In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Nakia Thomas, a full‑time college student at Duquesne University. The conversation begins with a personal anecdote about a toxic sophomore‑year roommate that culminated in Nakia killing the roommate’s goldfish, leading her to reflect on the importance of not letting others push you beyond your character. Nakia then emphasizes education as a transformative tool, especially for youth of color who face systemic inequities. She shares broad business advice—stay true to yourself, have faith in God, and remember that will creates a way. When asked what she would tell her younger self, she advises focusing on self‑care, avoiding romantic drama, and prioritizing personal and financial growth. Nakia defines happiness as rooted in love—love for oneself, one’s work, others, and God. She recommends the book Push Out by Monique Morris, which examines the criminalization of Black girls in schools, aligning with her passion for educational equity. Her favorite quote underscores responding positively to circumstances rather than being defined by them. Finally, she provides her online contact points: LinkedIn, Instagram (Nakiaaaa), and Facebook, noting she responds quickly.
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Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
¡Hola! ¿Cómo estás? All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Nakia Thomas with us. She is a full-time college student at Duquesne University. So welcome to the show.
Thank you.
Of course. We'll jump in. The first question I have for you is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
So I was thinking about this one and I'm like, I don't have any exciting stories, but I found one finally. But the one time my sophomore year I had this really terrible roommate, things got really shaky and long story short, I ended up killing her goldfish. And it was really bad. I was like really pushed to the edge and it was such a terrible situation. But what I learned in that situation was that, you know, you shouldn't let people, you know, push you to their limits and, you know, push you to a point where you feel like you have to retaliate in a violent manner and, you know, use violence to, you know, hurt people. Like, it's not, it's never worth it. You know, even though I killed her fish, you know, just because she was messing with me, I still felt terrible after the fact. I still felt like, wow, why would I do something like that? That's not even me. That's not my character. So, You know, that's the best thing I learned from that situation, which is like to never let anyone take you out of your character because it's like literally never worth it.
Yes, I agree. Keep the fish alive. The next one I have for you is what is the most valuable piece of information that we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
I would say the most valuable piece of information within my expertise is that like, which I can't stress enough, is the importance of education. I think it's very important. And how we educate our youth is even more important. I believe that youth of color, you know, they've been robbed of their basic rights as human beings when it comes to the system, the education system within our nation. So I, like, if anybody would take anything from me, like what my passion is, what's the most valuable information, like you said, is like how important education is and how it can be used as a tool to really change things.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry-specific.
Overall business advice, I would say, is to always remain true to yourself and have faith in God. And remember that as long as there's a will, there's a way. You can accomplish anything you desire. You just have to connect to that feeling and know that you can do whatever you want and really stick to it.
And if you could— I know you're young, but if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
I would tell high school Nakia to always focus on herself. Leave the boys alone. You got time for that. Really just be very self-centered, not in a way that, you know, you're not being considerate of others, but self-centered in the fact that you have enough love to give yourself before you can give it to anyone else. And You know, just save yourself the headache really with guys, you know, drama, and really just be about your business and your money and, you know, yourself.
And in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
I think the key to happiness is love. Loving what you do, loving yourself, loving others, loving God, loving, you know, the person that you're becoming, loving your process, just Literally love. If you don't love anything, you won't be happy.
And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Hmm. The best book that I've read. I haven't read a lot. I need to read more. A book that I really like is a book called Push Out. It's by— I have to look at it, actually. I have it in my bag. I don't know the author's name actually at the moment, but it's about the criminalization. Oh, it's by Monique Morris, The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools. And it's just a different perspective on, you know, what, you know, how Black women are treated in this world and in the education system. Being a Black woman, that's obviously something that I'm very passionate about.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
I think my favorite quote would be that it used to be, "A wise man learns from the mistakes of others, a fool by his own." But I kind of like got away from that because I feel like sometimes you have to be a fool in order to learn from yourself, you know. So I guess I would say now that my favorite quote is that, you know, people don't do The best things happen to people who do the best with what happens to them, if that makes sense. So it's not about what happens to you, just how you respond to what happens.
Yes. And thank you so much for coming on. The last question I have for you before we let you go is where is the best place for people to find you online?
I'm on LinkedIn as Nakia Thomas, Instagram Nakia with 3 A's at the end. And Facebook, Nakia Thomas again. So any 3 of those platforms, I respond fast. I have no life. Perfect.
Thanks again for hopping on. We appreciate it. Okay.
Thank you for having me. I'm very grateful.
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