesterday behind you, but everything that you learned from yesterday, or you gotta kinda figure out how to be strong or be more present, more better present than yesterday. So that's one of my top things. I think a lot of people don't grasp that, though. So it's like, you just gotta keep being positive and just kinda strong. Will, what about you? What about you?

[05:48] MICHAEL WOODS: I think the most important lesson for me is I feel like you can create whatever life you want. I think that we really manifest all the stuff that come in our lives. If you are controlling the way that you think, the way that you speak, and the things that you believe about yourself and that you believe about the world, you can do any and everything. So, like, just having that, like, remembering it, being conscious about that as you were living, like, if something is wrong in your life right now, being conscious to say, like, I can change this, like, I can change it by the way that I think, by the way that I live and the way that I speak, that's super important. Sometimes I find myself thinking negative or feeling negative, and I can immediately, like, change the outcome by, like, changing that thought process or how I speak or how I actually believe. So that's a big life lesson.

[06:49] LONNIE HALKMON: I can see that in our work that we do or the work that we do. I really can see that. Yeah, that's great. So this is one question that popped my eye. What did you want? What did you want to be when you grow up? What was the main thing growing up?

[07:14] MICHAEL WOODS: I think I always wanted to play basketball. That was the first thing. And then outside of basketball, I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. So I knew that I wanted to control my destiny, be the boss or the leader, have some autonomy, be able to, like, hold myself accountable for whatever wealth or whatever I create. So entrepreneurship was super important. This, again, goes back to, like, my father. My father was an entrepreneur. He's an entrepreneur. Seeing him operate with full autonomy, seeing him have, like, agency over his life and seeing him be happy, like, seeing him really enjoy that, even though it wasn't easy, I think he probably worked harder than anybody else I knew. But seeing how that agency kind of brought him peace and joy and gave him something to get up for and fight for and work for, that's always been present in my mind. And I always wanted to, like, own a huge company, huge business, and put people in winning positions, and I didn't want to just own the stuff for me. I also wanted to own it and be able to put people in winning positions and be able to better the world in some type of way.

[08:31] LONNIE HALKMON: Yeah.

[08:31] MICHAEL WOODS: What about you?

[08:32] LONNIE HALKMON: You won't pay some doing that, but me personally, I gotta tell. I gotta be a truth. I gotta be a current. So seeing my dad, he was, he worked at Bowen. I wanted to follow his direct footsteps. I just, I thought I was gonna, like, I thought my dad could have zapped me in, and he had me. So I was so green back then, I thought I could just zap in and, like, long as I graduate and got a couple of college credits and. But when I finally woke up and feel like I had to really find something on my own, like, it ain't that easy. So I was just like, and then why they grabbed that question grabs me. Cause it's just like, it's like a fairy tale question, you know? It's kind of like, I'm like that question. Like, you can get a kid with that question, but as being an adult is like, yeah, that's real. It's like a kidde catch 22 questions. So it's like nobody really know what they, what they want to be growing up. It's like, you just gotta kinda put yourself in a fairy tale state of mind and kind of grasp for that position. So it's just like, I admire people that from a kid that find that exact position. Like, I admire that. Like, that's dope. So it's just like me, I looked at that question, I'm like, yeah, that's a tricky question, but yeah, yeah, no.

[10:07] MICHAEL WOODS: I think that's a good answer. And I think that's real. I think we all think we know, but, yeah, life get real when you get older. You do what you got to do at some point, but, yeah, that's, that's dope. That's dope. I like how both our fathers influence.

[10:22] LONNIE HALKMON: Yeah, yeah, that's big. That's big.

[10:25] MICHAEL WOODS: How would you like to be remembered?

[10:28] LONNIE HALKMON: That's a good question. So, no, you know, I don't like nobody looking at me. No, I told him totally already know, and I doubt. I don't like nobody looking at me either, closed casket or no casket, but I want to be remembered just, just being positive, man. Like, it's so, so easy to be negative. And I just want people to remember me just being, like, a very positive person and just try to, try to make, I like his approach. My approach is real good, too. Just making people better. I really like that. Like, that is, but I just want people to understand, like, it's all about the energy, like, that we surround ourselves with. And, like, I don't like how when people be so clinking on to, like, music and stuff like that. I want people to be their individual. So I kind of want to be remembered by, like, kind of helping people kind of just learn to be they self more than try to mimic somebody else. So it's just like, so, but that's the question. I just want to be remembered as just being a real positive person and just trying to throw my energy off to somebody to help them, to make them a better person.

[11:40] MICHAEL WOODS: So, yeah, that's you for sure. I think you ain't gonna have no problem with that. Everybody I know that know you know that you bring good energy. You bring, you always bring the positivity. Always got everybody back. Look out for everybody. Take your, give the jacket off your back for the next person. Like, I think you live that life. I think you will easily be remembered for that. That's what people love you for right now. So you already, you already got that in the books. And I'll make sure if I outlive you, I'll make sure that nobody look at you, man.

[12:12] LONNIE HALKMON: Yeah, I want nobody looking at me.

[12:18] MICHAEL WOODS: Yeah. The same question. How would I like to be remembered? Yeah, I mean, I hope I make love cool. Like, I wanna make love cool and just like, in every type of way, I wanna encourage young people to not be afraid to love. And I ain't just talking about, like, romantic love, but just in general just loving. Your brother, your sister, your homies. I tell everybody I love em as soon as I meet em. That's the thing that I want people to remember about me, is that I always led with love, did everything with love, and, like, I really. I'm really trying to fight for love, so that'll be my thing.

[13:00] LONNIE HALKMON: All right, next. Next, I want to ask you, do you have any regrets? That's one good question.

[13:13] MICHAEL WOODS: Yeah. Yeah, I do. I have probably one solid regret, I think. I know people say you're not supposed to have regrets, but I do have a thing that always bothered me. I got at least one thing that bothered me. It was. I remember I was playing for a game face. Like, this was a really good AAU basketball team. It had some dope players on there. Like, Lidrell was on the team. It was Johnny Hill, Bobby Hill, baby James. Like, it was some really good basketball players. And I had made the team, and we were having, like, some dope practices, and I remember I was killing it. The coaches were loving me for point guard. They were like, yo, we gonna probably have you striding at the point guard. But we was ending the practice, and at the end of the practice, it was at Vashon, at the old v, not the new v, like the pit. And my mom was late to pick me up, and when she was late to pick me up, the staff, they were like, hey, we about to leave. Like, are you good? Is your people gonna be okay if we leave, or do we need to? And I told them they was going to stay, but I was like, no, yeah, I can leave. I'm good. This is my neighborhood. Like, I can. I'm all good. So, by the time my mom came and picked me up and she saw that the coaches had left, she didn't let me come back on that team. And I ended up playing with the wolfpack, which was another dope team. We had killers, we had hoopers, and that was a really good. We had a really good team. I enjoyed that team. But that's one of the things I looked back at and was like, damn, I should have stayed on that team. Like, I should have kept playing on that team. Who knows what would have happened? But I don't care about basketball anymore. Like, it's not like I wanted to have a. I don't at this stage in my life. I didn't. I don't want to be like a professional basketball player. But I wonder what those relationships would have created. Cause it was a lot of dope people on that team. So that's probably the only thing that I always look back at. Like, dang, I should have played on that team. And they was cold that year, too. They had a nice squad. What about you?

[15:17] LONNIE HALKMON: My regret, no one regret was really not. It's kind of like, not like yours is with thinking, like, for real. This is my number one regret because young guy was a lazy thinker. So I feel like now that I fully develop with everything I really be thinking there. So it's just like I spent all that time not thinking everything through. It's just like my. If I felt kind of like I was so scared to think, I don't know. But now that I think everything through, I'm like, hey, how you. I wish I could use this more effectively. When I was younger, like, I remember I told you, like, when I be looking at the syllabus, I be. I like, look at the stuff like that I don't want to do already. I like, like, it's like 20 things on there. I'm already working out five of them I don't want to do, you know? So I feel like that's a big regret that I hold to myself. Like, it's just like it kind of was hindering myself. I might have could even did it, but I'm like, I don't want it. I don't want to do that. So now kind of like, my thinking pattern is just so strong. Like, I still. I'm still a little stubborn at it, but it's just like, I know, like, if I really put my. With my mind, everything that I could do, and I think what helped me with that was my. When my dad passed away. Cause this is like, man, I gotta kinda think a little more. I don't get that crutch, you know what I mean? Cause it's like you hold your parents as a crutch. I feel so. I don't know. I don't think everybody do it, but like you said, like, the support from your parents be like everything, so you just, like, always. But if your parents don't put that much pressure on you, it make you feel like you can't get away with murder, you know, I mean, but. So when dad passed away, it showed me, like, you don't get that crush no more. You might as well try to go a little. Some extra steps to what you want to be.

[17:29] MICHAEL WOODS: I feel like you saying you just, like, just taking life serious at a young age.

[17:34] LONNIE HALKMON: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cause I feel like when you being spoiled, like, you know, being spoiled, you get your. Got a few handicaps, and it's just like. I don't know, it's just. It's kind of weird. But that's true, though. I know, I see it in a lot of the youth that we be mentoring. Like, some of that stuff, they just hold on to their little. Whatever their little niche is, and it's kind of hard to break out of it, you know?

[18:01] MICHAEL WOODS: Yeah. So you're talking about the uv mentor. So what's your favorite thing about dream builders? And for anybody listening to dream builders is in St. Louis, it's about giving ownership to young people, but then also any other participants of the organization. So we rehab houses, and then we sell them to first time home buyers. And the students are being paid between 15 and $20 an hour, but they also get equity in the house. So every time we sell a house, portions of that sale go directly to the students. And that's somewhat it in a nutshell. We kind of focus on minority contractors, and we're investing about $10 million into Newark City, and we want all 10 million of those dollars to go through the hands of those minority contractors to allow them to scale and grow their businesses. But Lonnie has been working with us for about a year. We have a chess program that he helps lead. We have a summer academy that he helped lead. He's kind of like the rover just does whatever needs to be done. But what is the thing that you connect with the most when it comes to dream builders? Like, what's your favorite thing about it? About the students or.

[19:19] LONNIE HALKMON: Well, my favorite part about it first, I wish we had it when we was coming up. Cause it's like a family orientated real. Like, it's real. Like, I feel like everybody need love outside of the household, so it's just like, it's a perfect program, and it's just like a lot of love. And I see the kids be happy, and I see them, like, mike be really digging and getting, like, some special art out of them. So it's just like, it's his personal. His personal. It's his child, you know what I mean? So I could kind of see. I see the full picture. And he really trying to change the narrative of, like, St. Louis and thinking, everybody just trying to, like, get over, but he really helping. He really like helping. He's showing love. And I think, like, every city need, like, a dream builders and everybody just like. It's just like love. Like he said, like he wanted to show love. Is he absolutely right? But I love the program. It is. I can't even say too much about it.

[20:39] MICHAEL WOODS: No, I think that's.

[20:40] LONNIE HALKMON: It's a special creation. Like, I'm not gonna lie. Special.

[20:44] MICHAEL WOODS: I like what you said. Sorry for cutting you off, too. I like what you said about everybody need love outside of the household. I think that is. I think when people might hear dream builders, they probably immediately like gravitate to like the real estate component of it. And it's not, I mean, like, yeah, from the outside. But when you entering builders, you know, it's not about real estate. It's about family. It's about love. It's about putting people in winning positions. It's about treating everybody like a boss. Like nobody. Everybody within the organization is the leader. Like, there's no hierarchy. It's like a bunch of people who are, you know, we all see each other as kings and queens and leaders, and we all put each other in those winning positions and we love each other. Like we genuinely got each other back. And it's forever. It's unconditional. You don't gotta have a good day of dream builders to experience love. You don't have to like, do all of the things right to experience the love. It's like permanent. It's forever. And I like that. Like, we're all in the program. Like, even the leaders, myself, Lonnie, everybody that's inside of the organization, we are going through it, too. Like, we're learning, we're growing. We're trying to become the best versions of ourselves. The students are teaching us things and pushing us in ways that we didn't know that we was going to be pushed. And we all are smiling when we leave out of the building. We all are figuring out something different about ourselves every day. So that's what I think. That's the thing that I love about it the most.

[22:22] LONNIE HALKMON: Yeah. Bolder energy. That's all I gotta say. I think every, every city need is this. Hands down. It's like the best thing that you can put in. Like people just being, I guess, like, I, like I be telling people personally, like, it's. It shows no empathy. I feel like a lot of stuff that's missing nowadays, nobody showing empathy. And I feel like it's a lot of empathy when you get into the program. It's showing a lot. Like, I can't.

[22:55] MICHAEL WOODS: No, that's real. That's real. I think empathy come from lived experiences we done been through whatever the students going through, we done been through whatever the contractors going through. We lived in these same neighborhoods that we rehabbing. So of course we gonna be able to have more empathy than most people. Cause we not just saying, oh, I feel bad for you. We're able to be like, hey, I know how that feels. I'm going through it too. Or this is what I did to get through it. So that's super deep because I never thought about it in that way. I think that is what make it special is that like the proximity we got to all the issues and the fact that we genuinely are in it, we have the empathy, we able to feel the pain because we've been through the pain, are we able to feel the joy? Cause we've been through the joy. I think that's super dope. What about your other career? I know. How do you feel? I know when you became a truck driver, I know that was. That was like a hard task. Like, you had to like, dig deep in yourself to figure that out. Like, what was that journey? Like jumping into a truck driver, man.

[24:06] LONNIE HALKMON: That was a strong journey. At first, I never would thought I was gonna be a truck driver. I'm clear that. Clear that ticket. But, yeah, and it was like during wintertime when I got that license too. I don't know. Just had to change the way I thought. Like it was another process that I told you about, like, thinking and just, you just gotta change the way. You gotta just let somebody else control your mind. It's just something. And then you gotta dig deep a little bit. I feel like I told you, like I told you earlier, since when my dad passed, it just gave me like an extra oomph. So I. I remember one of my fellow students, they told me that he didn't think I was gonna make it. I was like. I was just like, well, you know, but I dig deep, man. I passed on my first time and it was just like, it was just another little bucket list thing.

[25:08] MICHAEL WOODS: I mean, I think that's dope. Cause that's the thing I've noticed with you throughout our whole time. Being friends is like, you always are able to figure out whatever's next for you. Like, if something goes wrong or not on track or whatever. You ain't the give up type. You the. All right, I'm gonna come up with a plan. I'm gonna figure this out until I execute the plan. And you always execute the plan. You always, like, challenge yourself in a different way. And I know you always told me with the truck driving thing, it was like you just wanted to find something else to challenge yourself with. And I admire that about you, that you always are looking for, like, a new challenge, a new way to kind of trying to mess with your brain a little bit and make you see things in a different way. So that's super dope.

[25:53] LONNIE HALKMON: Yeah. Appreciate that. But, yeah. What was your biggest challenge?

[26:01] MICHAEL WOODS: Biggest challenge? That's a good question. Let me think. I mean, I think I'm in my biggest challenge right now. I think running organization at this size, it feels really great when you win it. Like, you keep getting awards and you keep getting celebrated and you raise more money or you generate more money. All of those things feel great or looks great from the outside, but you never know all the challenges that come with it, all the pressure that come with that, and then you're elevating at such a high level that the fall is so far down. So every day you're just worrying like, what if I do this wrong? Or what if I mess this thing up? What if this wasn't set up right and you had that pressure every single day, so. And then you're also scaling and growing. So you have these new challenges that from the outside appear to be like, wins and blessings. Like, you get more staff or you get a bigger building, that bigger building is going to have way more utilities and maintenance that more staff, that's, you know, payroll. That's also, you know, more personalities to try to manage and things of that nature. But you never know that going into it. You think those are the things that you want. Those are the things that you're super excited to get to. But once you get to it, you realize, like, this is when you get tested to see if you really are built for it, if you really are deserving of that space. And so I think I'm in the middle of that right now, and I think that I'm handling it well. Being that it was all a surprise to me. I didn't know it was gonna feel like this. And I feel like I'm getting towards that space and time in my life where I'm like, oh, this is how it feels. So I can adjust and accept that it's gonna feel like this, and that's gonna take some of the pressure off, knowing that this just comes with the territory. Like, I gotta wear my big boy pants. And, like, if I continue to focus on being a blessing and continue to focus on creating real impact, doing things the right way, having integrity, loving, then I don't necessarily have to worry about the outcome. Like, I let God handle the outcome. I want to just focus on making sure that my intentions are right, that I'm putting forth the right effort, and that my heart is prayer, and that I'm, you know, really impacting lives.

[28:29] LONNIE HALKMON: Thought you was going to say the TED talk, but.

[28:33] MICHAEL WOODS: The TED talk was. The TED talk was real, too. That's dope. I mean, the TEd talk was super dope. I think that goes hand in hand. No, that's money. I think it go hand in hand, though, because this is all in the same time frame of like, having to prepare for the TED talk, but then also having to run the organization, having to make sure that this TED talk is aligned with what's really happening within the organization. So all of that stuff is super real. What was your toughest challenge?

[29:04] LONNIE HALKMON: I think. Well, besides that, um, getting my truck driver's license. Actually, for real, to be honest with you, stealing with my dad's suicide, that was like one of the hardest. I ain't gonna go into detail about it, but it just, it like, I tell people sometimes it be like the real life stuff be real cool, but that personal stuff is. It's a trigger. So it's like, you don't know. It's like I always talk about with mental health and getting that autopilot mode of being happy. They don't talk about that autopilot mode of being sad. So it's just like, yeah, that was a big one though, with me. So I guess kind of seeing how people like, you see people true colors. So it's just like. But, but for real, like, yeah, that was the biggest challenge. I cuz it, um, it show you how real life is. And then at that, dealing with it like family, dealing with everybody work, dealing with just everything. Just your personal. But like I said, with anybody, like, my death is no different. Any your deaf, anybody that's listening deaf is just. It's all just trying to make it through life. So it's just like I tip my hat off of everybody that dealt with death. Like it's. It's one of them underliers that nobody could come back from. And you really know, you know, really know, like how it affects you. So that's one of the biggest ones. I don't.

[30:53] MICHAEL WOODS: I know with you too. I know that. I know that that was super tough on you. And I like how you handled it as far as how you show up now. Cause you talk about mental health with anybody and everybody. You see, if you're talking to somebody for five minutes you're gonna bring up mental health and kind of check in with them and make sure that they understand that, how important it is to understand that mental health is real, it's a real thing. Gotta get help or you gotta even just understand that other people dealing with it. I think it's super dope that you make sure that everybody understand that. Let's do one last question.

[31:37] LONNIE HALKMON: What you think the future hold for you?

[31:41] MICHAEL WOODS: That's dope. So I already know because I'm a manifester, but I think I'm gonna go super hard, like for the next five years and really try to create as much impact as I possibly can, build some personal wealth so I can like, put that, you know, within my family. And I want to be a part of, like the transformation of St. Louis and like, making St. Louis be just a place full of love and beauty and poetry and just positive energy. So I want to be a part of that. And I also want to create a blueprint around that, a blueprint around the work that we do with dream builders and be able to have dream builders scale into other cities and states, all over the country, all over the world, and really be a part of transforming this place to be a better, loving place. And then after I go super hard, well, I want to say I go super hard after we go super hard as a team, all of the dream builders, all of the dope people here in St. Louis, I want to, then I want to go to, like, italy or something, man, and open up an art studio, open up a bookstore, art studio, and then also have a winery and sell all black art, all black books, and then have black wine and just kind of relaxed and enjoy life. And then have a super dope crib that I allow other artists to live there four months at a time. And then I trade that living experience for some of their art. Put it in the studio. I have it all planned out. I really thought it through. All right, what about you?

[33:32] LONNIE HALKMON: Yeah, I just, I don't get it thought out all the way through, but I just want to be spread my love, continue spreading my love, peace and happiness to everybody and just show that everybody can just like, like Mike was saying, just so everybody that we can be just living life and just loving each other and just being peaceful and just being like real great people and learn like that you can express yourself and speak without fighting or none of that b's and all that, just like I said. And then my other little dream, I want to win one of these parlay bets and I want to give, like put half of it in the dream builders.

[34:20] MICHAEL WOODS: Now you gotta get one of the dreams of this for sure.

[34:22] LONNIE HALKMON: And just so we can just take off a little more. So it's just like.

[34:28] MICHAEL WOODS: I appreciate that.

[34:29] LONNIE HALKMON: Hey man, I'm appreciate it. I told him, try to get on staff for real, but yeah, yeah, it just keeps spreading the love though. That's what life is about, just love. And try to get rid of this cloudy moment. Cause after every pandemic is just very cloudy judgments, very, like all that stuff. Like, I like when I read about like the smallpox, it just, history always repeats itself. So it's just like, it's like after smallpox people act weird and just don't even think about it. We should just go try to, try to change history and just go back to the loving. Nice, you know, peace, parallel. So it's just. Yeah, man, that's our little wrap up though.

[35:21] MICHAEL WOODS: Yeah, I appreciate that, man. Love you, buddy.

[35:23] LONNIE HALKMON: I love you too, man. Much love.

[35:25] MICHAEL WOODS: Bye.