- Stacy and Pinky are successful graduates of
Clark Atlanta University
who are literally paying it forward
by paying off the balances for 30 students
from their alma mater.
What?
(cheers)
You're angels.
That's what people call you.
They go to college, angels.
How do you know each other?
- So actually, Pinky and I met at Clark Atlanta University.
I was Miss Michigan USA 2004,
and I actually trained her.
(cheers)
I trained her to be Miss Clark Atlanta University,
and we also pledged the same sorority,
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated
at Clark Atlanta University.
- [Kelly] Dang, okay, ya'll go deep.
- [Stacy] We go very, very deep.
You go deep I love that.
And you both run successful businesses.
- Yes we do.
So I own a company called Slutty Vegan.
- [Kelly] Love it.
(cheers)
It's probably one of the biggest concepts
in the country right now.
It's a 100% plant based burger joint in Atlanta,
and we have lines around the corner.
So there's over 500 people who come every single day.
(cheers)
- I just got hungry, just now.
- It's really good and what we're doing
is we're helping people to reimagine food, and it's so cool
because we've been featured in all the major magazines.
We have a lot of great opportunities,
and by 2021 we'll have 13 locations.
So we're excited.
(cheers)
- And what you're doing with the plant based,
that's amazing.
You're gonna fight cancer without knowing it.
That's an amazing thing.
- We feel good about it, so we're excited.
- Yeah I'm excited for you.
What do you do?
- So I actually own a craft beer bar in Harlem
called Harlem Hops.
- I love both of you.
Burgers and beer.
- [Stacy] Burgers and beer.
- Burgers and beer, this is like a Texans dream.
- So I own Harlem Hops,
and we also have a scholarship program called Harlem Hopes.
It's a 501c3, where we provide scholarships
for people in the community to go to college also.
- [Kelly] Ya'll are such great women.
(cheers)
Oh my god.
I hope that you're just gonna
inspire so many people here today to pay it forward,
but what inspired you to pay off these balances?
- So honestly, I saw Robert Smith pay off
all of the student loan debt
for a Morehouse graduating class of 2019,
and I said, "You know what I'm not a billionaire yet."
- [Kelly] Yet, yes!
- Yet, yes, but I said, "I know that we can do something"
and so I literally called Pinky on the phone and I said,
"Hey I have this idea.
"What do you think about paying off balances
"for graduating seniors
"that are attending Clark Atlanta University?"
And she was all in.
- I was just like it was a offer I couldn't refuse.
I said, "Let's do it."
We both went to CAU.
We love to pay it forward.
We both have garnered a lot of success in our careers,
so it just felt right.
So when we did it,
people were excited.
The students had no idea.
- [Kelly] So thoughtful, it's so thoughtful.
- [Pinky] They had no idea.
(applause)
And we get emotional talking about it all time.
- I'm getting emotional.
My momma had to pay off her debt, that's hard.
People hold onto that debt for a while.
- Absolutely, I'm a first generation college student.
My parents are Jamaican.
(cheering)
Thank you.
So to be able to go to college
and have so much student debt
but come across being a business owner
and being able to pay it forward to all of these students,
and when I say they had no idea,
they didn't know what we were doing at all.
- [Stacy] They were
- Literally
- [Stacy] Clueless.
- That is the greatest surprise in their life.
Like, wow.
Sara you went to Yale.
Did you struggle with debt?
- Well luckily I was as sitcom star when I went to college.
- Oh that's true.
(laughter)
- I saw kids struggle with it though.
I was just in a fortunate situation, obviously.
But I saw kids holding down jobs while they were studying,
and I just didn't know how they were doing it.
And even worse now I hear kids talk about,
"Maybe I won't even go to college
"because the debt is too great."
People like you are just allowing
kids to go into the world,
not have this heavy weight on their shoulders,
and maybe instead of working to pay off their debt,
they can start their own business.
You just give them so much opportunity.
(applause)
- So much opportunity.
That's what people need, opportunity.
I agree with you.
So how did you pick the students
'cause that's like hard right?
- So what we did is,
and Stacy will tell this part obviously too,
but she reached out to someone named Sam Burston
who actually came together
and gave us a list of the students.
- He gave us a list of names,
and we didn't care what their GPA was.
We didn't care where they were from.
We didn't care what their majors were.
The only thing we cared about
is that they had a balance
and that once we paid that balance
they would be able to graduate.
That they would be able to walk across the stage.
That's all we cared about.
(cheering)
- I love that.
- And then when they came down the steps
all 30 of them literally,
they thought that they were in trouble.
They didn't know what was going on, seriously.
And we introduced ourselves,
and we told them what we wanted to do,
and literally everybody burst into tears.
It was so beautiful
because everybody has a back story.
You don't know how they got there,
but the fact that they got there,
and that we could help them overcome whatever.
- And they're working hard.
- And they're working hard, yes,
and now they can walk in 2020
and not worry about how they're gonna graduate.
They can focus on their studies.
- Amen, that's somethin'.
Man I love ya'll.
How did they react?
Did they cry first,
or did they not believe you?
- They were confused.
- I would have been confused.
- They were like, "Huh?"
- [Kelly] This is too good to be true.
- The first reaction was confusion
and then of course this cry baby over here.
- I'm just cryin'.
(laughter)
- You're me!
- She's cryin' before she can even get it out.
- Any opportunity that a tear fall, it's gonna fall.
But you know it really, honestly, it genuinely, it felt good
because I believe that true success doesn't come
with how much money is in your bank.
It's how much you can do for other people.
When you can give to others,
that's what your success is.
- I love that.
(applause)
Oh my god.
Well, two of those students are here today
to say thank you.
Come on out Crystal and Caleel.
(cheering)
Come one out!
- Hey
- We couldn't tell anybody because it was a surprise.
- I just talked about cryin', now I'm cryin' right now.
- [Kelly] I know, you're me.
I just met my doppelganger.
(laughter)
Oh my gosh I cry all the time.
I'm touched by all things.
Okay, this gift probably couldn't have come at a better time
Crystal I'll start with you.
What did you think?
I would have been crazy happy and crying.
- It came, it literally, like you said,
it came at the perfect time.
I'm a senior at Clark Atlanta University,
and I would be done in December.
So I actually received a email from CAU
stating that if I didn't pay off the balance
then I could possibly lose my housing and my classes,
and I'm so thankful for my family,
but I didn't want to put that financial burden on them again
because with my loans and my mom loans combined
it's over $30,000.
I didn't want to be like the rest of my peers,
having to drop out of college for financial worries.
I didn't want to be that person,
but I'm so thankful that God put them in my life.
(cheering)
Put them in my life.
My balance was paid off that Wednesday,
and it was actually due that Friday.
(cheering)
- That's when like,
you can believe whatever you believe,
but in my world I'm like,
"How do you not believe in somethin' bigger then you?"
When somethin' amazing like that happens.
People that didn't even know each other,
and you just made such an impact on their life.
That isn't happenstance.
It can't be in my world,
but I think it can be for some people.
What about you Caleel?
Well I owed the school, Clark Atlanta University, $7,000.
At the last minute,
I felt like my back was against the wall
so that caused me to go make a Go Fund Me account,
and also my mom was denied a loan.
So because of you guys I'm able to continue my education
and continue to make my family proud,
and I'm very thankful for that.
Thank you so much,
thank you guys so much for everything, everything.
I'm very grateful for everything.
- Thank you, thank you for doin' what you're doin'
and staying in school.
(applause)
Absolutely.
- It's just a life changing thing
that might seem simple to some people
that come from a background
that they don't struggle with money.
I had to, I if I was gonna go to college,
I had to have a scholarship.
Nobody had the money for me to do that either.
So people you have no idea how much, you know,
and look what he did.
He started a domino effect.
And then you kept on with that.
My hope is that you're on this show,
and somebody's out there watching going,
"Wait, I struggled with that.
"I can help with that.
"That is something I can do
"and make a positive impact in someone's life."
It's a beautiful, beautiful thing.
- Absolutely.
(applause)