These ex-college roommates run a top Black wealth channel on Instagram – here’s how they started

Financial literacy is low among minority groups in America. And it is more pronounced among the Black community. This centuries-old challenge has resulted in the wealth gap between Blacks and White Americans. According to some estimates, it will take more than 200 years to close the gap.

In recent years, Black entrepreneurial coaches, generational wealth experts and others have sought to use various channels, including social media to teach about wealth in an effort to help build wealth in the Black community.

On Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and other platforms, these experts offer assistance to their audience through various ways to generate and sustain wealth. One such account is @BlackWealthRenaissance on Instagram.

The account was established by four former roommates in college; Jalen Clark, David Bellard, Jared Spiller and Kelly Rhodes. According to Wealth Lab, they started the account as a passion project to offer financial advice. Within a year of starting the project, the account now has over 200,000 followers and has one of the most engaging audiences on Instagram.

The idea to start Black Wealth Renaissance, according to David, was something he and his partners thought about quite often since gaining knowledge on financial freedom and wealth generation and wanted to share. According to Jared, Black Wealth Renaissance is a movement that seeks to normalize conversations around wealth growth and educate African American people through education and awareness through social media.

The goal is to educate as many people on financial freedom and positive examples of people who have or are on their way to financial freedom.

“We want to encourage those in our community to take action, educate themselves on finances and personal development, learn how to invest, understand the abundance of opportunity out there, and exhibit unity through practising self-love and group economics,” David told Wealth Lab.

“It’s really about embracing an abundance mindset and understanding that we can change our realities if we change our thinking.”

Jared said he and his team want to erase the notion that money is the root of all evil in the Black community and show people how it can be a tool of empowerment and ever-lasting change.

“To sum it up BWR is a shift from asking for what we want to going out and grabbing life by the horns and taking control of your own destiny,” according to Jalen.

David said the short-term goal of Black Wealth Renaissance is to encourage the conversation of building wealth while providing tools and resources that can help people take actionable steps to achieve that wealth.

And the long term goal is to create an education system to teach financial literacy to the Black masses, “providing a platform where we can come together to invest in each other’s companies,” he said.