How One Reality TV Star Is Working To Narrow The Racial Wealth Gap

Former reality star, musician, activist, actress, and Mompreneur Masika Kalysha is best known for her VH1 series Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood and We TV’s Growing Up Hip Hop: Atlanta. Ms. Kalysha is also the owner of her company Khari Barbie Beauty Cosmetics, and she’s currently filming for the final season of Insecure.

She’s been making headlines lately for her engagement to her long-term friend and fiance Champ. However, if you speak to her, she’ll share that her most significant accomplishment as of late is the release of her new book. It is titled “Stock MarketTips from a Bad Bitch, which she hopes will be a part of educating the African-American community and closing the racial wealth gap.

African Americans are far less represented when it comes to financial asset holdings, from retirement accounts and investment funds to direct stock ownership. About 30% of black households in the US have retirement accounts, compared with around 60% of whites. According to the Federal Reserve, the disparities between black and white households’ financial assets are even more significant than those for other essential wealth sources, like housing and vehicles.

Researchers say increased investment by racial minorities in the stock market, carried through future generations, could narrow the wealth gap. Toward that end, industry groups encourage more Black people to become financial planners, drawing potential investors.

“We are a product of our environment until we change our environment,” Ms Kalysha said. “Growing up in Chicago, the main focus was survival, not success. We just wanted to make it off the block, not to buy the block. Poverty is a “tradition” passed down from years of miseducation, situations, and lack of resources. My ultimate goal is to equip my generation with all the necessary tools to create generational wealth, change their way of thinking, pass it down to their children and reeducate their parents.”

Turning Her Brand Into A Business

“I have always been an entrepreneur,” Ms. Kalysha shared. “I have owned several businesses, and I, myself, am a business. I am my brand. Catapulting into reality TV only made more people know my name. When you are in the public eye, you don’t have the luxury of cutting corners. All of your entities, affairs, and certifications must be in right standing. I have learned so much from having bad entertainment contracts, management and situations; I took these lessons and turned them into lucrative businesses.”

In 2016, Kalysha launched Khari Barbie Beauty, an all-vegan cruelty-free, gluten-free, and paraben-free cosmetics line. The name of her cosmetics line was inspired by her daughter Khari Barbie Maxwell.

“It has always been my goal for her to be better than me,” said Kalysha. “I never want her to experience any of the traumas I went through because I didn’t have any money, nor was I taught how to succeed. It still baffles me that western education does not teach children about paying bills, establishing good credit, or establishing any financial literature. Yet, we learn the square root of pie, trigonometry, and America’s skewed version of history. These are things I have already taught my daughter at her level of understanding, and I will continue to instill them as she gets older. My goal is to set her up for success while also showing her the value of hard work.”

How Her Stock Market Book Was Born

The persistent racial wealth gap in the United States is a burden on black Americans and the overall economy. New research shows the impact of closing the gap and identifies key sources of this socioeconomic inequity. The Brookings Institution points out that the ratio of white family wealth to black family wealth is higher today than at the beginning of the century.

Ms. Kalysha recognized this and decided to begin teaching herself the stock market’s ins and outs towards the end of 2019. However, it wasn’t until the pandemic that she was able to dedicate herself to it fully. With this new-found knowledge, she carefully reviewed her businesses and saw she could be more profitable.

“Needless to say, I immediately fired my advisors, transferred all of my positions,” she said. “I was so passionate about this new road to wealth that I started tweeting out tips which became a bit overwhelming as my followers became more demanding, asking for more than just tips. It was their idea for me to write a book and make it a workbook/planner.”

Stock Market Tips From A Bad Bitch is an interactive 90-day workbook/planner that introduces you to the stock market in terms that you can understand. The first 55 pages is a hands-on workbook filled with information and exercises that will break down the stock market for you quickly. Immediately following the workbook is a unique 90-day financial planner system. The 90-day system includes eighteen once a week weekly planners specifically catered to your investment goals, followed by 90 daily stock tracker pages that will teach you about stock market patterns, volatility, and fluctuation.

Since data shows that Black workers are more likely than white workers to support roles, which are slower growing and lower-paying than directive roles, Ms. Kalysha wants to be a part of changing that. This workbook is one of the ways she hopes to encourage others to educate themselves so that they, in turn, can take on more leadership positions. She feels confident that every user of her workbook will feel comfortable with their investment knowledge and have a solid, productive & diverse portfolio in its infancy stages, bringing income and dividends.

“That’s the key message,” she stated, “I did not create this workbook for me to make money. I created it for those who use the workbook to make money!”