We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ashtonee Bryant. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ashtonee below.

Ashtonee, appreciate you joining us today. Some of the most interesting parts of our journey emerge from areas where we believe something that most people in our industry do not – do you have something like that?

I believe ambitious motherhood and luxury living aren’t mutually exclusive – and that’s particularly controversial for minority women, especially Black women like myself.

In the motherhood space, there’s an unspoken expectation that ‘good mothers’ should sacrifice their ambitions and standards in the name of selflessness. For Black women, this pressure is amplified by historical expectations to sacrifice our own dreams for others and stereotypes that question our ambition or desire for luxury.

This realization came after my journey from homelessness to homeownership. After achieving financial stability, I found myself apologizing for wanting elevated experiences or creating themed birthday parties that others called ‘too much.’ I’d internalized beliefs that ambition and luxury somehow meant I valued motherhood less.

What I’ve come to understand – and what many disagree with – is that elevated environments are actually crucial for psychological expansion. When we consistently place ourselves in luxury spaces, our minds stretch to new possibilities. It’s not about material things; it’s about the psychological rewiring that happens when you’re no longer defining success within limited parameters.

For Black women especially, being in these elevated spaces challenges generations of conditioning about ‘staying in our place’ or ‘not being too much.’ These environments allow us to envision possibilities we may never have considered for ourselves or our children.

The turning point came when I realized my daughter was watching me shrink to fit into others’ expectations. What message was I sending? That once you become a mother, especially a Black mother, your standards should diminish?

That’s why I created Money Mama Society – to normalize excellence for all mothers, but with a particular understanding of how critical this is for minority women building generational wealth and legacy. When we elevate our standards and environments, we’re not just enjoying luxury – we’re rewiring generational mindsets about what’s possible.

Most people believe luxury is superficial or that minority mothers should focus only on practical wealth-building. I’ve built a community proving that strategic luxury is actually transformative – it’s the environment that shapes the mind that creates the wealth that builds the legacy.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m Ashtonee Bryant, Multifamily Investor and The Founder of Money Mama Society, where I help ambitious moms build wealth without shrinking their standards, using strategic systems and elevated environments.

My journey began in corporate America at UnitedHealthcare, where I found myself struggling with the reality that I was essentially working just to afford childcare. In late 2014, I took a leave of absence for depression and anxiety – a pivotal moment that forced me to confront the disconnect between the life I was living and the one I envisioned. By 2015, I made the decision to walk away from corporate security permanently.

Even before leaving my corporate position, I had been exploring entrepreneurship through network marketing, generating additional four-figure monthly income. But deep down, I knew there was something more aligned with my authentic gifts. I initially ventured into marketing and event planning, drawing on my natural gift for hospitality and creativity.

My vision for luxury and excellence was shaped early in my childhood. I spent summers with my great aunt, whose immaculate home and appreciation for beautiful things showed me possibilities beyond my immediate circumstances. Simultaneously, as a young Black girl with big dreams, I constantly battled limiting beliefs – often being shamed by my own family for “wanting too much” or thinking differently.

This tension between possibility and limitation has defined my journey. I’ve had to make difficult choices, sometimes requiring my children to sacrifice differently than their peers, all with the vision of building genuine, long-term wealth. To me, wealth isn’t just financial abundance – it’s the quality of your entire life.

Money Mama Society emerged from this philosophy. It’s much more than a business; it’s a movement creating spaces where elevated thinking is normalized, not criticized. We’ve built a community where ambitious 6/7-figure moms can grow without hitting the ceiling of “you think you’re better than us” that often comes with elevation.
What sets us apart is our unapologetic embrace of both luxury and strategic wealth-building. My faith fuels this mission – Scripture instructs us to think on things that are “excellent and praiseworthy” (Philippians 4:8), and the Proverbs 31 woman is celebrated for her business acumen and ability to create beautiful environments while building generational wealth.

Today, Money Mama Society encompasses multiple offerings:

• Our core community where mothers learn strategic wealth-building without compromising standards in EVERY area of life
• Real estate investment opportunities (I personally manage over 100+ doors)
• Capital Raising
• High-level mastermind experiences for women seeking personalized strategies
• Quarterly luxury events where “nothing is too much” and excellence is expected
I’m particularly proud of the psychological transformation we facilitate.

When women consistently experience elevated environments, their minds expand to new possibilities. This is especially powerful for minority women who’ve been conditioned to believe that certain levels of success, wealth, or luxury “aren’t for them.”
Everything we do challenges the limiting narrative that wealth, health, and strategic independence are only for “certain groups of people.” Instead, we’re proving that ambitious mothers – especially those from diverse backgrounds – can build empire without apology, create legacy with intention, and experience luxury as a strategic tool rather than a guilty pleasure.

My mission is to increase the percentage of women who live at the level many consider “the 1%” – not from a place of greed, but from the conviction that when we elevate our standards, we elevate our impact and the possibilities we model for the next generation.

Where Legacy Meets Luxury™ isn’t just a tagline – it’s the framework that guides everything we do.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

My journey of resilience is deeply personal and spiritually guided. As a teen mom, I experienced financial hardship that most can’t imagine – there were times when making rent seemed impossible, yet I still found ways to invest in my business dreams. But the test of my resilience wasn’t just financial; it was battling the limiting beliefs that surrounded me.
Two years ago, my resilience was tested in an unexpected way when I had my youngest daughter after a decade-long gap between children. My older two weren’t this small when I first ventured into entrepreneurship, and suddenly I was navigating high-level business growth while relearning the demands of having an infant. This moment forced me to a spiritual crossroads.
During this period, God made me sit down – literally and figuratively. He revealed that Money Mama Society wasn’t just a business venture but a divine calling on my life. There was profound purpose behind why my motherhood journey had always been criticized and attacked, unfortunately often by my own mother.

The ultimate test came right before our formal Money Mama Society brand launch. I experienced intense spiritual warfare, including attacks from my own mother and witnessing my children being spiritually attacked as well. For a moment, I questioned if I was worthy to pull this off. When you’re doing something uncommon in a common world – when you’re operating in that 1% mindset – you start to wonder if you’re crazy, selfish, or simply wrong.

In those moments of doubt, when everything within me wanted to retreat to the comfort of mediocrity, I leaned into obedience rather than fear. I recognized that the discomfort wasn’t a sign to stop – it was confirmation I was disrupting generational patterns and creating something necessary.

What sustained me wasn’t just personal determination, but divine alignment. God consistently surrounded me with the right people at the right time who affirmed this vision. These divine connections reminded me that my resilience wasn’t just about surviving circumstances, but about fulfilling purpose despite them.

Today, I understand that resilience isn’t just enduring hardship – it’s advancing through it with your vision intact. It’s hearing the voices that say “you’re doing too much” and recognizing them as confirmation you’re doing exactly what you’re called to do.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

My approach to funding my business wasn’t traditional because I understood early that people are power and proximity is currency.
When I left corporate America, I had very little capital but recognized that access to the right rooms could be more valuable than cash in the bank. Rather than allowing limited finances to shrink my vision, I got creative about access.
One pivotal relationship came through Linda Henderson, founder of Henderson’s Chicken, who took me under her wing. I leveraged my experience waiting tables since age 15 and offered to run her bar at events. This wasn’t just about income – it positioned me in rooms with high-net-worth individuals and strategic thinkers I couldn’t have accessed otherwise. While others paid thousands for admission, I was there serving drinks, but more importantly, absorbing wisdom and building relationships.
This experience shifted my mindset about money allocation. Instead of spending on designer items or creating elaborate Christmas displays to impress others, I redirected every available dollar to high-level mentorships and strategic communities. I treated relationships as investments with higher returns than any material purchase.
The real breakthrough came in late 2023 when I wanted to pivot from fix-and-flips to scale into commercial and multifamily real estate. I invested almost five figures in Veena Jetti’s Multifi Mastermind – a decision that seemed financially risky but strategically necessary. This single investment positioned me alongside individuals operating at levels I aspired to reach.

That’s when I discovered a principle that transformed my approach to capital: wealthy individuals are actively looking for visionaries to fund. They understand that their best wealth-building strategy isn’t doing everything themselves, but investing in people with exceptional vision and execution capabilities. They provide capital while visionaries like myself drive implementation, creating mutual benefit.
This realization fundamentally changed how I view funding. Capital isn’t just about banks and loans – it’s about creating value propositions that attract those looking to deploy resources strategically.

I now emphasize to my Money Mama Society members the importance of high-quality community over quantity. There’s profound difference between networking in spaces where people lack resources versus connecting in premium communities with fewer members but higher caliber connections. I recommend investing in high-level global communities with perhaps only 1,500-2,000 premium members – because you’re likely connecting with fellow 1-percenters who approach health, wealth, and purpose with similar standards of excellence.

The lesson in my funding journey is clear: your network determines your net worth, but more importantly, strategic relationships can provide capital, connections, and credibility that no bank loan ever could.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://moneymamasociety.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashtoneebryant_?igsh=eWE1ZWoybDR5ZjUx&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/17n44QCUex/?mibextid=wwXIfr
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashtoneekdugan?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Image Credits

@behindthescenesagency