Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Attorney Tessie D. Edwards.
Tessie D. Edwards & Associates, P.C. is a local, family-owned law firm that has been serving the Atlanta, GA, community for over 15 years. Our attorneys enthusiastically represent their clients and bring extensive experience. We strive to provide personalized, affordable legal services with special discounts for military personnel and first responders.
Tessie D. Edwards fights to find the right solutions for families in crisis. With her years of experience as a prosecutor, attorneys respect Tessie as an aggressive advocate who can achieve clients’ objectives. Clients see her compassionate side, where she and her team take the time to listen and understand the situation entirely.
With a passion for justice, Tessie started her career in criminal law, serving as an Assistant Solicitor General in Clayton County and an Assistant District Attorney in Fulton County. She prosecuted over 2,000 cases involving a variety of offenses, including crimes of family violence. Over time, her zeal to help children and families drew her toward the practice of family law. She strives to help families recognize how to put the best interests of their children at the forefront and to find solutions that meet the needs of the family while still fulfilling legal requirements demanded by the courts.
Tessie leads a team that understands the nuances of family law and how courts apply statutory guidelines and legal precedents to reach their decisions. They find alternative methods of helping clients get what they want while protecting the overall needs of the family.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I am Rashan McDonald, our host the weekly Money
Making Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this
show provides off for everyone. It's time to stop reading
other people's success stories and start living your own. If
you want to be a guest on my show, please
visit our website, Moneymakingconversations dot com and click the be
a guest button first submit and information will come directly
(00:23):
to me. Now let's get this show started. My guess
that I have currently on the show today fights to
find the right solutions for families in crisis. Would her
years of experience as a prosecutor. Attorneys respect Tessa as
an aggressive advocate who knows how to achieve client's objectives.
Clients see her compassion side, where she and her team
(00:46):
take the time to listen to gain a full understanding
of the situation. Please work to Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
Attorney Tessa D. Edwards. How you doing, Attorney Edwards.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
I'm good. Thank you for having me with Sean.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
First of all, being an attorney was that something you
dreamed of?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
It is? I actually knew I wanted to be an
attorney since I was in third grade. I had a
teacher that asked me what I wanted to be, and
being a person that likes to talk and debate and
just liking to I just challenge other people against an argument.
I knew very very early that I wanted to be
an attorney.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
So so again the attorney was now argument and debating.
Now you just well, you just one of those people
just wanted to have to get the last word.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Is still sometimes I want to get the last one.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Oh, your coach Tessa, you know she ain't gonna let
nobody talk but her. Here's your come, here's your come.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Now.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Now when you see a talent like that, I will
be a front. I'll be upfront with everybody about my life.
Is that I didn't really know what I wanted to be.
And for you just say you wanted to have that?
You had that vision so early. What compelled you? Was
it your surroundings with somebody, something you saw on TV
that made you say, you know, that's what I want
to be.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, kind of like what you're saying, I always had,
you know, this idea that I like to argue. I
love debating, I love strategizing about a debate. And if
I could win an argument with anybody, a sibling, a pair,
or anybody. It just kind of inspired me. I just
liked arguing either side, it didn't matter. And so when
I realized that, I that there was a career for
(02:29):
people who liked the art of debate. That's what drove
me to do that. So it wasn't necessarily my surrounding,
it was more my personality. Some people learn to litigate.
I feel like I was born to litigate. I liked
the challenge and the art of trial work and just
strategizing debate.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Wow, I like that. Now when you look at turn
on the radio, personal injury commercials dominate the airwaves, and
so that means that the legal profession people have one
version of it right now being pounded in who they sponsored,
evening news, they have commercials, it's all types of broadcast
(03:07):
is making it available for personal injury talking about how
much they can win for you, how much you can
give you come to us. If that version is not
the version of law that you practiced, Why did you
choose the version of law that you're practicing now?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Well, as I talk to people and tell them all
the time, I am a project ghetto born and raised,
and what I thought around me was a lot of
strange suffering, a lot of arrest, a lot of team pregnancy,
which I was a team in, a high school drop
out myself, and just seeing that around me, I grew
up with a very unhealthy idea of the justice system.
(03:47):
I saw a lot of friends and family members and
neighbors getting arrested. I didn't always believe that what happened
was fair, didn't believe that the police were honest, and
I wanted to go into criminal justice as a way
to argue for my community, for my family members, and
have someone fight for them and have their voice heard
(04:08):
if they ever found themselves in that situation, because I
didn't feel like that was something that I saw growing up.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Now, that's interesting because you said something very casually because
you've overcome it. You said teen pregnancy and high school
drop off, and now you are very prominent lawyer, family
lawyer that practiced crimin law as well over two thousand cases.
How did that happen being a teen mom and what
(04:37):
age was it that you became a teen mom?
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Well, I was pregnant at fifteen. I had my first
child as a sixteen year old, and my second child
at eighteen. Third child at twenty one, I am the
prow mother of seven children today. And how I got
from being a teen mom to where I I am now,
which is the proud owner of a multimillion dollar law
(05:03):
firm in Atlanta, Georgia, was nothing other than dreaming it,
seeing it, and then persistently going after time and time
and time again. The first time I can imagine to
even begin to tell you how many hurdles and obstacles
were there, but just seeing that vision and that dream
so clearly, and staying the course whatever comes, just having
the will to go over it. And when I had
(05:25):
my first child, it was very uneventful. Unfortunately everybody around
me and all the girls around me were pregnant teens,
and a lot of the guys, including some of my
family members, were in the system, in prison or in
on probation or some sort of custody. And when I
had my daughter, my second chalid eighteen.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Sixteen year old. Because that's you know that right there
is usually with shuts down opportunities, and when you read
about it, you know the dreams, you know, become a
welfare our kids, second, third, or four, or may go to drugs,
may go to a minimum wage opportunities. There are no
extended version of educations after that. At sixteen years of age,
(06:10):
What did your family, how did your family react to
that and how did they come to your to your assistance.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Well, my family didn't actually did not react surprised. Like
I said, everybody around me, it was the norm to
be sixteen and have a baby. Like there's a lot
of teen pregnancy unfortunately. What's states this in Florida, Okay, Florida, Coco, Florida, Okatrobe, Florida.
(06:38):
There's a lot of team moms. There's a lot of
teenage boys and sometimes girls that are already in the system,
whether it's juvenile or sell any system early. So it
was the norm. It was not a shock. Or had
family members that were teen moms, so it wasn't anything
that really shocked them, and they rallied around my mom,
my mom, my siblings. They all helped with my son,
(07:00):
and so it was very uneventful in my life. But
when I had my second child at eighteen, it was
her girl, and that changed everything. She was six eight
six to eight weeks old and someone was visiting and
they told me that she looked like me. And you
know how you have that moment that just kind of
stops you in your track and you get a big
frog in your throat you can't swallow. When the first
(07:22):
time that someone told me my daughter looked like me,
it moved the rest of my life. I felt like,
if she looked like me, she may want to be
like me. And so I felt like I needed to
be something that she was proud of. And so when
she went to school on career day and talk about
her mom, she would have a story that she could
(07:43):
be proud of. My mom does this mom? I didn't
want to say, my mom is, you know, work at McDonald's.
No knock at McDonald's, employee us or anything. But that's
not what I wanted for my daughter to aspire to
be if she was aspiring to be like her mom.
And so that changed everything going forward, and this mean
that I had as a little girl now became real
(08:03):
a goal more than just a dream at that point,
it was a goal.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
So were you in high school?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Drop out at that point, Tessa that pregnancy? I did
drop out with that pregnancy. I dropped out with that
pregnancy because I missed a lot of school and they
told me I had to come back and go to
summer school, and me being the defiant person, I decided
I was done with school. That year was my senior year.
I wasn't coming back. I was going to college in
the fall. So that's what I did. I went and
got a GED and went to community college and I
(08:31):
got an AA. So I had decided that was my
senior year. And that's so that's what it was.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
So once you got focused, it was you were relentless.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yes that is a good word.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
But you know, because the story, you know, people are
listening to this story, and thank you for sharing your
story on Money Making Conversation Masterclass, because it's about motivation,
it's about overcoming the arts. I'm talking to attorney Tessa
Deep and what's uh started a team practicing sixteen fifteen,
going on sixteen. Now she runs a multi million dollar
law practice, family law practice in Atlanta, Georgia. And how
(09:10):
proud are you when you say that to yourself that
you run a multi million dollar law practice in Atlanta, Georgia,
knowing where you've come from.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Tessa, you know, honestly, sometimes I still am in shock
and in awe of how far I came. When I
look back at that little girl as an eight year old,
nine year old, ten year girl. Hell, even looking back
as a sixteen year old eighteen year old, because it
was such a long road, so many curves, so many valleys.
(09:45):
It still amazes me. And when I say multimillion, I
mean we have barely even scratched the service of where
we're going to do. The growth we hit in twenty
twenty four, our goal is to double that this year.
So the aggression will never stop. If I wanted, I
am absolutely going to give it everything in my power
to go get it.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Now, So how did how do?
Speaker 2 (10:06):
How?
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Now let's talk about the journey because you mentioned a
lot of kids here, and I'm sure it's a strong
man in your life who allows you to be able
to be yourself. Also your husband. Now you had did
you was there any other experiences after college? Did you
do the military? Did you do go to a four
year institution? How did? What were the next steps? After
(10:28):
your second child? And you got your GED?
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Well, after I got my GED, I didn't know how
I was going to pay for college, and so I
decided to enlist in the military. And because I was
a high school dropout, they required me to have a
two year degree to join, and so I got my
two year degree and I went in and me being
the fertile myrtle that I am, I got pregnant when
I came home for the Christmas break. I went in
(10:53):
like in November and everybody got to go home for
two weeks being on birth control. To make a long
story short, I still got pregnant. I was released from
the military and on my way home, I had a miscarriage.
I had a miscarriage that you never even know. But Rashona,
the you're the crazy thing is I would have never
ever known that I was even pregnant if I hadn't
(11:15):
made friends with my drill sergeant and I was trying
to get out of doing a drill. He allowed me
to go through the clinic and they did a routine
test and something that I was pregnant. The interesting thing
about that, though, when I went to the military, my
drill sergeant, and you know, the first day or two
people had pointed me out and came to me and
were commenting on my score. And I honestly don't even
(11:37):
remember what it was, but they were coming to me
talking about my test score, how high it was, and
why are you here You're incredibly smart. You should be
doing something else.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
This is it for you?
Speaker 2 (11:47):
And I'm thinking to myself, well, I need to pay
for college, so it might not be for me, but
this is where we are. And so when I got out, okay, well,
my plan B is to figure out a no way
to face the college because that's the only reason why
I was there. So I got out and finished, you know,
finished up what I was doing, and transitioned into uh
(12:13):
law Indiana University. It was, but I had to finish
my bass. When I got out, I finished my bachelor's
and then law school, all in Indianapolis.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Wow. So we went from Florida and Indianapolis Military stopping between.
You got two kids at this point, unfortunately. Uh my
prayers went out to you on that when you lost
your third child. So so I'm assuming because you said
it in a humorous way, Miss Fertile. Uh so you
have two kids. Did you have two kids when you
(12:44):
went through law school or did you have another kid
while you were in law school? I got to ask
that question, honestly, the way you're dropping these kids.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Here, Well, I was dropping online there with hot potatoes
when I graduated undergrad when I graduated. When I graduated undergrad,
I have five children. When I graduated undergrad, I have
five kids. My ex husband and I went to law
school together. And I say this to everybody, laughing and jokingly,
but I don't even know that a lot of people
(13:11):
knew our name. You were just a couple with the
five kids because we started law school together, right, And
we had five kids and we started law school, and
everybody was like, oh, you should wait until your baby,
who was you know, very young, like one, You should
wait till she go to kindergarten. And I say, all
the time, what am I waiting for the same four
years are going to go by, whether she's in kindergarten
(13:32):
or not. So what are we waiting for? Let's go,
Let's go. And we started and she graduated kindergarten when
I graduated law school. There's nothing to wait for us.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
So you are something else? Can I say that? I
have never spoken to somebody as determined as you. Five kids.
You know, had ain't got your law degree yet. Sixteen
years old, you had a child. Eighteen year old, you
have a child? You what did the military? Unfortunately lost
a child. Now you're at Indian an US verse everybody's
(14:02):
telling you how fantastic, how smart you are. And that's
the interesting thing about living in these communities that don't
really push our children because they don't understand we just
trying to survive. I grew up in that type of community,
you know, fifth ward. My father was a truck driver.
My mom, she went to college. You went to high school,
(14:22):
didn't go to college. Six sisters, two brothers. We loved,
you know, in two bedroom, shotgun house. And so I
know that they wanted me to be successful. They wanted
me to be good. But guess what. When I graduated
from high school, I became a forklift driver. That's what
I became a forklift driver. So the same people that
saw you in the military testa when you should you
(14:45):
don't need to be here. You can be better than this,
you can be better than this. What were you saying
yourself when they were telling you those things.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
I didn't really believe that I was smart at all
I knew was me, and so I felt like I
was smart, but it didn't feel like anything exceptional, Like
I didn't I wasn't my own cheerleader. Then it was
just okay, whatever, I need to do this in order
to get to there. So I wasn't. I was never
wrapped up in anybody else's praises of me. I didn't
take compliments. Well, so you were telling me that I'm
(15:15):
smart means nothing. My smartness haven't shown me how to
pay for college and this is how I know how
to do that. So I only discounted it like whatever.
I didn't pay it a whole lot of attention.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass
continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making
(15:48):
Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
As he owns a family owned law firm that has
been serving the Atlanta, Georgia community for over fifteen years.
Your attorneys provide enthusiastic representation and brings along extensive experience
and representing their clients. Tessa, when I say overcoming the odds?
Am I being? Am I understating what has happened in
(16:14):
your life? Or am I hitting it right on the
nail on the head?
Speaker 2 (16:19):
You are hitting the nail on the head. Absolutely, do
you do public speaking?
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Come on, Tessa, you gotta be telling your story. You
got to be. You are an absolute motivator, and you're
so casual about it. I'm gonna tell you something. What
you know this story? I don't know who's it driving
around the car, sitting at home, probably eating while they
listening to this interview. But what you're talking about is
pretty pretty impressive for a sixteen year old team. AM
(16:47):
eighteen year old team, AM wandering out there having five
kids in undergraduate before you finish law school, and now
you're still focused enough, focused enough, and your children are
still in your life, and but you're so casual about it.
Am I wrong in saying that? Sounds kind of like
(17:10):
you a different you cut from a different cloth.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Well, you know, I say all the time, and I
mean it sincerely. I feel like my life is sound
almost fruitful when I say that, But when I felt
like my life was so divinely chosen, that the path
for me was chosen from somebody higher than me, and
I was just given a dream and the courage to
(17:35):
go after the dream, and blessed enough to have people
around me that believe and support my dream and my
visually and so I do think that it is insane
when you say it out loud, but you know, I
don't usually say it out loud.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
I'm say it out loud. I'm gonna say it out loud.
I'm gonna say it out loud. Attorney Tessa D. Edwards
is a blessing attorney Testity Evans, it would excuse me
as opposed to child for overcoming the arts. You are
a person that needs to tell your story over and
(18:09):
over again because you know why, because I get tired
of people being that I come from the inner city.
They will they stereotype us, They tell us that we
can't achieve or we don't achieve. They don't give credit
from the community for people around us, the people who
believe in us. And so that is why if I
(18:32):
do anything in twenty twenty five, and this is not
going to be the last time I interview you, and
because your story and your personality in general needs to
be amplified, can I do that?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
You should and I will be honored. I will be honored.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
No, I'm honored. And the reason I say that is
that so many of our people of color, African Americans,
you know, we're in an administration right now now that
you know the diversity, the echoing inclusion, and they act
like they've given us opportunities, like they like we have
an earned opportunity. You are a poster child for earned
earned Big E. You're the big E. You've earned everything
(19:14):
you've achieved in life, and this new administration will make
us believe that you didn't earn it, you didn't achieve it.
And So when you look at giving people advice, what
advice do you give them?
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Attorney Edwards, The biggest advice that I can give anybody
is to make it make it clear of what it
is you're going after, so that you don't waste time
doing things that's not going to help you get to
that goal.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Just be clear about what it is you want. Be driven,
be focused, be hungry, and wake up and go to
sleep with your eye on that goal even as you're
going down that path. To get to that goal, you
have to have people around you that support you. I
can tell you my husband, Charles, who probably is one
of the biggest cheerleaders I have. That daughter that you're
talking about is one of my four daughters, has three
(20:05):
sons biggest cheerleaders very supportive, always ready to go in.
My brother. I have a younger brother. I have several
younger brothers, have five brothers and five sisters. But one
of my brothers beat you.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Said five brothers and five sisters. Have six sisters and
two brothers.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Well, I have a big family supported, but that one
brother that's two years younger than me. My day one,
like we grew up the hard way, beside me hustling,
eating out the garbage can. When we were younger, we
would some up with I would come up with the plan,
and he was the executor, and that was our role.
And to this day, if I say, hey, I'm going
(20:45):
to do this, he's always what do I need to
do to help? How can I help the same thing
with my husband. So my husband runs the firm with me.
He's there one hundred percent bought in. He'll tell anybody
we're gonna bet on us all day. Things we set off.
BUYD too have never failed anything that we've ever tried
to do. We've always succeeded when we are doing it
to like mine together thinking it and doing it. My
(21:08):
team and my firm is incredible. Now one of them
is the reason I'm talking to you today. So I
have a lot of people around me, and just surround
yourself with people that believe in you, and even when
you have those tough days, because it's not if it's
when you need people around you that believe in you.
When you're tired and you don't necessarily have the belief
in yourself in that day, surround yourself with people who
(21:33):
who are aligned with your vision.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Attorney Edwards, My wife just text me, have I been
seeing your name room?
Speaker 2 (21:40):
You have it? It's okay?
Speaker 1 (21:42):
No, no, no, no no, she texted me for Sean
you're seeing her name room. Please tell everybody that these
your first name, Tessie. Yes, Attorney tess D. Edwards. Yes,
I will never make that mistake again. Can we tell
everybody how we can reach out to your law firm
(22:02):
that's been in practice for fifteen years in the state
of Atlanta, Georgia.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Well, they can follow us on any of the social
media platforms. They can call us at four zero four
three three zero eight three three. My website is my
name TESSI B. Edwards, So any one of those things
you can google Testy, which you can probably even spell
it the wrong way, and.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Like versa, make me feel bad. Make me feel bad,
Come on, make me feel bad. But I'll tell you something.
You know, this this the story our relationships to day.
She was you know, she had my office. She thought
it was a lively person there. But I'll tell you something. Uh,
I will tell you something. TESTI Attorney Ewards respectfully speaking
(22:47):
to you this way, is that your story is why
I wanted you on my show today. It's unusual, and
but it's not unusual because it happens. It's unusual because
of the story that they overcoming the odds and people
looking at you and telling you you are blessing and
(23:08):
you hearing it, you hearing it and reacting to it
and not ignoring it. And that's what happens to a
lot of people. They ignoring it because the work that
goes along with it. And that's what people are forgetting
in this story, is that yes, yes, she had two kids,
she was a teenage mom. Yes, but she applied work, ged,
she went to the military, then she got scholarships. Then
(23:30):
she went to Indiana University. She had five kids at
that point, she still graduated. And now she's in Atlanta
and she's like she said, she wants to double her
revenue of twenty twenty four into twenty twenty five. When
you hear me say that, you hear a stranger saying
all those things about you. You have a husband who
(23:51):
supports you, your daughter who you said, somebody said look
just like you, that motivated you to change your life
now works in that same law firm with you. How
do you feel now, Attorney Edwards?
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I feel thankful, but not satisfied. Thank you, there's so
much chilse to do. Let's go, Let's go, let's go,
let's go, let's go.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Well, my friend, thank you for allowing to be me.
Come on my show, and as we close out this
show one more time, I we can get in touch
with you. And again I want to consider you a
person I can call on. And I want the next
thing I want to bring you on the show. We'll
get that straight where you'll be at okay? And I
want people to call in and ask questions and uh
(24:35):
and I'm pretty sure you have some responses that will
change some people's lives. Can we make a better deal
on that?
Speaker 2 (24:41):
We can definitely make a deal. I would love to.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Okay, cool, Thank you. Please tell everybody how to reach
out to you and we're gonna close out this interview.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
They can reach us at four zero four three three
zero eight eight three three, follow us on any other
social media platforms at my name Tessei D. Edwards old
fashioned way Google me.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
I'm laughing because I said your name m my wife Cord.
If you don't start saying her name right right now
and then then I asked you just even saying it wrong, sir,
even saying it wrong. But again, you're fantastic. Thank you
for coming on Money Making Conversation Master Class and we
will talk and see each other soon.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Bye bye bye.
Speaker 5 (25:24):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
posted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you listening to audience now.
If you want to listen to any episode I want
to be a guest on the show, visit Moneymakingconversations dot com.
Our social media handle is money Making Conversation. Join us
next week and remember to always leave with your gifts.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Keep winning
Hi, I am Rashan McDonald, our host the weekly Money
Making Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this
show provides off for everyone. It's time to stop reading
other people's success stories and start living your own. If
you want to be a guest on my show, please
visit our website, Moneymakingconversations dot com and click the be
a guest button first submit and information will come directly
(00:23):
to me. Now let's get this show started. My guess
that I have currently on the show today fights to
find the right solutions for families in crisis. Would her
years of experience as a prosecutor. Attorneys respect Tessa as
an aggressive advocate who knows how to achieve client's objectives.
Clients see her compassion side, where she and her team
(00:46):
take the time to listen to gain a full understanding
of the situation. Please work to Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
Attorney Tessa D. Edwards. How you doing, Attorney Edwards.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
I'm good. Thank you for having me with Sean.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
First of all, being an attorney was that something you
dreamed of?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
It is? I actually knew I wanted to be an
attorney since I was in third grade. I had a
teacher that asked me what I wanted to be, and
being a person that likes to talk and debate and
just liking to I just challenge other people against an argument.
I knew very very early that I wanted to be
an attorney.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
So so again the attorney was now argument and debating.
Now you just well, you just one of those people
just wanted to have to get the last word.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Is still sometimes I want to get the last one.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Oh, your coach Tessa, you know she ain't gonna let
nobody talk but her. Here's your come, here's your come.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Now.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Now when you see a talent like that, I will
be a front. I'll be upfront with everybody about my life.
Is that I didn't really know what I wanted to be.
And for you just say you wanted to have that?
You had that vision so early. What compelled you? Was
it your surroundings with somebody, something you saw on TV
that made you say, you know, that's what I want
to be.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, kind of like what you're saying, I always had,
you know, this idea that I like to argue. I
love debating, I love strategizing about a debate. And if
I could win an argument with anybody, a sibling, a pair,
or anybody. It just kind of inspired me. I just
liked arguing either side, it didn't matter. And so when
I realized that, I that there was a career for
(02:29):
people who liked the art of debate. That's what drove
me to do that. So it wasn't necessarily my surrounding,
it was more my personality. Some people learn to litigate.
I feel like I was born to litigate. I liked
the challenge and the art of trial work and just
strategizing debate.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Wow, I like that. Now when you look at turn
on the radio, personal injury commercials dominate the airwaves, and
so that means that the legal profession people have one
version of it right now being pounded in who they sponsored,
evening news, they have commercials, it's all types of broadcast
(03:07):
is making it available for personal injury talking about how
much they can win for you, how much you can
give you come to us. If that version is not
the version of law that you practiced, Why did you
choose the version of law that you're practicing now?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Well, as I talk to people and tell them all
the time, I am a project ghetto born and raised,
and what I thought around me was a lot of
strange suffering, a lot of arrest, a lot of team pregnancy,
which I was a team in, a high school drop
out myself, and just seeing that around me, I grew
up with a very unhealthy idea of the justice system.
(03:47):
I saw a lot of friends and family members and
neighbors getting arrested. I didn't always believe that what happened
was fair, didn't believe that the police were honest, and
I wanted to go into criminal justice as a way
to argue for my community, for my family members, and
have someone fight for them and have their voice heard
(04:08):
if they ever found themselves in that situation, because I
didn't feel like that was something that I saw growing up.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Now, that's interesting because you said something very casually because
you've overcome it. You said teen pregnancy and high school
drop off, and now you are very prominent lawyer, family
lawyer that practiced crimin law as well over two thousand cases.
How did that happen being a teen mom and what
(04:37):
age was it that you became a teen mom?
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Well, I was pregnant at fifteen. I had my first
child as a sixteen year old, and my second child
at eighteen. Third child at twenty one, I am the
prow mother of seven children today. And how I got
from being a teen mom to where I I am now,
which is the proud owner of a multimillion dollar law
(05:03):
firm in Atlanta, Georgia, was nothing other than dreaming it,
seeing it, and then persistently going after time and time
and time again. The first time I can imagine to
even begin to tell you how many hurdles and obstacles
were there, but just seeing that vision and that dream
so clearly, and staying the course whatever comes, just having
the will to go over it. And when I had
(05:25):
my first child, it was very uneventful. Unfortunately everybody around
me and all the girls around me were pregnant teens,
and a lot of the guys, including some of my
family members, were in the system, in prison or in
on probation or some sort of custody. And when I
had my daughter, my second chalid eighteen.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Sixteen year old. Because that's you know that right there
is usually with shuts down opportunities, and when you read
about it, you know the dreams, you know, become a
welfare our kids, second, third, or four, or may go to drugs,
may go to a minimum wage opportunities. There are no
extended version of educations after that. At sixteen years of age,
(06:10):
What did your family, how did your family react to
that and how did they come to your to your assistance.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Well, my family didn't actually did not react surprised. Like
I said, everybody around me, it was the norm to
be sixteen and have a baby. Like there's a lot
of teen pregnancy unfortunately. What's states this in Florida, Okay, Florida, Coco, Florida, Okatrobe, Florida.
(06:38):
There's a lot of team moms. There's a lot of
teenage boys and sometimes girls that are already in the system,
whether it's juvenile or sell any system early. So it
was the norm. It was not a shock. Or had
family members that were teen moms, so it wasn't anything
that really shocked them, and they rallied around my mom,
my mom, my siblings. They all helped with my son,
(07:00):
and so it was very uneventful in my life. But
when I had my second child at eighteen, it was
her girl, and that changed everything. She was six eight
six to eight weeks old and someone was visiting and
they told me that she looked like me. And you
know how you have that moment that just kind of
stops you in your track and you get a big
frog in your throat you can't swallow. When the first
(07:22):
time that someone told me my daughter looked like me,
it moved the rest of my life. I felt like,
if she looked like me, she may want to be
like me. And so I felt like I needed to
be something that she was proud of. And so when
she went to school on career day and talk about
her mom, she would have a story that she could
(07:43):
be proud of. My mom does this mom? I didn't
want to say, my mom is, you know, work at McDonald's.
No knock at McDonald's, employee us or anything. But that's
not what I wanted for my daughter to aspire to
be if she was aspiring to be like her mom.
And so that changed everything going forward, and this mean
that I had as a little girl now became real
(08:03):
a goal more than just a dream at that point,
it was a goal.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
So were you in high school?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Drop out at that point, Tessa that pregnancy? I did
drop out with that pregnancy. I dropped out with that
pregnancy because I missed a lot of school and they
told me I had to come back and go to
summer school, and me being the defiant person, I decided
I was done with school. That year was my senior year.
I wasn't coming back. I was going to college in
the fall. So that's what I did. I went and
got a GED and went to community college and I
(08:31):
got an AA. So I had decided that was my
senior year. And that's so that's what it was.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
So once you got focused, it was you were relentless.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yes that is a good word.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
But you know, because the story, you know, people are
listening to this story, and thank you for sharing your
story on Money Making Conversation Masterclass, because it's about motivation,
it's about overcoming the arts. I'm talking to attorney Tessa
Deep and what's uh started a team practicing sixteen fifteen,
going on sixteen. Now she runs a multi million dollar
law practice, family law practice in Atlanta, Georgia. And how
(09:10):
proud are you when you say that to yourself that
you run a multi million dollar law practice in Atlanta, Georgia,
knowing where you've come from.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Tessa, you know, honestly, sometimes I still am in shock
and in awe of how far I came. When I
look back at that little girl as an eight year old,
nine year old, ten year girl. Hell, even looking back
as a sixteen year old eighteen year old, because it
was such a long road, so many curves, so many valleys.
(09:45):
It still amazes me. And when I say multimillion, I
mean we have barely even scratched the service of where
we're going to do. The growth we hit in twenty
twenty four, our goal is to double that this year.
So the aggression will never stop. If I wanted, I
am absolutely going to give it everything in my power
to go get it.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Now, So how did how do?
Speaker 2 (10:06):
How?
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Now let's talk about the journey because you mentioned a
lot of kids here, and I'm sure it's a strong
man in your life who allows you to be able
to be yourself. Also your husband. Now you had did
you was there any other experiences after college? Did you
do the military? Did you do go to a four
year institution? How did? What were the next steps? After
(10:28):
your second child? And you got your GED?
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Well, after I got my GED, I didn't know how
I was going to pay for college, and so I
decided to enlist in the military. And because I was
a high school dropout, they required me to have a
two year degree to join, and so I got my
two year degree and I went in and me being
the fertile myrtle that I am, I got pregnant when
I came home for the Christmas break. I went in
(10:53):
like in November and everybody got to go home for
two weeks being on birth control. To make a long
story short, I still got pregnant. I was released from
the military and on my way home, I had a miscarriage.
I had a miscarriage that you never even know. But Rashona,
the you're the crazy thing is I would have never
ever known that I was even pregnant if I hadn't
(11:15):
made friends with my drill sergeant and I was trying
to get out of doing a drill. He allowed me
to go through the clinic and they did a routine
test and something that I was pregnant. The interesting thing
about that, though, when I went to the military, my
drill sergeant, and you know, the first day or two
people had pointed me out and came to me and
were commenting on my score. And I honestly don't even
(11:37):
remember what it was, but they were coming to me
talking about my test score, how high it was, and
why are you here You're incredibly smart. You should be
doing something else.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
This is it for you?
Speaker 2 (11:47):
And I'm thinking to myself, well, I need to pay
for college, so it might not be for me, but
this is where we are. And so when I got out, okay, well,
my plan B is to figure out a no way
to face the college because that's the only reason why
I was there. So I got out and finished, you know,
finished up what I was doing, and transitioned into uh
(12:13):
law Indiana University. It was, but I had to finish
my bass. When I got out, I finished my bachelor's
and then law school, all in Indianapolis.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Wow. So we went from Florida and Indianapolis Military stopping between.
You got two kids at this point, unfortunately. Uh my
prayers went out to you on that when you lost
your third child. So so I'm assuming because you said
it in a humorous way, Miss Fertile. Uh so you
have two kids. Did you have two kids when you
(12:44):
went through law school or did you have another kid
while you were in law school? I got to ask
that question, honestly, the way you're dropping these kids.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Here, Well, I was dropping online there with hot potatoes
when I graduated undergrad when I graduated. When I graduated undergrad,
I have five children. When I graduated undergrad, I have
five kids. My ex husband and I went to law
school together. And I say this to everybody, laughing and jokingly,
but I don't even know that a lot of people
(13:11):
knew our name. You were just a couple with the
five kids because we started law school together, right, And
we had five kids and we started law school, and
everybody was like, oh, you should wait until your baby,
who was you know, very young, like one, You should
wait till she go to kindergarten. And I say, all
the time, what am I waiting for the same four
years are going to go by, whether she's in kindergarten
(13:32):
or not. So what are we waiting for? Let's go,
Let's go. And we started and she graduated kindergarten when
I graduated law school. There's nothing to wait for us.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
So you are something else? Can I say that? I
have never spoken to somebody as determined as you. Five kids.
You know, had ain't got your law degree yet. Sixteen
years old, you had a child. Eighteen year old, you
have a child? You what did the military? Unfortunately lost
a child. Now you're at Indian an US verse everybody's
(14:02):
telling you how fantastic, how smart you are. And that's
the interesting thing about living in these communities that don't
really push our children because they don't understand we just
trying to survive. I grew up in that type of community,
you know, fifth ward. My father was a truck driver.
My mom, she went to college. You went to high school,
(14:22):
didn't go to college. Six sisters, two brothers. We loved,
you know, in two bedroom, shotgun house. And so I
know that they wanted me to be successful. They wanted
me to be good. But guess what. When I graduated
from high school, I became a forklift driver. That's what
I became a forklift driver. So the same people that
saw you in the military testa when you should you
(14:45):
don't need to be here. You can be better than this,
you can be better than this. What were you saying
yourself when they were telling you those things.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
I didn't really believe that I was smart at all
I knew was me, and so I felt like I
was smart, but it didn't feel like anything exceptional, Like
I didn't I wasn't my own cheerleader. Then it was
just okay, whatever, I need to do this in order
to get to there. So I wasn't. I was never
wrapped up in anybody else's praises of me. I didn't
take compliments. Well, so you were telling me that I'm
(15:15):
smart means nothing. My smartness haven't shown me how to
pay for college and this is how I know how
to do that. So I only discounted it like whatever.
I didn't pay it a whole lot of attention.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass
continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making
(15:48):
Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
As he owns a family owned law firm that has
been serving the Atlanta, Georgia community for over fifteen years.
Your attorneys provide enthusiastic representation and brings along extensive experience
and representing their clients. Tessa, when I say overcoming the odds?
Am I being? Am I understating what has happened in
(16:14):
your life? Or am I hitting it right on the
nail on the head?
Speaker 2 (16:19):
You are hitting the nail on the head. Absolutely, do
you do public speaking?
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Come on, Tessa, you gotta be telling your story. You
got to be. You are an absolute motivator, and you're
so casual about it. I'm gonna tell you something. What
you know this story? I don't know who's it driving
around the car, sitting at home, probably eating while they
listening to this interview. But what you're talking about is
pretty pretty impressive for a sixteen year old team. AM
(16:47):
eighteen year old team, AM wandering out there having five
kids in undergraduate before you finish law school, and now
you're still focused enough, focused enough, and your children are
still in your life, and but you're so casual about it.
Am I wrong in saying that? Sounds kind of like
(17:10):
you a different you cut from a different cloth.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Well, you know, I say all the time, and I
mean it sincerely. I feel like my life is sound
almost fruitful when I say that, But when I felt
like my life was so divinely chosen, that the path
for me was chosen from somebody higher than me, and
I was just given a dream and the courage to
(17:35):
go after the dream, and blessed enough to have people
around me that believe and support my dream and my
visually and so I do think that it is insane
when you say it out loud, but you know, I
don't usually say it out loud.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
I'm say it out loud. I'm gonna say it out loud.
I'm gonna say it out loud. Attorney Tessa D. Edwards
is a blessing attorney Testity Evans, it would excuse me
as opposed to child for overcoming the arts. You are
a person that needs to tell your story over and
(18:09):
over again because you know why, because I get tired
of people being that I come from the inner city.
They will they stereotype us, They tell us that we
can't achieve or we don't achieve. They don't give credit
from the community for people around us, the people who
believe in us. And so that is why if I
(18:32):
do anything in twenty twenty five, and this is not
going to be the last time I interview you, and
because your story and your personality in general needs to
be amplified, can I do that?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
You should and I will be honored. I will be honored.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
No, I'm honored. And the reason I say that is
that so many of our people of color, African Americans,
you know, we're in an administration right now now that
you know the diversity, the echoing inclusion, and they act
like they've given us opportunities, like they like we have
an earned opportunity. You are a poster child for earned
earned Big E. You're the big E. You've earned everything
(19:14):
you've achieved in life, and this new administration will make
us believe that you didn't earn it, you didn't achieve it.
And So when you look at giving people advice, what
advice do you give them?
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Attorney Edwards, The biggest advice that I can give anybody
is to make it make it clear of what it
is you're going after, so that you don't waste time
doing things that's not going to help you get to
that goal.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Just be clear about what it is you want. Be driven,
be focused, be hungry, and wake up and go to
sleep with your eye on that goal even as you're
going down that path. To get to that goal, you
have to have people around you that support you. I
can tell you my husband, Charles, who probably is one
of the biggest cheerleaders I have. That daughter that you're
talking about is one of my four daughters, has three
(20:05):
sons biggest cheerleaders very supportive, always ready to go in.
My brother. I have a younger brother. I have several
younger brothers, have five brothers and five sisters. But one
of my brothers beat you.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Said five brothers and five sisters. Have six sisters and
two brothers.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Well, I have a big family supported, but that one
brother that's two years younger than me. My day one,
like we grew up the hard way, beside me hustling,
eating out the garbage can. When we were younger, we
would some up with I would come up with the plan,
and he was the executor, and that was our role.
And to this day, if I say, hey, I'm going
(20:45):
to do this, he's always what do I need to
do to help? How can I help the same thing
with my husband. So my husband runs the firm with me.
He's there one hundred percent bought in. He'll tell anybody
we're gonna bet on us all day. Things we set off.
BUYD too have never failed anything that we've ever tried
to do. We've always succeeded when we are doing it
to like mine together thinking it and doing it. My
(21:08):
team and my firm is incredible. Now one of them
is the reason I'm talking to you today. So I
have a lot of people around me, and just surround
yourself with people that believe in you, and even when
you have those tough days, because it's not if it's
when you need people around you that believe in you.
When you're tired and you don't necessarily have the belief
in yourself in that day, surround yourself with people who
(21:33):
who are aligned with your vision.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Attorney Edwards, My wife just text me, have I been
seeing your name room?
Speaker 2 (21:40):
You have it? It's okay?
Speaker 1 (21:42):
No, no, no, no no, she texted me for Sean
you're seeing her name room. Please tell everybody that these
your first name, Tessie. Yes, Attorney tess D. Edwards. Yes,
I will never make that mistake again. Can we tell
everybody how we can reach out to your law firm
(22:02):
that's been in practice for fifteen years in the state
of Atlanta, Georgia.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Well, they can follow us on any of the social
media platforms. They can call us at four zero four
three three zero eight three three. My website is my
name TESSI B. Edwards, So any one of those things
you can google Testy, which you can probably even spell
it the wrong way, and.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Like versa, make me feel bad. Make me feel bad,
Come on, make me feel bad. But I'll tell you something.
You know, this this the story our relationships to day.
She was you know, she had my office. She thought
it was a lively person there. But I'll tell you something. Uh,
I will tell you something. TESTI Attorney Ewards respectfully speaking
(22:47):
to you this way, is that your story is why
I wanted you on my show today. It's unusual, and
but it's not unusual because it happens. It's unusual because
of the story that they overcoming the odds and people
looking at you and telling you you are blessing and
(23:08):
you hearing it, you hearing it and reacting to it
and not ignoring it. And that's what happens to a
lot of people. They ignoring it because the work that
goes along with it. And that's what people are forgetting
in this story, is that yes, yes, she had two kids,
she was a teenage mom. Yes, but she applied work, ged,
she went to the military, then she got scholarships. Then
(23:30):
she went to Indiana University. She had five kids at
that point, she still graduated. And now she's in Atlanta
and she's like she said, she wants to double her
revenue of twenty twenty four into twenty twenty five. When
you hear me say that, you hear a stranger saying
all those things about you. You have a husband who
(23:51):
supports you, your daughter who you said, somebody said look
just like you, that motivated you to change your life
now works in that same law firm with you. How
do you feel now, Attorney Edwards?
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I feel thankful, but not satisfied. Thank you, there's so
much chilse to do. Let's go, Let's go, let's go,
let's go, let's go.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Well, my friend, thank you for allowing to be me.
Come on my show, and as we close out this
show one more time, I we can get in touch
with you. And again I want to consider you a
person I can call on. And I want the next
thing I want to bring you on the show. We'll
get that straight where you'll be at okay? And I
want people to call in and ask questions and uh
(24:35):
and I'm pretty sure you have some responses that will
change some people's lives. Can we make a better deal
on that?
Speaker 2 (24:41):
We can definitely make a deal. I would love to.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Okay, cool, Thank you. Please tell everybody how to reach
out to you and we're gonna close out this interview.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
They can reach us at four zero four three three
zero eight eight three three, follow us on any other
social media platforms at my name Tessei D. Edwards old
fashioned way Google me.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
I'm laughing because I said your name m my wife Cord.
If you don't start saying her name right right now
and then then I asked you just even saying it wrong, sir,
even saying it wrong. But again, you're fantastic. Thank you
for coming on Money Making Conversation Master Class and we
will talk and see each other soon.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Bye bye bye.
Speaker 5 (25:24):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
posted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you listening to audience now.
If you want to listen to any episode I want
to be a guest on the show, visit Moneymakingconversations dot com.
Our social media handle is money Making Conversation. Join us
next week and remember to always leave with your gifts.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Keep winning
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