We recently connected with Montoya Smith and have shared our conversation below.
Montoya, appreciate you joining us today. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?
I want to create a nationwide community club that assists African Americans in navigating the American experience by being proud of their ancestors and themselves while derailing any stereotypes about our inability to work together. I want to create an informational platform that continues to critically discuss societal issues (race, sex, business, culture, etc.) from a solution-focused standpoint and ultimately bridge the gap between the generations to progress the collective. The ultimate goal is to re-educate community members on Black history beyond what is taught in public education, provide mental health and financial services as needed, and encourage members and their children to take advantage of future opportunities in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) and business.
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?
As a young child, I was enamored with American history, and my heroes were Daniel Boone, Davey Crockett, and the Lone Ranger (albeit a fictional character), but in the 5th grade a white teacher named Mrs. Redd introduced our class to famous African Americans during Black History Month and that same year at my church Mrs. Walker started a Black History quiz-off competition between churches. Those years birthed my Love for Black History, allowed me to see heroes who looked like me and in 1988, led me to become the first African American student-body president in my middle school’s history. From that point forward any school I attended, (high school or college) and during my time in the Air Force I headed or was a part any organizations that paid homage to Black heritage.
Once I left the military in 2003 I went to Atlanta to attempt to get into the music industry as a hopeful music executive and eventually landed in sales for about 10 years. In 2008 as a hobby on the side, I started hosting conversations and networking events discussing issues important to the African American community. I held these events at barbershops and coffee shops all around Atlanta before officially turning Mental Dialogue LLC into a business and educational platform focused on mental health, finances, critical thinking, and organic networking.
Since 2015 we’ve grown the Mental Dialogue CommUNITY Club across the nation and world to 10K followers online/offline by adding the Mental Dialogue podcast. We also host a variety of smart events where members and guests come to DIALOGUE AND CONNECT, which is what we do best. The Mental Dialogue podcast is live every Saturday 10am-12pm EST and we take live callers from around the US and the world as we discuss race, sex, culture, and business in the African American Community. Locally in Atlanta, our staple event is the Mental Dialogue Live Experience (MD Live X) hosted monthly at Urban Grind, a Black-owned coffee shop in Midtown Atlanta. There we host game show-style debates, trivia, discussions, and networking. It definitely lives up to its billing as the smartest event in the city every 3rd Friday,
Between the MD Live X and Mental Dialogue podcast, we’ve been able to assist members and non-members with their finances, businesses, mental health, etc. The network now includes professionals in mental health, finance, government contracting, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, technology, branding, business startups, insurance, real estate, relationships, TV and music. The list grows as new members join and bring their skills to our CommUNITY Club.
The overall mission is to create a nationwide community where African Americans learn to trade goods, ideas, and services through solution-focused meetups, podcasts, and social media. I am proud to say we’ve been effectively doing that for more than eight years.
During the height of the pandemic like most businesses, we had to resort to gathering online, and during those two years, our club conducted two free monthly Zooms: the” CommUNITY Checkup: Y’all Alright?” and “Making Money Matter Mondays.” For the CommUNITY Checkup, we brought on psychologists and therapists to monitor and discuss mental health issues with our members and the public for two years. Making Money Matter Mondays started during the pandemic and continues every 2nd Monday of the month as we feature a personal finance coach and a psychotherapist to discuss issues regarding the intersection of money and mental health.
Our motto in 2024 is to “Connect to OUR CommUNITY”
“We can be neighbors without living next to each other”
-Montoya Smith aka Black Socrates
“All I Ask Is That You Think”
#justmy3cents
Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
We have monthly events (live and online) that Mental Dialogue members and guests can attend, plus the weekly podcast live on Saturday mornings where they can call in as well. For our live events, we ask guests who do not become members to join our text list to stay abreast of upcoming events. Members receive free entry to the majority of our events or discounts for our high-ticket events. We also feature a networking portion at all events where members, business owners, and event host can specifically pitch their business or service, and in reverse any attendee can request referrals for their professional or personal needs. This portion of our event creates the most testimonies and countless examples of members working together whether in business or volunteering.
New members based on their level of membership receive a free financial and/or mental health consultation and all members receive a free estate planning consultation with an estate attorney.
We also host exclusive Mental Dialogue member-only events at least once a quarter (sometimes more).
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
Being my authentic self and genuinely wanting to help my people progress led me to, not only start this networking business, but it helped me to forge relationships for members to trust the professionals/business owners in our network and get the help they need.
Our main events are open to the public and any business owner can pitch their business, but for a business owner to get more private access to our members we screen them. Also, the network tends to police itself in that if someone conducts bad or poor business with one member, then that professional or owner lowers their chances of earning more business from the club.
Lastly, we encourage critical thinking on some very tough issues as it pertains to race, sex, and culture, but we demand an open-minded approach to these dialogues. Whenever I am moderating a discussion whether in person or live on the air, I welcome the same challenge to my thoughts and opinions as I offer to others. We oppose “cancel culture” and welcome tough conversations, not only to see what we can learn from one another but more importantly find common ground even when we differ. This approach has drawn people to our club and radio show no matter their background, race, religion, political affiliation, sexual orientation, etc. as we Love being a platform where “unlike’-minded people regularly conduct civilized dialogues on needed topics.
Contact Info:
- Website: mentaldialogue.com
- Instagram: mental_dialogue
- Facebook: facebook.com/montoyasmith9
- Youtube: youtube.com/mentaldialogue