We recently connected with Aarron Wilburn and have shared our conversation below.

Aarron, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about serving the underserved.

Growing up in poor communities affects the mind in ways people don’t necessarily understand. There are lifestyle habits formed when you live in poverty, it’s often why the cycle repeats itself generation after generation.

There’s no true understanding of how education and money are tied together. When you’re living in survival mode every day of your life, the relationships you form aren’t based on love and support. You experience so much hardship, that you kind of grow numb.

I work with kids ages 14-24 that have seen their fair share of hardships and are eager to escape the poverty cycle. We talk to them about personality types to help them understand why they act the way they do in addition to understanding others and why they act the way they do.

We take them on a journey into their favorite billion dollar corporations and get them to understand the mindset required to run them. We put them in a start-up entrepreneurial mindset and coach them on how they can turn their made up business concept into a reality. We help them identify career paths that suit their skillsets, whether it requires further schooling or not.

We end our 8 week program with a vision board, a visual promise they make to themselves of what they aim to achieve and the path they need to follow to get there.

They’re still living in impoverished conditions, so throughout the 8 weeks they’re really picking up on how their mindset is changing and making sense of why things are the way they are.

Aarron, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

The main takeaway I want people to know about me is I’m just a kid from inner city Detroit who had some impressive mentors as a youth and at 32 years of age found out why I grew up in the harsh conditions I did.

I created a business designed around what could I have told myself at 16 living in the hood that would have made my life trajectory different.

This is me following up on my promise to myself that as soon as I figure out how to make it out, I would go back and share with other kids who struggle with their living conditions. Because at any given moment you can decide to be someone better than you were yesterday. Everything you want in life is simply based on the mindset you have in that moment.

What makes our organization unique is that our program was designed to work with schools and other nonprofits. I’m willing to partner with anyone who works with underserved communities, our goal is to remove the poverty lens that prevents them from wanting to do better in the first place. After we’re done, they’re more intentional in their day to day lives, knowing that they have a path towards better without having to go the entertainment route.

I’ve been in the banking industry since I was 18 in a number of different subcategories. When we enter the workforce, our development is often in the hands of our leadership team. I’ve had some good and bad leaders, but given my background, none of them knew how to get the best out of me because it’s hard for corporate America to understand where I came from and the factors that lead to my behaviors.

That much self discovery is why I started my own business, I’m motivated by the impact I can have on urban communities not helping close on someone’s 4th mortgage when I have family members in their 60’s who’ve never owned a home period.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

My passion, I’ve worked with some nonprofits that has been around for decades. And as leadership changes, it becomes ran like a business. In the war for talent, not a lot of talent is turning to the nonprofit space.

So being in this space, has opened my eyes to the uniqueness I bring to the table and a lot of our partners see that nearly immediately.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

The best source is word of mouth. Knowing the main beneficiaries of our programs are foster homes, public and charter schools, people are willing to make an introduction to help me get down the path.

Building relationships is key for the growth and survival of any business. It’s a huge teaching lesson for the kids we work with as well detailing the relationship(s) made to get me in front of them helps make what I’m teaching them real.

Contact Info:

• Website: Insuringchange.org
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aarron-wilburn-430516203