PENNSYLVANIA, USA — Nine am on a snowy day.
Robert Bryant opens his business for another day of taking orders
And cooking up some philly cheesesteaks.
The last four years have kept Bryant -- who owns the steak out in East York.
"Super busy,” said Bryant.
Now even more so--with the recent opening of his second location in West York.
And while the journey has been anything but easy--Bryant says it's a dream come true.
"Always wanted to be a business owner--that was my goal growing up,” said Bryant.
Bryant adds that he's always loved being able to bring ideas to life and attributes his knowledge of saving and investing to his mom.
And what she did to make sure he had a good head start.
Which he didn't know about until he started his first business venture when he was 23.
"I went to the lender. I didn't know anything about credit--but my credit score was super high, and it came back from her putting me as an authorized user on her credit card,” said Bryant.
he says when he discussed this with his friends---most were surprised and said their parents had never taught them about being financially literate.
Bryant credits this to being black in America.
A community that has long endured many hardships like slavery and segregation.
"To finally being able to be considered an equal citizen of America where they go get a job--at that point in time they're just trying to feed their families. they're not even building the skills to be able to teach it to the next---and then the cycle kept going and going,” said Bryant.
Justin Coleman--a former financial advisor says the problem also lies in companies that choose not to play a positive role.
"These banks and these insurance companies really need to make a commitment to hiring more women and people of color--so there's financial advisor that better mirror the communities that they serve,” said Coleman.
His advice?
"Seek out tools and different educational opportunities that are out there--with social media, there's so many different things now,” said Coleman.
As for Bryant---the sky's the limit.
"There's strip malls all over America, what if i could have one of these all-over America,” said Bryant.