Welcome back to Financial Behavior Thought Leaders! In this compelling episode, host Dr. Mary Bell Carlson sits down with Lazetta Rainey Braxton, renowned financial planner, keynote speaker, and one of the exclusive voices of the Financial Behavior Keynote Group. Lazetta is widely recognized for her leadership in advancing cultural competency, inclusion, and equity within the financial services industry. Together, Mary and Lazetta dig deep into the critical topic of “How to Stay Relevant in an Increasingly Diverse Environment,” examining why cultural awareness and inclusion are no longer just buzzwords, but essential skills for advisors, event planners, and all financial professionals.
Lazetta shares her personal journey from speaking in church as a child, to evolving into a leader and influential speaker in financial services. She opens up about how her lived experience as a Black woman in America, combined with her commitment to empowering others to use their voices, informs her work and perspective on diversity in finance. The conversation navigates the changing demographic landscape in the United States, the impact of identity on client relationships, and practical strategies for expanding cultural knowledge and fostering inclusion.
Whether you’re a financial advisor seeking to better serve a diverse client base, an event planner searching for dynamic speakers, or simply passionate about meaningful change in financial services, this episode offers both inspiration and actionable guidance. Listen in for a frank, heartfelt, and empowering discussion about relevance, representation, and resilience in the evolving world of finance.
Key Takeaways:
- Cultural Competency Is Essential for Relevance
- Lazetta emphasizes that as U.S. demographics continue to change—becoming a “racial mosaic” by 2050—advisors must actively grow their cultural competency to remain relevant and serve new generations of clients. Understanding the lived experiences, values, and identities of clients from underrepresented backgrounds allows for more authentic, effective engagement.
- Self-Education and Vulnerability Are Critical Steps
- Genuine inclusion isn’t just about good intentions—it requires intentional learning and vulnerability. Lazetta shares her own efforts to educate herself through books, movies, and diversity training (including resources targeted at different racial and social groups), underscoring the importance of continuous self-improvement in this area.
- Inclusion Begins with Doing the Inner Work
- To create inclusive environments, advisors and leaders must first address their own biases, emotional responses, and comfort zones. Lazetta advocates for personal reflection, therapy, and a willingness to sit with discomfort as precursors to truly inclusive, empathetic client relationships.
- Authenticity and Clear Communication Matter
- Rather than falsely advertising inclusivity, Lazetta encourages advisors to be honest about whom they serve best, while continually working to broaden their competence. She also highlights the necessity of creating space for clients and colleagues to express emotion and different perspectives—even those that may feel uncomfortable.
- Forgiveness, Flexibility, and Ongoing Practice for Growth
- Perfection is not expected—progress is. The episode explores the importance of practicing new behaviors, like correctly using pronouns, and being open to correction, feedback, and forgiveness. This flexibility not only builds trust but models the growth mindset needed to adapt in a rapidly diversifying field.
Connect with Lazetta Braxton and Learn More
If you’re interested in deepening your understanding of cultural competency, building inclusive leadership, or booking Lazetta for your next event, download her speaker sheet at financialbehaviorthoughtleaders.com.
Stay tuned for more behind-the-scenes insights from the thought leaders shaping the future of financial services on Financial Behavior Thought Leaders!
Transcript
Hello and welcome to Financial Behavior Thought Leaders. I'm Mary and this podcast takes you behind the scenes with top speakers in financial services. So whether you're a financial advisor booking a client event, an event planner looking for the perfect keynote, or a financial professional wanting to learn from industry thought leaders, you're in the right place. Today we're featuring Lazetta Rainey Braxton, one of Financial Behavior keynote group's exclusive speakers. We'll explore her keynote, how to stay relevant in an increasingly diverse environment, and talk about how understanding cultural competency helps advisors engage more effectively with clients from every background. Welcome, Lazetta. I'm so glad you're here.
Lazetta Braxton [:So I'm so glad to be here with you, Mary.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Me too. So, Lazetta, you have been doing this for I want to hear the story of what is, what brought you on stage in the first place. How did you start your speaking career?
Lazetta Braxton [:Well, honestly, I started it in church, I believe, being comfortable reading the announcements and then eventually doing, you know, Youth Sunday as I won't call it a preacher, but I'll just say as a, as a speaker. And then the evolution of moving from speaking within the church to speaking within leadership positions in high school and then in college, a lot of practicing going on there. And then I married a preacher. Oh my gosh. At 23. So then I got some in house training which was also very intimidating. So I never ever really saw myself as a speaker per se, just one practicing sharing what I was passionate about. It became more formal as I had more opportunities that people appreciated my energy and wanted me to share my knowledge.
Lazetta Braxton [:And if, I guess if you put those two together, then it becomes an official speaker.
Mary Bell Carlson [:I love that because I love that part about you and I love that you're so open to sharing it. I also love the fact that you've not just been speaking using your own voice, which I think has been an evolution for you, but you've also really empowered others to use their voice. Talk to me a little bit about that.
Lazetta Braxton [:You know, the empowerment of using your voice. And it goes from one on one to, you know, being on social media where you could have thousands or hundred thousands, you know, of viewers or followers. And it's the confidence that you believe that what you have to say and what you're passionately have to say matters, matters to you and can be transformative for the people who are hearing what you're going through in this world. It feels like you're alone. And really the only way to test it is to share your voice and.
Mary Bell Carlson [:See who responds, yeah, and I'm very proud of you. I remember meeting you for the very first time, years, probably decades ago at this point. And just you've always been that way, where you've been open and inviting, but always leading to. And I think that that has caught up from those around you. I think I would say if there were three things that I could really say that your work has encompassed its leadership, it would be culture and inclusion, and specifically in financial services. And so tell me more. Why do those things matter so much for advisors?
Lazetta Braxton [:Right now, I'm going to speak for how society is identifying me through labels. And, you know, one is gender, female. And so we have statistics about what females earn and what positions they hold, and it really lags white males. Then you add another context, a layer of my race, which is a social construction as well, too, but also one that is visual. And so if you combine just those two aspects of being female, visual, black visual, and the history of this, of this country, when it comes to, in this country, specifically the United States for which I was born and a lot of generations were here because of the slave trade, that there are people out there to want to feel in underrepresented populations that their story and their lives matter, that their life and livelihoods are important. And if you are one that wants to share your craft as a financial planner, it's important to know who you can serve, who you are competent enough to serve, and be able to feel confident that you are being the best fiduciary for them that you can. And be very aware of the challenges that are systematic that impacts one's finances.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Oh, my goodness. There's so many different directions we can go with this. But I'm going to use the lens of your keynote because I think that we ought to stay centered in how that really means. Let me read. The title of your keynote is how to Stay Relevant in an Increasingly Diverse Environment. So let's start off with help me understand what the core message is and what the key takeaway is from this experience.
Lazetta Braxton [:Core message. By the year:Mary Bell Carlson [:Right.
Lazetta Braxton [:So it's about serving the client well and the increasingly diverse. Diversity is a path that the Census Bureau is projecting and is happening well.
Mary Bell Carlson [:rom men into women's hands by:Mary Bell Carlson [:But I don't think we've really broken it down to the heart or the core. What is a differentiator that really sets that apart and makes it important for advisors to understand who's sitting across the desk from them?
Lazetta Braxton [:It's. It's the pool of potential clients. Right. I say in my presentation, be, Be true to you. If you're mostly comfortable with the people that look like you and are aware of some of your traditions, there's nothing wrong with that. But don't false advertise. Yeah. And also don't say derogatory things just because you are of a different mindset.
Lazetta Braxton [:Right. Allow space to happen. I'm going to be honest. Majority of my clients who are attracted to me are African American black clients because they identify with the images that I have on my website, the work that I write about, it attracts them. And I also have clients that are not identified as black or African American, yet they have a social justice orientation to them because they appreciate my inclusivity. Now, when it comes to financial planning, am I speaking. It's universal. What I do is absolutely universal.
Lazetta Braxton [:What I think differentiates me per se is because I do have the perspective for working with the majority. Assimilation. And I don't like to use the language of minority, but I would say underserved but underrepresented, which makes me very versatile in any type of client that I can serve. And that's what I'm also saying for those who are committed to their profession and their craft, you have to be able, even if you decide not to, to be relevant to your client and be able to listen and do the research you need to do to better understand their position, their goals and their values.
Mary Bell Carlson [:So you've got a set of people who are saying, well, these are my clients. I want people who think, look and act like me. And then to the other extreme, you've already, like you said, I've already got my clients. This is good. What about those that are in the middle that are saying, you know, I'm open to learning more. I need to be more culturally aware. I need to be more gender biased. How do you help those that are somewhere in the middle that are wanting to become more apt at this?
Lazetta Braxton [:And I'm going to answer your question. And I also want to go back to a case study that just came to my mind that I also mentioned in my presentation as well. My keynote is what we saw so publicly with Harry and Meghan Markle. Right. So we had. And we saw. I mean, it's media, so we don't really know, but we saw maybe the queen at the time that she was living, not too fond of the marriage and them deciding to make their own money because they had different values than the monarch had at the time and it seems, continue to be. And so I'm asking the clients, I'm asking advisors, if you were presented with that degree of wealth and wealth transfer, would you be prepared, right, to address them? So going back to your question, you're talking about the population.
Lazetta Braxton [:Who says, I see what's happening here. I don't want to be caught off guard, pun intended, for the monarch. And so this is what I did, even I had to do. I got books that were relevant for the white community. I took courses through E. Cornell on diversity and inclusion, so that my lens would not just be only through the lens of being a black female, you know, primarily in terms of my identity structure. So even for me, as I'm speaking with the clients, I have to understand the sensitivities of what information they were shared or what education or what books they were exposed to so that I can even communicate with populations that are dissimilar than I am. So if I would have to sum it up, educate yourself, listen more, show vulnerability and invite conversation.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Yeah, no, those are great tools and takeaways. Is there a recommended. Like if you were to say, there's one Thing if someone listening to this said, if there were just one thing I could do better. Lisetta, of all the things that you've mentioned, what would that one thing be? To be a little more aware culturally and diverse.
Lazetta Braxton [:One of the easiest ways to do it is watch movies pertaining to historical events.
Mary Bell Carlson [:That's a great idea.
Lazetta Braxton [:And there are a lot of them, particularly for the African American community. On a lot of people didn't want to talk about slavery, but the system of slavery and oppression is kind of what we're seeing now where certain populations are getting different treatment. We are seeing laws that impact financially a lot of different folks. And so if you open yourself and even for I have a lot of friends across different religions have experienced oppression in different ways through their lineage. If people were more open without the fear, obligation, guilt and shame fogs of what has happened and studied it and see its relevancy, then I think the engagement would be different and easier because there will be a point of understanding and similar to some degree, cycles that impact populations repeatedly over and over again.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Yeah. No such good. So I'm hearing books, I'm hearing movies, and I would even add, there's travel. Right. Of just getting out of your space in your comfort zone, to be able to feel, to walk literally in the shoes of someone unlike you. How has that affected you as you've traveled?
Lazetta Braxton [:So let me start by saying I'm from a very rural town in Virginia, and I think it was probably my middle school years where I actually saw ethnicity other than black or white. And so when I graduated from high school and went to college, University of Virginia, I decided to study abroad in Spain. It was my first time in a train, a plane, a boat, a ferry. And my dad was just so upset with me because I made the decision and I financed himself. And he was mostly scared because he knew he couldn't rescue me. And I would love to see people have more courage in being in places that are uncomfortable, to sit with, being uncomfortable. There are so many times where I am the only black person in the audience engaged. And so this feeling of being uncomfortable was something that I just constantly had to adjust to.
Lazetta Braxton [:So why not share the wealth.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Yeah.
Lazetta Braxton [:And understanding and. Yeah. Exercise the gift of courage.
Mary Bell Carlson [:I love that. Now let me ask you a flip question to that. You've been in several situations that you've been uncomfortable. How could someone like myself help you feel more comfortable? Because I think there's the other side of it, of the inclusion portion of it. How do we become more inclusive and help others Feel comfortable.
Lazetta Braxton [:I've been using a hashtag, doing the work. And the more that people do their internal work, they calm their nervous system, the vagus nerve. Right. Which allows you to receive all different types of energy. I'm going to be honest, there were some very high level conversations where people are like, you need to be calm. No, I'm angry as hell. And I'm justifiably should be. And you should be able to handle my heat so I can work through my feelings.
Lazetta Braxton [:And they're real, legitimate feelings based on the treatment of being oppressed. Right. And so if someone is really trying to be inclusive, then you have to have the capacity and the self awareness to be able to be inclusive well.
Mary Bell Carlson [:And being open to allowing them to have those feelings. Right. I think sometimes from someone who tries to make everyone get along. Right. It's becoming comfortable with emotions, becoming comfortable with the client who's literally crying across their desk, even though that makes you uncomfortable. It's becoming comfortable with the client who gets angry. Becoming comfortable with the client who maybe doesn't receive information or the news you're talking about in the same way you would. And being okay with that, like understanding.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Now be careful here, right. Set your own boundaries. But being a more open to that broad spectrum of emotion that we feel as humans.
Lazetta Braxton [:Yes. So as a case in point for me, I'm really getting used to pronoun usage. And so I am working very hard because I am a Gen Xer and the use of pronouns have really been more emphasized in the last decade or so. So it takes practice. And I've given my client permission. I'm like, if I use the right pronoun, you know, you want to wave your hand. Right? So giving the permission to say in this space that I'm not probably always going to get it right, but I'm doing my best to. And I need your help.
Mary Bell Carlson [:And being better at this, man, you just nailed it. Because the other side of that is forgiveness. Right. And being able to let go and forgive. We're human, we're gonna mess up, we're gonna bump into each other. You're not gonna be perfect. So this isn't. I love that you said like you've taken courses, you've read books, you've done all that and yet you still don't do it perfectly.
Mary Bell Carlson [:And so allowing that space to say, but you're trying, it's okay, keep trying.
Lazetta Braxton [:And I'm sorry, I apologize and really mean that. And pause on it, not ramrod. And what we're saying, which is very much a part of my keynote. Right. Is allowing people in their own space in the audience to think about the scenarios where they are like, I really put my foot in my mouth, or, wow, no, I honestly wouldn't want to be black coming back. And what does that mean? And it's okay. Right. And I said I'd come back again, even with all the pressure.
Lazetta Braxton [:And I love, you know, being who I am. And so I appreciate, particularly in financial services, allowing me to have this conversation and they see the business case for it and space for moral leadership.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Amen. Amen. Well, I have to say, if you want a deeper dive and get the full picture of how to be more culturally aware, you've got to download Lazetta speaker sheet@financial behaviorthoughtleaders.com Now, Lazetta, before we wrap up, I want to go a little behind the scenes with you for a minute. What is something that most audiences don't know about you?
Lazetta Braxton [:What a lot of people may or may not have caught in my social media is that I am a big believer in therapy. And I want to add to that conversation about therapy is about mental health awareness. I also, I truly believe and know that I'm neurodivergent, which is a. And I don't like the word disability in any way. It's different for me to accept because it's a part of that exclusion as well, too, that it's a disability, because it actually has been a strength for me. So when people ask, how are you able to do all that you've done for the industry and volunteer here and work and raise your family and still get sleep at night? And I'm like, I couldn't explain it before. And then I realized it's just like, it's how I'm wired. And a lot of people misinterpret, you know, people who are neurodivergent maybe on the spectrum for autism, that there is something that is a deficit.
Lazetta Braxton [:It's just being able to know who you are and have the resources you need to be the best version of yourself. So I would honestly, really say that if people really thought about services that help people be their best self, and we're talking about inclusion, which is dealing with identity work. You need specialists to really help you work through, because even I had to work through trauma related to knowing what happened to my ancestors, not being bitter, looking at my skin complexion and knowing that the white part of me was due to slave. You know, I look at that slavery every day. Right. And so in order to be able to do the work it starts with within. So now not so much behind the scenes, but because I'm, you know, focused on financial health, which is also wealth, which is also mental health as well, too. So big advocate, big advocate for it.
Mary Bell Carlson [:Well, and just like you said before, but we as financial planners would expect someone to go if they had financial problems, they'd go to an expert. Why would we not do the same? Right.
Lazetta Braxton [:Right.
Mary Bell Carlson [:And we all have that. I love that you're such a champion of inner work. You know, every time I get to talk to you, it's such a pleasure. Thank you so much for joining us today. And if you're looking for a speaker who can help your organization create meaningful change, build inclusive leadership and stay relevant in an increasingly diverse environment, you can learn more and book. Lazetta Braxtoninote Financial thank you for joining us on financial behavior Thought leaders. We'll be back soon with more conversations that bring you closer to the leading voices in financial services.