Black History Month Spotlight - Dasarte Yarnway
Drizzy Dasarte Rogers?
That didn’t work? If you do not get the reference, Lil Wayne gave Drake the nickname Drizzy Drake Rogers in one of their first songs together “Ransom”. You probably were not outside when that song was out. Anyways, back to giving Dasarte Praise and not scolding you on your potential lack of Drake knowledge.
It was only fitting that the author of the book Young Money (Dasarte) would be described by one of the most prominent members of the rap group Young Money (Drake). Drake came onto the rap scene around 2008, co-signed by famous rapper Lil Wayne—the forefront of the rap game at this time. He had this young, talented kid from Canada on his team. This “kid” blew up to become one of the most successful artist in modern times. How does Drakes story relate to Dasarte’s? I’ll explain.
Drake entered the rap game at an interesting time, majority of the rappers at the time had a certain tone, a particular delivery, and (I would go as far to say) a whole persona that they were trying to fit. The prominent rap artist of the 2000’s were Joe Budden…… just kidding he just had Pump It Up. But you had guys like Nas, Eminem, Snoop, Jay-Z, Jadakiss, 50 cent, Nelly, and many more. All of these guys had a certain energy to them. They came off as “tough”, unapproachable, and a lot would say arrogant. Their music was based on hard-hitting beats accompanied with either crazy wordplay or powerful, rigid, and grimy bars— probably a mixture of both. Then came Take Care. And then nothing was the same. No, not the album, I literally meant nothing was the same in the rap game. (That rhymed though).
See, Drake entered an established industry and was willing to do something new that changed it forever. This is what I have seen with Dasarte.
This past summer, Dasarte was kind enough to take time out of his day to connect with me so I could hear about his story and get advice from an older black man I respected. This does not make me the Lil Twist of the financial services world. But as I sat and listened to his story, I was amazed by his tenacity, drive and, above all, his vision. For those of you who do not know Dasarte, he is under 30 and is the founder of an established firm. This is not normal in our industry. It's not normal, because it is extremely difficult and takes a special person. In addition being a young, black man in a profession dominated by older white men, it is extraordinary to see what he has done. Dasarte was an ex-division one athlete in one of the power 5 divisions of college football. Not having an undergraduate background in Financial Planning and being a division one athlete Dasarte did not let his past hinder his future. Even though his path to the industry was non-conventional, he used his experiences to his benefit. For instance, his firm, Berknell Financial, has a division set just for athletes. Dasarte has a unique insight on the life of a professional athlete, which is something many financial advisors do not have. He has the ability to relate with them in ways that I simply cannot.
I mean, don’t get it twisted, they did call me OchoDaro back in the day, and if Dasarte or Tyrone want to see me on the track they have my number… but that is beside the point. Similarly, the superstar Drake started off as an actor on the teenage drama show Degrassi. He did not have a conventional start into the rap game, but both of these living legends used their unconventional past to create a conventional future.
In the Fall of 2014, I was not only on the homecoming court at the time, but was running the halls of Clear Brook High School. Yes, I am a high school hero, hence the nickname “OchoDaro”. Drake had just dropped one of the most iconic songs based on the worst day of the week (“Tuesday”). The thing about Drake’s delivery is that it's subtle, but still hits hard. He came in on the verse and put the rap game on notice. You also have to understand Kendrick Lamar had just dropped his control freestyle less than a year ago. Calling rappers, like Drake, out. The smooth, Canadian artist said, “Put the world on our sound, you know PARTY and the Weeknd” *Lets the mic breathe*
Not only did he literally and figuratively put the rap game on a sound, he put the whole music industry on his sound. He created the new path— he was the new mark. He was the new blueprint, not Jay. (My rap fans get that).
Likewise, Dasarte has set the tone in our industry. We had decades of your cookie cutter advisors, but not anymore. He has created a business model on getting to the core of what the client actually wants— even changed the conversation amongst advisors in light of this. No more sitting around trying to see who has the most complex investment strategy. Drake gave us room to lowkey cry after a break up, beforehand all we had was Ja rule. Dasarte has given me, a young, black man, the confidence and room in the financial services world to simply be.
Black.
Thank you Dasarte.