Hello, my fellow Extraordinary Americans. Welcome back to extraordinary America. For today’s guests, We have Mo Cisse; originally from Guinea, West Africa, and a proud alumnus of the University of San Diego. Mo Cisse has made a clear commitment to elevating people’s lives in everything he does. 

His biggest passion came to fruition a few years ago when he became the founder and CEO of Meraki Allure, a high-end, environmentally conscious clothing and fashion line that also offers a wide range of image consulting services; and made-to-wear suits and gout. His company’s Vision is to be a global leader in sustainable luxury goods while inspiring the conference in their clients to live in their Meraki– AKA their passion. 

Moe’s stories began decades ago when his family emigrated to America in search of the American Dream. He fought through so many hardships and obstacles to get to where he is. And is the ultimate embodiment of the immigrant entrepreneurial spirit, which is the foundational core identity of who we are as Americans. 

Moe is an extraordinary American, and that is why I haven’t bought this show. Moe, are you there? 

Can you hear me, Cosmos? 

Yeah, I can hear you. Mo, it’s an honor to have you. As a guest on the show, how are you doing? 

I’m doing really well. Thank you so much for having me. It’s definitely a pleasure to have these uplifting conversations. 

Yeah, definitely. So well, I know that you’re an entrepreneur, you’re a CEO, and you’re a fashion designer. Can you tell us a little bit more about your story, your background, and how you got started? 

Thank you. So just as you shared in the intro my story is initially a hobby turned into a business because when I came to America, most immigrants, I thought I was going to go into the medical field and be a doctor just to impress my family. But unfortunately, and fortunately. I was able to really tap into more of my passion and eventually, that led it to the business that it is. 

But luckily for me, I guess it wasn’t an accident after all that I end up being an entrepreneur because my mother has been an entrepreneur all of my life. Just as you read in my intro, my brother is a real estate agent. My sister has a retail business, so it’s been… I guess it was meant to be after all for me to end up as an entrepreneur, but it was just more so trying to find what it is… What’s going to be my lane specifically instead of trying to follow other people or what I’ve seen others do, so I’m grateful that I was able to follow that path and follow my passion to turn that into a business. 

That’s awesome. One of the reasons I have you on the show is because you’re so similar to, uh, your story is similar to mine because when I first came to America, my parents sent me here to become either an engineer or a doctor. They only have two professionals whom they want to help. I am in the show because you’re, so you’re so similar to, your story is similar to my story because when I came to America first, my parents sent me here to become either an engineer or a doctor? They’re all you only have. Two professionals who choose who want to. And I was like, OK, the doctor is 10-15 years old. I’m not going to do that. 

Engineers with four years of experience can expect to earn a starting salary of $60,070. Why not, right? And so that’s how it went, but ultimately, at the end of the day, it’s all about making money and becoming financially free, and entrepreneurship and starting a business are the means to that. And that is what American identity is all about. Immigrants and entrepreneurship and all of that

And it’s really interesting about your story, so that’s what brought you to the moment where you decided that you wanted to start a business instead of doing a nine-to-five job, and what was the process that led you to this moment to start your company?

I appreciate that question. So. For me, it wasn’t necessarily a straight line. What I mean by that is I was already in the corporate world. My last job before I went full-time with my business. I was working for an online school doing employee training and employee engagements, so I was in that corporate Field for about 7 1/2 years, before going into business full-time myself. But what led to really taking that big leap of faith and going into entrepreneurship is a Personal story for me that was really near and dear to my heart. 

I saw a friend of mine who was very close to me. He was actually Marvin Gayes’s lead guitarist. So, this was someone who was in his early 70s. He lived out his passion. He got to Travel the world and Tour with celebrities. Marvin Gaye, back in the day, and things like that. So when he passed away in 2015, I started to question myself. What am I doing that I actually enjoy? 

So, it’s kind of Losing a loved one, but at the same time using it as inspiration. And so, when that was the first thing that happened, the second thing that happened was that two of my friends got sick. One of them had been a client of mine because, up until that point in 2015, I had lost my friend.

But I was also in 2015 at that point I had also been a personal stylist as a hobby for 10 years, so I would take men and women shopping and teach them how to put their clothes together and dress for different occasions. So up until 2015, I had already been doing that as a hobby alongside my corporate job, so luckily, I got a second interesting set of events that happened between two friends in 2015, who had a loaded intervention with me, telling me that I needed to take fashion more seriously.

So, I think you know when you look. At the things that happen around your life and also you are being open because, at the end of the day, it all comes down to us as individuals. We’ve been open to feedback. Luckily for me, at that point, I was already looking to do something that I love as an entrepreneur. I just didn’t know what yet, and I didn’t realize that there was an answer. Was in front of me the whole time.

But luckily for me, Fast forward, I took my friend’s advice to take fashion more seriously. So, I studied the industry trying to figure out which lane of the fashion industry we want it to be; and I realized that there was a dark side to the fashion industry where it’s now the second or third most wasteful industry in the world next to the oil industry. And so luckily for us. 

Those conversations about the light side and the dark side. 

So, I was you know what? If we’re going to be in fashion where we want to be part of the solution instead Of the problem. So luckily for us, we officially launched Meraki Allure In 2016. But that’s the long story version. Of how I ended up as an entrepreneur. I was already open to it, but I guess I needed life to just kind of push me a little bit to remind me what I wanted to do. 

Do so, Mo; can you tell the Audience a little bit more about the dark side of the fashion industry? I don’t think there are a lot of people who know fashion, and they’re like, “Man, it’s all glamor and glitz. a really cool way, through celebrity culture. But what is the dark side of this industry if You don’t mind my asking here?

It’s been a big passion for me to really educate people more, even myself, before starting this business. I didn’t know about that side of this industry. So Long story short, I would highly recommend for all of the viewers and listeners to check out a documentary called The True Cost, The True cost, the name of it. Basically, the documentary goes over How the fashion industry prices in Third World countries India, or even Africa, or other places in the world where basically they use these factories that are all competing to basically win the bid to create their clothes. But they do so many shortcuts that the industry ends up having a negative impact on the employees, and the environment. Some of the dying products that they used to dye fabrics run into the water streams and sometimes cause birth defects.

Long story short, the sustainability – or the lack of sustainability – in fashion and the cause of the environment is truly immense, because back in the day, way before you and I were born, uh fashion used to respect The Four Seasons of the world. You would have Products come out four times a year, but now fashion is producing new clothes almost on a weekly basis. So, when you’re doing that, you’re affecting agriculture, you’re affecting how people source products, you’re taking more shortcuts just to get people to buy and buy and buy. So, without making the whole podcast about that, that’s the short version of it. 

So, for you, for us choosing to be sustainable, it’s a big commitment because it’s how we source our products. The fact that we’ve never in the six years we’ve been in business, we’ve never thrown excess clothes into landfills, we’ve never burned excess clothes. And most of our products are made to order. We don’t have a massive inventory that forces us to do a 70% off sale at the end of the season just to get rid of stuff and make room for new stuff. 

So yeah. Wow, it’s. I mean, it’s pretty intense. Not only that, a lot of the people in the 3rd world countries they’re not Being paid enough. Actually, pretty intense. I myself, I’m not aware of many of these things when I just see passion. Well, I don’t. I don’t ask, I’m not asking deep questions about it. But yeah, but what? But what? What is your solution to solve all of these problems? If you don’t mind me. Asking in a little bit more detail about that. 

Absolutely so. Just anything else in life starts with us. For me, I just needed to get educated, #1 and #2 be more conscious of where I Shop as a consumer. I still have to be conscious of that. That’s part of my responsibility. That’s part of your responsibility. That’s part of the responsibility of the listeners. Is just educating, get educated, be more conscious of where you shop. You know it doesn’t mean that you all of a sudden throw away everything you have and start fresh, but just be more conscious and support companies out there that are making steps towards sustainability. 

so, for us, it’s a personal thing first and then after that it’s implementing business principles within our business to help us be part of the solution, choosing to be sustainable; choosing not to burn excess clothes; choosing to make most of our clothes made to order and another unique thing that we started a couple of years ago is that in our custom process or even our made-to-measure process that’s what we call it. 

For every shirt that’s sold, a custom shirt that’s sold there’s a tree that’s planted every suit that’s sold. There are a couple of trees that are planted every overcoat. So, we partner with a nonprofit that does. This for us is a way to basically pay it forward back to the environment. So that’s just part of the process. You know, everyone can make a difference. Supporting different organizations is really trying to head in the right direction. Because sustainability is such a big topic it’s hard to do everything 100% all the time. So, we’re just taking small incremental steps one day at a time. 

Well, you’re fighting for something that’s much larger than yourself. I mean, it’s about something; it’s much bigger. 

But well, on a different note regarding monetizing your passion, you know a lot of people, who are in corporate America, but they want to monetize their hobbies, and in turn, they want to become financially free. They want to do something that they love, but they’re really afraid. 

They don’t know how to transition from corporate America to turning their hobby into a business and becoming financially independent. Could you tell the audience a little bit more about the process and how? You got to that point.

Yeah, a really good question. So, I’m a big advocate to start wherever you are. What I mean by that is sometimes when you want to go into something entrepreneurship, but you’re scared, or you have concerns or in some people’s cases, they have family that wants them to be doctors or something else. 

I know, I know. 

Exactly. Exactly. So, for me, it’s the start where you start slowing if you have to. 

So, for example for me when we launched the business in 2016, I stayed at my corporate job all the way until 2019. So, you don’t have to leave your job right away or that sense of security that you need sometimes, especially if you live in an expensive state as I do in California, you know, you need that sense of security, but some people. 

Well, what are you doing? California has such high taxes, you should go to someplace like Texas or Florida, where there’s no state income tax and no city tax. 

I know, man. I know. I’m unfortunately not for. Unfortunately, I’m deeply in love with the way they would treat me and the network I have here, and the weather. So that’s the pros and cons. I’m falling in love with something, but yeah, so to answer your question a lot of people that already have a job or a career, but they want to explore entrepreneurship. I highly recommend doing a part-time basis if you can’t. 

So, for me, in my case, one of the things that I did when I was still at my job is that. I will work my job basically from 7:00 to 5:00 PM. But from 6:00 to 9:00 PM, I will go to networking events. I will work on my business. I will research manufacturers. 

So basically, yes, you’re sacrificing a certain part of your evening or watching TV or whatever you normally do at that time to reinvest into your business, and then eventually when the business catches enough traction, you can determine whether you want to go full-time or not, or still continue to do it part-time. It’s up to you, but the whole point is I encourage People with the idea that they don’t have to quit everything completely to be able to start at least doing something that they love, you know. 

So, Moe you’re telling, you’re telling people that they should stop watching Netflix. 

No, no, no. I don’t want to get in trouble with Netflix, but I am not. 

No, I’m saying, that a lot of people are so busy just watching shows on Netflix that they just They could use that time to become financially free, start a business, do something that they’re passionate about, and find a way to monetize it, but they’re just, oh, no, I just want to… I just want to look at this document. This show is so good. 

I think at the end of the day, it comes down to your “why”, you know, I’ve heard it said before that if the why, it’s strong enough, everything else would fall into place basically because at the end of the day, for me the “why” to build something for myself, to do what I Love Is the thing that energizes me that makes life worthwhile. I didn’t have to leave my job. I didn’t have to go pursue my dream but to me the idea of coming to the end of my life and not having done something that was worthwhile for me, that I am scarier Than actually playing it safe. 

So, it all comes down to what is your “why”. What drives you? Because ultimately similar to what you said about your parents and your family, if you do ultimately end up getting that financial freedom and abundance, then you can go ahead and take care of the people that you love and move that generation forward.

Because it was never about the job title. It was more so about the resources and the freedom that the resources give you to be able to elevate other people’s lives. It was never about the title. But it’s the perception that being a doctor or being something else. That is what that is and what makes the family feel a certain way. But ultimately, it’s about the resources and the freedom that the resources give you. That’s what allows you to elevate people’s lives and make a greater impact in the world. 

I couldn’t agree more. Yes, it’s from the “why” that stems your passion, and from the passion comes perseverance. To go through all the hurdles and struggles because you’re going to go through a lot of them. Struggles while doing You know, there’s going to be a lot of doubt. There’s going to be a lot of ifs and buts, highs and lows. What’s going to keep you going is That passion for that, why? And so, I agree, but, uh, what? What was your “why”? What makes you Go through the ups and downs of business keeps you going even when things could be worse. Get tough, you know.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, but fortunately, no. Fortunately, we’ve been through some of those lows that really have tested us on where we are going to close the doors and we’re. Going to keep moving forward. 

So for me the wire comes down to some of the things I shared with you previously about what I want my life to be, and my legacy to be. But the other one is I want to be an exploration inspiration for others as well because I come from a family where I’m the youngest of seven kids. I have a lot of nieces and nephews. They’re watching me indirectly and directly, so I want to also be an example to really have pursued something great and achieved it or even came close to achieving it so that way they also have an example to move forward. 

So that’s part of my “why” Right? But the other part of my life personally is really to help move my family’s generation or legacy forward, because if my family sacrificed so many things for me to be in this country, then what’s the purpose? Is it just for My paycheck? If it was just for a paycheck, I could have stayed in Africa and made good money there. I don’t have to leave Africa, but for me to leave my family behind in Africa to come all the way here, then what is that for? It has to be for something greater. So anyway. I don’t want to… 

It’s so where inspiration goes that is kind of my “why”. Because I had to leave my family behind. And now, in India, right now, I’m here in America, kind of by myself, and technically, my parents are not in America, so it’s just I know  I have to be here because of them because they sacrificed a lot financially for me to beat out America for first place; they came everywhere last year to make sure that I had my green card so I could eventually become a citizen. 

I can’t let that go to waste. I have to make something of this life.  I have to make an impact and help other people. 

And I’m glad you brought that up because that goes back to your question about the “why” because you mentioned earlier that my vision and my goal for the business are bigger than mine. So, in your case similar to my case, our “why” are bigger than ourselves. When your “why” is bigger than yourself, it makes it the least for you to quit because it’s not just about you. If it’s just about. Me having a. A little bit of money or having a nice car, man. It’s so much easier to quit when times get tough. But because you have these bigger wives behind you that inspire you, that fuel you. It makes it easier to stand strong and continue to boost forward, you know. 

Yeah, I mean part of me when we’re talking about. Something bigger than ourselves.    part of my wife was. I saw literal financial slavery in the Middle East.  There were a lot of immigrants that were in the Middle East, they’re of Indian descent and then of, different, but they’re working in all these construction sites and they’re working at all Low paying jobs as waiters, maids, servants, etcetera, and they’re basically enslaved because they have families backing their home countries and they have to send a check. The fact is to support them, but they’re essentially in this foreign land and they’re basically enslaved. 

And I wanted on a financial front, they’re not making enough to basically be financially free or, do whatever they want or do what their passions are. And I thought when I became a citizen of America, I thought that I was done with all that cause. It made me really sad and then I realized that the scene started, and things are happening here. 

A lot of Americans are talking about freedom, but they’re not free financially. Enslaved, I’ll say. What the hell? They have consumer debt. They’re basically going to have to work two to three jobs just to make ends meet. They’re living paycheck to paycheck. This is not freedom; what are you talking about? You know, the only way is through entrepreneurship and financial freedom. And I was really angry. And I was really passionate about it. And so, I had to start extraordinary America, you know.

Yeah, yeah. No, it makes sense. It makes sense. I think the thing is that when you are listening to any of the listeners that are listening right now, similar to exactly where you should share, you have to find something that ignites the fire within you. You have to find a cause that’s bigger than you. It doesn’t mean that you have to do it by yourself. Not necessarily. 

But it just means it’s important to have a strong foundation and to “why” you’re doing what you’re doing because that’s going to be the bigger driver. That’s what’s going to attract other people to your vision. What are the things that my business partner now we were talking about a few days ago? We’re looking at our journey and just giving a lot of gratitude because we realized that although we haven’t achieved the big goals that we’ve been wanting to achieve, we’re immensely grateful because we’ve attracted so many relationships and people throughout the journey, even How I met you in Alabama over a year ago that have really poured into us and inspired us or even helped us in some of the times that to me, is because people are drawn to our vision, to be drawn to who we are and the change that we want to make in the world. Do you know what I mean? 

So, what you just mentioned right there and what really matters to you in the core, that’s very important for people to resonate and create something that. Because that’s what’s going to be a great driving force for them in the future and potentially attract more minded to themselves because, in our journey, we’ve attracted so many people that literally have come out and just helped us at really crucial times.

That’s fantastic, but Moe, what was a specific challenge they faced while starting their business and becoming an entrepreneur, and how did they overcome it? 

That’s a great question. So, one of the naughty things that happened to us that I’ve shared with uh, some of our groups is, I think it was in 2019 we had a fraud case happen with the company where someone called us and placed a large order. Although we tried to confirm that it was a real person and we talked to them over the phone. 

So Long story short, they used stolen credit cards to buy over $30,000 worth of products from us by the time we shipped out all the products, that’s when the merchant company told us that it was all fraudulent credit cards, and then the thief had already disappeared. We lost all the products we had shipped. So that was a complete nightmare for us because not only we lost money and products, but that was literally two or three months after I had just stepped away from my full-time job. 

So, you can imagine how I just walked away from my job. This major challenge is happening in the business. The way we overcame it was literally one day at a time.  Luckily for me again, I’m surrounded by really good people that came in and supported us, really encouraging us to watch this journey. And then slowly we got out of that situation and continued to grow the business as much as we could. 

And of course, the pandemic happened as well. And the way we overcame that challenge is luckily for us, we don’t have a brick-and-mortar store. We’re mostly online. So luckily that saved us a lot of heartache throughout the pandemic where we just focused on our online business model and our online consultation, which really strengthened our online presence to help us survive the pandemic. 

So those were the two major things. Was the credit card fraud just managing and pivoting through the pandemic? 

That is, that is really intense. That’s actually what would be most Americans’ worst nightmare, you know, trying to become financially free. And then they take a financial hit just after they leave their job, or whatever. The way you overcame it was pretty inspirational together. 

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, yeah. 

Uh, so will you know that America? Is the land of the free the place where dreams are made? Do you agree or disagree with that?

That’s a great question. From my experience, I know it can be different for everybody. The reason I still choose to be here, although America is not perfect, neither is any other country perfect. But the reason I continue to stay here and my family, so my family’s still here is because having access to greater opportunities is important. 

So, for instance, uh my country, Guinea, West Africa, similar to a lot of African countries, we have so many beautiful resources and cultures and things like that. But because of the lack of access to more opportunities or even corruption in the government, it’s affecting the well-being of the citizens of the country. But therefore, there’s not enough opportunity for a lot of people.

So, for me, although America is nowhere near perfect and has a lot of challenges still, I choose to still be here because of access to opportunities and for the type of relationships and connections and networks that I have here that allow me to eventually go back to my country. And make it back there and to other places in the World. So, to me, yeah.

No, I’m listening to that right and it basically it’s kind of the same way that I see America, but you know a lot of Americans are natives, they’ve never been outside the country, and they take a lot of the freedoms and opportunities for granted. 

That’s true. 

But for people that have lived here their entire lives. 

They don’t see that they’ve never traveled outside the country, and They only See what they have Seen. Well, how would you tell somebody that’s lived in America their entire life? Has never been outside of what about and they take a lot of these freedoms for granted, opportunities where. What would you do? Tell them exactly your perspective. 

I would highly, highly recommend traveling as much as you can, because another thing that Americans don’t realize and they might take for granted, is that the American passport is one of the best. With powerful passports in the entire world, you have access to over 140 countries that you can travel to without a visa and the country of your passport. 

My Ghanaian passport gives me access to maybe 30 or 40 countries to travel to without a visa, but the American passport is over 140 countries. You can travel without a visa, so that’s step one and #2 is that humans, as we all know, are the result of our environment. Therefore, when you don’t force yourself to step into other people’s perspectives and environments, it’s hard for you to relate, it’s hard for you to understand, but I promise you that if you travel enough and you see what humanity has in common. 

It will change your perspective if you’re an open individual because you know, I know that not everybody has an open mind. Some people can still travel and you know what? I hate the world. I just want to come back home. But if you do it with an open spirit and you. Go places where You genuinely want to connect with people and humanity. You will come back with a better perspective of what matters more so I’m a big, big advocate for people to travel more because I think it generally makes a great difference. 

I completely agree. Regards to the passport because you know. At one point in time I had an Indian passport and the people were officials in the Middle East. Whenever I went to the Middle East country, they just looked at my passport and looked like I was the scum of the earth, the lowliest or the lowest. 

Oh my God. 

And I was that I was not worth it the dust on their feet and then. I finally got the American. Password all of a sudden it is… Sir? How are you? Come, come.  

What? … what is this? 

Change in the passport. 

All of a sudden, not only do I not have to worry about getting a visa every Year I’m trying to go to a new country, because with an American passport, there’s also automatic respect, there’s a certain level of respect and we’ll realize that you know. 

Oh yeah. OH yeah. And uh, I agree. I definitely agree, man. I see the same reaction. When I go to my old country in Africa, people treat me differently, so I get it. 

No, no, it’s. 

I get it, man. 

You’re from peasantry to the royal. And just with one passport… It’s just. So crazy man. I almost lost my mind. 

OH yeah man, I said Americans are not perfect, but if you focus on just anything else in life, you know, nothing in life is perfect. But if you focus on the benefits of it, if you focus on the good part of it, you can Utilize that to go ahead and make a greater impact in the world. If you wish to. Do you know what I mean? 

So to me, I’m immensely grateful that I’ve been given the opportunity to leave my country at a young age to come here to build a life for myself, start a business, to do what I actually love instead of just doing whatever I’m told. So, to me, I’m immensely grateful for my American journey. I’m looking forward to paying it forward and being able to take some of those resources and help people in my country as well, you know. 

Now I would tell my audience to be really grateful that we have a country as America because yeah,   you don’t know how the rest of the world is and it’s just amazing there, Mou. 

What do you think is the greatest hurdle that Americans face when it comes to realizing the American dream on the financial front? And how would they overcome it? According to you. 

Hurdle?

Because you know the Americans. The dream is different for different people, right?    for us as immigrants. When we came to. America, we had a certain idea of the American dream, people living here, they have a certain idea, but what do you think is the biggest hurdle for people to realize this American dream of theirs? 

I think it’s in my opinion at least one. It seems it’s a combination of many things obviously, but what are the things that come to mind is what you. Mentioned earlier is. People that have never stepped outside the US take the opportunities for granted. You know, that’s one because I’ve heard it said many times before that, uh, a big percentage of the millionaires in this country. Are they actually immigrants? Because when most of us come to this country. 

Say that again. Say that again. 

Yeah, I’ve heard it said many times that a big percentage of the millionaires in this country are actually immigrants. And I think the reason or part of the reason for that is when we come here, we have no expectations for people to give us anything. We work hard. We are not looking for a handout or playing the victim card because we have too many people in our native countries that are waiting for us for a better life and things like that. 

I think that’s part of it, where when you are that just human nature is just kind of a very wealthy child that’s born with that wealth, and they don’t know anything about wealth. They think their life is difficult because they never step outside of that circle. It’s just human nature. Whenever we get used to something and we don’t have anything that compares, we think our life is the most difficult, you know. 

But so, to me, it’s part of that perspective that when you’re born here again, you haven’t traveled. You think that America has so many limitations, you don’t realize what you actually have access to that the rest of the world does not have access to. You know, playing the victim card. 

And the other thing is, I think. Also in American schooling education, you’re sold on that job. Security is the most important. You know, even when I was going through a school year through college and all of that, you were thought that, oh, yeah, you’d make sure you get that good job, and you stay with that job for as long as possible. 

So, I think it’s part of people taking things for granted because they don’t know how good they have them, but it’s also part of education. That always, always pushes for security. You want to have the most secure job possible; when the truth of the matter is the people that we read about in books are people that are willing to step outside the box and to take risks. From anything from Edison inventing and the light bulb all the way to the way. That is the Internet works the way that you and I are communicating right now, effortlessly through different parts of the world. Those were all people that thought outside of the box. That’s what has allowed us now as humanity. To be able to communicate and utilize these benefits, you know, so to me, it’s just it’s challenging, but at the same time, I’m glad to see that recently more Americans have been traveling outside the US, But I’m hoping that it becomes definitely more popular because it will make a greater impact. 

No, it’s a deep insight into American culture because that’s something only people who have lived outside America come to understand. I know because I came from outside of America and I became a citizen over time. 

But I notice that people are taking the… It is exactly what you’re talking about if you’re born into it. A wealthy family. You’re going to think, and that you’re used to it. If you’re going to think your life is difficult because you don’t have any sense of appreciation or gratitude, but immigrants. That’s that. Know what the culture is in their own hometowns and they’re looking for opportunities. They’re going to. They’re going to grab it. They’re going to be grateful. And ironically, it’s that which makes them successful, ironically, paradoxically. The means to buy actual freedom is. The same thought process and actions that immigrants have. They don’t take anything for granted. They’re not looking messy, people looking hand out. They’re just, yeah, grateful for the opportunity. They’re making the best use of it. 

You know exactly, exactly. 

I’m glad. I’m glad that you said that, yeah. 

My pleasure. My pleasure. 

No, I mean, yeah, it has. It has to be mentioned, right? Because a lot of people, they basically don’t… They’re oblivious to how good they have it, but yeah, but no, you know that in the last few years in America, there’s been a lot of deterioration, not only in the family’s financial sector but also in family and government overall.

So, should we be optimistic about the future as Americans? And well, where do you think this country is headed overall? 

He said deterioration about what? Say that one. More time deterioration in. 

The financial sector and also the government. So, should we… 

OH got it. 

Should we be optimistic about the future and, where do you think America is headed overall? 

Yeah, that’s a good question. In my opinion, it’s always worthwhile to be optimistic. That’s number one uh. But I think in my opinion, all the stuff that I’ve seen happen and politics and all of these things throughout these past few years too, in my opinion, it’s kind of necessary. 

What I mean by that is, sometimes people don’t know how good they have it until their beliefs and values have been choking up. Do you know what I mean?  You don’t know how nice your house is until someone comes and there, Oh my God. Look at your house, man. You have this. You have that. But this whole time, you’re, oh, I thought it was just the basic house. And then the opposite happened. You have a nice house, but you’ve forgotten how nice it is and they come, and they try to take your house away from you or they try to take whatever is it that you treasure all of a sudden you want that. Think back because you’re no way this.

So in my culture, in African culture, they say that sometimes something bad can be a blessing. So, in my opinion, all of this that’s happening in the world or even in America, sometimes it’s necessary for people to kind of wake up and defend what is it that they were taking for granted or defending what they stand for. 

So yeah, it’s always worthwhile to be optimistic, but the pros and cons of the government system we have in place are that change is definitely inevitable. Happen, but it’s a matter of how long it is going to take us to basically defend what we believe in and be able to put the right, the right infrastructures in place. 

No, that is deep.  I mean, I don’t know if you’re a Saint or some sort of St. Sometimes something bad could be a blessing. And that’s some. Really deep spiritual insight, because a lot of people think that. Bad things are bad, but no, sometimes it’s a stepping stone. To the greatest, I think entrepreneurs as they have.    

Most people look at failure, as a failure. And bad things. And there, oh, my life sucks. Oh, it’s the environment. OH, but then in an entrepreneurial spirit it is no, it’s data collection. I’m going to. I’m going to look at it from a different perspective. This is actually a good thing. I see the opportunity in it. And it’s just your Insight and we are looking at the same issue. That’s what we need to do as a nation. Movies or thinking about a nation.

Yes, yes. 

I’m reflecting. 

That means the world to me, man. Thank you so much, especially from your perspective. Thank you. I think it’s similar to exactly what you just said. It’s a lot of journeys, a lot of reflection, and a lot of real accountability because we can all play the victim card. Do you know what I mean? You and I can play the victim. As far as they all know, we’re doing this because our family is not here. 

So, therefore, we’re going to do all these crazy bad things we can. We could use whatever excuse we want to do bad or good. Do you know what I mean? But you and I are, no, it’s because my family’s not here. And all the things are sacred. That’s why I have to do good and do these greater things. So, the same thing, same circumstance. But you were just choosing you and I am choosing to do it differently. You know, so. I appreciate that and I’m super grateful for that because that’s the gift and curse of humanity is that we have the ability to choose, you know, so that could be a gift and curse. 

Got it. So. I can watch it, but then we only have 45 minutes. Oh wow, that’s. It’s all about choice. 

We can choose no matter how bad our circumstances are, we can always choose to do bad or good, and depending on the wolf that you feed… there’s an old Indian tail. They’re two worlds and you raise both of them up. One is good, and one is bad. Which wolf wins? And it’s the one that you feed the most. We always have a choice and so I’m really grateful for that. 

You mentioned that you know so. So, MO, can you tell the audience a little bit more about your company  Meraki Allure and just a little bit more about it? 

So, after everything we’ve been through with Meraki Allure, we’re in a very exciting time and space right now because we’ve done a good job of solidifying our online presence. But ultimately our goal is to become a global leader and sustainable luxury goods. 

And so eventually we want to have everything from accessories to shoes to other things. But we started with clothing since I was a personal stylist before the company to be able to just mark our place in the world with just clothing. But eventually, we’d have to do a lot more than just clothing. But where we are now, we’re super excited because, for the first time in six years, we actually have executive memberships. So, these are memberships that actually offer our clients wardrobe consultation and different levels of custom products that they can subscribe to. 

So, we’re very excited because now people attorneys and our real estate people are being drawn to our services more than before. So, we’re really looking forward to growing that, and getting the word out there about that. 

Yeah, that’s. That’s awesome. Yeah, I would definitely recommend my audience to take a look at what your company does and all the fashion and all of it. I mean, I took a look at it myself and the Fashion  Clothing line is just amazing, you know. 

Thank you so much. 

So, Mo uh, is there any other body of work or project or book that you’re doing that you’d want the audience to get a glimpse?

Thank you for asking. So, I’m definitely secretly working on uh, a big body of work right now. It may be a book, but it may not be a book, so we’ll release that information soon. Uh, but this is something that’s very near and dear to my heart because when the pandemic began, that’s when I started to dive into this passion of mine. Where I started to write for months at a time. And then, thanks to the leadership group where I met you, I was able to find a publisher. So now we’re working on that uh for later next year. 

Basically, my degree in college was, in English, in creative writing, but I hadn’t really tapped into my creative writing passion for a while because I was so focused on building our miraculous business. But it’s been fun recently, to really hone in more writing and eventually do more coaching services to pay it forward because I’ve promised myself that since so many people have poured into my life, I want to be able to pay it forward and do more things this, this podcast, and eventually doing coaching services and things so that way I can share with people what’s been instilled in me throughout my journey. 

That is awesome. 

Thank you. 

Where can our audience go to connect with you and get to know more about what you’re doing and also your work? 

Yeah, pretty easy. My first and last name is Mo Cisse. You can find that anywhere on social media, but our company website is easy. It’s merakiallure.com And the beauty of that is the word meraki, the meaning was a big inspiration because it’s a Greek word. It means to do something with love. Whenever you put a piece of yourself into your work. So that was something that was a really cool finding when we were looking for company names back then. 

I’m really honored to have you as a guest on the show and you are basically an extraordinary American. You basically are the ultimate embodiment of the American immigrant entrepreneurial spirit, right?   

It’s our identity to be immigrants. We, entrepreneurs, are called to use our innovation. We think and act a certain way and that’s what would set us ultimately free. And you’re one of the living embodiments of that, and that’s why I had you on my show. I’m really grateful you took the time to be on the podcast and I hope that you come back at a later time. 

No, it’s an. Absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. I hadn’t seen you in a while. So, it was a great opportunity for me to reconnect with you, to see how you’re moving toward your “why”. So, congratulations to you as well for taking your stance and really doing something that you believe in. So, I definitely commend you on that and I look forward to it. Definitely more future collaborations and conversations. 

And I conclude this episode by telling my fellow extraordinary Americans that, hey, there is an extraordinary American within each and every one of you and it Is our duty to unleash it and awaken it until next time. Bye for now.